Faith wandered through the grounds, Wesley hadn't contacted her about doing anything, so she pretty much had a free day. Curious, she headed over to the stone house near the forest. She'd heard of Hagrid, but they'd never actually met. Just as she reached the small house, she heard out of tune whistling, and excited barking, and a huge dog bounded out of the open door and raced towards her. Faith felt sure that if she hadn't been a slayer, she'd have been bowled right over.
"Whoa, doggy!" She cried as he tried to lick her face.
"Down Fang!" a deep voice bellowed, and as the dog relented, Faith looked up into the biggest, but gentlest face she'd ever seen. "You'll be Faith then?" Hagrid asked.
"That's me."
"Hagrid. Nice ter meet ye." He shook her hand with his huge one, and grinned broadly, "I have a class comin' down in a minute…"
"Oh… I'll get outta your way then…"
"Oh, no no no! I could actually use some help."
"From me?" Faith asked, disbelieving. Hagrid laughed,
"Y'are a slayer, aren't ye?" Faith just nodded, "Well, we're goin' into the forest…"
"Are you crazy? There's a huge pack o'…"
"I know. That's why I could use your help. Fang keeps most things away, and most of them leave me alone, but with a load of kids…"
"Buffy an' me couldn't fight them all!"
"I 'aven't seen the Polgaras around since then…"
"It was last night!" She exclaimed.
"I assure you it's perfectly safe! The creatures we're goin' ta see are pretty tough themselves. Dumbledore wouldn't allow it if it wasn' safe, now would 'e?"
"I guess not… sure I'll come… but if I get a weird feeling, or wee see them, we get the hell outta there, ok?"
"O' course. I agree. Ah… here they come now." Hagrid pointed up the lawn to where a group of students were leaving the castle, all chatting together. It was only when they got closer that Faith recognised a few faces, and she gave an inward groan- it just had to be them, didn't it?
"Oh my god! Faith!" Dawn squealed as the group approached, "What're you doin' here?"
"I really don't know." Faith groaned. Dawn skipped the last few steps with her arm entwined in Draco's who did not look the least bit happy about the skipping. At least that made Faith grin. Harry, Ron and Hermione were right behind them, as well as the rest of the Gryffindor and Slytherin fifth years. Faith leaned close to Hagrid, "If Dawn gets hurt, and her sister comes looking for vengeance, you are so taking the blame!"
He chuckled, and glanced around to check that everyone was there. Then he hefted what looked like half a dead cow over his shoulder, causing even Faith to grimace.
"We're workin' in here today!" he called happily, jerking his head back towards the forest. "Bit more sheltered, anyway, they prefer the dark."
"What prefer the dark?" Draco whispered to Dawn, "Did you hear? What prefers the dark!?"
Dawn giggled,
"Wuss!" she said, poking him. He did not look happy, and neither Harry nor Ron could find anything wrong with that.
"I've been savin' a trip inter the forest fer yer fifth year…"
"An' the night after a demon attack." Faith murmured sullenly. Hagrid frowned, but continued,
"I thought we'd go an' see these creatures in their natural habitat. Now what we're studyin' today is pretty rare, I reckon I'm probably the the on'y person in Britain who'd managed to train 'em."
"And you're sure they're trained, are you?" Draco said, the panic clear in his voice. Ron and Harry rolled their eyes, while Dawn and Hermione shared a knowing look. "Only it wouldn't be the first time you'd brought wild stuff to class, would it?"
"Course they're trained!" Hagrid retorted, clearly put out. Dawn huddled closer to Draco, and whispered in his ear,
"Cut 'im some slack, Draco. If he says their safe…"
"You weren't here last time!" He snapped back. Dawn sighed,
"Look… I'm sure it's perfectly safe…"
"An' what about what Faith mumbled? Demon attack!?"
"I was gonna say, that even if there is some danger, we got slayer to watch our backs, ok?"
"It'll be fine, Draco!" Hermione added over his shoulder. He sighed, and nodded.
"But… just cos I like you doesn't mean I have to like that lump o'…"
"Finish that sentence, Malfoy." Harry said sternly, his wand poking into Draco's back.
"Harry!" Dawn protested.
"He was gonna insult Hagrid." Harry argued.
"Do you guys have to be so lame?" Hermione groaned. "Draco, don't be a git."
"Don't think he can help it." Ron said under his breath.
"Oh for gods sake." Dawn said, and she and Hermione let go of their respective boyfriends and linked arms with each other, marching ahead as the group headed into the forest. They came level with Faith, who was looking around suspiciously. She raised her eyebrows at them,
"You guys ok?" She asked,
"Boys." Dawn said by way of explanation.
"Ah."
"Uh-huh." Hermione agreed.
"You think the Polgaras will turn up?" Dawn asked the slayer. Hermione's brow furrowed,
"What? What are Polgaras?"
"I dunno, Dawnie." Faith replied, ignoring Hermione, "I hope not."
"Hello? Dawn? What are Polgaras?" Hermione demanded.
"Oh. Demons. Faith and Buffy fought a load of them in here last night."
"And Hagrid doesn't think that's something to worry about?" Hermione asked. Faith shrugged,
"He seems to think that whatever it is we're goin' to see will keep 'em away. I dunno… I got a bad feelin' about this. It just stinks of Voldemort." Hermione winced at the name. "What?" Faith continued, noticing the look of pain, "Oh, god you're not one of these 'he know must not be named' freaks? Jesus. He's a bad guy, just as nameable as any other."
