Hello folks! Well... I'm really sorry to publish so late. Usually, I like to post on Monday, but with my travel to London last week, I lost a lot of time in my translation...

Anyway, here it is! Next one will arrive as usual, on Monday, I swear! ^^

Thanks again Emi for your beautiful comments and arts! I love watching them! Really! They're amazing!

Enjoy!

9. In the eyes of the gytrash.

During days, even weeks, Kate didn't speak to Maggie, furious and horribly mistrustful at the same time. Could it be possible that Maggie was at the origin of those two incidents? But why? Furthermore, even though she was more talented than Kate in spells, which wasn't a great achievement in itself, Maggie wasn't a particularly brilliant witch either, capable of enchanting an army of pumpkins or programming the failure of a broomstick.
In order to not compromise the atmosphere of her group of friends, Kate didn't tell her impressions and resentments to the first years Gryffindors who kept thinking it was the wind that was responsible for Ginny's fall. The latter didn't wake up yet. After a new, unfruitful day of researches at the library, Kate had accompanied Hermione at her friend's bedside. A large bandage was surrounding her head, like a headband around her red hair. Madam Pomfrey's ointment had erased the multiple bruises on her face, as well as the healer probably managed to overcome her broken ribs. However, Ginny remained sunk into what seemed to be an eternal sleep, her face expressionless. Kate had the impression to see Eliot again, in his hospital bed in St Mungo's...

'Neville, I mean... professor Longbottom told me what you said to him', whispered Hermione, without looking away from Ginny's frozen face. 'Do you really think someone casted a spell on her?'

Kate just nodded at first place.

'I even think I might know... who's responsible for this...'
'Don't jump to conclusions', hissed Hermione, between severity and conciliation. 'It could play tricks on you...'

She stretched her lips in a brief grin, feeling the book on her laps.

'When I was in first year, just like you, somebody enchanted Harry's... I mean, Professor Potter's broomstick during a match. We all thought back then it was Severus Snape, the Potions master... because he had a serious beef against Harry! Against all Gryffindors in general... The truth is; Snape was trying to end the spell that had been casted by someone else. Even if he always seemed unpleasant, Snape was actually... a hero. Even I am having struggle saying it today! B-but that's the truth. Harry hated him during his whole scholarship while in reality, Snape had kept his cards hidden and had always protected him, until losing his life... What I am trying to make you understand, is that you can't judge a person's merits, just by appearances. And you may have a responsible, but your proofs against him have to be faultless.'

On these words, Kate preferred not to answer. Two risky absences and an old compass weren't unbreakable proofs to attest that Maggie had something to do with all this. She had to find something better... But did she really want to?

Spring arrived at the castle, making the grounds more attractive with its flowers and its verdant vegetation. The students were happy to enjoy their breaks under the fresh sun of April; as much as the first spring jokes, during which some poor souls found themselves thrown in the water or sprinkled with pollen!

Kate was observing the battles from greenhouse number 1, where she was attending Herbology. The gathered Ravenclaws and Gryffindors were listening carefully to professor Longbottom who was introducing them to the plant they were about to study on this day.

'The moly is a very important plant in the preparation of the Wiggenweld Potion, which is an antidote for the Draught of Living Death', he exposed while giving them glass jars. 'Since professor Slughorn intends to make you work on that potion this month, I think it's important that you know its constituents. Moreover, it will allow you to prepare your samples for your classes with him! Otherwise, the moly is able to cancel minor enchantments on someone if eaten as it is; which I don't recommend you, it has an awful taste... So...'

He turned back towards a small covered terrarium and took off the cover while all the students were bending over their big working tables. Big white corollas flowers, looking like lotuses, appeared under their eyes.

'It doesn't seem very dangerous, like that', pointed out Longbottom while carrying one of them on the bench tops. Yes, as it is, it's inoffensive. However, if you cut at the base of the petals, right there, where is this little brownish bulb, you may release its pollen, and I assure you that its side effects, although not very harmful, can be quite surprising! That's why you must stay careful. Good. Pick a partner; I will distribute one moly per binomial. You'll have to cut its petals one by one and put them in your group's common jar, and then, you'll be able to dissect it. For those interested, you can even keep its stem to make flutes!'

Immediately, students began to skitter, delighted at the idea of going out of classes with an item capable of driving Filch or the other professors mad! During the formation of the binomials, Kate turned towards her neighbour on the right, skilfully avoiding Maggie's demand: little Hygie Smethwyck looked at her with wide eyes.

