Breaking the Window

Chapter 44: Creature in the forest

Hermione was still a bit rosy from her adventure with Bellatrix in the shower. Decadent as it was to make love in the middle of the day, when they were done it was almost time for dinner. In truth, Bellatrix and Hermione usually ate at the tables of their perspective houses unless they decided to withdraw to either their room or another private spot. Today, however, Hermione found that she was even less welcome than general. The moment the young witch sat down, two of the Gryffindors seated near her picked up their plates and walked off without saying so much of a word.

Hermione sighed. The reasons for her other house members disliking her were myriad: a lot of them actually believed the lies printed about her in the papers, for starters. Then there was the thing about the inter-house relationship with someone from Slytherin, which had always been a bit of a taboo. It also didn't help that said Slytherin was both world famous and the reason that the Gryffindor Quidditch team had been utterly trounced that day. Granted, it wasn't all of them, as some of her fellow Gryffindors shot her apologetic smiles.

But she couldn't deny that it was rather hurtful that all her actions and sacrifices before and during the war had been so swiftly forgotten.

"Hermione!" sounded from behind her. She turned around and saw Vicky Montesque waving at her from the Slytherin table. Bellatrix was seated next to her, along with the rest of the Slytherin team gathered around them. "Come sit with us!"

Hermione chuckled briefly. What was this world coming to that a Gryffindor muggle-born was invited to sit among the Slytherins? It seemed like the Slytherins were adapting and evolving, while her own fellows were remaining well in the past. She knew that picking up her tray and going to sit with them would make her own house potentially hate her even more, but she was so far beyond caring at this point that it wasn't even funny. Without saying a word, she picked up her tray and drink, stood up from the table and headed to the Slytherin table where she was actually welcomed.

Hermione made no illusions: she was liked because of association, but she still gladly took it. She patted Zipper, who was sat in the middle of the table with his head dipped above a bowl of sugar-water. In fact, a lot of the Slytherins had been feeding Zipper sugary things to a point that Hermione worried he might get so heavy at some point that he wouldn't be able to take off anymore.

She chatted with the Slytherins and enjoyed their camaraderie. Vicky in particular. Vicky was a diminutive ash-blonde seventh year with a singular talent for understanding ancient runes and ancient magic and was top of her class at Study of Ancient Runes. She was also a natural leader with great organisational skills. Hermione remember that, during the Battle of Hogwarts, it was Vicky whom had led a group of the younger students. These courageous youngsters obviously never saw combat, but were acting as support by doing things like running messages around the castle, moving supplies or helping out in the infirmary so the actual fighters could focus on their own tasks. After the war, Vicky had stuck to the role.

So far, Hermione was quite enjoying the camaraderie just as much as Bellatrix enjoyed telling tales of their exploits. The younger ones were wide-eyed while Bellatrix was rather animatedly weaving a tale about the Fae Realm when Hermione was suddenly aware that someone was standing right next to her. Looking up and to her side, she almost groaned when she saw who it was.

Cormac McLaggen, looking to be furious while regarding Trix. "You," he hissed. "You've humiliated me!"

Bellatrix, in the middle of her story, had just gotten around to getting her arm stuck in the belly of a giant toad and was too busy weaving the tale to notice.

"Hey!" Cormac repeated. "You've humiliated me!"

Bellatrix frowned, annoyed at being disturbed. "Is this twat-womble trying to speak to me?" she asked nobody in particular.

Hermione let out a chortle: Bellatrix had picked up one word from her dad to integrate into her vocabulary and, of course, it had to be that one.

Cormac ground his teeth. "Yes, he is, in fact! Cormac McLaggen! Chaser of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. My family happens to be big in the Ministry."

"Oh," said Bellatrix before turning back to the Slytherins. "So, as I was saying, Hermione was trying to free my arm while the toad was just sat there, basically being a great big giant toad. We…"

"EXCUSE ME!" Cormac shouted. "I'm trying to tell you you've humiliated me!"

Bellatrix glared, slamming her fist on the table. "I don't even know who you are!" she hissed. "Now fuck off back to your own table. Hermione is here on invitation. You are not. Now… where were we?"

