Chapter Three of my fic is here now! I'm writing it _as you breathe_. 'Magine that. Okay, enough with the nattering. Read on!
~ ~ ~
Cy almost overslept the next morning, but, luckily, Hermione nudged her awake.
"Unh?" she asked, blinking at the ceiling groggily.
"Come on, you need to get up! We've got Potions first thing today, and Snape said that we'd have a quiz today. I want to study during breakfast." Hermione gathered up her books, while Cy stood up and pulled on a clean set of clothes, then grabbed her book bag as well. They made their way down the corridors until they reached the Great Hall, and looked for seats at their table.
"Hey! Over here!" came Ron's yell. He and Harry had managed to grab enough empty places for the entire group, and they headed over. Once they had started to eat, Hermione began to quiz them on the things that she figured would be on Snape's quiz.
"Come off it, Hermione. We're going to fail anyway, so why bother?" Ron protested through a full mouth.
"Don't talk with your mouth full, Ron. I'm trying to help you to _not_ fail, but you don't have to listen to me." She glared at him, turning back to her notes.
"Yes, mother," Ron retorted, exasperated.
"She _can't_ be your mother, Ron. If she was, she would probably have killed you by now for not getting full marks on everything," Cy mentioned, making various people nearby snigger.
"I would not!" Hermione said, shocked.
"No, you would have worked him to death as a child, right, Hermione?" Harry asked, hiding a smile behind his hand.
"Honestly, you three are just _impossible_ today!" Hermione took another bite, stopping her quizzes and reviewing for herself. Ron snorted, glancing up as he heard the familiar flutter of wings.
"Owl post again," he informed the others. Hedwig had a letter for everyone from Hagrid, telling them to come down to his house when he next could, or to wait for Care of Magical Creatures. He had something new to show them. Gwenhwyfar, Cy's new owl, hooted softly to get her attention. Cy frowned when she looked at the handwriting on the envelope; she didn't recognize it. She opened the letter carefully, just in case someone had sent her something nasty as a joke, and pulled out a thin piece of parchment that Cy recognized as Muggle paper, something that she rarely used.
"Little Telepath: I'll be seeing you again very soon. I've got more than one eye on you now - three in total. Take care with what you say, someone at Hogwarts is watching you. Hope you had fun last night, even after you left my home. Remember, take care, Telepath. I'm not afraid to remove you from a situation very very quickly, or even kill you." It was signed with a large black V, different from the grey ink the rest of the letter was written in.
Cy puzzled over what she had been sent, trying to figure out who the other eyes could belong to. Stomach sinking as she remembered something, Cy looked up to the Head Table, looking for Snape. When she saw his empty seat, she turned slowly to where the Slytherins sat, suddenly feeling eyes upon her. Snape stood near Malfoy, staring at her, surly as usual, but there was something else in his face - excitement, hatred... She couldn't tell.
She didn't notice when her bowl clattered to the floor, or hear the happy chattering of the people around her. She was staring at Snape, trying hard not to show her fear as she realized that he was indeed watching her. It felt as though her spine was turning to ice, and she couldn't pull her eyes away, as though Snape was sending something across the gap and she wasn't allowed to look away until she understood.
'Cy?' Ron's voice cut across her mind, ending the battle of wills. 'What are you staring at?' She turned back to the group, shrugging and not answering him directly.
"Stuff," she said aloud, ignoring the confused stares from several people, as they didn't know that the four were telepathic. She looked over to Hermione, snatching away one of her papers to get her attention.
"Cy!" Hermione half-shrieked, trying to snatch it back.
"Come on, Herm. Time to go to Potions." She was dreading the class, dreading having to get any closer to Snape than on the other side of the world. Now she knew why Harry hated Potions; Snape was a demon incarnate.
As they filed into the corridor, Harry moved to walk closer to her, letting the others walk ahead. Cy was still holding the letter, methodically folding and unfolding it, and she started out of her small reverie when it was pulled out of her hands. She looked up into Snape's smirking face, and her stomach sank further as she watched him unfold the paper and quickly read it.
"Ah, a _letter_. But from _whom_, Miss Rhiannon?" He was laughing at her, she knew it. When she didn't answer immediately, his lips curled into a ghastly snarl. "Who sent you this letter and why, Miss Rhiannon?" He looked dangerously close to slapping her, and she instinctively stepped back, almost tripping in her haste.
"Why does it matter, Professor?" She watched in shock as Harry stepped forward and snatched the letter from Snape's hands. "We all get letters. Why do they all need to be read by a teacher?"
