Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

A/N: Thanks to kaittybee, who beta this story.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Detentions

Harry was not looking forward to tonight's detention at all. He had gotten a note telling him to go to Snape's office and Ron wasn't going to be joining him. He was terrified at what the potion master might do to him and that wasn't made any easier after he told Sirius and Remus about his 'prank'. Of course they both found it amusing how he was able to use the dragon, or lack there of, to his advantage, but they both paled when Harry told them he had earned a detention from Snape. The only reason he was given by the two older men about this was that Snape might take this as proof that Harry was just like James, and from the Potions Master's point of view, that would definitely be bad.

So, Harry was a bundle of nerves by the time he knocked on Snape's door and was told to enter. He could tell immediately that Snape was really mad this time, for he had Harry clean out all of the cauldrons in the room without magic. Harry didn't think this was a particularly hard job, but it was tedious and his arms were sore before the end of the night.

"I'm done, sir," Harry said and Snape just nodded his head in a way that was clear that he was being dismissed. Harry bit his lip, he didn't like how this detention was going nor the new way that Snape was looking at him. He was also aware, because Ron had made him swear to be on his guard when he was with Snape, that this man might be the one that was trying to kill him. Harry discounted that theory. He was alone with Snape, but he just didn't feel threatened there.

"I'm sorry for whatever I did that has offended you, sir," Harry went on, not sure were this came from.

Snape looked at Harry coldly for a moment and then said, "I was just curious as to how you got Malfoy to believe there was a dragon... the boy was unreasonably insistent that one was there."

Harry opened his mouth, but decided to close it. He wasn't sure if he should lie to Snape or tell him the truth... he didn't want Hagrid to get in trouble. However, he knew that lying really wasn't an option, so he decided that saying nothing was the only thing he could do now.

"I take from your silence that there really was a dragon," Snape said.

"That's not fair sir, I neither confirmed, nor denied that," Harry said, and Snape raised an eyebrow, clearly doubting him. "Why do I get the feeling that you're trying to trap me into telling you something?"

Snape's mouth twitched upwards into a smirk, "I really don't need you to say anything. I know that Hagrid really had a dragon and that Malfoy must have found out about it. However, he didn't act quickly enough and you somehow got rid of it before the others could get to it."

Harry stared at the potion master in awe for a second before he composed himself. He was dying to ask how Snape knew all this, but he held his tongue.

"Hm..." Snape said looking at Harry with a curiously look. "I'm surprised Potter, I would have expected you to say something after that... though you really need to work on your expressions. You might have made a good Slytherin."

"Coming from you sir, I'll take that as a compliment," Harry smiled, knowing it would bother the teacher.

"And if I were someone else," Snape raised any eyebrow.

"I would have been insulted... house pride and all, you know." Harry shrugged.

Snape shook his head, "If you continue to act like this I'm going to have to knock more points off you and give you more detentions. And if you don't watch out you're going to become just as arrogant as your father," he added with an angry sort of frown this time, his expression becoming colder.

"I'll take that as a compliment, too," Harry said, almost as coldly, "but honestly sir, if you yourself had been presented with a situation like this, what would you have done?"

Snape's mouth twitched again, this time like he was trying not to smirk. "As I said, you would have made a good Slytherin. Now, it's getting late Potter, you should leave."

"Yes, sir," Harry sighed, rolling his eyes and leaving, realizing that that detention wasn't so bad.

O

Harry was fully expecting to spend his next detention (which was with Ron this time) with Snape, however, when they got the notice, it said that they were to meet Filch at the entrance hall at eleven o'clock pm. Harry thought that that was a little late for a detention but it's not like he could have complained about it. When Ron and Harry got down to the entrance hall they both groaned, for it seemed that Malfoy was going to be joining them. Ron said that having him there would be punishment enough.

Filch told them of all the ways that he would have liked to have tortured them if he was allowed, and Harry was seriously happy that Filch didn't get his way. Once again, Harry was sure that the walk to their detention was worse torture then the actual detention, especially when he noticed that they were being lead to Hagrid's.

Then again, he didn't really fancy going into the forest, especially with something that was fast enough to kill a unicorn running amok somewhere in there. Though he much preferred to go with Hagrid, Harry thought it was best that he was the one to accompany Malfoy, knowing the other boy was likely looking to start trouble.

