Chapter Five
Detention
0o0
Astoria returned to Hogwarts on the last evening before break ended.
The Gryffindor common room was already filling up with students who had just gotten back, and there was a general atmosphere of excitement in the air as friends reunited and exchanged stories from the holiday.
Astoria was sitting in an armchair and reading the book that Theodore's father had given her by Ug the Unreliable (a goblin con-artist of the highest order) when Fred and George found her.
"Sweet, darling, Astoria!" George cooed, wriggling a finger under her chin. "How was break at home?"
"Tense," said Astoria honestly, marking her place and closing her book. "A little boring, even."
"Well, we had a lovely break, didn't we Fred?" said George, clapping his brother on the shoulder. "Us Weasleys and Harry had the whole tower to ourselves. Lots of time for proper relaxation."
"Also research," added Fred. "We found an interesting concealment spell and we think its a good one."
"For hiding what we write down about the betting pool?" asked Astoria, warming to the subject immediately.
"Yup," said George. "We found the spell in an old book, but we think it works kind of like a Fidelius Charm."
"It's used for casting on records to make documents more secure," added Fred knowledgeably. "Only the people that have been included in the charm are allowed to read the papers the spell has been cast on.
"You can give a person permission to read," George went on, "but nobody can magically force you to let them have a look."
"A real favorite of crooked politicians everywhere," Fred concluded, grinning impishly.
"That's perfect!" said Astoria, moving toward the edge of her seat intently. "That protects everyone's privacy plus it'll make it lot harder for anyone to prove that we set the whole thing up, if no one else can read the evidence!"
"Precisely," George agreed, touching a finger to his nose in order to indicate that she had nailed it.
"Have you done the spell yet?" Astoria asked. "You should put it on a whole notebook to save us time."
"Er, well," said Fred, "now that you come to it, we haven't exactly tried the spell out yet and it looks pretty tricky."
"Oh," said Astoria, a little less impressed.
"Practice makes perfect, however" Fred went on nobly.
"We'll figure it out before the next match, at any rate," said George. "You're going to have to be the one to keep track of things, mind, since the match is Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff and we'll be flying the whole time."
"If you can make the paperwork safe, then I'm down for anything," Astoria promised, beginning to feel relatively optimistic about their potential for success as rogue criminals.
0o0
This sense of burgeoning optimism was given its first test the next morning as Astoria lined up for potions class.
Draco Malfoy was standing among a knot of Slytherin fifth years, who had all just exited class ahead of them. They were gossiping in very low, pleased voices. Most of these fifth years, Astoria noticed, were members of the Slytherin quidditch team and she recognized Marcus Flint from the first match she had watched. Draco glanced over Adrian Pucey's shoulder and caught sight of Astoria, who met his gaze hesitantly, privately thinking anything that could make Draco Malfoy look so smug was likely to be very bad news indeed.
Theodore was leaning against a dungeon wall nearby with Daphne. As Astoria had not seen her sister since before break, she excitedly made her way toward them.
"I got your book," said Astoria to Theodore, wrapping her arms around Daphne for a brief hug.
"How was it?" asked Theodore, looking more than a little embarrassed.
"It's fabulous," Astoria trilled wickedly. "It's all about goblins committing hilarious crimes against half-wit wizards who don't know any better."
Theodore laughed but Astoria could tell that the events in his garden were still causing him a certain amount of distress.
"How was Christmas, Daphne?" asked Astoria eagerly, changing the subject so that Theodore wouldn't begin to wallow.
"Alright, I suppose," Daphne sighed. "Dad spent most of it at the office so it was mostly just me and mum. I wish you had been there."
"So do I," said Astoria meaningfully. "Trust me."
"I'm sure it wasn't as bad as that," said Daphne, ever polite.
"Well," mused Astoria lightly, "Aunt Belladonna did gave me some heirloom jewels before I left, but I'm pretty sure she meant them as a bribe for good behavior."
"If you had gone home, you never would have been bored enough to come visit me," snorted Theodore bitterly. "You could have avoided inducement jewelry and the threat of assault that way."
"You visited Theo?" asked Daphne sharply, completely overlooking the talk of assault. "Why didn't you come see me?"
"I had to sneak out to see Theo," explained Astoria quickly. "If I had come home to you, Aunt Belladonna would have known. Dad would have told her."
"Oh," said Daphne, slightly mollified.
"I wasn't assaulted either, Theo," Astoria added firmly. "Your dad's just a little prickly, that's all..."
"Prickly?" intoned Theodore hollowly, unable to meet her eyes. "I thought he was going to murder you."
The group of fifth years had broken up and Draco was shouldering his way in their direction. Astoria indicated his approach so Theo would know not to say more.
"Heard the news about the Gryffindor quidditch match this weekend yet?" drawled Draco, knowing that they hadn't and clearly secretly relishing the idea of being the one to tell them.
"No," said Astoria, feeling an uncomfortable stirring in her stomach at this mention of the quidditch match.
"Thanks to Potter's broom malfunction, Snape's going to be refereeing," said Draco, looking very pleased with himself. He leaned against the wall with one arm. Theodore promptly stood up to move away from him.
Astoria blinked. This was news. Exactly the kind of news that she needed to know if she was going to be taking bets on the outcome of the match.
"You think that'll effect the game?" she asked, trying not to look overly interested.
