Centaur's Warning
"You're hearing
things." Alex assured Skye.
"I'm not, really I'm not. Something's out
there."
"Well, it is the Forbidden forest, you
know." Meg replied. "There are lots of animals out here. Its probably just a
squirrel or something."
"But there are lots of dangerous beasts in
the forest." Skye pointed out. Tim was about to launch into a Care Of Magical
Creatures lesson when Luke, tactlessly, but quickly, interrupted him.
"Yeah, it could be any one of them, too."
Ilana glared at him, "Don't be ridiculous,
Luke, there's nothing following us."
"Besides," Roz added cheerily, "if anything
dangerous was following us, it would have attacked us by now."
"That's such a comforting thought."
Charlotte responded disdainfully.
"Well, I never was good at moral support
type things." Roz shrugged in response.
"Something is following us." Shadow
whispered. "Every now and again a twig snaps, and I've noticed, whenever we've
stopped there's always a rustling in the bushes, as if someone is trying to
hide."
"Or something."
"Luke!"
"Right," Meg's voice was hushed. "If you're
sure something is following us we'd better find out what. I'm going to go
around that clump of trees, and, if I'm right, I should travel in a complete
circle and come back out exactly behind whatever is following us. Can you all
make out as if I'm going back to the castle because I'm scared?"
"Sure thing."
"Gotcha."
"Good luck!"
"What! Meg I
cannot believe you want to go back!" Roz exclaimed stepping back from the
group. "I really thought you were one of the braver Ravenclaw's. Obviously I
was wrong." Roz's sudden outburst gave the desired affect; the group's shock
looked, and was real.
Meg quickly
caught on and looked ashamed. She mumbled something about needing to revise her
Astronomy and began to leave.
~~~
Matt saw something was wrong; Meg was
one of the daring Ravenclaw's, she was one of the bravest students in their
year, or if not, she was one of the brave who showed their courage best. Matt
watched the Ravenclaw; she headed for a clump of trees not too far away from
where he was. She knew her way around the beginning parts of the forest; she
knew that wasn't the quickest way back. Something was definitely up. Had he not
been quiet enough? Had they suspected? There was enough of them to … well, he
didn't know what they would do if they found him.
"Perhaps that Mudblood will try hitting me
again." He sniggered under his breath.
"You shouldn't class those of muggle nature
lower than yourself. They may not turn out to be so." The voice startled
Malfoy. It was so calm, yet commanding in nature. Afraid he might have been
found, he slowly turned to see four powerful legs, followed by the muscular
body belonging to both a man and a horse. He was sure of this because of the
male torso that was in the place of horse's head. The wild hair upon the man's
head blew in a wind, which was so faint Matt couldn't sense it. The hands,
which had lain limp at the centaur's side, were now lifted to the sky. "Your
fate is in the stars."
Matt took one more frightened look at the
prevailing centaur and let a cry escape his lips.
~~~
"What was that?" Ilana asked as Meg gave up
the act and hurriedly returned to the group. "There, it's coming from those
bushes, just like you said Shadow."
"What is it? I don't want to look!"
"Its too small to be an Acromantula, right,
Tim?"
"You're not so good at Care of Magical
Creatures, are you?"
"Do be quiet, Charlotte. You're right, Roz …
unless it was a baby."
"Its an Acromantula baby! I know it is!"
"Skye! Don't be absurd!"
"It's … it's …"
"Malfoy?"
~~~
Malfoy's distress was soon known to the
group as a gleaming sleek horses body came into the clearing, however it was
not just a horse for from it's torso upward was human. It was a centaur. He had
sleek white blond hair and shining sapphire blue eyes.
"You children shouldn't
be out this late at night," the Centaur said, shaking his head, his four animal
legs stamping the ground around them. "It's not safe."
The group stared surprised for they had
never seen such a creature before. The Centaur sighed, "I mean you no harm…"
"Firenze!" A yell interrupted as another two
centaurs galloped into view, a male and female. "How many times do I have to
say, we do not consult with humans, you leave them be and they'll leave us be."
"But the signs are all out tonight, Bane, we
have to warn them, do you want innocents to suffer?" Firenze fired back.
The female centaur pawed the ground
anxiously looking at the students.
