In the library; Harry, Ron, and Eileen are seated, reading. Hermione comes up with a huge book. She thumps it onto the table. Harry jumps.
"I had you looking in the wrong section! How could I be so stupid? I checked this out a few weeks ago for a bit of light reading."
"This is light?"
"Of course! Here it is! Nicholas Flamel is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone!"
"The what?" Harry and Ron were confused, Eileen's face lit up, however.
"Honestly, don't you two read?"
"The Philosopher's Stone is a legendary substance with astonishing powers. It will turn any metal into pure gold and produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal." Eileen recited.
"Immortal?"
"It means you'll never die."
"I know what it means!"
Harry shushed them as other students looked at the four of them.
"The only stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicholas Flamel, the noted alchemist, who last year celebrated his 665th birthday!" That's what Fluffy's guarding on the 3rd floor. That's what's under the trapdoor...the Philosopher's Stone!" Hermione read, astonished.
Later that night, Hermione, Eileen, Ron and Harry are running across the wet ground to Hagrid's hut. They knock on the door and it opens.
"Hagrid!"
Hagrid opens the door, clad in oven mitts and an apron, "Oh, hello. Sorry, don't wish to be rude, but I'm in no fit state to entertain today."
"We know about the Philosopher's Stone!" They all exclaimed.
"Oh. Well, come in." They all walk into Hagrid's small hut.
" We think Snape's trying to steal it."
"Snape? Blimey, Harry, you're not still on about him, are you? And Eileen, he's your father!"
"I know, but I'm not ready to make any personal conclusions yet, none of my evidence lines up." She whispered.
"Hagrid, we know he's after the Stone. We just don't know why." Harry said, shooting a sad smile to Eileen.
"Snape is one of the teachers protecting the Stone! He's not about to steal it!"
"What?" They all asked, confusing written on their face.
"You heard. Right. Come on, now, I'm a bit preoccupied today."
"Wait a minute. One of the teachers?"
"Of course! There are other things defending the Stone, aren't there? Spells, enchantments." Hermione grinned at her answer.
"That's right. Waste of bloody time, if you ask me."
Hermione looks at Ron, who is being sniffed in the face by Fang. Ron shuffles away.
"Ain't no one gonna get past Fluffy. Hehe, not a soul knows how. Except for me and Dumbledore. I shouldn't have told you that. I shouldn't have told you that." A cauldron over a fire begins to rattle.Hagrid hurries over and grabs something, "Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!" He sets the thing, an egg, on the table. The group crowds around.
"Uh, Hagrid, what exactly is that?"
"That? It's a, its um.."
"I know what that is! But Hagrid, how did you get one?"
"I won it. Off a stranger I met down at a pub. Seemed quite glad to be rid of it, as a matter of fact." The egg rattles and cracks. Pieces fly off as a dragon emerges. It squeaks and slips on an egg piece.
"Is that a dragon?"
"That's not just a dragon. That's a Norwegian Ridgeback! My brother Charlie works with these in Romania."
"Isn't he beautiful? Oh. Bless him, look. He knows his mummy. Hehe. Hallo, Norbert."
"Norbert?" Eileen couldn't help but snicker.
"Yeah, well, he's got to have a name, doesn't he? Don't you, Norbert?" He raises fingers back and forth across Norbert's chin. Norbert backs away, hiccups and blows a fireball of fire into Hagrid's beard.
"Ohh! Oooh, ooh, ooh, well...he'll have to be trained up a bit, of course." Hagrid sees someone looking in the window. "Who's that?" The figure scampers away.
"Malfoy." The group synchronized.
"Oh, dear."
The four are walking back through a corridor.
"Hagrid always wanted a dragon. He told me so the first time I could talk to him." Eileen stated.
"It's crazy. And worse, Malfoy knows."
" don't understand. Is that bad?"
"It's bad." Ron and Eileen said together.
They stop as McGonagall, in her nightgown, appears. "Good evening." Malfoy appears smugly beside her.
McGonagall's classroom, the four accused are standing in front of McGonagall's desk, while Malfoy is feet away, smirking.
"Nothing, I repeat, nothing gives a student the right to walk about the school at night. Therefore, as punishment for your actions, 50 points will be taken."
"50?!" Harry exclaimed.
"Each. And to ensure it doesn't happen again, all five of you will receive detention." Malfoy nods, then his smile vanishes.
"Excuse me, Professor. Perhaps I heard you wrong. I thought you said the five of us?"
"No, you heard me correctly, Mr. Malfoy. You see, as honorable as your intentions were, you too were out of bed after hours. You will serve detention with your classmates."
Harry, Ron, Eileen and Hermione grin, and Draco sags.
