Chapter Four – Dropped into the Dark

The board suddenly cleared of all stone remnants.

Glancing around wildly, the conscious students saw the room revert to what it had appeared as when they had first arrived. The floor was pale stone, the board squares gone, and all traces of the game they had played had disappeared. Except for one.

Harry lay a short distance from them, still unmoving. Hermione ran over to his side and fell to her knees beside him. Looking up at Ron, she gestured for him to come over, but he was too busy glancing around.

"Bloody hell, everything's gone," Ron exclaimed. "Jeez, even those creatures, thank Merlin!"

"Ronald! Get over here!" Hermione yelled, turning back to Harry.

As Ron ran over, Hermione checked Harry's breathing, pleased to note that while it was shallow, it was rather steady. Ron kneeled beside them, looking worriedly between his two friends.

"How is he?" Ron asked.

"I'm not sure," answered Hermione, not turning away from her unconscious friend.

"Oh, get off it. I'm sure he's fine. He's taken worse hits than that in Quidditch," Draco drawled, sidling over to the others.

"Shut up, Ferret," Ron said, not bothering to put much inflection in the order.

Ron turned his attention back to Harry, conversing quietly with Hermione. Draco, acting completely unconcerned, glanced around the room, noting with growing worry that no exit had appeared.

Suddenly Draco was knocked off his feet, as the floor veered alarmingly. With a startled yell, he landed painfully on his back. Both Ron and Hermione had been shaken as well, and looked around fearfully.

"What now!" Ron exclaimed, just as they were jolted the other way.

A sharp grinding noise silenced any response. The students immediately tried to find the cause, glancing around wildly. As the sound got louder, they realized it was coming from the centre of the floor.

"What the devil is going on!" Ron squeaked.

Hermione shook her head wordlessly, and grabbed the unconscious Harry. Gesturing for Ron to help her, they pulled him further away from the middle. Draco shot up with a groan and followed quickly, still staring at where the noise emanated from.

At the wall, they pulled up short, watching the centre of the chamber. Suddenly a crack appeared, growing larger as the floor receded. Startled, the students jumped as the hole sharply widened, getting close to them.

"What do we do, what do we do, what do we do!" Ron questioned quickly.

"Why don't you go jump in, Weasley? Tell us what's down there," Draco sneered, though he too looked rather nervous.

"Shut up, the both of you! We have to figure . . ." Hermione was drowned out by an especially loud roar from the ground.

Before they could think to move, the floor abruptly disappeared altogether, sending them plummeting through open air. Their yells were swallowed in the rush of wind, and the darkness of the abyss shut off any light.

After falling quite a ways, they suddenly found themselves out of the dark, sunlight blasting into their vision. As they looked down, they saw that they were headed right into an expanse of trees, and closed their eyes out of fear for the landing.

They felt the branches scrape past them, but strangely they passed clean through. Any more yells were sharply choked off as the wizards and witch plunged sharply into ice cold water. With panicked scrambling, they forced their way back to the surface, coughing.

Glancing around, they swam quickly to the shore, pulling themselves out of the water.

"H-how the hell . . . What the hell h-happened!" Harry exclaimed sputtering.

"Harry!" Hermione yelled, hugging him painfully.

"Hermione! Get off!" Harry managed, coughing as he backed away sheepishly.

"Sorry, Harry, but you're awake again!"

Harry blinked at her, wiping his wet hair from his face. "Yeah, I figured that," he said sarcastically. "What the hell happened?"

"You got knocked out, mate," Ron stated, reaching around Hermione to clap him on the shoulder.

"I know that! I meant after that. How did we end up in the Forbidden Forest!"

Ron glanced around. "The, the Forbidden Forest! That's where we are!"

"Er, yeah," Harry told him.

"And how do you know this, Harry? You just woke up," Hermione put in.

Harry didn't say anything, merely raising his hand and pointing over her shoulder. Hermione and Ron whipped around, their mouths dropping open as they saw what he was gesturing at.

