Chapter Twenty-Two!
23th of October 1994
Walking towards the hospital wing Minerva reflected on the past week, it had been strange. She'd never spent such a large amount of time with her Alpha, only ever visiting every other evening for an hour or two at most before leaving but over the last week she'd been with him every night.
On Monday she'd arrived to find him asleep in the common room and had curled up next to him. She'd woken to find him cleaning and grooming her, and after luxuriating in the pleasure and contentment his actions brought, had signalled her willingness to mate. The next hour had passed in a blur of pleasure as her Alpha had taken her until he'd collapsed next to her to doze, she'd cleaned herself as best she could before she'd curled up next to him again and proceeded to show her appreciation by cleaning him.
As she finished and settled down to sleep he'd shifted and rose, stretching before heading out of the common room. Previously every other time he left she'd let him and then made her way back to her quarters for the rest of the night, but wanting to find the owner of her Alpha she too stood and padded after him. He'd seemed a bit surprised that she was following him, looking back occasionally to check she was still there but he soon accepted her presence and proceeded to patrol around the school, stopping every once in a while to mark his territory.
Every time he stopped and sprayed his scent she found herself rubbing against whatever he'd just marked, covering herself in his musk. She felt herself becoming aroused again and by the end of his patrol he'd mated with her twice more. She had been quite surprised at the size of what he considered his and the reaction of any cats they came across. Any male cat fled upon seeing him, most he allowed to flee unhindered, simply continuing, but others - particularly those who hadn't be neutered - he chased and forced to submit, before allowing them to slink off. The reaction of the female cats was completely the opposite, all submitted to him as soon as he approached, and all offered him the chance to mate. Most he just covered in his scent as a show of dominance before moving on, but others he took and by the time he returned to the Gryffindor tower and settled back down to sleep, he'd mated, roughly, give or take one or two depending on the evening, six other queens excluding herself.
The rest of the week followed a similar pattern apart from Friday and Saturday. On Friday she had arrived early and her Alpha wasn't waiting anywhere within the Gryffindor common room so she had settled down to wait for him and had fallen asleep. She'd been woken by his frustrated bordering on angry growls at a brown female full-blooded Kneazle that was rubbing against him. As she watched she realized that the Kneazle was deliberately denying her Alpha the right to mate with her whilst at the same time provoking him by signalling her readiness. When her Alpha's patience finally snapped she understood the female Kneazle motive; she'd watched, memorized, as he brutally took the female with no regard for her at all, which only seemed to spur the female on. He'd fucked her repeatedly until the female Kneazle had collapsed on the floor, unable to move, his sperm leaking from her abused pussy and matting down the fur on her belly and hind legs. She'd walked over to him and done exactly the same thing, he hadn't had as much energy but she'd been left in a similar state two hours later before he staggered off to sleep.
Saturday she'd been sore and so hadn't gone to the Gryffindor common room, it hadn't mattered however as later that night she been woken by his rough tongue licking her pussy; once again in his Catboy form. She rolled onto her front, bringing her knees underneath her and raising her bum into the air, allowing her Catboy Alpha to have his way with her. She'd fallen asleep again content, the smell of sex strong in the air and the feeling of her Alpha's sperm leaking out of her onto her bed sheet satisfying beyond words.
Reaching the Hospital Wing she stood outside before taking a breath and opening the door. Looking about she was glad the room was empty, so there was no chance of word getting out. Selecting the bed nearest to Poppy's office she sat down and waited for her friend to arrive. Looking up as she heard Poppy's office door open, she once again calmed herself before asking, "So the father is unknown?"
"I'm sorry Minnie, no." She paused as she saw Minerva sag on the bed and then continued after she had collected herself, "You're child's father is Harry Potter"
Her stomach lurched with guilt before she asked, "You haven't made a mistake, maybe something went wrong?" Her thoughts raced, it couldn't be Harry, the father was a powerful male Kneazle, no ifs or buts, and he definitely wasn't one of her students. She hadn't been fucking Harry over the past week, she hadn't fucked him last night and her sheets defiantly weren't stained with his cum, which she certainly hadn't taken an immense amount of pleasure from rolling around in her Animagus form after she'd been awake enough to think too.
"I know it's a shock Minnie, but I've ran the test five times to make sure," Poppy said softly. She could understand why her friend was so worked up; she was carrying a student's child, and not any student either… "The father of your child is definitely Harry Potter."
Her brain seemed to freeze with the confirmation, before her thoughts restarted. Feeling rather surreal, the first thing that came to her mind was, 'Thank Merlin it was Sunday.' She knew that if it had of been a school day she would have cancelled her classes again, needing time to get her head around what she had just learnt. Taking a deep breath she started to think about what she would have to do, she would have to deal with the fact that she had been fucking Harry Potter for nearly two months and enjoying it. She woken up this morning with such a feeling of contentment but that had been replaced with the guilt of having sex with an underage student, and angry at Harry for not stopping. He may not have known who she was as a cat, but he'd fucked her as a human and hadn't said anything; like her ignorance was a game to him. On the other hand however, maybe he was like her; she didn't know if she could give him up, she enjoyed the sex, enjoyed it a lot and wanted to do it again, in either form. Sex was sex after all and she came hard and often when he mounted her.