"It is not our choice, what is foretold will
come to be, we should leave," Bane argued. "The rest are waiting, we are moving
further into the forest tonight, you had better come back."
Firenze kicked his hind legs, "We have read
the planets wrong once before, we can prevent danger again…"
"If you intervene you will break the code
and be cast away from our herd," Bane threatened kicking his hind heels like he
was ready to charge. "Now are you leaving with Aliya and I or not?"
The centaurs looked angrily at each other,
their eyes starring piecing into one another's. The white female centaur
finally put her hand on Banes shoulder, she whispered in his ear. Bane paused
and scowled then nodded as in agreement and turned abruptly to leave, she
walked her way to Firenze's side and whispered something to him also. He too
scowled and then galloped after Bane.
The students stood nervously not sure of
what to do, Aliya finally turned to them. "To Firenze," she said, "I promised
the warnings tonight I shall tell, and a part of the prophecy we centaurs know
well. Pay attention now and listen to this good, for it might come in use for
if you should.
"The Moon is extraordinarily full,
Against a continuous black night,
It is advising you of risks ahead,
Even the Stars are warningly bright.
The universe is giving caution,
Enchanted Planets are in align,
The Earth gives slight tremors,
Nature too is providing a sign.
Indications are everywhere,
Curses that have been cast,
Will come to be again tonight,
So beware the picture of the past.
You mightn't escape so be prepared,
For fate is lingering in the air,
Go back now or you will be caught,
Heed my words not if you dare."
As Aliya finished she galloped off without
another word leaving the group bewildered. They stood there several moments not
sure of what to say and how to react.
Meg was the first to gather her wits first
and suggested they should head back. The others agreed and Matt, disdained from
running from the centaur stayed quiet.
As they made there way back, Ilana suddenly
wondered why Matt was in the forest in the first place. She put her thoughts to
question, which he promptly retorted with: "To warn you of course."
"Warn us?"
"Warn you that you shouldn't be out in the
forest so late at night."
There was a pause and more silence, Matt
smirked and continued forwards, leading the group.
Roz narrowed her eyes, "He's up to
something."
"How can you tell?" Ilana asked.
"I just can, I can just
about see them little cogs in his brain spinning."
Tim nodded, "Why would he
come and warn us?"
"And where are his
cronies?" Shadow put in.
The group lingered back
a bit to speak unaware that Matt had been leading them for quite a while. It
was Meg, familiar with parts of the forest that realised they had headed deeper
into it than out. She voiced her thoughts to her friends.
"Hey Malfoy," Charlotte
called out. "We're going the wrong way."
Matt turned, "No. We're
not." He continued forwards, unyielding from the student's comments.
"Hey isn't that the same
tree as before?" Alex pointed out. "It droops the same."
"No it isn't," Matt
pointed out gruffly.
"Yes it is, there's the
same broken branch that we saw a while ago, I nearly tripped over it."
Matt was silent.
"We're lost," Ilana said
softly, the others could tell as well, for Matt's gestures betrayed him. He
stood in a shifty way and in the bright moonlight, apprehension shone from his
eyes.
~~~
"We're not lost!" Matt tried to protest.
"Then why are we going in circles?" Roz
demanded.
"We're not," Matt replied edging backwards.
"Do you know the way out Meg?" Skye asked.
Meg shook her head, "We're in too deep I
don't know this part of the forest."
"This is all your fault," Luke said as he
reached for his wand. "You did it on purpose."
"Oh yeah, like I want to get lost in a forest
with you lot, don't think yourself so privileged," Matt retorted reaching out
for his wand and backing up.
"Perhaps we should shoot up sparks."
"What and tell all the monsters to come and
eat us, geez Shadow what a smart thing to do."
"I don't see you with any better
suggestions."
"Oh, my suggestions would be way better but
who can concentrate with you lottttttttt…"
"Matt?"
"Where'd Malfoy go?"
One minute, Matt stood
there arguing the next he had vanished.
~~~
Disclaimer: Anything you
recognize from the book is J.K. Rowling's. Thanks to Jess and Marci for there
characters.
A/N. Hope that was ok.
Sorry for taking so long on this. Please fill in the review box below, even a
little word will do. Suggestions are welcomed also.