Dylan Potter
Dylan was not happy that she had to spend the remainder of her detention with Draco Malfoy. She was actually enjoying her time with Hagrid and her twin Harry. Fang was sniffing around and led them deeper into the forest. Within 30 minutes they were so deep that the path was extremely hard to follow because the trees were so sick.
"We shouldn't be the far into the forest. That mad oaf wants us killed. They can't do this," Draco said.
"Shh we're getting closer," Harry said pointing to the thick splashes of unicorn blood on the roots of the trees. The farther they went, the thicker the splashes became. Dylan's stomach turned. With all this blood loss, there was no way that this unicorn was going to make it.
They kept walking until they saw an opening up ahead. Dylan noticed something white and glittery.
"Its up there," Dylan whispered. The group slowly walked up to the clearing and sure enough they saw a dead unicorn. Dylan couldn't help, but gasp at its beauty, but as also sadden at how disfigured it was. Its legs were pointing in all different directions as if they had each been broken one by one.
Dylan went to walk towards the unicorn, but Fang was firm in his place and refused to move. Dylan looked down at the dog who was staring at a bush at the edge of the clearing. Dylan looked up and saw the bush shake slightly.
Dylan's eyes grew wide as she took a small step back. Then she saw a hooded figured come from out of the shadows and crawl towards the unicorn.
The group was a afraid to move. This thing didn't seem human. It was like a monster. The figure then lowered its head to a wound on the unicorn's side and began to drink its blood.
Draco couldn't help himself and let out a loud scream and darted off. Dylan felt Fang's leash begin to tug and almost stumbled as she lost grip and Fang took off.
The figured looked up and looked right at the twins who were frozen in their spot. It swiftly got up and moved towards them. Dylan held her breath, afraid to move. She could feel that Harry felt the same way. Then she felt the worst pain she had ever felt in her left foot. It was as if her foot was on fire. The pain caused her to drop to her knees. She crawled backwards to get away from the creature. She looked over at Harry and saw that he had also fallen to his knees and was grasping his head in pain.
Dylan heard hooves behind her and the figure stopped. Something jumped over the two and went after the creature. After a bit the pain began to go away and Dylan was able to stand up. Her scar was still throbbing a little, but it was manageable.
Dylan saw a centaur. Dylan had met two earlier with Hagrid, but this one wasn't one of them. The centaurs that Dylan and Harry met were older and spoke in what seemed like nonsense despite the fact that they were obviously wise. The centaur had almost white hair and a golden body.
"Are you both alright?" The centaur asked.
"Y-yes th-thank you," Dylan said. Her voice was shaking as a result to the pain she just endured.
"Wha-What w-was th-that...thing?" Harry asked. He was obviously recovering from an equal amount of pain.
He didn't answer. Dylan noticed his sapphire eyes were staring at Harry's forehead scar.
"You're the Potter Boy...and you must be his twin sister," he said.
"Yes," Dylan said.
"Then the forest is not safe for you, especially at night. You must get back to Hagrid. Can you ride?" he asked.
Dylan saw that Harry was still a little shaken, but her heart rate was slowing down to a normal rate.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"I am Firenze," he said kneeling down so that Harry and Dylan could get on his back. Dylan slowly walked up and got on with Harry following her. They began to hear more galloping. Dylan looked over to see the two centaurs from earlier, Bane and Ronan.
"Firenze what are you doing with humans on your back?" Bane asked enraged.
"Why are you acting as if you were a mule? Have you no shame?" Ronan asked.
"Do you know who they are? They are the Potter twins, they must leave the forest immediately," Firenze explained.
"What have you been telling them? We are sworn to not set ourselves against the heavens," Bane growled.
"I'm sure Firenze thought he was doing what best," Ronan said as he nervously pawed the ground.
"For the best? What responsibility is that of ours? It is not our business to run around searching for stray humans!" Bane yelled out. Firenze then grew angry.
"Do you not see that unicorn? Have the planets not informed you how it was killed? I am against those who disturb the peace in our forest and if that means being along side humans, than I shall," he bellowed.
Then with that he turned around and stormed off with Harry and Dylan on his back. Dylan held on tightly until Firenze finally slowed down.
"Why was Bane so angry?" Harry asked. Dylan noticed by the tone of his voice that Harry had calmed down since their encounter with that beast.
"And what was that beast you saved us from?" Dylan asked.
Firenze slowed down to a stop and sighed.
"Do either of you know what unicorn blood is used for?" he asked.
Dylan felt sick to her stomach. She has heard the rumors of what unicorn blood could do and it was nothing good.
