****************
Visions of Thunder
****************
"You ok Harry?" Ron asked as they made their way down towards Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures. Today Hagrid had promised a special treat for them. The students had exchanged slightly apprehensive glances as Hagrid cheerily told them about their next lesson. After skrewts, fire- snits, the incident with the hippogriffs, Hydra, Flumper worms, poisonous acid-butterflies and a particularly nasty group of ankle biting dungeon hoppers, the students weren't sure if they were looking forward to this lesson or not. They'd learned over the years that what Hagrid thought was fun, was often very dangerous.
"Yeah I think so," Harry said after a moment's thought. He decided to tell Ron about his conversation with the Headmaster. He looked around and saw no one who was close enough to listen. "Sirius saw Dumbledore," Harry told Ron, "He seemed to think that the Death-Eaters were up to something," Ron seemed to digest that for a moment.
"Well, we know the Grim probably was just the big black dog then," He attempted levity. Harry laughed.
"Yeah. I wonder what Trelawney would do if she discovered that when I see the Grim I really just see a big black dog."
"And he's more likely to save your life then hurt you. I bet Trelawney would be real disappointed if she knew the truth,"
"Yeah," Harry agreed, his mood lightened considerably. "But it's just really creepy," he referred to the Tarot readings they'd done in class.
"Creepy how?"
"Creepy like when she made that prediction about Wormtail," Harry shook his head, "But maybe the incense and worrying about Sirius is just getting to me,"
"So, you sure you're ok?" Ron looked askance at his friend.
"Yeah," Harry sighed and rubbed his scar absently. "I'll tell you if I'm not ok. Oh hey there's Hagrid. Wonder if that's the 'special treat',"
"Looks like a bird," Ron observed.
"That's a big bird," The bird Hagrid carried looked almost normal when it sat on his large wrist. Harry's mind finally worked out that that meant the bird was gigantic and he gulped.
A handful of Ravenclaws are milling about and Hermione was there already, waving to them.
"These 'ere are Thunder Birds." Hagrid said as class began. The bird on his gloved hand was pitch black except for electric blue falcon markings around its eyes, down its chest and at the tips of its tail feathers. Harry thought he saw clouds stream across the bird's large, entirely blue eye. The mirrored sky effect was broken only, and most eerily, by the bird's pitch black pupil. In shape it looked a little like an eagle. It was also huge. Enormous in fact. Harry had thought Fawkes huge, but these birds were easily twice his size. "Every one put on some of the specially reinforce gloves over in the pile there. They're talons are sharp. Made out of obsidian, ya know." Hagrid said and coaxed the large bird onto the perch.
"I contacted a fellow over in the Americas. Traded him some English critters for awhile in exchange for this beauty. Got a bunch 'o Foreign type critters lined up all year in fact. Now this 'er is a Thunderbird. Native ta Nevada, Californa, New Mexico, Arizona an Texas in the States, and some parts of Mexico, mostly the northern bits and the Baja penninsula. Yeh ken tell their mood by the color o' their eyes. See? He's content right now. Blue cloudy eyes. Best get out of the way when they begin to get storms in their eyes," Hagrid pet the and the bird leaned into it, presenting the back of it's head to be scratched.
"They're a right friendly sort if yeh treat 'em well. They're also fairly intelligent."
"How intelligent?" A Ravenclaw asked. Several Ravenclaws took out quills and parchment to take notes.
"They understand human speech well enough. The Shamans use bunches of them to help bring the rains to the wizarding southwest. One of 'em won't bring any rain, so I think we're safe," he winked, "The thing ya gotta remember is what they can do, yeh see? Now yeh might want to cover your ears." Hagrid told them.
The students exchanged glances at one another then dutifully covered their ears. Hagrid muttered something to one of the birds, which no one could hear very well with their ear's covered. The bird opened its great wings and flapped. A sound like rolling of thunder was emitted. It shook Harry's bones and he felt the rumbling deep in his chest. It was like someone had turned the volume on a giant bass guitar way, way up. The bird then, at Hagrid's command, emitted what sounded like a crack of lightening. The class flinched as the noise rolled over them in a wave, followed by a cool breeze which smelled faintly of ozone. The bird closed it wings, and Hagrid gave it a dead mouse to eat.
