Chapter 6, in which Bodmin Moor is visited and some of its magical denizens are encountered

Thursday 20 June 1996

Harry had spent the day after his visit to the Dee Academy in study, wanting to make a start on all of his new subjects. He had worked through the first few chapters of each of his runes and arithmancy texts and was beginning to see what Hermione had always found so fascinating about the subjects. Being able to analyse magic itself opened up so many possibilities and Harry was determined to make the most of them.

He had actually done some serious thinking about his work ethic, and looking back over the previous five years was acutely embarrassed at how little he had really studied. Even though he had known that he had a psychotic Dark Lord out for his blood he had never made much of an effort to excel or even (in some cases) to even try. He had been told by many people how gifted both of his parents were, and yet he had never felt any urge to emulate their habits or achievements. Well, he resolved, that was going to change.

The day had concluded with Harry studying the first three chapters of his occlumency text, which (to his surprise) were not about protecting his mind, but about clearing it. Essentially they were all about meditation techniques. He now understood why Snape had told him to clear his mind at the beginning of each of his previous "lessons", but was seriously angry with the potions professor for not explaining how to do that. His previous failure to learn occlumency was not, he decided, all his own fault.

Settling into bed, he ran through the exercises at the end of the third chapter, as Sarah Chamberlain had told him to, and was swiftly asleep.

OoOoO

Friday 21 June 1996

Feeling as refreshed as he could ever remember, Harry threw himself back into study on Friday morning, eventually deciding to take a break when several owls flew into his bedroom. His friends had begun to let him know about their availability for the Beast of Bodmin hunt.

He was still waiting for several, though, so in the meantime decided to reply to the letters he had received earlier in the week from Ron and Ginny. He still wasn't entirely sure what he was going to say to Ron, so started with Ginny. Hers was a fairly straightforward letter. He complimented her on guessing the contents of Ron's letter accurately and went on to describe his day at the Dee. He also explained that most of his studies over the first part of the summer holidays would be catching up on arithmancy and runes, and so was nothing new. He offered, though, to lend her his occlumency texts if she was interested in learning the skill. He also mentioned the August trip to Cornwall, while acknowledging that, given her mum's reaction to the summer school, she was unlikely to be able to go, although she was welcome if she could manage to persuade the elder Weasleys.

That out of the way, Harry turned to the more difficult letter. He was well aware of Ron's somewhat simplistic view of the world, and wanted to write something that would force him to think about his attitudes to his peers. Knowing Ron, he would have to be blunt, though, in order to get his point across. Absently licking his quill, he wrote:

Ron,

Thanks for your letter, and for insulting both my girlfriend and her parents. Not everyone in Slytherin is evil, just as not everyone in Gryffindor is good (remember Peter Pettigrew?) We're not 11 any more, and the world isn't black and white the way you'd like it to be. You need to start thinking before you speak or write. If you'd been sat next to me when I read your letter I'd have been very tempted to punch you. You don't know Daphne, and until you do, please keep your comments to yourself.

Anyway, I went to the Dee Academy's open day on Wednesday, and it was really good. The courses they're offering for the summer all sounded interesting, and I've signed up for Mind Arts, Warding and Spellcraft, so I'm going to be spending a lot of my summer studying. I'm also planning on dropping Care of Magical Creatures and Divination next year, as well as Potions (no way am I spending another two years being insulted by Snape). Instead I'm going to take Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. Have you decided what subjects you're going to take for your NEWTs?

My family have changed a lot over the last year (since the dementor attack on me and my cousin last summer) and I'm getting on really well with them, so this summer is looking good. I probably won't be coming to stay at the Burrow this year – I want to spend time with my family and, as I say, I'll be spending a lot of time studying, so there wouldn't be much time for quidditch anyway. I would like to come over to see you and Ginny, though – when would be a good time to come over for the day?

Dudley and I are also going to Cornwall for a fortnight in August, along with quite a few others (including Neville, Luna and Hermione). It'll be a bit of a holiday, but we're also going to be hunting the Beast of Bodmin, a mysterious big cat that muggles think is on the loose down there. It might be magical, and even if we don't find anything we should have a good time. You're welcome to join us, if you can persuade your mum and dad to let you come.

So, let me know the best time for a visit (and would it be OK for Dudley to come, too? He's never seen a wizarding household before and although I've tried to explain quidditch to him, I think it's a sport you have to see to appreciate, and I can't do a great deal of flying around Privet Drive!).

Harry

That looked OK, thought Harry, reading the letter back. It would leave Ron in no doubt that he was annoyed with him, but was generally friendly and left open the prospect of a game of quidditch. He approached Hedwig's perch and, after a soft bark of approval, attached the letters to her leg. "These are for Ron and Ginny," he told her and, with another bark, she swiftly took wing and floated out of the window.

OoOoO

Over the next hour several more owls arrived, and Harry began to collate the replies. By lunchtime he was sure that everyone who was going to reply had done so, and he headed downstairs to find Dudley. His cousin had been devouring the books that Luna had lent him, and Harry found him in the lounge, halfway through 'Mysterious Magical Creatures of Northern Europe'.

"Anything in there sound like it might be the Beast?" asked Harry.

"Not really," confessed Dudley. "To be honest, if there is a Beast it sounds most likely to be an escapee from somewhere, rather than something native." He snapped the book shut. "Have you heard from all your friends yet?"

Harry flourished a sheaf of parchments at him. "Yep, we have twenty one volunteers, plus us two. Should make for a decent army for Pete to deploy!"

"Excellent!" enthused Dudley. "I've got Pete's phone number in my room, I'll nip and get it, and we'll let him know."

Number retrieved, Harry dialled and was surprised when the voice at the other end of the line answered with "Clearwaters, how may I help you?".

"Er, could I speak to Pete Collins, please?" asked Harry, remembering then that Penny had mentioned that she and Pete had summer jobs. Pete must be working at the muggle branch of her dad's firm, he decided.

After a short wait Pete came on the line and Harry told him how many recruits he had managed to muster and how many caravans they wanted to hire. Pete was delighted at the number.

"Brilliant, Harry!" he exclaimed. "With that many people we'll have a really good chance at finding something." There was a pause. "What are you and Dudley doing tomorrow?"

"Nothing really," said Dudley, who had picked up an extension in the kitchen to listen in on the call, "but England are playing Spain in the afternoon so we'll be watching that."

"That's not a problem," Pete told him. "I've got a load of stuff I need to take down to my uncle's, and a mate of mine who's involved in the student union at the university has agreed to lend me a minibus tomorrow. Penny and I are going to drive down to Cornwall to have a look round Bodmin Moor, scope out the area. There's plenty of room in the minibus – do you two fancy a day out? We'll find somewhere to watch the football, so you won't miss it."

"I'm in," said Dudley promptly.

"Me too," agreed Harry.

"Great," said Pete happily. ""Do any of your mates live locally? I can fit a few more in, if any of them want to see where we'll be staying in August?"

"A few do," hedged Harry. With the Knight Bus being available distance wasn't a problem of course, but he couldn't tell Pete that. "It might be a bit short notice, but I'll see if any of them are interested."

"Well, we'll call round for you and Dudley at about half past six," Pete told him. "Early, I know, but we want to have a reasonable amount of time to look round. Lan and Bob are meeting us down there, so I can fit another four or five people into the minibus. See what you can do."

"OK," Harry agreed. "We'll see you in the morning."

OoOoO

"Do you reckon you can get any of your mates down here for that time?" asked Dudley. He and Harry were sitting at the kitchen table while Harry tried to figure out who he could invite.

"I'm not sure about the pureblood wizards and witches," he admitted. "It'd take until quite late tonight for Hedwig to get to at least one of them, let alone a dozen. So I think we're restricted to people I can contact by phone."

"Which means?" prompted Dudley.

Harry thought about it. He was ashamed to admit that he didn't actually know for sure how many of his friends were muggleborn or half-bloods. Hermione was obviously muggleborn, as were Dean and Justin, but he was very hazy on the others. Those three were certainly the only ones he had phone numbers for, anyway.

"I can think of three," Harry told his cousin. I'll give them a try.

Having located the phone numbers, Hermione was his first call. Unfortunately she'd already made plans to go out with her mum the following day, and the lure of the Beast wasn't enough to get her to change her mind. Justin also had plans for the weekend, so it wasn't with a great deal of hope that Harry finally dialled Dean's number. Dean, though, was immediately enthusiastic.

