Chapter 6: Bestiæ
"Any idea where we are?" I ask.
"This isn't even my school." Fleur says.
"You've been here longer than I have." I remind her. She laughs.
"It's been one day." She says. "How did you change your hair? It was red last night."
"Honestly? I don't know. I just sort of … do it." I shake my head, altering the colour to green. "Dumbledore said it was rare. Metamorphy or something." I shrug. "Useful for disguises, although my face never changes."
"I can't tell if they're staring at you or staring at me." Fleur says as we pass some students.
"I'd say it's split, maybe more in your favour." I drum my fingers on Excalibur's hilt. "One girl that's watching is a werewolf. Behind us so I can't look."
"How can you tell?" Fleur asks, fighting the urge to turn around.
"It's a feeling. The 'inner-wolf' is supposedly a demon of sorts." I explain. "I'm sensitive to demons, The Wolf was one of the first I ever encountered. One of the older trainees, Oliver, went out on a job. A simple chase and stab, but there were two of them instead of one and he chose to do it on the full moon."
"He fought two transformed werewolves?"
"We don't really know what happened, but after Gawain rescued him, he told us that the boy had killed one of them and been bitten afterwards." We turn into another long corridor, completely lost. "So this guy, Oliver, he was really good with a sword. Not many could hold off two Wolves, but he managed to kill one."
"He was bitten though?" Fleur frowns. "He was turned?"
"This is where we get into the secret creed part of it." I laugh. "After Gawain killed the other Wolf, he took Oliver to the altar and told us to wait outside, So of course we peeked through the door. No matter what Gawain has done, I can't deny he is incredibly skilled. He exorcised the Wolf out of Oliver."
"What?" Fleur gasps. "So it really is a demon? Why don't they cure everyone?"
"Maybe it only works on new bites or something." I shrug. "When you get bitten, you don't change until the next full moon. I think there is an incubation period, something like that. It might work on older Wolves too, I don't really have a test subject."
"Would it hurt? Tearing a 'demon' out?"
"Oliver didn't seem to scream or anything. Oh, A library!" We've somehow managed to get un-lost. "It might have some stuff on the tournament."
The room is massive, filled with rows and rows of shelves. The libraries in the church were big, but nothing compared to this place.
"Yes?" I almost jump out of my skin as an elderly woman appears beside me.
"Er. Do you have anything on the tournament?" I try and slow my racing heart. Fleur starts to giggle.
The woman sweeps her robe and starts to walk quickly.
"Do we follow her?" I whisper to Fleur. She shrugs.
"I think she's coming back." She nods towards the woman.
"I expect it to come back in the exact condition it's in now." She glares at me.
"Aye-aye captain." She doesn't seem to care for the joke. We quickly leave. "Do I look like a book abuser?"
"Maybe she's just being careful."
I open the book as we walk. There is a brief history of each school and a couple of pages with the names of the winners. "Traditionally the first task pits champions again magical megafauna."
"What's ... megafauna?" Fleur asks.
"Er. Big animals. Really big. Elephants, giraffes, things like that. Whales fall under aqua megafauna."
"And magical?"
"If it's a giant demon, then I'm happy to say I'll beat everyone." I grin.
"I heard that Hogwarts has a giant squid in its lake." Fleur looks uncomfortable. "Does that count as a demon?"
"If you're not a white man, then you're probably a demon, in the eyes of the church that is." The views are not too dissimilar from the wizards really.
"And you say that they kill all demons?" Fleur frowns.
"A right nasty bunch of people." I nod. "They just say they are men of God and people think they can do no wrong." I snap the book shut. "So, Ms. Witchy. What big magical animals are there?"
"Hermione." I ask at lunch. "Why is the forbidden forest forbidden?"
"It's dangerous." She says. "Dark creatures, centaurs, acromantula, those are giant spiders." She says, seeing my blank face. "Bowtruckles, hippogryphs, ashwinders, plimpys. Not a safe place."
"Have you rehearsed that?" I ask.
"Yes."
"Would you say that there is a possibility that there are any demons in the forest?" I ask casually.
"Why?" She glances up from her book. "You're not allowed to go there anyway."
"Just wondering is all."
"I wouldn't say that any of them are demons, maybe acromantula. They are a class 5 magical creature." She tells. "The only other class 5 magical creature rumoured to live in the forest are werewolves."
"Werewolves?" I lean on the table. She looks hesitant to tell me.
"When two transformed werewolves um mate, their child has no human form. They are a wolf, through and through. The only was to distinguish them from a true-wolf is their intelligence. They rival humans, and certainly out-wit most of our house mates." She glances down the table at Ron, who I currently shovelling food into his mouth.
"So you're saying that there might be demons in the forest?" I press her a little more.
"Harry." She says firmly. "Do. Not. Go. Into. The. Forest."
"If it makes you feel any better, I'll be wearing armour." I stand up and head for the door. "Dobby."
There is a small popping sound followed by "Lancelot." As Dobby walks beside me.
"Put together an observation kit and bring my armour." He nods and vanishes.
An observation kit is as it's named, a kit for observing. A large amount of salt and a chair on top of what I normally carry. I use it to watch or talk to demons in relative safety, The Church frown upon such methods. Dobby returns with a jug of salt after clicking my armour on.
