Memento Vivere

Chapter VII / Into the Forest

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear and cold. Harry woke early, but he took his time actually getting out of bed, dreading what was to come. McGonagall had been gracious enough to give them time to have breakfast, but that combined with the detention starting so early on a Saturday, did not reassure him. No, in fact, he was sure it would be long and miserable, taking up most of the day.

The sun was still low in the sky as Harry made his way down the stairs to the common room. He had thought about trying to squeeze in a good half hour of homework time, but he knew he wouldn't be able to concentrate on it at all. Instead, he had brought with him the journal so he could read over the last entry again.

It had taken until the night before for Harry to get a response to his request, and when he had opened the book, it was to find unfamiliar writing looking back at him. The hand was loopy, rather like Dumbledore's, and he would not have known to whom it belonged if Byron hadn't signed his name at the end.

Parseltongue was considerably more common many centuries ago, and those witches and wizards who could speak it did come up with much of their own magic. Many of them were rather arrogantly proud of the ability and guarded their secrets jealously, so not much was written down, and not much of that has survived. This is unfortunately the case of many of the writings from those times; much of what we know comes from second and third hand accounts, rather than primary sources.

But yes, it's entirely possible to cast magic in Parseltongue, although I've read that it does favour wilder magic than you might be used to. Wandless magic, Dark magic, magic of the sort that relies on nature and your surroundings. Magic, in other words, deemed too dangerous to be taught in institutions such as Hogwarts.

Actually, the relationship between certain languages and certain types of magic is something I've studied extensively—

At this point, there was a long slash across the page, as though someone had grabbed the quill to keep him from writing further. Or, more likely, to keep him from wondering off on a tangent Harry was not likely to care about.

I've also read that Parseltongue can indeed be written down, though I've never come across any books like this, so while it's entirely possible you found this spell in a book, it's very unlikely. That's assuming I would recognize it when I saw it, of course. I think that if you came across anything written in Parseltongue, you would not recognize it as anything but English, as is the case in spoken language. So, of course, if you did come across this spell in a book, it might be difficult to figure out which one.

If you would like a book or two on the subject, I would be happy to lend them to you.

—Byron

Of course, Harry could not think of any way to receive these books that wouldn't also draw suspicion, nor was he sure he really wanted to know more about this gift that was only a remnant of Voldemort trying to kill him, so he didn't think he would take Byron up on that offer.

Not much else he had written was anything Harry thought he might not have guessed. He hadn't really considered that there might be a way to write in Parseltongue, but it didn't really surprise him as much as he thought it should have. He agreed that he would probably think anything written in it would seem to be English to him, as he had difficulty noticing when he or Voldemort had switched languages when speaking aloud, so unless he could remember every book he had search through last year, looking for it would be of no help.

He also thought he could have guessed that if there were spells especially for Parselmouths, they would probably be Dark spells. After all, hadn't the ability always been linked to Dark wizards?

The phrase "magic of the sort that relies on nature and your surroundings," however, stirred something in his memories. He had a feeling he had encountered that sort of magic before, but he could not remember off the top of his head where it had been. Maybe once his detention was over and he had less to worry about, he could come back to it and figure out where he had seen something like that.

He had just started reading through these words a third time when he began hearing enough movement from upstairs that he thought he probably wouldn't be alone much longer. He closed the journal and head back up to his dormitory to put it back under his pillow. When he came back down, it was with Ron in tow. The two of them met Hermione in the common room and headed down to breakfast together.

Harry spent most of his breakfast with his eyes on his plate. If he looked down the table, he'd only see Angelina giving him furious looks every so often. If he looked up and across the Hall, he was sure to see Draco Malfoy doing the same thing. A glance up at the Head table revealed that Dumbledore seemed to be avoiding looking at him more than ever, but Professor McGonagall was not.

He knew why she was watching him more than usual. Professor McGonagall had asked him to stay behind after Transfiguration on Wednesday and had proceeded to repeat that if he needed someone to talk to, her office was always open and was there anything he'd like to tell her. He was sure this meant that Ginny or Hermione had gone to her after all, but he was not keen on giving the incident any more thought, so he had insisted that he was fine and he'd just been tired that day. He was sure she did not believe him, but she had kindly not pressed him for the truth.

He only wished that Dumbledore seemed to show the same amount of concern for him. While it was true that he had not gone to the Headmaster, he was sure that, again, Hermione or Ginny had, or Professor McGonagall after she had been told. Dumbledore, however, had not glanced at him once and he had not called Harry to his office either, like Harry thought he might have. After three days of this, Harry had had the urge to scream at him across the Great Hall and demand why he did not seem to care that one of his students was possibly being possessed again, but he had restricted himself to vicious glare in the direction of the Head table instead.

He could not say why he did not want to simply go to Dumbledore himself if he wanted Dumbledore to care so badly. He felt that maybe it was a silent competition between the two of them to see who would break first. If Dumbledore really cared, Harry thought he would eventually reach out to him.

As breakfast began to wind down and students began to leave to take advantage of the weekend, Professor McGonagall stood and made her way down from the staff table. Harry checked his watch and got up as well. They still had a few minutes to spare, but it wouldn't do to leave Professor McGonagall waiting long.

Across the room, he saw Malfoy scowl and push himself to his feet. Too bad, Harry thought viciously. It's your fault we're in this in the first place.

He and Malfoy reached the doors at about the same time. Malfoy sneered at him but did not say anything; perhaps he thought he couldn't risk it with McGonagall standing right on the other side.

When they came out into the Entrance Hall, they found that Professor McGonagall was not alone. She was standing near the front doors with Professor Grubbly-Plank chattering away at her side.

