Harry Potter and all associated characters are the property of JK Rowling.

This story belongs to MinaandChao. I make no claim to ownership.

Chapter 12: Into the Woods

The idea of having a connection with Lily in some way made Harry's heart soar, and he pressed his bag to his chest and muttered the password, 'Knotgrass'. He stumbled into the Common Room with a small, private smile.

When he got into the Common Room, Harry saw Pansy and Draco sitting on one of the couches and joined them. The two of them blinked at his expression.

"Someone hit you with a Cheering Charm or something?" Draco asked, one eyebrow arching.

Harry shook his head, silent. He was kind of afraid to talk about it, like if the words escaped him the feelings would fly out with them. Instead he settled in next to Draco, pressing himself against the other boy's side.

At first Draco blinked at him, confused, but he evidently decided it would do no good to ask questions, and instead pressed back and continued his conversation with Pansy. The girl blinked at the two of them, and shared a look with Draco.

They stayed like that, Harry revealing in the new found connection with the mother he didn't remember, and Draco and Pansy offering all the quiet companionship they could until dinner.

"We should see Hagrid," Harry suggested.

Time really did fly when they were in their classes and already almost two full months had gone by since their return to Hogwarts. They had been researching Nicolas Flamel and the Philosopher's Stone as much as they could between their classes and they were getting no further on the idea of who could try to steal the Stone.

"I don't iwant/i to see Hagrid," Pansy whined, pouting over her Herbology textbook.

"If he got the Stone for Dumbledore to protect, then they must have some kind of clue about who they need to protect it from."

Pansy let out an over dramatic, exasperated sigh and blew a strand of hair out of her face. "Fine, we'll go after dinner."

Draco shot a look at Pansy before wincing when she kicked him hard in the shin. He glowered at her and rubbed his aching shin before flipping open his Charms textbook. He looked at the piece of parchment on the table and at up straighter. He swished-flicked and "'Wingardium leviosa!'"

"We already know that one, you git." Harry rolled his eyes. "Why not try something new?"

"Well, let's see you do something perfect, Mr. Potter," Draco retorted, falsely snide.

Harry snorted and rolled up the sleeves of his robe and pulled out his wand. He gripped it firmly and gave it a wave. "Engorgio!" The piece of parchment tripled in size and Pansy applauded politely.

"Where'd you learn that one?"

"In one of the books at Draco's house. I thought it was kind of cool."

"How d'you get it back?" Draco asked dryly.

Harry shrugged his shoulders and earned a cushion to the face for his efforts. He righted his glasses on his face and glared at Draco who smirked and stuck his tongue out. Harry rolled his eyes at the display and turned the page in his book and looked to Pansy. "Why don't you try the Knockback Jinx?"

Pansy nodded and flourished her wand. She held it upright for a few long moments, concentrating before she slashed downward. "'Flipendo!'"

Harry gave a cry when the spell hit him full force in the chest and he toppled backward in his chair and landed on the floor. He lay there a moment, splayed out before he rolled onto his side and picked himself up. He righted his glasses once again, and smoothed down his hair to no avail. "Brilliant."

Before long it was dinner and they lounged about afterward for a while, enjoying the heat of the fire in the cold dungeon. The snows were already melting, but it was still chilly. When the last few people trickled off to bed, Harry slid close to Pansy and Draco, who were in a heated game of chess and looked at them.

"We should go and see Hagrid."

"Now?" Pansy whispered and shot a look at the clock in the corner. "It's past curfew."

Harry grinned slyly. "I've got it covered."

Pansy's brow rose when Harry produced the shimmering, multi-coloured fabric. "What's that?"

Draco's grin turned wicked and he bounced up from his spot and clapped Harry on the shoulder. "You're a genius."

Harry draped the cloak over his shoulders, causing his body to vanish and he lifted his arm. "Come on, we can all fit if we squeeze in tight."

Pansy gaped but quickly scrambled under the cloak and attached herself to Harry's side. Draco bustled in as well, wrapping around Pansy. Harry let the cloak fall, covering all of them in the magical fabric and they headed out.

Once they reached the hut, Pansy promptly grabbed the cloak and inspected it. After a moment of that, she smacked at Harry, who quietly squawked. "You didn't tell me you had an Invisibility Cloak."

"Someone gave it to me for Christmas, and I forgot to mention it after." He shrugged. "Can we discuss this later?" Pansy sulked at him, but nodded.

