A/N
I would just like everyone to know that I am still here and writing, just been away a lot this summer. This chapter is a short one but I really want to write the next one and I really need another beta. If you have any question, suggestions, comments, etc please say whatever you need to in the review and I'll get back to you. Something that has been waiting patiently is going to finally make an entrance; I hope this and the next chapter will be what you are all looking for and more. And before you ask, no I will not make it easy for them at all. Okay guys stay cool.
Xeno
Give birth. Give birth. Give birth. The command stuck in its mind as it skittered across cold snowy ground, its pale pinkish fingerlike legs driving it forward with surprising speed. The prey had released it, going off on a task it was neither aware of nor cared about, it was mostly instinct that drove it onwards now. The hive was far away, but an offspring of the hive was to be born soon, either here or on the flying thing. It did not know nor care; the matter was irrelevant at this point. Then it senses something, prey, alone and by itself. Unconscious, large and bulky, almost too large, but it would do. Yes it would be perfect. The crab like creature closes the last few meters by pouncing on its prey's face, its long slender tail wrapping around its prey's neck.
"He'll be okay, Yautja are a tough race, and a hungry one. He is sleeping now, should way up in five or six hours." Madam Pomfrey informed the group in Dumbledore's office.
"Thank you Poppy." Dumbledore said kindly. Once Madam Pomfrey left he turned to the grim faced group of people and Yautja. "Now then to summarize all the facts that we know."
"The wand is his." Harry stated, clutching the said wand in his hand.
"And the letters burned onto the paper have his style of writing." Said looking at the torn piece of parchment on his desk. "Unfortunatly until the scientific results get back from Homer's university we will not know anything more about this letter."
"So it definitely from Voldemort, but we don't know how he is alive, where he is or what he is." Hermione finished up.
"Actually we can find out where his body was shipped off to along with the rest of the deatheaters, I've sent a message to my dad asking him." Homer said, bringing at least some good news to the conversation. "For next few cycles we won't know anything, and we won't know the status of the bodies for approximately two tetra cycles."
"Now that we know we know nothing, do any of you have a theory on how this happened? Because I'm currently at a loss." Harry said looking around the room.
"He could have transfigured himself somehow, or something... I don't know. Until I know what has happened to the body itself I cannot even begin to guess at how You-Know-Who survived." Said Professor McGonagall, very worried about the new development.
A few long drawn out minutes passed before Professor Lupin spoke. "Until we know where his body is or what he is we can't figure out how he did what he did and how to beat him, and we haven't been able to test theories on these xenos to find out their magical properties. That, and we don't know how our mysterious friend was actually captured by Voldemort, subduing a fully trained Yautja does not seem like an easy task, no matter who you are. "
"I have to agree with you on that. Lets call it a day for now, but if any of you find out any information, or happen to stumble upon anything please let the others know. And for now try to keep things quiet, just until we know what we're dealing with." Dumbledore said, concluding the meeting.
Both staff and students were immediately informed that they had a new guest staying at their school; they were told that it was another Yautja who was suffering from Amnesia, a plain, simple, and mostly true story that the children accepted without question. By dinner time Ex had still not come out of his room, however this didn't cause any concern as the after effects of the Imperius curse were not known when applied to a Yautja. Hagrid had not come down to the great hall either, saying that Grawp wasn't feeling that well, something about a stomachache.
Madam Pomfray hummed softly as she made her way to Ex's room early in the morning the next day, the weather outside hadn't changed, it still snowed and snowed, a dark and gloomy scene had fallen upon the grounds. Nearing the door she noticed a dark green substance on the ground, almost like congealed blood although this instead of red it was green. Presuming the worst she attempted to push the door open, it hadn't been locked so it should have opened easily, however something seemed to be lodged against the door.
After all her attempts at opening the door had failed she swiftly made her way down to gym where she knew the two brothers and Harry always trained in the morning.
Bursting the door her arrival was noted. "What's wrong?" Hermione asked, she had been training with Fleur to become a dominatrix, Shara who had already become one by the age of nine was teaching them the basics. Their favorite part was the outfits, very seductive. Not wanting to make it easy on the girls Harry, Raj and Homer had stripped down to training pants, a fact that easily found the women's attention.
"I tried to get into Ex's room to check up on him but when I got there I couldn't open the door and I saw this dark green goop on the ground, it looks like congealed blood." She said, the words coming out a little rushed.
The group immediately stopped what they were doing, without a word Homer, Raj, and Harry each picked up a weapon before sprinting down to the room Ex was in. Each of them had a gut feeling that something was very very wrong; the same gut feeling that had saved their lives on more occasions then they dared recount.
They arrived within a moment, finding the congealed Yautja blood, after attempting to open the door with no success Harry nodded to Raj. Taking a few steps back Raj ran at the door, bracing his shoulder as he smashed his way in, the door cracked down the middle sending splinters of wood flying as the door was violently torn from its hinges. As he threw the door out into the corridor and surveyed the room a cold chill went down his spine when he laid eyes upon the object that had blocked the door. It was the dead and mutilated body of Ex. Seconds before his death Ex must have wedged himself against the door to prevent It from being set loose upon the school. Seconds later It burst from his chest and was born, Raj knew this because the body's chest cavity was torn open from the inside. He noticed that the body's fingers had been eaten away, and then following the trail of blood he saw that It had simply smashed through the window when It had grown a little. Through the window and out to freedom, to grow, kill, and make a hive.
"Looks like its been alive for at least five or six hours, it shouldn't be big enough to cause any real threat yet, it would have made for the forest where hunting down small animals in this weather would take some time." Harry said, taking stock of the situation. "It's a good thing that it didn't get into the castle, otherwise things might be a lot worse.
