Chapter 16: Anthony
My name is Anthony.
I knew that I was being silly. I wasn't a rash Gryffindor, I didn't have it in me to be successful at their kind of courageous, spontaneous acts. But here I was, demanding to be left alone and about to jump into a pack of twelve large predators. That's more mouths to avoid than the alligators'.
I knew I was being stupid. As a Ravenclaw, I quickly recognised stupidity when I saw it and up until now, I'd always strived to avoid it. But that had handicapped me. Stupidity and courage were very often connected and so I'd associated them together, leaving me in a place far from both and turning into a coward. I refused to do that anymore, be that anymore! I volunteered to help Seamus last night because I wanted to learn to be brave, to help the others, everyone in every way I could. And I still froze up at the gator fiasco. The idea of dealing with such danger, and without my magic, left me too scared to help my friends when they really needed it. I couldn't let that happen again, especially tonight. I had to get over my hindrance and if that meant doing something stupid, then for once in my life I was going to do something stupid.
"Anthony, you don't have-"
"Yes, I do." I interrupted, staring hard for a moment as Seamus tried to pull me down.
"You don't have to prove yourself to us you know." He tried again, getting nods from Ginny, Neville and Ernie.
"Even if that's true, I need to prove something to myself." I shook my head, getting a sigh as he slowly, reluctantly, let go of me. He is a Gryffindor. Most of the others were. They knew what I meant. Like I said before, this was an act of their nature.
"I'm covering you." Seamus declared, pulling out his wand as he motioned for Ginny and Luna to get a good distance away.
"And that's final!" Neville added before I could complain as Ernie nodded firmly, both of them and Hermione pulling their wands out too.
"Alright." I sighed, conceding defeat. It's not like anything I'd say would change their minds anyway, this was as good as I was going to get. So, I just took a deep breath and sat down on the high fence with my feet dangling into the habitat, ready to drop in.
"Don't stare directly into their eyes." Cassie warned me right before I pushed off, calling down as I dropped on all fours ten feet below. "That's seen as an aggressive challenge, it'll only make things more difficult."
"Got-whoa!" I cried, breaking off my sentence as a black, brown and white blur leapt right at me from some tall grass. It was only due to me noticing at a couple seconds before it leapt that I managed to drop and roll out of its way, but it still ripping right through my sleeve and produce a bloody wound on my arm. That stung like hell.
"Anthony!"
"Protego!" I cried instinctively in response. The act saved my life, for at that moment, two more wolves I'd missed followed their friend, both aiming for my neck and torso. Fortunately, my spell was strong enough to result in them bouncing back, but what was amazing was that it broke in the process. It would have had me gaping if my adrenaline and fear for my life hadn't kicked in, the kind of physical forced they'd have to have, even if it took two of them to do it, was pretty impressive.
Seeing all three were already back up and moving in on me again, I threw myself back to my feet and leaned against the habitat wall, instinctively trying to limit their attack angles, but I knew even as I did it that it wouldn't help much, nor would the recast shield spell. These three were fast, stronger than I expected and were moving in a well practiced pattern. I could barely keep up with their movements. And to make it worse, the other nine members of the pack had noticed the commotion.
"Don't worry about them, we've got them." Neville called down. He must of seen me look or heard me gulp, but I didn't care, I was just happy to see flashes of light flying over my head in quick succession, quickly immobilising the rest of the pack and leaving me with only the three attacking me. which was good because I had to run constantly from them, putting up a new shield spell every few seconds.
"Note to self, never be this stupid again unless lives depend on it." I cried, gasping as one painted wolf slammed into my shield while another ran around me, cutting me off before pouncing right for my throat.
"AAHH!" Relying solely on instinct, I dropped to my knees and ducked my head, limiting the damage only to a scratch on my left shoulder blade, but that left the painted wolf free to crash with the inside of my shield and rebound, destroying it as it fell crashed into my side and knocked me down, one of its claws digging into my arm.
