Chapter 08

• Wolf-Demon •

Three months had passed like a warm summer breeze and with it had come summer. Harry's turned seven even though he didn't remember birthdays, they were a thing of the past. His life became as complicated as a cloud in the wind, he simply became a part of the forest and existed. Nothing else truly mattered to him. He would hunt with the pack occasionally but most of the time he spent wandering the forest in search of something he wasn't sure he was looking for.

With his knife and sling he was almost unbeatable, but Dog and Silver were always around as well and even the spiders of the forest gave him a wide berth. Except for one unlucky spider who found Harry practicing with a rope one day, one of the new gifts that Firenze had left for him.

Harry knew what the rope was, he'd seen them used in the past and was quickly learning to use his, trapping small animals and using it to swing through clearings were there were no trees. The spider came upon him while he was resting, the rope coiled next to his hand. Because of Harry's relaxed state he hadn't heard the spider until it was almost upon him, it had come in the trees were they rarely attacked from, but he had heard it and darted out of the way of the pincers as the spider dropped upon him.

The left hand held the rope and the right had already drawn the knife he always wore even before he had time to think. The spider turned to him and he crouched, his steal-like muscles ready to spring out of the way again. Instead of attacking the spider stepped back towards the tree he'd come from, and been on the verge of climbing it so he could attack from above. Harry was curious as to why until he saw his predicament, the clearing he was in was thickly surrounded by trees and thorn bushes. Though the spider could jump at him it would roll into the bushes and harm itself. But, from above it could corner Harry and possibly capture him without even trying.

Dog and Silver came without Harry even calling for them. They simply seemed to know he was in trouble and came to the rescue. When they appeared among the trees they both distracted the spider for a moment while Harry's mind went over everything he could do. The rope in his hand and the position of the spider gave him an idea though. He tossed the roll over a nearby branch where it landed near Dog just as Harry'd hoped. He barked an order and Dog immediately took hold of the rope, and darted off with it. Harry'd had him pulling on the traps occasionally when he'd lured the prey in. This time however the rope was in Harry's hand and it vaulted him skyward and burning his hands as he held on with everything he had. He soon found himself above, in a thicket of the trees, body trembling from excitement.

The spider turned back to him as Dog disappeared in the distance. One wolf was not as harmful as two, but the great beast found that its original prey was missing. Its head moved back and forth, searching for the missing kill frantically, but found nothing. Above Harry's whole body tensed and a smile covered his face as he pulled a knife from his waist. Taking a moment to howl, Harry dropped onto the beasts body, plunging the knife into the thick hide even before the rest of his body touched the spider. The knife tore through the flesh, gouging the spider deeply and Harry twisted and hung on as the spider bucked, screaming.

Blue liquid splattered Harry as the spider lept into the air soaking Harry and making the spider slick. Harry held onto the knife as best as possible and, as the spider descended again from the jump Harry ripped out the knife and buried it in the spider again, this time aiming for its head. His foot slipped and Harry began to lose his footing, but his knife held true as the spider continued to buck with wild screams of pain.

Dog reappeared and attacked with Silver from the front, but the spider paid them no mind, their attack wasn't the one killing it. As Harry pulled the knife and began to plunge a third time Harry took a different approach, believing that the attack on the head wasn't strong enough to kill the beast. He buried his knife in the side of the animal, barely getting it to hold in the thick hide. Then, swinging beneath the legs he pulled the knife from the spider and slammed it into its underside just above his head and yanked hard. The cut was enough that it slit the belly of the beast wide open, covering Harry with steaming organs as the spider shrieked one last time then collapsed, almost completely burying Harry under its body.

Two smaller spiders unseen by Harry in the heat of battle turned away from the trees and crept out among the branches, disappointed that the hadn't gotten a meal and amazed at what they'd seen.

Two days later as Harry was hunting he encountered a second spider, but this one turned upon seeing him and took another path. But, not far ahead he heard it scream and he turned down the path it had taken, interested. Two men where standing over the fallen spider grinning widely and Harry's temper flared. He didn't like men in the forest, and these men certainly weren't welcome. He smelled another animal about and in the shadow of the trees he noticed the two black cats who he'd set free from the forest. It was the first time he'd seen them since that time, but they saw him as well and took no notice of them. He'd heard there screams before and he wondered if they'd help him, he knew they were superb hunters because he'd found their kill more than a few times.

