Harry Potter and the Gift of Memories [Harry Potter Fan Fiction]

Chapter XXXIX: Jaguars, Griffin's and Dragons, Part I

I was running through a dense jungle. Large trees filled my vision, their branches twisting and turning and joining together to create a large network of interlocking branches that could only ever be created by mother nature. Many animals filled these branches, colorful birds hooted and cawed, brown-haired monkeys swung along the branches like, well, monkeys, and large snakes, boa constrictors several times thicker than the very branches they hung on, lazed about. The amount of noise these creature's generated pounded into my hypersensitive eardrums, though it did not bother me.

Humid air stuck to my fur, creating thick droplets of water that slid across my sleek body as my four pawed feet and powerful legs propelled me forward. Sometimes I would run along the ground. Other times I used the trees and branches to continue moving toward my destination. Leaping over large gaps to land on unused branches, using my sharp nails to stick to the surface of trees as I climbed up and down the trunks, ducking, swerving and weaving through vines and foliage, all of it was second nature to me.

My breath came out in thick, heavy pants, yet for I was not the least bit winded. It seemed that, for whatever reason, my capacity for taking in oxygen had expanded, and I could now intake much more air than I normal.

I paused in my trek through the jungle. Lifting my head I took several sniffs of the air. My nose, far more sensitive to smells than even the most well-trained dogs, picked up the scent I was looking for. It seemed I was on the right track.

My sharps claws unstuck themselves from the trunk I stood on and I landed on the ground with a soft thud. I bounded off once more, continuing ever onwards to my destination in long, loping strides.

Eventually, I reached my destination: a large pond being fed into by several streams. Reeds and grass stuck out from the water, swaying in the wind, along with the large humps of flesh from the hippopotamus lounging in the water.

There were many other animals present, mammals and reptiles, birds and bugs, very little escaped my keen eyes. I took note that many of the animals avoided me, but didn't pay them more than a cursory glance. They weren't worth my time right now, as I had no desire to hunt, not when there were more important things I needed.

Like water, for instance.

I finished my slow stalk toward the pond, stopping only when I reached the edge. Dipping my head toward the river, I made to take a drink when I paused.

My reflection stared back at me, its mirror-like quality distorted due to ripples on the waters surface. But even with my reflection blurred, I could still see my face. Glowing green irises set on a feline muzzle greeted me. The fur around my face and body was thick and black and shone with a glossy sheen, except for the center of my forehead, where a single patch of white fur stood out proudly in the shape of a lightning bolt.

My vision grew fuzzy, blurred. I blacked out for a second, and when my vision returned to me, the scene had changed.

No longer was I in a jungle, a mass of interweaving and connected branches and vines where thousands of animals live. Now I was soaring through the skies. Large white clouds hung around me, white vapors of water that coalesced into physical form. The air was crisp and cool, refreshing, and only the peaks of a mountain range several dozen kilometers below kept me company.

As I gazed upon the world around me, my eyes were inevitably drawn to the mountain peeks. I could not see anything below that. The thick cloud cover around the mountain range kept me from seeing the ground.

That was fine, I thought. My eyes were not focused on the ground far below, but the mountain peak closest to where I flew.

It was a strange flattop peak. There was no point at the top, and in fact, it looked less like the peak of a mountain and more like a valley. The peak dipped inwards, much like a volcano would, creating a deep valley within the mountain itself. With little more than a thought, my eyes zoomed in close and saw that the valley possessed a large, crystal blue lake surrounded by a copse of trees.