"The toad had you by the arm," Kenneth helpfully interjected.

"Ah, yes," said Bellatrix. "So both Hermione and Zipper were trying to get the toad to…"

"Don't ignore me!" Cormac tried again.

Slowly. Very slowly, Bellatrix glared at him again. She remained silent when she rose out of her chair and slammed both her fists on the wooden table. "Trix," Hermione whispered. "Don't. Just don't. He's not worth getting detention over."

"I challenge you," said Cormac. "You. Me. Tomorrow at the duelling hall. No brooms, just magic."

Bellatrix raised an eyebrow. "You are challenging me? Me?"

Vicky chuckled for a moment. "McLaggen, you do realise just who you're challenging to a duel here. Bellatrix Black. Duelling champion and coined the brightest witch of her age."

"Yeah," Cormac rolled his eyes. "In 1968."

Hermione shook her head. "Cormac, just drop it. This is foolish nonsense. And don't for a moment forget that I know that you lied to journos that I slept with you!"

Though the accusation was met with disbelief from the students gathered, it was Bellatrix who got even more enraged. "He did what?!"

"Well," Cormac crossed his arms and shook his head dismissively. "Granger, you know it would have happened eventually. You're clever and pretty, I am strong and my family…"

"… is big in the Ministry, you were going to say?" said the plucky young Kenneth. "That's not exactly a plus for her right now, mate."

Hermione found that she was starting to like young Kenneth quite a lot.

"Hah," Bellatrix smirked. "You say it would have happened eventually, yet Hermione sleeps in my bed every night, in my embrace."

"Trix, please!" Hermione hissed.

Cormac snorted. "I'll make you a deal, then. The winner of tomorrow's duel will also win the exclusive rights to court Hermione."

"What?!" Hermione exclaimed.

Bellatrix didn't miss a beat. "You're on!"

"WHAT?!" Hermione exclaimed again. Before Hermione could protest further, Bellatrix and Cormac had shaken hands to seal the deal. Apparently satisfied with his upcoming victory, Cormac returned to his own table while Hermione was left to stare at her girlfriend. "I… I don't believe you!" Hermione blinked.

"Relax," Bellatrix shrugged before taking a bite from her chicken leg. "I won't lose to that twat-womble. He's a blowhard, he doesn't stand a chance."

Hermione pursed her lips. "That's besides the point! I decide whom gets to to court me. Not him. Not you. And certainly not some stupid wand-measuring duel! Even if you win, it won't be the end of it! He'll just claim you cheated and we'll be right back where we've started."

"If I may," Vicky interjected. "I have full confidence that Bellatrix can defeat that… twat-womble… with her wand-hand tied behind her back. I suggest we ask professor Flitwick to judge the competition and declare the winner during a duelling club session. Nobody would question his judgment."

"Good idea," said Bellatrix, causing Hermione to sigh.

"There's no talking you out of this, hm?"

"None whatsoever," said Bellatrix reaching over to grasp her hand. "I'm duelling that gormless twat-womble for your honour tomorrow, like it or not."

Hermione couldn't help but smile when Bellatrix squeezed her hand slightly. Perhaps it was good that Cormac be taught a lesson and, who knew, there might even be a chance of a miracle taking place and Cormac leaving her alone for a bit. As for Bellatrix fighting a duel in her honour and to secure the right to court her? It was unnecessary, puerile and foolish.

And oh so romantic that it made Hermione's heart go a-flutter.

"So, the toad!" Kenneth pressed.

"Ah, yes, now that the twat is gone, I can hopefully finally finish that story about that giant toad," Bellatrix said.

At it turned out, Bellatrix very much could finish the story as well as several others while dinner was being served. In fact, Hermione sat with Bellatrix and the other Slytherins after dessert had long been finished. As per usual, half of the student body was still sat at the tables before heading back to their own dorms. Hermione was about to excuse herself to go back to the guestroom, hoping to leave Bellatrix at the table for an hour or two so she could get some assignments done.