Slipping through the trees until he was almost upon one of the men Harry pulled his rope from his belt and slipped a loop on one end, then after ascending higher into the trees he flicked the noose around the man closest to him and jerked him into the trees, howling as he did. The second man turned and Harry recognized him, he'd seen him chasing the bear with a man named Dung.

The first man struggled in the trees but it was in vain, the noose had fallen to his chest and trapped his arms with him. Before he could scream Harry pummeled him hard with the back of his knife, knocking the man unconscious.

Moving to another tree Harry noticed one of the cats slinking down from the trees out of sight of the man named Will. He could hear mumbling below from Will when he discovered the missing companion and Harry smiled. "Will," he said loudly, in a voice only half human. The mans eyes shot to the trees and the echoes of a wolves howl reached Harry's ears. Harry spent a moment trying to remember exactly what he needed to say, but settled on something straightforward. "Leave now Will," he said loudly. "Or they will eat you," he added smiling at the mans lack of courage.

"Who are you?" Will asked, pointing the stick in his hands towards where Harry's voice had come from. Harry had already moved though, and was almost on the opposite side of Will when a flash shot from the stick and blew the tree limbs apart where he had stood. Harry trembled at such awesome power and wondered where it had come from.

Snarling lightly Harry lept upon the man from behind, easily pulling the stick from and darting back into the shadows before Will could turn around. He ended up standing next to the large black cat who was taking in the battle with interest. Fumbling with the stick Harry tried to hold it as the man had, but nothing happened. Then he remembered the words that the men had said when they were chasing the bear, the strange words he didn't understand. He thought they were perhaps somehow related to what had happened.

"Where's Charlie?" Will asked, slightly disheartened because he no longer had his weapon. Harry remembered that the other man had had a stick to and so, instead of answering Harry tucked the stick into his belt and moved into the trees while the black cat watched. After taking the stick from the man named Charlie, who looked altogether more like a child than a man, but was still much older than Harry, he was satisfied he was no longer in danger. Slinging Charlie over his shoulder Harry descended again until he was on the ground. The great cat sniffed the man and Harry waited until he was done and moved around a few trees laying Charlie out on the ground.

"Here," Harry said and then dodged away from Charlie, waiting to see what Will would do. Will ran to the thicket to find Charlie unconscious on the ground and looked around in amazement. "Leave the forest," Harry growled from above. "We do not want you here," he added as best as possible, hoping the man understood his words.

Will struggled to pick up Charlie but was unable to get more than half his body off the ground, he was weak and Harry began to wonder if he should just kill them instead of scaring them off. But, if he killed them more of them would come

"I need my wand back," the man said as he failed a second time to hoist Charlie to his shoulder. He didn't even bother trying to locate Harry in the bushes, to him Harry was like the wind, whispering in different direction every time he said something. Harry would have liked to have helped the man carry Charlie out just to get them out sooner, but he didn't want to reveal himself.

He turned to the great black cat and snarled softly trying to get it to understand, he wanted him to watch the men until Harry had returned. Silver and Dog were still a good ways off and he wanted to get away from the men so that when they came they wouldn't be killed if the two wolves thought the men were dangerous.

The beast snarled back and then stood, appearing from the bushes and heading right towards the man. The frightened man caught the panther move from the corner of his eye and almost fell in fright. Harry watched cautiously, trying to determine what the beast was going to do. The cat took Charlie's head in its jaw and waited, as if he were waiting for some signal, and Harry understood. "Do not move," he snarled to Will, "or Charlie dies." He began to find the words easier as he said them more. And he moved away from the clearing, watching will's frightened eyes with delight. After he had gotten sufficiently far from the clearing he howled once more and found that Silver and Dog were almost upon him.

