The Next Generation

Several Disruptions

Albus woke up with a start, and it took a minute for him to realize where he was. It was pitch black in the Forbidden Forest, so it must still be night time, he thought. The sound of hooves pounding on the ground grew louder and louder, until it stopped.

"Who are you, and what brings you into our forest?" called a coarse voice.

"I'm a lost Hogwarts student," answered Albus, his voice trembling with fear. Now that his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, he could make out a group of what he recognized as centaurs. They all had bows and arrows, which were pointed at him. "I didn't mean to intrude into your territory," Albus's voice quavered.

The centaurs stayed silent for a minute, and finally one sounded "rid him of his wand, Bane!" A wild looking centaur with black hair and a beard galloped forward. He snatched Albus's wand from his grasp with such force that it knocked him to the ground.

The centaur was about to stomp Albus's wand into pieces, when he called "wait! Please, wait! You know Harry Potter, right? You took his side during the Battle of Hogwarts" Bane paused to look down at him. "I'm his son. I'm Albus Potter," he said, hoping that that might stop the centaur from destroying his wand.

"And why should that change anything?" Bane questioned, turning his attention back to the wand. However, before he had time to stomp it to pieces, a centaur pushed forward from the back of the colony and up to where Albus was lying on the ground. Albus noticed that he had light hair and astonishingly blue eyes.

"Greetings Mr. Potter, I am Firenze," he said, helping Albus to his feet.

Not knowing how to respond, Albus stuttered "n-nice to meet you, sir."

The centaur continued, "I apologize for my colony being so harsh. And don't worry, you'll get your wand back," he said, as if he had read Albus's mind. "Bane?" he said, turning his head to face the other centaur. Reluctantly, he handed the wand to Firenze, who gave it to Albus.

"Thank you, Firenze," Albus said, trying to be as polite to the centaur as possible.

"You say you are lost? The castle is that direction," Firenze pointed. "Best of luck, Mr. Potter."

"Thank you again, Firenze," he replied gratefully. But the centaur had already returned to his colony. A chestnut centaur who was seemingly the leader of the colony nodded to Albus, and galloped away, followed by the rest of them. Albus was left alone in the forest once more, except this time he was fully awake. He decided to head toward the castle now, instead of waiting until morning, hopeful at the possibility of making it back to Hogwarts after all. However, he didn't make it much further without more interruption.

Albus was creeping through the forest as silently as possible, when he heard a the rustle of leaves and a twig cracking. A large winged creature emerged from behind a particularly gnarly tree, and slowly approached Albus. He had never seen such a creature before, not even in pictures. The animal appeared to be half eagle and half horse, and stood facing him as if waiting for something. Albus had no clue what he should do. He didn't think it would be right to run away, because the creature might chase after and attack him, as most animals would. So, Albus stayed put, even when the creature slowly stepped closer. Suddenly, the creature reared up on its hind legs, and its clawed front legs came down on Albus. He was forcefully pushed backwards onto the forest floor, knocking the wind out of him. Luckily, there was only dirt on the ground behind him, and not a rock or something else that would've injured him even more. Before Albus could regain his breath, the beast was flapping its wings in front of Albus and sounding a sort of warning call. The creature stormed back into the trees, deserting Albus. A sudden strong pain washed over Albus, as if something was broken, or several things. He cried out in agony, wishing more than anything that he was lying in Madam Pomfrey's hospital wing so that he could be relieved of his pain. Tears running down Albus's face, he tried to sit up, but he fell back to the ground a moment later. Perhaps one of his ribs was broken, he thought. But no, the pain was too great for that. He couldn't think any more, his head was hurting him. All Albus could do was lie there in the dirt and wait to be found. And sooner or later he would be, by a human, or another of the forest's inhabitants. He hoped against odds that it wouldn't be the latter.