"Of course it will, Draco scoffed, as though he thought this fact should have been very obvious. "I suppose Snape will use every chance he can to take points off Gryffindor."
Astoria bit her lip, thinking.
"What I'm really wondering," Draco went on smugly, perhaps mistaking Astoria's thoughtfulness for real interest, "is how long Potter is going to manage to stay on his broom this time around. Anyone want to bet?"
The door to the classroom swung open, Snape's trademark way of summoning them in to class. Anyone want a bet? thought Astoria. Me. I want to bet.
Was it possible that Snape refereeing was something of a gift in disguise? This fact was almost certain to give the Slytherins a sense of overconfidence. Astoria thought over the facts briefly: Harry was a great flier, he had managed to stay on a bucking broomstick and still catch the snitch. How much could Snape really do to sabotage a game that so many eyes were watching? What would a smart person do with this information? Get all of the Slytherins to bet, thought Astoria, and then wait for Gryffindor to win.
Astoria sat down at a table between Theodore and Daphne but her eyes were on the back of Malfoy's head. There was the usual scuttling and dragging sounds of chairs being pulled out and Astoria was slightly surprised when the fourth seat at their table was suddenly taken by Millicent Bulstrode.
Snape began his lecture but Astoria was only half listening, convinced that she had just discovered a niche in the gambling market and that the opportunity ought not to be wasted. What was the point of doing the thing at all if they weren't going to do it cleverly? Astoria carefully pulled out a piece of parchment and began to scribble out a note.
'Are you serious about a bet? I say Potter stays on his broom and Gryffindor wins. What good will Snape be as referee if he can't fly?'
Slowly, Astoria ripped the note loose and folded it. When Snape turned to write on the board, Astoria seized her opportunity and leaned forward just enough to drop the note directly into Malfoy's lap, where she knew Snape's eyes would not see it.
Malfoy straightened up, rippling with surprise. His eyes flicked toward her and then back to the front of the room again as Snape turned around to face the class. It suddenly occurred to Astoria that Draco might be just as likely to tell on her as was to read the note, and she silently began to pray that Malfoy wouldn't rat her out.
A long moment passed however, and it seemed that Draco's curiosity to read whatever was on the slip of parchment was greater than his urge to get Astoria into trouble for it. Theodore, who had watched this secretive transaction silently, was frowning at her.
Snape was teaching theory today, which meant that the class would not be brewing. This made it perfectly acceptable to read or write something else under the guise of taking notes but Snape had a bloodhound's nose for mischief. The second Snape had turned his back in favor of the chalkboard again, Malfoy snapped up the note and read it. Draco snorted softly, amused. Whatever he had been expecting, Astoria could tell that it had not been a covert invitation to gamble.
Malfoy ripped off a piece of parchment from the bottom of his Potions notes and at the next opportunity, he leaned backward and slipped it onto her desktop. Astoria edged the scrap of paper towards herself and read it behind her Potions textbook.
'Alright. Forget betting about Potter's broom. Too specific. Hufflepuff wins. No contest.'
To Theo's increasing annoyance, Astoria flipped the paper over and wrote on the back of it.
'You're on. No gentleman's bets. How much?'
Malfoy was ready for her this time and, at the first sign of Snape turning, he took the note directly from her hand.
"What are you doing?" muttered Theodore out of the side of his mouth.
Astoria kept her eyes locked on the blackboard, unwilling to explain such a lengthy plot in whispers. "I'll tell you later."
Theo made a sound of consternation and dropped it, although his eyes followed Draco's return note glumly.
'Fifty galleons.'
The bell rang. Astoria folded the note up and stuffed it in her bag. When she exited the dungeon, she found Malfoy waiting for her in the hall with Crabbe and Goyle.
"So we're on then?" he asked impatiently, falling into step with her as they made their way up to the great hall for lunch. "Or is that betting too high for you?"
"What's on?" asked Theodore, struggling to keep up with them.
"Draco asked if anyone wanted a bet, so I told him I did," said Astoria calmly. "Fifty is fine by me unless that's not enough for you. Theo, you want in on this?"
"I'm not betting money on whether Potter stays atop his broomstick," said Theo flatly.
"We're betting on who wins the match," Astoria clarified.
"Hufflepuff'll win, that's not even a fair bet," Theodore scoffed.
"Care to put money on that?" asked Astoria, raising a rather taunting eyebrow.
"You're mad if you think Snape's going to let Potter get anywhere near that snitch without calling a foul," Theodore argued. "Save yourself the money and just buy a giant foam hand with Potter's name on it."
"Theo's out, then," said Astoria, exasperated. "Draco you're on for fifty galleons."
"Stupid waste of good money," Theodore grumbled. "It's not as if he needs it, you know."
"Do you want to bet something other than money then, Theo?" asked Astoria, laughing at Theodore's scorn.
"Something else?" Malfoy sneered, eyeing Astoria appraisingly. "What could Nott possibly have that you would want?"
"How about this," said Astoria, smirking wickedly, "if Gryffindor wins, Theo has to jump into the lake naked. That's frugal, yet I'm still willing to call it satisfying."
Malfoy made a sound that was half disgust and half glee
"What?" snapped Theo irritably. "No way. You and Malfoy can go for a hop in the lake—that water is freezing and I'm staying out of this."
"You were so sure Hufflepuff would win just a second ago," said Astoria with a grin.