It was difficult to explain his wish to Silver at first and he could only think of a word to use for it, so said it by accident. "Carry," but somehow Silver seemed to understand what he asked and gave a yapp of acceptance. Harry returned to the clearing to find that nothing had changed in the slightest, Silver trotted into the clearing while Harry snarled weakly, the great cat let Charlie go and slipped back into the shadows without so much as a sound.

"Use," Harry said as Will trembled at the sight of such a large wolf. "Charlie on back," and then, with a bark Silver dropped to her stomach, awaiting the weight of Charlie.

It took a few tries for Will to get Charlie onto Silvers back while Harry watched impatiently. When they finally had Charlie positioned right Silver rose again waiting. "Go," Harry said harshly. "Not come back."

Will, as frightened as he was, seemed to get some sense of what Harry was saying and nodded, taking the lead as Silver followed behind. Harry waited until they'd disappeared and then he scaled a nearby tree and snarled a thanks to the Panther who'd helped him. The great cat yawned and closed its eyes, without doing anything else and Harry sprinted through the trees and watched Will as he moved slowly towards the city that they'd come from before. Harry followed them the whole way, he didn't want others with the sticks the man called a wand to hurt Silver.

As they closed in on the town Harry found that they were taking a slightly different route and he almost called Silver back, afraid where the man was leading her, but he waited, sling in hand, to see where they were going. Instead of coming up on a town there was a single cabin at the edge of the forest. Beyond it, on a hill not far away was a magnificent looking castle that gleamed in the sun. Children ran around playing with each other and talking in groups. It didn't bother Harry in the least that he wasn't part of one of the groups, people had rejected him, no one ever talked to him.

The man named Will called someone from inside and a great beast of a man came out. To Harry he half looked like the bear he'd encountered along with his first encounter with Will, but he was very much a person too. Harry wondered if someone could be a half-bear. He dismissed the thought though for the moment and watched warily as the man came strolling towards Silver and Will.

There was a short conversation, Will explained what had happened and then the man, who Will called Hagrid, easily lifted Charlie from Silver and laid him flat on the ground. The Hagrid man seemed more interested in Silver though and he reached out to touch her gently. Harry, worrying what he might do if he got his hands on her barked an order from the trees and Silver scooted out of reach. Both of the men's eyes traveled to where Harry had been, but he was already moving among the trees and he barked another order.

Silver disappeared into the forest as the men looked for Harry.

Another day passed quickly and another. Harry quickly forgot the fear he'd had of the men. The sticks he'd collected from them were buried away near his home, so that others could not get a hold of them. He'd tried saying the words that he'd heard the men use once, but nothing really happened except for lights flashing.

During a daily hunting session Harry heard the clicking that had become familiar to him and he hid in the trees as a mass of spiders appeared not far from where he'd just been. Silver and Dog were still there, they hadn't had time to escape and they crouched, growling. Silver howled once, but it was morning and most of the pack was probably sleeping still. There was no response.

One of the spiders spoke, it was only the second time Harry had heard it and he stared at it in surprise as the words came. "Our father has invited your master to our home," it said to the wolves. Harry almost dropped down to tell them no when more spiders appeared, forming a tight circle around the wolves. They did not attack however and Harry was curios why. The wolves obviously did not understand them, and it wasn't as if Harry would return with them anyway, they were spiders after all.

Something moved behind him and Harry jerked to the side to find himself face to face with a spider that was almost the same size as him. He hadn't even heard it rustle in the branches, but his reflexes had prevailed and he had a knife in his hand and was ready to plunge it into the hairy body. "Our father would like to meet you," it said. "We are not to harm you or your friends, but we are to follow you until you come to meet him."

Harry, knife in hand waited for an attack to come, he didn't believe the spiders, Nor did he care even if it was the truth, the spiders were his enemies and he did not consort with them. Then another one appeared behind the smaller one in front of Harry, this one was one of the larger ones. Harry heard it coming but could do nothing about it. The beast sort of bowed and then spoke, "We would like to thank you for saving me from the wizards the other day, please come with us."

Faltering just slightly Harry stared at the spider; it had been the same one that he'd chased the wizards from the other day. "I didn't save you," Harry said, trying not to snarl and set off an attack. "I do not like people in the forest."

"Nor do we," said the smaller one, "I think that is why our father wants to see you."

