Disclaimer: I don't own HP or any of its characters, etc.
Anyway, I'm writing this on Thursday because I'm aware that I won't be here this weekend, but my internet is out! You'll have to forgive me in that there are no review replies this chapter, because I can't see them. In fact, I'm just hoping that my internet comes back in time for me to post this stupid chapter. I'll respond to reviews for both the last two chapters in 47 I guess…
Chapter 46 – The Centaur
Draco and Ginny were startled awake (Draco having fallen asleep on the watch after four hours of inactivity) by an immense crash not too far off. As Ginny raised her head sleepily from Draco's lap, Draco leapt up, pulling her up along with him.
"Come on Ginny, we need to get moving." Ginny nodded, obviously confused. Within seconds she was quickly awake though, as another booming crash echoed around in the forest.
"What on earth is that?" Ginny asked angrily.
"I don't think we want to find out. Come on, we need to get out of here as fast as possible." Draco took off along the path, jogging off with Ginny following behind him. But the crashes were all too audible still – in fact, they seemed to be getting closer. Not only that, but Draco was starting to pick up other sounds too – voices, faintly, yelling. Screams as well.
"Do you hear that?" Draco asked Ginny while jogging. She nodded in affirmation, knowing what he was talking about. The voices sounded unmistakably human, but there were no people in the forest. Draco, scared not only of the crashes but of the currently bodiless shouting voices screaming "AIM FOR ITS HEAD!" or other such unnerving comments. As another crash echoed that couldn't be very far away Draco and Ginny both sped up, now running at an incredible all-out clip, their dwindling energy sustained by fear…but not enough of it, as it became quickly evident where both the shouts and the crashes had been coming from.
An immense giant tumbled through the woods, crashing effortlessly through trees and even uprooting some, roaring angrily as multitudes of arrows hit his impenetrable skin. It was yelling incomprehensibly. Below it were tons of centaurs – the source of the voices – furiously dodging his mammoth hands and feet as they swung wildly around them, invariably hitting at least two, sending them crashing through the trees, some getting up – others not. One centaur desperately flew three straight arrows at the giant's rock-like skin before it picked him up, flinging him to the side and nearly into another centaur. However, while the centaurs were losing many of their own and injuring most of the others with their fight, the giant wasn't much better off – as hard as his skin was, it could only hold off so many arrows, and streams were always going towards him, penetrating the skin more often each time.
"GRAWP," the giant yelled. At least, that's what Draco heard. He had no idea what "grawp" meant, but didn't have any intention of sticking around long enough to find out. Ginny and Draco turned around as one to run out, but were quickly faced by an arrow pointed at them by a centaur. The centaur had greenish-blue colored skin with wavy black hair. The centaur was bleeding from a head wound right above its eyebrow and had a nasty bruise on its arm but this didn't appear to faze it.
"I don't think," the centaur enunciated clearly, "that you two are going to go anywhere for a while." But, as the centaur began to stare more clearly at Draco, his expression changed from anger to horror, sorrows evident on his face.
"You're the Malfoy. The stars…" The centaur said quietly. Draco stared bemused at the centaur as he spoke. What was he talking about? The centaur's expression was now unreadable, his eyes misty and far off, the bowstring still stretched taught, the arrowhead still pointing at Draco's face. The centaur suddenly backed off, his eyes cleared again, his expression commanding.
"You two run. Run to Hogwarts. Take the path." Draco and Ginny, not about to argue as the giant seemed to be approaching their spot, continued to run down the path until the sound of the crashes slowly faded and finally vanished from their ears. The two then collapsed, their muscles aching and their bodies utterly exhausted. The two leant against the nearby tree in silence. After ten minutes Draco looked at Ginny. She understood without speaking, and stood up, helping Draco up as well. The two walked wearily and slowly down the dark path on an early Sunday morning, looking for Hogwarts.
Harry stared out at the lake late Sunday afternoon, thinking of where Ginny and Draco could possibly be. Parvati had gone off ("to talk," she had said") with Lavender hours previously and left a very lonely Harry behind – especially considering he didn't have any Ginny or Draco for company. However, this he wouldn't have minded overmuch if he didn't have the feeling that there was a good reason that he hadn't seen either of them for the whole day tomorrow. Egging this feeling on, though, was the fact that Dumbledore was nowhere in sight. Disappointed, as he wasn't getting any genius strokes of inspiration, Harry stood up, deciding once more to search fruitlessly for Dumbledore.
But it was at that precise moment that Ginny toppled, alone, right out of the forest.