"Of course I'm interested," he assured Harry. "I've got Seamus staying with me for a few days, too, if there's room for two of us. And as long as we're going to be finding somewhere with a TV for the England game."

"Plenty of room, and Pete says we'll be able to watch the match," Harry reassured him, and explained how he should go about summoning the Knight Bus. "Be here for 6:30 – I'll have the bacon sarnies waiting for you!"

OoOoO

Saturday 22 June 1996

Harry heard the crack of the Knight Bus over the sound of gently sizzling bacon. It was 6:20 am and he had just made a start on breakfast, deciding that a few bacon sandwiches wouldn't cost them too much time. Dudley headed to the front door and was shortly showing Dean and Seamus into the kitchen.

"Ready for some breakfast?" asked Harry. "Or has the Knight Bus ruined your appetites?"

"That bus is a bloody nightmare!" exclaimed Seamus. "I thought it'd be like the School Bus we caught the other day, but it had beds in it! And the driver's an absolute menace. We were on an airport runway at one point, and there was a jumbo jet coming in to land! After that, I just kept my eyes shut."

"Me too," agreed Dean. "I can't wait 'til we can learn to apparate."

A knock on the door heralded the arrival of Pete and Penny and, after another round of introductions, the group settled down to breakfast. In no time at all, or so it seemed, they were finished, washed up and were in the minibus that Pete had borrowed heading towards Cornwall.

OoOoO

Penny checked the map several times as the minibus approached the edge of Bodmin Moor, directing Pete down a serious of increasingly narrow and steep-banked side roads, until they eventually pulled off into a small car park. Looking out of the window, Harry could see Lan Blackstock's Landrover was the only other vehicle in sight. Lan and Bob Williams were stood in the back of it, binoculars clamped to their eyes, scanning the moor which seemed to begin at the edge of the car park.

Everyone decamped from the minibus, and they all wandered over to the Landrover where Dean and Seamus were introduced to Lan and Bob.

"So, Harry," said Lan, "how many of your friends did you manage to recruit for our expedition?"

"There'll be twenty three of us, including me, Dud and Luna," Harry told him. "Will that be enough for us to cover a reasonable part of the moor?"

"Oh yes," replied Lan. "It's not really the moor that's the problem, it's the farmland and woodland that surrounds it – plenty of cover for any lurking creatures. That's where Bob and I will be positioning most of you."

Harry nodded in understanding. "Did you get the walkie-talkies?"

"They're on order," said Lan. "I'm expecting them by the end of July, so we should have them in plenty of time. In the meantime Bob and I will be coming down here most weekends between now and August, scouting out the lie of the land ready for when the hunt proper begins."

"Are we planning to catch the Beast, or just film or photograph it?" asked Dean. "It's just that if it is some sort of big cat, I'm not sure a group of schoolchildren are really equipped to catch it, but without photos no-one will believe we've seen it, even if we do."

"Good question," said Pete. "One of our members, who you haven't met yet, is also a member of the University's Film Society. He's managed to borrow half a dozen video cameras and we'll be using those, both to try and film the Beast while we're out searching, and also by using them in camera traps. I'd also ask you all to bring your own cameras, if you own them, and to carry them with you at all times."

"We're certainly not expecting you to try and catch the Beast," affirmed Bob. "If it is a big cat, you should not approach it too closely, or do anything that might antagonise it. Lan and I will be running through some safety procedures with you all in August, before we start the hunt. Essentially, you are not to put yourself in any danger. Photos, if you can take them, will be fantastic."

Harry was relieved; Lan and Bob had obviously taken Luna's warning to heart. In contrast he wasn't too worried about safety, in that he knew that all of his friends would have their wands with them. They might not be able to use them for everyday things, but they could certainly use them for defence if attacked by a big cat.

Lan was now handing out large-scale ordnance survey maps. Harry opened his and listened to Lan's explanation as to the main landmarks on and around the moor.

"Right," he concluded. "The best way for you to familiarise yourselves with the terrain is to go out there and walk around in it." He looked at his watch. "It's 10:00 now. I suggest we split up, do a bit of walking, and meet up for lunch in St Neot, which is a village to the south of the Moor. There's a pub at the end of the main street called the Pendragon Arms. We'll rendezvous there at 1:00."

There was a chorus of agreement. It was decided that Lan and Bob would drive over to the east of the moor and scout around a large lake cum reservoir that dominated that area ("all beasts have to drink") while Pete and Penny would drive to St Neot, leave the minibus in the pub car park and start their reconnaissance from there. Harry, Dudley, Dean and Seamus would simply walk from the car park they were currently in to St Neot, scouting out any areas that looked interesting. In short order, the four teens were on their own.

OoOoO

Scrambling over a stile, the four found themselves on the edge of the moor proper. Footpaths led in several directions, some over the moor and some heading towards patches of woodland in the distance. Bearing in mind Lan's earlier comment it was one of these latter paths that, by unspoken agreement, the four took.

It was a fine day, and Harry ravelled in the sheer normality of it all. He was walking through the countryside with his friends, talking about inconsequential matters without a care in the world. The boys passed several other walkers as the path dropped slowly into a shallow valley, and occasional birds were flushed from the undergrowth, but overall the countryside evinced an aura of gentle tranquillity.

As the path became more wooded, talk switched to the Beast and the chances of actually finding it. All four of them ducked into the woods on either side of the path and poked around; it was broadleaf woodland and Harry could see that there was plenty of cover for a plethora of creatures, a thought that had obviously occurred to the others, too.

"If there is a beast lurking around in here, we'll only find it if it wants to be found," commented Seamus. "If it's a big cat there's no way we'll be able to sneak up on it. It'll come down to luck, and someone surprising it."

Dudley nodded. "The photos that I've seen were all taken at distance when the Beast, if it was the Beast, didn't know it was being photographed. Most sightings are either at a distance or are very sudden – like motorists seeing it crossing the road in front of them."

"The camera traps are a good idea, though," said Dean. "If they're rigged up with a motion sensor we'd get photos of anything that moved."

"If it is a big cat, what do you reckon it is?" asked Seamus. "I had a look in the 'Monster Book of Monsters' and couldn't see anything about magical big cats in the British Isles. Although to be fair, I gave up after it bit me the second time. By the time I caught it it had eaten a pair of my Da's shoes, so I roped it up and stuck it on top of my wardrobe."

Harry grinned, remembering his first encounter with Hagrid's rather idiosyncratic textbook. "I couldn't see anything either," he admitted. "But Dud's been reading some books that Luna lent him." He turned to his cousin. "Did you have any luck after I spoke to you yesterday?"

"Not really," admitted Dudley. "The two main books both discuss the sightings down here but neither author thinks that, if there is a Beast, it's native. If it is something that's escaped or been released by someone, it could be anything."

"What about Luna's dad's book?" asked Harry. "Is there anything interesting in there?"

Dudley grimaced. "There are a lot of sightings. But most of them start with: "I was on my way home from the pub when . . .", so I'm not sure how accurate they are."

"Do they say which pubs?" asked Dean. "If any of them had been in the Pendragon Arms we could ask in there later, see what the locals really think."

"I got the impression that the Pendragon Arms was an ordinary pub," said Harry. Do wizards drink in ordinary pubs? I mean, pubs that serve muggles."

Seamus snorted. "If it's anything like rural Ireland, wizards'll drink anywhere that'll serve them, muggle or not."

"Well then," said Dean, "we'll ask in there when we go in for lunch if anyone's ever seen anything strange on the moor and see what kind of response we get."

"If it's a mixed pub, how will we know if the person we're talking to is a wizard or a muggle?" asked Dudley. "We'd want to ask different questions to wizards, wouldn't we?"

Seamus shrugged. "We've got Harry with us. We'll soon know who's a wizard and who isn't."

Dudley looked puzzled, and Harry realised that his cousin was still unaware of quite how well known he actually was in the wizarding world. Seamus spotted it too, and grinned mischievously.

"It's Harry Potter!" he exclaimed in a falsetto voice. "Mr Potter, will you sign my beer mat, please?" He switched to a bass: "Mr Potter, would you be interested in marrying one of my daughters? Or all of them? You can take your pick."

Dean joined in enthusiastically. "Oh Mr Potter," he swooned, "you're my hero! I want to have your children! We can start as soon as you like!"