'Let's be partners?' proposed Kate with a large smile.

Quietly, Hygie slowly nodded. Even if she was one of the first students Kate met in the Hogwarts Express, along with Maggie and Terry, the two girls never shared a conversation since the beginning of the year. To tell the truth, Kate never heard Hygie speaking by herself. The only words coming out of her mouth were the answers to her professors' questions. Except that, Hygie had the ability to disappear from the others' eyes. She was such a quiet and mute girl that everyone forgets her gradually. But she seemed to be happy with it, more blooming in the endless reading of her books than in social interactions with her schoolmates.

When professor Longbottom gave them the jar containing the flower, as big as their heads, Kate pulled on her dragon glove:

'Ok then, let's go!'

Conversations started gradually around the molys, but Hygie remaining irrevocably mute, Kate gave up the idea of discussing and observed one by one, the different groups around the bench top. Moira, too small to reach the plant, had had to climb on the table and, sitting cross-legged in front of Suzanna, was gossiping about the results of the last disastrous match of the Chudley Canons, while cutting petals with her pair of secateurs. Maggie fell back on a Ravenclaw industrious student, applied to her task, while the Gryffindor was trying to make her understand the importance of Omnioculars' exportation in East Europe. The first ones to accidentally explode the bulb were Jason Watson and Irwin Peakes, two Gryffindor boys, who started to cough in the middle of the ochre cloud loosened by the plant.

'Oh, oh', sighed professor Longbottom while shrugging his shoulders, knowing that it was impossible to proceed to a perfectly executed exercise. 'This was to be expected!'
'Merlin, that stinks!' complained Irwin, coughing up and brewing the air in front of him.

But his shrill rigged voice got the better of the other students' seriousness, who burst out laughing, while the boy, whose short, curly blonde hair base was soaked with pollen, started to blush with shame. Next to him, Jason, affected by the comic effects of the moly himself, couldn't help but burst out with a tainted laughter, which doubled up the hilarity in the greenhouse. The inseparable duo of Evan and Griffin pierced in turn, but this time in a completely voluntary way, their moly's bulb to play scenes and parody their professors, all of this topped by rigged and ridiculous voices; which made the last girls, who didn't rise their heads from their works despite the first pollen emanation, laugh.

'Get back to work, boys, before I take you points!' Neville called to order with a scolding look, however amused by their role plays.
'Yes, professor!' calmed down the two students with their mice's voices.

Folding over their bench top, Evan and Griffin shared a last, discreet chuckle, before resuming their collect of petals. However, Kate couldn't look away from Griffin and his mischievous face. He was cute... He was nice... Caring. He was funny...

A pull on her right sleeve reminded her of the reality: she turned towards little Hygie who half-opened her mouth:

'Cut... low...'

Her words, pronounced so low they were nearly imperceptible, impressed Kate, who was hearing the first words Hygie ever addressed her since they met.

'Eh?!' she answered.
'She says that you're cutting too low. And that you might touch the bulb.'

Kate turned her head towards the boy in front of her, on the other side of the bench top; Emeric Beckett, the young Ravenclaw with rectangular edgeless glasses, gave her a shy smile. Next to her, Hygie nodded, approving the correct translation of her classmate.

'Oh, yes! Excuse me! I... I was lost in my thoughts! I'll focus!'

At the end of classes, some students got out with a black stem perfect to be carved as a flute, as their professor suggested, others with a disrupted voice.

'I'd rather use it to hit Mrs Norris next time I'll meet her', said Moira once the girls were in their common room, making the stem rebound in her open palm.
'And Filch will take it from you to hit you in return!' giggled Suzanna.
'I'd like to see him try! I'm sure I run faster than him!'
'You? As short-legged as you are, you really think you can run faster than a caretaker who spent fifty years of his life running after students in the corridors?' retorted Maggie, haughty.
'You're right... I'd better break his knees first!'
'Moira!' Scarlett got indignant. 'How violent you are…!'

But while the girls were discussing, two young ladies made their entry into the common room and immediately, all students stopped their activities, their homework, their discussions...
Ginny Weasley was back, accompanied by her friend, Hermione. Her housemates rushed towards her as soon as she set a foot in the common room. They all greeted her with a lot of joy and relief, like a heroine. The first year girls joined the crowd, jumping on their feet to try to see them. Despite her awakening, Ginny seemed terribly tired, dragged by the weight of her unconsciousness that lasted for days and days... Hermione pulled her out of the crowd's hold by opening a passage through.

