Freak of Nature
I don't own Harry potter, and the names of people in this story are just made up to protect the innocent and the insane, I don't gain any monetary value from this work.
AN1: Thanks for all of the reviews. As I answered back to you, you really did get me thinking on things to add to these next few chapters, as well as how and to what extent to develop Harry's character and what I want to happen in this story. For me, reviews really do equate to more writing because it inspires me to be creative and write more.
AN2: For the individual(s) who commented on the Zulu language. I'm not sure about the comment about the Khosian languages, because yes, you are right. The Khosian tribes were separate from the Zulu's, the Zulu's speak Zulu. I'm not sure if I'm answering your statement right, but the Zulu language does in fact have clicks in it; at least the Zulu's who spoke to me on the farm that I lived on south of Joe'burg, in the Free State, did. They spoke Zulu to me and the owner of the farm, and their language entails making clicks with the back of their tongue in order to properly say certain words. They used to get a thrill out of laughing at the American boy who couldn't say some of their "easiest" words, yet doggedly tried. I hope this helps?
[Parsel]
/Creepy crawler/
{Beast Speak}
Chapter 5: Finding a Balance
Unfortunately, the balance of nature decrees that a super-abundance of dreams is paid for by a growing potential for nightmares.
Author: Peter Ustinov
To most, sleeping in a tree would be considered cramped and uncomfortable. To Harry Potter, who was used to sleeping in a damp small cupboard, the branches of the Baobab tree that he rested upon were like living in a penthouse suite. The night had been relatively peaceful and Harry slept soundly amongst the night blooming white flowers and broad "root like" branches of the Baobab; that is he slept peacefully until something *Popped* and the sound pulled him out of his sleep. The large trees were the favorite hunting ground of the African leopards, so when something made a *Popping* sound from beneath the branch that Harry was laying on, he was wide awake and ready for action.
Looking around from his high vantage point at the top of the large tree Harry didn't see anything unusual or out of the norm for his environment. Though the popping sound repeated sporadically underneath him, he didn't hear any change in the normal night sounds that would have alerted him to an intruder passing under his tree.
That was why he was startled when he flicked out his tongue and tasted the wind. Somewhere, very close to the base of his tree, somebody had started a fire and was warming them self by it; the flavor of fire warmed skin drifting up to him through the tree branches.
Slowly, and as quietly as possible, Harry glided through the branches of the tree towards the ground and a better vantage point to deal with the "intruder" to Harry's home.
Coming to a stop on a branch above fire, yet still in the tree's shadows, Harry was able to distinguish a lone black African man sitting with his face to the fire, eyes closed. The man wore a spotted wrap that looked to be made from the hide of a very large leopard; the wrap continuing to cover part of the man's chest and come up and over his shoulder like a toga. The man's hair had been painted with some sort of red dye or mud that kept it closely napped to his head and he wore a necklace that appeared to be made out of the knuckle bones and claws of animals, and possibly humans.
Perturbed to be both interrupted in his sleep, and a little ticked off at himself for getting caught off guard and not hearing this intruder before he was already under "his" home and had lit a fire, Harry prepared to pounce and get himself a bit of a late night snack.
Just as Harry was tensing his muscles for the spring, the man opened his eyes and looked right at Harry and the branch he was on, his face totally emotionless except for the startling golden slit eyes that looked right into Harry's!
"Come down an seet by da' fire Mr. Potter, Fore I Have Much to talk to ya Aboot." The man's said, a quiet and yet very deep voice that seemed to vibrate in Harry's chest as if a large cat had purred the message.
Startled, Harry lost his balance on the tree branch, and ended up dropping to the ground in a "less than elegant position;" basically Harry fell out of the tree and landed on his ass.
Brushing himself off with chagrin, he turned to the man who had startled him, angry at both himself and this intruder who mysteriously knew his name, and [HIISSSSSSED!] at the man!
