Got this chapter done quickly! ;D

All that's left is the Trapdoor and the end! This story will most likely be 16 chapters. :)

Chapter 14
Into the Forest

On May 26th at 11 pm, Harry, Hermione, Neville and I said our goodbyes to Ron and left for our detentions with Filch. Malfoy was already there waiting alongside Filch in the entrance hall. Filch led us outside when we had all arrived and rambled all the way down to…Hagrid's hut?

"Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started!"

Harry and I shared a glance and a smile, relieved. Filch noticed and assured, "Don't think your punishment will be any easier with that oaf. Into the forest you're going—I'll be surprised to see you come out alive."

Malfoy halted abruptly. "The Forest? That's a joke right? W-we can't go in there! There are—werewolves!" I rolled my eyes.

"Should've thought of those werewolves before you went snooping about the castle, eh?" Filch grinned maliciously. Hagrid emerged from the darkness, a bow and arrow slung over his shoulder and the giant bloodhound Fang at his heels.

"Yeh've bin lecturin' them, Filch? 'Snot yer place ter do that," Hagrid told him unhappily. "I'll take over now." Hagrid motioned for us to follow him as Filch left. Malfoy refused to budge.

"I'm not going in that forest," he declared, a hint of panic in his voice.

"Oh, suck it up, Malfoy," I demanded nastily.

"What they have us doing," he sneered at me, "is servant stuff. I thought we'd be copying lines or something. If my father knew I was doing this—"

"—he'd tell yeh that's how it is at Hogwarts!" Hagrid growled irritably. "Copyin' lines! What good's that ter anyone? Yeh'll do summat useful or yeh'll get out. If yeh think yer father'd rather you were expelled, then get back off ter the castle an' pack. Go on."

Malfoy glared furiously at Hagrid, but didn't move.

"Right then," said Hagrid, "now, listen carefully, 'cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, an' I don' want no one takin' risks. Follow me a moment."

Hagrid showed them some silvery fluid on the ground. It was apparently unicorn blood, and it came from something that was trying to hurt them, now twice in a row! "Now, were going ter split up into two groups. Follow the track in diff'rent directions."

"I want Fang," Malfoy burst out.

Hagrid shrugged. "All righ', but I'll let yer know, he's a bloody coward." Hagrid scanned over us, divided us into groups in his head. "So, me, Harry, an' Hermione'll go one way an' Lydia, Draco, Neville an' Fang'll go the other." I groaned. Malfoy?

"Sorry, had ter put someone with him," Hagrid muttered to me. "If anyone finds the unicorn, send up green sparks. But if anyone gets in trouble, send up red sparks an' we'll find yeh. Alrigh'? Let's go."

I sighed heavily and headed off in the opposite direction of Hagrid and two of my best friends. At least I had Neville, but come on—Malfoy? How could my life be any worse? Who knows how long I'd be stuck with him?

"Just wait til my father hears about this—"he grumbled to himself, stomping near Fang. I rolled my eyes again, getting more annoyed with every word he spoke.

"Is that all you can say?" I asked irately. "You know, to me it sounds as if you're scared. Always crying off to daddy?" Malfoy glowered at me.

"At least I have a daddy to cry to, Black," he said smoothly. My hair faded red and I growled at him, sounding much like an angry vicious dog. I didn't even notice Neville look away sadly. I raised my fist.

"Why you little—"

"Guys! Did you hear that?" Neville said suddenly, clutching onto my sleeve.

Malfoy and I both stopped and listened carefully. I heard absolutely nothing. Furrowing my eyebrows, I shook my head.

"Come on. Let's just keep going," I said.

We trudged on for a few minutes in silence, listening to any potential noises and watching where we were going so we didn't trip in the darkness. I wasn't scared—maybe a little nervous, but not scared. Neville, however, was still clinging to my sleeve and Malfoy (though putting on an excellent brave act) was shaking slightly.

"I don't believe McGonagall for one second, you know," Malfoy cut through the silence. "I saw that dragon. I saw the Weasley brother's letter. I know what you were up to." I ignored him, crossing my arms over my chest and getting a bit ahead of Malfoy and Neville.

"So…there actually was a dragon?" Neville asked.

"Yes!...wait, no!" I said, then shook my head and whirled around to face them. "Look, I'm not discussing this with either of you! Especially not you Malfoy! Come on, Neville." Neville caught up to me while Malfoy took the back. There was more silence for a few seconds, but this time I broke it.