"AARRGGHH!" Screaming in pain, my reflexes tried to kick in and knock it away, but I had to fight the urge down. It would only get up and be back on top of me in a much better position and with its friends not two seconds later. So instead, I fought to ignore the pain and did the smart thing; grabbed it with my left hand and concentrated on its form while simultaneously raising my injured arm to point my wand at other set to strike, praying that multitasking and the waves of pain going up my arm wouldn't weaken the effects of either action. "Immobulus!"
The sheer joy I felt a few seconds later almost made me forget the pain coursing up my arm as a white, lightning fast flash burst from my wand and struck both wolves, their bodies relaxing from their crouch forms before slowly falling to the ground, stunned looks covering their faces, their jaws sagging open. At the same time, I felt a warm tingling sensation in my hand and the third wolf relaxing, letting me know that I was succeeding in acquiring him.
"I got it. Can someone help me out now?" I called up to the others haggardly. I suddenly felt very exhausted, a sign that the adrenaline had run its course. My bed sounded like paradise right now.
"I got you pal." Ernie called down, already pointing his wand at me. The next thing I knew, I was already halfway up and out of the habitat, the painted wolf that I'd been partially under flopping into the dirt below me.
"Thank you." I said gratefully as he set me down at their feet, letting myself settle in into a sitting position and leaning back against the wall as I caught my breath. Well, stupid thing done, though I wasn't sure if it qualified as brave. But at that moment I didn't care. I felt more assured that I could do it again at Azkaban. After all, how much worse could Dementors be to an animal? I knew the answer to that was terrifying though, so I stopped myself before my brain would dig it up.
I was barely there for a second before a panicked Cassie had jumped me and the next thing I knew, my robes had pooled behind my back and she was inspecting my very sore arm.
"How many places were you hurt?" She asked immediately, the others crowding around as she moved to the buttons of my shirt and pulled me forward, removing the fabric before I even registered it again and checking the wound on my shoulder blade.
"Ok, just so my pants don't disappear too, there are no injuries on my legs." I muttered, flushing embarrassedly. It was really disconcerting being stripped by a girl in public, especially since I wasn't used to anyone outside my dorm mates ever being present when I wasn't fully dressed.
"We need to get them dealt with quickly, or they're going to get infected." Cassie stated, turning up to Harry, the nearest person to her. "Can you find me some clear water?"
/Cassie? He's a wizard and he'll be morphing before this night is over./ Jake said calmly, startling everyone around me as what sounded like hooves hitting the ground followed his voice. /They'll heal up good as new, you don't need to panic./
"Oh, right." She smiled sheepishly, giving me so space. "Sorry, I got carried away."
"No problem." I grunted, pointing my wand to my injured arm with my land hand. "Episkey! Tergeo!" The spells made quick work, the gash on my arm sealing almost completely and the freed blood removing itself from my skin. Sighing in relief, I switched hands and placed the tip of my wand to my shoulder blade and then to the small slash on my other arm, repeating the process and getting perfectly healed results. I didn't know how to repair my clothes, but Padma had a passion for clothes designing, she could fix them good as new when I got back to school, so I just shrugged them hastily back on before looking up to a weird, disturbing and intriguing sight.
"That only makes this morphing thing weirder." Ron muttered, getting a grunt of agreement from Seamus as they watched Ax and Jake demorph. It was weird because we still couldn't see any part of them that was Thestral, so the human parts of them, like Jake's hand and ears and Ax' tail and humanoid torso, seemed to be floating around in mid air, drawing closer to each other as more body parts appeared in between or around them.
"But why are you down here?" Harry asked, looking over the area warily. "What about the guards?"
/They are far from this location. We have plenty of time to return to our true forms and morph again./ Ax answered calmly.
"But why would you need to?" Hermione asked with a frown. "Does the transformation only last for a certain time period?"
