Chapter 11 - the Benu
A sharp holly tree branch stroked against Harry's upper arm while he walked through the deep path of the Forbidden Forest. He muffled a groan, feeling like his shoulder had just came in contact with a deadly knife, and Hermione, who was beside him said, "How many more dangerous creatures can Hagrid come up with?"
"Dunno." Said Harry truthfully, observing a few gray owls circling their heads about a few feet above. His temper and the insides of him seemed to have cooled off when he started to stroll through the forest with the rest of the class.
"What if he shows up Grawp? Does he still have him in here? Oh God, what if-"
"Shhh!" Hagrid had just backed up a few steps and almost hit Neville with his cross arrow. Neville stumbled onto the wet carpet-like ground, and Harry extended his hand to him. A few people giggled.
"Thanks." Said Neville, feeling humiliated. They started to pace themselves to catch up with Hermione.
Taking another friendly walk in the Forbidden Forest was starting to lessen Harry's sympathy for Hagrid. The major reason he had chosen this class was to be near him, since last year they hadn't gotten a chance to talk at all, all because of that toad.
Every time he thought of Umbridge, hey felt like he had just gulped down some poisoned toadstool, but on the other hand, the image of her getting carried off to god-knows-where by a herd of centaurs quite brightened his mood.
"Righ' here." Growled Hagrid and put a stop to his feet. Everyone halted as well and stared at him. He rotated his body towards the massive holly tree and blew a blaring whistle that rang out in the forest.
The leaves of the tree rustled lightly, and then rested. To Harry, it felt like hours had passed, but after a minute, they wavered. A handful of strange-formed birds flew out of the tree and circled above Hagrid's head. They were heron-like, with two long feathers coming out of the rear of their dark-colored heads and two of them had gold-plated crowns. The wings on the birds were wider than normal, and they were flapping swiftly amongst the cool breeze in the forest, dropping bits of dust down to the ground. Their waving tales and flame-red bodies reminded Harry of Fawkes, greatly resembling the phoenix.
"Ther' called benu, ther' sacred en Egypt, erm-" Hagrid stuttered and glanced at Harry for some reason, "Lot simila' to a phoenix, 'cept they multiply inter more."
One of the benu slowly flew down to ground level and rested its twig-like feet on the pointed grass, while another took itself on Hagrid's shoulder, making soft chirpy noises.
"Anyone know wha' ther purpose is?"
Harry looked around at all of the curious faces, but no one raised their hand; not even Hermione.
"They-er-lead the souls o' the dead down ter-erm- whereva they go."
Harry didn't have a clue why Hagrid was being so vague to them.
"Very nice ter humans, yeh'll have fun feedin' em, 'n they can fly wherever yer want teh go."
"Ther' very similar ter the hippogriffs, yeh gotta win ther' trust an' then they'll let yer fly with 'em."
Standing next to Harry, Hermione put her hand up.
"Hermione?"
"How are you supposed to fly with them? They're too small, aren't they?"
From Harry's experience in the Chamber of Secrets four years ago, they probably would have to hold the benu's tail. The extreme image of Ron, Professor Lockhart, and him flying away with Fawkes entered his mind.
"Ther' small in the mornin' 'cuz ther' reborn everyday after midnigh' an' they get bigger throughout the day."
Harry glanced at the benu and Hermione was right; they were quite small even comparing to Hagrid's shoulders.
"Great birds, they are," He said, "Jus' nip ther' beak an' get ter know 'em." Hagrid gave out another whistle, but it was more controlled and firm than the previous one.
The benu neared the students, and a rather large one with the crown upon its head came close to Harry. He had to admit that he was not the least bit scared as he looked into its lively crimson eyes. He kneeled down to the benu's level and nipped the bird's beak with his index finger. Its beak was sharp and the benu flapped its wings sluggishly and stared at Harry with its glittery eyes.
"One mor' thing," Hagrid spoke out, "All benu r' male, jus' ter let yer kno'."
Harry gazed at the benu unblinkingly, and he felt like they were having a staring contest.