'Sorry, excuse me...! Come on, please, clear the air! Don't you see she's exhausted? We'll throw a party later...!'

Yet, when she walked past Kate, she paused, and then adjusted a lock of her hair behind her ear, checking that Ginny was managing to follow her, swallowed by her housemates' overflowing enthusiasm, before slipping a discreet message in a breath:

'Small reunion, tonight, I need you to be here, as a witness... Meet me in the Defence against the Dark Arts classroom, after dinner...'

Kate had no hard time to get loose of her group of friends after she enjoyed the delicious roast chicken prepared by the house elves. She sneaked into the darkness of the falling night whilst she was going through the grounds between the Great Hall and the classrooms building, pulling her cape around her neck to protect her. Then, she climbed two by two the steps of the magic stairs, hoping not to meet Peeves. Yet, she reached the second floor without trouble, not without awakening the curiosity of numerous paintings who didn't understand why such a young girl was going in Defence against the Dark Arts so late in the evening.

Her heart was racing into her chest, threatening to break her ribs. A meeting. As a witness. In the middle of the professors? She finally had a role to play. A truth to tell.

When opening the door without knocking in a decisive gesture, Kate wasn't expecting to see her Defence against the Dark Arts teacher kissing the redhead girl who just got out of the infirmary. This moment interrupted by that unexpected entry, all three of them were staring at each other, very disturbed by the present situation; until Ginny and Harry stepped away from each other, as if nothing happened, while Kate wasn't moving, staggered.

'Ahem... please, Miss Whisper, take a seat with us', stammered Harry Potter, embarrassed as hell.
'It's funny to see you talk to first years as a teacher, now!' whispered Ginny, amused, but still having shadows under her eyes.

Kate obeyed without saying a word and took place on a bench nearby. An awkward silence settled down in the classroom, punctuated by Harry's slight convulsive coughs; until Hermione, accompanied by Dennis Crivey, made their apparition in the room.

'Sorry we're late', hurried Hermione. 'It's not easy everyday to be prefect!'
'There's no problem.'
'Who are we still waiting for?' asked Dennis while sitting next to Kate.
'Neville and Luna. They should be here soon by now...'

The door opened at that exact moment.

'Speaking of the devil...!'
'Did we miss something?' asked Luna in a singing voice.
'No, we were about to start.'

The blonde young woman, decked out in a doubtful pullover, with cyan and apple green stripes, scampered along through the room, swinging her arms at each step, before sitting next to her friend, Ginny, while Neville moved forward, a bit clumsier. In the middle of those persons who knew each other for years for having founded Dumbledore's Army and having organized the resistance during war, Kate's presence seemed awkward; and yet, quite necessary…

'That's good to see you, Ginny!' smiled Dennis, nodding.
'I'm glad not to be in a bed anymore! With this persisting headache…'
'Could you… tell us what happened that day?' asked Neville, joining his hands over the table and frowning his thick eyebrows above his little shining eyes.
'It seems like it was yesterday…' grumbled Ginny while rubbing her forehead. 'All was going well! I assure you; I had the situation in hand…! But… my broomstick started to go off the rail.'

Everyone was quiet, hanging on her every word she was pronouncing seriously.

'I understood nothing. It… it was beyond control! I was completely distraught! Then, you know the rest. I fell and when I tried to catch hold of my broomstick, that damn Bludger hit me!'

Harry Potter grimaced:

'I have the impression to relive my first years here… An enchanted broomstick and a mad Bludger!'
'So… I was right!' intervened Kate, shy but determined. 'The broomstick had been cursed! It wasn't the wind.'
'No, it wasn't', confirmed Ginny, shaking her head.
'It's not insignificant that someone attacked Ginny like that', thought Dennis while scratching the end of his chin. 'Do you think it would be a Death Eater? Or someone linked to them?'
'What's certain is that it's not a joke', settled Hermione, serious. 'Someone tried to kill Ginny… And this someone can do it again… We have to stop him, now, before someone really gets killed.'

