CHAPTER 36
THE CENTAUR'S FIELD

"Could the following students please report to Headmaster Dumbledore's office please," a voice shouted through the school on an invisible intercom, "Emmeline Vance, Caradoc Dearborn, Benjy Fenwick, and Gideon and Fabian Prewett."

James listened to the names being called off. A seventh year that was sitting two seats away from him at the Gryffindor table stood up, and walked to the exit of the Great Hall.

"They're all seventh years," Remus said, "Probably going to get rung out for a seventh year prank or something."

"I don't think so," Sirius said, taking a helping of tripe from the dinner plate that had just appeared, "I know Emmeline Vance. And she never causes any trouble. We don't get along very well," he added, smiling wryly.

"And Gideon and Fabian are prefects," Peter offered, "Not to mention that Benjy's Head Boy."

"So maybe it's an award ceremony for all the brown nosing gits of the school," James said, "Who knows."

"Well, last year they did the same thing," Remus said, "Sturgis Podmore was called down last June, and he never came back."

"Is that what happened to him?" Sirius said, somewhat interested, "I wonder what happened to him. He still owes me money."

"Did Dung get called down?" Remus asked.

"No," Sirius huffed, "Do you think that he would have gotten any sort of award whatsoever? Come to think of it," he took a bite of the tripe, "He owes me money, too."

"Hey, you guys," Davey Gudgeon sat down next to James, "How's your lives going?"

"Excellent," Sirius said, "And you?"

"Eye's all better," Davey said, "That Willow's wicked, ain't it?"

"Yeah," Remus said grimly.

"So, what do you think those seventh years were going to see Dumbledore for?" Davey asked.

"We were just discussing that," Remus said, "We have no idea."

"Well, I heard from Sturgis last year that Dumbledore calls five students down every year," Davey said, "Since,you know, You-Know-Who came. And then he tells them that he's been watching them. Creepy, you know?"

"And then what happens?" Remus asked.

"Well, Sturgis wouldn't tell me anymore," Davey said, "Sworn to secrecy or something. He seemed sort of upset, though. And then he packed his bags, and left school. Don't know what would have made his panties get up in a bunch like that, though. You know? It's weird."

"Yeah," Remus said, "Yeah," he looked at the exit of the Great Hall.

***

Padfoot pushed Moony out of the hole, gasping. Moony must have put on some weight. He gave one more shove, and the reluctant werewolf stepped out into the full moon. Moony waited for it to hit him full force. It would just be seconds until he .

Nothing was happening. He opened his eyes, and looked around. Prongs was smiling down on him. His shadow fell on top of him, and Moony smiled. Slowly, Prongs backed away, exposing his friend to the moonlight.

The wolf gave a small growl from inside Moony's mind, but Moony courageously bit it back, and his smile grew wider.

Wormtail came running out of the tunnel, and squeaked his arrival. They were back in the Forbidden Forest. Last time they had come out here, they hadn't made it very far, and they now wanted to find out what lay beyond the few trees that they had seen from their window in the dormitory.

Prongs nodded his head to a small overgrown path to their left. Padfoot nodded, and shoved Moony in between him and the stag. Wormtail scattered ahead of them, and became sidetracked for a moment while he chattered with a newfound rat friend in a bush.

Padfoot growled, and Wormtail squeaked, and went back into position. They then made their way down the trail, scoping out their surroundings. Prongs noticed a flash of white next to a pond off in a clearing. It was beautiful, and he stopped to stare at it in fascination. It was a unicorn.

The creature raised its head, and perked its ears back, staring at the stag.

BEWARE.

Prongs blinked, and the unicorn was gone.

Padfoot nudged him from behind Moony, and Prongs turned toward him. Prongs shrugged. And then, he caught the flash of white over Padfoot's shoulder. He looked closer.

This time it wasn't a unicorn, though. It was a deer. A white deer. It was stumbling along. Prongs looked closer, and saw that its chest was badly hurt. A green tinge could almost be seen to where its heart would be. Or was it just the night's light reflecting off of its gleaming coat?

Padfoot followed Prongs's gaze, and then looked to Prongs. He was wearing a look of confusion, and Prongs snorted for him to look back at the deer.

The deer had fallen from sight, though, and Prongs began to walk towards it, mesmerized. But Moony and Prongs growled, and he stopped.

What was the matter with them? Why wouldn't they let him go help it? It was obviously hurt!

Moony growled again, and Prongs was sure it was Moony and not the wolf.

They continued on with their journey, but Prongs was still thinking about the deer. What had been wrong with it?

Wormtail squeaked again, and pointed his small rat paw to the left. They saw a break in the thicket of trees, and the four of them headed off for the clearing.

The wind rustled in the field as they emerged from the trees. They had no idea where they were. They had never seen this place before. They hadn't even heard of it.

It seemed as if no one had ever seen this clearing before, surrounded by the dark forest, and illuminated by the perfect skies. It was protected from the Great War. It was protected from Voldemort. It was protected from the world.

Padfoot stared around in awe at the overgrown grass, moving in the wind in time with the Earth. The crickets and locusts chirped and sang their night songs. No birds were heard. No screams or howls from the Forbidden Forest. Just the quiet and silence of the field.

Prongs felt a shiver go up his spine. He didn't know if he liked this place very much. It was too . serene.

Moony felt his head clear completely. He looked, wide eyed, at Prongs, who was shifting nervously in his position. He smiled, and then turned to Padfoot. Padfoot had his eyes closed, and concentrating.

Moony gasped, and shook his head vigorously, but Padfoot wouldn't stop. Soon, the black dog was gone, and was replaced with a sixteen year old boy.

Sirius stood, getting off of all fours, and took another look around. Prongs, in horror, stepped between Sirius and Moony, snorting.

