Author's note: The story is getting darker. As you might deduce from the title of this chapter :-P, there's quite some action in it. Harry, Ron and Hermione are tested and every one of them has a different way of dealing with that. The English is kinda unsound in places, so if anyone is too thoroughly annoyed, corrections are welcome ;-).

Chapter nine

Soaked in fear

When the book was opened again, a lot of noise resounded on its pages. Harry, Ron and Hermione heard children's voices make excited, greedy noises and frightened gasps (probably at encounters with the Nose Biting Bird Nests). Coins clinked eagerly in purses and Fred and George's till even more so. It was clear how they could afford to wear dragon leather.

"Two Slimy Snowballs. That would be six Knuts," they heard George say and after that the noise of something very sticky passing over the counter.

"You guys do make a very good excuse for not having to deal with those brats. Erm – our dear customers – I mean. Obviously." Fred said and he cleared his throat.

"We've still got quite a way to go, we're hardly halfway through the book," he said, thumbing through the remaining pages and heaving a dramatic sigh.

"You know, you should have been in my place, with your theatrical qualities," Ron said mockingly.

"And I would have looked flashing in those tights," Fred finished him. "Alas, it was not meant to be. Though when you're back I might just-"

"Yes – right – Fred. Now read please," Hermione interrupted him.

Fred put even more artistic effort into his next sigh, but after that did comply.

At Fred's command the three of them continued farther away from the gate. First they rode the horses, but after a while the beasts became reluctant and Harry, Ron and Hermione had to dismount and guide them by softly pulling their reins whilst walking. Hermione looked over her shoulder cautiously.

"This is no good sign boys. Animals sense danger more accurately than humans and these horses don't seem to like where we're going," she said.

"You don't need to be a horse for that," Ron said, looking at what lay before them. "What's coming next doesn't look very tempting, with all those rocks and large trees and dark corners…"

The overgrowth around them was indeed becoming more dense. Increasingly larger trees created pools of even blacker darkness at their feet. Yards away, large rocks leaned against each other in different groups. In an odd way they made Harry feel like there were standing some sort of unpleasant… houses there.

"But the horses are probably just tired, I mean, they've had a long day. But so have we. They'll have to continue just like us and – ugh!" Ron's boot stuck to the ground in a way boots only do when they thread into – "Poo! Geez, now they start crapping in protest!" Ron exclaimed and he stopped to try and wipe the warm consistency off his leather footwear onto a rock.

"I don't think the horse just –" Hermione started, wanting to comment on the fact that the poo there couldn't belong to the horses, but she was interrupted by a metallic cling. Harry had unsheathed his sword and was peering into the darkness with big alert eyes. He held the sword in front of him with his right hand and it wobbled dangerously because it was really too heavy for him. With his other hand he reached behind him, trying to group the others behind him. Ron looked away from his boot and over his shoulder, confused. "Harry, what –"

"I saw something moving there!" Harry said wildly and he pointed the end of his sword in the direction a group of trees. They were now standing at the edge of the clearing with the groups of large rocks in it. The trees breathed extreme silence when all three of them looked at it. It almost felt too silent…

Then, on the other side of them a loud thump was heard as something landed on its feet after a jump. Hermione screamed and Ron gasped and all three jerked around. The horses neighed frantically and tore themselves loose and galloped off. A large creature faced Ron, Harry and Hermione, in fact, it seemed to be the creature which they had seen back at the castle. Its tiger stripes melted in with the darkness of the night and the moon mirrored in its large horsy-looking eyes, which had a deadly glare in them. Clumsily, Ron unsheathed his weapon, at first the end fell down to the ground, and grabbing it in two hands (which didn't look as though it was the way in which it was supposed to be used) he moved it in the direction of the beast. His chest moved up and down so rapidly and intensely it could be seen even with all that armour on.

The beast didn't even gratify Ron's attempt at intimidation with a growl and hardly seemed to be planning on retreating. Instead, it lifted its right paw and lunged out at Ron with its large claws. Hermione screamed again and Ron staggered backwards and sheltered behind his left arm. The sharp nails scratched across his arm and made a ticking noise on the metal armour, but the arm itself was unharmed. Yet even before Ron could regain himself a hissing noise on their other side required their immediate attention. The thing that had hissed was no tiger-horse, or anything like it: it had long birdlike legs and the plump body on top of those was covered in white and grey feathers. The neck was long as you would expect on an ostrich, but the skin was reptilian and the green scales reached up to the head of the beast, that of a snake.

