A/N: I'm just going to quietly sit here and pretend it didn't take me a month to write this chapter. I don't know what happened; it just argued with me every step of the way. Hooray for NaNoWriMo, I guess?
I've taken a depressing amount straight from the books, so I apologize if this chapter is a little irritating. Sadly, Harry isn't in much of a position to influence any adult's actions yet.
Chapter title is courtesy of The Troggs.
Warnings: …None? Vaguely written violence maybe.
Disclaimer: Like half the words of this chapter aren't even mine, how could I own anything at all?
Summary: Roy Mustang is pretty sure Dumbledore is crazy. Who in their right mind would ask him to raise a newly-orphaned baby?
Chapter Nine: Wild Thing
As the school year started coming to an end, Harry found himself alone in the library with Hermione more and more often. Draco had never gone with him much to begin with, but Neville just didn't seem to have either the interest or the patience to put in the long hours of studying that Harry had become accustomed to. Harry couldn't blame him, though; if he wasn't so concerned about what his dad would think of his grades, he'd probably be studying a lot less too. Hermione, of course, was thrilled to have somebody to study with at all hours of the day, even if Harry was less than enthusiastic about the work.
It was while he was walking back to his dormitory after one of his study sessions with Hermione that he heard Professor Quirrell being threatened. Or rather, he heard Quirrell's response to being threatened; no matter how hard Harry listened, he couldn't hear the second voice. The professor was clearly intimidated, though, and finally agreed to whatever demands the other person was making of him.
Harry waited until he heard Quirrell run out of the room before he peeked in through the open door himself, hoping to catch a glimpse of whoever had been there with him, but the room was empty. A door at the far side stood ajar, and Harry briefly considered crossing over to investigate further before realizing that whoever had been threatening enough to scare the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher would surely be too much for an eleven year old to handle. Instead, he turned away and all but ran towards the Gryffindor tower, hoping to catch Hermione before she climbed into her common room. The Gryffindors would probably be more interested in what he'd overheard than Draco would, and anyway he could tell Draco any time he wanted.
To his surprise, he found both Hermione and Neville outside of the common room facing off against Ron Weasley and Seamus Finnigan, all of them clearly upset about something. Harry slowed down uncertainly, not wanting to interrupt House business, but it didn't take him long to realize that the two unfriendly Gryffindors were getting on Hermione's case about studying with Harry all of the time. It seemed they were upset about the studious girl "helping" Harry to get good grades when she apparently couldn't be bothered to help any of her housemates, who probably needed it more anyway. Harry wasn't surprised that the two boys were conveniently ignoring the fact that most of the House treated Hermione terribly. What did surprise him, though, was that the person most vociferously arguing with Ron and Seamus was Neville, not Hermione herself. Hermione didn't need anybody to protect her, of course, but it warmed Harry's heart to see Neville being so assertive for a change.
The good feeling didn't last long. As Harry approached, Ron's temper seemed to get the better of him, and he started flinging spells at Neville. Most of them either didn't hit or weren't successfully cast, but Harry didn't really like the odds when Seamus, who was known to catch things on fire by accident, starting backing Ron up. He was grateful, not for the first time, for his dad's and Ed's insistence on teaching him how to defend himself, because his own spellcasting was effortless and he knocked back the two Gryffindor boys with almost insulting ease.
"What is going on here?" Professor McGonagall's voice came as Ron was painfully picking himself back up off the floor, and all five of them froze as the woman stormed down the hallway toward them. "You know fighting is forbidden. Explain yourselves!"
The five of them gave each other uncertain looks, but nobody actually said anything. The professor's nostrils flared as she stared angrily down at all of them, before finally she seemed to lose her patience entirely.
"Well, if nobody is going to defend themselves, than that's ten points off for each of you—yes, each of you, be silent, Finnigan—and a detention apiece. Potter, don't you have your own common room to be in?"
"Yes, Professor," Harry replied, unable to keep the dissatisfaction from his voice, and obediently turned to return to the Slytherin dormitories. He'd have to talk to Hermione and Neville later.
"What do you have detention for?" Draco asked the next morning, peering nosily over Harry's shoulder as he opened his mail at the table.
"Got into a fight with the Gryffindors," Harry sighed back. "Weasley and Finnigan attacked Hermione and Neville and, well, what was I supposed to do?
"So now you've got a detention with all four of them?" Draco asked, shaking his head. "Sounds like you're in for a fun night."
"Thanks," Harry said sourly, and resolved to put it out of his mind for the rest of the day.