A dreadful silence fell on the assembly for a moment. The gloomy atmosphere rendered by Miss O'Joovens' decoration wasn't helping, with its long red candles, the animated skull on the shelf and the moving shadows, not quite reassuring. Until Neville spoke:

'Apparently, the responsible is not at his first try…'
'What do you mean?' wondered Harry, circumspect.
'The Halloween pumpkins… Miss Whisper told me about it last time and I admit her idea makes sense; the fact that the responsible for these two incidents could be the same person.'
'Or an organized small group!' intervened Luna.
'I investigated with my prefect mate after Halloween', told Dennis. 'Nor she nor I found anything suspect, at least, in our house…'
'It's a Slytherin… Only they can plan something like that!'
'Not all Slytherins are like that!' Kate defended them, valiant.
'They were at the origin of many bad things, and nobody can deny it', Hermione reasoned her, more composed.
'According to the questions I asked the students at the beginning of the year', said Harry, 'there's still a lot of Slytherin linked to Death Eaters. Family, friends, relatives… And we can't forget that. Voldemort might not be anymore, but his acts are still engraved; especially in his followers minds. Now he's gone… who knows… maybe someone would try to take power at his place, now that the Dark Lord's seat is vacant!'
'I wouldn't go that far…' chuckled his friend. 'But it's possible a Slytherin has decided to hurt Ginny, especially during a match where the two houses were facing. That was an excellent context to act. Kate…'
The young woman talked to the little girl, which, immediately, directed all the others' looks.
'Last time, you told me you had serious doubts and that you thought you knew who the responsible was… Do you have any proof now?'

All the eyes on her, Kate swallowed before stammering:

'I already know it can't be a first year Slytherin. They were there the whole match and I was with them. I was in the top terraces; I could see all of them. And none had a suspicious behaviour. I wouldn't say they're all innocent! But… I didn't notice anything special!'
'There's two ways of enchanting an object', reminded Dennis. 'Directly or previously. Maybe Ginny's broomstick has been cursed before the match.'
'That's impossible', Ginny rejected. 'My broom was on my bed, it didn't leave my room! And I didn't let go of it one second before I got on it…'
'That would imply a Gryffindor then. A girl, to be more precise. It seems rather unlikely to me.'

Kate's hair was standing on end: this version of the facts could perfectly accuse Maggie and fit the facts of why the young girl left with such hurry and anxiousness the breakfast table the morning of the match.

'Indeed, the enchantment from the terraces seems more likely', sighed Neville, crossing his arms.
'Yet, the weather was so bad!' deplored Luna, half dreamy. 'The person should be very talented to perform a spell with such weather! And aim perfectly!'

Hermione stretched a grin then spoke to Kate again:

'Do you have something else to tell us in that case?'
'No… not really.'
'Alright, then. Thanks Kate, we're done bothering you tonight; you can go back to your dormitory…'

After a brief nod, Kate obeyed with a twinge to have to quit this war hero council. She shouldn't have been so deluded!

Once the door shut and the young girl gone, the conversation between the former students resumed:

'She has nothing suspicious…! You're happy?'
'That's strange she was the only one to notice my broomstick was going off the rail', said Ginny, inclining her head.
'And that she ran away one minute before the pumpkin attacks at Halloween', added Dennis.
'I think Harry could confirm my words', intervened Neville, 'but Whisper is an adorable student… and who doesn't know to use magic! First, she had no reason to do this and then warn us, and secondly, she wouldn't be able to implement it.'
'Maybe she's a nice student, and I believe you', said Luna in a singing voice while shaking her head, making her new earrings, in a shape of blue pears, swing. 'She's very cute! But don't forget what McGonagall said. She warned us… Kate doesn't always control what she does…'

With May, was also approaching the stress of exams; the O. for fifth years, the N.E. for the oldest. That didn't prevent the youngest to be also nervous about their last evaluations. Kate was the first concerned. Catching up months of failed spells… what would her professors tell her? Maybe she should better bet on subjects that didn't require a magic wand: Herbology, Potions, Astronomy, History of Magic, Care of Magical Creatures… Better start now! Kate detached from her distractions to study at the library under the gobsmacked looks of her elders who didn't understand a student so young could already start studying with so much seriousness. People were walking past her opening big wide eyes while she remained focused on her books, writing notes, repeating in a low voice the names of the plants and ferocious creatures, or enumerating the ingredients needed for the preparation of a potion. Nothing could detach her from her books.
Except, perhaps, a little note. A piece of parchment fallen under her nose. Discreetly slipped towards her. When this happened, in the middle of her chapter about the goblins war, many times told by professor Binns, Kate jumped, like if the piece of parchment would eat her! Then, she raised wide opened eyes, observing the gracious silhouette going away, her bag against her thigh and her long black glowing hair cascading on her back. Why on earth Calypso Curtiss gave her this message? She hurried to open it:

"Be careful, Whisper. Strange things are going on in my house and they concern you, I prefer to warn you. Don't trust anyone."