"Because I asked her a question, and she needs to answer me, Potter. Courtesy states as such." His eyes barely flicked over to Harry, he was so intent on watching Cy. Swallowing quickly, Cy straightened and got ready to answer.
"I do not know who sent me the letter, Professor. I do not care who sent me the letter. It is meaningless drivel." Her eyes flashed warningly, showing a courage that she didn't know she had.
Snape leaned closer to her and hissed, "I know who sent you that letter. I know that _you_ know who sent you that letter. I have my orders, and I am going to follow them. I also know that you have a certain... talent... that you refused to use when asked. I know what your talent is, Rhiannon. Take care, because I may accidentally let slip to Professor Dumbledore. And then who will be in trouble?" Cy didn't even back up, even though she was very frightened. Instead, she summoned up the courage to make a threat of her own.
"If you don't take care, I'm going to tell Professor Dumbledore on _you_. I'm sure he'll be shocked to hear that one of Voldemort's followers is hiding, when he thought that that certain follower was entirely against Voldemort and his ideals." Snape didn't even flinch, and he retaliated easily.
"Who do you think Dumbledore is more likely to believe? A sixth-year with an important _secret_, or a Professor that he has known and trusted for a very long time?"
"I have _proof_, Professor." In a fluid moment, Snape had snatched the letter away from Harry and had ripped it into a million pieces, scattering the bits all over the floor.
"Not any more." He turned and started to walk away briskly. "Don't want to be late to class," he called over his shoulder. Cy snarled in his general direction, and turned and ran, dropping her book bag in a corner. She slid into an alcove, quickly changing, and not fighting it, as she knew that she was too upset to control what happened. Fully changed, she trotted out of the alcove and ran, heading for the doors that would lead her onto the grounds.
"All the ickle students, in their ickle classes, leaves me time to _play!_" Peeves chuckled, turning over and over in front of a door. He had taped the handles together, and was getting ready to tape the windows closed. As Cy ran up and growled in frustration at the locked doors, he looked at her, interested. "What's a doggie doing inside the castle? Has some nasty student got an illegal pet?" He peered at her, cackling. "Someone's going to be in trouble," he sang over and over again.
'Peeves, open the damn door and get out of my damn way!' she snarled, leaping at him. Peeves scooted away in shock, then grinned again.
"A _telepathic_ dog! Hm, that makes me wonder... Possibly an Animagus? Possibly a student? Possibly a telepath? How about a telepathic, _illegal_ Animagus that happens to be a _student?_ Oh, I think that you're going to be in horrible trouble when I come back with Professor Dumbledore! Stay here!" he ordered, zooming away backwards, cackling merrily. Cy scratched at the door, frustrated. As the seconds ticked by, she grew more and more frantic. Then she heard heavy footsteps, and turned and spotted Hagrid, singing merrily and walking along, swinging a large stick.
'Bugger!' Cy yelped, eyeing the window. As the half-giant walked closer, she grew more and more frantic. Finally she had decided, and leapt out of the window just as Hagrid, Peeves and Dumbledore directly behind him, reached where she was. Dumbledore watched the speedily retreating figure with interest.
"Reminds me of someone I know..." He thought for a moment, then turned and walked decisively towards the dungeons.
"Where ye goin', Professor Dumbledore?" Hagrid asked, curious.
"I have business in the dungeons, Hagrid. You aren't needed at the moment." Dumbledore soon enough reached the alcove that Cy had dropped her book bag into, and picked up the bag, examining it. "Ah, Miss Rhiannon's. Doubt that she'd want to just have this thing lying around. I'd best return it to her." His eyes twinkled as he continued on his way, soon reaching and entering Snape's class.
"Five points from Gryffindor, Hermione, for disobeying me _again!_" Snape snarled, in a particularly foul mood again. He glanced up as Dumbledore entered, and snapped to the class, "Pages three through twenty-four. Now. I'll expect a fifty line report on the subject by Friday." As it was Thursday, several students suppressed groans. Snape turned back to Dumbledore, who was examining the class with interest. "Yes, Professor?"
"Severus, who sits there?" he asked, pointing to the empty seat between Hermione and Ron. "I believe that someone is supposed to be there."
"Quelcya Rhiannon. I haven't seen her since right after breakfast. She hasn't entered my classroom, and she's going to get detention for it." He shrugged irritably, then yelled at Neville for dropping his cauldron onto his foot.
"This book bag belongs to Miss Rhiannon, am I correct?" Dumbledore held up the book bag. Snape shrugged again.
