Chapter 6
Monsters in the Dark
We ran all the way back to the castle, our robes flying behind us like wings. Though I am not proud to admit it, as much as I knew that my primary concern should be the safety of Teddy Lupin, those feelings of concern were overshadowed by the excitement bubbling in my chest. Nothing gives you an adrenaline rush quite like an imminent trip into the Forbidden Forest that could make you a hero...or make you something's dinner.
We reached the castle in a few minutes...too long, I thought. Every second we wasted was a second that Teddy might not have. We nearly ran Filch over as we ran, which might have been a more enjoyable experience under different circumstances.
"I'll take the Gryffindors!" Amanda said, splitting off from us and running down a different corridor.
"Wait! How will you get into the common room?" I called after her.
"Jasmine told me the password!" she yelled back. I kept running with Gordon and Olivia but we split up a few moments later to head for our respective common rooms. After an obnoxiously long climb up the Ravenclaw Tower staircase, I finally reached the door to the common room.
"How do you make one disappear?" the brass knocker said. I groaned; this was no time to be puzzling over riddles! Thankfully, I was able to quiet my racing mind and determine the answer.
"Add a G, and it will be gone," I said. The door swung open, and I charged in, much to the surprise of the students sitting around the common room doing their homework...or finding creative ways to avoid doing their homework. "Okay, who's up for a walk in the Forest?" I asked, loud enough to get everyone's attention...attention that was expressed in quizzical looks. Only Carmilla seemed to know what I was talking about, although I wasn't sure how she could have known about Teddy.
"Oh, what are you on about now Seb?" Phil said, looking up from his Potions textbook.
"One of the first-years ran off into the Forbidden Forest," I explained. "McGonagall wants volunteers for search parties."
"Like hell!" said one boy I didn't recognize. "It's against school rules for students to go into the Forbidden Forest."
"Yes, I believe that's why it's called the Forbidden Forest," Phil replied sardonically.
"Guys, this is serious," Carmilla said, walking over to me and standing by my side, facing our audience. "Isn't anyone going to help?"
"Of course!" Polina said, jumping up from where she was sitting.
"I got nothing better to do," offered Andrew Garside, a large boy with proportionally long black hair. But I could tell that many of the others would need additional convincing.
"Who's the kid?" Phil asked, although I was pretty sure that he was going to join us anyways.
"Teddy Lupin," I told him. This revelation sparked a flurry of protests.
"The werewolf?" cried the dissenting boy from before. "I'm not going into the Forest after no bloody werewolf!" Phil and I both sighed in frustration...partially because of his obstinacy, but mainly because of his double negative. A Ravenclaw should have more pride.
"He's not a werewolf!" I shot back. Suddenly, I realized that I'd withheld a key piece of information. "But fine. I guess you won't get to meet Harry Potter after all." I turned as if to leave (although I had no intention of doing so), and smiled when the students started to call for clarification. "Oh, didn't I mention that?" I said, turning back while struggling valiantly to hide my smirk. "Yeah, Harry Potter is here. Lupin's his godson, so he came to help with the search. But if you'd rather stay here and finish your homework..."
When I returned to the posse of teachers outside the forest, I brought half the common room with me.
"Nice turnout," Olivia commented when I returned. "Did you have to tell them that Harry Potter was here?" I chuckled, surveying her own results: she had brought a fair number of Hufflepuffs with her, including Tim Matlock and Roger Lyons, two somewhat legendary Quidditch players, as well as my friends Tim Gladstone, Paul Sebastian, and David Silverthorne. There were several others whom I did not recognize, presumably from other years. Amanda had already returned with a large company of Gryffindors which included most of the Quidditch team. I was also pleased to see that she had brought Zoubin Irani, the seventh-year Head Boy, who was widely regarded as one of the most talented wizards currently at Hogwarts.
Almost all of the students we had recruited either rushed over to gawk at Harry or "discreetly" eyeballed him from a distance. I couldn't exactly blame them, but we did have a job to do after all. Thankfully, we'd all had the sense to not bring any of the particularly young students. The Forbidden Forest was no place for first-years.
