Chapter Fourteen
Hermione felt as if she were walking to her execution. The hallways were dark and foreboding as Filch led the two out-of-bound students to Professor McGonagall's first floor office. If Hermione thought it took forever carrying Norbert's cage up to the astronomy tower, it was nothing compared to their walk of shame. Filch left them in McGonagall's office and she could only think of the terrible punishments that would be forced upon her, that is if she was allowed to stay on at Hogwarts. Hermione was terribly afraid of her and Harry being kicked out. Thoughts of having to return to her parents in dishonor filled her eyes with tears. She tried to blink them away because she didn't want McGonagall to see her crying.
Minutes ticked by, though they seemed like hours, before McGonagall barreled through the open doorway, however she wasn't alone. Neville trailed after her and once he saw his fellow Gryffindor students he burst out a warning.
"Harry! I was trying to find you to warn you. I heard Malfoy saying he was going to catch you, he said you had a drag-"
Harry shook his head, attempting to cut off Neville's words. Unfortunately McGonagall saw the motion and perceived the gesture in a different manner.
"I would never have believed it of any of you." McGonagall stood behind her desk, hands on her hips and looking like a fierce dragon herself. "Mr. Filch says you were up in the astronomy tower. It's one o'clock in the morning. Explain yourselves!"
Hermione couldn't bear to look her beloved professor in the eye, instead she choose to stare intently at her slippers. She prayed that her tears wouldn't fall and shame her anymore than what she was already feeling. With McGonagall's wrath, it seemed likely that Hermione should simply prepare herself for the inevitable...expulsion.
"I think I've got a good idea of what's been going on. It doesn't take a genius to work it out. You fed Draco Malfoy some cock-and-bull story about a dragon, trying to get him out of bed and into trouble. I've already caught him. I suppose you think it's funny that Longbottom here heard the story and believed it too?"
Hermione wished that she could tell Neville that it was all untrue, and that she was sorry that he had ever been caught up in the act. In fact, she wished she could go back in time and refuse to have anything to do with Hagrid's stupid dragon.
"I'm disgusted, four students out of bed in one night! I've never heard such a thing before! You, Miss Granger, I thought you had more sense."
Hermione physically winced at McGonagall's admonishment. Hermione should have had more sense than to have gone traipsing around the castle so late at night.
"As for you Mr. Potter, I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than this. All three of you will receive detentions...yes, you too, Mr. Longbottom, nothing gives you the right to walk around school at night, especially these days, it's very dangerous, and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor."
Hermione bit back a sigh of relief. Despite the detention surely going on her permanent record, she was glad that she wasn't going to be expelled. Harry however seemed to be more focused on the insipid house points.
"Fifty?" Harry gasped.
"Fifty points each," McGonagall hissed in response.
"Professor, please..."
"You can't..." Harry and Neville pleaded in unison.
"Don't tell me what I can and can't do Potter. Now, get back to bed all of you. I've never been more ashamed of Gryffindor students."
Hermione, Harry, and Neville walked back in silence to the Gryffindor tower. The boys, most likely, in deep thought over the loss of a hundred and fifty points in one night. Hermione still felt ashamed of her poor behavior. That night, she managed to avoid waking up Lavender and Parvati when she came in, but stirred restlessly in her bed. Actually, for most of the night she sobbed into her pillow and wondered how she was ever going to be able to face McGonagall again.
Classes the next day were rough. Everyone refused to speak to Hermione, Harry, and Neville. The only one who stood by them was Ron. The Slytherins particularly enjoyed clapping and cheering for Harry as he passed them by, "thanks Potter, we owe you one!"
Hermione merely looked away as she felt her face flame. She felt even more sorry for Harry who was by far, more popular than she would ever be.
"They'll all forget this in a few weeks. Fred and George have lost loads of points in all the time they've been here, and people still like them." Ron pointed out logically.
"They've never lost a hundred and fifty points in one go, though, have they?" Harry replied miserably.