"Take us to the lake where we met the Prisoner." Dobby jumps in the air and lays a hand on my cheek. We land just beside the water. I draw Excalibur and crouch slightly, I don't want to be attacked before I have the ring ready. A minute passes with sign of demons. I pour the salt in a rough ring around the chair and activate the protections.
"Any idea what the first task will be?" Dobby asks, clicking his fingers to summon some drinks. Only water.
"Something big and magical." I pick the book out of my bag. "There is mention of the wizarding creature class system. They've got 5 levels, five being the worst."
"Acromantula?" Dobby reads. "Shouldn't be too hard if there isn't too many. Little to no chance of a basilisk due to their rarity."
"My thoughts exactly." I drink the cool water. "After all this time they might want to pull out the big guns. There can't be any basilisks longer than 2 feet I'd say."
"Anything longer and you're as good as dead." Dobby agrees. "Chimaeras, Nundus and Quintapeds are unlikely. They wouldn't have you fight a werewolf."
"Which leaves dragons and lethifolds." I nod slowly.
"The others wouldn't stand a chance against a lethifold." Dobby says, turning the page.
"I don't think I'd be much good either. If I knew it was coming and we were in broad daylight I might be able to trap it." I pick out the magical creatures book I found I the common room. "It says they can be scared away like dementoids."
"The patronus." Dobby has both books float in front of him. "You should try and learn it. It might help with other demons."
"Hey, look." I point across the lake. A herd of winged horses. "Haven't seen that many for a long time."
I've run into a lot of winged horses, many of which are classed as demons, but these black skeleton ones are my favourite. Simply because they are more docile than worms. I've never once had to attack one because they don't attack anything.
"What do you think they want?" Dobby whispers, sitting on the books. The horse watch us for a while before drinking from the pond. "I didn't think they ate or drank."
"I think that one's been burnt." I squint to try and see better. One of the horses is missing part of it's wing and looks to have been burnt. The water seems to be causing the skin to grow back. "Who would burn one of them? They are invisible to most people, right?" Dobby nods and picks up the book.
"Dragons." He says quietly.
"You think dragons attacked them?" I say. Hermione didn't say there were dragons in the forest.
"The tournament." He turns to me. "If you have kill a dragon, it makes sense that they keep them close by. I imagine it's hell to transport one." Dobby looks excited, he isn't the one that has to fight a dragon. "Should we go and look for it?"
"I hope we aren't spotted." I disrupt the salt circle and leave the chair where it is. "Did you see which way they came from?"
"Opposite side of the lake." Dobby says, passing me the books. "If they walked in a straight line then we should be able to find what attacked them."
I tighten my grip on Excalibur and we slowly move through the forest. Anything short of a dragon I can probably hold off long enough to escape. Even a lethifold would have trouble trying to eat me with Lancelot's armour.
"I think I see something." Dobby says. I squint and look in the direction he's pointing.
"Dobby, your eyes are bigger than my head." I whisper. "How am I supposed to see?"
"Come on." He says in a hushed voice. Are dragon supposed to have good hearing? A faint roar rumbles in the distance.
"Oh god." I mutter. We start moving faster and I see a gout of flames in the distance. "I guess we found them." I laugh mirthlessly. We press on until we are crouched in a bush at the edge of the clearing. The dragons roar loudly and pull against their chains.
"Four of them." Dobby says loudly so to be heard above the shouts of the wranglers. "One each?"
"Or all of us fight them simultaneously." I suggest. The dragons begin to calm as the wizards shoot dark red spells at them. "Are they going for lunch?" The tired wizards walk away from the dragons. The spells appear to have stopped the anger, but they don't look any less approachable.
"Looks like it." Dobby peeks around the side of a tree, watching them enter the tent. "Fancy getting a closer look?"
"Oh yes." I grin and walk through the bushes.
"Are those nests?" I follow Dobby's finger to the closest dragon. It definitely looks like a nest.
"Is that one rotten?" One of the eggs looks off.
"It's gold. Maybe you don't have to slay the dragon."
"A golden egg?" I chuckle. "Maybe we have to climb a beanstalk too." I take a few steps closer to the dragon.
"Harry!" Dobby squeaks.
"Do you think they eat people?" I ask.
"Not you, metal man." A deep, rumbling voice says.
"What the hell?" I take a step back and look at Dobby. "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" He frowns at me and looks up at the dragon again. I lower Excalibur.
"She just spoke." I say.
"A speaker?" The red dragon says.
"Dobby, I think I'm going mad." I say, looking around at the dragons.
"You're hissing." Dobby says, crouching behind a tree stump.
"You can understand us, metal man?" The large brown-green dragon says.
"Uh, sure. I guess so." I shake my head, has the smoke gotten into my brain?
"I heard it mentioned." Dobby says. "Some people can talk to snakes."
"And it extends to what, reptiles?" I suggest.
"Metal man, leave." The dragon says lazily, nodding her head towards the tent.
"Er, right." I quickly run back to the bushes and watch as the wranglers walk towards the dragons.
"Demons?" Dobby whispers.
"I don't know." I lean against a nearby tree. "They can talk to me." I laugh. "Never a dull day, eh Dobby?"
A/N: Some creatures were taught to Harry by their real names, like Lethifolds, but dementors were only referred to as 'Soul suckers' so he calls them dementoids. Enjoy.