AN: Woooo new chapter! As always, I'm interested in what you think is/what should happen.
Replies:
KOTORgeek13: Yeah! I think it makes more sense with how Rowling described him in book 1. Thanks. :)
Geetac's Chapter Liking Counter: 8
Kairan1979: Noooooo don't be mad at her... Ah well, I guess it's inevitable. She does come off bad here.
Gaul1: kthxbai
Nanettez: I want to get across that he can get anything from the house elves. Yes it is very gross.
GL: I'm sure there are better ones out there, but you and I must have read canon very differently if you think that this is anywhere close to it.
"I really have to go, seriously," Harry said, prying himself away from his ecstatic Housemates, "I have to go to detention."
"What?" asked Gerry, "What did you do?"
"I dueled Draco in the hallway outside of McGonagall's office," Harry said, shaking his head.
"Well, that was stupid," said Elizabeth, "That's the worst place to do that sort of thing."
Harry sighed. "I didn't mean to do it there. Draco attacked me."
"Then you shouldn't have to do a detention!" Gerry exclaimed, "Draco's at fault!"
Harry shrugged. "It's fair, though. We both used magic in the halls."
"That's exactly right, Harry," said Cedric, walking over to the little group, "And I'm really proud of you for owning up to what you did, even though you didn't start anything." He placed a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder. "Besides, your detention is with Hagrid, isn't it?" Cedric grinned.
Harry smirked back. "Yeah. Shouldn't be too tough, right?"
"Is it the Forbidden Forest one?" asked Gerry.
Harry nodded. "Have you done it before?"
"Basically everyone has," said Elizabeth, "That's the standard first detention. They set something up to scare you in the Forest so you don't break rules again."
Harry frowned. "That seems..."
"Manipulative?" asked Captain, walking up. "Yeah. Don't worry, on your second detention, you'll get something actually bad."
The group chuckled.
"Anyway," Harry said, "I'm actually late now, so I'll see you all after."
"Don't lose your face to the werewolves, Potter!" called out Justin, as Harry left the Common Room, to general laughter.
Harry wandered through the castle, making his way towards the Forest. He hadn't been entirely honest with his House: his detention wasn't to start for another hour or so. Harry wanted to muse and think about his day. He let his legs just take him anywhere they wanted to, and set his mind to wander.
The Quidditch match had gone surprisingly well. He hadn't expected to save as much as he had, given his extremely lack-luster performance in practice, but he knew that he had still been saved by Captain and his Chasers. It was hard to admit, but Harry had only saved enough, 59% according to Captain, because the Chasers had done an exceptional job of scoring. Harry knew he had to get better for the game against Slytherin, especially because Captain had said that their Chasers were really good.
Harry began paying attention to his surroundings, finally, and found that he was standing on a landing for the third floor. Some part of his mind went off in warning, but when he thought about it, he couldn't think of why. He remembered Dumbledore mentioning the third floor in his opening speech, but Harry had been hurriedly answering too many questions to really pay attention to that. Harry kept walking down the hall and idly wondered what time it was. He stopped in front of a particularly menacing door and his curiosity was piqued.
"Hmm," Harry muttered, "How do I open you?"
"Ask nicely and I might," replied the door in a hurt voice.
Harry blanched. This happened every so often in Hogwarts, and Harry was getting better at dealing with them, but they were still massively off-putting. "Will you please open?"
"No one wants me to open anymore, not since they put that thing in that room over there," said the door, morosely, "Now everyone wants to go into that room."
"What's in that room?" Harry asked, curious.
"Go see for yourself," muttered the door, "Just use Alohomora."
"What's that?" Harry asked.
"The bloody Unlocking Charm, of course!" The door seemed to be getting more and more agitated, and Harry was starting to regret talking at all. "Don't you know anything?"
"Apparently not, Mr. Door," Harry said, with an edge to his voice, "And maybe if you were nicer, people would want to see what's behind you."
With that, Harry turned and walked to the door that had caused such jealousy. It looked ordinary, maybe a shade redder than the other doors on this floor, and stood there innocently. Harry pulled out his wand, his mind again idly wondering about the time, and tapped the lock. "Alohomora."
There was a click from the door and Harry reached down and twisted the knob. The door opened. Harry strode into the room beyond and suddenly remembered what Dumbledore had said about the third floor. After all, it's difficult to look into the eyes of a Cerberus and not think "die a very painful death."
Harry was out of breath, and almost out of legs, when he finally reached Hagrid's cabin.