"I wouldn't know. I teach the students, not examine their personal belongings."
"Do you have any idea as to where she could be, Severus?"
"No. She is not here, and that's all I know." He rolled his eyes, scowling at the world.
Harry glanced up from the page they were supposed to be reading, trying his best to understand what Dumbledore was saying, even though he was on the other side of the room. He ducked back behind the book when Snape looked over, then put the book down again.
"Hermione!" he hissed, tapping her. "What are they saying?" He motioned to the teachers.
"Something about Cy, I think," she answered after a moment of watching their lips move. "Why does it matter?"
"Snape was giving her hell in the corridor, and then she ran off. That's her book bag Dumbledore's holding. I wonder what happened?" Harry tried to reach Cy's mind, and was shocked to find it closed off, save for a need to run that worried him. "I can't reach her. She's blocked us out."
"Yep," Ron said, attempting the same thing. "Weird. She isn't one to miss Potions, if only so that she can make faces at Snape behind his back. None of us are brave enough to do that."
"Harry Potter!" Snape yelled, bringing the boy back into focus. "Did I ask you to do an assignment, or need I take ten points from Gryffindor for talking?"
"No sir!" Harry called back, turning back to his book. He looked up again when another voice called his name, this time it was Dumbledore's. "Yes, Professor?"
"Could I speak with you outside, Harry?" He motioned to the door, and Harry stood up and followed him out, a little bit of confusion on his face.
"Yes, Professor?" Harry asked, once the two were outside. Dumbledore held up the book bag again.
"This is Miss Rhiannon's, is it not?" Harry nodded slowly, and Dumbledore continued. "She left it in an alcove, and ran off in a bit of a rush. I think that we should go to my office to discuss some things. What do you think?"
"Er, sure?"
- - -
Cy crashed through the Forbidden Forest, still too frightened and angry to revel in the refreshing run. She had long since blocked out any mental contact with the others, if only out of habit rather than through any real reason. She eventually came across a stream, and waded into it, lapping at the water. Clambering out the other side, she collapsed on the bank, panting heavily. Since there wasn't much that she could do until she had rested up, she stared at her reflection.
Sleek grey fur covered a lean, sinewy body. Her tail wasn't ratty like that of many modern wolves, but long, thick, and full like that of the more ancient wolves. Her muzzle was long, her jaws tougher than most. She had slightly larger-than-normal ears, but they suited her larger-than-normal body. Her eyes watched every move that the stream-reflection Cy made, the same pale gold as they always were. Funnily enough, they looked more natural on her wolf body than on her human one. Very tired out from her long run, she fell asleep.
- - -
"Quelcya hasn't told us everything we need to know, has she, Harry? I think that the four of you: Ron, Hermione, you, and she have something, or somethings to tell me. I'm not going to pull the others out of class, as I've annoyed Severus enough, so I'd like for you to tell me what I need to know." Dumbledore looked entirely serious behind his spectacles. "I saw a rather large wolf break through one of our windows and run away. If this isn't strange enough, this wolf closely resembled a student from here, who should have been in class. This wolf looked just like Quelcya would if she were a wolf."
"Professor," Harry began, but Dumbledore cut him off again.
"You know that Animagi take the form of their soul, that all human beings have an animal for a soul? Well, some wizards know how to recognize what shape a human would take if they became an Animagus. I can recognize Animagi, Harry. I have known that Quelcya is an Animagus, and I also believe that you are one. Your soul seems... closer to the surface than that of a normal wizard. Of course, I may be completely wrong in what I'm guessing." He waited a moment.
"No, Professor. You are completely correct. Cy and I are Animagi, both of us are-"
"Wolves."
"Yes. There's another thing that I may as well say, for the group. Caridwen, Hermione, Ron, Cy, and I are also all telepathic. That's how we know where we all are almost all of the time. We can block each other out, though." Harry stared at his feet.
"Thank you, Harry. Can you find Quelcya? The Forbidden Forest, where she was headed, is more dangerous than it used to be. Even Hagrid doesn't dare to go in anymore, and the centaurs now live on the outskirts, and refuse to say what they've seen."
Harry looked up into Dumbledore's kind face, and sighed, blinking back tears. "I can't reach her, Professor. She's gone and blocked us out. All I know is that she lost control of herself and is going, or has gone, for a very long run."
~ ~ ~
End chapter. Yes, I ended it with a cliffhanger. Shut up. I _like_ cliffhangers. Dun' like them? Well, don't complain to me, go and hang yourself on a cliff. Maybe that'll help.