Relenting and seeing the hopelessness of the situation Harry nodded slightly. If they were not going to attack him perhaps they really did want to talk. He could beat one or two and possible more depending on how close the rest of the pack was, but to beat the dozens and dozens that surrounded them was not something he dared try.

Dropping from the tree to Dog and Silver he touched them to comfort them a little and faced the largest spider there, which he was sure was the one in charge. "Where do we go?" he asked

"Follow me," the spider said and set off along the path not looking back, merely expecting Harry to follow. When Harry did follow the rest of the spiders dispersed into the forest leaving him with almost no one besides Dog and Silver. There was an entourage of smaller spiders that almost carpeted the ground. Harry had never seen so many of them. But, he ignored them as best as possible just following the large spider who had demanded it.

The path took them into a dark area of the forest, an area that Harry avoided at all costs, he knew the spiders lived somewhere within. Something told him that it was a bad idea to enter, but he ignored it and followed the spider, Dog and Silver almost glued to his side.

They came to an open area where the trees where as old as the forest as a whole. The roots that protruded from the ground were almost as thick as the trunks of some of the trees that surrounded them. Harry was at the edge of the largest hollow he'd ever seen, the trees had been cleared out in the hollow, and the sun shown brightly unto the clearing showing a carpet of spiders there was small ones and large ones, including some that were larger than anything he'd ever seen before.

The large spider he was following moved into the center of the hollow, "Aragog," it said loudly and waited for a minute. "Aragog he has come!"

From within a domed shape web that seemed to hide the earth beneath it the largest of the whole group emerged. Its grey hairs and the slow movement were the first thing Harry noticed and he realized this must be the oldest of them. This spider was the one that the other spiders had called 'father'.

"Yes?" he asked slowly, his pincers clicking ominously.

"The one you asked for is here, the wolf-boy."

The spider's large, milky white eyes flickered across the hollow, but did not catch Harry in their stare. It took Harry a moment to realize he was close to, if not completely, blind. "I am here," he said, trying to show some sign of respect by allowing the old spider to know where he was.

"He is human then?" the spider asked as what was left of his eyes focused on where Harry had spoken from.

Harry growled before he could stop himself. "I not human," he said, trying to keep from snarling.

"Take no offense, I have heard many things of you and I have been unable to discover what sort of creature you are. You do not smell human, nor do you act like one, but according to some you look like one. Unfortunately time has effected my eyes and I cannot see you in your full form."

"I born... like them," he said spiting out the last word with a snarl. "They try kill me. Wolf now, not human.

"No," Aragog said slowly, thinking of what needed to be said. "I do not think of you as one of them. I did not ask you here to anger you, nor did I ask you hear to feast upon you. You have become one of the forest no matter what you were born to. I commend you for such a feat. But, you have done something else as well you have killed my children and you have saved them. I warned them to leave you when you and your wolves first took one of us, and the one who had come upon you was foolish in his actions. I do not blame you for his death," he paused and choked on something.

Pincers clicked around Harry and Harry finally took the time to look around. The spiders as large or larger than he was numbered in the hundreds and the smaller ones in the thousands. They seemed to be watching him, waiting for something and Harry wondered if he would ever leave the hollow. His hands rested on Dog and Silver who stood next to him, ready to fight through the mass of spiders should things go wrong.

A howl split through the air and Harry turned to see Ink and the pack cresting the hollow behind him. He barked at them and they stopped, but each seemed ready to fight to their deaths to try and save him.

"You have shown that you do not blame us either," Aragog said. He had obviously heard the wolves howls, but he was ignoring them for now. "I know what you did for my son the other night when the humans entered into the forest, hunting us. Because of this I have asked you to come here so that we may form an agreement," he paused again, and Harry wondered if he was just getting too old to think for very long. "We will not attack you or any of your pack if you will not attack us. If any of us comes upon a human we will drive them out, or kill them."

"If children attack pack?" Harry questioned, trying to verbalize that he would not stand around if he was to be attacked. His speech had slightly devolved, becoming more guttural with each word, much more like a growl. The spirit of the pack had overtaken him somehow and somehow he found it hard to form words again.

