Chapter 14
The sun rose on February fourteenth, long after Harry made his way around the castle, using his status to bypass the alarms and door locks to access both the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff females dorms. He was looking forward to seeing his friends when they got up.
Hermione, Bella, Sophie and Tonks all awoke to a beautiful scent filling their separate dorms. One by one, upon opening their eyes, they each saw the bouquet of yellow roses by their beds, the cards all reading the same. 'A happy Valentines day to one of our dearest friends.' Each signed 'Harry and Neville.'
Neville was rather shocked at receiving a series of hugs from all of his female friends when he arrived at the bottom of the stairs from the dorm.
"Thank you for the flowers, boys." Bella said. Neville was utterly confused by what was going on.
"I've never gotten a valentines day gift before." Sophie stammered.
"Neither have I." Hermione commiserated. Neville noticed that each girl was wearing a yellow rose pinned to the front of their robes. He held Harry back as the rest headed for the portrait hole to get to breakfast.
"What am I missing?" He queried.
"It's valentines day." Harry observed. "All the girls in our group got yellow roses from the both of us."
Neville blushed almost as deeply as he did when the girls hugged him a few minutes before.
"Don't worry." Harry instructed. "Yellow roses, signify friendship."
"Oh, well..." He seemed at a loss for words.
Harry came to his rescue. "Breakfast, yeah?"
"Absolutely." Neville replied, moving out of the common room himself.
The group were soon in the great hall, where they received a hug from Tonks. "Thank you, guys."
The two just smiled at her, Harry knowing that even with the age difference, she still appreciated them showing they cared.
Four days later, the group was digging into breakfast at the Hufflepuff table, when Hedwig landed before Harry. She dropped a letter from her beak, onto the table in front of him, before hopping onto his shoulder.
"It's from Hagrid." He whispered to the others.
"What does it say?" Bella asked.
"It's hatching."
After a bit of discussion, which was interrupted by Draco Malfoy attempting to listen in, they decided to forgo the dragon issue, until the free period after Herbology. Once the bell rung, ending the class, they hurried to the hut at the edge of the forest, where they were welcomed by the expectant papa.
"It's nearly out." He crowed as he ushered them inside.
The black egg sat in a steel bowl on the table, deep cracks running along it, where they could see something moving within. They all gathered around it, sitting in chairs, or leaning on the table itself. Soon, the egg shuddered, and split nearly in half, a small black scaly-skinned creature plopping onto the table.
The dragon was small and thin with wide wings that were much larger then it's body. It had a long snout with wide nostrils, stubby horns, and bulging orange eyes. The creature took a minute to lean how to crawl about the table, before releasing what could have been a sneeze, along with a puff of smoke, and a few orange sparks.
"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured. He reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs.
"Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!" Hagrid said.
"Hagrid," Hermione questioned, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"
Hagrid was about to answer when the color suddenly drained from his face ― he leapt to his feet and ran to the
window.
"What's the matter?"
"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains ― it's a kid ― he's runnin' back up ter the school."
Harry bolted to the door and looked out. Even at a distance there was no mistaking the platinum blonde hair. He rushed out after the boy, telling his friends to stay with Hagrid, and that he would deal with this.
He ran hard for the castle, closing on Malfoy, who he could still see in the distance. The blonde-haired boy was in terrible shape, a result of having had magic do everything for him his whole life. He had to stop shortly to catch his breath. Harry caught up to him quickly.
"What do you want, Scarhead? Come to threaten me not to tell anyone what I saw?"
"No," Harry answered. "I just wanted to say Obliviate."
The Slytherin boy's eyes glazed over, as Harry erased his memory of seeing anything at Hagrid's. He had ample practice using the Oblivate spell, and such precise and refined control, that he could have erased the boy's memories of his own parents, if he had wanted to. The git would never recall seeing anything suspicious, yet would remember having followed them to the hut so as to not leave any blank time periods in his memories.
Harry returned to the hut after watching Malfoy return to his common room. His friends were waiting, looking worried, and checked him for bruises, expecting him to have gotten in a fight with the boy.
