All in the Family

Chapter 115: Hagrid's Tale

To Stitches: Indeed, prejudices are usually inherited and irrational, it takes time and patience to get rid of such things from both parties. A delicate subject matter, if only we could find a solution and bottle world peace with it.

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The thick clouds allowed flickering, heavy light down into the valley below while the scream echoed all around.

Regulus groaned heavily, wondering at the miracle they hadn't all broken their necks with every toss around they got as he found himself laying out haphazardly on several sharp rocks on a very rickety pile of more disheveled earth that would probably go down if he breathed on it wrong. He eyed a much more stable-looking bit a good jump away, but still hesitated to move, especially as he had no idea where the others were. The sharp gust of wind that buffeted him wasn't giving him much choice, he took off at a run as the ground began shaking beneath him.

His feet lost purchase, he tried to jump the rest of the distance in vain, and found himself scrabbling maddly for any kind of hold, legs kicking wildly and a panicked scream already ripping up his throat. The clouds flashed away again, giving him just enough time to catch at a misshapen divot in the earth that looked like someone with jagged nails had scooped it clean away, and made his hand a bloody mess as he snagged it and finally pulled himself onto even ground, avoiding the hole that had saved his life.

He lay face down for a long time, panting and shaking, probably having pissed himself, cradling his injured hands that were possibly broken, though his whole body was a sore mess so it was hard to tell what the worst of it was.

He didn't remember screaming, but someone must have been drawn to him. "Reg! Regulus," it was a call of recognition, so he didn't have the energy to bother rolling over, someone did that for him.

It was Peter, his face was ghastly, and Regulus's eyes flickered curiously around himself again. He hadn't been so out of it he shouldn't have heard him approaching, and he was still on a very rocky ledge that had no visible ways of climbing in this tricky light, how had Peter scaled up and down so fast- oh right.

"Where is, what-" Peter was shaking him a bit while patting him down as if looking for an injury while also looking all around carefully, and Regulus just groaned and pressed his face to his chest, he didn't know what he was trying to ask, he was too exhausted.

The two jerked at once though when they heard the scream, and Regulus forced himself to sit up properly and take in everything again. It was female, they could hazard that guess, but Evans or Alice they couldn't tell. They were not in Hogsmeade, these mountains were too big, too old, and the valley that kept flickering below in the bright moonlight held no hint of familiarity to any of them.

Peter squeezed his shoulder, and then gently eased him back away, going and standing dangerously on the edge as he continued to look for something. "Stay here, alright, he won't bother making this climb."

"What?" Regulus tried to slur in confusion, but a horrible realization was already creeping up on him.

"Stay here," Peter said again, with such authority Regulus let his butt get very comfortable as Peter vanished again, only the hint of a long bald tail visible for a moment before that too vanished.

At first Lily thought they were back in Hogsmeade somewhere, but she was fairly certain there was no lake this big down by those mountains, nor did she really think the fuzzy, mossy something she went slipping around on that squelched oddly beneath her shoes and caused said scream could have happened around Hogwarts, so it was with great trepidation she hauled herself free of the water with no clue what else was waiting. When she splashed onto shore, she didn't even try to hide her relief as Potter came sprinting up to her, a look of stark concern on his face.