Things couldn't have been worse. Filch brought them to McGonagall's where they had to wait for Hermione's head of house to arrive. The girl was trembling all over her body and Harry put a comforting arm around her. All kind of excuses were playing in his head but none of them were good enough. Why had they been so stupid to leave the cloak upstairs? There was no way McGonagall would accept them being out of bed. And in the astronomy tower! That one was out of bounds except for classes. A sound caught Harry's attention. He had thought things couldn't get worse but that was before he spotted Neville at McGonagall's side.

"Hermione! I wanted to warn you! I overheard Ron saying he wanted to bust you. And that you and Harry had a..." A stern look of the girl made him shut up but McGonagall had spotted it.

"I would never have believed it of any of you. Mr Filch says you were up the astronomy tower. It's one o'clock in the morning. Explain yourselves!" Hermione started to sob and Harry quickly tried to ease her.

"I'm... I'm so sorry!" She brought out between sobs. "It's just... Harry and I..." She sobbed again. "Harry had asked me out." The raven boy looked shocked at the girl in his arms. This was the second time he saw her lying. "He knows how hard it has - has been for me in Gryffindor." Real tears were streaming down her cheeks and soaking his shirt. "He thought it would cheer me up to watch the stars so I could get my thought off... off the bullying." She looked up at McGonagall with red, puffy eyes. "We didn't want to break the rules but... but they don't go easy on 'traitors'."

"I understand miss Granger. Being friends with the Slytherins must be hard for you." The elder woman's face had softened. "But you should've come to me instead. Now I can't do anything else than giving you all a detention. Yes including you, mister Longbottom. Although you just wanted to help miss Granger, you were out after curfew. But I shall not duck points."

"Thank... thank you." Hermione said with a trembling voice.

The next day, the news of Gryffindor losing 60 points in one night spread quickly. The Slytherins gladly informed the other houses of who was responsible for their victory. No one, not even the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, were talking to the three Gryffindors. Apparently Weasley had pulled his two friends down with him.
Hermione and Harry were sitting in the library, informing Blaise and Theo all about the happening from the former night.

"And she just down right lied, with sobbing and all!" Harry boasted.

"Sounds like you are sitting in the wrong house." Blaise said impressed. "Good think-work, Granger." He complimented. The girl blushed and looked down at her revision. A compliment from Blaise was rare. The boy chuckled when he noticed the crimson shade on her cheeks and made her blush even more.

"What's up, Harry?" The twins greeted them, not being in their regular, cheery mood.

"I guess Ron overheard about your little adventure." Fred spoke.
"And that's why we are losing now? George ended.

"Yeah, but it could have been worse." Theo said cheery. "If Hermione hadn't been such a good actress you would have lost even more." The twins looked down on the blushing brunette in surprise, a proud glint being visible as well.

"Wonderful actress huh?" Fred said smirking. "Good to know."

"But how did your little adventure end?" George asked.

"We dropped of Norbert but got caught on our way back." Harry told them. "Filch brought us to McGonagall and Hermione talked us out of losing points with tears and all." The girl didn't look up to meet the twins their eyes but the whistling Fred did couldn't been ignored. The twins stayed a bit longer, talking about the finals that were coming before they decided they would do something themselves.

The weeks that followed Harry and his friends spend studying in the library till curfew. They tried to get various ingredients for the most difficult potions and all various charms and hexes they had learned that year to stamp in their brain. They hadn't much time to break their heads over the philosopher's stone and almost forgot about it until one afternoon when Theo and Harry were walking back to their common room. Blaise and Hermione were still studying - Blaise helping Hermione out with D.A.D.A. She was the brightest witch they knew but Blaise was just a bit better in it. Theo and Harry found it very funny that those two were bounding over schoolwork. They had been joking about it when suddenly... they heard someone whimpering from a classroom up ahead. The two boys looked at each other and quickly went closer. It was Quirrel.

