CHAPTER 31: THESTRALS
Buffy led Harry away from the school and towards the Forbidden Forest; they weren't that late, but the class had already left. The walk was silent as each was lost in his or her own thoughts. Harry was repeatedly going over everything Professor Fox had told him and using the information to help his own situation.
Buffy was thinking more of what Snape had said when he interrupted the class. "I know you're not Sarah Fox, as no person exists." 'How did he find out? How does he have the power to find that out? He's only a Potion's professor,' Buffy thought worriedly. "We'll find out who you really are and you'll pay." Obviously someone else was involved with the search, but who could it be? Umbridge? No, she wouldn't work with Snape. But who would? The only person that seems civil around him, has a lot of power is... Buffy stopped abruptly, her eyes widening slightly in realization.
"Dumbledore," Buffy whispered. He was looking her up and keeping an eye on her. She'd have to be more careful in the future. "... and you'll pay." Fortunately, they hadn't found out why she was really here or who she really was, so she still had some time. Just not a whole lot.
"What'd you say?" Harry asked as he turned back to look at his professor.
"Um, I just asked if you were ready," Buffy said, gesturing towards the woods in front of them.
"Yeah," Harry said. "I've been in here a couple of times. It's not too bad."
"Right," Buffy said. "We should get going, then. We don't want you to be too late."
"Er, how will we know where they are?" Harry asked. "The forest is pretty big."
"I'm sure we'll find them somehow," Buffy said with a smile. "Just stay close to me and don't do anything stupid." Buffy began walking when a burst of green light shot out from the treetops.
"I'll bet that's Hermione," Harry smiled. "Of course she'd remember that we had no idea where we were going."
"She reminds me a lot of my friend," Buffy said. "Except that Willow has red hair and Hermione has brown. Well, it doesn't look too far, so let's get going." The two carefully made their way towards the spot where the light seemed to be coming from. Buffy's 'spider sense' was going crazy in the dark forest and Buffy knew that there were plenty of things in here to keep her occupied for months; however, not all of them were bad. Fairly soon, Buffy heard the noise of people walking through the forest.
"Gather roun', gather roun'," a deep familiar voice called out encouragingly. "Now, they'll be attracted by the smell o' the meat but I'm goin' ter give 'em a call anyway, 'cause they'll like ter know it's me..."
"Um, Hagrid," Hermione interrupted quietly. "What meat?"
Hagrid looked around worriedly and glanced at himself to make sure he wasn't carrying anything. "Oh, blimey!" he said. "I forgot the meat!"
"So they're not gonna come?" Malfoy asked hopefully.
"I don't rightly know," Hagrid said. "I think they will. Jus' have tah call 'em."
"What's he calling?" Harry asked quietly as they got even closer to the group.
"I don't know," Buffy said. "But why do I get the feeling it's not something good?"
"Because it's Hagrid." Harry paused, seeming to realize what he said to the ministry official that could get Hagrid sacked. "I mean, he likes to show us the more unusual creatures, to prepare us for whatever comes."
"Uh huh," Buffy said with a raised eyebrow.
"He's a really great professor, even though his methods are a little strange," Harry practically pleaded.
"I'm not going to tell Umbridge if you don't," Buffy said reassuringly.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief and then joined his friends. "Thanks for that spell, Hermione. I don't know how we'd have made it without it."
" 'Arry!" Hagrid cried, interrupting whatever Hermione would have said. "Yeh made it!"
"So, what're we waiting for?" Harry asked, giving his friends an 'ask later' look to stop any questions.
"You'll see. Don' want to ruin the surprise!" Hagrid said before turning to Buffy. "Thanks for bringin' him down. It's not safe in these woods."
"No big," Buffy said nonchalantly.
"An who might you be?" Hagrid asked when he realized he didn't know the woman.
"I'm Sarah Fox. I'm the Defense professor," Buffy said, extending a hand.
