Book of Shadows
Chapter 28 – Hunting the hunter
…
The halls were empty, truly empty. No patrolling prefect or gliding ghost shuffled about in the deep, oppressive silence. No one with any sense was out after dark now. Shadows lurked in the dark, and they were hungry.
There was something about Hogwarts in the dark, something old, heavy with the weight of stares from eyes that were not there. A presence, perhaps the spirit of Hogwarts itself, a spirit that had seen much in its time, and continued to watch.
"Is it always like this?" Neville asked.
"Kinda," said Ron.
"Feels a bit worse than usual," said Harry.
"I feel like we're being watched."
Did I not just get done going over this?
"Just nerves. Guilty conscience, that sort of thing," said Ron.
"You've never been out after curfew Nev?" Harry asked.
Neville shook his head, "I'm not a troublemaker like you guys."
"Trouble, us?"
"I feel like I should be offended by that."
It was weak banter, not terribly clever, but it covered the nervousness that crept on them, silent as spiders. Out the door they'd been ready to taste blood, wanted it, needed it; now, an hour into the hunt with no sign of their quarry, the angry bravado had waned, and reality was slowly sinking in.
They refused to speak of it, though all knew it to be true. It was a reckless thing they were doing. Just the three of them, hunting such a wily foe, alone. It was the peak of Gryffindor stupidity, that's what Snape would say. The traitorous little voice in each of their heads saying it sounded suspiciously like the much-loathed potions master.
So they didn't speak of it. They witted, they jibed, they made themselves an obvious target. With wands up their sleeves and grimoire hidden beneath their cloaks they were not soft targets. The meat would need tenderizing before they'd be edible, but the quarry they sought was unconcerned with such things.
And the quarry they sought, also sought them. It must. Clever as it was it had yet to break into the dorms, and they were the only ones out, and he was hungry, always hungry, but never stupid.
They forgot that, when he dropped from the ceiling five feet in front of them and did not immediately attack. The shock of his appearance, trampled beneath the fury of recognition, ignored such questions as why?
So, when he ran, they pursued.
"Get back here!"
Anger clouded their better judgement, cold, seething. They were approaching a hard-left turn before Harry even thought to pull out his grimoire.
The spell eater bounded around the corner with the three boys following close behind. They came running back a moment later, anger gone, replaced by sheer, unadulterated terror. The reason for such came charging after them a moment later.
It was bull in shape, but big as a rhino, and covered in dragon like scales. It was clear they were dragon scales because every time it snorted a blast of fire shot from its nostrils.
"Bloody, buggering, bastard!" Ron cried as they fled the Spell eater's trap.
"This plan backfired spectacularly," said Harry, glancing over his shoulder at the charging bull beast.
The smooth stone floor was not conducive to running hooves, but the shadow did not possess normal hooves, more like cloven claws. It left gouges in the stone floor as it ran. In a straight line it would catch them soon enough.
"He's catching up. One of you needs to be ready to put him away."
"What're you gonna do?" Ron asked.
Harry smiled, turning mid-stride, "ETERNIUM SHIELD!"
Full of momentum, the bull smashed into the invincible shield, buckling under the weight of its own assault. Staggering back, it flopped to the ground, stunned, and Neville came around the shield, book in hand, already chanting.
His chant was cut short when the Spell eater slammed into his midsection, knocking the wind out of him.
"Neville!" Ron rushed to help, leaving Harry to deal with the quickly recovering bull.
No dumb beast, it tried to get around the shield, growing more frustrated as Harry kept moving it between them. They danced round and round for a time till Harry found himself pinned against a wall.
Harry cursed as the bull slammed and scraped against the shield to no avail. its presence however kept Harry from getting a good look or a clear shot.
"Have to risk it."
Waiting for the next slam, he banished the shield and dove out of the way as the bull smashed into the wall. Less than a moment to assess the situation found Ron had pulled the Sword of Gryffindor from its hiding place, wrapped in his invisibility cloak, and was trying, with great enthusiasm but little success, to put Dumbledore's advice into practice.
