"I still say this is a bad idea, Neville."
"You insisted on coming with, Morag, so stuff it."
"Only so you wouldn't go alone."
"It's quicker without organizing a bunch of us to go."
"Two Hogwarts students make for a great snack for whatever creatures live in this wretched place."
"Just shush. I want to make sure my Memorgalia herbs have enough nutrients and they can only be watered during this phase of the moon."
"We're going to the greenhouse you set up for the centaurs?"
"Yep, one of them," the brunette man answered proudly. "Harry finished the wards two days ago; I need to make sure it didn't disrupt any of the flowering cycles."
"Friday night and I'm mucking through the forest," Morag complained with a put-upon sigh. "I should have just left you to the woodland creatures, Longbottom."
"We'll be fine," he waved off. "We're using all the repellent wards and charms right now."
"They aren't infallible," she pointed out as they stepped over a fallen tree.
"It's a good thing we're there then," he said with a nod.
"Woah."
The greenhouse they approached wasn't traditional in any sense. It wasn't perfectly rectangular or circular. Instead, it was built jaggedly into the space between a ring of trees. Clear glass stretched between the trunks and up through the branches, somehow grown into the trees.
"Cool, right?" Neville asked proudly.
The huge branches looked as if they had been grown around the roof of the building to allow sun and moonlight to filter down through the foliage.
"Pretty spiffy," she complimented as she cast detection charms and perimeter wards.
"I'll only be a minute," he told her as he held open the tall, wide door.
Neville took a little less than fifteen minutes to water and adjust all of his plants before returning to Morag's side.
"Ready to go?"
"Sure," she agreed, lighting her wand. "Back into the forest we go."
Their walk went on uninterrupted for nearly ten minutes before they were alerted to the light sounds of scuttling. Their immediate response was the extinguish the light of their wands and cast a night vision charm on their eyes.
"Woah," Morag murmured as she located the source of the sound. "Those spiders are the size of a book."
"Repellant charm?"
"Oh yeah."
They had just finished going through the wand motions when they heard the sounds of something larger struggling. Hurriedly, they followed it deeper into the trees. Smaller spiders parted at their feet like a river parting around a rock as they approached a small clearing between a few trees.
"Merlin," Morag barely breathed out.
A young centaur girl, no older than eight, was struggling under the combined weight of ten large spiders.
They didn't have long to meet each others eyes but the brief moment they did have was enough to wordlessly agree to a plan. Three of the spiders spun to face the two DA members. As one charged, Morag raised a shield and Neville shot a powerful blasting curse.
Dropping her shield, Morag dropped two of the larger spiders while Neville petrified another. After that, it was simple to repel the smaller spiders and decimate the larger ones. As the spiders realized they were outmatched, they retreated into the tree line.
Eventually, it was just the students and the injured foal. Heavy breathing and pained gasps filled the air.
The girl was beautiful even by human standards. Her lower body was that of an Andalusian horse and her hair was pin straight and white. She was covered in multiple bites and scratches and was bleeding heavily from pincer wounds in her haunches.
Her eyes were already clouding over (a symptom of the poison) as Neville knelt down by her side.
"We need to get her out of here," he said grimly as he took her pulse and ran a vitals check. "She's been bit at least twelve times."
"Emergency portkey?" Morag asked as she turned slowly in a circle with her wand extended. It was glowing a deep azure color, a percussion spell waiting to be loosed. "Can centaurs take them?"
"Yes," he agreed. "Let's go."
They took a moment to orient themselves before grabbing a firm hold of the dazed and near unconscious centaur child. Then, they activated their portkey.
…
The shock in the DA Cathedral was palpable when Neville and Morag appeared with a clearly injured, downed centaur in tow.
"Graham," Neville snapped out immediately when he saw the healer he had hoped would be there. "She's got at least twelve acromantula bites. Blood pressure's rising and her abdomen's spasming; she's already in shock."
"Move," the seventh year ordered as he stepped up and lifted the prone centaur into the air. "Get Lanuaria here."
Graham had already began applying localized spells to combat the envenomation while putting her vitals into stasis as the rest of the room leapt into action. Nanette began to help him and they both allowed the more experienced healer to take over when she arrived with her apprentice in tow.