"Do Not HISSSS at me boy! For ya d'know not what predator ya' be facing!" The man said with a deep menacing grumble, his eyes flashing gold and his teeth parting in a very sharp toothed smile. For an instant, the man's image was interposed with that of an ethereal leapord the size of a bull elephant. Harry would have shaken off the image as a mistake, if it wasn't for the fact that the "Man's" shadow, cast behind him by the fire and against the wide trunk of the Baobob, matched that of a giant leopard of some sort, crouched and ready to spring.
Harry straightened himself out of his defensive stance and took a step back, for though the man stayed sitting facing Harry, the "Man's" shadow sat up on its haunches like a Great Cat, and a shadowy tail could be seen to sway back and forth across the body of the tree.
"Wha… What are you?" Harry said, a bit frightened to be in the presence of something that, if the shadow was anything to go by, could possibly swallow him in one gulp. It was even more confusing as the "man" looked like a human, but smelled like a predator.
"I be Mutwa," the "man" replied. "As for wha' I am, I be like ya' in many of da' ways, but more in others."
This surprised Harry, and brought up other questions to his mind.
"Well, um, Mutwa, how do you know who I am? Better yet, how did you know I was here?" Harry said, still very cautious of this being that was seated across the fire from him.
"Da beasts did tel' me of ya. Da Lion's spirits of those ya killed, they did tel' of ya, and the spirits of da' GoGo* did tel' me of ya. Said I to come and teach ya', tell you of your path and where ya may go wrong. I here to trade, and to teach ya." Mutwa said, his unwavering stare unnerving in that he didn't seem to blink once since Harry had met him.
"Um, can we break that down into parts, I'm a little confused." Harry said, still keeping a good distance from the fire and Mutwa.
"Come, Sit down by da' fire, relax, I won't bite ya." Said Mutwa with a big smile, his mouth full of very sharp teeth that did nothing to make Harry feel at ease.
"I wouldn't put it past you." Harry mumbled to himself under his breath. Only the twitch of Mutwa's ear and the shift of his smile to that of a smirk told Harry that the man had heard his whisper.
Harry sat across from the golden eyed man and waited for him to say something… and waited… and waited.
Frustrated, Harry spat, "So what now? How did you talk to the beasts? How did you talk to the lions? And more importantly, who is this GoGo who told you about me?"
"Patience, dat be one of da things I'm ta teach ya cub. I speak to da lion's and der spirits because I am of da same animal; just as ya are of da snakes and d'hose who crawl upon the earth." As for GoGo, ya already know aboot her already… She is da lady, da Mother of all of us… of all around's us. We are born from da GoGo, We live'n on the GoGo, and when we die, we become part of da GoGo once again. D'hus the cycle continues." Mutwa said in a solemn voice, staring down at Harry.
"So GoGo is nature? Is Mother earth or something?" Harry asked.
"Yes, but ya already di'd know dat." Mutwa answered. "You be following her will, you be fight'n for her, but ya path, you about to fall off down da mount'n."
"What do you mean my path is leading me down the mountain? Now you have me really confused. Can't you speak without the riddles?" Harry said, confusion showing on his face.
Without answering Harry's last question, Mutwa continued his explanation. "Ya cannot continue killing just ta kill. It is not da right path, it is not the path to balance, but da path to death. No true predator kills simply ta kill. Only da humans kill without any reason."
"Ya'r path, the goals you fight for, da way you go a'boot it. Ya are going to fail and die if ya keep down da same path, da path where all da other animals went and lost." Mutwa said with a bit of sadness.
This last sentence struck Harry. "How am I going to die?" He asked, his full focus on Mutwa and his answer.
"Ya forget dat da Humans and da wizards have'n already beat down da animals, da beasts dat ya are trying to become." Mutwa stated, "Ya can't forget or ignore ya past… ya can't forget wha't ya started out as… ya are straying away from yo own instincts and dat will get ya killed." Mutwa continued, "Ya were bor'n human, ya were bor'n wizard, ya have da instincts of da animal, but ya never follow da instincts and lessons learned by da humans or wizards no mo. Dis will get ya kill'd."