This was not out of malice. Past weeks, Bellatrix had made it a bit of a sport to distract Hermione from her schoolwork through chat, games, just generally being very loud or interactions of a more, ahum, physical nature. She was about to excuse herself when a young Hufflepuff she didn't recognise came running into the Great Hall.

"Everybody!" the young man shouted. "You've got to come see this! It's… Just come see!"

Hermione and the Slytherins shared a look before following the young man out into the courtyard. At the parapets overlooking the lakeside, a sizable group of students had gathered. When Hermione and her friends joined them, they could see why.

At the shores of the lake, nearest to the bottom of the castle wall, was a large group of beaked horse-like creatures. The herd, much larger than the one they had encountered in the Fae Realm, was calmly sauntering through the shallow water, often dipping their beaks into the water to filter out the nutrients or dig through the silt.

"Borses!" Bellatrix shouted out. "Looks like they made it out fine!"

Indeed, the borses seemed to be doing well. As with many of the new species suddenly appearing, Hermione and Bellatrix had always been credited for the discovery. The same would happen here. This was actually the first time borses had been spotted in the UK. And that raised quite a few questions. "Why are they here all of a sudden?" Hermione asked.

The borses themselves weren't bothered in the slightest by the humans gawking at them. Foals were merrily running around through the water while the rest of the herd were more quiet and reserved. Certainly, the borses were not bothered in the slightest by any of the humans, but many of the elder borses were aiming wary glances to the tree line of the Forbidden Forest.

Rubeus Hagrid was making his way through the Forbidden Forest with Fang by his side. Though it was still technically daytime, the canopy of this part of the Forbidden Forest was so thick that it always seemed like the dead of night.

Hagrid checked his pocket-watch and found it to be close to dusk. He'd have to head back soon because it would be even darker soon. Holding out his lantern, he sighed heavily. "I donnae get it, lad," he told Fang. "We should'ave run in ta them by now."

By 'them', Hagrid meant the centaurs. He knew that centaurs were a capricious lot on the best of days, but he had been putting in a lot of efforts to repair relations with the colony of centaurs. Now, Hagrid would be the first person to say that he had said some things he shouldn't have after he thought that Harry had been killed during those final days of the Second Wizarding War in 1998, but at least some of the centaurs had been willing to admit that there'd been faults on both sides.

"Things were gettin' better, Fang," Hagrid told his hound as they stepped through the thick underbrush. "I donnae get why…"

Hagrid stopped dead in his tracks while Fang started barking. A few meters ahead of them, barely visible in the dark, a hoof was sticking out of the underbrush at a decidedly odd angle. He had never seen a Centaur sleep, but he was reasonably certain they either slept standing up or lying on their sides just like regular horses. Neither position allowed for one leg to be at a roughly forty-five degree angle, however.

Hagrid frowned while Fang started growling loudly. Slowly, the half-giant started to approach the leg. "Oi," he started. "Ye alright, mate?"

Now upon it, he reached down to touch the leg only to have it slide down from whatever perch it was on and revealed to have been severed violently above the knee with chucks of torn, bloody flesh and shattered bone still sticking out of the wound.

"MERLIN-FUCK!" Hagrid exclaimed and took an involuntary step back after his heart leapt into his throat. Fang growled and put his nose the ground, barking in the direction of what seemed to be a trail of blood among the forest soil.

With his heart still pounding in his chest, Hagrid followed the trail of blood until he came upon a large open clearing, not far from the usual meeting place. When his eyes adjusted to the suddenly clarity of waning daylight, he let out a startled gasp and let his lantern fall to the ground where it shattered a thousand pieces.

What he laid his eyes upon was nothing less than a slaughter. The smell of copper was rife in the air as the clearing was bathed in blood. Before him lay the mutilated corpses of at least a dozen centaurs. Some looked torn apart or bisected, missing limbs or having internal organs strewn about. Some bodies looked to be partially eaten. From the amount of broken branches and displaced earth and stone, a large struggle had taken place here. A struggle which the centaurs, fierce warriors, had decidedly lost.

