I stared at him for a long second. I remember being very scared...after all, think of all the stories in the Daily Prophet about centaurs attacking innocent youngsters! But as a child, I was a brave (if rather foolish!) girl.
"This is my forest!" I snapped. "My father owns it!"
"He may have bought it," the centaur said, "but we own it. And you should leave."
"I won't leave!" I yelled.
"We do not hurt children," he said quietly. "so I will simply ask again: We don't like humans here. Please go."
"...We?" I said. "There are more of you?"
"No," he said quickly. "Now leave."
"Why shouldn't I stay?"
"Because I asked you not to."
"You think I will take orders from a centaur?"
His glare became angry. "You think I ought to take orders from
a human?"
"Yes!" I said. "You should!"
He turned his back on me. "You may a child, but you are a silly, foolish, selfish one. Go. Now."
"I am not silly or foolish or selfish," I snapped, but for a reason I still don't know today, I turned and left. I found the way back on my own. As soon as I was out of the forest, I stuck out my tongue in it's direction-ha!-and firmly resolved to go back in there, and show that stupid centaur that it was my forest.
*****
I ran as fast as I could up to the house, and my mother was waiting, angrily, at the door.
"Dolores! Where have you been? You're late for tea...and your dress is dirty!"
"Sorry," I said.
"It'll have to do, there's no time to get a new one out. Now go inside...your father has something to tell you."
Suprised and puzzled, I hurried inside and to the dining room. I sat down on my chair next to Victoria, who looked at my dress and rolled her eyes to the ceiling.
We ate our dinner in silence, and suddenly my father turned to me.
"Dolores...next year, you will start attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
(He was never one for long speeches.)
"Really?!" I said. I digested this news, and added. "But me and Victoria already have a perfectly good governess."
"We know. But we think it's time you started meeting people your own age. See the world a bit, perhaps. Learning more than what you've been learning here...which, when you think of it, isn't much. Why, you can hardly turn a newt into a flowerpot."
This was of course true. I was, back then, hopeless at Transfiguration. Victoria was not.
"Is Victoria coming?" I demanded.
"No," my mother said. "She's already a young lady..."
"So am I."
"...and very bright, and already very highly skilled in both Transfigaration and Charms. I hate to say it, Dolores, but you are not."
"Of course I'm not," I sulked, in so quiet a voice they didn't hear me.
"Miss Penbury thinks I'm good at Arithmancy, too," Victoria said, in a tone of voice I hated. "And Muggle Studies."
"That's a new subject." my father observed.
"Yes, and a downright silly one," my mother said. "I don't know why they teach it now. Why any decent wizarding child should be made to learn about Muggles is beyond me. Anyway, Dolores," she said, turning back to me. "In two days, the summer holidays start and there will be no students at the school. We've suggested to Headmaster Dippet that in two days we bring you up to the school to take a look around. If you like it, you can start at the school in September."
"And if you don't like it, you can start at the school in September
anyway." Victoria said brightly.
I considered all this briefly, and then I just nodded. My family went back to their meal, satisfied.
That night I had a dream. Parath was in the forest, carrying an ugly old woman on his back, and the other centaurs were screaming at him, although they didn't touch him. When I yelled, wanting to know what on earth was going on, they turned on me. Victoria stood there and snickered.