Things couldn't have gotten any worse.

Filch took them down to Professor McGonagall's study on the first floor, where they sat and waited without saying a word. They couldn't use Hermione as an alibi, Filch had caught them, and besides, they didn't want to drag her into this. Excuses and cover-up stories, each more feeble than the last flew through her brain. How could they have been so stupid? There was no reason on earth McGonagall would accept them being out of bed this late, let alone on top of the Astronomy Tower, which was out of bounds to all students except for classes.

Thankfully there was no way she could know about the cloak or Norbert, or else they'd be packing their bags already.

And just when she thought it couldn't get any worse, Professor McGonagall appeared, and she was leading Neville.

"Harry!" Neville burst out the moment he saw them. "I was trying to find you to warn you. I heard Malfoy saying he was going to catch you, he said you had a dra-"

They both shook their heads violently to shut Neville up, but Professor McGonagall had heard. She looked more likely to breathe fire than Norbert as she towered over the three of them.

"I would never have believed it of any of you. says you were up in the astronomy tower. It is one o'clock in the morning. Explain yourselves."

They were too terrified to answer, and stared down at their shoes, still as a statue.

"I think I've got a good idea of what's been going on," said Professor McGonagall. "It doesn't take a genius to work it out. You fed Draco Malfoy some cock-and-bull story about a dragon, trying to get him out of bed and into trouble. I've already caught him. I suppose you think it's funny that Longbottom here heard the story and believed it, too?"

They caught Neville's eye and tried to tell him without words that this wasn't true, but Neville looked too stunned and hurt to believe them. Poor Neville - she knew what it must cost him to try and find them in the dark to warn them.

"I'm disgusted," said McGonagall. "Four students out of bed in one night. I've never heard of such a thing before! You, , I thought you were smarter than this. And you, , I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than this. All three of you will receive detentions - yes, you too, , nothing gives you the right to walk around the school at night, especially these days, it's very dangerous - and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor."

"Fifty?" They both gasped - they would lose the lead, the lead Harry had won in the last Quidditch match.

"Fifty points each," said Professor McGonagall, breathing heavily through her long pointed nose.

"Professor-please-"

"You can't-"

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do . Now get back in bed, all of you. I've never been more ashamed of Gryffindor students."

A hundred and fifty points lost. They were in last place for the house cup. She had considered arguing with Professor McGonagall, pointing out that Malfoy had only lost twenty, but she knew that if they revealed that they had heard that conversation, she would only be more furious.

They didn't sleep that night. Hermione had looked so upset when Lizzie told her, and Harry said Neville sobbed into his pillow for hours before succumbing to sleep. They were all dreading the dawn. What would the rest of Gryffindor do when they found out what they'd done?

At first, the Gryffindors thought there'd been a mistake. How could they suddenly have lost a hundred and fifty points? And then the story spread. Harry Potter, their hero of two Quidditch matches, had lost them all the points, him and a couple of other stupid first years.

He went from being one of the most popular kids in school to the most hated. Even Hufflepuffs and Slytherins turned on them because they had been longing to see Slytherin lose the cup.

Everywhere Harry, Neville, and Lizzie went, they were pointed at, people insulting them, one time a Ravenclaw tried to trip Lizzie, but she turned around and socked him in the jaw. The Slytherins, on the other hand, clapped as they walked past, cheering and thanking them.

Only Ron and Hermione stood by them.

It had gotten so bad that Harry had gone to Wood and tried to quit the team.

"Resign?" Wood roared, so loud the rest of the team heard him in the dressing room.

Lizzie and Harry stuck it out, but Quidditch lost its fun. The rest of the team never spoke to them, and if they did, they were called, "The Seeker," and "Chaser Number 3." The twins had even aimed a bludger at Harry during a play, which they sorely regretted when Lizzie sent hexes their way afterward.

Lizzie and Neville were also suffering, although not as much as Harry.

She was almost glad exams were heading their way. All the studying was keeping their mind off the misery. The four of them kept to themselves, working late into the night. Then, about a week before exams started, Harry and Lizzie heard whimpering noises coming from a classroom. Lizzie had accompanied Harry to the library, as people had taken to hexing him if he was alone.