"Over here, you two," Professor McGonagall said, gesturing them over.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Malfoy hang back warily as soon as he saw the stout Care of Magical Creatures teacher. Obviously, he thought nothing good could come of this detention if she was involved. Harry fought back a grin as he led the way over to them; any sort of detention that made Malfoy uncomfortable would surely be worth it.

"You will be serving your detention in the Forbidden Forest today," Professor McGonagall said as they stopped in front of her. Malfoy almost took a step backward, and Harry had to suppress another grin. He remembered the last time Malfoy had entered the Forbidden Forest, and he had not had a good experience.

"Isn't that a bit dangerous for a detention, Professor?" he demanded, his voice wavering slightly. He was surely remembering that occasion too, when they had been unlucky enough to see Quirrell drinking blood from a unicorn.

"I have asked Professor Grubbly-Plank to accompany you, and she has graciously agreed," Professor McGonagall said lazily. "Between she and Mr. Potter, I'm sure you will have nothing to worry about, Mr. Malfoy."

Malfoy sent him another vicious glare. Harry serenely ignored it. He did not think it sounded as though Professor McGonagall approved of the fact that he could probably hold his own in the forest, but if it bothered Malfoy, he would take it.

And he was trying to ignore the fact that he agreed that it was not the best idea to have another detention in the forest. The last time he had nearly been killed by Voldemort. He did not think there was anything in the forest now that might want to kill him (other than the Acromantula colony) but he still did not feel reassured.

"Professor Snape has informed me that he is running low on certain Potions ingredients," Professor McGonagall said after a moment, "which he has also informed me are most easily found in the forest. Your detention will be to collect them for him. Mr. Malfoy, I have been told that you should recognize everything on this list, so it will be up to you to ensure that you find the correct ingredients."

She produced a long piece of parchment and held it out to Malfoy. He gaped at her.

"Professor Snape told you?" he said, looking furious. Harry wondered if he actually had appealed to Snape after all, and he was slightly amazed that Malfoy was still standing here next to him, having to serve his detention after all.

Professor McGonagall smiled slightly. "The details of this detention were his idea, in fact."

Malfoy angrily took the parchment from her and stuffed it in his pocket.

"How long have we got to do it, Professor?" Harry asked carefully. If it was Snape who had hammered out the details of this detention, he could very well want them back within the hour, if only because it would surely be an impossible task.

"However long it takes," said Professor McGonagall.

"Well then, we'd best be going, hadn't we, boys?" Professor Grubbly-Plank said cheerily. "Don't worry, Minerva, I'll bring them back in one piece."

Professor Grubbly-Plank turned toward the door. Professor McGonagall held out and hand to stop them from following just yet.

"Just a moment, Wilhelmina." She looked at them sternly. "If I learn that there have been any spells cast at each other over the course of this detention, you will have another weeks' worth of detentions and another fifty points taken away, am I clear?"

"Yes, Professor," they intoned together, Malfoy sounding distinctly less happy than Harry. He gave Harry another vicious glare and marched off after Professor Grubbly-Plank, obviously keen to get this over with.

Harry followed, feeling a bit of trepidation himself. He did not know how he was supposed to survive a whole day with Malfoy when Malfoy was sure to be impossible to deal with and would probably lord his superior Potions skills over Harry besides. Now that Harry thought about it, he had a feeling Snape had arranged this detention with Malfoy's comfort in mind—he might not enjoy going into the forest, but collecting Potions ingredients was much more up Malfoy's alley than Harry's.

Professor Grubbly-Plank led them across the grounds toward Hagrid's hut and the edge of the forest. Harry sent a wistful look in the direction of the Quidditch Pitch; Gryffindor did not have practice until that afternoon, so it was really Malfoy who was most likely to miss the entirety of his team's practise, but Harry could not help but feel like he would end up missing all of his too just the same.

Malfoy slowed a bit as they reached the hut, coming even with Harry, and he even opened his mouth like he was about to say something snide about Hagrid still being gone. A moment later, however, he shut his mouth without having said anything.

"What?" Harry demanded. If he was going to say something, he'd rather he just come out and say it. At least then he would have a concrete reason to be annoyed with Malfoy, rather than just being annoyed by his general existence.

Malfoy shrugged, smirking at him. "Just wondering what's been taking that oaf so long to return. He's been a rather huge disappointment this year, hasn't he? As if he isn't always."

Harry scowled at him, but said nothing. It would do no good to go picking a row with Malfoy before they had even really started their detention. And while he hated that Malfoy obviously knew more about what had happened to his friend than he did, he was starting to think he might have a very good idea of what Hagrid had been up to after all.

Professor Grubbly-Plank stopped at the edge of the forest and turned to face them.

"Right, I'm only here to make sure you too don't get into any trouble," she said, handing each of them a bag. "Won't be doing anything to help you out otherwise, and I'll be giving you your space. If you get in any trouble, send up red sparks and I'll come find you. Got all that? Right, off you go, then."

Malfoy stared at her like she had gone mad. For all his bravado and the rush he'd been in to get out here, he wasn't in any hurry to actually go into the forest now. Harry rolled his eyes, hitched his bag over his shoulder, and marched off into the shade of the trees.

"C'mon, Malfoy, you're the one with the list. I'll make sure nothing attacks you, all right?"

Malfoy grumbled a bit, but Harry soon heard his footsteps crunching through the bramble behind him.

"If we get killed in here—"

"We won't get killed," Harry said, rolling his eyes again. Then a moment later, he added, "As long as you don't go anywhere I say not to."