What a strange message coming from a girl of the house of the snake with who she never had a proper discussion! How could she trust her? Her? That girl who never inspired her anything, if not suspiciousness. Haughty Calypso Curtiss. Cynical, proud and noble, a true picture of a Slytherin, informing about her own family in an abstract allusion. Kate creased the parchment in her hand and slipped it into her bag, her face surly. She really didn't like this atmosphere at Hogwarts. This impression that the world was turning around her while she was just turning on herself, without understanding the meaning. This was making her dizzy.

One evening, Kate went out of the library late, when she had been there since lunch. She observed the last students, bent over their writings, while Madam Pince was chasing the unwelcomed off her cave, like a dragon. Gathering her books, which she put in her bag, she cleared off in a sigh.
Kate managed to avoid Peeves' attention, busy scattering the notes of a fifth year from the top of the big stairs, which flew around in a rain of parchment. The warm air outside made her sigh and she caught herself liking this new season's weather, synonym of revival. The dawn was painting the sky, full of thick cumulus, with a splendid cameo of pink, blue and bright, ephemerid yellow. It was so pleasant to breathe in such a calm environment. Far from the screams, far from the darkness. Far from the war relics…

'Kate!'

The scream at her intention made her thrill and she opened her eyes, staring at the silhouette of Suzanna who was running towards her, making her wide blonde and silky curls swing.

'Kate!'
'Suzanna?! What's happening?'
'Kate, you must… you must…'

She stopped in front of her friend, breathing strongly, while other students, who were going to their common rooms, were looking at them curiously when walking past them. Suzanna caught her breath, her hands on her knees, breathing noisily.

'You're scaring me, Suzanna…!' shook Kate, vainly attempting to smile. 'What's going on?'
'It's the girls! They're in trouble!'
'In trouble?!'
'Follow me, I'll explain to you on the way!' she said while giving a glance to the students passing by.

She resumed her race, this time followed by Kate, her heart held by a terrible panic. Suzanna wasn't the type of girl worrying for nothing! She was used to lose her stuffs, her homework or to receive average grades. To reach such level of panic, the situation may be particularly serious.
The two girls passed through the clock tower that was leading to Hagrid's hut and the forbidden forest, without slowing down.

'What are you doing?!'
'That doesn't make any sense…' thought Kate. 'Scarlett is too much a stickler on the school rules… She would never go into the forbidden forest in her own will…! Tied up and victim of an enchantment, I would believe it, but…'
'Screw logic, Kate!' yelled Suzanna with a high-pitched voice. 'I'm just saying what I know! The girls are missing! And I know they're in there! So, whatever your crappy reasoning is, stay here if you want! But I'm going to their research! They're gone for two hours now, after Maggie proposed them to go check something in the forest about I-don't-know-what…! The time for me to go take my camera… and they weren't here anymore! They still didn't come back, Kate, do you get that?! They might be in danger!'

Suzanna's eyes reddened and got watery and her lips trembled.

'And we don't give up on friends…'

On these words, the young girl started running again, galloping one pace on two on the way to the forbidden forest.

'Suzanna…! Come back!'

But Kate's call found no response. If she admitted for one moment that her words were true, it could fit with the suspicions Kate had about Maggie, but why going after her roommates? And if they weren't, Suzanna was throwing herself, alone, in the forbidden forest while night was falling; and that, Kate couldn't close her eyes on it and not intervene. Without really knowing what was guiding her, Kate followed her:

'Suzanna! Wait!'

Her heart retched when she crossed the limit of the forest's dark edge, already warning about the danger inside. Suzanna's silhouette was running straight forward, scanning the woods from right to left.

'Stop! It's completely insane!' Kate tried to reason her when she stopped on the dusty ground strewn with old pine needles eaten by insects. 'We'll never find them this way! We'd better go back to the castle. And if they don't come back to our dormitory, we warn the prefects and professors! It's a better solution than blind searching them into the woods!'
'They're here…! I know they're here!'

