Harry Potter and the Staff of Slytherin
Chapter Eighteen – Hunt for the Centaurs
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Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or his little universe. It's all JKR's. You might not recognise most of the characters in this story. They are mine.
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If anyone wishes to join the Mailing list, leave your email address in a review and I'll email you whenever I put up a chapter.
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Please review after reading this. It will help make this story be better. Also, it's quite a nice thing to do. 200 REVIEWS!!!
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And when your fears subside
And shadows still remain
I know that you can love me
When there's no one left to blame
So never mind the darkness
We still can find a way
'Cause nothin' lasts forever
Even cold November rain
~ Guns N' Roses – November Rain
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A/N: Sorry about the long wait. I had a few assignments to do; the work is getting really tough. A flame also put me off for a little while, but I suppose every author gets flamed once in a while. Now I've finished two assignments and the current ones don't have to be in for a while, so I'll try and get as much done as I can in the next few weeks.
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The castle was built. Every stone was in its correct place and the building contractors had finally departed, leaving behind their litter which Harry had shortly disposed off with a quick flame and a flicker of a bolt that was gone almost as quickly as it came, taking away all traces that it had ever existed.
Harry found that, although his elemental magic was strong when he commanded the elements separately, there was twice as much power in a combination spell. It also took less effort. He did this especially well with a combination of fire and lightning. Rowena had tried this several times but she found it much more draining on her magical supply.
It was the beginning of the summer and the entire structure of the castle had been built. The supplies they had ordered were beginning to arrive slowly. It seemed that Harry had, at last, stopped getting taller. He now stood at 6 foot 3 and had a very well built structure from the physical work that had gone into building the castle with the contractors. His hair had grown to be around halfway between his shoulders and the middle of his back. It was still jet-black and, although he still couldn't tame it in any way, it seemed to stay in its place unless the wind was blowing heavily, in which case it blew behind him wildly.
There were whispers of a rumour that Mordrin and her steadily growing forces were planning an attack any time soon on the newly finished castle. They did not know if this was true or not, as they did not have a spy in Mordrin's ranks, but they were preparing just in case. Harry was now on his way through the forest to the centaur families that colonised part of the forest. He was to ask them for help in case Mordrin attacked. He was quite sure they would comply. If Mordrin took over this land, their forest would surely be overrun with evil creatures and Harry highly doubted the centaurs wanted that.
He had been picked for this job because, due to his frequent exploration, he knew the forest better than anyone. Also because he was the most capable of fending for himself in the forest for a few days, having survived on the other side of the forest for several months, with the help of the villagers.
With his sword and bow and arrow, he had set out in the early morning of the day before in search of the centaurs. He knew where he was, but he did not know where the centaurs were. He had a fairly good idea where to go from hoof-shaped tracks on the ground that were leading northwest, but that could be from a horse or even unicorns.
He had set up camp in a small clearing that was sheltered against wind or rain, although there was none. It was surprisingly a warm night and, as he slept, there was no rustling from trees or small creatures. Had he been awake, he would have thought it eerily quiet, but he was oblivious to it all in his deep slumber. He, therefore, did not know that he was being watched from the trees by a vampire. He also did not know that this vampire was the very same vampire that he had seen once in the Hog's Head. Neither did he know that the vampire had been silently following him all day, ever since he entered the forest.
Vampires, as well as being powerful sorcerers, were also highly skilled in the art of spying. Not only were they immune to all types of truth serums and spells, they could follow soundlessly and were incredibly agile and fast, this particular vampire especially, as he was very old. He had, at one point, been in the notorious Vlad clan of Surrey, named after their hero, Vlad the Impaler. They had been the largest crime gang in all of Britain, but they had been wiped out one by one by humans. Humans. He hated humans.
There was nothing more that he wanted than to rip the throat out of this human as he slept. Revenge for what his ancestors had done 750 years before. He would, however, rather see what the human was doing. He was very curious of this particular human. His original plans had been to kill him shortly after he entered the wild forest, but something made him stop.
Power radiated off the human more than any other human he had ever seen, and he had seen a lot of humans in his time. He could sense elemental abilities, and he could also detect the aura of an Animagus, not just an Animagus of an animal, a magical animal. The human had a bow on his side and a bag of arrows over his shoulder. They were of the highest qualities he had seen on any weapon, other than those made by dwarves of course, who were natural blacksmiths.