Harry was struck by Mutwa's message, and took the moment to think back on his actions. As far back as Harry could remember, he had thought of himself as totally separate from the humans, something better than the humans. He hated what the humans had done to him and subconsciously didn't want to even use anything that could remind him of them. All this time he had been ignoring the fact that his ultimate enemy had weapons of their own and had already subjugated nature and the animals of the world. Thinking back to the lessons learned from his run in with the water buffalo, Harry knew that he had to learn about his prey so that he could predict their actions and evolve to overcome them. Better yet, he had to learn the tools of his enemy and turn it against them, use their own dependence on their tools as a weakness to exploit. He had been totally ignoring the largest obstacle to his goal of balancing out nature, the tools and abilities of the humans and the wizards.
"Ya be thinking, I see it, but ya not be seeing the whole picture. GoGo does not want all of da human's ta die, dey are a part of nature just as da animals and insects are, just as da plants are. Yes, da balance is not here, but da balance does not call for ya ta kill them all. Ya must find da balance in yaself as well as in nature." Mutwa explained.
This statement stabbed at Harry. The things he had seen and experienced at the hands of the humans and their civilization where brutal and an affront to nature. Animals did not beat their young. Even the lowliest insects cared for their young to a certain extent. He had yet to ever see any good in the humans, to see anything other than their freakishness. He had yet to meet any "good" or kind humans. Perhaps Mutwa could be termed as such, but he doubted Mutwa was any more human than he himself was. However, if Mutwa's fanged grin was anything to go on, he wasn't sure if Mutwa could be termed "good" either. Breaking away from his thoughts, Harry looked up from staring into the fire and faced Mutwa. "What can you do to help me? You mentioned training, you mentioned a trade?"
"Yes, da spirits will it dat I train ya, dat I adopt ya into da pack." Mutwa said with a fanged smile. "Da lions, dey like ya, dey tink dat ya would make a good cat." Then with a gleam in his golden eyes he said, "But my trade be better, I trade ya spirit for ya spirit. Then I train ya."
Harry didn't understand what Mutwa had said, but then it translated in his head he was shocked. "My spirit? What! You want my soul! What are you, some kind of demon or devil?" Harry said in wide eyed shock; not so sure if he should have accepted the offer to sit at Mutwa's fire.
"Ha ha ha ha ha. No boy. I be not devil, not Demon, just Mutwa. I be a bit magical yes, a witch doctor is Mutwa, but Mutwa is more"
"What do you mean by magical but more? Are you a wizard?" Harry said, still a bit untrusting of Mutwa and his still catlike shadow.
"Yes, some would ca'll me a wizard, but I be more, I be a witch doctor, not some weak willed animagus." Mutwa said, almost spitting out the word "animagus."
"What's the difference?" Harry asked "And what is this animagus thing that you say you aren't?" His interest now peaked at finally meeting a wizard; or a witch doctor as the case may be.
"I be able ta do da wizard magic, but I be more. I be one wit da spirits, dey tell me tings, teach me. More though, da GoGo, she gives me power." Mutwa continued "An animagus is da cheap imitation of da animal, da cheap imitation of da beast and what it can do. Da wizards dat are animagus take on da form of da animal, but not da spirit. Wit-out da spirit, dey do not have da power of da animal. Dey keep da mind of da wizard, de not be da animal. Wit da spirit, ya be da animal. Ya be one wit da power of GoGo." After saying this, Mutwa smiled again, a wicked smile. "I'm offering ya da trade, spirit for spirit, not ya spirit, but da one in ya head. GoGo be wanting to have a talk wit dat spirit." Mutwa said pointing across the fire at Harry's scar.
Putting his hand to his head in confusion, Harry traced his finger down his lightning-bolt scar. "What do you mean the spirit in my head? How can it not be my soul that you are talking about if it is in my head? What spirit are you offering me in return?"
"Da darkness in ya head, GoGo tell me dat it be da spirit of da dark wizard who gave ya dat scar. A bit of his spirit be sucking on your soul like da leech dat he was to da world. GoGo be wanting ta have a talk'n ta da spirit, and it ain't going ta be pretty." Mutwa explained with an evil smile. "I be offering ta take da spirit out of yo head and give ya da spirit of my pack ta protect ya. Da leech be making ya think stupid. Ya not be considering all of yo tools ya could use to help out da GoGo. Ya be too focused on da kill, and not on da Hunt."
