Chapter 6: The Changing Winds
"Well, I understand your concern, Kentarre, but what you are asking is simply out of the question." The afternoon sun shone in through the windows of Dumbledore's circular office that Sunday, setting fire to the swirling dust particles that happened to pass through it. Dumbledore himself was as cool as a cucumber as he eyed Kentarre from over the rim of his half moon spectacles. She was tempted to glare at him until he conceded, but she held her steady gaze in check, trying not to look so much accusing as simply put out. "As I have told you already," she said, "this matter will require some investigation from all sides. My request to you now is merely an example of the kind of investigating I'd like to do. You do realize, don't you, that Jycein knowing who I am changes things. I have managed to keep from him why I am here, but he already knows too much. This recent favor is simply so that I can keep a better eye on him to make sure he knows that he is to keep this to himself. I am sorry if I offend you by saying this, but I'm not entirely sure I trust him. He reminds me too much of-" Kentarre broke off very abruptly, debating how far she dared go. She shook her head and continued. "Nevermind. The point is this: do you or do you not agree that if Jycein talks, to anyone, that I am in jeopardy?" She paused so he could reply.
Dumbledore considered this. "Well, in a way, I suppose you would be, because of the fact of who you are and what you have come here to do. But, Kentarre, if he knows who you are, then he must know that you want as few people as possible to know about it." Kentarre clenched her fists at her sides. "What I want to know is how he found out in the first place!" she burst. "Who is he really? How does he know about me?" Dumbledore shook his head. "I don't know, for I surely did not. Believe me, Kentarre, not a single teacher knows about you except for Professor Jycein and me."
Kentarre's fists, however remained clenched. "How did you find him?" she asked. "How did he come to teach here?" Dumbledore replied, "He replied to my ad in the Daily Prophet. He was the only one that replied. He told me that he would not be able to attend school for the first few weeks because he would be out of the country, but that once he got here, he would stay." Kentarre pondered this. *That would mean that he wasn't in England at that time,* she mused. *I wonder...* She opened her mouth to say something else to Dumbledore, then closed it again. Kentarre thought that she would do some snooping around on Jycein- with or without Dumbledore's permission. Of course, it would be better if she had his permission, but she didn't want to risk him ordering her not to. After all, if she hadn't been ordered not to, that didn't mean she couldn't- or wouldn't.
She turned back to the headmaster, who was eyeing her with the slightest hint of suspicion in his twinkling crystal blue eyes. Kentarre spoke. "Thank you, Dumbledore. I'm going back to the dormitory to do some thinking." Dumbledore's twinkle turned playful. "Don't think too much, now," he teased. "I've found that when one does that, one receives the most peculiar headaches afterward, for some reason." Kentarre raised her eyebrow at him, then allowed herself a small smile in Dumbledore's direction. "I'll try," she said, and left in a very dignified manner, closing the door quietly behind her.
*Now all I have to do is stay out of Harry's way- but that doesn't mean I can't watch him. Hmmm... maybe I'll get to brush up on my slinking.*
Harry and his friends were at Hagrid's right now, and Kentarre decided that direct spying would not be the best way to go about it. No, what she would do was to pull a few strings and see if she could use her magic so that she could hear them without having to listen through the keyhole, which could get her caught. She would have to be quick, because what she was doing involved going right up and making contact with one of the windows. It would also require no interruptions from anybody else while she was listening, or else she would miss something. *This will be a good way to find out anything they may want to keep hidden from me,* she mused, and she crept up to the hut to begin her incantation.
Once the part with the window was done, Kentarre put the same magic on her left ear so that she could hear what was inside. Then she left the cabin and climbed a tree nearby. This would make it the chances for interruptions a good deal slimmer than they would be if she had stayed on the ground; people tend to be rather blind when the person they're looking for is hiding in a tree.
The conversation was going fairly normally: Harry was saying, "The thing that's got me confused is the fact that her falcon landed on the chair in the common room. Why didn't he just go up to the dormitory if she was there?" Ron agreed. "Maybe she's got an Invisibility Cloak too," he reasoned. Hermione commented, "I thought you said those were really rare."
"Yeah," he replied, "but I didn't say that no one else had one, did I?"
"What I can't figure out is the reason she would have to be in the common room," said Harry, his tone sounding very lost. "Was she listening to us? Was she watching for something?"
From up in the tree, Kentarre silently congratulated Harry. *Very good, Potter,* she drawled, *you've just figured out that you've been handed the answer by that imbecilic dodo.*
Ron said, "Well, from what I can tell, we didn't say anything specific that would be of any use to anyone but us, and nothing earthshattering happened that I can remember, unless you count her falcon flying in with that package and causing a big commotion..."
Harry cut in. "You may have something there, Ron. Maybe she wanted to be there when the package came."
"But Harry," countered Hermione, "the package would have come to her. She didn't have to be in the common room, you know. The bird could have delivered it just as easily if she were in the dorm, and it would have been a lot more private."
"Oh yeah..."
"There must be some other reason."
Hagrid had a thought. "Maybe you three said sommat that maybe wasn't important t' you, but t' her it migh' have bin."
Hermione said, "He's right, you know. Maybe we said something important and we didn't know it."
Ron's eyebrows suddenly furrowed. "Where the dickens is Kentarre, anyway? We haven't seen her all afternoon."