"How are we supposed to find unicorn blood, if we can't find a unicorn?" I said to Neville. "Personally, I've never exactly seen a unicorn. Have you?"

"Only from books…I prefer not to go looking for them," he replied. I smiled. Noticing that it was rather quiet behind us, I turned around. Behind us was nothing. No Malfoy, no Fang, no anything. Just forest.

"Oh, now where'd he go?" I cried and then paused. I added as an afterthought, "You know what, I hope he got lost! …Maybe a werewolf ate him! …well, one can hope."

Neville laughed, but then glanced around nervously. "Do you think there's actually werewolves in the forest?" We paused, debating this.

Suddenly, something landed behind us with a loud thump and I heard a small animal like whimper. Neville screamed, and I jumped, pulling out my wand at lightning speed. Neville had already sent up red sparks with his—but there was no need, for the only thing behind us was a pleased Malfoy and a slightly whimpering Fang.

I bared my teeth. "YOU ABSOLUTE IDIOT! You are so stupid—sneaking up on us like that! Now Hagrid's going to think we're being eaten or something! Not to mention, all the ruckus you caused could have attracted whatever is ATTACKING THE UNICORNS!" Malfoy halted from laughing and paled.

Before I could punch him in the face as planned, Hagrid came stumbling into our location, out of breath and startled. His looked turned to one of confusion as he stared at us. "What happened here?" he yelled.

"Ask this moron here!" I snarled, glaring at the blonde Slytherin boy. Malfoy mumbled something incoherent. "Sorry?" Hagrid growled.

"I snuck up behind Black and Longbottom and tried to scare them. That one sent up the red sparks," Malfoy repeated grumpily. Hagrid looked beyond himself in fury.

"Now what exactly prompted yeh ter believe that was a good idea?" Hagrid snapped, and grabbed Malfoy by the shoulder, not bothering for an answer. He led us to where he had left Harry and Hermione. They both stood fearfully. Their expressions lightened once they saw that none of us were hurt.

"What happened?" they asked me. I shook my head, rolling my eyes, gesturing slightly to Malfoy.

"Malfoy here decided it'd be funny to scare these two," Hagrid grumbled irritably. "Neville ended up shootin' the red sparks." Hagrid and I both glowered at Malfoy. "Alrigh', new groups. Neville and Lydia, yeh two'll come with me an' Hermione. Harry, yeh go with Fang an' this idiot."

I shot Harry a sympathetic look. "Better you than me," I murmured to him. "Any longer and I would have murdered him." And so Hermione, Neville, Hagrid and I set off in a direction I hadn't yet gone. I had a feeling this was the wrong way—the blood got thinner and thinner than it was where I'd been with Neville and Malfoy.

"Anything eventful happen with you guys?" I asked Hermione. She shook her head no.

"Not really," she replied. "Although, Mars is bright tonight." I looked over at her. She seemed completely serious.

"…What?"

"Centaurs," was her only reply.

We must have traveled for about another 40 minutes. Although the blood hadn't completely disappeared, there were only a few spots here and there. Wherever the unicorn was, it for sure wasn't anywhere near us. Hagrid seemed to realize this as well.

"Harry and Malfoy got ter be goin' in the righ' direction. Hopefully we'll see some green sparks soon," Hagrid anticipated. Just as she said this, there was a thudding noise coming towards us. Before Hagrid could even raise his giant bow, we saw Malfoy and Fang sprinting into our view—Harry wasn't with him.

"Malfoy, where the bloody hell is Harry?" I growled worriedly.

"Unicorn—cloaked figure—drinking its blood," Malfoy panted, taking deep breaths in between words.

"…And you LEFT HIM THERE?" I screamed.

"Now's not the time!" Hagrid cried and bolted down the path. Hermione and I followed, as did Neville and Malfoy, not wanting to be left behind in the forest. What if Harry never escaped it? What if the thing killing the unicorn got to Harry? What if my best friend—my brother—was…dead? My eyes flooded with frantic tears and I ran even faster.

When we got into a small clearing, the first thing I saw was a centaur. It was—beautiful, in a way. It had a palomino body, white-blonde hair and striking blue eyes. Sitting on top of the centaur, I realized with a huge rush of great relief, was Harry, completely unharmed.

"Harry, are you all right?" Hermione cried.