"Everything's aright." Harry said. "He won't be telling anyone about the dragon." He refused to say anything more, and wouldn't answer any questions about what he did, leaving his friends to come to their own conclusions.
The group spent every day at Hagrid's trying to come up with a way to deal with the dragon, which was quickly getting bigger. One day, they stumbled upon the answer accidentally.
"Too bad we don't know anyone at one of the dragon preserves." Harry muttered. "We could ask them to take him somewhere with other dragons."
"Norbert." Hagrid corrected.
"Sorry, what?"
"Norbert." Hagrid gestured at the dragon. "I named him Norbert."
"Aright, well, if we knew someone at a dragon preserve, we could have them come get... Norbert."
Tonks' face turned bright red. "I actually know someone at a preserve. Charlie Weasley. He's um..." She trailed off, her friends not hearing the rest of the sentence.
"He's what?" Hermione asked.
"He's this guy I used to have a major crush on. I um... I basically followed him around through my third and fourth year."
"Ok," Harry said, intentionally avoiding mentioning her embarrassing moments. "Can you write to him, see if he can come take... Norbert, somewhere safe?"
"No problem. Hedwig, would you be willing to take a letter to the dragon preserve in Romania?"
The owl in question hopped over to Tonks' shoulder, so she would be there to leave at a moments notice. Hagrid was extremely sad that he was going to loose his dragon, but was happy that it would be going somewhere that it would be cared for. He was scared that Norbert was too young to be on his own, and would starve.
It took Hedwig days to return with a letter from Charlie Weasley. She apparated back to England at night, so Harry would know she hadn't been eaten by a dragon. They didn't like being separated for days at a time. While there, she told Harry how Charlie was extremely excited about the chance to get a new dragon, and was trying to set up a group to come and get it. Finally after nearly a week, she returned with a letter which she delivered to Tonks, before returning to Harry.
The next morning, they found out from the seventh year girl that Charlie had arranged for a group of dragon handlers to pick up Norbert on the top of the Astronomy tower at midnight on Saturday. She also told them that she had thrown the letter into a fireplace to prevent anyone finding out what they were doing.
After classes, Harry went to the kitchens, where it didn't take too much convincing to get one of the many happy-to-please House Elves to give him a few raw steaks. After that, he retreated to his trunks potion room, where he brewed a strong sleeping draught. The steaks were left to soak in the potion overnight, in the runed cooling cabinet in his kitchen.
The next day was Saturday, the day of Operation Dragon Smuggle. After much discussion, they decided that only two could fit under the invisibility cloak with the dragon. They drew lots to see who would go, with Bella and Hermione being the two short lots. Harry decided he would go along disillusioned, as backup, not that either of them would know that.
Harry gave the two potion soaked steaks to Hermione, telling her to feed them to Norbert before trying to move him. When the time came, the two girls wrapped themselves in the cloak, and disappeared. Harry watched as the tracking charm that he had planted on the cloak moved out of the common room. He gave it a few moments, before getting up, and heading after it, himself.
"Where are you going?" Neville asked.
"I decided I can't want around. I'm following them. Consider me the lookout."
Sophie took a deep breath, working up the nerve to speak. "We will go with you."
Harry smiled at the act of bravery. He hugged her tightly, before speaking. "I thank you for that, I truly do, but one student sneaking around at night, I can hide. Three students are more noticeable. I don't care if I get in trouble, but I couldn't stand for anything happening to either of you. Please, stay here. I'll be back soon."
Once out of the common room, he moved along quickly, noting as he relaxed his iron willed control over the nearly instinctual use of his magic. He quickly faded from sight, the disillusionment charm almost placing itself. He followed the tracking charm out of the castle to Hagrid's hut, where the two were standing outside along with a sleeping dragon in a box. He smiled as, after realising how heavy the crate was, Hermione used a levitation charm. They then wrapped the invisibility cloak around the two girls and one dragon, vanishing from sight. Hagrid sobbed loudly as they moved away.