"And why should I trust anything you say about this place?" Malfoy remarked, although he did make an effort to catch up. "You already tried to kill me once this week. How do I know you won't try again?"

Harry felt his blood go cold, but he managed to keep his voice even as he responded, "All I did was throw a few hexes, you git. And you'll listen, because I do know where everything deadly is."

"Oh, very reassuring, Potter."

"If you'd rather run off on your own, go ahead."

Malfoy sneered at him, but he did not even make a move to leave the path. Harry smirked a bit. When all was said and done, Malfoy was more afraid of what could be out there in the trees than he was afraid of or hated Harry, and so they both knew that he would be staying right there with him the whole time.

After a few minutes of walking along the path, the forest around them had darkened significantly, and Harry felt they were officially in the part that was usually out-of-bounds. He stopped and adjusted his bag again.

"Right, so what are we supposed to be looking for?"

Malfoy came to a stop next to him and pulled out the piece of parchment Professor McGonagall had given him. He seemed to relax very slightly as he looked over the list, his eyes moving in a way Harry was familiar with from watching Hermione try to memorize something very quickly. Harry bit back a grin; he was sure neither Malfoy nor Hermione would appreciate being told they were in any way alike.

"Most of this is fairly simple," Malfoy said after a moment. His voice had regained its usual drawl, which had been absent since the moment he had learned where they would be spending their detention. "Even you should know what most of these look like; we've used them enough times."

He reached the bottom of the parchment and his eyes narrowed slightly. "The most difficult to obtain will be the unicorn tail hair," he said, handing the list over to Harry. "Unicorns often shed or have hair pulled out in bushes and bramble, but they could have been anywhere in the forest when that happened. Of course, Professor Snape is correct in that it would be far easier—and cheaper—to obtain it ourselves out here."

Harry looked over the list as Malfoy rambled. He did recognize most of the names from their various Potions classes, but he found that he could not imagine what an awful lot of them might look like in the wild. His gaze, however, had stopped on a completely different ingredient, one that he was sure would be just as difficult to obtain as unicorn tail hair and was undoubtedly on this list for the sole purpose of making him uncomfortable.

"Runespoor eggs," Harry muttered, making a face.

"Should be easy enough for you," Malfoy said. His voice had taken on the same quiet quality it had on Monday night.

Harry frowned at him, but he hadn't been keen on sharing then, so why would he be now? "Yeah, I'll just march up to a nest and say, 'excuse me, but we need a few of your eggs so we can smash them up and use them in a potion.' Should go over well."

It was probably a trick of the light, but he could have sworn he saw Malfoy's lips twitch like he was trying not to smirk.

"Well, we can worry about that later, I suppose," Malfoy said, as if putting it off was causing him the deepest agony. "Keep an eye out for unicorn hair as we go; we'll probably find it while we're looking for something else."

Malfoy gave him a look saying it was time to start moving again. Harry stayed where he was, frowning down at the list. He did not particularly want to admit that he actually didn't have a very good idea what all they were looking for, especially not to Malfoy, who was sure to use that knowledge against him in the future. However, it would definitely take longer if Malfoy ended up being the only one looking out for ingredients.

"Let's go, Potter," Malfoy said shortly, though, as Harry noticed, he was in no hurry to get moving on his own.

"Hang on a minute, would you?" Harry bit back. He could probably just collect the ingredients that he did know and hope that Malfoy would be able to find the rest well enough on his own. They might end up with loads more of those particular plants, but Snape couldn't complain about having extra.

"What is your problem?" Malfoy demanded. A moment later, his gaze flicked between Harry and the parchment he was still holding, and his lips curled back in a sneer. "Potter, please tell me you do know what most of those look like."

Harry hesitated, but that was enough for Malfoy. His sneer increased tenfold and he snatched the parchment away again.

"You've been taking this class for four years and you can't tell the ingredients apart by now?"

"I know some of them," Harry said indignantly.

Malfoy snorted and pulled out his wand. Harry immediately drew his own. Malfoy glanced at it and rolled his eyes.

"I'm not going to jinx you just because you're stupid."

"Funny, that's never stopped you before," Harry said, but he did lower his wand.

"Careful, Potter, I am still a prefect," Malfoy said softly. He lit his wand with a murmured spell and started on down the path, this time without waiting for Harry to get moving himself.

Harry stared at him for a moment before he hurried to catch up. "Where are you going?"

Malfoy gave him a look over his shoulder. "To complete our detention."

"Without me?" Harry said, raising his eyebrows.

Malfoy shrugged and looked away again, his voice airy and condescending at once. "I don't care what you do. You'll obviously be useless in helping with this."

Harry scowled at him and grabbed at the parchment. "I told you, I know some of them."

Malfoy scowled right back and held the list out of his reach. "Get out of it, Potter."

"Look, we're both out here, they're obviously expecting us both to collect them—"

"Yes, and I'm sure they expected you to know what you were doing instead of being the blundering idiot you usually are—"

"Would you just stop for a minute?" Harry demanded.

Malfoy walked a few more steps, but he finally sighed and turned around, giving Harry a look of deepest loathing.

"What?"

"How about we come up with a compromise?" Harry said, though he could not believe he was saying it. He did not want to work together with Malfoy, and he was sure the feeling was mutual, although he had a sneaking suspicion that this was exactly why Professor McGonagall and Snape had agreed to this particular detention.

"Like what?" Malfoy said. He also looked sceptical, but his wand hand was trembling slightly. It must have taken an enormous effort for him to actually try to walk off on his own. Harry thought he might actually agree just to keep Harry at his side where he'd be able to protect him.