After a minute, Harry tore his eyes away from the benu and took a look at his classmates to find out how they were doing. Neville's benu was the other crowned one and he was pecking his beak nervously, and he bit back. Neville yelped in pain and sucked his sore finger in his mouth. Hermine's benu was gazing at her similarly to Harry's, but wasn't calm; his wings were moving rapidly and he was hopping off and on the earth. The other selected Gryffindors seemed to be having more difficulty, because all of their birds were not on the ground; some were fleeting in the air and others were spanking the students viciously with their tails and wings.
With about a half hour of the period left, Hagrid spent it by attempting to calm down all of the benu. As the end approached, most of them were resting away from Harry's frightened classmates, but a number of them were after Lavender, Parvati, and a 7th year boy Harry didn't know.
"That lesson wasn't so bad." Hermione commented as they were leaving the Forbidden forest a few minutes later.
"Yeah." Said Harry, still picturing his benu's mysterious eyes and his beautiful crown.
"Don't you wonder what Hagrid meant when he said, 'they lead the souls of the dead to wherever they go?"
"Maybe they lead to heaven or-" Harry paused hesitantly.
"Hell?" Hermione finished for him and then laughed, "You can say Voldemort but you can't say hell?"
Harry didn't speak.
"Wonder why I've never read about them, though. I'll have to go to the library today.
"Surprise, surprise." Harry said sarcastically. Did a day ever pass when she didn't go to the library?
"Want to come?" Said Hermione keenly.
"Er-no. We'll probably get tons of homework, and then I have Occlumency with Lupin."
"Finally! You're starting!" She whispered, "I was getting worried about that, he should've began giving you them on the first day of school."
Harry thought that having his mind attacked on the first day at Hogwarts would be too extreme, even for him. He knew that Lupin wasn't going to come even an inch next to Snape's brutality, but it was still awkward having Lupin fill in Sirius's footsteps...
After a few minutes, they had departed the forest and now Hermione and Harry were in the hallway.
"See you at dinner." She said and aimed at him for a soft peck on the cheek, but he backed up a bit. She had a mixture of a hurt and curious look on her face, but she didn't speak and marched away to make a right turn at the corridor.
He felt stretched out inside, as if two things were pulling at him at once trying to win him over. He didn't know where to turn.
The early evening had an evil aura swimming amongst it. Harry could feel it. The howling wind outside the Hogwarts grounds whistled against the forest area and struck him and blew his hair back.
He had to admit that he was nervous about his first Occlumency lesson with Lupin. His scar was prickling slightly while he approached Lupin's office and his wand was clutched as tight as superglue to his right hand.
The room revealed itself to be of grimy and a vague quality, with shades of black against the wooden-colored walls and hints of green mist were visible from the direction of the eloquent fireplace on the far right side.
The style and objects of Lupin's office were a mixture of Mad-Eye Moody and Dumbledore's flavors. A few Dark Detectors were resting on the mantelpiece, along with heads of house elves. Shadowed portraits were stuck to the walls, some familiar to Harry. Most were snoozing, but two of them sparked open their eyes and had given their total attention to Harry.
He suddenly felt cold. Small bumps were rising on his skin. He sensed somebody else's existence in the room, but there was no one.
Harry settled himself on a chair and gazed at the room, wondering where Lupin was.
"He will be back soon, dear." A female voice spoke behind Harry. He swerved to find one of the women in the portraits looking at him directly. She was rather large with a shiny red shawl draped on her left shoulder.
"Err-ok." He said, and the woman kept on goggling at him.
A considerable amount of minutes passed by, but Harry didn't dare touch anything. He had noticed an unusual object on Lupin's desk, a cone shaped device with spiral twigs sticking out of the sides and the point being at the top. He had an urge to stick his finger on top of the pointy top, but resisted from prior experience with meddling in other people's belongings.
Now he found himself gazing through the flaming red fire in Lupin's fireplace. Sirius's handsome face floated Harry's mind and the whole forgotten event became alive to him once again. The faint body of Sirius fell backwards and a year had passed within a minute when he had actually vanished behind the veil...
He now felt warm inside like he'd just sipped some hot cocoa and slowly, his eyes were drooping...
A hand touched Harry and shook him lightly. He opened his eyes, straightened his glasses, settled himself straight on the chair, looked in front of him and saw someone standing there. It was the new caretaker, dressed in emerald colored robes and a wand to her right hand, who was observing him in a suspicious way.
