The Hunted

Chapter 5: The First Hunt

Hermione collapsed on her bed woozily. The past week had been exhausting. Besides attending class and studying for her N.E.W.T's, Travers and Dumbledore had her training like a maniac and researching into the history of Hogwarts and possible types of demons that could have attacked her on the train.

Charles seemed to think that her dreams had a connection to the strange things that were brewing, and she tended to agree. Dumbledore had started to help them sift through books, but he was a busy wizard and was torn away, leaving Hermione and Charles with the brunt of the work.

Over the past week, Hermione had become less resentful and more playful with Charles. He hadn't chosen his destiny either, but had been selected from a group of prestigious men. He did take charge, but in a respecting way that the tired teen appreciated.

The rest of Hermione's time was spent trying to make sure the Marauders, Lily, and Melanie didn't think she was off her rocker. Hermione's thoughts were interrupted by the entrance of a certain fiery haired friend. What caught her attention though, was the sniffling that was coming from her. Hermione sat up on her bed and peered at Lily, concerned. "What's going on, Lily? Why are you crying?"

"I'm not crying," Lily huffed. Even so, she threw herself onto Hermione's bed and proceeded to sob.

Hermione cautiously patted Lily on the back and whispered to her. "It's okay Lily. You don't have to cry. What's going on? Who upset you?"

After a long moment, Lily gathered herself up, took a deep breath, and faced Hermione. "It's James."

"James?"

Lily nodded sadly.

"What did he do?" Hermione asked curiously.

Lily took a deep breath before continuing. "It's honestly a long story, Amaya. I don't want to bore you with it.."

Hermione rolled her eyes at the ridicules red head. "You can tell me anything Lily. I promise it won't bore me. You're my friend, and friends listen when they need each other, right?"

Lily gave Hermione a shy smile. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Well, then? Tell me what's going on?"

Lily snatched up one of Hermione's pillows and started fiddling wish the sham. "It's Severus."

"Snape? I thought you were upset about James?"

The distraught teen buried her face in her hands. "I am upset about James. But I am also upset about Severus."

Hermione waited a few seconds before speaking. "Okay, Lily, I'm going to need a bit more information than that.. What have you been doing with James? And where does Snape come into the story?"

Lily seemed to need to sort her thoughts out before she spoke. Hermione leaned back and waited patiently, curious about what Harry's mom had to say about Severus Snape. As far as Hermione knew, Lily had hated Snape. Before Lily could speak, both girls heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

Lily leapt from the bed, flustered. "I- I'll talk to you later Amaya.." trailing off, Lily gave Hermione furtive look and disappeared as Melanie poked her head through the door.

"What's going on with Lily? She's acting really weird. Wouldn't even stop for a bit of gossip.."

Eyebrows furrowed, Hermione shrugged. Lily had a lots of explaining to do later, but as a friend, Hermione would keep her silence. "Beats me. Chocolate frog?"

Later that evening..

Hermione timidly peered around Charles, looking through the wrought iron gate and into Hogsmeade's massive and spooky graveyard. The full moon shone brightly, casting and eerie glow about the hundreds of gravestones. "I don't think this is a good idea. Let's go back to Hogwarts and research some more. I-"

Charles silenced her with a let's-get-on-with-it look. The gate creaked when he pushed it open, sending goosebumps up both Hermione and Charles arms. Truth be told, Charles was dreading this almost as much as Hermione.

Casting a wary look around, Hermione turned back to Charles. "Can't you do the demon hunting? I am much more comfortable researching."

Charles sighed and rolled his eyes. "Amaya, you have a sacred birthright. Besides, I don't have the strength or skill required to outmaneuver anyone or anything we might face tonight, alright?" and before Hermione could retort he put his finger to his lips and shushed her. "Now I need you to pay attention. We want the element of surprise on our side."

Hermione glared ferociously at a rock on the ground, but held her tongue.

Forbidden Forest..

Moony trampled through the forest, snuffling about. It was a beautiful night, Remus could even appreciate that through his transformation. A light wind had the leaves whispering at him, and Remus tried to imagine what they would be saying if they could speak. How many secrets had the forest been holding for hundreds of years? Padfoot and Prongs pushed their way through the bushes and stood beside him, watching their friend as he looked serenely about.

Suddenly, Moony's hackles stood on end when his nose caught a strange scent in the air. Baring his razor sharp teeth, the wolf growled menacingly. Without any warning he wheeled around and took off towards Hogsmeade.

Padfoot and Prongs eyes widened and they ran speedily after their friend, hoping to catch him before Remus ran into civilization, because Merlin knew how messy that could be..

Hogsmeade graveyard..

Hermione and Charles were crouched behind a tombstone, eyeing up one of the larger mausoleums. There was something going on inside. Lights flickered and they could hear hammering.

Charles glanced to Hermione. "We should go and see what's happening.."

Hermione's eyes widened at the very thought. "Are you crazy? We don't know who, or what is in there!" She gave a dubious look towards the crypt. "What if it's something evil?"

"And what if it's a house elf practicing his hip hop dance routine?" Charles quipped.

It took a moment for Hermione to digest this. When she did, her eyebrows shot up. "A house elf doing what?" She sighed and rubbed her temples. Sometimes she didn't know where Charles' brain was half the time. "Do I even need to tell you how unrealistic that statement is?"

Charles crossed his arms and huffed. "It could happen."

Hermione rolled her eyes dramatically. "When and where in the name of Merlin would that happen?"

"Have you ever followed around a house elf around, Amaya? You don't know what they do in their spare time. Sure they serve us all day, but what they do at night, well.."