They had reached the great hall so Astoria broke away and headed toward the Gryffindor table where she found Fred and George sitting with Lee Jordan. Astoria ducked down onto the bench beside Fred.
"Any luck on that spell?" Astoria whispered, watching Parvati and Lavender, who were sitting close by, hoping they could not hear her.
"Funny you should ask," said George, his eyes gleaming in a way that gave Astoria a flicker of hope.
"We tried writing sentences on a couple of rolls of parchment and then enchanting them," said Fred. "We gave them to Lee this morning to see if he could read what we had written."
"They all looked blank to me," admitted Lee excitedly.
"Now all we need is a good notebook," said George. "What do you reckon Percy has a few ledgers hanging around, Fred? Something he keeps track of his perfect grades in that we could liberate, perhaps?"
"Brilliant," said Astoria excitedly, "because I've just had an excellent idea myself!""
Fred and George leaned in closer and Astoria rapidly began to explain.
0o0
Perhaps because of the excitement that Harry's broom had caused during the last game, nearly the entire school turned out for the match against Hufflepuff on Saturday.
Sitting arm to arm in one of the top tiers of the stands, Astoria and Daphne were two of the first students to make their way down to the pitch. Astoria glanced at the enchanted notebook in her lap, propped open to the correct page. A well inked pen lay across the indent of the spine, waiting to be used for ticking off failed bets.
Astoria's idea to recruit the Slytherins, which had been met with some resistance by Fred and George, had actually turned out to be a great success. One whole page out of the two pages of bets they had collected was filled with bets from Slytherin house alone. Astoria looked down at the writing on the paper, charmed so that only her eyes could read it.
Montague: Ten Galleons says Potter gets injured.
Adrian Pucey: Five Galleons says Hufflepuff wins by more than a hundred points.
Miles Bletchley: Fifteen Galleons that Wood cries when Hufflepuff wins.
Much to Astoria's shock, a Slytherin prefect had even gone out of her way to hunt Astoria down in order to place a wager:
Gemma Farley: Five Galleons says Alicia Spinnet takes a hair braid in the eye.
Although they held the majority, it was not just Slytherins who had put money down. Indeed, their Gryffindor counterparts had bet back fiercely.
The Hufflepuffs, who were playing the game as well, had been slightly more divided. Most had seemed inclined to bid on their own house but there were a few, perhaps due to Snape's as yet unknown influence, who had decided to play it safe. Like Ernie.
Ernie Macmillian: Five Galleons says Hufflepuff wins, but Harry still catches the snitch.
"I've never seen Snape look so mean," whispered Hermione Granger from the seats in front of them.
Astoria scanned the field and thought Hermione made a fair point. Snape looked sallow and peevish. He also looked awkward and out of practice on a broom, which was a good sign as far as Astoria was concerned.
"Look, they'e off!" said Ron Weasley, pointing upward as the players took flight. "Ouch!"
Draco Malfoy, who had been in the process of shimmying down the aisle, had just poked him in the back of the head. Why Draco had felt any need to provoke Ron was a mystery to Astoria because Crabbe and Goyle, with their impressive bulk, had nearly managed to shake Ron out of his seat just passing by.
"Oh, sorry Weasley, we didn't see you there," said Draco, grinning maliciously. Crabbe and Goyle both laughed oafishly.
Daphne made a small, strangled sound as Draco looked about at his seating options in the packed stadium and chose to sit down next to them instead of Neville Longbottom.
"Are you doing homework?" asked Malfoy in snide disbelief, pointing to the book on Astoria's lap.
"No," said Astoria, slicing her pen across a line of text as Katie Bell put the quaffle through a hoop. Warrington: A Galleon says Hufflepuff scores first.
One galleon in earnings so far from Warrington, the cheap bastard.
Draco was staring at her book, compelled by suspicion and Astoria suddenly realized that the line she had just drawn must have disappeared in front of his eyes.
"What is that?" Malfoy demanded, forgetting all about Ron, who was cheering for Katie.
"I'm using it to keep track of bets," said Astoria. "I started with you and the demand exploded."
"I never said you could write my name down in a ledger," said Draco sharply, clearly unnerved.
"What difference does it make?" asked Astoria. "Nobody can read it. It's charmed."
Malfoy sneered haughtily to express his distaste anyway. "If I'd known you needed cash so badly Greengrass, I'm sure we could have come to some kind of arrangement."
Astoria did not know what this meant but it sounded vaguely sexual. Malfoy seemed to have realized this at the last moment as well because he blushed and turned his eyes back toward the field immediately.
"It's not for me," said Astoria. "I'm turning the proceeds over to an interested party."
"Why bother doing it, then?" sneered Draco. Clearly the idea of rule breaking without even the slightest possibility of gain was a foreign concept to him.
"For the fun of it," said Astoria slashing another bet off the list. "Ha! Flint just lost ten galleons."
"Flint bet?" snapped Malfoy in almost insulting astonishment.
"Mhmm," said Astoria. "I've got half of Slytherin house in here. You all are the most crooked students around."
"You're taking bets?" inquired Ron, who had been listening over his shoulder eagerly. "I want in."
"In with what, Weasley?" asked Malfoy scathingly. "Three sickles and a homemade sweater?"
Astoria ignored him. "I can't, Ron. I'm maxed out, sorry."
"What d'you mean?" asked Ron suspiciously, looking from Draco to Astoria, searching for the insult.