In some kind of a daze, Harry nodded. "I'm fine. The unicorn's back there, Hagrid. It's dead." The centaur bent down on his knees so Harry could hop of his back.

"This is where I leave you, Harry Potter. You are safe now," the centaur told him, in a gentle, dreamy voice. I beamed appreciatively at him, hoping he would understand how grateful I was to him. "Good luck. The planets have been read wrongly before now, even by centaurs. I hope this is one of those times."

With that, the centaur galloped back into the dark depths of the forest. I didn't waste any time—I dashed up to Harry, throwing my arms around him. "You have to stop scaring me like this!" I ordered playfully.

Back in the common room, Harry explained to Ron, Hermione and I what had happened when he was left alone in the forest. He and Malfoy had discovered the unicorn just as a hooded figure began to drink from it—drink the unicorn's blood. Almost like a vampire! He told us that it had seen him; and when it did, it started to approach him. The centaur, named Firenze, had saved him from the thing just in time.

"The hooded figure—it was Voldemort," he finished. My jaw dropped. Ron gasped from shock and fear, also flinching at the sound of the name. Hermione jumped, going wide-eyed.

"That thing—was Voldemort?" I repeated, astonished. Ron flinched again. "But how?" Harry shrugged. He was obviously still incredibly shaken from the encounter.

"That explains everything though!" Harry said, pacing in front of the fire. "Snape wants the stone for Voldemort…and Voldemort's waiting in the forest…and all this time we just thought Snape wanted to get rich!"

"Stop saying the name!" Ron whispered fearfully. Harry ignored him.

"Firenze saved me, but he shouldn't have done so…Bane was furious…he was talking about interfering with what the planets say is going to happen…they must say that Voldemort's coming back…Bane thinks Firenze should have let Voldemort kill me…I supposed that's what's written in the stars as well."

"So all I've got to wait for now is Snape to steal the Stone," Harry continued, "then Voldemort will be able to come and finish me off… Well, I suppose Bane'll be happy."

"If the stars said that Voldemort was supposed to kill you tonight…well, clearly that didn't happen," I started soothingly. It didn't come out too well considering my voice shook with nervousness at the thought of Voldemort coming back for Harry. He didn't dare lay a single finger on my best friend…

"Plus, nothing's going to happen with Dumbledore around, Harry," Hermione assured him. "Dumbledore's said to be the only one You-Know-Who was ever afraid of. With him around, nothing and no one is going to touch you. With Dumbledore around, you're safe."

Before we headed to bed, Harry pulled me aside. "There's something else—something I didn't tell the others."

"What is it, Harry?"

He rubbed his head—more specifically, his lightning bolt scar. "When Voldemort saw me—when I saw him…my scar. It was the worst pain I've ever felt."

"You're…scar started hurting?" I clarified. Harry nodded. My eyes widened. "Voldemort's the one who gave you that scar…this is bad."

Still rubbing his scar, Harry agreed. "Very bad."

~o~

The first year exams had finally arrived. They weren't as I expected—in a good way. They were actually fairly simple and easy. Definitely not worth all the homework we had been given. We took all of our writing tests in one large classroom with new quills charmed with an Anti-Cheating spell, and all in one large, sweltering hot classroom.

I knew that I successfully passed the Charms and Transfiguration exams—the spells we had to perform were reasonably uncomplicated. McGonagall was pleasantly surprised. Snape's exam was far worse. Ironically, I spent most of the time trying to remember how to create a Forgetfulness potion. All in all, I did fairly okay on it though.

Our last exam was History of Magic, which I never paid any attention to whatsoever. Basically, I made up random answers, and filled in bubbles in the strongly decisive strategy of "what letter haven't I used in a while?" When Professor Binns finally told us to put down our quills, I cheered the loudest of the class.

"Freedom!" I couldn't help but yell, which earned a few laughs from my classmates.

But Harry wasn't as cheery as the rest of us. His scar hadn't stopped hurting since that day in the forest. He had come to the conclusion that he thought it meant something. Something like danger is coming. When we were calming sitting near our favorite tree by the lake, relaxing after our long exams, Harry suddenly jumped to his feet.

"Where're you going?" Ron questioned sleepily.

Harry was now paled and frantic. "We've got to go see Hagrid. Now." I groaned, but hopped up and sprinted to catch up with him. "Don't you think it's a bit odd that what Hagrid want more than anything is a dragon and a stranger turns up and just happens to have one? I mean, how many people wander around with dragon eggs in their pockets? Why didn't I see it before?"

