Chapter 17: The Forest of Dean
- "Harry!" Hermione's weak voice was hoarse in the dark as she stood on the cliff side, the earth crumbling out from under her bare toes as Harry inched closer to her, his arm outstretched, "Harry, stop! You'll fall,"
"Don't move, Hermione, I'm coming!"
"Harry! Harry behind you!"
Harry turned and barely lifted his wand as there was a burst of green light, and a tingling force rippled through his arm as there was a deep, throaty laughter in the air,
"You are nothing against me, boy!" the man speaking was tall and handsome, his pale head hidden under a mop of unruly brown black curls. Though his eyes were the brightest shade of crimson, glowing in the rainstorm and through the sparking of the connected spells, "no one can help you now,"
"Harry! Harry you have to fight him, please!" Hermione inched closer to the edge as Harry stared at her from over his shoulder, watching as three dark figures closed in on her, laughing silently as her damp white sundress whipped about in the wind, "Harry! We cant stay, we have to go! We have to-" -
Harry's dream was broken by the sound of someone knocking at his bedroom door. Blinking hazily and wincing at the searing in his scar, the young wizard fumbled for his glasses as there was another round of knocks. They were timid and quiet, alerting Harry that it was very late in the night, and Remus was no doubt sleeping. Straightening his hair and waving a wand to turn on the light, Harry shuffled across the room under the careful watch of Snuffles. Throwing the bolt with a slight yawn, Harry's gaze was immediately filled with Hermione. Standing alone in the hall and draped in the blanket from her bed, the girl looked so incredibly small. The shyness which plagued her eyes at the beginning of their mission returned, and her strict night bun was slightly loose, allowing many lush brown curls to escape into her face. Rubbing his eyes again and ignoring the rubbing of Crookshanks against his leg, Harry looked to his friend tiredly.
"'Mione? Wazzit? What's wrong?"
"I-I think we need to talk. I-if that's ok," Hermione scuffed a slipper as Harry frowned and nodded, moving aside for her to enter. Maybe she had a nightmare? Harry thought, relocking his door as Hermione crawled up into his bed and hauled Crookshanks into her lap. But she seems way too awake for that. If Harry knew anything about his friend, it was that she was always extremely groggy after a nightmare. Running a hand through his hair as the scar pain faded away with Hermione's presence, the boy crawled up to sit across from her. At first, there was nothing but silence between them. Hermione ran her hand over Crookshanks ears, though his matted gold fur and down his tail. She let her eyes dart across everything, and not once met Harry's eyes until he physically reached out to take her hand, "you know you can talk to me, Hermione." He insisted, "what's the matter?"
"I...well..." Hermione hesitated, rolling her bottom lip under her teeth as Harry urged her to continue by squeezing her fingers in his. It's amazing how they fit perfectly in his. "I don't think we should trust Remus, Harry,"
The words tumbled out of her mouth so fast Harry could only manage to blink. Even Snuffles raised his head a bit from where he lay on his carpet as Harry retracted his hand,
"What?"
"I don't think we should let Mr. Remus send us through the fireplace tomorrow,"
Harry was stunned. After everything the man had done for them? For her? She didn't think they could trust him? Harry suppressed his inner rage towards his best friend as she looked away from him again. He offered no comfort this time as she exhaled gently and continued on with her explanation, "I don't think Mr. Remus is what we think he is. And he said he was allied with Dumbledore. This could be some sort of trap,"
"Remus wouldn't do that," Harry insisted sharply. He almost wanted Hermione to back down right then, but in typical fashion, she did no such thing and pushed farther into her argument, "he knew my parents-"
"So did a lot of wizards and witches, Harry. We can't keep doing this, walking around blind and looking for good luck. What if something goes wrong? What if that Longbottom woman doesn't let us stay and ships us off to Dumbledore,"
"But Remus said-"
"Use your common sense, Harry!" Hermione explained, loudly (but still softly) enough to make Harry sit back slightly on his hands, "don't you think its a bit of a coincidence that we both ended up with Remus in the first place? Think about it, Harry. Why can't we just stay with Remus all the time? Why is he sending us off to the Longbottom woman?"
"Because of Dumbeldore. He said that earlier,"
"How could Dumbledore possibly know we were here unless Remus told him? And anyway, haven't you noticed how sick Remus is, or how he is always looking outside like its some sort of watch?"