I grew increasingly restless as the minutes passed with no sign of Gordon or any other Slytherins, but eventually he did appear...with Mitchell. Just Mitchell.
"Is this really all you could get?" I asked incredulously. If Mitchell was offended by me referring to him as "this," then he didn't show it. But then, he wasn't a particularly emotional guy. Gordon rolled his eyes.
"Yes, as a matter of fact he was all I could get. Everyone else is having a party that I'm apparently not invited to, although I'm pretty sure that I planned the damn thing last night!"
"And you didn't invite yourself?"
"Oh...right..." he said thoughtfully. Nearby, Kenneth muttered something like "typical Slytherins," and I could tell from the look on Gordon's face that there was going to be trouble.
"You got something to say, Davies?" he challenged him.
"Maybe I do," was the sneering reply.
"Well why don't you come over here and say it to my face then!" Gordon shot back as he stepped forwards.
"Well maybe I will!" I grabbed the back of Gordon's robes.
"Not now!" I hissed. Across from me, Brock was saying something similar to Kenneth, and after a moment of indecision, Kenneth went back to his friends.
"I'm gonna get him," Gordon growled. "One of these days..."
"We have a job to do, remember?" I snapped. Seeing that all of us had returned, McGonagall struggled to call the large and disjointed group to order.
"All right, all right, everyone settle down!" It took a minute, but eventually there was silence. "Now, just so that everyone is on the same page, we are looking for a first year named Teddy Lupin. He ran off into the forest over an hour ago, and we have no idea where he is at the moment. We'll be able to cover more ground with more people, and that's why you're here. You'll be split into groups of three or four, led either by a teacher or an older student. As I'm sure you all know, the forest is highly dangerous. Do not approach or disturb any creature that you come across. Keep calm and have your wands at the ready."
"What are we supposed to do if we find him?" Polina asked.
"You will use these," McGonagall replied. With a wave of her wand, she conjured a jar of Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans. Needless to say, none of us seemed to think that this properly answered the question. "Each of you will take one of these beans. I've enchanted them; they're portkeys that will be triggered once you put them in your mouth. When you find the boy, simply get a hold of him and eat the bean. You'll be immediately transported back to this spot. They should also be used if you find yourselves in danger."
"I've never heard of a portkey that worked like that," I whispered to Gordon.
"I'm pretty sure setting up portkeys without Ministry authorization is illegal," he whispered back. I looked back to McGonagall, who was wrapping up her briefing.
"Remember that the forest is extremely dangerous. Do not take any unnecessary risks, and keep your wits about you. Now, let's bring Lupin home. Form groups of three or four!"
There was much noise and movement as the crowd of students quickly tried to organize themselves according to her instructions. I didn't have much difficulty myself; Gordon and Phil each grabbed one of my arms (much to my annoyance), and Zoubin walked over to us a moment later, completing the group. I looked around at the others, who had more or less managed to form groups, although there were still some stragglers.
"All right, all right, everyone quiet down!" McGonagall called out. "Fisher, go with Miss Watson and Miss Chamberlain. Mr. Nu...Mr. Nyu...Mitchell, join up with Miss Cadger and Miss Noyes. No Mr. Miller, you cannot make the entire Quidditch team one group!" I fidgeted restlessly; we were wasting precious time. "Good, are we ready then?" McGonagall finally said. "Right then, let's get moving!" Harry and Ron were the first to depart, with Hagrid and his enormous bloodhound following close behind.
"I'll see wha' I can do 'bout the centaurs helpin' out," he called back to McGonagall as he walked. "An' I'll tell Grawp to watch where he's steppin'." The groups started to follow him, one or two at a time, accompanied by a teacher or two.
"Try not to die," Paul advised me as he moved off with David, Tim G, and Andrew.
"Five galleons says we find him first!" Tim M called out loud enough for everyone to hear.
"You're on!" Gordon replied. "Come on," he said to us in a quieter voice, "I really don't wanna give him five galleons..."
The groups began to split up once inside the forest proper. Zoubin arbitrarily pointed left, and so left we went, lighting our wands to compensate for the oppressive dark of the forest.
"Hey, are you gonna start up the Model Ministry Club again this year?" Gordon asked Zoubin after a few minutes of silence.
