Reality Check
~* Yes I know it's been a while, but I'll skip the detailed explanation of why, and just get straight to the chapter! *~
Chapter 18 ~ Detention
Harry and Caprice had been brought to Professor McGonagall's office, where they found Neville, and Malfoy. After Professor McGonagall gave some stern lectures, one hundred points were taken from each Slytherin and Gryffindor, and detentions were issued.
'I expected better from all of you!' The stern Professor implied. 'Back to bed,'
Harry and Caprice exchanged worried glances, before Harry went with Neville, and Caprice went with Malfoy.
'What were you doing, Neville?' Harry asked as soon as they were out of earshot of Professor McGonagall.
'I was trying to find you! Malfoy was talking, and I overheard him, he said that you had a Dragon, and that he was going to rat you out,'
'Oh, I'm sorry Neville,' Harry said sympathetically. He had gotten Neville into trouble.
'I just didn't want you to get into trouble,' Neville bowed his head.
'And now we're all in trouble!' Harry exclaimed. 'Never mind, it could have been worse,'
One hundred points lost. That put Gryffindor in a bad position for the house cup, but at least Slytherin were in the same position.
Harry didn't sleep all that night. All he could here were Neville's sobs into his pillow for what seemed like hours. Harry didn't know anything to say that could possibly bring comfort to the poor boy. He knew, like himself, Neville was dreading dawn. What would happen when the rest of Gryffindor found out that they'd lost Gryffindor one hundred points.
~***~
Pretty soon, the word had spread that Harry Potter, and some other stupid first year, had cost Gryffindor one hundred points. From being one of the most popular and admired people at the school, Harry was suddenly the most hated. Gryffindors jeered at him, and made no secret of their taunts. Even Ron and Hermione had a hard time sticking by him. After all, Harry seemed to always brush them off for Caprice.
It was too late to repair the damage done, and the only thing Harry could think of doing was offering resignation in the Quidditch team.
'Resign?' Wood bellowed. 'What good'll that do? How are we supposed to get any points back if we can't win at Quidditch?'
But even Quidditch had lost its fun. The rest of the team wouldn't speak to Harry during practice, and if they had to speak about him, they called him The Seeker.
The only person who stuck by him was Caprice. But there were limits with her, she wasn't allowed to see Harry, and especially not after Malfoy had found the two of them together that night when they were all caught.
Amongst all the trauma, a week before the exams Harry had overheard Quirrell stammering to someone in a seemingly empty classroom.
'No - no - not again, please -' Quirrell cried. It sounded like someone was threatening him. 'All right - all right -' He heard Quirrell sob. The next second, Quirrell rushed out of the classroom, looking pale, and straightening his turban. In his rush, Quirrell didn't even notice Harry.
Harry peered into the classroom. It was empty, but a door stood ajar at the other end. Harry would have gambled twelve Philosopher's Stones that Snape had just left the room. It appeared that Quirrell had given in at last.
He immediately rushed to the Great Hall, where Harry hoped to find Caprice, or at least someone who could tell him where she was.
It seemed that Harry was having a bit of luck, because Caprice was sitting at the Slytherin table with some of her friends. Harry moved around behind her friends so that Caprice was the only one who could see him. He began to wave his hands frantically, and Caprice, taking the hint, excused herself from her friends.
The pair rushed out into the Entrance Hall, and Caprice grabbed Harry's hand.
'I guess this is important, or else you wouldn't look so frantic!' She said, and dragged him through the Slytherin Dungeons. 'I know a place,'
'Where?'
'Don't ask questions,' Caprice ordered, and led him through a maze of hallways and twisted corridors.
When they finally reached the apparent destination, Caprice stopped and let go of Harry's hand.
'So what's so important?' Caprice asked.
'Well, I overheard Quirrell talking to Snape,' Harry proceeded to tell her about what he had just witnessed.
'Oh no! He's snapped!' Caprice's eyes widened.
'Don't worry too much, there's still Fluffy,' Harry said, trying to convince them both that all would be alright.
'What if he's figured out how to get past Fluffy, even without Hagrid's help?' Caprice asked.
'Not possible,' Harry said firmly.
'How do you know?' Caprice asked. Harry looked around.