Malfoy didn't disappoint, for as soon as the two of them were alone and out of hearing range of Hagrid, he started complaining to (and about) Harry. For the most part Harry just tuned the other boy out... it was just an added bonus that Malfoy seemed to get angrier the longer he didn't show any signs of listening.

"You know," Harry said, after ten minutes of Malfoy going on about how sorry Harry was going to be when he gets Harry back for what had happened concerning the dragon. "If you're truly as afraid of this place as you seemed to be before we got into the forest, you wouldn't make so much noise. It just lets all the monsters... including the werewolves that are sure to be out here on this moonlit night... know where we are."

Malfoy paled at that comment, though he was glaring at Harry all the same. Harry just smiled pleasantly at him, before turning his attention back to the path they were going on, and enjoyed the few minutes of silence that this threat had allowed. However, it seemed that Malfoy couldn't stop himself from saying things, for now he was muttering about his father not approving of this form of punishment. Harry sighed, and figured it was just how Malfoy dealt with fear, by blabbering a lot. Though Harry would have loved to call the pale haired boy on this, he knew that it was a cheap shot to tease someone about their fears, and let it go (even knowing that Malfoy wouldn't have done the same for him).

It wasn't long after this that Harry slowed his pace and looked around the cold and mysterious forest. He would never say that he had ever felt comfortable in the forest, but there was something different about the part that they were walking in. It took him a few minutes to pinpoint what was wrong, but eventually he noticed that there was no other sound where they were but his and Malfoy's foot steps. He never realized that Malfoy had gone slightly pale, and when he looked at the other boy he could see that he was looking even more shaken up than he did before.

When he looked back at the path, he noticed something that seemed out of place in the forest, though he realized that really wasn't the cause. The forest, after all, was where the unicorns lived, but he didn't really expect to see one, and especially not one like this. Seeing the poor beast like that, dead and bloody, was the saddest thing that Harry had ever seen. It was odd to think of something so beautiful and powerful to be broken and lost.

He didn't have any warning, one minute he was looking at the unicorn, the next a pain shot across his scar that had him kneeling to the ground. He heard screaming then, and a loud bark as Malfoy and Fang ran from the scene. He wish he could run, he had never felt as terrified as he was at the moment, being pinned to the ground by the overwhelming sense of pain that filled him.

If he was terrified before he noticed the darkly clad figure, it doubled as he watch in horror, as the creature sank to the ground and drank the unicorn's blood. He couldn't help but feel the revulsion that went through him as he watched that, and yet he couldn't look away, he was too afraid to let the monster out of his sight... afraid of it attacking him.

Just as he felt the pain subside a little, enough for him to move, the creature lifted it's head and looked at him. Though he couldn't see the creature's eyes, he could feel the anger and hate coming from it. The cloak figure stood and started walking towards him, and he couldn't think of anything that would help him... Harry was sure that any spell he could throw at this monster wasn't going to work. Still, he tensed, ready to fight back at a moment's notice... he didn't know what with... but he was going to fight.

That being said, Harry's heart leapt when he heard the sound of hooves, and then seconds later saw a centaur jump into the clearing, landing in between Harry and the monster. The centaur continued going at the monster, which didn't seemed to want to fight. The creature fled the scene.

"Wow, that..." Harry started to say.

"Harry Potter," the centaur said, looking at him in a curious way. The fact that even the centaurs seemed to know his name annoyed Harry, making his mind clear some. "You should not be here. Come, we have to get you out of here now. Can you ride? It would be faster that way."

As far as Harry knew he couldn't ride a horse (centaur in this case), but he was all for getting out of this clearing as fast as he could. He climbed on to the centaur's back, well aware that this was a great honor, centaurs don't let anyone, friend or foe, ride them.

"What was that thing?" Harry had to question. His mind was still reeling over everything that had happened. He was also wondering how he was hurt so badly by this, but he didn't feel comfortable asking the centaur that. "Er... sorry but I don't think I got your name."

"Firenze," the centaur answered, and then there was a long silence that was broke by the entrance of two other centaurs, both looking livid at the fact that Harry was on Firenze back.

"What are you doing? Are you a common mule, Firenze?" a black hair centaur said.

"Do you know who this boy is, Bane?" Firenze said.

