My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill.
My human friends call me Ax.
We were going into what Harry called the Forbidden Forest. He was under his Invisibility Cloak with his friend Hermione. The Animorphs and I were owls, all of except Tobias. He was in his usual form.
Harry had told us that we were going to acquire giant spiders. Hermione had called them Acromantula. I do not know what these are, but they had both sounded a little nervous when they told us to acquire them.
Harry hung up his Cloak on the branch of a tree. "We won't need it in there," he explained, "and it would only cause a problem. It'll get snagged on the branches." He paused, then added, "Be careful. There are tons of dangerous animals in there. I know."
We all bobbed our heads and took flight. We would follow him into the forest. As he started into the Forest with his wand raised high, I heard him mumble something about flying cars.
He seemed to get lost after a little while. He frowned and looked around him. "Hermione," he whispered, "what direction is the school?"
"East of the forest, I think."
He put his wand on the palm of his hand. "Point me."
The wand swerved around of its own accord. It pointed to the left. Harry squinted in that direction. "Okay, so that's north."
They continued through the forest. We followed from above like phantoms. The twosome below froze when the bushes in front of them rustled. "Nox," Harry whispered. The light at the tip of their wand went out and the only source of light was the full moon.
"Harry Potter?"
Hermione squeaked. Cassie gasped. Harry sighed in relief. The rest of us remained silent.
"Firenze!" Harry cried, grinning.
I couldn't take my eyes from the creature that emerged into the moonlight. At first I thought it was an abnormally tall human male. He had long, white-blond hair that fell over his broad shoulders. His eyes were piercingly blue. His arms were muscular, so unlike my weak Andalite limbs.
The thing that made me stare was that below his waist, he was horse: almost like me. The fur on the horse-part of his body was white with splotches of brown. He was pawing nervously at the ground with a fore hoof.
"Harry Potter," Firenze repeated, eyes wide, "You must leave at once! The Forest is a dangerous place to be at this time."
"Why?" Harry demanded.
"The centaurs grow restless. They are beginning to fight the laws laid down by wizard-kind. They are mutinous, Harry Potter." Firenze threw his head back and looked up at the stars. "It is written in the stars that times are going to change. My herd is a dangerous thing to humans. They will punish any who come into their midst."
I was momentarily confused. How could anything be written in the stars?
"We have to be in here, though," Harry said stubbornly.
Firenze shook his head and danced nervously on his hooves. "Unless you have come prepared to fight a herd of centaurs, I cannot let you continue. I will have to send you back. There are only two of you, and you are only foals. Your very lives are in danger, and Harry Potter has yet to live his fate."
Harry's face drained of color. "I have 'yet to live my fate'? What—?"
Hermione cut him off. "You're wrong, er… Firenze. There are eight of us."
"Where? I do not see more than two." Firenze said, ignoring Harry's question.
There are eight of us, Prince Jake said, startling me.
Firenze's eyes widened. He looked around and frowned.
Prince Jake fluttered to the ground. Me. The owl. I'm Harry's friend. There are six owls in all. We're all—erm—Ani… Ani…
"Animagi," Hermione supplied.
He nodded. We're special Animagi. We can become any animal we touch.
Firenze flared his nostrils and looked up in the trees. He blinked as he saw the five of us.
"Fine," he said grudgingly, "I will let you pass. Be careful, Harry Potter. It is written in the stars that you must fulfill a destiny. Also, you are my friend. I do not want to see my friend culled."
He moved to the side. "Thanks, Firenze," Harry told the centaur. As he passed, I heard him whisper to Hermione, "At least he's not a sphinx. Then we would have been in trouble."
We continued on for hours. Every hour and a half, we Animorphs would demorph and remorph. Harry and Hermione were visibly tiring. They had slowed their pace. Hermione was yawning constantly. Harry was dragging his feet.
Harry came to a sudden stop. Hermione ran into him. He squinted around him, looking surprised. "I think we're going in the right direction," he said slowly. He blinked and failed to stifle a yawn. "I remember this place…"
There was a loud roar and a blare of light. I jerked dangerously and plummeted a few feet, as did the other Animorphs. Hermione uttered a small shriek. Harry's wand was immediately in front of him. Once he got accustomed to the light (which was before anyone else), he chuckled and lowered his wand.
"Guys," he said, stumbling numbly forward, "Guys, it's the Weasley's car!"
"What?" Hermione gasped.
I flew behind the powerful ray of light and immediately saw that he was correct. It was a turquoise car, with many bangs and scrapes. It was filthy. Steam streamed out of the engine. I did not know how it could possibly be running.
Harry patted the car in relief. It's engines roared again and it seemed almost to purr, like a gigantic cat. It rubbed against his leg. He grinned widely.
