Chapter 16 : At The Edge Of The Forest

Albus felt as though he was being showered with ice. The very hair on his skin was standing up; he had never been so terrified in his life. Ares was standing right in front of him, scratching his chin, apparently deep in thought. Darvy still had his hands on his shoulder. He tried making eye contact with Scorpius, who was also frozen in fear, but it was to no avail. His eyes were tightly jammed shut, as if hoping he were still sleeping.

"You said they know everything?" Ares repeated in his gruff voice.

Darvy nodded. "What are we going to do?"

"Keep them here. Do not let them so much as twitch. Let me sort this out" Ares said, and he turned his back on them and walked back towards the group of masked figures. Albus watched as the fire in the center of the Forest seemingly extinguished itself. Ares had not even muttered an incantation.

Darvy removed his hands from Albus shoulders and turned to face the both of them, then removed his wand from his robes and held it at them threateningly. Albus recoiled; he felt his own two feet back up a few steps.

"Stay right there!" Darvy barked, and Albus stopped mid-step, his mind racing.

How are we going to get out of here? he thought hopelessly. And how had this happened? Darvy...was betraying them?

Everything seemed to click in his head. Darvy had not been spying on Ares in the Forest all year, Neville had had it quite wrong. He was joining him. And he had made Albus promise he wouldn't tell his father about Ares and the Forest, not because Ares was doing something good, but the complete opposite. And he had fallen right for it.

"We have... a slight problem" he heard Ares say from what sounded like a million miles away; he had been lost in his own thoughts. Snapping back into reality, he somehow managed to ignore the wand pointed at him and saw that Ares was now standing with his hands on his hips, the cloaked figures just a few feet away from him, moving around nervously in what was now a semi-circle. "It appears as though our whereabouts have been discovered by some students, nothing to be concerned of."

"That's Potter's son!" one of the hooded figures yelled out, and Albus thought that he recognized the voice as the oily Rookwood's. "That's the Potter boy!"

Cries of anger and fear flew through the crowd as they all began yelling. "Kill him!" one of them shouted, and Albus felt his body freeze up, though he was sweating quite a bit.

"No!" Ares barked out, and he whipped his wand out from under his cloak. In the split second that it was illuminated from the glow of the moon, Albus saw it glimmer and knew at once that Ares had not been bluffing, and that he had been right. Though he had never seen a picture of it, he somehow knew that it was the Dragonfang Wand. "We will do no such thing!" he yelled.

The cloaked figures stopped yelling, though continued muttering in fear. One of them emerged from within the group. "I will not be put in Azkaban!" he yelled, and he charged forward, removing his wand from his robes.

Albus closed his eyes, then heard Scorpius yell-

BANG!

Albus opened his eyes and the saw the man had been knocked backwards off of his feet. Ares had the wand pointed directly where the man had been standing moments before.

"Yes, that will keep us all from Azkaban, kill Potter's son!" Ares snarled. The crowd fell silent. Darvy was looking back over his shoulder, watching, though his wand was still pointed at he and Scorpius...

If only he could somehow wrestle the wand away from him. Then they would have a sliver of a chance of escaping. But backing up earlier had cost him his chance. He was much too far to lunge at Darvy without risking a spell to the face. Scorpius, however, was quite close.

"Scorpius" he muttered under his breath. "Scorpius" he repeated when his friend made no indication of having heard him. But he couldn't capture his attention. Scorpius was standing still, teeth chattering, and Albus didn't dare speak louder in fear that Darvy would hear them.

"Now I understand we are all frightened!" Ares said, which Albus thought was a bit of an understatement. Some of the cloaked figures were shivering just as much as Scorpius. "But I have a plan! Stay calm. We are going to wipe their memories and send them back to the castle!"

"Memory charms can be broken!" someone called out, and there was a murmur of agreement.

Ares sighed. "Now really Markson, you think I don't know that? Are you forgetting what wand I'll be using? I can assure you, no spell will break though this memory charm..."

Albus became even more frightened, if it were possible. He refused to have his memory wiped. He was at least going to put up a fight, he had decided on that much. Darvy was still looking over his shoulder, his wand dangling casually from his fingers...

"Scorpius" Albus muttered, louder than the previous two times. It worked; it caught his attention. And Darvy's. They both turned to look at him. He needed to find a way to get the message across without giving Darvy a warning...

"Scorpius, go to your room" he said.

Scorpius raised his eyebrows, as did Darvy. "His room?" Darvy snapped. "What rubbish is-"

He never got to finish the sentence. In one quick sweeping motion, Scorpius had cocked his leg back and kicked Darvy right in the groin. He let out a yell so loud that the cloaked figures and Ares stopped talking to look at him. Albus watched as he fell to the floor, dropping his wand to grab his privates in pain.