"And that's why they're called Thunder Birds," Hagrid grinned at the class.
In Transfiguration, the clap of thunder startled the class. McGonagall looked out the window with a sour expression, then shut it and continued to teach. Ginny got that nasty feeling that something was going on just beyond her senses. The funny feeling hadn't happened that often so she hadn't bothered telling a teacher. Well, it hadn't happened too often when she couldn't immediately see George and Fred were up to something. She looked around and wondered what was pricking her attention just beyond her senses. Lisa was staring at the board in the front of the room. Ginny noticed her pupils had become quite small and that the girl had become quite still. Her gaze was unfocused and she looked like she was barely breathing.
In Lisa's head, it was as if the clap of thunder had awoken someone else. She'd been dozing off in transfiguration and with that clap of thunder she was suddenly another person, in another place, in another life.
She brushed back an errant lock of hair as the last bit of wind died down. The distant rumbles of the storm's retreat echoed through the trees. The ground was slightly squishy under her booted feet, but she felt confident in having a decent purchase on the earth. The storm had been another one of those quick summer affairs and not much water had soaked into the earth. The balmy air was quickly turning the woods into a sauna. She could see mist already rising in the soft moonlight.
She was hunting alone this evening. The dark wizard she'd been trailing had suddenly begun acting oddly a few days before. She'd warily set out that evening, following him as he journeyed into the woods. She'd lost him in the quick rainfall as each took what cover they could, but it was only a matter of time before she found him again. She pulled her cloak tighter and proceeded forward. The night wore on and there was still no sign of her target.
Suddenly the woods became silent. She froze with a small feeling for foreboding. This sort of silence only happened when there was a large predator around. Or several.
She heard the snap of a branch behind her and realized with a sinking feeling that she'd been caught. She tried to apparate and realized she couldn't. They'd set up some sort of barrier. She steeled herself for a fight, resolving that if she really was going down, she wasn't going alone. She was better than any twenty of them. And that was good, because there were just about twenty of them.
She grinned then, a glint in her eye, and the first moved. She leapt aside dodging a curse, and again and again.She sent back a few of her own and the howls of annoyance and pain followed her as she fled, trying to escape the apparation barrier. A group leapt in front of her and she realized, remotely, that this was some sort of trap. She took out one, then another and another. The muddy rainwater splashed around her legs, chilling them slightly. The fight moved down the hill towards the small creek. She slipped slightly in the mud and barely dodged a curse which left a smoldering crater in the soft stream bed. She quickly dispatched her most recent attacker, but she was getting tired. The mud was deep here and the water cold. She spun around and came face to face with the biggest snake she'd ever seen. The massive serpent reared and hissed, causing her to freeze in its hypnotic gaze for a second too long. A high voice began to laugh. She whirled to face it and was face to face with no less than twenty wands.
"STUPIFY!"
"Lisa?" Ginny whispered, poking her friend. Lisa seemed to shake herself out of a very strong daydream. Lisa couldn't remember much but the faint stench of ozone and rotting leaves. And that was very odd, because normally the school smelled faintly of incense and old parchment. Why was she thinking of rotting leaves? Why was Ginny poking her?
"Hum?" Lisa asked.
"Are you ok?"
"…Fine, why?" Lisa asked. Why was Ginny looking at her so oddly?
"You zoned out. Again." Lisa had confessed to not sleeping well recently and this wasn't the first time Ginny had caught Lisa dozing of.
"Oh," Lisa said and looked around to see if anyone else had noticed. No one else had seemed to, so she breathed a sigh of relief. She thought she really should speak to Madame Pomfrey or someone about her sleepiness and random naps. Ginny watched her for a moment. Something was not right with her friend and she resolved to find out what.
