Uric the Oddball and the Wild Hunt

"Basilisk!" yelled Thacher in warning. He backed up around the corner towards them, his eyes tightly closed.

"A basilisk," muttered Mr. Beaufolle. "What's next, a bloody chimera?" He was getting more annoyed the longer it took them to find Varys. It didn't help that they seemed to be attracting all the creatures in the place. They had already run into a bunyip, two harpies and an ice demon.

"That's two corridors down on the right," said Uric helpfully. His father had wanted to leave him behind in the care of Miss. Havenward, but Thacher had reluctantly pointed out that Uric might be the only one of them who had a chance of finding the way back to the room with Varys in it. Uric had led them through the various outer rooms, not even noticing the looks the older wizards were giving the various creatures and traps within them.

He had found the dead end, but when they went through the satyr boy was no where to be found. Uric remembered to tell his father about what he had done to free the satyr while they were walking. He was very apologetic.

"You are the damnedest child," was all his father said while staring at him.

"Don't tell him anything next time, Uric. You'll save him the nightmares," observed Thacher as they moved on. Now that Uric knew that the strange noises were various magical creatures, he was able to identify many of them by sound. He remembered the hissing of the basilisk from before. Varys wasn't too much further.

"We could try the clamocrista spell again," suggested Havenward. "That's supposed to kill basilisks too." Thacher shook his head.

"Basilisks were bred to be immune to that little trick centuries ago," he said.

"Well, maybe it's an old basilisk," suggested Havenward with a frown. She had very efficiently taken care of the bunyip for them earlier, but something about the ice demon had seemed to unsettle her. "How did you get by, Uric?" He shrugged.

"I walked," said Uric. He thought about it for a moment. "But it wasn't there when I came through here." Something else had been there, but he couldn't remember what. Mr. Beaufolle sighed.

"We'll cast a chameleon charm on ourselves and run through. We don't have time to fight," he said decisively. The others nodded their assent and Thacher cast the charm on them all.

"Ready," said Thacher. "Remember not to look it in the eyes." He risked a glance around the corner. "It's facing the other way. Let's go." Thacher went first, then Miss. Havenward, then Uric followed by his father. Uric couldn't help but look at the mythical creature as he ran. Hadn't his Uncle Melphicles tried to breed one last year? His eyes examined the basilisk's body, careful not to look up at the head. The way the torch light reflected off its scales was very pretty. There was a large bulge near the end of the basilisk's body that was closest to its head. He stopped running, and took a step closer to see what it was. A loud hissing filled the air.

His father grabbed the back of his robes and used them to lift Uric up so his feet weren't touching the ground. Mr. Beaufolle sprinted towards the end of the corridor. They could hear the basilisk slithering after them. They rounded a corner, and the slithering noise cut off, though his father didn't stop running for a very long time. Uric wished he would put him down since his robes were choking him.

Finally he was slammed down, while his father caught his breath. Uric went to ask a question.

"Uric," warned Mr. Beaufolle. Uric shut his mouth. "We should have blind folded him," said his father to Thacher. "We're just lucky it had already eaten today and wasn't eager to chase down new prey."

"Was that what that lump was?" asked Uric, forgetting he wasn't supposed to ask.

"Yes," answered his father. "I suspect that our kidnappers don't have as much control over this place as they think." He sounded very happy about that for some reason.

"We need to keep moving," warned Miss. Havenward. She seemed to be listening for something. The other two nodded.

"Lead the way, Uric," said Thacher with a polite bow. It didn't take Uric long to show them the rest of the way. The door was closed like it had been when he left it. Uric just hoped that the pudding hadn't learnt to open doors. He opened the door and went in, followed by the older wizards. His father had taken a torch from the wall and was holding it high. Varys was no longer on the floor. He was instead pinned to the far wall in some type of cocoon. It looked like he was unconscious. Uric wondered when the pudding had learnt to spin webs. He looked around.

"Where's-" he began to ask, but Thacher shushed him.

"Acromantula," said the Charms professor in an undertone to his father. Mr. Beaufolle nodded, then began to walk across the room towards Varys. Uric was watching intently when the door behind them slammed shut.