Harry followed them at a distance, up to the tower, where they waited nearly fifteen nerve-racking minutes, before four brooms descended from the sky. The three students watched in amusement as the cheery dragon wranglers wrapped a harness around the still sleeping creature, and quickly flew off into the night.
Once his friends were heading back down the stairs, Harry vanished the now empty crate, before following them. They were all moving at a fair clip, when someone suddenly careened around the approaching corner, running full tilt, as he crashed into the two invisible girls, causing all three to end up sprawled painfully on the stone floor. Luckily the collision didn't make a sound, as before he could even think, Harry silenced the three of them. Ron Weasley dragged himself out of the pile, standing before the two girls. Harry dropped the silencing charms before any of them noticed they couldn't speak.
"What are you doing here?" Hermione questioned.
"Dragon smuggling in the middle of the night? I wanted to be apart of a genuine Harry Potter adventure."
Hermione scowled at the idiot before her, but Bella was the first to speak up. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but Harry isn't even here."
"What do you mean, he's not here? He's the boy-who-lived." Ron demanded. "He has to be here."
"You obviously don't know Harry at all." Hermione pointed out. "Now go away. We're heading back to the dorm."
The two girls moved away from the red-haired boy, who looked like he was pouting before storming off in the opposite direction. Harry moved along behind them, as they pulled on the invisibility cloak, and started heading back. They were almost to the tower, having just past an intersection in the hallways, when Bella tripped, her natural clumsiness taking her down. Harry, who was farther back, had his grin wiped off his face, when he saw Professor McGonagall heading their direction along an adjacent hallway. He quickly lunged forward, the disillusionment charm dropping as he grabbed Bella's arm. She had fallen out from under the cloak, and Harry had again instinctively silenced her as she fell. She squeaked silently, startled at someone grabbing her.
"There's a teacher coming." He whispered to them. "Go! Get under the cloak, and get back. I'll slow them down."
He pulled Bella to her feet, giving her a small push as he dropped the silencing charm, then took off, turning the corner, and skidding to a stop right in front of Professor McGonagall who froze, rather shocked at nearly colliding with a student.
"Oh, it's you, Mister Potter! I was actually expecting two of your friends. What are you doing out after curfew?"
"I'm sorry Professor. It's just..." He faked an innocent face. "This castle is so amazing. How could I not want to look around a bit. Maybe find some ancient hidden secret."
She looked like she was almost going to smile, her voice softening a bit. "I understand, Mister Potter. But for now on, please keep your explorations to the daylight hours. I will still have to give you a detention for being out after curfew."
"Of course Professor. I shouldn't have broken the rules. I will make sure it doesn't happen again."
She watched him for a moment, judging his sincerity, before releasing him to return to the tower.
Once back in the common room, he was swamped by his friends, who were all waiting for him.
"Harry! What happened?" Hemione asked. Bella just hugged him tightly, whispering 'thank you' in his ear.
"It was Professor McGonagall. I got a detention."
His friends all looked quite upset at that statement. "Don't worry," He grinned. "I stand by what I said to Neville and Sophie earlier. I'm okay with it, as long as it's me. I just don't want anything happening to any of you."
As if they had practised it, all of his friend blushed at the same time, honoured by Harry's protectiveness of them.
"Anyway," He continued, "She said something weird. She said that she was expecting two of my friends. I wonder how she knew you two were out and about."
"Ron, maybe." Hermione concluded. "He was running around too. He seemed pretty mad at us. Maybe if she caught him, he told her about us being out."
"Possible. I guess I'll have to ask him nicely tomorrow."
The next day, he cornered the red-haired boy after breakfast, outside of the great hall. "What did you do?"
"Wha- What?" the confused child asked. It was enough, though. Harry skimmed the boys mind, and pulled the information he needed.
"You got detention last night, and in a childish fit, you tried to get my friends in trouble too."
"What?" Ron sputtered. "I didn't-"
"You did," Harry interrupted him. "So don't bother denying it. Now I'm going to have to teach you a lesson about hurting my friends."
"But I should be your friend, not a bunch of girls. I should be the one going with you on all your adventures."
