Chapter XV - Into the Forest

The following morning, Harry left Gryffindor tower with the previous night's happenings still fresh in his mind. There was definitely something going on concerning what he saw at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. What did this have to do with Fawkes, he wondered? And why was it that he was yet again being left out on the information? Determined to find something out, he turned to Ron and Hermione and told them what he knew.

"A maned wolf?" Hermione asked quietly as they made their way toward the Great Hall. "They're definitely not indigenous. I don't know, Harry, going out there doesn't sound like a good idea."

"But Fawkes was there. I don't think its dangerous, whatever its doing-"

"Harry."

Harry turned to see Rosemary just past a few other students on the landing just below.

"May I speak with you?"

"Er, yes, Professor." With a quick glance to Ron and Hermione, Harry stepped out of the flow of students to meet her, and followed to the Ancient Runes class. Once inside, she closed the door, careful to make sure Umbridge was nowhere nearby.

"Harry, what you saw in the forest last night..."

"You can't tell me." It was obviously a statement rather than a question, and she hesitated once more, regret clear in her voice.

"No... but I think you're smart enough to figure it out. I want you to promise me one thing." She lowered her voice. "That you won't tell Sirius. And be careful with the fires- anyone could see you talking in the common room."

"Why shouldn't I-"

She shook her head. "Just don't, please. It could put him in a lot of danger."

It was then that Harry was certain that this had something to do with what Sirius told him of Lauren. "Yes, Professor."

She sighed and watched him a moment before turning away, seemingly satisfied with that. Harry watched her head to the Great Hall for breakfast as Ron and Hermione approached once more.

"I think I know what's going on," Harry said before turning to them.

The Great Hall was alive with the clamor of students eager for the morning's meal. As though this morning and the previous night's events were nothing out of the ordinary, Dumbledore rose from his seat at the High Table and tapped his goblet. Though much quieter than the noise of the students before him, the sound seemed to resonate throughout the hall and everyone quieted, turning to look his way.

"I would like to congratulate you all on a term well done," he said, ever calm in the quiet that enveloped the room. "We stand on the cusp of the Christmas holiday, and all that stands before us is this last month before you will all return to your homes for a well-deserved break." Dumbledore paused a moment to arrange the silverware around his platter.

"I regret to inform, however, that before we let ourselves run amok in anticipation of the holidays the grounds will be closed to all students without a professor present."

Before him students looked at each other, unsure as to whether this meant something was going on outside of their knowledge or not, as it seemed to have been doing these past few years. Harry watched the Headmaster and he thought he saw him look to Harry for the briefest moment.

"Hogsmeade will be open for a short amount of time to allow you all to do your shopping, and thus far Quidditch will not be affected. Should you absolutely require a trip onto the grounds, I ask that you first notify your Head of House."

Harry watched Dumbledore take his seat again but was too busy turning to speak with Ron and Hermione to notice Umbridge's careful studying of the Headmaster at the High Table.

"This has got to be connected," Harry said in a low voice. "We need to find out what's going on tonight."

"Harry," Hermione said warningly before dropping off altogether with a sigh. "I suppose you're not going to be convinced out of this, are you?"

"Of course not," Ron interjected with a glance Harry's way.

"If even you won't tell me at least something, I can still find out for myself." They looked at him a little guiltily. "We'll go out under the Invisibility Cloak tonight. I want to know who was out there with Fawkes."

That night the three of them ventured out under the Invisibility Cloak toward the Forbidden Forest, dodging Filch along the way.

"I don't see what this has to do with Sirius," Hermione whispered as they walked in the moonlight.

"Sirius was married; his wife disappeared after I was born. Professor DiNozzo asked me not to tell him about what I saw. She said before the term that his wife was an Animagus-"

"You think it's her?" Ron asked.

"It has to be. But what does she have to do with Fawkes?"

"I don't know, Harry. I thought she was missing."

"She was," he said, a little impatiently. "She's under Vol-"

"Harry, look!"

Through the trees they saw a flash of orange, brilliant in the shadows against the black of the forest. It moved away from them with some haste, and Harry found himself throwing aside the Cloak and quickening his pace after it.

