Apparently, what Mom had brought was a change of clothes. Asriel, Frisk, and Chara all changed into shirts and trousers, the shirts had a very visible delta rune. His was purple, Chara's was green, and Frisk's was blue. When he asked Dad for an explanation, Asgore told him he didn't want to flaunt their acceptance into wizarding society.

Which made sense. Robes had never felt quite right on fur, anyway.

Saying goodbye to their other monster friends, Asriel and his family set out for the Dark Forest, located on the other side of the Hogwarts ground.

"How are are we going to find them?" Chara asked. "The Forbidden forest is pretty big."

"According to the invitation," Toriel told her, "There's going to be someone waiting for us at the outskirts of the Forest. Forenzie?"

"I think I remember a Firenzie," Asriel said, remembering the blond-haired centaur that had apparently spoken in favor of them. He glanced at Frisk and Chara, who nodded. They passed the Three Broomsticks again. They were just in time to see the same woman who'd accosted outside the Minister's office come out, looking around for something, or someone.

Toriel scowled in her direction, which was an unusual expression on her face, and sped up her pace to avoid her. The rest of them had to hurry to keep up. "What's going on?" asked Frisk.

"You haven't been reading the nasty things that woman has been saying about Hogwarts students. She hasn't gone after any of you yet, but I think she will," Toriel told them. "In the Daily Prophet," she clarified.

Asgore detoured around Hogwarts and towards the Dark Forest. They didn't see any other students on the way, it must have been past time for them to go in. As the grassy plains of the village outskirts turned to thickening trees, their pace slowed, and all five of them began looking around for their guide.

"Here, friends!" called a voice from slightly deeper in the forest. There was the slight clop of hoof on hard packed dirt as the blond, clean shaven centaur passed through the final trees. He was wearing a leather tunic on his upper body, and his hair had been tied back into a ponytail. Asriel grinned slightly at the thought, he'd have to share it with Mom later.

"You're Firenzie?" Asgore rumbled, stepping in front of the group, holding out his hand to shake.

The centaur gave a brief acknowledging bow before approaching Asgore to shake his head. "I am. You would be Asgore Dreemurr, correct?" He gave a warm smile, and turned to look at the others.

"This is my wife, Toriel," Asgore said, pointing an open palm at her. "And these are my children. Frisk, Asriel, and Chara." As they were introduced, they each stepped forward, and gave an awkward bow.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," Firenzie said. "If you will follow me, please, I will take you to our camp. I know Magorian is interested in meeting the King and Queen of the Monsters." He set off at a trot. While Toriel and Asgore could keep up with him reasonably easily, Asriel and his sisters had to jog slightly to keep up.

"I hope your day has gone well," Asgore said.

"It has, your highness," Firenzie said. "The centaur herd has eschewed most contact with the outside world for generations," his eyes brightened, and he turned to study Asgore. "I hope this is a sign of things to come."

Asgore smiled. "I hope so as well, but please, Asgore is fine. Mr. Dreemurr if you're really feeling formal." They continued into the forest, making small talk, as the shadows grew around them, until Asgore asked. "What's your position in the herd, Firenzie?"

"I am a teacher," he began. Toriel stopped so suddenly that Asriel, walking next to her, stumbled nearly falling over a protruding root. "I teach the foals how to meditate, how to watch the stars, and how they may glimpse portents of the future."

"I've always wanted to be a teacher," Toriel said. "Though I prefer biology, botany and zoology. And the other sciences, or mathematics..." Asgore put a knowing hand on his wife's shoulder. Toriel took a deep breath, and calmed a bit. "I'm sorry, I can get excited."

Firenzie's already broad smile broadened even further. "That is quite alright, Ms. Toriel, but if you look just over there, we have arrived."

The forest widened into a large clearing. There were shelters. In some, Asriel could see fires, with black smoke curling around drying meat. On the other side of the clearing, just as the forest was starting to thicken again, he could see what must have been sleeping shelters. And, of course, there were the centaurs themselves, male and female, young and old. There were probably a bit more than thirty of them. Most of them looked unkempt, with windswept hair, and the males sporting long scraggly beards. In the center of the clearing was a single long table, loaded with, if not the wide variety of food he'd been seeing at Hogwarts, at least a rival in quantity.

