Snape was on a roll that week, as if he was on a personal mission to prove that it was possible for her to respect him even less than she already did. By the time her detention rolled around, she'd been joined by Harry, Hermione and Neville. The boys had been paired for the class, when Malfoy had thrown a handful of Kneazle hair into their cauldron. He hadn't even tried to be sneaky about it. The whole thing had exploded spectacularly, it was a wonder nobody had been injured.

The end result was a zero on the brew of the day and a detention for the boys 'for endangering the lives of their fellow students', and one for Hermione when she tried to explain what happened.

Donna stared at Malfoy's self-satisfied smirk until he noticed her, at which point she tapped out a subtle rythm with her hand – tap tap clap, tap tap clap. His smirk disappeared and he glowered at her, so she smiled sweetly back at him.

She did resolve once again to discuss with Jack how best to deal with a bullying teacher. She'd been reporting every incident since the start of the year, they were now nearly at the end, and nothing had changed. It seemed increasingly unlikely that next year would show improvement, so she wanted a plan in place before that time.

In any case, that was how the party trailing a muttering Filch that evening consisted of five students, rather than two. Donna wondered if they were really the only students with a detention today, or if detentions were divided by year.

Spring was in the air and the days were lengthening, but even so the light was already failing. They crowded close to the lantern Filch was carrying. He revealed they were going to Hagrid's hut to serve their detention with the gamekeeper. At the relieved looks on their faces (if not Malfoy's), the old man laughed nastily.

"Think you'll have an easy time then, eh? Well think again! It's into the forest you're going!"

Donna bit her lip. She felt a laugh tickling at the back of her throat, but she didn't think now was the appropriate time to release it. Was he serious?

Malfoy's reaction to the caretaker's words was quite the opposite. He stopped walking and refused to take another step. "Into the forest? We can't go in there!" the boy said, fear evident in his voice.

Just then Hagrid came up to meet them, a lantern bobbing in one hand and a large crossbow held in the other. Fang followed close on his heels.

Filch grinned nastily at them. "I'll be back at dawn... for what's left of you."

At dawn? They... didn't need to sleep? The urge to laugh became stronger, and she hid her face against Neville's shoulder, while Malfoy tried to argue with Hagrid that going into the forest was a servant's job. At least Hagrid wasn't impressed with Malfoy's attempt to drag his father into it, so that was something.

And then Hagrid showed them something silvery lying on the ground. He explained that it was unicorn's blood, and their job tonight was to go into the forest and find the unicorn, which was either injured or dead. And that was it, that was the last straw. The laughter at the whole ridiculous evening burst forth, and it was no use trying to hide it anymore.

"Donna? Are yeh alrigh'?" Hagrid asked, unsure why she'd started laughing when he talked about a dead unicorn.

Donna waved her hand, but she needed a moment longer to calm down enough to answer Hagrid.

"I'm sorry. It's just, you're taking first years... to the forbidden forest... in the dark... hunting for a unicorn, while its killer is on the loose. You said it yourself, it's the second unicorn, meaning whatever is responsible is out there. And you don't see a problem with any of that? On top of that, apparently this detention may last until the dawn, if we can believe Filch, because... I don't know, sleep is for the weak?

"But alright, fine, whatever. Let's go to the forest that is forbidden to students except when there's unicorn-killing evil afoot. Fuck all we can do about it, maybe levitate him or shine a light at him, but I guess the grown-ups know best. Allons-y!"

She stomped along the earth track Hagrid had brought them to, while bringing the DoctorDonna more to the front of her mindset, since that would leave her better equipped to deal with the current situation.

She wondered if that was how a schizophrenic felt. Or... what was the term again? Multiple personality disorder? Something else? She didn't remember the correct term right at this moment, but it was something like that. Except people who suffered from that generally didn't remember their different personalities, whereas the DoctorDonna was just part of her – albeit a part that she did not show many people.