"I haven't seen it since second year," he said, stroking its hood fondly. "It saved Ron's and my life."
The car purred again, seemingly basking in this praise.
"Can you show us where the giant spiders are?" he asked it.
I could not believe Harry, who was usually very sensible, was asking a car for directions. Everyone stared blankly at him. I gave a start when the car's doors opened of their own accord. He jumped in the driver's seat and patted the one next to him. "Everyone in!"
Hermione sat in the seat next to him. The rest of us fluttered into the backseat. It was a little crowded, but we all fit.
The car doors slammed. With a lurch, the car started forward. From the way Harry drove it, I could see how the car was the way it was. Then I realized he wasn't even driving it: it was driving itself!
It stopped in front of an unusually large tree. Its doors flew open again. Harry and Hermione got out. Harry put a finger to his lips and crept forward. Hermione mimicked him.
The Animorphs and I demorphed. I watched with one of my stalk eyes as the car doors closed quietly and backed into the darkness.
Harry had frozen some feet away. He was staring up at the trees behind Prince Jake. I turned to see what he was staring at and all of my hearts nearly stopped.
There was a monstrously huge arachnid behind my prince. It was at least ten earth feet tall. It reached two of its eight appendages down and grabbed Prince Jake. He yelled in shock as it lifted him from the ground. I leapt forward, tail ready, but Harry was there all ready.
"Stupefy!" he yelled.
A jet of scarlet light shot out from his wand and hit the spider. It shrieked and clicked its pincers menacingly. Harry swore and ducked as another giant spider lunged at him from the shadows.
Meanwhile, Prince Jake morphed. Orange and black fur rippled down his skin. Muscles like liquid steel bulged forth on his arms and legs. His fingernails became claws, his flat herbivore teeth becoming long and sharp. His ears melted and slid to the top of his head. His bone structure changed and he swelled in size.
He slashed out with his giant claws, striking the beast in the chest. I galloped to his side and hit its head with the flat of my blade. It slumped to the ground, unconscious.
Cassie, now a wolf, howled a battle cry. She leapt on the Acromantula attacking Harry and Hermione and bit one of its many legs off. It squealed furiously. It clicked furiously and, as I was truly shocked to hear, yelled, "My leg!"
Rachel took its head off with a sweep of her gigantic paw. It fell to its knees and keeled over backward. Green blood oozed out of where the head had previously been.
"I—I think I'm going to—" Hermione began. She promptly turned on heel and vomited into the bush. I watched her with some disgust. Humans have a strange way of expelling dangerous things from their digestive system.
Cassie demorphed quickly and ran over to her. "It's okay," she soothed, hugging Hermione sideways.
Hermione smiled feebly. "I'll be fine," she said, wiping her mouth with her sleeve, "I just wasn't expecting it."
"Where's Marco?" asked Harry suddenly.
I scanned the area with my stalk eyes. He was nowhere in my range of sight. I do not see him.
Cassie gasped. "Oh no," she whispered, eyes round.
From somewhere in the distance came the yell of, "Put me down, you giant mosquito!"
Jake, who hadn't demorphed, was all ready gone. He had disappeared to the direction the voice had come from. "Lumos," Harry said, running after Jake. Hermione followed without hesitation, lighting the tip of her wand also.
Rachel, half demorphed, said a very impolite word fervently. She reversed direction. Cassie was swiftly becoming a wolf again. Once they had completed their morphing, we leapt off into the forest.
I let the way, slashing tree branches out of the way with my tail blade. Rachel tailed me closely, shouldering obstacles out of her way. This led a clear path for Cassie, who brought up the rear.
When we arrived, there was a battle underway. About five Acromantulas were fighting Marco, Tobias, and Jake. Harry and Hermione were shouting spells, but they seemed to have no affect whatsoever on the giant spiders.
Marco cried a gorilla warning and thumped his chest. You want a piece of me?
The Acromantula took no need of the warning and lunged. Marco wrestled it to the ground, drew his arm back, and punched it. It head snapped off with a sickening crunch.
I joined the din. Something grabbed my tail. I yelled my surprise and turned. The Acromantula holding me lifted me from my feet, leaving me kicking in the air. I tried to swing at it, but it held me too far away. It brought its head close to mine and opened its pincers and…
A jet of silver light missed my head very narrowly. It hit the spider in the face. It screamed and dropped me. I caught a glimpse of Hermione standing behind me, looking very ill. She clutched her wand in her bloodless fist. She was shaking from fatigue and sickness. There were large purple bags under her eyes.
Thanks, I said.
"No problem," she croaked.
"INCENDIO!"
Another jet of light was shot at me. It went through my stalk eyes, making me recoil. I could feel the heat as it traveled. It hit its target, which burst into flame.
