Luke stared into its beady black eyes. It seemed to be examining him with great interest. Luke prayed that its diet consisted of the forest’s vegetation, but had a feeling he was more likely to be on its menu.
The creature turned away from him to Gordon and then in turn to Kyle. Luke’s heart was hammering in his chest and he was grasping his wand so hard that he thought it might snap in two. He desperately tried to remember any spell that might help him, and wondered if Professor Hollowhorn had ever mentioned anything like this in his classes.
Suddenly, the creature whipped round to face something behind it, almost taking Gordon’s head off with the long spike on the end of its tail. It seemed to be staring at something in the darkness, but Luke could not see what it was. He heard it emit a loud snort, as if sniffing the air for something, before striding off in the direction it had come from.
Luke still did not dare to move from where he was lying. Several seconds went by, and the forest seemed eerily silent. Then, he felt a hand placed on his shoulder, causing him to yelp in surprise.
‘Let’s get out of here!’ whispered Gordon urgently in his ear. Luke saw that he was shaking with fear, and noticed that his own hair was soaking wet with sweat. Kyle was kneeling by Gordon’s side looking absolutely petrified. Luke couldn’t find his voice, but nodded.
When they stood up, however, they had no idea which way was out. They had run into the forest without looking where they had been going, and there was no indication of which way they had come from. There was no sign of a path, and they couldn’t see any light in any direction.
‘Which way did we come from?’ asked Luke eventually, in a voice that seemed far higher pitched than his own. Gordon looked at him nervously.
‘Er…I…I don’t know. Maybe we should try this way,’ he stuttered, pointing in the direction opposite to where the monster had headed. ‘Let’s just get as far away from that thing as we can.’
Luke nodded, and they began making their way away from the scene as quietly as possible. Every few seconds they stopped to listen for any sound of the monster.
‘Guys…I’m…I’m really sorry about this…it’s all my fault,’ sobbed Kyle.
‘Yes. Yes, it is,’ said Luke bitterly. Now that they were free from the Devil’s Snare and out of the clutches of the monster, Luke remembered why they were in the forest in the first place, and wondered what on earth could have possessed Kyle to come in here in the first place.
‘I…I just thought…’ began Kyle, but Luke interrupted him.
‘Save it till we get back to the castle,’ he muttered.
‘If we get back to the castle,’ said Gordon.
Several minutes went by, but they still couldn’t see any light through the gloom. The trees seemed as densely packed as ever, though at least the area they were in now seemed to be free from Devil’s Snare.
‘This is hopeless,’ sighed Gordon, ‘We could be going around in circles and we wouldn’t know.’
‘It’s not hopeless, we must be getting closer to the edge,’ said Luke, though privately he agreed. There was no sign of any way out, and he was feeling increasingly sure that no one knew they were here.
‘Hold on,’ said Gordon. ‘I’ve got an idea.’
Luke had imagined he was going to pull out his wand and cast some previously forgotten spell, but instead he held his wand in his teeth, and began climbing one of the trees.
‘Don’t leave us down here!’ cried Kyle, but Gordon did not reply. Luke watched him as he scaled the tree. He managed to haul himself onto a branch about ten feet up. Luke couldn’t see where he was going to go from there, but Gordon jumped across into the air “ just managing to seize a branch above him, before pulling himself up onto it.
‘I’m going to see if I can get on top,’ he shouted down, slightly louder than Luke and Kyle would’ve liked. ‘If I can get there I should be able to see the castle.’
Luke nodded, but felt rather anxious. Gordon was already quite high up, and he wasn’t even halfway up the visible part of the tree.
‘Is he going to be alright?’ asked Kyle in Luke ear. Luke bit his lip.
‘I hope so.’
After a few minutes, they couldn’t see Gordon at all. A few minutes after that, Luke started to wonder what sort of creatures lived in the trees here. Images of Gordon being torn apart by several oversized birds kept flashing to the front of his mind. It seemed as though at least twenty minutes had passed since he had begun climbing, before Luke heard Gordon. He was evidently shouting at the top of his voice, but his voice seemed very far away.