"No-no-not again, please-"

It was Quirrell, and it sounded as if someone was threatening him.

"All right-all right-" they heard Quirrell sob.

The next second he came scurrying out of the classroom, straightening his turban. He didn't even notice them. They rushed into the classroom, but it was empty, with a door ajar at the other end. Lizzie would have bet 1,000 Galleons that Snape had been here and that Quirrell had finally given in.

They hurried back to the library, where Hermione was testing Ron on Astronomy.

"Snape's done it then!" Ron said after they told them everything. "If Quirrells told him how to break his Anti-Dark Force spell-"

"There's still Cerberus though," said Hermione.

"Maybe Snape's found out how to get past him without asking Hagrid," said Ron, looking up at the thousands of books surrounding them. "I bet there's a book somewhere in here telling you how to get past them. So, what do we do Harry?"

The light of adventure was kindling in Ron's eyes, but Hermione spoke up before Harry could. "Go to Dumbledore. That's what we should have done ages ago. If we try anything ourselves we'll be thrown out for sure."

"But we don't have any proof! Quirrell will be too terrified of Snape to back us, Snape just has to deny everything, and who do you think they'll believe? Dumbledore will think we made it up. Filch wouldn't help us if his life depended on it, he likes Snape too much, and the more kids thrown out, the better. And we're still not supposed to know about the Stone or Cerberus," Harry said. Hermione was convinced, but Ron and Lizzie still weren't.

"If we just do a bit of poking around-"

"We can't let Snape get the Stone-"

"No," Harry said flatly, "we've done enough."

The next morning, notes were given to Harry, Lizzie, and Neville at breakfast. All the same, telling them to report to Filch at the entrance hall at eleven o'clock.

She had honestly forgotten they still had detention to do. Lizzie almost thought about complaining that the points had been enough punishment, but decided not to. They deserved what they got.

At eleven o'clock that night, they bid Ron and Hermione goodbye and left with Neville. Filch was there - and so was Malfoy. Lizzie had forgotten Malfoy had also gotten detention. Maybe this wouldn't be so horrible.

"Follow me," said Filch, lighting a lamp and leading them outside.

"I bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh? Oh yes…hard work and pain are the best teachers if you ask me…It's just a pity they let the old punishments die out…hand you by your wrists from the ceiling for a few days, I've got the chains still in my office, keep 'em well oiled in case they're ever needed…Right, off we go, and don't think of running off, now, it'll be worse for you if you do."
They marched off across the dark grounds, Lizzie walking next to Neville and comforting him, who was sniffling into his sleeve.

The moon was bright, but clouds scudding across it kept throwing them into darkness. Ahead, she could see the lighted window of Hagrid's hut. Then they heard a distant shout.

"Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started."

Lizzie's heart rose a bit, as did Harry's, which Filch must have noticed, because he said, "I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that oaf? Well, think again boy - it's into the forest you're going and I'm much not mistaken if you'll all come out in one piece."

At this Neville let out a little moan, and Lizzie guided him over to Fang, who was sitting next to Hagrid. Petting him seemed to calm Neville down quite a bit.

"The forest?" Malfoy cried. "We can't go in there at night - there's all sorts of things in there - werewolves I heard."

Neville clutched the sleeve of Lizzie's robe and made a choking noise.
"That's your problem, isn't it?" said Filch, his voice cracking with glee. "Should've thought of them werewolves before you got into trouble, shouldn't you?"

Lizzie looked out into the dense trees, where wind whispered through the leaves, making a foreboding noise. She had wanted to explore it since she got here, but decided she was in enough trouble without going into the FORBIDDEN Forest.

"About time," Hagrid said. "I bin waitin' fer half an hour already. All right there, Harry, Lizzie?"

"I wouldn't be too friendly to them, Hagrid," Filch said coldly, "they're here to be punished after all."

"That's why yer' late, is it? Bin lecturin' them, eh? 'Snot your place ter do that. Yeh've done yer bit, I'll take over from here."

