Chapter Ten

The Chimera

Jennifer was awakened by a flash of light across her face, lifting her head off Severus' shoulder to gaze out the hospital window, wondering if there was a storm. Then she saw the flash again... it was a bright mix of white, red, and blue flashes across the sky. Rising quickly from the chair she went to look out over the grounds, realizing at once that the flashes seemed to be coming from inside the Dark Forest. Softly glowing smoke billowed above the oddly shadowed trees.

"Severus? Severus, wake up," Jennifer said, giving him a quick nudge where he dozed in the chair. He woke up with a jolt and was instantly alert, looking around to see where she was. He only looked out a moment before he grabbed the cloak on his chair, Jennifer right behind him. He frowned slightly as she moved to get her own, and he met his gaze steadily, as if having a quiet debate. After a moment he sighed.

"Fine. But someone needs to look after Corey," he muttered.

"Let me go wake Poppy, and you can go wake Minerva and we'll meet at the pens," Jennifer suggested.

"If you're thinking about taking the Pegusi, don't. I haven't forgotten what happened the last time we went that route," Severus said in his stubborn tone that let her know he would not be persuaded otherwise.

"I think Sagittari should be told something's going on in any case," Jennifer said.

"Fine," Severus nodded, heading quickly down the hall as Jennifer turned to the next room and knocked on the painting of a badger tending her young. Within moments, Poppy was alert and appraised of the situation, and Jennifer dashed down the stairs, hopping over a staircase to catch the next one down as it moved to change position below.

In no time Jennifer was out the gate, stopping only long enough to tell Filius where she was going before heading across the grounds and over towards the hut. A light in the barn let her know someone was in the pens, and she hurried straight over. Ruby and Babe were neighing restlessly and pawing at the ground as she approached, and the Slumber Sheep skittered around the pen nervously. Inside the sounds of animals were even louder, and even the firm but gentle voice of Sagittari was not enough to settle them.

"Sagittari! Sagittari, there's something going on in the forest. Part of it appears to be on fire!" Jennifer said, trying to yell above the noise of the barn.

"Yes, another evil has come to the forest. A monster of great power, to be sure," he said calmly, heading over to her. "The animals are frightened, as they should be. The stars do not favor us tonight."

"Please, Sagittari, don't get vague on us now," Jennifer said with frustration. "Severus and I are going to take a look. Would you come and speak to the creatures for us?" Sagittari hesitated, glancing up at the stars. "You are the Groundskeeper of Hogwarts. Constellation blessing or no, you have every right to be in that forest if there's trouble. In fact, it's your duty," Jennifer said in an almost scolding tone. Sagittari knew she spoke from impatience more than reason, but that didn't change the fact that she was right.

"Very well, I'll go," he said at last. "Let me get my wand."

It was just as they were coming out of the pens that Severus arrived with Alvin Archibald, and the four of them ran in, wands ready as they hurried towards the glow. It wasn't far before they realized that the lights were coming from the direction of the Centaur Glen and raced along the path, Sagittari galloping ahead of them. He stopped abruptly and began to back up, taking out his wand and shouting at the others behind him.

"Chimera!" he warned, casting a spell creating a shield of force just as a bolt of lightning shot towards him, deflecting off the shield.

"A Chimera? Here?" Jennifer said in surprise. "How on Earth…"

"No time for that," Severus snapped. "Alvin, see if you can't contain the fire before it gets out of hand. Sagittari, neutralize the Goat head. Jennifer, Lion. I'll take the Dragon," Severus said and the three of them headed forward.

The beast was even more massive than Jennifer had imagined, standing twelve feet above them with a large body that seemed made up of an odd conglomeration of animals with its lion paws between a goat-like body that had large dragon wings on its back and a serpent tail. It had its back turned against them, the cabin and the glen, blasting instead out into the woods with ice, fire, and lightning.

The sound of barking alerted Jennifer, and she looked over see Sirius ran around the creature's legs in Padfoot form, trying to draw its attention away from where Remus Lupin stood near the cabin, attempting hold off the beast. A soft white light was glowing around the big black dog, and seeing that Sirius was being protected, Jennifer turned her attention to the task at hand.

"On my signal," Severus said, raising his wand, the others following his lead. "Now!"

"Aquarius pugnus!" Jennifer cast at the same time that Alvin and Severus cast their own spells. But as fire and ice blasted the goat and the dragonheads, Jennifer's wand suddenly let out a thin mist of water, hardly enough to dampen the air or skin let alone electrocute the lightning head of a Chimera. Attempting not to panic as the lion's head turned towards them to launch an attack, Jennifer scrambled for a potion from her cloak, chucking it in the beast's mouth just as he opened his maw to attack. It choked for a moment, trying to get the phial out of its throat then accidentally swallowed. It made a futile attempt to attack again before stumbling forward. A blast of water hit the head from the side where Lupin stood, the lion's head turning grey as it died.

Jennifer couldn't help but notice the expressions on both Sagittari, who had his arms folded, and Severus, hands on his hips, staring at her with accusing looks on their faces.

"Jennifer, is there something that you perhaps neglected to tell us that you probably should have before I agreed to take you along on this little outing?" Severus asked, tapping his fingers in irritation. Jennifer cleared her throat.