"Are you kidding me?" Marco cried, turning back and forth from the slowly reappearing duo to the very wide eyed and sheepish Cassie. "You guys gave them the power to morph and you didn't think to warn them of the two hour danger?"
"The what?" Ron and Harry asked together, the former growing panicked and the latter indignant. Hermione just raise an expectant eyebrow.
"Two hour time limit." Rachel told them, rolling her eyes along with Marco at their friends. "If you aren't back to your true form before the two hour mark you get stuck in that morph forever. And bear in mind that it takes a few minutes to change back so keep track of the time."
"Well, that would have been nice to know." Hermione stated crossly, glaring at Jake and Ax as the finished morphing. "That could have caused a disaster."
"We would have remembered to tell you before that would happen, I promise." Jake said quickly, turning to Her, Harry and Ron apologetically. "Along with a few other things Neville and the others already know that we'll explain along the way."
"You do that." Harry sighed frustratedly. "The last thing we need is to get our butts kicked due to a lack of information of our own power."
"And speaking of power and on the way, I think it's time we got back to business." Neville exclaimed, looking over everyone for any sign of argument. "Most of us have played with the acquiring power and smaller animals now and Anthony has hopefully gotten the need to act like a rash Gryffindor out of his system, so I say we speed this up now and get the morphs we actually need."
'Thank you!" Marco cheered, throwing his head back dramatically as I blushed again. Jake, Rachel and Cassie just showed a mixed reaction of annoyance and amusement at his outburst. The rest of us however, turned much more serious.
"Ok. So where do we go?" Ginny asked, turning once again to Cassie while Jake and Ax relaxed their bodies and Rachel and Marco started morphing Thestrals to replace them, a decision that seemed to have been made without words. I could understand why though. I watched as they changed back and forth and had noticed that they were growing more and more tired each time they returned to human. It was pretty clear that morphing tires you out, which, when you stop to think about it, made perfect sense. It would take a lot of energy to transform your entire biological structure without the aid of magic. The morphing power must add more power to it though, because even I know that the human body doesn't have enough non-magical energy to make that kind of change on its own, let alone enough to do it and keep moving around.
"All the mountainous exhibits are out that way, towards the back of the zoo." Jake answered for her, pointing far down a wide path. "Behind them are only the large habitats, for creatures that need a lot of space, like rhinos."
"Then we're heading that way." Seamus decided, already marching down the path. The rest of us had to run to catch up as I assumed Rachel and Marco took to the air.
...
Admittedly, we got sidetracked a couple of times on the way, but Jake and the others were relatively ok with it. Seamus found a South American predator he really liked and decided that he wanted to use it. Cassie called it maned wolf. It didn't look much like a wolf, more like a much bigger, more dangerous version of a fox, probably why Seamus liked it so much. a little further along, Ernie wanted to stop to acquire a chimpanzee. They're smaller than Marco's gorilla, but far more agile and manoeuvrable and were still five times stronger than a human. Plus, with its body shape, it could provide more help to the escaping prisoners. Needless to say that Ernie found his morph for Azkaban.
Besides, it still didn't take all that long to reach the mountain exhibits.
"Here's a good one." Cassie beamed, stopping by one of the smaller mountain habitats. Stopping beside her, the rest of us peered over it, but it was so dark that I couldn't even see what we were looking for.
"Is this one even inhabited?" Ron grunted, scrunching up his face and looking around again before turning to Cassie with firmly placed disbelief. "There is nothing in there."
"Yes there is. Look right there and focus." Cassie shook her head before pointing up onto the rocks about midway up the rocky cliff face. Following her finger as best I could, I squinted hard and looked for even the slightest detail and I still almost missed it.
After almost a minute of searching, I finally got a clue as a small tail twitched. Focusing on it, I finally managed to trail me eyes over it. It was dark furred and much smaller than I was expecting, making it almost impossible to make out at night. It looked like there were two up there, each looking about as long as my leg, from foot to hip, and looked bulkier than you'd expect for its size.