"I'll be back for what's left of them at dawn," he said nastily and headed back up to the castle.

Malfoy turned to Hagrid and said, "I'm not going in that forest," he said, and Lizzie delighted in hearing a note of panic in his voice.

"Yeh are if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts," said Hagrid fiercely. "Yeh've done wrong an' now yeh've got ter pay for it."

"But this is servant stuff, it's not for students to do. I thought we'd be copying lines or something, if my father knew I was doing this, he'd-"

"-tell yer that's how good it is at Hogwarts," Hagrid growled. "Copyin' lines! What good's that ter anyone? Yeh'll do summat useful or yeh'll get out. If yeh think yer father'd rather you were expelled, then get back ter the castle an' pack. Go on!"

Malfoy didn't move, he just glared up at Hagrid, then dropped his gaze.

"Right then," said Hagrid, "now, listen carefully 'cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, an' I don't want no one takin' risks. Follow me over here a moment."

They followed him over to the very edge of the forest. Holding his lamp high, Hagrid pointed down a narrow winding earth track that disappeared into the thick black trees.

"Look there," said Hagrid, "see that stuff shinin' on the ground? Silvery stuff? That's unicorn blood. There's a unicorn in their bin hurt bad by somethin. This is the second time this week. I found one dead last Wednesday. We're gonna try an' find the poor thing. We might have ter put it out of its misery."

"And what if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first," Malfoy asked nervously.

"There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang. An' keep ter the path. Right now, we're gonna split inter two parties an' follow the trail in diff'rent directions. There's blood everywhere, so it must've been staggering around since last night at least."

"I want Fang," Malfoy said quickly.

"All right, but I warn yeh, he's a bloody coward," said Hagrid. "So me, Harry an' 'Lizbeth'll go one way an' Draco, Neville, an' Fang'll go to the other. Now, if any of us finds the unicorn, we'll send up green sparks, got it. Get yer wands out an' practice now - that's it - an' if anyone gets on trouble, send up red sparks an' we'll all come an' find yeh - so, be careful - let's go."

The forest was black and eerily silent. A little way in they reached a fork in the path, and Hagrid's group took the left fork, and Fang's group took the right.

They walked in silence, their eyes trained on the ground. Every now and then a ray of moonlight through the branches above lit a spot of silvery blood on the fallen leaves.

"Could a werewolf be killing unicorns?" Harry asked.

"Not fast enough," said Hagrid. "It's not easy ter catch a unicorn, they're powerful magic creatures. I never knew one ter be hurt before."

They walked past a mossy trees stump, and Lizzie heard running water. She must have looked as worried about the unicorn as she felt, because Hagrid whispered, "You all right, Lizzie? DOn' worry, it can't've gone far if it's this badly hurt, an' then we'll be able ter - GET BEHIND THAT TREE!"

Hagrid seized the two of them and hoisted them behind a towering oak. He pulled out an arrow and fitted it into his crossbow, raising it, ready to fire. The three of them listened. Something was slithering over dead leaves nearby: it sounded like a cloak trailing across the ground, and Lizzie was filled with a horrible sense of dread. Hagrid was squinting up the dark path, but the sound disappeared after a few seconds.

"I knew it," he muttered. "There's summat in here that shouldn't be."

"A werewolf?" Harry suggested, and Lizzie whacked him on the shoulder, hissing, "enough with the werewolves."

"That wasn' no werewolf an' it wasn' no unicorn neither," he said grimly. "Right, follow me, but careful now."

They walked more slowly now, ears straining for the faintest sound. Suddenly, in a clearing up ahead, something definitely moved.

"Who's there?" Hagrid called out. "Show yerself - I'm armed!"

And into the clearing came - was it a man, or a horse? To the waist up, it was a man with red hair and beard, but below that was a horse's gleaming chestnut body with a long reddish tail. Harry and Lizzie's jaws dropped, and Lizzie felt a thrill run through her.

"Oh, it's you, Ronan," said Hagrid in relief. "How are yeh?"

He walked forward and shook the centaur's hand.

"Good evening to you, Hagrid," said Ronan. He had a deep, sorrowful voice. "Were you going to shoot me?"