While the two had been arguing over the pass times of house elves, they had not realized that the lights within the mausoleum had gone out and the noise had ceased. They only both looked up when a long, clawed hand knocked Charles sideways, into a stone bench. Hermione fell back on her bum and started to back away.

"Charles!" she hissed desperately. "Charles! What do I do?" But from the sound of all the moaning and groaning, it seemed as though Charles was in no fit state to be lending instruction.

Glancing up, Hermione grimaced. Three of the demons from the train had her surrounded. Their long claws seemed much sharper than their last run in and Hermione could be mistaken, but they seemed to be very angry.

One of them growled and pounced at her.

Hermione shrieked and rolled sideways, out of the way as quick as she could. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the new wand that Dumbledore had acquired for her. "Stupefy!"

A great blast of light hit one of the monsters in the chest and the other two stumbled back a few steps, giving Hermione a chance to scramble to her feet. Hermione shot a glance towards where Charles lay in a heap beside some shrubbery. She was on her own.

Hermione trembled as the demons stalked around her. Even though she had spent the past week training, she was having a hard time remembering everything she had been taught. These three deadly demons were very different then the multiple straw stuffed dummies that Hermione had been training with.

One of the beasts growled, and saliva trickled out the sides of its mouth. Licking its lips, the thing charged. Hermione whirled out of the way, but wasn't quick enough with her wand. The monster punched her in the stomach, dropping her to the ground. It got on top of her and Hermione felt it's long fingers wrap around her neck, choking her.

Hermione was seeing black spots and a sense of deja vu was coming back to her. Not again! She thought, and stabbed the creature in its eye with her wand. It flailed backwards, crashing into another one.

Hermione didn't think, she just threw a high kick at the third one. Feeling a solid connection, Hermione smiled in satisfaction. As if she could sense another approaching, Hermione aimed her elbow into its gut and then a vicious backhand at its face. The first one was still stumbling around with her wand poking out of it's eye so Hermione turned her attention to the one she had kicked. It was heading off in Charles direction.

Scooping up a rock, the teen hucked it at the monster, successfully cracking it in the head. It fell to the ground unconscious, at a very stunned Charles' feet. Wiping his glasses and replacing them on his face, he stopped squinting and shouted, "Amaya! Look out!"

His warning came too late, however. The monster with the wand in its eye flailed into Hermione, knocking her forward into Charles. Fortunately, the watcher caught his slayer and whirled her around in time for her to throw a vicious uppercut at the dangerous demon sending it crashing into the bushes.

As if Charles had just remembered something important he dove at his bag. Rummaging through it, he came out with an incredibly sharp looking knife.

Hermione's mouth dropped open and she grabbed it out of his hands. Lunging into the bushes, she stabbed the wounded monster in the chest. It made a high pitched shrieking noise and then was silent.

Hermione pushed herself up to face the other two beasts. Angry and exhausted, but with amazing force, Hermione threw the dagger at one of the monsters heads. Not waiting to see if it made connection, Hermione whirled around to face the last monster, only to see it disappear into the forest.

Edge of the Forbidden Forest..

Remus couldn't believe his eyes. Not only had he just seen some creatures thats species or name he could not place, but Amaya had just killed two of them. What in merlins name was going on?

Padding off into the forest before Padfoot and Prongs could see anything, the wolfs eyes narrowed. Amaya had some serious explaining to do.

Hermione and Charles..

Charles shuffled over to where Hermione was standing and put his hand on her shoulder.

Raising her eyebrows, the baffled slayer turned to her watcher for answers. "What was that about? Should I have gone after it?"

Charles opened his mouth to say something and then shut it. "No, I think it is wise to clean up our mess and head back to the school to start up some research. We have no idea where that thing was headed.. There could be a nest of them for all we know!"

Rolling her eyes, Hermione walked over to the bushes where the monster was with her wand sticking out of its eye. Slowly pulling it out, a sickly yellow liquid oozed out, making an incredible sticky mess. "Gross." Hermione made a face and wiped the goo on her jeans.

Sticking the wand back in her pocket, Hermione glanced to Charles. "Should we bury them? Or burn them? Or.. hide them?"

Looking back towards the beasts, Charles sighed. "Alright, you grab the legs, I'll take the arms."

After stashing the ugly creatures in the mausoleum they had been working in, Hermione and Charles stepped back and looked around. Cobwebs and dust covered nearly every inch of the building, save a piece of the floor.

Getting down on their hands and knees, Hermione and Charles were able to work a couple of the stones out of the floor, revealing a small niche that contained a crumbling wooden box. Lifting the box out of the hole, Hermione excitedly opened it, only to be vastly disappointed when there was nothing inside.

"Damn," Charles cursed.

"The one that got away must have taken whatever was inside this box!" Hermione slapped a hand to her forehead. "All that fighting for nothing!" Shoving the box angrily back into its hiding spot. Hermione didn't even bother placing the stones back into place. Storming out of the crypt, she left Charles to retrieve the box and stash it in his bag, scrambling to place the heavy stones and follow her back to Hogwarts.

"I think this was quite the successful evening if you ask me!" the neverendingly optimistic Charles quipped.

"It would have been a tad more successful if you would have lent me that knife a bit sooner," Hermione grumbled.

"What was that?

"Nothing..

A/N: Most splendid and patient readers; I know it has been an age.. I could offer you a multitude of flimsy whimsy excuses, but realistically I believe it comes down to the fact that I am the worlds worst procrastinator.

**I don't want to develop Hermione's skills too quickly, but I also didn't want to leave her stranded with no resources. Like anything, she will get better with practice! :)

A thank you must go out to Nala Moon for her review!

And on that note, I apologize for how long this took, but I hope it was worth the wait!