Harry and co. exploded out onto the ground floor. Miraculously no
creatures were stationed there, or else the three young wizards and witch
would have probably been cut down then and there. Looking around both
physically, at his surroundings, and mentally, at the map of Hogwarts in
his head, Harry opted for the stairs. "This way!" he gasped and ran on.
The trio ran on, not knowing where, just away from the many things which wanted to kill them. Spying a knot of Knarls at the end of the hallway, they quickly dove down a corridor out of sight. Harry heard gunfire and frowned.
"What's that?" Ron asked, scared, as he obviously did not understand the concept of gunfire. Harry ignored him. Then the source of gunfire came closer, and a group of soldiers ran around the corner at the far end of the corridor, some of them firing backwards with their assault rifles.
Several giant spiders lumbered around the corner and made for the soldiers. Harry heard Ron seize up and start hyperventilating next to him. One of the soldiers didn't run fast enough, because of a glancing arrow wound in one leg, and he was knocked flying by one of the spider's twelve- foot-long legs. The other soldiers fired at the spider while they ran. One of them yelled, "Die, mutant!" in an unmistakably American accent. Harry ordered to Ron and Hermione, "Stunners after three! One, two, three! Stupefy!" with Hermione joining in with the last word. The curses simultaneously struck the head of the lead spider, who collapsed. Harry realised that a) two other spiders had come around the same corner, b) Ron hadn't joined in with the Stupefication because he was still hyperventilating over the giant spiders, and c) two of the soldiers were aiming right at him. Harry ducked as the soldiers opened fire, rounds ricocheting off the wall behind where he'd been standing, and shepherded Ron and Hermione out of harm's way as well.
"Why are them lot trying to hurt us?" Ron wailed. "You helped them!"
"They're trying to kill us, actually, and I don't know why!" Harry roared back.
The trio ran down a different side corridor to get away from the soldiers. Before they turned the next corner they heard a Death Eater talking.
"It's useless trying to fight, boys!" a malicious voice chuckled without mirth, not referring to Harry or Ron. Harry was pretty sure it belonged to Lucius Malfoy. Extra quiet, Harry shimmied along the wall towards the corner. Harry heard the moose-like grunt of a Yeti. "Boys, I'm going to perform a charm which will override the pathetic locking enchantment on this door now. I assure you, you have no chance. Give my regards to my ancestors in any afterlife you find yourselves in." Harry wisely decided to go for coward tactics. He put one of his eyes around the corner, surveying the situation. What he could see, while keeping most of his head this side of the corner, was a Death Eater and a Yeti, side by side. He decided to wait for Malfoy to begin the incantation before attacking, so he couldn't possibly counter Harry's attack, then try and deal with the Yeti(s) and any other creatures there.
Lucius spoke some words. Harry heard the door click as he thrust his head around the corner, wand raised. "Stupefy!" Harry shouted, knocking Lucius off his feet. Then he drew breath again and stepped around the corner fully. "STUPEFY!" he and Hermione shouted at the same time. The combined curses succeeded in knocking out the Yeti where one curse would not have. When it hit the floor, the ground trembled. There was one creature left, a troglodyte. Harry could not imagine why it would be on its own, when he'd already seen their pack mentality, and Harry also saw that the troglodyte could not now remember why it was on its own. It clutched its spear rather piteously, then turned and fled.
"Stupefy!" Ron shouted. The troglodyte fell over, looking like an absolute travesty. Hermione looked at him accusingly. "Hey, don't look at me like that." Ron defended himself. "If we let him get away, he'd have come back with loads of his friends."
"I suppose." Hermione ceded, though Harry noticed a hint of sorrow as she looked at the hideous, eyeless thing passed out on the floor.
"Harry?" came a voice inside the room. Harry suddenly recognised the room as the Prefect's bathroom, and the unseen speaker as Ernie Macmillan. "Is that you?" it clarified.
"Yeah." Harry replied. "You doing all right?"
"Until this tosser came along, yeah. Cheers for getting him for us." Ernie walked into the doorway and surveyed the scene. "You knocked out a Yeti? Impressive. Well, it's lovely chatting to you all, but I suggest we get inside before something worse comes along. Oh, and I think an interrogation is in order, so somebody grab his legs." Ernie pocketed the dropped wand, ripped off the Death Eater's mask and threw it into the room, picked up the unconscious man by the armpits and started dragging him inside the Prefect's bathroom. Ron hurried forwards to help, and Hermione stepped past them. However Harry paused to pick up the troglodyte's spear before walking into the room.
"What have you got that for, and how did you get it, Harry?" Dean Thomas asked curiously, indicating the spear. He had been sitting silently in the room in cover behind the row of sinks, clutching a shotgun. He also seemed to have a pistol in his pocket.
"I thought it might be useful, so I nicked it off a downed troglodyte." Harry replied. "What have you got that for, and how did you get it, Dean?" He indicated the shotgun.
"I thought it might be useful, so I nicked it off a downed soldier." Dean answered. The two smiled at each other, then got on with what they were doing; in Harry's case, shutting and locking the door before walking over to Malfoy, and in Dean's case, cleaning the shotgun with a hand-towel.
