Disclaimer: Do I HAVE to keep saying it? Fine... I own nothing of Harry Potter...

Author's note: I like the name of this chapter a lot! Yay! Hehe. My friend was gonna kill me if I didn't put this up, so... yeah... Here it is don't hurt me! Just kidding.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Silver Blood and Crimson Fire

Thorn kept an ever watchful eye on Quirrell as she always did in the next few weeks, and her life was relatively slow, for a while. But things turned around when she got a call from Shadow saying that Fang was beginning to cough up small flames.

She sighed. Alright, tell him we'll be right down… She gathered Sparkie, who was staring into the empty fireplace in the Slytherin common room. It was spring, therefore Fang was just over half a year old. No wonder he was beginning to breathe fire. "Sparkie," Thorn told him as she sped into the entry hall, "you've got another lesson to teach Fang."

"I do?" he asked as his friend threw the doors to the castle open. Just as she did so Draco Malfoy sped in, a nasty gleeful look on his face as he glanced back at Hagrid's hut on the grounds.

Thorn's curiosity grew very slightly but she shrugged it off and proceeded to walk across the grounds. "Fang is beginning to breathe fire. You'll need to help him control it. Thank God you're somewhat like a dragon yourself."

Sparkie nodded and crawled onto her shoulder. Suddenly, though, his head snapped towards the small, wooden hut near the forest and his little lizard brow furrowed. "What?" Thorn asked quietly as she too looked towards the home. The windows were tightly shut and some smoke was coming from the chimney. Why is his place all closed up, and a fire burning? It must be scalding hot in there…

"I just thought…" Sparkie muttered as he craned his neck to try to see in the windows. "Never mind…" His gaze, however, didn't leave the hut until they were well in the forest.

It didn't take them long to reach Fang, who had his reptilian hands over his nose on the ground, as if he didn't want to burn anything. Sparkie just full out laughed at the poor adolescent dragon, and Thorn gave a small smirk.

Fang glared at Sparkie and lifted one of his claws, sending an uncontrolled flame to catch Sparkie's tail. The lizard's laughter almost instantly turned to shrieks of pain as he frantically blew on his stinging tail. The dragon smiled and it was Sparkie's turn to glare.

"Thorn!" the dragon roared to her, "I'm breathing flames! How do I control it?" His voice sounded nasally, seeing as he was blocking passage to his nose.

She shook her head. "I don't know how, Fang. I do not breathe fire." The dragon gave her a pitiful eye and she looked to Sparkie, who was muttering under his breath as he poked his still throbbing tail. "However, he does."

The lizard's head flung up and he glared at Thorn. "I'm not gonna help him! He burned my wittle tail…" He wined and looked to his tail again, but a pleading growl from Fang caused him to sigh and say. "Okay… fine…"

Suddenly, though, a thought ran through his, and Thorn's mind. THORN! Shadow called frantically, Thorn, come help! Daddy's… hurt!

The dark girl's eyes widened as she looked to Sparkie, who stared back at her curiously, What? How? I'll be there soon. Sparkie, stay here and help Fang.

The lizard, though reluctant, agreed and turned to the dragon, who was curious as to why they had suddenly just frozen. Thorn then sped through the trees, following Shadow's quick directions. He wasn't with us last night! We hadn't seen him until now. We hadn't thought that he'd be hurt!

The pegacorn was frantic, and that was almost an understatement. When Thorn reached her, she and her mother were neighing and whinnying like mad. On the ground, breathing heavily, was Shooter, silver blood pouring from a gash on his shoulder.

She sighed and rushed forward, quietly hushing Shadow and Feather. "Shooter, Shooter, shh… shh… It will all be okay…" Thorn said as soothingly as an emotionless girl could. The silvery animal was kicking about slightly in his discomfort, and Thorn knew that, though he loved her dearly, he was in pain, and was dangerous because of such.

Thorn placed herself dangerously by his chest, one of her hands running through his silvery mane to calm him while the other slowly moved towards the deep cut. He stilled himself slightly from her touch, but when her fingers merely grazed the rim of the wound he jolted, his front leg striking her in the stomach.

She flew back with a muffled "oof!" and landed beside Shadow, who made a soft exclamation of worry and bent her head down to her human friend. For the second time in her life Thorn felt the strange feeling of breathlessness without pain and took a moment to regain her composure. Shooter seemed devastated by what he'd done, but, as soon as the Slytherin could breathe again she calmed him. "It's okay," she cooed, "It's okay…"

When the unicorn was calm again Thorn hesitated. She had an idea of what to do, but it was risky… She knew that she had to get Shooter some help, but she didn't know where to bring him. Finally, she decided on bringing him to the stables that Hagrid used to house the school Hippogriffs.

The next matter was how to get him there. She helped him to his hooves, but he nearly fell over, his leg weak. Feather stood on his side, a wing draped over his back and helped lead him away, following Thorn's wake. Shadow walked behind them, glancing over her shoulder timidly, as if searching for whatever had hurt her father.

When they got to the stables Thorn told Shadow to get Midnight to them. The pegacorn called to the obsidian owl and the black bird appeared not long later. Thorn had taken a piece of parchment out of her pocket and quickly scribbled:

Dear Hagrid,

I know this is short notice, but Shooter has been injured. If I may, could I house him in your stables? At least until he recovers. Write back as soon as possible.

Thorn Rose

She tied the note to Midnight's leg and the night hunter flew off quickly, understanding immediately the importance of haste. When she was gone, Thorn turned back to Shooter, who was leaning against Fell now, his wounded side exposed to her.

