Chapter 9

The next few weeks consisted of healthy meals, extreme exercise and a vigorous training routine. After Professor Flip was content that I could hide from the invisible monsters, he went on to teaching me to fight them, not with magic, but with a dagger.

"This once belonged to my father," he told me when he handed me the twisted metal blade, "You should use it in an emergency, if Hedgely was injured or you got separated."

Over the course of these weeks, I noticed that I was getting fitter. Stronger. Faster. When running laps around the training room, I could now keep up with Hedgely for a good ten minutes before I had to stop and rest. I could sink my dagger into the chest of illusions that Professor Flip conjured up. The muscles in my stomach became taut and my legs became more toned. I had also sent two letters to my parents, to which Mum had replied with twenty of her own. An owl came in almost every day, carrying a scroll filled with her looped handwriting, asking me if I was all right, if I needed anything and to inform me that it is in my own best interest to floss my teeth before going to bed at night.

It was after a particularly draining session of taking down pretend invisible monsters, that Professor Flip said that I was finally ready to go out and fight for real. Hedgely and I rose early the next morning, and I dressed in traditional wizarding robes, making sure that my dagger was tied securely around my waist, before going downstairs to have breakfast with Professor Flip.

"So, Dudley, do you feel ready for this?" Professor Flip asked me after I'd sat down at the table with my bowl of muesli.

"Uhuh," I mumbled through a mouthful of cereal.

"That's good, I'm sure everything will go perfectly. I can't wait to hear all about it!"

I gulped.

"What do you mean?" I asked, "Aren't you coming with us?"

"Dear goodness, no! I haven't left this house in over seventeen years, and I'm not planning on leaving it now!"

"Why not?"

Professor Flip licked his dry lips.

"You'll be fine without me. Your training will help you and it will all be fine," he said, avoiding my question.

We didn't talk while we finished our breakfast, the silence broken only by the sound of chewing and the clink of cutlery. Professor Flip gave us his best wishes and waved us off, as Hedgely led me outside the boundaries of the house. I couldn't help but think badly of Professor Flip, forcing me to go out and risk my life for his experiments while he sat at home with his feet up. I was still fuming when Hedgely took hold of my wrist and we Disapparated. He had explained to me that it became bearable after your body had adjusted to disappearing. I remembered how awful I felt when Dedalus and Hestia transported my family to the safe house, and was glad that the experience was considerably better this time around, although I still ended up landing on the ground.

I clambered to my feet and found myself standing on a grassy hilltop in the middle of nowhere. I checked my dagger was still at my waist, taking comfort from its familiar weight.

"Where are we?" I asked Hedgely, who was picking blades of grass out of his mop of blond hair. I was glad to see that his balance wasn't great after Disapparating either and felt less self conscious about falling over.

"I'm not sure," he said, "Up north somewhere. Yorkshire, maybe."

I glared at him.

"What? Don't you know where we are? How are we supposed to find monsters if we don't know where we are?"

"Relax, mate," Hedgely said, waving his hands in what he must have thought was a calming gesture, "I've been to this spot before. It's a total hotspot for the invisibilis monstrum. I think they travel over here a lot, I've had..." he counted on his fingers, "at least three kills here."

"Oh, that's very reassuring!" I snapped, "Do you have some sort of plan for killing them? A structure as to how it's done?"

Hedgely shrugged.

"Not really. Usually, I lie on the hill, and if I lie still I'll see it before it sees me. Then, when it flies by, I kill it."

As if to prove his point, Hedgely flopped onto the ground and put his arms behind his head to use as a cushion. I stood there, utterly flabbergasted by his thoughtless attitude towards a creature that could easily kill him. It took me several minutes to calm down enough to sit in the grass next to him. I didn't lie down, as I detested insects and did not want them to crawl on me. Keeping one hand on my dagger, I sat still and watched the vast, blue expanse of the sky.

It might have been hours or minutes, or even seconds later, when Hedgely sat up, suddenly alert.

"Do you hear that?"

Panicked, I strained my ears but could only hear the thud of my own heart. I shook my head.

"Stay here," he instructed me, and leapt to his feet. I watched him run over the brow of the hill and disappear from my line of sight. I scrambled to a standing position and hurried after him, drawing my dagger, not wanting to be left alone with a monster potentially nearby.

On the other side of the hill, I gasped at the sight of my roommate waving his wand at the huge monster soaring above his head. They circled each other, both of them snarling. Hedgely's long frame looked so small beside that of the monster that it was almost comical.

Oh no oh no oh no!

What would I do if Hedgely was killed? Or...or...

My train of thought was broken by the sound of wings beating the air somewhere behind me. I turned slowly and trembled as a second monster dived towards me, gnashing its gruesome yellow teeth, its beady red eyes narrowed.

Blood pounded in my ears, my heart raced and my mouth felt dry.

I whipped my dagger upwards, arcing towards its heart.

But I wasn't quick enough.

Claws raked my chest, ripping my shirt and my skin.

I screamed and drove my dagger home.

I didn't see what became of the monster before I collapsed to the ground, gasping; my chest on fire. I pressed my hand to my chest in an attempt to stem the blood flowing from my gaping wound. It seeped through my fingers, an unstoppable force.

"Dudley! Dudley!"

Hedgely's voice seemed miles away and his face swam in front of me, as I closed my eyes and gave myself up to the oncoming darkness.