Davina | hp. ✓

37 | The Forest of Dean

DAVINA WAS STUMBLING through a dark forest, though the edges of her vision were blurred and she wasn't aware of herself beyond her own consciousness. She knew this feeling all too well. She was having a vision. This time, however, she was not seeing death through the eyes of the person on death's doorstep, but from the outside looking in -- like a wisp in the air, flying by the force of the wind. 

The vision carried her through dense thickets and monstrous trees whose bare limbs stuck out almost as if to snatch her and keep her from what she was meant to see. She felt no pain or coldness, though the forest floor was covered in a thick layer of snow accumulated by a few earlier snowfalls. It glittered under the moonlight, untouched by anything except a few tracks from forest animals. She continued on in this way for a long while and the longer than nothing happened, the quicker her dread grew. 

Suddenly, there was a break in the smooth snow. A few heavy sets of footprints, two sets smaller than the others, trudged through the snow and ended in a small clearing. Her sight circled around it, closing in on a small make-shift campsite where five unlikely individuals sat around a campfire to warm themselves up. 

Davina realized with dread that she recognized two of the people among them. Her former schoolmate Dean Thomas, a Gryffindor, and Andromeda's husband, Ted Tonks, sat on a long beside each other. Across from them sat a wizard around Ted's age who Davina only vaguely recognized as a Ministry worker, and two goblins whom she didn't know. Dirk Creswell. Gornuk.  The third goblin remained unnamed. The names echoed in the back of her mind like she was being overseen by someone, and somehow she knew that those who were named to her were destined to die. 

"That bastard Albert Runcorn recognized the family tree as a forgery, and I was forced to go on the run." uttered Dirk. 

"I don't blame you. The Muggle-Born Registration Commission is only a way to weed out folks like us." Dean Thomas sagged his shoulders, staring hauntedly into the fire. "I had to leave my folks back home to keep them safe. I don't even know if it worked."

"You have to have hope, dear boy." Ted Tonk's clapped him encouragingly on the back. Dean shot him a forced but grateful smile. He turned to the goblins, "What about you, Griphook? Gornuk? Don't tell me the Dark Lord's targeted the goblins, too?"

Gornuk shook his head, muttering to him self. "He's got his filthy followers meddlin' at Gringotts, and we goblin folk don't like meddlin' wizards. No, sir. We led a rebellion, but it was in vain. Dozens slaughtered, dozens captured, few escaped."

"Well, we're glad to have you." Ted smiled kindly at them, "We're planning to head to-"

There was a rustling in the brush behind him and Dean. Davina urged herself to inquire further, and found herself watching a group of Snatchers. The Snatcher were an informal branch of wannabe deatheaters who fashioned themselves as bounty hunters for runaway Muggle-borns. Davina could tell by the way her vision darkened and the cold began to seep through her subconsciousness that they weren't there to capture them.

She wanted to break the barrier of the vision and scream at Ted and the others to flee, to escape and run instead of fighting back while they had the chance. The three wizards scrambled to their feet and drew their wands, scouring the area with apprehensive eyes. The snatchers didn't give any warning. They rushed through the brush at full speed, throwing around curses and hexes haphazardly as if they were playing a game to see who would be hit first. 

Griphook was struck first. He collapsed in the snow, unmoving but alive. Gornuk knelt beside him to shake him free of the hex.

Scabior, one of the snatchers, cackled to the others. "Whaddya say, fellas? We only need one goblin, aye?"

"Question is which one?" echoed the second snatcher, who trapped Dean Thomas in a rope-binding jinx.

"Leave them alone!" Ted Tonks yelled out in spite of himself. He knocked back the snatcher holding Dean captive with a jinx, and the boy struggled to free himself. Dirk fended off two other snatchers.