Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter
Chapter Nine:
Harry's heart felt like it was in his throat as Filch smirked and grabbed he and Hermione by the arm hauling them along the corridor "we're going to see Professor McGonagall" he told them gleefully "finally you'll get some punishment!".
Harry felt absolutely miserable as they were hauled along as he just knew that their Head of House would be furious at them both and in the very least they would be given detentions and lose house points while at worst they could end up being expelled.
His worries dogged him all the way down to Professor McGonagall's Office on the fourth floor and he stared at the door feeling incredibly depressed as their Head of House called "come in!".
Filch opened the door and pushed the two of them in.
The first thing Harry saw was a furious looking Professor McGonagall who was surveying the pair of them in disbelief and quite clearly anger.
He gulped before his eyes widened as they fixed on Draco Malfoy his nemesis who had the widest smirk Harry had ever seen plastered on his face. He looked even more happy than Filch did about the punishment Harry and Hermione were about to receive.
"Thank you Argus that will be all" Professor McGonagall said with a nod towards the door.
Filch looked liked he wanted to protest but seemed to feel that the fury on the Professor's face wasn't worth testing and he left after giving a last evil smirk to Harry and Hermione.
"Well really!" Professor McGonagall exploded furiously at Harry and Hermione who exchanged guilty looks.
"I have to say when Mr Malfoy came to me earlier this evening informed me about the fact the pair of you would be walking about the castle without permission I did not believe it. I didn't want to believe it but I see now I was naive!".
Harry and Hermione bowed their heads "nothing gives the pair of you the right to be out after curfew wandering about! absolutely nothing!" she strode over to them.
"I have never been more disappointed in a pair of students from my own house" she shook her head sadly "not even the Weasley Twins have done such a thing!" for a moment she seemed too angry to speak before she finally took a deep breath and spoke again, her words like doom "you will both be deducted 50 points each".
Before either of them could protest she carried on "and you will also serve a detention at midnight on the 26th with Hagrid. He has to go into the Forbidden Forest to perform a task and you will both assist him".
Both Harry and Hermione gaped at this unable to believe their ears but they said nothing as she turned to face Malfoy who was still grinning like a cheshire cat.
"And as for you Mr Malfoy" she said sounding very stern.
Malfoy smiled as he clearly thought he would be getting a reward.
As Harry watched the Professor spoke "you will also serve detention with Hagrid on the same night and at the same time as Mr Potter and Miss Granger" she said severely.
Harry couldn't help the brief smirk of satisfaction as the smile was wiped from Malfoy's face.
"But...but...I told you what was happening!" he protested in outrage.
"That is so Mr Malfoy and that is why I am not deducting points but as I have just informed Mr Potter and Miss Granger, nothing, absolutely nothing gives a student the right to be wandering the corridors at night. You WILL serve detention alongside Mr Potter and Miss Granger and that is my final word. Now the three of you will leave this office and head back to your common rooms at once!".
Malfoy stormed out furiously though he did throw one final, angry declaration At the Professor as he left "my father will hear about this!".
The Professor snorted as though she didn't think anything of this while Harry and Hermione exited the room in a much more subdued fashion.
As they were leaving the Professor had some final words for Harry "Mr Potter, if you do anything like this again this year you will be taken off of the Quidditch team and I will have to inform your aunt and uncle".
Harry grimaced and nodded mutely as he and Hermione left the room feeling worse even than the reprimand they had had for facing the troll for at least with the troll they had not lost Gryffindor so many points and had even earned a few.
The walk back to Gryffindor Tower felt like an eternity for Harry as he and Hermione walked along corridors and up staircases before they finally reached the portrait of the Fat Lady which was snoring very loudly "Caput Draconis" Harry said calmly only to be forced to say it louder and louder as the Fat Lady did not wake.
He was surprised when Hermione eventually yelled "Caput Draconis!" at the top of her lungs causing the Fat Lady to jolt awake in surprise.
