HARRY

Suspicion had become almost a regular occurrence in Harry's life. It had, after all, led to his retrieval of the Philosopher's Stone in his first year — as well as several other successes at Hogwarts so far. As his professors liked to say, an insatiable curiosity was a good thing; and what was the difference, really, between that and suspicion?

Still, what caused Harry to want to see where Percy was going wasn't what he considered suspicion. The transfer student was clearly a good person — at least, that was how he had come across over the past month, and his impudence towards Snape had only gained him respect and favour in Harry's eyes. No, Harry would call the impulse just that, or curiosity at a… milder level.

After what Hagrid told them about Aragog, or more specifically the mood his colony was in, Harry wasn't very inclined to venture into the Forbidden Forest. But Percy was obviously not going to the library, and Harry felt a sudden nagging feeling that something important was about to happen. So after hurriedly comforting Hagrid and reassuring him that Aragog would be alright and that they really had missed him (Professor Grubbly-Plank had been downright dreadful, according to Hermione), the three ducked under the well-worn Invisibility cloak and kept about ten metres behind Percy as they followed his footsteps.

Hermione shot him an anxious look when the transfer walked briskly towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest, but Harry ignored her and set his gaze ahead. Much of his attention was focused on keeping all three of them under the cloak, a difficult task; they had grown considerably since their first year and Ron's ankles now stuck out if they weren't careful.

Without the sun reaching through the thick, silent treetops, the forest was cold and dark. Beside him, Ron shivered, looking around apprehensively from beneath the translucent silvery fabric of the cloak. Percy seemed to be doing the same ahead of them, looking around warily every so often as if aware that he was being followed.

The atmosphere was tense and very still. Harry, not quite knowing why, held his breath.

Ron suddenly nudged him. Harry looked at him, wide-eyed, sure that he had spotted something disturbing — a dead creature, perhaps, or Voldemort himself waiting for them, with slit-like red pupils and ghostly pale skin. It was a fair guess, by his panicked expression.

But then Ron's nose began to quiver, and Harry's stomach dropped. He clapped a hand over Ron's mouth just in time to stifle the sneeze that followed; within the soft confines of the Invisibility cloak, the noise sounded deafening. Hermione looked over at them, appalled.

Percy had spun around, facing them, and Harry saw his eyes move over the landscape, looking for something out of place. He held his breath and stayed very still. At last Percy only scowled and continued moving forward, hand in the pocket of his robes where his wand was, much to Harry's relief.

Silently, Hermione tugged them over to the side. They had no choice to follow, or risk being exposed. What? Ron mouthed, expression a strange combination of sheepishness and irritation, probably at himself.

"I thought I saw…" Hermione whispered under her breath, so quietly Harry had to strain to hear her. She squinted into the darkness between the trees to their right.

He peered in the same direction, but saw only black space. "There's nothing there," he muttered back, still trying to locate something unusual. "C'mon, we'll lose Percy."

"No, wait," Ron mumbled, face so pale that his freckles looked white, "I think I saw something move. We shouldn't have come, let's go back to Hagrid's hut…"

But Hermione only pulled them forward seemingly fearlessly, and they found themselves in a clearing surrounded on all sides by colossal trees. Harry could hear a stream trickling slowly somewhere at the edge of the clearing, but everything else was silent, and he stared into the grey fog, disoriented. He was beginning to think that this had been a bad idea.

"What is it?" Asked Harry in a low voice, no longer caring to whisper. His words seemed to thin out and dissipate in the still air.

Hermione tugged and the cloak fell to the ground. She looked around with narrowed eyes. "I really thought I saw a… a strange shadow move," she murmured. "It looked like…"

Just then, there was a loud crack, not unlike the sound of Apparition. Except it sounded more like a branch cracking, having been stepped upon by some huge beast or centaur, glaring at the intruders in the forest…

Harry clutched his wand in tight fingers. "Ron's right. We shouldn't be here."

Hermione gripped her own wand, which was now pointed outwards threateningly. "Show yourself!" She called tremulously.

Nothing happened. The three looked around wildly, waiting for creatures to pounce on them menacingly, but none came.

Hermione was unconvinced. "R — revelio," she said, waving her wand at the trees.

