That was astonishing and coupled with the rest of what Harry had done Lily decided that maybe what she thought of as the basic laws of magic might not be so much laws as assumptions wizards had made over time, with only a few of them being true unbreakable rules.
She shook her head, wishing to think about that later but right now she had to get her son undercover somewhere. And maybe get him some food to. What was that spell Professor Flitwick told me about that checks food for poisons?
The two of them, James and Sirius were all drunk at the time. They had just come back from an excursion in Africa to make certain that the witch doctors there weren't going to join forces with Voldemort. After a few drinks James had asked the diminutive professor how he had made certain that the food the witch doctors gave them wasn't poisoned.
It had been, but Flitwick still negated the poisons easily enough, and he and the witch doctors had all laughed as if it was all good fun. Sirius had too Lily remembered. He said something about his family that James simply nodded at while it had shot past Lily, until James explained it later. She had been appalled at the time, but right now that wasn't important.
After a moment, she brought the spell's incantation to mind, and crossed her fingers hoping that she remembered the gestures right. Those she was much rockier on, as she confessed to Harry a few moments later as they crested another small rise in the land and could stared down into the dell where she had seen the animal and its burrow. "We were all a little tipsy I'm afraid, so you might have to experiment with the gestures, but after you're finished the spell, the meat should either glow yellow for good, or purple for poisonous."
Harry crouched down, staying low so as to not present a target if the animal was looking around it, though if it could see much with the only light coming from the crystals around them he didn't know. Lily hadn't been very helpful in describing what the animal could or could not do, only what it looked like. Why purple and yellow? And did the animal see you?"
"No it didn't, I passed right through it and it didn't respond at all. It might be sleeping for all I know, but it looked dangerous so be careful Harry." Harry Lily said seriously. "As for purple and yellow, I have no idea."
Harry nodded, and began to make his way forward still crouching down using what cover he could. He was good at hiding, though being on this end of a hunt was kind of strange. And there wasn't a lot of cover available here either. Eventually he was near enough to see the hole in the ground that Lilly had directed him to. The hole looked big enough for him though Lily's ghost might have to stay outside else her body would be with both him and the ground around it.
But as soon as he entered the small clearing around the hole, the creature burst out of its cage possibly hearing Harry's shoes on the gravel of the ground around.
The beast was actually a bit larger than Harry had expected after seeing its burrow, though Lily had warned him it was. If it stood on its hind feet, it would be as large as Harry and quite a bit wider. It did indeed look like some kind of mole with fur along its chest and arms, but it also had armor plates all along its back, which looked more like a grub than a beetle's, at least in Harry's opinion. I suppose I've spent more time around bugs than my mother, aren't girls supposed to be afraid of bugs or something anyway?
That thought was at the back of his mind however the rest of Harry's mind was busy controlling his body. Because the creature didn't just have armor plates on his back, it had long claws at the end of its paws, and the snout that emerged from under a bit of armor plate had wide mandibles open and slashing together. It was also racing straight at Harry, crossing the distance between them very fast indeed, moving on four of it's six legs.
Harry performed the swish and flick of his fingers that Lily had taught him pointing at the creature. "Stupefy!"
The first attempt was weak, only staggering the creature a little and it kept on coming. Now Harry could hear angry chittering coming from it. "GRAAHGRAAH!"
Harry quickly did the spell again, but it didn't work this time any better than the last even though the red circle looked much more powerful as it zoomed through the air. "It's not working!"
"Try to put more power into it!" Lily instructed urgently, moving forward as if to bar the creature's way automatically, only for the thing to pass through her without even noticing. She turned her face now a rictus of fear as it dawned on her that the creature was much tougher than she had expected, and that her son was in danger right in front of her and she couldn't do anything about it.
The third spell staggered the thing, and staggered from side to side shaking its head, which allowed Harry to hit it twice more with two more Stupefys. But the creature threw them off, and was on Harry before he could try again. The thing's claws sought Harry's side and chest, but he ducked away reflexively, reflexes honed by years of Harry Hunting standing him in good stead.
Desperately Harry grabbed the beast with his magic like it was one of his stones back in his hideaway then hurled it towards a few crystals. He was so scared he put as much power as he could into the spell, and the thing whistled through the air until it slammed with a boom into the crystal, shattering some of them.
It also impaled itself on bits of the crystal. Harry watched falling to his knees and gasping a little as the thing began to bleed out it's legs still moving spasmodically as it shrilled a high-pitched scream.