Credits: All the references to Harry Potter, the world of Hogwarts and the magical community are J.K. Rowling's. All the rest are mine.
Author's Note: I'm really sorry I haven't really written that long of chapters lately- or even any chapters... still, I AM very busy... and anyway, it's just shorter for ya to read, ain't it???? Okay, okay. I like reading loooong books myself, so tell me if you would like them longer. As in, review...:) One more thing- you might notice the similarities between Slatimnars and daemons (HDM), so just try not to mention that fact…
Another Author's Note: Guess what? I've just edited all my previous chapters of my B of P story, so they are better- not that they weren't great before… anyways, I made some minor changes in some of the plot, and some grammatical smoothing overs. So, if you want to, you can reread them and see what I did to them. Thanx!!! Don't forget to review (be a responsible reader and review- I luv that)
Chapter 14- (wow)
Harry, Nirry, Hermione, and Ron were headed towards Care of Magical Creatures, where Hagrid came running up to them, beaming.
"Yeh wouln' belive what's jes come in..." he panted, slapping a huge hand on Harry's shoulders, then patting it slightly as if to make up for the blow.
"Er- what's just come in, Hagrid?" Harry asked cautiously, rubbing his shoulder. Nirry could see Ron and Hermione suddenly glance nervously at the hut, and wondered what they were looking for.
"Yeah, Hagrid, what's new?" she said nonchalantly. She then noticed Ron and Hermione staring at her, and whispered, "What?", as to not interrupt Hagrid and Harry.
"Remember what he brought in last year?" Hermione said, pitching her voice lower. "What we told you? Those Blast-Ended-"
"If yeh can jes gather roun' here... make room for them..." Hagrid raised his voice, and everyone gathered around him, trying to see what Hagrid had for this class. It had to be something dangerous, he looked so happy. Harry saw Parvati and Lavender whispering and then rasing their heads and smiling mysteriously. He rolled his eyes. They had probably predicted something related to him with Trelawney.
Hagrid went around the corner of his hut, then opened the paddock door. The class stood where it was, not wanting to go in where Hagrid's new creatures were.
"Whoa there!!! Hurry up out there!" Apprehensively, they crept over to where they could see the Hagrid's face, beaming.
Overcome with curiosity, Nirry looked at her friends strangely, then went up to the paddock. Harry could hear her gasp of surprise.
"Oh, wow, Hagrid!!! They're so beautiful!!!" With this, all the others came up to see what had made Nirry exclaim so vehemently.
Mouths dropped open at the sight. There was silence until Malfoy, at the very end of the paddock, decided to break it. "So Ms. Goody-goody Bumblebee thinks THOSE things are good-looking? Well, they would be, if she had to see Potter's face next to her every moment of the day."
Nirry jumped off the fence and replied in a scathingly cool tone of voice. "I really feel sorry for you, you know? Not all people have to get out of bed every day to see YOUR face in the bathroom mirror."
Malfoy's face turned crimson, and while he was thinking of something to say, Nirry went back to look at the creatures. Nirry saw graceful, lithe cat-like creatures with wings, of all different colors, with nature's blends in their thick, lustrous coats. They seemed to melt into the shadows.
Harry saw strong, dragon-like scaly animals with the deepest blues of colors woven into their hides, gold and silver eyes looking around intelligently at their surroundings.
Hermione saw haughty, elegant creatures with the smartest of faces and the dignity of cats.
Ron gasped at what he saw- dog-like animals with feathery fur on them, all sniffing around at everything and with unmatched curiosity.
Hermione raised her hand. "Hagrid? Are these Slatinmars?"
Hagrid looked around, amused at all the different reactions of the teenagers. "Yep, they are. Shape-shifters, yeh see," he explained to the people looking quizzically at him. "They're different to every person who see's 'em. They'll change to what they think is each person's taste. Closest things to your souls."
Malfoy, who was looking at slow, green lizards, gave a sound of disgust, and nearly flew off the fence when one of the lizards changed to a giant, eye-rolling mass of green. Harry nudged Nirry in the ribs, and together they laughed at him.
"Reckon he has some sort of slug," Ron said. "Definitely slimy enough."
"Now, if ye'll jes stand by one of yer Slats, ye'll be able to see what everyone else's are!!!" Hagrid beamed at them, and the Gryffindors quickly slipped through the fence to the other side of the fence. The Slytherins followed more reluctantly, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle the last of all.
