Sometimes Bad is Good

Chapter Ten

It was colder in the forest than out in the open, Harry found, as he trekked down the old beaten path riddling the forest floor. It was just as creepy in there then as it had been when he was human, if only a little more dangerous now that he knew that Greyback's werewolves were roaming about. He'd long ago lost his enraged mind, having found that it was far more detrimental to his health if he didn't even know where he was going because of the red haze. He was far more lucid now, thankfully.

"Good going, Harry, you got yourself lost in the Forbidden Forest on your second day back. Absolutely bang up job," he muttered to himself, eyeing the darker than normal shadows that clung to the trees sides with open suspicion. There were only too many dangerous creatures in here that could kill him, that could snap him like a twig and not care less about it. He really didn't want to find another nasty little surprise that Hagrid kept as his pet, the Acromantula's were enough.

And let's not forget the Centaurs, they were enraged enough with the Ministry's restrictions. They would -with no doubt in his mind- attack or even kill him on sight, and they wouldn't be merciful about it.

If it weren't for the immense feelings of sadness and emptiness in his chest, Harry would have already turned back. But as it was, he couldn't. He'd seen the looks on the faces of his friends and family, the disappointment that they held, and he knew that it was all for him. They were disappointed in him, and at a great level. And rightly so, he always managed to bungle everything up, whether it's attempting to rescue someone, or prevent someone he loved and cared for from dying, he always botched it up. Cedric was proof enough.

He shivered as a great gust of cold wind rushed around him, whipping his hair wildly around his face as it went. "Stupid prat ... should've at least taken that bloody robe, could've helped the cold - ahhh- !" he sneezed loudly, a harsh chill taking hold of his spine. He really could have done with that robe. He winced slightly when he heard the harsh sound of his sneeze echo back to him in the woods. That was way too loud, if the creatures in the forest hadn't already known that he was in here, then they would now.

"Child of man," came a deep, rumbling voice from behind him.

Harry froze where he stood, his shoulders hunched and shaking slightly from the aftershocks of that huge sneeze, and felt his innards freeze with fear. It was a Centaur. Centaurs have bows and very sharp arrows that always seemed to replenish in numbers, no matter if they'd already let fly a hundred of them. It probably had one aimed at him right now. He slowly exhaled and inhaled.

"Have we not warned you that we will not tolerate any trespassing on our land. Have we not warned Albus Dumbledore that we will not spare any who dare to test our patience? Are you so arrogant in your ignorance as to brush aside our warnings? Speak briefly human, before you feel the agony of our arrows, " said -or snapped- the Centaur, pawing at the ground with open hostility, his hoofs tearing up the forest floor and clacking against the collection of rocks.

Harry slowly turned around, fixing his haywire instincts to the back of his mind to not be tempted to arch up to the challenge the Centaur had so clearly issued. He held his hands up in plain view, offering them as a surrender of sorts so that the -- the group of five very large and muscular -and not to mention highly dangerous- Centaurs knew that he wasn't going to do any magic. Centaurs hated magic with a passion.

He cleared his throat of an instinctual growl, and tried his best to keep himself as calm as possible in the face of five angry Centaurs. Three of which had arrows aimed at his head. "I don't mean to trespass -" he held his hands higher when one of the Centaurs snorted and pulled back the already taut string further, making the large bow creak under the strain and bend almost to the snapping point. "- I'd just had a ... a clashing with a vampire. I didn't know where I was until I recognized the fork in the path that leads to an Acromantula nest, and by then I was already too far in to go back. I just had to run."