"No - no - not again please - " It sounded as if someone was threatening him so they quickly walked closer. "All right - all right - " They heard Quirrel sob. Only a moment later their professor came out of the classroom, straightening his turban. They waited till he took off to see in the classroom that was totally empty by now.

"I hate to say..." Harry muttered. "But Quirrel is losing his mind."

"You're right." Theo muttered. "I think we need to go and see Hermione and Blaise. I'm sure Snape's not the one who's after the stone." Harry's eyes went big when he got what his friend meant, turning on his heals immediately.

"What are we waiting for!" He said. They quickly ran back to the library. What they saw there stunned them like a stupefy. Hermione and Blaise were sitting very closely on the couches on one of the couches, laughing together.

"I swear, how can I ever perform that spell correct again! You ruined it." Hermione brought out between fits of giggles.

"I told you, you needed to relax a bit." Blaise sais amused.

"What in Salazar's name is going on?" Theo asked, clear shock could be heard in his voice. Their two friends looked up, surprise clear on their faces. It seemed as if they only notices how close they were right now. Their eyes locked for a moment before the both of them quickly scooted to the sides of the couch.

"Blaise's helping me with some difficult spells." Hermione said, not daring to look at the Italian.

"But you already knew that Theo, seeing that you two left the library with the same look that's on your face now." Blaise snorted. "I thought you said something about going to the common room."

"We were planning on doing that, yeah." Harry muttered. "But then we came across something interesting." Harry and Theo told them everything about their encounter with Quirrel.

"It does seem as if he's losing his mind." Blaise muttered.

"But this is not enough prove to exclude everyone else for being after the stone." Hermione said thoughtfully. "He still could be threatened by Snape. Being a Slytherin he probably knows how to get out that classroom without being caught by some first years."

"What do you have against our head of house, Granger?" Blaise grumbled. "Is him being a Slytherin more proof than Quirrel clear insanity?" He spat the last sentence.

"I have nothing against Snape." She spat back. "I simply stated the obvious. We all know Snape's the best in dark arts and threatened Quirrel before." She picked up her books and glared at the Italian. "I just said we don't have enough proof to go and tell Dumbledore. Hell, we're not even allowed to know about this so when we go, we better have some hard-core proof." She glared at Blaise. "And for your knowledge, I have every right to dislike your head of house, seeing that he hates me and my house." With that being said, she turned around on her heals and quickly left the library. Because of that she didn't see the glint of guilt coming across Blaise' face. His two other friends did though.

"She'll calm down." Theo said soothingly. "Just apology tomorrow and everything is alright." That had been the wrong thing to say because the Italian tensed up and glared at his friends.

"Apology?! She's the one who said Snape was guilty because he was a Slytherin." He as well stood up, grabbing his stuff from the table, hesitating a moment with the notes from D.A.D.A. "Tell her to apology to us or she can look for another tutor." He left the library, angry stomping against Thomas at his way out who glared at the Italians back. Theo locked eyes with Harry and frowned.

"What in Salazar's name just happened?" The raven asked.

"Don't know." He muttered. "It seems as if Hermione offended our house and Blaise took it personal. Or he thought she offended our house… It's actually possible she complimented our house on being sly and cunning." Theo muttered.

"So weird. A minute ago they were laughing together and now they have a fight." Harry commented.

"Maybe they had to make up for having fun together." Theo said, shrugging his shoulders. Deciding they had no reason to stay behind at the library, they left together to the common room.

The next morning Blaise nor Hermione had spoken to each other since their argument last afternoon. Blaise didn't even sit with Theo and Harry anymore after they had tried to get him and Hermione talking again. He was sitting next to Malfoy who looked a tad confused about the odd behaviour of his friend but didn't comment on it. When Hedwig landed in front of Harry, almost pushing his cup with pumpkin juice of the table, Harry noticed Blaise quickly stealing a glance their way before answering a question Daphne Greengrass, a year mate of them, asked.
Harry opened the note and sighed. He totally had forgotten about the detention they had to serve.

"What is it?" Theo asked curios. Harry handed him the note.