"Harry?" Hagrid asked, "You're a mite early, aren't you?"
"Monster!" Harry gasped, "Monster in the-" he wheezed, "Castle!"
Hagrid's eyes widened, "What's that you say?" He put a hand on his crossbow. "Like that troll what got in on Halloween?"
Harry shook his head and took a deep breath, "Dog thing. Three heads. Terrifying!"
Hagrid let out a long breath. "Oh you mean Fluffykins. Don't go scaring me like that, Harry."
Harry sure that this was where the world would break apart. "Fluffykins? Hagrid, that thing could swallow me whole in half a bite."
Hagrid shook his head. "Naw, Harry, he wouldn't. He-" Hagrid frowned. "Wait. How'd you know Fluffykins was in the castle?"
Harry blinked. "Third floor?" He couldn't see any reason to lie.
"Blimey, Harry! Dumbledore said never to go there!" Hagrid exclaimed.
His rant was cut off by the arrival of Draco and Neville.
"Neville?" Harry asked, a little shocked. Neville had seemed a model, if a little slow, student. "What are you doing here?"
Neville looked at the ground bashfully. "Professor McGonagall thinks a 'practical approach' may help me cast better."
"In other words," Malfoy drawled, "He's stupid and is here as punishment."
"I don't know, Matoy," Harry said, tapping his finger against his chin, "He wasn't the one who attacked another student directly in front of Professor McGonagall's classroom."
"That was never confirmed!" yelled Draco reflexively.
"Listen," broke in Hagrid, "We're going in to the Forest to look for something terrible."
The three boys looked up at the extremely large man.
Hagrid's tone grew grim. "See, something's been feeding on unicorns."
Neville gasped and Draco covered his mouth with his hand. Harry tilted his head.
"So, we're going to go in and see what we can find." Hagrid nodded and looked into the forest, frowning slightly. He turned back. "We'll be splitting up into two groups. Who can shoot red sparks out of their wands?"
Harry immediately drew his wand and aimed it at the air, trying to duplicate the sparks he made at Ollivander's. Sure enough, red sparks obediently shot into the air.
Neville and Draco, however, seemed to be having difficulty with the task and, after maybe a minute, Hagrid stopped them.
"All right, then," Hagrid glanced at each of the three boys. "Draco, with me. Harry and Neville, you get Fang."
Harry flinched. If Hagrid could call that giant dog monster "Fluffykins," what sort of demon would warrant the name "Fang."
Hagrid lifted two fingers to his mouth and whistled sharply, causing the boys to plug their ears. A large mastiff came running out of Hagrid's hut, slobber gooping out of its jowls as it bounded across the dark meadow.
"This is Fang," Hagrid said, patting the dog on its large head.
Neville broke into a wide grin and walked over to pat the dog. Harry was terrified, but he also greeted the mastiff. He didn't know what sort of terror the beast was hiding, but he figured the dog should be his friend, rather than his enemy.
"All right." Hagrid pointed into the Forest. "Draco and I will go this way." He pointed another way. "Harry and Neville go this way. Any trouble and put up sparks. Oh!" Hagrid snapped his fingers. "Pull out your wand and say 'Lumos.'"
Harry obeyed. "Lumos!" A bright light flared from the tip of Harry's wand. Harry grinned.
"Be careful, lads," said Hagrid, his hard look softening, "It's right dangerous in there."
The boys nodded. Harry was a little shaken, despite what his Housemates had said. It didn't seem like Hagrid to lie like this.
Harry and Neville, with Fang following behind, set off into the trees, waving goodbye to Hagrid as they went. Before long the dense treetops shut off any light. "Lumos." Harry's wand tip flared, illuminating a cone of Forest in front of them. The two boys walked on in silence, trying in vain to ignore the various sounds of the Forest at night while Fang trotted along comfortably. They began walking closer and closer together and, by unspoken consent, held hands. Harry took comfort in the warmth of Neville's hand and squeezed to comfort the other boy. Neville gave Harry a thankful grin.
"What are we even supposed to be looking for?" asked Harry.
Neville shook his head. "No idea, mate." He glanced around. "Wonder why we couldn't have done this in the daytime."
Harry shrugged. "Less scary that way."
Neville chuckled.
The banter calmed both boys down and they soon were chatting easily in the dark.
"So, why are you here, really?" asked Harry.
Neville shrugged. "My wand doesn't work. Hasn't since Halloween."
Harry frowned. "That's odd."