The other two suddenly fell silent, pondering the whereabouts of the strange, pale, wiry girl whose very presence at the school had caused somewhat of a disturbance. Up in the tree, Kentarre bit her tongue to keep from swearing. Why did they have to wonder that just now? It would take quite a bit of explaining to brush aside the fact that they had been talking about her and she just happened to be up a nearby tree.
The conversation inside continued, but the rest of it was to be short. "Well," said Harry as the sound of wood scraping on wood came to Kentarre's ears, "we'd better go and freshen up for dinner. See you later, Hagrid." The others followed his lead, and very soon all three could be seen filing out of the fairly large front door. Kentarre cancelled the eavesdropping setup and leaned back in her tree, trying to remain out of sight behind one of the larger base branches of the tree, but still trying not to move so much as to attract attention. The group headed back towards the castle, and Kentarre decided to wait until they got just inside the door to follow them. *Little do they know how much they uncovered in one sitting,* she grumbled. *Too bad they won't find out until a long time from now, for they will find out. I'll take care of that.*
The three reached the door and went in, at which point Kentarre leapt down from the tree, landing catlike on the lawn. Then she herself started off for the front door. *All I have to do is keep up with them until they go out into the woods. That shouldn't be too hard, considering that they're just children.*
Inside, the castle was very quiet and completely deserted; Kentarre supposed that by now most people would be inside their common rooms, lounging until dinner. It was, after all, a Sunday evening, the usual time for people to either do their weekend homework or laugh at the people who were. Kentarre herself had had a bit of homework, but, knowing that she would be busy tonight, she had done it earlier. She wasn't all that surprised to find that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had done the same thing in the library.
She had been lucky enough to spot the trio before they got around one of the corners, and she mildly wondered why they were not also going to the common room. Whatever the reason, she followed them, determined to know the exact moment when they left the castle for the woods. They headed down the corridor that Kentarre always took to the library, which turned out to be where they were going. *Hmmm... this could be trouble. I'd better stay out of sight...* With that, Kentarre faded away into invisibility, still traveling at the same speed to keep up with the others.
Inside the library, everything was quiet and rather dark. Harry and the others had taken a route down one of the aisles; Madam Pince was blessedly nowhere to be seen. Kentarre could see a few lit wands somewhere off to her left, so she quietly slunk to that aisle, the better to hear what they were saying, if they were saying anything. Harry, however, remained silent as he leafed through the section. Kentarre wondered what section they were in, but she couldn't be sure because the wand that was lit was on one side of the bookcase, casting the end labels in shadows. Hermione murmured, "I think I remember seeing something about those the other day when I was in here..." Ron muttered, "Which other day? You're in here every day." Hermione ignored him. "It's got to be here somewhere," Harry murmured to himself as he ran his finger along various spines. "Hermione," he suddenly said, "This one is 'A Guide to Other Forms of Magic'. Is this it?"
Hermione reached over and plucked the book from the shelf. She whispered to the other two, "This is the one. Let's go see what it says." Kentarre's eyes widened reflexively as the trio headed back out of the aisle, though she knew they couldn't see her. There was another reason for her to be panicked; if that book had anything significant in it, there could be no end to the conclusions that the book would lead them to. Any one word could speak volumes to the person with logic on their side. Kentarre froze as they passed her, heading for one of the nearby tables. Then she too moved away, until she was so close to the table that she might as well have been reading over their shoulders. Harry put his wand in position over the book and started in the table of contents. "Enchanters are people who work most of their spells with wands... Unicorns use a form of magic with their gifts of a quick getaway... Wizards, of course... It lists a whole lot of magical creatures... Nothing else. That's odd..." It took every bit of training Kentarre had received to counter that wave of explosive relief that now overtook her. She smiled to herself. *That was too close for comfort.*
Harry closed the book, shaking his head. "I thought you said there would be something in here," he said to Hermione. She took the book from him. "I thought there was," she replied in disbelief. "I thought for sure there was something in this book about mages... Maybe it was another book." She started back for the bookcase clutching the book to her chest. Ron and Harry followed behind her, and Kentarre was careful to stay out of the wide circle of wandlight; just because they couldn't see her didn't mean she wouldn't cast a shadow. Hermione put the book back, and then she turned to the others. "We'll look for it tomorrow. We should go if we want to have enough time." Ron and Harry exchanged glances, and Ron shrugged. "All right," said Ron.
The three of them, followed by one unseen tagalong, left the library and headed back down the hall. Kentarre heard Harry mutter, "Nix," and his wandlight ahead disappeared. Kentarre heard some indistinct murmuring from up ahead, but try as she might, she couldn't hear what it was that had been said, and she dared not get any closer.
Finally, the entourage got to the Entrance Hall; they could hear the noise coming from the Great Hall as everyone had dinner. The first three headed towards the noise; the last, to her viewing area behind the marble staircase, where she could keep an eye on things without the risk of someone bumping into her when they all came out. Kentarre leaned herself up against the railing of the ascending, sweeping staircase. It looked to be a long wait.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The forest outside the castle looked dark and brooding in the weak moonlight. Kentarre, however, welcomed the darkness, for it would conceal all from those who would wish to see. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had gone upstairs to get Harry's invisibility cloak after dinner, but now they were only a few paces ahead of her, steadily heading for the edge of the wood.