He dove for it. Snatching up Darvy's wand from the ground and stepping over his shrieking body, he took aim at no one in particular. He thought he heard a door slam somewhere off in the distance, but thought nothing of it. "Run!" he said to Scorpius. "Expelliarmus" he cried, waving the wand wildly, and to his complete shock, the spell hit one of the cloaked figures, knocking them off of their feet.

"Get him!" they yelled in unison, and quite suddenly all fifty of them had their wands drawn.

"No!" Ares exclaimed, waving his hands in an attempt to keep order.

It was to no avail however. The masked figures, terrified at the thought of Albus telling his father of their operations, had no intention of letting him leave it seemed. They all lunged, ignoring Ares frantic yells of "STOP! STOP!"

"Incarcerous!" one of them shouted, and thick ropes burst from the tip of his wand. Albus ducked just in time, though from the sound of the yell just behind him, Scorpius hadn't been so lucky.

He turned and saw his friend on the ground, ropes wrapped tightly around him as he squirmed and shouted. "Scorpius!" he yelled, though there was no time to help him. A red spell had been fired at him. "Protego!" he cried, praying it worked.

Once more to his very great surprise, the spell was deflected at the last second, sending it right back at the figure who fired it, who promptly crumpled to the ground.

"Expelliarmus!" another one of them cried. Albus was not quick enough this time; the spell hit him right in the stomach. He was blasted to the ground, and he felt Darvy's wand fly from his fingers.

"No!" he gasped, the wind having been knocked out of him.

"HOW DARE YOU HURT HARRY POTTER'S SON!" he heard someone roar.

Albus rolled over in the dirt and saw Hagrid running into the Forest clearing. He quickly approached the man who had hit Albus and punched him square in the chest, giving a cry of outrage as he did so. His blow was so powerful that the man was thrown back across half of the clearing, colliding with a tree that split in half on impact. Had he not been convulsing, Albus would have thought him dead.

Hagrid gave another roar and began swiping at the group of cloaked figures, who were falling left and right. Soon, there were cries of "Stupefy!" and red beams of light were hitting Hagrid from all sides.

"No!" Albus gasped again.

He was worried for nothing however. The beams did so little that the men were better off kicking at his shins. Albus watched as Hagrid, still in full rage, grabbed a man in each of his massive hands, lifted them from the ground, and knocked their heads together before tossing them into the dirt.

"Kill!" someone shouted.

"No! Do not harm the gamekeeper!" Ares shouted. "Only stun him!"

One of the men who had thus far managed to avoid Hagrid's powerful swings took aim with his wand. "Avada Ke -"

"No!" Ares shouted once more, and he waved his wand viciously at him. Albus saw the man fall to the ground screaming in pain.

"Only seek to stun!" Ares repeated.

Albus could tell that Ares had lost control however. The men were now ignoring him, intent on fighting their way and fleeing. Their numbers had dwindled though. Albus counted ten men on the ground unconscious, and Hagrid was showing no signs of slowing down. He grabbed a man by his arm, twisted it until he heard a snap, and threw him into the air. Albus didn't see him come back down.

Hagrid turned and looked directly at him. "WHAT ARE YER WAITIN' FOR AL! GET YER FRIEND AND GET OUTTA' HERE!" he bellowed.

Albus didn't need to be told twice, he had spent way too much time watching the battle. He crawled towards one of the unconscious cloaked figures on the ground and picked up the wand that had been dropped next to him. He took a quick glance up and saw at least one of the wizards had some sense; he had abandoned his attempt to subdue Hagrid with spells and had jumped on his back, attempting to strangle him.

Hagrid gave yet another roar and flipped the man over onto the ground, then stepped on his stomach. The man gave a squeal and began shaking uncontrollably. From right behind him, someone had gotten off of the ground. Darvy was standing, hunched over in pain still, but he had his wand drawn. How he got it back Albus didn't know, but one glance at the murderous look on his face told him that he wasn't aiming to stun.

Albus watched as Darvy made complicated movements with his wand, muttering strange words as he did so. A jet of black flames emerged from the wand's tip and hit Hagrid square in the back. He gave a growl and fell to the floor in agony.

"Hagrid!" Albus yelled.

"Get...outta'...here!" Hagrid responded in between breaths. Red spells were still being fired at him, and now that he had been weakened, they were apparently taking their toll.

Albus crawled over to Scorpius, who was still squirming and shouting. He knew he didn't have long before the wizards started paying attention to them again. "Hold...still" he said, wrestling with the tied up Scorpius.

Scorpius did as he was told. Albus aimed his wand at where the ropes seemed thickest.

"Diffindo" he said. The severing charm worked. Within seconds, Scorpius had worked himself free.