"O' course," Hagrid said. "Rubeus Hagrid."
"Nice to meet you," Buffy said, watching in amusement as her small hand was engulfed by his overly large one.
"Hav' we met before? Yeh look awfully familiar."
"I doubt it," Buffy said, her smile becoming more forced. She had always liked Hagrid and had come to visit him several times during her stay at Hogwarts and was secretly glad that he might still remember her. "So, you're a professor now? How do you like it?"
"I love it. And I've got Dumbledore to thank for it. Good man, he is," Hagrid said. "Would yeh like to stay for the lesson? It's a special one."
Buffy looked around as her senses went even crazier. Something was coming. When she looked back to Hagrid, she caught a familiar blonde's eyes. Buffy gave a little smile while Draco scowled and looked away. "Sure, I'd love to. I don't have a lesson at the moment."
"Great! I jus' hav' ta call them."
"I think they're coming anyway," Buffy said quietly as Hagrid shook his shaggy head to get the hair out of his face and gave an odd, shrieking cry that echoed through the dark trees like the call of some monstrous bird. Nobody laughed; most of them looked too scared to make a sound, although some were slightly calmer now that their defense professor was there as well.
Hagrid gave the shrieking cry again. Half a minute passed in which the class continued to peer nervously over their shoulders and around trees for a first glimpse of the things that were coming. Buffy looked around her; her eyes better in the darkness than anyone else. She could feel the things coming. There were a lot of them, whatever it was. There was movement on her left and Buffy turned to watch a horse like creature thing walking briskly through the trees.
Harry nudged Ron and pointed into the black space between two gnarled yet trees. A pair of blank, white, shining eyes were growing larger through the gloom and a moment later the dragonish face, neck, and then skeletal body of a great, black, winged horse emerged from the darkness. It surveyed the class for a few seconds, swishing its long black tail, before its gaze became locked on Buffy.
A great wave of relief broke over Harry. Here at last was proof that he had not imagined these creatures, that they were real: Hagrid knew about them too. He looked eagerly at Ron, but Ron was still staring around into the trees and after a few seconds, he whispered, "Why doesn't Hagrid call again?"
Most of the rest of the class were wearing expressions as confused and nervously expectant as Ron's and were still gazing everywhere but at the horse standing feet from them. There were only two other people who seemed to be able to see them: a stringy Slytherin boy standing just behind Goyle and Neville.
"Oh, an' here comes another one!" said Hagrid proudly, as a second black horse appeared out of the dark trees, folded its leather wings closer to its body and surveyed the class, once again, stopping on Buffy. "Now... put yer hands up, who can see 'em?"
Immensely pleased to feel that he was at last going to understand the mystery of these horses, Harry raised his hand. Hagrid nodded at him.
"Yeah... yeah, I knew you'd be able ter, Harry," he said seriously, "An' you too, Neville, eh? An'.. Professor Fox?" Hagrid asked, surprised.
Buffy's hand had slowly risen into the air, so as not to startle the two horse things that had been staring at her for quite some time now. It was as if they were sizing her up or studying her.
"Excuse me," said Malfoy in a sneering voice, "but what exactly are we supposed to be seeing?"
"Thestrals," said Hagrid and Hermione gave a soft "oh!" of comprehension at Harry's shoulder. "Hogwarts has got a whole herd of 'em in here. Now, who knows-"
"But they're really, really unlucky!" interrupted Parvati, looking alarmed. "They're supposed to bring all sorts of horrible misfortune on people who see them. Professor Trelawney told me once--"
"No, no, no," said Hagrid, chuckling. "tha's jus' superstition, that is, they aren' unlucky, they're dead clever an' useful! 'Course, this lot don' get a lot o' work, it's mainly jus' pullin' the school carriages unless Dumbleodre's takin' a long journey an' don' want ter Apparate- an' here's another couple, look--"
Two more horses came quietly out of the trees, one of them passing very close to Parvati, who shivered and pressed herself closer to the tree, saying, "I think I felt something, I think it's near me!"