The beast hissed even more violently now that they were looking at it and Harry swung his sword in the direction of the long neck. The neck twisted itself so as to miss the blade and brought the snake head to Harry's neck. Harry ducked and instead of in his neck, the fangs sank into a piece of the leather that showed from underneath his plate mail. Harry jerked his upper body and a plaintive mix of hissing and shrill birdlike whistling resounded through the cold night air: part of the fangs had broken off and remained embedded in the brown leather when the snakehead recoiled. With some more very hateful noises, the creature retreated into a group of trees. Harry fingered the piece of leather with the fang in it with a look of stunned disbelief in his eyes. "Did you see, it just…" he said, still in wonder.

"Harry! Will you please pay attention!" Hermione pleaded and she grabbed Harry at the shoulder and turned him around. Ron seemed to be immersed in a lethal staring competition with those horse eyes. The sword held by Ron's shaky hands dangled in between him and the beast. A determined frown reappeared in Harry's forehead and he stepped forward with his weapon in front of him. The eyes of the creature flashed in his direction and out of its beak came a terrible roar, that seemed to make the very ground vibrate. It lashed out suddenly and Harry, Ron and Hermione were forced backwards. But behind them, no safety could be found either!

At least five creatures must have been coming towards them. They were more deformed than anything the three of them had ever laid eyes on, uglier than any gnome, because these beings seemed to have been glued together of animals that had been cut to pieces. Like Frankensteins, each and every one of them consisted out of at least two different animals. In the way the creature growling at them was a fusion of a horse and a tiger and the one with the fangs a mixture of an ostrich and a snake, the beasts hurrying towards them were bizarre combinations of hippo's and lions, giraffes and crocodiles, cows and hyena's, cats and spiders, elephants and wild boars… Some combinations might even have looked – comical – if it hadn't been for how painfully unnatural they looked. The spider-cat was totally out of proportion, it almost collapsed on the spot because it's thin legs could hardly support the hairy cat belly, which dragged over the ground as the legs tapped the ground with great speed. The spider face looked terrifying with its eight rolling cat eyes.

Hermione, Ron and Harry saw the band of distorted silhouettes coming their way, a menacing black shape with protruding long necks and broad legs. The mix of meowing, growling, mooing and sounds they couldn't properly distinguish was terrible.

"Oh my God…" Hermione whispered hoarsely. "God!" She didn't even have a weapon… She couldn't stay here, shouldn't stay here, standing in the way of Harry and Ron. Stumbling, she backed away, along the side of the clearing. She saw the figures of the boys drag around the heavy swords, trying to swing in the direction of the animals. The beasts kept getting closer to them, showing their teeth menacingly, biting in the air as if they were slashing their teeth into the flesh of the boys already. Ron and Harry were standing back to back, the creatures encircling them…

Hermione tried to run, but her leg was stinging with pain and preventing her from going any faster than at a dragging trot. Almost hopping, she continued along the grassy ground with rocks strewn across it. Faster, she needed to go faster, out of sight, out of reach of those beasts… Biting on her lip because of the pain, she increased her pace and her intakes of breath became even more sharp and frequent. If she could just get behind such a group of rocks… The boys would sort it out, Harry always sorted things out… Just a few more yards now…

Finally she could lean on one of the big grey rocks. Behind her she could hear so much metallic rattling that Harry and Ron both still had to be standing… Hermione hopped towards what seemed like an opening amongst the rocks leaning against each other. It almost looked like a little house… Straw creaked under her feet. It would be a good place, invisible, it was pitch black in there.

And then that blackness was pierced by two orange eyes. And then a beak. Hermione started backing away again, only this time in the direction from whence she had come. The eyes move farther towards her and slowly, moonlight revealed more and more of a bird's body, a very large body of an eagle which was walking on its yellow forelegs. But after that, partially hidden behind feathery wings, the back part of a horse could be seen.

"You're a Hippogriff!" Hermione said and her mouth almost fell open with surprise. She knew how to handle these. Quickly she sank through her knees in a deep bow, anxiously keeping her eyes fixed on those of the Hippogriff. It had an unreadable look in its eyes. Hermione bowed her back even further. "Please, please," she muttered under her breath.