The five students are being led back to Hagrid's hut by Mr. Filch. "A pity they let the old punishments die. There was a time detention would find you hanging by your thumbs in the dungeons. God, I miss the screaming." Draco gulps, and Hermione rushes by. "You'll be serving detention with Hagrid tonight. He's got a little job to do inside the dark forest."
Hagrid appears with a crossbow. He sniffles.
"A sorry lot this, Hagrid. Oh, good God, man, you're not still on about that bloody dragon, are you?"
"Norbert's gone. Dumbledore sent him off to Romania to live in a colony."
"Well, that's good, isn't it? He'll be with his own kind."
"Yeah, but what if he don't like Romania? What if the other dragons are mean to him? He's only a baby, after all."
"Oh, for Merlin's sake, pull yourself together, man. You're going into the forest, after all. Got to have your wits about you."
"The forest? I thought that was a joke! We can't go in there. Students aren't allowed." Draco tried backing away, but Eileen roughly grabbed his arm.
"And there are werewolves!" Eileen shivered.
"There's more than werewolves in those trees, lass. You can be sure of that. Nighty-night."
"Right. Let's go."
In the forest the group walks along a path to a tree. Hagrid stops, bends down and dips his fingers in a silver puddle. He pulls out his fingers and rubs them together. A silver trail smears with his fingers.
"Hagrid, what's that?"
"What we're here for. See that? That's unicorn's blood, that is. I found one dead a few weeks ago. Now, this one's been injured bad by something. So, it's our job to find the poor beast. Ron, Hermione, you'll come with me. And Harry, you'll go with Eileen and Malfoy. Draco grimaces, and Harry and Eileen nod.
"Okay. Then I get Fang!"
"Fine. Just so you know, he's a bloody coward."
Harry, Eileen, and Draco are walking through the forest, Fang leading. Draco has the lamp. "You wait till my father hears about this. This is servant's stuff."
"Shut up, you're much more annoying now than over the summer." Eileen snapped.
"If I didn't know better, Draco, I'd say you were scared." Harry snickered.
"Scared, Potter?!" A howl echoed through the forest, "Did you hear that? Come on, Fang. Scared."
The group approaches a flat ground with gnarled roots all over. Fang stops, then growls.
"What is it, Fang?" Up ahead, a cloaked figure is crouched over a dead unicorn, drinking its blood. The figure raises its head, silver blood dripping from its mouth. Harry gasps and grabs his scar, which is hurting.
"Harry?!" Eileen grabbed her friend's arm as Malfoy runs screaming. The figure slides over the unicorn and rises erect. It advances towards the duo, who back up, but trip. They crawl backwards. Suddenly, there is the sound of hoofbeats. A figure leaps over them and lands near the cloaked figure. It is a silver centaur. It rears, and the cloaked figure retreats, flying away.
"Harry Potter and Eileen Snape, you must leave. You are known to many creatures here. The forest is not safe at this time. Especially for you."
"But what was that thing you saved us from?" Harry got to his feet and offered a hand to Eileen which she graciously accepted.
" A monstrous creature. It is a terrible crime to slay a unicorn. Drinking the blood of a unicorn will keep you alive even if you are an inch from death. But at a terrible price. You have slain something so pure that the moment the blood touches your lips, you will have a half-life. A cursed life."
"But who would choose such a life?" Eileen questioned.
"Can you think of no one?"
"Do you mean to say that that thing that killed the unicorn, that was drinking its blood, that was Voldemort?" Harry asked, Eileen made a note to ask about Voldemort, was this the Dark Wizard?
"Do you know what is hidden in the school at this very moment?"
"The Philosopher's Stone." They said together once again. Suddenly, Fang barks. Harry looks up and sees Hagrid, Hermione, Ron and Draco appear.
"Hello there, Firenze. I see you've met our young Mr. Potter and Ms. Snape. You alright there, Harry, Eileen?"
"Harry Potter, Eileen Snape, this is where I leave you. You're safe now. Good luck."
They group gathered outside of the Gryffidor painting.
"You mean, You-Know-Who's out there, right now, in the forest?" Ron asked, fear in his voice
"But he's weak. He's living off the unicorns. Don't you see? We had it wrong. Snape doesn't want the stone for himself, he wants the stone for Voldemort. With the Elixir of Life, Voldemort will be strong again. He'll come back."
"Harry, I've dealt with everything else, but why would my father be working for such an evil person?" Eileen put her hands on her hips, awaiting an answer. Except, no one could offer her one.
"But if he comes back, you don't think he'll try to kill you, do you?"
"I think if he'd had the chance, he might have tried to kill me tonight."
"And to think, I've been worrying about my Potions final!"
"Hang on a minute. We're forgetting one thing. Who's the one wizard Voldemort always feared?"
"Dumbledore! As long as Dumbledore's around, you're safe. As long as Dumbledore's around, you can't be touched."