-15-
Waiting on Remus near by the bridge that leads to the Forbidden Forest. Can't lie, the forest looks quite creepy from here. It's already dark and pretty cloudy. Talk about how damn cold it is too! C'mon, Remus. Where are you? I have been waiting him for fifteen minutes! Then, I hear some people talking. They are coming this way. No one can see me, so I decide to go deeper into the forest and hide in the bushes. I can't see well, but what I can tell is that there are three people and they are heading to the forest too. "The money isn't the problem here." one of them says smugly. "Why yes, of course." the other one chuckles nervously. "Hope they bring the hippogriff early on display. I am not planing on wasting my time in middle of the forest for long." the first one scoffs. Wait... I recognize that voice from somewhere. The curiosity gets the better of me and I move some leafs out of the way just to take a peek. It's Lucius Malfoy. I should have known!
He's with a woman who must be his wife, if I'm not terribly mistaken. And the short man is with them. The one who went after me couple days ago! Malfoy smirks to himself:"I want its head stuffed above my fireplace.". "Krhm..." the woman who's been quiet so far, clears her throat. "...and some mooncalf's fur for my lovely wife." Malfoy adds. The woman smirks happily and they soon walk further enough I dare to come out of the hide. They are going to kill Buckbeak if they get their dirty hands on him! Being so deep in my own thoughts, I won't notice when someone walks behind me. "(Y/N)?" the voice whispers and puts their hand on my shoulder. Scared half to death, I turn quickly around:"WAH!". But then I realize it's Remus. "For Merlin's sake!" I whisper hiss and try to smack the side of his arm, but he is too fast to dodge it. "My apologies. Did I scare you?" Remus chuckles mischievously. "You are lucky I didn't freaking Flipendo you." I keep hissing. "Where were you anyway? You are late." I add. He looks slightly hesitant before answering:"...I needed to get something.".
"What'd you get from Hagrid's Hut?" I ask. Remus digs his pockets and hands me a sock:"Here.". Looking at this man with the 'Really? A sock?' - look. Remus sees this and huffs:"What else you would have wanted? His undergarments? These are perfectly fine.". "Fine, fine." I roll my eyes, take them and we start heading where Malfoy and his entourage went. For us to get Buckbeak to trust us, we need to have Hagrid's smell with us. Maybe that way he'll understand we are here only to help. After walking sometime, I look up in the sky. Can't really see any stars. Grey clouds are blocking them. Pity. Remus sees my stare and automatically brings his hand onto his chest pocket, almost as if trying to check if he hasn't lost something from there. Then his face goes pensive:"(Y/N), I have needed to tell you..-", "There!" I whisper and hold onto Remus's arm while keeping my eyes what's ahead of us. Both of us hunch down when we see there is a little camping area, filled with Dark Wizards. This must be the auction!
There seems to be thirty of them. Some of them being the sellers, others the buyers. One of them being the Malfoys... Remus and I are hiding behind the bushes that are surrounding the camp. There are couple of tents and three campfires displayed around the area. There are also different kinds of cages. Some of them are small, some of them bigger. Depending on the beast inside of them. My eyes catches the one creature we came here for. Buckbeak! He is inside this big metal cage. Not only that, he also has metal collar around his neck with a muzzle. "I see him." I whisper to my friend. Remus nods:"So it's time.". Pulling out the Invisibility potion and look at it. Last time I've drink this must've been back when we were learning about this potion. "Bottoms up, I guess." I salute Remus and drink it. My body starts to feel tingly and soon enough, I have become invisible. "Be careful." Remus whispers as he watches me go as few of the bushes rustles as I walk thru them. He stays behind to keep an eye out.
They take Buckbeak to wait behind the tent which is all over other side where we are. The hostess of the auction is already speaking to the people that have arrived. Everyone is listening, eager to start shouting the prices on the poor beasts. Can't go around the camping area, since there are bushes surrounding it, so to avoid the rustle sounds, I need to go thru the place. I'm carefully walking across the camping area without anyone's notice. My heart keeps pounding inside my chest hard. Alright, you are doing great, (Y/N). Just keep going. "Out of the way!" Lucius pushes one the wizards to the side with his walking stick to claim his place in the front row. Got almost hit by the stick, but was able to dodge it right on time. Dear Merlin!
Finally, I made it to the back of the tent. There are other beasts back here too. One of the most heartbreaking thing to see are the nifflers, that are crammed into one small cage. Don't even wanna imagine what they will do to them. I need to help them! Then, my eyes goes to the hippogriff, who's standing proudly in its metal prison. Woah, it's so beautiful! At first, I look around to make sure no one is approaching, then I go closer to its cage. Okay, all I need to do is let him sniff the sock and open the cage and then..- I become visible. Huh?! I look down to my hands and feet shocked. My sudden appearance made the beasts scared and they all starts moving and making noise in their cages. "No, no, no, no..!" I whisper. Bringing my hands up as defence, like that would calm them down. "What are you yelling about?!" one of the wizards comes to check all annoyed. Shit!