The Hippogriff clicked its beak and then bowed its head. Hermione heaved a sigh of relieve and stood up straight again. She laid her hand on the grey feathers and the beast clicked its beak again, sounding appreciative.

"Can I ride you?" Hermione whispered. "I'm going to ride you," she said decisively. She put the experience with mounting horses she had gained in the previous days to good use and flung her leg over the Hippogriff. She coiled her arms around its neck and softly urged the creature forward with her right leg. It started with a little gallop and then flapped its wings and took off…

Meanwhile, things weren't getting any better for the boys. The swords were getting more cooperative with this practice they were getting, but Ron and Harry's arms were going numb with the weight of the weapons. The beasts barely had as much as a scratch, and the scratches only made them more aggressive and dangerous.

Then the horse-tiger reared up, which made it tower high above Ron and provided him with a frightening view of its striped stomach. Its paws kicked in the air. Ron shrunk and orange filled all of his sky and the orange was getting nearer en nearer… He could do nothing but extend his sword, pointing it upwards. The metal first stroked the fur, then gripped at a certain point and punctured the skin. The blade sank into the creatures chest and the beast uttered a sound which was a painful mixture of roaring and neighing, violent at first, but then more hoarse, until it died down. The heavy body fell upon Ron, who fell backwards. Warm blood poured on his hand and after that all over him. Ron tried to push the creature off him and it rolled over on its side. The horse eyes no longer looked hateful, but just empty now. Blankly they stared into the night. The thing was dead. Ron scrambled to his feet and shaking heavily with his whole body, he extracted his sword from the creature. It made an unpleasant juicy noise. Ron swallowed.

For a moment, Harry looked over his shoulder with almost a smile on his face when he saw the creature on the ground with Ron standing next to it. 'Well done, well done!' his eyes seemed to be screaming. He turned around again and Ron joined his side. When Ron swayed with his weapon dripping with blood, the animals in front of him recoiled. For a moment it seemed that the battle was decided now that Ron had shown his power. Yet Harry then felt something tickling at his left leg and when he looked down he saw the furry spider. It was not as big as Aragog had been, but not much smaller than Harry's leg either. And it was about to bite him…

But then Harry and Ron saw something coming in the corner of their eyes. It was not on the ground, but in the air and something with bushy brown hair was on top of it…

"Hermione!" Harry screamed. "Hermione!" He shook his leg and kicked at the spider.

The Hippogriff made a rough landing and the beasts in its way scattered.

"Get on here!" Hermione yelled. "Quickly!" She gestured wildly in front of her.

"Harry, you ride it! You're best at it!"

Harry and Ron complied and settled themselves in front of Hermione. Harry sat in front and dug both of his heels in the Hippogriff's flanks. The wings swung up and down powerfully and in a matter of seconds they had lifted off the ground. The beasts on the ground growled and some jumped, trying to bite the Hippogriff's legs, but they were out of reach.

Soon the cold wind whistled in Harry, Ron's and Hermione's ears and they were safely on their way. Greenish landscape with darker green and greyish blotches slid past underneath them as in a dream. Only now did all three of them dare to breathe normally again and look at each other.

"Ron! You're covered in blood!" Hermione said as she looked at Ron, shocked. She laid her fingers on Ron's arm and warm blood dripped from her fingers. "Ron?" she asked worried, when Ron said nothing.

Harry looked over his shoulder with a large grin on his face. "He killed the thing which took Ethel! It's dead!" he said triumphantly.

"Wow! Ron!" Hermione embraced him from behind. "That's so brave!"

But not even this could get a warm reaction from Ron. He stared in a direction away from them with his eyes very wide open. His face looked almost white and his expression was blank, except from his mouth, which was hanging open slightly, in shocked disbelief.

"I… I killed something…" he whispered. "It - it just fell on my sword, and then – it – I – I killed something!" he said, disgust resounding in his voice. "How can I have –"

"It's all right Ron," Hermione shushed. "It's all right. It was a very brave thing to do," she said, and she tightened her arms around him.

"The sword – it went right into the flesh. And the blood…" Ron said, almost inaudible. The blood he was soaked in felt thoroughly revolting. It's slightly metallic, saline smell was sickening and Ron felt himself retch. "I…"

"Sssshh," Hermione said. "It's all right," she said once more. Ron's mouth still repeated the words it had just said, but without sound. In silence they flew on through the night, headed for the moon., which cast a pale light over all their worried faces.