"No, no, me Mr Potter!" cried Seamus. "I may be an eighty-year-old bloke but magic can do wonderful things! Take me now!"

"Ha ha," said Harry sarcastically to his two dorm-mates, who had collapsed laughing into the hedge-bottom. "You're so funny."

"We should take bets," Dean continued. "How many witches in the pub will throw their knickers at him?"

"Witches throw their knickers at you?" asked Dudley incredulously.

"No witch has ever thrown her knickers at me," Harry managed to grate out. "I get quite a bit of attention because of the whole "Boy-Who-Lived" thing," he explained to Dudley, "but it's nothing like these two jokers are making out."

Dean was still chuckling. "He's right," he admitted to Dudley. "But if there are wizards or witches in the pub, they'll recognise him."

Disgruntled, Harry strode ahead while Dean and Seamus explained what they called "the cult of Potter" to Dudley. The footpath had widened into a narrow track as it got closer to the floor of the valley, and presumably civilisation, and was now bordered by high hedges. This, coupled with the sunken nature of the track meant that there were barriers almost twenty feet high on both sides. Ahead, Harry could see the track widen again as the path he was on was joined by a second path. As he reached the junction, though, he felt the hairs on his arms stand up and a frisson of electricity passed over him. He stopped abruptly and looked around for the source of his reaction.

The other three quickly caught up with him as he slowly spun around. "What are you looking for? There's nothing . . ." began Seamus, before breaking off as he clearly experienced the same feeling that Harry had. From his expression, Dean had felt it too, and the three Gryffindors were now all anxiously scanning the hedge banks.

"What's up with you three?" asked Dudley, who obviously hadn't felt anything.

"There's something here," explained Seamus in a whisper. "We all felt it, and since you didn't it must be something magical."

Dean gestured towards the other fork in the track. Unlike the path that the four boys had come down it looked far less used and the hedge banks were much more overgrown, to the point that the path was almost a tunnel, overgrown trees at the top of the banks forming a roof to the path below. "Maybe it's something up there."

"Up where?" asked Dudley his eyes passing over the opening to the second path.

"Follow the line of my finger," Harry told him, pointing directly up the path, and getting an inkling of what was going on.

"Whoa," exclaimed Dudley, his eyes suddenly focusing. "It's like the Leaky Cauldron in London."

"There's some kind of muggle-repelling ward on this path," explained Harry at Seamus and Dean's blank looks. "It took a few seconds before Dud could see the Leaky Cauldron, and this looks like it's the same."

"It's a weird sensation," said Dudley. "With the Leaky Cauldron I could sort of sense that the pub was there, I just couldn't focus on it to begin with. Here, though, I didn't even suspect that there was another path here. But when Harry pointed it out, it's like a gap just appeared in the bank, and there it was."

Seamus whistled. "That's a strong anti-muggle ward. Me mam says the Leaky Cauldron's got muggle-focused notice-me-not charms on it, so muggles see the pub, but don't really notice it. But it sounds as though this ward makes the path actually invisible to muggles."

"But I can see it now," Dudley pointed out. "Will that wear off? If we come back up here next week, say, would I still be able to see it?"

"I don't know," admitted Seamus.

Harry and Dean also confessed their lack of knowledge, although Harry made a mental note to research the differences between this ward and the charms on the Leaky Cauldron.

Seamus had stepped onto the warded path and was peering through the gloom. "Shall we go and have a look what's up there?"

Harry checked his watch. "We've still got plenty of time before we have to meet the others," he said. "But let's be careful, OK? We don't know what might be up there." He turned back to Seamus. "Do you know if animals are affected by these kinds of wards?" he asked.

"No," admitted Seamus. "But I can see where you're going. Somewhere like this would be a perfect hiding place for something like the Beast of Bodmin, if no muggles could ever get in." He paused for a moment, then reached into his pocket and pulled out his wand. "Better safe than sorry," he said.

Harry nodded, and he and Dean also pulled out their wands. "Keep your eyes open," Harry warned Dudley.

The four of them slowly made their way up the hidden path. There was hardly a sound to be heard and Harry thought that the absence of everyday, country sounds was far more noticeable than the sounds themselves would have been. The path slowly curved and eventually, after around a quarter of a mile, a high brick wall came into view with a large pair of gates set into it. A wooden sign was affixed to the wall at the side of the gate.

"Penharrow Grange," read Seamus. "No visitors without an appointment. Trespassers will be prosecuted."

"Friendly looking place," commented Dean.

"Penharrow!" exclaimed Harry and Dudley in unison, and Harry quickly explained how he and Dudley had met 'Cheesewire' Penharrow in London. "She said she'd grown up on the edge of the moor, this must be her place."

"Well, she seemed nice enough," said Dudley. "I know it says no visitors, but she might see us. She certainly knew about strange happenings around here. He reached for the gate, but his hand stopped six inches from the latch.

Harry looked at his cousin, puzzled. "Well, go on," he said.

"I can't touch it," grunted Dudley, who Harry could now see was straining to reach the latch. "It's like there's some kind of force stopping me getting any closer." With a gasp he stepped back and scowled at the gate.

It was quickly established that none of the three wizards could touch the gate either. "Another kind of ward?" asked Dudley.

"Must be," admitted Harry. He thought back to the ward that Ambrose Pearce had put around his pensieve and assumed that this was something similar, although presumably on a much larger scale. Seamus seemed also to have been wondering about the extent of the ward, as he had plunged into the undergrowth and was following the wall, trying occasionally to touch it but not, from the muffled cursing drifting back to them, having a great deal of success.

"Looks like it goes all around the estate, following the wall," announced Seamus as he reappeared. "Unless we can break it down somehow, I don't see how we can go any further."

Harry nodded in agreement. "And we don't know for sure that Cheesewire lives here. It could be a relative, or her family could have sold it since she lived here as a child. So even if we could break it down, do you really want to knock on the front door of a strange, reclusive wizard who obviously doesn't like unannounced visitors, and tell him that you've destroyed the ward protecting his estate?"

"No!" came the chorus of responses. The four turned and began to walk back towards the main path.

"If it is Cheesewire's estate, we can always write and ask her if she'll meet us and tell us what she knows about strange happenings around here," commented Dudley as they passed through the anti-muggle ward.

"True," agreed Harry. "Next time I see Mad-Eye Moody I'll ask him how we can get in touch with her."

As the path widened into a lane, and signs of civilisation began to appear, the four teens picked up their pace and were soon in the village of St Neot. Checking his map Dudley directed them towards the main street and they soon came across the Pendragon Arms, the University's minibus parked in the small carpark to the side of the pub. Walking into the carpark, Harry could see that there was a beer garden at the back of the pub and Pete and Penny were lounging on a picnic bench, pint glasses at their sides, poring over a map. Penny looked up and waved.

While crossing the carpark Harry had heard the sound of engine getting louder. The source of the engine noise now became apparent as Lan and Bob's Landrover skidded around the corner at speed before screeching to a halt in a shower of gravel.

Bob leaped out of the driver's seat and headed straight towards Harry.

"Harry, I need you to come with me," he said quietly. "Lan's up at Dozmary Pool and we've found something that we need your help with."

"What's that?" said Pete excitedly from the beer garden. "You've found something? What have you found?"

Bob jumped at the sound of Pete's voice; he obviously hadn't spotted him, being too focused on Harry as he'd jumped out of the Landrover. He now looked slightly panicked as both Pete and Penny were leaning over the wall that separated the carpark from the beer garden, waiting for an answer.

"Oh, er, it's nothing major," said Bob, rather unconvincingly in Harry's opinion. "Lan said that it involved something that Harry might have studied at school," he continued, giving Harry a meaningful look.

Harry straightened up. It seemed that he and his friends weren't the only ones to have come across something interesting that morning. Bob's circumspection in the presence of Pete and Penny (who he, and Lan, obviously didn't know was a witch) could only mean that they had found something that was magical. Glancing sideways he could see that Penny had realised this too. She caught his eye and gave him a brief nod.

"We'll come," said Harry, gesturing to his friends.

"But what have you found?" pressed Pete, oblivious to the undercurrents in the carpark.

"Pete and I will meet you up there, and you can show us," said Penny. "We'll follow you. There's something I need to talk to Pete about on the way."