Once they were inside the forest and back a ways, Harry lit his wand and they shed the cloak, which was obviously no longer needed. Kentarre still remained at a safe distance behind them. Kentarre was in her element. Stalking, she had found, was one of her more developed skills because it was among those she used more often. Her feet moved noiselessly over the fallen branches and dead leaves, and her stance was one of alert caution. This was the part she had to do right, because otherwise the rest of her plan would fall down around her ears.
The most awkward thing about this endeavor was the fact that the group up ahead was constantly stopping to check if they were still on the right path. The blood had not washed away yet, but some parts of it were covered in newly-fallen leaves or debris from the trees above, so they had to stop frequently to regain the trail. It was a very long and tedious process, and at one point all three of them thought they had completely lost it. But they plodded on and on and on.
Finally they reached the wall of trees that Kentarre had come upon when first she made this trip. The two trees that Kentarre had twisted apart were still as she had left them, so they were able, with some pushing and pulling on Harry and Hermione's part, to get through. Shortly after, they reached the clearing, which, this time, was not unusually empty. Since the trail of black liquid was old, no one here had expected visitors. Harry emerged from the trees first, closely followed by Ron and Hermione. Kentarre stayed in the shadows just beyond the clearing, as she had done before, to see what they would do.
Harry, like the others, was looking around him on the ground. Hermione noted, "The trail of blood ends here. Let's see if we can find something else."
Ron said, "Like what?"
She was absent-mindedly scanning the ground around her, and she didn't pay much attention to his question, so Harry and Ron exchanged a glance and a shrug and followed her lead. Kentarre watched appraisingly as the three hunted around for nothing in particular. And that was when she heard the telltale rustling in the bushes somewhere off to her left. Harry and the others froze as they heard it too, and Kentarre perked. *That thing's back again. What's happening?* She inwardly groaned, for she couldn't let that thing, whatever it was, see that she was there, but she couldn't let the alert trio in the middle know that either.
Kentarre wavered out of sight and then cautiously stepped out into the clearing, using all of the same skills that had been in play for the entire adventure. The rustling started to slow, and Kentarre felt that somewhere off in the darkness, someone, or something, was summoning a magic of some kind. This magic was unlike anything she had ever detected before, and that knowledge set her on the edge. She noticed that Ron and Hermione had retrieved their wands from their safeholds in their pockets, and Kentarre silently congratulated them. *At least they know when the unseen is friendly or not.* Without thinking, she began to ball her left hand into a fist that signified that she was now on defense.
Kentarre silently began to curse. *If I'm going to defend these people, I can't be invisible.* She cursed again. *Well, Kentarre,* said some other voice, *you know what this means.* Kentarre smiled a grim smile. *Right,* she replied, and she backed back into the bushes just as the strange magic released itself.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione suddenly found themselves paralyzed. They were now completely frozen in their exact poses, their wands out in the air and their heads caught in the act of frantic search. Harry tried to call out, but the spell extended to his jaw also, which was now sealed shut. He found that the only thing he could do now was speak through his teeth, so that's what he did. He said with surprising clarity, "Are you all okay?" Ron gritted back at him from somewhere over his right shoulder, "Well, if you consider being completely frozen in place okay, then we're just dandy!" Hermione said, "This is bad, Harry. I can't even cast a counterspell. This is really bad."
Just then, a flash of bright blue light blinded the three of them- well, except Harry, who had the mixed blessing of having his head fixed in place facing directly away from the light. From somewhere near the place where the rustling began, someone cried out in angry frustration. Harry thought the voice sounded very familiar, but he couldn't figure out exactly who it was.
And then the light was gone, and Harry heard someone step out of the trees. "I know you're there, you moron," said a resonant, feminine voice, "so why don't you come out of there? We'd all like to see who you are, wouldn't we?" There came a string of curses from the bushes, but nothing more. "So you won't come out, will you?" challenged the first voice. "Well, perhaps you need a little confidence." There were footsteps, and Harry strained against the curse to see who it was.
The girl walked from behind him into his line of sight. She had very long whitish hair, a very pale complexion, and was quite a few inches taller than Ron, who was the tallest of Harry's friends. She was dressed in blue, loose-fitting garments that consisted of baggy pants and a small shirt that had one solid strip across the front and was, other than that, designed in an intricate pattern of thin straps that wrapped around her stomach and back. Her arms were bare, as were her feet. At first, she was quite stunning, but then Harry noted that her muscles were very finely toned; this girl was a warrior of some kind.
The girl walked over to the place where the threat was supposed to be, and she too disappeared into the brush for a moment. A snarl broke the sounds of the swaying branches, and the girl's voice could be heard, crying out a loud war cry that sounded as though it might be in a different language, though Harry could not fathom what language that might be. Then there was another flash of blue light from the trees, and the snarl from whatever creature made it turned into a howl of anger and pain. The girl spoke again. "There now, that wasn't so hard, was it? Now will you be so kind as to come out so everyone can see you?" The warrioress emerged from the trees dragging by the scruff of his neck someone dressed in a black robe. She said sharply to the figure, "Now, why don't you move that hood out of the way so everyone can see you?"
