The next morning Harry crawled out of bed, his body stiff, his throat sore, reminding him of last night's little adventure with Malfoy. His sleep had been restless and twice he had awoken in a cold sweat. Despite all that, he was feeling infinitely better than he had last night.
Ron was just beginning to stir as morning approached, still struggling to cling to unconsciousness and failing miserably.
"What time is it?" Ron asked with a yawn, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"A little passed seven."
The red-head groaned, mumbling something about sleep and stupid parakeets.
"I take it you had unsettling dreams as well?" Harry asked, smirking at his friend.
Ron nodded in response, still attempting to become one with the waking world.
"Since I'm up," Harry announced with a resigned expression. "I might as well get started on the homework that I didn't finish last night."
Ron groaned at the mention of it before glancing at Harry with a thoughtful look.
"You think Hermione will take pity on us both and let us copy?"
He shrugged uncertainly. "It can't hurt to ask," he replied as he made his way to the bathroom to start his day.
Harry could feel Ron's suspicious eyes on his back. Breakfast was going to be a tedious affair. He could tell that Ron was in full-blown mother-hen mode now.
"Today we will be learnin' how ter detect an' remove chizpurfles from magical creatures," Hagrid announced in a dispassionate tone. His usual enthusiasm when discussing magical creatures had been decidedly lacking all year. Hagrid looked exhausted. Harry had been meaning to ask the man about it, but with school and everything else, he kept getting sidetracked.
His classmates sighed in relief – chizpurfles were a safe subject. While it had been a while since they had faced off against a creature that Professor Hagrid had insisted was 'safe and friendly,' most students still attended each lesson with a lot of trepidation. Their luck couldn't hold out forever.
Professor Hagrid continued discussing the finer points of chizpurfle detection before trailing off into a prolonged silence. He took in his surroundings with an angry scowl.
"Well," he cried. "What are yeh waitin' fer?"
The students stared back at him as if he had gone mental.
"You haven't given us any instructions, you dolt," Malfoy snarled.
Harry unintentionally tensed at the sound of the blonde's voice. He had decided to let the incident with Malfoy slide, but clearly, he wasn't over it yet. Ron eyed him in concern.
"Oh...um," Hagrid struggled for words, flustered by the embarrassing situation.
"Each of yeh is ter grab a box from o'er there," he waved his hand towards the side of the hut. "Follow the instructions in yer book abou' detectin' chizpurfles, an' then try ter remove them from the creature contained in yer box. When yer done, bring 'em ter me an' I'll give yeh yer grade."
The students nodded apprehensively. Chizpurfles they could handle, but chizpurfles on an unknown creature made them wary. With a fair amount of caution, they moved towards the boxes that were stacked against the wall of the hut.
Hagrid pulled Harry aside as he was passing.
"McGonagall just informed me that yeh have detention wif me tonight," he stated.
Harry nodded. He had almost forgotten about the detention he had received. It had seemed so long ago.
"Shame on yeh, walkin' aroun' the castle all alone at night." He shook his head in disappointment. "Who knows what coulda happened to yeh?"
Harry hung his head as he had done with Professor McGonagall. He didn't understand why it was such a big deal. If Voldemort was able to get into the castle, he didn't see how staying in his room would make any difference. One way or another, the man would find him. He choked down his true feelings on the situation.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I wasn't thinking. It won't happen again."
"It better not," the giant warned before walking back to oversee the proceedings.
Harry followed a good distance behind and got his own box from the stack. He could already tell that today was going to be another long day.
Harry neared Hagrid's hut, clutching his cloak tightly to his body as he shivered. It was early November; the smell of winter was strong, and a fine mist hung in the air. He kept glancing up wondering why it wasn't frozen. Why drizzle when it felt like it should be flurries? He was freezing.
The fever that he had noticed after Occlumency lessons had come and gone throughout the day. The sore throat that he had at first attributed to the screaming he had done the night before had only worsened. By dinner time, he was miserable. There wasn't much he could do about it though. If he tried to bring it up, Professor McGonagall would assume he was using Fever Fudge to get out of detention. Then he'd be sick, but with an extra day of detention as an added bonus. He just needed to push through the night and then sleep forever.
As he approached, three shapes were barely distinguishable through the haze – Hagrid, Fang, and another boy – Draco Malfoy.
"What are you doing here?" he grumbled. It was just his luck.
"Detention, what else?" the blond retorted haughtily.
They stared each other down for a moment, Draco occasionally glancing at Fang in distaste.
Hagrid cleared his throat, drawing their attention to him. He scanned their faces before nodding to himself as if coming to a decision.
"I think yer both are old enough ter handle yerselves out in the woods," he stated matter-of-factly.
Draco narrowed his eyes mistrustfully. "What do you mean by that?"
