The three boys hurried down the lawn toward Hagrid's hut. As they neared it, the door swung open and Hagrid came out.
"Saw yeh comin' down from the school," he said. "Good, we'll waste no time getting' started. None o' yer want to be in that Forest when it gets dark." He looked at Sirius, who was grinning. "I suppose yeh think this is goin' teh be fun? Yer're wrong. Nothin' about that Forest is fun, and yeh'll know it before we're done. Spect Professor McGonagall decided that a little fright would do yeh good. Yeh've all had plenty of detentions this year, and it doesn't seem to be teachin' yeh much." None of the boys answered. "Right, well, listen. When we're in there, yeh've got ter listen teh me. If yeh get separated from me, stop an' don' go wanderin' off on yer own. I'll come back for yeh. Don' go leaving the path fer any reason, understan'?" They nodded. "Right, well, come on now. Got yer wands?" They held them up. None of the three seemed to want to talk. Hagrid's speech had made them all a bit nervous. They followed him single file: James first, then Remus, with Sirius bringing up the rear. It wasn't dusk yet, but even so, the forest was dark. It was also very still. Now and then a bush would rattle its leaves, or a rabbit might dash across the path, but that was about it. No birds sang or flew about the trees branches. All three boys unconsciously drew closer to each other and the comforting form of Hagrid. He stomped on, seemingly unaware of their nervousness.
Suddenly, Remus tripped on a tree root. He had been glancing nervously off to the side just as James and Sirius were, and had not noticed the protruding root. Now he pitched forward, almost falling on his face, but Sirius grabbed his collar and hauled him upright. "Thanks," Remus said. His voice seemed out of place in the forest. No one responded.
As they continued, it grew darker. Whether this meant that the sun was going down or that they were getting deeper into the forest was impossible to tell. Probably both, James reflected. Hagrid turned and nodded to them.
"Right, well, yeh might as well light yer wands now. We'll not be able to see the Hidebehind in the dark. And some of the things that might like ter bother us will be frightened o' the light." Gratefully, they pulled out their wands and lit them. The light showed clearly three rather nervous faces, though Hagrid's massive hairy countenance was unreadable. His black eyes glinted in the wandlight. "Now, I think the beast is around here somewhere," he said. The boys remembered their purpose for being in the Forest. "I tracked him here earlier. Thing is, I couldn't find him… I think he was pullin' his trick, hidin' behind me. So yeh three are goin' teh help me catch him." The boys looked at each other.
"How?" Sirius asked finally, in a subdued voice.
"Well, he can't hide behind all of us," Hagrid said reasonably. "So we'll all look behind each other, an' we'll get him."
"Right," James said. He moved over toward the edge of the clearing. "Well, he's not behind you, Sirius."
"Good. Let's see." Sirius started toward Remus. For the next few minutes they were busy moving around. An observer watching them would have thought they were playing some bizarre game, from their odd patterns of movements, but a look at the three boys would have told him this was no ordinary pastime. They all had the feeling that they were being watched, and it wasn't comfortable at all. The thought that there were things in the forest that would love to make a meal of three half-trained wizards was never far from any of their minds.
"Ha!" Sirius shouted abruptly. "I see it!" He pointed off a little ways and ran toward what he had seen. James was close behind him.
"Wait!" Hagrid shouted, but they barely heard him because they were so intent on what they were pursuing. Suddenly, James stopped, grabbing Sirius by the shoulder.
"That's not the Hidebehind, Sirius." There was a note in his voice, not of fear, but of nervousness, and his face was a bit pale.
"We'd best go back to Hagrid," Sirius said, turning. But as James turned, he saw that there was no sign of Hagrid, or Remus, or the clearing where they had been. Nor was there any trace of a path.
"Great," James muttered. "Lost in the Forbidden Forest."
"We could shout and Hagrid would find us," Sirius suggested.
"And who knows what else would find us, too. Strange, though, because we didn't run that far."
"This forest is full of magic, can't you feel it? It probably moved us, or moved around us… Hagrid and Remus could be miles away."
"Just how big is this forest, anyway?" James looked around as if trying to estimate the size.
"I don't know." Both boys now had white faces, and their wands were shaking a bit. "Should we wait for morning, or try to head back, or…"
"I don't like the feel of this place," James said. "But I don't fancy trying to find our way back."
"Neither do I -what was that?" A noise was coming closer to them. They drew close together and held their wands ready. The brushes parted and a centaur stepped into their clearing. It was a female centaur, and very young. From her appearance, the boys would have guessed that she was their own age, except that Professor Kettleburn had told them that centaurs live far longer than humans. This centaur might appear to be fifteen for the next fifty years.
"I knew you would come," she said quietly. "The elders would not have believed me if I told them I had foreseen this, because I am young and therefore unreliable. But the stars spoke to me, and I knew you would come here." The boys just gaped at her. Whatever they had been expecting, this was not it. The centaur filly continued. "My name is Adhara. I live in the forest, as does my whole tribe. We study the stars. For the past few years, we have known that dark times are coming to your world, and that the dark times may affect our world as well. But they stars told me that you two would be here tonight, and need my help." Even as she spoke, the boys heard rattling noises off in the distance, like giant pinchers or claws being snapped, and they shivered a little. "I shall guide you to the edge of the forest," Adhara said. "But you must listen to me."