"I doubt its even a teen yet, having been born of a Yautja would slow down its growth, more mass to grow, you know that kind of thing." Homer added in.
"Think we could send in Aurors?" Harry asked.
"We could, but our time is running out fast. In another three, maybe four hours it'll be an adolescent, when it gets to that stage it'll slaughter anything but the three of us with ease. At that point sending in more humans will be like feeding it." Raj answered, having gone up against a creature of this caliber before.
"Okay so we'll move everyone in the nearby area to the castle, lock the area down, search the castle itself top to bottom, which shouldn't be hard with all the paintings. Meanwhile everyone that's able to will be out looking for this thing in teams of ten. After that its us against it." Harry reasoned out as they ran to Dumbledore's office.
However when they got there they saw someone they were not expecting to see at all, holding the first stage of the Xeno life cycle. The girls were already there, along with a few members of the staff.
"It….Jus burst outta his ches an all dis blood and guts flyin all over." Hagrid sobbed, his coat covered in red blood.
"From who?" Harry demanded, a little too loudly as he spotted the blood covered Hagrid and the face hugger.
"G-G-Grawp. Eis dead Arry, dead. Dat thing jus broke outta his chest and ran off fore I could do any-thin." Hagrid sobbed.
"Do you know what is going on?" Dumbledore inquired, from the shocked and dare he believe it, fearful looks in the eyes of the three warriors before him, but it wasn't the fear of death or pain, it was the fear of something else.
"Hagrid how long ago did this happen?" Harry demanded again, ignoring Dumbledore for the moment.
"Maybe alf an our ago, I tried looking for the lill worm but I couldn't find it. All I found was this crab thing lyin a lill ways off from the hut. Grawp was complainin about a stomachache an all when I got back from teachin inside the school all day, but I didn't think anything of it. His appetite was better en usual, so I didn't think anything was wrong wit im." Hagrid responded, sounding slightly hurt by Harry's tone.
"Homer?" Raj asked, he and Harry turned to look to him for answers, hoping that he would tell them that the creature might somehow die, or that it had a terrible weakness of some sort. Ignoring everyone around them as they asked if the three of them knew what had happened.
"Umm…" Homer thought for a moment. "Okay lets see. From an average human it takes around eight hours for the xeno to grow, Yautja we're looking at maybe sixteen hours, double the mass double the time."
"And then triple it." Harry said quietly.
"About twenty four."
"So we got time then." Harry sighed, sounding hopeful.
"But, there is a big a problem." Homer interrupted, breaking Harry from his revelation of good news. "That's how it works in theory, however in practicality these things won't have any resistance from nature after about ten, with the giant one maybe even needing less because of its initial size. And with them working together to get food we're looking at the two of them reaching full maturity by early this evening, by which time they will have already started to explore the area and search for a place to take shelter." He thought for another moment, the room having quieted down. "That's not the worst of it. If we don't get them by this evening they will want to establish a permanent hive. They will go to where the food is easy to obtain, and there is shelter and a place to hide, something sturdy and big, with lots of passages and places to hide."
"And that's where?" Dumbledore asked.
"This castle." Homer replied simply. "And they will get in, one way or another."
"I've never gone up against a Predalien, and I'm pretty sure we have first on our hands as well wanna give me a quick run down of combat capabilities?" Harry asked, getting ready to hear some nasty statistics.
"The Predalien is about, six hundred pounds, I think that's what it would be in your terms, while the giant will be two thousand or so. The Predalien can still climb, but its bulk stops it from getting into the small places like a drone and it's about as tough as a Preatorian but without the extended jaw. The thing that makes it extra lethal is that it's as fast if not faster than a drone. The giant will be queen size, but bulky and very armored, like a tank most likely, the good thing is that it won't be agile and we'll see it easily when it comes, however stopping it might be problematic." Homer explained
"Okay that's it. What the hell are you talking about and what the hell is going on? Something as tough as a Praetorian but as fast as a drone, from you've told me Harry that must make it one hell of a monster." Hermione burst out, frustrated with not knowing anything about what was going on and hearing things that frightened her, even with the limited knowledge she had she knew things were bad.
"You know my trophy wall?" Harry asked
Hermione nodded.
"You know my best ones that are in the middle?"
"The alien ones?" She asked, sounding a little apprehensive.
"That is what is going on. Two of them and not just any two. One of them is born from a Yautja we call it a Predalien."
"As fast as a drone, tough as a Praetorian…" She replied sounding nervous. She knew what both were, and combining them into one, she literally just couldn't imagine it.
"Yes, and its friend just came out of Grawp. We've never seen or faced anything of its type but from what you just herd from Homer its gonna be big, bad and ugly." Raj added in. "I've faced a Predalien before, I won a tournament and got to go up against one, they bred them from convicts of the worst kind. The thing is though I faced it in an arena, not a real hive, a mock one actually. Everything was in my favor though, conditions, setting, everything. I knew where it could go, and even where it was but by Ikisha it was the hardest fight of my life, there were five of us, and I was the only that survived. That is how fearsome it is." Raj told them, unconsciously tightening the grip on the sword he held.
During the moment of uneasy silence Professor Dumbledore asked the obvious question. "What do we do? As I see it right now all of our lives are in your hands." He addressed the Predators.
"Get as many witches and wizards as you can, anyone with a quick reflex and a keen eye. Take some of the seventh year students as well, especially the seekers and have them all assemble in the great hall within the next half hour. Time is of the essence, I will explain further once everyone is there." Harry instructed.