A/N: Again sorry for such a late chapter! I think a writer's block has hit me. I mean I know what's gonna happen and how it happens but just don't know how to write it down! Some later chapters are nicely written up though!
So I've been tapping idly for a while and have started a LOTR and picked up on a Kingdom of Heaven fanfic. Both will go up at some point or another. I am NOT DROPPING this fanfic because I love it (and u guys) too much! xxx
ANYWAY! The beginning of this chapter takes place simultaneously with chapter 60 with maybe a few overlaps in time as the perspective changes throughout. I LOVE you all for your reviews!
---
THE DEAD CANNOT RISE
Lestrange sat hunched over, hidden in a man-sized hole that he had dug in the snow. Wrapped in his icy shelter, cold comfort wrapped Her chilled fingers over his skin. He imagined Her icicle sharp nails dipping into his warm blood, slowly bringing the temperature of his body down. He enjoyed it. Rejoiced in it. Even celebrated it.
Black and the Mudblood's appearance had caught him by surprise. He watched as they stood staring gormlessly at the carcass that he had been forced to drop.
Pity…
His masterpiece of fresh Centaur flesh and blood would no doubt have led the filthy werewolf beast straight into the trap and now it was wasted on the snow. Still there was something…oddly satisfying at seeing something pure be spoilt in such a way. It was irreversible; the snow would never be called a perfect white ever again, nor can it soften the harsh greys of winter any more. He could only liken this to the effect of the Dark Lord over the people; the Greatest Wizard of all time whose influence spread and stained leaving nothing but death, blood and fear in his wake!
A boastful pride filled the cavity in his chest. The Lord was a perfectionist and he had chosen him to join his league. It was in his search to create a perfect world that Muggles should be punished and taught their rightful place in the hierarchy. In his eyes they were no better than the house elves! Slaves, all of them!
He covered a devilish grin with a hand. Even now with a vital part of his plan in ruins the Slytherin was far from disappointed. He had Black right there! Ready to be punished along with a Mudblood! What more could he ask for? A large vial of the wicked potion lay in his hands, even without the blood of a fully transformed werewolf Snape had assured him of its potency. What perfect timing for him! He unclenched his gloved hand exposing the vial and he lovingly pressed his lips to it.
"My dearest Bella, I bet you wished that you were here to see this!" He wound his arm back ready to throw it at Black's feet but something held him back. The opportune moment had yet to come…let them feel fear…
---
Blood continued to drip and leak out of the corpse…a recent killing…within the hour…maybe minutes…or even seconds…the fine hairs on Sirius' neck rose…
Shit!
Sirius was by Lily's side in an instant. "We need to get out of here!" He grabbed her hand and began pulling her back up the hill even as alarms went off for all his senses-
They nearly had to climb on all fours to get back up. Sirius dragged Lily forcefully. The kill was fresh; the killer would not be far.
Not far at all.
His gut feeling knew it with an unquestionable certainty and Sirius believed in that gut feeling. Even now he knew that they were being watched.
Sirius was not one who believed in running but neither was he one for foolish heroics. He did however, believe in being prepared and prepared they were not; he knew nothing of the killer or indeed killers if there were more than one, they could be out numbered and outmatched, silently wiped off the Marauders' Map before he knew what hit them.
There was only one thing for certain that he did know; the killer was powerful or at least powerful enough to kill a Centaur. This did little to narrow a list of suspects for him. Voldemort could do it without so much as a thought; Death Eaters could do it given the determination and the right timing… Heck, even he could do it if he was well equipped, especially if he had been equipped with the curse that had ended the Centaur's life.
After a handful of seconds to gather his wits he was able to recognise what had killed the Centaur even if Lily didn't. He was a member of the Blacks after all and had seen his fair share of curses.
The question was why? Why would someone go out of their way to put their own lives at stake to kill a Centaur? What did he/she/they want to achieve? Sirius' first thought was that it was to mock Dumbledore. Voldemort wanted to show that he could kill right on his doorstep and leave the mess for the Headmaster to clean up. It was his way of saying 'Look at my power, next time the body will be one from within the school'. What a flag to wave under Dumbledore's nose, what a cruel threat to make…yet if this was Voldemort's intent why not brag openly about it?
Sirius would have, that is, if he were a sadistic, demoralised, hell-bent, bad wizard. Sometimes he wondered if Voldemort had a soul that was still intact, something had to be missing for who could take pleasure in gaining something at the cost of bloodshed?