"So how did you two end up here?" Ron asked.
"We had a bet going, so we went up the Astronomy tower with Justin Finch-Fletchley when the bell went." Dean began. "The bet was something trivial, but we were so high up we must've been the first people to see the creatures coming out of the Forest, eh?"
"Must've been." Ernie agreed.
"We tried to get to the Great Hall to warn everybody, you know? But we were cut off when a couple of harpies smashed through the window in front of us and came after us. Then a Thestral killed Justin - "
"What? You can see Thestrals too?" Harry blurted out.
"No, we couldn't. But once Justin died we could see the damn thing. Boy, are they ugly!"
"Hear, hear." agreed Ron.
"So we cursed the damn things. Cursed them to bits. We were pretty annoyed about Justin, see. When the creatures' bodies were unrecognisable, we carried on towards the hall, but we were surprised by a Muggle soldier jumping out in front of us. He asked for help and fell dead straightaway, we only just saw all the arrows in his back. Dean took the weapons, 'cause he's Muggleborn and actually knows what they do, then we had to leg it away from the centaurs who got the soldier. Malfoy Senior chased us further, even after Dean shot all the centaurs and had to 'reload', whatever that means. I remembered the password to this door and locked us in. That's when you showed up, just before Dean would've blown Malfoy's head off."
"What's your story?" Dean asked Hermione tiredly.
"We went round that corridor on the first floor, the one with the panoramic view, yeah? Then we saw the creatures come up to the castle and kill a couple of kids. Draco Malfoy cornered us, wand out, but Harry disarmed him and we thought he also knocked Malfoy out. Harry snapped Malfoy Junior's wand. We looked away for a second, and Malfoy disappeared, because he wasn't knocked out. We ran away from creatures and ended up going into the Slytherin common-room."
"What?" Ernie cried, astounded.
"We found out where it was ages ago, and we found out the password just before, so we got in. Guess who was waiting for us? Malfoy and his gang."
"Unlucky!" Dean laughed without finding anything funny.
"Then we had a frank exchange of opinions." Harry euphemised.
"He means we threw curses at each other for five straight minutes." Hermione clarified. Ernie and Dean laughed. "Then the common-room door opens, and it's Snape behind us, in a Death Eater uniform! Harry Stupefied him - "Ernie and Dean cheered, "- and we legged it. We got chased by some creatures, and shot at by a couple of soldiers, and we ended up here."
"They shot at you?" Ernie exclaimed, incredulous.
"Yeah. To finish the story, Harry Stunned Malfoy, Harry and I Stunned the Yeti together, and Ron Stunned the troglodyte."
"Not a bad story." Dean judged, turning his head to the door once again. Everyone else returned to the task at hand; Malfoy's interrogation.
The trio ran on, not knowing where, just away from the many things which wanted to kill them. Spying a knot of Knarls at the end of the hallway, they quickly dove down a corridor out of sight. Harry heard gunfire and frowned.
"What's that?" Ron asked, scared, as he obviously did not understand the concept of gunfire. Harry ignored him. Then the source of gunfire came closer, and a group of soldiers ran around the corner at the far end of the corridor, some of them firing backwards with their assault rifles.
Several giant spiders lumbered around the corner and made for the soldiers. Harry heard Ron seize up and start hyperventilating next to him. One of the soldiers didn't run fast enough, because of a glancing arrow wound in one leg, and he was knocked flying by one of the spider's twelve- foot-long legs. The other soldiers fired at the spider while they ran. One of them yelled, "Die, mutant!" in an unmistakably American accent. Harry ordered to Ron and Hermione, "Stunners after three! One, two, three! Stupefy!" with Hermione joining in with the last word. The curses simultaneously struck the head of the lead spider, who collapsed. Harry realised that a) two other spiders had come around the same corner, b) Ron hadn't joined in with the Stupefication because he was still hyperventilating over the giant spiders, and c) two of the soldiers were aiming right at him. Harry ducked as the soldiers opened fire, rounds ricocheting off the wall behind where he'd been standing, and shepherded Ron and Hermione out of harm's way as well.
"Why are them lot trying to hurt us?" Ron wailed. "You helped them!"
"They're trying to kill us, actually, and I don't know why!" Harry roared back.
The trio ran down a different side corridor to get away from the soldiers. Before they turned the next corner they heard a Death Eater talking.
"It's useless trying to fight, boys!" a malicious voice chuckled without mirth, not referring to Harry or Ron. Harry was pretty sure it belonged to Lucius Malfoy. Extra quiet, Harry shimmied along the wall towards the corner. Harry heard the moose-like grunt of a Yeti. "Boys, I'm going to perform a charm which will override the pathetic locking enchantment on this door now. I assure you, you have no chance. Give my regards to my ancestors in any afterlife you find yourselves in." Harry wisely decided to go for coward tactics. He put one of his eyes around the corner, surveying the situation. What he could see, while keeping most of his head this side of the corner, was a Death Eater and a Yeti, side by side. He decided to wait for Malfoy to begin the incantation before attacking, so he couldn't possibly counter Harry's attack, then try and deal with the Yeti(s) and any other creatures there.