Harry shook his head as Hermione removed the wand from her elastic waistband and summoned up the leather book Remus had given to her. Pointing at the page, Harry saw the image of a man with a wolfs head standing outstretched in a circle. Glancing to his friend for an explanation, Hermione tapped the title of the page with her finger, "Lycanthropy. An uncontrollable disease in which a human being changes against his or her own free will into a horrible monster under the full moon,"
For the first time in forever, Harry cocked his eyebrow in disbelief. Hermione thought Remus was a wolfman? But as Harry gazed deeply into Hermione's eyes, they were so incredibly serious. Not just serious, they were frightened, "I can't imagine my life without you in it, Harry James. Please don't make me force you into leaving,"
"But a werewolf, Hermione? It's just-"
"I know its crazy, this entire world is crazy, but it all fits," Hermione once again tapped the book, "symptoms of Lycanthropy are malnutrition and sensitivity to light. Remus hasn't once stepped outside unless it was necessary. And he's so frail, have you seen him eat more then bread and Pumpkin Juice since we've been here? Victims of Lycanthropy will become weaker and sicker as their transformation grows nearer," Hermione left the safety of the bed and threw open the drapery to reveal the nearly full moon, "Remus looked ready to fall over today. If this journal is right, he'll transform into his wolf tomorrow night,"
"So what?" Harry closed the two halves of the journal, "we'll just stay up here,"
"Harry you don't understand. Remus won't be Remus when he transforms. He will kill us if he catches whiff of us up here. Werewolves feast on meat after all. That's why he wants us gone in the morning. It has nothing to do with Dumbledore unless the Longbottom woman agreed to pass us over to him,"
"I still don't think Remus would...do that,"
"I don't want to think that either, Harry," Hermione sunk down to the edge of the bed as she tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear, "but we can't be sure. And our luck is bound to run out eventually. We can't keep taking favors,"
"Where would we go then? Who knows where the ocean is from here, it'll take us ages to get there,"
"There is one place," Hermione stated, gently taking back the journal from where Harry had been clutching it to his chest. Flipping open the pages methodically, Hermione rotated the book for Harry to examine. It was a sketch of what looked to be some kind of forest, and in the middle of it was a little house icon next to a crude looking bird symbol, "apparently, when on winter break, Remus and his friends would travel to a place called the Forest of Dean. There, they would visit the remains of a mansion, which was left to rot years ago. The notes say its an unplottable piece of land using magic, which is why we need the map,"
"What's the bird symbol for?"
"The mansion belonged to someone named Rowena Ravenclaw, at least according to this. I think that was one of the Hogwarts founders, but I can't really be sure. We could travel here and take shelter until we gather enough supplies, and perfect our spells to continue on."
Glancing down at Snuffles who had shifted around to be staring up at Harry with dark, intelligent eyes, a frown deeply pulled at his lips. Would it even be possible for werewolves to exist? Was Mr. Remus one of them? And what if he was, how could he ever live knowing he hurt two children whom he had been guarding? Harry's gut twisted at the thought as he turned to Hermione and nodded once, swallowing thickly,
"Ok, I think I understand. But we should leave a note, just to make sure Remus knows we're alright. Are...are we leaving tonight?"
Hermione sighed heavily and nodded,
"I think that would be best. I hate to leave so late, but we cant risk Remus trying to stop us if we try in the morning,"
Hermione looked out the window at the shining moon as Harry nodded silently. The cold weather would be moving in soon as August melted away into September. Hopefully they wouldn't be hauled up in some ruins for the winter months. Shoving a few pieces of clothing and some dry snacks into a well used leather pouch, Harry clipped a weathered and oversized travel cloak over his shoulders as Snuffles stood up from his napping position. Patting his head, Harry glanced once at the window where Hedwig disappeared as he left his bedroom. Hermione, who had left to pack as well, met him in the hall. She had a tense look set on her lips as she held her wand tightly in one hand,
"Ready? I think the floo fireplace is downstairs,"
"Yeah. So...how does it work?"
Descending as silently as possible, Hermione whispered the workings of the fireplace as Harry gently took in the information. Arriving at the mantle, Hermione stepped under the lip and picked up a handful of ash between her fingers. Swallowing nervously himself and looping arms with his best friend, Harry saw only the soot falling down into Snuffles and Crookshanks fur as Hermione called out the name of the small wizarding village in which they would be arriving. As they were engulfed in a blast of green fire however, Harry couldn't help but see the gently smiling figure lurking in the shadows, torching a half written letter to someone named Longbottom before he was pulled through the air and disappeared to the Forest of Dean.
