CHAPTER 24: THE FORBIDDEN FOREST

The following morning's breakfast had both a pleasant and unpleasant surprise. The pleasant surprise came when Harry took a bite of his pancakes. This is even more delicious than usual! Before he knew it he'd devoured an entire plateful. He looked at Ron, Alfred and Hermione. "Have any of you tried the pancakes today?" he asked. "They're really good." Curious, the others placed a pancake on their plates, poured on some maple syrup, and started eating. Harry could tell from the way their eyes widened that they'd found it just as delicious as he had.

Alfred was the one to offer an explanation once he'd practically inhaled his breakfast. He dipped a finger in the syrup container (earning glares from the more hygienic Gryffindors) and stuck it in his mouth. He exclaimed, "Yo, this is Matt's syrup!" He ran over to the Hufflepuff table to talk with his brother. Harry, Ron and Hermione barely had time to exchange confused looks when he ran back. "Matt says he went down to the kitchens and got them to start using his special syrup. He thought we could do with some cheering up." Harry looked over at the Hufflepuff table. If he squinted, he could see Matthew there, looking back at him. Harry gave him a grin and a thumbs up. Matthew smiled back.

Then the unpleasant surprise arrived in the form of notes delivered to Harry, Alfred, Hermione and Neville. They were all the same:

Your detention will take place at eleven o'clock tonight. Meet Mr Filch in the entrance hall.

Professor McGonagall

Harry had forgotten they still had detentions to do in the furore over the points they'd lost. He half expected Hermione to complain that this was a whole night of revision lost, but she didn't say a word. Like Harry, she felt they deserved what they'd got. Alfred didn't feel the same and as soon as he'd read the last word he started complaining.

At eleven o'clock that night they said goodbye to Ron in the common-room and went down to the entrance hall with Neville. Filch was already there – and so was Malfoy. Harry had also forgotten that Malfoy had detention too.

"Follow me," said Filch, lighting a lamp and leading them outside. "I bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh?" he said, leering at them. Alfred chuckled under his breath for some reason. "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." For some reason Alfred had continued giggling throughout Filch's entire monologue, muttering something about not realizing the caretaker was into that kind of thing. Harry didn't get it, but then again he didn't get many things his friend did.

They marched off across the dark grounds. Neville kept sniffing. Harry wondered what their punishment was going to be. It must be something really horrible, or Filch wouldn't be sounding so delighted. The moon was bright, but clouds scudding across it kept throwing them into darkness. Ahead, Harry could see the lighted windows of Hagrid's hut. Then they heard a distant shout.

"Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started." Harry's heart rose; if they were going to be working with Hagrid it wouldn't be so bad.

His relief must have showed in his face, because Filch said, "I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that oaf? Well, think again, boy – it's into the forest you're going and I'm much mistaken if you'll all come out in one piece."

At this, Neville let out a little moan, Alfred's face lit up with joy, and Malfoy stopped dead in his tracks. "The forest?" he repeated, and he didn't sound quite as cool as usual. "We can't go in there at night – there's all sorts of things in there – werewolves, I heard."

Neville clutched the sleeve of Alfred's robe and made a choking noise. Alfred was practically bouncing for joy. "We get to fight werewolves? Sweet!" Filch didn't seem to know what to say to that. None of them did. Usually when people heard they might have to fight werewolves, their response wasn't excitement.

Hagrid came striding towards them out of the dark, Fang at his heel. He was carrying his large crossbow, and a quiver of arrows hung over his shoulder. "Abou' time," he said. "I bin waitin' fer half an hour already. All right, Harry, Alfred, Hermione?"

"All right? Dude, I'm totally psyched! Let's go kick some werewolf a-"

"Ignore him," said Filch coldly. "I shouldn't be too friendly to them, Hagrid, they're here to be punished, after all."

"That's why yer late, is it?" said Hagrid, 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," said Filch. "For what's left of them," he added nastily, and he turned and started back towards the castle, his lamp bobbing away in the darkness.

Malfoy now turned to Hagrid. "I'm not going in that forest," he said, and Harry was pleased to hear the note of panic in his voice.

Alfred struck what he probably thought of as a heroic pose. "Have no fear, the hero will protect you all, even stupid stinky Slytherins with stupid names like you!" Malfoy looked nonplussed at this.

"Yeh're goin' in if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts," said Hagrid fiercely. "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 writing lines or something, if my father knew I was doing this, he'd-"

"- tell yer that's how it is at Hogwarts," Hagrid growled. "Writin' lines! What good' 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!"

"Yeah, go on, if you're chicken!" said Alfred. He started imitating a chicken. Malfoy didn't move. He looked at Hagrid and Alfred furiously but then dropped his gaze. Alfred ceased his imitation, grinning.

"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 over here a moment." He led them to the very edge of the forest. 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," said Hagrid. "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."

"And what if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first?" said Malfoy, unable to keep the fear out of his voice.

"Then we give it the right hook of justice!" answered Alfred, punching the air with what actually looked like a pretty mean right hook.

"There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang," said Hagrid, slightly deflating Alfred. "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," said Malfoy quickly, looking at Fang's long teeth.

"All right, but I warn yeh, he's a coward," said Hagrid. "So me, Harry an' Hermione'll go one way an' Draco, Alfred, 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' practise now – Alfred, try ter tone it down a bit – that's it – an' if anyone gets in trouble, send up red sparks, an' we'll all come an' find yeh – so, be careful – let's go."