"Wait," Chara whispered. "I don't see any chairs. Where are we supposed to sit?"

But they fell silent, the larger of the two black haired centaurs they'd seen in the clearing had approached. He was wearing a leather tunic, similar to the one Ferenzie was wearing. Like most of his brethren, he wore his black hair loose, and his dark eyes studied them intently. "May I introduce the chief of our herd, Magorian," Firenzie said.

Magorian, gave a small bow. "Thank you, Firenzie," he said.

"Magorian," Asgore repeated. "I am Asgore, and this is my family." He went around again, introducing them all in turn. "We're honored you've invited us to dine with you tonight."

"And I am pleased you have accepted," he said formally. He looked behind him as a female centaur and a foal both cantered up next to him. "This is my wife, Gundara." Gundara, judging from the human-ish upper body, was in her early-to-middle age. "And my son, Dubran." Like both his parents, Dubran had dark, thick, black hair and dark attentive eyes. Those eyes bored into Asriel, looking simultaneously excited and afraid.

"But please, come. Dinner will have finished cooking, you will be at the head at the table with us." So saying, Magorian turned toward the table, and began to walk toward it. Asgore stepped toward the table, realized there was nowhere for him to sit, and looked at Magorian's back. He appeared to be trying to work out if this was a deliberate test.

Toriel was more straightforward. "My apologies Magorian," she said, causing him to turn back towards her. "But my children and I have a had long day. I hope I am not rude in asking if you might have chairs for us, or we might be even more rude and fall down in the middle of dinner."

To Asriel's relief, Magorian seemed to take this at face value. "I understand," though it didn't completely sound like he approved. He made eye contact with another centaur, nodded once, and waited. The centaurs returned a few moments with wooden chairs for the five of them. They looked somewhat crude, but perfectly functional. They were placed near head of the table.

Toriel sat next to Gundara on one side of the table, with Frisk and then Chara on her left. Asgore sat just on Magorian's right, with Asriel on his other side. To Asriel's right stood Dubran. The downside of these chairs was that they placed them significantly lower than the centaurs. Though, on the other hand, the Centaurs were much taller them even when standing, so maybe there wasn't that much of a difference.

Dinner was 'venison', a fancy way of deer meat. It had a smokey flavor that Asriel wasn't sure if he liked or not. There was also some kind of stew, a forest berry that he didn't recognize, washed down with what must have been river water. The food was served in wooden plates and bowls, and the only utensils were wooden spoons. Eating with one's fingers was uncomfortable. Looking up and down the table, Asriel could see that his family was somewhat uncomfortable, but no one wanted to offend the centaurs further.

When they were mostly done, Magorian clunked a spoon against his cup. "How did you take your meal, my guests?" he asked. Asriel was aware that the table had gone mostly silent, they were all listening to them.

"It went well, my gracious host," Asgore said, smiling up to him.

"I enjoyed it," agreed Toriel. "But one good turn deserves another, does it not?" she reached into her bag, pulling out a large metal tin. "I was going to bring pies, but my husband wisely suggested it might be difficult to bring a large enough pie for the entire herd. She opened the tin, revealing a rather large amount of what Asriel recognized to be cinnamon cookies with butterscotch chips, she offered the tin to Magorian, who seemed to regard it warily. Eventually, he did reach in, select one of the cookies, and bite into it.

"Hm," he said. "I haven't had anything like this before. Is this your creation?"

"It's my recipe," confirmed Toriel.

"What goes into such a... biscuit?" he asked. Toriel began to explain, but Magorian cut her off only after a few ingredients. "We do not trade with humans, we hunt and gather all the food we need. Still, I thank you for this unusual treat." The tin was passed around the centaur herd, eventually landing back in front of Toriel, with its contents mostly gone.

