The weather continued to get colder, and Jack was forced to buy a travelling cloak from the house store to keep him warm between classes. Snow sprinkled the ground as it was now early December.
Teachers had been giving them more and more work in preparation for the semester finals. It wasn't anything more than annoying to Jack and Gavin, who completed all the assignments easily. And to top it off they were nearing the end of their charms textbooks and were more than halfway through Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration. To them it seemed that they would have to buy the second year textbooks as soon as Christmas Break.
Most of the tension between Mekkler and Eddif had ebbed away in the past month and a half. While they had not been attacked nor had they attacked anyone else. Spies reported that Efural and Zurak had been juggling flags, and that their defenses were mainly arranged against each other's weaknesses.
Finally one breakfast the prefects of both houses stood to announce their plan to attack Efural, currently in possession of both of the other flags at dinner tonight. Should they succeed in capturing them both, the alliance would not be split until after the holidays.
At lunch they went over the battle plan, Jack did have to admit that it was worth them planning for a month. It was pure genius.
Dinner came in no hurry, and Jack's stomach was full of butterflies. He had advanced a lot since the first fight, but there was a chance that Sarah had somehow managed to surpass his abilities again. Then he remembered that Sarah wouldn't be there, as she was in Zurak and they were attacking Efural. Still, he was nervous.
Three quarters of the alliance would be attacking, leaving the rest to defend just in case they got attacked.
The invasion force (including Gavin and Jack) set off on brooms, those who did not own a broom were sharing with somebody who did. Efural dining hall was not that far away, it was more so that they didn't hear them coming.
The brooms drifted slowly in the air, trying not to make any noise at all. They arrived at the dining hall and stopped. Hannah signaled to the seventh years who had been chosen to kick off the fight, and had been strategically placed.
"One," she showed with her finger.
"Two."
"THREE," she shouted.
The walls and roof of the Efural dining hall were blown to bits by silent spells, just enough wall was left to keep the structure standing. In all of the dust and confusion at least a dozen stunning spells found their mark on the defending army.
The boy with whom Jack was sharing a broom jumped off and ran into the fight, which was now being fought furiously from both sides. Jack and Gavin grinned at each other before taking flight, they were two of five fliers selected to dive down and snatch the flags during the chaos of the battle.
Jack saw the first flier get hit with a jinx and he tumbled off the broom, landing with a nasty sounding thud. It was his fault really, the instructions were to all dive at once, then there would be a higher chance of getting through.
Gavin and Jack had been chosen as fliers under Aqua's recommendation, saying that they would be more valuable in the sky than in the fight. Jack was glad of the excuse to fly again, the Nimbus 3000 responded to the most subtle of movements, and never seemed to do anything wrong.
Jack, Aqua, Gavin, and a girl he didn't know all dove for the two flags at the same time. The unknown's broom caught fire and she pulled away, screaming in pain and surprise. Aqua was blasted upward by an unexpected wind, Jack and Gavin barely managed to keep hold of their brooms.
They were right above the flags, each boy reached down and grabbed one. Gavin was immediately hit with a spell and sent crashing into Jack. Jack barely managed to keep hold of the broom and the flag, but he saw Gavin hit the floor unconscious. The flag was taken from him, whether by friend or foe he couldn't tell. He had no time to check, his role was to get away from the fight before getting caught.
Just when he thought he'd gotten away safely he saw a witch and a wizard chasing him on their own brooms, shooting stunning spells at him. Jack managed to evade them, and cast a few stunners back at them, although they didn't hit.
In a stroke of insight, Jack thought of how to get rid of them long enough to get help. He took a sudden left turn, his pursuers weren't quite so quick and fell behind a bit. When they were beginning to catch up, Jack shot straight up, once again they weren't expecting that and overshot the turn.
Now heading straight up, Jack searched desperately for a fluffy cloud on the mostly clear day. Finally spotting one he veered in its direction, this time his chasers were ready for it and turned easily. The cloud was getting larger as he came close to it, aiming right at its heart.
The cold, dampness, and darkness overtook him as he smashed into, turned a bit to his right, and slammed to a stop. Jack quickly reached into his robes and took out his magical parchment and a quill. "above lake," he scribbled blindly.
"Find Gavin," he instructed it. There were the telltale crinkling noises as the paper folded itself into a phoenix and then rushed off.
Jack knew he couldn't wait in the cloud for the Efurals to find him. And they would have probably sent for back-up of their own by now. So he shot out, hearing yells behind him.
He took out his wand and cast a body-bind curse in the sound's general direction. He kept going in the same direction, the flag clutched in one hand and the broom handle in the other, blindly casting spells behind him, hoping one of them would hit.
A wind sprung up so suddenly it could have only been done by magic, and he lost control of the broom. Jack spiraled downwards but was suddenly brought to a halt only fifty or so feet above the lake.
"I gotcha Jack," said a familiar voice.
His reinforcements had arrived. He was escorted back to the dining hall by half of each of the two houses the Fire said he should be in. It was a wonderful experience. They set up the flag, which was Eddif's, next to the other two and feasted until the bell rang a few minutes later.