‘I can see the castle!’ they heard him shout. ‘I’m coming down!’
Feeling slightly relieved, Luke stared up into the branches for any sign of him. Several minutes passed without sight or sound of him, before Luke heard several birds flying out of the tree and Gordon cursing.
‘Are you okay?’ shouted Luke.
Gordon did not reply. There was a dreadful pause before Luke heard something heavy come clattering down through the branches. A second later Gordon came tumbling out of the tree; landing heavily on the ground with a sickening snap sound.
‘Giz! Are you all right?’ cried Luke, running to Gordon’s side.
Gordon was conscious, but clearly in a very bad way. His leg had almost certainly broken, and he had hit his head on several branches during his descent. Luke and Kyle had just pulled him up so he was sitting against the tree, when they heard a rumble in the darkness behind them.
‘Did you hear that?’ Luke asked anxiously. Kyle nodded.
‘You need to get out of here,’ muttered Gordon, clutching his leg.
‘And leave you here?’ whispered Luke. ‘You’ve got another thing coming. We’ll carry you out of here if we have to. Come on, take my arm…’
Kyle and Luke heaved Gordon to his feet and put his arms over their shoulders. Gordon tried to walk, but his broken leg would not support him.
‘I can’t do this, go back and get Professor “’
‘Oh, shut it!’ hissed Luke. ‘We’re carrying you back and that’s that. Now for God’s sake be quiet, before that bloody thing hears us “’
They heard a large stomp behind them, followed by a snort of steam on the back of their necks.
‘I think it already has found us.’ moaned Kyle, and the three of them turned slowly around.
The monster was back, and while it had seemed curious about them before, it now seemed to be mad with anger. Without moving its feet, it brought its huge tail swinging round taking their feet out from underneath them (Gordon gave a yelp as he landed on his broken leg). They stared back in terror for a second, before it leaned back and craned its neck into the air, taking a huge breath. Luke knew he had to move but couldn’t bring himself to. In a second it was going to be over anyway…
‘There it is! Oh God, it’s got…Stupefy!’ cried a voice from the darkness.
A burst of light shot out from the darkness and burst into sparks on the monster’s scaly hide. The monster roared, enraged by the spell, but otherwise unharmed.
‘Stupefy!’ yelled the voice again, sounding even more alarmed. ‘Help me Rubeus!’ the man shouted, as the monster turned to face it. Luke and Gordon were sure they recognized that voice. Then, they heard another voice which they recognised immediately.
‘What the? Oh Gawd! Getta ‘way from him yer big brute! Look! It’s me Hagrid yer…’
The three of them were very alarmed to see Hagrid coming flying through the air at them, having taken a blow from the beast’s tail. He hit the trunk of a large tree before collapsing on the ground. For a moment, Luke thought the beast had killed him, but within seconds Hagrid was back on his feet. Whoever he had been with was still attempting to curse the beast, which sounded as if it was only getting more and more worked up.
‘Yer can’ jus’ curse it! Yeh’ve gotta treat it like…’ shouted Hagrid, running back at the creature.
Apparently his companion had decided that cursing it was exactly what needed to be done, and seemed to be cursing with all his might, the area lit up by his spells and the occasional blast of flames.
‘Hagrid! What’s going on?’ shouted a third voice. As they came through the trees the light from their wand lit up their anxious features so Luke and Gordon could see them. It was Charlie Weasley.
‘Charlie!’ cried Hagrid, looking delighted for any assistance. ‘Thank God yer ‘ere! The wyvern’s on the loose!’
Far from looking surprised at this announcement, Charlie simply charged after Hagrid towards the beast. Gordon, Luke and Kyle were still rooted to the spot, but as Charlie and Hagrid ran out of sight, the commotion surrounding the beast seemed to increase. Now both Charlie and the other man were shouting curses at the creature, and it sounded like Hagrid was trying to grab hold of it, which Luke thought would’ve been suicide for anyone smaller than Hagrid.