'Where are we?' He asked, changing the subject.
'I don't really know myself, I just stumbled apon it one day and decided that it would be a good place for us to meet!'
'That would seem kind of strange, a Gryffindor just walking into the Slytherin Dungeons,' Harry reasoned.
'Well, okay, bad idea, but we need to find some special place that we can meet whenever we need to speak to eachother,' Caprice said.
'Well, can't we just communicate through the rings?' Harry asked, indicating to his ruby stoned ring on his finger.
'I guess, but it's more fun if we talked in person!' Caprice said, her eyes flashing with excitement. 'There's more thrill! We could get caught!' Harry laughed.
'Look, Caprice, it's great that you still want to have fun, but I've just gotten myself into a whole lot of trouble with Gryffindor by losing all those points, and if I'm caught with you I'll be even more shunted aside,' Harry told her. Caprice's smile faded.
'I know it's hard, but we've always managed before!' Caprice said, the glimmer of hope still lingering in her voice.
'I have to get going, I'm sorry Caprice, I'll talk to you later okay?' Harry turned and walked out of the maze Caprice had led him.
~***~
Hermione and Ron were sitting in the Gryffindor common room. It seemed as though they had taken a lot of slack due to the fact that people considered them to be friends with Harry and Neville. Harry wandered in cautiously. No one so much as looked at him these days, they couldn't be bothered. He walked over and sat with Hermione and Ron. They both looked at him with nasty looks, before getting back to the homework they were doing.
'Look,' Harry said after a few moments. 'I'm sorry about things, I just didn't want to lose my friendship with Caprice, and it seems that's what's happening anyway,'
'So you turn to us because your little Slytherin is dumping you?' Hermione snorted.
'No, that's not what's happened at all, Caprice and I are still friends, but we're going to lie low for a while because of the points we lost,' Harry lied.
'So you need some quick friends?' Ron asked sarcastically.
'No, I just was thinking about how I treated you, second to Caprice,' Harry admitted.
'Well there's a first, you're admitting what you did was wrong,' Hermione said, but her tone had softened.
'Well you're not going to run off to Caprice again, are you?' Ron asked.
'No, me and her are just going to cool it for a while,' Harry told them.
'Okay, we forgive you then,' Hermione said.
~***~
The next morning at breakfast, Harry and Neville received twin letters.
Your detention will take place at eleven o'clock tonight. Meet Mr Filch in the Entrance Hall.
Prof. M. McGonagall
Harry had forgotten that they still had detentions to do over all the points they had lost.
At eleven o'clock, Harry bid goodbye to Hermione and Ron, who waved in return, and went down to the Entrance Hall with Neville. Filch was already there, and so were Malfoy and Caprice.
There was an awkward pause between Harry and Caprice. She had obviously got the message that they were to stay away from eachother for a while. Harry stuck with Neville as Filch led the four of them out into the grounds.
'I bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh?' He said, leering at them. 'Oh yes… hard work and pain are the best teachers if you ask me… it's just a pity that they let the old punishments die out… hang you by your wrists from the ceiling for a few days, I've got the chains still in my office, keep 'em well oiled just 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 across the dark grounds. Neville kept sniffing and Harry wondered what their punishment was going to be. It must be something really horrible, or Filch wouldn't have been so delighted. Then they heard a distant shout.
'Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started,'
Harry's heart rose, if they were going to be working with Hagrid it wouldn't be so bad. His relief must have shown on his face, because Filch 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 mistaken if you'll all come out in one piece,'
At this, Neville let out a little moan, and Caprice and Malfoy stopped dead in their tracks. Harry knew that Caprice would have a thing or two to say about this prospect.
'The forest?' Malfoy repeated, sounding less confident than usual.
'I'm not going in there! There is no way you'll get me to go in there!' Caprice screeched.
'We can't go in there at night - there's all sorts of things in there - werewolves I've heard,' Malfoy continued. Neville clutched the sleeve of Harry's robe and made a choking noise.
'That's your problem, isn't it?' Said Filch, his voice cracking with glee. 'You should have thought of those werewolves before you got into trouble, shouldn't you?'