"Don' worry, it won' hurt yeh," said Hagrid patiently. Both the two new thestrals peered around and stared right at Buffy like the first two had, and the strange thing was, none of them had moved yet. "Righ' now, who can tell me why some o' you can see them an' some can't?"
Hermione raised her hand to answer. "The only people who can see thestrals," she said, "are people who have seen death."
"That's exactly right," said Hagrid solemnly. Three more thestrals had come trotting up behind Hagrid as he was talking. They too, stopped and stared out at the class, their gazes falling on Buffy.
Harry had finally noticed the strange behavior of the horses and it seemed that Neville had too. "Um, Hagrid?" Neville asked quietly so as not to frighten them. "What are they doing?"
Hagrid took his attention away from Umbridge, who had happened to show up while he was congratulating Hermione on her correct response. "Wha' do ya mean?"
"They're just standing there and staring," Neville said. "Shouldn't they be moving around?"
Hagrid finally took notice of the seven horses that had stopped and were staring at the blonde professor. "Oh, erm, I don' know."
"Professor Fox? What are you doing here?" Umbridge asked, shocked as she looked up from scribbling things on her clipboard.
"I came to drop off Harry and Hagrid invited me to stay for the lesson," Buffy said with clenched teeth as she continued to stare at the thestrals that were now surrounding her.
"Are you aware," Umbridge said loudly, "that the Ministry of Magic has classified thestrals as 'dangerous'? And with good reason, I believe," Umbridge said, looking pointedly at the situation professor Fox was in.
"Thestrals aren' dangerous! All righ', they might take a bite outta you if yeh really annoy them--"
"Shows... signs... of... pleasure... at... idea... of... violence," muttered Umbridge, scribbling on her clipboard again. "It would probably be best you don't annoy them," Umbridge said to Buffy, "It would be awful if something bad were to happen to you."
"I'll try my best," Buffy grit out, "but I have this bad habit of annoying big, monstrous, ugly beasts, as I'm sure you can attest to."
Hermione's eyes widened at the obvious insult in front of so many other students, while a couple others snickered.
"Uh, Professor, it migh' be best if you didn' move or talk too much," Hagrid advised as a couple of them shifted.
"Why are they going after her?" Parvati asked.
"I don' know," Hagrid said with a confused look on his face. "Yer not wearin' anythin' are you?"
"Oh, darn," Buffy said. "I knew I shouldn't have used Essence of Meat this morning. If only I'd known I'd be walking around with flesh eating horse things."
"Are you going to do something?" Neville asked, frightened for his favorite professor.
Before Hagrid could say anything else, more of the horses began to move, causing everyone in the area to hold their breaths. With a snort, one horse trotted up to Buffy, who stood tense but still, and began to do something no one would ever believe. It nuzzled her! Buffy was in shock; she had been prepared to fight the beast off, when it just harmlessly rubbed its head and neck on her cheek.
"Well, look at tha'!" Hagrid exclaimed happily. "It likes you!"
"Yay," Buffy said as a second one soon followed. And then the third. And the fourth. Soon all seven thestrals were fighting for her attention and making such a racket that several students had to cover their ears. Buffy was overwhelmed by the beasts and was soon on the ground with the thestrals all crowding over her. 'Great, I'm gonna get eaten by wild horse things. What a way to go,' Buffy thought as she tried to push her way back up, with little success.
"Alrigh', back off," Hagrid said, coming forward to save the blonde. Unfortunately as he got closer to the group of thestrals, one got annoyed, lifted its head and bared its teeth, snapping at Hagrid's hand that was on its skin, pushing it back. The class screamed as they saw Hagrid's hand begin to bleed, as thestrals became more dangerous, and everyone backed away and grouped together.
"We have to do something," Harry said.
"But what?" Hermione asked. "Those are invisible horses, who knows how many, that seem to be ready to attack anyone that goes near them."