To be fair, she should probably refuse to serve this detention, if only for the safety of her friends – and Malfoy. There were several reasons she didn't. For one thing, she didn't know if this little excursion had been approved by either the headmaster or the deputy headmistress.

But the most important reason she didn't refuse? Well, she could be honest with herself. It was just never going to happen, was it? If there was even the slightest chance that this unicorn might be found and helped, she had to take it.

Then she came to a junction, and she had to wait for the others, who hadn't been quite as quick as her. She took out her wand and cast a Lumos, but the white light at the tip of her wand did little more than emphasize how dark the rest of the forest was. It was a very different sort of light than the warm yellow cast by Hagrid's lamp. Once everyone had joined her at the junction, Hagrid looked either way thoughtfully. "Best to split inter two parties, follow the trail either way."

Malfoy was the first to claim Fang, which Donna didn't really get. If you wanted to be safe, wasn't it more logical to stick with the largest figure around? She could easily believe nothing would harm Hagrid, whereas Fang... well, no offense to the dog, but she could imagine worse things living in the forest that would not be deterred by a boarhound.

Still, by that reckoning, she'd really rather her friends were with Hagrid. Despite their run-in with the troll at Halloween, they were not nearly as used to going into danger as she was.

"I'll go with blondie and Scooby-doo over there," she said.

"Alrigh'," Hagrid rumbled, "so Harry an' Hermione can come with me, an' Neville can go with you, ok? Here's another lamp, better 'n wandlight ter see the blood. Now, if ye find the unicorn, ye send up green sparks, righ'? An' if yer in trouble, send up red sparks, we'll come and find yeh. Let's go."

With that, the two groups split up. As the forest grew thicker around them, Donna wondered if Hagrid would even be able to see any sparks they sent up, but she kept her doubts to herself. Malfoy kept glancing fearfully around and jumping at every sound. Neville was less jumpy than that, but even he kept close to her shoulder. The forest at night was every bit as creepy as one would expect, so she'd be quite glad when this whole night was over.

Donna had lost track of how long they had been walking, looking for the trail of silvery unicorn blood, when a branch snapped somewhere to their right. Before she could suggest going to see if maybe that was the unicorn, Fang broke loose and ran back the way they'd come, and at the same time Malfoy shot red sparks into the air.

She couldn't even blame him.

Honestly, he'd lasted longer than she would have thought. Had they really expected any other outcome, sending 11-year-olds into a dangerous forest at night? Some of whom had probably never even been alone outside in the dark?

"Ok," she said, "no problem. The others will come to investigate, so I suggest the two of you wait for them here while I go and see what made that sound. Sound good?"

Malfoy was already nodding, probably glad he wouldn't have to go himself, but Neville frowned.

"I can't let you go into danger alone, Donna," he said. She was glad to see how much more confidence the boy had now, compared to the beginning of the year. He'd never have said something like that back in September, she was sure.

Still, that was a slight misconception on his part that she would have to rectify. "I wasn't asking for your permission, Nev. That sound seemed like the sort of thing that should be investigated, but I need you to keep an eye on blondie there, just to make sure he doesn't bolt and leave us behind. I'll be careful, and I won't go too far. Ok?"

She squeezed his hand when he reluctantly nodded.

"Hey!" Malfoy said when she moved off towards where the sound had come from. "Where are you going with our light?"

Donna rolled her eyes as she looked back.

"Investigating, remember? Like we agreed five seconds ago? Don't worry, Malfoy, I'm sure Neville will let you hold his hand if you're too afraid to be in the dark for five minutes. If you ask him nicely. Also, Lumos, mister poncy wizard, it's a thing."

With that, she turned back and made her way through the underbrush as quietly as she could. By the time she was at the place where she judged the snap to have come from, she couldn't see Malfoy and Neville anymore, although they might still be able to see her lamp light.

There was every possibility that she'd misjudged, of course. A dark forest was not an ideal place to pinpoint the location of a snapping branch, but it had sounded like something big enough that she thought she might have seen it even if she didn't have the location exactly right.

