Special: The Silence of Red Is Scary
After a rather interesting class with Hagrid and the flobberworms, instead of heading back to the castle to get something to eat, Harry grabbed his friends and the four of them headed straight into the Forbidden Forest.
After all, Harry wanted to know what the hell Red was doing. Lately, he had been unusually quiet, silent, one could say, and surprisingly without causing any major chaos. So leaving him alone for too long no longer seemed like a good option.
"I think you're exaggerating," Daphne said as she followed them. She was always amused by the silly things Red did, so she believed it wasn't that big of a deal, whatever he might be causing. She also hadn't been present during the whole golden skeleton incident, which had obviously been Red's fault, or she might have thought differently.
"As I said, it's better to just see what he's doing. Seeing him this quiet is already worrying," Harry said. He knew his little chaos dragon well enough to tell when something strange was going on.
"I think you've been giving him too much freedom lately," Draco said immediately. He still held a bit of resentment over the skeleton incident and how everything had been handled.
"You're both exaggerating. Red isn't a bad kid, he's just a bit dumb," Hermione said, trying to defend the dragon. After all, she had also grown up visiting Harry's house and saw Red all the time. Not feeling any affection for him would have been strange at this point, after so many years.
Harry didn't reply. He was far too focused on something truly strange about the forest, frowning as he looked around.
"Do you hear that?" he asked suddenly.
That made the other three fall silent as they tried to listen.
"I don't hear anything," Daphne said with a confused expression, just like Hermione. Draco, however, seemed to notice something.
"The silence," he said.
They were supposed to be in the Forbidden Forest, a forest filled with dangerous creatures that could attack the moment you stepped inside if you weren't careful. And yet, the complete silence surrounding them, even as they kept walking deeper in, was strange. Too strange.
At that moment, from the deepest part of the forest, a blood-red flare suddenly rose into the sky, immediately drawing the attention of all four of them.
Harry let out a tired sigh as he recognized that flare, something only one being could produce. Without saying anything else, he immediately started running toward it, followed by Draco, Hermione, and Daphne, who ran after him.
…
"Attack!" shouted a heavily built centaur. With long hair tied back, he had the look of a seasoned warrior. He held a spear in his hand as he charged forward, followed closely by his brothers.
In front of them stood the enemy: an army of massive spiders, desperately trying to break through the centaurs' defensive line. The centaurs fought back with everything they had. Even though the spiders greatly outnumbered them, they were determined not to let them pass, since their tribe stood behind them.
The centaurs fought with power, endurance, and strength, while the spiders leaped through the trees before dropping onto them, sinking their venomous, razor-sharp fangs into flesh.
"Ronan!" a centaur shouted as he saw one of them suddenly being cornered by nearly half a dozen spiders, which pounced on him and completely covered his body.
But there was no need to worry for long. The centaur named Ronan let out a war cry and shook violently, throwing off all the spiders clinging to him and sending them flying in every direction, driven purely by adrenaline. He then drew a sword from his side and began cutting wildly, making the foul, reeking blood of the creatures spill everywhere as they rushed to cover him once more.
"I'm fine. Keep defending, don't let them break through," Ronan said, even as his body was clearly covered in wounds and exhaustion.
Then, suddenly, something echoed that froze everyone in place, stopping the fight for an instant. It was a roar filled with power. At the same time, a red flare shot up into the sky before blasting straight into the spiders' rear lines, incinerating a large number of them and sending the rest into a frenzy as they desperately tried to force their way past the centaurs.
Immediately after that, an enormous shadow, truly enormous, emerged from between the trees and began tearing apart the nearby spiders with its three heads and massive paws, shredding them mercilessly. It was a gigantic dog.
Above it, two winged creatures appeared. A hippogriff grabbed two spiders from behind, soared into the sky at full speed, and then slammed them into the ground with brutal force, leaving them completely motionless. The other was a bird engulfed in flames, and wherever it flew, trails of fire followed, igniting instantly and burning the spiders without giving them any chance to escape.
Then there was what seemed to be the most lethal of them all. A young unicorn, not fully grown judging by its size, charged forward with its horn lowered, piercing through anything that stood in its way. Its once-pure, almost sanctified appearance was stained with the blood of its victims, in this case, the spiders.
And walking just behind them, with almost calm steps, as if he were some kind of great leader, was a medium-sized red dragon, entering the battlefield with an arrogant and almost proud air. Yes, it was Red, along with his team.
Red moved forward with his head held high, believing that this was how a true dragon should look when claiming his first territory.
"Is that him?" Ronan shouted in fury, pointing straight at Red. "That damn monster, the forest is in chaos because of him!" he yelled as he tried to charge toward him with all his strength, sword raised. But the spiders trying to push past him prevented him from doing so.
Red, as if he had heard the outburst, glanced at him with a look of mild disdain, as though he were simply staring at a fly that could be crushed easily by his claws. He did not seem interested in the slightest, since they were not his enemies in this battle for conquest, merely passersby. Right after that, he puffed out his chest for a second and unleashed another blast of fire at the spiders, which in their desperation began climbing the trees, only to be incinerated by Fawkes' flames.
Harry, who had arrived at that exact moment with the others, stopped them immediately and pulled them behind a few trees, watching everything from a distance as witnesses to what was happening.
"Wow," Daphne said, unable to truly believe what she was seeing. It was, basically, a three-sided war, and Red was leading one of them.
"Should we stop him?" Draco asked, his expression just as stunned, clearly not having expected this level of chaos.
Harry was completely speechless. He had expected plenty of stupid things from Red, but this… this was on a whole different level. A small memory formed in his mind. It was the day he had been genuinely angry about the problem Red had caused at the Potter Manor, and, in his frustration, he had said, "Why can't you be a normal dragon and, I don't know, fight over some territory or lay eggs or something like that? I have no idea what dragons even do."
For a moment, he had seen excitement in Red's eyes, but he had assumed it was just Red being silly again, that he hadn't understood a single word.
Now he realized he had been very wrong, and that he had probably given Red permission to do exactly what he was doing right now.
"Uh… I think that, now that I've seen what he's doing, that's enough," Harry said before turning around and starting to walk away.
"Wait, you're just leaving like that?" Hermione said with a reproachful tone, pointing toward the massive beast war unfolding, burning a large part of the forest in the process.
"Well, last time Red burned part of the forest too, and the trees grew back really fast. Besides, all creatures fight for their place in this forest," Harry said before quickly moving away, almost as if he were fleeing, not wanting to have anything to do with it.
The others looked at each other for a moment, unsure of what to do, before glancing back at the flames of Red and Fawkes burning more spiders, while the centaurs tried to shield themselves from the fire that was clearly not meant for them.
"Bye," Daphne said, also wanting nothing to do with the situation. Draco simply followed after her, leaving Hermione hesitating for a moment. But seeing that they really were only attacking the spiders, she figured that maybe… maybe it was fine. Or at least, that was what she told herself so she wouldn't feel as guilty. Then she, too, walked away.
Meanwhile, Red, like the general of an army of a thousand men, stood tall and proud, watching his enemies be defeated right in front of him. Now knowing that this territory would be his, expanding his lands, which might soon encompass the entire Forbidden Forest, he lifted his head proudly, hoping that when Harry found out, he would be proud of him as well. He had been late, yes… but every great dragon starts with something small.
His eyes shifted toward the centaurs, as if he were considering whether they would be his next enemies to be defeated, or perhaps forced to join him as subordinates. After all, his master had finally given him permission to begin conquering the world.