The Phoenix Prophecy

Chapter 17: Epilogue - Part 8

Monday — July 21^st

Hermione:

I was terribly relieved when Professor Dumbledore suggested that we leave the table and explore our surroundings. Even before Harry voiced his stupid idea that we were in a zoo, I was feeling increasingly irritable. The vision of holding a dead child in my arms kept forcing its way back into my mind, no matter how hard I tried to keep it out. At times, the child would be just a baby, and at other times, the child would be a young boy, maybe five or six years old. Every time the image appeared, I fought to push it away. I knew that if I let the image loose, I would be engulfed by the misery and suffering that it represented. Just why this image kept pushing itself into my mind, I had no idea. By the time I stood up, I was ready to scream. Harry tried to apologize for upsetting me but I just put him off and hurried outside to get some fresh air. I knew Harry was hurt, but I just had to get away and be by myself. Something was taking hold of me. I could feel it. If I had to explain, to so much as one person, how I was feeling, I would loose it.

After I left the cottage, I quickly looked around the clearing for some place that I could go and be by myself. Not immediately spotting anything, and not wanting to talk with anyone, I quickly hurried off down the path in the direction we had come just a short time ago. After rounding the first bend in the path, I discovered a trail that led away from the stream, off into the forest.

Reaching the edge of the forest, I spotted a cherry tree just off to my right. The branches were laden with ripe, red cherries. I did not realize I was hungry until I spotted the cherries glistening in the afternoon sunlight. After breaking off a low hanging branch that was weighted down with dozens of cherries, I started eating them as I walked deeper into the forest.

It was late in the afternoon, but there was still more than enough sunlight filtering down through the trees to see where I was going. About one hundred feet into the trees, the trail sloped sharply upwards for a good fifty feet or more. I had to use my hands to make my way up the steep embankment, but I finally made it to the top.

I found myself on the top of a narrow ridge that looked as if it ran parallel to the stream. Not knowing which way to go, I just sat down to think. Besides, I was a little winded from the steep climb. The first thing that I noticed was how still and quiet this place was. I could not hear anything but the wind gently whistling through the tree tops far above my head. For several minutes, I just sat there listening to the wind, trying not to think of anything at all. The wind made a mournful sound as it swept through the treetops. Suddenly I felt cold, as if the temperature had just dropped a good number of degrees. When my arms started breaking out in goose bumps, I got quickly to my feet only to collapse from an intense pain that surged through my temples. Getting to my knees was excruciating, but I did manage to get some relief from the pain by pressing my fingertips to my temples and rubbing them in slow circles.

Once the pain started to subside I tried to open my eyes, but shut them immediately as the light caused the throbbing in my temples to come rushing back. The throbbing didn’t stop; it just got worse and worse. The pain reached the point where I no longer felt anything but the pain. Even though my eyes were shut as tight as I could squeeze them, I still saw streaks of light shooting straight at me. If I had a body, I could not feel it any more. I heard someone screaming, only to realize that it was me, and then the pain increased until everything went black.

Harry:

I watched Hermione walk away from me and leave the cottage through the front door without looking back even once. Half of me wanted to race after her and try to find out what was bothering her. The other half of me was hurt and angry by the way she just blew me off when I tried to apologize for upsetting her. I should have kept my dark thoughts to myself. Deep down in my gut, I really believed that we were in something like a zoo. Maybe this place was more like a habitat than a zoo, but in essence we were still imprisoned within its confines.

I had not felt this way until after Nyssa had subjected Hermione and me to experience the death of our—as of yet—unborn son. Even though it was just a vision, its impact on my attitude was devastating. From that moment on, I had become increasingly uneasy about what was going on around us. It wasn’t until we sat down at the table to discuss our situation that I was able to put into words what was bothering me. After that, I was unable to persuade myself that my assumptions were based solely on my fear of being caged. Try as I might, I could not bring myself to believe that this was all just a big game, or test, as Walt had suggested. Bad things were about to happen, and soon.

“Where did Hermione go?” Ron asked after he walked over to where I was standing, still staring at the closed door Hermione had just stepped through.

“She went outside…to get some fresh air,” I replied rather hostilely, and regretted it at once.

“Bite my head off, why don’t you,” Ron shot back, a mixture of hurt and resentment on his face.

“I’m sorry, Ron. I didn’t mean to take my frustration out on you. It’s just that I tried to apologize to Hermione for upsetting her, but she wouldn’t listen. She just said that she needed to get some fresh air and went outside without saying another word. Something is bothering her, but she won’t even talk to me so I don’t know what it is. I want to help her, really I do.”