"Well, no," Ron shook his head reluctantly.
Hermione's mind-set for the next few days was to keep to herself. She no longer called attention to herself by raising her hand and answering all of the professor's questions, instead she kept her head down and took copious notes without looking up. She was deeply ashamed of her actions and the disappointment she found in her teacher's eyes whenever she was forced to look at them. What's more, she had horribly mangled the goal she set for herself when she first found out she was a witch and would be attending Hogwarts: to make everyone see she was just as good as any pureblood wizard. She lost her house a lot of points and now everyone looked upon her with disdain. Hermione desperately wished she could take back her actions and keep her nose out of others affairs.
If there was one good thing that came of her late night escapades was that Harry and Ron were spending more time with her in the library studying. They often worked late in the night attempting to memorize ingredients to complicated potions, learn the wand motions for charms class, and memorize dates of magical discoveries and the numerous rebellions during the wizarding world's history.
A week before exams were due to start, Hermione found herself in the library testing Ron on Astronomy.
"Ok," Hermione started as she looked at her list of questions for what may possibly be on the test. "Pick from the map which constellation is Taurus."
"Taurus," Ron murmured as he nearly placed his nose flat against the map on the table. He moved his eyes around, searching for the constellation. "That's the bull isn't it?"
"I don't know, you tell me?" Hermione asked rather innocently.
"Oh come off it Hermione," Ron rolled his eyes irritably. "Is it this one?" He pointed to a set of stars.
Hermione leaned over to stare at it and shook her head, "nope, try again."
"Hermione, you are driving me mad, just show me so I can remember for next time."
"Professor Sinistra showed us multiple times, if you can't remember it after that, how is it going to help if I show you just once?"
Ron opened his mouth, most likely to respond with a scathing remark, but thankfully he was stopped by the appearance of Harry.
"Hi Harry, would you like to study Astronomy with us, Ron could use the extra study time."
"I wouldn't need to use the extra study time if you would have just showed me where the constellations were instead of watching me try and find them for half an hour."
"I think Quirrell's finally given up."
"What," Ron turned from glaring at Hermione to gaping at Harry. "Why do you think that?"
"I heard him in one of the classrooms and it sounded as if he was being threatened by someone. He said, 'all right, all right' and then he ran out of the room and it seemed as if he was really close to crying. I looked in the room and the door on the other side was open, I bet Snape left through that door after he finished with Quirrell."
"Snape's done it then!" Ron whispered, sending a furtive glance towards a disapproving Madam Pince. "If Quirrell's told him how to break his Anti-Dark Force spell - "
"There's still Fluffy though," Hermione reminded the two boys.
"Maybe Snape's found out how to get past him without asking Hagrid," Ron commented as he looked around them at the thousands of books that sat upon the rows of bookshelves. "I bet there's a book somewhere in here telling you how to get past a giant three-headed dog. So what do we do, Harry?"
Hermione could see the glint in Ron's eyes, he seemed desperate for some new adventure, but he wasn't the one who was punished for the last adventure she and Harry were tasked with. "Go to Dumbledore. That's what we should have done ages ago. If we try anything ourselves we'll be thrown out for sure."
"But we've got no proof," Harry said as he grabbed a chair and sat down in front of his two friends. "Quirrell's too scared to back us up. Snape's only got to say he doesn't know how the troll got in at Halloween and that he was nowhere near the third floor - who do you think they'll believe, him or us? It's not exactly a secret we hate him, Dumbledore'll think we made it up to get him sacked. Filch wouldn't help us if his life depended on it, he's too friendly with Snape, and the more students get thrown out, the better, he'll think. And don't forget, we're not supposed to know about the Stone or Fluffy. That'll take a lot of explaining."
Hermione nodded thoughtfully at Harry's clearly logical explanation however Ron didn't appear to be as satisfied.
"If we just do a bit of poking around..."
"No," Harry shook his head, "we've done enough poking around."