"Yeah." Dawn agreed, "I mean, it's like Glory's minions always calling her 'oh shining one' and stuff." Faith nodded, but Hermione looked confused.
"Who's Glory?"
Dawn gaped, annoyed she'd let that out, but thankfully Hagrid's booming voice cut off further conversation.
"Gather roun', gather roun'!" He bellowed. "Now, they'll be attracted by the smell o' the meat…"
"As well as other things…" Faith sighed, still looking round. Hagrid ignored her.
"But, I'm goin' ter give 'em a call anyway, 'cause they'll like ter know it's me." He turned, shook the hair out of his face, and gave an odd, shrieking cry that echoed through the dark trees like the call of some monstrous bird. Nobody laughed, though Faith looked vaguely amused. Most of the students were too scared to make a sound. After calling again, and several minutes of terrible silence, Dawn gasped, and pointed through the trees. Harry was doing the same, but neither Ron nor Hermione seemed to see anything. Draco came to Dawn's side,
"What?" He asked her, even as the blank white, starring eyes Dawn had seen began moving closer, and a dragonish face, neck and then skeletal body of a great, black winged horse emerged from the darkness. It glanced around at the class, then bowed it's head to tear flesh from the carcass Hagrid had dropped. Harry was very excited; finally there was proof that he wasn't crazy. These were the creatures he'd seen pulling the school coaches at the start of term… but Ron was still starring through the trees,
"Why doesn't Hagrid call again?" He asked. Harry and Dawn frowned at each other, and looked around. Neville was following the swishing progress of the long black tail, but didn't seem at all scared for once. A Slytherin boy was watching the creature with disgust… and Faith, though she'd seen them before, looked rather pale. Dawn turned back as another appeared, and Hagrid said gleefully,
"Oh, an' here comes another! Now… put up your hands up, who can see 'em?" Harry raised his hand with relief, and Hagrid nodded at him. "Yeah…yeah, I knew you'd be able ter Harry." He said seriously. "An you too Neville, eh?" Draco really wanted to say some snide comment about what they were meant to be seeing, but Dawn's raised hand stopped him. Not many others had raised their hands, and Faith just stood there, starring. A few people murmured questions, wondering what was happening. In answer to their queries, Hagrid pointed to the meat, and received several squeals. Draco's eyes went wide as he saw the chunks of meat disappearing. Pavarti was the first to voice the question on all their lips,
"What's doing it? What's eating it?"
"Thestrals." Hagrid replied proudly, and Hermione gave a soft, 'Oh!" of comprehension. "Hogwarts has got a whole herd of 'em in here. Now, who knows…"
"But their supposed to be really unlucky!" interrupted Pavarti, looking alarmed. "They're supposed to bring all sorts of misfortune on people who see them. Professor Trelawny told me once…"
"No, no, no!" Hagrid insisted, "They're dead clever and useful! Course, they don't get much work, it's just pulling the school carriages unless Dumbledore's takin' a long journey an' doesn't want to apparate…" Pavarti squeaked as another Thestral pushed past her,
"Oh! I think it's near me!" she cried.
"Don' worry, it won' hurt yeh." Hagrid told her, "Now, who can tell me why some of yeh can see 'em an' others can't?"
Unsurprisingly, Hermione raised her hand,
"The only people who can see thestrals are people who have seen d…" She trailed off, looking to Dawn, who'd gone very quiet. "Death." She finished.
"That's exactly righ'." Hagrid said solemnly, "Ten points for Gryffindor. Now, Thestrals…" But Dawn didn't hear what followed. One Thestral had raised it's head, and was starring unblinkingly at Faith, who shuddered. For some reason, she couldn't look away from the horse-like creature. All Faith could think about were the people she'd killed… the majority of the death she'd seen. Hagrid was asking Neville about his experience when Faith finally tore herself away, and returned her attention, somewhat shakily, to the forest around them. She froze,
"Shut up." She said suddenly. Hagrid didn't hear her, but most of the class looked her way. "I said shut up!" she repeated. Hagrid turned, looking angry, but one look at her face told him she wasn't being rude. "They're everywhere." She told him. "Those horse things are tough?" Hagrid nodded, "Then get the kids onto them, now. As many as can fit on each."
"Faith…?" Dawn began,
"You first Dawnie… and, erm, whats 'h called, Harry." Dawn thought to argue, but realised this wasn't the time. Instead, she said,
"We can both see them, we should take separate ones to help the others." Faith just nodded. Hagrid helped Dawn onto the nearest Thestral, then Hermione and Draco behind her, ignoring Draco's annoyances at being lifted. Soon the whole class was mounted, many looking down, terrified, as it appeared they were floating.
"Ok, go!" Faith ordered. Hagrid led the train of thestrals back the way they'd come, and Faith looked around, trying to see the demons she come sense all around. A yelp from up near the front had Faith running, and she tackled the demon as it reached for Pavarti. In moments, it was pinned to a tree with its own skewer, and Pavarti was screaming. Several more Polgaras appeared, grabbing at Faith, and the thestrals took up a gallop, dragging away the yells of 'FAITH!' from Dawn at the head of the line.
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He he, I love doing that!