Chapter 10: Dust, Fog and Ashes
"You need to pay careful attention here. We're entering one of the most dangerous parts of the forest. Uric!" Uric looked at Dasha from where he had been watching an orange, spike covered caterpillar rapidly devour a frog.
"Is there pudding here then?" he asked. Dasha blinked. A month of detentions with Uric and she still wasn't used to the boy.
"There are worse things in the world than pudding. For instance, this part of the forest happens to host a herd of graphorns that were transplanted here many years ago. We need to count them and make sure their numbers aren't too high. The muggles around here might object to angry graphorns running through their fields." Uric perked up.
"Muggles?"
"There is a muggle settlement on this side of the forest." She was staring in that direction. "There seems to be a lot more muggles around these days. Some day soon, we wizards will just be a memory and we'll be hiding ourselves from them, and from each other," she said in a melancholy tone. Uric looked worried.
"What about muggle-borns? They'll still come right?" he asked. He was thinking about Mena.
"That depends on the Council now doesn't it? Come on, we need to be out of the forest before sunset." She headed off at an angle and Uric followed slowly. He was thinking about leaves and wondering if they recognized each other when they were falling, and did they find different colours more attractive than others? Perhaps they had a fashion ball deep within the forest. He knelt down to pick up a brilliant yellow leaf and heard the screaming. He straightened up and stared quizzically ahead of him.
"Stay here, Uric!" Dasha disappeared into the forest ahead of them. Uric was nearly knocked over by her kneazle, Beckett, when he followed her in an orange blur. Uric stared curiously in the direction they went.
He could hear a strange lowing in the distance and more cries. The ground began to shake and small twigs and leaves came down in a strange shower. A loud groan came, reminding Uric of a banshee with a head cold. Something large and grey barrelled its way in to Uric's view. It had thick skin that was scaled like a dragon's and two sharp horns on the end of its nose that it was using to uproot a tree in front of him. More twigs fell down and Uric was forced to move as the tree crashed towards him.
He rolled, and a branch ripped through his robes, cutting a small gash in his arm. The tree hit with a deafening crunch and Uric found himself crouched in between two large branches, surrounded by a flurry of red and yellow leaves. The graphorn had stopped at the foot of the now dead tree. Its beady, black eyes met his hazel ones and they stood for a moment, as if frozen in time. Shaking its head, the graphorn gave a snort and trotted back into the forest.
Uric stood up, inspected the bloody rip in his robes and frowned. He looked around at the leaves and back at the blood on his robes. The leaves were definitely attracted to the colour red. He wanted to move, to get away from the leaves (who were beginning to worry him) and to find Dasha, but she had told him to stay where he was. He thought about his dilemma for a moment, then realized he had already disobeyed her by moving out of the way of the tree, so it must be okay for him to move now. Right? He started walking in the direction he thought she had disappeared.
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Uric couldn't hear screams anymore, and the forest was growing very dark in the deepening twilight. He headed towards where there was still light and soon found himself amongst thinning trees. The sounds of the forest died away, and he was walking on deep rows of dirt. They ran parallel to each other across the gentle slope right up to the edge of the forest. Uric regarded them in delight and without a thought, kicked off his shoes and socks. He ran barefoot over the soft, cool dirt, forgetting about the sting in his arm and everything else except the fresh, new smell of the field of earth.
He laughed and hoped over the rows, or left strange patterns in the dirt that his toes insisted he draw. Eventually the light faded so he could barely see, and Uric began to wonder how a field of dirt came to be near the Forbidden Forest. Was it a muggle field and if it was, why were they growing dirt? It occurred to him, that if they were growing dirt, he really shouldn't be disturbing it, so he made his way towards his shoes and socks.
"Uric! Get down!" yelled a voice out of nowhere. Uric frowned and felt a body slam into him, pushing his face into the dirt. He sputtered, and turned over to see a white light cross over his face. There were men in black cloaks with their hoods pulled up over strange brightly coloured masks, shaped like dragons and demons standing at the other edge of the field. Something settled over him, and he found himself trapped under a cloth with a very familiar woman. He could hear voices yelling out spells in the distance.
"Hello," he said cheerfully. She gave him a withering look.
"Did you see those men out there Uric?" she asked.
"Yes. They're playing dress up."
"That's so no one recognizes them."
"Why?" asked Uric, as another spell whizzed over them. The woman shook her head and shifted so that the smell of the dirt was overwhelming.
"I'd love to explain it to you, but we really don't have the time. They saw my invisibility cloak, and they're going to start searching the field systematically, which means that we need to move. This way." She grabbed his arm and forced him to crawl along with her. They headed off at an angle and Uric frowned as he crawled.