But at eleven o'clock that night, he was down in the entrance hall and unable to ignore his upcoming detention any longer. The Gryffindors were standing in two awkward groups on either side of Filch, glaring at each other. Neville was the only one who looked around as Harry approached, and he gave Harry a small, nervous smile in greeting.
Filch berated them as they all trooped across the grounds, and Harry found himself become increasingly nervous at the undisguised delight in the caretaker's voice. What were they being sent to do, exactly? He'd assumed they'd be writing lines or an essay on why fighting wasn't an appropriate way to handle disputes, like any sensible school in Amestris would be doing, but they couldn't do that outside.
Even though he'd become close friends with the Hagrid, Harry couldn't help his nerves from only getting worse when his hut came into view. Hermione and Neville didn't seem to share his consternation; they brightened visibly at the thought of the man, prompting Filch to scowl and nastily inform them of just where their detention was taking them.
"The Forest?" Ron repeated nervously, and for once Harry found himself in complete agreement. He'd heard about the things that lived in the forest, and he wasn't keen on interacting with any of them. "But—but what about the creatures that live in there? I heard there's werewolves!"
"Should've thought of that before you broke the rules, shouldn't you?" Filch chortled gleefully.
"About time," Hagrid said, striding towards them with a crossbow in his hands and Fang at his heels. "I bin waitin' fer half an hour already. All right, Harry, Hermione, Neville?"
"I shouldn't be too friendly with them, Hagrid," Filch said coldly. "They're here to be punished, after all."
"That's why yer late, is it?" Hagrid frowned back. "Bin lecturin' them, eh? 'Snot your place ter do that. Yeh've done yer bit, I'll take over from here."
"I'll be back at dawn," Filch said nastily, "for what's left of them." He turned and strode back toward the castle, and Harry wasn't sorry to see him go.
"Are we really going into the Forest?" Ron asked, turning to Hagrid with wide eyes. When Hagrid frowned at him and nodded, he visibly straightened his back, though the distraught expression failed to fade from his face.
"Now, listen carefully," Hagrid said, "'cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, an' I don't want no one takin' risks. Follow me over here a moment."
He led them to the forest's edge. Holding his lamp up high, he pointed down a narrow track that disappeared into the blackness of the trees.
"Look there. See that stuff shinin' on the ground? Silvery stuff? That's unicorn blood. There's a unicorn in there bin hurt badly by summat. This is the second time in a week. We're gonna try an' find the poor thing. We might have ter put it out of its misery."
"And what are we supposed to do if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first?" asked Seamus nervously. "I don't think a bunch of students should be going up against something that can catch unicorns!"
"There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang," Hagrid replied, though he seemed pleased by Seamus's caution. "An' keep ter the path. Right, now, we're gonna split inter two parties an' follow the trail in diff'rent directions. There's blood all over the place, it must've bin staggerin' around since last night at least."
"I want Fang," Seamus said, his eyes focused on the dog's long teeth.
"All right, but I warn yeh, he's a coward," said Hagrid, making Seamus flinch. "So me, Hermione, and Neville will go one way, and Harry, Seamus, Ron, and Fang will go the other. Now, if any of us finds the unicorn, we'll send up green sparks, right? Get yer wands out an' practice now—that's it—an' if anyone gets in trouble, send up red sparks, an' we'll come an' find yeh—so, be careful—let's go."
The Forest was black and much quieter than Harry expected it to be. When they reached a fork in the path, Hagrid sent Harry and his company down the right path while he took Neville and Hermione down the left. Harry and the two Gryffindors walked in silence for a long time, their eyes on the ground so they could follow the sporadic trail of blood on the fallen leaves. They'd been walking for the better part of an hour when Harry finally saw the clearing ahead of them, and he stopped Seamus and Ron with his arm.
"Look," he said simply, nodding at a bright white spot on the ground ahead of them. As they inched closer, the form became clearer until Harry knew for certain that it was the unicorn. It was clearly dead, its legs splayed out at odd angles where it had fallen on the ground. A terrible sadness tugged at Harry's heart as they gazed on it, and he found himself rubbing absent-mindedly at the corner of one eye.
"We need to send up the sparks," Ron eventually suggested in a hushed whisper, but before Harry could get out his wand, a terrible slithering noise froze him in place. A moment later, a figure came crawling across the ground like a great, stalking beast. All four of them stood frozen, transfixed by the sight before them, until the cloaked figure finally reached the unicorn and began to drink its blood.