"Now, Firenzie has asked if might regale us with tale of our past," he said, indicating the other centaur, siting further down the table. It was a story of the founding of the tribe, and under other conditions Asriel would have thought it interesting, but with the combination of the meal and distracting environment, found it hard to focus on. At least there wasn't going to be a quiz.

"Perhaps," Firenzie said, after it was finished. "You might be willing to repay us with a story of your own? I am sure we would all be interested in hearing how you escaped from the barrier, keeping your kind underground."

"That is Frisk's story, as much as anyone's," Asgore said. "Frisk? Would you mind telling us what happened when you fell down Mt. Ebott?"

Frisk nodded. She had to kneel on the chair to be seen in the crowd, but she did it. Asriel had heard the story before, and thus caught the fact that she wasn't telling it completely truthfully. But it was probably better to leave out the time traveling elements.

"What I do not understand," Magorian said, "Is that you said the Undertale itself was how Asriel and Chara died to human treachery. But they sit right here."

Everyone was a bit uncomfortable at that question. "I apologize," Asgore said, "But we, as a family, have agreed with the ministry's Department of Mysteries that the details must remain private."

"What?" Magorian asked intently. "You consider yourself subservient to humans? Are you some type of slave, like a house-elf?"

Asriel could tell his father was set to respond in anger, but a hard look from Toriel kept him quiet. "My children, Asriel and Chara, would not be sitting here today if it wasn't for human magic," Toriel said, firmly. She turned from Asriel, to Frisk, to Chara, before landing on Dubran. The look in her eyes told Asriel she wasn't any less angry about the accusation than Asgore was, she was just containing it better. "If the price was to keep it quiet, than I'm proud to have paid it."

Magorian's expression was displeased, but he didn't press it further. There was awkward silence for a few seconds.

"Father," Dubran said, taking advantage of the pause in the conversation. "May I be excused?"

Magorian's face softened. "Go ahead, Dubran, perhaps you can show the young monsters around."

Asriel glanced up at his father. Asgore smiled at him and nodded, and with Frisk and Chara, went to tag along with Dubran. Many of the other centaurs had also left to various camp jobs.

"What's it like?" Dubran asked as they left the table, "At Hogwarts?"

"It's a school," Asriel said.

"I've only been taught by the Centaurs of my tribe. You're taught by others, that's what Firenzie told me. What's it like living away from home?"

So Asriel, Frisk, and Chara told him all about living at Hogwarts, from the classes they were taking, to the professors themselves, as well as their sleeping arrangements. "I would like to visit sometime, but Father said humans aren't trustworthy."

"I'm sure the groundskeeper," Chara began, "What was his name?"

"Hagrid," Frisk told her.

"Right, I'll bet Hagrid could arrange a time to visit," she said.

They toured the sleeping quarters. though, he explained that on clear nights, many centaurs preferred to sleep under the stars. "What do you do on your free time?" the centaur asked, as they headed elsewhere.

"I love flying, I'd do it all day if I could," Chara said.

"We also play a lot of cards," Asriel said. "We've been thinking about trying to bring in of Dad's board games. Uh, sorry. What about you, Dubran? What do you do with your time?"

"Dad has me learning to shoot a bow and arrow, and how to track game in the forest. But when I'm not doing that, I love listening to Firenzie's stories."

"Don't you do anything with other people?" Frisk asked.

Dubran's face looked sad. "There's not a lot of other foals here, and those that there are think of me as the chief's son, and are careful not to say anything around me. When I practice shooting, I always win, because people don't want to beat me."

"I understand," said Asriel, much to Dubran's obvious surprise. "I'm the king's son. When we were still in the underground, people would avoid me for the same reason. It wasn't the best day of her life, but the day Chara fell into the underground might have been the best day of mine."

"Well, it turned out pretty well, in the long run," Chara said, giving a half smile.

"You know," Asriel said, "I've never shot a bow an arrow. Would you like to show us?"