"Kill them," Aragog said simply. "If any disobey my order you may kill them or tell others of my children so that we can take care of it ourselves."

Harry nodded, and looked to the pack, barking that he was safe and there would be no killing unless they were attacked. Ink understood and backed down from his position but did not leave Harry's sight. Above the sun was setting, but Harry's eyes adjusted quickly to the change of light, the moon hung brightly overhead.

"They obey you," Aragog said as if he were answering a question he had asked without Harry's knowledge. "And what of the other creatures you've let lose in our forest, are they of your pack?"

"No," Harry growled, and stopped. He didn't consider any of the other creatures pack, but some of them still were allies of a sort. "...Cats help me attack humans, friends."

There was a chorus of clicking from overhead and Aragog lifted his head for a moment then turned to Harry. "We shall leave them alone as well then," he said loudly, and the clicking died. "But, only if they do not attack us, they have often made a meal of the younger of my children."

For a moment Harry seemed surprised, but he overcame it quickly. The great cats did not belong in the forest, of this he was sure of, they must have come from some place far away. They did not know of the workings of the forest, nor did they have any prey that they might be used to in the forest. Hoping that he could tell them, that he could somehow let them know what was offered to them Harry nodded. "Try and... speak with cats," he said quietly. "Not know if can. Not... understand like wolves," he said slowly, slower than when he spoke to Firenze. The longer he spoke the harder it seemed to become now, but he fought it, he wanted to leave the hollow alive and if the Father spider wished to give him safety than that was a good thing. The spiders were the only enemy he knew of which he feared. The great cats might be, but they seemed to take no interest in him and so Harry did not fear them.

"I ... need leave," Harry added, clutching Silver tightly. He wasn't sure what was happening to him, but he didn't want to be in the hollow as it happened. Silver was backing up, and Harry with her, he felt that if he were to let go he might not be able to stand himself.

"Go then, and head a warning. There is magic in the forest this night, it is powerful and dark. Even we stay away from it at night."

Magic. Harry knew the word, just barely, but he couldn't relate it to anything he understood so he simply clung to Silver until he had exited the hollow. Then he collapsed upon her and she joined the other wolves, moving away from the hive of spiders.

His heart beat quickly as the wolves darted through the woods and it was all that Harry could do to hold on. He felt something drawing him and he tried to tell Silver to go towards whatever was calling him but she seemed to be called to, and they both soon found themselves nearing the town where Harry had been so long ago.

Something told Harry to stop, but a howl caught his heart and he felt energy surge through him again. Men where standing around a giant wolf which floated in mid air. They didn't seem aware of Harry or the pack, but Harry could feel the pull of something and whatever it was, was drawing him towards the helpless wolf.

"Are you the Demon?" one of them asked, laughing. He held one of the wand-sticks in his hand menacingly and was waving it about as if he were going to use it fro something. "The one that attacked our friend a few days ago?"

The wolf growled and Harry could see it was straining, but couldn't seem to move from the position it was in, hanging above the ground. Harry stiffened at the helplessness and he almost broke from the trees to help it, but he waited, watching.

A second man, whose hair was long and brown prodded the wolf with his wand-stick. "Come on, we're only human remember. We're not strong or fast like you and your dirty friends. How long has it been Travis, five years? Five years since you changed over to become one of them?"

The wolf bared its teeth and stared at the man, trying to push through whatever was holding it in its place.

"Come on," a third man chided, his shorter black hair was slicked back and he had a sinister look to him. "You can answer us. It's easy, one howl for yes, two for no. I didn't think becoming a wolf made you stupid too."

The wolf's eyes locked onto Harry even at a distance and Harry stared back, wondering why they were hurting the wolf. It didn't look as if any of them were harmed, nor did it seem as though they'd had any friend who were. But they must have been friends of the men from before, friends of Charlie or Wills, they seemed to be blaming this wolf for what had happened.

"You couldn't be the Wolf-Demon now could you? You only change over on full moons, right? Or maybe not, maybe you all just say that so that no one knows the truth. Maybe you really can control yourself and you're just lying to us all. What do you say fellows, shall we beat the truth out of him?" The first man asked pushing his thick blond hair behind his ears.