They knocked on the door, and there was a loud commotion, like something very large had been dropped. After a moment, Hagrid appeared in the door, looking strangely guilty. "What're you three doin' here?" He demanded, uncharacteristically short. There was another noise, and he turned and gazed back into the house. Fang let out a whimper and scampered past Hagrid, diving under the hut and curling up.

For a moment, no one spoke, before Hagrid finally broke. "Alright, c'mon in." The three traded glances and cautiously stepped into the house. At first it looked fairly normal, if messier than normal, but then what looked like a bundle of dragon skin moved. And dragon skin was certainly part of it.

Draco squeaked and scrambled back, looking tempted to follow Fang's example. However, he ran into Hagrid, who barely seemed to notice him. Instead, his black eyes were looking at the dragon with an expression of...pride?

"Norbert, we've got guests!" Hagrid declared, and the dragon, apparently named Norbert, coughed up a little tongue of flame. "Oh, look'it you! Such a healthy thing!" Hagrid puffed out his chest like a proud papa.

It took a moment before Harry was able to say anything about this sight. "Hagrid...where did the dragon come from?"

"Well that's a silly question, innit? Came from an egg, just like all dragons." After a moment the huge man started. "Oh, you mean...I got him of a Greek fellow down in Hogsmede. Won 'em in a game of cards." Hagrid's eyes tracked off as he remembered. "'M not usually the best at cards, but I knew if I ever needed to win a game..." He smiled than, and Pansy let out a scared little squeak.

Recovering somewhat, Draco sputtered at the man. "Surely you can't be serious!" At Hagrid's confused look, he continued. "You can't keep this thing! It's beyond dangerous. And illegal." The man looked like he had something to say about that, but he quickly schooled himself. Harry was glad. He really didn't want to know what he'd been about to say.

When Hagrid still didn't look convinced, Pansy tried. "But you live in a hut. A wooden hut! I give it a week before this place is cinders."

That got Hagrid's attention, and he looked around, as if considering. Harry paused for a minute before trying a different angle. "Besides, think of...Norbert. He's gunna get a lot bigger, right? He won't be happy hidden away in your home, or in the forest - he's meant to fly." The huge man's eyes teared up a bit, and he gazed at Norbert with a mournful air.

"Figure yur right." He finally sighed, a frown twisting his lips. "But I dunno what I could do with 'im. Ministry might even put poor Norbert down if they catch wind of this."

There was silence for a moment, as they pondered that. After a moment, Draco groaned and buried his head in his arms. "What is it?" Pansy asked, looking like she regretted voicing the question.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think we need Weasley." Everyone blinked at him, and he sulked for a moment before continuing. "One of his older brothers works at a Dragon Reserve. I remember Father talking about how he couldn't believe someone would let their child work there..." His imperious rant was quelled by equally stern looks from Harry and Hagrid.

Harry considered that. "You think his brother could take him?"

A snort was his answer. "All the Weasleys basically ever have ended up in Gryffindor. I'm sure he'll jump at the chance."

And thus the next morning Harry cornered Ron at breakfast and quickly explained the situation. After getting over his alarm that there was a dragon at Hogwarts, the redhead agreed to owl his brother, and Harry lent him Hedwig.

By dinner they got a reply that Charlie would send some friends to pick up the dragon. The catch was that since this entire operation was rather on the not-so-legal side of things, they couldn't be seen with it. Thus they had to get the dragon to the top of tallest tower. At midnight.

Considering Harry's invisibility cloak, this didn't seem quite so bad as it would have otherwise. That evening, Ron, Harry and Draco (the cloak could only fit three, and Pansy was the least physically fit. At least Draco played Quidditch), along with Norbert the crated Dragon, made their way up to the tower.

Between all of them, they managed to get to the tower and hand off Norbert with little fuss. Unfortunately, on the way down, a moving staircase caught the end of the cloak, and it pulled off of them. As the three First Years retrieved it, Filch came barely down the hallway, clearly having heard them.

Within 20 minutes the three first years were sitting in McGonagall's office, across from the clearly recently woken Head of House. A few minutes later, a rumpled looking Snape entered, his eyes hard and cold as they surveyed his two First Years.

"What were you three thinking?" McGonagall snapped at them. "All of you should know better than to go wandering the halls at night. Just a few months ago there was a troll wandering these halls!" Her eyes gazed at each student individually, and they squirmed uncomfortably. "50 points! For each of you!"