Harry took out his wand and aimed it at the thestrals, looking pointedly at Hermione. "If we do it all together, we'll take them out before they can turn on us."
"Right," Hermione said, pulling out her wand. Others around them did the same and soon the words "Stupefy" filled the air, along with the bright red lights. People just pointed at random areas, hoping to hit something, while Harry, Neville, and the Slytherin boy were the only ones to aim properly. One by one the thestrals fell, some coming close to charging the kids, but eventually they were all down.
Buffy stood up, brushing all the leaves and dirt off of her clothes and pushing the hair out of her face. "Thanks," she said, looking around at the unconscious thestrals that littered the ground. "Good aim."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked. "Most of us couldn't see them and our curses went everywhere else."
"You didn't hit me," Buffy clarified.
"I'm so sorry," Hagrid said. "I didn' know they'd do that. Don' know wha's gotten into 'em." Hagrid was wringing his hands nervously, waiting for the two women to fire him.
"Don't worry about it," Buffy said. "It's not your fault. Dark scary things tend to attack me a lot." All the Gryffindors snickered at her joke, as they had witnessed Snape on a rampage earlier.
"I jus' don' know why they'd attack you."
"They didn't really attack me so much as they did you. You should really have that looked at," Buffy said, nodding towards his bloody hand.
"I'm alrigh', I've had worse than this," Hagrid said.
"Hem, hem." Buffy and Hagrid turned to look at Umbridge, both with a feeling of dread in their stomachs. "I believe that this was a most intolerable display I have yet to see. Students fighting for their lives, people getting hurt, people getting attacked. I don't know what you were thinking, but clearly you are not fit to be a professor. You have failed your examination and I cannot let you continue teaching. I suggest you pack up your things and leave school grounds immediately."
"What?!" Harry cried. "You can't do that!"
"Of course I can," Umbridge said. "And I don't have to take any more from you. Mr. Potter--"
"I think what he's trying to tell you is that Hagrid is not just a professor at the school; he's also the Gamekeeper. The Keeper of Keys, if you will," Buffy said, standing up for her old friend.
Hagrid had always been so nice to her, letting her have some of his teacakes, regardless of how they tasted. She knew he really enjoyed teaching, but there wasn't much she could do. In this point, Umbridge had more power than her, and Buffy seriously doubted that she'd let this one go. Buffy had already ruined too much for her and she had to be careful where she stepped.
"He may be fired as a professor, but his other jobs still stand and you don't have the authority to change that. Only Dumbledore does, so Hagrid doesn't need to pack and he doesn't need to leave," Buffy finished with a significant look at Harry, trying to tell him to keep his mouth shut. "Class is dismissed, everyone follow Hagrid out of the forest."
The class trooped along as they all began whispering amongst themselves, some about Hagrid, others about Professor Fox and Umbridge, and a couple were still talking about the thestrals.
"I still don' understand why they went after yeh," Hagrid was saying. "They don' normally do tha' unless you provoke them."
"I didn't provoke them. At least, I don't think I did,' Buffy said with a frown. "What provokes them?"
"Loud noises, lots of movemen', spells fired at 'em, normal things," Hagrid said.
"Oh, well, in that case I'm sure I didn't do it," Buffy said confidently. "It's all right," she added, seeing Hagrid's crestfallen face. "I didn't get hurt. And I'm sure you'll get your job back eventually. Don't sweat it."
"But they should've been nice! They're trained and everythin'! They're always good to me!" Hagrid whined.
"Maybe I just smelled really good," Buffy said. "I mean, they were licking me and everything so I couldn't have smelt bad, right?"
"But they only like meat and other dead things," Hagrid said.
Buffy's calm attitude soon vanished as she began to realize why the thestrals were all over her. "So they're attracted to death? I mean, they have connections to people who've seen death."
"Yeah," Hagrid said, blowing his nose.