Your detention will take place at eleven o'clock, tonight.
Meet Mr Filch in the Entrance Hall.

Prof. M. McGonagall

Harry locked eyes with Hermione at the Gryffindor table and chuckled at the face she pulled at him. She was looking forward to the detention as much as he was, it seemed.
At eleven o'clock that night he said goodbye to Theo, who was getting himself ready for another try to ease Blaise, and walked towards the Entrance Hall. He was the first to arrive and had to wait a minute too long with alone Filch as company. Hermione and Neville were the first Gryffindors to arrive and took place next to Harry. Weasley and his friends arrived a minute later.

"The two of you." Filch said, pointing at Thomas and Finnegan. "Are going to clean every trophy in the trophy room. Without magic!" Grunting the two Gryffindors left to do their task, making sure to bump into Hermione and Neville. "And the four of you are having a detention with Hagrid." Harry's face lit up. If they were having detention with Hagrid it couldn't be that bad, could it? "I bet you will think twice before you break the rules again." Filch continued while they walked over the dark grounds, leering at them. "Oh yeah… Hard work and pain are the best teachers if you ask me. Such a pity they let the old punishments die out… Loved to hang up students up at the ceiling by their wrists. Still have the chains, keep them oiled in case I need them again." The glint of enthusiasm clear in his eyes made Harry shiver. "Although I guess the forbidden forest is a good replacement. Less kids coming back from there." When he said that Weasley froze and paled. Neville whined in fear.

"The forbidden forest?" Weasley spoke scared. "But we can't go in there! There are werewolves and other monsters living there!"

"Too bad." Flinch cackled. "Shouldn't have broken the rules then."

"Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want to get started." They heard Hagrid's loud voice fill up the dark surroundings. Just at that moment, the moon decided to show herself and lit up the grounds of Hogwarts. Hagrid came into view, standing near to the forest with Fang at his heels. He was carrying his large crossbow and glared at Filch. "About time! I've been waiting for over half an hour. Alright Harry, Hermione?" He asked when he saw the two of them coming in sight.

"I shouldn't be too friendly with them, Hagrid. They're here to be punished." Filch said coldly

"That's why you're late, aren't you?" Hagrid grumbled. "Bin lecturing them, eh? It's not your place to do so. You have your own students to look after, I'll have them from here." Filch gave him a glare before turning around and walking away.

"What are we going to do, Hagrid?" Harry asked.

"Do you see this?" The man pointed at something so Harry got closer to get a glimpse of it. It was some silver substance. Hermione's breath hitched.

"Is that…. Is that Unicorn blood?" she asked tiny. The gamekeeper nodded.

"Someone's been killing Unicorns. This the second this week." Hagrid gave them a pained look. "We are going in the forest to find the poor animal."

"But… But there are monsters in there!" Weasley repeated terrified.

"You will be safe." Hagrid grumbled. " Nothing will dare to attack you when Fang or I are with you and you don't leave the path."

"I want the dog." Weasley quickly spoke, looking at the big teeth.

"Alright, but I have to warn you. He's a coward. You and Longbottom take Fang. Hermione, Harry. You come with me. Now, it's still risky in there. When you find the unicorn you send green sparks." Hagrid showed them how to do it and let them practice. It took Neville and Weasley a few moments to achieve it. "Now when you are in danger or scared, send the red sparks. We'll come right away towards you." They also practised that before they went in the forest. It was dark and Hermione quickly scooted closer to Harry. They followed Hagrid deeper into the forest, trying not to trip over anything. When they arrived at a bifurcation, Weasley and Neville took the right path while Hagrid let Harry and Hermione to the left. They walked in silence, their eyes directed at the ground. Every now and then a stray of moonlight lit up some silver blood from the Unicorn, telling them they were on the right way. Harry saw the worried look upon Hagrid's face.

"Could a werewolf kill the Unicorn?" Harry asked. The gamekeeper shook his head.

