Chapter 11
• A Stray •
Hagrid stalked away from the centaur herd encampment in a huff, even though he was friends of the herd, he was sure that they were hiding something from him. From above, Gwyl snorted. The Hagrid fellow was indeed a large man, but wasn't quite the fastest person. Silver and Dog were just downwind, watching the giant and his dog leave the camp.
He brushed through the roof of trees and dropped down next to Silver and Dog, barking a soft order for them to follow at a fair distance and make sure they weren't seen. Gwyl was interested in where else the Hagrid man was going to go, though he hoped it was out of the forest.
Sneaking back, he found Hagrid tromping through the forest, breaking large branches underneath his body. He seemed angry about something, and Gwyl was sure it was about him. They walked for several minutes until Gwyl heard more noises ahead, to the right, and he slid through the treetops to find himself staring down at the last person he expected.
Several people where there, all talking in normal tones, as if they were just going for a leisurely walk, but none of them was very old at all, there were no adults. Gwyl thought to scare them off, but he found the only thing he could do was stare at the youngest of them as her silver hair bounced against her head.
An older girl had a hold of her hand, and they were all just heading through the forest towards no particular place, though if they kept going for a few more hours Gwyl knew they'd end up at the spider nest area. Hagrid was forgotten, and he decided instead to follow this group and chase them off only if he had to. He wanted to separate the girl with silver hair, but if she didn't want to go or someone else noticed him, they would make more noise, and Hagrid and his big dog would surely come to see what was going on. Gwyl was sure he could get away, but he might not ever have the chance to see the girl again.
It became apparent that the girl whose hand she was holding wasn't about to let go, and Gwyl grimaced. Maybe she didn't remember him; maybe she wouldn't like him now that he wasn't Gwyl anymore.
It didn't take long for Hagrid to find the group. Gwyl was surprised he'd heard them in the distance, but Hagrid came crashing through the bushes to their left, his crossbow held high as if he were about to shoot. Nearly the whole group shuddered from fright even though most seemed to recognize him.
Hagrid huffed. "What are ye' doing 'ere?" he demanded, angrily.
The gal in front smiled, the one that was holding on to Silver-Hair spoke. "Come on Hagrid, we were just taking a hike, it's Sunday, there's no lessons today. Besides my little sister came to visit Hogsmeade and wanted to see what the forbidden forest was like," she smiled coyly, her brilliant white hair falling in front of her eyes. Hagrid seemed to know who she was and shook his head.
"Yer getting' out of 'ere right now," he commanded, "I'll be walkin' ye' back to 'ogsmeade right now."
Two more faces appeared from the bushes beyond, the two who'd been lagging behind. Hagrid growled. "Ye don' need roam the forest. 'e ain't 'appy bout other wizards commin' in t'all. It'd be a right shame if ye' went and got yerselves killed. 'specially the young one. If I 'ear about ye' commin' in the forest again I'll report it to the headmaster, ye' 'ear me? All of ye'."
There was a pause and Gwyl felt a little angry, Hagrid was making his friend go away. But, still he waited for an opportunity, the man was a giant, and he could probably catch Gwyl if he dropped now.
"Get," he said waving his hands at them and trailing them home. The leader, now with only a white shock of hair, the rest had somehow turned black in only a moments time. Gwyl was curious as to how she did it. "Nym-fer-dora Tonks," Hagrid said, addressing the odd-haired girl. "Ye' know yer not suppose ter be 'ere. Ain't makin' no sense to go and bring yer sister into da forest."
"It's just Tonks Hagrid, and she was the one that demanded it," the girl said.
Easily putting two and two together, Gwyl figured that Silver-Hair was the girl Tonks's younger sister, but he still didn't have a name for her. The whole group eventually got moving away, heading back towards the village and castle, all Gwyl could do was follow. Tonks didn't seem to have a very good footing and kept slipping on things, only being held up by her sister.
Finally after several minutes Gwyl got the girls name, Tonks started to whine to her. "Stray," she said half-panting, "you don't have to hold my hand all the time." Gwyl smiled at her as she promptly tripped over a rock and almost fell to the ground, only held by her sister Stray's grip.
