Alice stood in the middle of a herd of Thestrals, the Banner of Souls glowing faintly behind her back like a dying lantern.
On the forehead of the old Thestral leader, the shadowy image of the Banner flared to life, as if someone had suddenly flipped on its third eye.
The same Thestral that had just had its wing wounds healed by the Banner suddenly swayed, legs buckling. It collapsed to the ground like every ounce of strength had been sucked out of it.
Alice winced. She'd literally just promised the old guy this wouldn't hurt too much, and now look at it, flat on its face.
Okay, in her defense, this was her first time testing the "nerfed" version of the Banner of Souls. She'd been trying to go slow, observe the mechanics, really study how it worked. So yeah, she might've pulled a little more life-force than strictly necessary.
Next time would be gentler. Promise.
She shot the exhausted Thestral an apologetic smile and then promptly forgot about it.
More and more shades were pouring out of the Banner now, swirling around her in the air like a tornado of ghosts. These weren't the calm, serene spirits the Thestrals could summon; these things looked furious. They shrieked and snarled at the living Thestrals circling the clearing, teeth bared, ready to rip everything apart the second Alice gave the word.
The entire herd freaked out. A bunch of the older Thestrals, ones who'd survived whatever ancient massacre created the Banner in the first place, stared at Alice in outright terror. A few glared daggers at the old leader still sprawled on the ground.
You trusted a human again, you idiot. Here comes the apocalypse, round two.
The herd's alpha, the same massive Thestral Alice had met that first night, reared up and slammed its front hooves into the earth. The impact boomed like thunder, and the panicking herd instantly went dead quiet.
It sniffed the air, caught her scent, and recognition clicked. This was the same little human who'd shown up as a ghost that one night. It didn't understand how a living girl could turn into a spirit, but it did remember she'd been near the unicorns, and unicorns don't hang out with evil people.
So the alpha chose to trust the unicorns' judgment.
By now the shades swirling around Alice had grown into a small army. The oppressive aura rolling off the Banner was getting heavier by the second. One by one, the living Thestrals started sinking to their knees just like the old leader.
In the end, the only one still standing in the whole clearing was Alice herself.
She had a pretty good idea now of what this toned-down Banner could do.
Probably still wouldn't let her take on a fully trained adult wizard who actually knew how to fight, but against most people? She could legitimately be a one-girl army for a few minutes.
Keyword: minutes.
Using it like this versus using it in actual combat were two totally different things. In a real fight she figured she'd collapse from soul-overdraw after about three minutes, tops.
So, not the world-ending superweapon she'd half hoped for. More of an "oh crap, we're all gonna die, break glass in case of emergency" button.
…Although, if she didn't push it to the absolute max, handling someone like Marcus Flint would probably be fine.
The real question was whether she could make this a regular thing without permanently traumatizing the old Thestral. Frequent "donations" of life-force and all that.
She glanced at the ancient creature still lying on the ground even though she'd already powered the Banner down.
It'd be fine, right?
After exchanging a few more solemn promises with the alpha and the old leader (this time the old one looked way less arrogant and way more relieved to still be alive), Alice said her goodbyes and headed out.
She wasn't nearly as tense walking through the Forbidden Forest this time. Hagrid wasn't with her, but she figured she could handle herself now.
She even had the spare brain cells to admire the scenery.
If you could call it that.
The sky was overcast and gloomy, the air damp and biting. Winter in the Forbidden Forest was apparently trying to murder her pores one by one. She flicked her wand and cast a quick warming charm before she froze solid.
"Weird," she muttered as she walked. "Where'd Hagrid and Theodore disappear to?"
She'd assumed they were still somewhere in the forest waiting for her. Those two wouldn't just ditch her without a word.
So… where the heck were they?
"Don't tell me I actually got lost in here."
The trees were so tall they blocked out the sky; she had no clue which direction was which.
Hang on.
What was that?
Out of the corner of her eye she caught a flash of movement, someone in black sprinting past on her left. She whipped around, but there was nothing there. Just the faintest glimpse of a dark figure vanishing deeper into the trees.
"Student? Professor? Random creepy dude?"
After everything she'd been through in less than a year at this school, Alice had zero faith in the whole "Hogwarts is the safest place on Earth" nonsense. Her first instinct: there was an intruder in the forest.
She took off after the figure without hesitation.
Not because she had a death wish. More like cold logic: if that person wanted her dead, they could've stabbed her in the back ten seconds ago and she never would've seen it coming. Since they hadn't, following at a safe distance probably wasn't suicidal.
Still, the Banner was already humming quietly around her wrist, just in case.
She tracked the figure for a while, then slowed to a stop.
Something was off.
The black shape up ahead could totally outrun her if it wanted to, but it kept slowing down, almost like it was waiting for her to catch up. That wasn't normal.
And honestly… the way it moved looked really familiar.
That billowing cloak that flared out behind him like bat wings.
No way.
Was that actually Snape?
If it was Snape, why was he running from her?
And why did he keep glancing back and easing up whenever she started to lose sight of him?
Every alarm bell in Alice's head was screaming trap, so she planted her feet and refused to take another step.
"Alice?" Hagrid's booming voice came from the side. "What in Merlin's name are you doin' all the way out here?"