Though Hagrid was no stranger to death, this grisly scene he stood amongst was too much for him. He found the nearest bush and vomited up whatever food he had left his gut. Once he had somewhat recovered, he noticed that Fang had stepped up into the clearing, staring at the edge of the forest. For a moment, it seemed as if the large dog would start barking, but it never came. Instead, Fang started cringing and produced a low, frightened whine.

Hagrid followed his hound's gaze to stare into the thick shrubbery undergrowth and it actually took him a moment to see what Fang was so worked up about.

And then another moment to actually process what he was seeing.

Six eyes? No. Couldn't be. The pairs were too close together to belong to three separate creatures. But what creature had six eyes? No, couldn't be an acromantula, since those would have eight. A second thing he noticed is that the eyes were quite high up. Whatever creature these eyes belonged to, it would tower even over him.

His sense of self-preservation eventually won out over his curiosity, especially when a deep, rumbling growl could be heard coming from whatever creature had hidden itself into the underbrush.

"Fang," he whispered. "We need ta get our arses away from 'ere, lad."

That said, he grabbed Fang by the collar and hurried started stepping away from the clearing just as the growl coming from behind them intensified. So Hagrid set off into a run.

Though, it was more of a brisque walk, much to his own chagrin and worried. Hagrid liked his meals. Hagrid liked his meads. As such he had gained considerable bulk in his lifetime, indulgences he was now sorely regretting as his body was turning against him in his hour of utmost need. He could already feel himself start to tire as his legs started to strain: being a half-giant with a half-human body, he always had bad joints as his aching knees could attest to. Next to him, Fang almost seemed to encourage him to move faster with his eyes while whining softly.

He became acutely aware of something large moving to the side, just far enough to be on the edge of hearing, but close enough to worry him. In retrospect, dropping his lantern was a bit of a blessing in disguise: he wasn't sure if this beastie had night-vision or not, but having a massive beacon in his hands probably wouldn't help him stay undetected.

Hagrid ran and ran, his breath catching in his throat as he pushed his way deeper into the forest, it seemed. He tried to catch his bearings, but in the dark and without landmarks and while being chased by something with monstrous intent, he had no idea where he now was or what he was running towards. He only knew he was relatively close to the edge of the forest, so he could be either running deeper into the forest or closer to escape.

The ground shook as whatever it was chasing him jumped closer as it ran parallel to him. Immediately, Hagrid let out a yelp and veered to one side, pushing through underbrush and whipping branches while Fang let how a yowl of fear and followed his master. He ran further and further and just when he thought it was so quiet that he might have lost the beastie, it was there again, making the ground shake and causing him to veer off again.

Exhausted to the point of dropping, Hagrid was happy beyond belief when he saw the light of the moon through the trees in front of him. For a moment, he thought he was out of the forest… only to have his hopes dashed when he ran into the clearing to find himself only a steep cliffside with raging waters of the river thirty meters below him. Hagrid, panting like a whippet, was about to turn back into the forest when he heard a distorted noise behind him and six clustered eyes staring at him from the darkness.

Hagrid closed his eyes and cursed under his breath. The beastie had been herding him.

So this animal was not only brutal, but it was quite bright. A very bad combination.

There was one way out and Hagrid took it. Grabbing Fang by the collar, he closed his eyes and let himself fall backwards into the churning ice-cold winter waters below, hoping his wouldn't break every bone in his body falling on a rock just below the surface.

The moment he hit the water, it was as if his skin was being pricked with a thousand needles. The cold was overbearing as he tried to keep his head above the surface of the water as the river swifted pushed him towards the lake. If hypothermia or drowning wouldn't get to him first, the people of Hogsmeade would fish him out of the water. Worst thing still, he could swear that the beastie was still following from a distance, glimpsing the eyes from the edge of the forest.

Most grimly comical of all, Hagrid just now realized he had been holding on to a severed centaur leg without even realizing it.

Hermione and Bellatrix were most surprised when they'd been called into McGonagall's office at ten in the evening. On the way to the Head Master's office, both girls wondered what it could be, since it must have been something of great importance if this was something which couldn't wait till morning.

