The Chaser [sequel to The Mudblood]

Chapter 8: Year 1

Snakes thudded against my back as I flew, James and Fred desperate to hit Albus with a few more before he left their range. I swore I heard one of them yelling my name, probably pleading with me to bring back their prime target, but I directed all my focus on the boy zooming toward the castle's spires.

Pressing my torso to the wood, I propelled my Nimbus 2001 as fast as it would go, wishing I'd stolen Harry's Sparkdart instead. Luckily Albus slowed himself down by constantly peeking over his shoulder at me, his turns around the towers much slower than mine.

By the time we reached the Astronomy Tower, I'd caught up, but when I rounded the structure, prepared to push him into the terrace, he wasn't where I'd expected him to be.

Slowing my pace, I scanned the area and found he'd taken a steep dive downward, aiming for the Forbidden Forest.

With every scrap of my willpower, I shot after him, ignoring the familiar sting of wind on my face. I imagined my mum yelling at me to go faster, faster, faster, letting the rage her voice induced fuel me until I finally soared at Albus's side.

"Give it to me!" I shouted, not daring to risk a perusal through his pockets. At this speed, any contact might send us both into a spiral, and I didn't trust him not to shove me off my broom.

"No!" His response was laced with a hint of nerves, probably from the golden-leaved branches below, threatening to impale us if we fell.

Amid the forest's autumn hues gleamed a patch of silver, and my curiosity momentarily overrode my goals. Could it be a unicorn? Or some other manner of magical creature?

I'd never seen anything that interesting outside the pictures in books, and I doubted I would easily find this spot again later. My journal had survived a month in Albus's clutches, so I abandoned that endeavor for the moment and plunged toward the trees, dodging limbs and nests and swarms of strange insects until I hovered several meters above the shimmering mystery.

It wasn't a unicorn. It wasn't a creature at all. It was a bed of metallic needles.

Beyond baffled, I gradually lowered toward the ground, the temperature plummeting with each centimeter. Once I floated directly above the needles, I checked my surroundings first, heart pounding with the potential threat of a predator. This place was called the Forbidden Forest for a reason, and I didn't yet have the magical skills to fend off a beast. The tension in my chest eased marginally when none presented themselves, and I let my attention narrow on the ominous, unnatural sight.

Each shiny quill was the exact same length, perfect replicas of the others I'd previously found. A magical porcupine probably could have snuck from the forest into the Slytherin Quidditch locker room, but how would it have ended up in McGonagall's office? And why? Was it sentient? Did the Headmistress have secret meetings with a humanoid porcupine?

Perhaps it all amounted to nothing, but I couldn't quell the nagging feeling that this meant something, that maybe I'd stumbled upon something I shouldn't have. And, admittedly, the thrill that came along with that possibility was unparalleled.

"What the hell are you—" Albus cut himself off as he halted in the air above me, awestruck by the needles. "What isthis?"

"I have no clue," I confessed, hating and loving it at the same time.

"These look like the needle you had in McGonagall's office. What are you up to, Pucey? Did you lure me out here to kill me or something?"

"You're the one who flew this way. This is just the third time I've come across these types of needles, and I don't know what they are."