The person proved to be incredibly strong, for he then threw a punch into her gut, causing her to flinch and lose her grip on his robe for and instant. Apparently, that instant was all he needed, for he twisted out of her grasp and pulled out a wand. The girl cursed at him and grabbed at his robe again, but he was too quick; he pointed his wand at her and yelled some spell that Harry did not recognize. The spell hit her and she toppled over on the ground. She lay there for a moment, apparently trying to get her breath, but it was too late. The man said in his irritatingly familiar voice, "I regret that I couldn't stay and humor you all, but don't despair, for I have a little gift I'm going to leave you. Farewell." He held out his wand at a rock and said, "Plodium!"
The rock didn't appear to be any different, but the man laughed evilly and Disapparated. The warrioress, after catching her breath, went over to the rock. She put her ear to it, and her eyes widened. She cursed and walked over to Harry. She said, "This won't hurt. I'm going to undo his spell, because we have to get out of here." She placed her hand on his forehead. Her hand suddenly got warm, and Harry thought that he saw her hand turning a tinge of blue. He saw now what he couldn't see of her before; her eyes were a molten silver color, and they seemed to seethe and churn beneath their lids. Her face looked almost familiar, but not quite. Harry could now see that her face had some kind of markings on it, which were also that bright blue color.
And then he could move again. He flexed all his muscles, which were now reasonably sore from having been forced to keep that position for a long time. Then the girl walked over to the other two and did the same thing. Harry looked at her hand as she did this. Her hand, in fact, had not exactly turned blue; Harry now saw a pattern that was etched on the back of her hand. It was three blue circles, one inside the other. As she undid each spell, the blue cirles began to glow very strongly, and when she took her hand away, the blue dulled back to its original constant glow.
Once everyone had been defrosted, the warrioress put her ear back to the rock that held the enchantment. Her eyes took on that same look of nervous apprehension, and she turned to the others. "We have to get out of here. Come here, all of you." Ron hesitated. "What're you going to do?" he asked cautiously. She sighed. "All right, then, I'll tell you what we're going to do." Just as she was about to tell them, a tiny clicking noise came from the rock. The girl's eyes lit up in panic, and she said, "No time to explain! Let's go!" With that, she grabbed hold of Hermione's middle, whirling her around to face away from her. She did the same thing to Harry on her other side, and then she motioned for Ron to come nearer. He shook his head. "It looks as thought you don't have any more room," he said nervously. The girl rolled her eyes. "Don't be silly, of course there's room. But you're going to have to trust me. Just come here, and we'll make room."
Ron hesitated again, and the girl snapped, "Look, you don't want me to have to come over there and get you, so you might as well do it, because we're not leaving you behind! Come on!" He ran over, and she squeezed him in under her arm on Harry's side. "All right, now, hang on tight!" she shouted, and then she began to change. First her shoulders snapped back, then her head popped down, and lastly, she took in a deep breath. Without warning, she shouted one word, and then Harry found himself being lifted off the ground at an alarming rate. He saw the cloud above him getting closer and closer, but he did not trust himself to look down just yet. He felt very aware of the fact that he couldn't feel anything but air beneath his feet, and he sensed that Ron had just come to that realization himself. They were flying.
Just then, there came an awful boom that sounded much like an explosion. Harry's curiosity got the better of him, and he looked down and back. There was a rather large cloud of smoke coming from the clearing they had just been in. He pulled his head back up and said, "Was that the rock?" The girl said, "Yes. That blasted wizard put the Explosion Curse on it. Now that clearing's been reduced to ashes, and he'll have to find a new meeting place for him and his little black-blooded friend." Harry and Ron exchanged a glance as best they could considering their cramped positions, and then each turned his eyes ahead.
Hermione was simply staring breathlessly off into space. She did not like heights, and she didn't quite trust her stomach enough to look up or down just now.
Hogwarts castle was swiftly approaching from up ahead. The entire forest was dark, save for a few spots of light cast by the smouldering remains of the combustion.
The flight was quiet for a while, except for the wind that was roaring past everybody's ears. Harry took this opportunity to look at his transporter's face. Her sharply angled features screamed familiarity at him, but there was still something there that prevented him from making the connection. He noted that her jaw was rather tightly set, and her eyes were expressionlessly watching the invisible pathway that led to the castle. Harry asked calmly, "Who are you?" The girl's silver eyes swirled a little faster in annoyance at his question, but she answered him in the same calm voice, "I am one to be feared, and that is all you ever need know of me." Harry persisted. "Why did you save us?"
"Well, I couldn't very well leave you there. There are certain moralities involved."
"But who are you really?"
"That, my young friend, is something I cannot tell you."
"Why?"
"Because there are those who would take advantage of that knowledge, and I cannot allow that."
"What do you mean by that?"
"There are also some who ask too many questions for their own good, and that could get them into trouble."
The simple finality in her tone told Harry that he was coming very close to offending their hostess and rescuer, so he took a hint and dropped it. Doing this, however, did not stop the burning questions within him from floating to the surface. Perhaps he would talk to Dumbledore about this... and perhaps not.
Whether it was by some coincidence or not, the girl knew exactly where they had left Harry's invisibility cloak, and she set them down here. "It is here that I shall leave you," she said rather formally. Then, with a wry smile, she added, "Try not to almost get yourselves killed again, okay?" She began to back into the trees, and Harry called out, "Thanks." It was a bit lame, he knew, but it needed saying. She did, after all, save their lives. Her smile remained as she retreated, and then she was gone.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione, not wanting to waste any time, donned the cloak and started back toward the castle.