"They're not fast enough. Unicorns are very powerful. Never knew one to be hurt before." He mumbled. They walked past a mossy three-stump and Harry could hear water streaming. There were still stains of blood all over the ground when Hermione suddenly slipped. She shrieked but Hagrid was quick enough to catch her before she could hit the ground.

"Are you alright, Hermione?" Hagrid whispered. The girl nodded but Harry could see her shiver. "Don't worry. It can't be that far if it's hurt this bad and then we'll be able to – GET BEHIND THAT TREE!" Hagrid seized the two first years and pushed them gently behind a big oak before taking his crossbow and pulling an arrow in it, ready to fire. The tree of them listened and heard something slithering over dead leaves: it sounded like a cloak trailing along the ground. Hagrid was squinting over the dark path but after a moment the sound was away. "I knew it." Hagrid muttered. "There something in here that shouldn't."

"A Vampire?" Harry suggested. Hagrid shook his head.

"That's no Vampire… and no Unicorn either." Hagrid said grimly. "Good. Follow me but careful now." They followed the gamekeeper in silence, ears being stained to pick up every noise. Suddenly something most certainly moved. "Who's there?" Hagrid called. "Show yourself – I'm armed." Into the clearing came a man… no it was only man from the chest. He had the body of a horse, gleaming chestnut with a long, reddish tail. Harry and Hermione's mouth dropped "Oh it's you, Ronan." He said relieved. "How are yeh?" He walked forwards and shook the centaur's hand.

"Good evening, Hagrid." Ronan greeted. "Were you going to shoot me?"

"Can't be careful enough." Hagrid said, patting his crossbow. "There's something loose in the forest that doesn't belong here. This are Hermione Granger and Harry Potter. Students from Hogwarts. This is Ronan, he's a centaur." Hagrid introduced them.

"We noticed." Hermione muttered timid.

"Students? Do you learn much in Hogwarts?" Ronan asked. Harry didn't know how to answer that but lucky for him, Hermione knew.

"A bit." She answered shyly.

"A bit… Well that's something." Ronan sighed, looking up at the sky. "Mars is bright tonight."

"Yeah…" said Hagrid, glancing up to the sky. "Listen, I'm glad I ran into you..; there's a unicorn hurt… did you see anything?" The centaur didn't answer right away, still staring at the sky.

"Ah, it are always the innocent that gets hurt." He spoke. "So it has been for ages, so it is now."

"Sure…" Hagrid said. "But have you seen anything, Ronan?"

"Mars is bright tonight." The centaur repeated while Hagrid watched him impatiently. "Unusual bright."

"Yeah, but I meant nearer home." Hagrid said. "I guess you didn't see anything strange?" Again the centaur took his time to answer.

"The forest hides a lot of secrets."

A movement in the trees behind Ronan made Hagrid raise his crossbow again but it was only a second centaur. Black-haired and body and wilder-looking than Ronan.

"Hullo Bane." Hagrid greeted.

"Hello Hagrid. I Kali you are well." Bane spoke.

"Well enough, I was just asking Ronan if he saw something unusual in the forest. There's a Unicorn being hurt and we're trying to find it." Bane walked up to Ronan to stand next to him, watching up at the air.

"Mars is bright tonight." He said.

"Yeah, so we've heard." Hagrid muttered. "Well if either one of you see something, let me know. We're off then, I guess."

Hermione and Harry followed Hagrid away from the clearing, stealing glances over their shoulders at the centaurs until the trees blocked the view.

"Never try to get a straight answer from a centaur." Hagrid grumbled irritated. "Rudy star-gazers. Aren't interested in anything closer than the moon."

"Are there many of them?" Hermione asked interested.

"Oh, a fair few… Keep themselves to themselves mostly, but they're good enough about turning up ever in a while if I want a word. They're deep, mind, centaurs; Know a lot but aren't keen on sharing the knowledge."

"Do you think it was a centaur we heard earlier?" Harry asked hopeful.

"Did that sound like hooves to you? If you ask me, we heard what is killing those unicorns." Hagrid said sternly. "Never heard anything like that before, though." He muttered thoughtfully.