Stray. Gwyl repeated the name in his head. It was an odd name, but he liked it. The rest of the ground snickered around her and even Hagrid chuckled. Tonks looked around with an angry face at everyone but didn't say anything at all.
The rest of the journey was quiet, and they were almost to the edge of the forest when Gwyl panicked. Silver and Dog weren't far off, but they wouldn't make it in time if the group started running, and he didn't want to lose the Stray again.
He rushed forward but found that the forest they were marching through was a lot less dense, and it took him a few moments longer to move between the trees and stay silent. By the time he was at the front of the group, they were breaking the tree line, and Gwyl felt angry that she'd gotten away.
Watching, Gwyl noticed that there were two more boys that were sitting on a little hill not very far off, holding wand-sticks, so he didn't dare come running out of the forest. He recognized one of them, Charlie; he'd captured him before and let him go. It was good to see that he wouldn't go into the forest anymore. The other one looked a lot like him because they had the same color hair, but the other one seemed older too.
The girl Tonks stopped not far from the trees, still holding her sister, and Gwyl hoped that they might turn back around and come just a little into the forest.
"I've got to take this little stray back to Hogsmeade," Tonks said huffily when one of the older boys snickered at her. She stuck out her tongue, and as Gwyl watched, it got several inches longer and then flicked back into her mouth. Stray, watched the whole thing in awe but didn't say anything.
Hagrid on the other hand put his hand up. "Yer' not goin' anywhere," he said with as much authority as he could. He probably suspected that the two would go right back into the forest if he wasn't watching them, and didn't want them to.
"I can take them," the second redhead offered. Tonks turned to him, her cheeks turning pink, then she quickly looked away, but Gwyl noticed it all from his vantage point. "I'll make sure that they get to town alright, and don't go wandering again through the forest. I am a prefect, it's the least I can do, especially for a fellow Gryffindor."
Gwyl didn't know what a Gryffindor was, or a prefect, though the word seemed to nibble at the back of his mind like he should remember. What was more important was that this redhead boy was going to be separating from the rest of the group, and Gwyl could probably knock him over without too much trouble. He'd just have to watch out for the wand-sticks.
The color of Tonks' hair slipped into a dark burgundy really fast, and Gwyl blinked again, he liked the way the girls hair kept changing colors, it was really neat. "Alright Bill, yer a good boy, don' be too long. Dun want ter get 'em in too much trouble."
The boy, Bill, nodded, and Gwyl could see Tonks's face getting red again, but Bill was paying more attention to Stray. "And what's your name?" he asked quietly as he offered her his hand, making Gwyl angry. He'd rather not have Bill holding on to her. She wasn't Bill's friend.
She seemed shy at first, but her hand finally reached up, and Bill slipped his around hers like an older brother. She still didn't answer right away; they just walked in silence for a few minutes while Tonks gawked at Bill and Stray, who just sort of walked along staring at the forest. "I'm Astraea," she finally said with a sense of pride. "And that's my sister Nymphadora," she added, pointing to Tonks who was only seeing Bill.
Bill chuckled, looking down at the little girl. They both had odd names, and so did their parents. "I know the name of your sister," he said smiling. "She's got quite a reputation at the school for blowing things up and getting into trouble."
Stray was staring off at the forest and Gwyl had the distinct feeling she was looking for him. Bill wasn't though, he kept an eye on her and a glance at the forest to make sure that no one was going to come out of the woods. Gwyl smirked when Bill only looked at the ground and not the trees above. At least Stray had the sense to look through them.
"Nymphadora you know the forest is forbidden," he said a little bit angrily, she shouldn't have been taking her sister into it for any reason. "I think I'm going to have to let a professor know and see if you'll learn not to do it next time. We don't want you getting killed by the Wolf-Demon."
The Wolf-Demon above smirked; he had been with them the whole time and didn't plan on killing them. He wouldn't have hurt the others if they would just leave the forest alone, leave the pack alone.