Hagrid came striding towards them out of the dark, Fang at his heel. He was carrying a large crossbow, and a quiver of arrows hung over his shoulder.
'I'll be back at dawn, for what's left of them,' He said nastily and started back towards the castle.
Malfoy and Caprice now turned to Hagrid.
'I'm not going in that forest,' Caprice whined.
'Me neither,' Malfoy added. Harry was pleased to hear the note of panic in his voice.
'Yeh are if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts,' Hagrid said fiercely. 'Yeh've done wrong an' now yeh've got ter pay fer it,'
Malfoy didn't move, and Caprice showed no signs of co-operation either. Hagrid glared at the two Slytherins, and they finally bowed their heads in defeat. He led them to the very edge of the forest. Holding his lamp up high, Hagrid pointed down a narrow, winding earth track that disappeared into the thick, black trees.
'Look there,' Hagrid said pointing to some silver shiney stuff on the ground. 'That's unicorn blood. There's a unicorn in there bin hurt bad by summat. This is the second time in a 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,'
'No way! I love unicorns!' Caprice cried. 'I'm going to kill the bastard who's doing this!' With that, she took off down the track, running at full speed.
'Caprice!' Harry yelled after her, and tried to run into the forest, but Hagrid grabbed his shoulder forcefully.
'Don't be daft, we'll find her,' Hagrid growled, clearly furious. 'Malfoy, you go with Neville, Harry come with me. Send up red sparks if you're in trouble, and green sparks when you find Caprice. Don't forget, we're still looking for the unicorn so green sparks if you find the unicorn,'
'I want Fang,' Malfoy ordered quickly, looking at Fang's long teeth.
'All right, but I warn yeh, he's a bloody coward,' Hagrid said.
'Come on!' Harry cried impatiently.
'Be careful - lets go,' Hagrid said.
The forest was black and silent. A little way into it, they reached a fork in the earth path and Harry and Hagrid took the left path while Malfoy, Neville and Fang took the right. They walked in silence, their eyes on the ground. Every now and then a ray of moonlight through the branches above lit up a spot of silver-blue blood on the ground.
'Hagrid, we have to find her!' Harry pushed.
'We're doin' the best we can, it's her own fault for runnin' off in the first place,' Hagrid grunted, clearly more focussed on the unicorn blood than finding Caprice.
Suddenly, Hagrid stopped dead still.
'GET BEHIND THAT TREE!' He seized Harry and hoisted him off the path behind a towering oak. He pulled out an arrow and fitted it into his crossbow, raising it, ready to fire. The two of them listened. Something was slithering over dead leaves nearby: it sounded like a cloak trailing along the ground. Hagrid was squinting up the dark path, but after a few seconds, the sound faded away.
'What was that?' Harry asked, joining Hagrid on the path.
'I knew it,' he murmured. 'There's summat in here that shouldn' be,'
'A werewolf?' Harry suggested.
'That wasn' no werewolf an' it wasn' no unicorn, neither,' said Hagrid grimly. 'Right, follow me, but careful, now,'
'It might have been Caprice?' Harry said, and picked up his walking pace.
'Slow down, don' go disturbing things that don' wanna be disturbed,' Hagrid ordered, and Harry walked behind him obediently. Suddenly, in a clearing ahead, something definitely moved.
'Who's there?' Hagrid called. 'Show yerself - I'm armed!'
Into the clearing came Caprice, closely followed by a half man, half horse, who was pushing her violently. She stumbled over a tree root and sprawled onto the ground sobbing. Harry rushed to her side.
'Get off me!' Caprice said harshly and jumped to her feet, brushing her robes free of twigs.
'You had me so worried,' Harry said, looking down at her. He noticed that her glasses had some cracks on the delicate glass, and her face covered in cuts. Her normally straight hair was a mess, and blood was dripping from a tear in her sleeve. 'What happened?'
'Nothing,' Caprice snapped, and turned her back on Harry to see that Hagrid was talking to the centaur.
'Oh, it's you, Ronan,'
'Good evening to you, Hagrid,' said Ronan. He had a deep, sorrowful voice. 'Were you going to shoot me?'
