Bloodline chapter 15

Chapter 15 -

"Oh dear, oh dear," Albus sighed deeply as he and the head of houses joined Hagrid in the forbidden forest, all of them gathered around the remains of one Professor Quirrell.

Professor McGonagall had gasped and covered her mouth in shock, looking quite horrified and...well...shocked. Professor Sprout looked close to throwing up, and Professor Flitwick looked shell-shocked. Professor Septima Vector, the arithmancy Professor and new head of house for Slytherin, winced as she saw the damage. Along with them had come Professor Snape, who grimaced as he looked at the remains. Quirrell had been left as nothing much more than a mangled mess that looked like he had been attacked by several werewolves. His blood formed a puddle around his body. What remained of him was not a pleasant sight at all.

"Found him this morning, Professor Dumbledore," Hagrid said, gulping as the smell hit his nose. "I...was going to collect some herbs for Professor Sprout when I stumbled upon him."

"Sweet Merlin, what could have done this to him?" Professor Flitwick wondered. "It was not a full moon last night; it couldn't possibly be a werewolf."

"Well, it was definitely something with sharp teeth," Snape frowned as he stared at the remains. "Not a single arrow in sight," He noted.

"So likely not the centaurs," Professor Sprout replied, picking up on what he meant. "What else? Who else?"

"I've heard rumours of many creatures in the forest, most of which are capable of doing this." Professor McGonagall frowned. "Hagrid, you are our resident expert. What do you think?" She asked the large man who was staring thoughtfully at Quirrell.

"Truth be told, Professor McGonagall, I don't think it was something from here." He said heasitantly, gesturing around to the forest.

"What do you mean, Hagrid?" Dumbedore asked, giving him a questioning look.

"Exactly what I said, Professor," Hagrid replied, scratching his chin before he began stroking his beard. "Like we said, it couldn't be a werewolf, and it couldn't be a centaur. They'd have shot him full of arrows and left him like that, maybe stomped him or beaten him to death. But that's unlikely, for the most part, they keep their distance from humans. Not too fond of us, admittedly. There are things in the forest that could do the job, but they're all predators. But the majority of them never get this close to Hogwarts; we're right at the edge of the forest. Either way, it's not something from the forest. They fight in self-defence, or for food. Whatever did this, attacked him to hurt him, to kill him. They also ignored something else."

"Something else?" Snape repeated, raising an eyebrow. He felt a rare modicum of respect for the man whom he considered to be an imbecile.

"Tracks," Hagrid grunted, pointing to a different set of tracks near Quirrell's body. "It looks like a unicorn's hoof prints. I'd bet my beard on it. The tracks look relatively fresh as well, I'd say. Meaning, whatever did this had ignored something that was much bigger than Professor Quirrell in favour of him, Professor Snape, so like I said, whatever did this, it wasn't hunting for food unless they swallowed the unicorn whole or found a way to catch the creature as well." Finished Hagrid.

"Something that would ignore a unicorn for Quirell," Professor Dumbledore hummed thoughtfully. "A most worrying conclusion,"

"I'm only guessing, Sir," Hagrid said with a slight blush, looking embarrassed.

"I trust your instincts, Hagrid," Dumbledore told him at once.

"We've not considered if this was perhaps a witch or a wizard," Professor Vector spoke up. The red-robed, black haired teacher looked like she had swallowed something unpleasant as she looked away from Quirrell. "It's entirely possible that Quirrell has stepped into some magical trap of some sort."

"There just happens to be a magical trap in a random part of the forbidden forest?" Snarked Snape.

"Perhaps if you spent more time not harassing students and doing something other than locking yourself away in your little dungeon, then perhaps you'd be aware of facts that the rest of us mere mortals know," She told him with a mild glare. "There have been poachers in this forest since before the seventeenth century at least."

"Aye," Hagrid nodded while Snape sneered at Professor Vector. "Professor Vector's right. There have been a few hunters and poachers popping up in the area even now, occasionally. Even before I was a student. I caught two dollop-heads last year trying to capture a thestral. Banged their heads together, I did, and sent them on their way."

