After finishing the second trial, Alayna found it a little hard to return to classes the following week. It was almost like the adrenaline from sneaking into Rookwood castle and fighting all those stone knights in the trial was still lingering in her blood. Sitting in class for hours during the day was a difficult task and so was trying to focus on her homework. At least spending time with Sebastian and Ominis was a bit more exciting than school.
Now that Alayna wasn't upset with Sebastian anymore, everything returned to normal with them. Or almost normal. Since her encounter with Sebastian, when he'd kidnapped her into an empty classroom, she'd started to notice things. Things that he did or said when around her or when they passed each in the hallway or when he caught her eye across a classroom. That smirk that before had always spelt danger for her felt...different. She tried to tell herself it was just wishful thinking, but she felt more and more that Sebastian was...
"Hey, whatcha thinking about?" Sebastian slid onto the bench next to her, purposefully bumping into her as he did.
"Shh, keep it down." Alayna cast a glance towards Miss Scribner who was thankfully too occupied with another student to have caught Sebastian's louder than a whisper question.
"Sorry," he lowered his voice. "You were staring off into space instead of-" he tapped the book in her hands. "-reading."
"Nothing, I was just spacing out. Some of these History of Magic books are just as boring as Professor Binns," Alayna groaned. Not entirely untrue, she definitely had been getting bored reading a book on the history of wizard architecture within the Ministry of Magic. It didn't help there were no illustrations to provide an idea of what exactly they were talking about.
"Ah, but not daydreaming?" Sebastian asked.
"Not...really." Alayna was starting to wonder if he had an ulterior motive to these questions. "What's going on? Why all the questions?"
"Nothing, just curious." Sebastian shrugged. "Mind if I join you for now?"
"You want to read?"
"No....but we could go for a walk. It's not too chilly outside or we could stay inside the castle." Alayna stared at Sebastian, trying to gather more clues from somewhere in his expression. This was what it had been like since their discussion in the classroom. He was always asking her to do things together. Even just the most mundane things like taking a walk or even just sitting together while they wrote up their homework. Professor Fig's words were always ringing in her mind. If you liked someone, you always wanted to be around them.
But there was no way Alayna could just come out and ask Sebastian about how he felt. That would be insane.
"It would be nice to stretch my legs a bit. These benches are so uncomfortable." Alayna stretched her legs under the table to make sure neither had fallen asleep while she'd been reading.
"Alright, let's go." Sebastian smiled and stood up, quick to lead the way out of the library. They walked in relative silence, Sebastian making comments every once in a while about some part of the castle or a student they passed. Alayna was happy just to listen and learn what he knew. She had come to understand a lot about Hogwarts and learn a lot about its students, including those from other years. They were all like one big dysfunctional family living under the same roof.
As they turned towards the large castle doors that led outside onto the lawn, Alayna spotted Poppy coming in. When the small Hufflepuff saw her, she gave a quick wave and came over looking eager.
"Alayna! I was just about to come looking for you!" Poppy wasn't smiling, in fact, she looked rather serious which was a rare expression for her.
"Oh, what is it?" Alayna asked.
"Can we, um, talk in private maybe?" Poppy eyed Sebastian next to her. Alayna gave him an apologetic look and silently asked that he give them space.
"No worries, I've stolen enough of your time for now. See you later!" Sebastian waved and walked off. Alayna wasn't sure if he was disappointed or not that their walk had been interrupted. But she turned her attention to Poppy.
"It's about the poachers," Poppy leaned in to whisper. "And you."
"The poachers? And me?" Alayna glanced around at the students that passed around them. The entrance was a fairly busy place, so she tugged on Poppy's arm to lead her back outside where they could find a more private spot. "Tell me everything."
"I overheard some of them speaking in the Hog's Head and-"
"The Hog's Head? Poppy, what on earth were you thinking going there?" Alayna had gone there herself, but Poppy was just so...well, she looked like an easy target.
"It's alright. I was only there for a little while, I was trying to get information on the poachers." Great, now not only did Alayna have to deal with a headstrong Gryffindor, but also a reckless Hufflepuff. She pinched her nose at the incoming headache.
"Did you know that Victor Rookwood gave orders to capture you on sight?" Alayna dropped her hand from her face to look at Poppy. It wasn't exactly surprising, but she hadn't heard that.
"I...can't say I'm not surprised," she answered truthfully.
"Does this have anything to do with Rookwood and Harlow coming after you in the Three Broomsticks?"
"It does...somewhat. But I'm more concerned about what else you overheard about the poachers." She could not involve Poppy in her affairs with Rookwood and Ranrok. Natty, Sebastian, even Ominis now technically were in on what was going on. She couldn't let one more person get involved, especially not someone so purely innocent like Poppy.
"Alright...but I do hope you'll tell me about it sometime. I'd be happy to help in any way I can, especially after what you did for Highwing." Poppy clasped her hands in front of her and rocked on her heels.