A sharp holly tree branch stroked against Harry's upper arm while he walked through the deep path of the Forbidden Forest. He muffled a groan, feeling like his shoulder had just came in contact with a deadly knife, and Hermione, who was beside him said, "How many more dangerous creatures can Hagrid come up with?"
"Dunno." Said Harry truthfully, observing a few gray owls circling their heads about a few feet above. His temper and the insides of him seemed to have cooled off when he started to stroll through the forest with the rest of the class.
"What if he shows up Grawp? Does he still have him in here? Oh God, what if-"
"Shhh!" Hagrid had just backed up a few steps and almost hit Neville with his cross arrow. Neville stumbled onto the wet carpet-like ground, and Harry extended his hand to him. A few people giggled.
"Thanks." Said Neville, feeling humiliated. They started to pace themselves to catch up with Hermione.
Taking another friendly walk in the Forbidden Forest was starting to lessen Harry's sympathy for Hagrid. The major reason he had chosen this class was to be near him, since last year they hadn't gotten a chance to talk at all, all because of that toad.
Every time he thought of Umbridge, hey felt like he had just gulped down some poisoned toadstool, but on the other hand, the image of her getting carried off to god-knows-where by a herd of centaurs quite brightened his mood.
"Righ' here." Growled Hagrid and put a stop to his feet. Everyone halted as well and stared at him. He rotated his body towards the massive holly tree and blew a blaring whistle that rang out in the forest.
The leaves of the tree rustled lightly, and then rested. To Harry, it felt like hours had passed, but after a minute, they wavered. A handful of strange-formed birds flew out of the tree and circled above Hagrid's head. They were heron-like, with two long feathers coming out of the rear of their dark-colored heads and two of them had gold-plated crowns. The wings on the birds were wider than normal, and they were flapping swiftly amongst the cool breeze in the forest, dropping bits of dust down to the ground. Their waving tales and flame-red bodies reminded Harry of Fawkes, greatly resembling the phoenix.
"Ther' called benu, ther' sacred en Egypt, erm-" Hagrid stuttered and glanced at Harry for some reason, "Lot simila' to a phoenix, 'cept they multiply inter more."
One of the benu slowly flew down to ground level and rested its twig-like feet on the pointed grass, while another took itself on Hagrid's shoulder, making soft chirpy noises.
"Anyone know wha' ther purpose is?"
Harry looked around at all of the curious faces, but no one raised their hand; not even Hermione.
"They-er-lead the souls o' the dead down ter-erm- whereva they go."
Harry didn't have a clue why Hagrid was being so vague to them.
"Very nice ter humans, yeh'll have fun feedin' em, 'n they can fly wherever yer want teh go."
"Ther' very similar ter the hippogriffs, yeh gotta win ther' trust an' then they'll let yer fly with 'em."
Standing next to Harry, Hermione put her hand up.
"Hermione?"
"How are you supposed to fly with them? They're too small, aren't they?"
From Harry's experience in the Chamber of Secrets four years ago, they probably would have to hold the benu's tail. The extreme image of Ron, Professor Lockhart, and him flying away with Fawkes entered his mind.
"Ther' small in the mornin' 'cuz ther' reborn everyday after midnigh' an' they get bigger throughout the day."
Harry glanced at the benu and Hermione was right; they were quite small even comparing to Hagrid's shoulders.
"Great birds, they are," He said, "Jus' nip ther' beak an' get ter know 'em." Hagrid gave out another whistle, but it was more controlled and firm than the previous one.
The benu neared the students, and a rather large one with the crown upon its head came close to Harry. He had to admit that he was not the least bit scared as he looked into its lively crimson eyes. He kneeled down to the benu's level and nipped the bird's beak with his index finger. Its beak was sharp and the benu flapped its wings sluggishly and stared at Harry with its glittery eyes.
"One mor' thing," Hagrid spoke out, "All benu r' male, jus' ter let yer kno'."
Harry gazed at the benu unblinkingly, and he felt like they were having a staring contest.