Taking a second to think it over, Harry said, "So let me get this straight. I give you the thing that is hurting me, and you give me this animal spirit thing that will give me the power of some beast. Right?"
"Yes" was all Mutwa answered.
"And after you give me this spirit, you can train me in "da Hunt," does that mean training my magic also?"
"Yes" Mutwa again stated.
"Ooook. So how do we go about doing this?" Harry asked, Sitting up , willing to trust Mutwa to help him.
Mutwa stood up and started to walk around the fire. "Ya drink from my blood. I cut my arm and ya drink from it. Dat is all you do. Do no worry aboot ya fangs, ya poison can no hurt me. I will do da rest." He said as he walked to stand before Harry. With that, Mutwa held up his right hand where a claw seemed to grow out of his pointer finger. Placing it against his left forearm, he slowly dragged the tip down, drawing a thin slice down his dark skinned arm and causing thick red blood to start welling up. "Now drink."
"Um, ok, but one question. What kind of animal spirit are you? What kind of spirit will I be if I'm going to be in your pack?" Harry asked as he bent and put his mouth to Mutwa's arm and started to drink.
"I be Nundu boy, and now, you be Nundu too… Dis may hurt a bit…" with that said, three-inch claws jumped out of Mutwa's fingers, and he buried his claws into Harry's scar!
Mutwa held Harry's head to his bleeding arm through the strength of his claws buried in Harry's forehead as he started a guttural chant that seemed to issue up through the earth and pour through Mutwa's body. Harry's screams of agony could be heard to echo across the veldt, silencing the normal night sounds of the animals.
Slowly, the scream of terrible pain turned into the cry of a very large and very ticked off cat…
Franco Lucius Malfoy had been "hunting" potions supplies since he was 11 years old and failed to get accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As the eldest child to the current head of the Malfoy line, you would think that Franco would be a spoiled brat, pampered and fully integrated into the life and actions of his "Father" Lucius Malfoy. But reality can be a bitch. The reality was that Franco was all but disowned by the Malfoy family, totally unacknowledged and stuck running the families "semi-legal" potions ingredient company since he had been booted out of the UK and delegated to the plains of South Africa. Why might you ask was Franco sent off to darkest Africa rather than spending time in the balls and galas of his "family" in the United Kingdom? The answer was simple, Franco Lucius Malfoy, first born child of Lucius Malfoy, was a squib; and a squib that even his own mother and brother didn't know about thanks to his father's prodigious use of the obliviation charm. His only tie to the family was his name, which his father had threatened him on pain of death if he used, and a small quarterly stipend to live on. The stipend may lead people to think that Lucius Malfoy wasn't totally heartless towards his son, but that could only be believed until they learned that the stipend doubled as his paycheck for living out of a tent and hunting the magical animals throughout Africa for his "father's" company. The semi-legality of the company was in fact a farce. It was in fact a poaching operation, duly licensed through the British Ministry of Magic, but totally illegal given the fact that the company functioned in the Magical Kingdom of South Africa, Lesotho, and Zulu-land. At least Franco Malfoy took after his father in some ways, namely, he was a crook, a liar, a cheat, and an all around bastard; no disparagements to Narcissa Malfoy implied.
"Justin, if you don't get those bloody freaking Moke to shut up, I'm going to hit you in the head with the club that you are supposed to be hitting them!" The blonde haired Franco yelled with a smirk. The smirk must have been a familial trait, because it mirrored that of his "father" and little brother Draco.
"I'm trying Franco, but these mokes are bloody hard to whack! If you would get off your bloody arse and give it a whack you would see you bloody wanker!" Justin spat back.
"Shut your bloody traps you two! And shut up those mokes while you're at it! I'm trying to sleep over here! Its 2 o'clock in the bloody morning and I have to go after chimera hair and stingers tomorrow!" Grumped Justin's twin brother Hank from inside of his wizards tent on the other side of the fire from Franco.
