(AN:) Ahem big thanks to Chaos and GdCharolette without you I would not be writing this. Warning: Mild Torture. Disclaimer: I own nothing.
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Ron awoke just as the first rays of dawn broke the horizon. He let out a huge yawn and tried to find a better position in sleep. Peppermint drowned his senses as a single thought filtered into his numb mind.
I wonder why it's so cold he thought as he tried to pull the soft material of the blanket
up his back some more, but it kept getting caught on something. He tried to turn over but was stuck in the position on his stomach.
What the crap! he turned his head to the large wings that protruded out of his back.
Aww man!! he was still a pixie. Anger flashed over him at the remembrance of the night before. Hermione set a spell on me! Why didn't Harry stop her? A second realization hit him. Harry knew...he knew all along. My best mates where in league against me! Ron was hurt . Weren't they his friends? Weren't they supposed to stick by him through anything? Then why am I left in this cold room alone? he thought as Neville's snores faintly drifted to him from the nearest bed. Well, almost alone. Ron lifted him self up careful that his wings wouldn't hit the "bed". But where are they now? Ron glanced out of the one windows over looking the field to the Forbidden Forest. Excuse after excuse flooded through his head and none of them were looking to good for either of his "friends." What if they're hurt? What if it was a trap? What if He-Who-Must-Not
Be-Named has captured them?!
But then another, more deceitful, voice echoed through his mind. They're not hurt! They're probably in Hogsmeade having a victory toast at how they dooped you and slaughtered Malfoy! He could feel the anger begin to rise again.
He looked down at his green hands. But then why am I still a pixie? Shouldn't I have turned back at the end of the duel? Something is wrong. Ron's eyes fell to Harry's empty bed. I have to find them. Should I tell someone? Dumbledore? No, what if they're still in the forest and you get them in even more trouble? Maybe even expelled. You can't risk that! But what if they really are hurt or captured! You're a pixie for Merlin's sake! What can you do?
Carefully considering both options in his head Ron finally came up with a solution. I'll go look for them first and if I haven't found them by
breakfast I'll tell Dumbledore! ( a/n: leave it to Ron to measure time by food) Finding this completely reasonable, Ron again glanced out the window. Now, how to get the window open...hmmm. He flew up to the double paned window where two latches held it tightly shut. He
slammed the first latch, knocking the breath out of himself and then he just decided to fiercely kick the other one. After the second latch clicked, the window fell open. Ron flew out of the boys dormitory and into the direction of the Forbidden Forest, never thinking twice about the dangers that could await him.
~*~*~*~*~*~Harry's POV, Centaur camp, Present~*~*~*~*~*~*~
*Harry awoke in a way similar to Hermione, only in a bit more pain.*
Harry felt a cool sensation on his forehead and a burning pain on his back. His eyes slowly opened only to be met with five identical female centaurs. They were all moving at the same time in some kind of graceful dance. It seemed he was lying on a cot in an otherwise bare tent. He could tell it was daytime by the shadows being cast against the thin walls and the shouting of a whole community of voices from the outside.
"What...where am I?" his voice cracked as he pushed the worn brown blanket back and sat up on his elbows.
The five blonde centaurs all turned to look at him with piercing aqua eyes. Harry finally
came to his senses. There was only one centaur in the tent. He reached up and pulled off his useless glasses, shattered by...he couldn't quite remember.
"Hello Mr. Potter I'm glad to finally see you awake. My name is Bellvanzca Greenleaf
McBodean-Chesauther, you may call me Bella." She smiled taking the wet cloth from his
forehead.
"Bella what happened? Where am I?"
Bella's features suddenly changed to a deep frown."Do you not know?"
"No, I remember being dragged away from Hermione and..." a memory flashed before Harry's eyes. He jerked his head down as pain shot through his left arm. In an instant it was gone again as if it never happened. Bella watched him with pity.
" I tried my best with the arm. It was broken in three places and almost irreparable."
Harry's mouth formed silent "O" and he slumped back down on the cot.
Bella sighed and continued. "You're at our camp. As you know centaurs are nomadic; packing up and leaving every few weeks, moving around the territory, it's the only way to keep safe from the Ministry or poachers. We're currently in the Western tip of the forest about twenty miles from your school. The hunting party brought you in last night. You were in pretty bad condition do you not remember anything?"
Harry wrinkled his forehead in concentration and summoned the fragments of memories that evaded his understanding.
"I needed to be taught a lesson and asked Bane for help, but he dragged me away and..." Harry's mind went blurry the memory just out of is reach "and then..."Harry's face turned pale as the fog
cleared his mind.
~*~*~*~*Harry's Flashback*~*~*~*~*~
Bane and two other centaurs dragged Harry for several minutes till they threw him against a large oak tree. The darkness overtook their surroundings as if the tree, the boy, and the three centaurs were the only things that had ever existed.
"How dare you think yourself superior to our species! You are the plague of the earth, sucking all the life out of the land until all that's left is a shell that was once beauty! We will not stand for it anymore and we will begin with you and the traitor! Where is Firenze?"
Harry gulped a breath,"You know Firenze is at Hogwarts."
