"You know, you can't always just bite and eat people you don't like." Adrian noted, stepping over a branch and offering an arm for his friend to climb up. Lutain slithered up, only using it as a crutch to be dragged over the large log, then he was on the prowl once again.
"I can't?" Lutain asked in surprise, "We always bite what we don't like. Or what scares us." Lutain added afterwards, gazing off into the distance as if lost in thought.
"We never had so many words either. So many sounds and meanings..." Lutain mused, voice trailing off quietly.
"Serpents?" Adrian clarified, "Do you like having more words?"
"It's strange." Lutain added, shifting under a fern and out of sight for a moment, "So many ways for saying what food wanted. Rat or mouse. Small or large." Lutain huffed, "I like words."
Adrian smiled, "It's nice to talk to you," he smiled, helping his friend over another log, lowering down a ravine carefully, "Are you sure this is the right way?"
"Are my scales black?" Lutain hissed in amusement, sliding up Adrian's leg before he got the message and lifted him to his throat, "Horse-birds that way."
"Horse-birds, right." Adrian nodded, "Have you ever seen a horse before?"
"Yes Master." Lutain hissed, peering around in the dark, "Hatchling in strange house of many prey and predators."
That was true, Lutain had come from a zoo.
"We are close." Lutain reported, uncoiling to allow Adrian to fish around in his expanded robe pocket to retrieve his cloak.
It fit him snugly, even through another robe than normal. The clasp clicked shut around his sternum, the edges flaring out like wings before settling gently around his legs.
"It's cold." Lutain complained, flicking his tongue at the off coloured grey tendrils at the bottom of the cloak, "It smells sick."
"That's how you know it works." Adrian smiled, pulling up his hood in one swift movement, activating the sticking charm interwoven with the fabric.
Lutain struggled to slither up the fabric, finding himself sliding down every time he tried to grip. "Allow me," Adrian offered, gently grasping his friend around his midsection. Adrian distantly marveled over how large Lutain had grown, he must have been nearing four feet.
Lutain coiled snugly, gripping tightly around his neck. Amazingly, no matter how much Lutain tightened, the cloak didn't press against his throat.
Adrian spotted what looked like a wooden fence in the distance, as he drew closer he could identify it as the edge of Hagrid's pasture. Although the Hippogriffs could fly, Adrian had noticed they stuck to the pasture where they were for sure to be fed.
"There!" Lutain hissed, tugging towards the right with his body, "I scent!"
"Well I don't see anything." Adrian retorted, squinting in the distance, "I know, I know, pathetic human eyes and all. Not everyone can smell body heat."
"That's why you should shift into a serpent kind." Lutain smugly added, "We wouldn't have this problem."
Adrian chuckled at Lutain's words. He moved carefully, taking a few moments to jump the fence carefully. He slid his wand into his hand, stopping his lumos spell as he drew closer.
He spotted the first Hippogriff, standing in a strange mixture of hunkering into its wings and curling its cloven hooves under it.
"Now we need the dementors." Adrian muttered, peering off into the distance.
There was something wrong with it, something was tickling his neck the wrong way.
The clouds over the full moon dispersed and as soon as he saw the light, he realized why.
"Lutain," Adrian snapped, drawing his wand and hunkering into a defensive stance, "Do you scent anything strange. Like a dog."
"Never scented a dog before." Lutain cheekily replied, but obliged by tasting and scanning around repeatedly.
It was likely that Lupin wasn't even at Hogwarts anymore- he had even seen Lupin looking so terrible.
"Stupid, stupid!" He cursed to himself, scanning around in the bleary dark anxiously, "Let's just find the dementors. Can you smell them?"
"No," Lutain hissed, "They fly near lake. Not big lake, small one." Lutain instructed, looking over to the side.
Adrian faintly knew of a smaller lake, one that Unicorns went to for drinks and to bathe. Hagrid had spoken of the place, it seemed ironic that a place once full of light and hope had been pushed out by the non-living.
Adrian hurried off, running in a sprint. Once he found a dementor, he had to hope that a Patronus would show he was serious. Then he'd have to bring a Hippogriff to him- perhaps they just needed permission before feasting on a soul?
Adrian suspected Dementors worked on a system of permission and loyalty binds. They were neutral in alliance, only serving those who had the highest profit to did wonders to confirm his suspicions. Although Adrian could go and drag a Hippogriff all the way out, he really hoped he just had to formally grant permission.
He stopped, his heart fluttering in his throat, when he heard the lone howl of something larger than a wolf.
"Bollocks," Adrian gasped, looking at Lutain who had frozen in fear as well.
They were out in the middle of the Forbidden Forest with a werewolf on the loose.
Adrian rolled his shoulders, twisting his wrist and held his wand before him. He had in practice, learned many different spells to fight off magical creatures, although he hadn't ever executed them against something. Practice was one thing, but actually performing?
He was hesitant to use his patronus now that Lupin was out and about, there was a chance that he could recognize it later.
"Let's go and get out of here." Lutain hissed, "You do not stop the hunt if the prey is formidable."
....
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