Hermione watched as Harry pulled the map Ron had been looking at and focused all of his attention on Astronomy. Although Hermione agreed with Harry, she couldn't help but think about whether they were keeping away from the Sorcerer's Stone because it was highly unlikely a teacher would steal the stone, or because they didn't want to get in trouble again. Hermione frowned as she found she couldn't quite focus on Astronomy or any other piece of homework for the rest of the night.
XXOOXXOOXXOO
The next morning at breakfast Hermione, along with Harry and Neville, received a note from one of the school owls. Hermione knew what it was before she opened it.
Your detention will take place at eleven o'clock tonight.
Meet Mr. Filch in the entrance hall.
Professor M. McGonagall
Hermione didn't complain once about having to forgo a night of studying in order to attend a detention and neither did Harry, they both felt they deserved the punishment they were to receive. She did however dread the detention for the rest of the day, pondering over what it would be and how hard she would have to work.
At eleven o'clock, Hermione and Harry said goodbye to Ron and left with Neville to walk down to the entrance hall. Filch was already there and so was Malfoy, Hermione nearly forgot the Slytherin would be sharing in their detention.
"Follow me," Filch sneered at the students as he lit a lamp and led them outside.
"I bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh?" Filch snickered as he hobbled across the uneven ground. "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."
The group walked across the darkened grounds, the only shed of light was the tiny lamp swinging from Filch's hand and the crescent moon hanging high in the sky. Hermione looked over to Neville with pity as he sniffed delicately, attempting to hide his fear from the other students. Harry looked a bit hesitant as they continued to walk towards the dark forest, as if feeling Hermione's gaze, he looked at her and gave her, what she guessed, was supposed to be a reassuring smile, but she continued to feel a bit worried about what awaited her.
"Is that you Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started." A familiar voice called out ahead of the group and for a moment Hermione felt her heart warm. Surely if they were to be serving their detention with Hagrid, it wouldn't be too horrible.
As if sensing Hermione's fleeting happiness Filch rounded on Harry and Hermione with a hard glare. "I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that oaf? Well, think again - it's into the forest you're going and I'm much mistaken if you'll all come out in one piece."
Hermione heard Neville moan in fright at Filch's words while Malfoy stopped dead in his tracks to stare at Filch with obvious concern.
"The forest?" he asked shocked. "We can't go in there at night, there's all sorts of things in there - werewolves, I heard."
"That's your problem isn't it?" Filch snickered happily. "Should've thought of them werewolves before you got in trouble, shouldn't you?"
Despite the creatures Hermione knew to be in the forest, she found she wasn't quite as scared as she was mere minutes ago. She trusted Hagrid to keep her safe and surely any teacher, even if it was Filch, would not willingly send students into a situation where they were not one hundred percent certain they would come back unscathed. But…then again…she also thought Snape would never try to purposely harm Harry.
Ahead of the small group a figure emerged from the dank shadows. Hagrid, with his towering image, once again gave Hermione a tiny bit of confidence. Across his shoulder hung a large crossbow and Fang loped next to him, seemingly carefree and blessedly unaware of the situation he found himself in.
"Abou' time," Hagrid gruffed. "I bin waitin' fer half an hour already. All right, Harry, Hermione?"
Hermione smiled gratefully up at her large friend, but her smile was quickly squashed by Filch's unwanted critique. "I shouldn't be too friendly to them Hagrid, they're here to be punished, after all."
"That's why yer late, is it?" Hagrid frowned at the thin and cowardly man. "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 spoke in his nasally voice, "for what's left of them." As Filch hobbled away, the students could hear his faint cackle and Hermione could only liken it to the old muggle movies and the quintessential mad scientist laugh.
Malfoy appeared to no longer be as unfazed as he would claim to be. "I'm not going into that forest," he told Hagrid. Hermione, was pleased to note, she could detect, even faintly, a hint of panic in the Slytherin boy's voice.