"What are they?" I asked curiously, trying to examine them more. They didn't look like the dangerous kinds of creatures that we'd need tonight, but if Cassie thought they were a good choice then they were probably hiding something amazing. Plenty of small magical creatures did after all, so why would the non-magical ones be any different?
"Wolverines."
"You mean like Wolverine the X Man?" Jake asked, staring in with renewed vigour. Hermione rolled her eyes and Harry and Seamus snorted. The others all looked completely lost, so I was happy to know that I wasn't the only one. Though that did sound familiar. I think Terry and I saw something about it on the TV.
"Get a grip Jake. We are not going to find any humans with supernatural regeneration abilities and metal claws popping out of their hands here. That doesn't actually exist. As far as I know." Harry smirked, turning questioningly to the rest of us, but nodding in satisfaction as our expressions gave her the answer he was looking for. "Yep, I know."
"But the creature is ferocious. And incredibly strong for its size." Cassie smiled slightly as Jake rubbed his head. "They're even courageous enough to take on bears of all kinds and be a challenge for them. There was even a report of when one managed to not only survive the confrontation, but actually succeeded in killing a polar bear. Just the once, but it's still pretty impressive. It's speed and size make it a hard target to hit too."
"A mighty midget? Weird." Jake said, cocking his head at it again before turning to us. "So is anyone gonna try it out?"
"I've already got my chimpanzee morph. I'm good for tonight." Ernie shook his head before waving his arms out to the rest of us. "One of you guys take it."
"I am happy with the alligator. I wish to use it tonight." Luna announced, stepping back beside Ernie.
"There's no point in one of us taking it either." Harry stated, pointing to Ron and Hermione. "We don't need any more morphs for tonight, so you guys just get what you need and we'll come back for more morphs later. We can come back any time and this should speed us up a little."
"So that leaves Neville, Ginny, Seamus and Anthony. Who's it going to be guys?" Jake asked, looking at us pointedly.
Exchanging looks with the Gryffindors, I could tell that none of them were all that keen on it. Being the charge in wands blazing types that they are, they were all probably thinking of using bigger forms with a little more weight to throw around. Looking up at the wolverine, it was obvious that it wasn't what they'd ever call a big gun. It was small and, now that that the moonlight was on it, looked a lot like a toy bear crossed with a weasel, which I later found out that was actually part of the weasel family. It seemed kind of silly that it was expected to do anything truly amazing in a fight at Azkaban. Kind of like me.
"I'll take it." I announced, surprising the Gryffindors. And, though they tried to hide it, brought upon a little relief at not having to take it on themselves. Cassie on the other hand, smiled proudly.
/I shall assist you in separating the wolverines./ Ax volunteered, taking a few steps back in preparation to jump over the high brick wall. Nodding thankfully, having no desire for a repeat of the painted wolves scenario with the super powered small fries, I pushed myself onto the wall and dropped to ground well below on the other side just as Ax made it over, landing gracefully in the dirt.
"Ginny, Luna, get back! Wands at the ready people." Harry called as six wands appeared over my head. Taking a few steps forward, I looked back a little to give the others a thankful smile. Knowing that there were six wands backing us up and Ax was right by my side made me feel a lot calmer this time than I was before.
/They do not seem to have noticed our presence yet./ Ax commented as we crept slowly close, only getting a nod from me in response as I dug out my own wand. If these animals were as vicious as Cassie claimed, then I didn't want to risk startling them before we were ready, no matter how many weapons we had trained on them. Only Cassie knew just how fast and resourceful they were and unfortunately, she wasn't one of the armed allies.
It wasn't until we started climbing the rocks that they even raised their heads. Or rather, I climbed while Ax carefully jumped up a couple of flat surfaces before he could go no further. Fortunately, I didn't need him to. The second they registered we were there, their mouths were opened into terrifying snarls and released a hiss before charging right at us.