Ron and Seamus both let out terrible screams, and Seamus and Fang bolted. Harry didn't know whether Ron stayed out of bravery or fear, but as the figure got to its feet and moved towards them, he realized it didn't matter. A pain like he'd never felt before pierced his head; it felt as if his scar were on fire. Half blinded, he staggered backward into Ron, who grabbed his elbow and started stumbling backwards himself. Then there was the sound of hooves behind them, and something jumped clean over them both, charging the figure.
It took a long minute for the pain in his head to pass. When he finally looked up, the figure had gone, and a pale-haired centaur was standing over him and Ron instead. Ron was still clinging awkwardly to his elbow, half holding him up, but Harry was too distracted by the beast in front of him to remember to thank him.
"Are you all right?" the centaur asked.
"Yes—thank you—what was that?"
If the centaur had an answer to the question, he didn't provide it. His startlingly blue eyes were focused on Harry's scar instead, and he frowned thoughtfully at them.
"You are the Potter boy," he said. "You had better get back to Hagrid. The forest is not safe at this time—especially for you. Can you ride? It will be easier this way.
"My name is Firenze," he added, as he lowered himself onto his front legs. Harry clambered awkwardly onto his back, and Ron hesitated a moment before climbing up after him.
More galloping announced the arrival of two more centaurs, one red-haired and bearded, and the other black-haired and wild-looking.
"Firenze!" the black-haired one thundered. "What are you doing? You have a human on your back! Have you no shame? Are you a common mule?"
"Do you realize who this is?" Firenze asked. "This is the Potter boy. The quicker he leaves this forest, the better."
"What have you been telling him?" growled the other centaur. "Remember, Firenze, we are sworn not to set ourselves against the heavens. Have we not read what is to come in the movements of the planets?"
The redhaired centaur pawed nervously at the ground, and said in a gloomy voice, "I'm sure Firenze thought he was acting for the best."
"For the best! What is that to do with us? Centaurs are concerned with what has been foretold! It is not our business to run around like donkeys after stray humans in our forest!"
Firenze suddenly reared on his hind legs in anger, and Harry felt Ron grab him around the waist in panic as he himself gripped desperately to the centaur's shoulders so they wouldn't fall off.
"Do you not see that unicorn?" Firenze bellowed. "Do you not understand why it was killed? Or have the planets not let you in on that secret? I set myself against what is lurking in this forest, Bane, yes, with humans alongside me if I must."
And without another word, Firenze whisked around and plunged back into the dark forest.
"Why's that guy so angry?" Harry asked. "What was that thing you saved us from?"
Firenze slowed to a walk, but didn't answer Harry's question. He remained silent for so long that Harry figured Firenze didn't want to talk to them any longer, and he settled gloomily into a more comfortable position. The silence stretched on for another long moment, until Firenze suddenly stopped as they were passing through a particularly dense patch of trees.
"Do you know what unicorn blood is used for?" the centaur asked suddenly.
"No," said Harry, startled, and turned to face Ron, who stared blankly back at him. Clearly he didn't know either. "We've only used the horn and tail hair in Potions."
"That is because it is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn. Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to again, would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something pure and defenseless to save yourself, and you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips."
Harry stared at the back of Firenze's head in disbelief, while Ron gawked behind him.
"But who'd be that desperate?" Harry wondered aloud. "If you're going to be cursed forever, death's better, isn't it?"
"It is," Firenze agreed, "unless all you need is to stay alive long enough to drink something else—something that will bring you back to full strength and power—something that will mean you can never die. Mr. Potter, do you know what is hidden in the school at this very moment?"
"No," Harry said in puzzlement, but couldn't keep himself from feeling excited. Was he finally going to find out what Fluffy was guarding?
"Your Headmaster has sought to keep safe a certain object created by his alchemy partner, Nicholas Flamel," Firenze said, and Harry gawked at him in surprise. The Headmaster knew alchemy? It wasn't widely practiced outside of Amestris and Xing, for various reasons, and he hadn't expected Dumbledore to practice the art. "Can you think of nobody who would desire what the Philosopher's Stone would have to offer them?"
"You mean—" Ron started in surprise as Harry felt a cold dread settle itself into the pit of his stomach. "that was You-Know-Who?"
"Harry!" Hermione's voice called before Firenze could answer. She was running toward them down the path, Hagrid and Neville huffing noisily along behind her. "Harry, are you all right?"
"We're fine," Harry said, ignoring Ron's disgusted snort. "The unicorn's dead, Hagrid, it's in that clearing back there."