Harry could see in the boy's mind vague imaginings of them fighting monsters together. The images looked somewhat familiar, and Harry started to become suspicious of what he was talking about.
"What adventures?"
"You know," Ron insisted, "Like the time you defeated the Banshee of Brighton, or the time you saved the African princess from the evil wizard Ha'mad." The images of story-book cover art flashed through the boys mind, easily picked up by Harry.
The currently black-haired wizard sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "For Merlin sake, Ron, those are books. Fiction. As in not real!"
"Yes they are!" The boy insisted. "You did all those great things, and-"
"No, Ron, I didn't." Harry interrupted him again. "If you tried to get to know me at all, you would know they were all lies. I didn't spend the first ten years of my life fighting monsters. I most definitely didn't live in a flying castle. I lived with my muggle relatives, who hated magic. I spent my time cooking and cleaning, doing work that most families have house elves for. Next time, try talking to someone, before assuming you know them."
Harry turned, and walked off, heading back to the common room, where he sat with his friends, trying to forget the image of him the boy had.
The next morning, Harry received a note from McGonagall telling him he was to meet Filch in the entry hall that night at 11, to serve his detention.
"My detention is tonight." He told his friends. He noticed Bella looking guiltily at him. "Don't. I told you, this is how it should be. Now stop."
"I just feel so bad," She explained. "It's my fault that you got detention."
"It's really not." Harry replied. "If it's anyone's fault I was out after curfew, it's Hagrid's, and I don't blame him either, now stop fretting. I'm quite okay with it."
The girl sighed, but didn't say anything else. Classes passed quickly, and Harry was soon walking into the entrance hall, where he found Filch waiting for him. He sidled up alongside the ageing caretaker, where they waited nearly another fifteen minutes for Ron, late as always.
After scowling angrily at the red-haired boy, Filch lit the oil lamp he was carrying, and led them out of the castle.
"I bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh?" he said, leering at them. "Oh yes, hard work and pain are the best teachers if you ask me. It's just a pity they let the old punishments die out… hang you by your wrists from the ceiling for a few days, I've got the chains still in my office, keep 'em well oiled in case they're ever needed… Right, off we go, and don't think of running off, now, it'll be worse for you if you do."
Harry rolled his eyes, sighing at the pointless threats. He knew for a fact that they never allowed students to be strung up by their arms. The man just had a flair for the dramatic.
They moved silently across the lawn toward Hagrid's hut, and heard his voice come out of the night as they approached. "Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started. Abou' time, I bin waitin' fer near an hour already. All right, Harry?"
"You shouldn't be too friendly to them, Hagrid," said Filch coldly, "they're here to be punished, after all."
"That's why yer late, is it?" Hagrid asked, frowning at Filch. "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 grumbled nastily, "for what's left of them," He turned and started back toward the castle, his lamp bobbing away in the darkness.
"Right then, now, listen carefully," Hagrid ordered, "cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, an' I don' want no one takin' risks. Follow me over here a moment."
He led them to the very edge of the forest, his hound Fang following along. Holding his lamp up high, he pointed down a narrow, winding earth track that disappeared into the thick black trees. A light breeze lifted their hair as they looked into the forest.
"Look there," Hagrid said, "see that stuff shinin' on the ground? Silvery stuff? That's unicorn blood. There's a unicorn in there bin hurt badly by sum'mat. This is the second time in a week. I found one dead last Wednesday. We're gonna try an' find the poor thing. We might have ter put it out of its misery."
"We're going in the forest?" Ron squeaked, his fear making his already high-pitched voice crack.
"Sounds like fun!" Harry said excitedly. "I heard there are werewolves in the forest."
Ron paled nervously, too scared to realise that without the full moon, werewolves were generally harmless. "What if one attacks us?"
Hagrid sighed heavily. "There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang, 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. 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' I'll come an' find yeh ― so, be careful ― let's go."