“I know you do, Harry. I know you do,” Ron replied sympathetically. “Maybe you should go and find her. She probably has had time to cool off by now.”

“Go find who?” Alec asked after he and Nicole walked up to Ron and I.

“Hermione, she went outside,” Ron answered before I had a chance to open my mouth.

“We were just about to go outside. Would you like some help?” Alec asked. Alec was just trying to be helpful, but I wasn’t ready to call out a search party just yet.

“I think I will be able to find her. She can’t have gone far.”

“Okay, Harry. If you change your mind, just give a shout. Nicole and I won’t be far away.”

As soon as Alec and Nicole headed for the door, I headed in the same direction. When I stepped outside into the late afternoon sunlight, Ron emerged from the cottage right behind me. Alec and Nicole were halfway to the stream when Ron stepped up beside me.

“Where do you think you are going?” I asked him.

“With you…and don’t try to tell me you don’t need any help,” Ron replied forcefully. “Gretchen is nursing the baby. After that she is going to try and put her to sleep, so I am coming with you.”

“I’m not sure where to start looking. If I just walk around shouting out her name, she will be even more annoyed with me than she already is.”

“In that case, we just start combing the bushes,” Ron replied, his usual good humor rubbing off on me, just a little. “She can’t have gone too far. Remember, Professor Dumbledore said to stick close to the cottage.”

“Yes, I know he said that. I am just hoping that Hermione was listening. Otherwise she could be very difficult to find.”

“We better get started,” Ron replied and headed away from the cottage.

For the next fifteen minutes, we searched behind every tree and bush within a hundred feet of the cottage, but to no avail. Hermione was nowhere to be seen. At this point, I was starting to get more than a little anxious. If she had wandered a considerable distance from the cottage, it would be impossible to find her.

“Maybe she went back to the meadow,” Ron suggested, the tone of his voice showing that he too was starting to worry.

“She would not have gone that far. At least, I hope not.”

“Well, she isn’t in the immediate vicinity,” Ron replied.

“Maybe she did. Perhaps we…

The rest of what I was going to say died in my throat when I heard an animal’s howl pierce the air. The sound came from somewhere nearby. Ron and I just stood there, looking at each other and did not utter a single word. The look on Ron’s face said everything that I did not want to hear. A few seconds later, we heard a second howl. I was positive that the sounds came from two different animals. The apparent locations the sounds came from were too far apart to be from just one animal.

“Harry, those are wolves,” Alec said as he and Nicole quickly made there way to where Ron and I were standing.

“Are you sure about that?” Ron asked, his voice rising noticeably.

“Yes, I’m positive. What’s more, wolves usually travel in packs. Where there is one, there are many.”

“We have got to find Hermione right away!” I said, as I felt a sense of dread wash over me. All I could think about was something terrible was about happen to Hermione.

“Harry, our animagus forms will be much more useful in picking up Hermione’s scent and in telling us where the wolves are,” Alec said urgently. “Ron, you and Nicole go get my dad and Sirius. Come on Harry, we don’t have a second to lose.”

“You’re right, Alec. I could kick myself for not having thought of using my stag before,” I replied the moment Alec’s words penetrated my dark thoughts.

Ron and Nicole headed for the cottage without uttering a word as Alec and I changed into our animagus forms. From the instant I became a stag, I could sense that several dangerous predators were very near by. Alec was right, it was a wolf pack, and they were hunting something or someone. Suddenly, Alec took off running down the path beside the stream.

Keeping up with Alec was easy for me as my legs were long and built for speed. Every hair on the back of my neck, and down the length of my back, was standing on end. We were headed directly towards the wolf pack.

Hermione:

I suddenly realized that I was conscious, but a feeling in my gut warned me that something dangerous was very close by. I must have collapsed when I blacked out as I was now lying face down on the ground and my lips were caked with dirt. I held perfectly still and concentrated on listening for any sounds of movement.

I almost jumped when I heard a loud howl split the air. The sound came from off to my right. The animal that made it could not be more than twenty feet away. I knew that just lying here was not going to save me. The only thing I could think of was levitating myself up out of their reach. If I could get to some of the higher branches in one of the nearby trees I might have a chance.

I was scared to death of what I was going to see when I opened my eyes, but I forced them open just same. I felt a wave of relief wash over me when nothing was standing in front of me. Cautiously, I picked my head up and turned to look in the opposite direction. It took me a second or two for my eyes to refocus after moving my head, which still ached something fierce. Once I could see clearly, I thought I noticed a movement behind the thick underbrush at the base of the trees on the far side of the ridge.