There was nothing there, though. She held her lamp up high for a better view, but it was no use. Either the noise had been innocent, or whatever had made it had moved on while they were discussing things.

She returned to the other two around the same time Hagrid found them. When they explained what had happened, Hagrid sighed. "P'raps we should change the groups a bit. Let's go back ter Harry an' Hermione."

Donna looked at Hagrid. "You left them alone in the forest? What am I saying, of course you did. It's not like it's midnight in the middle of a dark forest or anything."

"I left Fang with 'em, he found us," Hagrid tried to defend himself.

"Yeah, cause Scooby-doo will make all the difference."

It didn't take too long for them to reach the other two, luckily. Hagrid decided that Malfoy would stay with him to continue the search, and that Harry and Hermione would go the other way with Fang. Donna quickly volunteered to go with her friends. Mostly because she wanted someone with a modicum of sense to go with them, something which Hagrid, genial though he may be, sorely lacked.

That left Neville to go with Hagrid and Malfoy.

"Uhm... I'd rather go with the others, if you don't mind," Neville answered when Hagrid said as much. "I mean, if it's ok with them. I might not be that much help, but I'd much rather be with my friends."

"Oh!" Hagrid looked surprised by the request. "Er... sure, if that's what yeh want."

Donna grinned and winked at Neville.

"Brilliant. We're going this way. Come along!"

As they walked further into the forest, Donna explained about the noise they'd heard, with her investigation turning up nothing. Harry replied in a low voice with an account of how they'd encountered centaurs, who were all very insistent that Mars was bright tonight.

Donna looked up at the sky when they passed a clearing, her eye going unerringly to Mars' position. "Huh, I guess it is. Not sure how that's supposed to relate to the future though."

They'd been walking for about half an hour when they found it. Up ahead in a clearing, they could see a white shimmer. As they approached, they saw that it was the unicorn. Donna's eyes filled with tears and she ran forwards, ignoring her friends' pleas to be careful.

It was dead. Donna dropped to her knees next to the noble animal, put her hand on its neck and bowed her head.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so, so sorry."

"Donna! Look out!" Hermione yelled. Donna looked back and jumped up. While she'd been kneeling next to the unicorn, a figure had made its way out of the bushes. It stopped some way from her, as if surprised there was anyone there. She couldn't make out its features, only that it was wearing a cloak and moving in a dizzyingly unnatural way.

She released her wand from its holster, although she wasn't quite sure what she could do.

"No," she said. The figure reared up in surprise. She felt her friends join her, though she didn't take her eyes from the grotesque figure. "You can't have it. It was never yours to take."

After the words left her mouth, several things happened at once, leading to a confused couple of minutes.

The creature – beast – thing reared up again, screeching at them. Then it started moving towards them impossibly quickly, with that unnatural gait. It looked like it had its knees on backwards.

At the same time, Harry started screaming, falling to his knees where he stood beside her, while clutching his head. Or not really his head so much as pressing two hands over his scar, although she did not realise that particular detail until later.

The only spell Donna could think of was one of the shield charms they'd been practicing, since jinxes just weren't going to cut it. She aimed it at Harry, as her friend was in no position to defend himself. Hermione did try to fire some kind of spell at the creature, Donna wasn't sure which one. At the same time, another shield slammed into place in front of all four of them.

Donna could only half-register that it seemed to have come from Neville, when a horse came sailing over their heads, brandishing a spear at the monster.

This seemed to be too much opposition for the creature, as it changed course mid-charge and swept away into the forest.

The horse – no, it was a centaur, she could see now, which neatly explained how it could brandish a weapon – charged in pursuit for a moment or two, but then seemed to decide the four children were a more pressing concern, now that the thing had been driven off.

Their shields had already dissipated by the time the centaur reached them. Hermione was sitting on her knees, making Harry lean half against her thighs, half against her chest. At least he'd stopped screaming as soon as the monster had gone, but he was still covering his scar with one hand.