‘Stop it! It’s gettin’ away!’ they heard Hagrid cry. Sure enough, the beast came tearing though the gloom as fast as its stubby legs could take it. At first, Luke was amazed at how fast it could move, until he realised it was going to run straight over them. He threw himself and Gordon aside a second before it reached them…
‘STUPEFY!’
Luke did not dare open his eyes, but the beast made no sound. He chanced a glance up and saw the beast looking dazed in front of them. It swayed a little, shifting its weight from leg to leg, before toppling over with such a thud that the very ground around them seemed to quake. Hagrid ran over to examine it, while Charlie and the other man walked over with their wands still pointed at it.
At first, Luke could not make out the man’s features in the gloom of the forest, so he slowly lifted up his wand and gave it a meek twirl.
‘Lumos.’
The area around them was bathed in the light from Luke’s wand. Initially, he could not take his eyes off the creature. Only with it lying unconscious was its true size visible. Luke noticed that the fight seemed to have left several cuts on its scaly hide. Evidently, this was not the first time something like this had happened, because there were several crude bandages on its legs and tail. As the light illuminated them, Luke saw that the string binding the bandages was silvery and had a strange glow to it. He was still looking in awe at them, when Kyle addressed the man.
‘Pr…Professor Hollowhorn!’ he cried between tears. ‘I…’
Luke wondered how he could have possibly failed to recognize a voice he heard several times a week, but then he could never have imagined Professor Hollowhorn being in a situation like this. While his eyes in class were normally half closed, they were now wild with fury. He looked unnaturally angry. Without responding to Kyle, he walked over to Hagrid and spoke in a manner Luke would never have thought he was capable of.
‘RUBEUS! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?’ he bellowed. Even Hagrid seemed taken aback by this.
‘Er… well, yeh see, Lincoln…’ he stuttered. ‘…I got this egg off a friend over summer…’ he said, in what was obviously meant to be a cheery, “by the way” sort of voice. Professor Hollowhorn was not impressed, however.
‘HAVE YOU LOST WHAT LITTLE MIND YOU HAD? I WOULD HAVE HOPED THAT YOU OF ALL PEOPLE WOULD HAVE KNOWN NOT TO BREED CREATURES LIKE THIS!’
As poorly lit as the area was, Luke couldn’t mistake the shade of purple Professor Hollowhorn had taken. Charlie walked over to him, all the way shooting nervous glances to Luke, Gordon and Kyle, and tried to calm him down.
‘It’s okay, Professor, it was only a wyvern, and no one got hurt…’
This did not appear to have the desired effect, as Hollowhorn turned to Charlie and bellowed at him.
‘AND YOU SHOULD COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS THAT IT DIDN’T MANAGE TO HURT ANYONE! I’LL HAVE YOU PUT IN AZKABAN FOR THIS, HAGRID, I SWEAR! YOUR EXPERIMENTS HAVE ALREADY KILLED ONE PERSON, AND NOW YOU’RE PREPARED TO LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN!’
‘NOW HOLD ON JUS’ ONE SECOND!’
Hagrid had bellowed back at Hollowhorn so loudly that Luke thought Hollowhorn’s legs would turn to jelly. Intrigued as he was as to what was going on, he couldn’t help but wish that the conversation be a little quieter. He’d met enough horrible things in the forest for one day, and couldn’t say he wanted to attract any more.
‘IS THIS WHAT IT’S BEEN ABOU’ THEN? YEH STILL WON’ TAKE DUMBLEDORE’S WORD?’
‘EVEN IF I HADN’T BEFORE, I THINK I’VE SEEN MORE THAN ENOUGH EVIDENCE TODAY TO PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER!’ shouted Hollowhorn back, though he seemed to have been put rather on the back foot by Hagrid’s bellows.
‘YER A DAMN FOOL, LINCOLN! A FOOL! YOU KNOW WHO DID IT, AN’ YEH CAN’T BEAR TO ADMIT IT TO YERSELF!’