"What are you planning to do Minnie?" Poppy asked, concerned.
"I don't know, I just don't know." Minerva sighed. "I know no one, and I mean no one, can learn of this, or at least not who the father is; not even Albus." Seeing the surprised look on Poppy's face she continued, "I don't trust him Poppy, after talking to Pot- I mean Harry," She sighed. If he was going to be the father of her child, she could at least could start calling him by his given name, even if he wasn't currently present. "After talking to Harry I have realized that Albus doesn't have his best intentions at heart. Should Albus learn that I'm carrying Harry's child, I fear he would try and control Harry through the baby, and who knows what others would do should they learn about me having the Boy-Who-Lived's child?"
Poppy couldn't help but agree with her friend, should the truth of the child's parentage become common knowledge she would be in danger from people trying to use the child, either to control Harry or simply to raise it as their own, Potter's were historically very powerful and/or lucky - although it tended to lean towards the two extremes - and people would be more than happy to get their hands on the baby. When Minerva told her that she didn't want Albus to know her first thought was to tell him herself, but as her friend reminded her about the many times she told the old Headmaster about the treatment Potter needed and that man had simply said he would deal with it and hadn't done anything. She was surprised that her friend started to call Potter Harry, but her reasoning for doing it was sound; being less formal with him would make it easier to get closer to him as a person. She got back to business as a thought occurred to her, "So when are you going to tell Mr. Potter that he's going to be a father?"
"I don't know Poppy," Minerva said with another heavy sigh, "How do you tell a fourteen year old boy, no man that he's going to be father, and that the mother is his professor?"
Poppy remained silent, she couldn't think of anything that would make the coming conversation any easier either.
28th of October 1994
It had been almost a week since he fucked Minerva and Harry was walking down to the forest to once again try and find Sara and spend some time with her. Over the last two months they had managed to spend very little time together, she was always watched, or secluded within the centaur village. In the brief moments they had managed to spend together he'd tired to bolster her flagging spirits, recently he'd tried talking her into leaving the centaur tribe and staying with the unicorn herd. In the time they weren't together he'd kept an eye on her as best he could as a Kneazle and had been trying to talk the unicorn herd into taking her, he had a feeling that there decision would depend upon whether he would become there protector or not.
Walking down to the forest his thoughts turned to what they always had been lately when he was alone, that he was fucking Minerva, and more importantly that he didn't seem to care that she was nearly seventy. Maybe it was because she looked like a hot thirty year old women, he didn't know but he'd recently noticed that they hadn't been having sex and that she hadn't been in the Gryffindor common room at night when he was. Maybe he was just missing her as he was been kept busy by his work and training, he had also been spend a fair bit of time practising Quidditch with the team he'd set up. His dedication to teamwork, and the fact that all the other members of the team were willing to put in as much time as him had made it possible to beat Marcus Belby's team by 150 points; the score being 450 to 300.
After the game his team had celebrated with a small party. There were only around ten of them, so it would have been more be appropriate to just call it a group of teenagers hanging out, but Harry still mingled with the girls he was interested in while they were having fun.
Thinking back to the Slytherin's he was surprised to note that they'd started to relax more, now that the whole group was together. He also wanted to think his team bonding had helped them grow more comfortable around each other but he wasn't holding his breath. It was during the get together that Harry met Blaise Zabini, who was, along with Harry's roommate Dean Thomas, one of the few black students attending Hogwarts and a friend of the three Slytherin girls. He was the last member of their circle of friends and they had invited him after Harry had made it clear that they could invite whoever they wanted, within reason, when he announced a possible celebration plan. He was a nice enough boy, and surprisingly social once he'd learnt that Harry wasn't as the rumours made him out to be. He did however have the strangest feeling around him though; the same feeling he'd gotten around a seventh year Hufflepuff girl he'd met briefly in his first year.
After talking with Blaise and the three Slytherin girls he'd moved onto Su Li. Their conversation was short, they usually were since she didn't speak often and anything she did say used the least amount of words or time possible. He thought she was a bit socially stunted and wasn't used to conversion in a group situation. He would see her normal blank look give way to one of mild confusion followed by frustration as she came across a social custom she wasn't knowledgeable of and faltered, he tried as best he could to help her and by the time he moved along to the next group of people he'd gotten a couple of what he thought were grateful smiles.
Whenever they weren't in the same conversation he could feel her eyes following him around the room, he'd glanced discreetly in her direction a couple of times during the night only to find her watching him intently. Susan and Hannah Abbott, the latter of whom had been invited almost immediately by the former, were a little harder to approach but thankfully he'd worked his way across the room already so it didn't come off that he'd just made his way straight for them. He was happy to note both the team's camaraderie improving and the presence of her friend seemed to give her a boost of confidence and make her more out spoken; she was still shy and uneasy around him, but noticeably less so then when the team had been formed. Their conversation lasted the longest and he got to know both girls better; Hannah more so then Susan as she was more outgoing than her friend.