"Oh it's you two" she said irritably before the portrait swung aside to admit the pair of tired and miserable Gryffindor's.
To no surprise of Harry's they found Neville and Ron had waited up for them when they entered the common room.
The pair of them were sat playing a rather one sided game of wizards chess in which Ron got the checkmate just as Harry and Hermione approached them.
"Want another game?" asked Ron sounding a bit bored. Neville nodded.
Harry cleared his throat and the two boys turned their heads to look at the pair standing before them who looked like they'd been to a funeral so obvious was their misery.
Inevitably both Ron and Neville were full of questions about the pick up.
"Did you reach the Astronomy Tower ok?".
"Was Charlie there?".
"Did Norberta leave after all?".
"You didn't get caught did you?".
Harry sighed and glanced at Hermione. She nodded indicating that he should inform them while she sat mutely looking at the floor.
Harry took a deep breath and said "we were able to reach the top of the Astronomy Tower with the crate and under the cloak. Yes Charlie was with us and yes Norberta was taken off to Romania".
"So what's the problem then?" asked Ron who was always the last to pick up on reasons for people being sad or upset.
"On the way back from the tower we...we forgot to put the invisibility cloak back on" said Harry quietly.
Ron and Neville looked concerned and seemed about to ask what had happened next when Harry told them "as we were leaving the tower area we were caught by Filch".
Both Ron and Neville groaned in sympathy at this bad luck.
"He hauled all the way down to Professor McGonagall's Office" Harry grimaced as he recalled the look of fury on the face of their Head of House "she was furious" he said "she told us that no student has the right to go wandering the corridors after hours for any reason. She gave us a detention with Hagrid".
"Well that doesn't sound too bad" said Neville.
"In the Forbidden Forest" Hermione spoke up at last.
"Oh" said Neville and then followed that up with "oh my god".
"Precisely Neville" said Hermione miserably as Harry continued "and she also took fifty points away from Gryffindor".
"Well that's not so bad" said Ron trying to be cheerful.
"Each" said Harry putting his head in his hands.
"Ah" said Ron "well...".
Ron clapped a hand on his best friends shoulder "don't worry about it Harry. Same goes for you Hermione. Fred and George have lost loads of points before so don't worry about it".
Harry looked at him like he was mad. Gryffindor House had been in second just ten points behind Slytherin and now they were down to last place behind even Hufflepuff.
The next morning was going to be hell as the older Gryffindor students checked the Gryffindor counters and saw that there were a hundred points less in them than the night before.
"Not in one night though have they?" Harry muttered as he got to his feet "I'm going to bed. See you guys in the morning " he mumbled as he stood up and shuffled towards the staircases and boys dorms.
"I'm sure he'll be alright in the morning" said Neville trying to reassure Ron but the redhead shook his head "then you still don't know him that well Nev" he said frowning at the retreating form of his best friend "Harry is...he always broods on stuff like this".
Ron shook his head "I'd better go after him" Neville nodded "I'll come too".
The boys said goodnight to an equally miserable Hermione and exited the common room.
As Harry, Ron and Neville descended the stairs into the common room the next day scene was even worse than Harry had pictured in his mind the night before.
As they met up with Hermione the four of them could see a large group of their fellow Gryffindor's clustered around the section of wall which showed the house points tally as it currently stood.
Harry shut his eyes for a moment as someone said "there must be a mistake!" and someone else came up to them "hey, did you guys know the points tally has dropped by a hundred points?".
Harry and his friends grimaced but before they could say anything the older boy seemed to have guessed "it was you" he said furiously. He looked at each of them and judging by how guilty Harry and Hermione looked he sussed it out "you two did it".
Before Harry could speak up and ask the boy not to say anything the boy, clearly a seventh year was already clearing his throat and shouting "oi, everybody, over here!" not everyone listened to the boy but many students did and soon there was thick cluster of them standing near the boy and the first year foursome who all wanted to be anywhere else at that moment.