"Well, I understand your concern, Kentarre, but what you are asking is simply out of the question." The afternoon sun shone in through the windows of Dumbledore's circular office that Sunday, setting fire to the swirling dust particles that happened to pass through it. Dumbledore himself was as cool as a cucumber as he eyed Kentarre from over the rim of his half moon spectacles. She was tempted to glare at him until he conceded, but she held her steady gaze in check, trying not to look so much accusing as simply put out. "As I have told you already," she said, "this matter will require some investigation from all sides. My request to you now is merely an example of the kind of investigating I'd like to do. You do realize, don't you, that Jycein knowing who I am changes things. I have managed to keep from him why I am here, but he already knows too much. This recent favor is simply so that I can keep a better eye on him to make sure he knows that he is to keep this to himself. I am sorry if I offend you by saying this, but I'm not entirely sure I trust him. He reminds me too much of-" Kentarre broke off very abruptly, debating how far she dared go. She shook her head and continued. "Nevermind. The point is this: do you or do you not agree that if Jycein talks, to anyone, that I am in jeopardy?" She paused so he could reply.
Dumbledore considered this. "Well, in a way, I suppose you would be, because of the fact of who you are and what you have come here to do. But, Kentarre, if he knows who you are, then he must know that you want as few people as possible to know about it." Kentarre clenched her fists at her sides. "What I want to know is how he found out in the first place!" she burst. "Who is he really? How does he know about me?" Dumbledore shook his head. "I don't know, for I surely did not. Believe me, Kentarre, not a single teacher knows about you except for Professor Jycein and me."
Kentarre's fists, however remained clenched. "How did you find him?" she asked. "How did he come to teach here?" Dumbledore replied, "He replied to my ad in the Daily Prophet. He was the only one that replied. He told me that he would not be able to attend school for the first few weeks because he would be out of the country, but that once he got here, he would stay." Kentarre pondered this. *That would mean that he wasn't in England at that time,* she mused. *I wonder...* She opened her mouth to say something else to Dumbledore, then closed it again. Kentarre thought that she would do some snooping around on Jycein- with or without Dumbledore's permission. Of course, it would be better if she had his permission, but she didn't want to risk him ordering her not to. After all, if she hadn't been ordered not to, that didn't mean she couldn't- or wouldn't.
She turned back to the headmaster, who was eyeing her with the slightest hint of suspicion in his twinkling crystal blue eyes. Kentarre spoke. "Thank you, Dumbledore. I'm going back to the dormitory to do some thinking." Dumbledore's twinkle turned playful. "Don't think too much, now," he teased. "I've found that when one does that, one receives the most peculiar headaches afterward, for some reason." Kentarre raised her eyebrow at him, then allowed herself a small smile in Dumbledore's direction. "I'll try," she said, and left in a very dignified manner, closing the door quietly behind her.
*Now all I have to do is stay out of Harry's way- but that doesn't mean I can't watch him. Hmmm... maybe I'll get to brush up on my slinking.*
Harry and his friends were at Hagrid's right now, and Kentarre decided that direct spying would not be the best way to go about it. No, what she would do was to pull a few strings and see if she could use her magic so that she could hear them without having to listen through the keyhole, which could get her caught. She would have to be quick, because what she was doing involved going right up and making contact with one of the windows. It would also require no interruptions from anybody else while she was listening, or else she would miss something. *This will be a good way to find out anything they may want to keep hidden from me,* she mused, and she crept up to the hut to begin her incantation.
Once the part with the window was done, Kentarre put the same magic on her left ear so that she could hear what was inside. Then she left the cabin and climbed a tree nearby. This would make it the chances for interruptions a good deal slimmer than they would be if she had stayed on the ground; people tend to be rather blind when the person they're looking for is hiding in a tree.
The conversation was going fairly normally: Harry was saying, "The thing that's got me confused is the fact that her falcon landed on the chair in the common room. Why didn't he just go up to the dormitory if she was there?" Ron agreed. "Maybe she's got an Invisibility Cloak too," he reasoned. Hermione commented, "I thought you said those were really rare."
"Yeah," he replied, "but I didn't say that no one else had one, did I?"
"What I can't figure out is the reason she would have to be in the common room," said Harry, his tone sounding very lost. "Was she listening to us? Was she watching for something?"
From up in the tree, Kentarre silently congratulated Harry. *Very good, Potter,* she drawled, *you've just figured out that you've been handed the answer by that imbecilic dodo.*
Ron said, "Well, from what I can tell, we didn't say anything specific that would be of any use to anyone but us, and nothing earthshattering happened that I can remember, unless you count her falcon flying in with that package and causing a big commotion..."
Harry cut in. "You may have something there, Ron. Maybe she wanted to be there when the package came."
"But Harry," countered Hermione, "the package would have come to her. She didn't have to be in the common room, you know. The bird could have delivered it just as easily if she were in the dorm, and it would have been a lot more private."
"Oh yeah..."
"There must be some other reason."
Hagrid had a thought. "Maybe you three said sommat that maybe wasn't important t' you, but t' her it migh' have bin."
Hermione said, "He's right, you know. Maybe we said something important and we didn't know it."
Ron's eyebrows suddenly furrowed. "Where the dickens is Kentarre, anyway? We haven't seen her all afternoon."
