Chapter Two
Harry Potter quietly watched the men in a small camp below him. He was crouched low in the brush, positioned at a small cliff above them. There were a dozen of them, all wearing dark armor bearing a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth. The emblem of the False King of the Shadowlands. Scouts probably, coming in to check out the lands of Hufflepuff. Harry and the others had been following them all day. They would be easy to take out, they weren't the Death Eaters. The men laughed below, a carcass roasting over a spit, oblivious to the dark fate that beheld them.
Harry pulled his cloak around him, whistling to imitate one of the night creatures, giving the signal.
The men tore hungrily into the meat, hungry and tired from the journey. Tomorrow would be another long day, they had to follow the border North, making note of all encampments and settlements along the way. A horse's neigh startled the men into quiet, nervously on guard.
"Go and check it out," one of them motioned to another.
He was about to protest when a figure limped out of the darkness. It was a robed figure, hunched and limping aided by a walking stick.
"Spare some food and drink for a weary traveler?" the man asked.
A few of the men sniggered and stood up, one of them held out a meager bone.
"Would the dog like a bone?"
"Go fetch the bone, you dog."
"Maybe he should do some tricks for us?"
They all laughed.
"I do know a few tricks," the man spoke softly.
"What was that you said?" one of the scouts taunted him.
"I said," the man's voice was more bold, "I know a few tricks."
The man rose to full height, removed the hood of his cloak and drew his sword. The forest surrounding them was filled with shouts and war cries.
"It's an ambush!" the scout yelled as men ran from the forest, swords drawn.
The battle, if you could call it that, was over in a few minutes.
~*~
Harry was a young man with dark, raven colored hair and startling emerald eyes. He had a quiet demeanor about him that made him mysterious and along with his good looks, he was not unnoticed by the female sex. Orphaned as a baby, he fled the wrecked home of his parents' with his godfather, Sirius Black. They sought refuge amongst the rebels and bandits and countless others who did not bow down to the False King of the Shadowlands. Hufflepuff really had no King. It was a land of outlaws and outsiders. Each village calling upon the great wizard Albus Dumbledore, to settle accounts and disputes. It was under Dumbledore's watchful eye that Harry grew up. He was trained well in the sword, read countless books, got into all kinds of mischief with his friend, Neville Longbottom. Even as he grew up, he still got into trouble but of a different kind. Usually having to do with the misunderstanding of the opposite sex. He was teased relentlessly by his friends about his unrequited love of the fair Cho Chang, one of the town Lord's daughters. Dumbledore twinkled and smiled as Harry lamented. He loved the old wizard like a grandfather, considered him one, but he always felt that he was holding something back from him. Conversations veered off topic whenever Harry brought up his parents or their death.
But Harry had his own secrets as well.
Since the age of fourteen, he'd been having horrible nightmares. He would wake up screaming, terrified. He dreamt of a terrifying man, snake-like with red eyes, searching, always searching for something. Or someone.
He never told anyone about his nightmares, about who was in them. He kept it to himself, locked away with all the other odd things that would pop into his head.
Harry's exceptional skill with the sword and his tendency for solitude led him to be a Rider, those who patrolled the land, guarding the borders. This caused him to be away from town for long periods of time.
Harry had been napping on a sunny piece of flat rock, when Neville approached him.
"Sorry to wake you, Harry, but you gotta see this," he said.
A few minutes later, Harry, Neville and a few others dismounted and approached the road, hiding behind the large tree trunks of the forest. The pounding of hooves and the clatter of a carriage filled the air. It was a large entourage, a large carriage with the silver and blue emblem of Ravenclaw, accompanied by sixteen escorts all bearing the same colors. Neville looked at Harry questioningly.
"Royal carriage," Harry said in a low voice, "probably a diplomatic mission. We can't attack them, they bring no harm to us. Come on." He led the group away back to their horses. Harry mounted and gave a last look at the royal assembly. Something wasn't right, it nagged him at the back of his head.
The feeling stayed with him for the next hour and he replayed it over and over in his head. Suddenly he looked up and stopped his horse.
The forest.
"Harry?" Neville asked him.
Harry looked back at him. "We have to go back." He wheeled his horse around and galloped away, the others in pursuit.
The forest was what had bothered him. It was quiet. Too quiet, not even the birds made a sound.