Lucius spoke some words. Harry heard the door click as he thrust his head around the corner, wand raised. "Stupefy!" Harry shouted, knocking Lucius off his feet. Then he drew breath again and stepped around the corner fully. "STUPEFY!" he and Hermione shouted at the same time. The combined curses succeeded in knocking out the Yeti where one curse would not have. When it hit the floor, the ground trembled. There was one creature left, a troglodyte. Harry could not imagine why it would be on its own, when he'd already seen their pack mentality, and Harry also saw that the troglodyte could not now remember why it was on its own. It clutched its spear rather piteously, then turned and fled.
"Stupefy!" Ron shouted. The troglodyte fell over, looking like an absolute travesty. Hermione looked at him accusingly. "Hey, don't look at me like that." Ron defended himself. "If we let him get away, he'd have come back with loads of his friends."
"I suppose." Hermione ceded, though Harry noticed a hint of sorrow as she looked at the hideous, eyeless thing passed out on the floor.
"Harry?" came a voice inside the room. Harry suddenly recognised the room as the Prefect's bathroom, and the unseen speaker as Ernie Macmillan. "Is that you?" it clarified.
"Yeah." Harry replied. "You doing all right?"
"Until this tosser came along, yeah. Cheers for getting him for us." Ernie walked into the doorway and surveyed the scene. "You knocked out a Yeti? Impressive. Well, it's lovely chatting to you all, but I suggest we get inside before something worse comes along. Oh, and I think an interrogation is in order, so somebody grab his legs." Ernie pocketed the dropped wand, ripped off the Death Eater's mask and threw it into the room, picked up the unconscious man by the armpits and started dragging him inside the Prefect's bathroom. Ron hurried forwards to help, and Hermione stepped past them. However Harry paused to pick up the troglodyte's spear before walking into the room.
"What have you got that for, and how did you get it, Harry?" Dean Thomas asked curiously, indicating the spear. He had been sitting silently in the room in cover behind the row of sinks, clutching a shotgun. He also seemed to have a pistol in his pocket.
"I thought it might be useful, so I nicked it off a downed troglodyte." Harry replied. "What have you got that for, and how did you get it, Dean?" He indicated the shotgun.
"I thought it might be useful, so I nicked it off a downed soldier." Dean answered. The two smiled at each other, then got on with what they were doing; in Harry's case, shutting and locking the door before walking over to Malfoy, and in Dean's case, cleaning the shotgun with a hand-towel.
"So how did you two end up here?" Ron asked.
"We had a bet going, so we went up the Astronomy tower with Justin Finch-Fletchley when the bell went." Dean began. "The bet was something trivial, but we were so high up we must've been the first people to see the creatures coming out of the Forest, eh?"
"Must've been." Ernie agreed.
"We tried to get to the Great Hall to warn everybody, you know? But we were cut off when a couple of harpies smashed through the window in front of us and came after us. Then a Thestral killed Justin - "
"What? You can see Thestrals too?" Harry blurted out.
"No, we couldn't. But once Justin died we could see the damn thing. Boy, are they ugly!"
"Hear, hear." agreed Ron.
"So we cursed the damn things. Cursed them to bits. We were pretty annoyed about Justin, see. When the creatures' bodies were unrecognisable, we carried on towards the hall, but we were surprised by a Muggle soldier jumping out in front of us. He asked for help and fell dead straightaway, we only just saw all the arrows in his back. Dean took the weapons, 'cause he's Muggleborn and actually knows what they do, then we had to leg it away from the centaurs who got the soldier. Malfoy Senior chased us further, even after Dean shot all the centaurs and had to 'reload', whatever that means. I remembered the password to this door and locked us in. That's when you showed up, just before Dean would've blown Malfoy's head off."
"What's your story?" Dean asked Hermione tiredly.
"We went round that corridor on the first floor, the one with the panoramic view, yeah? Then we saw the creatures come up to the castle and kill a couple of kids. Draco Malfoy cornered us, wand out, but Harry disarmed him and we thought he also knocked Malfoy out. Harry snapped Malfoy Junior's wand. We looked away for a second, and Malfoy disappeared, because he wasn't knocked out. We ran away from creatures and ended up going into the Slytherin common-room."
"What?" Ernie cried, astounded.
"We found out where it was ages ago, and we found out the password just before, so we got in. Guess who was waiting for us? Malfoy and his gang."
"Unlucky!" Dean laughed without finding anything funny.
"Then we had a frank exchange of opinions." Harry euphemised.
"He means we threw curses at each other for five straight minutes." Hermione clarified. Ernie and Dean laughed. "Then the common-room door opens, and it's Snape behind us, in a Death Eater uniform! Harry Stupefied him - "Ernie and Dean cheered, "- and we legged it. We got chased by some creatures, and shot at by a couple of soldiers, and we ended up here."
"They shot at you?" Ernie exclaimed, incredulous.
"Yeah. To finish the story, Harry Stunned Malfoy, Harry and I Stunned the Yeti together, and Ron Stunned the troglodyte."
"Not a bad story." Dean judged, turning his head to the door once again. Everyone else returned to the task at hand; Malfoy's interrogation.