‘Hagrid! Lincoln! What is the meaning of this!’ cried a stern voice.
Professor McGonagall came striding through the undergrowth, wand in hand. She gave a look of great alarm upon seeing the wyvern. ‘What is that?’ she yelped, pointing at the scaly mass on the ground.
‘WHA…Oh. Er…Hullo, Professor. That’d be a wyvern…’ said Hagrid, once again on the back foot.
‘I can see what it is, Hagrid! What on earth is one doing here?’ she shrieked. Seizing the moment, Hollowhorn strode past Hagrid towards her.
‘He’s been raising it in the forest, Minerva! A wyvern on the school grounds! When the Ministry of Magic finds out about this, there will be hell to pay! Letting loose a creature like that! It tried to kill these students “’ To Luke and Gordon’s horror he pointed to them and Kyle; Professor McGonagall’s eyes seemed to bulge as she saw them. ‘“ And if I hadn’t of been here I daresay it would’ve succeeded!’ he cried triumphantly. Hagrid let out a snort.
‘Yeh didn’ seem t’ be havin’ much luck when I found yeh, Lincoln. An’ it hadn’ bin running wild before, I’d guess someone would’ve had to have hexed it firs’,’ spat Hagird, who looked accusingly at Hollowhorn.
‘Hagrid,’ began Professor McGonagall, who seemed to be trying desperately hard to keep calm about the matter. ‘You surely can’t have managed to raise one of these things on your own.’
‘Oh I didn’ Professor. You see I had…oh…er…actually, er…yeh. Yeh, I did,’ stammered Hagrid, realising his mistake a little too late, his eyes flitting over to Charlie, who was staring rather guiltily at the ground. Professor McGonagall eyes stared at him as well. She looked as if she was going to say something, but Professor Hollowhorn got there first.
‘So, you’ve been helping him, have you!’ he shouted at Charlie. ‘Well! I’m sure Hagrid has mentioned to you what happened to him! I’ll be sure to report this to Dumbledore, and then the pair of you can conduct your little experiments elsewhere!’
‘Lincoln, you can’t expel Mr Weasley for this…’ began Professor McGonagall, but Hollowhorn was on a roll.
‘Expel him? Minerva I intend to have his wand snapped in two for this!’ he snapped. Charlie and Hagrid looked horrified.
‘You can’t! Professor, please!’ cried Charlie, looking from Hollowhorn to McGonagall.
‘You are aware that I will require your report on this too, Minerva,’ said Hollowhorn, acting as if he not heard Charlie speak. Professor McGonagall paused for a second, and looked briefly at Hagrid and Charlie for a second before she answered.
‘I am, Lincoln.’
‘Well then! If you’d like to accompany me up to the castle now, we can get this done as quickly as possible.’
Professor Hollowhorn was grinning as if all his Christmas’ had come at once. Charlie and Hagrid were still stuttering in unison at him and flicking looks towards Professor McGonagall. She, however, looked exceptionally calm.
‘That will not be necessary, Lincoln.’
Hollowhorn paused and the grin slipped from his face so quickly that it seemed as if it had been cursed off him. When he spoke, his wand hand seemed to be trembling, though he spoke in a determinedly calm and polite voice.
‘What do you mean, Minerva?’
‘I will not be giving a report on this matter, Lincoln. Charlie is within my house and it is I who will decide his punishment, not Professor Dumbledore.’
Professor Hollowhorn looked momentarily livid, before his expression turned to a bitter smile.
‘I see. However, I do believe it is the governors who will decide on Rubeus’ treatment, is it not?’
‘That also is true, Lincoln. Still, I doubt whether the governors will take seriously a complaint made by a teacher who has professed all year his great dislike for the person in question “’
‘But with your support Minerva “’
‘You will find no support from me on this matter, Lincoln.’