~ ~ ~
Cy almost overslept the next morning, but, luckily, Hermione nudged her awake.
"Unh?" she asked, blinking at the ceiling groggily.
"Come on, you need to get up! We've got Potions first thing today, and Snape said that we'd have a quiz today. I want to study during breakfast." Hermione gathered up her books, while Cy stood up and pulled on a clean set of clothes, then grabbed her book bag as well. They made their way down the corridors until they reached the Great Hall, and looked for seats at their table.
"Hey! Over here!" came Ron's yell. He and Harry had managed to grab enough empty places for the entire group, and they headed over. Once they had started to eat, Hermione began to quiz them on the things that she figured would be on Snape's quiz.
"Come off it, Hermione. We're going to fail anyway, so why bother?" Ron protested through a full mouth.
"Don't talk with your mouth full, Ron. I'm trying to help you to _not_ fail, but you don't have to listen to me." She glared at him, turning back to her notes.
"Yes, mother," Ron retorted, exasperated.
"She _can't_ be your mother, Ron. If she was, she would probably have killed you by now for not getting full marks on everything," Cy mentioned, making various people nearby snigger.
"I would not!" Hermione said, shocked.
"No, you would have worked him to death as a child, right, Hermione?" Harry asked, hiding a smile behind his hand.
"Honestly, you three are just _impossible_ today!" Hermione took another bite, stopping her quizzes and reviewing for herself. Ron snorted, glancing up as he heard the familiar flutter of wings.
"Owl post again," he informed the others. Hedwig had a letter for everyone from Hagrid, telling them to come down to his house when he next could, or to wait for Care of Magical Creatures. He had something new to show them. Gwenhwyfar, Cy's new owl, hooted softly to get her attention. Cy frowned when she looked at the handwriting on the envelope; she didn't recognize it. She opened the letter carefully, just in case someone had sent her something nasty as a joke, and pulled out a thin piece of parchment that Cy recognized as Muggle paper, something that she rarely used.
"Little Telepath: I'll be seeing you again very soon. I've got more than one eye on you now - three in total. Take care with what you say, someone at Hogwarts is watching you. Hope you had fun last night, even after you left my home. Remember, take care, Telepath. I'm not afraid to remove you from a situation very very quickly, or even kill you." It was signed with a large black V, different from the grey ink the rest of the letter was written in.
Cy puzzled over what she had been sent, trying to figure out who the other eyes could belong to. Stomach sinking as she remembered something, Cy looked up to the Head Table, looking for Snape. When she saw his empty seat, she turned slowly to where the Slytherins sat, suddenly feeling eyes upon her. Snape stood near Malfoy, staring at her, surly as usual, but there was something else in his face - excitement, hatred... She couldn't tell.
She didn't notice when her bowl clattered to the floor, or hear the happy chattering of the people around her. She was staring at Snape, trying hard not to show her fear as she realized that he was indeed watching her. It felt as though her spine was turning to ice, and she couldn't pull her eyes away, as though Snape was sending something across the gap and she wasn't allowed to look away until she understood.
'Cy?' Ron's voice cut across her mind, ending the battle of wills. 'What are you staring at?' She turned back to the group, shrugging and not answering him directly.
"Stuff," she said aloud, ignoring the confused stares from several people, as they didn't know that the four were telepathic. She looked over to Hermione, snatching away one of her papers to get her attention.
"Cy!" Hermione half-shrieked, trying to snatch it back.
"Come on, Herm. Time to go to Potions." She was dreading the class, dreading having to get any closer to Snape than on the other side of the world. Now she knew why Harry hated Potions; Snape was a demon incarnate.
As they filed into the corridor, Harry moved to walk closer to her, letting the others walk ahead. Cy was still holding the letter, methodically folding and unfolding it, and she started out of her small reverie when it was pulled out of her hands. She looked up into Snape's smirking face, and her stomach sank further as she watched him unfold the paper and quickly read it.
"Ah, a _letter_. But from _whom_, Miss Rhiannon?" He was laughing at her, she knew it. When she didn't answer immediately, his lips curled into a ghastly snarl. "Who sent you this letter and why, Miss Rhiannon?" He looked dangerously close to slapping her, and she instinctively stepped back, almost tripping in her haste.
"Why does it matter, Professor?" She watched in shock as Harry stepped forward and snatched the letter from Snape's hands. "We all get letters. Why do they all need to be read by a teacher?"