Startled by their sudden and amazing speed as they approached, I couldn't even get my wand levelled with them before they were right on top of us. Fortunately, Ax was much more prepared. Despite the danger I was in, I found that I could do nothing but stop and admire as Ax' tail lashed out with FWAP faster than the eye could see, effectively blocking the wolverines' way before a second swipe knocked one right down to the ground before it even knew what had happened.
Unfortunately, the other had avoided the first strike so well that it was out of Ax' range and the second its paws had touched the rocks, it twisted around and launched itself right at me, crashing hard into my stomach.
Coughing and spluttering, well winded along with everything else, I crashed hard into the rocks before my momentum sent me and my attacker rolling right off and to the ground. I knew Cassie hadn't kidded about its strength, though much smaller, it was almost as strong as the painted wolf. I was only lucky that our roll and fall, along with my baggy robes, had stopped it from sinking its teeth into me yet. That and that the others had responded so wonderfully.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Before either my assailant or the other, recovered weasel could attack again, the duo voices simultaneously casting the spell levitated both of the helplessly into the air.
"Thanks guys." Wheezing as I tried to regain control of my breathing, I accepted the help Ax provide with his tail and arms to stand up before slowly placing my hand on the exposed, defenceless back of the one that struck me and concentrated, closing my eyes to better picture the creature in my head and smiling as I felt the warm, tingling sensation of DNA absorption again, though this animal was the one out of ten that stayed aware. I wasn't surprised, it was a pretty focused little predator. Beside me, Ax took a step closer to the other, studying it intently.
/These creatures are certainly very stocky. Their muscle development is quite extraordinary for their small stature, a very rare sight. I believe it might come in handy./ Reaching out, he acquired the other one himself.
"Ok, we got it." I called up, satisfied when my voice came out normal again, though I flinched when a scrape by my jaw complained about the movement.
"Then one magical pick up coming right up." Seamus called back as he and Hermione pointed their wands at us and Harry and Neville pointed theirs back down, resulting in us rising while the wolverines returned to the ground.
"Ok, on to the next habitat." Ginny said merrily, probably not seeing my injuries from a distance as she practically ran to a much larger habitat two walls away from the Wolverines with Luna in tow. The others, particularly Cassie and Ernie, waited a moment to scan me over quickly, but I simply grinned and walked ahead, silently assuring them that it was just a few scrapes.
"I found what I want, but I think it'll be a good idea to stop it from moving first." Ginny informed us as she waved proudly into the habitat looking in, I was startled to find what looked like a small lion glaring at me from a tree branch. With the moonlight reflecting in its eyes and its jaw opened and pointing its deadly fangs our way, it looked scary enough to send shivers down my spine.
"Is that a lion?" Ron gaped, looking a cross between scared, awed and indignant. "Aren't they feeding it right? Look how small it is! And what happened to its mane? Lions are always supposed to have a mane."
"Unless it's female like this one." Hermione stated, shaking her head. "According to the stand over here, her name is Sheba. And she's a cougar, also known as a mountain lion, not a real lion."
"Oh." He mumbled, going red around the ears and refusing to take his eyes off the big cat.
"Cougars are the largest of the small cats and are amongst the greatest terrestrial mammals of the Western Hemisphere due to their power, speed and most importantly, their adaptability. It is a very good choice." Cassie informed us.
"Great, then Luna and I will clear off for a minute and one of you freeze it in place, preferably on the ground."
"You guys rely far too much on magic." Jake muttered under his breath, not planning on being heard. I only got it because he moved close to me when Ginny started moving people out of the way. Though, I had to concede to the point. He wasn't wrong. There were even some wizards and witches out there that used magic to do things as simple as tying their shoe laces. And, excluding the alligators scenario, we'd used it constantly here tonight with the animals. The Animorphs had always done this without magic.
