-And here's what you missed at: Hogwarts-
Remus tried to focus on anything- anything- other than the thing stood six feet behind him.
He didn't know how they were going to get out of this.
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Helia tried to control her breathing.
Fear wasn't something she was used to, nor had been for a long time. Danger had seemed fun; the exhilaration and rush from being inches from death. The satisfaction in a blank look and a witty comeback that made your opponent think twice. The not knowing if you were coming home from this. It was like a drug.
But now she could feel Remus' fear rolling off him in waves. And she could feel his determination to get out of here, like a mantra sounding out with every beat of his heart straining toward the next: live, live, live.
And then Helia imagined letting that qivittoq (Helia was now sure that was what the creature was) rip the tree from behind Remus, claws tearing at bark and skin. Blood staining the earth red. And her doing nothing. Nothing.
Her heart beat in tandem with Remus'. She wasn't going to let him die. No one else was going to die because of her.
She looked at him. Live, live, live.
Qivittoq were lost souls, wandering people. They chose a route of self-imposed exile and it warped them, changed them into animal things. Some grew claws or fur. Some lost their ability to walk on two legs. Some forgot they were ever human at all.
She inched her fingers down to where her wand was hidden in her robes, keeping her movements as slow as possible. If she was right, and the thing was a qivittoq, then it took a lot of it's characteristics from reptiles, that much was clear from it's movement. She strained to remember primary school biology, or any of those programs on animals her parents used to watch. She cursed-not for the first time- the non standard wizard curriculum.
"I'm sorry, Remus." Helia whispered. She saw his eyes widen for a moment. "Petrificus Totalus."
Remus' body went ridged, stuck still like a soldier to attention as the body binding curse hit. Helia looked away before she would have to face the confusion and hurt swirling in Remus' eyes. She stepped out from behind the tree, facing the creature.
Scales crawled up the side of it's face. It bore a resemblance to humans, though any light was long extinguished from it's slit pupil eyes. It towered over her, more than seven feet tall for sure, and was slightly hunched. As she watched, a forked tongue flickered from it's mouth, making her stomach churn.
These were the kind of odds she was used to, her against the world. Pissing of the Bloody Baron and antagonizing the local werewolf. Always knowing that one day her luck would run out and she would be crushed by the undeniable odds against her. But that day was not today.
The qivittoq smirked when it saw her, or at least Helia assumed it was a smirk. Lips pulled up at the corners into a grotesque parody of a smile.
"One little dove." it said. "Has your friend flown away?"
"I hate all this metaphorical shit." Helia said shortly, lifting her wand. "Impedimenta!" The spell had no effect. "Reducto." Something next to the qivittoq exploded. It side stepped away from the blast, but showed no signs of discomfort. Helia hit the thing with curse after curse, each failing to break it's tough hide. "Avis! Opugno! Brachiabindo! Mobiliarbus." A tree behind the beast levitated off the ground and slammed into the creature. Finally, it fell to the ground, buried under the bark.
Muttering an incantation under her breath, Helia freed Remus from the curse, running toward him. "Go." She said. He stood still. "What are you doing? Get the hell out of here. It doesn't know you're here yet. Go!"
"If I run, are you coming with me?" Remus asked quietly.
"What?"
"If I leave now," Remus said "Will you run with me?"
Helia gave him a straightforward look. "I can deal. Now leave."
Remus returned her steady stare, tipping his chin upward. "No."
Helia spun at the noise behind her to see the qivittoq forcing the tree off it's body. It was angry now, though it smirked again when it saw Remus, who refused to budge.
"Stupid bloody stubborn Gryffindors." Helia muttered.
"Little dove. Your friend came back for you." the qivittoq snarled at her. "The time for games is over. Sing us a song before you go. Sing for your life or for his."
Helia rolled her eyes. "Oh, piss off."
The animal/human began advancing at a slow, loping pace that said it could easily outrun them if it wanted to. Helia slowly began to back away, gesturing to Remus behind her to do the same. "I have never seen a human so unafraid of facing me. What have you seen, little dove, that makes the monster welcome? Why do you embrace death?"
"Who were you?" Helia fired back "If the person you used to be saw you now, what would they say?"
The thing laughed, and it was metal on ice. "Do not presume you knew me, little dove. I smell guilt on you. What have you done? I smell no such thing on me. I have killed, but I am free. What are you?"
"Such deep questions for a Saturday night. I can get existential if you want." Helia said "What am I? It doesn't really matter, does it? We'll all be dead in a century's time."
"Not I," It seemed part if the initiation ceremony to become a qivittoq was converting all of your speech patterns to that of Shakespeare. Helia found herself unconsciously mimicking it. "I have bought eternity for a slight change in physique. What have you bought with your humanity?" The qivittoq spat the word 'humanity' like a curse. "Nightmares and complications and death."
"This guy's a ray of sunshine alright." Remus muttered from over Helia's shoulder. "We should bring him back to Hogwarts and introduce him to Professor Trelawney."
Helia smirked.
It was at precisely that moment that something burst through the bushes behind the qivittoq. Something large and covered in golden fur, running on four legs. It slammed into the qivittoq and pinned it to the ground, driving it's claws into the back of the thing's head repeatedly.