It took them nearly half and hour of constant treatment and potions to draw all of the spider venom back out of the wounds. The magical nature of the venom made it clump together and attack the heart so that the acromantula can attack in packs. It couldn't be left for the body to combat in large quantities especially in one so young.
"She can't be any more than ten," Graham told Harry and Neville later as they sat to the side of the bed the girl was resting in. Lanuaria had left early after giving them all strict instructions for the care of the young centaur.
The bites she was covered in were healing quickly. Nanette was sponging her off carefully and removing leaves and muck from her luminous hair.
"I wonder what she was doing so far from the tribe."
"Looking for the stream, I expect," Luna chimed in. "There's a place they can walk in and out of it easily, a sort of beach."
"She's a kid," Harry agreed. "Probably went to play."
"What should we do with her?"
"We're meeting the centaurs an hour before sun down tomorrow, after dinner," Lily Moon spoke up from where she sat with her back to the dueling platform. "We should bring her with us."
"Will she be well enough to move?"
"By tomorrow night?" Graham clarified thoughtfully. "Probably. Centaurs heal a bit faster than we do. She should be waking up within the hour."
"We should clear the room out," Harry decided. "Curfew's in ten minutes anyways."
"I'll make the announcement," Hermione said.
"Alright, find Ron and Blaise for me," he asked.
"I'm going head out too," Graham decided. "Nanette's got it here, I think she's got a liking for the foal."
"Foal," Harry said thoughtfully.
"That's the proper term, I think."
"No, I know," he waved off. "I just meant, she's someone's daughter. Maybe we can send an owl into the forest once she wakes up."
"Just send it the herd?"
"I was thinking we could find out her mum or dad's name or whatever," he said. "Hedwig should be able to find anyone."
Graham shrugged. "I'll leave it up to you. Good luck."
"Thanks," Harry murmured.
Ron and Blaise approached quickly, casting appraising looks at the small girl. She was very pale but color was quickly returning.
"Neville told you both what happened?"
"Yeah," Ron confirmed.
"So we've got to bring her back with us tomorrow when we foray into the forest," Harry continued. "I was thinking it might not be best to have her in the main group in case they get hostile and shoot a few arrows off."
"You think they will?"
"They might just for show and I don't want to risk her. Maybe we have a second group in the back that can hang behind with her?"
"Maybe four plus her in the back and the three broom riders can ground with them while we start the initial talks," Blaise offered.
"Let's make some plans then…" Ron said, rubbing his hands together. "Get the maps."
…
The young centaur didn't wake until nearly two in the morning. It was just her and Nanette for an hour while the older girl explained what had happened.
"My name's Nanette."
The centaur eyed her distrustfully. The otherwise unthreatening healer had sheathed her wand and was wearing her DA robes. The girl was clearly smart though and recognized the bodice as a sort of armor.
"Do you remember what happened?" Nanette prodded gently, peering into the forest green eyes of the centaur.
"I was attacked," the answer came slowly before the girl began to struggle somewhat feebly to get her legs underneath her.
"Stop," Nanette ordered forcefully. "You'll aggravate your injuries, stop moving."
Distrustfully, the girl did so. Young or not, she was clearly smart.
"Where am I?"
"Hogwarts castle."
"The wizard school. You're a student?"
"Yes."
"I remember two wizards attacking the spiders."
"Morag and Neville," Nanette agreed. "They found you and brought you here."
"You will tell your head teacher."
"Headmaster Dumbledore? No," Nanette disagreed. "We're going to bring you back ourselves tomorrow night."
"You won't call your ministry?"
"Definitely not," was the quick answer. "Do you want us to?"
A head of white hair gave an emphatic no.
"So, what's your name?"
Forest green eyes gave her another distrustful look before the slow answer came out. "Nephele."
"That's a pretty name," Nanette complimented. "You need to eat before you can take the final cleansing potion to get the poison out of your system. Those spiders bit you nearly a dozen times."
"Infernal creatures," the girl spat.
Nanette blinked in shock.
"That's what my mum says," she shrugged as well as she could.
"She's right," the Ravenclaw agreed. "Does grilled chicken sound okay to you?"
"To eat?"
"Yes."
"Uhm, yes," she agreed slowly.
"Slippy," Nanette called loudly.