Draco Malfoy was laying on the ground, eyes wide as a large equine stood towering over him, its horn dangerously close to his throat as it leaned down.

"Malfoy, don't move!" Hermione said quickly.

"Aren't unicorns supposedly nice creatures?" asked Ron, confused.

"Yes, but that's a stallion, and I think we just encroached on his territory!" Hermione explained.

"Oh, okay."

"Hermione? Should we do something?" Harry asked.

"Er, I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know! Get this thing away from me!" Draco exclaimed through clenched teeth.

The unicorn snorted angrily, pressing his horn against Draco's throat. Malfoy whimpered slightly. Harry glanced around, leaning over to reach a stone, holding one hand over his ribs.

"No, Harry, are you daft?" Hermione said desperately. "You'll only make it angrier."

"Well, then, what do you suggest?" Harry questioned, raising his eyebrow.

"Er, well, um, I know! Distract it!" said Hermione, getting to her knees.

Harry looked at her, then down at the rock he held. With a slight smirk, he threw the stone over the unicorn, hitting the tree behind the animal. As the equine looked up, Draco rolled away and jumped to his feet, skittering backwards.

"Harry! I told you not to throw that!" Hermione rebuked him.

"Well, it distracted it," he told her, unabashedly.

The unicorn abruptly turned back towards them. With another snort, he pawed the ground in an angry manner. The animal moved a few steps forward.

"Oh, crap. That's not good," Ron stated.

"That's obvious, Weasley!" Draco said sharply.

"Well, Hermione, what do you suggest, now?" Harry asked, standing and crossing his arms, keeping an eye on the mad creature.

"I suggest we . . ." She trailed off as the unicorn tensed, about to charge. "Run!"

The four students whirled around and took off through the brush, dodging around trees in an attempt to block the rampaging stallion behind them. They kept far enough apart that, in its anger, the unicorn went after first one, then another, allowing them to keep ahead of it.

Suddenly Draco tripped over a root, landing face down in the dirt. As he glanced back, he saw the unicorn heading straight for him. He closed his eyes, but before the creature trampled him, he felt a hand close over his bicep and wrench him upwards. Looking up, his grey eyes locked with emerald.

"Come on! Now!" Harry exclaimed, pulling him quickly past some bushes and making him run.

At breakneck pace, the students successfully kept the unicorn behind them, often times using brambles in the effort to make the horse slow down. After running a good half kilometre, the forest began clearing out. While the moving was easier for them, it was also easier for the unicorn who had not given up its pursuit.

Harry tripped lightly over a rough patch, regaining his footing as he gripped an arm over his burning ribs. As he did, he realized that he felt something in his robes and reached inside. Registering what it was, he suddenly halted.

"Potter! What do you think you're doing!" Draco yelled, pulling up short.

Harry spun around, watching the unicorn come charging toward him. He heard Hermione scream behind him as the animal came before him, rearing up.

With a smirk, Harry brandished his wand. "Petrificus Totalis Maxima!"

The creature suddenly froze, its eyes widening briefly just as it was caught in the spell. With a loud thump, the unicorn toppled over, landing on its side.

"What in the nine levels of hell is going on!" exclaimed a snide voice from behind the students.

Spinning around, Harry and the others watched as Professors Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, Filius Flitwick, and Albus Dumbledore stepped into the forest.

"Professor Snape! Thank Salazar, we're back!" Draco called out happily.

Snape raised an eyebrow at his student, but didn't have a chance to speak before Dumbledore asked, "Where have you all been?"

The students glanced at one another, then back at the unicorn and further into the forest.

"That, Professor," Hermione said, sighing, "even I don't know."

Harry and Ron started laughing, and Malfoy found himself desperately fighting the urge to do the same.

Flitwick gave them an odd look, then glanced beyond them. "And what happened to that poor unicorn?"

At that, Draco too burst out laughing, and Hermione was soon to follow.

-Finis-