The forest was eerie and dark, the trees blocking what little moonlight was shining that night. As they moved into the forest Harry willed his eyesight to see in the dark, and controlled his hearing so he could hear things moving through the trees but was careful not to let himself be deafened by one of his companions speaking. It didn't take long before they met a fork through the foliage. Hagrid went to the left, after assigning Harry and Ron to take Fang with them on the right path. The two boys moved along through the forest, following the occasional silver-blue splatter on the fallen leaves. Soon, the sound of running water could be heard through the trees. They moved toward what Harry thought was the river, when they heard a different sound, this one more like fabric being dragged along the ground. Harry put up a hand, stopping Ron from moving.
"Something's out there."
Two scared whines came from the dark, and Harry had trouble telling which came from the boy, and which came from the dog. Through the trees they could make out something moving.
"Stay here with Fang." Harry ordered. "I'm going to check it out." He moved through the dark, wandlessly silencing his shoes as he went. He entered the clearing ahead to find a large chestnut coloured horse with the upper body of a human, where it's head and neck should be; A Centaur. Harry approached him, stopping a safe distance away. He bowed his upper body slightly.
"Good Evening to you. My name is Harry Potter."
The Centaur eyed him curiously for a moment before replying. "Good evening to you. I am Ronan. I see you a student up at the school. Do you learn much there?"
"Not enough," Harry answered. "Sadly, nothing about your history or culture. What I know, is self taught."
Ronan sighed, looking up at the stars. "Mars is bright tonight. Unusually bright."
Harry followed his gaze, taking in the night sky. "Mars brings war to the forests, but I fear it will soon move across the sky."
"You read the stars?" The centaur asked, looking surprised.
"I simply observe and try to understand." Ronan seemed pleased by that answer. "Sadly, the stars do not answer my current question. There's something attacking the unicorns here in the forest, and I need to know what it is."
"The forest hides many secrets." The centaur replied.
Harry glanced back in the direction he had come from. He could see Ron watching him from behind a tree, near enough to see him, but far enough away not to hear. A rustling drew his attention back to Ronan, where a second centaur was approaching.
"Is all well, Ronan?" He asked.
"Students from the school. This is Harry Potter."
"Hello, and well met." Harry bowed slightly.
"I am Bane." The second centaur introduced himself.
"I was just asking Ronan here if he had any idea what was attacking the unicorns."
"Mars is bright tonight." Bane replied.
"Mars will be brighter in the nights to come, and from what I have seen it won't be safe for a long time, not even in this calm between storms." Harry answered.
Bane too seemed surprised.
"Harry?" Ron called.
"I'm sorry, friends, that is Ron Weasley, another student." Harry turned to boy. "It's aright, Ron, I'm coming." He turned back to the centaurs. "It seems I am needed. It was a great pleasure meeting you both. Before I go I wondered if I may be welcome here again to speak with you."
"You are welcome to return." Ronan said. "Our herd values the life of the young. But be aware, centaurs are a proud people."
"I am honoured sir." Harry bowed once more. "I respect the wisdom of your people."
He returned to Ron, who seemed glad that Harry was unharmed. "What was that all about?"
"I was just asking them if they knew what was attacking the unicorns."
"And what'd they say?"
"Nothing you'd understand. Centaurs don't generally concern themselves with events that don't effect them directly. More concerned with the big picture. That's why they read the stars."
They began moving along the path again, on the other side of the clearing. They didn't get too far before a rustling drew their attention. Harry looked ahead, his enhanced eyes cutting through the dark. He had only moments to react as the deer lunged out of the trees running past them. Unfortunatly, Ron couldn't see nearly as well as Harry. He could only make out the movement of something coming at them fast, and leapt away from it, tripping over Fang, who yelped loudly as the gangly boy landed on him. Frightened, Ron shot red sparks into the sky.
Harry rounded on him. "What did you do that for?"
"Something was attacking us!" Ron declared.
"No, that was a deer running by. You panicked."
Sudden rustling preceded Hagrid barriling out of the forest. "Wha 'appened? Are you aright?"
"We're fine, Hagrid." Harry answered. "Ron just got spooked, and jumped the gun."
"Well, We'll be lucky ter catch anythin' now."
"How about you take Ron and Fang with you, Hagrid. I can move faster thorough the under-brush here on my own."