Immediately, a sharply dressed elf appeared.
"Can I get a plate of grilled chicken and maybe some potato soup?"
"Absolutely, young mistress," the elf agreed excitedly before disappearing.
Nephele looked at the spot the elf had been with wide eyes.
"Have you never seen a house-elf before?"
She shook her head. "Only in stories."
"They're really very sweet."
"My mum says they're wizard servants."
"They are but we see them more like family."
Nephele seemed to contemplate this wordlessly before taking in the cathedral-like room with wide eyes.
"Do you think your family is worried about you?" Nanette prodded gently.
The young centaurs eyes widened and darted around as if looking for the exit in a panic.
"Oh no," she worried her bottom look. "Papa's going to be so angry."
"He can hardly be mad at you for being attacked," Nanette soothed. "I'm sure he's very worried though. Do you know how to read and write?"
The centaur gave her a sharp, offended look.
"You look quite young, is all," the other girl soothed. "Can you use a quill?"
"Of course," she sniffed.
The letter was penned quickly and Nanette took it from her with ease. Nephele had said that she had been attacked by spiders and saved by wizards students that promised to take her home tomorrow night. The DA student took the quill and began writing at the bottom of the page.
"I'm going to add a bit more," she explained.
Nanette wrote that Nephele had been found by two students in the southwestern part of the forest being attacked by no less than ten grown acromantula. She had been severely poisoned and needed to be sedated while her system was flushed. By tomorrow afternoon, all of the poison will have left her body and the bites should have closed. She also wrote down the location of the clearing they had decided to stage their meeting in.
By the time Nanette had finished, Nephele was half way finished with her food.
"Who am I sending this to, exactly?"
"Belvedere Mooncrush of the Star-captured clan."
"Your mother?"
"Yes," she agreed.
Nanette gave the missive to Slippy to bring to the owlery and readied the remaining potions for the girl.
"I have to take those?" she asked distrustfully.
"Yes," Nanette agreed. "They won't hurt you. One is to stop you from throwing up, the other is to cleanse the venom, the other is the sleeping potion."
"My mom says never to trust wizards. They lie and take what isn't theirs and they don't care about any one other than themselves."
"Well my mom says you can't blame everyone else for something a few people did. She also says trust has to be earned. Besides, some wizards care about people other than themselves. I'm caring for you right now, aren't I?"
Nephele couldn't argue with that.
…
"They didn't send a letter back?" Harry asked.
"Slippy said Hedwig came back with the letter untied so someone took it," Daphne Greengrass answered. She had taken over Nanette's watch so the younger girl could get some sleep.
Nephele was still laying in the bed but her wounds had stopped oozing and closed over. The bandages would be off before they went into the forest.
"Have we got all of the teams planned out?"
"Fay, Morag, Terry, and I are hanging back with Nephele," Daphne answered.
"Blaise, Harry, Lily, Hermione, Neville, and I will bring up the front group," Ron continued. "While Katie, Kenny, and Justin follow on brooms."
"Are the twins meeting us?"
"No but I have the concrete spray."
"You know how to use it?" Harry asked his red haired best mate.
"Shake, point, shoot."
"Good enough for me," the ebony haired teen shrugged. "Let's practice for a bit then head to dinner. It'll be a long night."
…
"Why are we in two groups again?" Nephele asked as they split away from Harry Potter's group and went down a different secret passage in the upper levels of Hogwarts.
It was a sort of slope and was much easier for the young foal to navigate. Her injuries still ached and she was bone tired even after a full day of rest.
"The first group is going to clear the way," Fay answered as she tapped out a rhythm against a blank wall in the dark corridor. It opened into an empty corridor that they quickly ushered down.
"Disillusionment spells, everyone," Daphne directed while unfolding Harry's cloak.
She cast a disillusionment charm on Nephele then secured the cloak to her for good measure. From there, it was a simple matter to get through the courtyard, down the sloping lawn, and into the tree line. The little centaur was already shifting her weight from leg to leg in excitement; she felt better just being between the trees.
"Wait here," Fay signaled before pressing a finger against her ear. "Forward team?"
Someone answered her and she moved her hands in a forward motion.
"Katie said the way is clear for now. Let's move."
