Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N- If you guys keep seeing Kanji (Chinese characters) here like I do, then I recommend that you don't view this in internet explorer, use netscape (even though it sucks). If you want I could go back to .doc form. That will rectify the kanji problem. Just tell me.

Chapter 12- The Given Task

"Harry, wake up!" A distant voice called out.

"Harry wake up! Are yeh alrigh'?" The same voice said, only now it wasn't so distant anymore.

Harry slowly began to open up his eyes. At first everything was completely blurry, but after about half a minute, everything came into view. He realized that he was right outside of the forbidden forest. He looked up and saw a very worried Hagrid standing on one knee, looking down at him. "Hagrid?" He slowly said.

"Harry, are yeh alrigh'?" Hagrid asked with worry in his voice.

"Yeah I think so." Harry answered, as he sat up and looked directly at Hagrid. Hagrid's black beetle eyes immediately gazed inside Harry's emerald green eyes, trying to penetrate inside them. For a moment, neither Hagrid nor Harry said anything; they just stayed in the same position, eyes locked into each other's. After the moment had passed, Hagrid sighed, shook his head and stood up.

"Wha' happened ter yeh, Harry?" Hargrid asked, looking away from Harry.

"I don't know," Harry lied, lowering his head to face the ground. "One minute I was following you, the next minute I just passed out." Harry paused for a minute, not knowing what to say next.

Hagrid once again turned to Harry, only this time he didn't have a penetrating look in his eyes, but a worried and confused look. "Yeh fainted inside the fores'?" He said in a whisper.

Harry nodded and said, "Yeah, and thanks for getting me out of there, before anything bad happened to me."

Hagrid shook his out of confusion and said, "I didn'."

Harry's eyes widened as he looked back up at Hagrid's face. "What do you mean 'you didn't'? If you didn't do it then who did?"

"I don' know," Hargid answered. "Maybe Firenze found yeh, and took yeh out of that darn fores'?"

Harry slowly stood up and looked back at the forbidden forest. 'Who could've done it?' Harry wondered. 'It couldn't have been the unicorn? He hates me, and besides it's physically impossible for a unicorn to carry a human out, unless he or she is riding on its back; and there's no way he could've pulled me on top of him?'

"Harry!" Hagrid yelled, snapping Harry out of his trance.

Harry immediately turned to Hagrid and said, "What?" out of reaction.

"I said, I'm glad tha' yeh're alrigh'." 

"Thanks," Harry responded. "By the way, did you get the billywigs?"

"Yep, all four of 'em," Hagrid answered with pride in his voice. "After yeh and me got separated, I ran into a flock of 'em. As soon as the billywigs saw me, they scattered into different places; but I already knew how 'em billywigs like ter think." Hagrid chuckled a bit. "And thanks ter tha' knowledge I was able ter catch four of 'em without being stung even once.

"Oh, and I'm sorry that yeh and me got separated like tha', I thought yeh were righ' behind me!" Hagrid said in an apologetic tone.

"It's okay," Harry reassured. "All's well that ends well, right?"

"I guess." Hagrid nodded. "Come on, I'll get yeh some tea in ma house." He added as he turned around and headed back to his cabin.

As soon as he was at the threshold of his cabin, he turned back to Harry and said, "Well, come on in, I'm sure yeh need some rest, before yeh have ter go ter class. And I also have ter sign tha' parchment that professor McGonagall gave yeh."

Harry nodded headed towards Hagrid's cabin.

'Wait!' A voice in his head said, just as he arrived at the front door.

Harry looked the area trying to find the originator, but couldn't. He turned back towards the house and called, "Hagrid, I'll be there in a second okay?"

"Kay!" Hagrid yelled back.

Harry immediately jumped off the steps and headed towards the forbidden forest. 'Are you here somewhere?' Harry thought as he arrived at the forest entrance.

'Yes,' the unicorn said in Harry's mind. 'Look to your left.'

 Harry turned to his left and noticed the Unicorn coming out from behind a set of trees. 'Hello again.' He said.