"What about my shoes and socks? They didn't do anything wrong," he said. She continued to drag him along.
"Believe it or not Uric, you're life is more important than your footwear." The earth began to tremble underneath them and the woman's eyes widened in fear. "Move!" she shouted as she pushed Uric to the right, while rolling to the left. The ground where they had been exploded in a shower of dirt. Uric shut his eyes tight until it was over, than looked for the woman. She was nowhere to be seen. Uric sat up and looked again, ignoring the curses that were flying around him. It was getting dark, but the moon was bright enough to provide some light.
"There he is!" yelled a voice. Uric frowned and crawled towards the last place he had seen the woman. One of the dirt hills was being crushed by something that he hoped was her. He reached the depression and poked the air above it. His finger met resistance and he grinned. His hand found the material of the cloak and pulled some of it off her.
Uric frowned. Her eyes were closed. He pulled out his wand and looked from her to the men in the masks. The one with a red dragon's head was getting awfully close and he was forced to duck as a yellowish coloured curse came his way. He looked longingly at his shoes off to his right, than made his decision. He rolled under the invisibility cloak and pointed his wand at the woman.
"Enervate," he said, pleased that he could remember a spell that he had seen his father use once many years ago. Her eyes fluttered, than opened. She looked straight at him and he smiled. "Hello," he said. She groaned.
"What are you still doing here Uric? You should have taken the cloak and left. They don't want me." Uric was confused. How was he supposed to know that? The woman twisted around to see the forest's edge only a few meters away. "Here is what we do. You take the invisibility cloak and run. Don't stop until you reach Hogwarts. I'll hold them off here. Do you understand me, Uric?" He nodded. "Alright," she said, though she looked doubtful. "You better go now." He looked around and saw that the man in the dragon mask was only three feet away. He wanted to ask the woman whether or not the dragon mask could breathe fire, but she rolled away from him and out from under the invisibility cloak.
The dragon-masked man froze, than pointed his wand at her. "Stupefy!" he called. She rolled out of the way of the spell and used her own wand.
"Expelliarmus!" she yelled. The wizard made a sweeping gesture with his wand.
"Claudiarmus!" The dragon's lips actually moved when he said the spell. The woman's spell hit an invisible shield and the dragon appeared to growl. "You shouldn't get in the way," he said. "He won't be harmed if his-"
"Quassicorpus!" shouted the woman. The man didn't dodge this time and began to shake violently making it impossible for him to aim or use his wand. His fellows had joined him at this point. One was wearing a black demon's mask, while the other wore a golden hippogriff. The woman attempted to curse them as well, but was repelled by some sort of shield.
Uric stared at the pretty masks, whose faces were bared in nasty grimaces, completely forgetting the woman's instructions. The wizard with the demon mask ended the spell on his fellow, while the golden hippogriff gnashed his beak at the woman.
"Petrificus totalus," he said in unison with the demon wizard. They each aimed for a different side of her, so that no matter where she dodged they had her. The woman fell down with a muffled thump and the wizards ignored her.
"He's gotten away," said the demon masked one in a deep voice. The golden griffin just shook his head.
"No. She had an invisibility cloak. She must have given it to him. We just have to find him before he gets back to Hogwarts." He pointed his wand at the ground in front of him. "Imburadventus," he said and a strange mist began to billow out of his wand forming into a line in front of him. "We'll smoke him out." Uric frowned at the line of mist that was creeping towards him. It was sending up puffs of dirt in front of it. He felt sorry for the little men who lived in the dirt, and did not want to share their fate, so he ran.
The line of fog began to sweep faster and it was only a few feet behind him when he reached the forest's edge. Uric winced as his bare feet were prodded by the various twigs and leaves that littered the ground. His feet were not going to be happy.
The forest was quiet, and he could hear strange echoes from the creatures within it and the men following him. One of the wizards shouted and Uric stopped to look. The cloud was rolling across the ground. It covered anything it touched and was creeping up the trees behind him. Soon everything behind him was a foggy ghost of itself. The temperature began to drop as it drew closer and Uric shivered. A bird flew over the cloud and attempted to land on a fog covered branch. It cried out once as it was engulfed, and then its body lost its hold on the branch and plunged towards the ground. Uric began running again.
He ran for a long time, the mist always behind him. He came out into a clearing of trees and remembered to duck just in time. A branch swept through the area where his head had been. Uric took a step back, ignoring the approaching fog and bowed low to the ground. A magnificent oak tree stood at the edge of a dense crowd of smaller trees. Their leaves glowed golden in the faint moonlight. Uric crawled across the ground to a nearby pool of water and cupped some in his hands. Bringing the water over to the oak, he carefully poured it onto the tree's roots.
