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“So where are we going?”
Kyla shook her head at the other girl and sighed, “Jayden, for the last time, Poppy said she suspected some poachers were messing around the Mooncalf den the other day. We are heading over there to check it out. I invited you because you're always ready to help her." She sent a wink to Jayden, making the girl go pink.
“Okay, so why is Ominis here then?” Jayden asked, glancing behind to watch her cousin narrowly dodge another branch.
“We have plans after this little excursion. It’s not like we are trying to battle anyone; we are simply checking and then leaving.” Ominis spoke up.
“Oh, a little date then?” Sebastian chuckled as he followed beside Ominis, raising an eyebrow at the other boy. Ominis had no reaction, of course, so his face was not noticed by anyone.
“Shh,” Kyla said as she crouched at the edge of a clearing, the other three coming up to flank her sides.
Across the clearing, a campfire glowed between two large tents, partially blocked off with shrubs to keep a bit of secrecy. Multiple empty cages were set up near the tents, yet no one seemed to be in sight. Shadows and candlelight flickered inside the tents as people moved inside. The clearing itself was roughly twenty yards wide, with an open field, and a trail leading up to the camp. None of the supplies had any names on their boxes, so it made the camp look like a regular setup of someone just passing through. The four sat at the treeline, watching to see if anyone moved inside or out.
“We should get closer,” Jayden whispered quietly to the group. She fidgeted with her boot, pulling her wand from inside. “For all we know it could be Professor Howin doing research. You never know where she is at.”
“Good idea,” Kyla said, already wand in hand. “Ominis and Sebastian, stay here. Jayden and I will go closer to check and see just who it is set up here.”
Sebastian crossed his arms, jealousy evident on his face. “Wait, why just you two?”
“Because, no offense Ominis, one of you can’t be trusted alone, and the moon is coming up; the mooncalves will be racing around very soon. We can’t let our cover get blown in case this is poachers. None of us brought the proper potions or plants for a fight,” Kyla said.
“Disillusionment.” Jayden and Kyla both vanished from sight as they began making their way across the clearing to the camp. As they approached the first tent, they could hear voices begin to speak.
“We need to get this done as fast as possible; we can’t miss another deadline.”
“Sure, thing boss; as soon as those beasts start showing up they won’t stand a chance.”
Kyla grumbled,” Definitely poachers.”
Jayden and Kyla made their way closer to the opening of the tent to get a glance inside when suddenly the poachers exited.
“Start moving the crates, it won’t be long before the beasts show up," ordered the boss.
The grunts grunted in unison as they began to unstack the crates, “Will do, boss.”
Kyla reached a hand out to Jayden’s cloak and tugged at its hem, a signal to turn back and regroup. As they spun around to begin carefully weaving around the grunts, they could see the mooncalves begin to flood into the field. Prancing around, unaware of the danger that was lurking just off to the side of the clearing.
“Hey, now what do we have here!” A grunt pointed to where the girls had separated from the boys. Ahead Kyla could see Sebastian and Ominis scrambling to stand up as a mooncalf sprinted away from the collision. Ominis was grasping around searching, unable to find his wand.
“Accio!”
As soon as the words were said, Ominis and Sebastian were pulled across the field and dropped in front of the boss.
“Oh, bloody hell!” Ominis yelled as he tried to focus on where he could hear the poachers.
“Fucking mooncalf!” Sebastian said, “We were just passing by! We saw the mooncalves and thought we would have a look.”
“No, no, no I know you, Sallow.” Spit the Boss, as he paced in front of the boys,” You have quite the bounty on you and your friend's head.”
Sebastian’s head dropped before he pulled out his wand.
“Dep…”
“Expelliarmus!”
Sebastian’s wand was ripped from his hand. The Boss’ wand now pointed at his throat, “Can’t have that now can we, boy.”
Kyla cursed under her breath as she raced forward.
“Petrificus Totalus.”
The Boss grunted as he momentarily went still against his own wishes. The other grunts quickly removed their wands as Kyla dropped the disillusionment spell.
“Bombarda!” shouted Jayden as she dropped her illusion and blasted the closest grunts.
The fight continued for a bit as Sebastian recovered his wand and began joining in trading spells. Kyla quickly got to Ominis’ side and defended him from the combat. The field burnt to a crisp, and the many charred bodies of poachers littered the floor as the group met back up in the middle.
“Well, that went well.” Ominis said as he began walking towards where he thought his wand may be. Kyla quickly joined him to help.
“I’ll say.” Sebastian mocked as he dusted himself off.
“That was sarcasm.” Ominis mumbled walking further away.
Jayden looked around focused, proceeding to spin slowly keeping her eyes to the tree line clearly in search of something. She growled a bit before racing forward, wand extended.
“He’s in the trees!” Jayden shouted. Kyla spun on her heel at the sound of Jayden, spotting her coming toward them.
“Crucio!” was heard from the tree line before a spell shot out toward where Kyla and Ominis were standing.
“Protego!” Kyla shouted as the spell bounced off the shield.
“Leviosa!” Jayden yelled toward the Boss.
The Boss was flung into the air, flailing as he was dragged into the center of the group.
“You call that a dark curse!” Sebastian yelled, getting a glint in his eye. The same glint he got back in the Scriptorium before he used Crucio.
“I’ll show you a dark curse, bastard.”
“Avada Kedavra!”
Sebastian and the poacher boss had cast their wands at the same time. The two beams met in the middle, creating a standoff between the unforgivable curses. Sebastian began to falter, as the other curse began to creep closer toward him. Jayden launched forward barreling into Sebastian and taking both to the ground. Jayden’s body glowed green as she laid across Sebastian, as he tried to take in what had just happened. The Boss fell to the ground and took off before anyone could process what just happened.
“NO!” Kyla gasped.
She flung up in bed, taking in her surroundings. Their little group had scattered around the Feldcroft home. They had left for the weekend to get away from the many mysteries of Hogwarts and exams. Anne and Poppy laid beside her, Jayden star-fished at the end of bed with limbs hanging off, and Sebastian over on his own bed. Kyla stood up right as Ominis was coming in from outside.
“Hey, I heard a disturbance.” Ominis whispered as he walked inside. He could hear Kyla crossing the room quickly. As if on queue, he opened his arms for her and she launched herself into his grasp. He stumbled back slightly but regained his footing. Kyla wrapped her arms tightly around him. "Nightmares again?"
“Yeah, yeah it was.” Kyla whispered, burying her face in his neck, breathing in his scent to help calm herself, “Please don’t leave me alone.”
He placed his chin gingerly on the top of her head. “Wouldn’t dream of it, love.”