"Oh yes. By the way, Severus, I think it might be possible, although I'm not quite sure yet, that we might be right on schedule," Jennifer said, smiling meekly. "But I certainly wasn't expecting my magic to go out quite this early…"

"Jennifer, are you all right? What happened back there?" Remus ran up from where he was standing.

"Nothing that concerns you," Severus snapped defensively.

"Oh, Remus, thank you for jumping in," Jennifer said quickly. "Are you and Sirius okay? What happened? Where are the centaurs?"

"The centaurs," Remus said with an unusual tension in his voice, "upon seeing what was happening, decided that the Chimera was here because of our carelessness and quite bluntly let us know it was our problem. They went off to try and contain the fire."

"Well, we were warned that they no longer considered us their allies," Severus said, putting away his wand.

"Perhaps I am to blame for that," Sagittari said slowly. "I should have never come back. I should have known how they would react to my being here."

"No, Doctor, the situation between us and the constellation has been going downhill for quite some time now," Severus said, sighing softly. "Although I find it rather disturbing that they would leave something of this magnitude to us when it is their sworn duty to protect this forest for its own sake and not for ours."

"Jennifer, what are you doing?" Sirius asked, who had just come over to join them. Jennifer had wasted little time getting over the carcass, pulling out equipment that seemed much to bulky to have even come out of the cloak kneeling beside it, with gloves that came all the way up her arm.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm siphoning Chimera blood. Do you know how hard it is to get this stuff on the market?" Jennifer said with a grin.

"It's also toxic," Severus growled. "Here, let me do that!"

"Oh, great stars, Severus. You've only known I was pregnant for two minutes and you're already turning protective on me. I know what I'm doing," she protested. Sirius and Remus blinked at her.

"I want you in my office first thing tomorrow, Jennifer. No excuses," Sagittari scolded her.

"I need to go check on Anna. Mind if I tell her?" Sirius asked.

"Why not, the whole damn school will know by morning," Severus muttered, crouching by Jennifer's side to help.

"Let me get a message to Dumbledore about what happened and I'll come back out to help," Remus said. "Come to think of it, I'd probably better tell him about the Chimera too." The glances from Jennifer and Severus indicated to Remus that they didn't think that was very funny.

It was not long after Dumbledore got back the next afternoon that he called them all together to hear what happened in detail. There was no question to anyone there that the centaur's choice not to protect the glen from the Chimera disturbed him greatly, and he seemed unusually tired as he mused over the consequences of that.

"The centaurs of the forest have always stayed away from things that they felt didn't concern them. That is how they protect their culture, their knowledge, and up to this point, the forest itself. But it does not seem like them at all to allow such a creature so deep into their own territory and not driving it away," Dumbledore said.

"If I may, sir. I would not be surprised if the centaurs herded the beast into that area on purpose," Sagittari said slowly. "I believe, perhaps, it was meant as a warning."

"A warning?" Jennifer said in surprise. "I don't understand. Are you saying that intentionally led such a powerful beast into the glen, knowing it would damage their own meeting grounds, just to prove a point to us that they're not going to interfere any more?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that, I think," Remus mused. "The glen itself is quite wide, and the trees on the outskirts are young and green, less likely to burn. It's possible they chose the spot just because it would do less damage there than in other places. It had probably wandered in on its own, attracted by the dark power of the Tomb, and the centaurs decided it was high time we realized just how bad the situation in the forest was getting." Sagittari nodded to him in agreement.

"I'm well aware of how bad the situation is getting, as I know all of you are," Dumbledore said. "But it appears that the centaurs believe otherwise. Regardless of where the blame lies, we cannot possibly get to the bottom of this situation without their support. Something must be done soon to convince them that we need to work on the same side," he glanced over at Severus and Jennifer. "And I think the two of you should attempt it. The Constellation of Centaurs meets at every solstice. It is time that you two…and you, also, Sagittari," he added, "tried to reason with them."

"They will not listen," Sagittari said grimly. "Not to them, and definitely not to me."

"Do not be so sure," Dumbledore said, smiling gently at the centaur. "We still have some supporters in the constellation yet, and I have faith that you can, with all of your good senses of logic and reasoning, come to some sort of terms with them before the situation gets even more out of hand than it already is."

"You want me to go along to help?" Sirius asked, then immediately got punched by Anna in the arm, 'owing' in surprise and rubbing it gently as he glared at her.

"I think Anna's trying to tell you that you had better be more concerned with preparing for your wedding," Dumbledore said, a sparkle of amusement playing in his eyes. "But don't worry. I'll make sure these two aren't late for the wedding either. In the meantime, don't forget to keep up with your studies with Jennifer," he smiled at Anna. Jennifer grimaced at that, wondering how she was going to manage to teach Anna when her magic was going in and out all the time. Then again, Dumbledore never said she couldn't get help when needed, she mused. "Well, I expect I should better let you go, for we all have things to do and people to take care of. Speaking of which, Poppy informs me that Corey is doing better and he should be awake any time now," he smiled. Jennifer's expression turned to one of relief, smiling at Severus, who gazed gently back at her. "In fact, I think I'll go see the boy myself after dinner."

"I have to leave it to Corey," Sirius chuckled, "he definitely doesn't lack from supporters for all the trouble he gets into."

"Typical Gryffindor," Severus muttered, earning a warm smile from Dumbledore.