"NO! Where does he sleep? Where is he most vulnerable?"
Harry locked eyes with Bane searching for any sign of decency left. The only thing he could find was pure hatred, hatred for all humans, the kind that shadowed the mind and suffocated the heart and would make it impossible for there ever to be peace in the magical world. Harry faked confidence even if he was screaming on the inside.
" I don't know anything else."
" You lie!" raising a rough hand Bane sent a sound blow cracking across Harry's face. The other two centaurs snickered in the background. His lip was bleeding and pain coursed through him, but Harry clinched his fist, determined not to cry out.
"Oh not enough for you? Schlieffen, Yerdvon why don't you try."
" With pleasure," the smaller centaur replied.
He looked older than the others and slightly mad. Patches of what was once auburn hair could be seen through the mangy gray. Their was a collection of old scars that rested on his chest and face that he wore proudly like war medals. His cold eyes narrowed but did not cover the pleasure brought at the demise of another being. The older centaurs strength was no less than Bane's as he sent a swift kick to Harry's stomach.
Harry doubled over but no sound of pain left his swollen lips. He couldn't breathe. It was like his lungs were filling with a thick liquid, slowly choking him. He started coughing and dark scarlet blood began dripping from his mouth. The taste of his own blood sent shivers down his spine and he quickly wiped it away on his sleeve. The weight from his lungs subsided as he claimed shallow breaths. He didn't dare look
up again.
"Still not? Maybe another."
Harry could only guess the big black-haired centaur was next. He could see the giant hooves make their way toward him leaving deep impressions in the muddy soil. They came to a stop and the front two hooves disappeared as the giant creature reared back to deliver a deadly kick. Harry brought his arm to his face blocking most of the force of the blow. A crack was heard as the bone snapped in his arm, piercing through the flesh. This time Harry did cry out and collapsed into a heap on the ground.
Bane laughed at the sight,"So tell me boy where does the traitor sleep?"
Harry knew they would kill Firenze, they had already tried. He was not going to be the cause for someone else's death. He would not give up a friend even if he had to live through a thousand tortures. He was silent rocking back and forth cradling his broken arm.
"I see we will have to resort to more desperate measures."
Harry could imagine Bane's face braking into an evil grin. Schlieffen, Yerdvon hold Mr. Potter down he will be taught a lesson."
The two centaurs took Harry by the shoulders and pushed his face into the dirt, taking no care with his injured arm. One jerked both of Harry's arms behind his back and tied his wrists together. Harry screamed as his broken arm was roughly twisted and the centaur hit him across the head matting his raven hair with warm sticky blood. Salty tears mixed with blood became scarlet also as they rolled down his dirty cheeks. He could see Bane out of the corner of his eye unhooking something from his belt.
"Five lashes."
A three-tailed whip lined with bits of glass and broken bone was brought to Harry's back ripping through the robe and into his flesh. Another this time over lapping the one before slashing deeper into his back. Another and another. Like the claws of Satan, they ripped into his muscle. Each time hurt ten-times worse than the last, and another drop of blood was made, sacrificed to the forest.
" Now boy, tell me, where does the traitor sleep?"
Harry's mind was so overcome with pain that he couldn't even form words if he wanted to. Still he had that resolve that no matter what he would not give up a friend because friends was all that Harry had in the world, all that was worth living for. Anger was ebbing into Bane's voice.
" Ten lashes!"
Again the whip was brought down this time in all its fury. The eternal flames of the lowest depths of Hell could not compare to the stinging pain. Again. Ron. Again. Hermione. Again. Lupin. Again. Sirius. After the sixth lash all that was left of Harry's back was torn bits of raw skin and the never ending streams of blood flowing from every inch of the deep slashes. He had begun seizing from the coldness brought to his hallow body from the loss of blood. The lashes of the whip and his screams were the only things heard throughout the otherwise silent forest. One after the other, after the other, until his throat gave in and only the whip was heard. Harry's mind was fading in and out of consciousness as the only warmth, the searing fire of pain on his back showed
no signs of fading. On the ninth lash he fell into unconsciousness, but even here in the depths of his own mind he could not escape the torment overtaking his body.
~*~*~*~*~*~End of Flashback.~*~*~*~*~*
Harry blinked, taking in all that had happened. He whispered, " Bane did this to me."
There was a long silence until Bella spoke.
"Are you sure it was Bane?"
Harry nodded.
Bella's face hardened as she sat down the bowl and cloth she had been holding. She gently felt his forehead for the last time.
" I'll be back soon. You need get some more rest."
Harry made no response. She pulled back the flap of the tent and silently slipped out.
Harry was alone left to ponder the happenings of the night before. He didn't get far before the exhaustion of his mind and body took him. His last thought was Where are my friends now?, then he fell into a deep sleep.
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(AN:) all right don't flame me it was my first torture scene ever so please don't hurt me with your disappointment .:: author dodges old fruit::: All right all right! So what did you think?? hum? well why don't you tell me in a review! ::Audience looks amazed at author's brilliance:: I know I'm just gifted with intelligence! There that solves all the problems! Hermione and Draco chapter next! 5 points if you can find the L.O.T.R. reference. R-E-V-I-E-W!