"I'll find the plants I know for sure, and I'll make sure nothing attacks you," Harry said, ticking things off on his fingers as he said them. "And I'll try to get the Runespoor eggs. You can find everything else, and I'll try to pick up on what things look like."

"That's your idea of compromise?" Malfoy said, wrinkling his nose.

"It's better than you having to do everything, isn't it?"

Malfoy stared at him for a long moment. Then he sniffed and raised his wand again. "Very well. Get over here and tell me what you think you'll recognize."

Together, the two of them went over the list again and Harry pointed out what plants he was positive he could recognize and even a couple he was less sure of but still sure enough. Malfoy used a charm to turn the ink of each one red, so that he would know not to waste his own time looking for them. When they were done, the red words were still greatly outnumbered by the black ones, and Harry was sure Malfoy sent him more than one look of disgust.

"Can we get going now?" Malfoy said once they were done. "I'd like to be done with this before lunch."

Harry snorted slightly, because he doubted they would finish any time before the afternoon, but he gestured for Malfoy to follow him and started on down the path again. "If we stay on the path, we should be fine."

"Not all of this might be on the path," Malfoy said.

"Lucky for you I know where the Acromantula colony is, then, isn't it?"

"Acromantula colony?" Malfoy froze for a moment, and when he caught up with Harry again, he was sticking a bit closer to him. "You're lying. There's nothing like that in here."

"You'd be surprised what's in here," Harry said with a shrug.

"They wouldn't allow anything like that near a school," Malfoy said, but he voice was wavering again and Harry had to fight back a smirk.

"Maybe that's why it's the Forbidden Forest, Malfoy."

"You're lying, Potter."

Harry laughed and shrugged again. He had been absolutely right; no matter how irritating Malfoy could be, this detention was worth it to make him so nervous.

The slowly made their way deeper and deeper into the forest, stopping every so often to pick a bunch of some plant or another or to collect a few small black beetles or another slug. The forest steadily became thicker and harder to pass through, and as the trees began to be grouped closer together, the world around them became as dark as dusk. It wasn't long before Harry was forced to light the end of his wand as well so he would have enough light to see by.

As they went, they continued to bicker every now and then, usually when Malfoy pointed out another plant Harry did not recognize right away and then proceeded to deride him for that. However, Harry found that when Malfoy did not have his friends around to impress, he was considerably more tolerable. There were still moments when Harry dearly wanted to hex him, and he still hated even being in Malfoy's presence. But they had similar senses of humour when all was said and done, and Harry found himself almost enjoying trading witty remarks back and forth.

But after almost two hours, they had only found about half the items on Snape's list and Harry had to make the suggestion.

"Malfoy, I think we need to go off the path."

Malfoy immediately flinched, something Harry would have found funny an hour ago. Then he tried to pretend he hadn't done it, which Harry definitely still found funny now.

"I hardly think that's necessary—"

"We aren't finding anything new anymore," Harry pointed out, crossing his arms. "And we haven't found half of what's on that list."

"I doubt Professor Snape would have put it on this list if we couldn't find it along the path," Malfoy said, but he definitely didn't sound sure of that. No doubt he was remembering that Grubbly-Plank had been asked to keep an eye on them, and she was still some distance back down the path, close enough to be of use if they needed help but far enough away to give them privacy.

"I don't think Runespoors tend to keep their nests along the path," Harry said, though truthfully he had no idea if there even were Runespoors in the forest. He wouldn't doubt it, though, as there were and awful lot of creatures in here that had once been Hagrid's and Harry would not put it past him to have tried getting a Runespoor once.

"I'm not leaving the path, Potter," Malfoy sneered.

Harry shrugged and stepped off to the right, heading into the dense under-brush that rarely saw travellers. He was going off the path, whether Malfoy liked it or not.

Malfoy twitched and immediately started following him, as Harry thought he might.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Harry paused and looked back at him, forcing back a grin. "I'm going to find more Potions ingredients. You can stay on the path if you want."

Malfoy hesitated, but he kept on marching through the brush after Harry. "And you know where you're going, do you? Only it wouldn't be the first time you got us lost out here."

Harry rolled his eyes. "We won't get lost. And I'm pretty sure the Acromantulas are the other way, so we shouldn't run into them either."

"There are not Acromantulas in here..." Malfoy muttered, but they had already had this argument and he didn't seem to mind sticking as close to Harry as possible just in case.

Harry soon regretted his decision to turn from the path. While the path had been covered in roots and bramble, it had still been discernible as a path and it hadn't been too difficult to navigate. The rest of the forest, however, was nigh impassable. Here, the trees were thick and had little room between them through which to move, and the many branches and bushes filled in much of that space. Their robes caught on just about everything, and more than once they had to struggle for several minutes to free themselves. Harry was soon covered in scrapes and scratches, and he knew he had a few new holes in his robes.

And the further they pressed into this wildness, the more Malfoy began to whine and complain. Harry forced himself to simply tune it out, but it was difficult when there were few other sounds to listen to instead. More than once, he had to remember McGonagall's warning of another week's worth of detentions to keep himself from just trying to Silence Malfoy. His Silencing Charms weren't perfect yet, but he was sure he had enough motivation at the moment to get one right.

They finally reached a small clearing and were able to take a break from wrestling with nature. He heard Malfoy slump against a tree, panting dramatically.

"I'm onto you," Malfoy said after a moment. "This just another plan to get me killed."

Harry threw his free hand in the air. "Would you get over yourself? I don't want to kill you!"

"Is that so."

Harry turned around. Malfoy had stopped his dramatics and was now staring at him with an odd expression on his face and a light in his eyes that Harry knew would never lead to good things.

