Detention
The Usual Disclaimer: No intent to usurp copyright, no money being made, nothing. I own nothing of the Potterverse, so I still have to go to work on Monday.
November 21, 1991
Hermione Granger was disgusted. It was the evening of the full moon, and she had planned to meet up with the library club after supper, and then Professor Snape had given her a detention. She had been late for his potions class, as the library session had run long and she forgot (briefly) how long it took to the dungeon classroom from the library.
Then as she ran into the classroom, he had the gall to penalize her ten points for breathing too loudly for being out of breath. And gave her a detention to be served that very evening in the company of Draco Malfoy, just to add insult to injury (although the boy was very likely to add a number of insults himself as well).
As the evenings were getting colder, she had brought her fall cloak down to the front doors, where she met Draco and Professor McGonagall, as well as Hagrid who was to supervise their detention. As the group started away from the castle, it was clear that the elder witch was coming with them.
To have a professor accompanying them was so unusual, Hermione had to ask why she was coming along when this was most abnormal under the circumstances. The professor smiled, and awarded her ten points for a clever deduction (thereby replacing the points Snape had deducted, and getting a sneer from Malfoy).
Minerva looked at the two first year students, and said, "I have always felt that a detention should not be seen as punishment, but as a learning experience. This evening, we are going into the Forbidden Forest, to witness a very special event. One that I have only witnessed once, more than a half century ago when I was a schoolgirl here myself."
Draco looked shocked. "But the Forbidden Forest is just that, 'Forbidden'. We're not allowed to go in there. The Headmaster told us that." The fact that he had even listened to, and more that he remembered, what the Headmaster had said surprised the other three.
Hagrid nodded. "What yer need tae know is this. The Ferbidden Forest is not ferbidden by the Headmaster, or any of us two-legged folk. It's forbidden to us. It's the territory of the centaurs – proud creatures they are, and they don't want no more to do with us than they can help. They find us far too warlike and barbaric for their tastes. I talked to Firenze back a bit, and he somehow got us permission from his people for us, just us four mind, tae enter the forest tonight. It's a special honour from them, so I don't want either of you young'uns to abuse it. Or them, should we run into any of them."
"I should also point out that, there are things in there that you do not want to be messin' with. So stick close to the perfessor and me, and ye'll be alright." Hagrid's wolfhound Fang (or drool-hound, if truth be known) came along with them, but stuck close to Hagrid as if he was terrified of the forest as well.
At this, Draco's curiosity rose. In spite of the contempt which he had for the head Gryffindor and what he had been taught to consider a half-breed, he was also obsessed with power, as he had been losing his power in Slytherin House and he resented it. It was obvious that the Professor and the Gamekeeper did consider the wood a dangerous location, and that something in there had the power to forbid wizarding kind from entering. Given that he had been brought up to consider wizards to be the most powerful beings in creation, if there was something so powerful that they could forbid passage, he wanted to learn about them.
The professor looked at the two students, and added, "As I say, I hope this is a special treat for you two. When I was a second year, I and a couple other Gryffindor girls snuck into the forest. Scared witless we were, but we saw something marvellous that we had never expected. Martha and Shirley never got to see it again, rest their souls. This year, Firenze's folk have very kindly granted us this rare privilege."
"Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy, I hope that you find the event as fascinating and beautiful as I did, all those years ago."
Malfoy tried to look blasé, but now he was definitely intrigued, in spite of himself.
The four (plus the dog) moved carefully into the forest, proceeding quietly and cautiously. Malfoy kept looking right and left, expecting something horrible to jump out at him at any moment. Hermione was also looking around into the dark of the woods, but seeing how McGonagall and Hagrid had confident looks on their faces, she had no fear, although she was a little apprehensive after the mysterious half-description that her favourite teacher had given.
Minerva was looking forward to this event personally, but moreover, she wanted to share the rare event with these two students. First she wanted to share some of the beauty of the magical world with Hermione, who, in large part due to her time with the library club, was starting to come into her own as a brilliant and confident witch. Second, she wanted to show Draco Malfoy that the magical world was not just a place for bigotry and hatred. But mostly, Harry Potter's comments about her not seeming to have any joy in her life had been all too true – since the war with Voldemort, the world have been a cold place to Minerva, and she had retreated behind a screen of the stern schoolteacher. Harry's comments had hurt her, mostly because they had been so true and very much to the point. It was time she did something about it.