Two of the kidnappers stood in front of it, their wands pointing at the little group. They had put their masks back on (a red dragon and a black demon), but Uric noted that the taller wizard from earlier was missing. He looked back towards his father. Mr. Beaufolle was standing calmly in the centre of the room, the picture of dignity, while Thacher attempted to glare holes in the two kidnappers heads. Uric had never seen his Charms professor look so angry.

"Hello, Mr. Dragon. Mr. Demon," said Uric politely.

"What have I told you about talking to strangers, Uric?" asked his father. Uric had to think about that one for a moment.

"Be nice until you get what you want?" His father gave some very odd advice sometimes.

"Ha! And here I was beginning to wonder if he was yours," said Thacher, ignoring the dirty look Mr. Beaufolle was sending his way. His father was about to respond when a growl interrupted them.

"You gentlemen don't seem to understand the situation you're in," said the demon in a deep, but strangely polite voice. "Killing you all will solve my problems nicely, especially your son. He's caused a lot of trouble." Uric's father was shaking his head.

"Nachleen will fight until the end to stop the Council abolition if you kill his son. He was only wavering when you kidnapped the boy. Now he's certain to go over to the Council's side." Mr. Beaufolle sounded smug. The demon-masked man shrugged.

"Perhaps I won't kill young Mr. Nachleen then, but you three are useless to me. My monsters are hungry."

"Yes, we noticed that," said Thacher lightly. "Basilisks are so hard to control when you're not a parselmouth." The red dragon spoke for the first time.

"You seem to think you have the upper hand," snarled the dragon mask. "We've been watching you since you came in. You didn't think we'd be stupid enough not to put a tracking charm on the boy?"

"Did we think they were stupid, Thacher? I don't recall," said Uric's father casually. Uric was fascinated by how much angrier the dragon mask was beginning to look.

"I don't believe we ever thought it," responded Thacher in the same tone. "It was just a natural assumption." Was it possible for the dragon mask to turn redder? "Do you remember our old school chum, Gallus Trentin?" Mr. Beaufolle snorted.

"You mean, Gallus "We marry our cousins and I'm the result" Trentin?" he asked. The red dragon masked man took a step forward.

"Yes," said Thacher, oblivious to the effect his words were having on the dragon masked wizard. "It's amazing his family had the gall to send him to Hogwarts. Now he was-" Thacher never got to finish his sentence since he was tackled by the dragon masked wizard.

Before the two of them hit the ground, Uric's father drew in a deep breath and bellowed. "Havenward!" The shout was deafening. Uric wasn't sure what to watch. Thacher and the dragon masked wizard were fighting. His father was running towards Varys to cut him down. The demon masked wizard was throwing curses towards both Thacher and Mr. Beaufolle, but he seemed hesitant to hit his colleague so most of the shots went wild. He didn't have time for many shots anyway. The door behind him began to glow with power until it suddenly exploded off its hinges, falling down on top of the demon masked wizard with a large crash. He lay senseless underneath it, his mask askew.

Miss Havenward strode determinedly over the fallen door, her wand trained on the two combatants. She waited patiently for an opening. Finally, Thacher used his legs to kick the dragon faced man off him for a moment.

"I hate your puns!" spat out the dragon just before Havenward's stupefy hit him in the side. Thacher got slowly to his feet. He felt a spot on his upper arm and winced. "That's going to bruise. You're supposed to attack with your wand," he chided his unconscious opponent. "You alright there, Alastair?" he called. Uric noticed it was a lot darker then it should be.

There was no answer. They all stared in horror at the other side of the room. The back wall was no longer visible as curtain after curtain of spider's web hung in front of it obscuring their view. There was no sign of Varys or Uric's father, though his torch lay extinguished in front of the web.

"Father?" called out Uric. Thacher glanced back at him, studying him in much the same way Louis looked at him sometimes. The older wizard glanced back at the web, then closed his eyes.

"Accio Uric's wand!" he called out. There was a groan as the heavy door shifted slightly, making Miss. Havenward throw her arms out for balance. Uric's wand shot out from under the door and Uric wondered if it had been in the black demon wizard's pocket all this time. Thacher handed it to him and gave him a very serious look. There was no sign of the wizard who had been making jokes earlier.

"This is very important, Uric. Acromantula's are afraid of light, and we're going to need a lot of it. I don't know how many of them there are in here. You need to keep a constant Light Charm on that wall until we've come out. No mind wandering. Focus only on the charm. Got that?" Uric nodded.