"Can't be too careful Ronan" Hagrid replied, patting his crossbow. "There's summat bad loose in the forest. This is Harry Potter and Elizabeth Stoll by the way. Students up at the school. An' this is Ronan you two. He's a centaur."

They both slowly walked out from behind the tree, staring at Ronan.
"Good evening," he said. "Student's, are you? And do you learn much, up at the school?"

"Erm-"

"Some," Lizzie said timidly.

"A but. Well, that's something." Ronan sighed. He flung back his head and stared up at the sky. "Mars is bright tonight."

"Yeah," said Hagrid, glancing up too. "Listen, I'm glad we've run inter yeh, Ronan, 'cause there's a unicorn bin hurt - you seen anythin'?

Ronan didn't answer immediately. He stared unblinkingly upward, then sighed again.

"Always the innocent are the first victims," he said. "So it has been for ages past, so it is now."

"Yeah," said Hagrid, "but have yeh seen anythin', Ronan? Anythin' unusual?"

"Mars is bright tonight," Ronan repeated, while Hagrid watched him impatiently. "Unusually bright."

"Yeah, but I was meanin' anythin' unusual a bit nearer home," he said. "So yeh haven't seen anythin strange."

Yet again Ronan took time to answer. At last, he said, "The forest hides many secrets."

A movement in the trees behind Ronan had Hagrid raising his bow again, only for a second centaur, black-haired and wilder-looking than Ronan to appear.

"Hullo, Bane," siad Hagrid. "All right?"

"Good evening Hagrid. I hope you are well?"

"Well enough. Look, I've jus' bin askin' Ronan, you seen anythin' odd in here lately. There's a unicorn bin injured - would yeh know anythin' about it?"

Bane walked over to stand next to Ronan. He also looked skyward. "Mars is bright tonight," he said simply.

"We've heard," Hagrid said grumpily. "well, if either of you do see anythin', let me know, won't yeh? We'll be off then."

The two of them followed Hagrid out of the clearing, and Lizzie could feel their gaze lingering on her. She felt a prickling under her skin like she'd forgotten something. Their talk about Mars, something told her it was important.

"Never," said Hagrid irritable, interrupting her thoughts, "try an' get a straight answer out of a centaur. Ruddy stargazers. Not interested in anythin' closer n' the moon."

"Are there many of them in here?" she asked.

"Oh, a fair few…Keep themselves to themselves mostly, but they're good enough about turnin' up if ever I want a word. They're deep, mind centaurs…they know things…jus' don' let on much."

"D'you think that was a centaur we heard earlier?" said Harry.

"Did that sound like hooves to you? Nah, if yeh ask me, that was what's bin killin' the unicorns - never heard of anythin' like it before."

They walked on through the trees, Harry and Lizzie looking over their shoulders. They had the feeling they were being watched. They had just passed a bend in the path when Lizzie spotted red sparks in the sky. She grabbed Hagrid's arm and cried, "Hagrid! Look! Red sparks, the others are in trouble!"

"You two wait here!" Hagrid shouted. "Stay on the path, I'll come back for yeh!"

They heard him crashing away through the undergrowth and stood together, very scared, clasping their shaking hands together, until they could hear nothing but the slithering in the leaves around them.

"What if they're hurt," Lizzie whispered to Harry.

"I don't care about Malfoy, but if something's got Neville…it's our fault he's out here in the first place."

The minutes dragged by, and they started hearing every snap of a twig as something coming to grab them, every whisper of the wind as something hissing. What was happening? Where were Hagrid and the others?

At last, a great crunching noise announced Hagrid's return. Malfoy, it seemed, had sneaked behind Neville and grabbed him as a joke. Neville had panicked and sent up sparks.

"We'll be lucky ter catch anythin' now, with the racket you two were makin'. Right, we're changing groups - Neville, you stay with me, Lizzie, Harry, you go with Fang an' this idiot. I'm sorry," he whispered to them, "but he'll have a harder time frightenin' you two an' we've gotta get this done."