Donna was holding Neville's hand, trying to keep him from freaking out about the night's events. She watched as the centaur approached them. He had a palomino body, and she thought he was quite young-looking, although she might be wrong. It wasn't like she could really judge age on one of his race.

"Are you alright?" he asked, addressing all four of them at once. Neville didn't answer, but he did clutch her hand harder. She'd need to talk to him sooner rather than later, about what had happened and what it all meant. Actually, what they really needed was a psychologist, or whatever the wizarding world's equivalent of that was, but that was a concern for a different time.

By this time, Harry was at least looking a little better, his gaze clearing up with every moment and his hand lowering from his scar. Hermione was clutching his shoulders. Her whole body was shaking, but she was very careful not to hurt him at the same time.

Donna answered the centaur's question. "We're... ok, for now. I thank you for your help."

The centaur inspected Harry and his livid-looking scar. "You had better go. The forest is not safe. I would help, but I cannot carry four."

"Please, if you could get Harry to safety," Hermione said with tears in her eyes.

Donna nodded in agreement. "We can make our own way back, but something happened to him, he needs to see madam Pomfrey."

The centaur nodded, lowering himself on his front legs so Harry could clamber on. Just as he righted himself, two more centaurs came bursting into the clearing.

"Firenze!" one of them bellowed. "What are you doing? You have a human on your back! Have you no shame? Are you a common mule?"

Firenze pawed the ground as he faced his... friends? Brethren? Donna had no idea how their society worked, and resolved to rectify that as soon as possible.

"Four children, Bane. You see four children here, although only one is on my back. Do you want to know what I saw, brother? I looked for one moment away from the heavens and what they were telling me, and looked instead right in front of me. I saw four children who denied the unicorn-killer the blood it was seeking.

"Have we grown so feeble that we need human children to fight our battles for us? Are we so concerned with the heavens that we would allow our grounds to be disrespected? Yes, I will carry the Potter boy, of my own free will. If you have any honour, you will make sure the other children – who risked their lives for a creature of the forest – will come to no harm."

Without waiting for an answer, Firenze wheeled around to get Harry to Hagrid. Bane glared at them and likewise galloped away, the other way. Only one centaur was left to look at them with sorrowful eyes.

"I cannot carry you as Firenze has decided to do," he said in a deep voice.

Donna bowed her head at him. "We would not ask it of you. We can walk."

The centaur nodded once. "Then I will take you to the edge of the forest. I am Ronan."

"I am Donna, and these are my friends Hermione and Neville."

Ronan looked sharply at her. For a moment he glanced up at the stars, then back down at her.

"Your name, young one... it resonates, and yet something is missing. That is a riddle." Ronan stroked his beard. "I will think on it, and look to the heavens. An answer will come, as it always does. Perhaps an answer to a question that was not asked, but such is the way of the heavens."

Ronan started walking, and the three of them followed him. These centaurs were decidedly odd, but at least Donna felt safer now than she had with Fang, who'd broken loose again and had probably returned to Hagrid's hut.

When they reached the edge of the forest, Hagrid and Harry were waiting for them. Donna wondered where Malfoy had gone. She wouldn't want the git to have gotten lost in the forest.

"Where's Malfoy?" she asked Hagrid.

"I sent 'im on ter the castle."

"He wouldn't stop complaining that we had to wait for you guys," Harry added. "The concern was overwhelming."

That answered that question, so she was free to dismiss him from her thoughts. That was all the mental capacity she had for him. She was more concerned with the state of her friends.

"Right, let's get you lot ter Gryffindor," Hagrid said.

Donna raised her eyebrows. "To the hospital wing, you mean."

"But... it's still the middle of the night!" Harry protested. "Madam Pomfrey will be asleep!"

"Well, they should've thought of that before they sent us into the forbidden forest in the middle of the night to hunt a unicorn-killer, shouldn't they? Also, we're telling someone about what happened in that forest. You can choose, McGonagall or Dumbledore. Don't even think about keeping this to yourself."

