That night, Harry and Malfoy lounged inside the tent, reading Quidditch magazines and not speaking to each other. Harry had just skipped past an article on the Chudley Cannons' new lineup, reminded too sharply of the orange posters papering Ron's old bedroom at the Burrow, when Neville burst into the tent, red in the face and out of breath. "I saw something," he blurted. "I was cooking, and I looked up, and there was something in the woods over there. Some kind of animal. It looked like some kind of monkey, but-"

Malfoy turned a page and, not looking up, said coldly, "I assume you know there are no monkeys in Britain?"

"Well, it looked like one," Neville repeated, folding his arms. "It was standing under one of the trees, on two legs, and it didn't look like it was much smaller than I am. And when I looked at it, it stood there for a second and watched me before it ran away. I'm not going out there again without someone else to keep an eye out while I cook, so someone get up or you can both go forage in the woods for berries."

"And we'd have to forage for your share as well, I expect, since you'd be in here hiding from the killer monkey." Malfoy stood with a yawn and walked toward the door. "Come on, then, don't be such a coward."

Harry glanced up from his magazine. "Take your wand," he said mildly. "And be careful. He could really have seen something. Let me know right away if anything out of the ordinary happens."

Much as he'd expected, it was only a few moments before he could hear a heated argument developing outside the tent. He sighed and went back to the magazine, assuming that it was only the ordinary standing quarrel between the two young men; they hadn't patched up their old school rivalry any better than Malfoy and Harry had. Only half a sentence further down the page, though, he heard Neville shout, "It's right there, you bloody idiot!"

"What's going on out there?" Harry called, opening the door and putting his head out. "Is it the same thing again, Neville?"

"Yes! Over there, in the trees!"

Harry could see Malfoy scanning the woods where Neville was pointing, but there didn't seem to be anything there. "Where-"

"See the big bare branch sticking out? He's about ten feet to the left of it. He's looking right at us. How can you not see him?"

"I don't see anything," Harry admitted, shading his eyes against what little sunlight was left in the sky and squinting. "It looks like a monkey, you said?"

Neville frowned in its direction. "He doesn't seem quite right for a monkey, actually. His eyes look different." He shuddered. "He looks really smart. Merlin, he's creepy... I'd swear he's watching me..."

"Of course it's not watching you." Harry cast a quick glare at Malfoy, who he was sure had been about to say that it most certainly was. "Wait, I think - no, it's just a shadow. Malfoy, can you see it at all?"

"No," Draco said crossly, "I try to spend as little time as possible hallucinating chimpanzees. Look, will you stay out here with him? I have things I'd rather do than baby-sit Longbottom while he has a nervous breakdown over our supper." He didn't wait for a response, just turned and went back into the tent.

Harry gave Neville a reassuring smile. "Maybe it's just a weird-looking tree trunk," he suggested.

"Maybe." Neville sounded doubtful, but he did go back to the cooking fire and check on the potatoes boiling there. Harry sat down on the grass and settled back, hands splayed out behind him.

"It's a nice night."

"He's waving at me."

Harry scrambled to his feet. "What? Are you sure?"

"He's grinning and waving at me. And it's not a nice grin." Neville took several quick steps backward, his voice rising nervously. "It's Mister Chimpy. I know it is. I know it is. He found me. He's been looking for me this whole time..." He took another faltering step and stumbled.

Harry caught him by the shoulder. "Hermione! Malfoy!" he called, then turned his attention back to Neville. "Look, who's Mister Chimpy? Why is he looking for you? What are you talking about?"

"Mister Chimpy." Neville shivered and slid out of Harry's grip to land, trembling, on all fours on the grass. "He's... Gran got him for me when I was little, I was having nightmares and she thought I'd do better with something to hold at night... his eyes..."

"Neville, you're not making any sense," Harry said desperately, glancing up to see that the other members of his crew had come out of their tents and were standing a few feet away, staring. "What about his eyes, Neville? Was there something wrong with his eyes?"

"He was as big as I was." He looked up at Harry, a terrified plea in his eyes. "He had this nasty grin stitched on his face, it was awful, and his eyes were so real, I always thought they moved around like he was watching me, the nightmares only got worse..."

Harry looked up. "Go and check the woods over there," he told the other two, pointing toward the tree where Neville had sworn he saw the creature. "All right, so you were scared of him when you were a kid. Why would he be looking for you?"

"I threw him in the rubbish bin," Neville said in a whisper, closing his eyes now as if he were growing resigned to his fate. "I threw him in the rubbish bin one day when I was seven, and it didn't get emptied for a week, and I could see his eyes all that time, watching me, and that grin... he was angry, I knew it, and I was so scared he was going to get out of the rubbish bin somehow and come and get revenge. I knew he was smart enough to find a way, I always knew it, and it's been nineteen years and now he's done it, he's found me..."

The others reappeared at the edge of the little grove where they'd camped. "We didn't see anything," Hermione said, but both their faces were white.

Harry stood. "Malfoy, you get Neville back into the tent and keep an eye on him," he said, and he was proud of how steady his voice stayed. "I'll finish supper. Hermione, you stay here and help me, please." The moment the door of the tent had closed behind the other two, though, he raised his eyebrows. "What happened?"

"We couldn't see anything, but it sounded like there was something out there," she admitted. "There was this kind of chattering noise, moving around, but we couldn't find anything that might be making it. And every now and then, I could swear it was trying to actually speak. I don't mind saying it was spooky."

"Chattering?" Harry gazed off into the edge of the woods, under the tree where Neville had been staring. Like a monkey... "Did you hear any of what Neville was saying? It sounds mad, but he's scared out of his wits. I think we ought to give up on the supper. It's getting dark fast, and honestly, he's scared me pretty well. Would you mind staying in our tent tonight, just so that no one's off on their own with something awful hanging around in the woods?"

Neville didn't snore at all that night, and in a restless dream, Harry thought he heard fabric tearing and a sound like chattering.

It was Hermione's shriek, early the next morning, that woke him and Malfoy up.

There was surprisingly little blood.