"Have you figured it out yet?" Malfoy asked when Harry did not seem inclined to say anything.

Harry frowned at him. "Figured what out yet?"

"What you're playing at."

Harry's frown turned into a scowl. He did not want to talk about that, particularly not with Malfoy. "I wasn't playing at anything."

"Where did you learn to cast spells in Parseltongue, Potter?" Malfoy asked, and for the first time, his voice did not automatically sneer Harry's name. This was a Malfoy Harry had never seen, and it was beginning to unnerve him.

"None of your business," Harry said. He turned away and began scanning over the ground with his wand. It was always possible there would be something they were looking for in this small opening in the trees.

"You made it my business when you attacked me," Malfoy said, crossing his arms.

Harry shrugged and said nothing. Malfoy could try all he wanted, but he wouldn't be getting anything more out of Harry.

Or so Harry thought, until Malfoy said, "I heard you think you've been possessed."

Harry turned abruptly and pointed his wand at Malfoy. Malfoy only smirked, his eyes glittering maliciously. That had probably been exactly the reaction he had wanted, but Harry didn't care. That was exactly what he did not want to get spread around the school, and it seemed it had already spread as far as Slytherin.

"Where did you hear that?" Harry demanded.

"A little bird told me," Malfoy said with a casual shrug. He pushed himself away from the tree and began moving languidly toward Harry. He was reminded horribly of a large cat stalking its prey.

"The little bird lied," Harry said, standing his ground.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. Hey, here's a question: why've you been so quiet about all this if that's what you really think? Usually you'd love a chance to—"

Harry paused and looked off to his left. He could have sworn he'd heard something shuffling around on the other side of the trees.

Malfoy apparently hadn't heard it, but he looked off in that direction as well, trying to not look worried. "Oh, very funny, Potter," he said when nothing else happened. "If you think you can scare me out of—"

"Shut up!" Harry hissed.

Malfoy opened his mouth again to protest. Before he could say anything, something cracked off to the left, something that sounded an awful lot like a branch snapping in two.

Malfoy grabbed his arm, staring wide-eyed at the darkness beyond the trees. "What the hell was that?"

Harry gestured for him to be quiet and took a step closer to where the noise had come from. Now that he was listening for it, he could hear the crunching of twigs and thicket as they were stepped on and a few more branches breaking, though none as big as the first, and something that sounded like breathing and maybe...growling...?

A sick feeling started forming in his stomach just as a very familiar shape loomed out of the darkness. The head of a giant dog poked through a gap in the trees, sniffing eagerly. A second one joined it a moment later on the other side of one of the trees.

"Fluffy..." Harry breathed. He had wondered what had happened to the giant, three-headed dog that had once guarded the Philosopher's Stone. Hagrid must have released it into the forest, where he would be able to visit it and it would be far enough from the school to hurt anyone.

"Fluffy?" croaked Malfoy, sounding half incredulous and half scared out of his wits.

The first head turned and stared right at him. The growling deepened and Malfoy gripped his arm even harder.

"Hagrid named him," Harry murmured. He took a step backward; the second head had turned to see what the first was looking at and he thought he could now see the third in the darkness as well.

"That brainless oaf—"

"Shut up!" Harry hissed again. He took another step back. Malfoy quickly did too, so he would still be behind him. "We need to get out of here."

"I thought you could handle everything out here," Malfoy muttered accusingly.

"I didn't say I can't handle him, I just don't have what I need to do it," Harry said. He did not have any sort of instrument and he doubted either of them could just conjure one, and while he thought that Fluffy was probably not immune to Stunning, he would probably need to be hit with more than one spell. "Unless you know the Sunning Spell?"

Malfoy jerked like he'd just been insulted. "Of course I do, you dolt."

Harry eyed him incredulously, but he nodded and raised his wand. Now all three heads were visible and Fluffy was shuffling around, trying to find a way to get through to them. "All right. If we both cast it together, it might take him down."

"Might?" Malfoy repeated, but he raised his wand as well.

"More than likely," Harry said, which wasn't much better than "might" but it was much better than "well I've never tried Stunning him before."

Malfoy sneered at him. "Right. On the count of three, then?"

"Yeah. One, two, three—Stupefy!"

Twin jets of light shot straight at the giant dog and struck him in the chest. Fluffy staggered back, but he didn't fall over. Instead, he shook himself, looking a bit dazed that someone had actually attacked him, and then started barking and growling more than ever and ran right at the trees that protected them.

"Oh, great plan, Potter!" Malfoy yelled over the noise.

"Right, new plan," Harry said, grabbing his sleeve. "Run!"

Harry turned and dashed into the trees opposite the giant dog, dragging Malfoy along with him.

It was no easier than it had been before to move through the undergrowth, but they could hear Fluffy thrashing behind them and that was more than enough motivation to get through it. Malfoy was cursing at him again, but Harry did not care and did not bother listening. It was his job to make sure they didn't die out here, and that was what he was intent on doing.

Harry had them pause once to use the Four-Point Spell to make sure they were headed back in the direction of the castle. Malfoy had them stop again to grab one of the plants they hadn't yet found. Neither of them felt like stopping for long, because they could still hear Fluffy rampaging through the forest behind them.

But finally, they stumbled upon one of the few paths in the forest and Harry came to a stop. He could no longer hear Fluffy following them. The cerberus must have decided that they weren't worth the effort to catch and let them go.

"How the hell," Malfoy said, panting heavily beside him, "do you know that thing's name?"

