Hello readers! Only a couple more chapters left in year one and then we can finally move on to the more exciting material. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!
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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
March 20th,1992
Severus enjoyed venturing into the Forbidden Forest ever since he first arrived Hogwarts, the forest offered blissful peace and a certain amount of privacy that a school full of hundreds of students rarely offered. The only noise that filled the forest that night was the joyful chirping of nocturnal insects and the occasional hoot of a rogue owl, it was nearly pitch black so Severus was holding his wand out in front of him to light the way. Unfortunately he wasn't in the forest for his own pleasure, Albus asked if he could investigate the unicorn deaths going on to see what they were up against.
This wasn't the first time that a unicorn hunt occurred, in fact it was quite an often occurrence due to desperate wizards looking to cure an illness or to make a small fortune. The horned beasts were completely pure in nature and were usually identified easily in the forest because of their pure white color, which usually led to their downfall. Their only true defense was the inevitable curse that would cause their killer to only live half a life, but even that couldn't keep them from being slaughtered.
So Severus was forced to serve this night in the forest looking for dead animals and although he cared for the well being of the unicorns and the deadly forest, he had enough to deal with back at the school. He had stacks of essays to grade, potions to tend to, and a peculiar girl to spy on. Yes, he was spying on Hermione Granger and as far as he was knew she had no idea. Back in November Severus enjoyed watching the girl make ingredient jars float in his classroom during her week of detention, and he was waiting patiently for the student to go beyond levitating things. Of course she was just a first year but one close look at the puffy haired, buck toothed, honey eyed girl revealed that she was much more than that, she practically radiated the magic of a full grown witch. If she could harness her magic properly she would be extraordinary, maybe even more powerful than himself, but he had to be cautious. A girl as curious as Hermione Granger would definitely try to push her power to its limit and likely wouldn't think twice about flirting with the dark arts to do so. That's why he offered her that apprenticeship in the first place, so long as she accepted his offer he could keep a close eye on her and eventually teach her about the magic within her.
Severus silently wondered what the girl was up to now, since usually she would spend this night grading finished potions. She did every Friday since November, in fact they developed a schedule that worked for the both of them. She came in every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday right after dinner in the great hall and would stay in his classroom for an hour and a half. On Tuesday and Wednesday Severus asked her the questions that he would go over in class the next day while she organized some part of the classroom, and on Friday she graded potions. At first Severus found it utterly preposterous that the girl actually wanted to do those things, but she seemed pretty happy while doing them, especially when Severus provided peaches for the girl. Turns out Miss Granger really liked peaches. Also she wasn't too bad to have around, unlike most of the students in the school she didn't cower when he spoke and she held good conversation on topics that people usually found boring. However Severus still found parts of the girl to be annoying, like her inability to stop speaking at times when he needed quiet the most, so really Severus didn't necessarily like the witch, he just tolerated her.
Severus shoved the thoughts of the peculiar girl to the back of his mind and hauled himself over a dewy fallen tree, he stumbled a little bit when his feet fell on the uneven ground, and let out a string of curses when he felt a part of his robes rip. He grabbed his ruined robes around him and looked out at the clearing in front of him. He let out a sigh when he saw the giant mound of white that stuck out bright against the ground like a giant mound of snow. It was a unicorn. Severus approached the dead animal and squatted next to it, its face was locked in a look of terror and its legs were poised as if it was still attempting to run away, he tried to avoid its wide eyes as he examined the wound on its neck. Silver blood still oozed from gash and poured down its neck into gathered pools on the ground, Severus retrieved a small towel from his pocket and wiped the unicorn blood away from the wound to get a better look. Instead of the typical stab wounds that most unicorns died from, this one had an ugly crater deep into its neck, but it wasn't big enough to be a wild animal, nor would a wild animal be stupid enough to kill a unicorn. Additionally Severus spotted several silver coated hand-prints on the unicorns body, but who could be that desperate for unicorn blood? It worried him, especially when the killer was so close to the school grounds. Severus pulled a flask from his pocket and took a sample of the unicorn blood, thinking that it may indeed come in handy one day. With that he stood and stepped away from the fallen animal, before he could report his findings to Albus he would have to tell Hagrid to bury yet another unicorn body.
"Another one? Guess that's 'bout eleven now." Hagrid slouched sadly in his over-sized chair and cradled the unicorn blood sample in his giant hands. Severus was seated awkwardly on a stool across the giant and politely accepted a mug of tea while he broke the news to him, he placed the mug on a small table beside him which was rather cluttered.
"It couldn't have happened more than an hour ago, blood was still coming out of the wound. It looked like a human actually bit its neck out." Severus explained, the giant's eyes went wide at that.
"A human? I've never heard of that happening before." Hagrid said, he seemed to drift off, his eyes glazed over slightly as he focused on the cluttered table. A rather large flute was placed directly next to three small mugs and a half eaten turkey leg was getting cold as it sat on its plate.
"Well that's what it looks like and Albus needs to know now so we can decide on what to do next. I recommend you keep students far away from the forest." Severus took a closer look at the small mugs on the table and noticed that they were all filled to the brim with tea, there were exactly four which could only mean one thing. "Or away from your hut after curfew."
"Right… Well its been a pretty long day you should go-" Hagrid started.
"What kids came here after curfew and how long ago did they leave?" Severus demanded.
"It was just Harry, Neville, Ron, and Hermione. They meant no harm, they were just curious about beasts." Hagrid stated, but he started trembling slightly. Anger flared through Severus at the mention of Miss Granger's name, of course she would have to hang out with those troublemakers, they were the marauders all over again.
"What beasts Hagrid?" Severus growled.
"Dogs." Hagrid mumbled, though he didn't quite meet Severus's eyes.
"Don't fool around with me Hagrid. What type of dogs?" Severus yelled.
"Fluffy. The kids asked about Fluffy." Hagrid admitted.
"Son of a bitch!" Severus felt panic surge into his veins as he stormed out of the hut, hoping that he might be able to make it to the idiot children in time before they did something stupid.
"So are you guys ready for this" Harry asked, he was surrounded by his three other friends, all determined to save the philosophers stone. They all nodded, wands clenched tightly in nervous fists. "Good. Hermione go ahead and open the door."
Hermione nodded and approached the sealed door, she placed her wand close to the lock and whispered "alohomora."
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