"If I can get Professor Leece to supervise, then yeah, I'm hoping so," he replied. "Wanna help?"
"Help?"
"Well, I'd need a co-president," he explained. Gordon's eyes lit up for a brief instant before he returned to his normal apathetic expression.
"Sure, sounds cool," he replied, trying to hide his pleasure. "Seb, Phil, you'll join, right?"
"I probably won't have time," Phil told him. "And for that matter, how will you have the time? We've got OWLs this year, remember?"
"So?" Gordon shot back. "Zoubin has NEWTs, and he's still got time for this and a million other things!"
"That's because Zoubin is amazing," Zoubin said with a grin.
"Keep it down guys!" I hissed. "Something will hear us!"
"Don't we want Teddy to hear us?" Phil pointed out.
"Yeah, but the forest is full of stuff we don't want to hear us," I reminded him.
"He's right," Gordon said, much to my surprise. "We don't want, like, the Acromantulas or whatever to hear us."
"Acromantulas?" I asked, abruptly stopping.
"Yeah, you didn't know? There's a whole colony of giant spiders that lives in the forest. Hagrid brought them in years ago. I wouldn't worry though; I heard they don't bother you if you don't bother them. Usually." We walked on.
The trek through the forest was made distinctly less pleasant by Gordon's revelation; every time the leaves rustled or a twig snapped, my heart couldn't help but skip a beat as I envisioned a massive hairy spider crawling towards me, pincers clacking... Beyond that, it was becoming uncomfortably cold, and I found myself wishing I'd worn something besides my uniform. All conversation between the four of us had faded to silence before we'd spent half an hour searching. By now, Teddy had been in the forest for over three hours.
Suddenly, Gordon spun around.
"Stupefy!" A red jet of light shot from his want into the trees, passing so close to my head that I could feel it tingle like a faint electric current. It was only afterwards that I realized that I should probably duck, which I promptly did.
"What the hell was that?" I barked. "You nearly hit me you idiot!"
"I saw something," he said, walking past me and waving his illuminated wand at the darkness. "At least...I think I did..."
"There's nothing there you moron!" I snapped. "If there was, you either scared it off or made it mad!"
"Shut up Seb," he said offhandedly, moving a branch aside to continue his search for the Amazingly-Incredible-Absolutely-Nothing. I was seriously considering hexing him when Phil went over to join him.
"I definitely heard something move," he said.
"Oh come on, I've been hearing things move all night!" I protested. "We're in the Forbidden Forest! We're wasting time!"
"Seb, calm down," Zoubin said. "Homenum Revelio!" Nothing happened that I could see. "Huh...well, there aren't any people around..."
"But that doesn't mean there isn't an animal or something," Phil pointed out.
"I know," Zoubin replied. "Something could be stalking us. But...if it was an animal, or even a pack of animals, we would've been attacked by now. We may as well keep moving." And we did.
"It's gonna suck when we find out that they already found him, and then they just left us in here," Gordon muttered as we walked. "Why did the stupid kid come in here anyways?"
"He's Teddy Lupin," I reminded him. "The other first-years probably told him he was a werewolf. It's a full moon tonight, so he ran in here 'cause he was scared he would hurt someone."
"But...he's not a werewolf, right?" Gordon asked. I sighed.
"No, he's not a werewolf. Why, are you scared?"
"Of course not!" Then, I heard a twig snap. All four of us turned to the right, where the sound had originated.
"Am I still imagining things?" Gordon said smugly. Zoubin walked ahead cautiously, wand out in front of him. Suddenly, he stopped, and reached out his hand. There was a loud snort that seemed to come from thin air, and he backed away quickly.
"Thestrals," he said. "At least one or two, maybe more."
"I don't see anything," Gordon said quizzically.
"They're invisible unless you've seen death," Phil told him. "And...last I checked, they were also carnivorous."
"Yeah, but they don't normally attack humans," Zoubin said. "We just need to get out of here without disturbing them." I turned to walk in the other direction away from the invisible Thestral...and smacked my face into something warm and fleshy. The second Thestral gave a shrieking cry, and I backed up, nearly falling over as I did.