Luckily I was lying in such a position that I could reach my wand without having to move anything but my arm. While keeping my eyes on the spot where I thought I had seen a movement, I moved my hand as slowly as possible until my fingers touched the hilt of my wand. Touching my wand gave me renewed hope that I would be able to protect myself from whatever was stalking me.

Once I had managed to withdraw my wand, I started breathing normally. Levitating myself was going to be impossible without sitting up first. The arm movements for the levitation spell were impossible to perform on myself while lying on the ground. I knew that the longer I waited, the more likely I was to be attacked. From where I was lying, I spotted several trees with high branches large enough to hold my weight. All I could do was hope that whatever was stalking me could not climb a tree.

After reviewing in my mind exactly what I was going to do, I took several slow, deep breaths to give me energy and to steady my nerves.

I pushed myself to a sitting position using my left hand to help me up. My head felt as if it was going to explode, but I ignored the pain as best I could. Just as I raised my right hand to cast the levitation spell, a large animal leapt straight at me from ten feet away. I knew in my heart that I would not be able to avoid being caught by the savage beast hurtling towards me.

Instinctively I flinched from the animals impending impact. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a stag intercepted the animal in mid leap, impaling the creature on its’ antlers. With a flick of its’ head the stag tossed the unmoving body impaled on it’s antlers over the side of the ridge. I was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when several more on the animals, which I now recognized as wolves, attacked from different directions.

The stag stepped over me so that I was directly beneath him as the wolves closed in on us. For several seconds the wolves just circled us, and stared at us with their cold, blue eyes. I knew they were looking a weak spot in which to attack us. Every time one of the six wolves would come closer, the stag would lower its’ antlers in the wolf’s direction. I tried to watch in all directions at once, but I was starting to get dizzy from snapping my head around so quickly.

All of a sudden it dawned on me that the stag was really Harry in his animagus form. I felt like an idiot for not having realized it immediately. The wolves picked that exact instant to attack us from every direction. I turned to stun or kill the two wolves attacking from the stag’s rear, but a seventh wolf leapt out of the underbrush and began fighting both of them before I could cast a spell. I had no idea what was going on, so I took aim at the wolf attacking from the left and caught it square in the face with paralyzing spell. Before I could turn my attention to the wolf attacking from the right, I felt a searing pain in my left leg. Without looking, I knew that the wolf had bitten into my leg while I was dealing with the first wolf. I turned and hit the wolf right between the eyes with another paralyzing spell.

The wolf froze in its tracks. Fortunately, it had let go of my leg before the spell hit it. Blood was flowing heavily from several of the puncture wounds the wolf had made in the calf of my leg. The pain was steady, but nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be.

While I had been taking care of the two wolves attacking from our sides, Harry, in his stag form, had killed or injured the two wolves attacking from the front and had turned his attention to the wolves still fighting behind us. I turned around just in time to catch sight of one of the wolves hobbling off into the underbrush. The other two wolves were still locked in a death struggle until Harry lowered his antlers and charged at them. Before Harry could reach them, one of the wolves made a break for the cover of the underbrush. Harry was too fast for it and scooped the wolf up in his antlers, and tossed the wolf over the edge of the ridge.

I tried to stand up, but my leg was more severely injured than I first thought. At the same time, Harry returned to his human form and quickly threw his arms around me. I would have welcomed his hug if it were not for the fact that my leg hurt so much. Before I could ask Harry to let go, he released me and went over to where the seventh wolf was lying on the ground.

“Alec, listen to me. You must return to your human form,” Harry said loudly as he placed his hand on the wolf’s neck. “Concentrate as hard as you can. You must transfigure back now, or you will die.”

I suddenly forgot all about my leg hurting as much as it did and managed to crawl over to where Harry was kneeling in front of Alec.

“Alec, please do as Harry says,” I added as I stroked his blood stained fur. “Do it now. We don’t want to lose you. Nicole will never speak to us again if anything happens to you on our account.”

A spasm shook Alec’s wolf body and for a moment, I thought he had died. An instant later, Alec changed back into his human form and lay gasping for breath as he stared up at the trees.

“Hermione, are you alright?” Harry asked, turning his attention back to me.

“Not really, but I will live,” I replied as I collapsed against him.

“That is extremely presumptuous of you,” a voice cold as ice hissed from somewhere behind us.