Talking with Susan and Hannah he realised that he knew very little about them. It became apparent very quickly that Hannah was very nave, and this was reinforced by what had happened in his second year when her friend Ernie Macmillan had convinced her that he might be the Heir of Slytherin, despite her having always considering him to be a nice but quiet boy. Without the asshole, or other people to try and make her see things from their point of view, she was a nice enough person, even if he found her nave outlook quite unappealing and by the end of their conversion he'd decided that he couldn't trust her until he knew her better. He had however learnt a good deal when she talked about her life growing up in the Wizarding World without a father, how he'd died when she was young, and what she got up to during the holidays in Diagon Alley where her mother worked in a shop.
Susan was shy but as the three of them talked and after she'd drunk a couple of glasses of Firewhisky she opened up and started talking about herself and her life as well. She talked about her Aunt, and how she had managed to become the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, whilst at the same time looking after her. It had surprised Harry how gratefully Susan had been for being picked to be on his Quidditch team, Hannah however had filled in the blanks for him when she had staged whispered to him that she was willing to do anything he wanted her to, and it clicked in his head that she must have a crush on him. He saw Susan blush heavily and then give Hannah a pointed look for spilling her secret. He filed the information away for later before politely excusing himself so that Susan could give Hannah an earful about telling people things she shouldn't be.
He hadn't managed to talk to Ginny a lot during the party, she'd been dragged off by Ron not ten minutes into it but in the short space of time they'd managed to talk she'd started to behave almost normally around him. She was blushing almost constantly for the entire conversion but he'd been pleased when she had shyly started to flirt with him. Ron turning up had been a surprise, he'd been watching them like a hawk in the beginning as it wasn't as if he had a lot of hobbies to keep him occupied, but over the course of the weeks he'd been slacking off. Harry thought it was more to do with the Slytherin's presence that he'd bothered turning up and taking her away than it was a worry over Ginny's chastity.
Since there get together he'd talked to all the girls when he could, although with Su Li, it wasn't often. Most of his time was spent on his own training, and fucking Medusa, Luna and Hermione down in the Chamber whenever he had any free time. He was working himself harder than normal as he still felt constantly horny, if it continued much longer he was going to have to see someone about it. He just didn't know if it was something that he could talk to Madam Promfrey about, how would he brooch the subject that he was constantly randy? It was during this afternoons training that he decided to see Sara again; he had a feeling that something bad was going to happen and seeing her again would hopefully reassure him; the walk in the forest would also hopefully calm him down.
Walking towards the path he took into the forest and towards the Centaur village he paused when he spotted something small white and red laying on the edge. Staring intently at it he suddenly realized it was Tick Tock; Sara's Snow Rabbit, who by the looks of it, was hurt badly. Rushing towards him he skidded to halt next to him and checking him over. He was glad to find him still alive, even if he was bleeding from what looked like a stab wound on his leg.
Carefully picking Tock up and cradling him in his arms he ran to Hagrid's hut, knowing that he would know what to do with the injured rabbit. Even as injured as he was the rabbit was still weakly chattering and pointing towards the forest, where Harry assumed his attacker had ran to. The second he reached the door he started beating on it with his free arm. A few moments later Hagrid opened the door and gasped as he saw Tock, "Harry, is that Tock yeh've got there, what happened ter Sara?"
"I don't know," Harry said worriedly, "I saw Tock on the edge of the forest like this and bought him here so that you could heal him." He hurriedly handed Tock over to Hagrid and then began to run off into the forest.
"Harry, where do yeh think yer goin'?" Hagrid called.
"I'm off to see what happened to Sara!" Harry yelled over his shoulder and before Hagrid could do anything Harry was out of earshot and disappearing into the forest.
As Harry made his way deeper into the forest; he had a feeling Bane was the one who hurt Tock, and if he was willing to do that Harry feared what might have happened to Sara as she wouldn't have allowed him to harm her rabbit without a fight.
Harry didn't get very far into the wood before he heard shouting. "You WILL marry Tauren, it's for the best of this tribe. By marrying him we can at long last bring the two tribes together." Harry heard Bane's voice.
"But I don't even know him father, we've never even seen or talked to each other!" Harry heard Sara shout back at her father. "Why are you doing this now? It's because I'm getting closer to Harry and you fear I might pick him as my Mate?"
"You will not speak that name in front of me again!" Bane roared, "That human deserves nothing more than death. He is the Child of Chaos, he brings chaos to the very order we try to protect. Merely being in proximity of his often change one's fate dramatically."
"Maybe that's because he believes like me that people should make their own fate." Sara defended. "Something I agree with. The stars should be a guide and nothing more, if they say someone is going to die then we should at least try and stop it. If they meant to die, then nothing we can do will stop that person's death, but at least we can rest easy knowing we tried!"
"See what I mean?" Bane sneered. "He's already changed your beliefs, the beliefs that me and your mother raised you to uphold. That's why your marriage to Tauren has been arranged; you'll be moving to his forest so that you'll never see that human ever again. I've already taken steps to remove his connections to you."
"Father what have you done?" Sara asked worriedly.
"He stabbed Tock," Harry said loudly, deciding that he'd heard all he needed and it was time to show himself. "The bastard tried to kill the poor guy."