Tonks seemed caught off guard and was slightly angered, giving Stray a glare. It seemed it hadn't been her idea to go into the forest at all. Gwyl was glad that it was Stray's idea; maybe she knew he was there and it was him.
"He won't hurt me," Stray pronounced out loud while she still searched the trees. "He's my friend."
Tonks groaned, and Gwyl felt slightly startled. Her revelation certainly meant something to him, but he hadn't been prepared for her to say it so defiantly. Tonks was the one that spoke after that, still only having eyes for Bill. "Don't listen to her," she said, "she seems to think she met him a couple of years ago when she was playing in the forest," she continued, laughing half-heartedly.
"I DID!" Astraea said loudly and then stalked off ahead of them towards Hogsmeade, "and no one will believe me, his name's Harry and when he ran away everyone was looking for him."
So she did know it was him, she remembered, and that made Gwyl smile. Tonks snorted, and Bill looked a little confused. "She thinks that Harry Potter is the Wolf-Demon. She says she saw him a few months ago stealing wolves from a muggle Zoo that's in the town we live in. She said she called to him, but a big Silver wolf ran off with him on its back."
This made Gwyl feel even happier, he knew he'd seen her even for a brief second. But at the same time, Bill seemed to be reconsidering the idea, that Stray was right, maybe it was because of Silver taking Charlie back to the Hagrid giant, surely Charlie remembered some of it and that idea must have sparked more thoughts.
"He's really nice," Stray said as she bounced along the ground in front of them. "He played magic with me before he ran away. He's my friend, and I want to go see him."
Played magic? Gwyl didn't remember playing magic, magic didn't exist to him, not until Firenze had told him about it. How could he play magic before he even knew about it?
Snorting Tonks said something under her breath, and Bill turned to her, a look of concern. Tonks explained. "She doesn't have any other friends, she's always talking about him. For the longest time I thought it was just an imaginary friend or some ghost that only played with her, but apparently she actually did meet Harry Potter before he disappeared a few years back. Mum didn't believe her 'til he disappeared, but it was him. I think she just makes some of it up though, she barely met him."
"She's always going back there during the summer, hoping he'll come back, even though the Daily Prophet said he'd died. She seems to think that he'll be her best friend no matter what anyone says about it."
"Why does she think that he's the same person she saw at the zoo?" Bill asked, curiously.
"Because he had green eyes, she saw them for a minute when he looked towards her."
Bill reconsidered again, but again shook his head as if it wasn't possible. Gwyl was trying to figure out why people thought he was dead, he wasn't after all, but maybe it was best if he let them believe he was. "That's impossible," he said quietly. "A little boy living in the Forbidden Forest, it's more than a little impossible."
"And anyway, it couldn't be Harry Potter even if he is alive," Bill said out loud, trying to convince himself as much as reassure Tonks. "He disappeared two years ago, he couldn't have been living in the Forbidden Forest and lived this long. If he's even alive he's living in an orphanage or off the streets where he could steal food to survive."
"It's him," Stray said with an air of finality, and Bill knew he wasn't going to change her mind as she started to trail a little behind them. "He had a knife too so he could just hunt food to survive."
Gwyl wondered how good a look she'd gotten of him. He'd barely seen her at all.
"Alright then," Bill spoke, acting rather sarcastic. "What color was his hair?"
"Black of course, just like his skin, he was really, really dirty."
Snorting as her older sister had a minute ago, Bill started walking again, glancing at both to make sure neither of them were getting too close to the forest Gwyl knew it. But, not far ahead the forest got right next to the lake and they had to take that path if they were going to the village, he'd get her alone then.
Gwyl was grinning because it would be easier than he first thought. Bill was not checking on her as much because Tonks kept distracting him doing funny things and holding on tightly every time she almost tripped. Bill took a moment every few minutes to glance back at Stray, but she was following along like a good girl and only staring at the forest.