…
"Centaur heat signatures to the east and west of you," Kenny reported to Blaise. "They got our letter or they know we're here."
"Both," Ron muttered.
Harry, Blaise, Ron, Lily, Hermione, and Neville broke the tree line into the large clearing. They took up a loose half circle formation facing different directions and waiting for the centaurs to show themselves.
The sun was filtering in brightly through the entire clearing, dying rays flaring and fading in an orangey hue.
"Got movement," Justin reported. "We're still out flanked."
"I think they're coming out," Katie murmured. "Going to ground with the second group."
A few seconds later, the centaurs emerged from the trees.
The two men in the front were obviously the leaders. Their weapons were fine and their breastplates were high quality. Between them stood a white haired woman that they recognized as of some relation to Nephele. Centaur or not, the stress and worry was still clear in her stance and face.
Ten more centaurs emerged behind them, clearly warriors.
None of the centaurs missed the matching dress or the heavy protective armor and daggers all of the wizards were strapped with. The sharp, intimidating shoulder gauntlets cut impressive figures under the hooded dark purple elbow length capelets. It almost distracted them from how young they all were.
"Honored centaurs," Harry greeted, bowing formally. Once he came out of his bow, his friends behind him bowed in the same fashion.
With a raised brow, the oldest centaur, hair greying, inclined his head in return.
"You are Harry Potter, wizard child and student of Hogwarts."
"I am, yes," he agreed. "My friends and I were planning to meet with your tribe under better circumstances."
"Where is Nephele?" the woman demanded sharply, clearly done with patience.
"She's with another group in the forest, waiting."
"For?"
"We didn't know if we would be met with hostility. We didn't want to bring a child into the middle of it."
"You are but children yourselves," the younger male centaur scoffed.
"We're old enough to have a purpose for coming," Lily spoke up. "And we bring with us an offering in the name of the mutual respect and courtesy we hope to foster in our future dealings."
"You intend to have future dealings with us?"
"We believe it's in our best interests," Neville agreed strongly, stepping up to stand closer to Harry. This had been his idea after all.
"And you are?"
"Neville Longbottom."
"You cannot seriously be considering this, father," the younger centaur protested while the watching warriors shifted anxiously or stamped in agreement.
"They have afforded us every courtesy, Ain," the older centaur scolded while Harry shot Blaise the signal to tell Nephele's group to head this way.
"They are wizards," the other spat.
"Hold your tongue if you would see your sister returned to you," the woman they believed to be Belvedere hissed.
At that, Harry's eyebrow raised.
He could tell based on the emblem on the older man's breast plate that he was the leader of the council. If the man next to him was his heir and Nephele was the heir's sister, that would make the girl the daughter of the tribe leader. No wonder they seemed anxious for her return.
"Nephele's fine," he offered. "She's still got a few aches and pains but the spider bites have healed over."
"It was the Acromantula that attacked her?" the elder man questioned.
"There were ten big ones on her," Neville answered. "Once we fought them off, she was already spasming and going into shock. We brought her into the castle and treated her there."
"Her wounds?" Belvedere asked softly.
"Scratches, cuts, and dozens of bites," he answered.
The centaurs all stamped angrily at that but none seemed to be directing that anger towards the human.
"What does your headmaster know of this?"
"Nothing," Harry answered truthfully. "We failed to see how it concerned him."
"Was it not his mediwitch who treated her?"
"We called in our own healer to look after her," he told them.
"Hm," the eldest hummed thoughtfully. "I am Saram. This is my son, Ain, and my wife, Belvedere."
"You received Nephele's note?"
The white haired woman nodded, still giving them a distrustful and weary look. That look was broken a moment later when a group of figures broached the tree line.
Katie, Justin, Terry, Fay, Morag, Kenny, and Daphne were in a tight circle. Their wands were out and three shields were raised to protect the group.
Once they saw the two groups, they allowed their shields to drop before slowly splitting down the middle.
Nephele and Nanette were revealed, the former looking a little worse for wear. Her bandages were off but a multitude of angry pink scars could be seen around her neck, arms, and chest.
Those wounds didn't stop the young girl from running briskly across the clearing and towards her mother.
"Nephele!" the woman crowd joyously as she bent and wrapped her arms around her daughter.