'Was it you who saved me?' Harry asked. 'Did you take me out of the forbidden forest?'

The unicorn shook its head and said 'No. I asked a friend to take you out of the forest last night. Even though I am not especially fond of you, I couldn't let you die, I still need you. Please hear me out.'

Harry just sighed, and continued listening.

'Although, the humans and unicorns don't always agree, we have always managed to live in peace with each other.'

Harry nodded.

'And now something is going to happen that will destroy what little peace we have.

'Although, you and I both know that this world isn't the best place to live; there is much greed corruption, bigotry, and hate. That there are many wars being fought for what we all would agree to be frivolous reasons. That many in this world are starving to death. That there is much pain and suffering in this world. Even with all that, I still would not want to lose it.

'For in this world there is something that makes it all worth while.'

'What?' Harry asked.

'Hope,' the unicorn answered. 'Hope that one day all these futile differences between us will disappear. Hope that by working together, we can abolish all the hate in this world. Hope that tomorrow will be a different day than today; a better brighter day.'

The unicorn sighed quickly and continued, 'I must admit, that we too are to blame for our hatred of humans. Even though our reasons are justified, it is still not right. We claim to want peace, yet we despise humans, and that makes us hypocrites.' The unicorn turned to Harry and looked him straight in the eyes. 'I apologize for the things that I have said to you. In my own hatred, I forgot that human beings are living creatures too.'

Harry just shook his head and said, 'It's alright, let us just forget about what happened last night.'

'Okay,' the unicorn nodded.

'Listen,' the unicorn continued. 'I do not want the hope in this world to die. It is really all we have left. Friendship, loyalty, sincerity, trust, justice, and love, have all been slaughtered by hatred, betrayal, cruelty, selfishness, corruption, and heartbreak. The only thing the dark one wasn't able to take from us is hope, and I want to keep it that way. However, to do such a thing, I will require your assistance. Please, help me.'

'What do you want me to do?' Harry asked.

'On the 31st of October, I want you to come to the forest while the rest of your school is in the great hall having dinner. I will meet you by the entrance. From there I will take you to a very special place.'

'What place?' Harry asked, giving the unicorn a quizzical look.

'A place called Memoritia.' The unicorn answered.

'Memoritia.' Harry repeated slowly.

'Yes,' the unicorn nodded. 'It is there that we will see how everything started long ago, and why the world seems to be heading towards a horrible future.'

'How do you know that the future is going to be horrible?' Harry asked

'It is all written in the stars,' the unicorn answered. 'My friend, the one who rescued you, has told me of what is going to happen. Him and I both hope that he is wrong, but the only real way we can tell the true future is by going to memoritia, and that's where you come in.'

'What do you want me to do?'

'You will be the one who goes inside of memoritia, no one else will be able to survive in there except you. Once you are in there you will be able to see into the past, and into the future, and because I am connected to you I will also be able to see it.

'Once your task is completed you will be free to do as you wish. My friend and I shall take over from there.'

'Okay, but I have one more question. Why do we have to go on Halloween, can't we go tonight? I mean, the sooner we finish this task, the better it will be for the planet right? We'll have more time to prevent this disaster that you're talking about, won't we?'

The unicorn didn't answer; he just silently gazed at Harry for a minute.

'Won't we?' Harry repeated.

'There is an answer to your question, but sadly I cannot give it to you at this time. Once you enter memoritia you will know why we chose that special night for you.'

'Okay.' Harry nodded.

'I best be off,' the unicorn said as he turned around and started heading inside the forest. 'Come to the forest right when the feast begins, do not put it off. We must be at memoritia before midnight, or else the night of the 31st will be over, and the morrow of the 1st of November shall take its place. Goodbye for now.'

'Goodbye.' Harry said as he turned around and headed back towards Hagrid's cabin.

"Hello Hagrid," Harry said as he walked back into Hagrid's cabin.

"Hey there Harry." Hagrid replied cheerfully. "They're beau'iful creatures aren' they?" He added.

"What?" Harry asked, sitting down by the table and helping himself to some tea.