"Yeh are if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts," Hagrid replied gruffly. "Yeh've done wrong an' now yeh've got ter pay fer it."
"But this is servant stuff, it's not for students to do. I thought we'd be copying lines or something, if my father knew I was doing this, he'd..."
"...tell yer that's how it is at Hogwarts," Hagrid growled. "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 simply fumed, Hermione knew there was no way he would risk being expelled from Hogwarts. For a few seconds he glared at Hagrid but realizing the older man was not about to back down, he shifted his gaze elsewhere.
Hagrid nodded, finally gaining some control over the small group. "Right then, now, listen carefully, 'cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, an' I don' want no one takin' risks. Follow me over here a moment."
Hermione followed Hagrid as he led them to the very edge of the forest. The lamp that originally gave Hermione a small bit of comfort, highlighted the unsavory aspects of the Forbidden Forest. The ground was coated with a thick silvery substance and the young student focused her attention on Hagrid, hoping it wasn't what she thought it was.
"Look there," Hagrid drew the attention of the rest of the students. "See that stuff shinin' on the ground? Silvery stuff? That's unicorn blood. There's a unicorn in there bin hurt badly by summat. 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."
Hermione gasped as she thought of the poor creature hunkering down somewhere in the forest, praying for its suffering to end. She couldn't imagine harming such a gentle animal, let alone doing what needed to be done if it was too badly injured.
"And what if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first?" said Malfoy, a twinge of fear in his voice.
"There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang," said Hagrid. "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."
"I want Fang," Malfoy said immediately as he sized up the oversized dog with his long vicious looking teeth.
"All right, but I warn yeh, he's a coward," Hagrid said in a knowing voice. "So me, Harry, an' Hermione'll go one way an' Draco, Neville, an' Fang'll go the other. Now, if any of us finds the unicorn, we'll send up green sparks, right? Get yer wands out an' practice now."
The students fumbled for their wands in the pitch dark and clumsily shot sparks high up into the sky. Despite her fear, Hermione couldn't help but notice her sparks were the brightest, a pleasant smile slipped past her lips. Might as well find something to smile about in this god-forsaken place.
"That's it," Hagrid encouraged. "An' if anyone gets in trouble, send up red sparks, an' we'll all come an' find yeh, so be careful...let's go."
As a large group they tromped through the forest, seemingly the only noise that emanated from the dark woods. Hermione thought it quite eerie that there were no signs of nocturnal wildlife as one would expect from a rather large forest. It was as if the creatures were holding their breath and hiding from something that lurked nearby. Hermione suppressed a shiver that coursed through her body, she wished Ron were with them because he always seemed to lighten the mood with his jokes. Only a few minutes later, the group came to a split in the path, Draco, Neville, and Fang choose the right fork, and Hagrid, Harry and Hermione walked towards the left. Hermione spared a quick glance at Neville's terrified face and felt guilty leaving him with Draco the bully.
The threesome walked in thick silence, heads glued to the ground as they searched for the trail that would lead them to the injured unicorn. Every once in a while, Hermione would sneak a look at Hagrid and the worry that she saw on his face shook her to the bone. Apparently Harry saw it too because he voiced one of Hermione's main concerns.
"Could a werewolf be killing the unicorns?" Harry asked the older man.
"Not fast enough," Hagrid responded with a gruff shake of his head. "It's not easy ter catch a unicorn, they're powerful creatures. I never knew one ter be hurt before."
Once Harry fell back to walk with Hermione she whispered softly so only he could hear. "If it wasn't a werewolf that did this, what could?"
Harry merely shrugged his skinny shoulders and looked back at her with concern in his eyes. Hermione wasn't sure she wanted to be in the forest with some unknown creature that was stronger and faster than a werewolf. They walked over fallen trees and massive stumps. A steady stream of water trickled near them and it somehow soothed Hermione's anxiety.
"You all right Hermione?" Hagrid asked kindly as he looked back at the two students. "Don' worry it cant've gone far if it's this badly hurt, an' then we'll be able ter - GET BEHIND THAT TREE!"