"No. In potions we only use the horn and tail hair," Harry quickly answered.
"That is because hurting a unicorn is horrible. Nobody with the slightest bit of common decency would do such a thing," Dylan said feeling his voice quiver in sadness.
"It is true. It is used as a lost resort for those who have nothing to lose and everything to gain. You see the blood of a unicorn can keep one alive even if you are an inch from death. You have slain the most innocent and pure being to save yourself which will give you only a half life. A cursed life from the moment the blood touches your lip," he explained.
"But who would do that?" Dylan asked.
"Yeah wouldn't it be better to be dead than have a cursed life?" Harry asked.
"It is unless you only need stay alive until you can drink something else to bring you back to full strength that will keep you from ever dying," he explained.
Dylan gasped.
"You mean the Philosopher's Stone?" Dylan asked, but she already knew the answer.
"But who out there needs it like that and would go throw all this?" Harry asked.
"Can't you think of anyone who has waited many years to return to power, just waiting for their chance to strike?" he asked.
Dylan grew pale.
"You mean Vold-" Harry started before being interrupted.
"Harry, Dylan there yeh two are!" Hagrid called out.
"This is where I leave you two," Firenze said letting them down.
"Thank you for helping us," Dylan said.
Firenze let out a small side.
"The planets have been wrong before. I hope that this is one of those times," he said before galloping off.
When Hagrid approached them they told him where the unicorn's body was and then they were dismissed to head back to their dorms to go to bed. Neither Harry or Dylan were going to be able to sleep.
"So Snape must be helping Voldemort. It isn't about getting rich. He wants to get the stone from Voldemort and Voldemort is waiting in the forest for it," Harry said as they walked back.
Dylan stiffened every time she heard the name. Unlike Harry she was always told to never say his name. The name still made her uncomfortable. He killed her parents. It was something that she still feared.
"Please don't say his name," Dylan requested, but Harry wasn't listening.
"Firenze saved us, but he shouldn't have. Bane was furious and he talked about interfering with the planets' predictions. They must show Voldemort coming back. Bane wanted him to kill us. So now we just have to wait for Snape to steal the Stone, then Voldemort can just finish us off," Harry said. He was getting anxious. He has that look in his eyes. That look that he gets when he is about to do something that will put them in danger and get them in trouble. Dylan is surprised how little time it took for her to be able to read her brother. She wonders if he is able to read her like that. He wasn't thinking logically. Dylan knows what that is like, but now one of them needs to be logical and Dylan guesses that it needs to be her.
"Harry, I've always heard that the only wizard that You-Know-Who is afraid of is Dumbledore. With Dumbledore around he won't touch us. Besides my mom...I mean Mrs. Marvel always said that fortune telling is the least precise type of magic," Dylan said. Dylan cringed at her accidently calling Mrs. Marvil her mom. She knows that it would take some getting used to. Dylan knew her as "mom" for her entire life and even though she now knows the truth it might take her a bit to be able to separate the two.
Harry sighed.
"Speaking of her, will you be ok when school is over and you have to go back?" he asked.
Dylan stiffened. She hadn't told anyone that she has been kicked out yet. She knows that she is almost out of time, but she doesn't want people to look at her like some charity case. She'll figure something out. Maybe she could stay with Massie, they have plenty of room in their mansion. Maybe Mr. Block would let her help the House Elves with chores in exchange for her Hogwarts tuition.
"I'll be ok," she said.
They arrived back at the dorms and went separate ways.
She is sure that Harry would wake up Ron and tell him everything right away, but Dylan figured she could wait until tomorrow to tell Hermione.
When she got back to the dorm she walked right to her bed even though she wasn't going to sleep. She had so much going through her head. Even though she is sure that You-Know-Who wouldn't hurt her while Dumbledore was here, she still couldn't worry about what would happen if Snape did get the Stone. She also worried about what was going to happen once the school year was over.
When Dylan pulled back her sheets she saw something. It was Harry's invisibility cloak. It was neatly folded with a note on top.
"Figured it was your turn to have them. You might need them"
Dylan looked around wondering who put these here. She doubted that anyone here would have been able to get their hands on them. She looked down at the cloak that used to be her father's, then got into bed and hugged it to her chest, lying there for an hour before finally falling asleep.
Dylan got the cloak back and was reminded of how little time she has to find a new home and secure her spot at Hogwarts. Will she do it? Next time we will jump to Cam as he works on his exams and notices something off about a certain witch. Then after that we will check in with Josh as he has a realization.