The other two suddenly fell silent, pondering the whereabouts of the strange, pale, wiry girl whose very presence at the school had caused somewhat of a disturbance. Up in the tree, Kentarre bit her tongue to keep from swearing. Why did they have to wonder that just now? It would take quite a bit of explaining to brush aside the fact that they had been talking about her and she just happened to be up a nearby tree.
The conversation inside continued, but the rest of it was to be short. "Well," said Harry as the sound of wood scraping on wood came to Kentarre's ears, "we'd better go and freshen up for dinner. See you later, Hagrid." The others followed his lead, and very soon all three could be seen filing out of the fairly large front door. Kentarre cancelled the eavesdropping setup and leaned back in her tree, trying to remain out of sight behind one of the larger base branches of the tree, but still trying not to move so much as to attract attention. The group headed back towards the castle, and Kentarre decided to wait until they got just inside the door to follow them. *Little do they know how much they uncovered in one sitting,* she grumbled. *Too bad they won't find out until a long time from now, for they will find out. I'll take care of that.*
The three reached the door and went in, at which point Kentarre leapt down from the tree, landing catlike on the lawn. Then she herself started off for the front door. *All I have to do is keep up with them until they go out into the woods. That shouldn't be too hard, considering that they're just children.*
Inside, the castle was very quiet and completely deserted; Kentarre supposed that by now most people would be inside their common rooms, lounging until dinner. It was, after all, a Sunday evening, the usual time for people to either do their weekend homework or laugh at the people who were. Kentarre herself had had a bit of homework, but, knowing that she would be busy tonight, she had done it earlier. She wasn't all that surprised to find that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had done the same thing in the library.
She had been lucky enough to spot the trio before they got around one of the corners, and she mildly wondered why they were not also going to the common room. Whatever the reason, she followed them, determined to know the exact moment when they left the castle for the woods. They headed down the corridor that Kentarre always took to the library, which turned out to be where they were going. *Hmmm... this could be trouble. I'd better stay out of sight...* With that, Kentarre faded away into invisibility, still traveling at the same speed to keep up with the others.
Inside the library, everything was quiet and rather dark. Harry and the others had taken a route down one of the aisles; Madam Pince was blessedly nowhere to be seen. Kentarre could see a few lit wands somewhere off to her left, so she quietly slunk to that aisle, the better to hear what they were saying, if they were saying anything. Harry, however, remained silent as he leafed through the section. Kentarre wondered what section they were in, but she couldn't be sure because the wand that was lit was on one side of the bookcase, casting the end labels in shadows. Hermione murmured, "I think I remember seeing something about those the other day when I was in here..." Ron muttered, "Which other day? You're in here every day." Hermione ignored him. "It's got to be here somewhere," Harry murmured to himself as he ran his finger along various spines. "Hermione," he suddenly said, "This one is 'A Guide to Other Forms of Magic'. Is this it?"
Hermione reached over and plucked the book from the shelf. She whispered to the other two, "This is the one. Let's go see what it says." Kentarre's eyes widened reflexively as the trio headed back out of the aisle, though she knew they couldn't see her. There was another reason for her to be panicked; if that book had anything significant in it, there could be no end to the conclusions that the book would lead them to. Any one word could speak volumes to the person with logic on their side. Kentarre froze as they passed her, heading for one of the nearby tables. Then she too moved away, until she was so close to the table that she might as well have been reading over their shoulders. Harry put his wand in position over the book and started in the table of contents. "Enchanters are people who work most of their spells with wands... Unicorns use a form of magic with their gifts of a quick getaway... Wizards, of course... It lists a whole lot of magical creatures... Nothing else. That's odd..." It took every bit of training Kentarre had received to counter that wave of explosive relief that now overtook her. She smiled to herself. *That was too close for comfort.*
Harry closed the book, shaking his head. "I thought you said there would be something in here," he said to Hermione. She took the book from him. "I thought there was," she replied in disbelief. "I thought for sure there was something in this book about mages... Maybe it was another book." She started back for the bookcase clutching the book to her chest. Ron and Harry followed behind her, and Kentarre was careful to stay out of the wide circle of wandlight; just because they couldn't see her didn't mean she wouldn't cast a shadow. Hermione put the book back, and then she turned to the others. "We'll look for it tomorrow. We should go if we want to have enough time." Ron and Harry exchanged glances, and Ron shrugged. "All right," said Ron.
The three of them, followed by one unseen tagalong, left the library and headed back down the hall. Kentarre heard Harry mutter, "Nix," and his wandlight ahead disappeared. Kentarre heard some indistinct murmuring from up ahead, but try as she might, she couldn't hear what it was that had been said, and she dared not get any closer.
Finally, the entourage got to the Entrance Hall; they could hear the noise coming from the Great Hall as everyone had dinner. The first three headed towards the noise; the last, to her viewing area behind the marble staircase, where she could keep an eye on things without the risk of someone bumping into her when they all came out. Kentarre leaned herself up against the railing of the ascending, sweeping staircase. It looked to be a long wait.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The forest outside the castle looked dark and brooding in the weak moonlight. Kentarre, however, welcomed the darkness, for it would conceal all from those who would wish to see. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had gone upstairs to get Harry's invisibility cloak after dinner, but now they were only a few paces ahead of her, steadily heading for the edge of the wood.