"Father, how could you!?" Sara demanded.
"It was a connection to this human, something I will not allow." Bane snarled. He turned to glare at Harry, "You have no place here human, leave now or you'll pay for interfering in things that don't concern you."
"Father!" Sara yelled, "Harry is my friend, you can't just stop me from seeing him."
"I can and I am." Bane said stubbornly, "You will marry Tauren, you will live with him, and you will never see this human again. And you, Child of Chaos, will leave this forest and never set foot here again for if you do you shall regret it."
"Listen here Mule, this isn't your forest and I can come and go wherever, whenever I please." Harry replied with a snarl of his own. "The Ministry of Magic allows you and the other creatures to live in this forest, as a sanctuary, somewhere you can be safe from people who want to hunt or hurt you all. You have no right to tell me that I'm not allowed inside." He paused as he considered what he was going to say next; it would change Sara's life. He could only hope she was happy with his announcement and wouldn't mind. "As for her marrying this Tauren, I challenge you to single combat, if you win I'll leave this forest and never return, never making any attempt to talk or see Sara ever again. If I win however I want Sara's hand in marriage." Before Bane could say anything Sara decided for him, happily announcing; "I would be more than happy to become your Mate Harry."
"Fine." Bane said with an angry huff, "But should you win, know that Sara shall be banished from this herd forever; never to return."
"Father…" Sara said quietly, taking a step back in shock at her Father's callous declaration.
"I won't have it any other way. That is my offer, take it or leave it." Bane said firmly, the fatherly part of him wanting to give her at least a chance to back out.
In the end Sara nodded tearfully, "I accept the conditions." She didn't like it, but she didn't want to marry Tauren, and was willing to do whatever it took so that it didn't happen. Not that becoming Harry's Mate was bad, she loved him, but she would have preferred to choose him in her own time.
Bane gritted his teeth and turned back to Harry. "The conditions have been set, out battle will begin immediately in the ceremonial arena." He turned and left, leaving Sara and Harry alone.
Leading Harry to the ceremonial arena Sara walked by his side and said, "Thank you for doing this Harry, I know this isn't something you would have wanted, but you saved me from who knows what. I want to tell you something; no matter what or how you feel about me, you should know that I love you. I know to you I'm eleven year old girl. But you as you know, Centaurs mature faster than humans and well…"
"You don't need to say more." Harry interrupted her gently. "I don't know if I love you but I do have strong feelings for you. Even if I didn't I would still fight for your freedom. Before we decide on anything, after this duel, we'll sit down and talk. There are many things we need to talk about." For the next few moments Harry and Sara walked in a contemplative silence before they entered ceremonial arena.
Harry was expecting something grand, some kind of massive ring shaped structure that could house every Centaur in the herd. What he got was an open area with a ring of jagged wooden planks that had a radius of maybe fifty yards sticking up out of the ground. Bane entered on one side of the ring with leather armour and barding with a spear held loosely in his hands. Harry felt a small hand grab his shoulder before he was turned around and a pair of lips crashed into his own. Sara backed away quickly, a blush covered her face, neck, and even a bit of her chest, which Harry could easily see since she still didn't wear any clothing.
"I'll be fine, don't worry." Harry told her firmly, staring into her eyes as his hand stroked her cheek. He lowered his voice to a whisper so that only she could hear and with a grin said, "I'll show your father what it means to mess with the Child of Chaos."
"I want to believe that but my father is one of the most skilled warriors in the village, and wizards aren't known for their physical prowess." She worried.
Harry felt his lips quirk into a half-smirk. "I'll have you know I like to set myself apart from as many stereotypes as I can." He leaned forward to kiss her again before he marched into the arena.
"As I'm the one being challenged I'll set the terms. Death is acceptable, and there shall be no wands within the arena for the length of the duel." Bane said smugly.
"You expect me to enter this battle unarmed, while you yourself are wearing armour and wielding a weapon you are no doubt skilled with? I never took you for a coward, mule." Harry replied loudly, handing his wand over to Sara none the less.
Bane growled as he saw the gathered Centaurs, word having spread around quickly about the challenge, whispering amongst themselves, none of the words Bane could hear were complimentary towards his attempt to gain the advantage. Throwing his spear to the ground and tugging at the ties that kept his armour in place he threw it out of the arena when it came loose. "Very well human, we shall battle with only our innate gifts." He snarled.
"Thanks, mule." Harry said with a smirk. His body started to morph as he walked, his bottom half blurring as it changed into a more equine shape with midnight coloured fur. His upper body changed very little, only a small golden horn sprouting from his forehead. Seeing the transformation Sara blushed and fidgeted in place when his clothes disappeared, leaving his muscular form on display. While it was normal for male Centaurs to have their bits clearly on display unless they were wearing barding, Sara still stared at the long thick cock as it swayed back and forth, licking her lips with lust. She wanted nothing more than have it inside her; but that would have to wait. As for the other Centaur, they taken aback at what they saw. They'd never seen a human being able to transform into a Centaur before. There were many whispers at his ability, wondering what was going on, and just as many angry mutterings at his ability.
