ITW,H - Chapter 113 - Centaurs (1) (Patreon)

I have a surprise 5 page essay due today, so I wasn't able to finish the next MWAS chapter yet. I'll post it either later today, or tomorrow at the latest! Promise.

EDITED!: I was doing some reading about HP centaurs and found out outsiders needed to bring gifts if they wanted to visit the centaurs' home. So I added in a small gift giving scene.

(Word Count: 1,344 => 1,777)

The next day, they only had one class scheduled for the afternoon, Charms class with Ravenclaw. As a result, most of their morning was spent in study hall, the time meant for students to study and do their homework together. All four houses shared the first two hours, before Slytherin and Hufflepuff left for their History of Magic class.

In the evening for Charms class, they were still going over the enlargening charm, Engorgio, as well as its close neighbor, the inflating charm, Inflatio. Both of the spells make the target “larger,” just in different ways. If one isn't careful with the enlargening charm, they may just get an effect that appears very similar to the Inflating charm. 

Next week, they'll be going over some spells of opposite effects, the Shrinking charm, Reducio, and the diminishing charm, Diminduendo. They both shrink their targets, but the difference is that the Shrinking charm can be directly counter-spelled using the engorgio. Diminuendo on the other hand could not. It also diminished one's stamina, making it the better spell for duelists, as well be used to diminish the “amount” or “intensity” of something. It was more of a conceptual shrinking than reducio, which only worked on the physical size.

Fascinating stuff.

After the class, Harry once again made his excuses and left the castle to fly into the forbidden forest. This time, he flew towards the centaurs’ territory.

As he approached the forest, he noticed thousands more crows among the trees. That was far more than there was last night. He checked with the snake he had summoned, and found the nest area filled with crows. Though they were careful to avoid the webs, some of them were entangled, and were trying to break free. Just because the spiders were gone, for the most part, didn't mean the webs weren't still dangerous. Harry frowned, and turned towards the nest.

Once he arrived, he transformed back, took out his wand and freed all of the crows he saw that were caught, by vanishing the web directly touching them. The crows squawked, startled at the sudden freedom, before flying away happily.

Then he turned to his golems, still hard at work. He added some more memories and instructions so they would automatically free any of the crows that they saw caught in webs.

While he was there, he collected the jar of venom already filled, as well as the bundles of webs that were already gathered. He sealed the jug with magic so it would be safe, before placing the materials into his trunk. Though he definitely wouldn't have enough space for everything. He would need to send a letter home and ask Sirius to send him another, bigger trunk for a dedicated storage.

He left the golems to continue, and flew back towards the centaurs.

Though before he approached their actual territory, he landed a good ways away and transformed back, both so he didn't disrespect them, and so he didn't reveal to them that he was an animagus. Just because they lived in the forest didn't mean he could carelessly reveal secrets that could put him in Azkaban. 

Before he got too close to the centaurs' actual grounds, he heard the thundering hoofprints of several centaurs approaching.

Four centaurs appeared from the trees in the distance, each wielding a bow, with a quiver of arrows on their backs. The centaurs’ all had broad flat noses and large ears that gave them distinctly inhuman features, despite being their “human” half. Still, they weren't ugly. Just different.

“Halt, human!” One of them snarled as they noticed Harry walking in their direction. One of them even notched an arrow into his bow and aimed it at him, though he didn't draw it yet.

He understood the centaurs didn't like, let alone trust, humans but wasn't that a bit much? He was only 12.

Harry stopped and allowed them to approach him.

They encircled him, eying him warily. “What is a Hogwarts student doing all the way out here?”

“I am Harry Potter. I am a seer, and I felt that Magic herself wanted me to come talk to your people, both to offer and ask for aid,” Harry said calmly. The centaurs were big on divination and mysticism, so he might as well lean into that angle. It might open the door to complete this quest of his. It’s not like he was lying.

The centaurs glanced at each other and the one with the readied bow lowered it.

“What do you mean, Magic herself wanted you to come here? You spoke with her?” The leader of the group asked.

“Yes, I have spoken with her. She asked me to do two things, one was to wipe out the acromantula nest—which I have already done—and the other was to visit your people and offer aid. Though I do now know what sort of aid you would want from me. While I'm here with your people, I'd also like to ask for help in hunting down the remaining acromantulas that escaped and have fled into the forest,” Harry explained everything patiently.