"And the barrier between the wizarding and muggle worlds was finally erected in the 1000s. The sorceress who was the primary researcher and implementer, Azar din Wha…" Professor Binns continued to lecture, but Ron wasn't paying much attention. Neither, actually, was Hermione. She was attempting to read over Ron's shoulder. And that meant she had to lean over Harry, who was becoming slightly annoyed.
Harry prodded her with his finger and she squeaked. Hermione blushed and sat back in her seat and tried to pay attention, but she kept glancing at the book Ron was reading. The bell finally rang and there was a general sigh of relief from the students. Ron, however, sat in his seat and continued to read. Harry could see he was almost at the end of the book.
"C'mon Ron,"
"What? Oh, sorry," he hurriedly packed and stood.
"I'd love to see what's in that book," Hermione said.
"And I said you should probably check with professor McGonagall. You already said you couldn't find it in the library. There must be a reason," Ron told her. He was nearly finished with the book. Hermione huffed.
"Well, I have practice," Harry said and waved bye.
"Bye Harry. Oh I have to meeting with McGonagall, I said I wanted to talk with her about some of this material," Ron said and sprinted off the other way. "See you at dinner!" he called out over his shoulder. Hermione frowned as she realized she was the only one in the hall. Well, the only Gryffindor. Malfoy and his lackeys were slouched against the wall. Draco and Hermione exchanged cold glances across the hallway.
"Hermione!" Ginny Weasley was racing down the hall, her red hair flying out behind her.
"Hi Ginny,"
"Hermione, I need to talk to you," Ginny said. Spying Malfoy, the two exchanged unpleasant gestures and Ginny dragged Hermione down the hall, out of ear shot. "I'm worried," Ginny began.
"So she's been acting oddly and she doesn't remember a thing?" Hermione asked after Ginny had explained her concerns. Ginny nodded.
"Hm. Why don't you note down when she starts acting funny. And maybe you should try and think of any recent changes in her eating or study habits or something that might account for it. I'd help but I don't have classes with her," Hermione suggested. Ginny nodded again. It seemed reasonable. "I'll start right now," she resolved and marched down the hall in search of her friend.
Visions of Thunder
****************
"You ok Harry?" Ron asked as they made their way down towards Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures. Today Hagrid had promised a special treat for them. The students had exchanged slightly apprehensive glances as Hagrid cheerily told them about their next lesson. After skrewts, fire- snits, the incident with the hippogriffs, Hydra, Flumper worms, poisonous acid-butterflies and a particularly nasty group of ankle biting dungeon hoppers, the students weren't sure if they were looking forward to this lesson or not. They'd learned over the years that what Hagrid thought was fun, was often very dangerous.
"Yeah I think so," Harry said after a moment's thought. He decided to tell Ron about his conversation with the Headmaster. He looked around and saw no one who was close enough to listen. "Sirius saw Dumbledore," Harry told Ron, "He seemed to think that the Death-Eaters were up to something," Ron seemed to digest that for a moment.
"Well, we know the Grim probably was just the big black dog then," He attempted levity. Harry laughed.
"Yeah. I wonder what Trelawney would do if she discovered that when I see the Grim I really just see a big black dog."
"And he's more likely to save your life then hurt you. I bet Trelawney would be real disappointed if she knew the truth,"
"Yeah," Harry agreed, his mood lightened considerably. "But it's just really creepy," he referred to the Tarot readings they'd done in class.
"Creepy how?"
"Creepy like when she made that prediction about Wormtail," Harry shook his head, "But maybe the incense and worrying about Sirius is just getting to me,"
"So, you sure you're ok?" Ron looked askance at his friend.
"Yeah," Harry sighed and rubbed his scar absently. "I'll tell you if I'm not ok. Oh hey there's Hagrid. Wonder if that's the 'special treat',"
"Looks like a bird," Ron observed.
"That's a big bird," The bird Hagrid carried looked almost normal when it sat on his large wrist. Harry's mind finally worked out that that meant the bird was gigantic and he gulped.
A handful of Ravenclaws are milling about and Hermione was there already, waving to them.
