Chapter 30 – Fish Bait
.
Previously on The Forgiven:
After visiting Aberforth, the Forgiven are informed that Troll Garden is gathering in Hogsmeade and around the outer fringes of Hogwarts. He also mentions rumors circling about a "dark creature feasting on unicorns".
.
.
The morning sun shone through the room's drapes and tickled Grimm's protruding nose. She slept in her fox form last night to curb the rebound effect of the Cruciatus Curse.
Under her blankets, she felt an arm wrap around her whole body. When she looked to see who it belonged to, she found Norse soundly asleep. Branches and leaves littered her blonde hair from last night's raids.
For the last couple months, the Forgiven scoured Hogsmeade and the nearby mountains for members of Troll Garden. They had successfully managed find some of their numbers; interrogating them extensively before executing them. But whoever was leading the mercenaries was smart. No one person knew the exact locations of the others, save for the guild master.
To make matters worse, from the sparse information the Forgiven were able to gather, they learned that Troll Garden was uniting various Troll tribes around the Forbidden Forest area. It seemed a great army was in the making. Although the Stone was no longer at risk of falling into the wrong hands, the safety of Hogwarts now hung in the balance; despite it being empty of its prize.
Grimm slipped out of Norse's arms and arched her back as she yawned. She took a few nimble steps and pounced off the bed. Her front right leg stung upon landing. When she looked down, she saw that it bled and was covered in bite marks—signs of last night's nightmares.
The fox pricked up her nose to catch Liar's scent. He was in the deep dungeons. Grimm ambled down the tower's stairs with animalistic agility, reaching her destination in no time at all.
The dungeon door was open a crack and Grimm's body fit smoothly through. In the room, she saw Liar sitting in a chair, looking pensive. In front of the wizard—not four feet away—was a troll chained by his neck, limbs, and torso.
The creature looked in a daze. Like its mind wasn't all quite there. This troll was the one, which attacked Hogwarts back in October.
Grimm strode next to Liar.
"Morning," she called to him.
"…Morning," he answered through his thumbnail he was biting on.
"Got anything out of him today?"
"Frustratingly, no. For all my talents in maneuvering the human psyche, none of them are proving the slightest bit useful against trolls."
"Must be something in the species gap. Legilimens becomes difficult on our Animagus forms too, if we don't allow the connection. That, or it's got bogeys for brains. You mind taking a moment to mend my leg?"
Liar turned and looked at Grimm for the first time. He frowned at the sight of her self-inflicted injury.
"I know I've mentioned this before, but I seriously urge you to reconsider your utilization of the Cruciatus Curse. Just because we've found a way to lessen its aftereffects, doesn't give cause to cast it so freely. The nightmares are still excruciating, are they not?"
"Oh, yes. Nightmares. No. They're so terrible~ As if they're not the least of our problems."
Liar sighed and pointed his wand at her leg. His lips moved, but he incanted in silence. Grimm felt a warmth spread through her wound, and she shook off the dried flakes of blood. With her leg healed, the witch licked her fur clean.
"Have you made progress on reading Snape's mind?" Grimm asked.
"Hm? Oh, yes. I have, actually."
"…"
"…"
"…Well? Let's hear it then."
"He has no connection whatsoever to Troll Garden, Death Eaters, or Voldemort. The truth of the matter is, the man is doing everything in his power to safeguard Hogwarts….and Harry Potter—as unbelievable as that may seem."
"Oh? That's interesting. Tell me what you found."
"Nothing relevant. We need to move on."
"That's not an answer. Report what you found. Why does Albus trust him? How do we know he's on our side?"
Liar stared at Grimm, a harsh seriousness flickering in his eyes.
"I won't answer. All we need to know about Snape is that he presents no threat to the Forgiven's mission. He is entitled to his privacy, and I won't intrude on it any more than I already have." Grimm frowned upon Liar's disposition for a while, but he remained unperturbed. "It's not important, Grimm."
"It sounds important. And you've never given two shits about invading someone's privacy till now. What's so different about Snape?"
"Albus trusts him…" he paused. "…And I also trust him. I ask that you please take my word for it, and leave it at that."
Grimm sighed.
"…..It has absolutely nothing to do with the current circumstances?"
"No."
"And you're sure he's on our side?"
"Without question."