"Are you sure, Harry?" Hagrid looked worried. "I don't know if I should let you go off by yerself."
"It's aright, Hagrid. I'll be fine. I promise."
Hagrid didn't look overly happy. "Well... If you are sure."
"I am. Take Ron and go that direction." Harry pointed back the way Hagrid had come from. "I'll continue down this path."
He moved ahead, away from the others quickly forging a distance. Hagrid didn't look too happy, but led Ron away. Harry moved until he was sure that no one could see him, before raising one hand in the air and waving. A small black owl landed on the branch of a tree right next to him, and hooted softly. Hedwig had been following Harry along, making sure that he didn't get into trouble, her currently dark feathers making her almost invisible in the night.
"There you are." Harry whispered. "Have you seen anything?" Hedwig hooted in a negative. "Aright, I'm going to move fast."
Harry began to jog when the air around him abruptly rippled, and in his place was a black wolf with green eyes. The wolf plunged forward into the trees letting his nose guide him. His wolf eyes could cut through the night as if it were mid-afternoon, even if the colour was a bit dim, but in comparison to how well his nose worked, he might as well be blind. The forest sang to his sense of smell. Every tree, every blade of grass, every breeze told a story. Harry knew what creatures were nearby, what beings had passed by recently. He could tell that the griffin that had relieved itself on the tree he was passing had too much sugar in it's diet. The forest was alive. And sadly, he could smell the strange combination of metal, power, and sunlight that combined to represent unicorn blood. He followed the scent, which almost made you feel cleaner, cleansed, just by breathing it in, even though it was tinged with the wrongness of having been spilled by force. He moved deeper and deeper into the forest, until finally, he could see in the distance a pure white form lying on the ground, in a small clearing.
It was the unicorn all right, and it was dead. Harry had never seen anything so beautiful and so sad. Its long, slender legs were stuck out at odd angles where it had fallen and its mane was spread pearly-white on the dark leaves.
The brush on the far side of the clearing moved, as a cloaked figure crawled out from under them. The figure quickly moved to the unicorn's body, lowing the hooded head into the bloody wound.
Harry realised with a start that whoever was under the hood was drinking the unicorn's blood. He thought fast, deciding what he wanted to do. He knew to the very bottom of his soul that what the hooded person was doing was wrong, and had to be stopped. Harry silently moved his wolf body back into the trees then regained his human form. He quickly shifted away from his easily-recognizable eleven year old form, to a six foot tall man, with long black hair with blood-red streaks running through it tied back in a pony tail, and a tightly clipped goatee. His face was thinner, with sharper cheek bones, and no visible scars. He transfigured his school robes into a black long-coat with a hood, which he pulled up to cover his face.
Harry silenced his feet, then moved quickly forward, shoving one hand out at the cloaked figure, not bothering to pull out a wand, as he cast a banishing charm, shoving the cloaked figure away from the unicorn that lay between them. The figure was thrown backward, slamming into a tree. It collapsed to the ground, hissing menacingly at it's attacker. It pulled a wand, confirming that it was definitely a human, and waved it in a complicated pattern, firing what Harry recognized as an organ rotting curse. The curse was extremely dark magic, which was appropriate for someone who killed such a pure creature.
Harry wandlessly summon a duellist shield around his left hand, a soft-blue glowing energy a foot wide extending the length of his forearm, which he used to bat the incoming curse away. At the same time he swung his right arm back parallel to his shoulder, mentally incanting 'Telum Glacis' as he did, causing a flurry of snowflakes to swirl around his fingers, collecting into a ball in the palm of his hand. This only took about a second, before he flung the ice ball toward the cloaked individual, which extended quickly into a two foot long conical shaped ice-spear. The ice left his hand in a sharp point getting wider as the tip got farther away, ending with a final diameter of only four inches. It was strong enough to staple a man to a wall if it hit his midsection, and the magic of the spell caused the spear to move a lot faster then he could throw it, as if it were propelled by a banishing charm. The cloaked figure dove aside, the ice spear catching it on the shoulder instead of the centre of it's chest. The force of the impact spun the being around, knocking it to the floor, and Harry was about to follow through with a stunning charm, when the foliage between the two was nosily pushed aside as a centaur dove at the cloaked figure, attempting to trample it. The hooded person leapt to it's feet with a smoothness that made it appear as if it were almost levitating itself to a standing position, before diving away, into the trees. The centaur turned to see an eleven year old boy in school robes watching him.