"These 'ere are Thunder Birds." Hagrid said as class began. The bird on his gloved hand was pitch black except for electric blue falcon markings around its eyes, down its chest and at the tips of its tail feathers. Harry thought he saw clouds stream across the bird's large, entirely blue eye. The mirrored sky effect was broken only, and most eerily, by the bird's pitch black pupil. In shape it looked a little like an eagle. It was also huge. Enormous in fact. Harry had thought Fawkes huge, but these birds were easily twice his size. "Every one put on some of the specially reinforce gloves over in the pile there. They're talons are sharp. Made out of obsidian, ya know." Hagrid said and coaxed the large bird onto the perch.
"I contacted a fellow over in the Americas. Traded him some English critters for awhile in exchange for this beauty. Got a bunch 'o Foreign type critters lined up all year in fact. Now this 'er is a Thunderbird. Native ta Nevada, Californa, New Mexico, Arizona an Texas in the States, and some parts of Mexico, mostly the northern bits and the Baja penninsula. Yeh ken tell their mood by the color o' their eyes. See? He's content right now. Blue cloudy eyes. Best get out of the way when they begin to get storms in their eyes," Hagrid pet the and the bird leaned into it, presenting the back of it's head to be scratched.
"They're a right friendly sort if yeh treat 'em well. They're also fairly intelligent."
"How intelligent?" A Ravenclaw asked. Several Ravenclaws took out quills and parchment to take notes.
"They understand human speech well enough. The Shamans use bunches of them to help bring the rains to the wizarding southwest. One of 'em won't bring any rain, so I think we're safe," he winked, "The thing ya gotta remember is what they can do, yeh see? Now yeh might want to cover your ears." Hagrid told them.
The students exchanged glances at one another then dutifully covered their ears. Hagrid muttered something to one of the birds, which no one could hear very well with their ear's covered. The bird opened its great wings and flapped. A sound like rolling of thunder was emitted. It shook Harry's bones and he felt the rumbling deep in his chest. It was like someone had turned the volume on a giant bass guitar way, way up. The bird then, at Hagrid's command, emitted what sounded like a crack of lightening. The class flinched as the noise rolled over them in a wave, followed by a cool breeze which smelled faintly of ozone. The bird closed it wings, and Hagrid gave it a dead mouse to eat.
"And that's why they're called Thunder Birds," Hagrid grinned at the class.
In Transfiguration, the clap of thunder startled the class. McGonagall looked out the window with a sour expression, then shut it and continued to teach. Ginny got that nasty feeling that something was going on just beyond her senses. The funny feeling hadn't happened that often so she hadn't bothered telling a teacher. Well, it hadn't happened too often when she couldn't immediately see George and Fred were up to something. She looked around and wondered what was pricking her attention just beyond her senses. Lisa was staring at the board in the front of the room. Ginny noticed her pupils had become quite small and that the girl had become quite still. Her gaze was unfocused and she looked like she was barely breathing.
In Lisa's head, it was as if the clap of thunder had awoken someone else. She'd been dozing off in transfiguration and with that clap of thunder she was suddenly another person, in another place, in another life.
She brushed back an errant lock of hair as the last bit of wind died down. The distant rumbles of the storm's retreat echoed through the trees. The ground was slightly squishy under her booted feet, but she felt confident in having a decent purchase on the earth. The storm had been another one of those quick summer affairs and not much water had soaked into the earth. The balmy air was quickly turning the woods into a sauna. She could see mist already rising in the soft moonlight.
She was hunting alone this evening. The dark wizard she'd been trailing had suddenly begun acting oddly a few days before. She'd warily set out that evening, following him as he journeyed into the woods. She'd lost him in the quick rainfall as each took what cover they could, but it was only a matter of time before she found him again. She pulled her cloak tighter and proceeded forward. The night wore on and there was still no sign of her target.
Suddenly the woods became silent. She froze with a small feeling for foreboding. This sort of silence only happened when there was a large predator around. Or several.