Harry ambled out of the bush, twirling his wand in his fingers. "Sorry," he apologized, "There was no other way around you."
I scanned the area. The Acromantulas had all died in the fight. My Animorph friends had all ready begun to demorph.
We walked back to the clearing with the unconscious Acromantula. One by one, we all acquired it.
"That was exciting," Harry said, a light note of human sarcasm in his voice. No one had spoken since the fight.
"Yeah. It was exciting if you like near-death experiences," Marco said. He gave Rachel a very noticeable look.
Harry shook his head, looking around the clearing. "And they say I go looking for trouble. I think it's trouble that's looking for me. Why would I—?"
He stopped short. A howl from a nearby wolf had cut him off. He paled several shades. He threw his head back and looked at the moon. Hermione, now paler than before, moved over and looked up. "But it's not full," she whispered fearfully.
The bushes rustled and a wolf ambled out. Cassie gasped. "A wolf! What's it doing all alone? And why—wait a minute, that looks different than a wolf!"
"Run." Harry said, drawing his wand.
"What? Why?" demanded Prince Jake.
"RUN!"
The wolf snarled and raised its hackles. It licked its lips and eyed us up.
"It's—it's a werewolf," explained Hermione very calmly.
Werewolf? I asked. She was about to answer when it leapt.
Straight at Harry.
It hit him in the chest with its paws. It snapped at his face, spittle flying in every direction. He fought furiously, pushing the wolf's jaws away with his bare hands.
No one seemed to want to go near the wrestling pair. They were moving too much for Hermione to hit the werewolf with a spell. Seeing as no one else was going to do anything, I jumped forward and lashed out with my tail.
I luckily hit the werewolf in the flank. My tail blade sank deep. It howled in pain and rolled off Harry. It charged at me but met my tail blade again. Instead of reeling away, it had sunk its jaws in my tail, drawing blood. I winced and shook it off. It fell and I thumped it soundly with the flat of my blade.
When I turned back, everyone was staring at me in horror. Hermione had her hands clapped over her mouth. Harry remained on the ground, staring up at me with huge eyes. I could see Jake fighting to be calm and failing. Cassie had backed into a tree, shaking her head violently. Marco's mouth was hanging open. Tobias was hurriedly preening his feathers. Rachel was staring at me with horrid fascination.
What? I asked, What is the matter?
"A werewolf just bit you," Hermione said through her fingers.
Yes. I know, I said, still puzzled.
"Don't you know what a werewolf's bite does?"
It does something?
"Yes. Every month, when the moon is full, anyone with a werewolf bite becomes a werewolf themselves!"
You mean that I morph?
"No. You don't morph. You become a werewolf against your will. They're bloodthirsty creatures, Ax. They'll kill anything. You'll be a wolf with uncontrollable bloodlust for the whole night."
I gasped. But… but… this cannot be possible!
"It is," Harry said softly, getting to his feet, "My dad's best friend was a werewolf. He still is. He's an extremely nice person, but when he's a wolf… well, let's just say he tried to eat his best friend. That's beside the fact that he tried to eat Ron, Hermione, and me too."
I stared at him. Maybe… if I morph…
Harry shook his head. "I don't know, but I think it has something to do with the DNA. Maybe you'll be lucky and it doesn't work with Andalites."
Hermione looked at me. "Tomorrow is the full moon. I guess we'll find out then. Maybe… maybe I can make you a Wolfsbane potion."
"I think we should head back now," Harry said, looking at the sky. "It's almost dawn and we should really get some sleep. Ax, you should stay out of class today. There's no telling what could happen."
No one objected, so he put his wand on the flat of his hand and whispered, "Point me."
He found the direction we would go in and started walked. The Animorphs morphed owls and flew. Getting home seemed to take much longer than the way there even though it only took an hour and a half.
Harry and Hermione came down to the chamber with us. Hermione explained werewolf transformations (she had read all about it). They both acquired the dead Basilisk and left, bidding us goodnight.
No one would approach me that night except Tobias, and he was very tentative when he did.
I looked at my tail, where the werewolf had bitten me. There was a scar there. According to the way the Escafil device works, it should have healed over.
But it hadn't.
Was it, perhaps, an omen of things to come?
I stared blankly at the statue of one of the Hogwarts founders, Salazar Slytherin. There was nothing I could do now.
Nothing but wait.
A/N: Dun, dun, duuuuun! Cliffhanger! Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Can you ever forgive me?
This story, quite pathetically, is seventy-seven pages long. Which means that it's longer than the original fiction story I've been working on for one year and eleven months. ::scowls at self:: Why me?
Anywho, stick around for the next chapter: "Chapter 25: Nasty Surprises (Harry)" Is Ax a werewolf? Who is this betrayer I mentioned last chapter? Hang tight!