We reached Hagrid's house quickly. Hagrid was sitting outside, and he smiled widely when he saw us. "Hullo. Finished yer exams?" he asked cheerfully.

"Yes, we did. But Hagrid, I've got to ask you something. Who gave you the dragon egg? What did he look like?" Harry said.

"Dunno," Hagrid responded nonchalantly. "He wouldn' take his cloak off." The four of us exchanged stunned looks.

"What did you talk to him about? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?" Harry asked.

Hagrid frowned in deep thought, trying to remember what had happened that day. "Mighta come up…yeah, he asked what I did…then he asked what kinda creatures I look after...he said he had a dragon egg and I told him that I'd always wanted a dragon and that after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy."

"And did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Harry asked cautiously.

"Well of course he was interested in Fluffy! How often do you come across three headed dogs?" Hagrid exclaimed. "So I told him that Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how ter calm him down—jus' play him a bit o' music and he'll go right ter sleep—"

Hagrid suddenly gave us a terrified look. "I shouldn'ta told yeh that!"

Harry, Ron, Hermione and I shared horrified glances and immediately took off towards the castle. Hagrid called after us, but we didn't listen or stop. "We have to see Dumbledore immediately! Whether that stranger in the cloak was Voldemort or Snape—either way, he knows how to get past Fluffy! I just hope Dumbledore believes us. Where's his office?"

"What are you four doing inside?" McGonagall said from behind us.

"We have to see Professor Dumbledore!" Hermione proposed quickly. McGonagall raised her brows.

"Why?"

"Erm—it's sort of a secret," Harry replied, making McGonagall's nostrils flare dangerously. But honestly, what else could we tell her?

"Professor Dumbledore," she started coldly, "left ten minutes ago. He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and left immediately for London."

Well, we really did have no choice. "But, Professor—this is about the Sorcerer's Stone!" I told her bravely. McGonagall was so startled that the books she was holding tumbled right out of her arms. She didn't even bother to pick them up.

"How did you know-?" she sputtered astonished.

"Professor, we think—we know—that someone is going to try to steal it. We've really got to talk to Professor Dumbledore," Harry insisted.

It took a while for McGonagall to respond, but when she did, she did not sound very pleased. "Professor Dumbledore will be back tomorrow. Now, I don't know how exactly you found out about to Stone, but I assure you, it is well protected. No one could possibly steal it."

We stood and watched as one of our last hopes disappeared around a corner, carrying her stack of books to her office. After a close encounter with Snape himself, we decided on a plan. Hermione was to keep an eye on Snape, to make sure he didn't look too suspicious throughout the day. Harry, Ron and I loomed near the third floor corridor, near the room separating us from Fluffy. However, McGonagall caught us again and lost her temper, threatening another fifty points. We didn't dare risk it.

Harry, Ron and I returned to the common room solemnly. Hermione stumbled in no less than 10 minutes later. She had found Snape but now Snape had gone to find Flitwick for her. So she had almost worse luck than us.

"Well, that's it then," Harry stated. We all looked at him blankly. "I go down the trapdoor tonight and try to get to the stone first." Sounded like a reasonable plan.

"I'm right with you, mate," I replied.

"You're mad!" Ron cried.

"You can't! You'll get expelled!" Hermione added.

"So what?" Harry shouted. "Don't you understand? If Snape gets a hold of the Stone, Voldemort is back! If he comes back, there won't be a Hogwarts to be expelled from! Losing points doesn't matter anymore, don't you see? Winning the house cup for Gryffindor won't make him leave you and your families alone! If I get caught before I get to the Stone, I go back to the Dursleys. There I only have to wait a little longer before he finds me there—it's only dying a bit later than I would have, because I'm never going to the Dark Side! Voldemort killed my parents, remember? Nothing you two say can stop me! I'm going down that trapdoor tonight!"

Hermione silently nodded. "You're right, Harry."

"I just wonder if the invisibility cloak is going to cover all four of us," Ron said.

"All four of us?"

"You thought you were going alone?" I asked, scoffing in amusement. "No way! Can't get rid of us that easily, mate!"

"But you three could get expelled too!"

"Flitwick told me in secret that I got a hundred and twelve percent on the exam," Hermione told him. "They're not kicking me out after that!"

I paused shortly and then said, "You…are such an overachiever!"

Done! Please review! :D

CaptJess :)