Without noticing a single word of Kate, Suzanna resumed her searches. Exhausted by this run across the woods, getting darker and darker, her housemate started to have difficulty following her pace.

'Please, Suzanna, listen to me!'

Catching her breath, while leaning against a remarkably large tree, Kate walked around the trunk, in the direction where her friend ran. Yet, no red and black silhouette was seen.

'S-Suzanna?'

She had disappeared; and letting place to silence, Kate heard no sound of footsteps, no rustling or creaking pines or twigs. As if by magic, Suzanna seemed to have vanished into nature.

'Suzanna, it's not funny! Not at all! Come back! And… and we go back!'

Kate's whole body was shivering, panicked at the idea of being alone, lost in the middle of this wide forest, nest of the most terrifying dangers.

'Oh no… oh no, no, no…'

The step undecided and guided by her deep fear, she took the path that seemed to fit the most to her instinct's muffled voice.

'Suzanna! Suzanna!' she called out.

Nobody answered her, except her own desperate echo.

'Don't panic, don't panic', she tried to convince herself in a sobby breath while pulling her compass out of her pocket in a fast and clumsy move. 'We're gonna find the way. Everything's gonna be fine, Kate, everything's gonna be fine...'

Her little shaking fingers handled the knob, whose narrow oscillated, before settling on the hand. There weren't a lot of people in this forest! It would undoubtedly show Suzanna's direction! Or, at least, the school's... And so, Kate quickly retraced her steps, following the big golden arrow and seeing, in a relative relief, the numbers gradually reducing. Unfortunately, her consolation didn't last long, when the darkness swallowed the woods around and Kate found herself prisoner in the night's entrails. She wasn't able to see the arrows behind the glass of the little compass anymore, the light of the feeble crescent moon being hidden by the thick black clouds and the high twigs of the terrifying trees. There was no other way but resort to magic, while doubtful noises, characteristic to the night's world, started to awaken in the vegetation's shadows... Kate took her wand and brandished it in front of her.

'Lumos!'

BANG! The orange explosion threw her backwards, making her fall on her back, the compass slipping through her fingers.

'Damn, damn, damn...!' she quavered, still chocked, groping around on all fours to find her belonging, lost between two big prominent roots.

Then, she rose up, dusting off her clothes on which dirt and pieces of bark were stuck. She was firmly holding her wand, as if it was the extension of her body. Determined to accept the fact that she would walk in the total darkness, wandering in that forest...

'Suzanna... if I get out of here... I'll strangle you!' she swore to herself, nearly falling on a root and hitting a tree.

Considering the compass useless now, she stuck it into her pocket and kept on going, blindly. Gradually, her sight became sharper, getting used to the nearly obscurity of the place. She didn't dare to try her lighting spell again, afraid to hurt her back, enough oppressed already!
Kate felt like someone was observing her... And she wasn't reassured at all. Her heart was racing at her ears, like the heavy and fast drums of a tragic scene about to end. No matter how fast she was walking, she had the impression to walk towards her doom. Each shadow, hung on the small twigs of the big withered trees, seemed to be watching the scared walk of the little girl, before slipping along the trunks to follow her black shoes that were scampering on the dusty ground. The treetops were arching under the pernicious caress of the cold wind, like sharp claws, ready to close the trap on her.
Kate's fingers closed around her mother's necklace, the only thing able to reassure her at this precise moment, while she was still roaming in the forbidden forest, without finding the exit. When a sound behind her made her jump and she stopped her pace. She made a U-turn and brandished her wand, oscillating because of her shakings. Further, one of the big bushes quivered; until a smoky silhouette, not human, not quite really animal, detached from it. A spectral mane was falling in tatters of darkness along its massive neck, while its body moved forward like if it was evaporating from the surface of the copse's frozen leaves. Then, exploded the dreadful bright reflection of its eyes. The cold drizzle around it, like a protective coat, infused in the little clearing, while in a threatening breath, the black silhouette was expanding and sliding on the dust.
Kate's heart froze inside her chest, clutched by her emotions.

'A... gytrash...!'

Not a dog, not a horse, not a mule, this spectral creature the little girl met once in one of Hagrid's books was said to haunt the nocturnal woods, searching for lonely victims. The material embodiment of children's worst nightmares.
Big teeth as black as the night and as shining as the moon showed themselves as the creature tucked up its chops, stretching on its hairy face an evil grin. Kate's emotions took control of her body: she gave a yell of terror while dashing herself in a wild race. Her instinct of survival, stronger than her caution, took over and allowed her to avoid the numerous trees hindering her run, weaving in and out between the tree trunks and jumping over the low copses. The shadow on four paws was following her in a shrill sound of wind, its two red eyes shining in the night without blinking.