"That I can trust yeh ter take care of yerselves and not get killed," the giant replied as if that were explanation enough.
Draco scrunched up his nose in disgust. Harry shivered slightly under his cloak. Neither looked particularly enthused.
"It'll be just like last time," Hagrid explained. "Only now we don' know what we're lookin' fer. Over the summer we had some lootin' goin' on an' since then I've bin havin' ter keep watch durin' the night ter make sure it don't happen again."
That answered Harry's questions about the giant's strange behavior lately - he'd been running himself ragged.
"What kind of looting?" Draco squeaked.
"Oh, nothin' serious," he replied nonchalantly. "Just small things like the garden bein' trampled, statues bein' knocked down, and rocks bein' thrown through windows."
Draco looked marginally relieved. "And we won't have to go in too deep?"
"Only about as far as last time," the giant replied.
Draco paled. "As far as last time," he repeated, his voice rising in pitch. "As far as last time! Like hell I'm doing that. You're out of your bloody mind! Do you even remember what happened last time?"
Harry rolled his eyes at the boy's antics. "Stop whining, you sissy," he taunted, knowing full well that Draco had no problem venturing into the Forbidden Forest. He had Draco figured out – this was all an act.
"Sissy? Sissy!?" he screeched. "This coming from the boy who fainted because of the scary dementors."
Harry stiffened angrily, about to make a comment of his own before he was cut off.
"Boys," Hagrid interjected. "Calm down. It's not like I'm letting yeh go off by yerselves – Fang'll be accompanyin' yeh."
"Oh great – bloody freaking wonderful. I'm so happy we get the drooling mutt from hell as protection. What's he going to do, slobber the monsters to death? I think not," Draco scoffed.
Hagrid smirked at the boy's tirade. "Fine, if yeh don' want Fang, then he'll come wif me."
Draco snapped his mouth shut and shook his head.
"As I was sayin', it'll be just like last time. If yeh see somethin' suspicious shoot up green sparks and if yeh get inter trouble send up red sparks."
They both nodded their understanding.
"Right then, let's go," Hagrid announced cheerfully. Draco groaned.
He led them past the edge of the forest, two lamps clutched high above his head to see things better. A little way in they reached a fork in the path.
"Here we are," he said, pointing to the left and handing them a lamp. "You go up that'a way and I'll go this way. When yeh reach the end, come back and we'll meet in the middle."
Draco snatched the lamp from Hagrid's hand and stared down the path in horror.
"I'll be going then," Hagrid bellowed, stomping off in the opposite direction.
They both glanced at one another nervously. Despite being alone, neither of them wanted to bring up the events that transpired the night before. After an unbearable amount of silence, Harry took the first step. Draco followed, eyeing him suspiciously.
Wet leaves brushed Harry's face and he wiped the liquid away before it could trickle down his cheek. He glanced at the sky and noticed that the moon was just a tiny sliver in the sky.
"At least we don't have to worry about werewolves," Draco grumbled, his eyes following Harry's.
Harry turned around and smirked at the boy. Draco stiffened in irritation, lengthening his stride, quickly taking the lead.
Harry shrugged and fell back – keeping pace with the blond while staying far enough away that they wouldn't have to talk. It was awkward being so close to the boy that had just tortured him. He should have been angry, but he couldn't seem to muster any malice. He was just tired.
Harry continued to shiver as the drizzle gave way to rain. It was a relief to have the cooling drops roll down his flushed face, but he felt uncomfortably cold and hot at the same time.
He trudged on, stumbling occasionally, but always preventing himself from falling. By sheer force of will, he was remaining firmly on his feet. The thought of falling in the mud and then being taunted by Malfoy for his clumsiness was too much. That was all that kept him moving. He wanted to sit and take a break, catch his breath, and wait for the ground to stop slipping, but he wasn't going to be the one who stopped first. He had too much pride for that. It was that damned basketball game all over again. He never seemed to know when to quit.
Draco wanted this little adventure to be over quickly. He didn't trust Potter. Why hadn't the boy snitched on him? Was he going to use that information against him? And why was the boy acting so cool about everything. They weren't friends. He had to be up to something.
The sound of rushing water could be heard in the distance, getting louder as they progressed. It wasn't long before the path they were on was hugging the edge of a very steep ravine. Draco looked down nervously. He could barely detect the lamp-light reflecting off the surface of the water below. It did not look like fun. He took a few nervous steps backward and continued, hugging the opposite side of the path, trying to put as much distance between him and the edge as he could.
The sound of snapping twigs and a panicked yelp, caused him to spin on his heels, watching in horror as Harry toppled down the side of the ravine and into the water below.
"Shit," he exclaimed, rushing to peer over the edge.