It makes you wonder which is actually the greater side of the human race. Those of us who can do extraordinary things or those who have learned to survive without the aid of magic.
The others didn't care even if they heard and Harry was already dropping into the habitat. Ginny got her wish, the cougar was quick to drop to the ground as he approached, slinking around him.
"Impedimenta!" Harry's wand whipped out right as it lowered itself on its haunches, the flare of fight light hitting it dead centre before it could figure out that it was being attacked and freezing it as if time had stopped. He made it look easy. There was no way that I could have done it so well, that cat was already showing signs of speed and grace beyond my level.
"Got it. Be quick Gin." Seamus called over his shoulder, instantly setting Ginny into motion. Running right back, she swung herself into the habitat, strode straight up to the cougar and placed her hand on its head, acquiring it.
/Marco, we will be in need of assistance retrieving Ginny./ Ax called up as she finished, keeping her hand in place to keep the cat calm. The jinx would have worn off by now.
/Alright, Air Marco is coming in for a landing. All aboard./ Marco called dramatically as a flapping sound like sheets passed over my head. He must have landed pretty quickly, for Harry was already grabbing Ginny and pushing her up onto something invisible before following after her. By the time the cougar snapped out of it, they both seemed to be sitting funny on thin air and moving fast, first horizontally and then vertically up to us.
/Thank you for flying and goodnight./ Marco chirped as they came down close to us, Harry and Ginny jumping right off. /Oh and by the way, you have about twenty minutes, give or take five, before four guards make it to this area./ He added as we were met by a clopping, a flap and a gust of wind, indicating that he was taking off again. /Might wanna get a move on./
"Well then, good thing only Neville and Seamus still need a morph for tonight." Jake shrugged. "We'll be done in plenty of time."
"Then how about we go for the mountain goats?"Cassie asked, pointing to a round exhibit with the largest pile of rocks. It was as big as a two story building. And on it and all around it were large white furred animals. They had horns on their heads and a kind of similar body structure I guess, but I couldn't stop myself from frowning at the name, a sentiment that Neville and Ernie seemed to share as they exchanged unsure looks. These things didn't look much like goats.
"So what are these things like?" Seamus asked, tilting his head curiously. I think he kind of liked them.
"They're herbivores and pretty gentle most of the time." Cassie answered, watching them sleep affectionately. "But they are good and strong and their feet make them capable of dangerous, rocky areas that even the mountain cats can't handle. They're pretty quick at rock climbing too. It'd be an easy animal to acquire and plenty strong to use. As long as they're not aggravated." She added softly.
"Then I'll give it a shot." Seamus grinned, climbing in merrily. Taking care to keep his approach silent with an ease that came from plenty of practice, he crept right up to the nearest one on the ground and kneeled down before it before it even noticed he was there. It must have smelled him or something at the point, for as he slowly reached out to touch it, it sluggishly raised its head, unafraid, to meet his hand and stopped there as Seamus closed his eyes.
"Thanks bud." He muttered a moment later, rubbing its head affectionately before heading back to us with a huge smile on his face. Jumping up and latching on to Ernie and Harry's outstretched hands, he kicked up off the wall, helping them pull him back out and beamed at us excitedly. "You should see those guys up close. Their muscles are huge and their fur's really thick and rough."
"They do live in snowy mountains." Cassie laughed while Neville, Ginny, Jake and I smiled at his enthusiasm. It was pretty contagious, soon we were all chuckling away as we walked on, passing the rocky terrains and entering larger landscapes. After all the stress that had come from tonight, learning about the Yeerks, the battle with the Slytherins, the worry that was Blaise Zabini, almost getting killed by multiple animals and the constant, nagging fear of what would happen at Azkaban, it was felt great to have a good laugh and let go, if only for a few minutes.