"I've bet against my savings," said Astoria calmly, not wanting a fight. "I'm maxed out."
"You're betting against your savings?" demanded Daphne, looking scandalized.
"I know, right?" said Astoria, deliberately misunderstanding her. "I didn't expect so many people to bet either."
"You let Flint bet, but you wont let me?" Ron pushed, looking peevish. "How much is Flint in for?"
Astoria looked back at her record book. "He bet ten galleons that the first bludger would hit Harry."
"You let him bet that?" demanded Ron, outraged.
Astoria shrugged. "He was wrong, wasn't he?"
"You're in luck Weasley," said Malfoy with a laugh, pointing toward Harry, who was diving toward the grass. "Potter's obviously spotted some money on the ground."
Ron thrashed over the back of his chair and grabbed Draco by the front of his shirt. Malfoy made a sound of discomfort, trying to push back against his seat but Ron had a firm grip. Neville Longbottom attempted to seize Draco's fist, which he had drawn back violently, but this only seemed to trigger Crabbe and Goyle.
Astoria only had eyes for Harry.
"Harry's got it!" Hermione yelled, hopping up and down. "Ron, he's got the snitch!"
Crabbe and Goyle still had Neville pinned but Ron and Draco had separated.
"Whatever," Draco snapped, flattening down the front of his robes, his face a livid pink. "Fifty galleons is nothing," he continued, his eyes lingering on Ron cruelly. "Good luck getting Flint to pay."
Astoria located Draco's name on the list of bets and crossed it off, smirking to herself as the crowds went wild.
0o0
This bit of skepticism about Marcus Flint proved very sound. Several members of the Slytherin quidditch team tried to renege on their bets and it was only after Fred and George shoved Terrence Higgs into a cupboard and then 'forgot' to release him overnight that money started to steadily trickle in. Astoria's savings had nearly doubled and what was more, sixth year Slytherins suddenly seemed to know her name and suspect that she meant serious business.
Theodore deplored Astoria's new, and likely brief, celebrity status bitterly.
"Derrick and Bole were asking questions about you in the common room last night," he complained. "The stupid gits thought you were my Third Year cousin."
"What did you say?" Astoria laughed, taking the alarming news that she had been discussed in the Slytherin common room in stride.
"I told them to piss off, so they started laughing and asked if you were my girlfriend instead," said Theodore, looking even more annoyed.
"Did you tell them I was your cousin AND your girlfriend?" asked Astoria, grinning deviously.
"Ha," said Theodore dryly. "No, actually by that point Malfoy had suffered in silence for long enough and he butted in and told them off."
"What did he say?" asked Astoria, becoming more and more alarmed by the growing list of students that this conversation seemed to have involved.
"That you aren't a third year, of course, and that it's obvious that you and I could never be dating," said Theodore, eyeing Astoria carefully. "He was particularly firm about that."
Astoria scoffed.
"Seriously, though," inquired Theodore. "They wouldn't have been asking about you if you hadn't stirred up trouble. Why are you bothering with any of this? What's in it for you?"
Astoria did not know how to answer this question. Strictly speaking, there wasn't much in it for her at all but now that she had committed one crime, it was as though a flood gate of badly behaved urges had been opened. Astoria secretly liked the amount of creativity that good rule breaking required; the inherent need to outsmart opponents. Petty crime was like a game of chess and as long as Astoria didn't get caught, the result of her efforts might be that Fred and George would have a way to live up to their true, inventive calling.
Unable to put this into sane sounding words, however, Astoria merely shrugged.
The afterglow of a plot well executed stuck with her and by the end of the week, Astoria had projected so much of her new-found love for rule breaking into the universe that universe decided to send some back at her.
On her way up to her dormitory to collect her books before third period, Astoria ran into a cluster of first year Slytherin boys blocking the corridor. They were not at lunch and they all had their heads together, whispering in low voices. Astoria could easily recognize Draco, Crabbe and Goyle but it wasn't until the fourth boy shifted and she saw some of his face that she recognized Blaise Zabini.
Blaise Zabini saw her as well and he nudged Malfoy warningly. All four of them turned to stare at her.
"Looking for something, Greengrass?" asked Blaise in a relaxed voice that was far too elegant for a boy his age.
"Just the corridor you're blocking," said Astoria, throwing his own confidence back him.
Blaise moved aside smoothly to give her room, "That's a good Gryffindor."
Astoria continued to walk but Malfoy, seemingly unable to stop himself, burst out after her, "Your friend Potter just doesn't know what's good for him, does he?"
Blaise glanced at Draco, betraying some mild surprise.
"What's Harry done?" asked Astoria.
"It's not what he's done so much as it is what he's about to do," drawled Malfoy cryptically, dangling the carrot.
"What's he about to do, then?" asked Astoria, hating herself a little for taking the bait.
"Get himself expelled," concluded Malfoy gleefully.
Blaise scoffed. His young features were already capable of expressing scorn beautifully.
"You're not the only rule breaker in your house," agreed Blaise, emboldened by the fact that Malfoy had called her back to them, "although in Potter's case it looks like smuggling is more his—"
Draco cut him off by pushing in front of him, scowling. Apparently it was Draco's story and he was going to be the one to tell it.
"Potter and those idiot friends of his are going to smuggle a dragon to the top of the astronomy tower at midnight."
"What?" Astoria snorted skeptically. "How could you know that?"