Harry winced, hoping that the conversation went well, and joined his friends, who had already clambered into the Landrover. Bob jumped back into the driver's seat and with another spray of gravel hurtled out onto the road.

"So what have you found?" asked Seamus, a certain amount of trepidation obvious in his voice. "Because if it breathes fire or has claws more than six inches long, you can drop me here and I'll wait for you back at the pub."

"Maybe it's a skrewt," said Dean innocently. "We could probably leave you to deal with it if it is. After all, those that Hagrid had last year seemed to like you. I'm sure this one will, too."

"Liked me?" said Seamus incredulously. "They got to damn near ten feet long and I spent two days in the hospital wing when one of them turned round unexpectedly and farted fire at me!" He turned back to Bob. "Just to clarify my earlier statement: if it emits fire from any orifice I don't want to know."

Bob was doing an admirable job of keeping his composure (unlike Dudley, who's jaw had dropped comically at the thought of a fire-farting monster). "I haven't seen any fire," he said carefully. "But whatever the things we've found are, they don't seem normal."

"From what you said, Lan thinks they're magical though," said Harry. "What makes him think that? And how much do you know about magic anyway?"

"Several of the, whatever they are, looked like they could turn invisible," replied Bob. "And that's not a common characteristic in any animal I've ever heard of. And as for magic, I know it exists, and that there's a whole hidden world out there, but that's about it."

"So how did you find out about it?" asked Dudley curiously. "Do you have magical relatives, like me and Harry?"

"Nothing so exotic," admitted Bob. "I joined the army straight from school and met Lan, who'd joined on the same day. We were both completely out of our depth, me because I'd never been away from home before, and Lan because, as I later found out, he'd hardly ever left his family's estate and had never even visited the normal world. We stuck together, trying to make sense of this strange new world we'd found ourselves in, and quickly became best mates. Course, it didn't take me long to realise that there was something weird about him and eventually, having sworn me to secrecy, he told me about your world."

"And you believed him?" asked Dean. "Just like that?"

"By this point we'd been deployed to Aden, and had fought together in a number of skirmishes," explained Bob. "Having gone through that, there was no way either of us would have lied to the other. And I knew Lan wasn't mentally unstable. So, unbelievable as it seemed, I knew that it must be true. And you see a lot of strange things when you're in the army. We did a tour in the far east in the early 70s and I saw some things that, well – if there had been any doubt in my mind that magic was real, there wasn't after that."

"So, what exactly have you found?" asked Dudley, bringing the conversation back on track as Bob pulled the Landrover up at the side of the road.

"We're not totally sure," admitted Bob as the five of them climbed over a stile and headed towards what looked like a large lake in the distance. "There are five of them, and they look like a cross between a bird and a lizard. They're about four feet long, and have got wicked looking teeth, but seem to be curious rather than violent."

"This is the point where we probably stumble over Lan's horrifically mutilated and half-eaten corpse," said Seamus gloomily, his eyes flicking from side to side warily.

"Or not," said Dudley cheerfully as they rounded a small copse of trees and saw Lan, very much alive, surrounded by the mystery beasts that Bob had described. They did indeed look like a cross between birds and reptiles, having scaly-looking bodies but also significant clumps of feathers sprouting from various points. In particular, they had feathered wings. Or rather, their upper limbs were covered in feathers. They were rather colourful, too – their scales were an iridescent green, and their feathers bright scarlet.

At the sound of Dudley's voice the creatures turned as one and, wings flapping ineffectively, ran towards the newcomers. Seamus leaped backwards with a rather girlish squeal, but it was quickly apparent that the creatures meant them no harm. They crowded around, snuffling at the boys' clothes, but didn't seem to pose an immediate threat.

Dudley was staring at the creatures, an ecstatic look on his face. "They're like little feathered dinosaurs!" he exclaimed.

"Velociraptors, with my luck," muttered Seamus, still trying to edge away.

"Didn't birds evolve from dinosaurs?" asked Dean. "Are these some sort of missing link?"

Harry shrugged – he'd never heard of birds being related to dinosaurs and wasn't sure what a velociraptor was – but Dudley seemed to be better informed. "Less of a missing link, more of a prehistoric survival," he told Dean. "Like the coelacanth, perhaps. That's a fish that everyone thought had been extinct for millions of years until one turned up in South Africa," he told Harry, spotting his puzzled expression.

"But how did they get here?" asked Dean. "And why has no-one spotted them before. They're not exactly inconspicuous."

Almost on cue, all five of the creatures raised their heads, looked back towards the path and began to flicker in and out of view. Three of them managed to disappear completely. This, Harry realised, was the invisibility talent that Bob had mentioned. He could tell from the occasional buffet to his leg that at least one of the disappeared creatures was still actually present.

The two remaining creatures continued to flicker, although more sporadically and with less frequency. One of them seemed to give up completely and sank to the floor, still completely visible, with a mournful cheep. The other one tried, not particularly successfully, to hide behind Bob. This was the sight that greeted Pete and Penny as they rounded the same copse of trees that had initially hidden Lan from view.

Pete was in the lead, and at the sight of him the creature on the floor emitted another rather pathetic sound, this one a low, mournful hoot. At Penny's appearance, though, it perked up and rose to its feet again. At the same time, the three creatures that had successfully turned themselves invisible reappeared.

Dean, who had turned towards the trees when the first invisibility attempts had been made, was looking thoughtfully between the creatures and Pete and Penny.

"They look like they can sense magic," he announced. "They were fine with us, it was only when they sensed Pete that they tried to hide. Then when they saw Penny, they weren't worried any more. But how would they know?"

Harry and Dudley exchanged glances, Penny's lecture at the SABRE meeting coming to mind.

"Some creatures can sense auras," said Harry carefully. "It looks like these, whatever they are, have the ability, anyway. They aren't worried about wizards or witches, or squibs, but they react to muggles." He turned to Bob. "Did they see you first and try to go invisible, then relax when they saw Lan?" he asked.

"Yes, I saw them first, and they did their disappearing trick; well, three of them did. The other two just flickered like now," replied Bob. "I shouted out, and when Lan appeared they all became visible. That's when Lan sent me to get you."

"But that doesn't explain where they come from," Dudley pointed out. They can't be native to Britain. There's nothing even remotely like them in any of the books Luna gave me, not even her Dad's."

Throughout this exchange, Pete had been staring open-mouthed at the creatures. "It's real," he said faintly. "Magic is real," before sinking to his knees. One of the creatures approached him and tried to climb into his lap and he absently stroked the feathered crest on its head.

"You told him, then," commented Harry, looking sympathetically at Pete, although most of his focus was still on the creatures. Dean and Dudley were also gently stroking two of them, both of which seemed to appreciate the attention.

"This one's very thin," said Dean, whose creature was one of the two that hadn't managed to disappear fully. "And its feathers are pretty bedraggled. Do you reckon they've escaped from somewhere? Are there any wizarding zoos round here?"

"Not that I'm aware of," answered Penny. "But wherever they came from, we can't leave them out here. They're obviously magical and if they can't protect themselves with invisibility someone else is bound to stumble across them."

"The Ministry?" asked Dean.

"No," said Harry abruptly, thinking of the Ministry's attitude towards Buckbeak. "They're as likely to kill them as protect them, if it means keeping the secrecy statute in place.

"Well, what else can we do?" asked Seamus reasonably.

"Hagrid!" exclaimed Harry, suddenly thinking of his first friend in the wizarding world. "He'll help us with them!"

"Hagrid's a long way away," said Seamus dubiously. "How would we get a message to him?"

"There was a floo connection in the Pendragon Arms," said Penny unexpectedly, before turning to Harry. "Will Hagrid be at Hogwarts?"

"I think so," Harry replied. "He didn't say anything about going away anywhere when I spoke to him last week."

"Right," said Penny decisively. "I'll apparate up to Hogwarts, and if I can find him I'll send him down to the Three Broomsticks to come through the floo to the Pendragon Arms. I don't think I could side-along someone as big as Hagrid."

"Side-along?" questioned Dean.

"Bringing someone else along when you apparate," explained Penny. "It takes a lot of power to apparate, though – a lot of wizards aren't able to apparate themselves, let alone other people. And the further you go, the more power you need. For example, I could probably side-along someone your size for a short distance, but I couldn't get one of you as far as Hogwarts, and I doubt I could get Hagrid anywhere."