Hank and Justin were both muggleborn wizards who had a nasty run in with the law. Apparently making fun of Cornelius Fudge while he was at Hogwarts had been a bad idea. Who knew that the man would hold a grudge for so long? It wasn't like they had hung him by his brown stained underwear from the side of the Astronomy tower more than twice… ok, maybe three times, no, check that, maybe it was five. Who knew that the Minister of Magic could hold a grudge about the sign they had tied to his neck that said that "Fudge likes to Fudge his pants!" right where the girls from the Ravenclaw tower would see him when they woke up in the morning and looked out their windows? Really, the guy had no sense of humor. But because Justin and Hank had a sense of self-preservation, they had headed off for Timbuktu and then South Africa as soon as Fudge was elected into office; one step ahead of Fudge's Auror Dwalish. Hank and Justin had joined up with Franco about three years before, and they had been poaching… I mean hunting together ever since.
"At least the baby nundu is quiet." Justin said with a laugh, looking over towards a steel cage that held a small 50 pound baby nundu, its mouth muzzled shut and its paws hogtied into a spread eagle on the four corners of the cage. "It was brilliant the way you snatched it when it wandered away from its mother… used the invisibility cloak and scent diffusers on it… That little sucker didn't know what hit it!" He continued, chuckling to himself.
Franco said, "I don't give a moke's ass what you think about my brilliance! Stop talking and get finished with those mokes! Afterwards, we can wake up Hank and start harvesting that Nundu. I hear that if we harvest it alive you can use a stasis spell on the heart and it will keep beating, more money for us that way!" Franco said with an evil leer at the steel cage. "I'm going to go for a whiz and to drop some weight, and when I get back those mokes better be dead and skinned!" Franco said as he got up from the fire and walked into the darkness.
Franco walked into the dark African night, keeping his muggle 45-calibur limbered from his holster and ready for use if he needed it. Being a squib he had to rely on magical equipment, muggle firearms, or enchanted muggle items to keep him hale and healthy on the veldt. Moseying up to a tall thorn bush, Franco pulled out his small sized "hook and tackle," small because he is a Malfoy and it is genetic, and started to take a whiz. "Ahhhhhhh, that feels good." Franco said to himself as he relaxed the preasure in his bladder, the sounds of Justin clubbing the mokes to death in the background. Just as Franco was about to fully drop his pants and turn around to administer "round two" on the thorn tree, a sharp *CRACK* issued from his left, making him jump, drop his pants and look to the left. Nothing was there.
Letting his heart rate settle down to something under 200 beats per minute, he let out a sigh of relief, looked down at his pants, dropped his underwear and turned with his back to the tree and started to squat, Only to come face to face with a crouched and "smiling" giant Nundu the size of a large Clydesdale horse!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Screamed Franco, right before a great huff of green disease filled breath hit him in the face, and he died. At least he died doing the family business...
"What was that!" Justin yelled, turning around from his task of clubbing the mokes, pulling his wand out of his back pocket and raising both towards where he heard Franco scream. Hank tumbled out of his tent without a shirt or shoes, viciously rubbing the sleepers from his eyes while trying to keep his wand pointed in the direction that Franco had gone to relieve himself.
That's the problem with humans, they are always so predictable…
Because both of the humans were facing in the direction that Franco had departed the camp in, incidentally in the direction of the bonfire which "happened" to ruin their night vision, they didn't notice the "full grown" Nundu who, rather than being the size of a large horse was the size of a large house, was crouched and stealthily crawling up right behind the two of them.
The Giant Nundu lunged out of its crouch, chomping down on Justin's shoulder, and by shoulder I mean the beast came in from the Justin's right and bit through Justin's left shoulder. This basically effected the biting off of Justin's head, upper torso, and the hand holding the club; it wasn't like Justin's wand was going to be a threat to the Nundu seeing as Justin's head was busy being swallowed by the gigantic beast. The Nundu's death shake of Justin's body splashed blood across the campsite, buckets of it hitting Hank on his bare back and neck, causing him to startle and swing about to see the ghastly sight of his brother being ripped in two.