After a minute, Harry tore his eyes away from the benu and took a look at his classmates to find out how they were doing. Neville's benu was the other crowned one and he was pecking his beak nervously, and he bit back. Neville yelped in pain and sucked his sore finger in his mouth. Hermine's benu was gazing at her similarly to Harry's, but wasn't calm; his wings were moving rapidly and he was hopping off and on the earth. The other selected Gryffindors seemed to be having more difficulty, because all of their birds were not on the ground; some were fleeting in the air and others were spanking the students viciously with their tails and wings.
With about a half hour of the period left, Hagrid spent it by attempting to calm down all of the benu. As the end approached, most of them were resting away from Harry's frightened classmates, but a number of them were after Lavender, Parvati, and a 7th year boy Harry didn't know.
"That lesson wasn't so bad." Hermione commented as they were leaving the Forbidden forest a few minutes later.
"Yeah." Said Harry, still picturing his benu's mysterious eyes and his beautiful crown.
"Don't you wonder what Hagrid meant when he said, 'they lead the souls of the dead to wherever they go?"
"Maybe they lead to heaven or-" Harry paused hesitantly.
"Hell?" Hermione finished for him and then laughed, "You can say Voldemort but you can't say hell?"
Harry didn't speak.
"Wonder why I've never read about them, though. I'll have to go to the library today.
"Surprise, surprise." Harry said sarcastically. Did a day ever pass when she didn't go to the library?
"Want to come?" Said Hermione keenly.
"Er-no. We'll probably get tons of homework, and then I have Occlumency with Lupin."
"Finally! You're starting!" She whispered, "I was getting worried about that, he should've began giving you them on the first day of school."
Harry thought that having his mind attacked on the first day at Hogwarts would be too extreme, even for him. He knew that Lupin wasn't going to come even an inch next to Snape's brutality, but it was still awkward having Lupin fill in Sirius's footsteps...
After a few minutes, they had departed the forest and now Hermione and Harry were in the hallway.
"See you at dinner." She said and aimed at him for a soft peck on the cheek, but he backed up a bit. She had a mixture of a hurt and curious look on her face, but she didn't speak and marched away to make a right turn at the corridor.
He felt stretched out inside, as if two things were pulling at him at once trying to win him over. He didn't know where to turn.
The early evening had an evil aura swimming amongst it. Harry could feel it. The howling wind outside the Hogwarts grounds whistled against the forest area and struck him and blew his hair back.
He had to admit that he was nervous about his first Occlumency lesson with Lupin. His scar was prickling slightly while he approached Lupin's office and his wand was clutched as tight as superglue to his right hand.
The room revealed itself to be of grimy and a vague quality, with shades of black against the wooden-colored walls and hints of green mist were visible from the direction of the eloquent fireplace on the far right side.
The style and objects of Lupin's office were a mixture of Mad-Eye Moody and Dumbledore's flavors. A few Dark Detectors were resting on the mantelpiece, along with heads of house elves. Shadowed portraits were stuck to the walls, some familiar to Harry. Most were snoozing, but two of them sparked open their eyes and had given their total attention to Harry.
He suddenly felt cold. Small bumps were rising on his skin. He sensed somebody else's existence in the room, but there was no one.
Harry settled himself on a chair and gazed at the room, wondering where Lupin was.
"He will be back soon, dear." A female voice spoke behind Harry. He swerved to find one of the women in the portraits looking at him directly. She was rather large with a shiny red shawl draped on her left shoulder.
"Err-ok." He said, and the woman kept on goggling at him.
A considerable amount of minutes passed by, but Harry didn't dare touch anything. He had noticed an unusual object on Lupin's desk, a cone shaped device with spiral twigs sticking out of the sides and the point being at the top. He had an urge to stick his finger on top of the pointy top, but resisted from prior experience with meddling in other people's belongings.
Now he found himself gazing through the flaming red fire in Lupin's fireplace. Sirius's handsome face floated Harry's mind and the whole forgotten event became alive to him once again. The faint body of Sirius fell backwards and a year had passed within a minute when he had actually vanished behind the veil...
He now felt warm inside like he'd just sipped some hot cocoa and slowly, his eyes were drooping...
A hand touched Harry and shook him lightly. He opened his eyes, straightened his glasses, settled himself straight on the chair, looked in front of him and saw someone standing there. It was the new caretaker, dressed in emerald colored robes and a wand to her right hand, who was observing him in a suspicious way.