"I've found out who's responsible" the older boy said as he pointed at first Harry and then Hermione "these two stupid first years! and their friends must have known about it all because they look guilty too!".
A muttering started then which got louder and louder and soon enough resembled that of the buzzing of a hundred angry bees "somehow these stupid first years lost us a hundred points!".
It seemed right then that everyone was going to lynch them and doubtless would have done were it not for two very welcome faces pushing their way through the crowd and up to where the foursome stood looking rather scared.
"Oi you lot, back off!" George shouted.
"Well said my dear Forge!" said Fred loudly "leave these guys alone. Everyone makes mistakes!".
"Not this bad!" someone yelled.
Fred and George grabbed the foursome and somehow managed to push them through the crowd and over to the portrait hole "I'd head down to Hagrids Cabin or something" advised Fred.
"Fred's right" said George "you need to get away from here for a few hours. Let them cool off a bit".
"They'll still be angry of course" Fred said with a shrug "but they won't want to lynch you after a while".
"We speak from experience" said George as he waggled his eyebrows.
"Don't let it worry you. Everyone makes mistakes" the pair said in unison as they shoved the foursome through the portrait hole which swung shut behind them.
The foursome exchanged unhappy looks before Harry spoke "lets get some breakfast in the Great Hall and then we can go out into the grounds for a bit".
The looks on his friends faces told him they'd rather not go into the Great Hall at all. To be truthful neither would Harry but they needed to have something to eat 'and anyway' Harry reasoned 'the news won't have reached the other houses yet'.
Oh how wrong poor Harry truly was for as the foursome entered the Great Hall they were met with hissing, boos, insults and glares from the Hufflepuff's and Ravenclaw's while the Slytherin's applauded them happily and threw compliments at them such as "thanks for the help!" and "don't forget to keep getting caught out of bounds!". The only one not joking was Draco Malfoy who glared at them from in between Crabbe and Goyle.
For Harry Malfoy's detention was the only bright spark in an otherwise dark void of misery. A misery that was compounded when the foursome sat down only for every Gryffindor nearby to promptly move down the table away from them.
All through lunch they had to endure the glares and muttering from fellow Gryffindor's and from the Ravenclaw's and Hufflepuff's.
It was not hard to see why the Ravenclaw's and Hufflepuff's were as angry as the Gryffindor's for Slytherin had won the house championship for seven years in a row prior to this school year and everyone from the other three houses had been hoping that, this year, for a change, someone would be able to beat them to it.
After eating two slices of toast Harry put back his third which he'd barely nibbled on as his stomach cramped up painfully and he felt unable to eat another bite.
As he and his friends left the Great Hall silently Harry could feel that the visit to Hagrids was going to be the only bright spot in an otherwise miserable day even though the sky overhead was a cloudless blue, the birds were singing and the heat was tolerable.
Harry and his friends ended up spending several hours down at Hagrid's until lunchtime when they headed back up to the castle and ate a quick lunch before Harry headed off to training at the Quidditch Stadium.
Usually Harry looked forward to his training sessions as he conversed with the team, honed his skills and joked through Wood's lengthy speeches but he knew today was not going to be fun.
True to his belief, when Harry reached the changing rooms he was met with silence by most of his teammates with all of them except Fred and George changing quickly and exiting onto the pitch before he could talk to them "don't worry about it" Fred said.
"Yeah they'll come round soon" added George.
This did not make Harry feel any better however and it was a dejected first year that shuffled out onto the pitch a few minutes later to find that the team was waiting in the centre circle for him.
As usual Wood gave one of his speeches and explained the tasks for today using everyone's names except when it came to Harry who he and everyone else referred to as "The Seeker".
Thereafter passed a very miserable training session for Harry and when it was over he got changed quickly leaving the stadium before there could be an unpleasantness.
The bad feeling against Harry and Hermione and by extension Ron and Neville became the pattern for next few days until the night of the 26th of May, a Tuesday which was the set night for Harry and Hermione's detention in the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid and alongside Draco Malfoy.