"Well unicorns or course, I saw yeh standing next ter one jus' now."

"Oh, uh, yeah," Harry stuttered a bit. "They really are."

"I am kinda surprised tha' the unicorn didn' jus' run off, when yeh were near it. They don' usually like ter trust humans yeh know."

"Oh, really?" Harry said pretending to know very little about unicorns.

"Yeah," Hagrid continued. "Tha' is why I don' fancy teaching the students about unicorns too much. Because the boy don' get as much of an experience as the girls, what with unicorns not liking the boys ta be near it and all. But," He chuckled a bit at this moment. "With boys like those Weasley twins, I sure as heck don' blame 'em!" He ended with a laugh.

"Yeah I guess." Harry nodded.

Just then both Harry and Hagrid heard something that made them both turn their heads.

"What was that?" Harry asked.

Hagrid didn't answer, he just put his index finger up, signaling Harry to be quiet. After a moment of silence, Harry and Hagrid both heard a buzzing coming from outside the house. "OH NO, THE BILLYWIGS!" Hagrid yelled as he ran out of the house.

Harry got out his wand and followed Hagrid as quickly as he could. As soon as he was outside he saw what looked like four flying spinners with stingers, flying in different directions.

"Harry, yeh catch those two, I'll take on the others!" Hagrid yelled, as he started chasing after the closest one.

Harry aimed his wand at one of the billywigs and yelled, "Impedimenta." A beam flew out of Harry's wand and hit one of the billywigs causing time to slow down so much for it, that it seemed like it wasn't moving at all. Harry was about to use another spell on the frozen billywig, when he felt a small pinch in his back. He turned around and saw the other billywig. He raised his wand at it and yelled, "Stupify." A red light came out of his want and knocked the billywig out cold.

"Harry, are yeh alrigh'?" Hagrid yelled as he ran towards him, with two cages.

Harry rubbed the spot where the billywig had stung him and said, "Yeah."

"Oh No!" Hagrid cried as he looked up at Harry.

Harry looked down at Hagrid and asked, "What's wrong?" But before Hagrid could answer him, Harry had realized what was wrong. He was looking down at Hagrid from the air. The billywig sting had caused him to levitate. "This is not good." Harry stated. "How do I get down?"

"I think professor Snape has a potion that could stop the levitation. It's quite a coincidence tha' yeh have his class in a few minu'es isn' it. Yeh can ask him then."

Harry just rolled his eyes and sighed, "but what if he refuses to give me the potion?"

"Don' be silly Harry, he'll give it ter yeh, if he don' then it'll wear off in a few hours." Hagrid picked up the billywig that was on the ground, and said. "I take care of the rest. I suggest yeh head off ter class. It'll be a lot harder ter get there in yer condition."

"How do I move?" Harry asked.

"Jus' try and swim there." Hagrid suggested.

"Okay!" Harry yelled, and floated off.

"Don' worry!" Hagrid called after him. "I'll give the parchment ter Professor McGonagall!"

It took Harry almost forty-five minutes to learn how to control the levitation to some extent. At least he learned enough to stir himself in the direction of the front door of the castle.

As soon as he entered the castle he once again noticed that there were no students in the halls. 'They must all be in their classes,' Harry thought to himself, as he floated off towards the dungeons. 'This is just great, I can't even change into my Hogwarts robes now, because I wasted so much time learning how to control myself. And skip Snape's class I'll be in serious trouble. I'm sure that MsGonagall won't let me off after what happened already.'

It took him awhile, but after about four wrong corridors, and hitting ten singing armors, Harry was finally outside the dungeon where his class was in, where Hermione was in. 'This is it,' he thought to himself as he floated closer to the door. He knocked several times until he heard a very familiar growl come from inside the dungeon. "Inside!" Snape growled.

Harry slowly opened the door and floated inside of the classroom. As soon as he was completely inside, he closed the door and turned towards the whole class-who were all staring at him, mouths open. "Well, well, well," Snape drawled. "According to the reaction that was just made towards the late student, I can only deduce that, the student is Mr. Potter." His back was turned so he didn't see exactly why everyone was staring at Harry. "You do know that you are late don't you?"