"All right," James agreed. Sirius could not seem to find his tongue. Adhara led them from the clearing.
"My people would be angry if they learned what I am doing," she admitted as they walked. "They do not approve of humans, most of them. My brother Firenze and I are different, though. We know that you are important - you humans, that is - as important as studying the stars may be, it is little compared to the fight that you shall be undertaking."
"What fight?" Sirius asked. Adhara shook her head.
"It is not good for you to know too much of your future, and even we could not tell you all." She studied him a moment. "But I will tell you this much. There is even now, among your kind, one who is purely evil. He would like to extinguish the stars and destroy laughter, and he will gain power. Already, he has killed some wizards. He will kill more before he is through."
"Where do we come into this?" Sirius asked. He held his wand up to try to see the path, which was twisting and turning.
"You – and many others – must help fight the evil one. If you do not, your people will be lost. If you do… the price may be high, but it must be paid, lest a great charge be exacted from the defenseless, the innocent, and the powerless."
"Look, of course we'd help stop an evil wizard – if we were old enough," James said, hurrying to keep up with her. "But don't you think he'd be stopped before we get to the right age to help? I mean, I hardly think we'd be that much of an asset to anyone right now."
"The dark one will not be stopped as easily as that," Adhara said calmly. "It will take blood to stop him, sacrifice. I have read the stars; they have told me of the tears that will be shed, the blood that will be spilt, before this is over. And some of those tears and some of that blood may be yours, or that of people close to you." She stared at Sirius for a moment, and then at James. "We will meet again, I think," she said to Sirius. "But I think I shall not see you again in this world, James Potter. I must leave you now." They saw that they were on the edge of the forest. "But I would warn you to be careful. You do not know who your opponent truly is." And she galloped off.
"James, you never told her your name," Sirius said after a long moment. "So how did she know it?"
"Let's get out of here," James said. "I don't think I can take much more of this forest." They turned as something approached from behind, crackling the underbrush. Seconds later, Remus and Hagrid burst into view.
"James! Sirius!" Remus cried with relief. Hagrid relaxed too.
"Thought I'd lost yer there," he said. "Why'd ye go haring off like that? Didn' yeh hear me saying stop?"
"No," Sirius said truthfully. "We didn't mean to get lost like that…"
"It's all right, yer fine now," Hagrid admitted. "Yeh'd best get back ter school. It's past midnight already. I'll worry 'bout the Hidebehind tomorrer." The boys nodded and set off together, out of the dark forest, up the sloping lawns, through the dark and silent passageways, to the common room.
The ashes of the dead fire were still glowing, and a single lamp at the far end gave some light to the room. The boys could see four quiet figures near the fireplace, collapsed in chairs. As they approached, the figures resolved themselves into Lily and Jenny, who were looking at them expectantly, and Elsie and Peter, who were asleep.
"We wanted to wait for you," Lily said, indicating all four of them, "but Elsie and Peter were too tired…"
"What happened?" Jenny asked, staring at James and Sirius, who looked very disheveled and rather pale, and Remus, who was as interested as they in what had happened to his friends. James launched into an explanation, aided by Sirius.
"I don't know what to make of it," James said finally.
"It's a bit worrying," Remus commented. "I means, a dark wizard, powerful as she says, not defeated for years…"
"Yes," Lily agreed, "But it's getting late, and we should go to bed. We can talk this over in the morning." She shook Elsie's shoulder gently as Jenny stood up. Then the three girls moved slowly off toward their dorm. Remus woke Peter, who almost jumped out of his skin, and the two of them headed off as well. At the door, Remus turned.
"Are you coming?" he asked quietly.
"In a minute," James assured him. He nodded and left.
"So what are we going to do about this?" Sirius asked.
"I'm going to talk to Dad over summer break," James said. He stared off. "We've only got a few weeks left of this year, and he's sure to know something."
"Yeah, it could be handy to have someone who knows as much as he does about Dark Arts," Sirius said. "Jenny's dad and mum do too, don't they?"
"I think so… I mean, they're always going off to the same conferences and such that Dad is."
"Maybe she should ask them, too."
"That's a pretty good idea." James thought for a moment. "From what Remus has told us, I'd guess that his dad has been in some pretty odd places. He might know something."
"We can talk to Remus and Jenny tomorrow then. I don't know about you, but I'm knackered." Sirius yawned loudly and stood, stretching. "Let's go to bed."
Disclamer: the Harry Potter books were created by J.K. Rowling. I am neither claiming nor implying any rights to them, nor am I attempting to make money off my writing.
Okay, that was a fairly short piece. I'll try to have more for you this week. Actually, I'm almost done writing the whole story! Yeah! And it's a long one, let me tell you. By the way, the Hidebehind is a genuine myth, not something I invented. It's a creature native to America, but they could have imported one.
Let's see. Some business. Whoever stole my name and left a nasty review on someone else's piece, cut it out. And if there's a nasty review from 'me' on your story, ask me about it before you flame me… it probably wasn't really me who left it.
If you review, you will make me very happy! It only just takes a minute…