Surreal

The Ramscorde

Hermione hurried from Hagrid’s hut toward the castle. She’d promised to feed fang for the gentle giant while he was away taking care of business for the Order of the . She’d left it late this evening and now she was paying for it by having to walk across the fog enshrouded grounds alone.

I should have stayed at Hagrid’s, she thought uneasily as she hurried her step. She normally didn’t think twice about being alone on school grounds in the darkness, since she had to patrol in the evenings on occasion to make sure there were no students about breaking curfew, but she’d had the feeling she was being watched and followed all day, since she’d awoken and came down to the common room to meet Harry and Ron for breakfast.

She heard a twig snap loudly before her and she stopped in her tracks, taking out her wand.

“Who’s there?” she demanded, hoping her voice sounded brave and confident, while her insides felt like jelly. She studied the fog before her. It hung lazily over the school grounds, obscuring the grass and making her feel as if she were walking in the clouds.

Suddenly Harry appeared out of nowhere before her, making her scream at his sudden appearance. He laughed heartily as she tried to calm her beating heart.

“Damn it, Harry, don’t do that!”

“I thought you might like some company,” he said. His voice sounded loud in the unnaturally quiet grounds. “It’s a little creepy out here tonight, what with all this fog.”

“I would like some company,” she said. She looped her arm in his and they started back toward the castle.

“What,” Harry said after a few steps, “we’re not going to snog now?”

“Harry!” Hermione said, surprised. Harry never joked with her about snogging before. “What’s gotten into you tonight?”

“Nothing has gotten into me tonight, though I was hoping to get into you.”

She stopped in her tracks, her mouth hanging open. He was being so naughty. No, lecherous was more appropriate. “Harry!”

“Oh come on. Like you’ve never thought about it? Not even once?”

“Well…I-I guess…Maybe once-Oh!”

Harry had grabbed her about her waist and pulled her to the ground. She tried to protest, things were moving much to fast for her, but he put a hand over her mouth.

“Shhh…I heard something.”

She listened quietly as Harry pulled the invisibility cloak over them. She began to think he was lying, looking for an excuse to get on top of her when she saw it. Something, manlike in shape and rather large, was walking toward them in the mists. Harry pulled his wand and stared at it as the thing searched the grounds.

“What is that?” Hermione whispered.

“I don’t know,” Harry said, never taking his eyes from the creature. It had scaly skin, very similar to a dementor, but it was also covered in corded muscle. Two horns protruded from its head, curling under like a ram’s horns. Its long fingers ended in wickedly sharp claws, and it’s eyes glowed a sickly yellowish-green color in the misty darkness.

Finally those frightful eyes came to rest on them. It looked Harry right in the eye.

“It can see us!” Harry said. He came up off the ground, pulling Hermione with him. He pointed his wand at it and shouted “Patrificus totalis!”

A red beam of light shot from the tip of his wand and struck the creature dead center in its chest and it stopped. Harry took Hermione’s hand and they moved to run past it. They had to get to Dumbledore and tell him what was happening, but as they passed the thing it began to growl angrily, and it lashed out at them, narrowly missing Hermione with its razor sharp claws. It had only pretended to be affected by Harry’s spell.

They ran with all they had but the sound of heavy footsteps behind them told them they were being pursued. Apparently the thing was not only huge, it was fast as well.  They didn’t dare glance back as it slowly closed the distance between them.

They were almost at the front entrance when Hermione screamed. The thing had grabbed the back of her robes, causing her to stumble. Harry stopped and looked back to find Hermione on her back, desperately inching away from the creature as it stood over her, clawed hands raised to strike.

“Together Hermione!” Harry shouted. They pointed their wands at the thing and shouted Stupefy together. The spells hit the creature dead center and it absorbed it all, but it had no effect.

“Harry!” Hermione screamed, her voice filled with terror.

Harry lunged forward, trying to drive the creature away from Hermione with physical force, but it was like slamming into a brick wall. The thing wrapped its scaly arms about Harry’s waist, picked him up over its head, and then flung him. Harry slammed into the steps, all the wind in his lungs rushed out with a painful umph! Harry moaned in pain as he felt his wrist twist painfully beneath the weight of his body, and his wand clattered uselessly down the steps. Not that it would have done any good anyway. The thing seemed to be unstoppable.