Neville nodded. "Professor McGonagall thinks I need a "jump-scare" or something to push me into using it again."
Harry shook his head. McGonagall didn't seem all that smart to him.
The boys and the dog made their way through the Forest and, after maybe forty five minutes, they found themselves in a large clearing. Harry's lit wand scanned the whole of the clearing, but there wasn't anything that stuck out to the boys.
Harry sighed. "You think Hagrid and Malfoy are having more luck?"
Neville yawned. "I'm getting tired. I almost want to just shoot up sparks and head home."
Harry nodded slowly. "Yeah. But there might be-"
The light from his wand flared as an extremely bright thing walked into the clearing.
"How do I turn off the light?" Harry whispered.
"Nox, I think," whispered Neville.
"Nox," Harry breathed and the light went out.
The being that had entered the clearing was obviously a unicorn. Everything from the silvery white body, to the silky tail, to the lustrous horn screamed unicorn. In the same way Harry felt "very painful death" the moment he looked at Fluffykins, he felt "peace and love" when he looked at the unicorn.
The unicorn trotted around the perimeter of the clearing, and Harry and Neville turned to keep the gorgeous beast in their sights. The unicorn turned and saw Harry and Neville and tossed its head at them. Neville shivered, but Harry somehow knew that the unicorn was inviting him closer. He let go of Neville's hand and walked over the majestic creature.
When Harry approached, the unicorn nuzzled its nose into his hand and Harry stroked its neck.
"Hello," Harry said quietly.
The unicorn snorted on his hair, messing it up. Harry chuckled at the tickling sensation and gestured Neville closer.
"Uh, Harry?" Neville's voice was nervous.
The unicorn started and began pushing Harry away with its nose, worry in its eyes. Harry quickly glanced around the clearing, but saw nothing.
"What's wrong?" he asked, both to the unicorn and Neville.
"Fang is freaking out, Harry!" Neville's voice urged Harry to leave.
It was the unicorn, however, that made Harry run. The beast pushed him away again, but this time Harry saw the worry had changed to fear. Whatever this creature feared, Harry knew that he could not contend with it. He ran back to Neville and shot red sparks into the air before both boys were dashing out of the clearing, Fang bolting another way.
On their way to the clearing, Harry and Neville had become comfortable and relaxed in the Forest, now they were on edge and terrified. They again held hands and ran close together. This time, though, the Forest seemed to be attacking them. Small twigs and branches swung at them as they ran, causing small cuts and scratches. More than once, Neville tripped on a root and Harry pulled him up again. They didn't know what they were running from, and they didn't care.
Finally, both Harry and Neville tripped on the same root and landed, sprawled on the ground. They took the excuse to catch their breath for a moment. Before long however, they began to hear cracking and rumbling from behind them. They had made so much noise running through the forest that they hadn't heard anything follow them. Until now.
The thing, whatever it was, was gaining them at an incredible rate. Harry just had time to turn over and shoot red sparks into the air again before they were set upon by a spider the size of a small car.
For a brief moment, Harry wondered how something so big was able to chase them so well through the Forest, but then he was scrambling to pull himself and Neville up. The two boys faced down the spider breathing heavily and bleeding slightly.
"Hey Neville," Harry whispered, as they both backed up slowly, matching pace with the advancing spider.
Neville whimpered in answer.
"Do you still have that sword?" Harry asked.
Neville stopped moving and frowned. He yelled in a furious and fierce voice. "Sword of Godric Gryffindor, hear my cry! Aid me with courage and steel to vanquish my foe!" Neville thrust his hand into the air. "I need you, Sword!" His fingers closed around nothing, but Harry saw that Neville was grinning. Neville whipped his hand down, and suddenly the sword was in his hand, and pointed at the spider.
Upon seeing the steel gleaming in the read light gave the spider pause.
"Epoximise!" Harry shouted, urgency giving strength to his voice.
The spider suddenly found itself unable to move forward at its delicious prey.
"Locomotor Wobbly!" Harry shouted, holding up his empty hand to stop Neville from going in yet.
The spider was now in the utterly strange limbo of constantly falling, yet being unable to fall.
Harry clapped his empty hand on Neville's shoulder. "I reckon you get one shot, mate."
Neville frowned. "Why didn't you just use Petrificus Totalus?"
Harry shrugged. "Malfoy uses it."