Harry could not explain why he found this so funny—perhaps the relief and adrenaline that came from outrunning a giant vicious monster was making him giddy—but he started laughing. And once he started, he found he couldn't stop.

Malfoy stared at him incredulously, sure that this was this finally proof that Harry had lost his mind. But after a moment, his lips twitched and he started laughing too.

The two of them stood there laughing together in the dappled light of the forest until Harry had a stitch in his side and Malfoy sounded as though he was having trouble breathing again.

"Seriously, Potter," Malfoy said once he'd finally gotten himself under control. "I know Hagrid doesn't just keep that thing leashed behind his shack."

"No, I met him in the school, actually." Harry almost started laughing again at the horrified look on Malfoy's face and he had to look away to keep himself under control. "C'mon, let's find where this meets up with the main path. I'll tell you while we're walking."

"They did not keep that thing in the school," Malfoy scoffed as he caught up with Harry.

Harry almost grinned at him—then he remembered who exactly he was talking to and he settled for a smirk of his own. "They did. Remember in first year when that one corridor was off limits? He was in there, guarding the Philosopher's Stone."

Malfoy gaped at him. "What Philosopher's Stone? Wait..." He trailed off, his eyes growing distant as he thought back to that year. He suddenly scowled at Harry and demanded, "This doesn't have anything to do with how you got all those points at the end of the year, does it?"

This time, Harry did grin—of course, Malfoy would still be holding a grudge about that—and he began regaling the tale of what had happened that night in and under the forbidden corridor, Voldemort and all. And he took an immense amount of pleasure saying Voldemort's name as often as the story would allow, just to see Malfoy flinch horribly every time.

The trail wound its way back in the general direction of the castle, though Harry noticed that it was headed considerably more north than west where the castle was. Since they had been rather far south-east of the original path, however, he thought it should work out all right in the end. He would have suggested that they just bushwhack back to the castle, but he'd remembered in a flash of guilt that Professor Grubbly-Plank was still out here with them and she would have no idea where they'd gone.

The story of Harry's adventure beneath the school in his first year carried them quite a distance, even when Malfoy stopped every now and then to collect one of the ingredients they were supposed to be looking for out here. But just as he was reaching the end, Malfoy stopped and pointed his wand at the trees.

Harry stopped too so he could listen. He could definitely hear something moving around in the bushes, but this time, it did not sound nearly so big as Fluffy had and he also thought it sounded like it was hooves breaking through the tiny branches.

A moment after he had decided that yes, it was definitely the sound of hooves, a centaur stepped out onto the path in front of them.

Malfoy took a step back. Harry, however, smiled and kept walking forward. If it had been any other centaur, he would have been encouraging Malfoy to start walking back in the other direction, but this was a centaur he recognized from his last trip into the forest with Malfoy, one with white-blonde hair and strikingly blue eyes and a much friendlier disposition toward humans than most.

"Hello, Firenze," he said, holding out a hand.

Firenze bowed his head and took Harry's hand for a brief moment. "Harry Potter." His eyes flicked over Harry's shoulder to where Malfoy still had his wand trained on him. "And Draco Malfoy."

Malfoy gaped at him. Harry stepped back and casually reached out to push the tip of Malfoy's wand back toward the ground. "It's good to see you again."

"I wish I could say the same," Firenze said. He took a couple restless steps and glanced back over his shoulder into the trees from which he'd come. "The other centaurs have not appreciated your presence here. I have come to warn you that if you do not leave before nightfall, you may come under attack."

Now it was Harry's turn to stare at him. Next to him, Malfoy grabbed his sleeve again.

"What? Why?" Harry asked. "We haven't done anything. I mean, we upset Fluffy, I guess. But we're here for a detention, we can't leave."

Firenze regarded him, and then Malfoy, calmly for a good long moment. Then he said, "It is because you have been associating with vampires."

Harry felt the world fall out around him. He heard Malfoy yell, "What?!" as if from the end of a long tunnel. He could hardly see Firenze any longer through his shock.

It could not be over so easily. What had he done wrong? How could Firenze—and all the other centaurs it seemed—possibly know who he had been communicated with? Did it show, somehow, that he was friends with a vampire, did he have to worry about someone else figuring it out just by looking at him?

And then, of course, Firenze had had to say it in front of Malfoy, who had vampire friends of his own who were currently trying to wheedle their way into Voldemort's army. Firenze had just put all of them in extreme danger if Malfoy decided to write his father and mention this.

"Yeah, we didn't want to keep that a secret or anything," Harry said scathingly at last. He easily could have meant himself and his friends with that "we," but he also could have meant himself and Malfoy, something which Malfoy caught onto rather quickly. Malfoy jerked next to him and stared at him in horror.

Firenze cocked his head slightly, regarding him curiously. "It is written in the stars," he said, as if that explained everything.

"Oh, great," Harry said, throwing up his free hand; Malfoy was still clinging to his other arm. "What else is up there, what I'm having for breakfast tomorrow?"

"What did he mean, you're associating with vampires?" Malfoy demanded in a low voice. Harry ignored him.

"The skies do not deal in anything nearly so trivial," Firenze said, giving him a somewhat disappointed look.

"But us talking to vampires, that's up there," Harry said, deliberately including Malfoy this time to get him to shut up.

Firenze nodded slowly once and turned his gaze toward the heavens. "What we have seen over the years indicates that we are in a brief calm between two wars. This second war will be taking shape soon, and your involvement will be essential. As will that of the vampires," he added with a look of distaste.

"Malfoy too?" Harry said, glancing over at him. Malfoy was such a coward that he could not imagine him being essential to any sort of war (and by the look on his face, nor could he), but Firenze had singled him out too and he had not been surprised to find him here with Harry.