"I saw it in writing myself," bragged Draco, looking tremendously smarmy. "That huge oaf Hagrid has been keeping it as a pet."
"That's such an unnatural friendship, isn't it?" leered Blaise. "What could Hagrid possibly be doing with Potter down there in his cabin?"
"How do you know they are bringing it to the astronomy tower at midnight?" asked Astoria, struck by the exactness of these details.
"I read it in a letter Weasley got from his brother," continued Draco. "They're afraid of poor Hagrid losing his job."
"It's like you have them watched," frowned Astoria, certain that Draco's obsession with having Harry expelled was far more unnatural than Harry's friendship with Hagrid would ever be.
"I'm going to make sure they get caught this time," said Malfoy, overlooking Astoria's jab. "Even Dumbledore will have to do something once he hears that his favorite student is smuggling a dragon out of the country."
"Unless Greengrass warns them first, of course," mused Zabini suggestively, his eyes drifting back to Draco.
This had not occurred to Draco in his haste to tell her what he knew, and Astoria could tell he was beginning to regret saying anything at all.
"Like I'm going to tell people that Harry's smuggling dragons," said Astoria flatly, sparing Malfoy his regret. "They'd think I was cracked."
The trouble was, Astoria did believe him. As a result, she fought a silent war with herself over her new knowledge all night. Should she tell Harry that Draco was onto him? Was it her place to interfere? On the one hand, it seemed like a very stupid plot to become involved in for no real reason. On the other, Astoria did not like to think about how much trouble Harry would get in if he was caught. In the end, she decided to sit in the common room and wait. If she saw Harry trying to leave, then she would tell him, but she would not go out of her way to intervene. This seemed like a very good compromise of both morals and responsibility so Astoria busied herself with a textbook.
When the clock finally struck midnight—the hour that Harry was supposedly delivering his Dragon—Astoria got up, almost shamefully relived that she had not had to confront Harry about the rumor she had heard.
Astoria was halfway toward the staircase and safety when she spotted Neville Longbottom sneaking down the boy's side.
"What are you doing up so late, Neville?" asked Astoria, surprised to find that he was in his day clothes and wearing shoes. Why wasn't he in bed?
Neville jumped and looked at her with an expression that was so obviously guilty he might as well have just turned around and given up his quest. "N-nothing," he stuttered.
"Then why are you still dressed?" asked Astoria, pointing out the obvious.
Neville's lip trembled miserably. "Harry's got a dragon!" he cracked, panic seeping into all of his features. "I heard Malfoy talking about it, saying he was going to catch them. I've got to warn Harry!"
"Harry's not in bed?" asked Astoria gravely, feeling all the ill timing of this meeting. "Neville, if he's already gone, there's nothing you can do. You'll just get caught too!"
"I've got to try!" said Neville in such a stalwart and determined a way that it tugged on Astoria's maternal heartstrings. "I can't sleep knowing it! You've got to help me!"
Neville was walking purposefully across the common room. He had already opened the portrait hole when Astoria grabbed his arm to keep him from heading down the stairs.
"Neville, no!" said Astoria firmly. "That's a bad idea! Nothing would make Harry feel worse than knowing that he got you in trouble too!"
Neville pulled free, looking terrified by his own guts. The portrait hole swung closed behind both of them.
"I'm going," he muttered flatly, shaking from his head to his toes.
It was on Astoria's mind to argue when she noticed something far more concerning.
"Where's the Fat Lady?" asked Astoria shrilly, observing the vacant canvas that normally held the guardian of their common room.
"Oh no!" cried Neville, his face falling for her. "She does that sometimes after curfew. She goes off and drinks with those monks on the third floor."
Astoria would have been mad if only Neville had not looked so genuinely remorseful.
"I'm really, really sorry," said Neville again, blundering. "Maybe if I see her, I can send her back here for you? She usual comes back within an hour or so—"
"What," demanded a cold voice, "is the meaning of this?"
Neville squeaked and grabbed Astoria's robes. The voice belonged to Professor McGonagall, who was standing at the bottom of the flight of stairs that led to the portrait hole, looking more livid than Astoria had ever seen her.
"Never in my life!" spat Mcgonagall, choking with wrath. Behind Mcgonagall skulked Harry and Hermione, who were both looking at Neville and Astoria with a mixture of shock and dismay.
"Harry!" yelled Neville when he saw them, "I was trying to find you, to warn you! Malfoy said you had a—"
Harry was shaking his head fervently behind McGonagall's back but it was too late. McGonagall had caught on and she rounded on Harry. "I suppose you think it's funny that Longbottom heard your story as well? That you lured miss Greengrass out of bed?"
"No," said Astoria, attempting to protest but Mcgonagall shot her a look that would have stilled a venomous tentacula.
"Astoria was trying to stop me," squeaked Neville quietly.
"Nonsense!" McGonagall declared. "You two will join Malfoy, Potter and Granger in detention. Nobody is exempt. You have all brought down shame upon your House! Fifty points will be taken from each of you. Let this be a lesson to remember!"
Neville looked as though he might cry. Harry was trying to catch his eye. He looked so guilty Astoria couldn't even blame him for dragon smuggling.
"For Merlins sake, where has the Fat Lady run of to?" snapped McGonagall in exasperation.
0o0
The fallout the next morning was more terrible then Astoria could have anticipated.
Everybody, even the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, had been hoping to see Slytherin lose the house cup for the first time in years. But fifty points taken apiece from four Gryffindors dashed this tender hope to pieces.