Hermione felt a large hand lift her nearly a foot off the ground by the back of her shirt and dump her unceremoniously behind a towering oak tree. Hagrid, with lightening fast speed, pulled an arrow out and notched it into his crossbow. He raised it up to eye level and his large body went deathly still, every muscle poised to strike. Hermione felt her heart racing and her ears hurting from straining to hear the slightest whisper of the forest. She peered out behind Hagrid's massive frame to see what it was he was looking towards. She finally heard it, a slithering over dead leaves resounded through the quiet trees. It was as if a cloak were being dragged along the ground. But after a few seconds, the sound faded into the wind as if it were never there.
Hagrid relaxed slightly and straightened from his attack stance. The crossbow loose in his hand and pointed to the ground, indicating the possible threat being over. "I knew it," he murmured with a slow shake of his head. "There's summat in here that shouldn' be."
"A werewolf?" Harry suggested. Obviously the creature was on his mind, no thanks to Draco's suggestion.
"That wasn' no werewolf an' it wasn' no unicorn, neither," said Hagrid grimly. "Right, follow me, but careful now."
Hermione followed Hagrid as he led them deeper in the woods. She glanced furtively at her surroundings, swearing to herself that she wouldn't let anything slip past her. Suddenly, in the clearing ahead, a rustling sound caught their attention.
"Who's there?" Hagrid called out, his crossbow once again at the ready. "Show yerself, I'm armed!"
Tree limbs were pushed out of the way and leaves crackled as a figure emerged into the clearing. Hermione's jaw dropped as the centaur walked towards them. From the waist up, he was a man, with red hair and a beard. But from the waist down, he was a chestnut colored horse with a long red flicking tail.
"Oh, it's you Ronan," Hagrid sighed in relief. "How are yeh?" He walked forward and shook the centaur's hand.
"Good evening to you Hagrid," Ronan greeted the giant pleasantly. "Were you going to shoot me?" He asked, indicating the crossbow in Hagrid's hand.
"Can't be too careful, Ronan," Hagrid spoke gravely. "There's summat bad loose in this forest. This is Harry Potter an' Hermione Granger, by the way. Students up at the school. An' this is Ronan you two. He's a centaur."
"We noticed," Hermione replied faintly.
"Good evening," Ronan inclined his head. "Students are you? And do you learn much up at the school?"
"Erm..." Harry gaped.
"A bit," Hermione spoke shyly. The moment the words were uttered she desperately wished to take them back, surely on first meeting a centaur she could have appeared to seem smarter that she was currently sounding.
"A bit. Well, that's something," Ronan sighed as if hoping to hear they had memorized all the texts and could recite them word for word at the drop of a hat. "Mars is bright tonight," Ronan commented cryptically as he stared up at the sky.
Frowning Hermione looked uncertainly up at the sky, striving to see what he was looking at. She knew centaurs were very interested in the alignment of stars and astronomy, but she wasn't sure what significance it had for the current situation.
"Yeah," Hagrid nodded his head with a quick glance up at the sky. "Listen, I'm glad we've run inter yeh, Ronan, 'cause there's a unicorn bin hurt - you seen anythin'?"
Ronan didn't say anything at first, instead he continued to look up at the sky as if waiting for the heavens to open up and bestow upon them the answers to life's questions. With a great sigh he spoke in his low, sorrowful voice. "Always the innocent are the first victims. So it has been for ages past, so it is now."
"Yeah," Hagrid nodded in exasperation. "But have yeh seen anythin' Ronan? Anythin' unusual?"
"Mars is bright tonight," Ronan repeated as if he were a broken record, "unusually bright."
"Yeah, but I was meanin' anythin' unusual a bit nearer to home. So you haven't noticed anythin' strange?"
Ronan once again took a long time to respond to Hagrid's questions and the group of three stared at him waiting in bated breath. "The forest hides many secrets." Hermione frowned in frustration. This was not what she expected from her first meeting with a centaur.