Now Gwyl was a lot closer, and he found somehow that Stray seemed to know he was there. She was smiling a little and staring right at him, even though he was hidden in the branches above. She walked slowly forward, seeming to drift a little further back and a little further towards the forest. She waved and smiled even brighter when his face poked out for a moment, and she was also completely silent.
Now Gwyl was more excited than he ever remembered being. Stray was standing just beyond the trees, waving at him. The fact that she knew he was there and was smiling made things even more wonderful.
Now she was getting closer to him, getting closer and smiling. It was a relief, he only had to wait until she was under the trees so he could drop down and grab her, talking her back into the forest – if she'd let him. He didn't know if she would though, no matter how friendly she was being to him it didn't make it any more likely that she would go with him. She was human, even though he really didn't see her as human, only a friend.
The other two with her – the one's named Bill and Tonks – weren't watching as she finally stepped right up to the tree he had moved to, and waved him towards her. He swung around the back of the tree and then to the ground.
"Come with me?" he asked as he poked his face around the edge of the tree.
She nodded furiously, and he grinned brightly. Placing a hand around her waist he scaled the tree with a little more difficulty, but still almost completely silent. "Can we go away?" the girl asked, "to where you live, I want to play."
Nodding furiously, Gwyl put her on his back, "hold on," he growled and then leapt to the next tree and the next until they had moved far into the forest heading towards his home.
"...Bill can't we just got get one butterbeer before we go back? I won't tell anyone, I promise," Tonks said, almost whining. She liked Bill and wanted to go out with him even if he was resisting.
Bill turned to glance back and then swung fully around, almost causing Tonks to collapse next to him. "Where's your sister?" he asked, swinging in a full circle.
After Tonks recovered from stumbling, she too turned, looking around and saw no one. "Stray!" she yelled sort of half-heartedly. "Get your butt back here, we're going to go back to mum now, don't go hiding in the forest."
There was a long pause and no reply. "Stray!" she yelled louder again, "Stray get back her right now!" she continued, even louder. Still there was no answer. Tonks went into a half panic and took off towards the forest yelling her sister's pet name over and over again.
Bill started down the edge of the forest from the last spot he'd seen her, trying to locate someone in the forest. He paused a moment when he heard a long howl in the distance and he blanched. "Tonks," he said quickly. "Go get Hagrid, and tell him that your sister's in the forest and that she might have been... taken."
Tonks was standing stock still, as if nothing worked until Bill shook her and repeated the words. "Go now!" he added hurried, "I'll try and find her."
There was no one to find even after a search was mounted.
Astraea was deep in the forest, miles away from the search. Once they'd gone deeper into the forest, and Gwyl was content, he called to Silver, having her carry Astraea as they moved further and further into the forest. Even as the search progressed into the night, they moved farther until they were so deep that only the most resourceful and strong wizards would dare to follow.
It was a lot further than Gwyl had realized, and once they'd come to the home he'd left behind, he was tired as was Astraea, she fell asleep when he laid her in the furs he'd slept in before, and then Gwyl went to go find food. The pack was near and the hunt had gone well, so Gwyl didn't have to go far. In fact they were awaiting him, and Ink pounced upon him once he'd come to eat.
After Silver and Dog had eaten their share, Gwyl cut a large chunk away from the leg of the deer and went back to the camp where the girl lay. He'd heard her called Stray and Astraea but found that it was much easier to pronounce the first one, so he was content to call her that.
As the night progressed, Gwyl listened to the night. Birds flew from everywhere, but never quite finding their way into the clearing. He wasn't sure why they had come, it was strange that so many owls would appear, but none of them bothered him, and he let them go on their way, he was already full from the previous meal.
When morning came again, Gwyl was only half awake, but Silver nudged him as the girl awoke. She looked around for a minute blankly, unsure where she was, until she saw Gwyl's eyes peering out behind a thick layer of dirt. "Harry!" she said excitedly, not having had the time the night before to greet him properly.
He nodded and then shook his head. "My name is Gwyl now," he said proudly. "Gwyl, the Wolf-Demon. You are... Stray?"