"So, I still need a morph all my own for tonight and then we're done." Neville said as we calmed down, looking around at the particularly large species surrounding us. Most of them were all around the size and shape of horses. Wildebeests were too our left, tall giraffes were ahead of us in the distance, along with rhinoceros' and elephants and to our right was a sign directing us towards lions, bears and buffalo. Staring at each of them, Neville let a rare smirk cross his face. It was safe for me to say that he liked the implications around him. "So, since we've found the big guns anyway, how about I acquire something really powerful? You know, someone will need to keep the path to the exit clear after all."
"Fair enough." Jake shrugged, looking around at what was available. "But we'll already have someone using the rhino and elephant, so for the sake of our Animagus ploy, you better get something else. Something no one else has."
"I know something." Cassie claimed, making a beeline toward the buffalo area, forcing the rest of us to pick up the pace to follow. She led us past three species of oversized cows before she came to a halt in front of a very...interesting creature.
"What is that?" Ron asked, staring at it with unrestrained disgust. Well, to be fair, it wasn't going to win any beauty contests, but the level of revulsion Ron was displaying was a bit much.
They were taller than I was and looked to be about ten feet long. They were covered in dark fur, black or brown, I couldn't tell in the moonlight and their bodies carried serious bulk. Their heads were huge and looked like they could be used as battering rams, bearing a triangular shape and carrying two, two foot long horns. All in all, I'd say it would be quite the dangerous opponent.
"It's an American bison." Cassie said calmly, completely unperturbed by Ron's attitude. "It's one of the three most dangerous animals in all of North America, right up there with the Grizzly bear. Extremely powerful and deadly from both the front and back. If you want a big gun, they don't get much bigger."
"And there's one sleeping real close." Harry added, pointing down. Following his gaze, Ernie snorted in amusement.
"No kidding. Neville, we'll hold you by your feet. You won't even have to touch the ground." He smiled as the rest of us looked down. Sure enough, one bison was sleeping right against the wall.
"Great. Just one tweak to the plan." Neville said shortly before taking a seat on the ground and taking off his shoes and socks.
"Um, Nev?" Hermione asked, tilting her head inquisitively.
"I don't wanna go upside down and any part of my skin can absorb DNA, right?" He asked, turning to Ax hopefully. It was understandable of course, who wanted to go face a beast that dangerous hanging upside down? He could get a horn right through his head if even the slightest thing went wrong.
/Correct. Any bare flesh can be used to acquire an animal's DNA./ Ax nodded, a strange sight as his stalk eyes remain exactly where they are the whole time his head is bobbing.
"So you will hold me by my hands and I will acquire it with my feet." Neville stated, making sure the still grinning Ernie and Seamus got the message.
"Oh sure, take the fun out of it." Seamus whined, though it failed to have any affect as he just kept on smiling as he latched on firmly to one of Neville's arms, Ernie grabbing the other, and helping him up and over the barrier. Neville glared at him in response, but said nothing as he was lowered slowly down. Keen for the DNA or not, he was still afraid of the creature's possible attack should it awaken and had even taken to breathing very slowly as he descended.
Both boys holding him ended up arching over the wall as they lowered him and had to stop for fear of all three of them falling in by the time Neville got close. And that was a problem because he was still a couple inches too high up. Man, they made that wall big!
"Hmm, maybe this wasn't the best plan." Ernie muttered, frowning hard and grunting as the cement dug into his stomach.
"So what now? Drop him and hope for the best?" Seamus looked a little too hopeful as he let that out with a grunt, getting angry looks from Ernie and all the other Gryffindors. "Ok, ok, blimey, it was just a suggestion. This isn't comfortable you know."
"There is one other option." Harry said in that way he talked when he was calling for everyone's attention. "Lengthen the chains."
"What does-wh-mmff!" Seamus cried as Ron, Ginny, Harry and I grabbed him and Ernie and slowly guided them further over the edge, Luna smothering Seamus' shout with her hand before he could wake up the bison while Ernie merely sucked in a deep breath. Both of them ended up their entire torsos over the other side while we held them firmly in place.
