Going deeper and deeper into the Forbidden Forest, the trio heard voices somewhere a little more ahead of them.

Harry stopped as he caught one word-’train’. More loud talking continued as Ron and Hermione stopped as well; Harry assumed they heard the voice too.

“C’mon,” Harry whispered loud enough for the two to hear, waving his hand towards the voices, which he started watching briskly for.

“Harry!” a shrill hiss called after him. “Harry, I really think we should turn back! It’s dangerous in here!”

Harry abruptly turned around. “Hermione, there’s voices.”

She quirked up an eyebrow.

“In the Forbidden Forest.  Besides, when has the danger issue stopped you before?” Harry hissed back, smirking at the surprised expression on her face.

He turned around once again, and went deeper still, Ron following closely. She rolled her eyes and marched after them. “Plenty of times, trust me,” she murmured under her breath, narrowing her eyes as she glared at Harry’s back.

A flash of glass caught Harry’s eye from their right side, and he swerved over in that direction, not caring about any danger. He didn’t see anything at all until he almost collided with someone. His feet skidding in the dirt, he stopped just in time, and saw the person’s face, his eyes widening.

“You!” Harry cried, pointing an accusing finger.

“Who?” Ron asked, looking over his shoulder.

“Him!” Harry answered, looking back at Ron. “He’s that guy I told you about on the train!”

“I know him. His name is Nikolas LeStrange,” Hermione told them, also peering over Harry’s shoulder.

Nikolas LeStrange… Harry thought. That’s a very odd name…

“LeStrange? You mean like that Death Eater?” Ron asked, taking a few cautionary steps backwards. Nikolas’s head bowed, and they heard him chuckle. Giving a start, Harry’s eyes widened and he looked at Nikolas differently. If his parents were Death Eaters…

“Yes. Bellatrix LeStrange is my mother. And Rodolphus is my father.” He looked up and his glasses flashed menacingly. He smirked. “Do any of you have a problem with that?”

Hermione bit her lip in fear, Ron’s face was hard, and Harry glared at him. His parents made Neville’s go insane. His parents ruined Neville’s life. His glare intensified.

Harry’s hand twitched to reach for his wand as Nikolas shifted his position. He knew exactly what Potter was talking about, but it was obvious neither Ron nor Hermione had no idea what either of them were talking about. Their gazes bore into the back of Harry’s skull, and he felt guilty, but it was Neville’s right to tell them, not his. He stood with a rigid back.

“Now I see why Kennice doesn’t like you,” Harry ventured, scowling.

Nikolas laughed at Harry’s deduction. Harry frowned, perturbed with Nikolas’ reaction. “Not by a long shot. No, Kennice dislikes me for my…choices.”

Harry scoffed. “Choices in friends or choices in behavior? Because what I saw on the train would probably piss me off too.”

Nikolas laughed harder. “Believe what you will, Potter.”

“Why are you in here anyways, LeStrange?” Ron hissed, venom dripping from the last word. Nikolas’s steely blue eyes turned to Ron, and he sneered back.

“I was going to ask the same thing,” Nikolas started, scanning their faces briefly, then returning to Ron. “But I’ll answer you first. I followed Kennice-” he looked at Harry, somewhat triumphantly, “-in here.”

Harry frowned. So he was stalking her? This guy sure lived up to the ’strange’ in his name.

“Now, you answer me,” Nikolas said. “Why are you three in here?”

“We heard voices,” Hermione said, looking as angry as Harry or Ron had ever seen her. “Evidently it was you.”

“It seems we are at a dilemma,” Nikolas suddenly said, and Harry frowned at him, wondering what he was talking about. “You’re looking for Kennice. I’m looking for Kennice. I highly doubt she wants to be found at the moment.”

“What did you say to her?!” Harry asked angrily, assuming he caused her to run away. His sudden anger surprised him, but he figured he needed to protect her. She led people to believe she was fragile, by dressing dark, and always looking like she had suffered a fresh heartbreak.

Nikolas thought angrily, You spied on us. You like her. But you aren’t going to have her! The green monster of jealousy erupted in Nikolas’ chest. He narrowed his eyes and slipped his hand into the fold of his robes, gripping his wand tightly.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all followed suit, knowing Nikolas would not fight back if he was outnumbered.

Simultaneously, the four fluidly pulled out their wands and brandished them.

—————————>&&&< ————————–

A few minutes later after stomping away from Nikolas, she came to a very small clearing and gasped loudly. She hid behind a large tree as she watched three thestrals sniffing a large body or carcass and the rest of them circled around the sky.

What is that? she wondered, peeking out a little more. Her mind racing for an idea, Kennice wet her dry lips, drumming her fingers silently against the bark. She finally came to a decision.

She sighed, and slowly walked into the clearing. The winged horses’ heads rose and stared at her with their blank white eyes. Her own hazy yellow ones gazed right back, and she quietly took a few small steps forward. They didn’t even twitch. Kennice decided that they would allow her to look.