"Are you aright?" The centaur asked. He had blond hair on his human head, and a palomino horse body. He looked younger then Ronan or Bane.
Harry was frustrated that the horse-man let the cloaked figure get away, but couldn't say anything without blowing his cover. He was rather grateful that the centaur didn't seem to have noticed he was an adult just moments before, probably having been focusing on finding whatever was attacking the unicorns. He decided to play things as if the centaur had just saved him from an attack.
"Yes, I am, thanks to you. You saved me."
"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 quicker this way. My name is Firenze."
Harry knew the pride that most centaurs held about themselves and would usually never let themselves be ridden like a horse, but felt there was no way to turn down his offer, without being suspicious.
"Before we go, can you promise me something?" Harry asked. "Please make sure this unicorn gets treated with respect. Make sure it gets a proper burial, or whatever it is you do in the forest."
Firenze looked at Harry, impressed with the respect that he had for the unicorn. "I will, you have my word."
Harry carefully mounted horse-back, and they barely moved when there was suddenly a sound of more galloping from the other side of the clearing. Ronan and Bane came bursting through the trees, their flanks heaving and sweaty.
Harry watched, feeling rather bad for Firenze as Bane accused him of being equal to a 'common' mule, for allowing a human on his back. They argued for a moment and Harry felt it best if he minded his own business. It was obvious that Bane didn't like humans very much. Firenze soon turned and galloped into the forest, his rider holding on tight.
"Thank you for standing up for me." Harry spoke finally.
Firenze nodded, but remained silent for a bit longer, before finally speaking. "Harry Potter, do you know what Unicorn blood is used for?"
"I know it can be used in restorative potions, and bring back someone from the edge of death, but to drink the blood itself is... I don't think wrong is nearly a strong enough word."
"That is because it is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn," Firenze replied. "Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime."
"But who is that desperate? I can't even imagine slaying something so pure to save myself. You would be cursing yourself the moment the blood touched your lips."
"You would," 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. Harry Potter, do you know what is hidden in the school at this very moment?"
Harry sighed, beginning to wonder how Dumbledore ever thought the stone was a secret, if even the Centaurs in the forest know about it. He assimilated this new information trying to figure out why Snape would need to drink unicorn blood, or who he would be trying to get the elixir of life for, and wasn't liking the ideas he was coming up with.
They moved the rest of the way in silence, until Harry was pulled out of his thoughts by the appearance of Ron and Hagrid. Harry told the grounds keeper an edited truth about finding the unicorn, and Firenze chasing the cloaked figure away. The centaur left them with a 'good luck', after stating a wish for what the stars foretold to be wrong. Harry was soon back in Gryffindor tower, where he and Hedwig retreated to the privacy of their trunk flat. Harry was soon pacing in the living room, while Hedwig lounged on the couch watching him walk.
"Is it possible?" She asked.
"I don't know." Harry replied. "I mean, there are dark magics that could prevent him from dying, but to be dead for... what? Ten years, then to suddenly be back? And at the same time that Harry Potter is here, and the stone. That's a awful lot of coincidences to all be happening at the same time."
Hedwig chuckled slightly. "He's going to be so very angry when he finds out the stone is fake."
"If that were the only problem, I'd let him steal the fake stone." Harry explained. "But there's more to it then that. There's the idea of a possibly not dead dark lord in a school full of children, and the people that I promised to protect deciding it's their personal mission to protect the stone from him."
Hedwig grimaced. "I didn't think of that."
"We both know there's no way I can stop Hermione, so we're just going to have to go along with her plans, and keep them safe."
Hedwig sighed heavily. "This just keeps getting better and better."