Once they were inside the forest and back a ways, Harry lit his wand and they shed the cloak, which was obviously no longer needed. Kentarre still remained at a safe distance behind them. Kentarre was in her element. Stalking, she had found, was one of her more developed skills because it was among those she used more often. Her feet moved noiselessly over the fallen branches and dead leaves, and her stance was one of alert caution. This was the part she had to do right, because otherwise the rest of her plan would fall down around her ears.
The most awkward thing about this endeavor was the fact that the group up ahead was constantly stopping to check if they were still on the right path. The blood had not washed away yet, but some parts of it were covered in newly-fallen leaves or debris from the trees above, so they had to stop frequently to regain the trail. It was a very long and tedious process, and at one point all three of them thought they had completely lost it. But they plodded on and on and on.
Finally they reached the wall of trees that Kentarre had come upon when first she made this trip. The two trees that Kentarre had twisted apart were still as she had left them, so they were able, with some pushing and pulling on Harry and Hermione's part, to get through. Shortly after, they reached the clearing, which, this time, was not unusually empty. Since the trail of black liquid was old, no one here had expected visitors. Harry emerged from the trees first, closely followed by Ron and Hermione. Kentarre stayed in the shadows just beyond the clearing, as she had done before, to see what they would do.
Harry, like the others, was looking around him on the ground. Hermione noted, "The trail of blood ends here. Let's see if we can find something else."
Ron said, "Like what?"
She was absent-mindedly scanning the ground around her, and she didn't pay much attention to his question, so Harry and Ron exchanged a glance and a shrug and followed her lead. Kentarre watched appraisingly as the three hunted around for nothing in particular. And that was when she heard the telltale rustling in the bushes somewhere off to her left. Harry and the others froze as they heard it too, and Kentarre perked. *That thing's back again. What's happening?* She inwardly groaned, for she couldn't let that thing, whatever it was, see that she was there, but she couldn't let the alert trio in the middle know that either.
Kentarre wavered out of sight and then cautiously stepped out into the clearing, using all of the same skills that had been in play for the entire adventure. The rustling started to slow, and Kentarre felt that somewhere off in the darkness, someone, or something, was summoning a magic of some kind. This magic was unlike anything she had ever detected before, and that knowledge set her on the edge. She noticed that Ron and Hermione had retrieved their wands from their safeholds in their pockets, and Kentarre silently congratulated them. *At least they know when the unseen is friendly or not.* Without thinking, she began to ball her left hand into a fist that signified that she was now on defense.
Kentarre silently began to curse. *If I'm going to defend these people, I can't be invisible.* She cursed again. *Well, Kentarre,* said some other voice, *you know what this means.* Kentarre smiled a grim smile. *Right,* she replied, and she backed back into the bushes just as the strange magic released itself.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione suddenly found themselves paralyzed. They were now completely frozen in their exact poses, their wands out in the air and their heads caught in the act of frantic search. Harry tried to call out, but the spell extended to his jaw also, which was now sealed shut. He found that the only thing he could do now was speak through his teeth, so that's what he did. He said with surprising clarity, "Are you all okay?" Ron gritted back at him from somewhere over his right shoulder, "Well, if you consider being completely frozen in place okay, then we're just dandy!" Hermione said, "This is bad, Harry. I can't even cast a counterspell. This is really bad."
Just then, a flash of bright blue light blinded the three of them- well, except Harry, who had the mixed blessing of having his head fixed in place facing directly away from the light. From somewhere near the place where the rustling began, someone cried out in angry frustration. Harry thought the voice sounded very familiar, but he couldn't figure out exactly who it was.
And then the light was gone, and Harry heard someone step out of the trees. "I know you're there, you moron," said a resonant, feminine voice, "so why don't you come out of there? We'd all like to see who you are, wouldn't we?" There came a string of curses from the bushes, but nothing more. "So you won't come out, will you?" challenged the first voice. "Well, perhaps you need a little confidence." There were footsteps, and Harry strained against the curse to see who it was.
The girl walked from behind him into his line of sight. She had very long whitish hair, a very pale complexion, and was quite a few inches taller than Ron, who was the tallest of Harry's friends. She was dressed in blue, loose-fitting garments that consisted of baggy pants and a small shirt that had one solid strip across the front and was, other than that, designed in an intricate pattern of thin straps that wrapped around her stomach and back. Her arms were bare, as were her feet. At first, she was quite stunning, but then Harry noted that her muscles were very finely toned; this girl was a warrior of some kind.
The girl walked over to the place where the threat was supposed to be, and she too disappeared into the brush for a moment. A snarl broke the sounds of the swaying branches, and the girl's voice could be heard, crying out a loud war cry that sounded as though it might be in a different language, though Harry could not fathom what language that might be. Then there was another flash of blue light from the trees, and the snarl from whatever creature made it turned into a howl of anger and pain. The girl spoke again. "There now, that wasn't so hard, was it? Now will you be so kind as to come out so everyone can see you?" The warrioress emerged from the trees dragging by the scruff of his neck someone dressed in a black robe. She said sharply to the figure, "Now, why don't you move that hood out of the way so everyone can see you?"