"Wait!" It was Hermione's voice as the other two threw the cloak off themselves and followed, pulling out their wands.

Harry followed the flash of color through the trees, catching glimpses here and there but never really seeing anything more than a flash. There was no purpose, seemingly, to the figure's path. He could hear Ron and Hermione behind him, catching up; it was then that he realized perhaps it was leading him, deeper into the forest to where the centaurs dwelled, or perhaps straight to Voldemort himself-

Suddenly there was a flash of grey off to his right and he turned, expecting to see one of the towering centaurs fast approaching. Instead a large canine met him with a snarl, rushing forward briefly before seeming to stop. Harry pulled his wand out and took a few quick steps backward as his friends met him, their own wands drawn. As quickly as it appeared the wolf pushed its way into the underbrush out of sight, leaving the three of them to regroup into a circle, their backs to each other.

The wolf again emerged from the darkness but slower this time, its teeth still bared. It didn't approach except in jerky, nervous steps, hesitating in whatever attack it might have planned.

"Why isn't it doing anything?" Ron asked. "It doesn't look orange to me."

"This isn't what I saw. It's-" Harry stopped, unsure as to how to end that. Surely it wasn't a werewolf; certain features were wrong, and besides, it wasn't the full moon-

The wolf gave an agitated glance briefly into the forest where Harry had last seen the other figure, then approached Harry once more.

"Harry?" Hermione asked nervously, wand pointed at the wolf. Harry didn't answer.

Go back. Don't be stupid, just turn back...

A little more urgently this time: "Harry?"

So help me, if I have to give you detention for the rest of the year I will. God, you really are your father's son.

The wolf's snarling continued, and it took another step toward him.

"Harry, there's nothing here. We should go back, now."

With that Harry took a step backwards, and then another, waiting for the wolf to advance. It didn't until he took the third step. There was something about it, something that wasn't making sense...

Another step back. Five more. Ron and Hermione followed, and still the wolf took another few steps, but it wasn't snarling as much now.

That's it...

"The Cloak- here." Harry threw it over the three of them and the wolf turned its head briefly as the trio retreated further into the forest, seeming to lost interest in them for a moment before taking a few tenative steps in their direction, nose twitching.

"It can smell us," Ron whispered. "I had garlic at dinner-"

"Shh, let's just go. If Dumbledore knew we were out here..."

The wolf followed to the edge of the forest, nose still lifted to catch their scent on the air, which faded presumably as the trio made their way back into the castle. With a huff the wolf turned back to the forest again, searching for a different scent.

Breen knew she had been specifically instructed to keep an eye on the castle and that Dumbledore probably wouldn't be happy if he knew that she had gone into the Forbidden Forest against his orders, but she had to find the maned wolf. At the very least this rulebreaking had saved Harry and his friends- or so she hoped. She had done her best to motivate them to go back to the castle and not pursue her friend further into the forest, just as she was doing now. The danger to Harry and his friends here was great, not only with the centaurs whom Umbridge had been upsetting as of late.

At the same time, however, she couldn't reveal that she knew where they were for fear of Dumbledore finding out her own insubordination. Would she be sacked for it? Would he order her back to Grimmauld Place to help Sirius, and leave Snape to watch after Harry and fill in at Order meetings where the Headmaster could not? Even worse, what would Umbridge do if she knew about any of this? An unregistered Animagus would go straight to Azkaban.

With a sigh the wolf paused, listening. There was no sound now of the other wolf, that best friend she called Tyra, her friend's wife. At least it was she out here and not him. Had Padfoot come here he might have been recognized by Harry, who would have only followed him deep into the forest in pursuit of Tyra.

Now, though, Tyra's scent had gone, mixed with the wind that played through the forest and placing Breen upwind of where the other had disappeared. Surely Tyra could smell her from here, and perhaps it was a good sign that she had not been attacked by now. They had no real way of knowing just what Tyra had been instructed by Voldemort or what she might do even to her own friends, whether here in her Animagus form or out in the world as a witch.

With that knowledge she turned for the castle herself and made her way inside.