Fantastic Beasts: Alone

4 - Dancing with a Manticore

"Those tracks are bigger than a baby Manticore's." I said, stammering nervously, as the three of us hurried around the castle.

"Where could said manticore have gone?" Ellen asked, concerned. I sighed.

"Manticores like the dark." I said, thinking. "She's most likely to go to the Dungeons."

Edwin groaned. "The Potions Lab... The Hufflepuff Common Room... The Kitchens... There could even be other hidden places that we don't know about! It'll take ages!"

I took charge. "Right. So, the least likely place the Manticore would go is the Hufflepuff common room. Ellen, that's where you're going. I don't care if the other Hufflepuffs tell you to leave, you have to keep searching. Search the dorms if you have to. Edwin, you'll check the kitchens. I'll check the Potions Lab."

Edwin nodded, then headed off for the kitchens. I took Ellen to the Hufflepuff Common Room entrance and let her in, before running to the Potions Lab. I rummaged around, searching through shelves upon shelves of different potions, different ingredients, before coming across a couple of barrels. I searched through the barrels before catching sight of it: the Manticore. It panicked when it saw me and broke through the barrels, knocking me over and crashing into two of the shelves with potions on them, before scurrying off away from the Potions Lab. The two shelves crashed to the floor and the potions on them smashed everywhere, creating coloured steam, odours, and a slimy, acid-like liquid emerged from one of the potions, burning partly through the floor. I didn't have time to worry about that. I silently but quickly got up and creeped over to the door, poking my head out of the lab to see the older female Manticore rushing through a secret passageway.

I frowned. A secret passageway? Where did that go? I had no time to question it as I quietly rushed over to the passageway and walked through. I gasped as I came eye-to-eye with a large room, decorated with green and silver. Black leather sofas around coffee tables dotted the room, as well as elaborate books on bookshelves, and other various pieces of furniture. It also had a fireplace, and as I looked around I saw the Slytherin crest hanging above the fireplace. The Slytherin Common Room. How didn't I notice it before? And how come the Manticore was able to enter? Nevermind that. I had to find the creature and get it back to safety, and fast. But before I was able to move at all, I froze in my position as I heard a group of voices coming from the elaborate flight of stairs coming down into the common room. I sighed as four older Slytherin students looked at me. I could see a Prefect badge on one of the students' robes.

"A Hufflepuff." The Prefect said, frowning. "You're not allowed in here."

"I'm fully aware." I said, looking around to try and catch sight of the Manticore again. The Prefect sighed and took out her wand.

"I'll make this easy. Leave now and things will be easy and we'll all be happy."

I looked at the wand, eyes wide. I sighed, trying not to sound rude. "You don't understand..." I said, looking around again cautiously. "There's a wild Manticore in here, and I need to get it out before someone, or, even worse, the Manticore, gets hurt."

"Look, Hufflepuff. The name's Grindelwald, is it? Get out, and I won't give you detention."

"Please, listen to me." I said, trying to think of a compromise. "I will leave once I get the Manticore. You can ask one of the professors - Professor Slughorn, maybe? - to obliviate my memory afterwards, if you so wish. Just let me get this missing Manticore out, and we won't have a problem."

The Prefect laughed loudly. I winced. The Manticore wouldn't like that at all. And, just as I predicted, the Manticore came out, and it was angry. The Prefect and her friends hadn't noticed the Manticore creeping up behind them. I certainly had, though. My eyes widened more as the Prefect started waffling on about rules. I pushed her out of the way and tried to get the Manticore. That was a mistake on my part. The Manticore (and the prefect) went wild.