The movement drew the attention of her father and brother; a black belt was secured around the girl's waist and held two innocuous metal canisters with a red button on top.
"What is this?" he asked gruffly as he eyed the girl up and down with barely concealed relief.
"A gift from the wizards, papa," she answered obediently.
"A gift?" Ain asked contemptuously.
"Something our group created," Harry answered. "Maybe you'd like to demonstrate, Nephele?"
"Can I, papa?" she asked pleadingly. "It's really cool."
"Cool? It is cool?" he asked slowly. "And this is good?" she nodded eagerly to his question. "Very well, show me."
"What do I do it on?" Nephele asked, turning to Nanette.
"Hermione?" the Ravenclaw asked.
The bookworm flicked her wrist and caught her wand deftly. Patently ignoring the threatened looking centaurs, she aimed it towards the tree and conjured a large black spider. She enlarged it a few times then looked towards the centaur girl who was already aiming one of the cans confidently towards the construct.
"Ready?" she asked, receiving a nod.
Hermione animated the german shepherd sized spider and sent it scuttling intimidatingly towards the comically small centaur girl. Just as all the centaurs raised their weapons, conjured beast too close for comfort, a spray of gleaming grey erupted from the can.
The liquid concrete hit the spider and expanded to trap limbs and weigh it down. After four seconds of fire, the arachnid was completely covered. In eight, the mixture was rock hard and bone dry. The conjured spider struggled to the best of it's ability but a full grown man wouldn't be able to break it's bonds.
"We call it liquid stone," Harry continued. "Each can probably has enough in it for fifty or so spiders."
The centaurs were shifting with interest and looking at the can, wielded by a foal, and the trussed up incapacitated spider.
"It'll work on a spider double that size though you might want to spray a couple layers at it. Anything else it'll probably just slow down and trip up."
"Very useful indeed," Saram commented thoughtfully as his daughter secured her gift back onto the belt. "I don't see my foal parting from it any time soon."
"Which is why we have more prepared," Harry spoke. "Perhaps it would make a suitable offering to begin talks of an alliance or an understanding."
"And what do we have to reach an understanding about, young one?"
"The war against the Dark Lord Voldemort."
Ain scoffed.
"Human matters do not concern us," he opined.
"Do you actually think so?" Harry retorted.
Caught off guard, Ain gave him a glare. "Wizards have shown only contempt for centaurs."
"Some wizards, maybe, but they're not representative of us. Besides, if you actually think this war doesn't concern you, you're more ignorant than I thought. Do you think the Dark Lord won't attempt to attack through here? Do you think he'll respect the boundaries of your settlements or refrain from attacking you? He might even ally with the acromantula — their leader is sentient, after all. War is coming to Hogwarts and you're going to feel the effects of it as much as anyone else."
"And what would you have us do, Harry Potter?"
"Prepare," he answered simply. "We've already begun mounting defenses on the edges of the forest but it isn't our land this far in. If you won't help defend the school if we're attacked, at least protect yourselves."
"If we were attacked, of course we would defend ourselves," Saram pointed out.
Belvedere had retreated behind the guards with Nephele by her side. She seemed to be rapidly conversing with the young girl who was gesticulating, stomping, and swinging her tail animatedly.
"To what extent?" Harry pushed. "If you were to see Death Eaters in the woods, would you deter them or leave them be?"
"If they were not attacking us, they are not our concern."
"Which is why we'd like to propose a more interactive alliances."
"And what do you have to offer us?"
"To start?" Ron spoke up as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a shrunken box. "These."
"And you are?"
"Ron Weasley. My brothers developed the liquid stone. There's two hundred cans in this box that are yours no matter how these talks go. I know most of your warriors can handle those filthy spiders but your younger tribe members might have problems."
"We also offer bounties and protections," Lily Moon spoke up; she was the most familiar with the customs of the centaurs.
"Protections? From school children?" Ain snapped with a scoff. "Please."
Harry was getting slightly irritated with the attitude of the centaur mostly because he could tell that Saram found it disrespectful and because he could tell Ain was just prejudiced.
"School children or not, I am Lord Gryffindor. The castle, the towns, and even these lands fall under my protection."
"Gryffindor ceded control of the forest in the fifteenth century," Saram corrected almost gently.