"I am coming back from the forbidden forest, I had a detention there!" Harry called out, making some of the students whisper to each other.

"Stop that immediately!" Snape barked to the side of the room where he heard the whispers come from. "Very well then take a seat right here in front of me." Snape said.

"I can't." Harry said.

"And why can't you?" Snape snarled, turning around to face Harry for the first time. As soon as he saw that Harry was flying in midair, with muggle clothes on, his eyebrow went up, and his lips curled into a smile. "Well," He started. "I see that Mr. Potter here has found a new means of transportation within this school." A few Slytherins snickered at this.

"I got stung by a billywig!" Harry gritted through his teeth.

"And I see that Mr. Potter is also showing off the latest fashions from the muggle world," Snape continued. Even more Slytherins began to snicker now.

"I didn't have time to get to my common room, I was too busy trying to control my levitation!"

"Come down Potter." Snape said lazily. "I'll give you the antidote."

Harry slowly hovered towards Snape's, trying desperately not to hit anything. As he was flying down he noticed both Ron, and Hermione sitting on opposites sides somewhere around the middle, 'Snape obviously made them sit there.' Harry thought to himself. He gave both Ron and Hermione a closer look, and noticed that Hermione's face had turned into a bright smile, and that Ron was giving him two thumbs up. 'They don't hate me?' Harry wondered as he approached Snape's desk.

"Here!" Snape growled as he levitated a potion right into Harry's hands. "Drink it fast, you're wasting the classes time!"

Harry quickly downed the potion as fast as he could-he couldn't wait the get to the ground and have the class stop staring at him so much. As soon as he finished the potion, he felt an immense force pull him down towards the ground. As soon as he landed on the ground he turned to Snape and said, "Thank you" quietly.

"Oh you're welcome." Snape sneered. "But you know," Be bent down and looked at him even closer. "You don't really look so good." The Slytherins were immediately thrown to the edge of their seats; all knowing that something entertaining was about to follow.

"Here," Snape said politely, as he grabbed Harry's arm, and led him around the desk. He pushed Harry into his chair, picked up his legs and put them on the table. "There, doesn't that feel better?" Snape asked.

Harry didn't answer, for he knew that whatever came next definitely wouldn't be something good.

Snape took out his wand and pointed it at Harry; he muttered a few words, and petrified Harry.

Harry tried his best to move, but to no avail.

"There, now that's better. You've obviously been working out, and staying up so late, I figure that you might need a little rest." Snape then walked around the desk and faced his entire class. "But, of course now that Mr. Potter is resting I can't continue teaching the rest of you slackers. I would really hate it if he got left behind and couldn't catch up," He said with a hint of a smile forming on his mouth. "So today I'll let all of you have a nice rest. Of course to rest, you first have to be tired.

"ALL GRYFFINDORS STAND UP NOW!" He yelled. Immediately every single member of the Gryffindor house stood by his or her desk. "FRONT LEAN AND REST POSTION, NOW!" Hermione and a few of the boys dropped down to the ground and got in pushup postion, while the others just stood there looking confused. "Well, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!" Snape growled. The rest of the Gryffindor house immediately copied the others.

"Now let's see, twenty minutes late, so twenty pushups should do it," Snape said quietly. "We are all going to get a nice workout today." He stopped looked around and continued. "But, we must not forget who the one responsible for our exhilaration today is, so after every single pushup, you will all say 'Thank You Mr. Potter'," At this moment Harry tried as hard as he could to free himself but still, all of his efforts were fruitless.  "Understand?" Snape finished.

No one in the room, answered. "Okay," Snape sneered. "Let's try this again. Thirty pushups, and you will all say…"

"But that's not fair, the Slytherins aren't doing anything!" Hermione interrupted Snape before he could finish.

Snape turned to her and said, "Fifty pushups, and you will all now say, 'Thank you Mr. Potter, and Miss Granger', understand?"