Grimm thought about pressing further, but thought better of it.
"Fine," she conceded. "Slimeball can keep his secrets. But if a time comes when I need to know—"
"I will inform you of everything regarding Snape, and why his allegiance is unquestionable. For now, please let the matter rest."
"Alright, Liar. No more questions."
"Thank you."
With the topic of Snape finalized, the two moved on to other things.
"Now for the next task at hand…" Grimm groaned. "We're going to have to release it," she referred to the imprisoned troll.
"Pardon?"
"If we release it, we should be able to follow it back to its tribe. If we're lucky, it might even return to whoever was controlling it in the first place, but that's a longshot."
"Hmm…" Liar scratched his chin. "I can suggest no better alternative."
"You've already dispelled the enchantment that made him attack the school, right?"
"Yes. I suppose he's ready to be released at any moment."
"Good. Let's do this while it's still early in the day. Who knows how long it'll take him to lug his giant ass through the Forest."
.
Part 2
.
It was on the later side of the afternoon, when the troll wandered through the Forbidden Forest. Twilight was passing, and the sun was starting to set over the hills.
The ground quaked with every step of the colossal creature. It lumbered on without any semblance of urgency or quickness. The lethargic pace was beginning to drive those following it mad.
Out of sight and behind the troll, was Grimm trailing in her fox form. Further behind her, was Liar and Norse. The three spent the whole day watching the troll dawdle its way home. They lost count of how many detours it made. For a time, they suspected it didn't even know how to get home, but after marking its course on the map, it was clear the creature was going in some vague direction.
"Unfocking believable...!" Grimm cursed. "How many times is it going to be distracted by a focking butterfly!"
The sun was now setting completely, and the sky blended from orange and purple to dark blue.
"We are losing daylight. Should we knock the creature out and try again another day?" Norse inquired.
"I don't want to go through all this again…"
"OH, for the love of—"
"What? What is it now?"
They could feel Liar's mind cringe.
"According to the map, our friend is…making a bell curve."
…
"He's circling back?! THE IDIOT'S ACTUALLY LOST?!"
"That appears to be the case…"
"Sonuva—! Yeah, let's just knock him out and try again tomorrow. Norse."
"Leave the deed to me."
"Hm? Wait a minute. It's walking towards something…." Grimm paused. "Is that a dead unico—!"
At that moment, the sound of a blistering fast object pierced through the air.
*Fsst*
An arrow sailed from afar and found its home in the troll's neck.
"NNRRRROOOOGGGHHHH…." the troll wailed with a hollowed sound.
Blood leaking from its wound, the creature ripped the arrow out, but only served to make the injury worse. Crimson streams spouted from its neck like a tapped geyser. The troll lumbered back and forth in a sort of clumsy panic before ultimately collapsing—dead in the dirt.
"Shhhhhhit."
Grimm quickly retreated to Norse and Liar, and morphed back into her human form. Together, all three of them drew their wands, ready for combat.
Several arrows flew at them from the shadows of trees.
"Protego!"
The projectiles aimed at them splintered and deflected off the light bubble of Norse's shield spell. While she maintained the guardian field, her two comrades readied their counter attack.
Lumos Multis Solem!
Circling the surrounding area, formed small orbs of light that rapidly expanded in a blinding flash. The spell illuminated the attackers, at the same time blinding everyone who wasn't prepared for it. Besides the group of archers, there was another figure that caught Grimm's eye, which swiftly made its escape. The witch would have to worry about it later. For now, she had to concentrate on the more immediate threats.
Investing a great amount of her magic, Grimm cast the final chain of her team's combination.
Immobolus Multis.
The words seemed to echo and brought an odd sensation with its reverberation. Several bodies in the Forest went rigid and fell over with a thud. The Forgiven waited in the silence for any sign of further attacks.
When they judged the situation to be safe, they moved on their immobilized attackers.
"Lumos"
Liar's glowing orb revealed the full features of those they looked down at. They had the appearances of men and women, but also the lower anatomy of horses.
"Centaurs," Grimm said with a tone that was mildly surprised, and also mildly annoyed. "You lot just killed our bait. What do you have to say for yourselves?"
She pointed her wand down at one of the Centaurs and undid enough of the curse for him to speak.
"Your kind does not belong in the Forest!" he yelled.