"Yet my magic still sings in the air," he responded, flexing his hand with the Gryffindor ring unconsciously. "And I will still do my duty to defend it."
He was telling the truth; he could feel the magic of Hogwarts and the Gryffindor family in the air even this far from the castle.
"I can respect that, young wizard," Saram agreed. "Very well. We accept your offering and as a boon for the rescue of my daughter, Nephele of the Star-captured clan, We grant you an audience before the tribal council on the next New Moon."
"Which is tomorrow night?" Harry asked slowly.
"Yes."
"And you couldn't have just said tomorrow night because…?" he asked slowly before shaking his head. "Sorry, ignore me. Your way sounds cooler anyhow."
"Yeah, Papa," Nephele agreed as she poked her head around his flank. "Cooler."
He pat her head gently as their warriors seemed to relax. Ain maintained his affronted, huffy attitude but the granting of an audience before the council made them slightly more welcome.
"Thank you for your time this evening," Harry said graciously as he bowed.
"And you have my gratitude for the safekeeping of my daughter."
Nephele moved away from her mother and broke rank, approaching the group of DA members at a trot.
"Neville, Morag," she said as she stopped in front of the tall, armored boy and girl. "Thank you for killing all of those spiders. I remember it. There were more than ten of them."
"You're very welcome," Morag responded, her round face and sharp eyes contorting into a warm smile. "Makes me glad Longbottom dragged me into the forest last night."
"Why were you in the forest?" the girl asked innocently much to the interest of the adult centaurs behind her.
"I'm sure you'll be finding out after our meeting with the council tomorrow," Neville answered with an easy shrug.
A few interested looks were veiled as the young foal made her way to Nanette. This time, she surprised them all by reaching out and hugging the slight fourth year.
"Thank you for treating my wounds."
"It was no trouble," Nanette brushed off while returning the hug. "I'm just glad you're okay."
"I hope I get to see you again."
"I hope it's under better circumstances next time."
Nephele bowed her head before backing away towards her parents.
"We should go before it gets much darker," Blaise noted, looking around with some concern.
"We're going to go check the way back," Katie said quietly as she, Kenny, and Justin backed out of the clearing before taking to their brooms and ascending with wands aloft.
"Shall we meet here, same time tomorrow evening?" Harry asked Saram.
"That will suffice," he agreed. "You will be escorted to our meeting grounds."
"Until then, honored elder," he said with a bow. Again, his friends copied the movement after he completed his bow.
"Until then, little Lord."
The centaurs faded back into the forest and the DA copied their example, leaving the clearing exactly as it was before they arrived.
…
Sunday night came quickly. This time, the group was smaller. It was Harry, Ron, Neville, Lilian, Nigel, Susan, and Blaise.
Once they cleared the tree line, they donned their matching purple and silver embroidered armor. They made their way easily into the clearing from the previous night and found five large centaur warriors waiting for them.
"Good evening," Harry greeted.
"Wizards," one of them growled gruffly. "This way."
The half horse beings set a quick pace through the forest that the DA members easily matched without complaint. All of them had studied maps of the forest (and actually had some on their persons) so they knew roughly where they were going.
In twenty minutes, they had reached what was obviously the meeting grounds.
The clearing was slightly artificial in that it had obviously been pruned and maintained. The grass was very thick but cut short and it was probably comfortably soft should any centaurs decide to kneel. Light was provided by luminescent bushes and a handful of fairies that were swooping through the low hanging tree branches.
A stone fire pit was dug into the center and it was burning an ethereal sea green and yellow, the smell of flowery herbs strong in the air. Seven centaurs were gathered around it in a half circle, Saram in the direct center.
"Welcome, Lord Gryffindor."
"Many thanks, Elder Saram," Harry said with a bow. "It's an honor to be granted council."
"Saram says your little group rescued his daughter from a swarm of acromantula," the man to Saram's direct white spoke up. His fur was a dark chestnut and his hair and beard was well kept.
"Two of ours came across her in the forest, yes," Harry agreed. "How is Nephele tonight, Elder Saram?"
"She is well, recovering quickly and telling fanciful tales of the castle."
"It's a shame she didn't get the proper tour," Harry remarked.
"Few other than wizards ever do."
"Something I'd like to change in the coming years."
"A bold statement."