It was then that three thoughts sped through Helia's mind. The first, the instinctual one, was that their savior was a lion, it certainly seemed so from the shape of it's body and colour of it's fur. The second, the analytical one, was that, upon closer examination, the animal appeared to have a human face. It was with the joining of these two thoughts that the third, the conclusion, was brought to light. Sphinx.
Ever heard the phrase 'Out of the frying pan and into the fire'?
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Remus could physically feel all manner of naughty unprintable words buzzing around in Helia's brain right now. She had moved in front of him when he had refused to run the first time, so now all he could see was the back of her head and the Sphynx currently staining the ground red. Remus reached forward and put a hand on his friend's (if they weren't friends after almost being murdered by a half human/half animal thing, they never would be, Remus decided. That kind of thing tends to build bonds) shoulder, tugging her gently backwards in the vain hope they could make a break for it.
"Don't." The voice that erupted from the Sphynx was deep and commanding, and decidedly male. That was interesting. Remus didn't think he'd ever heard of a male Sphynx before. The Sphynx sighed dramatically and flung the body of what Remus had previously thought of as the most dangerous thing they could face into the cover of the trees like it was rag doll with a casual flick of his claws. He looked almost bored. "Running isn't going to get you anywhere. Except, you know, over there" He indicated to a spot a few metres behind Remus with the same blood splattered claw "Which is about as far as you'd get before I murdered you."
"Charming." Helia commented. She reached a hand behind her to make sure that Remus didn't try anything stupid, and Remus instantly took it, moving to stand next to her.
"So," The Sphynx flopped down to the ground, suddenly looking a lot less threatening, and watched them with the kind of glazed over eyes that reminded Remus of the people working reception jobs at his local dentists, the kind that said: I hate everything about the world right now, and I'd hate you too if I wouldn't get fired for it, but here I am working minimum wage and getting yelled at by everyone who walks through that door and I'm just going to keep smiling. Yay me.
"My name is Kyle and I will be your murderer for today." He said in the most bored voice in the world. "Any injuries sustained due to your eventual grisly end will hereby be considered the fault of the customer," At Remus' puzzled look, Kyle added "That's you."
"Er, thanks." Remus said.
"We hope you enjoy your riddle. Have a nice rest-of-your-life." Kyle finished.
"What was that?" Helia asked.
Kyle groaned. "It's a legal thing. We have to do it now so we don't have to claim liability for all the deaths." He scowled. "I don't even like killing people. Well, mostly. And I hate riddles. Urgh, so boring. But what other job is there for a Sphynx? People don't exactly seek you out to do their dry cleaning."
"Still," Remus said encouragingly. "You get to travel. What's Egypt like?"
Kyle glared. "I'm from Wales."
"Right."
"What do you want to do?" Helia asked, scientific curiosity buried in her tone.
Kyle rolled onto his back, like he was on a couch at a therapist's office. "That's the worst part, right? 'Cause I don't even know what I'd do if I could get away. So why not just sit here in the same dead-end job for all eternity? Do you even know how impossible it is to get promoted in this line of work?"
"I hadn't thought of that." Helia said as if she were pondering something very deep.
"They never do, do they?" Kyle sighed. "It's all 'please don't kill me!' and 'I have a wife and children.' Neither of those are even close to being the answer to my riddle." The Sphynx looked at them upside down. "Sometimes I wonder about the intelligence of humans."
Helia nodded. "Same." She glanced at Remus quickly. "No offense."
"None taken." Remus muttered, too astounded by the situation unfolding around him to really understand any insults directed his or any other way.
"And do you think my mum gets it?" Kyle asked sullenly. "No. It's what your father did, Kyle. It runs in the family, Kyle. Why can't you be more like your sister, Kyle? Well, maybe I don't want to be! Stupid sister, with her stupid perfect riddles and stupid smug little face and stupid highest death toll."
Remus glanced at Helia out of the corner of his eye. She grinned at him and sat down, pulling him with her by their still-linked hands. "I'm sure you've killed plenty of people." She offered kindly.
"So many." Kyle said, in the tone of voice that said right?! "But of course she has to go and one up me at every turn. Urgh! Do either of you have siblings?"
"I've got a brother." Helia said. "But he's just about the best person in the world, so-"
"That's even wooooooorse." Kyle moaned "How do you deal?"
"I, er..." Helia started, sounding uncomfortable.
"Brother, what are you doing?" A female Sphynx leapt out of a nearby tree, sparing a single disapproving look for Remus and Helia before turning to survey Kyle. "We've talked about playing with your food."
Kyle visibly bristled. "Thank you, dear sister." he said through his teeth, a very odd thing to watch for a lion. "but I can handle this."
"You know what they say about me among the clan?" the female Sphynx said, circling her brother. "They say: there's Seshat's brother, talking with humans again. You're giving me a bad name."
"At least it's a real name." Kyle grumbled. "Where'd you come up with 'Seshat', Lucy?"
Seshat/Lucy's eyes flashed with anger and she reeled back, slashing her claws against her brother's face, drawing blood. "Careful what you say, Kyle." She said her brother's name like an insult.
"You know what?" Kyle said. "I'm leaving. I promised these human's safe travel through the forest."
"You did what?"
Kyle gave Helia and Remus a look, telling them to follow him. "You heard me." As they left the clearing, Remus heard Kyle call over his shoulder. "Oh, and by the way, I'm dad's favourite."
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Posting early because I will be completely wifi-less for the rest of the day.
(Save me)
BecauseBecky