At that they shared horrified looks, which only got worse at Snape opened his mouth. "A detention is in order as well." He rumbled, eyes fixed on Harry. They looked colder than they had since the first day of school, and also something kind of sad, like a broken promise.

McGonagall nodded. "Quite right. You will all be serving detention with Mr. Filch." Ron opened his mouth to protest, but two fierce glares shut him up instantly. "Now, I will be escorting Mr. Weasly to bed and Professor Snape will be escorting Misters Potter and Malfoy, since none of you can be trusted to get to your beds yourselves."

It was three very subdued First Years who left the office, Harry most of all. Sure, he felt awful about losing those points, and their housemates were going to be right pissed off, but the disapproval and anger in Snape's eyes hurt far worse.

He dropped them off in the Common Room without a word, instead turning and immediately slipping out the passageway. Harry glanced after him for a moment, heart feeling like it was trying to crawl its way into his stomach.

Draco and Harry shared a long look, before heading up to their dorms, slipping in without waking any of the other boys, and exchanging quiet good nights.

Three nights later Harry, Draco and Ron were following Filch across the frosty, soggy field towards Hagrid's hut. Harry pulled his Slytherin scarf higher around his ears and tucked his hands into his robes. Beside him he saw Draco trace his wand in a quick half circle with a mutter of 'lumos' and the wand tip lit like a torch. Harry quickly did the same, and on his other side, Ron quickly mimicked the charm, though his wand shot off a few sparks in the process.

"Well, here we are then," Filch announced with a nasty smile and presented them to Hagrid with a flourish. "Your little helpers."

"Oh great," Ron grumbled, ducking his head into his scarf as his breath billowed out.

Harry stomped on his foot. "Hush, would you rather serve with Hagrid or Filch?"

Ron glared at Harry. "It's his fault we're here in the first place."

"The Weasley has a point, y'know." Draco's face was illuminated by the pale blue tip of his wand. "Now there's something I never thought I'd say."

"If it were up to me all three a' ya would be hanging in the dungeons by your thumbs." Filch gave them a grin with his crooked, yellow teeth. "But, as it is, you'll be helping Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest."

"The Forbidden Forest, are you mad?" Draco's eyes were wide as he looked between the two staff members. "It's forbidden. Says so in the name. We aren't allowed in!"

"Professor Dumbledore has granted the three of you special leniency," Filch responded, sounding far too happy. "Night-night."

Harry watched Filch retreat with a growing sense of dread and turned back to Hagrid, gulping. "We're not really going in there, are we, Hagrid?"

"'Fraid so, Harry. Summat's been attackin' the unicorns. I found one in a real bad state the other day. Dumbledore reckons some kind of nasty is after them. So, we'll be huntin' it down." Hagrid patted his crossbow with a smile. "Now, if you find something, just shower some sparks in the air and Ron an' I will come running."

"What do you mean you and Ron?" Draco asked, before slowly putting things together. "You're splitting us up? And sending us into the Forest alone? Where there are werewolves?"

"Oh calm down, Malfoy. Full moon's not until next week. If it'll make you feel better, you can have Fang." Hagrid handed off the large, thick leash to Harry. "Right. Off we go."

Ron shot a terrified look at Draco and Harry before following after Hagrid, who was lighting the way with his lantern. Harry shot back a sympathetic look before he tugged on Draco's robes so they could head into the Forest. Draco gave a piteous moan before following Harry into the darkness.

"I can't believe we're doing this. It's degrading."

Harry kept his mouth firmly clamped shut. If Draco thought walking through a forest looking for a unicorn was degrading, what would he think of what Harry had done for his aunt and uncle all those years? Instead, Harry flicked his wand, sending the burst of light forward to help them navigate. They met up with Ron and Hagrid not far into the Forest and Hagrid was bent over a pool of silvery liquid, tracing his fingers through it.

"Hagrid," Harry started, voice low, "What is that?"

"Unicorn blood. There's go' to be one round here that's been hurt bad. Ron and I will go this way," Hagrid pointed with the silvery fingers, "you and Malfoy go that way."

Harry nodded his head grimly and lowered his eyes back to the pool of blood, his stomach turning in horror. Draco was already pretty far ahead, muttering quietly as he tripped over roots and rocks, by the time he looked up and Harry raced to catch him.

"I hate this," Draco snapped, pulling his foot loose of a root.

"You're scared, aren't you?"

"I'm not scared. Malfoys don't get scared."