'Help!' she yelled out of breath, hoping a miracle to intercept a snatch of her desperate call. 'Help!'

Hoping to get rid of the creature that fears light, she caught her wand and turned without stopping running:

'Lumos!'

BANG! A small explosion was thrown from her wand. The monster evaporated a few seconds in a sinister squeal, before reforming after the flamboyant light faded, keeping on its hunting.

'Lumos! Lumos!'

The failed spell was allowing her to get ahead, without managing to escape from it.
However, she didn't anticipate the steep slope towards which she was running. She noticed it at the last second and stopped short in a hiccup of stupor, flailing her arms around; until her body, snatched by gravity, toppled over.
Kate rolled in the dust for a long time, stuck in her cape and her manhandled hands trying to slow down her fall. When she stopped at the end, she spit for a long time between her sobs, extricating herself from her cape and gropingly searching for her wand that fell in the dust and leaves. On the top of the hillock, the gytrash was having its eyes on her in a triumphant look. And its big red eyes transfixed Kate who was feeling the beating of her heart in her lips. The creature rushed on her, hurtling down the slope at breakneck speed, its fangs unsheathed.

'Somebody... please... Dad... help!'

And as she thought her end near, curled up on the ground, her face into her arms, she felt a large mass jumping over her and intervene. The gytrash slowed down in an unhappy hiss, raising dust around. Surprised by this respite Kate lowered her hands and saw the tall, massive silhouette that was standing in front of her, facing the gytrash.
The centaur scraped the ground several times with his hooves, bending his chest towards the gytrash that had been adopting a defence posture, retracted on its ghostly legs and its fangs shown. Newly animated with a hoping courage, Kate took refuge behind a large tree nearby, crawling on her back, her eyes fixed on a scene no human being could have been able to see in a lifetime...
In a provocative and imperious posture, the centaur was charging by fits and starts in front of the gytrash, alone against that force of nature. The latter was forced to step back. Its bright red eyes seemed to never get away from its little prey who looked so mouth-watering, but it had to abandon her. The monster slipped into the ground, between the stones, in a black, smoky slick, to get back to the sylvan depths in an upset stridency. Silence fell back on the little clearing. Night suddenly seemed calmer.
Kate's noisy breath was hitting her ears as she couldn't get her eyes off the tall grey centaur who turned towards her. His rounded face was circled with blonde hair and beard that the night was rendering sparkling brown. His accommodating look stopped on the little witch, fascinated and terrified at the same time.

'You have nothing to fear with me, little human...' he whispered in a voice showing his youth and his fear to be clumsy with Kate.

Slowly approaching her like if she was a wild animal, he stretched his muscled arm and held out a hand to help her get up. Hand that Kate observed a moment before taking it with febricity.

'Who... who are you? Why... why did you save me?'

Diligent in learning her lessons, the little girl knew some things about the centaurs, among other things, the loathing they were feeling for humans. The fact that one of them got away of his herd and came to the rescue of a child seemed to be a rather unlikely situation...

'The stars told me that I would find you here...'
'The... stars?'
'I have to bring you back to the edge of the forest before my people start wondering where I've been... Let's not loose time, we have to be fast.'

The young centaur seemed in such a hurry, but so respectful. He lowered his croup and, after a short hesitation, Kate climbed on his back, trying to keep her balance as much as possible. She was riding a centaur. She was having a hard time believing it.

'Who are you? And how is it that the stars told you I was here?' she asked, intrigued, bent over the grey centaur's back who started a quick gallop through the woods.
'My name is Drane', he answered in outline. 'The stars, the planets, tell us everything if we listen carefully. They're spiritual guides along the path of our lives and others'.'
'And so... they told you I was in danger?'
'They whispered that, tonight, you would be in the forbidden forest O'Maëva. I didn't know you would be facing a gytrash...'

Kate had tensed up just before the centaur jumped over a fallen tree trunk, forcing her to bow her head again, clutched to him.