The forest stayed still and unmoving, the shapes of the thick grey trees towering ominously above them. Harry stowed away his wand, an attempt to reassure himself that there was no need for it.

Ron laughed nervously — and then the beast emerged.

There was a shudder in the woods, as if the tree roots themselves were taking in a heaving breath in anticipation, and the shadows consolidated; like some great and terrible nightmare a beast detached itself from the darkness, shaggy fur coat matted, crimson eyes burning. It prowled forward long enough for a second one to become visible behind it, then a third, all black and red and gleaming white, huger and more terrifying than a hundred dementors gliding out from behind the transparent moonlit clouds.

There was no warning. A low growl that might have been mistaken for the trembling anticipation before an earthquake filled the clearing and the first beast pounced with the easy grace of something much lighter, eyes red and bright as Fiendfyre.

Hermione's scream was piercing, shrill and horrified — and Harry couldn't blame her. He might have done the same had he not been completely frozen to the spot as if hit with a Full Body-Bind curse. Ron, meanwhile, might have been a ghost.

Right before the beast would have killed him, however, Harry raised his wand and shouted the first curse that came to his mind: "Confringo!" The beast blew up, not in gruesome chunks of blood and meat as Harry had expected, but in a fountain of yellow dust.

Seemingly encouraged by Harry's actions, Hermione and Ron both raised their wands as well, pointing them shakily into the darkness. Together, they fired spell after spell at whatever pair of glinting red eyes appeared. Harry felt a surge of excitement, feeling as if he was at last where he belonged: beside his friends, fighting to the end.

But the rush of adrenaline faded quickly; these were beasts unlike anything Harry had ever faced before, and most simply shook off the spell and got up after a moment. If anything, the jinxes only angered them. Finally, a beast came that he wasn't prepared for, and his wand slipped out of his grasp.

Harry shut his eyes tightly, sure that he was dead. This was it, then, the hope of the wizarding kind not killed in an epic duel with the Dark Lord himself, but devoured by some obscure monster of the Forbidden Forest. How pathetic — and the fact that it had been his idea that got them into this situation was only salt in the wound. In his mortification, he could only hope that their bodies would not be found for a long while.

The beast was close. Harry could feel its hot breath; could imagine a dangling thread of saliva hanging from its mouth; could picture the light glancing wickedly off its fangs. He braced himself, prepared for the blinding grip of pain that would come from its teeth in his side before the welcome oblivion and total blackness of Death itself, hoping desperately that someone, Neville, Luna, Dumbledore, anyone, would find the strength to fight Voldemort without him and win the war. One more second now and the beast would be upon him… two… three…

But the blow never came. Harry heard the beast howl and fall away from him, the metallic sound of something swishing through the air, and after a moment dared to open his eyes.

The sight in front of him was laughably impossible.

There was a boy in Gryffindor robes, wielding a gleaming bronze sword — since when did wizards have swords? — and the remaining two beasts were shrinking back into the shadows, yipping and snarling. One slashed its claws at the boy's face, but he dodged it easily. His blade flashed through the air and the beast disintegrated, in its place floating harmless gold dust. The other slinked backward, growling, before pouncing. But the boy remained unfazed, rolling quickly out of the way and coming up to stab the beast in the side; like the previous one, it crumbled into gold dust.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared in open awe. There was silence for a while, broken only by the boy's quiet panting as he caught his breath. He mumbled something under his breath that sounded vaguely like "so out of practice" before straightening. They stared at each other for a moment before the boy's eyes widened suddenly. Faster than Harry could process, the boy's sword was spinning through the air like a javelin right at their heads. He froze in fear. Hermione shrieked.

But the sword embedded itself with a solid thunk in something right next to Hermione's ear, and the monster that had been leering over her head exploded into dust. Harry gaped, at a loss for words.

Who was this boy?

The boy, oblivious, touched something to the tip of his sword (hadn't he thrown that?) and it disappeared. He wiped the side of his face with his sleeve and finally turned to face them, grinning sheepishly.

"Oops," said Percy Jackson.

Agh, so sorry for the late update and the short chapter! I just couldn't resist ending it like that :)

Thank you to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed. Hope you all are staying well!

unfinished . nocturne