Neville shook his head, bemused, and advanced on the spider, sword raised. The spider began squirming and making little squeaking sounds, no doubt aware of how close it was to death. Neville raised his sword over the spider, a grim look set on his face. Harry turned away at the actual swing, but he heard the wet crunch as the sword cut through the spider's carapace, and the subsequent drip drip of spider blood onto the ground.
Harry looked back to see Neville standing over the dead creature, his shoulders heaving with his breathing, the sword almost resting on the ground, blood dripping off of the tip. Neville turned and grinned back at Harry, the light from the sparks in the air making his grin look bloodthirsty. Harry grinned back and gave a thumbs up.
There was another crash, from where the spider had come from, and Harry and Neville readied themselves again for whatever was there. After a another crash, and a loud yell, Hagrid came barreling towards Harry and Neville, tripped on the spider's body, and landed heavily on the blood soaked earth. Giving no heed to this, the large man leapt up and asked, "Are you boys ok? Fang found me and I came as fast as I could."
Harry, reveling in the rush of victory, chuckled, "Well, we killed a giant spider. I think we're all right."
Neville nodded with a grin.
Hagrid suddenly seemed become aware of what was covering him and he let out a large belly laugh. "Old Aragog won't be overly pleased, but it's clear to me that you two were just defending yourselves."
Harry, rather than ask who "Old Aragog" was, exclaimed, "Hagrid! We saw a unicorn!"
Hagrid gave a lopsided grin. "Did you, now? Where was this?"
"Um, sorry, sir," Neville said, shyly, "But where's Malfoy?"
Hagrid rolled his eyes. "That yellow belly couldn't stand more than twenty minutes in the Forest so I sent him back to bed, with another detention tomorrow."
Neville grinned at Harry, who nodded wisely, as if he had known so all along.
Neville and Harry led the way back to the clearing, talking exultantly about their achievement. As they approached the clearing, Fang began to whine and bark and Hagrid shushed him. The Forest was again friendly and welcoming to the conquering heroes, and Harry and Neville strode with big steps and long legs over root and rock. They saw the edge of the clearing up ahead and pointed it out to Hagrid, when Fang let out a loud howl and bolted the other way.
"Fang! Get back here you bloody great coward!" Hagrid yelled, to no avail. "Ah well, boys, it's probably just a centaur or something." Nonetheless, Hagrid hefted his crossbow.
The group moved into the clearing and Harry fell to his knees. The unicorn that had befriended Harry was lying in the center of the clearing, its legs all at obviously broken angles. The beast's coat was dull and lifeless, and it seemed smaller somehow, reduced in some way that Harry couldn't put his finger on. Hagrid let out a bellow and charged forward, towards the dead unicorn. Harry tried to follow, but his legs couldn't quite carry him there. Neville was openly crying, standing a few feet behind Harry. Hagrid lifted the body as easily as Harry would lift a sheet of parchment and carried it back to where the boys were standing. He knelt and laid it down on the leaves.
"Well, it's at least clear what is killing the unicorns." Hagrid's voice was brittle and obviously furious.
"What do you mean, Hagrid?" Harry asked with difficulty, feeling a warm wetness traveling down his cheeks.
"See here?" Hagrid pointed to a small hole in the unicorn's neck. "This is a hole made by a very particular and very Dark artifact: the Vampire's Spigot." He stopped to wipe his eyes. "It's used to drain a being of all its blood."
Harry looked up. "How do you know?"
Hagrid looked up at the stars, gleaming in from above. "None of the flesh is gone, which means it wasn't hunted for food. And," he pointed to the small hole, "See how it's a clean hole? No other tool could make such a clean hole."
Harry frowned. "Why would someone want unicorn blood?"
Hagrid's eyes went dark. "Unicorn blood heals things, for a price. You get to live, but your life will be utterly cursed and all that you attempt shall fail. It's a desperate course; death seems better than that to most people." Hagrid looked at Harry, who blanched at the look in the large man's eyes. "It's a wizard, Harry."
It was a somber party that walked back to the castle. All sense of victory at killing the spider was gone when Harry remembered the broken and drained unicorn. Harry resolved to find the villain who did this. He resolved to right this wrong. And a single look at Neville's face told Harry that he wouldn't be alone.
AN: Man, sorry about how long that section is. I was talking with my beta and I was like "Can I get away with the detention taking up the whole chapter?" and he was like "Naw, that's not your style." Oops. Anyway, next up is simply tying up loose end before Christmas break. Reviews make me write faster and stuff. I'm actually surprised I've kept to "at least once a week." Didn't think that would happen.