The forbidden forest.

Harry, Ron and Hermione walked towards Filch's office as they were told. They met Malfoy there and waited for the caretaker.

When he did come, he marched them across Hogwarts grounds and took them to Hagrid's hut. He didn't seem all that happy from when they last saw him.

"Norbert's gone. Dumbledore found out and sen' him to Romania ter live in a colony."

"That's good, right? He'll be with other dragons and be free." Hermione said.

"Yeah, but wha' if he don' Romania? Wha' if the other dragon are mean 'ter him? He's only a baby after all."

This time, Filch spoke up. "Pull yourself together, man! You're going into the forest after all!" He paused and muttered, "You'd better keep your wits about ya."

"Forest?!" Malfoy exclaimed. "I thought that was a joke! We cant go in there!"

"And why not, Mr Malfoy?" Filch asked. In all honesty, Malfoy was afraid of what was in the Forbidden Forest, but decided to say, "Students aren't allowed."

"Yeah, alright." Filch said. He began to walk back and said, "Nighty night."

As soon as Filch left, Malfoy turned to Hagrid and said, "Im not going into the forest."

Hagrid gave a little chuckle and replied, "Yer are if you wanna stay as Hogwarts. Anyways, we'll be going inter the forest tonight, to do somethin' very important, but dangerous, so listen clearly. See that silvery stuff on the ground? Tha's unicorn blood. Looks like its been hurt bad by somethin' an' were goin' ter find out what. Nothin will hurt yeh as long as yer with either me, or Fang." He gestured the dog at his heels.

A few minutes later, they entered the forest, Malfoy muttering, "Wait till my Father hears about this…" along the way.

To cover more ground, Hagrid decided to split up into groups. Ron and Hermione were going with him and Harry and Malfoy were going with Fang. Harry complained about this silently but took the lantern from Hagrid, which Malfoy took from Harry.

As they walked through the forest, Malfoy continued his meaningless threats.

"If I didn't know any better, Draco, I'd say you were scared." Harry said.

"Scared?" Malfoy said as he tried to act like he was fine.

Eventually, they did find something. A Unicorn. A dead Unicorn, by the looks of it. But the Unicorn wasn't all that was there.

Some sort of… beast was there. They couldn't see him properly, but it look like it was… drinking the blood from the Unicorn.

Even Fang knew this was bad news. He began to bark, loudly. The figure rose its head up and noticed them, the Unicorn blood dripping from his chin as he smiled.

Malfoy screamed and ran off, Fang in front my a few feet, but Harry stood frozen to the spot, unable to move. The figure stood and slowly made his way towards Harry, licking his lips along the way.

Harry then found that his legs were awake and began to walk backwards, but tripped on a tree root.

He fell backwards and began to crawl, but found himself cornered and his back hit a tree trunk.

The hooded figure got closer and closer, until it was nearly able to touch him. Harry felt different, his lightning scar began to tingle, then sting. He closed his eyes, waiting for the worst to come, but it never did. He heard some sort of cry, a battle cry. He opened his eyes to see some sort of horse. No, this was no horse. This was a centaur. Half man, half horse.

The centaur got up on it's hind legs and kicked the figure with its front, making whatever it was flee back into the forest.

Harry was breathing heavily as his scar calmed down, and stood up.

"Harry Potter. You must leave. The forest is not a place for you." Said the centaur. Before the centaur could speak again, Harry asked, "What was that thing you saved me from?"

"A monstrous creature. Only someone, or something, that has nothing to lose will slay a Unicorn. The blood of a Unicorn will keep you… alive. It can even save you if you are a seconds away from death itself. But when the moments the blood touches your lips, you are living a cursed life. You have killed such an innocent and beautiful animal to safe yourself."

"But who would do such a thing? Surely death is better?" Harry said.

"Yes, unless you have something to gain from it. I have seen some drink to keep them alive for a certain period of time, until they move on to something else."

Instantly, a thought came to Harry. The Philosopher's stone!

"Come, you should leave this place. Climb on my back, and I will take you back to Hagrid."

Harry did as he was told, and clambered onto the white centaurs body, which was unexpectedly comfortable.

He kept thinking about the stone, Snape, and what that creature was. He didn't know why, but he knew they were all connected somehow. What was with his scar tingling?

Eventually, they did come across the others. Hermione squealed in delight as Hagrid said, "Hello there, Firenze."

"Harry Potter. This is where I leave you. You're safe now. I wish you good luck." Same Firenze as he bowed. He stood up straight and galloped away.

When they got back to the Common Room, Harry began to tell Ron and Hermione about what had happened.

He told them about his theory about Voldemort, Snape and the Stone, and they seemed to believe him somewhat.

When they finished, they sat by the fire and watched the flames. A while later, Ron announced that he was tired and went up to bed, Harry following him shortly after.