He also seemed to know exactly where he was going; he must be a regular visitor to this forest. The horse he was riding seemed to have been walking all day with soundless steps. They both must have some sort of concealment charms on them. He had also noticed that the animals passing through the forest did not seem to notice them at all, so he guessed that they must have some sort of invisibility charm on them as well. Vampires, however, were one of the only few remaining creatures that could see through concealment and invisibility charms and cloaks.
There didn't seem to be any movement made by the human or horse so the vampire decided to take advantage of their dormancy by getting a few hours of sleep. He conjured a mattress and a sun block in case the trees did not shelter the sunlight enough and fell asleep after a few minutes.
Unknown to the vampire, Harry had been aware of his presence since shortly after he had entered the forest. He could tell the vampire was very powerful, but that he wasn't using his full abilities as he was only faced with someone who he considered to be a weak human. He had hoped the vampire would stop following him, but he had continued in his pursuit. Harry was almost certain that the vampire was one of Mordrin's servants. He did not know how she had found out about his search for the centaurs but he soon would, as he was approaching the vampire's mattress with his wand ready.
"Wake up. Now."
The vampire's eyes shot open faster than a bullet and fear crossed them momentarily as he studied the situation facing him with a glare at the human. It seemed that the human was more observational and intelligent than the vampire had first thought. Not only had the human noticed him, he had also made him believe he had not seen him and was now in a position to kill him. His eyes narrowed at the thought of himself being tricked by a mere human.
"What are your plans?" Harry shouted at the vampire, his eyes blazing with fury. He had seen a lot of devastation caused by Mordrin and her followers recently and was not put in a good mood by one of her servants following him.
"I don't have any. You looked like a good meal but something made me curious about you. Who are you?"
"Liar!" Harry roared, his wand trembling. "Mordrin sent you."
"I don't know who Mordrin is and I am not a liar," the vampire growled. "Why don't you let me up so we can have a fair fight?" He challenged, knowing full well that the human would comply.
Harry was now quite sure that the vampire did not work for Mordrin. He seemed too powerful to want to be a servant to someone else. Also, most of Mordrin's followers were proud to serve her and would not deny it, in fact, most bragged about it. This was how they caught most of her followers outside of battles, simply by asking them in disguise.
He raised his wand and stepped back a few paces, allowing the vampire to stand. "Magic or sword?" Harry asked, knowing fully what the answer would be.
"Both."
Harry nodded and put his wand on the floor beside his bag of arrows and his bow. He stood at exactly the same height as the vampire. This was one of the first times in a while that he had not stood higher than an opponent. He knew that vampires were naturally strong and agile, naturally good swordsmen. He knew the physical element of the battle would be very close, the vampire likely to just edge it. He planned to rely on his magic more than his sword for this reason.
They bowed, not taking their eyes off the other. Harry felt a twinge of déjà vu; this reminded him of his duel with Voldemort a few years ago, or a thousand years in the future, as the vampire had the same pale eyes and blood red eyes as Voldemort, not to mention the same tall figure and confidence.
The vampire raised his eyebrows at the human's lack of his wand. He seemed to just be using his sword, did he not know that vampires were one of the best swordsmen, just short of dwarves and White Knights, who had become extinct sometime in the early 9th century after a long and strenuous war with the Black Knights, of which there were still a few about. The two species completely identical physically, only the White Knights were purely good and the Black Knights were evil.
The stood like this, sizing each other up for several short moments before they began to move simultaneously, swords and capes flashing like lightening. Harry had decided not to use magic until he had to, or until the vampire began. The vampire had decided on the same strategy, mainly because he considered himself to be a much greater swordsman than the human.
As they fought, neither was gaining the long-term upper edge at all. Both were having short bursts of advantage but none lasted more than a few seconds before the neutrality returned.
It took quite a while before either of them tired, as they were both very fit and had a lot of stamina. They were, however gradually slowing and both had begun to use magic. The vampire was at first surprised at the human's wandless magical capabilities, but soon realised that it made sense and mentality scolded himself for not noticing earlier. He had dismissed the lack of a wand as over-confidence. He had underestimated the human for a second time, and now he could see how magically powerful this human was, even more so than himself and he was an ancient vampire.
As Harry swished his sword, he was using his wandless capabilities to make nearby objects fly towards the vampire. Unfortunately, the vampire was also using his wandless magic to do exactly the same. Harry ducked as a large rock flew dangerously close to his head and sent a binding spell towards the vampire before jumping back again before the vampire managed another slash with his sword.