"Thank you, Poppy. You're very kind." Alayna smiled at her offer, but she didn't plan on taking her up on it. She was already repaying plenty by helping her with the magical creatures she had been rescuing.
"In that case, have you heard of something called Horntail Hall?"
"Not at all." Alayna tilted her head. She hadn't paid attention too much to poacher conversations while sneaking around and such, but she was certain she'd never heard it mentioned. "Why? What is it?"
"Apparently it's the poachers best kept secret. So I suppose that's why you wouldn't have. The name came up twice, but they didn't go into much detail." Poppy dropped her hands to her side then, clenching them into fists as she looked as angry as a kitten might have. "I also overheard them talking about how much gold they're making. All at the expense of the poor magical creatures they capture."
"We're doing what we can to help," Alayna reminded her. Besides the hippogriffs and the few magical creatures she'd rescued with Deek, she had also rescued a number of others in poacher camps and just in the wilds.
"I know. They mentioned an area in the Forbidden Forest quite a bit. I thought we might be able to find some clues if we searched there."
Alayna absolutely did not want to take Poppy into the Forbidden Forest to search for poachers, but after a week of being cooped up in the castle with classes and homework, she was itching to get out for a bit and into some action. Not to mention, she was fairly confident if she didn't agree to go Poppy would go by herself anyway. She and Natty were quite alike in that regard.
"Okay, fine. But we better leave now or else it will start to get late." The days were growing colder and the nights even more so. She would rather not be trekking in the freezing cold through the Forbidden Forest, and especially not at night.
"Great! Oh, and if you ever meet my Gran...this trip never happened," Poppy said seriously. Alayna couldn't help but laugh a little, but she quickly stifled it.
"Don't worry, I won't say a word."
The two girls made the trek away from the castle to the entrance of the Forbidden Forest. While the place had been dark and imposing before, it seemed even more so with the brisk cold wind that whipped around the trees and caused their branches to creak even more than usual. Alayna kept as close as she could to Poppy as they walked through the trees, searching for signs of poacher camps.
As they did, Alayna lifted her head from watching her step to spot an unusual figure standing on a rocky precipice up ahead on the path. Unusual because the lower half of the person was not human, but looked like a horse.
"A centaur," Poppy gasped beside her. Alayna had heard they lived in the forest, but she had yet to see any of them on her previous ventures in. "Be cautious."
"An entire castle to roam and yet you choose to wander here." The centaur's voice carried on the wind. Closer up, Alayna could see that he carried a bow and had a quiver strapped across his back. He had long brown hair and a beard, but was otherwise not wearing any clothes.
"Please, we don't want any trouble. We're just passing through," Poppy replied.
"Do you think us fools? That we do not see more and more of your kind here in league with the poachers?"
"We're not involved with them. If anything, we also want to see them stopped." Alayna couldn't believe the centaurs really thought students from Hogwarts were involved with the poachers.
"I hope for your sake that is true. Our kind is swiftly losing patience for the poachers and those they work with." With that, the centaur turned and disappeared back into the forest. For the time being, it seemed their presence would be tolerated. They waited until he was out of sight before continuing through the forest.
"That was incredible," Alayna said as they walked. They had met a centaur!
"It could have gone a lot worse. Centaurs aren't exactly fans of wizardkind and the poachers aren't helping matters."
"Does anyone get along with wizardkind?" Alayna had to ask.
"Um, well..." Poppy tried to think.
"I'll take that as a no." Not that Alayna could blame any of them. Wizardkind didn't exactly make it easy to get along with. "But why would he think we had something to do with the poachers? We're just students."
"I'm not sure. But I've seen some of the poachers talking with villagers in Hogsmeade. I suppose it wouldn't be so far fetched to imagine some students buying supplies from poachers."
"You really think so?" Alayna couldn't really see anyone at Hogwarts buying things from poachers, but then again...
They entered into a clearing. In the middle of which sat a small pond surrounded by reeds. It was a nice break in the otherwise gloomy Forbidden Forest, almost a little peaceful. But as they neared the edges of the pond, a dugbog dashed out of the water to grab at some small prey that had made the mistake of trying to get a drink there. It slowly slinked back into the water with its catch, leaving Alayna and Poppy to watch on with mild horror.
"I've never seen a dugbog behave so violently," Poppy commented as they stood frozen in place.
"A lot of beasts seem to be more aggressive as of late," Alayna added from her experience when capturing some magical creatures.
"Almost like there's something in the water," Poppy said offhandedly. Although Alayna wouldn't be too surprised if there was. Poachers poisoning water to make magical creatures easier to catch? That sounded right up their alley.
When it was clear the dugbog wouldn't be resurfacing anytime soon, the pair continued on past the pond. Before they had completely left the clearing though, Alayna spotted something. From a distance, it had just looked like a part of the forest, bushes or small trees perhaps, but in reality was the remains of a camp. Looking around quickly, it was clear it was a poacher camp. But the odd thing was that they found tons of goblin metal fashioned into what Alayna realized must be collars. Like the one she had seen on the dragon she had encountered at the start of the school year.