They followed Hagrid further into the forest. Harry kept stealing glances over his shoulder, having the nasty feeling they were being watched. Suddenly Hermione grabbed Hagrid's arm.

"Look! Red sparks. The others are in trouble!" She said concerned, pointing at a bunch of red sparks that appeared through the threes.

"You two, wait here." Hagrid ordered before taking off in the direction the red sparks had come from. "Stay on the path." He called over his shoulder. They watched the gamekeeper take off with a very small heart and unconsciously scooted closer to each other. Harry noticed the girl in front of him shivering.

"Are you cold?" He asked concerned. The girl looked at the arms she had put around herself and nodded.

"I should've grabbed a warmer coat. But I didn't think we would go outside." She muttered. Harry pulled her closer so she could get under his cloak as well. She nuzzled into him and they were quiet for a moment, listening to the leaves. "Do you think they are alright?" Hermione asked after some time.

"Honestly, I don't really care what happens to Weasley ." Harry muttered. "But if something happened to Neville… It's our fault he is here in the first place.

The minutes dragged by as they stood there in silence. Their ears picking up every breaking twig, whistling of the leaves in the wind. What was going on? Where were the others? At last a great crunching noise announced Hagrid's return. Neville and Weasley were behind him. Hagrid was fuming. It seemed Weasley stumbled upon Neville and scared him to dead, causing him to shoot the red sparkles.

"Alright. We're changing groups." He grumbled. "Hermione, Harry. You take Fang. You two come with me." He said to Weasley and Neville. "We're lucky if we catch anything with the racket you were making."

So Harry and Hermione took off into the forest with only Fang as company. They went deeper and deeper until the path was almost invisible because the trees were standing so thick. There still were splashes of blood all over the ground and they seemed to get thicker. Harry could see a clearing ahead through the branches of an ancient oak and quickened his pace. He saw the unicorn, right in front of them, dead. Hermione tried to follow but a root sticking out caused her to fall. Harry quickly turned around to the girl who winced in pain.

"Are you alright?" He asked concerned, trying to help her up. She let out a muffled groan when her foot hit the ground.

"I think I twisted my ankle. " She muttered. Before Harry could answer, a slithering sound made both of them freeze. A bush at the edge of the clearing quivered and a hooded figure came crawling across the ground like some stalking beast. Harry, Hermione and Fang were transfixed on the figure. The cloaked figure reached the unicorn and started to drink. Fang let out a howl in fear, before taking off. The hooded figure looked up, right at Harry – blood dripping all over his front. It stood up quickly and came over to them – Harry couldn't leave Hermione behind and quickly blocked the girl off so the hooded figure couldn't get to her. Then a pain pierced Harry's head he never had felt before, making him fall down on his knees, pulling Hermione with him. Half-blinded he tried to get in front of Hermione again, who had pulled her wand and fired the red sparks. He heard hooves galloping behind him and something jumped clean over them, charging at the figure. Harry heard Hermione's sharp intake of breath before she turned at him and grabbed his arm.

"Harry, are you alright?" He heard her concerned voice. The pain was unbearable and took two minutes to pass. When he was finally able to see again, he looked up at the girl who had tears streaming down her cheek.

"Are you alright?" Another voice repeated the question. Harry saw a centaur standing beside them, the hooded figure being long gone. This centaur seemed younger than Bane and Ronan. He had blond hair and a palomino body. He held out his hand and helped the boy back up.

"Yes – thank you – what was that?" Harry asked, helping Hermione back up so she could lean on him. Her hands were scratched and bloody, probably from trying to keep them both up.

"You're the Potter boy." The centaur spoke, looking at the raven. "You and your friend better get back to Hagrid. The forest isn't safe, especially not for you. Can you ride?" He asked. "That's quicker."

"My friends ankle is hurt." Harry explained. "I'm afraid she can't get on your back."

"That's no problem." The centaur lowered himself so Harry could help Hermione on his back before getting behind her. "I'm Firenze." He added.