Donna dragged a reluctant Harry with her to go and knock on the Hospital Wing door. After a minute or so, a dishevelled-looking madam Pomfrey opened the door.

"Good heavens, what is going on here?"

Donna quickly explained about their detention, finding the dead unicorn, and the creature attacking them.

"Look, I'm fine!" Harry tried. "Please can't I just go to bed?"

"Harry, the way you reacted to that... thing... was not normal. It needs to be checked as quickly as possible. You won't be able to sleep until the adrenalin has worn off a bit anyway, so Sit. Your arse. Down!"

She said that last bit with what she considered her 'mum-voice', and Harry plonked down on a bed before he'd processed the words.

"Thank you, my dear," Pomfrey said with a lopsided smile. She directed the others to adjacent beds and then bustled around for a while, casting diagnostic charms on all of them, although most of them on Harry.

Hermione and Neville said very little, which Donna attributed to the shocks they'd had this evening. Not long after they'd settled, their head of house arrived, her hair thrown into a hasty pony tail rather than the neat bun they were used to seeing on her. She had a tartan bathrobe thrown over her nightclothes, because of course she did.

"Poppy? What's this about students getting hurt?"

"Well, Minerva, maybe you should have a little talk with the Keeper of the Keys, and the types of detentions he organises. Did you know what he was going to have them do?"

Donna was glad Poppy Pomfrey was usually on the side of the students. The disapproval clear on the matron's face rivaled McGonagall's own at the best of times.

"Not in detail, no," the older woman answered the question. "He said he had a task he needed some help with. I'd trust Hagrid with my life."

"It's not your life we're discussing, Minerva. Mister Rubeus Hagrid thought it appropriate to take five first-years into the forbidden forest, because – and this is the best part – something was killing unicorns. In what world is it a first-year's job to find a dead unicorn while its killer is still at large? And then. Then! He split them up into two groups. One adult, five children. I will let you do the maths. Now, you can go over everything that happened tomorrow, after they're well-rested, but I think you ought to know the most important information, which is why I flooed you out of your bed. Donna, would you explain the happenings after you found the unicorn, please?"

And so she did, for the third, and she hoped last, time that night. By the time she was done, McGonagall was sitting heavily in one of the hospital wing's chairs.

"I'm... I... I don't know what to say," she said in her heavy Scottish burr. "He's never taken children into the forest, as far as I'm aware. Although I'll have to review previous detentions now, since it seems he doesn't feel the need to inform me about such things. And then for this to happen! It was certainly You-Know-Who?"

"That's what Firenze told me, professor," Harry answered.

McGonagall took a deep breath and nodded.

"Alright. I don't think You-Know-Who will try anything more tonight. I will leave you four in the capable hands of the matron. I will talk with you more tomorrow, and then I will have a little talk with our groundskeeper about appropriate detentions and with the headmaster about what you have told me. Rest now."

She made her way back to the door, muttering all the while. "You-Know-Who! Here, in the forest! What is the world coming to?"

Madam Pomfrey watched her go before turning back to them.

"So, I checked all four of you. Physically, you're all just fine. Yes, that includes you, mister Potter. Whatever caused your headache tonight, I cannot find a trace of it, but it was almost certainly magical in nature. I could do a more invasive test, but for that I would need your guardian's permission. I'm keeping you all here for observation, but if there are no ill effects by tomorrow morning you will be free to go."

The matron gave each of them a vial of Dreamless Sleep potion, to ensure that they'd get some real rest for the rest of the night. Donna resolved to ask her about psychologists or the like tomorrow. And to talk the night's events over with her friends, make sure they could process everything, even if she wasn't a licensed shrink.

With the Dreamless Sleep, it did not take long for the darkness to claim her. She was glad to find the potion did exactly what it said on the tin. She was not looking forward to the nightmares that were sure to come the following night.