The two subdued first years said "see you later" to Ron and Neville, left the common room and headed down to the Entrance Hall where they met up with a still furious but also nervous Malfoy and a gleeful Filch who escorted the three of them down through the grounds to Hagrid's Cabin saying happily as he did so "you'll have fun in the forest tonight".
"But..I thought that was a joke!" Malfoy burst out in horror "we can't go in there! students aren't allowed and there's werewolves and...things!".
Filch chuckled darkly "oh there's worse than werewolves in there lad" Harry's stomach turned over and he glared at Filch unable to believe how happy the man seemed about them going into such a dangerous place.
As they reached Hagrid's Cabin Filch said "I'll be here to pick you three up in the morning...if there's anything left".
The man's cruel eyes fixed on Hagrid who had just emerged from his cabin, Fang his boarhound was trotting alongside and seemed pleased to see both Harry and Hermione.
"Here they are Hagrid" Filch said giving one last cruel smile at the three students before turning and walking off, his lamp swinging from side to side.
"Git" muttered Hagrid as he walked up to them and said "right then you three. You're coming into the forest with me tonight. I got a job ta do see?" he patted his crossbow "there's somethin in there tha's been killin unicorns and Pr'fessor Dumbledore asked me ta investigate".
Harry glanced at Malfoy who had gone even paler than usual and seemed to be too petrified to speak while Hermione merely gulped and stared through the tree line into the forest.
"Now then" said Hagrid "Hermione you can come with me while Harry goes with Draco over there".
"Fine then" said Malfoy arrogantly "but if I have to put up with Potter then I want Fang with me".
Hagrid snorted at this demand "fine" he retorted "so long as you know he's a total coward".
Hagrid gave the three students lamps and the four of them, Fang trotting alongside Harry, entered the Forbidden Forest heading for gods alone knew what danger.
After they had been walking for some time it seemed to Harry that the clusters of trees were getting thicker.
As Harry and Malfoy walked, Fang just behind them whimpering a sudden howl split the air and made Malfoy jump almost dropping lamp as a result.
Harry smirked at the arrogant pure-blood "what's the matter Malfoy? scared?".
Malfoy scowled deeply "you wish Potter" he spat hotly as the two of them kept walking.
A short time later the two boys and one boarhound came upon a clearing. The moon was clearly visible and being so bright it cast light upon a scene of absolute horror.
In front of Harry and Malfoy some distance away was what Harry could only describe as some sort of cloaked being. He had no idea whether it was male or female or even human as he could see no face under the hood of the cloak.
Beneath the cloaked being was an obviously dead unicorn which lay there unmoving, it's eyes staring into space.
This was not the horrific thing however. No. The horrific thing was that the being, whatever it was was kneeling over the unicorn and drinking it's blood.
Harry staggered back in surprise and as the being looked up Malfoy dropped his lamp which shattered upon the ground and fled in absolute terror.
At the same moment the lightning bolt shaped scar on Harry's forehead exploded in pain and he clamped a hand to it grimacing and crying out as the creature totally abandoned the dead unicorn and advanced on him with malicious intent.
It was only the sound of stampeding feet and the arrival of a creature Harry had only seen in books that drove the being back as the centaur reared up on its hind legs and kicked out at the being which fled, almost seeming to fly as it did so.
Harry's heart was pounding in his chest as the centaur trotted over to him and regarded him speculatively.
At length the centaur spoke amazing Harry with his eloquence "you are Harry Potter" it was not a question but a statement.
Harry who was still too shocked to say anything, nodded and felt both rude and an idiot.
The centaur clearly understood as he smiled "no need to feel silly Mr Potter. It is completely understandable to fear that which we do not know".
"Who...who are you?" Harry asked "sorry didn't mean to sound rude" he added.
The centaur again smiled "you were not rude and my name is Firenze. I live here in the forest with my clan but enough of me, I assume your next question is who or what was that creature just now".
Harry gaped at him in surprise "I...how did you know?".