"But still true. Relations between our species is really horrible. I don't want that to be a conflict here where I think there should be an inherent assumption of equality."
"Well spoke," the oldest looking elder spoke. "I am Pavo and you are welcome here on equal grounding."
"Let's be getting on with the point then," a gruffer council member growled, tail swishing in an unconscious sign of irritation.
Harry nodded in agreement and stepped to the side to let Hermione come forward.
"I'm Hermione Granger, it's an honor to be here," she said sincerely. "I'd like to start by reminding this council of the foundations of cooperation and alliance that used to exist between the newly migrated Kentauroi tribe of the Magnesian forests and the wizards of the surrounding foothills."
"You speak of times of old, girl."
"Yes, sir," she agreed, casting off the dispersion inherent in form of address. "Times when centaurs were the paragons of civilization, technology, and magic. Times when wizards relied on the support of their neighbors and in turn those neighbors relied upon them. This forest used to be too small to provide adequate shelter from strong storms — centaurs and all manner of magical creatures would take shelter within the castle."
"Those days are gone along with any need centaurs may have once had for wizards."
"Is that so?" Hermione responded primly, reaching into her breast pocket. "I've done some research that shows contrary. You are aware of the existing Greek centaur tribes?"
"We know of our Mediterranean kin," Saram answered.
"In the past twenty years, the Greek ministry has been making strides in their relations with centaurs to the point where some research has been conducted. Did you know that, in Greece at least, centaurs have been dying more of old age, disease, and infected wounds due to a lack of necessary herbs and potions ingredients in the last four hundred years?"
A few of the younger council members shifted uneasily; it appears they were aware of the scarcity.
"We assumed that was probably true here," Neville spoke up now. "The British Ministry has been especially active in dictating where you may and may not go while restricting trade and even communication."
"We are aware of your ministry's crimes against us," a burly centaur voiced.
"So are we," Susan spoke up. "I'm Susan Bones."
"Your aunt is a ministry employee herself," Pavo pointed out.
"And she's aware of what's wrong with the current administration just as much as we are."
"She's one of them," a centaur protested.
"She's one of us," Harry corrected. "She's part of our group."
"The ones that Nephele tells us about. A big room all to yourself. She said you called it your church."
"We call it the Cathedral," Harry corrected with a small chuckle. "It's our meeting room and it's large enough to house all of our members."
"And how many of you are there?" Saram asked with interest.
"A fair few," he skirted.
"All students," he burly man scoffed again.
"And that makes us less effective how?" Neville asked. "We're students at one of the longest standing magic schools in the world. Many of us are heirs with access to family libraries. All of us are well connected, organized, and determined to stop the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord. War will come to this castle, to this forest."
"It already has," Harry picked up. "Or will you truly spit on the deaths of seven innocent unicorns by acting as if it didn't happen here, under your watch, where they ought have been safe?"
"Are you blaming us for the actions of that nightmarish shade?" Pavo asked incredulously.
"Are you saying you couldn't have reported it to the headmaster? Who, perhaps, would not have chosen to send four first years into the forest accompanied by a groundskeeper and a dog?"
They shifted uneasily at that. They had, in fact, deliberated at this very meeting ground five years ago and decided against sharing information with the wizards.
"Of course, the blame for the actions of a wizard fall with the wizards," Lily interjected as she sensed heat rising. "We only meant to point out that the lack of communication is harming multiple parties."
"We understand if you don't want to fight with us if war comes to the gates. We won't ask you to. We want to establish a working alliance so we can get people in the forest setting up wards, traps, and detection charms. We'd like to establish patrols in the forest, interactive maps, evacuation routes, supply drops."
"And what would you offer for these liberties on our lands?"
"Plants," Neville said brightly before blushing. "Sorry. Most of this was my idea."
"Your idea?" Saram prodded, recognizing one of the ones who his daughter had personally thanked for saving her.
"As Hermione pointed out, you're short on some of the non-indigenous herbs and flora. Certain roots, vines, trees, and flowers just don't grow here. The solution is green houses stocked with things like Fo-Ti, Amla, Skullcap, Schizandra, Maca-"
Susan elbowed him gently to stop the energetic listing of plants.
"Sorry," he coughed, blushing again. "Anyways, they can be easily maintained by centaurs without any extra help from wizards."