There was a sudden noise of more galloping sounding through the forest and Bane and Ronan appeared, their flanks gleaming in sweat.

"Firenze!" Bane thundered. "What are you doing? Have you no shame? You have a human on your back!"

"Do you know who this is?" Firenze spoke. "This is the Potter boy. The quicker he gets out the forest, the better.

"What have you been telling them?" Bane growled. "You know we are sworn to not set ourselves against the heaven. Have we not read what is to come in the movements of the planets?"

"I'm sure Firenze thought he was acting for the best." Ronan said, pawning the ground.

"For the best?" Bane kicked his back legs in anger . "What does any of this has to do with us? We are centaurs. It's none our business to run after human like donkeys!"

Firenze reared in anger, making Harry grab Hermione around her middle so he wouldn't fall off.

"Do you not see that Unicorn!" He yelled in anger. "Do you not know why it's been killed. I will protect this forest against that monsters. And if I have to with human by my side!" With that being said, he turned around and took off, galloping away.

"Why is Bane so angry?" Hermione asked quietly.

"And what did you save us from?" Harry asked.

Firenze slowed down to a walk, warning them to keep their head down in case of low hanging branches. Harry's head was resting on Hermione's shoulder and he tried to keep her hair away from his nose so he wouldn't sneeze. Being so close to her again made him capable of putting his cloak back around her and he felt her relax in the warmth. They walked like that in silence and Harry thought Firenze didn't want to answer until he suddenly stopped.

"Do the two of you know what Unicorn blood is used for?" The centaur asked. Hermione's head piped up and she hesitated to answer.

"It's… It's used to keep someone alive, although you can barely call it alive because you pay a horrible price to kill something that pure. You will live a cursed life from the moment the blood touch your lips." Her voice quivered. "Killing something so pure and innocent you only do when you have nothing to lose."

"That's right." Firenze said. "Now can you think of someone who needs this only for a while before he can drink something else that will bring him back to life entirely?" It was as though suddenly an iron fist had clenched around Harry's heart and he felt Hermione tense up as well. "Some say he's dead. Bullocks is you ask me. Don't know if he had enough human left in him to die."

"You mean that was Vol…"

"Harry, Hermione? Are you alright?" Hagrid came walking over to them.

"I'm alright Hagrid." He muttered.

"The unicorn is dead." Hermione spoke softly. "It's in the clearing over there."

"This is where I leave you." Firenze said. Harry jumped of his back and looked at Hagrid.

"She has hurt her ankle." He explained to Hagrid. The gamekeeper looked concerned at the girl before pulling her of the back so he could carry her back to Hogwarts.

"We need to get you to the hospital wing." He said.

"The stars have been read wrong before. I certainly hope this is one the times." Firenze said, before taking off.

When they came back to the castle Hagrid quickly took off with Hermione, leaving a concerned Harry behind. He greeted Neville goodnight before taking off to the Slytherin common room. To his surprise there were two sleeping bodies on the couches. It seemed as if Theo had talked to Blaise and had succeeded in easing him. Harry hesitated a moment before waking them up.

"How was detention?" Theo asked sleepily.

The raven informed them about everything that had happened until Blaise broke him off.

"Granger is hurt? Is she alright?" He asked concerned. Both Theo and Harry looked at the Italian with a small frown. "She still owes me apologies." He muttered, not looking at them. Harry snickered at that.

"Yeah she's alright. Although I think she's pretty scared as well." He muttered. Both boys looked back at him. "Voldemort is after the stone." He said. The two Slytherins cringed when he said the name. "He has someone in his power to get it so he can gain power again." He ranted about it for over five minutes before Blaise stopped him.

"I don't like to admit it, but the dark Lord is known to be afraid from Dumbledore. He wouldn't barge into Hogwarts like that if he's here."

It did ease Harry a bit. The three boys kept talking until dawn before they finally went to bed, exhausted. But the nightly surprises weren't over yet. When Harry pulled his blanket away a small package was laying there. The invisibility cloak with a small note attached to it.

Just in case