All the Gryffindors immediately started groaning when they heard Snape say this.

Snape just smiled and said, "Sixty."

"Will you all just shut up!" Ron yelled.

"One hundred pushups, and you will all say 'Thank you Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, and Mr. Weasley!'" Snape growled.

All the Gryffindors just started to groan even more, while all the Slytherins started snickering more.

Snape turned to Harry and said, "Are you comfy there, Mr. Potter?"

Harry didn't say anything (he couldn't), all he did was try to get free of the spell.

"Wonderful!" Snape turned to the rest of the class and shouted, "ONE!"

All the Gryffindors went down and came back up. As soon as they were up they all chanted, "Thank you Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, and Mr. Weasley!"

"TWO!"

Once again, down and then back up. "Thank you Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, and Mr. Weasley!"

"THREE!"

"Thank you Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, and Mr. Weasley!"

The Slytherins couldn't hold it in anymore, they all burst with laughter. Crabbe and Goyle fell off their chairs, Pansy Parkinson was hitting her desk with her fists, and Millecent Bulstrode was holding onto Zabini Blaise for support-she almost fell out of her chair too.

The only Slytherin who wasn't laughing was Draco Malfoy. He completely ignored everything that had happened after Harry came into the room. The only thing he was doing was eyeing Harry. He could easily tell that Harry wasn't slacking off this summer, and he was more determined to beat Harry now more than ever. Not just at the wizard's duel, at quidditch, at school, at anything he could think of. He didn't understand why he wanted to beat Harry so much, but he knew he had to.

"FIFTEEN!"

"Thank you Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, and Mr. Weasley!"

"SIXTEEN!"

By now Neville was so weak and tired that he fell off of his hands and onto his stomach.

"Longbottom, get up, or you'll do one-fifty!"

The Slytherins once again burst in laughter as soon as they saw that Neville was on the brink of tears, as he barely got up onto his hands.

"SEVENTEEN!"

"Thank you Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, and Mr. Weasley!"

"EIGHTEEN!"

"Thank you Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, and Mr. Weasley!"

Just then the door to the dungeon flew open. All the students looked back and saw professor McGonagall standing at the entrance, with a very confused and suspicious look on her face.

"Just what is going here?!" She barked.

All the Gryffindors [except for Neville, who fell down on the floor], immediately got up and ran over to professor McGonagall, and started telling her the whole story.

After they were finished telling her the story, professor McGonagall looked like she was about to explode. She slowly walked up to Snape, and quietly said, "Release Mr. Potter from the spell."

Snape just stood there and glared at her.

"NOW!" She thundered.

Snape reluctantly turned to Harry, pointed his wand at him, and within a second Harry was free from the spell. On normal circumstances, Harry would've been furious, but when he saw that Snape's attempt to get the Gryffindors to hate him had backfired, he felt pretty good.

Professor McGonagall looked at Harry and said, "Go to Professor Dumbledore's office, the password is 'mars bar', he's waiting for you there." Professor McGonagall's tone wasn't very high, but it gave everyone the impression that if someone disagreed with her, they'd be in for a world of hurt.

Harry not wanting to find out, immediately dashed out of the classroom, and ran down the hall towards the giant gargoyle statue.  

  "Mars bar." Harry said as he arrived. The statue immediately sprang to life. It got up and moved away from the wall, as it did the wall started opening. Once it was completely open, Harry saw a long spiral staircase behind it. He quickly ran up the staircase, until he entered a Dumbledore's office. The room was huge, and beautifully carpeted. On the walls, pictures of previous headmasters hung. And in the center of the room stood a large desk with Dumbledore himself sitting behind it.

"Hello Harry," Dumbledore said cheerfully, as his blue eyes twinkled a bit. "Where is professor McGonagall, I thought she would be with you."

"She got held up with Snape…"

"Professor Snape, Harry."

"Uh, right, with professor Snape." Harry answered.

"Well, then have a seat," Dumbledore said pointing towards the chair in front of his desk.

Harry walked over to the seat, and before he even sat down, he asked, "Is this about the book of dark arts?"