"I still don't get it," said Theodore as they sat on the lawn under a hopeful spring sun. "Why did you follow Neville out of the portrait hole in the first place?"
"I was trying to stop him," said Astoria defensively. It was certainly not the first time Astoria had been asked to defend this choice and she was getting sick of clarifying. "He was going after Harry on his own. It was a suicide mission. I was trying to make him stay but we got locked out of the common room. Apparently the Fat Lady likes to get hammered with the monks on the third floor."
Theo looked as though there were things he would like to say about this but he refrained. "So you're really going to have to do detention with them?"
"Yes," said Astoria, "and Malfoy." The only redeeming thing about the night the dragon escaped was the fact that Draco had not managed to get away with his own part in it. "Are people yelling at him for being such a idiot too?" she asked.
"Not really," Theo admitted. "He was the only Slytherin and there were four of you, so in the end, everybody thinks he was being really clever making Gryffindor lose so many points."
Astoria pulled up some of the new grass between her fingers. Exams were only weeks away and she had not been studying properly. Theodore had suggested once or twice that they spend a few nights a week in the library going over notes. Astoria was beginning to think that this was a good idea. She had pushed her aunt far enough in choosing Gryffindor for her house; Astoria would not be allowed to fail all of her classes on top of it. Her detention amounted to nothing more than another night spent without doing anything productive.
"I wonder what they'll make you do," Theo wondered, perhaps thinking that a Hogwarts detention was likely to be just as mysterious and potentially dangerous as the school itself.
0o0
Astoria received a note at breakfast on the morning of her detention, telling her to meet Filch at eleven o'clock in the entrance hall. At ten forty five that evening, Astoria set off to avoid being late, feeling sulky and resentful. Only Malfoy and Filch had arrived before her.
"What are you here for?" asked Draco in surprise.
"Trying to stop Neville from leaving the common room to look for Harry because he heard you talking about a dragon," snapped Astoria waspishly.
"Enough!" growled Filch. "You're here to be punished, girl, not to talk."
Astoria fell silent but shot Malfoy a filthy look that he didn't seem at all prepared for. She settle against the wall to wait. After several moments of enforced silence, Draco made a small scoffing sound and stopped looking at her.
Harry, Hermione and Neville were nearly ten minutes late by the time they turned up and this threw Filch into a dither of heretofore unseen crotchetiness.
"Disgraceful!" he grumbled, lighting a lamp. "In my day a detention meant the rack! I'd have you all hanging from your feet for an extra day just for being tardy!"
Neville was listening to Filch with round, horrified eyes. Draco looked faintly affronted.
They all followed Filch out into the darkened grounds. The moon was full, but hiding halfway behind a fat patch of clouds and the way ahead was very dark. They were most certainly moving in the direction of the forest. The moment Neville realized where they were going, he began to hyperventilate
Astoria was looking at her feet. She trudged along in silence until she slammed directly into Draco, who he had stopped dead at something Filch had just said.
"The forest?" asked Draco tightly, his eyes darting about shiftily. "We can't go in there at night! There's all sorts of things in there—werewolves, I heard!"
Filch brought the dangling lantern he was carrying so close to his emaciated head that the effect became truly chilling and snarled, "That's your problem, isn't it?"
"Why would we go into the forest?" demanded Astoria, catching on to the direction the conversation was taking. "It's out of bounds."
"Because you've done something wrong and now you're expected to pay for it," snapped Filch venomously. Astoria did not even begin to argue the validity of this claim.
Hagrid was waiting for them at the foot of the hill. There was a crossbow slung ominously over one shoulder and a giant, vicious looking dog at his heel.
"Yer late," said Hagrid loudly. "Bin scarin' em, eh?"
"I'll be back at dawn," said Filch coldly, "for whatever is left of them."
Malfoy froze stubbornly. The time had to come to flat out refuse to move any closer to the trees.
"I'm not going in that forest," said Draco coldly, and Astoria was pleased to hear a note of real panic in his voice. "This is servant stuff. It's not for students to do—"
"Y'ed rather go home, would yeh?" growled Hagrid.
For a long moment, Draco stared insolently back at Hagrid. Astoria had seen about enough, however. She gave Draco a hard, pointed nudge from behind. Draco's eyes flashed but the threat of having Astoria call him a coward was enough to make him start walking.
"Right then," said Hagrid, shooting Astoria a surprised but thankful look out of the corner of his eye, "what we are doin' tonight is dangerous stuff, so listen up good."
They had followed Hagrid to the very edge of the forest. The closer they came to it, the less Astoria felt any urge to penetrate its shadowy depths.
"See tha' stuff?" said Hagrid, holding up his lantern so that they could all have a look. There was a thick, silvery liquid on the ground nearby and something about the consistency of it reminded her horribly of—
"Blood," Hagrid confirmed "Unicorn blood, ter be more specific. There's a unicorn in there thas' bin hurt badly by summat. Second one this week. We're gonna try to find the poor thing and put it out of its misery if we have ter."
"And what if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first?" demanded Malfoy tensely, his eyes darting toward Astoria, perhaps hoping to find some support there.
Astoria looked down at the shining blood, beginning to think that maybe Draco had a point.