Death Eaters.
Sirius was almost certain that Voldemort would not dapple even his corrupted hands in Centaur blood. This was the dirty work of a twisted lackey; one that wanted to appease his Master but could reach no further than the creatures of the Forbidden Forest. A rogue cannon maybe, unpredictable…dangerous.
He cast one last look at the corpse drowned in blood, left behind among the churned snow where they had floundered and panicked to climb up.
Death, by the entrail expelling curse.
Only when they were on the second hill and he could no longer see the corpse could he look away. He shuddered from a mixture of the cold and sickness that the heinous murder induced-
Movement in the air caught his eye. Had Quidditch not conditioned Sirius over years he may have missed the insignificant object that arched from apparently nowhere and shot straight for their heads.
He reacted instantaneously not overlooking it's potential as a threat. "Reducto!" The object exploded in mid flight before it could reach them. Powdery glass showered over them and misted snow caught in the spell fell like a blanket of fog. Both Sirius and Lily coughed but the fog dissipated within seconds. Lily took a deep breath to clear her lungs-
A pained cry from something Lily couldn't name, echoed in the courtyard causing them to freeze. Ghostly hands ran up her spine raising every last hair on her neck.
"What was that?" she whispered reaching for Sirius as it bayed again and developed into a ghoulish, low octave wail that easily raised goosebumps. A wounded beast?
"I don't know…"Sirius had an awful feeling that the sound came from behind them. He could hear it move and slump on the snow, the crunch much too close for comfort. Logic wrestled with the picture his senses had hastily pasted together. This cannot be happening… "…The dead cannot rise!" he finished aloud.
Through the soft moaning of the wind Lily could now hear it too. "It can't be moving…" She gasped quickly grasping onto Sirius' fear of the dead rising.
For the briefest of seconds neither Sirius nor Lily moved as their limbs were petrified into place. Neither wanted to look around in case of what they might see. Time slowed to a crawl as they listened.
Mmmmrar…thump…mmmmmmaaaw…thump…aghhhh…thump…
Their hearts pounded as the sounds slowly gained in volume. At once, as if time picked up again they spun-
Lily screamed and Sirius yelled and both tried to run backwards at the same time. Before them, emerging from the top of the hill they had just run down from rose a bloody horror.
The Centaur moaned and dragged itself onto its feet. Hooves dug into snow and muscular arms flexed slowly. A bulbous stomach slipped and flopped out of the exposed internal cavity and swung like a bloody pendulum. For a second the Centaur looked down at its own organ dangling from his body and he moaned.
A pitiful moan.
He reached down and picked up its still attached stomach with one hand and a handful of intestines that dragged onto the reddened snow with the other.
He pointed at them with an accusing finger on the hand that carried his stomach. "I curse you and your kind!" His deep voice cracked and blood bubbled from his mouth. "Blood for blood! I will do to you as you have done to me!!" He reared onto his hind legs and gave a cry of rage.
"Run Lily!" Sirius shouted. "He thinks we killed him!" A genial Centaur was already something to be reckoned with, a raging Centaur was something to be feared. Sirius knew he could stop it but not with any conventional spells but with curses that aimed to hurt and kill…but how do you kill something that is already dead?
Must be having illusions! Had too much of a big dinner, semi-rare steak, too many chips, onion rings, enough fat and cholesterol to kill a Hippogriff- something must have disagreed with my body!
Lily snuffed out any lasting thoughts of drastic food poisoning messing up with his mind.
"The dead cannot rise!" She echoed. Apparently he wasn't alone in seeing the dead rise. In this kind of situation, knowing that you were not losing your marbles was neither a relief nor something to be happy about. Especially when faced with a hostile opponent that was very capable of tearing you apart limb from limb. Actually, Sirius changed his mind; 'hostile' didn't even begin to cover it. This Centaur guy was royally pissed off!
"Come on!" He urged her to keep moving will forcing his own legs to move. And rightfully so! His own stomach twisted at the sight of the pulsating entrails in the Centaur's thick-fingered grip
Together they backed away but the Centaur, now finished with his raging call was preparing to charge. Unbalanced on the mushy, bloody snow he scuffed his front hoof but slipped. Snow. It was the one saving grace to slow the Centaur but unfortunately it also slowed them far greater.