"Definitely more than one!" I said, stating the obvious. The strange calls were coming from all around us now. "We're surrounded!"
"Just stay calm!" Zoubin instructed.
"Stay calm? We're surrounded by invisible carnivorous flying horses!" Gordon protested.
"Yes, that really does give a sense of perspective," Phil commented airily. I moved my wand, futilely trying to find some angle of lighting that would reveal the Thestrals, even though I knew this was pointless. However, my efforts did yield one result: I caught a glimpse of something moving through the trees.
"Hey! Do you guys see that?" I said, gesturing with my wand.
"Oh, very funny," Phil said sarcastically. I rolled my eyes.
"No, that thing over there, in the trees. What is that?" Zoubin peered into the darkness while keeping his distance from where we suspected the nearest Thestral was.
"You know...it kind of looks like..." he began...but he had no need to finish. As it seemed to float towards us, I began to feel as if my blood had turned to ice. My chest constricted, and I could hear my father's angry voice ringing in my ears.
"Dementor!" I cried, raising my wand. But we had no time to panic, for the Thestrals had decided to panic for us. Shrieking wildly, the herd began to flee in all directions from the approaching Dementor, placing us in the rather unpleasant position of being in the middle of an invisible stampede!
"Move!" Zoubin roared, and we scattered, desperately trying both to avoid the invisible beasts that surrounded us and to keep our wits about us while our worst memories played in our minds. Phil's head jerked backwards for no apparent reason, and a cut appeared on his cheek as he ran. Turning my head, I saw Gordon collide with thin air (presumably a Thestral) and fall backwards. Running towards him, I felt myself slam into another one, and fell to the ground, where I lay dazed for one chaotic moment. Realizing that I would likely be trampled if stayed down, I jumped to my feet. Gordon was nowhere to be seen.
"Gordon!" I called out, getting no answer. I looked around me; I was alone. "Phil! Zoubin!" No answer came. "Guys, where are you?" I didn't see the Dementor either, but I still felt horribly cold inside. It was close. I noticed that my wand had gone out, and relit it...and saw a small boy with jet-black hair illuminated in its light. I jumped slightly, before determining that the terrified-looking child probably wasn't particularly dangerous.
"Teddy?" I asked. "Teddy Lupin?" It was only after I'd asked that I realized how stupid a question this was; how many eleven-year-old kids could there possibly be running around in the forest in the middle of the night? "It's okay," I told him, "I'm not going to hurt you."
"The monster," he said quietly. "The monster..."
"The Dementor?"
"Not a Dementor," he said fearfully. "That's not a Dementor. It looks like one, but it's not."
"Listen," I said, moving closer to him, "I've got to get you out of here. I've got a portkey..." I fished around in my pocket for the bean...and found nothing. "Oh bloody hell, I must've dropped it when the Thestrals..." Well, that wasn't good. I knew I'd never be able to retrace my steps; we'd been counting on the portkeys to get us out, and therefore hadn't bothered to mark our trail through the forest.
"This isn't much of a rescue," Teddy muttered, clearly having regained his composure. I would've replied (or possibly smacked him) if he hadn't been so horribly right.
"Just...hold on, I'll think of something."
"Why don't you just summon it?" he asked. I was beginning to wonder who was rescuing who here.
"That is an excellent idea," I groaned, feeling incredibly stupid...but hey, I'd just been trampled by a herd of Thestrals! I raised my wand.
"Accio..." I began, but I trailed off as the sinking cold feeling became even more overpowering, and the Dementor re-entered my field of vision. Specifically, it would be on top of us in about five seconds. "Oh shi –"
I fell backwards as the Dementor loomed over me like some horrible shadow. I felt like my heart had leapt into my throat, and it was pounding so hard that I might have choked on it. The horrible scent of decay filled my nostrils, and the Dementor reached out its hand...wait. The scent of decay? Dementors didn't smell like that! And the hand reaching out to me may have been horrible and corpse-like, but it was unquestionably a human hand!