~*~
Hermione kept a watchful eye about her. She had an uneasy feeling in her gut. There was something about this forest, she felt like she was being watched or followed, maybe both. She could tell the others felt it, too. Viktor signaled for the men to be on guard. Suddenly, the horses began to rear, whinnying frighteningly. Something was making them uneasy. Hermione held on to the reigns, her horse rearing and stamping. Then out of the trees came black hooded creatures, their breath rattling as they rode on skeletal horses. The air around them became cold and Hermione could see the short puffs of air she breathed out.
Viktor drew his sword and shouted, "Dementors!!"
She bravely drew her sword. Having grown up with Ron and her other cousins, she and Ginny had decent skills in the art of combat. She stabbed a Dementor that drew near her, then another from the other side. She heard a terrified scream come from the carriage where the messenger was. She rode up to it, stabbing the Dementor inside, but it was too late, the messager stared blankly at her, parchment in his hand. Hermione grabbed the parchment and stuffed it in her cloak just as she heard the whinnying of more horses.
"Death Eaters!!" she heard Viktor shout.
Hermione brought the horse around the carriage and saw twenty Death Eaters racing toward them. They would surely die if they stayed here. So Hermione spurred her horse and took off down the road, Dementors and Death Eaters in pursuit.
Harry and the others arrived at the same time the Death Eaters did. Harry halted briefly at seeing the Dementors. They were his least favorite beings to deal with, they brought about painful memories that Harry deeply repressed. He watched as some of the Dementors and Death Eaters took off after a lone rider.
"Stay with them," he ordered, "I'll meet you later." Then he rode off after the rider.
Hermione's horse rode fast putting some distance between herself and those in pursuit. But she had to get off the road to lose them. She made a hard left into the thick woods, dangerously dodging branches, trunks and other debris.
Harry closed the distance between himself and the two Death Eaters ahead of him. He drew his sword stabbing one in the side then quickly knocking the other off his horse and into a tree. There were still two more ahead of him, as well as two Dementors. Whatever or whomever this rider was, seemed damned important to them. He followed as they all headed into the thick forest.
Hermione's horse leaped over an enormous trunk, the Dementors were closing in on her, their skeletal horses nipped at her horse's legs. They closed in on either side of her. She began to feel weak and light headed. Heard their rattling breaths and the freezing air around her. Her horse screamed and reared, the skeletal horses biting at it. Hermione tumbled from her horse, landing hard on the ground. But she didn't have time to think, a Dementor swooped upon her, but she was cunning and unsheathed her sword, stabbing it in the abdomen. The other Dementor tried to approach her but she held if off with swings of her sword. She could hear the screams of her horse behind her. She looked up and saw three riders approaching her, two Death Eaters, she didn't recognize the third.
Harry sped up when he heard the screams of the rider's horse ahead of him. Approaching the plain he saw him take out a Dementor and kept another at bay. He darted between the two surprised Death Eaters, reaching out and yanked the young man onto the horse with him. He found that he was surprisingly light and had almost tossed him off the horse.
"Hang on!" he yelled to him.
"My horse!" the young man protested.
"Your horse can't be saved," he said as they rode on with the Death Eaters behind him.
Hermione clung on for dear life as the man picked her up and threw her on his horse. The Death Eaters were close behind. The rider darted through the trees at breakneck speed, their pursuants equally reckless. When they came to a clearing, Hermione drew her sword and swung at the Death Eater next to her. She aimed for the strap of the saddle, severing it, the Death Eater slid off his horse.
"HOLD ON!!" she heard him yell and she sheathed her sword and clung to him.
"What are you doing?" she yelled at him.
They were heading towards a cliff and he wasn't slowing down, in fact he seemed to be speeding up. She heard the roar of a waterfall ahead. Hermione shut her eyes, she was going to die. She heard the galloping hooves of the horse, then nothing. She felt weightless, they had gone over the cliff. She felt water hit her, she must have hit the river, but then surprisingly she heard the hooves again. Echoing. The slowed to a trot but she kept her eyes shut.
Harry was still, listening. The Death Eater swore, his horse rearing before he took off back towards the road.
"You can let go now," he spoke to the young man.
The young man let go of him, sliding awkwardly off his horse. Harry followed but as soon as his feet touched the ground the young man drew his sword.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
Harry remained calm. "This is some way to treat someone who saved your life."
The young man hesitated and Harry took this moment to draw his sword, knocking the young man's from his hand and stopping the blade at his neck.
"I am not afraid of you," the young man spoke boldly.
Harry cocked his head to the side, looking at the man oddly. He slowly raised his sword to the young man's hair, the blade lifting it from his head and brushing it to the ground. A young woman stood in front of him, she was disguised as a young man. Harry stepped back and sheathed his sword.
"I should be asking you who you are?"
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