Neville was using the wall to get back on his feet, and that was all he got before the bull was back on him and he was dodging again.
The stone floor chipped under its deadly hooves, and the wall had certainly seen better days. One look at the bull revealed no significant damage, which told Harry all he needed to know. There'd be no destroying this one, it was capture or death.
"This wasn't meant for you," but he had no other choice. "BARRIER WEB!"
The giant web stretched, floor to ceiling and wall to wall, and it barely slowed the bull down. Glistening black horns tore through threads as strong as steel while claw like hooves pulled its massive bulk through the intricate barrier.
"ACRO WEB BOMB!"
A unique attack of the giant spiders, the sticky ball exploded in thick tendrils of clinging fibers, rooting the bull's hooves, and snagging its horns in flexible, adhesive webbing.
Furious at its imprisonment the bull tried to pull free, tossing its deadly head as it struggled and strained, but the webbing held, robbing it of momentum and force. The chains that wrapped around it were barely noted, raging to the final instant before it was pulled into the grimoire, leaving the sticky mess behind.
"One down," now for the one they came for.
The Spell eater, seeing the tables had turned, began maneuvering to make his escape.
"Ron! The wall!"
Throwing down the sword when the Spell eater made a break for it, "BARRIER WEB!"
The giant web rose up like a tape run in fast forward, catching the froggy magic vore mid-leap. It wasn't sticky web this one, but the web bomb he followed it up with was, and it worked like a charm, a sticking charm.
"Gotcha!" Ron crowed as the Spell eater struggled.
"Good job Ron," said Harry. "Neville, you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah I'll be fi—Harry? Harry look!"
The Web bomb covering the Spell eater was expanding; no, not the Web bomb, it was the Spell eater itself that was expanding, inflating like a balloon, tearing free of its prison and bringing down the Web barrier at the same time.
"Bloody Hell."
Like someone had shoved a hose into the nearest hole the Spell eater swelled till it towered over the three boys, a great froggy behemoth.
"HA, HA, HA," It croaked. "You think you can catch me."
"He talks," said Neville, shocked, or possibly concussed.
"Yeah, some of them do that," said Harry, less impressed. He'd seen it before. "Ron! Get the sword."
Scrambling for his discarded weapon, Ron snatched up the sword and charged. The girth of the toad wobbled as it chuckled. Rising up only to flop back down, distending like a ball, preempting Ron's thrust and sending him flying into Harry.
The Spell eater laughed at such buffoonery, so distracted by its mirth it never saw what stuck it in the behind.
"Nice job Nev," Ron shouted as he rolled off Harry.
The Spell eater didn't think so, violently shaking off the offending item and the man it was attached too.
"Nev, get out of there!"
Still a bit light in the head, Neville stumbled away from the undulating mass just before it bounced into the air, coming back down with a mighty WHOOMPH, knocking him off his feet and the sword across the floor.
"Harry, this isn't working!"
"I can see that."
"What are we gonna do?"
"Call in the big guns."
The dragon stared back from its page, taunting, daring him. It could take the Spell eater, there was no doubt about that, provided it could fit in the hall. He turned the page, looking up at the Spell eater.
"ANCIENT SERPENT PHANTOM!"
A violent wind exploded from the tome, lights flickered, and the giant spectral serpent erupted from the book, hovering over them like a long white dragon.
"You sure about this Harry—uh, Harry?"
But Harry didn't answer. His eyes glowed ghastly white, staring at the Spell eater. His mouth opened strangely, as though trying to distend. The serpent above moved with deliberate slowness; the Spell eater undulated nervously.
Then, it shrieked, and the serpent struck. At such a size the Spell eater could not move quickly, and the serpent easily wrapped its long powerful coils around the bloated toad. Not without its defenses, the Spell eater tried to expand itself again, shake the coils off, but the snake's spectral muscle was too strong. Bits of flab poked out between layers, but the serpent never faltered.