"Simple Harry Potter" he replied "it is the same question I would ask myself upon facing such a creature".
Harry nodded "so...what is it?" he asked.
For a moment the centaur didn't answer and then he said "that being is cursed. You see unicorn blood is imbued with fantastic properties. It can keep a creature alive even if they are an inch from death but at a terrible price. To drink the blood of a unicorn is a vile, monstrous thing for the creature doing so has slain a pure thing and as a result they live a cursed life...a half life. Not truly living but also not dead".
"Who on earth would want such a life?" Harry asked in genuine puzzlement for he could think of no one and nothing that would ever want such an existence.
Firenze looked away for a moment and when he looked back he said "can you think of no one...no person who would wish for such a thing, after what happened to him ten years ago?".
Harry's eyes widened in denial "but...no...you can't mean...that was Voldemort?".
In answer the centaur asked "Harry do you know what is hidden within Hogwarts at this precise moment in time?".
Again Harry's widened as a realisation struck him like a bolt of lightning "the philosopher's stone!" he exclaimed "but that means...that means..." he never had a chance to voice his thoughts further however as Hagrid and Hermione entered the clearing with Fang who must have run off and come back.
"After Fang returned without ye I realised there must be a problem so me and Hermione here set out to find ye".
"I'm fine" said Harry.
"So I can see" said Hagrid sounding relieved as Hermione walked over to Harry.
Hagrid nodded to the centaur "Firenze" he said warmly "thank you for keepin him safe".
"It was my pleasure Hagrid" Firenze replied just as more hoofbeats resounded across the clearing and several other centaurs came into view and a voice bellowed "Firenze what are you doing with those humans?!".
Firenze turned to the lead centaur who was larger than the rest and responded "do you not know who this boy is Bane?" he said calmly "he is the saviour who was foretold eleven years ago. The one who would defeat He Who Must Not Be Named and save the magical world".
Bane snorted as he stared at Harry "that is all nonsense. Come Firenze we are leaving!".
Firenze sighed before turning to Harry "well this is where I leave you Harry Potter. I assume you are safe now with your friends".
Harry nodded "thanks for saving me Firenze".
The centaur smiled, nodded and turned to leave with the other centaurs.
A short time later as the group of five were exiting the Forbidden Forest, Malfoy still shaking like a leaf, Hermione turned to Harry and whispered "so what happened? what did you see?".
"I'll tell you and the guys in the common room in a bit" he said as they walked up to the castle.
Once they were inside the castle they were escorted by a grumbling Filch back to Gryffindor Tower who then left once they had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.
For once the said woman in the portrait was actually awake meaning they didn't have to shout the password and were quickly admitted to the tower.
The two students entered the common room to find that their two friends Ron and Neville were lying on a pair of sofas and judging by their loud snores were deeply asleep.
In spite of the serious news Harry had for his friends he suddenly had a wicked idea pop into his head as he recalled the aguamenti spell that the four of them had learned in charms the previous day and had not had much chance to cast yet.
As he glanced over at Hermione he asked "Hermione are you thinking what I'm thinking?". His friend grinned showing that usual she was adept at reading his thoughts.
"Let's do it" she said as she whipped out her wand.
Harry whipped his out and the pair tiptoed across the room until they were level with the pair of sofas. Harry peeled off from Hermione then and walked over to the sofa on which Ron lay while Hermione took up position in front of Neville.
They glanced at one another as they said at the same time "one, two, three...aguamenti!".
A jet of clear water burst forth from the tips of their wands soaking Ron and Neville respectively.
The expressions on his friends faces was not something that Harry would soon forget and caused him to double over in laughing for Ron had leapt into the air and back down onto the sofa while Neville had yelped in surprise and toppled over off the sofa onto the floor.
As Harry and Hermione laughed like hyenas Ron and Neville whipped out their wands ready to strike at the thing that had attacked them.
"You. Can. Put. Those. Away" Hermione somehow managed to get out between howls of laughter as both Ron and Neville looked at their friends and glared before exchanging looks similar to those of Harry and Hermione.