"Be careful of the pudding," he said. They couldn't be sure that it was just acromantualas back there. Thacher gave him an odd look, then turned away.

"Ready, Havenward?" he asked. She walked to join them.

"I'll get the boy. You go after Mr. Beaufolle," she said. She looked ready to take on the whole world. Thacher nodded. The two of them advanced towards the wall of web, leaving Uric standing behind them in front of the fallen door.

"Now, Uric!" called Thacher.

"Photos!" A wide, brilliant beam of light shot out of Uric's wand, silhouetting Thacher and Havenward. A high pitched wailing started, joined by another voice, and then another until the entire room was literally vibrating with the noise. Uric giggled a little, making the beam of light bounce around. He had never had a sound try to tickle him before.

Thacher and Havenward shouted out spells that Uric couldn't hear over the continuous wail. The wall of webs parted down the middle, and they rushed in leaving Uric alone. He continued to hold the spell, noting absently as the shreds of webbing began to float toward him on an invisible wind. The wails abruptly diminished, dropping from many wails, too two, then one, then none. It was silent then, but a muffled silence caused by so much web in the room.

The web was floating closer, the shreds undulating like ghostly arms. Uric wondered why he couldn't feel the wind. One piece touched his leg, and stuck there. Then another touched his wand arm. It lay there for a moment, then pulled. Uric yelled, startled by the action. He still maintained the spell, but now the wand was pointing towards the corner and the webbing now covered his entire arm and leg. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't pull his arm around far enough to point it back at the wall.

"Let go!" It was a pity he couldn't speak to the web in its own language. He was beginning to panic. Thacher had wanted the light in the middle. He was supposed to keep the light in the middle. "LET GO!" There was a rush of wind that made his hair and robes flap wildly. The web reacted like it had been struck. It flailed away, seeking the protection of the main web. Uric frowned at it and turned his wand back on the centre. The rip that Thacher and Miss. Havenward made was gone and the web seemed even thicker then before. This wasn't good.

Maybe if he made the light brighter? He concentrated. The beam slowly changed colour from a brilliant white to a bright redish-yellow. Uric kept blinking in an attempt to not blind himself. The wailing started again. He tried to hold the colour like that, but he couldn't for long. He was too tired and his magic felt weird. Wobbly. Like something swaying in and out of his reach.

The beam was wobbling between white and red or at least that's what it looked like to Uric's light-blinded eyes when he heard a shout. It seemed to come from very far away.

"Enough, Uric! You're blinding us!" bellowed his father. Uric had to concentrate to stop the spell and then he stood there blinking at the bright splotches in front of his eyes. His eyes eventually cleared and he saw his father, Thacher and Havenward standing in front of his with Varys over Miss. Havenward's shoulder like a sack.

"Did you have enough light?" he asked. His father exchanged a look with Professor Thacher. Thacher had a deep gash on his shoulder and his father's robe was torn and covered in spider webs.

"More then enough. Thank you." His father laid a weary hand on his shoulder. It was covered in blood and black ochre. It swam in and out of focus for Uric. His father's hand guided him over to one wall. "Sit down, Uric." He was pushed down so that his back was against the wall. "Rest until we can get everything taken care of." Uric nodded his head. He closed his eyes and let his head drop to one side. Within seconds, he was asleep.

*****

"I still don't understand," repeated Mena stubbornly. Louis sighed and started his second attempt at explaining the politics of the wizarding world.

"Nachleen was the biggest player supporting the abolition of the Council system. The second biggest player was Engholm Siward. Siward stood to gain from the Council abolition, since he had supporters set up to back his bid for Minister once the new ministry system was set up. He has no chance of being Head of the Council since the Council Head, Cian Sage doesn't like him and is currently favouring Beaufolle as his successor."

"So Uric's father will become Head of the Council?"

"Maybe. Cian likes to keep people on their toes. It's one of the reasons he has been Council Head for so long," explained Louis.

"But what about Nachleen? Why did he support the Council abolition?" she asked. Louis shrugged.

"Who knows. Siward could have been bribing him, though it's more likely he did it because he believed he was right," he said. Mena's eyes widened.