"What is this?" Bane hissed in rage, "I said no magic human!"
"No, you said no wands," Harry said with a smirk, "This is one of my innate gifts."
Bane was angry and worried, he'd thought that even as skilled as he was with a spear; one of the best warriors in the village, he'd still have the upper hand without it, he was also the best unarmed fighter, although the gap between him and the next was significantly closer than it was with spears. Then the damnable human transformed himself into some kind of Centaur with a horn on his head. If he had to guess he would say the human had become a Unicorn Centaur. He thought he had a way to get his spear back so that he could defeat this human faster and show him that he shouldn't underestimate a Centaur again, but his own trick was used against him, only several fold more effectively. He didn't know what to expect, but he was still a warrior; trained since he was but a colt, a mere human wasn't going to beat him.
Bane was also angry as this human would dare to mock them by transforming into a mockery of their race: it made his blood boil. He would show him what a real Centaur could do. "How dare you mock us human," Bane said angrily, voicing his thoughts. "I'll show you what a true Centaur can do." Before another word could be uttered he reared up on his hind legs and brought his forelegs down onto Harry's chest.
Bane's forelegs hit nothing but air though, as the hybrid had already jumped backwards. "Is that all you can do, whine like a nervous foal?" Harry taunted, "If it is I can't see how you're the best of your Clan." He continued mocking Bane in the hope that by taunting him Bane would lose his ability to think about what is going on.
His taunts seemed to have no affect apart from making Bane even angrier, but instead of losing his cool it seem to spur him on. Harry barely avoided the punch that Bane threw at him and for the next few minutes the two of them traded punches, circling each other, each trying to gain the advantage.
Harry hated to admit it to himself but Bane was good, better than him at the moment in unarmed combat and with a surprising faint he managed to slip by him. Harry saw Bane's back legs tensing up for his next move and was glad for his quick reflexes and he skittered to the side; dodging a powerful kick aimed at his hind leg.
Harry realized that he couldn't win in unarmed combat, so pulling back he decided to use another one of his innate gifts and started to charge up a bit of magic in his horn. When he sensed that he had enough magic stored, he threw a bolt lightning from his horn at Bane, who had just recovered his balance from his last attack.
Bane, who hadn't suspect such an attack possible, was caught off guard and was barely able to dodge the magical lightning. Rather than being hit by the full force of the bolt it racked down his side, searing the flesh as the ribcage of his equine chest on the right side became visible under the burnt flesh.
One of the Centaurs that was watching, one of the ones that agreed with Bane about Harry bastardizing their form, threw a dagger in front of Bane to help his brother win against this Child of Chaos. Reaching down a snatching up the dagger Bane lunged at Harry. He wasn't very good with daggers, but they were simple enough to use and he got a lucky stab on his opponents shoulder.
Grunting as the dagger pierced his skin and plunged into his shoulder, causing the limb to hang limply, useless at his side, Harry reached forward with his other hand and pushed, a magic pulse that was a case of accidental magic blossoming from his palm. Bane went flying backwards with the sound of several ribs cracking filling the air. Knowing he had to finish the fight due to injured shoulder he once again charged his horn full of magic and sent a thinner, more tightly focused bolt of lightning towards Bane.
Recognizing the sound of the lightning slicing through the air Bane jerked upright and tried to roll away from it, but was still too slow to avoid it completely and took a similar wound to Harry; the bolt blasting through his shoulder, causing the arm to lie limp, the right side of his upper body sagging as he panted in pain.
Seeing the opportunity to end the fight Harry swapped forms; his upper body shrinking down into a unicorn's head, a midnight blue ethereal mane sprouting from the back of his head and neck that was in a constant state of motion, despite there being no wind in the forest. Raking a hoof against the ground Harry nostril's flared before he reared up on his hind legs. Bane looked up in alarm as Harry's fore hooves hit the ground with earthshaking force and he felt his eyes widen as he saw one and a half tons of muscle baring down on him. He quickly tried to think up a way to avoid being trampled, but his fear spiked as he saw Harry's horn, now even larger, start to glow almost blindingly; clearly being charged to skewer and fry him.
Seeing his leader about to die, the Centaur in charge of the fight stepped forward and said, "Stop. The challenger has won, Bane forfeits for using non-innate gifts." Looking at Bane he continued, "You accept the outcome?" Swallowing his pride and slowly standing as he looked at Harry's glowing horn as he tossed the dagger aside in disgust and said, "Yes, I concede defeat."
Harry's forms blurred back to human and he grabbed his left shoulder to stem the flow of blood from the wound. Taking a few deep breaths to calm his thundering heart he turned and left the arena. It was apparently tradition for no one but the contestants to enter as Sara was nervously pacing back and forth just outside the edge of the wooden stakes. The second he passed the gate he was almost knocked over by the significantly heavier body of Sara running into him. She hugged him tightly before she pulled back and quickly kissed him. Unlike their earlier kiss this one lasted much longer as Sara vented her left over worry.