The other six men laughed and five prodded the wolf with their wand-sticks. One of them seemed reluctant and had a look that made it seem as if he didn't want to be doing such things. Harry heard a growl and realized that it was him, angry that people would do such a thing in the forest, to a wolf no less. He'd dropped to all fours and was feeling his pulse heighten and his blood boil. Silver was next to him, teeth bore, only holding back because Harry was holding back. In truth he wasn't even aware when he bound from the darkness, but the whole pack followed and in an instant the laughing and mockery turned to shouts of horror.

It was as if the shadows had suddenly turned into an angry pack of wolves and the men did not have the sort of courage to face it head on. The new wolf dropped to the ground as all seven of the men turned to run and immediately it knocked one of the men to the ground, ripping his throat from his neck in one motion. He was already on the second man before all of the blood finished splattering to the ground.

Anything that had made Harry remotely human was forgotten with the smell of blood and he rushed two of the men, knocking them both to the ground with the help of Silver, before he was able to think again. As the struggled to stand again, buried under what seemed liked dozens of wolves Harry began to think clearly and he darted forward, retrieving the wand-sticks they'd lost in the fall. He wasn't about to let them harm the pack with their sticks. He barked orders several times until the wolves fell behind him and waited.

•

One of the men, Jedidiah, the strongest of the five and the only one still alive because Harry had ordered it, looked up to see what he could only explain as a Demon. Its long black hair was coated in blood and it had a thick hide that didn't look remotely like human skin, more like a blue bark like crust of skin, rough and chilling to look at. Its eyes cut through the black tangle of long hair in front of its face the most piercing green he'd ever seen and it moved with unearthly speed, he could barely follow it with his eyes. Sometimes it ran hunched over like an animal, but it also stood and when it did it looked remarkably human. There were hands and feet just like a person, but it wore no clothing at all save a bright strip of the whitest leather the man had ever seen, that covered little to nothing of his body.

The eyes, the Demonic green eyes focused on him and the beast moved to him before he could even gasp. "Leave," it said in a rough voice that was barely perceivable above the growling behind it. The rest of the men where no doubt dead, playing with a werewolf was not the sort of thing that kept men alive. Then it clicked. This was the beast the Will had been so afraid of, this was the Demon that haunted the forest. "You come back... you die." It said slowly, its voice still sounding more like a growl than a voice, "tell others too. We not like people in forest."

With that it turned, leaving him laying on the ground. The werewolf they'd captured bound towards him, as if to rid the forest of the last human but the Demon grabbed it, yanking it out of the way and barking sharply at it. If Jed hadn't seen it with his own eyes he'd have never believe it, but the werewolf backed down. Two of the wolves joined him, one was half crup, but still predominately wolf. The other was as large as the werewolf, but seemed to know the Demon well, and it stood next to him as they all disappeared into the shadows. A wand flew at him from the darkness, landing right next to Jed and though Jed wasn't sure he thought he heard laughing.

After taking his wand in hand Jed worked hard to raise himself enough to get a look around. The wolves had massacred their party and somehow Jed felt that they were at fault, after all they had been the ones torturing the werewolf, something he disproved of, but did nothing about. Using the best spell he knew of to knit bones Jed was able to stand again taking the time to heal each of the larger wounds he carried.

Once he was able to move about without unbearable pain Jed looked around into the shadows to be sure the Demon and his wolves had gone. He did not see the jade green eyes in the darkness nor did he feel the stare that followed him as he moved further on. The first order of business was to check his companions. He skipped over two of them, as their throats had been ripped out and their spines showed through the blood. Another had his whole abdomen removed and Jed knew that the werewolf had done it, he'd seen werewolf attacks before. The others all seemed to have died slower, but in less horrible ways. The last person Jed checked seemed dead, but he was the least wounded of the group and though his heart didn't seem to be beating there was still a bit of rosiness in his cheeks. Jed checked again and then smiled as a vial rolled from the man's hands.