Hollowhorn looked as if he was going to explode. His face turned a deep shade of red and Luke wondered if he was going to curse Professor McGonagall. She, however, remained quite calm, and turned back to Hagrid. She was about to say something, when Hollowhorn could no longer keep his mouth shut.
‘CORRUPTION!!! CORRUPTION OF THE HIGHEST ORDER! I RETURN TO THIS ONCE GREAT SCHOOL AND WHAT DO I FIND? A RECKLESS AND FRIVILOUS ESTABLISHMENT WHERE IT IS FINE FOR MURDERERS TO COMMIT CRIMES TIME AND TIME AGAIN “’
‘WHAT DID YEH SAY?’ bellowed Hagrid, curling his hands into football sized fists.
‘YOU HEARD ME!’ shouted Hollowhorn, now resuming his purple colour. ‘I’LL BE DAMNED IF I’M STAYING HERE A MOMENT LONGER! IF I HAD KNOWN THE TREATMENT I WOULD RECEIVE I WOULD NEVER HAVE COME BACK IN THE FIRST PLACE!’
‘Well, Lincoln, if you feel you must resign…’ said Professor McGonagall quietly. Luke was sure he saw a glimmer of a smile on her lips as she said this.
‘Professor!’ said Kyle. ‘Don’t go! You’re the best teacher we have!’ he added, much to Luke and Gordon’s surprise. They hadn’t been massively keen on Hollowhorn before today, now they felt they hated him almost as much as Snape.
‘HA!’ snorted Hollowhorn. ‘Well, unfortunately, Mr Pratchett, your views do not seem to be shared by the staff!’
Hollowhorn said this, and strode off into the trees. Luke looked up to Professor McGonagall, but she simply shook her head disappointedly.
‘You know the beast can’t stay here, Hagrid. If Hollowhorn reports this to the Ministry, which he doubtless will, and they find it here then the consequences would be disastrous.’
‘I…I know Professor. I’ve ‘eard there’s a dragon sanctuary in Romania, maybe they would ‘ave him. Thanks fer yer help back there Professor, that Hollowhorn is a complete…’
‘Yes, well,’ said Professor McGonagall quite loudly so that they didn’t hear what Hagrid said next. ‘I am afraid Lincoln does have rather a lot of trouble accepting the truth; not that it matters now, I suppose. Did he notice these?’ she said, pointing at the wyvern’s bandages with her wand.
‘I don’ think so,’ said Hagrid. ‘Good job too, if he’d o’ told Snape…’
Luke’s eyes fell on the silvery bindings around the bandages, and he recognised what they were.
‘Unicorn hair,’ he said, grinning in disbelief. Professor McGonagall and Hagrid turned to him as if they had only just seen him. ‘So that was why you stole “’ he began to Charlie, shutting his mouth quickly as Professor McGonagall nodded.
‘That is old news now, Mr Oakshot, and I daresay that Professor Snape will be able to live without the details on that,’ she said, glancing over to a grinning Charlie. She did not return the smile however, and Charlie quickly put on a sorry expression. ‘Mr Weasley, I may not be expelling you for this, but I certainly do not find stealing from a teacher’s stores and raising creatures such as this in the forest amusing.’
‘Sorry, Professor McGonagall.’
‘As I have already docked points for your theft, however, I don’t really see any point in taking any more off you. I think it’s fair to say that Gryffindor won’t be winning the house cup this year anyway,’ she sighed. ‘I should get back to the castle. Do you still need the first-years Hagrid, or can I take them back up the tower?’
She looked over to Luke, Gordon and Kyle as she said this, and Luke realised that she had presumed they were here with Hagrid. He tried to catch Hagrid’s eye and nodded as much as he dared. Hagrid did not appear to notice.
‘Wha’? I thought they were ‘ere with you Professor…’ he said, looking down at them and seeming rather confused.
Luke’s heart skipped another beat. What the hell were they doing here? Professor McGonagall had threatened to expel them if she found them in here again. Then a thought occurred to him.
‘We were with Professor Hollowhorn,’ he said, trying to look innocent. To his horror, he saw Professor McGonagall raise an eyebrow.