"Nothin'll hurt yeh when yer with me or Fang as long as yeh keep to the path," said Hagrid confidently. "We'll be splittin' up into groups. One group'll come with me, the other will go with Fang. There's blood all over the place—poor thing's bin thrashin'—so there's more'n one trail ter follow."
Astoria balked at the idea of 'blood all over the place' but forced herself to breathe evenly.
"I want Fang," said Draco quickly, taking comfort in the sight of Fang's teeth. For her own part, something about the way Fang kept softly sniffing Harry's hand made Astoria seriously doubt the dog's brutality.
"Fine," agreed Hagrid. "Harry 'n Hermione, you come with me. Malfoy, Neville and Astoria, you take fang and go the other way. If anyone finds the unicorn, send up green sparks and we'll come get yeh. If yeh find trouble send up red ones."
Astoria would dearly have liked to ask what sort of trouble Hagrid thought they might find that would merit a distress signal, but she refrained, afraid of sounding as yellow as Malfoy.
Their footsteps sent up muffled noises against the dead leaves as they entered the forest. When they reached a fork in the trail, Hagrid's team went right and Astoria's went left. She watched as Harry's wand-light slowly vanished, swallowed whole by the terrible darkness.
"When my father hears about this!" sneered Draco angrily.
"I'm so sorry, Astoria!" whimpered Neville. "This is all my fault."
"Just keep walking, Neville," sighed Astoria.
"You should blame Potter for having a dragon in the first place," spat Draco nastily. "None of us would be here if he hadn't!"
Astoria pulled out her wand. "Lumos."
The small ball of light she summoned brought everything nearby into slightly dim focus. Neville was sniffling and dabbing at his glistening nose; Draco looked drawn and tense. The dull light from Astoria's wand did nothing for Draco's fair coloring and there was something a little vampiric about the hard angles of his shadowy face. Still, for the moment at least, Astoria was forced to see him as more useful than Neville and she was determined not to provoke him.
"Alright," said Astoria, unconsciously taking control of the situation. "It's either we find the wounded unicorn or we hang out here until dawn, so I say we start walking."
No one could seem to find any objection to this plan so they started off down the trail, treading carefully over roots and large protruding rocks. In the first ten minutes of walking, Neville managed to fall twice. The moment they reached a clearing, Neville asked if he could sit down to check if he was bleeding.
Astoria didn't like the idea of this at all. Something about the openness of the grotto made her feel more exposed than she had on the path, but Neville was whimpering so they picked a patch of moss next to an old tree. Neville flopped down and pulled up his trouser leg. A nasty gash that was bleeding freely there; he began to dab at it.
"Why are you so useless, Longbottom?" Draco sneered.
"What was that?" asked Astoria quickly. She had just heard something rustling in the trees.
Malfoy paused to listen but there was nothing but wind. "I don't hear anything."
"I heard something!" said Neville in a trembling voice.
Draco narrowed his eyes. "Shut up, Longbottom."
Neville rolled his pants back down and stood. Something about the look on his face made Astoria feel certain that he had just heard the same sound she had. He edged toward the bushes that separated them from the darker, thicker woods, trying to listen.
Astoria was suddenly full of a violent desire to move. They had stayed here too long. Something was attacking other creatures in the forest—what made her, Neville and Draco any different? Draco stooped and picked up an acorn. He weighed it in his hands carefully before flicking it at Neville's prone back.
Neville screamed, drawing the attention of every living thing for a thirty mile radius and shot up a brilliant jet of red sparks.
"Draco!" Astoria yelled, her own nerves zinging as Malfoy broke down into shocked laughter at the violence of Neville's reaction.
"Longbottom, the Gryffindor lion!" he drawled scornfully, gasping for breath.
Neville was crestfallen, but as he had already shot up the sparks there was nothing they could do but wait. Moments later they heard a great crashing sound coming through the wall of trees.
"Who's that there?" called Hagrid in an angry voice that Astoria had never heard him use before. "DECLARE YER'SELVES!"
Hagrid was brandishing the crossbow and he looked capable of murder, so they all rushed to make themselves recognizable.
"It's us!" cried Astoria clearly, wishing that Hagrid would lower the crossbow. "We're all okay! It was a mistake"
"Why'd yeh shoot up them sparks, then?" asked Hagrid, coming forward and looking very put-upon.
"Neville got scared," said Astoria evasively, leaving out the part about Draco jumping him on purpose in case Hagrid decided to take out his anger on all of them with one of his steel tipped arrows.
"Just 'got scared', did he?" growled Hagrid accusingly, pointing a thumb at Malfoy. "An' I don't suppose that had anythin' ter do with him? Right, you two stay here. Longbottom follow me, we're makin' a trade. I'll be sendin' one o' the others back."
They listened as Hagrid crashed through the undergrowth again with Neville. The moment they were gone, Draco started laughing again.
"Why are you making this harder?" Astoria whispered. "Now we have to wait here!"
Hagrid and Neville seemed to have taken all of the air with them when they left. Everything was unnaturally still and Astoria could not help but feel more vulnerable for having one less person. Astoria met Draco's eye. He had stopped laughing, and in place of his sneer was a look of discomfort. It was so dark and silent that they might as well have been standing at the bottom of the sea.
"The second Hagrid sends someone back here, let's get out of this clearing," said Astoria tensely.
"Alright," muttered Draco, nodding.