"This is where I leave you," Firenze murmured as Hagrid hurried off to examine the unicorn. "You are safe now."
Harry and Ron awkwardly slid off his back.
"Good luck, Harry Potter," Firenze said. "The planets have been read wrongly before now, even by centaurs. I hope this is one of those times."
Harry felt himself shivering as the centaur bounded back into the forest, but it wasn't from the cold.
When Harry got back to the dormitories, he silently shook Draco awake and dragged him, grumbling, down into the common room. He was silent as Harry told him about the events of the forest, staring wide-eyed and fearful at Harry as he paced.
"He must have inside help," Draco said, tapping soundlessly at his own knee. "Everyone says Dumbledore's the only person the Dark Lord was afraid of; if he's as weak as Firenze is suggesting, then he'll need somebody else to get him inside."
"But who can it be?" Harry asked desperately. "All of the teachers are loyal to Dumbledore, aren't they? Even Snape—don't look at me like that, Draco, you know he hates me—even he has to respect the Headmaster, right? But if we don't figure it out, Voldemort could get the Stone at any moment…I should owl dad."
"No!" Draco said, so vehemently that Harry stopped in his tracks. Draco blushed lightly, but continued in a calmer voice, "The centaurs could be wrong; Firenze said so himself, didn't he? What if your dad took you out of Hogwarts for your own safety, and You-Know-Who never showed up? Don't you want to stay here?"
Harry bit at his lip uncertainly, but Draco had a point. Roy would take him out of Hogwarts in a heartbeat if he thought his son was in any real danger, and Harry really didn't want to go back to school in Amestris when he was just settling into England. And what if Firenze was wrong? This was all just conjecture, really, they had no proof, and there could be any number of people wanting something as impossible as immortality…
"Okay," he said heavily, sinking into the chair beside Draco and staring into the dying fire. "I won't tell him."
But he couldn't help feeling as if he was making a mistake.
xxxxx
Thankfully, as the days went by and Fluffy remained growling behind the locked door to the third floor corridor, Harry found himself thinking it increasingly unlikely that Voldemort was going to show up after all. There was an unusually sharp pain in his head, right behind his scar, which started bothering him after the night in the forest and hadn't stopped since, but Harry reluctantly chalked it up to a headache brought on by studying for their exams.
Finally the exams were over, and Harry found himself lounging on the grounds with the other Slytherins in his year. It was too hot to do much of anything, so instead they watched from a safe distance as the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan tickled the giant squid's tentacles.
"Maybe you should go to Madam Pomfrey," Pansy suggested eventually as Harry rubbed uncomfortably at his prickling scar for the hundredth time that week.
"I'm not ill," Harry said crossly, as he'd done every time someone had suggested similar. "I just wish I knew what was causing it…"
"Relax, Harry, the Stone's as safe as it's going to get," Draco drawled lazily, though his concerned gaze never left his friend's face. "I don't imagine much of anyone is going to get past Fluffy without Hagrid telling them how to, and he seems stupidly loyal to Dumbledore, doesn't he?"
Which was true enough, Harry supposed. Hagrid was a good man, and wouldn't sell out to someone like Voldemort easily. Of course, every person had their weaknesses; take Draco and Hagrid's strange obsession with dragons, for instance—
Harry found himself jumping to his feet almost before he realized he was doing so, but only Draco seemed interested in what he was up to.
"We've got to go see Hagrid," Harry announced urgently, making Blaise and Pansy grimace in distaste. Draco frowned as well, but got to his feet and dusted his clothes off as he hurried after Harry, who had already turned and started running across the grounds. "Don't you think it's a bit odd that what Hagrid wants more than anything else is a dragon, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have an egg in his pocket? How many people wander around with dragon eggs if it's against wizard law? Lucky they found Hagrid, don't you think? Why didn't I see it before?"
"You think Hagrid did tell someone, then?" Draco asked in horror, but Harry didn't respond.
Hagrid was sitting in an armchair outside his house, shelling peas into a bowl as he chatted amicably with Hermione and Neville.
"Hullo," he said with a smile, as Neville and Hermione waved at Harry. "Finished yer exams too? Got time fer a drink?"
"No, we're in a hurry," Harry replied impatiently. "Hagrid, I've got to ask you something. You know that night you won Norbert? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?"
"Dunno," said Hagrid nonchalantly, "he wouldn' take his cloak off."
Harry and Draco shared a dismayed look, and Hagrid raised his eyebrows at them.
"It's not that unusual, yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hog's Head—that's the pub down in the village. MIghta bin a dragon dealer, mightn' he? I never saw his face, he kept his hood up."