"Louis, do you think they should get rid of the Council?" she asked. Louis glanced over at Uric who was drawing an ever increasing spiral across the front of his Potion's textbook. Uric was pro-Council, and always would be so long as his father was on it. Louis didn't know what side he would be on, but he decided it was better to be honest with Mena now, then deal with her later. Who knew what his family might make him do in the future?

"I'd get rid of it if I thought it would help me," he admitted in a low voice. Mena glared at him.

"And how does that make you better then Engholm Siward?" she demanded. Louis held her gaze.

"It doesn't," he stated flatly. Mena looked very upset.

"You can't mean that, Louis." He looked away and saw that Uric was watching them curiously.

"Did you know it's Founder's Day?" Uric asked. "We should have a party." He smiled at them. Louis thought it would be a good idea. It would get their minds off of politics and kidnappings. And reminding Mena it was her birthday soon would be sure to distract her. He smiled at Uric.

"That sounds like a great idea. Just let me finish explaining to Mena and then we'll start celebrating." Uric nodded and went back to his spiral, drawing strange little drawings of people's heads and random shapes in the space between the lines of the spiral.

"So," started Louis again, ignoring Mena's glare. "Siward was loosing support as the battle wore on. He allegedly kidnapped the wife of one of the minor Council member's who was against abolition, forcing him to change sides in exchange for his wife. Since it worked so well, Siward decided to move onto more obvious targets. Unfortunately, Mr. Beaufolle knew about what had happened and put a guard around Uric. This worked until the night Uric was kidnapped. By that point, Mr. Nachleen had begun to waver on his stance, so to be safe, Siward had his men kidnap both Uric and Varys."

"But how did they get in?" demanded Mena.

"I don't know," admitted Louis, then hurried onward in his tale. "Siward hides them in an abandoned labyrinth from the time of the Dark Wars. He fills it with monsters and waits for Beaufolle to either pay the ransom, or to come and try to rescue his son. He underestimates the help that Mr. Beaufolle brought and underestimates Uric himself. Not a good thing in any circumstances." He smiled at her and she reluctantly returned it. "One of his associates is killed in the labyrinth, by chance apparently. Then Uric escapes, and evades them despite the tracking charm they had on him." He stopped there. Uric had already told them the rest. Louis had been amused to hear of Mr. Beaufolle and Thacher goading their old school mate into attacking them.

"Siward's now in that new prison, Azkaban, along with Trentin. They'll be there for awhile if the Council has any say in it, and strangely enough, it does," he added, glad that they were all safe now.

"But what about the message?" asked Mena. Louis stared at her.

"What message?"

"The one under the masks. The ransom message," she said. Louis tried to remember.

"Power comes in many guises," said Uric helpfully. Louis had totally forgotten about it. Mena looked triumphant.

"You forgot about it." She pointed her finger accusingly at him. He hated to admit that she was right.

"It's not important anyway," he said. "It was probably just Siward trying to goad Uric's father into doing something."

"Father said it was for Nachleen," said Uric his face set in its usual puzzled look. "Though he called him 'that damned Gryffindor' not Mr. Nachleen. I don't think Mum was happy with him about that." Uric had been home for a few days after the kidnapping. The Headmistress hadn't been able to work up the courage to argue for him to stay at Hogwarts. "He said it was Nachleen's favourite saying. Did Varys' father ever come to Hogwarts?"

"He was here about two days after you were rescued," responded Louis. He had used the invisibility cloak to spy on Varys and his father. Varys had been reprimanded for loosing the invisibility cloak and for not escaping when Uric did. Mr. Nachleen had been extremely upset about owing anything to Uric's father.

Varys had found the invisibility cloak on his bed a day later and Louis was still cursing himself for being so sentimental. But he could understand the problems of living up to your family's expectations, even if Varys was still a prat.

"Ravenclaw is a funny house," said Uric, breaking into Louis' thoughts.

"I've always considered them the most normal house," said Louis.

"I think that's Hufflepuff," said Mena with a bit of pride. Louis gave her a sideways look.

"Not since Uric got there it isn't. Come on. Let's go celebrate Founder's Day."

*****

Uric would always remember that Founder's Day as his favourite. The house elves had given them a basket full of food and sweets and Uric had led his friends through the secret parts of the castle. Through an old study, where you could just make out the faded name of Gryffindor carved into the wood of the desk. To a tiny herb garden where they held a picnic and wondered why the sun was shining despite the storm that was darkening the windows of the rest of the castle. Into a dusty broom cupboard where a small snake was painted that wriggled a little when Uric tickled it. They looked into an iron bound chest holding an even smaller locked chest with the initials R.R. on the lock.