Searching the robes, Jed found a second vial, this one of bright red liquid. "Never let another man do the job, right Robert?" he whispered as he poured the violent red liquid down the man's throat and waited. The wait only last a minute and the man, Robert coughed. He looked around weakly and smiled half-heartedly. "Chased them off did you?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

"No," Jed said, "the Demon let me go. I think I was the only one suppose to survive though. You and your stupid Auror tricks saved your ass again, didn't they?"

The man coughed and Jed stood, helping the man to his feet. "We'd better go before they come back after you." Then, waving his wand the other five men raised into the air and followed leisurely behind them.

"It was the Wolf-Demon then?" Robert asked after they'd walked for a short period of time. He seemed to be gaining life the longer he stood.

Jed looked over to him and then back to the path they were walking. "No one's seen a Demon in over a hundred years, they don't even teach about them anymore. It'd be like the dragons returning to the forest. But, if it wasn't a Demon I don't know what I would call it. It had eyes that bore through your sole and its skin... oh, dragon skin looks like silk compared to that skin. It looked almost human sometimes too, it's odd, but I swear I've seen those eyes before," he said and the two lapsed into silence, contemplating what they had left behind.

The 'Demon' as they called it was much closer than they would have imagined and the two wolves trailed close behind, always staying out of sight.

"We're not going to blame this on them," Jed said as they neared Hogsmeade. "We where the ones that brought this on ourselves. I think it was just protecting the wolves and the forest."

Robert began to say something but Jed cut him off. "I'm serious. If we tell others that it was their fault they'll go in and massacre everything in that forest that moves. It let Will and Charlie go with a warning last time, but we didn't listen apparently. It's our fault for going back. Maybe it was the werewolf that set it off, I swear he talked to it, but whatever it was he was defending something he wasn't attacking us for no reason. I don't want anyone else to die because they want to go find a Demon, understand?"

Slowly Robert nodded. He wasn't sure what to say, and though he didn't like the idea he had to admit that they weren't exactly the better of the two parties. "He talked to the werewolf?" he asked, surprised. "Like they had a conversation, I thought werewolves couldn't speak."

"He can speak English, but he was speaking lupish, I swear I've never even heard of anyone that could speak to dogs or wolves, but he was doing it. Maybe it's something Demons can do, talk to animals. But, when he spoke English it was almost like..." he paused and tried to imagine the voice ringing through his head. "As if he were a wolf trying to talk like a human. It was the most amazing thing. If I hadn't seen him I might have though he was a dog or wolf."

"Maybe it's a new species," Robert commented. "Hagrid's always trying to mate the weirdest animals together. He's been doing it since before I was at Hogwarts."

"But he was almost human in form. Do you think Hagrid would mate a man to some creature? That's more than just a little illegal, he's not the sort that would do that either. No, I don't think it's a new animal. I think it may really be a Demon."

Someone screamed and the two looked up. Several men were rushing at them. "What happened?" They all asked at the same time.

Jed grinned as best as possible. "We weren't ready for the forest I suppose," Martin didn't think there was anything dangerous in there, but I think he found something he couldn't handle."

"Mum's going to kill me," Jed heard through the crowd. "She told me not to tell you guys. She said you wouldn't believe me and you'd all go rushing down into the forest and get yourself killed." A shock of bright red hair appeared and a then came a second. Two red haired boys pushed through the crowd to Jed.

"Sorry Charlie," Jed said. "I just had to see it myself. I didn't believe you, no one did, but I saw them. I saw its eyes, you were right."

"Oh come on," Charlie said, exasperated. "Hagrid even said he saw the wolf that brought me back, that should have been enough."

The boy next to him looked almost sick as he stared down at the bodies. "What did this?" he asked, examining the throats that had been massacred. "It looks like a werewolf."

Jed's eyes dropped to the ground. "Well..." he said in an uncertain tone.

The redheads eyes flew to Jed. "You didn't?!" he exclaimed and then his voice dropped to a whisper. "You didn't really think that the Demon might be a werewolf, did you? And you went and found one..." he paused, thinking. "What happened, how come you and Robert are still alive? If you caught one and he got loose... well I don't think I would have expected to see anyone ever again unless they were turning furry once a month."

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