Reckless Survey

Harry walked among the trees. He didn't know where he was going or why he was in the woods. All he knew was that the moment he saw the creature flying over the forest, his feet guided him. He barely remembered Burmese distressed call after him. He hoped the snake wouldn't follow him.

And now he was walking through the forest without direction and, in fact, without a goal.

What the hell am I doing? Why am I here? This is stupid. What if something attacks me? What if I run into Voldemort again? What if-

Harry's thoughts stopped.

There was a clearing in front of him. Other than the one on which he found a dead unicorn. On this one stood a shape that flutter its wings. It just landed.

Harry approached cautiously. He didn't even know why.
Everything in his head was screaming to stop, but his legs weren't listening.
The creature must have spotted him and turned around.

Everything stopped.
His legs, too, finally heard the voice in his head and stopped.

Because the creature before him was not the one who bothered his thoughts.

This one has a bird's head covered with feathers and large bright-orange eyes.

Angry eyes.

Harry walked backward, his legs trembling slightly under the shadow of the beast. For every step he took, the beast took one too, apparently content to scare him for the time being as it kept pace.

It spread its wings aggressively and screeched.

Harry tumbled away, bouncing onto his backside a short distance back. His ears were buzzing, and he shook his head to clear up his disorientation, only to notice the giant talons of the beast raised above him. Despite his shock and horror, he rolled instinctively to the side, and the talons slammed down mere millimeters to his left, shaking the earth under.

The beast towered directly above Harry, and he could feel the sticky breath coming from its beak. He immediately darted away from the talons beside him, only for the wing to appear in front of him, blocking his way of escaping. Harry let out a shriek as he switched directions, charging off as quickly as he could.

The beast continued its attacks, each time cutting off the path of the young boy before he made it too far, but never directly at him. With growing desperation, Harry reached for his wand, just for another freezing wave of horror to hit him, when he realized he left his wand on the bedstand.

It didn't take long before the beast was upon him again. Harry was left shrieking, looking up with a horrified expression at the hungry predator.

Harry looked around desperately, his hair in disarray and his breathing short and panicked.

He was rapidly running out of plans. All that stay was hope to run.

Harry gathered all his strength and jumped.

The next thing he knew, everything went black; he was pressed very hard from all directions. He couldn't breathe, he felt like being forced through a very tight tube.

He found himself falling onto his hands and knees before tumbling to the ground, just in time for the beast to whirl around in his direction. The monster screeched once more before it pounced, though it only got a beak full of dust when Harry rolled to the side and bolted. He hadn't gotten far when the monster sprang forward and bat its talons down right in front of his face.

The creature overtook him, and Harry just jumped up again. This time, however, he fell and did not have time to face another attack. He rolled quickly to avoid the claws that aimed at his head.

However, he did not avoid another attack. The claws approached again. Harry raised his hands to protect himself.

But before the claws could cut through the skin and flesh, there was a crack and a flash of light. The creature flew back a few feet and fell to the ground.

Harry stood up in a moment and turned to face the trees.

Nothing anywhere.
That is not possible. Somewhere ...

Again, this time more closely. He looked at the tree line.

There!
Eyes gleamed on the branch, and Harry recognised the human figure.

After a while, the figure jumped off the branch and landed on all fours. It approached slowly, carefully, still on all fours.

Harry was nervous.

It was the person who saved him from Voldemort and now saved him again, so he didn't think he wanted to hurt him. It wouldn't make sense. However, he seriously doubted that the person was human. It snuck in at four and was looking at him. The person reached out as if to touch his face.

Harry noticed something like claws instead of fingers and nervously took a step back. The figure stopped and withdrew its hand.

It looked at him for a moment, then straightened up, turned, and began to leave.

Another wave of panic suddenly hit Harry. However, this was different. It was not a panic about danger, possible death or loneliness in a dark forest. No, he started panicking because he realised this could be the last chance to somewhat explain the strange urges he had.

"Wait! Stop! Please!" he shouted with panic in his voice. "Please!"

The figure stopped and turned back to Harry.

Harry suddenly didn't know what to say.
He didn't have to, anyway.

"What are you doing here, boy? Why are you here alone, in the middle of the night and without warm clothes? And why did you approach that hippogriff?" a voice muffled by a mask spoke, so it was impossible to determine whether it was a woman or a man.

Harry realised he had been shaking due to the cold. He also realised that he was indeed dressed only in pyjamas and wearing slippers.

Damn. Fool, fool, fool!

"I ... I ... I wanted to ..." he stuttered. Seriously, what he had to say. How was he supposed to express himself?

"All right, boy. First, stop panicking and calm down. All right? Then consider what you want to say."

Harry exhaled. He breathed, wondering what exactly he would say.

"I ..." he began, but his voice stuck.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and began again.

"I wanted to thank you. For that ... then in the woods. You know.. "

The figure stared at him for a moment, tilting his head a few times.

"Did you come here just because of that? In the middle of the night, in pyjamas, in the snow?"

"I ... I saw something flying over the forest. I thought ... I don't really know what I was thinking. I just ... I had to ..." he stuttered again.

The figure sighed. "Do you know how irresponsible that is? Do you know what lives in this forest? What would happen if you got lost? What if I didn't find you when the hippogriff attacked you? I guess right when I think that no one knows where you are?"

Harry suddenly felt even more stupid than before.

This person was right. Nobody knew he was in the woods.
Well, except Burmese, but it's not like the snake could tell someone or otherwise do something about that.

"I ... I'm sorry. You are right. It was stup-stupi-stu-... "

ACHOO!

"Stupid."

Harry wanted to sink underground.

The figure sighed.

"All right. We will do it this way. I'll dry and warm you first," the person said, waving its hand. Harry's pyjamas and slippers were suddenly dry and he could feel the heat forming around him. He wanted to thank, but before he could open his mouth, the figure continued.

"Now you're going to camp with me, I'll give you a blanket, hot drink, and we'll talk."

The figure took his hand and pulled him into the forest.