There were no more occasional owl sounds; no whooshing of leaves. Astoria could hear every breath Draco took. She unconsciously moved closer to him. Never before had Astoria felt so certain she was being watched by invisible eyes as she did at that moment. Then, to the left of where they were standing, Astoria thought she heard something slither.
Astoria gasped and backed up into Malfoy, who had gone rigid. "Did you hear that?"
"Put out your wand," said Draco urgently, reaching for it himself.
"Nox!"
The darkness was now perfect. From somewhere deep within it, Astoria heard it again; the wet sound of something moving unnaturally close to the ground.
Astoria was choking back a scream and Malfoy's breathing had become feverish. The sound was moving. It had started on their left and seemed to be circling. There was a long pause and then, from directly in front of them and much closer than before, something hissed.
Astoria flailed wildly; her hand grabbed a fist full of Malfoy's shirt. Malfoy let out a deep, instinctual sound of terror and tried to push them both toward the ground, as though he hoped to duck whatever it was that threatened to attack them. From around a corner in the path, there was suddenly a light.
Hagrid had sent Harry, who must have allowed Neville to take his place an come plodding along after them. For a long second, Astoria and Draco both stared at him, expecting the worst.
"What's going on?" asked Harry, puzzled and perhaps a little startled.
Astoria took stock of her position, clutching Draco like a drowning woman in the pitch black. She released him immediately.
"We just heard something!" Astoria breathed. "Something weird—like a hissing sound.."
"It was just Potter," said Draco, absently touching his shirt where Astoria had wrinkled it with a look of private elation.
"Were you hissing?" Astoria asked Harry, relighting her wand.
"No," said Harry, glancing behind him. "I wasn't making any noise at all."
"Keep your wand out," said Astoria almost angrily, "and lets get out of this clearing."
Perhaps Astoria had just imagined the hissing sound but by the time they had rejoined the trail she couldn't help but notice that the edginess had not entirely left Draco's shoulders either, whatever he said about Harry making the sound.
None of them spoke now as they walked. The trail was growing rougher, more uneven and the blood stains seemed to be reoccurring more regularly and thickly. It looked as though the unicorn had been twisting about, perhaps in the throws of a violent death.
"Look—" said Harry quietly, throwing out an arm to stop Malfoy, whose eyes had been darting off into the trees again.
There was a something bright white and gleaming on the ground up ahead. Astoria blinked to adjust her eyes to its radiance. They had found the unicorn and it was most certainly dead; a mess of terrifying angles and crumpled hair.
Harry took a step forward and then stopped abruptly. The slithering noise they had heard earlier started again and the shadows furthest away from them began to quiver. A hooded figure came crawling into sight across the ground, shuddering as it passed over twigs and logs. Astoria watched it move as though through another person's eyes. Her own body was frozen in place. The hooded creature stopped, hovering over the unicorn. Then, like the figure of some nightmare, it brought its hooded head down toward the gash in the animals flesh and began to drink its blood.
Malfoy let out a bloodcurdling, heart stopping yell. Fang took off wildly. It was as though the sound of Malfoy's terror had released her from an uncertain spell and the next thing Astoria knew, she was running blindly along the path behind him with Harry, surely, bringing up the rear.
They tore through the low hanging branches that they had ducked under so carefully on their way in and leapt over fallen logs. A blast of sparks went up from the tip of Malfoy's wand as he struggled messily through a patch of brambles. Astoria ripped through them behind him and tripped, landing hard on her face. She tasted dead leaves. A hand grabbed her arm, trying desperately to drag her forward but then whoever was pulling on her seemed to slip and fall onto the soft ground as well.
Suddenly there were thunderous voices nearby and Hagrid came bursting through the bushes behind them. Astoria rolled over onto her hands and spit out bits of leaf and tree bark. Draco was on the ground next to her, trying to get up. He let out a yelp and flung himself backwards again at the sight of Hagrid.
"What in the name o'—?'" muttered Hagrid. His expression quickly changed from one of annoyance to one of fear.
Draco made an incomprehensible noise, unable to find words.
"Where's Harry?" said Hagrid, suddenly alert.
"—a demon or something!" spat Draco disconnectedly.
"What's tha?" asked Hagrid, clutching the crossbow tightly.
"We saw something," said Astoria, bringing her hand up to her cheek, which had hit the ground rather hard. "Something dead. It was drinking the unicorn's blood."
Nobody said anything. Hermione and Neville's mouths both dropped open in mute terror. Hagrid roared "STAY TOGETHER!" and was about to hurry back the way they had come when another patch of bushes rattled.
Draco was doing his best to scramble away from this new sound when a creature that Astoria had only ever seen in books appeared between the trees. It was a Centaur and clinging to the animal's naked waist, riding him like a horse, was Harry Potter.
"Harry!"
"I'm fine," said Harry, looking slightly dazed. "The unicorn's dead, Hagrid. It's in that clearing back there."
Hagrid hurried off as Harry slipped down off the Centaur's glossy flank.
0o0
I thought it might be fun to give Astoria detention and I ended up giving myself the creeps. That scene in the woods might be one of the scariest from the whole series to me.
Anyway this wasn't much of a building chapter, although Astoria's decision to start taking bets on the quidditch matches will turn into something interesting. The next chapter will be the last from the first book, which is ok with me because I feel like all of the characters just get more fun to play with the older they get. In any case, I promise to touch in with Pansy, Daphne and all of the other people we haven't seen for a minute before heading into summer.
As always, I love to hear what you think!