Movement in the trees caused Hagrid to bring up his crossbow once again in self-defense, only to lower it when another centaur stepped out. This one was black-haired, black bodied, and wilder-looking than Ronan.
"Hullo Bane," Hagrid called out. "All right?"
"Good evening Hagrid, I hope you are well?"
"Well enough. Look, I've jus' bin askin' Ronan, you seen anythin' odd in here lately? There's a unicorn bin injured, would yeh know anythin' about it?"
Blane walked...or trotted towards Ronan and stared up towards the sky, mimicking his fellow centaur's motions. "Mars is bright tonight," he said simply.
Hermione bit the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming in frustration. What does Mars have to do with anything?
"We've heard," Hagrid stated grumpily. "Well, if either of you do see anythin', let me know won't yeh? We'll be off, then."
Hermione followed Hagrid and Harry out of the clearing, sneaking looks behind her at the breath taking creatures. Despite their cryptic answers, she was still fascinated with the centaurs. She didn't turn around until the trees finally blocked all visibility of the magnificent beasts.
"Never try an' get a straight answer out of a centaur. Ruddy stargazers. Not interested in anythin' closer'n the moon."
"Are there many of them in here?" Hermione asked with interest.
"Oh, a fair few...Keep themselves to themselves mostly, but they're good enough about turnin' up if ever I want a word. They're deep, mind, centaurs...they know things...jus' don' let on much."
"D'you think that was a centaur we heard earlier?" Hary asked.
"Did that sound like hooves to you? Nah, if yeh ask me, that was what's bin killin' the unicorns - never heard anythin' like it before."
They continued to walk through the forest, Hermione wondering when, if ever, they would find the poor unicorn suffering silently in the dark forest. She caught Harry looking around the forest with a strange look upon his face, she was about to ask him what he was thinking before she caught a glimpse in the sky. Putting a quick hand on Hagrid's sturdy arm, she pointed to the upwards.
"Hagrid look! Red sparks, the others are in trouble!"
"You two wait here!" Hagrid shouted. "Stay on the path, I'll come back for yeh!"
With his crossbow at the ready, Hagrid crashed through the forest on a desperate path to the red sparks. Hermione inched closer to Harry and clutched his arm firmly with her hands. She was imagining all the horrid things that could be happening to Neville and Draco.
"You don't think they've been hurt, do you?" she whispered to Harry.
"I don't care if Malfoy has, but if something's got Neville...it's our fault he's here in the first place."
Hermione groaned to herself as she remembered the reason why they were all there to begin with. Poor Neville, he shouldn't even be in detention, and if it weren't for him trying to help Hermione and Harry, he wouldn't be in the dangerous forest. And despite Malfoy's horrid attitude and personality, she didn't wish any harm to befall him. They waited in silence, listening for the tell-tale sounds of Hagrid's return. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Hagrid emerged from the forest, his face red and lips thin with suppressed rage. Malfoy, Neville and Fang were with him, Hagrid told them what happened anger clearly in his voice. Apparently Malfoy had snuck up on Neville from behind and grabbed him as joke. Neville had panicked and raised the alarm.
"We'll be lucky ter catch anythin' now, with the racket you two were makin'. Right, we're changin' groups - Neville, you stay with me an' Hermione, Harry, you go with Fang an' this idiot. I'm sorry," Hagrid added in a whisper to Harry as he saw his face screw up in distaste, "but he'll have a harder time frightenin' you, an' we've gotta get this done."
Hermione squeezed Harry's hand before he walked off with Malfoy and Fang. She felt bad that he had to go off with Malfoy, she only hoped that he wouldn't do anything stupid to get them in even more trouble.
"I'm...I'm s-so s-sorry Hagrid," Neville stammered out. "I caused y-you a l-lot of t-t-trouble."
"Don' worry abou' it," Hagrid said gruffly. "Let's jus' go on and find this unicorn."