"Confringo!" I yelled, blasting the not-Dementor with the first curse that came to mind. There was a horrible cracking sound, like a bone breaking, and the thing's back bent backwards at a sharp angle. As it did, its hood fell back, revealing a human face...but the most horrifying face I had ever seen. The thing looked human, but its skin was marbled in shades of grey and blue. It had empty sockets where its eyes should be, and its lower jaw was completely bare, devoid of any flesh. Teddy was screaming, and I think I was too. I think this may have been what saved us.
As the thing reached out its horrible hand towards my face again, I heard Gordon's voice ring out.
"Incendio!" The thing's black cloak burst into flames. With a hideous shriek, it retreated, and flew away into the darkness incredibly fast. Within seconds, the light of the fire had completely faded from view, but it took a lot longer than that for me to catch my breath.
"Whoa, you okay Seb?" Phil asked helping me to my feet.
"What the bloody hell was that thing?" Gordon questioned me. "That was not a Dementor!"
"I...I don't know," I panted, trying to catch my breath. "I've never seen anything like it before." I noticed that Teddy had grabbed onto my arm. His face betrayed no trace of fear, but I could feel his body trembling.
"Are you okay?" he asked me. I forced a reassuring smile.
"I'm fine. Where'd you guys go? What happened?"
"We ran, mate," Gordon laughed. "We didn't realize you weren't with us until we stopped. By then, we were totally lost."
"We tried to head back in the direction we'd come from," Phil said, picking up the story. "We were hoping you'd still be around. Then we heard screaming, so we started running in the direction it was coming from."
"Then we found you with that thing on top of you," Zoubin said.
"And I did the first thing that came to mind," Gordon said with a grin.
"That was the first thing that came to mind?" I asked incredulously. Although, admittedly, I wasn't all that surprised.
"I see you found Teddy," Zoubin commented.
"Actually, he found me!" I replied. "Guys, I dropped my bean. We'll have to use one of yours to get back."
"No problem," Zoubin said, holding out his arm. I grabbed his wrist, making sure that Teddy was still holding on to me, while Gordon and Phil each put their hands on his shoulders. "Hold on tight boys," he said, popping the bean in his mouth. I felt a sudden hook from behind, and it seemed that I had been yanked backwards off my feet. Then, suddenly, I was dropped on my back, and I could see the night sky as I looked up. We were back.
The first thing I noticed was the sound of coughing and choking. I jumped to my feet, and noticed Zoubin clutching at his throat. From out of the corner of my eye, I saw Professor McGonagall rushing over. She pointed her wand at Zoubin, and muttered something I didn't hear. The bean shot out of his mouth, and flew past my head. Once again, it was only afterwards that I realized that I should have ducked.
"Bit of a design flaw there Professor," Zoubin commented once he had stopped coughing.
"Yes, it would appear so," she said. "Are you all right Mr. Lupin?" she asked Teddy, who looked down at his feet, unable to meet her eyes. "Very well, we'll talk later. Right now, let's get everyone back." She took the jar of beans out of her robe, and took the last remaining bean between her fingers. She lightly blew on it, and suddenly students and teachers were materializing all around us.
"Wait, Professor!" I said as she turned to walk away. "There's something in the forest!" But by now, there was so much noise from the crowd of students that she was prevented from hearing me.
"Just tell her tomorrow," Phil suggested.
Once the initial confusion had faded, most of the attention was diverted our way as people realized that we were the ones who had brought Teddy back.
"You found him?" Olivia asked, running over with Amanda.
"Gosh darn it!" Tim Matlock laughed.
"Yeah, that's five galleons you owe me!" Gordon replied. Suddenly, Harry and Ron appeared before us, eager to see if Teddy was okay. The two Aurors took him away with them, although he looked back at us and mouthed "Thank you," as they walked. Eventually, McGonagall managed to restore order.
"Yes, yes, thank you to everyone who came to help tonight! I am pleased to announce that, as I'm sure you have learned, Teddy Lupin has been found and safely returned to us. And there is more good news! Each of you has earned your house five points!" There was a long cheer in response to this news, although Gordon looked a lot less happy; Slytherin would have only acquired ten points. "Now, everyone had best head back to your common rooms, and get to bed straight away! Tomorrow is, after all a normal school day. Now, on with it!" As the conversational buzz returned, we all began to migrate back to the castle. I managed to catch one last glimpse of Teddy though; he was still with Harry and Ron, who were speaking with McGonagall and some of the other teachers. Next to me, Gordon was complaining loudly.