The two's affection gained many looks from the gathered herd, but most dangerously of all was Bane's furious look. He knew better than doing something stupid in front of Harry so he walked up to them and pulled them apart as best he could with only one arm. "You've got enough time for that later human." Bane said with a sneer even thought he was being supported by two other Centaurs just to walk. "Let it be known that I'm not without heart, Sara you may stay a few days so you can say farewell to family and friends. I'll bring her to you at the start of the new week." Seeing Harry's worried look, Bane went on to say, albeit grudgingly, "Do not worry, you have won her hand and her safety for the allotted time, I will not hurt her."
"Fine, but if she come to harm I won't accept anything but your death." Harry warned Bane as Sara gave him his wand back. He cast a few healing charms on himself so that he wouldn't have to go to the school healer and have unwanted questions asked, moving the injured arm about and testing it after he was done. It wasn't perfect, but was good enough for now. Turning to Sara he said, "I'm sorry that it came down to this. I didn't want to break up your family or part you from your friends."
"I know you didn't Harry," Sara said with a sigh, "But this is something that had to happen to save me from marrying someone I didn't even know, and judging from my father requirements, most assuredly would not like. I'll see you after the weekend."
With a smile as he said, "Okay, I'll see you on Monday after classes." He kissed her forehead, then turning to Bane he said, "Just so you know Bane, until I can sort something out about her living arrangement, she'll be living in the forest."
"Fine, as long as she isn't near the herd and you sort out your affairs as fast as you can she can do what she likes." Bane snarled happily, finally free of the human, hopefully forever aside from one final meeting in a few days. "Now go…"
Saying their final goodbyes, Harry began to left the area walking back through the forest. He'd gone no more a couple of hundred meters when he doubted his decision to blindly trust Bane. The mule already Bane hadn't kept his word in the challenge, so why would he keep his word now? Worried about possible actions against Sara, he came to a decision. Turning into a Kneazle he raced back towards the Centaur village. He would watch Sara tonight to ensure she wasn't harmed, even if it was only to ensure he didn't worry.
o0OoO0o
Once Harry left, Sara walked up to her father and hugged him as he said, "Thank you father, for allowing me say goodbye to my -"
That was as far as she could get as Bane pushed her away from him, and sneered, "Do not call me father, you're no daughter of mine! You're nothing more than a human's pet and have no right to talk to me." Looking at the other Centaurs he commanded, "Chain her up."
"Father what's going on?" A confused and worried Sara said as she tried to fight off the other Centaurs were trying to put a chain around her neck. Shocked into silence as her father slapped her across the face and sneered once again as he said, "I told you not to call me father! If you need to talk to me call me Sir, you filthy Human Pet. As for what's going on, if you want to be that human's pet so much you're going to be treated as such."
Sara tried to fight and scream for help, but there were too many of them, one was able to gag her mouth as two others were able to being her down as one more put a chain around her neck and tied her hands behind her back. Once this was done Bane led the group quickly back to their village.
The village was in a huge clearing with dozens of wooden huts. A few Centaurs patrolled the borders; crossbows in hand and side weapon of their choice at the ready in case of an Acromanchula rush, or similar invader. Once they got to the village there was a lot of shouting as people saw Bane being supported on both sides and two Centaur. Healers came up to see to his wounds and as he was being healed one elder and one middle age women came running towards him. The first was an Elder of the tribe and Bane's father, Galvan, the other was Bane's mate, Remedy. Galvan was a hard faced man, his hair and fur greying from its previous rich brown colour. Remedy, despite her cheery name, was a shrewd looking woman that seemed to have started developing frown lines early due to holding her face in a stern expression for so long. Her hair had completely greyed, tied in a small bun, but her fur had stayed a light tan colour.
"Son, what happened to you?" Asked a worried Galvan, "Why does my Granddaughter have a chain around her neck and her hands bound?"
"A question I'm curious about as well, why is my daughter chained like an animal?" Remedy asked in a low tone.
"I had a run in with the Child of Chaos." Bane explained, hoping that what he was about to tell his mate would calm her down. "He challenged for the right to become Sara's Mate instead of Tauren, the term were if he lost he would never see or come near Sara again. Seeing that he was only a magical human, and like many humans had no real training in how to fight, I thought that I could beat him and so I instantly took the opportunity to do away with him and agreed to his challenge."
Galvan nodded at this logic, most magical humans never thought about getting stronger and learning to fight. So it should have been easy for his son to defeat one child. Somehow this Child of Chaos was able to defeat his son however. Yes, he knew that the Child of Chaos was powerful but powerful enough to best his son? Preposterous. His son was many things, arrogant at times due to his skills, but he was the best warrior the tribe had and shouldn't have had any difficulty defeating a human magic user.
Remedy stood in shock that her Mate had lost, Child of Chaos or not, Bane was one of the best fighters their tribe had. She was however happy that her daughter had found a Mate that she loved, and that the choice would be forced upon her like Bane was trying and like she had been with Bane. If it meant being with a human then so be it, as long as Sara loved him and was loved in return. Unlike most of the Centaurs in the tribe she didn't hate or distrust humans - well she did distrust them a bit, but they brought that on themselves for the way they'd treated them over the last few years - but she knew like a few others that not all humans were that bad. Knowing how Bane was - which was the cause of her frown lines - and how he was acting meant he'd lost, which she was happy about. She didn't like Tauren, he was twice the age of her daughter and she was worried what Tauren would force Sara to do. Tauren was just like Bane, and if he felt if he could get away with it he would do whatever made him happy; forcing her daughter to bed him because they were Mates was well within the realm of possibilities. Bane didn't seem to care though, all he cared about was Sara being away from the Child of Chaos and the alliance between the tribes. That was irrelevant though, right now she needed to get to the bottom of why her daughter was chained and bound.