'Can't be too careful,' Hagrid said, patting his crossbow. 'There's summat bad loose in this forest. This is Harry Potter and Caprice Jenkins, by the way. Students up at the school. An' this is Ronan, he's a centaur,'
'We'd noticed,' Caprice said harshly. Ronan flung his head back and stared into the sky.
'Mars is bright tonight.'
'Yeah,' Hagrid agreed, glancing up. 'Listen, thanks for finding this runaway,' He motioned to Caprice. 'She was trying to find a hurt unicorn,'
'I know, she seemed to think that I was the thing hurting the beautiful creature,' Ronan replied.
'Have you seen anythin'?' Hagrid asked. Ronan didn't answer immediately. He stared unblinkingly upwards, 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? Anything unusual?'
'Mars is bright tonight,' Ronan repeated while Hagrid watched him impatiently. A movement in the trees behind Ronan made Hagrid raise his bow again, but it was only a second centaur, black haired and bodied and wilder looking than Ronan.
'Hullo, Bane,' Hagrid said. 'All right?'
'Good evening, Hagrid, I hope you are well?' Bane replied.
'Well enough. Look, I've jus' bin askin' Ronan, you seen anythin' odd in here lately? Only there's a unicorn bin injured - would yeh know anythin' about it?' Hagrid asked hopefully. Bane walked over to stand next to Ronan. He looked skywards.
'Mars is bright tonight,' He said simply.
'So 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,'
Hagrid grabbed Caprice by her robes at the back of her neck, and led her away, Harry following closely. After they'd gone a fair way, Hagrid knocked Caprice forward, and she stumbled over. Caprice turned onto her back to face Hagrid who loomed over her.
'Don't yeh ever try another stunt like that! Yeh could've been killed!' Hagrid boomed. 'Lucky Ronan found you before summat else did…'
Hagrid walked on, stepping past Caprice. Harry helped her up and the two of them, scared stiff, followed Hagrid. The two of them kept quiet, not wanting to enrage Hagrid further. When suddenly Caprice yelled out;
'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 looking at eachother, very scared, until they couldn't hear anything but the rustling of leaves around them.
'You don't think they've been hurt?' Caprice whispered.
'I don't care if Malfoy has, but it's my fault Neville's here in the first place, if something's got him…' Harry trailed off.
'I want to find that son of a bitch that's hurting the unicorn,' Caprice turned to stray off the path in search, but Harry grabbed her arm.
'No, Caprice! We have to stay here!'
'And just wait for something to come and eat us?' Caprice said.
'Yes,' Harry replied, and pulled her closer to him so that she wouldn't run away. Minutes later, Hagrid returned. Malfoy, Neville and Fang were with him, and Hagrid looked angrier than before. Malfoy, it seemed, had snuck up behind Neville and grabbed him for a joke. Neville had panicked and sent up the sparks.
'We'll be lucky ter catch anythin' now, with that racket that you two were makin'. Right, we're changing groups - Neville, you stay with me an' Caprice, Harry, you go with Fang an' this idiot,' Hagrid said. 'I'm sorry,' He added in a whisper. 'But he'll have a harder time frightenin' you, an' we've gotta get this done,'
So Harry set off into the heart of the forest with Malfoy and Fang. They walked for nearly an hour, deeper and deeper into the forest, until the path became almost impossible to follow because the trees were so thick.
'Look, Potter, I want to know what's going on with you and Jenkins,' Malfoy snarled. Harry didn't get the opportunity to answer, because they came across something white and gleaming on the ground. They inched closer.
It was the unicorn all right, and it was dead. Harry had never seen anything to beautiful and sad. Its long slender legs were stuck out at odd angles where it had fallen and its mane was spread on the dark leaves.
A slithering sound made the boys freeze. Out of the shadows, a hooded figure came crawling across the ground like some stalking beast. Harry, Malfoy and Fang stood transfixed. The cloaked figure reached the unicorn, it lowered its head over the wound in the animals side, and began to drink its blood.
'AAAAAAARGH!' Malfoy let out a terrible scream and bolted - so did Fang.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
~* The next chapter will be posted soon, I cut this chapter shorter than the one in the book because there's too much stuff that I've taken directly from the book. The next chapter will have the meeting with Firenze and some original stuff. *~
~Gryffindor Gal~