Hermione was the first to notice as she muttered "uh...Harry?".
"Yeah?" Harry replied wiping his eyes only for them to widen in surprise as he heard "aguamenti!" as was hit with a jet of clear water as was Hermione.
It was now Ron and Neville's turn to laugh in amusement and they did so with relish.
Once the laughter subsided Neville asked "so I presume you guys had something you needed to say urgently".
"Yeah" Ron said now sounding a bit miffed "we were having a kip".
Hermione rolled her eyes "are sleep and food the only things you think about Ronald Weasley?".
"Yes!" Harry and Neville chorused together causing Ron to jump in "not the only thing...I think about chess as well...and Quidditch".
Hermione shook her head and muttered "boys" in a tone of deepest exasperation as she used her wand to dry the four of them off and she and Harry took seats next to Ron and Neville.
"As it happens we did have something big to talk about" Hermione told them seriously "or rather...Harry has something big to tell the three of us".
At this both Ron and Neville stopped joking around and perked their ears up intently as Harry cleared his throat and launched into his recounting of what had happened and had been said.
"An hour or so ago when I was walking with Malfoy and Fang in the Forbidden Forest we came upon this dead unicorn...and it wasn't alone".
The eyes of his three friends widened and Neville's hands were gripping the arm of the sofa in nervousness as Harry continued "there was this...I don't know, this sort of hooded creature bent over him and it was..." he shook his head not wanting to remember it but knowing he must "it was drinking his blood".
Neville looked like he might pass out while Ron looked distinctly green at the news.
"Then the creature must have sensed us because he looked up and began advancing on us" Harry snorted "then Malfoy fled in terror".
"Bloody coward" Ron said forcefully "always said he was".
"The creature was going to attack me but then this centaur...Firenze...he leapt in front of me to protect me and kicked out at the creature causing it to flee".
"Wow a real life centaur" Neville breathed in amazement "I've read about them but never seen one...what was he like?".
Harry smiled "he was friendly. We got chatting about the creature and what it was. He said it was cursed as it had drank unicorn blood and now had a half life..a cursed life".
"Who would want that?" Ron asked voicing the very thing that Harry had just an hour ago 'god was it really only an hour ago' he thought to himself before he answered "I asked Firenze that question too and he said can you really think of no on who would want to preserve himself? and I knew who it was".
"Who?" the other three chorused together sounding tense.
Harry looked at each of them in turn before answering grimly "Voldemort" he was not surprised to see Ron and Neville flinch for although he, his family and a select number of others did not fear the name or fear to speak it there were many within the wizarding world who did so as they recalled the time when the wizard had been at the height of his powers and his terror and cruelty had known no bounds.
"But it can't be Harry!" Neville exclaimed desperately. Harry knew why. Neville and his family had suffered terribly at the hands of Voldemort's followers with his parents being tortured to madness.
"Look" Ron cut in seriously "I don't want Vo...Vol...that evil wizard back any more than you do Nev but I trust Harry on this. He doesn't lie about this sort of thing".
Harry nodded in appreciation of the support as he said "Voldemort..." he ignored Ron and Neville's flinch "lost everything ten years ago when he tried to kill me and he killed my parents. Many people thought he died but as Hagrid said to me once that's codswallop. He's out there somewhere. He's lost his powers, he's broken but not done and he wants to return".
Hermione had obviously been following his trail of thought for she now weighed in "and what better way than to get supreme power than by stealing the philosopher's stone".
Harry looked at them all even more grimly now and said seriously "this whole thing just got worse. Snape doesn't want the stone for himself...he wants it for his master...for Voldemort".
A/N:
Hi everybody. Just a quick readers note to let you all know that the last part of first year is coming up in chapter ten.
Hope everybody is enjoying the story so far and I'd just like to say thanks for all the support thus far with the favouriting, following, reading and reviewing. It makes writing this thing properly worth it, you guys rock.