Harry sank dismally down next to the bowl of peas, hoping he was wrong.
"What did you talk to him about? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?"
"Mighta come up," Hagrid said, frowning in concentration. "Yeah, he asked what I did, an' I told him I was gamekeeper here…. He asked a bit about the sorta creatures I look after…so I told him…an' I said what I'd always really wanted was a dragon… I can' remember too well, 'cause he kept buyin' me drinks…then he said he had an egg an' we could play cards fer it if I wanted, but he wanted ter be sure I could handle it. So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy…."
"And did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Harry asked calmly as now Hermione and Neville stared at Hagrid in horror.
"Well—yeah—how many three-headed dogs d'yeh meet, even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep—"
Hagrid suddenly look horrified, but Harry wasn't paying attention. He and Draco had already taken off back towards the castle, and Hermione and Neville joined them. None of them spoke until they finally found themselves in the dim entrance hall.
"We've got to go to Dumbledore," Harry said. "Hagrid told that stranger how to get past Fluffy, and it must've been whoever's helping Voldemort under that cloak. I hope the headmaster believes us. Maybe Firenze will back us up if Bane doesn't stop him. Where's Dumbledore's office?"
They looked around desperately, as if they thought Dumbledore's office would just appear before them when they needed it. They'd never been sent to the headmaster, and none of them knew anybody who had—except maybe the Weasley twins, but they'd be too interested in why they all wanted to see Dumbledore to be of any use.
"What are you four doing inside?" McGonagall's voice rang across the hall, and they all spun around to see her approaching them with a large stack of books.
"We want to see Professor Dumbledore," Hermione piped up into the nervous silence that ensued.
"See Professor Dumbledore?" McGonagall repeated suspiciously. "Why?"
"It's sort of—a secret," Harry said nervously, and immediately wished he'd thought of something better as their professor's nostrils flared in anger.
"Professor Dumbledore left ten minutes ago," she said coldly. "He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and flew off for London at once."
"He's gone?" Harry asked in horror.
"Professor Dumbledore is a very great wizard, Potter, he has many demands on his time—"
"But this is important!" Harry protested desperately.
"Something you have to say is more important than the Ministry of Magic, Potter?"
Well, normally, no, but… "It's about the Philospher's Stone," Harry blurted incautiously.
Professor McGonagall clearly hadn't been expecting that as an answer; the books she was carrying tumbled out of her arms as she stared at them all in astonishment.
"How do you know—?" she spluttered.
"Professor, someone's going to try and steal the Stone. I've got to talk to the headmaster."
"Professor Dumbledore will be back tomorrow," McGonagall eventually said in a very final tone. "I don't know how you found out about the Stone, but rest assured, no one can possibly steal it, it's too well protected."
"But Professor—"
"Potter, I know what I'm talking about," she said shortly, her patience clearly having run thin as she bent down and gathered her books. "I suggest you all go back outside and enjoy the sunshine."
Reluctantly, and very slowly, they trickled out the front doors.
"It's tonight," Harry said decisively once their Transifguration professor was definitely out of earshot. "Whoever's helping Voldemort must have sent that note, I bet the Ministry of Magic will get a real shock when Dumbledore turns up."
"But what can we do?" Hermione asked.
"It's obvious, isn't it?" Draco asked, pale face flushed in excitement and his eyes glittering. "If none of the teachers will do anything, we've got to keep the Stone safe ourselves."
"I'm going to try to get to the Stone first," Harry agreed. "I'm not letting Voldemort get that stone, and dad's too far away to get here in time, even if I sent Hedwig to him right now. I've got the Invisibility Cloak, it shouldn't be much of an issue getting to the corridor."
"But will it cover all four of us?" Neville asked timidly.
"All—all four of us?"
"Well, we're not letting you go alone," Hermione said briskly, and Harry was stunned to see Draco nodding in agreement with her. "I can go look through my books, there could be something useful…."
"You don't have to come," Harry said blankly, looking around at all of them. "It'll be dangerous, if we don't make it in time—"
"It won't be much better if the Dark Lord does come back," Draco said gloomily. "And this is too much for one eleven-year old to handle. You need all the help you can get. We're coming."
And that was that.
A/N: The next chapter will probably end up being mostly from the book as well, so hopefully I won't take another freaking month to get it done. Sigh.
P.S. If you're not following Weird and Weirder (a set of short stories set during this book), go over there and witness McGonagall Doing Cat Things. I promise your life will be better after you read it.