'H-How did you call me? O'Maëva?'
'Is it not your name, little human?'
'I-I'm Kate. Katelyna Whisper! My name's not Maëva!'
'O'Maëva', corrected Drane in a chuckle. 'That's the name the stars gave you when you were born.'
'The stars talk about me?'
'Since you were born, little human. The stars look after you, after all of us. They know each being far more than he knows himself. I saw the celestial bodies shining with a whole new light the day you came into this world. Yes, O'Maëva, you're not like your kind. The stars can testify it themselves.'

Was it possible that this centaur knew more about her than anyone else in this world? She had to find out:

'What do you mean, I'm not like my kind?'
'Humans are arrogant. Some of them do magic without knowing the real meaning of it, the foundation of the powers nature gave them. Everything about them is nothing but contempt, competition and relativity. They stay in the perpetual comparison of their strength, as if each being had to be dominant or submissive with regard to their congeners. That's what my people say... Maybe you'd support me?'
'Yes, maybe', stammered Kate, taken aback. 'But I still don't get it... I'm a human being as many others...'
'Do you really think so, O'Maëva?'

Each human being was unique in itself. But Kate couldn't deny the fact that she wasn't just a common witch... She opened a house in the wizarding school, for the first time since its creation. She found out to have an uncontrollable gift that had escaped all of her teachers' explanations, even the most qualified ones.

'You draw your magic from its very purity, its foundation; from the supreme essence, the source of magic and life... It is what you, humans, call immaterial...'

Immaterial. Kate had already heard that word from Wolffhart's mouth the day she had shown him she was able to summon an evanescent butterfly with her fingers.

'Why me? Why am I capable of doing that, while... I'm nobody! I didn't do anything special...!'
'You'll have to find out by yourself, O'Maëva!'
'I don't understand anything! Why don't you explain to me?! You know everything, since the stars told you!'
'I... I'm not supposed to be here, with you, at that precise moment! I'm already breaking enough rules!'

She heard the young centaur sigh, shaking his blonde head while still galloping.

'The celestial bodies tell us about the past, the present and the future. Their voices are timeless. Us, the centaurs, we have a saying to let things happen by themselves. We're not allowed to interfere. We knew, years ago, that Harry Potter would be the saviour of our world. Some of my kind saved him several times, but we didn't fight all the time next to him, only when we were told to... My herd stays away from you; all of them know you, O'Maëva, and know what role you'll have to play in the future. But we are not willing to tell you more. Only you are master of your destiny and will have to discover what it is about...'
'But, why did you save me while... you didn't know I was in danger?' Kate kept on, confused.
'I'm following your path since my childhood. I saw your trace appearing and joining the stars, twelve years ago. I know what you will accomplish and who you truly are. I succumbed to the temptation by coming to you, because I knew you would be here, tonight. I shouldn't have...! We must not interfere, except when the stars tell us to!'

Drane's voice derailed and Kate felt that the young centaur was feeling guilty, afraid at the idea of the consequences of his acts. A slight smile stretched on her face as she was still clutching on him.

'Bane will be mad at me...'
'Without you, I'd probably be dead...!'
'Humans, you always put things into perspective!' mocked Drane, uncomfortable, unable to admit to himself that the little girl was right.

Straight after he finished his sentence, the castle's silhouette gradually appeared behind the trees.

'Hogwarts! We made it!' exclaimed Kate in a low voice, relieved.

The centaur let the little girl dismount, a constantly worried look aimed at the abyss of the forest.

'You're leaving already?' she wondered while Drane was going away.
'I have to', he declared, his voice quavering. 'Every contact with you, with the humans, is outlawed.'
'Will we see each other again, some day?'
'I strongly doubt it, little human', he smiled clumsily while nodding his blonde head. 'I exceeded too many limits... Forget me and live your witch life, away from this forest, away from these evil creatures and from my herd. It's better this way... Farewell, O'Maëva. It was an honour to meet you...'

On these words, he galloped away, swallowed by the darkness while Kate shouted her last words to him:

'Thank you, Drane!'

She swallowed her words in one last whisper:

'Thanks...'

That's how she stayed still a while, in front of the woods full of occult whispers. Her heart was still strongly beating from the last emotions that took place in her. Panic, terror, despair, fascination. The interrogation was reverberating too much in her mind. She, who was doubting everyday more and more about who she were, now they were dispossessing her of her own name, her most intimate property!
And while she was still meditating, without going back to the castle, a rustle sneaked up behind her, and a hard pointed object came in between two of her vertebras; the end of a magic wand...

'You weren't supposed to get out of that forest...!'