So she listened in as Bane said, "However, he was somehow able to defeat me by transforming into a black unicorn with a golden horn, which he was able to alter into a partial transformation to mimic our noble race, except in this form he had a horn on his head."
"Are you sure it was a black unicorn with a golden horn?" Galvan asked worriedly, "And was he able to control lightning?"
"Yes, Elder. His grasp of the element is why I am as injured as I am." Bane grimaced.
"This isn't good," The Elder said after a few moments of contemplative silence, "If I'm right then the Child of Chaos can become a Battle Unicorn. Or a Guardian Unicorn, you could say, to the other Unicorns. You're lucky that you're alive, should he have known that we have not been doing our duty to look after the herd he would have surely killed you. In the future we should all be careful, especially if he starts to talk with the unicorns."
"Either way," said Remedy, "Why is our daughter restrained, what did she do to deserve this treatment?"
"Part of the deal was that should I lose, she would be banished from our tribe," said Bane.
"WHAT!" Remedy shouted angrily, "Bane, this is our daughter! How could you do such a thing?"
"She is no daughter of mine." Bane sneered, "I'll have no daughter or son of mine interacting with a human. It's bad enough she seems to love him, but to kiss him in front of me so blatantly? That was the last straw. I'll not have any Centaur acting like a Pet to human, not even my own daughter. If she wants to act like a Pet, she'll be treated as such. So she'll be banished from this tribe and be marked not only with the Banishment Mark, but also with the Mark of Ownership to show that she's Potter's Pet." Many of the gathered Centaur gasped at his declaration, Remedy one of the loudest. The Banishment Mark was a running horse crossed through with twin lighten bolts, the last time it was used was over two hundred years ago, no-one is sure why it was used, just that it was the traditional mark of a banished Centaur. As for the Ownership Mark, the mark itself depended on the owner, but it always had a horse with a chain around its neck so that it could be recognised. The last time it was used on a Centaur was over five hundred years ago, when wizards could enslave a Centaur. To have a Banishment Mark was bad enough, as no other Centaur tribe would allow her entry, but to have an Ownership Mark was even worse, as she would be considered no more a Pet; to be used as the owner of the mark saw fit. Sara would be known as nothing more than a sex toy.
"Please Bane, don't do this to our daughter." Remedy begged, "Just banish her, don't mark her, allow her to join another tribe if she wants."
"I told you Remedy, she is no daughter of mine." Bane said stubbornly, "She isn't your daughter anymore either. This is to show others who decide to side with humans what will happen to them."
"My son as the Chieftain of this tribe this is your right to do so," Galvan interrupted, "But as the Elder of this tribe it is my place to advice you. I strongly advise against this. Banish her if you must, that is the right thing to do but do not Mark her. The Child of Chaos will not like this and might very well seek retribution on the whole tribe. Remember, we named him the Child of Chaos not only because being around him alters a person's fate, but because he is powerful. Up until now I haven't known just how powerful, but now that it's revealed he has the ability to become a Battle Unicorn he must be very powerful. It would be wise not to do anything to upset him."
"I understand that father," Bane said, having no intention of listening to his father, "But he is only one man, a colt even, and we are many. Should he decide to attack us we will simply over power him with numbers and defeat him. This must happen father, to show we won't allow such things. What do you think the other tribes might think if we didn't do something about this?" Galvan nodded in understanding before Bane went on to say, "If Sara wants to be a Pet for this Child of Chaos she'll need a saddle for him to ride on, I want you to make one for her. I want it to have his Ownership Mark on it too." He paused as he thought about what the Mark should take the form of, Bane decided on, "I want his mark to be a chained horse crossed through with two lightning bolts. Xenan!" Bane called. A Centaur with white fur on his lower body with a bulky human half and brown hair stepped forth, "I want you to being me the banishment brand and I want you to make the Child of Chaos ownership brand, you have a couple of hours to make it, I want to brand her by the end of the day."
"Yes Chieftain." Xenan said dutifully as went off to get the Banishment Brand to give to Bane.
o0OoO0o
Harry had arrived at the centaur village to see Sara in chain's being pulled into Bane's hut. He cursed internally knowing that nothing good was going to come of this. He knew that getting in would be easy, but getting Sara out would be where difficulties would crop up. Thinking his options over Harry decided to wait, it was getting dark and the other Centaur would be going off to eat soon. There would be less moving about, less of a chance of anyone being able to see a disillusioned Sara, and less of a chance of her bumping into. So he settled on a branch that over looked the hut Sara was in and waited.