They continued to walk down the path, it seemed to curve to the right and Hermione anticipated meeting up with Harry and Malfoy soon if the path continued its current path. A scream punctured the silence of the forest and Hermione's ears perked up and sought out the direction of the yell.
"There!" Neville pointed at the red sparks in the distance. Hagrid and Hermione broke into a run, leaping over overgrown roots and slapping away hanging tree limbs. Ahead, she could see a bright blonde head running towards them, desperately hoping Harry was with Malfoy, Hermione intercepted the other boy, causing him to stop in his tracks in order to keep himself from running into her. Fang was quick on Malfoy's heels and ran past the two students and into Hagrid's waiting arms.
"Where is Harry?" Hermione asked as she looked the woods in desperate search for her friend. "What happened Malfoy?"
"F…found the unicorn," Malfoy gasped as he bent over, his head between his knees trying to catch his breath. "Something…something else was there."
"But where is Harry?" Hermione grabbed his arm and shook it rather roughly.
"Get off me Granger," Malfoy shrugged off her touch. "Potter was right behind me."
"He's not there Malfoy," Hagrid growled. "Take us to where you two were."
"You left him there," Hermione accused Malfoy.
"He was right behind me," Malfoy muttered.
Hermione chose to keep her mouth shut because she could see the guilt in his eyes, whether or not the Slytherin boy would admit the fact.
"Let's go Malfoy," Hagrid yelled as he pushed through the trees in the direction Malfoy came from.
"We'll find him Hermione," Neville smiled softly as he passed by.
"Come on Malfoy," Hermione gestured. "You don't want to be left behind."
Rather grudgingly Malfoy followed the group, eventually maneuvering himself towards the front leading them where he and Harry were last. Thankfully they didn't need to go very far when they heard a loud rustling and clopping of hooves coming towards them from the right. Onto the path, Hermione saw a centaur, one she had not seen yet, with blonde hair and a palomino body and strangely…with Harry on his back. She started running down the path in their direction, not giving any thought to the danger that may or may not be surrounding them.
"Harry! Harry, are you all right?" She heard Hagrid huffing and puffing behind her, his massive body cutting an impressive path through the trees.
"I'm fine," Harry murmured as he slid down the centaur's back. Hermione threw herself at Harry, wrapping her arms tightly around him; all the images she had about his possibly mangled body laying in the forest were pushed back out of her head. He seemed relatively safe and sound, for the moment.
"The unicorn's dead Hagrid, it's in that clearing back there," Harry spoke to the half giant once he had extracted himself from Hermione's hold.
"This is where I leave you," the centaur spoke as Hagrid ran off to examine the unicorn. "The planets have been read wrongly before now, even by centaurs. I hope this is one of those times."
Before Hermione could voice any of her burgeoning questions, the centaur slipped into the darkness and once again the forest was darkly silent.
"Who was that?" Neville asked in awe, clearly fascinated by the centaurs.
"Firenze, he saved me," Harry spoke softly.
"Saved you from what Harry?" Hermione asked with concern in her voice.
"Not here," he shook his head furtively.
The walk back to the castle was filled with mixed emotions; one of tension over the night's events and anticipation of being able to get safely back to their dormitories. Malfoy stayed behind the others, not looking anyone in the eye, Hermione almost felt sorry for him…almost. Neville seemed to be in his own little world, in fact he appeared unfazed by what had recently occurred.
Ron was asleep on one of the massive couches in the common room, a few burning embers the only light for the three students to guide themselves by.
"Good night," Neville whispered as he saw the other two heading towards Ron's prone figure.
Harry roughly shook Ron awake, impatient to begin telling his friends what had happened in the forest. The red-head woke saying something about Quidditch fouls before he was able to focus on Harry and Hermione standing above him.
"What time is it? You two were out really late."
"Oh hush Ron," Hermione admonished as she made room to sit next to him on the couch. "Harry has a story to tell us, something bad happened out in the woods tonight."
