Veit að þessi er stuttur, en ég er langt kominn með næsta, svo að ég get byrjað að lengja kaflana þá… Enjoy!



Harry walked into the grove and was met with at least one hundred individual arrows, all pointed at either his head or his heart. He held his hands, palms forward to make clear that he had no evil intentions.

“What business have you here… Human!” Bane spat out the words as if Harry was some nasty thing crawled out of a puddle of mud. Harry eyed the half-horse disdainfully, and turned to greet Ronan.

“I beg you good evening, Ronan, and declare to you now that you flatter me to think I am worthy of being here.” A loud snort had Harry turning to face Bane again.

“What is your problem then, Bane? Have I done anything on your part? Anything at all? NO! And I’d like you to keep your attitude in line!” Bane took a step back, but glared at Harry all the while. Harry turned to face the rest of the beasts.

“I heard what Bane said earlier, and I assure you that I will not command you, nor do I want to. Look I realize that us wizards have not been the greatest lot to share the world with, but I tell you now that things will get worse if Voldemort wins the war.” Bane stepped in again, and said loudly, and with a certain voice:

“The wars and skirmishes of humans do not concern Centaurs, not in the past, and not now!” That was followed by much applause. Harry stepped up again, and looked over the crowd.

“I had not thought you; Centaurs of all beings would be so closed to the troubles of the world. What do you think will happen if that snake-like bastard wins the war? You will either be eliminated, or imprisoned for his liking! He hates half-breeds, you know this well, and I beg you to choose the lesser of two evils and side with us. I will, and I give you my word that I will try my best to make sure that you will be treated with the respect and justice you deserve!” The group was silent for a while and then Ronan stepped up and addressed his fellow Centaurs.

“All in favour say Aye”. At least three quarters of present Centaurs sided with Ronan. He now turned to Harry and asked:

“Well great one, what will you have us do?” Harry was evidently relieved and sat down.

“Like I said I will not command you. I ASK you now to guard this school, and its students. They will need all the help they can get. Harry rose to leave and stepped out of the grove, but turned on the perimeter.

“Please do not tell anyone I was here, would you.” And he ran towards Hogwarts.
Damn Centaurs, stubborn as a big rock, sometimes… I wasted too much time bickering with them! But what is done is done.
He got to the edge of the forest, and instinctively crouched low, in order too make himself less visible. He ducked from shadow to shadow, and got to Hagrid’s hut. He bent low under the one window of the small house and looked inside. He saw Hagrid there sitting at the large wooden table, his head resting on his arms. He had obviously fallen asleep, Fang desperately trying to wake his master, needing attention. He started walking around the hut, and looked up and at Harry straight in the eyes. Time to go!
He then heard voices coming closer and closer. He knew those voices. Ron. Hermione. Ginny. Shit!

“Oh, Ronald, could you stop being this paranoid? Just because they are Slytherin doesn’t mean they all have to betray us the first chance they get! It’s not like they are all death eaters!” Hermione snapped.

“Perhaps not the kids themselves,” Ron said in a submissive voice. Ginny made no comment. “But the parents might be, and you all know how that turns out. Most of the time, anyways.” They were making steady pace towards Hagrid’s hut when Ron caught a glimpse of something moving out of the corner of his eye. “What was that?”- He exclaimed. The other two turned around just in time to see a black shape making its way towards them, steady, long strides. The unknown shape made its hood fall, revealing a smirking death eater, wand raised.

“Drop your wands whelps. You are lucky my master wants you alive, ‘cause you’d be long dead, if I had been allowed to kill you.” The smirk was still there, broader than before. The three teenagers applied without a fuss, not seeing the black form moving in the edge of the forest behind them…

Harry crept in the woods, his bow in hand, looking for a good vantage point. After a few tense moments he found a spot where he would be completely out of sight, but still have a clean shot. He knocked an arrow, pulled the bee waxed string back, and took a deep breath. He let
fly…

Hermione was shaking all over, trying not to give in to the fear. She glanced sideways at Ron, who didn’t seem scared at all, just furious, hate shining out of his eyes. Ginny just stood there, her face quite blank, devoid of any emotion. The foe took a step towards them, and then, oddly stumbled. Hermione saw a thin piece of wood sticking out of the mans heart, looking like an arrow. She screamed as the man fell down clutching his pierced chest.

Hagrid the half giant awoke when he heard Hermione scream. He darted out of his chair, and grabbed his crossbow, all in the same movement. He stepped outside to find his three friends standing over what seemed a fallen humanoid form.

“Get away from there!” They moved away from the corpse allowing Hagrid the space he needed. The big man took one look at the fallen corpse and gasped.

“Call the guards!”

“Already did,” Hermione answered.

“Good girl,” Hagrid said, hugging them all close. They heard the stamping of many, many boots.

“What happened here, Hagrid?” Shacklebolt demanded furious, bit was cut short by the sight of the dead Death eater. He stepped closer and jerked the arrow out. He looked at the arrow for a while, and then turned to Hagrid in deep thought.

“What do you think? A Centaurs arrow, perhaps?”

“No. This is no hunting arrow; it’s too heavy, and too long. The feathers are also a different colour. And look at the tip; it has six spikes on it specially made to pierce through armour. No this poor bastard was killed by something else, most likely human.” Hagrid’s statement was met with many low murmurs and gasps, which seemed filled with excitement rather than fear. And in all the racket and fuss, no one noticed the dark shape that crept over the grounds and dipped and ducked between shadows and darted into the castle…