There was some quiet murmuring between the centaurs which the DA waited out patiently. They seemed relatively interested in the idea.
"It is an…interesting proposal. And you are correct in assuming that these greenhouses might be of interest to us," Saram voiced. "But you are asking for immediate rewards for a service that will take weeks if not months to bear fruit."
"But you would be interested? Regardless of our status as students, you're willing to ally with our group?" Lily asked while skillfully hiding her hopeful countenance.
A few of the younger centaurs bristled but didn't speak out.
"We are. Our villages remain closed to you but we will tolerate your presence in our lands," Pavo agreed. "Further, should any elements of your Dark Lord enter the forest, they will be deterred and you will receive word."
"There are some stipulations," the burly centaur spoke up.
"Such as?"
"You will be accompanied by a centaur while enchanting or warding any part of this forest."
"We had hoped one of you would accompany us anyways. Maybe we could give you a tour of the outer edges of the forest so you're aware of our traps," Hermione answered.
"We also require more of this liquid stone."
"More?" Harry asked in surprise.
"A team was sent to test it on a small enclave of acromantula and the results were most successful," Saram explained. "We would like to begin a large scale extermination."
"You want to completely exterminate the acromantula? Aragog too?" Ron burst in excitedly.
The centaurs looked somewhat taken aback by his nearly joyous outburst but nodded none the less.
"Oh you've got to let me help," he crowed, rubbing his hands together. "I've drawn up a rough map of Aragog's cavern and I already know exactly how to bring the whole thing down."
"You have seen the acromantula cavern?"
"Assuming it's the same one they used four years ago, yeah," Ron agreed.
"Aragog is the main spider?"
"He was the first, yeah," Harry confirmed. "He was huge when we met him. He's got to be more than forty years old now."
"That could be valuable information…" Saram mused.
"If we're to be allies, I don't see any reason we can't share a few maps, tactics, and explosives," Ron said brightly. "I've even got some poison gas guaranteed to work on those blighters."
Harry and Hermione gave Ron a sideways look.
"I don't remember that being in the standard carry kit," Harry muttered out of the corner of his mouth.
"It's not," the redhead said blithely.
"I see someone can match our hatred of the acromantula," Pavo commented.
"I hate all spiders," he said with a heartfelt shudder. "All of them."
"Though these spiders did actually try to eat you," his best friend added helpfully.
"Don't I know it?" Ron grumbled before speaking up. "We can definitely provide you with everything you might need for the destruction of the acromantula."
"And when our herbalists have these greenhouses, you will have the favor of the council and the boon of our alliance."
"Then it is good that we prepared the greenhouses ahead of time, isn't it?"
"Pray tell?" Saram asked with a surprised look.
"We've already set up three large greenhouses. One's for food, the other's for potions ingredients, and the other is a bit of a conglomeration," Neville spoke up.
"We have maps with us if you'd like to take them over now or we can escort you there."
"Show us these maps, human," one of the centaurs, hair greying, said stiffly.
"We have seen no evidence of such construction on our lands," Pavo mused.
Hermione withdrew the large scroll that contained a map of the forbidden forest and spelled it to hover where they could all see it. The three green houses were marked clearly in red ink and immediately the centaurs began stamping in displeasure.
"These lands are not our own," one of them snarled before stamping his feet.
"These are the lands the ministry took from the centaurs nearly one hundred years ago," Hermione responded. "However, the lands are back under Lord Gryffindor's control and so, we believe, should be yours again."
"And what do you want in return?"
"Nothing," Harry answered immediately. "If you wished to reconsider our alliance at this very moment, the lands and the greenhouses would still be yours. It's another good faith offering on our part."
"It is only our duty to pay reparations to some degree even if we're not directly responsible," Lily spoke up, bowing her head as she did so.
"You have given us much to think about and, indeed, much to plan. We will meet again in a fortnight in the first clearing."
"Agreed," Harry said brightly. "Thank you again for your time tonight, master centaurs."
"Our warriors will see you to the forest edge."
"No need," Harry said. "We will leave from here directly if you don't mind?"
"As you will," Saram agreed with the wave of his hand.
Harry nodded and at a wordless signal, all of the DA members disappeared after a final bow.