"Because I asked her a question, and she needs to answer me, Potter. Courtesy states as such." His eyes barely flicked over to Harry, he was so intent on watching Cy. Swallowing quickly, Cy straightened and got ready to answer.
"I do not know who sent me the letter, Professor. I do not care who sent me the letter. It is meaningless drivel." Her eyes flashed warningly, showing a courage that she didn't know she had.
Snape leaned closer to her and hissed, "I know who sent you that letter. I know that _you_ know who sent you that letter. I have my orders, and I am going to follow them. I also know that you have a certain... talent... that you refused to use when asked. I know what your talent is, Rhiannon. Take care, because I may accidentally let slip to Professor Dumbledore. And then who will be in trouble?" Cy didn't even back up, even though she was very frightened. Instead, she summoned up the courage to make a threat of her own.
"If you don't take care, I'm going to tell Professor Dumbledore on _you_. I'm sure he'll be shocked to hear that one of Voldemort's followers is hiding, when he thought that that certain follower was entirely against Voldemort and his ideals." Snape didn't even flinch, and he retaliated easily.
"Who do you think Dumbledore is more likely to believe? A sixth-year with an important _secret_, or a Professor that he has known and trusted for a very long time?"
"I have _proof_, Professor." In a fluid moment, Snape had snatched the letter away from Harry and had ripped it into a million pieces, scattering the bits all over the floor.
"Not any more." He turned and started to walk away briskly. "Don't want to be late to class," he called over his shoulder. Cy snarled in his general direction, and turned and ran, dropping her book bag in a corner. She slid into an alcove, quickly changing, and not fighting it, as she knew that she was too upset to control what happened. Fully changed, she trotted out of the alcove and ran, heading for the doors that would lead her onto the grounds.
"All the ickle students, in their ickle classes, leaves me time to _play!_" Peeves chuckled, turning over and over in front of a door. He had taped the handles together, and was getting ready to tape the windows closed. As Cy ran up and growled in frustration at the locked doors, he looked at her, interested. "What's a doggie doing inside the castle? Has some nasty student got an illegal pet?" He peered at her, cackling. "Someone's going to be in trouble," he sang over and over again.
'Peeves, open the damn door and get out of my damn way!' she snarled, leaping at him. Peeves scooted away in shock, then grinned again.
"A _telepathic_ dog! Hm, that makes me wonder... Possibly an Animagus? Possibly a student? Possibly a telepath? How about a telepathic, _illegal_ Animagus that happens to be a _student?_ Oh, I think that you're going to be in horrible trouble when I come back with Professor Dumbledore! Stay here!" he ordered, zooming away backwards, cackling merrily. Cy scratched at the door, frustrated. As the seconds ticked by, she grew more and more frantic. Then she heard heavy footsteps, and turned and spotted Hagrid, singing merrily and walking along, swinging a large stick.
'Bugger!' Cy yelped, eyeing the window. As the half-giant walked closer, she grew more and more frantic. Finally she had decided, and leapt out of the window just as Hagrid, Peeves and Dumbledore directly behind him, reached where she was. Dumbledore watched the speedily retreating figure with interest.
"Reminds me of someone I know..." He thought for a moment, then turned and walked decisively towards the dungeons.
"Where ye goin', Professor Dumbledore?" Hagrid asked, curious.
"I have business in the dungeons, Hagrid. You aren't needed at the moment." Dumbledore soon enough reached the alcove that Cy had dropped her book bag into, and picked up the bag, examining it. "Ah, Miss Rhiannon's. Doubt that she'd want to just have this thing lying around. I'd best return it to her." His eyes twinkled as he continued on his way, soon reaching and entering Snape's class.
"Five points from Gryffindor, Hermione, for disobeying me _again!_" Snape snarled, in a particularly foul mood again. He glanced up as Dumbledore entered, and snapped to the class, "Pages three through twenty-four. Now. I'll expect a fifty line report on the subject by Friday." As it was Thursday, several students suppressed groans. Snape turned back to Dumbledore, who was examining the class with interest. "Yes, Professor?"
"Severus, who sits there?" he asked, pointing to the empty seat between Hermione and Ron. "I believe that someone is supposed to be there."
"Quelcya Rhiannon. I haven't seen her since right after breakfast. She hasn't entered my classroom, and she's going to get detention for it." He shrugged irritably, then yelled at Neville for dropping his cauldron onto his foot.
"This book bag belongs to Miss Rhiannon, am I correct?" Dumbledore held up the book bag. Snape shrugged again.