Quickly, I go hide behind a tower of cages that has puffskeins in them. That same man - who I ran into back then at Hogsmeade, comes behind the corner. "Silence!" he order. Obviously, that didn't work on them. So he whips his wand to hurt couple of the beasts near by:"Shut up!". That makes my blood boil, but I can't do anything right now. Should have Bombardared him when I had the change. When the beasts gets silent again, the man leaves with smirk on his face. Going for another try, this time I approach the hippogriff's cage very carefully and slowly. Having Hagrid's sock in my hand, reaching it towards Buckbeak. "I'm here to help you out." I whisper. The hippogriff doesn't seem to be impressed by my approach, so I put my head down and do a deep bow. Please, please, please..! Buckbeak watches me for a moment and does a slight approving nod. My heart gets filled with joy. It worked!
Still slowly and respectfully, I come closer and let him take a sniff of the sock. By his reaction, he recognizes the smell. Oh, thank Merlin! Looks like we can soon leave this place. "Alohomora." I open the lock of his cage. After I get a hold on to the chain that hangs around his neck, Buckbeak gets so excited, he rushes out. The stomping sounds he makes by every step are way too loud. Trying to keep my voice down:"Hush, hush! Oh, please Buckbeak. You're going to alert the..-", "Hey!!" the short man is back. Immediately he recognizes me. "You!!" the man exclaimed with murderous tone. Right when he is about to cast a spell on me, I get first:"Langlock!". Immediately his tongue gets pulled out which prevents him to say the spell. Panic hits even more and I don't know what to do next, so I just go:"Pullus!". The man turns into chicken and lets out this loud crow. For a quick moment, Buckbeak and I stare at the cackling chicken on the ground. That'll do. Hearing other people coming, so I cast the spell which opens every lock of the cages around me and all of the creatures bust out of them. The beasts are free!
This all obviously alerts all of the Dark Wizards, since the beasts starts running around the camp, trying to run away deep into the forest. Scared that there is a raid, most of the buyers quickly use the Apparate spell to get away. Including the Malfoys. Bet 'rich people like them' don't wanna be seen in a place like this. I'm going on full battle against four Dark Wizards here, while holding on to the chain Buckbeak is in - may I add. And more wizards are coming. Damn it. The hippogriff keeps making noise and spreading its wings, trying to scare the bad guys away. Just when one of the Dark Wizards is about to cast a spell on me, Remus comes to the rescue. "Remus!!" I exclaim happily. "What part of 'unnoticeable' did you not understand?" he hisses at me. "Don't start. Otherwise you sound like certain someone." I snap back.
While fighting back to back with Remus against the Dark Wizards, the clouds started to move away, clearing the sky. "Remus! Hop on Buckbeak, we'll fly ourselves out of here!" I yell over the noise. That made Remus look up and quickly his face falls. "No..!" he gasps quietly to himself. One of the wizards sees an opening in Remus's defence and gets a hit. My friend flies further away and lands on his stomach. "Remus!" I gasp worried. With the power of rage, I get all seven of the Dark Wizards to fly and fall on their backs. Then I turn to Remus, who's still on the ground:"Are you alright?!". Remus quickly lifts himself up on all fours:"No, no, no..!". Something broke in his chest pocket. "Argh..-!" he arches his back all of sudden. Huh?! Looks like he's in great pain. "What's wrong?! Talk to me!" I run up to him and place a hand on his arm. He yanks the arm out of my reach:"GET AWAY FROM ME!". What?!
Don't know what to do. I'm shocked the way Remus just yelled at me. He looks like he's in unbearable pain. Did they use Crusio on him?! Ignoring his warning and hold onto his shoulder:"Listen! I'm going to get you out of her..-", "LEAVE!!" he yells. And before I could react, he swings his hand to push me away with such a powerful force. As he did that, something sharp scratches from my right chest - near the collarbone, all the way down towards to my left ribs. "Ah-!!" I thud on the ground on my back. Having no time to check what damage he did, I quickly raise myself on my elbows to see what is he doing. Even the Dark Wizards are confused what's happening as they start to get up from the ground.
Remus's back arches and his jacket starts to break, it's like he's growing. What in the..-?! Can hear how Buckbeak gets scared behind me and takes couple of running steps before hopping onto its wings. Shit! Remus's eyes has changed their color and shape. His nails has grew long and sharp. Over all he grew out of his clothes. My heart drops when I realize what he has become. A werewolf!!! The Dark Wizards behind me are hesitant what to do now. There is no sign of my friend anymore. He's gone. I'm petrified. Four meters away, right in front of me stands a freaking werewolf!