Harry Potter : Chapter 78: Hunters I

The sky was hidden behind a curtain of grey clouds that promised rain, while wind that carried just a hint of seawater on it staggered across the hills of Greece, occasionally howling among the empty branches of the area's forests.

In what should have been a quiet autumn's morning, Spellfire shook off the few leaves that had managed to cling to the branches despite the season, the bark creaking lightly while the entire trees seemed to shake as if to recoil in fear.

Greece was noticeably warmer than Scotland despite the season, but as Tom slashed his yew wand, a trail of frost reminded everyone that winter was never far.

Ducking behind a tree, the Slytherin prefect breathed evenly, the dome of cursed ice placed between him and his quarry sizzling when the goat's head of the Chimaera breathed its own unique brand of toxic, magical fire upon it.

Off to the side of the recently created clearing, Minerva's green eyes reflected the flames while her talent for Transfiguration was put to use: the ground quivered and shook, dirt turning into water and then into a sharp glass that didn't quite manage to pierce the hide of their prey, only to be redirected as a swarm of crystal-like butterflies over the gleaming eyes of the snake that was the Chimaera's tail.

At the unguarded side of the creature, Rubeus struck, exploiting the opening his two companions had created for all of its worth.

The wand of holly and phoenix feather twisted while plunging forward, and a ruby-like spear of hungry flames jutted forward, retaining the hardness of steel even when it impacted the already burnt patch of the fur of the magical creature the three had been hunting.

The lion's head turned deceptively fast after crunching through stone spikes that had been raised to both blind it and to create a cover for the imposing younger wizard, and with a twitch of the powerful hind legs, the creature was upon the last who had dared cause actual harm upon the majestic animal.

With one handspan long fangs, a frothing at the mouth, bull-sized, wizard-killer, apex predator was upon Rubeus, while the snake's head was whipped through the cursed ice that Tom had raised to keep the third head of the beast busy.

A head that now sprouted magical fire towards Minerva, who dropped back into cat form and disappeared in the sizzling underbrush, impossibly quiet and fast.

In a split second, the trio confirmed why wizardkind had successfully tamed most of the magical world to their whims: with a bone-shattering crack, Rubeus disappeared from the line of attack of the lion, just as a ribbon-thin line of an off-grey color sliced off the snakes' head, carrying with it the final nature of an unforgiving, apathetic winter.

A blur of grey attracted the lion's head while the goat bleated in agony for the cut-off snake, the stream of magical fire dying down just in time for inky-black chains to wrap shut the goat's mouth after another ear-piercing crack announced Rubeus' appearance astride the creature's back.

The end of that act came in a moment: from one jump to the next, the cat tearing low on the ground changed direction and blurred into a witch. With an upwards motion of her wand, the earth shuddered, rising in a nail-like spike upon which the lion's head impaled itself.

At the same time, Rubeus' powerful left arm pulled towards himself the twisted horns of the goat's head, while his holly wand was dragged violently across the neck of the creature's last head.

The Chimaera stumbled and fell, what little life it had left bleeding out over the white fur of the fire-breathing goat on the creature's back while Hagrid rolled on the ground and immediately jumped to his feet, his now blood-stained wand pointing at the chains around his downed opponent.

When it didn't move, Rubeus let out a deep, belly laugh, while Minerva allowed herself a fierce smile and Riddle returned his disheveled appearance to pristine condition with a wave of his wand.

The hunt itself had been quick and successful, especially when compared to the chaotic mess that had been their confrontation with the Hydra.

The Chimaera had the body of a lion, with a muted brown coloration that turned into a rich black with the mane of the lion, an unreasonably bright white and grey fur for the goat, and a myriad of shifting greens for the scales of the snake-tail.

"I didn't expect a fully 'classical' Greek Chimaera, that's for sure." Rubeus spoke with barely contained pride as he unwrapped a thick bundle from the back of his belt and quickly unrolled it on the ground, revealing a wide selection of steely grey knives with white bone handle.

