Harry Potter and the Scar of Fate

Chapter 10

The Pale Horse

The Death Eaters were sent to Azkaban. Harry told the others what Quinn had taught him. It was mainly things like what he'd done to the Death Eaters. It was amusing, but very useful. But the strange thing was that no one except Harry could do it, no matter how hard they tried.

The teachers were all pleased with their Animagus forms. The Centaurs had been all tended to, and were now all well. They thanked Harry and offered to help them in the fight against Voldemort. They even agreed to accept Firenze back. Harry burst out laughing when Bane offered to swear allegiance to him on behalf of the whole herd. Fortunately, the Centaurs were too much in awe of him to take any offence. They were rather relieved, though, when Harry requested them not to call him 'Master'. They also gifted him a magnificent horse with silvery hair. The horse was beautiful, and took to Harry immediately. His friends stared at it in envy. The horse was magical as well.

"He will be loyal to you till the end. He can also detect your moods, and warn you of upcoming dangers. His saddle appears when needed. And he has slight healing powers as well. He has a bit of unicorn blood in him, you see," said Bane. Harry merely smiled. He had been enchanted by the horse, which was called Rana, from the minute he'd set his eyes on him. Harry immediately transformed into a majestic black horse and approached Rana, and the two of them galloped away, nodding at each other.

When they came back, Harry was in his human form, riding on Rana, who seemed to be enjoying having Harry on his back. Everyone watched in awe. Harry looked majestic on Rana. Somehow, the horse's beautiful appearance had influenced Harry's looks too. As Harry slid down gracefully from Rana's back and approached his friends, Rana walked behind him and rubbed his muzzle against his master. Harry stroked him gently.

"He's wonderful!" Harry said. His friends nodded. His teachers beamed at him.

With the Centaurs on their side, the Light side was considerably stronger than the Dark. Even Voldemort realised that. No more Death Eaters attacked Hogwarts.

When school reopened after the Christmas vacation, life went on as usual. Harry's mysterious fever still continued, though. It would lessen when he was happy, and would increase in intensity when he was agitated. Miraculously, the only time he didn't have a high temperature was when he was riding. This was attributed to Rana's unicorn blood.

Three weeks after school reopened, Harry and Hermione had their first fight over a bowl of porridge. Harry had woken up in a foul mood that day, his night had been especially bad. When they'd gone for breakfast, Harry had refused to eat at all. This had become a common habit for him, though usually he did eat a little. Hermione had tried to coax him into eating a proper breakfast.

"You need some nourishment, Harry."

"I don't feel hungry right now. I'll eat later."

"You have not been eating properly these days, if you don't..."

Harry lost his temper. "Will you stop being such a know-it-all? I can take care of myself."

"Will you stop being such a prat and listen to someone who wants you to be healthy?" Hermione retorted, biting her lip.

"Just because you're my girlfriend, it does not mean that you can boss over me the entire time!"

"Just because you're the boy who lived, it does not mean that you don't need looking after!"

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW? WHAT DO YOU UNDERSTAND? IF YOU'D HAD NIGHTMARES LIKE ME, YOU PROBABLY WOULD FAINT IN TERROR. DON'T MESS WITH THINGS YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Harry yelled and stormed out of the hall, leaving everyone staring at him, Hermione in tears, and several things exploding in his wake.

They did not speak to each other the entire day. In fact, Harry missed all his classes. He went and moped in the Forbidden Forest, angry after a long time. Rana had followed him into the forest. Seeing Harry's flushed face and foul mood, the intelligent creature moved to his master slowly and rubbed his nose against him. Harry shouted at the horse as well.

"WHAT DID YOU COME HERE FOR? TO SEE HOW MISERABLE I AM? OR DID HERMIONE SEND YOU AFTER ME? GO AWAY!"

The poor creature lowered its head dejectedly and started to walk away. The sight of his beautiful horse in despair moved Harry. He realised what he'd been doing. Rana had come to comfort him, and he'd sent the loyal creature away. He felt immensely guilty, all of a sudden.

"Rana!" he called. The horse had moved out of his sight. Harry stood up and ran, calling for his horse. When he finally found him, he threw his arms around Rana's neck.

"I'm sorry, Rana. I shouldn't have shouted at you. I was in a foul mood. But you'll forgive your Harry, won't you?" he said softly. The horse neighed happily. Harry spent the rest of the day with Rana, sometimes as a human, sometimes as a horse. They paid a visit to the Centaurs, too, who, for a change, seemed to be very pleased to see them.

When he turned up in the Gryffindor Common room that evening, a bunch of anxious faces greeted him. He was disappointed to find Hermione absent.

"Where were you?" Ron asked sharply, "we've been so worried."

"In the forest."

"You'd better go and talk to Hermione."

"No," said Harry quietly and ran to his dorm. He pulled the curtains around him and went off to sleep. He'd decided that he wouldn't talk to Hermione till she talked to him. A part of him realised that this was unfair, but the rest of him stuck to it.