"Yes, I know who the boy is, but it is not our concern..." Bane started to say.

"Not our concern... Have you not read the signs, have you not seen the unicorn!" Firenze said hotly, glaring at Bane, who was matching the glare with one of his own. "I side myself against that monster, alongside humans if I must," he finished bravely, and Harry was barely able to see Bane's face turn to an emotion even beyond anger before Firenze was galloping along again.

"What was that all about?" Harry said, still looking back towards the direction the other centaurs were in. "Why was he that mad... what was that thing you saved me from?"

Firenze, again, didn't answer right away. He seemed to ponder the question for a long time before he asked his own question. "Do you know what unicorn's blood is used for?"

"No," Harry admitted, wishing he had a different answer, or maybe Hermione at his side, for she would know. "But I can guess that it's something terrible... it would have to be, wouldn't it?"

"Yes," Firenze agreed with a harsh voice. "It's a monstrous thing, the slaying of a unicorn. Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are but an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You would have slain something so pure and defenseless to save yourself, and you would have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touched your lips."

"Who would do such a thing?" Harry questioned, shivering at the very thought. Something told him he already knew the answer. "Dying would be better than living like that."

"Yes," 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?"

"The Philosopher's Stone!" Harry gasped, and shivered, for he could now confirm who had been behind the cloak. "Voldemort! That was Voldemort!"

"Yes," Firenze agreed.

"Harry!" Hagrid shouted, and that caused Harry to jump. The sudden appearance of the giant man seemed to signal the end of Harry's conversation with Firenze. Though he would have liked to ask the centaur more questions, he was glad that he would be leaving the forest now.

"Harry," Ron said, obviously worried and full of questions, but Harry wasn't going to answer anything until he got upstairs. His mind was trying to wrap itself around what he had just learned, and he wasn't even close to making sense of everything yet. When they got in the common room, Harry was glad to see that Hermione had stayed up (more or less, though she had fallen asleep on the couch), to wait for them.

"So are you finally going to tell me what happened?" Ron said impatiently after Harry shook Hermione awake.

"Yeah," Harry said and Hermione looked between the two of them, confused, and then worried.

"What happened? Where did you have detention?" Hermione questioned.

"In the Forbidden Forest," Harry said.

"What? Why?" Hermione asked and Harry shrugged, but Ron seemed to have an answer to that.

"Hagrid said that when he found out why you had detention he asked if he could be in charge of it," Ron rolled his eyes, "seemed to think he was doing us a favor, but honestly, I think I would rather have done anything but go in there... and I was with Hagrid." After that Ron turned pale and looked at Harry, "Please... I really need to know what happened."

"Okay," Harry said, he was sure his friends would soon wish he had no idea what had happened, but he told them about it anyways. Ron and Hermione's mouths hung open by the time he finished with the information, and he went on to speculation.

"... all this time I thought Ouirrell was trying to steal the stone for himself," Harry said.

"Or Snape," Ron added barely over a whisper.

"Or Snape," Harry agreed, looking regretful that he had to add his Potion Master. He was starting to like him in an odd way... Or at the very least he respected him, but didn't have time to base judgement on his feelings. Not now. "But he was really trying to get the stone for Voldemort," he went on with his previous thought.

"Don't say his name," Ron shivered violently.

"Sorry, Ron, but I'm going to say that murderous monster's name all I want," Harry said sharply, "I was raised to not fear a name, and I'm not going to change now."

Ron grimaced, but didn't say anything.

"Are you sure about this Harry?" Hermione asked. "Do you really know it was him?"

"Yes, what Firenze said made sense... and something tells me my scar hurt for a reason," Harry said, subconsciously rubbing his forehead as he remembered the pain. "It would make sense that it might be affected by the monster that gave it to me."

"I've never heard of anything like that happening," Hermione frowned. "But then again, no one has survived the Killing Curse before, or ever since... Oh Harry, what are we going to do now?"

"I have no idea." Harry admitted, sitting down on the couch and feeling exhausted. Hermione scooted closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder. Ron sat on the other side of Harry and the three of them just stayed there, worrying about all that they had learned that night.

A/N: Okay, the part with Firenze in it I copied from J.K. Because it just sounded better than anything that I could have come up with (which is pretty much true about anything I write, but in this part it was really difficult to paraphrase).