Dean nodded in understanding.

Penny turned to Bob. "The person I'm going to fetch is a quite a large man and wouldn't fit in your Landrover. We should be able to get him in the minibus, but I don't trust Pete to drive it at the moment."

Everyone turned to look at Pete, who was still absently stroking his creature. It had begun to make a soft, crooning sound. "Hmm, what?" he said, noticing the attention focused on him.

"I rest my case," said Penny dryly. "I'm going to fetch a creature specialist," she told her boyfriend. "Bob's going to take the minibus and meet him back at the pub. You say up here with everyone else, and I'll see you soon." She turned on the spot and disappeared with a crack.

Pete flinched, inadvertently dislodging his creature, which hissed in displeasure. "What happened to her?" he gasped, as Bob headed off towards the minibus.

"Think personal teleportation, like on 'Star Trek'," Dudley told him helpfully.

"So you all knew about this?" asked Pete resignedly. "Magic, I mean. And you've all being laughing up your sleeves at me all along?"

"No," said Lan sharply. "We all knew about magic, yes, although some more than others. But no-one's been laughing at you, just as we don't laugh at anyone else who doesn't know. The secrecy's there for a reason."

Pete nodded sadly. "I see the need for that," he agreed. "But then why tell me? Penny said that you can remove memories. Why not just make me forget?" He looked morosely at his feet.

"None of us can remove memories," Harry told him. "And we are allowed to tell certain people. Dudley knows, for example, because he's my cousin and I live with him. Lots of wizards and witches come from non-magical families, and the families have to know."

"That's right," agreed Dean. "My mum and dad, and my brothers and sisters know, and none of them are magical."

"But that's family," protested Pete. "Why am I allowed to know?"

"My mam's a witch, and she married a muggle – that's someone non-magical," Seamus told him. "Didn't tell him 'til after they were married. That could have gone horribly wrong if he'd took it the wrong way. I should think Penny's just preparing the ground."

Pete's eyes widened comically. "What, you mean she . . .? I mean, I'd hoped, and she's great, but . . ." he trailed off, a small smile appearing on his face.

"Ah, young love," said Seamus happily. "My work here is done."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Well, back to the problem at hand. We still don't know where these came from. Or whether there are more of them around." He turned to Lan. "Do you think these are all that there are?"

"They seem pretty sociable," said Lan thoughtfully. "If there were more, they'd probably have turned up too, or been with these in the first place. But I've no idea where they could have come from, short of a private collection in the area from which they've escaped, as Dean suggested."

"How would we find out?" asked Dudley. "Does your Ministry keep a registry of weird creatures, or can anyone keep anything?"

Harry thought of all the creatures Hagrid had managed to obtain over the years, many of which seemed to have been of dubious legality.

"There are rules about what you can keep," he said carefully. "But not everyone follows them. And as long as you don't go releasing dragons in central London, the Ministry probably won't find out about what you're up to."

"We'll put a note up in the pub," said Dean suddenly. "Penny said it had a floo connection, right? So it must have wizarding customers and the staff must know about magic. So we'll tell them what we've found, and if the owners of these things turn up, they can go up to Hogwarts and get them back from Hagrid. Assuming Hagrid takes them."

"That's not a bad plan," said Lan. "And while we're at it, we can ask for information about the Beast, too."

"So is the Beast real?" asked Pete, who had been following the conversation with interest. "What is it?"

Harry shrugged. "You know as much as we do," he told Pete. "It might be an escaped big cat, completely non-magical. Or it might be some sort of magical creature. There are as many, if not more, mysterious things happening in the magical world as there are in the non-magical world."

Pete was beginning to look excited again. "So the expedition's still on? But now we know that the Beast might be magical we have new areas of enquiry." He turned to Harry. "Are all these friends you're bringing magical?"

"Yes," confirmed Harry. "Aside from Dud, they're all wizards and witches. But we're all underage, so none of us can actually do magic without getting into trouble."

Pete looked like he had a lot more questions, but at that moment there was a loud crack and Penny reappeared, staggering as she landed. Pete rushed over to steady her and led her to a tree stump which she collapsed onto gratefully, breathing hard.

"Are you OK?" asked Harry in concern. Penny looked very pale and was clearly exhausted.

"I'll be fine in a couple of minutes," she said. "As I said, apparating takes a lot of power, more the further you go, and I've been to Scotland. That's a long way."

Harry nodded. The power requirements for apparation was something else he'd never considered. He had a sudden thought and wondered if this might be a way to double-check any conclusions from Hermione's 'power' experiments over the summer. If distance apparated was directly related to the power of the wizard, this might be a way to gauge power. He suggested as much to Penny.

"That's certainly possible," she said thoughtfully. "Although you might also run into 'focus' issues. I've never heard of anyone trying to measure power like that, though."

Harry decided that he was going to start carrying a notebook around with him, to make sure that he wouldn't forget any of these new ideas that kept occurring to him.

"Did you find Hagrid?" he asked, suddenly remembering the reason for Penny's trip to Hogwarts.

"I did," she replied. "I told him we'd found some mysterious creatures that none of us recognised, described them to him, and he couldn't get away fast enough. We both came back through the floo then I left him with Bob and apparated back up here in case you needed help. But you look like you've got everything under control."

The five creatures had now settled down in a heap and had set up an insistent, plaintive crooning, their mournful eyes following every move of the humans.

"I reckon they're hungry," said Lan, who had been studying the creatures carefully. "If they've escaped from somewhere they probably haven't been able to find whatever it is they normally eat. That might be why those two had difficulty turning invisible."

They all looked at the pile of creatures thoughtfully. What would a small, feathered dinosaur eat, wondered Harry.

Dean pulled an apple out of his rucksack. "Do you think they like fruit?" he asked tentatively. "I don't want to give them something that'll make them ill."

It was at that point that Harry heard the sound of an approaching engine, and the group turned towards the copse of trees expectantly, to be greeted by the sight of Hagrid clumping towards them. Pete was looking at Hagrid in amazement, obviously not used to the sight of eight-foot-tall men. Even Lan looked vaguely impressed.

"Harry!" called Hagrid happily as he joined the group. "I didn't realise you were 'ere!"

His attention, though, was immediately distracted by the sight of the pile of creatures, who were still piled up lethargically. He sank to his knees in front of them and gently stroked the nearest. "Ain't you beauties?" he crooned happily.

"Do you know what they are?" asked Harry.

"Kukulkan," replied Hagrid absently, now checking the creatures over. "They look a bit rough, but that's not surprisin' – they're native to the jungles of South America. Where've they come from?"

Harry recapped the story Bob had told them and Hagrid nodded understandingly as Harry explained about the invisibility attempts of the creatures.

"They got hunted almost to extinction by the muggle tribes in the Amazon," explained Hagrid. "But then the last few were adopted as tribe totems by one of the magical tribes down there and they protected them from the muggles. Over time it looks like they've learned to trust wizards, and hide from muggles."

"We don't know how they got here, but we reckon they must have escaped from somewhere," Lan put in. "Harry suggested that you might be able to take them in."

"Aye, I'll take 'em with pleasure!" said Hagrid enthusiastically. "I've got plenty of room for them."

"How are we going to get them back to Hogwarts?" asked Seamus. "We'd draw a bit of attention to ourselves if we tried to take them back into St Neot and into the pub."

"Portkey 'ud be best," said Hagrid. "But I dunno who we'd get to make one. Do you know how to make one, Miss Clearwater?"

"No," admitted Penny. "Technically you need a licence to create them, and I don't know anyone who has one, except perhaps Professor Dumbledore."

"What about the Knight Bus?" said Harry quickly, not really wanting anyone to suggest putting out a call for Dumbledore. "It must have space for luggage, if we can get the kukulkan into travelling crates."

"Aye, that'd work," exclaimed Hagrid. "Good thinking, Harry."

"We don't actually have any travelling crates," Dean pointed out.

"Can't you just magic some up?" asked Pete.

"Magic doesn't work like that," Penny told him ruefully. "Conjuring takes a lot of power, and the longer you want the item to last, the more power you need. I certainly don't want to risk conjuring crates that might disappear half-way through the journey. And I'm not even sure I could conjure five crates anyway."

"What about transfiguring something else?" suggested Harry thoughtfully. "Inanimate to inanimate transfiguration should be OK. We've even got plenty of wood to use," he concluded, pointing to a fallen tree at the edge of the nearby copse."

