Summary: An unfamiliar creature lurks in the Forbidden Forest, alone and afraid... ;)

The Half-Giant and the Dragon

The hunter was injured - deep in the thick of an unfamiliar forest as he hunted his quarry. He tried to slow his heartrate as he staggered through the verdant underbrush. It wouldn't help him to lose too much blood, and its scent would only serve to turn the predator into prey.

The thundering of hooves distracted him, camouflage failing. A flurry of arrows soared towards him through the air... far too many to avoid. One pierced a weak point of the hunter's armour, burying in the flesh of his armpit. As the second wound took its toll, the hunter calculated his odds and decided that the hunt would have to be postponed.

Using what little remained of his camouflage, the hunter crept back the way he had come while the equestrians did their best to follow. But when the horse-people reached the clearing into which the hunter appeared to have escaped, they held back in shock. The Centaurs whinnied and neighed as a doorway opened in midair. The Predator's camouflage shorted again as he entered his craft and the door shut once more.

The Centaurs angrily pawed at the ground and stamped with their hooves as a hot gale-force wind roared through the clearing, whipping their tails and manes, the limbs of nearby trees swaying dangerously. Then the wind was gone, as quickly as it had arrived. Bewildered, the Centaurs sniffed the air.

"The hunter is gone," said a palomino Centaur. "But its prey remains..."

"A most dangerous prey," snarled another, a black Centaur with an angry expression. "We should kill it before it turns on us..."

"It is not ours to kill," retorted a dappled grey. "I say let the hunter return to finish the job when he has healed..."

"Nay," said a chocolate coloured Centaur, "I agree with Bane - the beast is too dangerous to let live while we await the return of he who invaded our forest to begin with.

"I concur," shouted another, and soon the glade was filled with a chorus of Centaurs agreeing that the creature should be killed before it could harm one of their own.

Their hooves thundered once more as the Centaurs swept the forest looking for the beast. After an hour of searching, they neared the woods that bordered the deep forest - the woods closest to the castle.

"Use caution," said the Palomino, "There may be young wizards about. I sense the large hairy one very near..."

Sure enough, moments later, the Centaurs reached another clearing - this one with a paddock. The large hairy one was there, waving his umbrella at the paddock and muttering some sort of fortification spell.

The dappled grey's face paled when he saw what the Hairy One had tethered in the pen. The enormous shiny black dragonish creature hissed and spat acid from its maw filled with deadly looking fangs. The acid hit an invisible shield and dripped to the ground, smoke rising as it burned through the top layer of soil.

A secondary internal jaw with another two rows of venomous looking fangs protruded from the open mouth, gnawing helplessly at the invisible shield as it began attempting to bite and claw its way out with its long vicious talons, its scythe-like tail whipping around furiously.

"Are you mad, Hagrid," shouted Bane. "Give us that cursed beast, or kill it yourself before it kills us all."

"Now why would I wanna go an' do tha'...?" Hagrid muttered, his beard bristling. "It's just scared o' you lot is all - wavin' yer ruddy bows an' arrows about and shoutin' like that. Who wouldn' be frightened?"

"Don't be stupid Hagrid," said the Palomino calmly. "Rarely do I agree with Bane, but the creature is not of this world. It must be put down immediately. As long as it lives, everyone in the castle is in danger.

"Nonsense Firenze..." Hagrid rolled his eyes. "Don' be such a ruddy nag. The poor wee thing is jus' misunderstood, it is..."

The End

AN: Just to be perfectly clear, yes, this short is a crossover with Aliens vs Predator!