Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Ragnarok, Leria, and everything else not found in the book are mine. (Can you tell I'm getting tired of doing this?)
"Flying lessons? Hey, Rynna, take a look at this." I found the notice rather amusing, considering that I have been flying for almost five hundred and ten years.
She walked over, and judging by the small grin that appeared on her face, she had the same thought that I did. "Well, lessons are on Thursday, shall we go?"
"I think I'll just watch...I don't have any interest in riding those things." (A/N: I assume that the flying lessons were optional, because in the book, it said (a) that Slytherin and Griffindor were learning together, (b) in the book, it said that there were 20 brooms out, and (c) I'll assume that there were waaay more than 20 first years in Griffindor and Slytherin combined; at least not unless Hogwarts only has at most 300 students)
So, at three thirty on Thursday, while most of the other Griffindor first years were out learning to fly, I was sitting in a nearby tree, watching them. I heard the rustle of something moving through the leaves, but passed it off as a bird until I heard it say something.
"HI!!!!"
"Wha-?" I fell off of the branch that I had been perched on, and just barely managed to grab onto a branch further down the tree.
I looked upward, and saw a head pop out from behind a branch. "Fyre!? What are you doing here!?"
He flew down to the branch I was on, and this time, I noticed that he was holding something in his foreclaws. "Hm? What's that?" he dropped a canister into my hands, and when I opened it, a crystal orb fell out. I know what this is...they made this one human-sized too...how considerate... "Hey Shade, something wrong? Why'd you send Fyre over?" The orb glowed for a second before showing a familiar face.
"Nothing. Shaeldar wanted to send you that, so I volunteered Fyre to do it. Besides...do you have any idea how hard it is to keep that little THING under control!?"
"Hahahaha...Yeah, I know he's a bit hard to control at times."
"Yeah....just a bit..." he said sarcastically. "And if you don't mind....keep him with you. If I have to put up with him any longer I'll go completely crazy."
"And just where am I supposed to leave him? It's not like they have a cave around here or anything."
"I'm sure you'll think of something. Just keep him away from me! Oh, and before I forget, Shaeldar said he wanted to talk to you. I think that's the only reason he let me send him off to you." Shade's image faded from the orb, and I slipped it into a pocket. Shaeldar can wait until nightfall.
"So...Fyre, what am I going to do with you?" I said.
"Stay?"
I sighed. "Fine...but if I catch you getting into any trouble, I will throw you into the lake. Is that clear?"
He cringed and nodded vigorously, so I know I got my point across.
"Good. Now...we need to find somewhere to keep you. Stay right here. I'll be back." Trusting Leria to keep an eye on Harry, I jumped out of the tree and headed toward the Griffindor common rooms. In the hall just before the portrait of the Fat Lady, I found a large griffon-head statue mounted on the wall and noted with some satisfaction that it was high enough and large enough to conceal Fyre.
Fifteen minutes later, I had gotten Fyre settled in his new perch, and headed back out.
When I made it back to my spot in the tree and looked at the class, I immediately noticed two things. The first thing was that even though so much time had passed, it looked like the class was just getting started. Second, Harry was nowhere to be seen. I quickly looked through the crowd, and only relaxed again when I saw Leria there, because if something had happened to Harry, I'm sure she wouldn't still be there. On the other hand, she looks a lot more stressed than normal. Maybe something did happen.
"EXPELLED!?" I hissed. "What do you mean expelled!?"
"Well, I'm not entirely sure, but McGonagall looked especially angry, and Harry didn't return to the lesson."
"We'll find out soon enough I guess. Dinner is pretty soon, and he'll probably tell us what happened."
"Quidditch? You're going to be playing Quidditch? But-"
"First Years' never get to play on the teams. You must be the youngest player in about-" Ron cut me off, and was in turn cut off by Harry.
"A century. I know."
Oh, wait, that's right...I still have to contact Shaeldar...great, he's going to be ticked that I didn't do it sooner. I grabbed a few slices of meat off the table, locked eyes with Leria for a moment, and headed for the common room. As I passed by the statue, I looked around for anyone, and tossed the meat up to Fyre.
"FOOD!"
Laughing, I made my way into the common room, pulled the crystal out of my pocket, and contacted Shaeldar.
"Well, you sure took your time about it Ragnarok. Nightshade said that you got it hours ago."
Yeah...hello to you too..."I'm sorry sir, but I got rather busy after talking to Shade."
"I see...well, we have information for you that may directly impact your mission. Voldemort's energy signature was detected in your general area. Keep your eyes open, and make sure the boy remains safe."
"Right. Is there anything else?"
"Not at the moment. I'll let you know if anything else comes up." The crystal went black, and I put it back in my pocket just as I heard the portrait open up and every one of the other Griffindors walked in.
I stepped back, and waited until Leria walked in. She immediately walked over to where I was.
"News from home. He may be somewhere in the area." I whispered
"What? How do you know?"
In response, I pulled the orb out of my pocket for a moment.
"Oh."
"Yeah, I was just talking to Shaeldar, and he told me."
"Okay. I'll keep an eye out for anything. And you should keep an eye on Harry. It seems that he's got a wizard's duel tonight."
"Let me guess. Malfoy."
"Of course."
"I know I should probably try to talk about it, but seeing how he and Malfoy get along...I'd be wasting my breath. I guess I'll just have to make sure he stays out of trouble myself."
And so, when I heard Harry and Ron get up and sneak off, I silently got up, and hid myself with a "Mihirahi sa Nahel", or Shroud of Darkness a spell which allows me to become, well, invisible would be the wrong word, so, almost invisible. Anyone who looks at me, will only see a faint, shadowy figure. (Remember those elemental spells I mentioned? This is a form that Shadow can take)
I left the room, I ended up following Harry, Ron and Hermione out of the portrait hole, where they met up with (much to my dismay) Neville, before heading off to the trophy room.
When they got there, Malfoy was nowhere to be found. As the minutes ticked by, a growing sense of unease spread through me. What is going on? It would be too easy for something to happen here... I suddenly heard a voice in the next room, and a moment later, the voice registered as Filch. Great...Malfoy got him really well...the little skethn're (as for what it means...never mind...it's not very polite...) Harry and the others apparently heard Filch as well, and started to sneak off. I followed them, but when they heard Filch enter the room, they took off.
...Or at least tried to. Neville tripped Ron and the two of them knocked over one of the suits of armor along the corridor.
Oh that's just great. Now I have to throw Filch off their tail.... Running after them, I turned down a different path, and when I saw that it was full of more suits of armor, I stopped and prepared another spell. "Sylyb aethgwen hilauramy nin cauny... (Silver wind, hear my call...) With that, a vicious wind raced through the corridor, and sent all the armor flying. I turned and raced back, dodged around Filch as he came running, and tore down the path I saw Harry and the others go down.
Where could they have gone? The only door here is...that's not good... I walked up to the door at the end of the corridor, and it flew open practically in my face.
I jumped to the side as Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville came running out like the hounds of hell were after them. I stepped into the room, froze for a moment, and burst out laughing. Standing in front of me, was the hound of hell, Cereberos.
Turning around, I stepped out, closed the door, and ran back to the dorm.
I walked in, and was back in bed when I heard them come in and go to sleep.
If I had known that the kid would be this much trouble, I wouldn't have volunteered so quickly... and with that thought, I went to sleep.
Sorry it took so long, but I've been rather lazy. There's also the fact that I've been debating whether or not to actually continue this thing, but if I see that some people are actually still reading it, I'll keep writing.