"Are you both all right?" Ron sharpened as he raked over his two friends, searching for scratch marks or bruising.
"Yes we're fine, but there was something out in the woods…Voldemort."
"Harry," Hermione gasped covering her mouth. "You didn't tell me He was out there."
"Don't say his name Harry," Ron winced looking around the room as if he were expecting the Dark Lord to mysteriously appear before them.
"We were searching for a unicorn in the woods because Hagrid told us there was one that was injured. I needed to be paired with Malfoy because he kept scaring Neville. When we broke away from the other group we found a clearing and saw the unicorn on the ground. I was about to go to it in order to see if it was still alive, but something came out of the bushes. It was covered with a cloak and it glided across the ground to the unicorn. It...it drank the blood."
"Why would anyone do that?" Hermione asked in revulsion.
"Vampires do," Ron commented with wide eyes.
"I don't think Voldemort is a vampire," Harry shook his head. "Malfoy screamed and ran away. He saw me and my scar suddenly burned, it was like my forehead was on fire."
"That stupid git," Ron grumbled. "Malfoy, not…You-Know-Who," Ron cleared up when Hermione frowned at him.
"A centaur named Firenze saved me; he said that it was Voldemort that was drinking the unicorn blood. That it would keep him alive long enough to drink from the Elixir of life...the Sorcerer's Stone!"
Harry stood up at that time and started pacing in front of the fireplace. "Snape wants the stone for Voldemort…and Voldemort's waiting in the forest…and all this time we thought Snape just wanted to get rich…"
"Stop saying the name," Ron cried out in a terrified whisper.
"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 show that Voldemort's coming back…Bane thinks Firenze should have let Voldemort kill me…I suppose that's written in the stars as well."
"Will you stop saying the name!" Ron hissed angrily.
"So all I've got to wait for now is Snape to steal the Stone," Harry continued, pointedly ignoring Ron's outbursts. "Then Voldemort will be able to come and finish me off…Well, I suppose Bane'll be happy."
Hermione tried to filter all the information Harry had thrown at them but no matter how she looked at it she was most assuredly frightened. However, she knew that Hogwarts was one of the safest places in the wizarding world, and she felt certain that Dumbledore would never let any harm come to his students if he had any way to prevent it.
"Harry, everyone says Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was ever afraid of. With Dumbledore around, You-Know-Who won't touch you. Anyway, who says the centaurs are right? It sounds like fortune telling to me, and Professor McGonagall says that's a very imprecise branch of magic."
Light slowly started to filter through the windows indicating that it was well past their bed time, and would only result in them having a few hours of shut eye. Seeing that her words gave Harry some comfort, she stood up and headed towards the stairs. She saw the boys follow behind her and she managed to catch Ron's eye and nodded slowly. They seemed to have developed some type of bond at that moment, knowing that it was their job to see that Harry didn't overwhelm himself. And quite frankly, protect him from…himself. Ron gave her a small smile before putting a hand on Harry's back to gently push him up the stairs.
Hermione collapsed into her bed, barely taking the time to slip into her pajamas. Despite the words of comfort that she imparted to Harry, she couldn't help feeling worried about what may lay ahead. In her heart she somehow knew that it wouldn't be up to the teachers to stop Voldemort, it would be her and the two boys. Three students standing in the way of true evil…surely that was a recipe for disaster.
Okay, I'm imagining many of you are wishing you could throw rotten tomatoes and cabbage at me right about now. I know that it has been a long…long…long time since I last updated but there is a reason (as there always is). Drum roll please….this story is finished!
Instead of updating at an impossibly slow pace, I decided to take a hiatus and finish the story before updating any more. There will be two more chapters after this but they are very long. I hope you enjoy this chapter…let me know what you think!
I will update the story next Monday, so be on the lookout. In the meantime, I'll get started on the next book…"Hermione Granger and the Chamber of Secrets"!
Please…please…please review!