While this was happening, Ron was trying to get a response out of Harry with no luck. It was as though he and the serpent were of one mind, his muscles straining against some unseen force as hissing sounds emanated from his mouth.
"Oh, shit! Shit! Shit!"
"Ron, what's wrong?"
"It's Harry. I think he's possessed."
It wasn't like any possession he'd ever heard of but what else would he call it. Harry, the serpent, where was the line drawn. Staring between his friend and the harried Spell eater he honestly couldn't tell.
"What can we do?"
"Uh—uh, get the sword!"
"Then what?"
"Stab it! Stab it till—till something happens!"
Like all the best plans, it was practically idiot proof. The serpent paid no mind when Neville retrieved the sword and began frantically stabbing the Spell eater. Wrapped in coils the Spell eater could do nothing but squeal in protest, drawing the serpent's attention, and the attention of its teeth.
Latching on to its bloated throat the serpent shook and pulled while Neville continued to stab. The dual assault proved too much and with one final squeal, the Spell eater began to deflate.
"That's got him!"
Neville stumbled back at the release of air but was still close enough when the Spell eater crawled out of the crushing coils to halt his escape.
He didn't need to for long as a giant spider leapt on the weakened Spell eater and promptly webbed him to the floor where he struggled weakly, ultimately in vain.
"That your spider Ron?"
"Shut up, I'm trying not to notice it," said the arachnophobe. "Harry? Harry! It's over. We won. You can put the snake away now. Harry?"
"Harry!" Neville shouted. "Harry, can you hear us?"
His lack of reaction suggested he could not. Harry, like the serpent, with no enemy to fight had gone eerily still.
"Harry? Harry, come on mate, don't do this to me!"
There was a twitch, just a small one. The serpent moved, slithering back to its summoner and diving into the book. Harry came alive, gasping, trembling, his eyes no longer glowing.
"Harry! Oh, bloody hell! Are you alright?"
"Yeah! Yeah, I—I think so," he said, slowly getting himself under control.
"What happened?" said Neville.
"I—I don't know. It was—was like—I could see through its eyes, and I could feel it squeezing. It's like I was it."
"Wow."
"You think their all like that, the specters I mean?" said Ron.
"I don't know. But it'll be a long time before I do that again. Anyway, on to more important things."
The Spell eater shook as the three boys approached. Eyes of simmering rage stared down, a good slow boil, best way to cook a frog.
"What should we do with him?" Neville asked.
"I got an idea," said Ron, "Gimme that sword."
"Nooooooo!" the spell eater wailed. "No want to die. Pleeeeeeaaaase!"
"Tough cookies!" and he raised the sword.
"Waaaaiiiit! I can help you. I know things!"
"What could you possibly know?" Ron snarled.
"I know how to find He who opens the ways."
There was a certain smugness to the plea, a smugness Ron was not oblivious to. He lifted the sword despite the wailing shadows protests.
"Ron! Stop!"
He did, but under protest, "WHY! You know what he did to Hermione! He deserves this!"
He did deserve it, every fiber of his being knew it. But there was another part, a part he ignored perhaps a bit too often. A part that, in that moment, sounded very much like Hermione. 'You know what you need to do, now do it'.
"Wait."
He didn't want to. The sword shook in his hand. It took Harry putting himself between them to finally get the sword out of the air.
"Thank you! Thank you, thank you!" the spell eater sobbed.
"Don't thank me yet," said Harry through barely restrained violence. "Now tell me, how can we find him."
"I find him," the toad said. "He moves between the worlds, through the shadows. I smell his magic on both sides. I can find where he will be next. You no kill me, I show you."
Did he dare? Looking at Ron, he knew what he would say. Looking at Neville, he looked like that concussion was starting to get to him.
"Alright, you show us."
The spell eater nodded emphatically, straining against the webs, "You let me go."
"Let you go? I don't remember saying anything about that."