The centaurs laughed, “You say you've cleared out the spiders’ nest? You are but a child! How could you have done so, when we've been fighting them for decades?”

“He's just boasting, Brontes! You know how humans are, always exaggerating,” the one that had aimed the bow at him said dismissively. “Perhaps he managed to kill one of the smaller ones,” the centaurs sneered down at him.

Harry quelled his irritation at the contempt, and spoke with a confident voice. “You centaurs are known for your gift in divination. Surely some of you have seen or felt it happen last night?” They shared another glance. So some did sense something. “If you need more proof, my claim is easily verifiable. Just send a scout or two to check. You will find the forest floor littered with the spiders’ corpses. But in the meantime, I still have to fulfill Magic's request of me. Please, lead me to your leader. I'm certain they've already seen me coming.”

The leader, now named Brontes, eyed him up and down thoughtfully, before nodding. “We do not permit outsiders into our village so easily. You must offer gifts if you wish to enter. What gifts have you brought for our herd?”

Luckily, Harry had read up on centaurs before coming here, and knew about this custom. Honestly, he thought that slaying most of the acromantulas in the forest should have counted as substantial enough service to the forest and their home to have this gift waved, but he didn't want to argue. He was here to make peace.

He opened his trunk, and used his wand to summon the items he had prepared one by one.

The first was a bottle of pure dittany extract. He handed over to Brontes, who smiled appreciatively. He recognized the bottle.

The next gift was a large casserole dish he had enchanted to automatically refill as soon as a portion was taken out. That was one of the weird work-arounds for making food with magic. You couldn't just conjure food out of thin air, but duplicating it worked for some reason. The enchantment itself was simple and wouldn't last for very long, but it would be more than enough to feed the whole herd tonight and tomorrow. The food itself had been hit with preservation charm, so it was still hot and fresh.

Harry handed it over and explained all of this. “The books I read on your culture didn't mention any dietary restrictions, so the casserole itself is pretty simple, it's just a vegetarian casserole. If you do eat meat, it should pair well with whatever meat you want.”

Brontes accepted it with a surprised smile. “That's very kind of you!”

The last item he had prepared was a sneakoscope. “This will make noise whenever someone with mal-intent approaches. It could be useful as a warning system for your village.”

This item didn't seem to phase Brontes at all and he accepted it with an indifferent face. One of the other centaurs even frowned a bit. The centaurs seemed to value the food over an enchanted wizard's object more.

Brontes put the bottle of dittany and the sneakoscope inside the leather satchel he had, and held the casserole dish with both hands. Seeing that, Harry couldn't help but imagine a centaur bringing the dish to a family cookout or something, and had to fight back a smile. It was so strange to see what was once nothing more than a fantasy creature holding a modern day casserole dish, complete with a tin foil wrap lid.

“These gifts are more than generous, we would be glad to bring you to our home. However, if I am to lead you to our glade you must first surrender your wand. I will not have you casting any of your magic there.”

Harry's voice hardened, “you know as well as I do that taking a wizard's wand will be a serious offense in the eyes of the ministry. However, I can compromise. I will place my wand inside my trunk,” he pulled out his necklace from under his robe, showing off the shrunken trunk. “This way, it is not easily accessible, and I would have to rummage through it to get my wand out, which will be quite obvious to anyone watching me. Would that work?”

 Brontes curled his lips in a silent snarl at the thought of the ministry. He obviously didn't like the laws they were subjected to. “Fine,” he bit out, “stow your wand away, then!”

Harry opened his tiny trunk, not needing to grow it out, and dropped his wand inside. The magic inside would catch it and set it gently on one of the shelves, so he didn't have to worry.

Now, he was without a wand. He didn't even keep his mother’s wand. That was in the trunk as well. He wanted to show his sincerity, and in case they searched him, or had some sort of detection magic going, he didn't want to be caught with it. It would send the wrong message.

Besides, he could easily summon it back out to him in a moment, or even handle himself without it entirely should it come to that.

The wand stowed away, Brontes was satisfied. “Follow me then, boy.” He turned to the others. “Go and check the acromantula nest, and see if his claims are true.”

The three others galloped off in the direction of the spider nest.

Brontes led him deeper into the woods, to the centaurs home.