"Power again, Harry," said Penny. "You've only just finished your fifth year, I know, so you won't have studied permanent and semi-permanent transfiguration yet – that's a NEWT topic. But essentially, transfiguration is what we call entropic – its effects decay over time. The longer-lasting you want a transfiguration to be, the more power you need. Really long-term transfiguration, or permanent transfiguration, is generally impossible for all but the strongest wizards."

This momentarily sidetracked Harry's thought process; here was another possible way to measure the power of a wizard, and he couldn't see that there was an emotional aspect to transfiguration that might skew the results. He needed to talk to Hermione, he decided.

In the meantime, Dudley had continued questioning Penny.

"So how much power does it take to transfigure a chunk of tree trunk into a crate?" he was asking. "Are you saying that you could do the transfiguration, but couldn't guarantee that it would last long enough to get the kukulkan to Hogwarts?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," confirmed Penny. Ordinarily I'd be reasonably confident of being able to transfigure five crates that would hold their transfigurations for a couple of hours, which would probably be enough for Hagrid to get them back to the school. But after the amount of power I used apparating up to Scotland and back, I don't think I can do it now. It'll take several hours for my power levels to recover enough for me to be sure they'd last."

"Is that normal?" asked Dean curiously. "We've never really learned about power levels at school. I mean, I know that You-Know-Who and Dumbledore are meant to be really powerful, but how powerful is 'really powerful' compared to the rest of us?"

Penny looked rather embarrassed. "Power isn't something that's really taught at Hogwarts," she admitted. "But to be honest, I'm not really that powerful a witch compared to most of my classmates. From what I could tell, going through seven years with them, there was quite a spread of power levels. But no-one as powerful as Dumbledore or You-Know-Who, of course."

"Why 'of course'? asked Harry, thinking about Headmistress Franklin's comments about Voldemort's abilities. "I wouldn't say he's that much more powerful than any other wizards I've met. More knowledgeable certainly, but more powerful? I thought it was almost impossible to measure power levels anyway. I mean, take Hermione for example." He looked at Dean and Seamus. "You know what she's like. In fifty years, will people see her as being as powerful as we see Dumbledore now? Because I bet that she'll rival him for overall knowledge by then."

"She's pretty scary now," said Seamus with a grin. "But I see what you mean. Is she more inherently powerful than any of us? Or are we all the same, but some of us study and use our power more effectively than others?"

"It's a bit of both," said Penny. "You've probably all heard the muggle saying "knowledge is power", and that's very true when it comes to magic. But I'd say that Professor Flitwick was as knowledgeable as Professor Dumbledore. I don't think he's as powerful, though." She sighed. "And there are definitely differences in power. Like I said, I know I'm not that powerful, and my reaction to the apparation shows it."

Harry wasn't entirely convinced that power differentials could be as great as Penny was suggesting. He knew that he thought of some of his classmates as being 'less powerful' or 'more powerful' than others, but as he'd suggested to Seamus that tended to be based on knowledge. Hermione was certainly more knowledgeable than him, but was she more powerful? And where did that leave Luna's revelations about auras? She had certainly taken it as a given that some wizards were more powerful than others. He sighed. There were obviously no easy answers, but he was starting to look forward to taking part in Hermione's summer project on power levels.

While he was musing on power, Pete had obviously also been thinking. "Well, even if you can't do the transfiguration," he was saying to Penny, "Harry and the others can, can't they? Even if they're younger than you, surely if they only did one or two crates each that would be enough?"

"Yeah, if we don't mind getting warning letters from the Ministry about under-age magic use," said Dean resignedly. "We're not allowed to do magic outside of school until we're 17. Harry did some last summer and got hauled up in front of the whole Wizengamot for it."

"That was a travesty," interjected Penny. "That wasn't about under-age magic use, it was about Fudge trying to discredit Harry and Professor Dumbledore." She hesitated. "How much do you know about how under-age magic is detected by the Ministry?"

Harry and his friends looked at each other and shrugged in unison.

"I assumed the Ministry had detectors that could track it," admitted Dean. "But I don't know how. How can you distinguish between a spell cast by a sixteen-year-old and one cast by a seventeen-year-old?" he asked rhetorically.

"You can't," said Penny with a grin. "Anyone else?"

"Isn't it the wand?" asked Harry. "Ron once told me that Ollivander puts a tracking spell on every wand he sells, and that's how the Ministry knows." He paused, remembering the summer before his second year. "No, that can't be right," he said, answering his own question. "I got a warning once for magic performed by a house-elf, so it can't be that."

"You're right, it's not the wand," confirmed Penny, "although the Ollivander rumour is a common one."

"So what's left?" mused Seamus. "If it's not general, and not the wand . . ." he trailed off. "Is it us?" he said suddenly, his voice rising in alarm. "Do we have tracking spells attached to us at birth linked to the Ministry's detectors? What else are they tracking?"

"You've been reading the Quibbler again, haven't you?" laughed Harry. "Same argument as for the wand – if there was a tracking spell on me, I wouldn't have got a warning for a house-elf spell."

"You would if it was simply there to detect magic performed in your vicinity," protested Seamus. "It wouldn't know who cast the spell, just that it was near to you."

"It just seems too complicated," said Harry. "And who casts the spell on muggleborns? No-one knows they're magical until they get their Hogwarts letter."

Penny broke in before Seamus could continue his protest. "You haven't got a tracking spell on you, Seamus," she reassured him. "Although you're almost right. Under-age magic use is indeed monitored by way of a tracking spell, but it's not on you, or your wand."

"Locations," said Harry suddenly, as the answer occurred to him. "If the Ministry can't monitor the whole country, they must be monitoring smaller areas where wizards are likely to be. Are there monitoring spells linked to wizards' houses?" he asked Penny.

"You've got it," confirmed Penny. "There will be a charm, for example, on your aunt and uncle's house which will register when magic is performed there."

"But if it's tracking under-age magic, why did it think that a spell cast by a house-elf was cast by me?" asked Harry.

"The monitoring charm can't tell the difference," breathed Dean. "It doesn't monitor under-age magic, it monitors magic."

"Right again," agreed Penny.

"But, what about wizarding houses," protested Seamus. "If I cast a spell at home, how would the Ministry know it was me, and not my mam?"

"It wouldn't," said Penny bluntly. There was silence, before Harry, Dean and Seamus all tried to speak at once.

"Hey, one at a time! One at a time!" laughed Penny.

"That's not fair!" blurted Dean. "Children in a wizarding house can do as much magic as they want, and muggleborn children can't!"

"Fairness doesn't really come into it, although you're right," admitted Penny. "Think, though. What is the purpose of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery?"

Harry thought about it. A blanket ban did seem rather heavy-handed, but there had to be a reason. What, then, was the problem with wizarding children casting magic? It didn't take much consideration before he suspected he had the answer.

"The Secrecy Statute," he suggested.

Penny nodded. "Absolutely right. Children don't have the restraint of adult wizards and witches and are more likely to accidentally give away the secret. Especially if they're muggleborn and living in muggle towns and cities, surrounded by muggles. And what happens if a spell goes wrong? If you live in a magical household there's likely to be an adult wizard who can put things right, or at least go for help. If you're a muggleborn child and you do something you can't reverse, there's no-one and it's much more likely that the muggle authorities will become aware of it. We simply can't take that risk."

"It's still not fair to muggleborns," said Dean mulishly.

"What's the alternative?" asked Penny.

"I don't know," admitted Dean after a few moments' thought.

Dudley had been following the conversation with interest. "So would I be right in thinking that your Ministry won't have monitoring spells up here?" he asked Penny. "Because if they don't, you're saying that Harry, Dean and Seamus could transfigure the crates we need."

A slow smile spread over Harry's face. He could see from the grin on Penny's face that Dudley was right, and pulled out his wand. Taking a deep breath he said "lumos", and the tip of his wand burst into light. Dean and Seamus immediately cast the same spell and they all left their wands alight, waiting to see if a warning from the Ministry would arrive. After ten minutes had passed with no owls appearing, Harry extinguished his wand. "Right," he said, still smiling broadly. "Who's up for a spot of transfiguration practice?"