"Good man," Professor McGonagall said at once.

"Indeed," Professor Sprout harumphed. "I can't count the number of times some person has wandered into the forest and ended up destroying valuable plants."

"No complete idiot can capture magical creatures like unicorns or thestrals in this forest; some of them even bring their own creatures to help on the hunt." Professor Vector further reasoned.

"Like hunting dogs?" Professor Flitwick asked, earning a nod.

"As I said, it's possible that a wizard or witch is responsible," She continued. "I'm not saying it is for sure, but it'd be stupid to ignore the possibility."

"Albus," Professor McGonagall spoke up. "We should contact the aurors. I know you're not fond of ministry intervention, but...well..." She trailed off, looking quite green.

"I agree with you, Minerva," Dumbledore told her in a serious voice. "I'll be contacting them myself. When they arrive, please do all you can to make their job easier. All of you," He said, giving a pointed look to Snape, who reluctantly nodded. "I think it's best that we cancel classes for the day; the aurors may wish to interview the students."

"Who could have done something like this?" Professor Sprout asked, looking a hair's breadth away from emptying her stomach contents. "What could have done something like this?"

"Let us hope we find out," Dumbledore said somberly. "We should also hope that it's sooner, rather than later."

"So, classes are cancelled for the day. What do you want to do now?" Tonks asked, walking along with Harry and Daphne.

Apparently, something had happened to Professor Quirrell. Nobody was really told what it was, but Tonks knew that it was serious enough that they had to cancel classes today so that the entire student population could be interviewed by aurors. Her own interview was pretty straightforward; she was asked a few questions like 'what do you know about Professor Quirrell?' and 'when was your last lesson with him?' and so on. She wasn't quite sure what happened with Harry and Daphne, but the aurors interviewing them looked almost scared when they each left.

"I have to go practise at the field," Harry shrugged.

"Honestly," Tonks sighed. "Do you ever do anything apart from Quidditch practice and study?"

"I also eat, sleep and have spent a lifetime mastering a proficiency that allows me in and out of the bathroom with the bare minimum of wasted time." He answered genuinely.

"Come on, surely you can skip one day of practice?" Daphne asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I could," Harry agreed. "But I will not,"

"Potter, much as I approve of your dedication and discipline, I will have to vote in favour of the Hufflepuff." Daphne sighed. "Even you need some time to relax."

"If not with us, then at least spend the day with your brother and sister, we don't have any classes after all." Tonks reminded him.

"I...well...I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check up on them." Harry said thoughtfully. "Fine, I'll do that. What about the two of you? What will you be doing?"

"Homework," Tonks grunted with an unhappy sigh. "What about you, Princess?"

"I'm more of a queen, thank you very much," Daphne primly replied. "But to answer your question, I will be writing up some letters to send home. Mother has insisted I send regular updates; she also wanted to be informed on what Potter was up to." Daphne said, sending an annoyed look towards Harry.

"Mine too," Tonks said, sending a matching look to Harry.

"I wouldn't worry," Harry told them. "Out of respect for your fathers, I won't be bedding either of your mothers. Despite how incredibly tempting they make it with their beautiful faces and attractive, curvy bodies." He said matter-of-factly, not even blinking when both girls slapped him on the back of his head.

"Let's see it then," Harry said, standing in an abandoned classroom with his brother and sister, both of whom had their wands out and pointed in the direction of a dummy that Harry had managed to get. It was made of wood and had a wheeled base; the top half of it was shaped like a wizard with a wooden wand in its hand.

"I'll go first," Dan volunteered before aiming his wand at the dummy. "Flippendo," He said, casting a damn near perfect knockback spell that pushed the dummy back a good few feet.

"Not bad," Harry said with a casual wave of his hand that brought the dummy back into the starting position. "Iris, your turn."

