Teddy Lupin leaned against a tree near the opening of the Forbidden Forest. As happy as he was that he was being included in the Order, he had to admit that all of the guarding was getting a bit tiring.

Suddenly, Teddy heard something stirring behind him in the forest. Wand out, he spun around, expecting to see some sort of creature, but but instead he saw nothing. He frowned. He was sure he had heard something. Wand still held high, Teddy took a few steps into the forest. There didn't appear to be anything or anyone here, but he still couldn't shake the feeling that somewhere, from within the forest, someone was watching him...

And then his nostrils filled with the sent of rotting flesh. Covering his nose with his free hand, Teddy continued to look around. Then, he glanced down at the ground and saw what looked like hoof prints. Getting onto his knees for a better look, Teddy lowered his wand and shone the light onto the forest floor. There were definitely prints, and they seemed to suddenly stop at a small area a few yards away from him.

Curious, Teddy slowly stepped towards the spot where the prints stopped. The smell of rotting flesh was becoming unbearably strong now, and his eyes were beginning to water. Then, he heard breathing. Rugged and sharp, and it sounded as if it was coming from a very large creature.

And then Teddy knew that this creature had to be a Thestral. But...there was something wrong. He had been around Thestrals before. They never gave him such...such shivers up and down his spine. And they never wreaked of death this much either.

And then it hit him. These weren't ordinary Thestrals.

Backing away slowly, his wand pointing right at where he suspected the creature to be, Teddy exited the forest as quickly as possible. What would one of the Thestrals Claridina had used months ago be doing at the school?

"Harry!" He spotted his godfather by the school gates.

"Teddy?" Harry said, turning around to face him. "You're supposed to be-"

"Harry," Teddy said gravely. "I-I think one of those Thestrals Claridina used to attack Dudley Dursley and all those others last year is in the forest."

"What? Are you sure?" Harry frowned. "How could you tell, you can't see them?"

"I-I just got the feeling," Teddy told him. "It wasn't like one of the normal Thestrals, it just seemed more...evil. Do-Do you think that if just came here from her hideout in Hungary on its own? Or that it came with someone."

"It could've just flown here, looking for food or something like that," Harry muttered. "Or...come on, show me where you found it."

The two men where about to head to the forest, when they suddenly heard a rustle coming from a nearby bush.

Harry turned, and was about to approach the bush, but before he could, he heard a loud voice.

"Harry! Harry, there you are!"

"Hagrid?" Harry said, spotting the large man running down from the castle, taking enormous strides. "Excellent, we could really use you right now. Teddy reckons he spotted one of Claridina's Thestrals in the forest. Do you-"

"Harry, yer gonna need to get up to the castle right away," Hagrid said, panting.

"Why? What's wrong?" Teddy asked. "Has a student been hurt?"

"Yes, it's-it's James," Hagrid said.

Harry gripped his wand. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure on that," Hagrid said. "I was just coming back from dinner when Neville ran into me, told me that James had been hurt and to go an' get you from the grounds. Said to take ya' up ter the Hospital Wing."

All the thoughts of Thestrals vanished from Harry's mind as he hurried up to the castle with Teddy and Hagrid at his heels.

...

Alexandra crouched down in the bushes, wishing desperately that she would've thought to bring an Extendable Ear with her. She could scarcely make out a word they were saying...something about Thestrals and Hungary?

Just as she was beginning to feel as if this whole endeavor had been a waste of time, when she accidentally let her foot slip, causing her to fall against the bush, making a rustling noise.

She knew Teddy and Harry had heard it; they looked right towards her bush, and were coming over.

But then she heard loud pounding footsteps.

"Harry!"

It was Hagrid! Harry and Teddy stopped approaching the bush and were now talking to Hagrid, whose voice was much louder than Harry and Teddy's, so she was able to make out what he was saying.

He told them a student had been hurt...that it had been James!

Alexandra held back a gasp. James had been hurt? How? It-It couldn't have anything to do with Claridina, could it?

No, she told herself firmly. It had to have been just an accident...

Harry seemed to have forgotten about the bush, at least, as him, Hagrid and Teddy all hurried up to the castle. She was just about to get out of the bush and follow them up herself, when something caught her eye.

Standing at the mouth of the forest stood a small house elf. As she squinted, she realized it was the same house elf who she had seen on her first day back in Slughorn's classroom. Before she had time to imagine what on earth one of the Hogwarts house elves could be doing out on the grounds, the elf raised one long finger, and beckoned to her.