*meeting with centaurs with no changes from the book*

"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!" They heard him crashing away through the undergrowth and stood looking at each other, very scared, until they couldn't hear anything but the rustling of leaves around them.

"You don't think they've been hurt, do you?" whispered Hermione.

"I don't care if Malfoy has, and Alfred can take care of himself, but if something's got Neville… It's our fault he's here in the first place." The minutes dragged by. Their ears seemed sharper than usual. Harry's seemed to be picking up every sigh of the wind, every cracking twig. What was going on? Where were the others?

At last, a great crunching noise announced Hagrid's return. Alfred, Malfoy, Neville and Fang were with him. Hagrid was fuming. Malfoy, it seemed, had sneaked up behind Neville and grabbed him for a joke. Neville had panicked and sent up the sparks. Alfred had punched Malfoy in retribution, which explained the black eye that seemed to be forming.

"We'll be lucky ter catch anythin' now, with the racket you three were makin'. Right, we're changin' groups – Neville, you stay with me an' Hermione, Harry, you go with Fang an' these idiots. I'm sorry," Hagrid added in a whisper. "But he'll have a harder time frightenin' you, an' we've gotta get this done."

So Harry set off into the heart of the forest with Malfoy, Alfred and Fang. Alfred was obviously trying to be stealthy, meaning that he was running behind trees, crouching a lot, and trying to emulate a ninja from a movie. At least he was being quiet. They walked for nearly half an hour, deeper and deeper into the forest, until the path became almost impossible to follow because the trees were so thick. Harry thought the blood seemed to be getting thicker. There were splashes on the roots of a tree, as though the poor creature had been thrashing around in pain close by. Harry could see a clearing ahead, through the tangled branches of an ancient oak.

"Look –" he murmured, holding out his arm to stop Malfoy. Alfred crept back over from the tree he'd dodged behind. Something bright white was gleaming on the ground. They inched closer. It was the unicorn all right, and it was dead. Harry had never seen anything so beautiful and 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. Glancing over at Alfred, Harry could see murder in his eyes. Harry was very glad that anger wasn't directed at him.

Harry had taken one step towards it when a slithering sound made him freeze where he stood. A bush on the edge of the clearing quivered… then, out of the shadows, a hodded figure came crawling across the ground like some stalking beast. Harry, Alfred, Malfoy and Fang stood transfixed. The cloaked figure reached the unicorn, it lowered its head over the wound in the animal's side, and began to drink its blood.

"AAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

"FEEL THE RIGHTEOUS RIGHT HOOK OF JUSTICE, BAD GUY!"

Malfoy let out a terrible scream and bolted with Fang while Alfred charged at the hooded figure. It raised its head and looked right at Harry – unicorn blood was dribbling down its front. It seemed to be ignoring Alfred, which was a feat that usually required diligent practice. It got to its feet and came swiftly towards Harry – he couldn't move for fear.

Then a pain pierced his head like he'd never felt before, it was as though his scar was on fire – half-blinded, he staggered backwards. He heard hooves behind him, galloping, and something jumped clean over him, charging at the figure. Alfred was still yelling about justice and heroes. The pain in Harry's head was so bad he fell to his knees. It took a minute or two to pass. When he looked up, the figure and Alfred had gone. A centaur was standing over him, not Ronan or Bane; this one looked younger; he had white-blond hair and a palomino body.

"Are you all right?" said the centaur, pulling Harry to his feet.

"Yes – thank you – what was that? And where's Alfred?"

The centaur didn't answer. He had astonishingly blue eyes, like pale sapphires. He looked carefully at Harry, his eyes lingering on the scar which stood out, livid, on Harry's forehead. "You are the Potter boy," he said. "You had better get back to Hagrid. The forest is not save at this time – especially for you. Can you ride? It will be quicker this way."

Harry remained where he was. "What happened to Alfred? Is he okay?"

The centaur continued staring at him. "I am not certain. The other boy was well enough to chase after that… thing… That is all I know." Noticing Harry's expression, he added, "I doubt he will be able to catch up to that creature. He will most likely lose track of it and be found by Hagrid." At least it's a better answer than 'Mars is bright tonight'. Harry got up and approached the centaur. "My name is Firenze," he added, as he lowered himself on to his front legs so that Harry could clamber on to his back.

*skipping past another centaur conversation and some plot exposition*

"Do you mean," Harry croaked. "That was Vol-"

"Harry! Harry, are you all right?" Hermione was running towards them down the path, Hagrid puffing along behind her.

"I'm fine," said Harry, hardly knowing what he was saying. "The unicorn's dead, Hagrid, it's in the clearing back there. Alfred ran off to look for whatever did it." Hagrid growled something unintelligible that probably included swearing.

"This is where I leave you," Firenze murmured as Hagrid hurried off to examine the unicorn and find Alfred. "You are safe now." Harry slid off his back. "Good luck, Harry Potter," said Firenze. "The planets have been read wrongly before now, even by centaurs. I hope this is one of those times." He turned and cantered back into the depths of the forest, leaving Harry shivering behind him.

A/N: Oh, noes, plot advancement! I feel kind of bad about skipping over most of the centaur stuff, but there really wasn't anything I could add to it without America around. If you want to know what happens, let me sum it up: 'Mars is bright tonight'. There you are, now have a hug. \(^-^)/ We're nearing the end, guys. I think I'm going to start a countdown of how many pages are left in the book. Current Page Countdown: 34. Reviews are to me what maple syrup is to Canada. NEXT CHAPTER: America gets tired of being left out. See you all next time!