‘Professor Hollowhorn is not without fault, Mr Oakshot, but I sincerely doubt that he would’ve taken three first-year students into the Forbidden Forest, however popular they might’ve been with him,’ she said, continuing to look sceptically at him. He racked his brain for a reason why Hollowhorn would’ve needed them, when Hagrid incriminated them further.
‘They weren’ near Lincoln when I found ‘em,’ he added rather reproachfully. Luke looked for words, but it was Kyle who spoke. He was close to tears.
‘They were following me, Professor. I…I needed to speak to Professor Hollowhorn, and I heard off Filch that he had gone to the forest. I’m sorry, Professor!’ he cried, tears streaming down his cheeks.
Professor McGonagall seemed rather taken aback by this. Luke felt it rather unfair that he and Gordon going into the forest seemed to be the likeliest explanation.
‘What was so important that you had to go into the forest Mr Pratchett? Surely it could’ve waited,’ she said, still wearing an expression of disbelief.
‘He…I…I told him about Hagrid! I’m sorry, Hagrid!’ cried Kyle, now in floods of tears. ‘I overheard you and Charlie talking about, and I didn’t know what a wyvern was!’
Hagrid snorted.
‘An’ I yeh told him I was breeding ‘em? I bet he thought all his Christmas’ had come early.’
‘I didn’t mean to! When I realised what I’d said, I tried to find him and speak to him, but he’d already gone into the forest!’ he cried, wiping his eyes on a mucky sleeve.
‘Why did you run from us though?’ asked Gordon. ‘You were only looking into the forest when we saw you.’
‘I…I didn’t know what to do! I thought if you found out what I’d done, you’d hate me! I only went in there to hide, but then you followed, so I kept on running!’
Luke and Gordon didn’t know what to say. Hagrid was looking rather disgruntled by the whole matter, though Charlie looked slightly amused at his side. Professor McGonagall had gone a little paler than usual, and her lips were pursed tightly together.
‘I can only presume that the three of you have been put here to test me, Mr Pratchett. I daresay you now realise the stupidity of your actions, though I would’ve hoped that at least one of you could’ve taken the time to listen to Professor Dumbledore at the start-of-term feast,’ she sighed. Luke and Gordon sunk their heads upon hearing this. Kyle had not looked up from his shoes. Professor McGonagall stared daggers at them for a moment before catching sight of Gordon’s broken leg. In all the furore, she had not noticed that Luke and Kyle practically had to carry him.
‘I see that you have not escaped this scenario completely without harm then,’ she said, taking out her wand and pointing it towards Gordon’s leg. ‘Hold still for a moment, and I’ll see what I can do.’
Professor McGonagall muttered an incantation and Gordon gave a yelp as a spark shot out of her wand and onto his shin. For a moment, his lower leg seemed to glow before turning quite dull and darker that it had been before. Professor McGonagall gave it a tap with her wand and it made a hollow “clunk” sound. Gordon apparently did not feel it, and was staring aghast at his leg.
‘I’d rather Madam Pomfrey took a look at this,’ said McGonagall, apparently satisfied. ‘But for the meantime a Barkskin charm should hold it steady.’
‘You’d bes’ be gettin’ them outta ‘ere Professor. It’ll be waking soon I ‘spect,’ said Hagrid, crouching over the wyvern to examine it.
‘Yes, I think I probably should,’ said Professor McGonagall, eyeing the creature again. ‘Should I ask Professor Snape to send you a sleeping draught?’
‘Oh, we’ll be fine.’ replied Charlie. ‘I stole some last time I was in his stores.’
Professor McGonagall did not find this in the least bit amusing.
The Odd Gryffindors - Book One of the Evil Kneazle Series by AurorKeefy
Chapter Notes: Mania knocks at my door again, and onwards comes the penultimate chapter of The Odd Gryffindors! The end is in sight! Beta thanks go flying out to the wonderful Hermoine Jean Granger once more!
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