As time went on, neither fighter was ahead. Neither had lost many battles in their time and, as Harry brought his elemental abilities into play, so did the vampire. Both were astonished to discover they were fighting a fellow elemental, there weren't many about. Because they were both elementals, they were both immune to elemental attacks and so both of them stopped using this approach and continued in their swordfight and wandless incantations.
Neither of them noticed the forest ogre sneak up. Forest ogres were usually much more intelligent than their cousins, mountain trolls, and this particular beast was no exception. He had set out in these parts to find a meal. There were usually several rabbit dens in these clearings so they made for favourite spots in the eyes of such creatures as forest ogres. He had heard the clanging of metal banging together and the loud thuds of heavy objects hitting the hard dry earth. He also occasionally heard shouts of pain, human voices.
Eager to investigate, he picked up his broadsword and shield and walked briskly towards the voices. Forest ogres were, unfortunately, not blessed with the art of magic. They were, however, incredible fighters with high levels of pace and stamina. They usually chose to remain neutral in battles involving other species of creatures, not wanted to anger anyone. The only time they took sides in wars was when there was something in it for them and the only joined the side that was almost certainly going to win. They often got asked to join in wars due to their incredible strength and immunity to most magic.
It had been quite a long time since Droll, that was the Ogre's name, had seen any humans this deep into the forest. Usually when they entered the forest they didn't want to go too far and usually when they did get quite far, they got attacked, and usually killed, by one of the numerous predators. As Droll's search continued, he tried to remember the last time he had spotted any humans. That's it, he now remembered eating a bearded man who had escaped custody of the Aurors and wrongly thought the forest a good place to hide.
Droll had quite enjoyed the chase through the wild trees in search of this particular human. Unfortunately, he was rather stringy and did not have much meat on him. Unknown to Droll, this was because he had been living in a cell for nearly a year and then lived in the forest on the run for a few weeks before the forest ogre devoured him.
'Ah ha' thought the ogre as he caught sight of the source of the noise. There were two people in a small clearing having a raging battle. Neither appeared to be gaining any sort of advantage and both looked like good meals. As he sneaked up on them, he planned to eat the black haired younger one first. He appeared to be about 20 and was well built. The silvery haired one looked pale. Had Droll known what a vampire was, he would have known not to eat him, as vampire meat is one of the most toxic poisons known. Vampire blood can be used in many healing potions, if you could get some, which proves difficult as it can only be used if given willingly, and vampires aren't usually the most generous of creatures.
The vampire stopped fighting for a moment, he could smell something. He motioned for the Human to stop, but he refused. The idiot thinks I'm trying to trick him. After a few moments of stillness from the vampire, Harry stopped. He could sense something was wrong. The clearing had gone unnervingly quiet. His eyes grew wide with fright as he spotted a large green troll-like animal that he could not correctly identify. He looked at the vampire to see that he was also staring at the ogre, only with eyes full of fear instead of confusion.
"What is that?" Asked Harry, his voice trembling as the forest ogre drew closer to them slowly, scrutinizing the two suspiciously.
"A forest ogre. Immune to most magic, though thankfully cannot perform it. We will continue our fight after we slay the beast."
Harry nodded and they stood side by side facing the ogre. The vampire decided that the best strategy would be to use their swords purely and completely forget about magic, as it would not work on the ogre. Harry agreed with him, he knew much more about ogres than Harry and wasn't the sort of person Harry wanted to argue with. He was very tired at the end of the fight and was sure that the vampire would have won, if the ogre had not interrupted.
The ogre decided that it was too late to back out and ran towards them with his sword held high. Harry and the vampire jumped into action at the same time, each jumping out of the way as the ogre brought his sword down and crashed it into the ground. It looked sharp and both were glad they had jumped out of the way. Now they were either side of the ogre, they had an advantage. They approached him simultaneously, Harry swishing his sword from right to left whilst the vampire tried to stab him. The ogre let out a yell of pain as he jumped away from Harry's sword straight onto the vampire's. In a furious rage, he smacked away the vampire away from him and pulled the comparatively small sword out of his back, smashing it against a tree causing it to break into two pieces before approaching the vampire, who was lying on the floor unconscious.