Eyes huge and mouth open in a silent scream, Hank swallowed quickly and attempted to hit the Nundu with the first curse that came to mind, "Avadra Kada –ARGh!" Was as far as he got, as a second Nundu jumped over the fire behind Hank, claws flashing in the firelight, and tore his wand arm and right leg off! The tackle of the great cat becoming a slashing storm of claws, teeth and flying bits of flesh as the Nundu effectively crashed into Hank like a kitchen blender set to puree!
The actions of the two Nundu's gradually slowed to a halt, as the bigger of the two Nundu's finished its late night snack of sushi grade Justin, and turned its attention to the baby nundu in the cage. Reaching down with its mouth, it bit down on the top of the cage and effectively sheared off the magically strengthened steel lid that had sealed the baby in. Spitting out the lid of the cage, the large Nundu then delicately took its paw and sliced the ropes and the muzzle off of the "kitten", reached down into the cage, and picked the baby nundu up ,by the scruff of its neck, with its maw. Gently setting the baby nundu down, the larger Nundu gave it a lick from face to back, and then nudged it in the direction past the fire and towards its home range. The "little" baby nundu took off, running into the darkness, only stopping once to whiz on the corpse of Franco Lucius Malfoy, before running off to join its mother.
Back at the fire, the smaller of the two Nundu stopped its destruction of the former Hank and took a seat facing the larger of the two. If a cat could be said to smile, the smaller of the two would be said to have a Cheshire cat like smile, grinning up at the Big Nundu. To which in reply, the Big Nundu trotted over to the smaller of the two, and quick as lightning cuffed the smaller Nundu over the head, knocking the smaller of the two sprawling out on the ground.
The smaller of the two covered its head, and suddenly morphed into none other than Harry James Potter. "Ow! What was that for!" Harry said while laying on his backside in the dust, his face wincing in pain as he rubbed the spot on the back of his head; it felt like he was going to grow a lump.
The Big Nundu, not deigning to transform back into Mutwa said {You were playing too much there cub. You did a good job of hunting as pack, but you were sloppy. You diverted their attention like you were supposed to, but you made a sound when you stepped on that branch, and you were almost too slow in getting the second wizard; not that a single AK could hurt us in that form… You focus on the hunt cub, you do not play when you hunt!} Mutwa said in the way and language of all of the Great Beasts; the instinctual Primal language. The language was a series of growls and hisses but more so of movements, shifts, stance, scents and unvocalized words. {Come, call back the spirit of the Nundu. We have many leagues to travel before we reach my home on the Zambezi and the start of your training.} With that said, Mutwa turned and trotted out of the campsite.
Harry rubbed his head, picked himself up, dusted himself off and called upon the spirit of the Nundu; transforming into his very large leopard like body. Giving his body a shake to shed off the blood and dust that had accumulated on him; he tore off into the night to follow Mutwa to his home. Behind him, the poacher's camp and the shredded bodies disappeared into the darkness as the untended campfire burned itself out.
*GoGo is Zulu for "Honored Woman, the direct translation would be "old lady." Ya bo GoGo, translates out to "yeah, right, old woman." Which in English sounds disrespectful, but in Zulu is like saying, yes, I understand honored woman. Just a bit of trivia.
AN: Well, that is about just at 5000 words of story for this chapter, a little more, so I think I will cut it off there. I wanted to introduce you to some of the main characters for the rest of the story, hint hint, but I was having so much fun with the end of the chapter and needed a lot of space to set up the Mutwa sequence. Oh well, you will just have to wait for the fun and hilarity that is the next chapter. (Evil Smile*) I really appreciate all of the reviews I have been receiving. They have really inspired me to think how I should write, and also get me to write more often. Without the reviews, I really wouldn't have been able to work my way through this chapter and figure out what I wanted to happen. Please keep the reviews coming, and I will keep writing! Best wishes!