OoOoO

Feeling somehow more alive now that he had his wand in hand, Harry levitated the fallen tree over to the group and, after warning them to stand back, launched a serious of cutting curses at it. His first attempts barely scratched the surface so, remembering his occlumency text's basic relaxation techniques, he slowed his breathing and concentrated as hard as he could on forcing power into his cast.

"Diffindo," he eventually said calmly, aiming at a section of the trunk around four feet from the base. To his relief (as he hadn't wanted to fail in front of all the observers) the curse sliced cleanly through the tree and the detached segment rolled away from the main body of the trunk. He focused again and repeated the process, until the trunk had been sliced into five roughly equal pieces.

"Nice one, Harry," said Dudley, obviously impressed that his cousin had been so easily able to carve up the tree.

Seamus and Dean had each appropriated one of the segments. "What kind of crate do we need, Hagrid?" Seamus asked the half-giant.

"If you can make one about five feet long, two feet wide and tall, that'd do the trick," Hagrid replied.

Seamus nodded. "Verto," he incanted with a twirl of his wand. The trunk rippled and briefly assumed the shape of a crate, but almost immediately reverted to its original form.

"Damn!" cursed Seamus, letting out a breath and glaring at the trunk.

Dean cast the same spell, with the same result, although his crate did look more correctly formed before its swift reversion.

Harry turned to Penny. "Is 'verto' the spell you'd use?" he asked, conscious that she had two more years of transfiguration study behind her than he did.

"Hmm," she mused. "'Verto' should work, but it tends to be used more for inanimate to animate transfigurations. I'd use 'mutatio'."

Harry smiled, remembering his very first transfiguration lesson at Hogwarts. 'Mutatio' was the first spell he and his classmates had ever been taught. Adopting the same procedure as he had for his cutting curse he focused on the result he wanted – a long-lasting crate – and pushed as much power as he could into the spell while flicking his wand at the section of trunk. "Mutatio."

Like Seamus and Dean's efforts the trunk rippled, but for Harry the wood seemed to flow into its new form, a coffin-like construction of roughly-hewn planks taking shape before his eyes. He watched the crate tensely, half expecting it to revert to tree-trunk straight away, but as the seconds passed he realised that he'd succeeded at the first attempt.

"Amazing," said Pete, walking around the crate and finally reaching out and touching it reverently. "So how long will it stay like this before turning back into a tree?"

Harry shrugged and turned to Penny, a questioning look on his face.

"It's impossible to say," she admitted. "Or rather, it's impossible for me to say with the equipment I have with me. If I had a thaumentometer, which is a sort of spell analyser, I could use it to determine the entropic decay rate, but I don't. We'll just have to hope that it lasts long enough. So the sooner we get the rest of the transfigurations done, and the kukulkan crated up, the better."

Harry levitated a second piece of trunk over, forced himself to relax from the rush of exultation he'd felt after the success of his first transfiguration, and cast the spell again. As before, the trunk flowed into its new form on command.

Turning to his friends, Harry could see that they were not having as much success as him. As he watched their repeated casts he could see that Dean was forming the crate, but it was unstable and kept reverting to tree form. Seamus's crates were lasting longer but looked to be solid blocks of wood, not hollow crates. He walked over to them, unconsciously slipping into the 'teacher' mode that had become so familiar to him during the DA sessions of the previous school year.

"Dean, nice crate," he began. "But if you want it to last you've got to really focus on pushing power into the spell. And your wand movement's a bit off, too." He demonstrated, wondering as he did which rune, or part of a rune, the flick was based on. "Now, try again, with that wand movement and really pushing the power while you visualise the crate."

Dean took a couple of deep breaths and tried again. His wand movement was crisper than before and he appeared to be almost physically forcing power down his wand. The trunk rippled and, as with Harry's, a sturdy-looking crate began to form. Harry thought that the transfiguration flowed at a slower pace, but flow it did and Dean soon had a fully-formed and apparently stable crate at his feet.

"Whew," he sighed as he lowered his wand. "That's harder than it looked when you did it, mate," he told Harry. Indeed, Harry thought that Dean looked physically drained and he wasn't surprised when he sat down, still breathing heavily.

Seamus turned determinedly back to his own piece of trunk; he'd paused his efforts in order to listen to Harry's explanation to Dean and now performed his own revised cast, carefully following Harry's demonstrated wand movement and, like Dean, seemed to be physically exerting himself as he cast. Harry was delighted to see a crate slowly flow into existence. As was Seamus – he let out a whoop of triumph as it became clear that the crate was stable, before collapsing next to Dean to catch his breath.

"Well done you two," Harry congratulated them. It didn't look like either of them would be up to transfiguring a second crate anytime soon, though, so he turned to the last piece of trunk and performed the transfiguration himself, noting as he did the feeling of power transfer and the speed of the transfiguration. He felt nowhere near as drained as his friends looked, and wondered if he had put enough power into the spell; would his crates revert before theirs, he wondered? The only other alternative he could see was that he was more powerful than the two of them, and he was still somewhat reluctant to accept that.

"Yes, well done indeed," said Penny, adding her own congratulations. If those crates keep their form, you've performed some NEWT-level transfigurations there."

While Dean and Seamus recovered, Hagrid and the others began to chivvy the kukulkan into the crates. Harry, still pondering power levels, realised that there was an easy way to test the permanence of the transfigurations and walked over to the crates.

"Pingere," he intoned, and marked his three crates with a large 'H' before marking those his friends had transfigured with an 'S' and a 'D'.

"I want to test how long they last," he explained to the curious observers. "Hagrid, will you keep an eye on them and note down when they revert to tree trunks?"

"Course I will, Harry," came the reply. All of the crates were now occupied and Hagrid hefted one onto his shoulder. Harry gently levitated another, as did Penny, and the recovering Dean and Seamus took the last two. Slowly, so as not to disturb their occupants, a little procession moved back to road. There was no-one in sight so, after carefully lowering her cargo to the ground, Penny stuck out her wand.

Knowing what to expect, Harry and his friends (after lowering their own crates) moved as far off the road as they could. Penny was also watching the empty road pensively.

Pete looked puzzled. "What are you -?" he began, but was cut off by an explosive crack as the Knight Bus roared into existence and screeched to a halt.

"Ernie!" bellowed Hagrid happily, spotting the driver and leaning through the door at the front of the bus as it opened. "I haven't seen you for years! How's your Mavis these days?"

"'Ello, Rubeus," came the cheerful reply. "She's fine! But you're a long way from Hogwarts – what you doin' in this neck o' the woods?"

"Catchin' a few escaped critters," Hagrid told him, and gestured to the crates. "Can we get these in as luggage? I'm takin' 'em back to Hogwarts."

"Course we can, load 'em in," said the driver cheerfully as the conductor eyed the crates warily. Hagrid loaded his crate and supervised as Harry and the others floated their own crates onto the bus.

"Can we call on you if we find anything else strange on the moor?" Harry asked his friend as the bus prepared to depart.

"Course you can," said Hagrid. "You find anything strange, get straight on the floo. If you can't get hold of me, leave a message with Rosmerta at the Three Broomsticks, and I'll be along as soon as I can." He waved through the window and, with a crack, the bus was gone.

OoOoO

Excitement over, at least for the moment, the group of Beast hunters headed back into St Neot. Harry spotted a newsagents' shop as they drove up the road to the pub, and excused himself once they parked up to pay it a visit, managing to buy several hard-backed notebooks and some pens. He was determined to keep notes on any magical things he encountered, or any ideas he had, to ensure he didn't forget anything.

Walking into the pub he saw that Lan had bagged a large table by the window. He slid onto a vacant stool and Dudley passed a pint of coke over to him. The pub had gone quiet when Harry had entered but now a susurration of whispers was rippling through the room.

"It's Harry Potter!"

". . . "Boy-Who-Lived . . ."

"Chosen One . . ."

Seamus nudged Dudley. "Wait for it!" he told him.

Harry sighed. Sure enough, it wasn't long before an elderly woman approached the table and grabbed Harry's hand.

"I never believed what the Prophet was writing about you, Mr Potter," she assured him. "You were a lone voice in the wilderness, but I always believed in you."

"Rita Skeeter's a muck-raking bitch!" called someone more vehemently from the back of the room. "She wouldn't recognise the truth if it crawled up her skirt and . . ."

"Albert!", a female voice cut him off. "This is a family pub! Behave yourself!"

There was now a small queue forming behind Harry. "Don't worry mate, I'll handle this," Seamus told him confidently before jumping to his feet. Harry groaned.