Harry decided it was time to perform his Animagus transformation. He was going to switch in his fight against the vampire but had decided to leave it until he was behind. He was trying to keep his abilities a secret from Mordrin and he still wasn't sure if the vampire worked for her or not. If he had transformed and the vampire had gotten away, he could have told Mordrin about it.
The ogre turned round to see a big black creature standing in a threatening pose. He wondered briefly where the human had gone and decided that this black creature had appeared from nowhere and eaten him. Ogres didn't have a very extended knowledge of Animagus magic, or any magic for that matter.
'Pity.' Thought the ogre, 'I was looking forward to that meal.' He turned his attention back to the creature. It was, although the ogre didn't know it due to a lack of magical creature knowledge, a hybrid of a griffin, phoenix and a dragon. Its furry scales extended across its back and smoke came out of its nostrils as it breathed calmly, surveying the ogre from startlingly green intelligent eyes as it shook its mane and took flight, preparing an attack from the sky.
During these few short moments, the vampire had woken up and was staring at the griffin-phoenix-dragon hybrid with awe and amazement. He could feel the power radiate off it and knew that it must be that damn human's Animagus form. He had seen the ogre approaching him when he woke up and realised, with a pang, that the human had saved his life.
Droll lifted his head up before he died to see the strange creature that had attacked him turn back into the human. His last thought was that of dismay and embarrassment that a mere human had defeated him, and a young one at that.
"Well." Said the vampire. "It seems I owe you my life."
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If anyone wishes to join the Mailing list, leave your email address in a review and I'll email you whenever I put up a chapter. 200th reviewer: Tonksx13x
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Please review after reading this. It will help make this story be better. Also, it's quite a nice thing to do.
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Thanks to the reviewers, except ShoopShoopDuck, whose review was pointless and put me off writing this story for a while:
Cr1Ms0n^D3v1L – Hey I updated, thanks for the review. Did you like Harry's form?
Coolpadfoot – Thanks for the review.
Sab – Thanks for the review.
Wytil – If only all readers understood that we can't give out 20 pages a week. I think I'm above average though, usually 6 pages a week. Is that good? Your name has been bugging me since your first review, I'm sure I recognise it from somewhere.
TuxedoMac – I always like it when Harry returns when he's been away and the reaction he gets, especially if he's presumed dead. Phoenixes and panthers are cool. With this though, I am sort of 'making up' a creature by merging a few, so it won't have a name really. I feel I had to have a short chapter about Mordrin to show her personality. JKR hasn't really explained Voldie that much, I would rather know more about him, like why he turned bad.
Pblegacy – I've put you on the mailing list. Thanks for the review.
Lost Soul – Mordrin is a lady, by the way. Did anyone else think she was a guy? And Mordrin had nothing to do with Mordor from LOTR, just sort of happened I guess. Sounded mysterious and evil.
Ironic-humour – Most Americans want to go to England on holiday for some reason, I wonder why. They probably all change their mind once they get here though. It's just like America but with less sun and less bowling alleys. You only have four classes at a time? You lucky guy (girl?). In high school, I had 12 at a time, more in the lower years. Now I have around 9. I am doing an IT course and there are lots of different parts. Which four classes do you have in the second semester? I also find I'm better in exams when I'm drunk, unless I'm too drunk. Around 4-6 beers before an exam is ok. Though I rarely mix. In our schools we have primary school from age 4-11, then high school from 11-16. Then we can either leave or carry on for another two years doing something before university. I'm in the after-high school part. I might go to university, mainly for the good times.
Lord Shinji – Hey thanks, you sure I can't improve it in any way?
HiddenCamera – Mine's Stairway to Heaven, with Immigrant Song second. I put Ramble On in because the lyrics are great. Is Led Zeppelin your favourite band?
Prd2bAmerican18 – Thanks.
Twilight Dusk – Very close with the dragon/Griffin
Kento – Cheers, And I'm sure he's not JUST a griffin. Why do you like Mordrin?
Fangfoot – Thanks, was that the first time you've reviewed? I don't recognise the name.
Legolas Bowmaster – Ah his room will definitely be there when he gets back.
Me – Sorry about the wait and thanks for the review
Pennymae – Thanks, and you're now on the mailing list
She-who-walks-with-wierdo – Thanks, I agree. Stupid flamers
Tonksx13x – Thanks for the review. Sorry about the long wait. Well done for being the 200th reviewer!
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