"I mean, I always thought that the goat's head would be beside the lion's, not unlike some Cerberus..."

"Perhaps the purpose implicit into the creation had been to have the lion's as a 'leader' of sorts, with the snake to watch its back and the goat to keep an eye on the surroundings: the fire would also prevent any sane attacker from jumping on its back." Riddle took a deep breath while his eyes shone with satisfaction, a faint tilt of his lips showing his appreciation for the results reached.

Minerva smothered her grin and casually reorganized her appearance, noticing how seemingly unaffected by the fight Tom was, but she couldn't resist needling him: "That sounds a lot like the kind of reasonable but baseless speculation of Rubeus' notes on crossbreeding."

Tom's eyes lost their gleam while he sniffed disdainfully: "It is hardly my fault: his notes are literally all over the Rùnda. I still have to figure out if he does so purposefully to incite us into giving him our opinions even on topics that we'd hardly care about otherwise, or if his scatter-brained nature is growing more imposing."

Then, the Slytherin prefect's eyes drifted onto the black chain, now cracked and frail-looking, that was bound around the goat's mouth.

"More importantly, I thought that transfigured materials would lose cohesion against a magical creature." While he spoke, Riddle opened a leather-bound book that he had pulled from his robes, twisting his wand to bring into his original form the barrels that had been prepared for this occasion.

The unlikely trio moved as they had previously discussed, aware that the value of the creature was at its peak so close to its death, and Minerva busied herself by dragging into the clearing the white chest that had been created the previous summer, just after their first hunt.

"Unless I am much mistaken, Minerva is making great strides in Alchemy."

Rubeus answered the unspoken question of the other Slytherin while Riddle's wand coaxed the blood from the dead chimaera into the specifically treated barrels, the viscous, deep red liquid shimmering almost threateningly in the open air before sloshing where it was meant to be stored.

"I am." the eyes of the witch in question however turned towards the black chains still wrapped around the mouth of the dead goat's mouth: "This doesn't explain those..?"

"Oh, I am no goblin, but iron is easy enough to forge with magic, and quenching in the opportune brews can bring unexpected results."

The tallest wizard laughed merrily while he began casting the few wards he knew around the clearing, soon to be joined by Riddle, who swiftly overtook the task as Minerva opened their white chest.

"Well, we did get better at this... insane things you two dragged me into." Minerva sighed before sitting primly on a tree stump, her nose wrinkling slightly at the wet crunches and tears that followed Hagrid as he began to butcher the carcass in a way that prioritized the integrity of the most important ingredients.

"What gave it away?" Riddle replied dryly as he kept siphoning off the blood, carefully avoiding tainting it with dirt or the fur of the animal itself, "The fact that we didn't need an improvised, highly illegal ritual to save our lives?"

Never one to let go of an advantage in their secret, quiet game, Rubeus immediately corrected him.

"Your life, Tom. We risked ours to save you, remember?"

"As you were the one to put me in danger in the first place, I'd say we're even." even as he spoke, however, Riddle couldn't help the frown that briefly flashed on his features.

He hardly needed to put into words the understanding that the two shared.

"And there was that other thing you don't want Minerva to know about, so..."

"What thing, Rubeus?" the pursed lips of the Gryffindor witch made the tallest of the three students flinch, and Rubeus, perhaps wisely, avoided making eye contact with the cat animagus.

"We're all getting better." Rubeus spoke in a serious tone blatantly changing the topic, "More comfortable with our skillsets, growing more powerful... Can you imagine how much easier this would have been with a fourth member?"

"You can hardly use our success as a means to insinuate that we need your pet project into the Rùnda, Rubeus."

"Filius." Hagrid rolled his eyes, "I'm sure a wizard of your caliber can manage using his name, Tom. But since you've brought it up."

Smiling openly to show that he was extremely aware of the fact that the conversation had veered onto the topic of the First Year Ravenclaw because of him, the tallest wizard asked.

"how much will I have to wait to see him pass your tests?"

...

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