Too slow!
The Centaur was gathering speed despite the thick snow and was gaining on them much faster than they could escape.
Lily pushed Sirius away. "We have to split!" She yelled and began to veer to the left while he veered to the right. Less than three heartbeats later the muscular Centaur thundered past the spot where that had parted seconds before. He screeched to a stop and turned around with a roar. "You will pay for this humans!"
He charged again this time at Sirius. With his head over his shoulder Sirius ran but his feet was sinking too deep into the snow and it took too much effort to pull each step out to give him speed. Hooves pounded too close and he instinctively dived out of the way just as a thick hand grabbed at the air where his head was.
With impossible balance the Centaur pivoted this time throwing out his acid filled stomach like a spiked mace.
"Fucking Hell!" Sirius dodged out of the way on his knees, thoroughly grossed out that he'd almost been smashed in the face by a pulsing stomach. Droplets of Centaur digestive juices flecked his face and he wanted to retch.
He rolled in the snow and scrabbled to his feet, with his shirt now soaked he was quickly growing numb in the cold. He and Lily couldn't keep running in this manner because the Centaur clearly had the upper hand with speed.
With a flash of brilliance he pointed his wand to his forehead and moments later he let out a deep growl and barked. As a dog he was more suited to run on the snow with his pads and was lighter. All he had to do was distract the Centaur and lead him away, giving Lily a chance to get help. He barked again but in the few seconds it took him to transform he had lost track of the Centaur. Or to put it in succinct Sirius terms: the asshole was gone!
He barked loudly letting it know that he was still there but Sirius couldn't see anyone apart from Lily ploughing her way through the snow. She kept looking back, her expression fearful and she screamed and ducked as if something had just soared over her head-
---
The Centaur appeared to have given up on chasing Sirius and was now intent on catching Lily for he spun and rhino charged at her. With a squeal she threw herself onto the snow as he misjudged the distance and ended up jumping over her. Without thinking she turned and fired a spell, hoping to slow down its chase. "Impedimentia" From her low vantage point the spell hit it squarely on the underside of his open belly.
The Centaur seemed to shake off the spell like water from a wet coat. Lily ran, pumping her arms as best as she could. Ahead she could see Sirius in his dog form.
"Run and get help!" she yelled at him. Sirius the dog cocked his head to the side clearly questioning her but Lily didn't have time to scream at him again and turned sharply away. Behind her the Centaur raged on.
---
Sirius jumped forward wondering why Lily was running in circles, changing directions suddenly and then randomly following some other shape…like a headless chicken…he thought randomly. The Centaur was nowhere to be seen and he was confused. It wasn't exactly easy for a Centaur to hide…and why on earth was Lily still running when it was nowhere to be seen?
He changed back into his human form-
"Sirius!" Lily screamed at an amazingly high pitch.
His instincts saved his head once more as he dropped to the ground. A great displacement of air took place above him as the Centaur missed him by a fraction.
"Fuck!"
Where the hell did he spring from!
It was impossible for a Centaur of that size to pull a 'now you see me, now you don't' act. Maybe a blood vessel in his brain had given way under pressure and burst like an old pipe? Or a sudden cancerous growth had attacked his healthy grey mass and exerted a disabling pressure onto his functioning cells? He had to be hallucinating or maybe so traumatised that his mind had shut out any visual trace of the attacking dead Centaur that chased them like an axe murderer! At least that was all the credible explanations that he could muster and that was while running for his life!
He yelled and began to run, unconsciously copying Lily's headless chicken pattern. Perfect understanding of the headless chicken run developed and he appreciated that she was running that way because it made her movement unpredictable therefore harder to catch.
Sirius swore again as he meandered this way and that, not caring whether he was truly being chased. He was more concerned over how the Centaur had disappeared while he was preparing to lure it away.
---
Lily leaned over her knees gasping for breath. She was quickly wearing out. In all her panic she hadn't realised that she was no longer being followed and had run so far away that she could no longer see Sirius.
She needed to get help but she was determined not to leave Sirius alone. How long could he last? She vaguely heard him shout out a spell. "Incarcerous!"
"Lily!"
She jumped and spun recognising the voice immediately; she squinted at the figure that suddenly stood in front of her. "James?"
---
A/N: Buwahahah! Nothing is ever as it seems! Next chapter is INSANIA INSOLTUS. Keep reading! xxx