The elation didn't last long, as Jack remembered he had detention that night. As he walked through the dark to the charms building it began to snow. Flurries at first, but soon Jack could barely see twenty feet in front of him.
He took a turn down a narrow path nearly blind, relying more on memory than the paths to navigate. A tree stood in his way and he realized he must have missed the turn and hit a dead end. Turning around to walk back, he saw a large shape blocking the path.
When the thing moved, Jack knew it wasn't a fallen tree or a rock, but a creature. It stood up and walked towards him, it had a large head, a skinny body, and a viscous spiked tail. Judging from the sound of it walking, its four feet were cloven and it was quite heavy.
Jack figured they wouldn't put anything dangerous in the forest so he wasn't too worried. Now it was quite close, its face was golden and looked like a large cat. Now Jack was worried, thinking back to mythology units at school the only thing that came to his mind were chimaeras.
"Run!" somebody shouted from a distance. Remembering that this was not a normal school were safety was their number one concern, adrenaline rushed through Jack's veins and he bolted.
He could hear the monsters tearing after him, its hooves pounding the ground and branches breaking like twigs when it ran into them.
"Avada Kedavra!" the voice shouted from behind him, the creature gave a small whimper of pain but Jack could tell it was still after him.
His saviors were shooting a variety of curses, hexes, and jinxes at the beast, but their cries were becoming distant and the sounds of pursuit from the monster were getting louder. Jack's cloak caught on a stick and he fell, death was the only thing in his mind. Now the beast was close enough to be seen clearly.
It had the head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a dragon. It was a chimaera. Seeing its prey on the ground, it advanced cautiously, knowing from experience that a cornered beast is the most dangerous type.
Jack fumbled for his wand inside his cloak, when he finally got it out, the chimaera couldn't have been more than ten feet away.
"Incarcerous!" he shouted the first defensive spell that came to mind. The ropes wrapped around the Greek monster's body, but with the first step it took they broke like twine. It knelt to sniff Jack, checking if he was edible.
"Incendio!" the creature didn't seem to notice the flames that sprouted on its back.
The lion head opened its mouth, revealing fangs sharper and larger than knives. It tentatively licked Jack's face. Where the saliva clung to his skin burned, and feeling it tenderly he felt blood.
His heart skipped at least three beats when it prodded him with its hoof. Jack heard sounds of another monster running towards him. It leapt over his body and tackled the chimaera. The two beasts grappled and a hand seized his and pulled him onto a broom.
"Fly," the mystery man commanded.
Jack, mind still dull from fear, obeyed without question, quickly rising above the canopy of trees. Looking below when he judged he was high enough, he thought he saw a lion for a moment, and not just the chimaera's head.
Tearing his eyes away from the blood-speckled snow, he looked around for the man who had saved him. A few feet away, floating on a broom of his own, was a middle-aged man, he looked familiar but Jack couldn't quite place him.
"What were you doing in the forest?" the man asked. "I told you all at the beginning of the year it was off-limits," his tone was very matter-of-fact, but not accusatory.
"I got lost in the snow," Jack said. "Who are you?"
"I'm the headmaster."
"Why are there chimaeras in the forest?"
"Not even gonna thank me?" the headmaster snorted.
"Thank you," Jack said. "Now why are there chimaeras in the forest?"
"That's the only one, actually," the headmaster replied. "It's for the students studying for their N.E.W.T.s in Care of Magical Creatures. The thing that attacked it was a manticore, no doubt angry at its territory being invaded."
"It didn't see me?"
"You're not a threat to it, there are only a handful of documented slayings of both species ever. And most who are successful die of exhaustion shortly after. Now I suggest you get to your detention, just leave that broom outside your cabin tonight, and don't wander off this time."
"Wait, who was chasing the chimaera after me?"
"The N.E.W.T. students, and one of them is in a fair bit of trouble for trying a killing curse on it. Not only is it unforgivable, but had it worked I would never be able to convince the Ministry to let me get another chimaera. I do have to say I was impressed by your performance during both the dinner raid and just now. Off you go then, you're already late. And keep up your studies with Gavin. Dangerous as they are they'll make you both exceptional wizards in the future. You remind me of Grell as a student."
"You're old enough to have taught Grell?" Jack wished he hadn't said that immediately.
The headmaster, however, laughed. "nah, Grell's barely out of school you know. But when he came home from the army I was unable to turn down his application as a teacher, seeing how talented he is. But you and me both really do have to be off, I'll send word to your professor saying that it's not your fault that you're late."
Before Jack could thank him, he was off, flying in a direction that Jack didn't think had any buildings.
Detention was just boring, he sat there with a few other older students for almost two hours. Jack found himself tapping his wand against the desk in boredom, which was accentuated by the excitement just a few minutes ago. Each tap left a small singe mark on the wooden surface.
He looked up to find an irritated Professor Dregyn staring down at him. Dregyn flicked his wand and the singe marks disappeared, but he obviously wanted Jack to stop.
Author's note: Come on, you've read this far, you must care enough to review. Please? It makes chimaeras not eat little children.