Stray laughed and nodded. "My sister calls me Stray, and you can call me Stray too," she said happily. Then looking around she touched the fur blanket that was covering her. "Why do you live in the forest?"
"They always hurting me," Gwyl said, trying to push the memory of his relatives. "Everyone but you."
It seemed that Stray was always smiling now, but she smiled even broader when Gwyl said this. "We can play all the time!" she announced happily. "My mum always makes me come in before dark, but we can play as late as we want now."
Gwyl nodded vigorously and remembered what she'd liked to play, magic. He might be able to play magic now, he did have wand-sticks, but he had other things to do first. There was a little fire burning, not very far from them, and the piece of meat he'd requisitioned earlier was on a spit, keeping warm. "You want food?" Gwyl asked, pointing to the spit. Firenze ate food this way, and he had spoke before about how other people cooked their food. Gwyl didn't really like it cooked, it lost the flavor, but he was sure Stray would.
There was a roughly carved basket of nuts and another of berries, one's Gwyl had collected previously. Stray saw them and dropped the blanket that she had wrapped around her, eagerly taking several of the berries and swallowing them down almost without chewing at all. Some of the nuts followed, and then she took the spit from the fire and took a big chunk of the meet, eating it eagerly.
When she was finished she looked back to Gwyl. "You're not eating?" she asked curiously.
The whole breakfast thing was never much to Gwyl's liking, he liked to get worked up a little before eating, but right now he was much more interested in Stray. Silver yawned and then took a stroll around the clearing, checking it for possible visitors just beyond sight, then came back to Gwyl's side and laid down next to him. Dog wouldn't wake for a little while longer, not unless Gwyl called him; he was probably awake now, but too lazy to get up.
Still, Stray was staring at him intently, waiting for an answer. "I don't eat yet," he finally said. "What do you want to play today?"
Silver was staring at Stray, fascinated; she's studied her for most of the night while Gwyl was awake, as if she knew her.
"What's her name?" Stray asked, pointing to Silver. Gwyl told her and watched amazed as Stray called her by her name, and Silver answered by standing and coming over to her with her head bowed in a semi-submissive pose. Gwyl didn't understand it at all, the first time he had met Silver she'd almost taken off his head when he broke eye contact.
"She's from the zoo, isn't she?" Stray asked, stroking her hand across Silvers back several times. It reminded Gwyl of something he'd seen someone do a long time ago, but it was too far buried in his memory and he just ignored it. Silver seemed to like it though, and Gwyl thought it must be some sort of human-dog ritual since Silver wasn't treating Stray like a member of the pack yet. Gwyl did hope to change that though; she could stop being human if she wanted it enough.
While Stray was rubbing Silver, Gwyl moved over to a small path of dirt that was only semi-packed, and he dug into it, pulling two of the wand-sticks from the hole and then pushing the dirt back over it. Stray would want to play magic, and Gwyl suspected that the little wand-sticks had something to do with magic.
After Stray was done, and Silver looked extremely content, Gwyl moved forward, producing the wand-stick and offering one to stray. "Do you want to play now?" he asked quickly.
Stray took the wand and nodded. "Where did you get these?" she asked looking around, Gwyl had extracted them quick enough that she hadn't even noticed. She shrugged it off like Gwyl did for most things he didn't understand. "Mum would never let me play with her wand. Do you want to try spells?"
Gwyl shrugged, he didn't care, he was completely content now that Stray was here, he didn't care about the rest of the world. And, as long as the humans didn't wander too far into the forest, he didn't care about them either.
"What spells?" Gwyl asked, waving his wand like the other humans had when they'd used them. He remembered some of the words vividly still.
"My mum's always using spells and so is my dad. He taught me some too, but he never taught me the one's that he used most. I used to watch him use them, but he wouldn't let me do the spells."
"He's not here. We do them now?" Gwyl asked, almost timidly, not sure exactly how to broach their friendship again. He hadn't spoken to another human in two years save a few words to the invaders.