Firenze turned his head to stare at Malfoy again with an unsettlingly steady gaze. "This meeting was foretold in the heavens. You are both essential, as essential as the place and the time."

Malfoy stared back less then steadily, and his voice shook when he finally spoke. "We both are, huh? And I suppose it doesn't say what we're each supposed to do that's so important?"

Firenze merely stared at him silently. Then he looked back at Harry and said, "It is important that you leave before nightfall, Harry Potter. The other centaurs will not tolerate your presence much longer."

And then he turned to leave, his tail flicking impatiently behind him. Malfoy immediately took a couple steps forward.

"Hey, wait! You're not just leaving us with that, are you?"

Firenze stopped and looked over his shoulder at him. "I have delivered my message, Draco Malfoy. That is all I came to say."

"How about a few details on this war that's coming up?" Malfoy demanded. "And what's this meeting got to do with anything? You hardly told us anything we didn't already know."

Firenze slowly backed up and turned back around. He fixed Malfoy with an even stare, which Harry thought Malfoy would for sure cower under—but to his surprise, Malfoy stared right back, his arms crossed and legs apart in an aggressive stance.

"There is darkness ahead," Firenze said finally, unnervingly calm about it. "Many lives will be lost. However, there may also be hope in the future. The meaning of what is to come is still unclear and even we centaurs have interpreted the heavens wrongly in the past. What is clear is that the world will be thrown into chaos. How we come out on the other side is something we must discover for ourselves."

He moved as if to turn away again. This time Harry stepped forward and reached a hand out. "Wait."

Firenze looked at him expectantly, as if he had been waiting for this.

Harry tried not to let it unnerve him. He was uneasy enough saying this with Malfoy standing right next to him, but Malfoy already knew about the vampires, so what harm could the rest of this be, really?

"It's awful, how wizards have treated you and other magical creatures. Especially some wizards," Harry said, thinking of a certain toad-like witch back in the castle. "It isn't fair to anyone, but it especially isn't fair to you. I know the centaurs chose not to involve themselves in our politics, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't listen to you when we're making decisions about you. And other races..." Harry clenched his fist, thinking of everything he'd read so far about the Ministry's policies. "Other races are supposed to have a voice, and we don't listen to them either.

"I'm going to change that. You and the other centaurs might not like vampires, but I don't only want to help them. I want to help everyone who might want it. They were just the ones who reached out to me first."

Fore a long time, Firenze said nothing. He continued to stare at Harry with his clear blue gaze. Then he dipped his head and, while he never did seem to actually smile, his expression now came close.

"It is foretold that we will meet again, Harry Potter," he said quietly. "I look forward to it."

This time, when Firenze began to walk away, neither of them tried to stop him. Harry had nothing left to say, and Malfoy was busy staring at him again. Harry wished he would stop but he knew that wasn't going to happen any time soon.

"C'mon," Harry said, starting off in the same direction in which Firenze had disappeared.

Malfoy grabbed his arm again and held him back. Harry sighed and turned to face him; he might as well get this over with while they were still in the privacy of the forest.

"You've been communicating with vampires?" Malfoy asked. Harry could not interpret the look on his face except that it was angrier than he'd expected.

"Yes," he said simply.

"Who?"

"None of your business," Harry said. Here, again, was a subject that he was not going to discuss with Malfoy of all people. It was bad enough that he knew Harry was speaking with any vampires at all. Harry was not going to endanger them further if he could help it.

Malfoy narrowed his eyes. "Is it the vampire I was with in Hogsmeade?"

"You met with a vampire in Hogsmeade?" Harry said as innocently as possible. He especially did not want Malfoy to know Christopher was friendly with him. Christopher's family would be in the most danger if Voldemort started to suspect some of his vampire allies were friendly with Harry Potter.

Malfoy sneered at him. "Don't play stupid, Potter, I saw you and your friends spying on us."

Harry hesitated for a moment, but there was something in Malfoy's demeanour that made him actually answer properly this time. Maybe it was that, under the anger and condescension, he actually looked a bit worried.

"I was more spying on him," Harry admitted finally. "I didn't know he was meeting you."

"So you do know him."

"Yes," Harry said. He hesitated again before adding quietly, "I know a lot of them."

Malfoy let go of his arm. He was very quickly starting to look sick.

"Do they know about this?" Malfoy demanded after a moment, gesturing angrily in the direction of the castle. Harry could only assume he meant Ron and Hermione—not that it really mattered since he hadn't told anyone at all—and he shook his head.

"They know a vampire met me at the beginning of the summer," Harry said, "because the Ministry sent Aurors to investigate. And they know that it wasn't him. I haven't told them anything else, though, no."

"No?" Malfoy repeated, and his eyes had suddenly gained a mischievous gleam.

Harry felt panic and fury rise up at once, and in two giant strides, he had Malfoy back up against a tree with his wand jabbing hard into the blond's chest.

"If you tell anyone," Harry hissed, "so help me, Malfoy, I'll hex you until you're unrecognisable. You remember what that's like, don't you?"

"You'll be expelled," Malfoy sneered, but his eyes had gone wide with shock and trepidation, and from the way his voice wavered, Harry was sure he remembered what had happened on the train home last year all too well.

"You think I care?" Harry said with a bark of laughter. "They can do whatever they like to me." He leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice. "But what do you think's going to happen if it gets back to Voldemort that any of them have been talking with me?"

Malfoy's face had gone very blank. Harry could not tell what he might be thinking. He was sure, however, that this was something Malfoy had already considered, or he wouldn't have been so worried to begin with.