"James, it's okay," Sirius said, "It's okay."

Prongs looked disdainfully at Sirius, and then closed his own eyes. Soon, James had taken the place of the stag.

"Are you nutters?" he shouted, "What are you doing?"

"Shh," Sirius said. Moony looked at his two friends. He wasn't afraid, though. Not this time. He was himself. He was Remus Lupin. The wolf had gone completely.

Wormtail looked up, squeaked again, and transformed into Peter. Peter got to his feet, and dusted his robes free of dirt.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"That's a very good question," James said, "First there's that ruddy deer, now it's ---"

"What deer?" Peter interrupted, "What are you talking about?"

"Shut up, you two," Sirius barked, "Do you hear that?"

"No," James said, trying to listen, "All I hear is the wind."

"And the crickets," Peter added.

"Shut up," the two said at once.

Moony sat down, off to the side. He was free! He was himself, completely! He smiled at his friends, to see if they had noticed his change. But they were preoccupied. Sirius looked spooked.

"Someone's crying," he said, "Someone's shouting my name."

"Who is it?" James asked.

"I don't know," he said, "Sounds sort of like you ."

"Where's it coming from?" Peter asked.

Sirius turned his head, like a dog trying to pick up a scent. His eyes scanned the line where the trees were placed on the outline of the field. Nothing. There was no one else there with them. It was just them. But --- but he could hear the voice. It sounded like a child. Maybe a little younger than them ---

"It is you," Sirius whispered to James, "It sounds just like you."

James looked at Sirius, and then to where he was staring. He pulled on his arm, and said in a shaky voice, "Let's get going. I don't like this place."

"I don't hear anything," Peter informed them, but when he turned back around, Prongs and Padfoot had returned to animal form, and was pushing Moony back onto his legs. Quickly, Peter thought about the rat, and felt himself change.

Prongs pranced through the grass, and back into the trees. The calmness was erased from memory, and Moony shivered as he returned to the forest. The wolf was reborn inside of his heart, and he choked him back.

The voice had disappeared, and Padfoot looked back at the meadow. But from the west side, it now looked more like a wasteland. The grass was gone, and dirt clods covered the ground. The skeletons of trees stood like dark shadows over the clearing, and their spindly fingers grabbed out at the air.

Padfoot shuddered.

***

As soon as Remus had turned back into human form, he rushed to the library. Madam Pince had whispered to him, "Forty Galleons, Mr. Lupin," as he had entered, and he pretended that he hadn't heard her.

His mind was still set on finding out what that field had been. He hadn't felt the wolf totall gone ever since . well . ever since he had been bitten. If he could find out what it had been . why . well, he could possibly find a cure for his curse.

"What's up, Moony?"

Remus turned to face James, who was looking extremely tired. Remus forced a smile and nodded,

"Nothing much. What are you doing here? I thought you hated the library."

"It's against my religion," James grinned, "And also, I wanted to look up something."

"Still thinking about the field, too, huh?" Remus said sorely as he walked into an aisle of bookshelves.

"You too?" James said, "I can't get my mind off of it. I can still see that deer. It really was weird."

"Deer?" Remus looked at him, "What deer?"

"Don't you remember?" James furrowed his brow, "It was hurt. And it was glowing green ."

"Prongs, there wasn't any deer anywhere," he said, "We walked for like . miles, and the only things I saw was that unicorn."

"So you saw the unicorn?" James went on, exasperated. Was he going insane?, "And you heard what it said, right?"

"No," Remus said, looking at James like he was mad, "Unicorns don't talk, James."

"You … you didn't hear it?"

Remus looked very worried, and he turned his eyes to the shelf, "It must have been some sort of magic."

"Well, I figured that much," James scoffed, "But what did it show us? Sirius said that he heard me screaming his name out there in the grass. And I saw a deer. We both heard the unicorn say, 'Beware.'"

"Sirius heard the unicorn, too?" Remus turned back to him. James nodded.

Remus took a book off of the shelf, "Natural Magic, by Gustafo Warling," he said, "Maybe we can find it in here."

The two boys found a seat at a table, and opened to the index.

"What exactly are we looking for?" James asked, "Fields? Voices? Deers?"

"How about premonitions?" Remus said, scanning the page, "Page forty six."

They turned the page, and came face to face with a run down field, that quickly switched to a beautiful meadow, and back to a run down field.

"That's it," James said, "What's it say?"

"Centaurs are known to create these large divinational devices," Remus said, "They are unnamed, and there have only been three found in the world. Centaurs begin by clearing out an area, and opening the area to the stars. Then, with unknown proceedings, they create a foreshadowing illusion, much like the one found in the Mirror of Erised (see page sixty four). The fields are usually guarded by a 'Guardian,' which has been known to be a unicorn."

"So that's what that thing was," James said.

"No one to this day knows truly what the Centaur seer envisions while standing in the field. Yet we have composed a drawing of what one may see at certain areas of the field."

Remus looked at the drawing below. There was a diagram of the field, with different colored circled drawn ontop, like in a ripple or a target. In the very middle, it read "LOVE." Then, in the next largest circle, it read "PAST." The next largest circle read, "PRESENT." Then came "TRUTH." Then, where Remus must have been standing, "PURITY." Finally, on the outside, where the other three had been, it read "FATE."

It gave a detailed account of each circle. Remus scanned the page for PURITY, and read it to himself:

PURITY: The cleansing of a soul from everything but the soul itself. Used for a coming of age ritual within the Centaur clans.

Remus went to the next description. FATE.

FATE: Fate is the most ominous of the six circles in the field. The one who stands in this area will witness, hear, or feel his impending fate.

"What's it say?" James asked.
Remus looked back at James, and then shook his head, "Just a bunch of Centaur hocus pocus. Nothing to worry about."