The thestrals moved out of her way so she could inspect. Sensing they were wiser than regular creatures, and knowing they probably were, Kennice stopped just outside of their circle. She nodded at the one closest to her and continued, dropping to her knees. Hesitantly, she moved a section of curly and tangled dark brown hair back and saw a handsome face, which was connected to a well-sculpted torso and the body and legs of a horse; a centaur.

“Alvar has been hurt bad,” a voice next to her ear whispered. Kennice jumped backwards, and suddenly was staring straight into the face of a thestral.

“A-Alvar?” she asked hesitantly. So this was the Alvar that had needed help the night of the Start of Term feast as well?

“Yes, him.” With its nose, the animal pointed to the wounded centaur. “He was hurt. We smelled his blood and found him.”

“Do you know what hurt him?” Kennice asked, turning her attention back towards the centaur. A strong creature like him, he looked helpless, and she felt sort of bad for him.

“No. We only found him.”

Before realizing it, she blurted, “Why did you want me to come? Out of all people?” She raised her eyebrow and turned back towards the horse. She noticed the others that were flying had come back down.

“You were the only one who heard.”

“You mean…you can talk to other people?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. How could they do that? They were just horses you could see after you saw someone die.

“People really only see us when they accept the deaths of the ones they’ve seen die. When more people die around you, and every time you accept, your ties to the dead, and communication with us, strengthens,” one by Alvar head replied. “And we can talk to you then.”

Storing the knowledge away in her mind, she turned back to Alvar and wondered if he was even alive. Taking her pointer and middle finger, she felt around under the snarled hair for a pulse in his neck. Biting her lip for the first few seconds, she didn’t feel anything, and her fear grew. Passing over a beating spot, she returned back to it, and sighed with relief. He was alive. Now all she had to do was bring him help.

The question really was…how? How was she going to get help without drawing attention to herself, without leaving him to bleed to death, and without having whatever attacked him finish him off as soon as she left? It was a debate. Answers were carelessly tossed around her head like stones being thrown around in a glass room. There was only one answer that stuck through her mind and miraculously didn’t get cut.

She looked to the thestral that had been talking to her the most. She wondered if they had names briefly, and then shook her head, focusing on the task at hand. “I’m going to need your help to save him.” The thestral looked up, whinnied and the others surrounded her. “Okay. I need one of you to carry him.”

One, an almost unusually muscled thestral, stepped forward. Using the Wingardium Leviosa charm, she moved Alvar and lay him gently onto the creature’s backs with magic. “Incarcerous!” and she tied his body down to the thestral’s, so he wouldn’t fall. “Now, I know, this is much to ask, but I need you to gently take steps while we’re walking, so we don’t jolt his injuries further and we don’t wake him.” She turned to the one she had been talking to the most again, and wished they had names so she didn’t call them thestral one and thestral two.

“I’m Veolo, and that is Tenebrus. He is Truvan, and that is Rony, Irita, and Brenom.” Surprised he could read her mind, she stared at him contemplatively. Sighing, she mentally checked the thestrals off, memorizing their names and smiling at each of them in turn.

“Alright, let’s go, Veolo, Tenebrus!” she cried, heading off towards the way she came.

“Where…where are we going?” Veolo asked.

“I’m going to keep Alvar in the small line of trees behind Hagrid’s hut and go find Professor Grubbly-Plank. Hagrid isn’t here, and we need someone to help him. She’s my best bet.”

“Would you like to ride?” Veolo asked.

Taken aback, she looked back at him. “It’s alright. I’ll walk.”

He pushed her a little with his muzzle. “I insist.”

She looked back at him, with a raised eyebrow. “Oh…okay…” Bending down, Veolo got into a position where she could get on his back. Clambering up, she found it was difficult and awkward to sit on him. Their leathery skin made it hard to grip with her knees, especially in a skirt. “Let’s go!” she announced, and they started after Tenebrus.

As they walked through the trees, hearing the many sounds it had to offer, Kenni noticed that Veolo’s ears were twitching back and forth. “D’ya hear something?” she asked after her curiosity built up enough to want to ask.

“It sounds like there is more of your species in here. Over off…to the right, somewhere.” he answered, his ears quivering as he heard distant crashes-far off enough that she probably couldn’t hear.

Frowning, she looked off into the dark, gloomy trees of the Forbidden Forest, straining her ears for any sign of others. She heard faint noises of trees crashing. All of a sudden, something that crackled like fire came shooting out of the trees; it was a bolt of red-orange light, aiming for her. It hit her in the shoulder, the robe that covered her skin there fizzed and burned, and she felt her skin burning with it. Wincing slightly, she clenched her jaw and she wondered why on earth something like that would come from the inside of the forest. Then again, it had come from her right side, so it was probably the someone that she and Veolo heard. But why were they shooting around Fire spells?

“You okay?” Veolo asked.

“Mm-hmm,” she replied, not trusting her voice. She bit her lip to distract herself from her melting skin.

<–+–>