I don't own Harry Potter, Hogwarts, etc, blah blah, but I do own the original characters (now isn't that funny?) Don't flame, because flaming is immature and will just make me think you're not worth listening to. Do review, because it will make me happy, and hopefully will be useful in improving the story.
"Longbottom? Really! He can't do anything right, and yet he mysteriously succeeds in doing something before anyone else!" Draco snarled and kicked a book away from him on the floor of the Slytherin commons. He paced back and forth near the fire as Crabbe and Goyle watched him. "Even Granger would have been better! But no! The bumbling fool Longbottom figures it out! You know what? I don't think this magecraft business is real. How do we know what those people really saw?" Crabbe and Goyle nodded the requisite agreement. " I think Professor Sinavre's a fake. He must have had a wand hidden somewhere when he cast the spell during the first class." Draco sounded almost ludicrously sure of himself; it would have been obvious to most people that he was trying to convince himself of the truth of his statement.
"We could..um…drop the class?" Crabbe suggested tentatively.
"No, you idiot! That would be as good as telling everyone else in the class that I can't do it. And we can't have that." Draco dropped into a state of deep thought. It would take a lot of thinking on his part to figure this one out.
Later that evening Longbottom was at the receiving end of a great deal of praise and questions in regard to how he had managed his feat in Basic Magecraft. Neville seemed to glow under all the attention.
"You know, I think it's excellent that Neville figured it out."
"You're not…you know…jealous?" Ron asked Hermione incredulously.
"Well I am…but nonetheless, he hasn't really ever been particularly outstanding at anything. Maybe this is his chance." Hermione, Harry and Ron glanced over at Longbottom thoughtfully. Envisioning him as excellent in any field was an idea that all three of them where having trouble believing.
"That class seems next to impossible. Only maybe a quarter of us could see the mana." Harry made his observation in a sullen tone, obviously disgruntled by his inability to perform. He actually didn't mind Sinavre, and he didn't want to do badly in that class.
"Don't be silly!" Hermione exclaimed, "Of course its difficult! We're learning an entirely new branch of magic. I'm surprised that any of us were able to succeed to so quickly! Two classes Harry. How long do you think Sinavre had to study to become however good of a mage he is?" All three of them laughed a little.
"It is kind of hard to tell how old he is….you know, what with that white hair and the lack of wrinkles." Ron observed, watching as Hermione's eyes unfocused a bit.
"More than lack of wrinkles I'd say," Harry replied, nudging Ron's eyes towards Hermione. Harry continued in a whisper, "I wonder how many of the girls are hopelessly in love with his face, hmmm?"
"Oy! Hermione! Back to the normal world, eh?" Ron snapped in front of Hermione's face.
"Well he is attractive you know." She said with a sniff. Just as Hermione was about to speak again, there was a tremendous crash outside the common room. Ron and Harry beat her to the door into the hall by only a fraction of a second. All three held wands at the ready, but they could see nothing.
"Peeves?" Harry called. Silence answered him. Hermione pointed mutely to a hole in the wall of the hallway perhaps thirty feet away. As the three of them climbed carefully out of the hole that served as the entrance to Gryffindor tower, the hair on the back of their necks stood straight on end.
All of the shadows in the hallway formed themselves into thin strands and shot towards a point the middle of it with an unusual whooshing noise, where the collected into the shape of a man. Suddenly, an armor-clad figure with waist length white hair suddenly stood there. Three separate jaws gaped at it. A voice like steel issued forth from the armored personage. The whole process had occurred in about a second.
"You three. Back in the common room. Now." Without hesitation, the trio hastily removed themselves to the familiar safety of the Gryffindor commons. The door swung closed behind them. Booted footsteps echoed down the hall. Ron was the first to speak.
"I thought….you…couldn't apparate….at Hogwarts…."
"You CAN'T!" Hermione snapped.
Kiora followed the path of broken walls, on the trail of whatever it was that was causing said devastation, ordering everyone he came upon back to their common rooms. The dormitories' wards ought to be sufficient to keep this thing at bay. If it weren't for the fact the so many people were around he could- no. Too many people. The path of destruction wound downwards, away from most of the populated portions of the castle. Kiora hastily summoned a light that bobbed along over his head. The path he trod soon was no longer a level hallway. The creature or spell was now making its way through the myriad rough-hewn tunnels below the castle. The large shoulder pads of his armor began to catch on roots that had penetrated down into these tunnels.
They must now be out from beneath the castle proper…or perhaps under a courtyard. Snarling in frustration, Kiora increased his pace. He wasn't going to let this thing get away if he could possibly help it. He briefly glimpsed something sinuous and black bounding along before the tunnel turned a corner. Kiora held his right hand as though he was in possession of a weapon, and an elegant long-sword obediently materialized. Finally, the tunnel opened into a small cavern. A dead end cavern apparently. The creature, a huge mass of muscle that looked rather like an oversized cross of a rhino a dog and a snake, pawed at the ground. It was easy to see how this thing had run through stone walls several feet thick. Kiora moved towards it and slashed at it with his sword. The thing hissed, but seemed mostly unaffected by the small (relative to its size) cuts it had just received.
With a running start, Kiora plunged the blade deep into the creature's side. This time, it bellowed in pain, and its head impacted painfully with Kiora's mid section. Kiora flew into the nearby wall and fell to the ground, the breath knocked out of him. He heard the creature getting a running start, and managed to look up in time to see its tail disappear through a solid wall. His sword lay bloodied next to the same wall. Kiora shook his head, and gingerly picked himself up and retrieved his weapon, cleaning it before returning it to its back scabbard.
"It didn't seem to have any specific goal. It ran about the school, smashed some walls and then ran for it. Seems more like a display of power if you ask me."
"What do you mean Professor Sinavre?" Dumbledore asked, showing how worried he was by the use of Kiora's official title.
"Someone has just demonstrated their ability to get a living object of a rather large size inside Hogwarts, to a very specific location, undetected. So either it was a test, or this entity wants you to know that its quite capable of attacking you on your home ground. It is a little frightening that the creature first appeared near a dormitory. The wards in those areas are particularly strong."
"Fortunately, you were able to get there quickly. Rather faster than I would have thought possible." Dumbledore pinned Kiora with an inquisitive stare. Kiora kept his face blank. Dumbledore sighed. "Well, no one was hurt, and the damage is easily repaired. I suppose we should be thankful for that. That is all Professor." Kiora bowed himself out of Dumbledore's office.
Yeehaa! I'm on a writing roll. Please R+R it is a good thing to review! Thank you.