"I don't think I've done something to get us in trouble," said Bellatrix as she and Hermione walked the corridor. "At least, not that I know of. You think that Cormac twat-womble has been cooking up stories about us?"

"You haven't set the Gryffindor house banner on fire again, have you?" Hermione frowned as they rounded the corner.

Bellatrix gave her a rather huffy look. "Hermie, I keep telling you, that was an accident!"

"How do you 'accidentally' shoot a raging ball of flame at the Gryffindor house banner, Trix?" Hermione replied.

"I was aiming for the Hufflepuff one," Bellatrix retorted.

After going up a spiral staircase, they were ever closer to the Head Master's office and Hermione was becoming increasingly agitated. "Maybe it's over professor Sinistra catching us mid-snog in the back of the Astronomy class yesterday. I should have known better."

"You weren't protesting all that much yesterday," said Bellatrix, eyebrow raised. "Besides, if Sinistra was really so upset about it, we would have been called into the office early morning."

"Maybe something happened," Hermione bit her lip.

"You worry too much," Bellatrix tried to give her an encouraging smile.

Moments later, they arrived at the heavy door leading into the office. After taking a deep breath, Hermione knocked politely. Before there was even a response, Bellatrix simply reached over to the doorknob and let the both of them inside. As it was evening, the office was lit with candles and magical lanterns. McGonagall was seated behind her desk as usual, but they were both surprised to see Hagrid there as well. Hagrid looked to be white as a sheet and seemed to be recovering from a long run, while shivering and sat with his feet in a pail of hot water and clutching a blanket around him. "Somethin' nasty's in them woods, Minerva. I be tellin' you," he said, and judging from his tone of voice he was unusually agitated.

In that moment, McGonagall noticed the two girls. "Ah, miss Granger. Miss Black. Please sit."

Both girls did so and both their eyes were immediately drawn to a metal tray on top of McGonagall's desk.

"Uhm, you've got a leg," said Bellatrix, eyes fixated on the severed centaur leg lain out in the metal tray.

"That leg," started McGonagall, "once belonged to a member of the centaur colony. The centaur colony which has apparently been completely massacred by some sort of beast."

"Aye," said Hagrid. "Hard to tell if any member of the colony survived. Fleein' be not in their nature. But I 'ope some of them did, at least."

Hermione felt the blood drain from her face when her keen might was putting two and two together: the borses appearing at the lakeside, refusing to go back into the forest. And then there was the question of what could actually take out an entire herd of centaurs. It was a question to which there only was one answer. After turning to her girlfriend, Hermione could see from Bellatrix' expression that she had come to the same conclusion.

"As you have experience with the new species of magical creatures turning up all over the world," started McGonagall. "We hope that the two of you might be able to provide some insight."

"What did you see?" Hermione asked with a small voice and a heavy heart. Bellatrix hissed through her teeth when Hagrid described what he had seen and heard lurking in the bushes near the massacre. Hagrid had no idea just how lucky he was to still be alive.

Bellatrix nodded and walked to the window. After taking out her wand and whispering a quick accio, she waited for a file folder to come flying back from their room. While Bellatrix was waiting, Hermione took a deep breath and whispered. "Unicornis Rex."

"Unicornis Rex?" McGonagall asked.

"It's the official genus name we put on our application to the Linnaeus Qualification Board," said Hermione. "Though it's been described as the Black Unicorn in earlier texts. Trix has a fondness for calling it the murder-unicorn. It's large, three times the size of a normal unicorn. It moves fast and nimble for a creature its size. Unicornis Rex is carnivorous and has immense regenerative powers. We've only ever seen one, but one is enough. It's very old. I suspect it's the only one of its kind. It's clever, relentless."

"We outsmarted it!" Bellatrix called from the window.

Hermione snapped her head towards Bellatrix and narrowed her eyes. "We got lucky and you know it!" she said, a statement which made Bellatrix give her a snort and an eye-roll. "Apparently, it also holds grudges. It stalked us through the entire Fae Realm and I think it's still after us."