"I don't care if anyone knows for my own sake," Harry murmured. "What can they do to me? Forbid me from talking to any of them? Spy on me? They're already doing that, and they don't know any more than they already did." He leaned in even closer, and his voice was think with rage as he continued, "But if you do anything to endanger them, they'll have to throw me in Azkaban when I'm though with you. So go on and tell who you like, but the only people you'll be hurting is yourself and your family."

Malfoy's eyes widened very slightly—he had obviously not expected Harry to know that Christopher was family. Then he stood up straight and stared back at Harry as seriously as Harry had ever seen him be, with maybe a touch of indignation thrown in.

"I would never do anything to put my family in danger," Malfoy stated, his eyes daring Harry to contradict him.

Harry stood back and lowered his wand. He felt like he might actually be going mad for it, but he believed him. He really didn't think Malfoy would do anything that would put the Arkwrights in danger.

"Good," he said lamely. "So this'll be our little secret, then."

Malfoy nodded, looking a bit reluctant about actually agreeing to that but agreeing all the same.

Harry let out a deep breath. The panic he had been feeling since Firenze had opened his mouth was not gone just yet, but at least he felt like he wouldn't have to walk on eggshells from now on.

But more than that, he felt as though something fundamental had changed between him and Malfoy. He hated that Malfoy knew about this, but he no longer felt like he hated Malfoy himself exactly. Of course, he would not get over four years of mutual hatred over the course of five minutes, but Malfoy's presence was overall more tolerable than it had been before.

Malfoy looked as though he might have come to the same conclusion, and when he jerked his head and spoke, it was much less scathing than Harry expected.

"Shall we get going then? You heard the centaur; we can't stay in here much longer."

"Yeah, we should get moving."

They walked in somewhat awkward silence for some time, only stopping when they had to collect another ingredient. Harry glanced over at Malfoy every now and then, but the other boy was lost in thought and hardly seemed to know where he was going much less care what Harry was doing. Harry wondered what he was thinking about, as there had been plenty between what Firenze had said and their conversation against the tree, but he did not ask. Malfoy was probably thinking about all of it. He knew that he was.

Before long, they reached a fork where their path met up with the main one. It was here that Malfoy finally stopped and stared at him. Harry shifted uncomfortably; it was a look completely without malice or sarcasm and it was not one Harry was used to seeing on Malfoy's face.

"What you said to that centaur," Malfoy started cautiously, "did you mean all that?"

Harry, too, was cautious when he answered; he was not sure whether Malfoy approved or disapproved of his desires. He thought he was far more likely to disapprove, since it meant elevating other races to the same level as wizards. "Yeah, I did."

Malfoy nodded once. "A world thrown into chaos indeed," he murmured, more to himself than anything else. Then he looked up at Harry and sneered again, but this sneer was not meant for him. "When we get back to the school, we'll have to go back to how things were. I can't bring attention to my father by acting out around Umbridge."

Harry nodded as well, secretly savouring the fact that Malfoy really didn't like Umbridge after all. He had said so in Hogsmeade, of course, but then he'd gone back to being beastly along with her, so that Harry wondered if maybe he'd only said it to appeal to Christopher.

"And I'll still be trying to get people to listen about Voldemort," Harry said. If they were going to be trading warnings, he might as well get this one out of the way.

When he had recovered from his wince, Malfoy looked at him oddly, almost smiling. "I'm sure you will."

And before Harry could wonder why he seemed happy about that, Malfoy raised his wand and shot red sparks into the air to let Professor Grubbly-Plank know where they were and that he felt it was time they leave.


"How did it go?" Hermione asked when Harry sat next to her at dinner. Ron did not seem to be back yet from Quidditch practice.

"It went okay," Harry said. That was really all he could think of to describe everything that had happened. Between actually getting along with Malfoy long enough to compromise, to running into Fluffy, to laughing about it afterward, to Firenze's warnings, the end result was that the day certainly could have been worse.

Hermione eyed him closely, obviously looking for evidence of a fight. "And nothing happened?"

Harry glanced up at the Slytherin table. Malfoy was in the middle of telling some story, probably about running from Fluffy if his gestures were anything to go by. As if noticing that Harry was looking at him, he glanced over and smirked, both gestures fitting seamlessly into his story.

"Nothing much," Harry said with a shrug, going back to dishing food onto his plate.

Hermione's eyes followed Harry's and she frowned slightly when they landed on Malfoy, but he had gone back to his story and looked every bit as obnoxious as he always had.

"What did you have to do?" she asked after a moment, as Ron trudged into the Great Hall and sat in the seat across from them. Hermione had gone back to her usual matter-of-fact tone of voice; apparently she had decided that indeed nothing much had happened and they didn't have to worry about Harry getting yet another detention.

"We had to find some potion ingredients in the Forbidden Forest," Harry said as Ron loaded up his plate. He deliberately did not ask how practise had gone, and Ron seemed grateful for it. "I think Malfoy must have gone to Snape after all, because McGonagall said it was his idea."

Ron sent a bewildered look up at the staff table. "And he didn't just let Malfoy off?"

Harry shrugged; at the moment, he was feeling somewhat glad that he hadn't.

"Maybe they were hoping you might figure out that you can last a few hours without trying to hex each other," Hermione said thoughtfully.

Ron looked incredulous. Harry, however, thought the idea might have merit.

"Maybe...We did have to work together to get anything done. Malfoy's the one who knew what we were looking for, and I'm the one who knows anything about what's in the forest. Speaking of..." He suddenly grinned and leaned forward so he could lower his voice. "Did you ever wonder what happened to Fluffy?"