A few days later, Rachel was allowed out from the Hospital Wing, but had to go back every night so that Madam Pomfrey could do a check up.

"So, how was detention?" Rachel asked when she got back.

Harry told her about what had happened and she began to think along the same lines as Harry.

"Maybe we could tell Dumbledore?" Rachel suggested. Harry shook his head and replied, "We don't have enough proof. We cant just go up to the Headmaster and say one of his trusted teachers is trying to steal the stone."

"I guess, but what are we supposed to do?"

"I guess we don't do anything." Harry said as he scratched his scar, making Rachel do the same.

Ever since the incident in the forest, both scars had been hurting, burning.

Soon, the exams came and went, leaving the four children Harry that it was finally over. No more tests, revision and the homework pile was going to decrease again.

On one hot day, both the twins scars began to set of fireworks, making it even worse for the both of them.

"It keeps burning." Harry said as he rubbed his forehead.

"Its happened before, hasn't it?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, but not like this."

"Go to Madam Pomfrey." Ron suggested.

"Why? We're not sick." Harry thought for a few seconds before adding, "I think it's a warning. It means dangers coming."

Just then, they heard Hagrid whistling on an old flute, but it had a beautiful sound to it. Harry felt like a lightning bolt had come down and hit him on the head. He began to walk towards Hagrid while saying to the others, "Don't you think it's strange that what Hagrid has always wanted is a dragon, and then a stranger comes along and just happen to have one? I mean, who walks around these days with dragon eggs in their pockets? Especially since it's illegal. Why didn't I see it before?"

The four of them ran the rest of the way and Harry practically yells, "Hagrid! The man who gave you the dragon egg, what did he look like?"

Without hesitation or suspicion, Hagrid answers, "Dunno, did'n get a very good look at his face."

"Well, what did he say, I mean, he must have talked?"

"'Course. He ask'd me what I was like with animals, told him 'bout Fluffy. Then 'e offered me the dragon egg, wonderin' if I could control him, I then replied tha' the thing with any beas' is ter know how to calm it. Take Fluffy fer example, yer jus' play him a bit er music, an' he falls straight ter sleep."

As soon as the words left him mouth, Hagrid knew he had made a huge mistake. The children looked to one another in panic and Hagrid said, "I should'n of told yer tha'."

Before he could say another word, the four told of, Harry in front. He ran to Professor McGonagall's office and said in huffed breathes, "We… h-have to see P-Professor Dumbledore… immediately

McGonagall stared at the children at first and then continued, "Im afraid that the Headmaster is not here."

"Great timing." Rachel said.

Harry ignored her and said, "But this is important!" Before he could stop himself, he spluttered out, "This is about the Philosophers… stone…"

At first, she looked shocked, then angry, then back to shocked. "How do you know about the stone? Who told you?"

Harry, ignoring her, added, "Someone is going to try and steal it!"

"Well, I don't know how you found out about the stone, but I can assure it is under strict protection. Professor Dumbledore will be back tomorrow. Now, will you all go back to your dormitory? Quietly."

Shoulders slumped in defeat, the four sluggishly came out of the office and towards the Entrance Hall where they were stopped by Snape.

"Now, now, now. What would four young Gryffindor's be doing inside, on a day like this?"

"We were doing as we were told." Harry spat.

"Nice form, H."

Snape looked at Harry ferociously, daring him to speak again. Harry didn't, of course, but kept his ground.

"We were just going to our Common Room." Hermione said.

"Then why don't you stop wasting my time and go?" Snape sneered. As they walked up one of the staircases, Snape called, "And mind that attitude, Potter. Wouldn't want anymore detentions now, would we?"

Harry couldn't believe how much he hated Snape. He loathed him, despised him. He hoped more than anything that next year he would be sacked or something.

When they got to the Common Room, Hermione asked, "What are we going to do now?"

That was a question. With Dumbledore gone, Snape could get passed the enchantments without distraction now. And he seemed an awful lot more nastier than usual. All these thoughts wondered around Harry's head before he said confidently, "Were going down that trap door. Tonight before he gets a chance to."

"Are you bloody mad?!" Ron exclaimed. "What makes you think were gunna be able to get past them spells n' stuff?"

"If Snape can, so can we." Harry said.

"Unless you aint noticed, Snape it a Hogwarts teacher. Were eleven in case you didn't know."

"What else are we supposed to do? Wait here so he can give the stone to Voldemort?"

As this, Ron said nothing, but Hermione said, "Well I think we should."

"Don't you know that if we get caught, we'll be expelled?" Harry asked.

"You're joking? Professor Flitwick told me the results of my charms exam. There is no way they're letting me go after that."

A.N: Sorry if I've been a bit rushed. I won't be updating for a while, I've got exams coming up, so I need to do a lot of revision and stuff, sooo yeah. I wont be updating for about 2-3 weeks, sorry.