I could feel those annoying two-legged creatures close, so I ran as far as possible from them. It didn´t matter how they found me, I would not let them get close. The last thing I wanted was for them to catch me. There was no doubt that if they did so, they would separate me from My Harry.
And that was unacceptable.
Harry was MINE and I would sooner kill them with my claws and teeth than let them take him away.
The only thing, keeping me from giving fully into my rage, was the feeling of the weight of my two-legger on my back. Just feeling him this close made me feel content and at ease. Made me feel whole and believe that everything I experienced up until now was worth it. The wait… the suffering… the loneliness… It was worth it since I finally had someone who understood me. Someone to be there just for me. And someone that would never abandon me. Harry said that we share a permanent connection and say that we will never be alone!
Just the image of that made me happy.
I finally stopped next to a clearing, both to catch my breath and to make sure there was nobody behind us. My decision was clearly appreciated by My Harry when I felt his hand rub gently against my neck. A pleased noise escaped my throat, which in turn caused an amused noise from him. I was glad he was no longer afraid of me like before.
Then my nose caught a delicious smell that made me look at the clearing. A growl escaped me when my eyes caught sight of what my instincts screamed was prey. My ever-present hunger made itself known again, and this time it would not be ignored.
"You want to hunt, Enyo?" asked My Harry, as if he was listening to my thoughts.
"Yes," I rumbled, silently very pleased at hearing my name coming from his lips.
"Alright, um, can you let me down? I feel like I would only hinder you in your hunt, you see," explained my partner.
I paused at this, before lowering myself so he could get off me. He was, of course, right – if I kept him on myself, I would have been distracted with worry over his safety.
"Wait here for me. I´ll then share my catch," I told him, gently nudging him with my head, once he stood on the ground.
"I promise I will wait at you here until you finish. But there is no need for you to share, I ate a lot, before we met," he said, gently patting my side. "Please take care. And a word of advice – watch out for the tail. From what I know, if it hits you, it might even break your bone."
How thoughtful of him, I thought as I turned my head and nuzzled him, to show how grateful I´m for such a piece of useful advice. Once I felt satisfied, I returned to my task and started to stalk my prey.
Harry watched as Enyo disappeared back into the forest. Probably intending to find the best route to sneak up to the ankylosaurs in the clearing, from how things seemed. The wizard shook his head and went over to the closest tree. There he sat down and leaned back against its trunk, thinking back of what happened since he got lost in the forest.
He couldn't say he expected to find his familiar. Much less to find out his familiar was a dinosaur. But he wasn´t complaining, although he didn´t want to imagine how was he going to explain the situation to the park´s owners. That was one hell he was not looking up to. But so far, having Enyo as a familiar wasn´t so bad. She might have been scary at first, but the more he spent time with her, the more he was able to relax around her. She was very open about showing affection, at least to him. She also seemed to be curious, which was either a natural trait of hers or a result of her being young and not a full adult yet. Though, if it was the latter, then he couldn´t imagine how much bigger could she get. He guessed that was one of the downsides of not knowing what species Enyo was. All he knew it was a big carnivore with an intelligence very close to that of a human.
She might be even smarter than most humans, thought the teen as he remembered some of his classmates. Enyo clearly displayed higher intelligence than he ever saw in Malfoy´s cronies. The thought of this reminded him of school. And speaking of school, he had no idea, what was he going to do with Enyo, once he started his fifth year. He knew, from reading, that familiars naturally needed to stay within a certain distance within their magical partners. That left a few limited options. First, Enyo would leave with him and come to stay in the forest around his school. That possibility depended eternally on how would the ones in charge of the park, and the teachers from his school react. Second, he could stay on this island with her and finish his schooling from distance. As he thought about this possibility, it became more appealing for numerous reasons, the lead among them being that he had no idea how Enyo would handle the colder weather of Scotland. What he remembered about the dinosaurs, was that they were usually native to much warmer climates. The rare few that weren´t were either aquatic or cowered in feathers, none of which applied to his familiar.
So, unless he quickly found a solution, it looked like he would have to give up Hogwarts for her sake. True, he would miss his friends, but he was sure they would understand his decision if he explained the situation to them.
"Besides it is not like it would be hard to find magical tutors," Harry mussed aloud.
His train of thought was interrupted when he noticed something in the corner of his eye. The raven turned his head and squinted to take a better look. From what he could make out it was some sort of moving sphere… with people inside it? He quickly took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes to make sure he was not seeing things. When he put them back, he realized that he was in fact right. There was a transparent sphere-like vehicle and it carried two passengers inside, that seemed to be around Harry´s age.
But what were they doing here?
It took a moment for the wizard to remember, the fact the park offered something like safari rides, with special vehicles that would take the visitors to see certain animals up-close.
This was clearly one of those vehicles.
This means that we are close to one of those rides, Harry thought and then watched with open fascination as the interesting sphere rolled up close to one of the ankylosaurs… just as Enyo emerged right behind the sphere.
"Oh shit!" The wizard jumped at his feet and ran towards them. "Enyo! Leave the glass ball alone! Those inside are NOT prey!"
But it was too late.
The white dinosaur ran forward with a roar, her strong legs kicking into the glass sphere. The force behind the kick sent it towards the running herbivores, much to the horror of those inside it. When the vehicle finally stopped moving, it was right in the middle a circling duo of Enyo and her prey. The moment the passengers tried to get away, but just as they moved farther from the carnivore, so did the ankylosaur´s tail. With one mighty hit, it flung them straight against the nearest trees. Upon impact, it was clear that whatever technology controlling the vehicle was shot to hell, judging from those inside being suspended upside down.