"Glad we could come to an agreement. We don't want to be in your bloody Forest! So let's talk like civilized beings, shall we?"
The Centaur lying on the ground stared daggers at Grimm, but it did nothing to faze her. She only looked on with a dead expression, silently considering the most efficient ways to get what she wanted. For a moment, she entertained the idea of Imperiusing him or resorting to the Cruciatus Curse.
But before she could act on anything, it was Norse who made the first move.
The large witch stepped forth and knelt in front of the Centaur with an ambience of respect.
"Noble one, we are not your enemies. Your adversaries and the ones we hunt are one and the same, I am sure. We should be helping each other, not fighting. You are the guardians of this Forest. We are the guardians of the School. Surely, our two people can come to terms."
The Centaur read into her words and found sincerity in her expression.
"Free my comrades and we may speak," he answered.
"Very well."
Norse looked back at Grimm and Liar with expectation.
They both shrugged.
"Yeah…Alright."
"I'd rather not be shot at again, mind you."
The three began dispelling the enchantment from all the Centaurs. There were six of them in all. One by one, they stood up, steadily and with caution.
"What is your name?" Norse asked the first Centaur they spoke to.
"Firenze," he answered with pride. "You spoke of our enemies being one and the same, yet our enemies are human."
"Besides Hagrid and us, no other humans are allowed in the Forest. We also…'learned' from the mercenaries we captured that some of them were attacked by your people. They're working with the trolls."
"Yes. Your kin joined forces with the trolls to impose on our territory."
"They are not our kin, Centaur Firenze. They want to lead the trolls in an assault against Hogwarts. An assault we intend to stop. Our enemies are allied. Our goals are aligned."
"…How do we know we can trust your word?" the Centaur asked.
Grimm scowled.
"Well, we could've just killed you if we really wanted—"*Ugh!*
Norse elbowed Grimm in the ribs.
"What must we do to earn your trust? We would gladly fight alongside you against your Forest's invaders, if given the opportunity. What say you?"
"Or we could help you track down the thing that's killing all the unicorns."
All the Centaurs, and also Norse and Liar, whipped their attentions towards Grimm.
"What?"
Grimm lifted her finger and pointed to something a few paces away from the fallen troll. There, their gazes fell on the pale corpse of a baby unicorn. It was bled out to the point of being an empty husk.
A small trail of silvery liquid led from its dead body, deeper into the Forest.
"Shall we go hunting, then?"
.
Part 3
.
A few of the Centaurs ran ahead of the party to track the trail of unicorn blood. Following behind were two more Centaurs as back up. Bringing up the rear was the Forgiven who walked alongside Firenze.
"Are you sure, you do not want me to establish Legilimens with you all? The fast communication would benefit you greatly." Liar suggested.
"We cannot give you a gateway into our minds. Although our people work together for now, our trust is anything but assured," Firenze replied.
"We understand. The time to prove our honor will surely come."
"Oi. If they don't want to talk, that's fine. In fact, it might work better to our advantage," Grimm contacted through Legilimency.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, they can be cannon fodder for us. If they knew what we werereally up against, they may not be so inclined to lead vanguard."
"Why? Do you know what hunts the unicorns?"
"We expected the troll to return home, but there was a longshot it might return to the one who was commanding it."
"The leader of Troll Garden."
"And possibly Voldemort himself…"
All three went silent for a while as they trudged through the Forest.
Liar gulped.
"I knew we were always going to fight him eventually…but now?"
"So the time has come. Our battle with Voldemort is upon us."
"It's what we've trained for. The reason why we were recruited. We kill him here, and there will be no Second War," Grimm told them.
"If it is indeed him," Liar added.
"Yeah…I should tell you." Grimm paused. "I've got a feeling it's him."
She felt all their minds twitch.
"Boss, have I ever mentioned how much I loathe your overly accurate premonitions?"
"A glorious battle awaits us. We should inform Firenze."
"What? No. We can observe what kind of condition Voldemort's in if the Centaurs fight him first. They might even prove a good decoy."
"I concur with Norse. The Centaurs deserve to know who they hunt. It's Voldemort for heaven's sake!"
"What on earth are you two on about? Name one, actual reason we need to tell them, and give away a perfectly prime advantage."
Norse and Liar only stared at Grimm with dumbfound expressions.