"Go get help!" Albus told him.

"I'm on it!" Scorpius answered, and he took off, running through the clearing and jumping into the bushes.

Albus turned his attention back to Hagrid. He was miraculously standing again, though the constant stunners were finally starting to have an effect. He was swiping at them as hard as he could, giving inarticulate yells of rage as he did so, but Albus knew it was only a matter of time before they took him out of the battle permanently.

Ares was watching, horrified. He had stopped yelling for them to stop and was now pacing, unsure of how to handle the situation. Albus stared at him maliciously before turning back to Hagrid.

"Hold on Hagrid!" he yelled. "Expelliarmus! Expelliarmus! Expelliarmus!"

He watched as the wizards, caught off guard, had their wands knocked from their hands. Darvy had managed to keep a hold of his wand though. He fired a blue lethal looking spell at Albus, which he just barely managed to dodge by rolling out of the way. He thought that he heard a tree explode behind him.

"Expelliarmus!" he cried. Albus knew that using basic disarming spells showed just how unmatched he was, but it had worked well so far hadn't it?

Darvy sneered and deflected it casually. The maniacal grin that he usually wore had returned to his face, only its effect on Albus was now quite the opposite of what it usually was. It did nothing but terrify him now.

Darvy made more complicated motions with his wand, and Albus knew that if he didn't dodge this one as well he wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.

"Not so fast!" he heard someone say, and he turned and saw Neville and Professor Bellinger emerging from a dense clump of bushes into the clearing. Scorpius had evidently gotten them.

"Albus, return to the castle!" Neville said. "Your father is coming shortly!"

At this, the masked figures all gave yells of terror and dashed for the trees. The grin slid from Darvy's face. He fired a blue spell at Neville, who dodged and fired a yellow one back. Darvy deflected it with a casual flick just as he had done to Albus' and waved his wand once more. Twin fiery red spells flew from it. Professor Bellinger managed to deflect hers but Neville was thrown off his feet, clutching his ribs and screaming in pain.

Professor Bellinger aimed her wand at a large branch that had fallen to the ground in the ensuing chaos and flicked it. The branch sprang up from off the ground and was thrown at Darvy, who ducked. Two masked figures behind him were hit square in the face with it. She flicked her wand once more and the branch was set ablaze, and another sharp flick and it was hurled at the group of wizards who were still chipping away at Hagrid, who had fallen to the ground and was breathing heavily. They yelled as the branch came for them and ducked, then ran away with the rest of the group. All that remained standing now were two or three hooded masked wizards, Darvy, Professor Bellinger, Albus and Ares.

Albus turned his attention to Ares and saw that he had started to to run into the denser parts of the forest. He felt anger swell up inside of him. After causing all of this, he was going to flee? He ran after him.

"Albus no!" he heard Neville yell.

But it didn't matter, he refused to let Ares escape. He ignored the fact that Ares had an extremely powerful wand, and that he was an ex-Auror, and a much more accomplished wizard. He ignored the fact that he wasn't even using his own wand, and that there was no spell in his arsenal that could do any amount of damage. No, all that he thought about was that this night had started with him trying to have Ares thrown back in Azkaban, and that he would be damned if it didn't end that way as well...

He chased Ares so far into the Forest that he could barely hear the battle behind him. Ares was fast for a man his age, but Albus was quickly gaining ground. Once he realized he was being tailed Ares flicked his wand and a red beam of light nearly missed Albus by inches. He ran as fast as his legs could take him, ducking as another spell missed him narrowly.

"Come off of it boy!" Ares yelled back, jumping over a tree root and ducking to avoid a stray branch. Albus did the same, still in hot pursuit. His ribs were on fire from running so fast, but he refused to show even the slightest signs of slowing down.

"Don't make me hurt you Potter!" Ares spat, and another spell flew from him. Albus ducked just in time.

Albus decided it was time for him to take the offensive as well. He had momentarily forgotten the wand in his hand. "Impedimentia!" he cried, echoing the same words that Neville had used to slow down Hornsbrook and Eckley weeks ago.

Ares flicked his wand and a large bubble appeared from behind him, repelling the spell backwards with much more force and accuracy than a normal shield charm. Albus managed to dodge it, but the spell grazed his hand, knocking his wand from his fingertips.

He knew that he didn't have time to stop and pick it up; he was simply going to have to try and tackle him.

"You are defenseless!" Ares spat as he continued running. "Don't be foolish boy!"

Albus didn't bother replying, he wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was right. He ducked under a branch and narrowly tripped over a stone on the ground, but he could still see Ares through the light of the moon. And he was quickly losing him. Albus was afraid that he would soon lose sight of him...

"AARGH!"