Xenan returned not ten minutes later, Banishment Brand in hand, and entered the hut. Giving it to Bane he left as Bane placed it into a hot fire that was nearby. After a few minutes, with Remedy still pleading with Bane to stop, he pulled the Brand out of the fire and stood in front of his former daughter. "Sara, you are hence forth banished from this tribe, never to talk to another from this tribe or seek entrance into another tribe." As he said this he firmly pressed hot Brand onto her left breast. If she hadn't had the gag in her mouth, she would have screamed in pain, but all she could do was bite down and bear with the pain, a muffled yell still making its way past the gag. "Until I give you to your new owner, you are forbidden to interact with anyone here." Looking at his Mate he said, "You have an hour or two to talk and then she'll take the Ownership Brand, don't think about trying to help her leave, there will be someone guarding the door." Before dropping the brand on the ground and leaving his Mate alone with his former daughter.
As everyone cleared out, not wanting to talk to Sara, Remedy removed the chains and rope from her. After she made sure her daughter was as comfortable as possible she started crying, only in private showing her tears. "I'm sorry my love, I wish that I could have done something to stop all this."
"I… I do-don't blame you m-mother," Sara stuttered in pain. Her hands twitched, wanting to press into her wound, but held them at her side as she knew it would only hurt more. "It was all father's doing. He and the other can't understand that times have changed and that not all humans are b…" She stiffened as the door was pushed open before gasping in surprise as Harry entered through the door a finger held over his lips.
Looking around the hut Harry couldn't help but frown as he saw a centaur tending an obviously injured Sara. He started to raise his wand to stun the unknown Centaur before his realised it was Remedy, Sara's mother. He walked quickly over to Sara. Seeing the large welts appearing on her breast he raised his wand and waved it over them, "What have they done to you?" Harry asked softly as he touched her face.
Turning her head away she replied simply, "Banishment Brand." Turning her face to his again with a gentle hand on her cheek he kissed her lips softly before casting a numbing charm on her breast, "I don't know how to heal this. When we get out of here we'll find someone that does, okay?"
"Okay Harry." She suddenly looked hesitant. "Harry, my mother…"
Turning to face the centaur who'd been caring for Sara he stared at her for several seconds before he finally asked, "Do you want to come with us? I could stun you if not so Bane can't punish you."
Remedy turned to face Harry, a thankful look on her face, "Thank you, yes, I want to come with. I don't want to be a part of a herd that would banish my daughter." Harry started to raise his wand to cast the proper hiding spells, but stopped as Remedy suddenly said, "Brand me." Causing him to blink in surprise. He heard Sara gasp beside him, clearly just as taken off guard. "Mother?" She said about the same time Harry blurted, "What?!"
"Brand me, it's the only why Bane won't try and force me to return. Please, I want to be with my daughter." Remedy said as she went over a picked up the discarded brand, placing it back into the fire. "Are you sure?" Harry asked, still confused. Seeing her nod he cast a Numbing Charm on Remedy breast before picking up the brand and pushing it into her breast in the same area Sara's was on her body.
Dropping it back onto the floor he conjured a length of rope before tying it around himself, then Sara and finally her mother. "I'm going to make us and the rope mostly invisible, in this light and if we're quiet we should be able to get out of here easily." He explained.
Casting the Disillusionment spell he opened the door slowly and, after checking to make sure the coast was clear, slowly made their way out of the village. Once they were in the tree's a good ways from the village he cancelled the spell and untied the rope. "Come on, I know a place you two can stay for as long as you need." Harry said before leading them deeper into the forest.
After several minutes Sara finally spoke up, her tone nervous as she knew where they were heading. "Harry, are you sure you know where you're going? This was leads to one of the Acromanchula nests…"
Harry turned to look and her and smiled confidently, "Don't worry, just trust me. I'll keep you safe."
Sara found herself smiling back, feeling more confident as she placed her trust in her new mate.
It wasn't long after that when the three reached the remains of the Acromachula nest. One of the exits of the Chamber of Secrets lead to the Forbidden Forest, but the Acromanchula's had taken over the shallow cave the entrance was in. Luckily for Harry, now that Medusa was more active and needed the energy, she was motivated to hunt for more food, and she had a particular craving for spider one afternoon. So, contrary to Sara and Remedy's fears - more of the later after Sara's question to Harry - they entered the emptied cave and slipped into the tunnel leading to the Chamber of Secrets unmolested.
TO BE CONTINUED!
Authors Note: Here ends another chapter of this story, I hope you like this and how the story is going so far. Now if you liked it, (and even if you didn't) please spare a few more minutes and let me know what you think and any ideas you might have. It's thanks to you all that I can write this story, as without your thoughts or ideas I wouldn't be able to do this much.
As for Blaise Zabini, I'm just going to smile mischievously and remain silent, I know what many of you wanted, but I've got plans for Blaise. And I hope you like them when they come about.
Poll: When I finish Animagus Mishap, which will be at the end of his fourth year, what story should I work on next? Pick two…
Harry Potter: The Soul Reaper! Perverted Aunt! HP the Slaves 'Betrayal' Rewrite! The Demon Lord! Harry Potter: A Dark Lord in Training! Maw of the Basilisk! Hermione the House-Elf!.