She heard the snap of a branch behind her and realized with a sinking feeling that she'd been caught. She tried to apparate and realized she couldn't. They'd set up some sort of barrier. She steeled herself for a fight, resolving that if she really was going down, she wasn't going alone. She was better than any twenty of them. And that was good, because there were just about twenty of them.
She grinned then, a glint in her eye, and the first moved. She leapt aside dodging a curse, and again and again.She sent back a few of her own and the howls of annoyance and pain followed her as she fled, trying to escape the apparation barrier. A group leapt in front of her and she realized, remotely, that this was some sort of trap. She took out one, then another and another. The muddy rainwater splashed around her legs, chilling them slightly. The fight moved down the hill towards the small creek. She slipped slightly in the mud and barely dodged a curse which left a smoldering crater in the soft stream bed. She quickly dispatched her most recent attacker, but she was getting tired. The mud was deep here and the water cold. She spun around and came face to face with the biggest snake she'd ever seen. The massive serpent reared and hissed, causing her to freeze in its hypnotic gaze for a second too long. A high voice began to laugh. She whirled to face it and was face to face with no less than twenty wands.
"STUPIFY!"
"Lisa?" Ginny whispered, poking her friend. Lisa seemed to shake herself out of a very strong daydream. Lisa couldn't remember much but the faint stench of ozone and rotting leaves. And that was very odd, because normally the school smelled faintly of incense and old parchment. Why was she thinking of rotting leaves? Why was Ginny poking her?
"Hum?" Lisa asked.
"Are you ok?"
"…Fine, why?" Lisa asked. Why was Ginny looking at her so oddly?
"You zoned out. Again." Lisa had confessed to not sleeping well recently and this wasn't the first time Ginny had caught Lisa dozing of.
"Oh," Lisa said and looked around to see if anyone else had noticed. No one else had seemed to, so she breathed a sigh of relief. She thought she really should speak to Madame Pomfrey or someone about her sleepiness and random naps. Ginny watched her for a moment. Something was not right with her friend and she resolved to find out what.
"And the barrier between the wizarding and muggle worlds was finally erected in the 1000s. The sorceress who was the primary researcher and implementer, Azar din Wha…" Professor Binns continued to lecture, but Ron wasn't paying much attention. Neither, actually, was Hermione. She was attempting to read over Ron's shoulder. And that meant she had to lean over Harry, who was becoming slightly annoyed.
Harry prodded her with his finger and she squeaked. Hermione blushed and sat back in her seat and tried to pay attention, but she kept glancing at the book Ron was reading. The bell finally rang and there was a general sigh of relief from the students. Ron, however, sat in his seat and continued to read. Harry could see he was almost at the end of the book.
"C'mon Ron,"
"What? Oh, sorry," he hurriedly packed and stood.
"I'd love to see what's in that book," Hermione said.
"And I said you should probably check with professor McGonagall. You already said you couldn't find it in the library. There must be a reason," Ron told her. He was nearly finished with the book. Hermione huffed.
"Well, I have practice," Harry said and waved bye.
"Bye Harry. Oh I have to meeting with McGonagall, I said I wanted to talk with her about some of this material," Ron said and sprinted off the other way. "See you at dinner!" he called out over his shoulder. Hermione frowned as she realized she was the only one in the hall. Well, the only Gryffindor. Malfoy and his lackeys were slouched against the wall. Draco and Hermione exchanged cold glances across the hallway.
"Hermione!" Ginny Weasley was racing down the hall, her red hair flying out behind her.
"Hi Ginny,"
"Hermione, I need to talk to you," Ginny said. Spying Malfoy, the two exchanged unpleasant gestures and Ginny dragged Hermione down the hall, out of ear shot. "I'm worried," Ginny began.
"So she's been acting oddly and she doesn't remember a thing?" Hermione asked after Ginny had explained her concerns. Ginny nodded.
"Hm. Why don't you note down when she starts acting funny. And maybe you should try and think of any recent changes in her eating or study habits or something that might account for it. I'd help but I don't have classes with her," Hermione suggested. Ginny nodded again. It seemed reasonable. "I'll start right now," she resolved and marched down the hall in search of her friend.