"I'm sorry Mr. Oak, but I need to pass you and your friends." The tree did not respond, but Uric knew it could see and hear him. "You're leaves are very pretty by the way." There was a pause, than the sound of a thousand creaking's, and the branches of the oak moved out of the way. A passageway formed between the big oak and the smaller trees leading off towards Hogwarts. Uric grinning and bowed to them all.
"Thank you. I'll come back some time and bring you water." He cast a worried glance at the fog. "I don't think the fog will hurt you." He passed under the branches of the trees and wondered if they could make other shapes, like stars and spirals. He nearly stopped and asked them to try before remembering the fog.
Soon he was out from under the trees and running as fast as he could. Uric did what he usually did while running and drifted off into his own world, which is why he was surprised to find himself coming out of the forest and into the shadow of Hogwarts. He stopped running abruptly and pulled back the cloak's hood. There was something he was forgetting.
He reached inside his robe and touched the stone that was hanging around his neck. After a moment he began to giggle. It felt like someone was tickling him. His robes began to extend out in front of him and he giggled more when he felt two hands place themselves on either side of his chest. Soon, Mr. Kurze had tumbled out of the now smoking stone and was standing in front of Uric, the invisibility cloak tangled around him. Mr. Kurze looked down at the cloak.
"What is this Uric?"
"It's an invisibility cloak, Sir. Where did you come from? Have you been living in the stone?" Uric asked. Mr. Kurze shook his head.
"That's just absurd. Did you see the woman, or did you hit the stone accidentally?" he asked.
"I saw her. She even spoke to me," said Uric.
"Where?" Uric turned and pointed towards the forest. Did he see a dragon grin at him from there? Suddenly, Beckett bounded out of the forest followed by his owner. Dasha strode towards them, her long braid swinging back and forth behind her. She looked very grim.
"Where have you been Uric? Do you have any idea how long I've been looking for you?" she demanded. He ventured a guess.
"Since I disappeared?" Dasha looked very angry, but Mr. Kurze put his hand on her shoulder.
"Not now, Dasha," he said. "I need to know more about the woman while he's still slightly focused." She did not seem very placated.
"Uric is still in detention with me and is in my care. I have every right to demand where he has disappeared to for the last half hour." They both stared at each other and seemed to come to some sort of decision. They turned to Uric.
"Tell us what happened Uric," said Mr. Kurze.
"After I left you in the forest." Dasha knew she would have to clarify if they wanted a straight answer from the child. Mr. Kurze looked sharply at Dasha.
"You left him alone in the forest?"
"There was a herd of graphorns bothering some muggles. I didn't want him getting in my way, or theirs," she sounded defensive.
"I saw a graphorn," said Uric helpfully. He proceeded to tell them a disjointed tale of his adventures and didn't notice their alternating looks of disbelief and bemusement. He finished his tale and began to tell them about his new theory on pumpkin juice being the key to eternal life when Mr. Kurze held up a hand to stop him.
"So you were attacked by some unknown wizards and rescued by another unknown wizard for some unknown reason?" he asked. Uric nodded his head yes. "And this invisibility cloak belongs to this unknown woman?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Do you mind if I keep this, Uric?" Mr. Kurze asked.
"No, Sir." Mr. Kurze nodded his head.
"Alright then." He looked questioningly at Dasha. "Is there anything you want to say, Dasha?" She looked hard at Uric, than shook her head.
"Nothing that can't wait until tomorrow. You should go get that cut looked at Uric." She turned to Mr. Kurze. "What are you going to do now, Olman?" Mr. Kurze looked up at the half moon.
"I'll have to tell the Headmistress about this, though with him involved," he gestured at Uric, "I doubt she will be very understanding." His eyes fell on Uric. The boy was drawing in the dirt with his wand. "What are you doing boy?" Uric looked up and Mr. Kurze saw that the boy was about to launch into one of his long and convoluted explanations. "Get up to the castle. Now!" Uric's mouth closed and he wandered slowly towards the castle, zig-zagging slightly as if in deep thought. Mr. Kurze shook his head and something caught his eye. He bent down and picked up the burnt out stone that had hung around Uric's neck. It crumbled to ash in his hand. The wind blew across his hand and scattered the ashes into the forest.
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Cladiarmus basically means "to block + arms/weapons" while quassicorpus means "to shake violently + body", and imburadventus means "heavy rain + come".