Nirry came to stand next to one of her winged cats, then waited for everyone else to get theirs. Harry, standing next to her, gave a gasp of surprise at the sight of her Slatinar, as did Nirry with Harry's.
"Wow!" they exclaimed at the same time. Hermione and Ron came to join them, leading their animals. There were more exclamations at their arrival.
The whole paddock seemed to be a mass of oohs and ahhhs. Lavender and Parvati were seen cooing over fluffy little bunny-like things with round eyes and short ears.
"Hey, look at Malfoy's." Nirry said in a low voice, after petting their own Slatinars and admiring the others. They all looked up to see a large, green lizard with black eyes staring around the paddock with suspicion, then transforming into a giant, round ball of green scales when someone else's Slatinar accidentally rubbed against Malfoy's robes. They laughed softly at them.
Ron gave a spurt of laughter. "Look at Crabbe and Goyle's," he said, giggling to Hermione, and pointing to the big, drowsy twin hippopotamuses that stood next to Crabbe and Goyle.
Hagrid cleared his throat and tried to hide a smile. "Now, the best thing abou' Slats, is, they're very competitive. Some more'n others, yeh can see, look at Malfoy's… anyways," he went on, "people race 'em agains' ech other's Slats and bet on the winners. Thought we'd do summat like that today."
Nirry frowned. Her cat Slatinmar was twitching it's ears back and forth, and Hermine's creature was pacing around nervously. Harry looked up casually and saw big, black clouds of steam rushing towards them. Somehow, he knew they weren't natural, for they were coming faster than speeding trains, and no natural clouds could move like that. Hagrid heard the rumbling sound and his face deepened into a thousand crinkles of worry.
"Well, looks like we're not gonna have the races today, so I'll save them for next class. If yeh'll jes come around to the covered paddock here, they'll stay dry till tomorrow…" his voice came to a stop as they could feel a cool wind raise goosebumps on their arms, and everyone hurried to leave their Slatinmars under the safe cover of the paddock. Hagrid anxiously herded them into a group, urging them to hurry to the castle before the ominous steam-shapes.
Nirry ran to the paddock, last. Her Slarinmar was making towling noises similar to the sounds Cinnamonne made when she was scared.
A shrill whinny cut through the air, and Nirry hurried to deposit her Slat where it curled up and started to sleep, then went over to Cinnamonne, where Nirry ran a hand over her mare's neck soothingly.
"What's the matter, girl? It's only a storm, okay? You remember storms, don't you? Remember that time at home-" Nirry gulped-" and you where in the stable and the lightning rod got hit by lightning?" Cinnamonne shook her head as if to disagree with her mistress.
CRACK!!!! A fist of lightning struck the ground in front of the paddock, and the horse reared high into the air. Nirry reached for the lead rope, trying to calm her, but with no avail. Nirry wondered where to take her, and tugged Cinnamonne's halter to walk outside.
Once outside, Nirry stood stock-still and looked around wildly, which made Cinnamonne prance around nervously. All around, there was nothing to be seen but a void of darkness. Dimly, Nirry could make out the black silhouettes of her fellow students nearly at the castle's front doors, but all other objects in the grounds were dark, misshapen shapes that looked like shadows.
Lightning scoured the ground every feet, not far from where Nirry stood with Cinnamonne. The horse tossed her head, looking around frantically at the blackness. Nirry tried to shout in the void but it was fruitless, and she vaulted upon Cinnamonne's back in order to reach the doors faster.
"Let's go!" Nirry yelled into Cinnamonne's ear, and tried to make out the direction of the castle. Cinnamonne half-reared, then went from a stop to a canter that went onto a gallop. Nirry gulped, and tried to slow her horse down, but the mare was in a frenzied run. Dimly, Nirry recalled that night at the burning barn, when she and Cinnamonne had had to flee from- Voldemort.
Whack! A tree branch slapped Nirry hard on the face, and she grabbed a handful of Cinnamonne's mane to keep from falling off, as Cinnamonne slowed to a fast trot, twisting and turning through an invisible trail and breathing heavily. Nirry struggled to keep consciousness, rain wetting her to the bone and making her teeth chatter.
Suddenly, realization slapped Nirry in the face as hard as the branch slapped Nirry: they were in the Forbidden Forest.
Alone.