“How dare you—” Bane was about to snap something else at Leo, but Firenze cut him off before he could continue.
“Bane, you idiot!
We swore an oath never to defy the will of the heavens.
Have you forgotten the omens we read in the movements of the planets?” Firenze drove one hoof straight into Bane’s head, knocking him back to the ground.
“His Highness is an honored guest personally invited by the High Priest.
If you insult him again, don’t blame me for what happens next.” Bane snorted furiously.
He was clearly still seething, but after taking two heavy blows to the head in quick succession, he was in no condition to get back up and cause any more trouble.
As for the other centaurs, Firenze already carried considerable authority among his people, and now that he had invoked the High Priest as well, none of them dared interfere.
“Your people have quite the temper,” Harry remarked.
“They have been separated from wizarding society for far too long.” Firenze sighed, then inclined his head apologetically toward Leo.
“Your Highness, please forgive their foolishness.” “I don’t mind idiots who challenge me of their own free will.” Leo shrugged.
“I just wish that one had been a little stronger.” “Er…” As a relatively civilized centaur, Firenze genuinely had no idea how he was supposed to deal with someone like Leo.
They continued walking and soon reached their destination: an enormous tent.
Two centaurs stood guard outside with arrows already nocked, but the moment they recognized Firenze, they lowered their bows.
“The High Priest is already waiting inside,” one of the guards said as he pulled aside the heavy animal-hide flap covering the entrance.
“My apologies, everyone.
The High Priest asked to see His Highness alone.
The rest of you will need to wait outside for a while…
or Firenze can show you around the settlement.” “I’ll wait right outside, then,” Hagrid said in his deep, rumbling voice.
“You children can go with Firenze and have a look around.” Leo stepped into the tent.
The instant the hide flap fell closed behind him, the starlight outside disappeared completely, leaving the interior wrapped in an almost ancient silence.
The tent was several times larger inside than it appeared from the outside.
More than a dozen wooden poles supported the high ceiling, each one made from old cypress thick enough to fill both hands.
Their surfaces had been polished smooth with age, and faded star charts had been painted across them in red ochre.
“An Undetectable Extension Charm?” Leo looked around in surprise.
He might not be able to cast magic himself, but his eye for it was hardly poor.
“Whoever did this knew what they were doing.” “Greetings, King of Venus.” An elderly centaur spoke from deeper inside the tent.
He looked almost like a length of dead wood.
The skin across his upper body clung tightly to his ribs, and his horse legs were as thin as dried vines.
Everything about him spoke of extreme age, yet his eyes were frighteningly bright.
“You’re the High Priest?” Leo asked.
“I am.” The centaur High Priest nodded.
“So why did you want to see me?” “I was entrusted with delivering a promise to you,” the High Priest replied in a hoarse voice.
“Or, to use language you would prefer…
a formal challenge.” “Oh?” Leo immediately became interested.
“From who?” “Come with me.” The High Priest led him farther into the tent until they stopped before an enormous star chart.
His painfully thin upper body leaned forward.
The moment one bony fingertip touched the chart, sparks crawled along the joints of his hand and spread across the parchment, illuminating the stars of Leo.
“The greatest duelist of a thousand years ago.” “The wizard who defeated every goblin who challenged him.” “One of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.” “Godric Gryffindor.” Leo’s eyes widened, and an almost wild excitement flared within them.
“Seriously?
Now that’s the kind of opponent I’ve been waiting for!” “A thousand years ago, Godric Gryffindor granted our people a place to live here,” the High Priest continued.
“In return, generations of centaurs have guarded the hidden chamber he left behind and waited for your arrival on his behalf.
The dark wizards you dealt with not long ago came here in search of that very chamber.” “So that’s what they were after.” Leo nodded.
“Then…
where’s Gryffindor?” The High Priest reached up and plucked several strands of silver-white hair from his mane before placing them in Leo’s hand.
Leo stared down at them.
“What’s this supposed to mean?
If this is your way of telling me you don’t know a damn thing, I’m going to hit you.” “Of course not.” The High Priest’s shriveled mouth twitched.
“You simply need to burn them.” “Oh.” Leo tossed the strands into the campfire inside the tent.
Thick smoke immediately rose toward the ceiling, carrying a peculiar smell with it.
For a brief instant, the star charts painted across the wooden supports glowed through the haze.
“Cough, cough…
Why does your hair smell so awful when it burns?” Leo coughed twice.
Then light suddenly flashed around him.
A tremendous force seemed to seize his entire body and drag him into another space.
..
“Lumos.” Leo found himself surrounded by absolute darkness, so he reached into his pocket, pulled out a windproof lighter, and flicked it on.
With a little light to work with, he could finally make out his surroundings.
Bare granite walls enclosed him on every side, without the slightest unnecessary decoration.
Instead, they were covered from top to bottom in densely packed serpentine carvings.
Water seeped through cracks between the stones and collected in shallow puddles across the floor, while the air was cold and damp.
“This really doesn’t look like Gryffindor’s style…” Leo muttered as he looked around.
“Feels more like my family home.” He took another couple of steps.
The air ahead of him suddenly distorted, gradually forming the translucent image of a man.
He had a mane of curly hair and a thick beard reminiscent of a lion, with sharp, penetrating eyes and a longsword held in one hand.
Leo had seen him before.
There had been a Famous Witches and Wizards Card of him among the Chocolate Frogs Leo had eaten, and his portrait also hung along a secret passage between the eighth-floor landing and a side chamber off the Entrance Hall.
Godric Gryffindor.
“Greetings, successor!” Gryffindor raised a hand cheerfully.
“The centaur High Priest should already have explained things to you.
That’s right, I am Gryffindor—the master duelist, the strongest wizard of my age, one of the founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry—Godric Gryffindor himself.
Now, don’t get too excited just yet.
I know you must have a great many questions—” “Like why all the architecture in here looks like Slytherin designed it?” Leo asked.
Gryffindor fell silent.
After a moment, his expression darkened.
“That bastard Salazar.
He insisted this aesthetic was a necessary part of constructing the chamber.” “Fair enough.” Leo did not particularly care.
He had only mentioned it because the contrast was too obvious not to comment on.
“Let’s skip straight to the important part.
Fight me!” “Hahaha!
Straight to the point, aren’t you?” Gryffindor laughed heartily.
“You’re a Gryffindor too, I take it?” “That’s right.” Leo nodded.
He was about as stereotypically Gryffindor as it was possible to be.
The Sorting Hat had barely needed to think about it.
“Excellent!
I’m looking forward to fighting you as well.” Gryffindor’s grin widened.
“But…
the time isn’t right yet.” Leo’s expression immediately flattened.
“Unlike most wizards, I was never particularly fond of fighting with a little wooden stick in my hand.
It never felt very manly to me.
So, by combining my research into Animagus transformations with the transformation arts of the Druids, I developed a form of magic designed to strengthen the human body—” “So?” “This chamber has been accumulating magical power for a thousand years,” Gryffindor replied.
“If all of that power enters your body at once, are you certain you can withstand it?” Leo stared at him for a moment.
“…That had better be magical power you’re talking about.”