"No problem," She said, aiming her wand at the dummy. "Expelliarmus!" She yelled. A red light shot out from her wand and hit the dummy right in the arm, shooting its wand right out of its hand and into Harry's hand.

"Not bad," Harry hummed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Pretty good for your ages, but there is room for improvement."

"Oh, did we do something wrong?" Dan frowned.

"Not really wrong," Harry assured him. "But you can develop your skills further and really master the spells."

"What does that mean?" Iris frowned thoughtfully. "How can you master a spell?"

"It's the same as knowing how to cook and being a master chef," Harry explained patiently. "For example, did you know that a disarming spell can also knock back an opponent?"

"So, there's no point in learning the knockback spell if I know the disarming charm?" Asked Dan in a curious voice.

"Not necessarily, for example, the knockback spell guarantees your opponent is knocked back and will work just as well on inanimate objects as it will living objects. The disarming spell can send a guy flying ten feet back, but won't do more than lightly push a non-living being." Harry replied. "Back to mastering a spell, though, I assume you both know of incendio."

"The 'Fire-Making spell'," The brother and sister answered at the same time.

"Watch," Harry aimed his wand at the dummy. "Incendio," He intoned. A small burst of fire shot out from his wand and torched the front of the dummy, turning the wood black for a brief moment before it healed itself.

"Wicked," Iris grinned.

"You think that's cool, try this," Harry said, wand still pointed at the dummy. "Incendio," He said once more. This time, a much larger burst of flames shot out and fully enveloped the dummy.

"Whoa!" Dan's eyes lit up with amazement as the dummy began healing itself. "How do you do that? Increase the magic output?"

"That's one way, yes, but relying solely on power leads to unpredictable results. You can throw a ball as hard as you can, but you have no guarantee where it'll land. Control is key to every spell. As you grow, as you train, as you learn, you'll get better and better at it. Allowing you to do more things beyond what your textbooks tell you to do." Harry said before another fire blast shot out of his wand, this time it was much smaller, but a lot faster, impacting the dummy hard enough to push it back a couple of feet. Shortly afterwards, another fireblast shot out, this time with a very small flame coming out the front while two separate flames shot out from each side of the wand. "See, when your teacher teaches you a spell, really pay attention. Think, learn, question what you learnt. Mastering a spell properly will make your transitions into other spells much easier. For example, knowing incendio helped me a lot when learning 'Confringo', the blasting curse." He said before a fiery orange spell shot out from his wand and crashed against the dummy, exploding on impact and sending it flying back against the wall.

"You are so cool," Dan grinned, staring between Harry and the dummy.

"This is true," Harry nodded agreeably.

"I bet you could beat all of the other students in our school," Iris spoke up.

"This is also true," Harry nodded once more just before the door to the room opened up and in walked Percy Weasley with his chest puffed out and his prefect badge prominently displayed on his robes.

"What is going on here?" Percy asked.

"We're practising magic," Iris answered with a shrug.

"You're not supposed to be practising magic outside of classrooms or the common room," Percy said straight away.

"That's not true," Dan said matter-of-factly. "The only rule is that we're not supposed to practise them in the school hallways. We're allowed to do it literally everywhere else. Last week, I saw Professor McGonagall walk past a Hufflepuff using magic to make a paper aeroplane in the courtyard near the Great Hall, and she didn't say anything."

"That might be, but -"

"Weasley," Harry cut him off with a sigh. "There is a world of difference between enforcing rules and making them up. As it has likely once more escaped your notice, I am a prefect as well. I've been one for longer than you have, in case you forgot that as well. No rules are being broken here. I'll be discussing this incident with Professor McGonagall. I would advise leaving before you give me more things to discuss with her."

"I..." Percy trailed off, his face almost as red as his hair. "I see," He said stiffly before leaving the classroom, closing the door behind him.

"What's his problem?" Dan frowned.

"A typical occurrence for the wizarding world, I'm afraid," Harry said, eyes darkening slightly. "People getting more power than they deserve."