Minerva had thought long and hard about Harry's diatribe about her never smiling, and she recognised that it was also true. She many-times felt that she was in a harsh detention herself, and had been for most of her life. When she had first arrived at Hogwarts in 1936, she had been such a carefree lass from the Highlands, but the horrors she had experienced over time had put a permanent damper on her enthusiasm for life.
Much of the joy in her life ended while she was still at school during the Grindewald war; Shirley had been killed back then. Then during the Voldemort war, so many others has been killed – her friend Martha had been captured by Death Eaters, and Minerva wished she could convince herself that Martha's death had been quick and painless, but she could not because that's not the typical fate of women taken prisoner by the Death Eaters. When her favourite student and her husband (who in Minerva's opinion had been a compete asshole for most of his student years, until he fell head-over-heels in love with Lily) were betrayed and murdered, leaving an infant son who now appeared to despise her, it seemed like there would be no joy ever again.
Then when the captured Death Eaters bought their way to freedom, and she now had to teach their unrepentant offspring, Minerva's world view was anything but rosy.
However, tonight, she could maybe inject some of the joy back into her life, and smile again. And perhaps, by sharing this, she could turn the little potential monster, who accompanied her, away from his seemingly ordained path.
As they progressed through the forest, Draco kept looking around in fear, while trying in vain to maintain his most truculent sneer. "What are we doing here? This is pointless. When my father ...", at which point the Professor said quietly "Hush", and Hagrid added in what would pass for a normal person as a shout "Your father has been informed of your detentions, and we need to be quiet. There are things here you wouldn't be wanting to wake up, and we don't want to disturb them, nor the ones we're actually comin' tae see, neither."
This of course aroused Hermione's curiosity. "Hagrid, Professor, what are we here to see?"
Minerva smiled, and she enjoyed the unfamiliar feeling. "Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy. Hagrid has arranged permission for us to witness an annual event. A very special and normally very private ceremony which has been witnessed by very few humans. Each year, on the evening of the full moon a month before the winter solstice, the new unicorn foals are presented to the herd for their approval and acceptance. Many humans never see a unicorn throughout their entire lives, and most of the rest never see more than one. We will see the entire herd that live within this forest. This is their territory, theirs and that of the centaurs. This is why the forest is forbidden to us. It is theirs, not ours".
Malfoy snarled, "That's rubbish. They have no right to forbid us anything. They are just beasts! We can go anywhere we like, and they can't say anything about it!"
He heard a soft chuckle from Hagrid (or as soft as the big man could manage). "Malfoy, if ye had entered these woods without their permission, and without me and the Perfesser here with you, it would be most unlikely that you would come out, well maybe a bone or two, and nothing yer father or his owner can say would change that fact."
Malfoy was about to explode at this comment and shout that his father was not owned, when McGonagall gave a sharp "Hush!", and gestured tht they all crouch behind a fallen tree truck at the side of a lake. Across the lake, they could see a score or more adult unicorns standing still, as if waiting for something. They all seemed to glow, and whether it was the full moonlight on their coats, or an inner glow, it was impossible to tell. There seemed to be several different shades to the glow.
One by one, a small group of pairs of unicorns emerged from the forest in front of the gathered adults. In each pair, there was an adult with a full-sized horn which glowed gold in the moonlight, and a smaller one with a short horn, apparently a mare and her foal of the year. The smaller of the two of each pair did not glow.
Two by two, each pair slowly approached the herd. A number of the herd moved to meet each pair, and moved around the foal as if inspecting it. After a short time, and the adults making slight gestures to each other as if in consultation, one of the adults touched the foal's horn with theirs, one by one, and the foal began to glow as well in the same shade as the adult who had touched its horn. This apparently marked the herd accepting the new addition, and the mother and foal entered the rest of the herd together.
After about an hour, all the new foals had been accepted, and the herd slowly vanished into the forest.
From behind the four watchers, a deep voice said quietly, "Something akin to your own sorting ceremony, wasn't it?"