So they set off into the heart of the forest with Malfoy and Fang. They walked for nearly half an hour, deeper and deeper into the forest until the path becomes almost impossible to follow because the trees were so thick. The blood seemed to be getting thicker too. There were splashed on the roots of trees, as though the poor creature had been thrashing around in pain close by. She could see a clearing ahead, through the tangled branches of an oak tree.

"Look-" Harry murmured, holding out his arm to stop them. Something bright white was gleaming on the ground. They inched closer.

It was the unicorn, trembling on the ground, with a horrible figure standing over it, drinking its blood from a wound on its neck. It caught sight of them and crawled foward across the ground, like some predatory beast.

Many things happened at once.

Malfoy let out a terrible scream. "AAAAAAAAARGH!" and bolted - so did Fang.

The hooded figure looked right at the two of them, silver glistening blood dripping from its lips.

Harry cried out, clutching his head, and a terrible rage filled Lizzie. She held out her wand, and somehow, without her uttering a word, her wand burst out a red light, which flew towards the thing, slamming it away from the unicorn.

She stumbled back, and something jumped right over her, charging the thing, which was weakened from her curse. She turned her attention to Harry, who was clutching his head on his knees. When he was calm and back to normal, they looked to see the creature had gone. Two centaurs were standing over them, not Ronan or Bane, but around their age: with black hair and a dapple gray body, the other looked younger: with white-blond hair and a palomino body.

"Are you alright?" said the younger centaur, pulling Harry to his feet.

"Yes-thank you-what was that?"

The centaur didn't answer.

"Is the unicorn okay?" Lizzie asked earnestly.

The older centaur looked sadly at the unicorn, and said, "it is near death. The kind thing would be to put it out of its misery."

"No!" Lizzie cried, running over to the dying animal. It made her so sad, seeing a being so pure suffer so much. She sat next to it, and put its head in her lap. "Please, please, please," she whispered, stroking its mane. There was a long jagged cut on its neck, and she tried earnestly to stem the bleeding coming from it. She felt a strange sensation, like a prickling, under her skin, and let instinct take hold, covering the cut completely with her hands, and willing it to heal. With every fiber of her being, she thought, "heal," and when she took her hands away and looked down to the unicorn, it seemed to be breathing a bit easier, and the blood seemed to be slowing, and the cut seemed to be smaller. She looked at her hands in amazement, then up at the centaur who had come to stand next to her, who was staring at her in disbelief.

She went to stand up, but she collapsed, suddenly tired, so very tired, and she thought she might lie down and fall asleep right here. The centaur steadied her, and she looked up to see Harry on the other centaur's back.

There was suddenly a sound of more galloping from the other side of the clearing. Ronan and Bane came bursting through the trees,

"Firenze!" Bane thundered. "What are you doing? You have a human on your back! Have you no shame? Are you a common mule?"

The other centaur, Firenze, replied, "Do you realize who this is? This is the Potter boy. The quicker he leaves this forest, the better."

"What have you been telling him?" growled Bane. "Remember, Firenze, we are sworn not to set ourselves against the heavens. Have we not read what is to come in the movements of the planets?"

Ronan pawed the ground nervously. "I'm sure Firenze thought he was acting for the best," he said.

"For the best!" he roared. "What is that to do with us? Centaurs are concerned with what has been foretold! It is not our business to run around like donkeys for stray humans in our forest!"

Firenze suddenly reared on his hind legs in anger, and Harry almost fell off. Lizzie leaned against the centaur, too exhausted to stand, watching the unicorn to make sure it was alright. It was not in danger of dying anymore, but it still needed help.

"Do you not see that unicorn?" Firenze bellowed at Bane. "Do you not understand why its blood was drunk? Or have the planets not let you in on that secret? I set myself against what is lurking in this forest, Bane, yes, with humans alongside me if must."

And Firenze whisked around, with Harry clutching on as best as he could, and thundered away, leaving Lizzie behind with a bunch of centaurs, wondering what the hell she'd just done to that unicorn, and why this centaur standing next to her looked vaguely familiar.

I lied, the surprise is in the next chapter. Leave guesses about the surprise in the comments. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ・: *