Harry eyed Draco a long moment before he lost his footing and tumbled down an incline. Fang bounded up behind him, slobbering over his face to make sure he was alright. Harry pushed him off and sat up, hand patting the ground for his glasses.

"Here."

Harry curled around the glasses Draco held out, and put them on. "Thanks."

"Come on, I thought I heard something coming from down there."

Harry watched Draco move and shook his head. Now Draco was being stupid and trying to prove he wasn't scared. Harry pulled himself up and brushed off the back of his robes before he followed after Draco. Draco had stopped short and extinguished his wand. Harry bumped into the back of him, and with a quick look from Draco did the same.

A unicorn was lying, quietly huffing, less than a hundred feet away. It was alive, only barely, it's eyes were closed and it was making quiet, pitiful noises between its laboured breathing. Its side was split and there was... something there. Both boys stared in horror, transfixed to the spot, and watched as whatever the creature was, lap at the unicorn blood.

Harry felt bile rise in his throat and his head was pounding terribly. He stumbled in place and dropped his wand, his hands rising up to press against his temples as his vision started to blur. Beside him Draco shifted uncomfortably, his breathing shallow and he was making almost silent whimpering noises. Fang was cowering and before long the boarhound had bounded off into the forest.

Harry swayed dangerously on his feet and Draco caught hold of him as he went down. Draco clutched at his wand and brandished it, sending up a cascade of brilliant purple sparks. The thing was moving. Harry cried out loudly and Draco fell back, eyes wide with fright, and Harry was pretty sure Draco was screaming, but he could barely hear anything over the pounding in his head.

It took a moment to distinguish the thundering of hooves from the noise in his head, but then a centaur jumped out of the woods and into the clearing. It - no, he - brandished his hooves at the creature. It flinched back, and seemed to glance directly at Harry. The pain in his head reached a new high, and Harry reached up to rub at his forehead, barely aware of what he was doing. Finally it seemed to decide that it wasn't worth it, and it seemed to glide away from them.

The centaur walked up to the boys, as Harry slowly came back to himself. Two arms were wrapped around him like a vice, and Draco was half buried in his shoulder, one eye watching the approaching centaur with fear mixed with some strange resolve. His hand shook as it held the wand, knuckles white with tension.

"Harry Potter." The centaur intoned, more like he was discovering some great secret than acknowledging Harry. "It will not be distracted for long. Please come with me."

Draco snorted at him, brandishing his wand just a bit higher. "Not likely," He nearly growled, voice shaky and low with fright.

Before the blonde could protest, both boys were lifted bodily and placed on the centaur's back, and Draco was just barely able to snatch up Harry's wand before they were off. They dashed at high speeds through the forest, and Draco clung to Harry even tighter. In just a couple of minutes they met Hagrid and Ron, who were making their way quickly towards where the purple sparks had been. "Firenze," Hagrid panted, his eyes darting between him and the boys. "What 'append?"

"A terrible creature roams these lands." Was all Firenze could manage before the boys were sliding off of him, and two more centaurs darted out of the woods. They looked utterly furious, and one of them - a dark coloured male - started in on him about letting humans ride on him.

Hagrid interrupted before it could get ugly. "Now look 'ere, Bane. Firenze was just savin' these boys. No harm meant." Bane looked distinctly unimpressed, and began muttering darkly about the stars and common mules. Ignoring him, Hagrid turned to Draco and Harry, who were now pressed together, standing next to Ron, who looked equally like he'd rather be anywhere else and like he wanted to know what was going on. "You two alright?"

"I think so." Harry muttered at the same time that Draco shook his head 'no'. Harry glanced at the other, and had his wand waved in his face. He took it, smiling slightly at the other boy in thanks, and Draco just nodded.

There was a moment where the humans took stock of themselves, ignoring Bane as he tore further into Firenze. "We'll just be going now, I think." Hagrid finally said, ushering the First Years towards Hogwarts.

Bane opened his mouth to say something, but Firenze interrupted him. "They are young." The dark centaur glanced between the retreating humans and his fellow centaurs, before he stomped one of his front hooves.

"Fine."

When they got back to Hagrid's, he patted each one down and asked if they needed to go to the hospital wing. Receiving three negatives, he sent them off to bed.

The First Years went to their respective dorms and got ready to go to sleep, utterly exhausted. Before they could slip off, Harry murmured, "Draco?"

There was a moment where Harry thought he'd missed his chance, but then a sleepy voice replied, "Yes?"

"Thanks."

A snort was his reply. "Don't mention it. Really. Ever."