Harry, Ron, Hermione, Parkinson and Astoria Greengrass ran down to the forbidden forest after Hermione had received Draco's message. They had come across seven of the eight students on their way there and Pansy was tending to them. They were stammering something about a large white creature that looked like a flying snake on a bird's body. The coordinators had all identified it to be an occamy. They were violent and had a very high danger rating. They group went into the forest and began their search.

They checked areas known to grow hellebore and had no luck. Harry kept glancing around in the hopes of spotting a head of blond hair. They continued further into the forest and Greengrass called them over to a section of the forest that was wrecked and full of debris. Trees had fallen and branches were scattered on the ground. They blasted through a barricade of debris that blocked their path and followed the wreckage deeper into the forest. They called for Draco and Maria and got no reply. Harry ran a hand through his hair as they reached the end of the trail. They searched the nearby area, looking everywhere and anywhere they saw. The forest was getting dark and it was beginning to get chilly. If the two were injured the cold would not do them any good and neither would a fair amount of nocturnal creatures.

"Lumos," Harry whispered, a glow of light came from his wand and he sighed in frustration.

"Maybe we should retrace our steps..." Greengrass suggested, "Go back to the barricade." Harry could hear the worry in her voice and wondered what relationship she had with Draco.

"I think we should. This... this seems more like the area they would have been attacked in originally," Ron mumbled as he looked around.

They went back to the barricade and searched the area. The darkness making it a lot harder to look around. Ron pulled out the Put-Outer and released the balls of light that were trapped inside. They floated about them and hovered in the air.

"Ah, up there," Harry said as he looked up. The branches closest to the barricade had been broken higher up than the other trees that he could see, "It took off around here... but where'd it go...?" Harry looked around trying to think of an answer. He was feeling uneasy about them taking so long to find Draco and Maria.

"Search the area for tracks," Greengrass said, "Broken twigs, footprints, anything."

"It might have been following them when it took off," said Harry.

Wands still alight they scoured the perimeter. The less they found the more uneasy Harry felt. He looked over at Hermione as she worried her lip and wove between trees in her search. Harry bent down and looked for footprints, he moved leaves and levitated branches over to the opposite side of the barricade. After a few minutes Harry spotted something glimmering on the ground. He walked over to the source and knelt down, moving the leaves around it and smiled when he found Narcissa's locket.

"Found something!" he yelled, the others rushing over as he got up.

Harry pocketed the locket and walked over to the trees nearby. He cleared some of the leaves from the ground and spotted a footprint. Ron clicked his Put-Outer and the lights went back into their container. They all started their way through the trees and kept their eyes open for more clues. The darkness slowed them down a great deal since they had to spend more time to thoroughly check their surroundings. A few metres ahead of where Harry had found the locket Hermione had found traces of blood on some leaves. Harry tried not to let his mind wonder too much, his experiences from the war had him imagining the worst and made him more pessimistic than when he was a teenager. He took in a deep breath and told himself that Draco was more than capable of taking care of himself.

"Oh Godric, what if he's..." Greengrass started, "What if Draco's..."

"He's not," Hermione said. "Draco can take care of himself."

"How do you know that? You can't know that!" the woman started to cry now. She wiped her face and sniffed as she tried to calm herself down and just when Harry thought she was going be alright she started again. Her crying was not helping him at all, she had him worrying all over again and he tugged at his hair.

"We need to keep looking," He said looking at her. "If they're injured time is important. We don't know what state they're in and we've lost a good few hours already."

"He's right Astoria, you need to keep looking," Hermione agreed before turning around and continuing.

They had reached a small clearing and the ground looked devastated. There were large gashes in the earth and claw marks in the grass. They slowly made their way into the clearing and spread out to search. Greengrass had started to call out for Draco while Ron called for Maria. Harry found no sign of them and his frustration had started to build. Greengrass and Ron continued to call out for Draco and Maria and Hermione were walking to the opposite side of the clearing.

"There's a ditch over here!" she called as she bent down, pointing her wand towards the opening. "Draco? Maria?"

"Ms. Granger? Ms. Granger, is-is that you?"

"Maria!" she yelled. Harry and the others rushed over to them. "Maria, are you alright? Where's Draco?"

"I'm fine! He's here! I-I tried to keep him awake but h-he just kept dozing off I-" the girl sounded panicked and tired.

"We're going to get you out alright?" Ron pulled Hermione away from the opening and bent down, "Can you cast a shielding charm?"

"Y-Yes. Yes, I can."

"Alright, tell me when you've done that. I'm going make the opening wider."

"Weasley, what if you crush them?" Greengrass whispered harshly.

"We'll levitate the falling earth once he hits it." Harry said as he pointed his towards one side of Ron and she went to the other.

"Protego. There I've done it."

"Reducto!" Ron yelled as he pointed his wand to the ditch. Harry and Greengrass cast levitation charms on most the earth and rocks that were not blown away, the rest bouncing off of Maria's shield. Hermione rushed forward and levitated Maria out slowly as Ron extracted Draco. They set them on the ground carefully and Harry swallowed hard as he looked at Draco. He was covered in dirt and had scratches all over. His right leg was obviously broken and had bits of bloody cloth wrapped around it, the side of his face was caked with blood and there was a gash nearby his hairline. Harry sent a Patronus to Parkinson and knelt down to feel Draco's pulse.