"...and they didn't even mention that we were the ones who found him! We should've gotten extra points! Or at least some kind of recognition!" The tirade did not end there; I found it prudent to simply nod and offer the occasional word or two of agreement, as this saved me from actually having to listen to him.
Back outside, Teddy and McGonagall were being ushered into Hagrid's hut for a warming cup of tea. Harry lingered outside, saying that he would join the others in a moment. Once he was alone, he reached into his pocket, and took out a small Chocolate Frog card, adorned with a picture of Albus Dumbledore.
"Good evening Harry," the picture said.
"Hello Professor," Harry replied with a smile. "I need to ask you something."
"I gathered as much. People generally do not talk to trading cards unless it is an extremely important matter." Harry smiled, but it was a fleeting smile that soon faded.
"We got them all, didn't we? The Horcruxes? Voldemort's really dead, isn't he?"
"Oh yes," Dumbledore assured him. "There's no doubt about that."
"And he can never come back?" Harry pressed onwards.
"Come back? No magic can truly resurrect the dead, Harry. You know this better than anyone."
"But there are ways..." Harry began, but Dumbledore cut him off, knowing where his line of thought was headed.
"Such as the Resurrection Stone? It was you who dropped the stone in the forest thirteen years ago, and even with all that time to search, I doubt very much that anyone could have found it. However, I have learned enough to know that it is foolish to dismiss anything as impossible." This wasn't quite the reassuring answer Harry had been hoping for.
"One more thing, Professor."
"Yes," Dumbledore said, "the Horcrux. I was wondering when you were going to discuss that matter with me."
"Voldemort didn't tell his followers about his Horcurxes, not even his closest allies, right?" Harry asked, not bothering to ask how the departed professor has known about his case.
"I doubt that he was particularly close with anyone," Dumbledore reminded him dryly. "Not even his allies. I cannot think of a situation that would prompt him to share the secret of his immortality. Unless..." He paused thoughtfully. "Unless one of his Death Eaters discovered the secret on their own, and was too valuable to kill."
"Valuable?" Harry said, puzzled. "Who would he value? Surely he could have replaced just about any of his followers if he needed to."
"Yes, but it's the 'just about' that interests us," Dumbledore said. "Severus Snape, for instance, was irreplaceable. Voldemort would never have acquired another spy so close to me. But...I cannot believe that Severus would have made a Horcrux."
"No," Harry agreed, sadly. "He wasn't afraid of death."
"Indeed. Perhaps Bellatrix Lestrange, or...you know, it occurs to me that the Horcrux could have been made before the Second War. The wizard or witch in question may have been dead long before Voldemort."
"Right," Harry admitted. "We have so little to go on."
"In that case," Dumbledore said, "I suggest you stimulate your brain with some of Hagrid's tea." Smiling at the old headmaster's wisdom, Harry pocketed the card, and went inside to join his friends.
That night, sleep was elusive. Every time I closed my eyes, the image of that horrible thing in the forest returned to haunt me. It took me hours to finally fall asleep, but once I did, my sleep was blissfully dreamless...albeit brief.
For reasons unknown, I awoke suddenly. It took my eyes a second to adjust to the darkened dormitory; it was still either the middle of the night, or the early morning. And Amanda was standing over my bed.
"What the hell are you doing?" I hissed, jerking away from her. "You can't come in here! This is the boys' dormitory Amanda!" Her only response was to roll her eyes.
"I'm not Amanda you idiot," she said. Now that wasn't what I'd expected to hear.
"You're...not?" I said groggily.
"I just figured I'd wake you up. The teachers will be searching the dormitories any minute now."
"What? Why?" I wasn't yet awake enough to fully comprehend how bizarre this entire exchange was, but I was definitely awake enough to find Amanda's...or whoever's...knowing smirk somewhat unnerving.
"It has begun," she whispered with delight.
And begun it had. Although I didn't know it at the time, this had been almost precisely the instant that Filch had discovered the message scrawled on the wall of the Charms corridor. The message was simple: I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!
It was written in blood.