Dubran looked ecstatic, and practically dragged them over to the archery range, on one side of the forest clearing. Frisk looked uncomfortable, but went along with it anyway. "Here," he said, thrusting a bow into the monster's hands, and then taking one for himself. "Line yourself up with the target, and relax your grip,"

Asriel's first arrow went roughly two feet, but they kept trying, and after about five or six tries, he managed to get one at least in the vicinity of the target. "Would you like to try, Chara?" he asked.

Chara took her turn as well, and Asriel could see that at least part of the problem was that Dubran had trained with, well, four hooves. That is, the bows were much too large for them for used on the ground. Chara was just about to try to get Frisk to take her shots when they were interrupted by shouts coming from the dinner table.

"You are," Magorian declared. "You will be subservient to the humans, living under them, taking the scraps they choose to dole out."

"No!" insisted Asgore. "As equals! Magorian! You cannot live in the world and live apart from it!"

"Then we shall agree," Magorian said loudly, and coldly, "To disagree. I do not believe we have anything left to talk about. Firenzie, see them gone."

Toriel stood. "Magorian, Gundara," she said, "I would like to thank you for dinner. We would love to welcome you into our home, some day." She looked around, "Children? It is time!" Chara, Asriel, Dubran and Frisk all walked over to Toriel. Clearly, the diplomacy had not gone as anyone would have liked.

"When can I see you again?" Dubran asked Asriel's mother.

Asriel saw a brief frown of recognition pass over Frisk's face, and the furrowed eyebrows made him think she'd heard that somewhere before, but Toriel knelt down, so she could look at Dubran at eye level. "That depends on your father, young Dubran. Did you enjoy spending time with my children?"

He shook his head affirmatively. "Very much so."

"Then I hope it will be soon," Toriel said. "But for now, I must return the children to their school."

There were tears in the centaur's eyes. Asriel wanted nothing more to give the larger centaur a hug, but he knew better. He reached out and took his hand instead. Frisk must have been thinking along similar lines, because she held both arms out. But Dubran only shook her hand as well, and then Chara's. With last goodbyes, they turned to follow Firenzie. Asriel risked a glance behind them as the forest moved to swallow them up. Dubran was staring at them from the edge of the clearing. Asriel waved, and Dubran waved back.

And then Asriel could no longer see him.

"That was disappointing," Asgore rumbled. "I'm sorry Firenzie."

"Don't worry about it," Firenzie said, philosophically. "We try things. Sometimes they even work. But just because we fail doesn't mean we stop trying. My chief wishes to prove that we are 'better' than humans. How is that so different from what he thinks they are doing to us?"

"Well said, sir," Toriel said. They walked in silence for a little bit, lost in thought. After a while, they could see the groundskeeper's cabin in the distance. They approached it, with the centaur in the lead, and knocked on the door.

"Come in," said the accented voice of Hagrid. "We've been expecting you." Firenzie opened it. Both Hagrid and Dumbledore sat inside, enjoying a flagon of some beverage. "Hey there, Firenzie, good to see yeh," Hagrid told him, raising his cup.

"And Mister and Miss Dreemurr," said Dumbledore, tipping his head. "It is good to see you all. Did it go well?"

"Not particularly, Mister Dumbledore," said Asgore.

"Come in, why don't yeh, and have some tea, if yeh'd like," Hagrid told them. "Or some brandy, if you'd prefer, and tell us about it. You're welcome to stay as well, Firenzie, you're always welcome here."

"Thank you, Hagrid," Firenzie said.

After changing back into their school robes in Hagrid's washroom, they played with Fang for a while, listening to their parents tell their story, when Asriel interrupted them with a yawn. He covered his mouth, embarrassed.

"Hagrid?" Dumbledore asked politely, "Will you see them back up to the castle?"

"It's about time for us to turn in as well," Toriel told them. "We'll be staying to see the Triwizard task on Tuesday, though."

"Then I shall walk you out," Dumbledore said.

They said their good nights, and carrying a large bag of sweets each (from their earlier trip to Hogsmeade), they headed back up to the castle, and eventually, the Gryffindor common room.