"What could they be doing with goblin metal?" Poppy asked.
"Ranrok must have given it to them. I saw a collar like this on the dragon that attacked Professor Fig and I's carriage."
"Wait, really? You think...someone sent it?" Poppy asked. Alayna opened her mouth without speaking, realizing she had given a few too many clues away about what she was really involved in. "Why would they send a dragon after you?"
"I don't think it was that...maybe it had just escaped from the poachers and targeted the first thing it saw." Alayna was glad she was able to pull a lie out of her head that quickly. She didn't particularly like lying to Poppy, but it was all to protect her.
"Oh, right. I guess that makes sense too." Alayna wasn't sure if she totally bought it, but at least she didn't ask any more questions. Questions that Alayna didn't want to have to answer and would be more complicated to lie about. "Let's keep looking. There might be other camps nearby."
The one they had discovered was only a small one after all. Nothing like the ones Alayna had encountered before. The sun was starting to set as they continued looking for clues. The forest wasn't as thick here, but even still Alayna didn't fancy staying in the Forbidden Forest too late. She knew some of what lurked there after all...giant spiders.
Coming onto the edge of a cliff, Alayna peered down to see ruins and among them poachers. Another camp was set up between ruined stone walls from some sort of building. Alayna couldn't begin to guess what sort of building might have once stood in the middle of the Forbidden Forest.
"Poachers," Poppy whispered.
"Yes, are you going to be alright if it comes to a fight?"
"I'll be fine. You shouldn't underestimate me just because I'm a Hufflepuff." Poppy took off down a path that led down from the cliff before Alayna could tell her that that wasn't the reason why she had asked. The girl didn't seem like the type to hurt someone and she knew firsthand how dangerous the poachers could be. She thought Poppy was underestimating the poachers.
No matter, hopefully it wouldn't come to that as they initially used Disillusionment to get closer to the camp. It was a sprawling area and most of the poachers were rather spread out, so it was a piece of cake to sneak up and cast Petrificus Totalus on many of them.
"There's so many poachers here, you'd think they were guarding the Ministry of Magic or something," Poppy whispered as they neared the singular large tent being guarded by all of the poachers.
"Whatever's here must be pretty important," Alayna whispered back. Plenty of cages surrounded the tent and thestral drawn carriages signified that there must have been lots of people there. People who definitely could not fit in the tent they saw before them, but given the last poacher camp Alayna had been in with Natty she could already guess what would be within this one. A larger space on the inside.
Sure enough, when Alayna approached and pulled back the tent flap she saw a hallway larger than the tent itself. Echoing up towards them was shouting, but what about Alayna couldn't make out.
"Horntail Hall, this must be it!" Poppy exclaimed. "But what is 'it' exactly?"
"Only one way to find out," Alayna said before leading the way into the tent. "Be careful, we have no idea what to expect." As they walked down the hall, the shouting grew louder and louder. It grew to its loudest as Alayna and Poppy reached the end of the hallway where it took a sharp right and curved around. Before them was some sort of magical barrier surrounding a ring from which they could see a blur of movement. It sounded like people were shouting all around them as they tried to get a closer look.
Just as soon as they did, something huge crashed into the side of the barrier right in front of them. Alayna had barely enough time to register what it was before it moved again. A dragon.
Poppy and Alayna peered into the ring where they could see clearly now two adult dragons fighting each other. Both had collars like the ones they had seen at the poacher camp earlier.
"They're making dragons fight each other!" Poppy exclaimed. "How could they do such a thing?"
"Those collars must be used to control them in some way." Alayna could see them glowing similarly to Ranrok's magic. Perhaps he had imbued them with some of that magic. This was what Rookwood was getting in exchange for helping him. Tools to control beasts as big as dragons so he could make even more money.
"That must be why the poachers were in Hogsmeade so often. They were taking bets and spreading the word about this place."
"You're right. There's definitely a lot of people here."
"It's awful. The centaurs are right to dislike wizardkind."
"I can't disagree with you there."
"There must be more dragons being held here somewhere. The poachers are too greedy to run a fighting ring with just two."
"You're not wrong on that one either." If the poachers already had two dragons captive, Alayna was certain they would have more.
"We should take advantage of all the eyes on the fight to take a look around."
"Absolutely not." Alayna grabbed hold of Poppy as she tried to walk off. "We found out what it was the poachers were doing, we should report it to Officer Singer and let her handle it."
"But we're already here! If we don't do something now, those dragons could get seriously hurt!" Poppy insisted. "I'm going to investigate. You can either come or not."
"Alright, alright. Merlin, you're awful stubborn when it comes to magical creatures you know that?" Alayna followed after Poppy with a sigh.
"I'll take that as a compliment."