By now, the folder was in Bellatrix' hand and she removed from it the single photograph Bellatrix had taken of it so long ago, when they had been chased up a tree by it. Hagrid studied the photograph for a moment, trying to figure out its size from the angle. Almost impossibly, his face went even whiter. "Nasty bugger. Take a look, Minerva," he said, giving the photograph to McGonagall.

"Obviously a danger," said McGonagall, rubbing her chin while studying the creature. "That beast looks very, very old. There's an intelligence in those eyes. And a hunger to match."

"I suspect it might have come over with us when we were… temporally displaced," said Bellatrix. "As did the borses. The borses stuck to the forest until they felt it wasn't safe of them anymore. Because, well, it wasn't."

"Talked to Firenze a week ago," Hagrid fingered his beard. "Old nag mentioned feelin' a 'great disturbance' in the depths of the forest. Made everyone in the herd uneasy. I suppose the borses done figure it out before the centaurs did, poor souls. Oh, Firry. I 'ope the old stallion's still out there somewhere."

"The borses knew what they were dealing with and decided to flee," said Hermione. "The centaurs didn't know, stayed and… paid the price for it. It's relentless, monstrous and practically indestructible."

"Aye," Hagrid furrowed his brow, worried now. "Things are startin' to make sense now. Aberforce mentioned seein' unicorns… regular ones… outside of the forest, which has never 'appened before. Acromantula's 'ave abandoned their colony too. Animals be fleein' the forest."

"It was the same in the Fae Realm," said Bellatrix. "The murder-unicorn was the only creature there. The forest was its domain. Looks like it has claimed a new home."

McGonagall sighed and leaned back in her chair. "There's a new problem every day, it seems. I shall contact the Ministry and have some officials from Regulation and Control launch an investigation, when they actually deign to respond to my calls. For now, I shall warn Hogsmeade and declare the Forbidden Forest off limits to everyone for any reason until this severe threat has been dealt with."

McGonagall thanked them for their time and bid them a good night. A few moments later, the girls had left the office. But rather than going back to their guest quarters, Hermione stepped over to the nearest window to look at the forest beyond the castle walls. Dark and mysterious, and now also quite dangerous.

"Think it's still hunting us?" Bellatrix asked as she stood next to her."

"I guarantee it," sighed Hermione, feeling tears sting in her eyes while her heart constricted with guilt. "Trix… we let it out. It's because of us that that thing is out there. All those centaurs. Everybody it kills. Their blood will be on our hands."

"No," Bellatrix called resolutely while giving her a dismissive hand-wave. "It's not our fault and certainly not yours."

"But…"

"We didn't murder anyone, that thing out there did," said Bellatrix. "You and I are not responsible for the actions of a beast."

"We threw open the gateway," Hermione tried.

"Many animals made use of it," said Bellatrix. "Are we responsible for them as well? No, they chose to make use of the gateway just like the murder-unicorn did. The animals will be fine. In anything, they'll have a far bigger habitat now."

"And Unicornis Rex will have bigger hunter grounds," Hermione cast her eyes downward.

"Hermie," said Bellatrix, laying a hand on her cheek. "Stop feeling guilty about things you have no control over. You are not responsible for the actions of another."

Hermione smiled, moving to embrace Bellatrix. "Trix," she whispered when Bellatrix took a moment to brush her lips against hers. "You almost know just what to say."

Bellatrix chuckled and moved in for another kiss. Their lips met and Bellatrix' tongue quickly penetrated her mouth for the sweetest of explorations. Their kiss deepened when Hermione started to embrace her girlfriend and she was only brought back to reality when she heard the scraping of a throat. When she opened her eyes, she looked over Trix' shoulder to see McGonagall stood in the corridor tapping her foot.

"Miss Granger, miss Black," she started, a slight tone of annoyance on her voice. "Please have the decency to do that within the confines of your own room. We have given you a private guest quarters for a reason, after all."

Hermione felt heat emanating from her cheeks while Bellatrix smirked briefly. "Bloody good idea that," said Bellatrix, winking at Hermione. The fact that Bellatrix flicked the tip of her tongue across her upper lip while leading her back to their room have the young witch a pretty good idea what her cheeky curly-haired girlfriend had planned.

Well…

Not if she'd get there first.