"Now then ladies and gentlemen, no need to push, just form an orderly line," Seamus told the crowd. "Mr Potter is happy to sign autographs, only 2 sickles each, or 5 if it's a body part you want autographed. Make me an offer for a lock of his hair! You, madam!" Seamus pointed to a crone at the back of the queue. "Are you still of child-bearing age? Because Mr Potter's doing a fantastic rate at the moment on heir-begetting, prices on application."

Harry grabbed Seamus and dragged him back down. "What are you playing it?" he ground out.

"You've got to give them what they want, Harry," Seamus told him unrepentantly. "Then once they've got it, they'll leave you alone."

"I am not begetting heirs on anyone!" Harry almost shouted.

"Quite," came a new voice from Harry's side. "There'll be no begetting of heirs in my pub."

Harry turned to see a young man had approached and was in the process of urging people back to their seats.

"This is a mixed pub," the man warned Seamus, looming over the table. "Drawing attention to yourself by pimping for Mr Potter, or by referring to wizarding currency, will you get you barred, understand?"

"Perfectly," said Seamus, although not looking too chastened by the warning.

"I'm Bors Robards, the landlord," the man told the table. Turning back to Harry he said "I apologise for the enthusiasm of my customers, Mr Potter. Knowing them well, though, I can assure you that their sentiments are genuine. Neither the Ministry nor the Prophet are particularly welcome in this part of the world."

Harry looked around to see that most of the patrons were nodding at Robards' words. He smiled ruefully and nodded back.

"Fortunately," Robards continued, eyeing Seamus sternly, "everyone in here at the moment knows about magic. But you shouldn't assume that will always be the case."

"We won't," Penny assured him. "We'll probably be in here a lot over the next couple of months, and especially in August, so we'll bear that in mind.

"Oh?" queried Robards.

"We're bringing a group of people down here in August to search for the Beast of Bodmin," Pete broke in enthusiastically. He turned to the pub, whose patrons were all clearly listening to the conversation. "If anyone here has seen anything strange on the Moor, or has seen the Beast, or anything else, we'd be really interested to hear from you."

Robards snorted. "Lots of strange things go on up on the Moor," he told them. "But no-one's ever caught anything, or anyone."

"Well, we just have," Harry told him. "We've just caught five kukulkan up by, er,"

"Dozmary Pool," chipped in Bob. "That's not a bad start, to say we were only here today on a recce."

That revelation started a flood of questions and stories about the Moor, and Harry and the others spent the next hour talking to various patrons, and Robards, getting their stories and thoughts. During the questioning Pete had ordered pasty and chips for everyone, and as Robards switched on the pub's TV for the football, the group settled back down to eat and compare notes.

"Well," said Harry, flicking though his notebook. "I've got big cats, small cats, mysterious lights and disappearing muggles, all going back over a century."

It soon became clear that these were the common themes of most of the stories. There were a few oddities – Dean, for example, had been told of a mysterious Owlman that was said to haunt churchyards in the area – but in the main, cats figured heavily.

The pub had emptied somewhat, as patrons left to either watch the match in their own homes, or because they weren't interested in football, and Robards wandered across to the group's table for a chat.

"So what's your take on all this?" Penny asked him curiously. "Have you lived around here all your life?"

"I have," he replied, "the Robards are an old Cornish family. And to be honest, I reckon that all of these stories have a wizard behind them somewhere. There have always been a few darkish families living round here, although most of them have died out now, and it wouldn't surprise me if most of these stories have muggle-baiting at their heart."

"What about the kukulkan we've found this morning?" asked Dean.

"That is a strange one," admitted Robards. "I've always wondered if there wasn't a private menagerie somewhere on a wizarding estate round here. That would explain where a lot of the sightings come from. Or rather, where the wizard behind the sightings was getting his creatures from. But like I say, there are some old families in this part of the world, and no-one knows where most of them live, so finding a menagerie won't be easy."

"How can you not know where people live?" asked Pete, puzzled.

Robards grinned. "There are estates surrounding the Moor that have been protected for centuries. I reckon there are at least five unplottable valleys running down from the Moor, all protected by blood wards, and several smaller estates too. This bit of Cornwall's probably three times the size the muggles think it is."

"How does that work?" asked Dudley. "And for that matter, how do you manage to hide something the size of Diagon Alley in the middle of London? What about aerial photos, satellite photos and the like?"

Penny smiled at Dudley. "Unplottable charms are some of the most powerful magics known," she told him. "They're incredibly difficult to cast, and they also have to be anchored to runestones, which themselves are very difficult to create, especially if what you're trying to hide is something the size of Diagon Alley."

"But that doesn't explain how they work," commented Dean. "Dudley's got a point – can they keep fooling muggle technology for ever?"

Penny shrugged. "You'd need to talk to a Charms master or a runemaster to get an answer to that," she said. "It's not an area of magic I've studied."

"They've obviously worked so far," said Harry thoughtfully. "The muggles must have taken aerial photos of London and there's no way people would have overlooked Diagon Alley if it appeared on the photos."

"But back to the Beast," said Lan, "who do you think owns these hidden estates?"

Robards looked at Lan seriously. "We take our privacy seriously down here," he told him. "If you can find them, all well and good, but I wouldn't tell you where they were, even if I knew. One of them might have a menagerie. But that's only a guess. The owners like their privacy."

"So you won't tell us anything," said Pete, sounding disappointed.

"Well," said Robards thoughtfully. "There's one family more than any other that people have suggested over the years were behind a lot of the darker activities round here. That's the Treziams. But I think that most of them are dead, now. Fenton Treziam was in here once last autumn, but I got the impression he was just passing through – I haven't seen him since, anyway. His father died in Azkaban in the 1960s and I don't reckon he's got any other family left alive. I'm pretty sure his family has a hidden estate in the area, but I've never heard of anyone not a Treziam who knew where it was."

"His family can't be behind anything strange that's happened in the last thirty years, then," commented Pete.

"Fenton's grandfather, Purvis Treziam, was alive until the early 90s," replied Robards. "And just because no-one's seen Fenton around doesn't mean he hasn't been. He was always an odd sort. Not exactly dark, but very much his own man." He rose as a couple of tourists walked into the bar. "Good luck with your search," he told Pete. "I'm always happy to talk about anything you find, as long as it doesn't involve giving away secrets that aren't mine to tell."

Pete nodded in thanks. The group had been given a lot to think about and the rest of the afternoon was spent discussing the stories they'd been told and the likelihood of wizards being behind them. All were agreed that finding a hidden menagerie would be an achievement, but none of the wizards present had any idea about how to find an unplottable estate. Harry flipped to a new page in his notebook and made a note to speak to Dr Reynolds, who he suspected would fall within Penny's definition of a runemaster. He'd told the others about Penharrow Grange, which seemed to be warded against muggles rather than unplottable, and they'd agreed that a meeting with Cheesewire would be useful. If nothing else she might be less reticent than Robards about suggesting the location (or owners) of hidden estates in the area.

Overall it was a cheerful group who piled back into the minibus at the end of the afternoon. They'd found some mysterious creatures, identified further leads to follow up, and England had beaten Spain on penalties. The conversation on the way back to Surrey alternated between theories on what could be behind all the sightings, and England's prospects against either Germany or Croatia in their next match.

Pete dropped Harry and his friends back at Privet Drive at just after ten. Dean and Seamus had been debating whether to catch the train back to London but had eventually decided to risk the Knight Bus again. "It can't be as bad as this morning's trip," said Seamus optimistically. Having seen Luna's arrival and departure on the bus the previous week Harry wasn't so sure and couldn't help wincing as, on arrival, the bus narrowly missed hitting both a lamp-post and one of Mrs Figg's cats. Dean and Seamus looked distinctly nervous as they bade the cousins goodbye and boarded the bus.

"Rather them than me," said Dudley with a shudder as the bus vanished.

"Too right," agreed Harry as they headed indoors. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were still up, and were interested to hear about the cousins' day, but it wasn't long before Harry began yawning. The magic use earlier on must be catching up with him, he decided. He wanted to get a good night's sleep in preparation for meeting Daphne's parents again in the morning and so, bidding his relatives goodnight, he headed upstairs and dropped into bed, although he did stay awake long enough to do his occlumency exercises before falling gratefully into sleep.