The person proved to be incredibly strong, for he then threw a punch into her gut, causing her to flinch and lose her grip on his robe for and instant. Apparently, that instant was all he needed, for he twisted out of her grasp and pulled out a wand. The girl cursed at him and grabbed at his robe again, but he was too quick; he pointed his wand at her and yelled some spell that Harry did not recognize. The spell hit her and she toppled over on the ground. She lay there for a moment, apparently trying to get her breath, but it was too late. The man said in his irritatingly familiar voice, "I regret that I couldn't stay and humor you all, but don't despair, for I have a little gift I'm going to leave you. Farewell." He held out his wand at a rock and said, "Plodium!"
The rock didn't appear to be any different, but the man laughed evilly and Disapparated. The warrioress, after catching her breath, went over to the rock. She put her ear to it, and her eyes widened. She cursed and walked over to Harry. She said, "This won't hurt. I'm going to undo his spell, because we have to get out of here." She placed her hand on his forehead. Her hand suddenly got warm, and Harry thought that he saw her hand turning a tinge of blue. He saw now what he couldn't see of her before; her eyes were a molten silver color, and they seemed to seethe and churn beneath their lids. Her face looked almost familiar, but not quite. Harry could now see that her face had some kind of markings on it, which were also that bright blue color.
And then he could move again. He flexed all his muscles, which were now reasonably sore from having been forced to keep that position for a long time. Then the girl walked over to the other two and did the same thing. Harry looked at her hand as she did this. Her hand, in fact, had not exactly turned blue; Harry now saw a pattern that was etched on the back of her hand. It was three blue circles, one inside the other. As she undid each spell, the blue cirles began to glow very strongly, and when she took her hand away, the blue dulled back to its original constant glow.
Once everyone had been defrosted, the warrioress put her ear back to the rock that held the enchantment. Her eyes took on that same look of nervous apprehension, and she turned to the others. "We have to get out of here. Come here, all of you." Ron hesitated. "What're you going to do?" he asked cautiously. She sighed. "All right, then, I'll tell you what we're going to do." Just as she was about to tell them, a tiny clicking noise came from the rock. The girl's eyes lit up in panic, and she said, "No time to explain! Let's go!" With that, she grabbed hold of Hermione's middle, whirling her around to face away from her. She did the same thing to Harry on her other side, and then she motioned for Ron to come nearer. He shook his head. "It looks as thought you don't have any more room," he said nervously. The girl rolled her eyes. "Don't be silly, of course there's room. But you're going to have to trust me. Just come here, and we'll make room."
Ron hesitated again, and the girl snapped, "Look, you don't want me to have to come over there and get you, so you might as well do it, because we're not leaving you behind! Come on!" He ran over, and she squeezed him in under her arm on Harry's side. "All right, now, hang on tight!" she shouted, and then she began to change. First her shoulders snapped back, then her head popped down, and lastly, she took in a deep breath. Without warning, she shouted one word, and then Harry found himself being lifted off the ground at an alarming rate. He saw the cloud above him getting closer and closer, but he did not trust himself to look down just yet. He felt very aware of the fact that he couldn't feel anything but air beneath his feet, and he sensed that Ron had just come to that realization himself. They were flying.
Just then, there came an awful boom that sounded much like an explosion. Harry's curiosity got the better of him, and he looked down and back. There was a rather large cloud of smoke coming from the clearing they had just been in. He pulled his head back up and said, "Was that the rock?" The girl said, "Yes. That blasted wizard put the Explosion Curse on it. Now that clearing's been reduced to ashes, and he'll have to find a new meeting place for him and his little black-blooded friend." Harry and Ron exchanged a glance as best they could considering their cramped positions, and then each turned his eyes ahead.
Hermione was simply staring breathlessly off into space. She did not like heights, and she didn't quite trust her stomach enough to look up or down just now.
Hogwarts castle was swiftly approaching from up ahead. The entire forest was dark, save for a few spots of light cast by the smouldering remains of the combustion.
The flight was quiet for a while, except for the wind that was roaring past everybody's ears. Harry took this opportunity to look at his transporter's face. Her sharply angled features screamed familiarity at him, but there was still something there that prevented him from making the connection. He noted that her jaw was rather tightly set, and her eyes were expressionlessly watching the invisible pathway that led to the castle. Harry asked calmly, "Who are you?" The girl's silver eyes swirled a little faster in annoyance at his question, but she answered him in the same calm voice, "I am one to be feared, and that is all you ever need know of me." Harry persisted. "Why did you save us?"
"Well, I couldn't very well leave you there. There are certain moralities involved."
"But who are you really?"
"That, my young friend, is something I cannot tell you."
"Why?"
"Because there are those who would take advantage of that knowledge, and I cannot allow that."
"What do you mean by that?"
"There are also some who ask too many questions for their own good, and that could get them into trouble."
The simple finality in her tone told Harry that he was coming very close to offending their hostess and rescuer, so he took a hint and dropped it. Doing this, however, did not stop the burning questions within him from floating to the surface. Perhaps he would talk to Dumbledore about this... and perhaps not.
Whether it was by some coincidence or not, the girl knew exactly where they had left Harry's invisibility cloak, and she set them down here. "It is here that I shall leave you," she said rather formally. Then, with a wry smile, she added, "Try not to almost get yourselves killed again, okay?" She began to back into the trees, and Harry called out, "Thanks." It was a bit lame, he knew, but it needed saying. She did, after all, save their lives. Her smile remained as she retreated, and then she was gone.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione, not wanting to waste any time, donned the cloak and started back toward the castle.