Harry ran as fast as he could, coming to a skidding halt in front of the vehicle, just as Enyo killed her prey. She turned to look at him, tilting her head curiously.
"It is alright. I´ve got this," the wizard said quickly. "You don´t have to worry. Those inside," he gestured at the sphere, "…are not prey. Nor they are after your catch."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Why are they even inside that thing?"
"Well, we two-leggers are more fragile compared to beings like you. So they probably use it for protection, when they want to satisfy their curiosity. The sphere protects them from harm while allowing them to come close to giants like you," he explained as best as he could. "Now go and enjoy your meal. I´ll take care of them."
"But what if these two-leggers hurt you?" she asked in concern.
"They won´t. They are children, the young. They are perfectly harmless. Besides, you will be only a few steps away. I´m safe with you," he reassured her, holding the gaze of fellow green eyes.
"…alright," she finally agreed. "Call me if you need me." And with those parting words, she trotted towards her killed prey and started eating.
Seeing that, the teen wizard let out a sigh of relief, mentally checking another point towards his familiar´s intelligence. He turned towards the shell-shocked duo inside the odd sphere, who until now numbly watched the exchange between the teen and the dinosaur.
"Um… Hello there. Do you need any help getting out?" asked the raven, walking around the broken vehicle. With the damage he saw, it was a miracle it protected its inhabitants for so long, but it held.
As if to answer the question, the glass door slid open. Taking a look at the two boys inside, the raven made a quick decision and climbed inside. It took some careful effort in strength and balancing, but he managed to help the two from their seats and prevent them from falling at their heads. Once that happened, the three of them got out.
"Thanks, man, for… you know," said the older of the duo that Harry just helped out.
"You´re welcome. Are you hurt anywhere?" asked the raven in concern.
"No, nope. Just got one hell of a scare. That´s all."
"Yeah, I can imagine," sighed the wizard, before holding out his hand. "Harry Potter."
"Zach Mitchell," the older boy shook his hand, before releasing it and motioning at the younger boy, currently hiding behind him. "This is my younger brother, Gray."
"Nice to meet you both," the raven nodded his head. His hand rose and pointed towards his familiar. "And you had already met Enyo. I´m sorry for the incident with the sphere. She was in the middle of hunting and well… you kind of got in her way. So again, I´m sorry for what happened."
"Um, no harm done…"
"How did you do that?" asked the little brother, Gray, speaking up for the first time. He peeked from behind Zach, blue eyes fixed on their saviour.
Harry turned to him. "How did I do what?"
"Made that carnivore leave us alone. How did you make it listen to you? Was that some sort of trick?" Gray inquired.
"You can say so," chuckled Harry as he leaned down, to be on the same level as the other boy. "You see, Gray, certain animals are more intelligent than others. In fact, their intelligence can rival that of a human. Take dolphins or, if we look at the place we are at, raptors as an example…"
"But that is not a raptor! How could she reach such intelligence? There are few species related to raptors and that doesn´t look like any of them!" protested the curly-haired boy.
"Well, who knows? She might be a recently discovered and brought back species, that might be related to the raptors and still grow that big," guessed Harry. "Or she might be a different, unknown species with a similar level of intelligence."
"You don´t know what… she is?" asked Zach doubtfully.
The wizard gave a careless shrug. "Enyo is Enyo. She is unique and I like her for what she is, not for whatever scientific name was she given by those who discovered her. Now, where was I? Right. Looking at raptors, we know they are smart. In fact, their IQ is so high that they have their own language which, while appearing like odd animal sound to us, actually allows them to understand each other perfectly. Anything with that sort of ability and understanding must be intelligent. And for us humans to understand them, we need to find the right medium to bridge the language gap between us."
"So you and she have something like that?" Gray questioned, a little less sceptical than before.
"Yup. But before you ask, our method of understanding is a secret between me and her. So I can´t tell you, even if I wanted, sorry," apologized Harry.
That was all he could say before an odd sound interrupted them. Zach went back to the spere and grabbed his phone, which probably fell from his pocket when the sphere got his by the dinosaurs. He picked it up and started talking with someone on the other end.
"I´m finished, Harry," announced Enyo as she joined them, startling Gray, who quickly hid behind Harry.
"Welcome back, girl. Did you have a pleasant meal?" asked Harry with a smile as she lowered herself for him to pet her. The rave dutifully did so, gently nudging the curly-haired boy. Gray shot him a questioning look and Harry offered his free hand to him. Hesitantly, the other boy took his hand and Harry guided him in how to pet his familiar. The pleased noise she let out startled the small boy before a grin appeared on his face as he kept touching the dinosaur.
"He isn´t that bad, for a two-legger," commented Enyo, startling a peal of laughter from her wizard.
"She likes you," explained the raven at his companion´s questioning gaze.
"And you certainly have a way in handling her," commented Zach as he joined them, eyeing the white dinosaur suspiciously.
"Thanks, I try."
"Anyway, our aunt Claire just called. She wants us to make our way to the closest facility, so she can come to get us. I mentioned to her that we had a run-in with a dinosaur and had no idea where we are, so she had a colleague of hers send me the directions to my phone. Though I don´t know how do we get here, since our vehicle got damaged," the older brother summed up the call he finished just a moment ago.
Gray pouted, clearly not pleased with the idea of having to go back and not seeing any more dinosaurs.
Harry, on the other hand, looked thoughtful for a moment, before he spoke: "Do you want us to give you a lift?"