"Wonderful," Buffy said. 'Death is my gift,' she thought. She had died twice, no wonder the stupid thestrals were entranced when she went near them. Weird.
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"So, what did Professor Fox want with you?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, she wanted to make sure I was okay," Harry said. "She said I was too quiet and it was making her suspicious."
"About that," Hermione said, glancing at Ron. "You have been really, well, depressed, lately," Hermione said quietly. "Will you please tell us what's going on? We can help you."
"I'm fine," Harry said with a grateful smile at his friends. "I know you were worried about me and I'm sorry. I just... I had something on my mind and it wouldn't go away, but I finally think I've figured it out. I'm really okay, now." He didn't like keeping things from his friends, but if he told the truth, he'd have to explain about the prophecy, something he didn't really want to do. He was finally getting over it and his friends would probably go nuts if he told them. He had decided to forget about what it said. HE wasn't going to let it ruin his life, he was just going to use it as a helpful tip.
He and Voldemort would battle, like they had before and Harry always knew they would again, and only one of them would be the winner, which Harry had always known. The information really wasn't anything spectacularly new; it was just startling to hear one's life laid out so plainly. Now Harry was more motivated. He'd focus more on his studies and spend more time learning new spells and preparing himself for what was ahead.
He had no doubts that it would be difficult, but it was his destiny, so he might as well be ready. Plus, he had the whole, 'power the dark lord knows not' thing going for him, so that was a plus. Harry actually wondered if he would be able to kill Voldemort should the opportunity present itself. Taking a human life, no matter how warped it is, was not an easy thing to do. Harry was afraid that by killing Voldemort, he'd actually become the thing he was fighting.
Although, deep down Harry knew that Voldemort's death would be the only way to stop the murders. Innocent peoples lives were on the line and it was possible, according to the prophecy, that if Harry died, Voldemort would eventually rule everything, killing hundreds more people in the process. It was clear now what he had to do; he had to fight. And he had to win.
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"Wormtail, how is the project coming along?" Voldemort hissed.
"It's doing well," Wormtail said, bowing low before his master. "Lucius said it'd be completed within two weeks. Before Christmas vacation."
"Excellent. Make sure there are no mistakes. I don't want to delay our meeting with Mr. Potter any further."
"Yes, my Lord," Wormtail said.
"Is there any new information on the Professor?"
"N... no, my Lord. No one has any idea where she came from or whose side she's on."
"Well, FIND SOMETHING!" Voldemort shouted, causing Wormtail to scurry away before he was punished.
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"Of course!" Willow said, reading the owl Buffy had sent her. "That should work."
Hurrying away, Willow carefully began to brew yet another batch of their potion, believing this might be the last time.
Several hours later, Will emerged from her room with a small vial of dark blue liquid. "This is it. It worked," Willow said, carefully handing it over to Giles.
"Are you sure?" he asked, peering at the potion.
"Well, we haven't actually had the opportunity to test it for real, but all the simulations and equations and everything worked. So, hopefully, it will work. Plus, it looks really pretty!"
"Yes, it looks like a jeweled necklace I had once. Xander, why don't you buy me nice things?" Anya pouted.
"Maybe because all of our things tend to get lost, stolen, burned, broken, buried, or swallowed," Xander said. "And I have little money to buy anything now because our entire town caved in, or did you forget already?"
"Well, get a job. We need money." Xander just rolled his eyes and ignored his girlfriend.
"That's a great idea, Anya," Will said.
"Of course it is. Everybody needs money. It's like one of the necessities of life. Like Oxygen."
"No, not the job, the necklace. I can put this on a chain and send it to Buffy like it's a necklace. Sure it'll look like a vial of potion around her neck, but it doesn't have to. It can be a lot of little small beads of potion. It's perfect!" Willow transformed the vial of potion into a beautiful, blue, beaded necklace and let Morrigan take it back to Buffy. "I hope she likes it."