Discussion had turned to celebrating Mena's birthday, and Uric's since he had been kidnapped when it happened. Mena insisted that they celebrate Louis' as well once she discovered it had been in November and he had never told them. They had agreed to have a party for the three of them, early on the morning when they were to leave Hogwarts for the summer. That day came much quicker then expected.

The cake and presents were over quickly. Mena had given everyone sweets. Louis gave them both books: Mena's was on political theory, while Uric's was a muggle novel, something he was sure Uric had never seen before. Uric's presents were as bizarre as he was. Louis received an invisible quill that wrote in invisible ink on invisible paper. "How useful," muttered Louis.

Mena got a box full of dirt. "It's special dirt," said Uric, and that was all he would say about the matter. They sat in silence afterwards. Even Uric was melancholy at the thought of leaving Hogwarts. He was afraid the badgers would hide so well that he couldn't find them when he came back. Saying goodbye to Mr. Snuggles yesterday had been sad as well. Finally, Mena broke the silence.

"I just wish we knew why Varys was sneaking out to the library so much," complained Mena.

"Oh, I figured that out," said Louis nonchalantly. Mena gave him the look she usually reserved for when Uric said something incredible.

"You did?"

"Yes," said Louis. He shrugged. "I just looked at the same books he was looking at. Simple really." Mena looked about ready to curse him so he hurried to explain.

"He was trying to become an animagus. It would have taken him a couple years, but if he had succeeded, he would have been the youngest animagus in history. More honour to Ravenclaw and all that."

"So why did you give him back the invisibility cloak then?" she asked puzzled. Louis started.

"How do you know I did that?" Mena shrugged.

"You didn't use it when we pranked Alexis last week. It would have been the perfect time, but you didn't," she pointed out. Louis laughed.

"I'll make a Slytherin of you yet," he said. She made a face.

"And why would I ever want to be a lying and devious Slytherin?"

"Because some day you will discover that hitting people does not solve all your problems," said Louis. She shrugged.

"It's worked so far," she said.

"I want to be an animagus," said Uric.

"Nice of you to re-enter the conversation, Uric," said Louis genially. Mena giggled at the comment, and the blank look Uric gave them both. She reached out to pet Simon who was asleep on Uric's shoulder. Louis checked the clock on the mantel piece in the room they were borrowing.

"We should probably head down to the coaches," he said. They packed up everything and headed out the door.

"So, what animal would you want to be, Uric?" asked Mena curiously.

"A hedgehog. I'd like to be a hedgehog."

"Uric. You're supposed to want to be a badger. You love badgers," she said.

"But I am a badger," protested Uric.

"Ah, just who I was looking for!" exclaimed a voice. They turned to see Professor Thacher striding down a corridor towards them.

"Hello, Professor Thacher," they chorused, except for Uric who said it several seconds later. He looked them over and winked at Louis. "Give my regards to your father, Uric and remind him that now he owes me twice." Uric blinked.

"Who's twice?" he asked.

"I would give up now, Sir," advised Louis. Thacher nodded.

"Yes. Perhaps a letter would be easier. Good summer to you all." He walked off, his blue robes trailing behind him. They continued on to the Great Hall, stopping just before they entered.

"Do you think we could be seen in public with you next year?" asked Mena. It was hard to tell if she was annoyed or just joking. Louis thought about it for a moment.

"I'll see what I can do," he promised. "Uric. Try not to blow up your house over the summer." He ducked out the door before they could say any more good byes.

Uric and Mena followed soon after, though Mena looked sad. Uric remembered saying goodbye to Mr. Kurze earlier that morning before the party. Mr. Kurze had taken two points off Hufflepuff, for old time's sake.

"Do you think the badgers will be here when we come back?" asked Uric as they stood in the queue for the coaches. He absentmindly stroked Simon's feathered head while the bird-lizard nuzzled against his neck. Mena looked up from where she had been staring at the polished marble floor.

"Of course they will be," she snapped, though she couldn't explain why she was so certain. Uric grinned at her.

"Good. Then we have nothing to worry about," he said. Simon chirped his agreement

~Finis~