“Harry!” Hermione tried to rush to his side but the thing grabbed her and turned her to face him, lifting her off the moist earth. This creature was at least seven feet tall, and it seemed to her to be much larger than that as it brought her closer to its horrible countenance. As her face leveled with the creature, it parted its lips, exposing a mouthful of sharp teeth with thick strings of saliva stretching from its forked tongue to the roof of its mouth. She wanted to scream but she was afraid to open her mouth.

It’s going to kill me, she thought. It’s cold, scaly lips nearly touched hers when there was an odd sound, like a sharpening stone against a blade. It sent shivers through her in much the same way as fingernails scraping against a blackboard would. The thing stopped and stared at her with a look of surprise on its ugly features. Everything was still for a moment before its head fell from its body, and glowing, green blood shot from its neck into the air, spraying Hermione in the face.

Some of the blood got into her eyes and mouth. She gagged at the bitter taste, but soon fell as the creature finally released her. She tumbled forward, onto its headless, twitching body. A strong hand took hold of her arm and pulled her up. It was Harry. He held onto her with his left hand while he cradled his right hand to his body.

“You killed it!” she said.

“Not me, him.”

She looked back and found Professor Snape marching toward her from the castle doors. “Miss Granger. Are you injured?”

“No, I-I think I’m alright.”

“Did it kiss you?”

“Kiss her?” Harry said, looking at the disembodied head lying a few feet away. It was mouthing something, but from the lack of lungs to push air past its vocal cords, it was unable to make a sound.

“Yes,” Snape snapped. “Did it kiss you?”

“No. It tried, but no.”

Snap still looked tense. “You have its blood on you. Did any of it get into your eyes or mouth?”

“What’s going on?” Harry demanded.

“Potter, I would thank you to shut up while I question her!” There was something odd about Snape’s behavior. He seemed genuinely worried, which Harry would never have believed possible before this moment.

“I did get some in my eyes, and my mouth.”

“Come with me. Now.”

He turned and strode toward the castle. Harry and Hermione followed behind, leaving the creatures twitching body behind.

~~~

“Is that thing ever going to die?” Harry asked, as they entered the hospital wing. Dumbledore had met up with them in the hall leading to the hospital. “It looked like it was still alive when we left it.”

“I’ve sent Professor Flitwick to deal with it,” Dumbledore said. “It needs a special charm placed over it to keep it from growing a new head. The charm is an ancient one, and Flitwick is more qualified than I to oversee it.”

Even Dumbledore’s concern was evident as Madam Pomfrey entered, managing to look wide awake, though she’d only awoken a minute or so before. She went right to Hermione, her wand out.

“What’s happened?”

“Poppy, Hermione was attacked by a ramscorde,” Dumbledore said. “An adult male.”

This seemed to have some significance, for Madam Pomfrey’s face went pale. “Dear Merlin! An adult male you say? How ever did she survive?”

This question did nothing to put Harry or Hermione at ease. “What’s a ramscorde?” Hermione asked.

“Someone did behead it?” Madam Pomfrey went on. “Heaven forbid it should be allowed to roam the school grounds-“

“What is a ramscorde!” Harry said, talking over Pomfrey. “Not to be rude, but we need to know what’s going on.”

“I’ll explain that shortly,” Dumbledore said, while Snape glared at Harry for interrupting Madam Pomfrey, or perhaps for surviving the ramscorde attack, Harry wasn’t sure which.

“Severus,” Madam Pomfrey said wiping Hermione’s face of the sticky green blood that was drying on her skin, “I’ll need you to start a revera potion immediately. And I’ll need you to…Oh dear. Hermione? Can you hear me dear?”

Hermione only stared into space, as if she could neither see nor hear Madam Pomfrey. Harry’s heart began to pound. Something was clearly wrong with Hermione. It was as if the lights were on, but no one was home. “What’s wrong with her?”

“It has begun,” Dumbledore said somberly. “If we’re going to save her, we need to proceed at once.”

Snape nodded and hurried from the room. Dumbledore came to stand beside Harry to examine his wrist. “What has begun?” Harry asked.

Madam Pomfrey turned to him. “She’s loosing her sense of reality. Soon she will be trapped in a dream state, and unless we can reverse the effect of the ramscorde blood, she will never come out of it.”