Albus watched as a centaur emerged from the trees and stood on its hind legs, giving a horse likes squeal and kicking the unsuspecting Ares in the chest. Albus thought that he saw the shadow of a hoof print on the centaur's chest, and recognized it as the centaur that he'd talked to the previous year.

The centaur ignored him however, and marched right past them. Albus heard more centaurs galloping through the Forest as well, and he understood at once what was happening. They had heard the battle and were going to defend their Forest.

Albus stopped running and grabbed his chest, breathing heavily. He glanced up and saw Ares on the ground, groaning in pain. Just a few yard away was the Dragonfang Wand.

They both saw it at the same time. Albus dove for it just as Ares lunged as well. They collided, but Albus had been faster. His reflexes had improved exponentially from his Quidditch training, and despite being farther away, he had somehow managed to grab the wand a moment before Ares had gotten there. He felt their heads smack against each other, and felt Ares' hand scrape against his own in an attempt to wrestle the wand away from him.

Whether Ares got to touch it or not, Albus didn't know, but he had rolled over the second he knew that he had the wand. He stood up and aimed the wand directly at Ares, who was still on the floor. Albus watched as he glanced up, saw the wand aimed at him, and recoiled, almost childlike, against the back of a tree.

"No- no. P-p- please don't! Drop it!" he managed to stammer out.

Albus stood quite still, his heart pounding, desperately trying to catch his breath. He took a moment to survey his surroundings. He didn't know how far they were from the edge of the Forest, but the sounds of the battle and of the galloping centaurs were completely absent. They had instead been replaced by an eerie silence and the sounds of leaves rustling in the wind. And Ares' whimpering.

There was no sign of a trail of any sort. They had been running for what felt like ten minutes, and Albus doubted very much if even Hagrid had been this far into the Forest before. The trees were so massive that the moonlight barely squeezed through, Albus had to squint to see the man cowering twenty feet away from him.

He glanced at the wand in his outstretched hand. It was unnaturally long, a few inches longer than his own, and it was strangely thin as well. The wand itself was a magnificent shade of gold, which glimmered even in the small light of the moon, but the handle was most peculiar. It was shaped just like a fang, and it was so black that had Albus not felt it in his fingers, he wouldn't have known it was there.

It felt no different from his usual wand, he felt no warmth from it as he did with his own anyway, and there was certainly no sense of power in it. Nevertheless however, he knew that it was special. The wand felt no different, but he certainly did.

After he was done examining it he resumed pointing it at Ares, who was still cowering against the tree. "Please" he begged. "Please put that down. You have no idea...no idea."

"I have a pretty good idea!" Albus spat out, his grip tightening. "I think I'll see how well this thing works! See why it's so great you need to show it off to your little dark wizard pals!"

"No!" Ares shouted, and Albus had never seen someone look so terrified.

They waited for five minutes in silence, Albus still trying to decide what to do.

"Kill him"

Albus froze. That voice, where had it come from?

"What?" he said aloud, and Ares froze as well, eyeing both he and the wand in fear.

"Kill him. Kill him before he kills you."

Albus glanced down at the wand. The voice that he heard was so dark, so eerie, and yet, he was sure that he had heard it before. Somewhere...

"Don't be foolish, if Ares escapes there will be nothing holding him back, his cover is blown."

"What?" he repeated, confused. Where had he heard that voice before? Was the wand...talking to him?

"Don't listen to it!" Ares managed to spit out after a few moments. "Don't listen to the voice! Please, you don't understand it!"

"I couldn't" Albus said aloud, though he was not speaking to Ares, but the voice, wherever it was coming from.

"You could. You know the spell. And now you have the power to use it. Kill him and end this all!"

"DON'T LISTEN TO IT!" Ares shouted. Could he hear the voice as well?

"Shut up!" Albus spat at him. "Shut your mouth and stay still!"

He needed to think. He did not want to be a murderer. He could not, would not, murder someone, whatever the wand told him.

"He will seek revenge if he lives" the voice said. "Everything you know and love will pay if you don't kill him now, you know this."

"I- I don't-" but he didn't get to finish his sentence. He had heard footsteps. Albus turned, the wand still pointed at Ares. He peered his eyes into the the dense clump of bushes that he had chased Ares through. His father emerged from it.

"Dad?" Albus said.

His father was panting heavily; it was easy to see that he had been running. He took one glance at Ares, then another at Albus, and saw the wand in his hand. "Albus no!" he shouted. "Stupefy!"

Albus saw a flash of red light, then felt as though he had been punched in the stomach; hard. He felt the wand slip from his fingers as he fell to his knees, the sound of the eerie voice screaming something inaudible as he fell, and then his head hit the ground, and he drifted off into sweet unconsciousness.