Dumbledore smiled as his eyes twinkled once again. He fixed his half moon spectacles, and said, "Eager, aren't we?" Dumbledore reached under his desk and pulled out the book that Harry had found in the train station. He set down on the table and said, "I'm sorry Harry, but I could not find any way to reveal what you said. I also scanned this book for dark magic, and couldn't sense any."

Harry was thrown into complete shock. Not even Dumbledore could find out how to make the book work. "You know what this means, don't you?" Harry said quietly. "If not even you can find out how to work this thing than it must belong to Voldemort."

Dumbledore nodded. "I want you to take back the book, you were able to make it work once, and maybe you can do it again. Don't forget, you are connected with Voldemort." He said pointing at Harry's scar. "Please do not tell anyone about this book Harry, not even your friends. Let's keep this between the three of us."

"Okay," Harry nodded.

"Harry," Dumbledore continued, giving Harry his penetrating stare. "Is there any more information that you can give me about Voldemort, anything at all."

Harry thought for a moment, 'What can I tell him that he probably doesn't already know?' Just then, it hit him. "A few weeks ago, I had a dream about Voldemort killing someone. I awoke with a pain in my scar, but this time it was a lot worse than normal."

Dumbledore nodded, telling Harry to continue.

"My scar hurt as much as when he touched me, or used the cruciatus curse on me. And not only that, it didn't stop as soon as I woke up; it continued to hurt even more. I'd say I was rolling around on the floor and yelling, for at least a minute."

Dumbledore sighed and said, "He's obviously getting more powerful."

"That's what I thought." Harry said.

"We were able to stop his expansion of power, but we can't stop his power growth." Dumbledore shook his head.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"I sent Professor Hagrid, and Madame Maxime to extend a welcome to the giants hiding in the mountains. I had them explain to the giants about how Voldemort just wanted to use them, and kill them afterwards. I think that they understood, for they did not join up with him. And because of this I seriously doubt that the dementors will join him. They would not do anything to risk losing their place in this world."

 Harry nodded and stayed quiet.

"Is there anything else you could think of?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry thought about telling him about the unicorn, and of memoritia, but thought better of it. 'Maybe I'll tell him after I returned.'

                "No sir," Harry said.

                Dumbledore took a deep breath, exhaled, and contorted his face into a smile. "So," he started in the same cheerful voice, as when Harry came in. "I'm sure that you will want to know the start of the term announcements that I made in the great hall."

                Harry nodded.

                "First of all, the school will be having another dance this year."

                Harry frowned at this. The last time the school had a dance Harry did not have much fun.

                "Also, the school will be having a school wide wizard's duel, with an O.W.L. given to the top four contestants."

                This announcement would have normally excited Harry, but didn't seem to have any effect on him this time.

                "We have a new defense against the dark arts teacher, Miss Delaceur."

                "She told me she might apply to teach here." Harry said more to himself than to Dumbledore.

                "Oh, yes, and her English has greatly improved." Dumbledore beamed.

                "And finally, the seventh floor in the western tower is undergoing renovation, so we closed off the tower from all students this year."

                "Okay, I think I got it all." Harry said.

                "Good," Dumbledore said. "Now would you like something to eat? It is lunchtime."

                Harry just shook his head.

                "Okay then." Head back to your common room, get dressed, and go see Mr. Filch for your next detention, and afterwards, you will go see Miss Granger for your third one."

                Harry's eyes widened at this, "Two detentions in one day?" He said disbelievingly.

                Dumbledore just shrugged and said, "Minerva insisted."

                Harry just sighed and nodded. "Okay." He got up and headed out of Dumbledore's office.

                "Harry," Dumbledore called, just as Harry reached the doorway. Harry turned around and faced Dumbledore. "If you have anymore information, even if your scar itches a little funny, I would like you to come and tell me. We need all the information we can get right now."

                Harry nodded.

                "And Harry." Dumbledore called one more time.

                "Yes?"

                "Do try and get better." Dumbledore said with a smile.

                Harry just nodded and walked out the door.