"It's simply the right thing to do?"
"Their lives could be wasted! Lost for nothing by a lack of information. It would be dishonorable to withhold this."
"Wait, you're actually worried about them? What's five or six lives if it means taking down Voldemort?! Not to mention we could prevent a War. We can stop the Troll Garden army from marching on Hogwarts! Hundreds, if not thousands could die if we don't end him here. We need everyadvantage we can get at this moment.
And you're worried about making a few sacrifices?!"
Norse shook her head vigorously and sent a furious look towards Grimm. She then turned to Firenze.
"We are certain the one feeding on the unicorns is Voldemort. Please alert your clansmen, Centaur Firenze," she wrote before him.
The Centaur froze in his tracks. For a moment, he didn't seem to understand what Norse just told him. It was a look of complete disbelief. But as quickly as his demeanor changed to panic, it transitioned to deep contemplation.
Firenze gazed up to the stars as if observing something galaxies away. He closed his eyes momentarily, then opened them at random intervals. After a time, he spoke.
"The stars suggest you may be correct, Ms. Norse. I thank you, and shall inform my clansmen," Firenze nodded and galloped ahead.
When the Centaur was gone, Grimm side glanced at Norse, but the blonde witch refused to meet her stare.
"Norse…I'm looking at the stars too, and they're not telling me a damn thing about why you just freakin' did that!"
"I do not regret my decision."
"Of course, you don't. You never do. And I wouldn't mind most of the time, but right now—!"
"SHHH! Listen!" Liar interrupted them.
All three went quiet. There were no sounds of animals or trees shifting in the wind. It was a deathly silence.
That is until they heard a cry from one of the Centaurs.
The Forgiven started in an all-out sprint towards the direction of the screams.
.
Part 4
.
The three came upon the clearing where the battle ensued. While Grimm and Liar took cover behind tree trunks, Norse rushed headlong into the fray.
"I will take lead!"
"Killing blows!" Grimm called out to her comrades.
In the clearing, there were three dead Centaurs and one critically wounded. Firenze and one standing companion were locked in battle. Their enemies were one hooded figure and a troll, which had several arrows embedded in its flesh.
The three immediately recognized the dark cloaked person as the greater threat, and took aim with their wands.
"""Avada Kedavra!""" Grimm, Liar, and Norse invoked.
Staining emerald light flashed like spears stabbing through the air. Before the Killing Curses could meet their mark, the dark shade conjured enough magic to move the troll into the spells' paths.
The large creature went limp upon contact and fell sideways, while the shadow jumped at Firenze. A fatal blow was descending upon the Centaur, but was interrupted by Norse ramming into the shade with her shoulder. The two tumbled and wrestled on the ground.
"NORSE!" Grimm shouted. "Liar, the troll!"
"On it!"
Judging Norse and the shade to be too close to use spells, Grimm morphed into her fox form and dashed at the two. When the shadow figure pinned Norse below it, Grimm bit hard into its shoulder like a rabid beast.
The shade leapt off Norse and shed the part of its cloak Grimm bit into. A wand was pulled by the dark assailant and aimed at the fox. Green blight flared from its end.
Inferius!
Liar finished reanimating the troll's dead body and moved it in time to block the Killing Curse. After receiving the green blast, the corpse made way.
Grimm changed back from her fox form. She and Norse lifted their wands together and aimed right as the path cleared.
Avada Kedavra!
Crucio!
The two Unforgivable Curses seemed to hit a part of the shade's body, which shed upon contact.
Recognizing the clear disadvantage, the dark figure began emitting a cloud of black smoke—attempting to vanish, like a threatened octopus. Grimm and Norse incanted spells to interrupt its escape, but their wands shattered, unable to bear their magic any longer.
"Avada Kedavra!" Liar casted, but the jagged jade beam caught nothing but smoke.
When the black mist settled, they saw the shade had escaped. The battle ended.
A sullen silence fell on all of them.
Firenze and his two surviving companions mourned over their dead. Liar healed the Centaur who was injured. Norse laid a comforting hand on Firenze's shoulder, telling him his clansmen fought honorably and died noble deaths.
Grimm stood alone, away from the others. She picked up a detached part of the shade and watched it dissolve into the air, like ash in the wind.
The witch cursed in frustration.
"DAMN IT!"
…
…
We failed.