The added drop proved to be just enough for Neville. Though he still could barely do it, he did manage to touch the bison's shoulder with his big toe and scrunched up his face hard in concentration, obviously hoping that the bison didn't notice or would fall into a trance if it did. Personally, I just hoped he was acquiring the DNA touching his toe and making this human chain thing worth it, not the DNA touching his hands.
"Hehe, haha." Seamus and tensed in my arms as Neville started snickering.
"Nev, stop it! You're gonna shake right out of our grip!" Ernie hissed forcefully, but quietly, trying to tighten his grip while the rest of us holding them looked down, growing more scared as Neville twisted around.
"I can't help it, its fur and the tingling is tickling my toe." He snickered, biting down on his lip to keep from laughing for a few more seconds before pulling his foot up. "Ok, I got it, pull me up."
Moving my arms up around Seamus' chest while Ginny tightened her gip on his legs, we pulled him back, grunting at the effort and forcing Seamus to stop squirming as his body rubbed against the rough concrete while Harry and Ron did the same with Ernie. As soon as they had their feet on the ground again, we let go and Harry and Ginny moved to grab Neville's arms, helping them pull him up.
"Well, that was fun. Can we get the hell out of here now?" Seamus pouted as he raised his shirt and rubbed red belly tenderly.
/I hope so./ A voice I hadn't heard in a while called cheerfully.
"Who was that?" Hermione asked, quickly growing little worried and curious. It took me a few seconds to remember that they hadn't be introduced yet.
/I'm the bird boy, Tobias. A long story that I doubt anyone's told you yet./ Tobias replied happily as he swooped down out of nowhere, eliciting a scream from Ron and jumps from the rest of us as he rested on Cassie's shoulder. /And I have come bearing the news that Erek's buddy has got access to a really big boat in the harbour and is getting it ready to take out as we speak./
"Perfect. The let's get this show on the road." Jake grinned before turning serious again. Looks like it's back to business. "Harry, why don't you take Tobias and whoever you need to Ollivanders, grab the wands and meet us at the harbour? With your teleporting trick, the separation should really speed things up."
"Alright. Seamus, Ernie, why don't you come with?" Harry asked as the Golden Trio gathered close together.
"Go and rob an abandoned shop in the name of freedom and rebellion? Why not?" Seamus shrugged as Ernie nodded.
/So I'll lead them to you when they're done?/ Tobias said more than asked, flapping his way over to Ernie.
"That's the plan. You can give them your story while you're at it." Jake nodded as his form began to disfigure. Ax and Cassie followed suit while thumping and clip clopping announced the landing of Rachel and Marco. Within minutes, Luna, Neville, Ginny and I were on the backs of Thestrals, about to take off into the air.
"See you soon." Luna waved as we took off into the sky once more. Heading towards the harbour, I tightened my hold on Marco's mane and kept my eyes closed the whole way. flying was amazing, but I would really like it if I could see what was making me fly.
Although, it did provide a distraction, one that I needed right now. See, by the time we got to the harbour, Harry's group would most likely have the wands and we'd be on our way to Azkaban. And no one sane, no matter what the reason, wouldn't ever be anything short of terrified at the idea of going to that place.
AN: Hope everyone got a few grins out of this one. I sure did writing it.
Now, on to answering some curious questions.
Novanto, nah, they can't acquire Dementors in this story. Dementors are soulless non-beings, they aren't born. It's why they can't be destroyed, they're not alive to begin with and therefore have no living DNA. Apparently they're created from depression and despair itself.
Pecan Crisp, interesting question. Basically the way I see it is that if the Yeerk has seen Death, they can see a Thestral, but if the host hasn't seen death, then they still can't. Even if the Yeerk saw death through someone's eyes, they did still technically see it, so it counts in my book. But the host still hasn't seen death, so I guess a number of hosts are gonna deem their Yeerk delusional