"I wouldn't know. I teach the students, not examine their personal belongings."
"Do you have any idea as to where she could be, Severus?"
"No. She is not here, and that's all I know." He rolled his eyes, scowling at the world.
Harry glanced up from the page they were supposed to be reading, trying his best to understand what Dumbledore was saying, even though he was on the other side of the room. He ducked back behind the book when Snape looked over, then put the book down again.
"Hermione!" he hissed, tapping her. "What are they saying?" He motioned to the teachers.
"Something about Cy, I think," she answered after a moment of watching their lips move. "Why does it matter?"
"Snape was giving her hell in the corridor, and then she ran off. That's her book bag Dumbledore's holding. I wonder what happened?" Harry tried to reach Cy's mind, and was shocked to find it closed off, save for a need to run that worried him. "I can't reach her. She's blocked us out."
"Yep," Ron said, attempting the same thing. "Weird. She isn't one to miss Potions, if only so that she can make faces at Snape behind his back. None of us are brave enough to do that."
"Harry Potter!" Snape yelled, bringing the boy back into focus. "Did I ask you to do an assignment, or need I take ten points from Gryffindor for talking?"
"No sir!" Harry called back, turning back to his book. He looked up again when another voice called his name, this time it was Dumbledore's. "Yes, Professor?"
"Could I speak with you outside, Harry?" He motioned to the door, and Harry stood up and followed him out, a little bit of confusion on his face.
"Yes, Professor?" Harry asked, once the two were outside. Dumbledore held up the book bag again.
"This is Miss Rhiannon's, is it not?" Harry nodded slowly, and Dumbledore continued. "She left it in an alcove, and ran off in a bit of a rush. I think that we should go to my office to discuss some things. What do you think?"
"Er, sure?"
- - -
Cy crashed through the Forbidden Forest, still too frightened and angry to revel in the refreshing run. She had long since blocked out any mental contact with the others, if only out of habit rather than through any real reason. She eventually came across a stream, and waded into it, lapping at the water. Clambering out the other side, she collapsed on the bank, panting heavily. Since there wasn't much that she could do until she had rested up, she stared at her reflection.
Sleek grey fur covered a lean, sinewy body. Her tail wasn't ratty like that of many modern wolves, but long, thick, and full like that of the more ancient wolves. Her muzzle was long, her jaws tougher than most. She had slightly larger-than-normal ears, but they suited her larger-than-normal body. Her eyes watched every move that the stream-reflection Cy made, the same pale gold as they always were. Funnily enough, they looked more natural on her wolf body than on her human one. Very tired out from her long run, she fell asleep.
- - -
"Quelcya hasn't told us everything we need to know, has she, Harry? I think that the four of you: Ron, Hermione, you, and she have something, or somethings to tell me. I'm not going to pull the others out of class, as I've annoyed Severus enough, so I'd like for you to tell me what I need to know." Dumbledore looked entirely serious behind his spectacles. "I saw a rather large wolf break through one of our windows and run away. If this isn't strange enough, this wolf closely resembled a student from here, who should have been in class. This wolf looked just like Quelcya would if she were a wolf."
"Professor," Harry began, but Dumbledore cut him off again.
"You know that Animagi take the form of their soul, that all human beings have an animal for a soul? Well, some wizards know how to recognize what shape a human would take if they became an Animagus. I can recognize Animagi, Harry. I have known that Quelcya is an Animagus, and I also believe that you are one. Your soul seems... closer to the surface than that of a normal wizard. Of course, I may be completely wrong in what I'm guessing." He waited a moment.
"No, Professor. You are completely correct. Cy and I are Animagi, both of us are-"
"Wolves."
"Yes. There's another thing that I may as well say, for the group. Caridwen, Hermione, Ron, Cy, and I are also all telepathic. That's how we know where we all are almost all of the time. We can block each other out, though." Harry stared at his feet.
"Thank you, Harry. Can you find Quelcya? The Forbidden Forest, where she was headed, is more dangerous than it used to be. Even Hagrid doesn't dare to go in anymore, and the centaurs now live on the outskirts, and refuse to say what they've seen."
Harry looked up into Dumbledore's kind face, and sighed, blinking back tears. "I can't reach her, Professor. She's gone and blocked us out. All I know is that she lost control of herself and is going, or has gone, for a very long run."
~ ~ ~
End chapter. Yes, I ended it with a cliffhanger. Shut up. I _like_ cliffhangers. Dun' like them? Well, don't complain to me, go and hang yourself on a cliff. Maybe that'll help.