It took Stray a few minutes to finally nod; it looked as if she were trying to work up the courage to do the magic she wanted. But she did nod, and she held up the wand-stick in her hand and then touched her forehead. "This is what my sister taught me," she said and she closed her eyes as she spoke concentrating. "I can't do it without a wand yet, but she said someday I'd be able to."
The silver hair that Gwyl had identified her by seemed to disappear with a ripple, it seems like a black wave traveled down it until everything but the very tips were completely black. "It's like yours," she said happily. "I can do it all sorts of colors, other things too..." There was a short pause and she closed her eyes again and when she opened them the vivid blue they had been was now greener than Gwyl had ever seen, except when he saw his own eyes in the water before he drank.
Smiling brightly Gwyl did a flip in mid-air. It was amazing that magic did that to her, and he wondered what else magic could do. "More!" he exclaimed excitedly, holding up his wand and wondering how to make it work. Stray had whispered words, but he'd tried that before and it only made colors for him.
"Alright," Stray said. "There's lighting spells..." she held up her wand in the air and the tip suddenly burst into a brilliant white light then went away. "...and flying spells..." she paused and looked around, her eyes finally laying to rest on a rock that was sitting on a wooden stump. She whispered another word, this one much louder, and Gwyl watched the rock start to rise off the ground. It didn't get very far before falling again, but it was enough to make Gwyl gasp. "I'm not very good at most spells," Stray said, "I only just learned some when no one's around. Mum tells me I'm going to get into trouble, so I don't tell her."
Several minute passed as Gwyl watched the wonders of magic. Heat and cold burst from the wand, ice and water, she even made flowers that were almost dead come back to life - Gwyl liked that spell because she said it would help plants grow better. Then she started harder spells, stuff she said she never practiced because her dad would get mad. Gwyl was trying to do some of them too.
"See you hold the wand up like this," stray was telling him, "then you point it and say obliviate."
Trying several times Gwyl almost felt like he was left out when Stray explained. "It's suppose to work on people," she said. "You have to point it at me and say it if you want it to work."
Before she said anything else Gwyl turned around and waved his wand at her, saying it loudly because he had to, as Stray explained. The oddest look passed over her and she didn't speak for a minute. Gwyl wondered if it had worked, and then wondered what it was supposed to do, Stray hadn't mentioned that at all.
"Who are you?" Stray asked suddenly and Gwyl stared at her, confused.
"Where's mum?" she asked looking around even more confused. Gwyl felt unhappy; the spell had made her forget who he was. He waved his wand quickly again, saying the words even louder, hoping to take back what he'd just done.
Stray paused again and her face blanked out for several minutes. Gwyl waited patiently until she looked around again. "Where are we?" she asked as she stared around. "and who are you?" she asked, looking even more confused. "Who am I?" she added with just as much curiosity.
Jumping forward Gwyl quickly took the wand from her hand; he didn't like them now, not at all, not if they made things like this happen. He was worried she wouldn't like him now that he'd made her forget. "Who am I?" she repeated again looking at her hands and then to Gwyl. "And who are you? What are we doing here?"
"You Stray," Gwyl said tentatively, hoping she wouldn't be mad with him. "I Gwyl, the Wolf-Demon."
"Wolf-Demon?" she asked curiously. "What is that?"
Silver stood up and yawned again, moving over to Stray, looking for more affection. Stray just looked at her oddly. "Is she a friend of yours?" she asked staring at the wolf.
"She your friend too," Gwyl pointed out hoping, she might remember and everything would be alright. "She is named Silver." Dog came trotting out of the shelter and Gwyl pointed to him. "He is Dog, they are... pack, like me."
"Am I pack?" Stray asked looking around again.
A sense of wonderment passed over Gwyl, she had forgotten everything and she wasn't mad at him. It wasn't bad, she could be his friend still! She wouldn't even remember she was human, so she could be pack too. He nodded vigorously. "We is different from them, but we still pack. You are new member," he added hastily, hoping that the other wolves would accept her. He was going to have to help her become a better wolf if she was going to be a pack member, and he set about teaching her immediately.
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