Knowing the best thing to do, and grateful that she was wearing her robes, she slipped the cover off of her arm. She pulled it inside out and waved her wand, causing a roll of bandages to appear. "Hold still, Shooter… I'm sorry if I hurt you…"

She carefully placed the inside-out cover over the cut, letting the special part of the cloth, the part that put the lost blood back into circulation, against the wound. He neighed in pain, but did nothing more, and she began to wrap the bandage around his form, keeping the cover securely placed on the deep gash.

Just as she finished Midnight reappeared. Thorn noticed that she smelled slightly of smoke as she took the note off of her leg. Ignoring that fact, she unrolled the message and read the untidy scrawl.

No Problem, Thorn. I'll check up on him everyday. Something in the forest has been killing off the unicorns and I don't like it.

Hagrid

Thorn then saw a burn mark at the base of the parchment. What was in Hagrid's hut? She folded the parchment up and turned back to Shooter, who seemed to be feeling a little better already. He won't loose any more blood, she thought to Shadow as she touched her now bare arm, He'll be okay. I'll come visit whenever I can.

Then she walked back into the forest, How are things going, Sparkie? She thought to her Daemon lizard.

He ignored her, though. How is Shooter?

She sighed, He's fine. It's just— She stopped dead, for before her were Bane and Ronan. She gave a respectful nod to them and said, "Hello, gentlemen, may I help you?"

Bane snorted. "That beast of yours is beginning to breathe fire, witch, we are not so sure of him staying." He pawed the ground and tossed his tail about.

The second year was tempted to reply with a sarcastic "Well, Bane, dragon's do usually breathe fire," but she didn't. Instead, as she ignored Sparkie's bombarding thoughts, she said. "He will not be any more of a threat than he is now. Sparkie is teaching him to control it, and Fang will listen to him."

The black centaur gave a harsh laugh. "Sparkie? Wouldn't that be your puny lizard? How does he know of such matters?"

"Bane," a sudden calm voice said, before Thorn was able to respond, "He is a daemon lizard. You know as well as I that they have flaming breath." The Slytherin turned around to see the palomino form of Firenze standing behind her.

The wild centaur snorted angrily and turned to Ronan. "Let's go," he said harshly. The other followed silently and they disappeared.

Thorn turned to Firenze. "Hello again, young witch." He smiled down to her. "I see that your unicorn has been injured. I am sorry."

Thorn nodded. "Yes, but he will be okay, Hagrid is watching out for him, as well as his family and friends." There was a pause, and then the young human said, "Pardon me, Firenze, but do you know what is killing the unicorns?"

He sighed and looked towards the stables. "He is living off of their blood… I believe that you know of whom I speak."

Thorn sighed. "Voldemort…" Why hadn't she thought that before?

He nodded. "You understand more than others, Thorn Rose. I am set against him, and I will fight along side humans if I must. Bane does not understand that. He believes that we can not set ourselves against the heavens, no matter at what cost."

She nodded. "The heavens have been misread before."

He smirked. "You read a lot, correct?"

She smirked. "Indeed."

The centaur chuckled. "Well. I shall meet you again, Thorn Rose, the planets have foreseen it!" Then he trotted off, leaving Thorn to the quiet of the forest and the chaos of her mind.

WHAT'S GOING ON? Sparkie exclaimed for probably the thousandth time. THORN SAMARRA ROSE!

I'm here! she thought back, Sorry, I ran into the centaurs. Shooter is okay, merely a cut. His wound is bound.

I see… Well, Fang can control his flame, now. We have nothing to worry about… He paused. Actually… we might. You'll have to get here. Quick.

Thorn didn't question further. Better act, rather than ask, so she sped to a run and quickly found them. "What's wrong?" she asked in a mutual language.

Fang looked at her, then brought his face close to her side and took a deep sniff. "I smell it here, too!" he exclaimed to Sparkie, who dove into her pocket and pulled out the parchment from Hagrid.

He smelled it and nodded. "This is it!" the lizard screeched as he held it out to Fang, who did the same. "We were right!" Thorn was, for once, baffled. "Where did this paper come from?" Sparkie suddenly asked.

She looked to him, and then growled, "Hagrid's. What's going on, Sparkie."

He leapt up in excitement. "Yes! I knew it!" He stuffed the parchment back in her pocket and said, "Hagrid has a dragon!"

This caught Thorn completely off guard. She had never told Hagrid about Fang, and the half giant didn't come into this part of the woods, so he hadn't found him. She'd known that he'd always wanted a dragon, that had been why he'd never been told about Fang. She was as stunned as she could be. "You're joking…" she half said, half asked.

Sparkie shook his head. "No! I heard it making noise in the hut! And Fang and I could smell it in the smoke coming from his fire!"

The Slytherin sighed. "This is not good."

"Can't you just train it like you did Fang?" Sparkie asked.

She shook her head. "No. I can not let Hagrid know that I can speak to dragons, and he will not keep it well hidden. He doesn't understand that…"

Sparkie sighed and agreed. "Come on…" Thorn said. "We have to get back to the castle. It's dangerous here, more dangerous than it has been." Sparkie dove into her pocket and she ran a hand down Fang's head. "I'll be back. Watch out for Shooter…"

While they walked back to the castle, Thorn's right hand found her arm and she unconsciously rubbed the length that the cover would usually conceal. She felt awkward without the familiar black cloth clinging to her skin. She felt, at the least, exposed. To set her mind at ease she moved her hand to clutch her amulet. At least she still had that comfort to hold onto.

When she got to the castle the first person she happened to run into was Celestial. She let a small sigh of annoyance pass through her lips, for all she wanted to do was go to her dormitory to get a spare cover. "Hi, Thorn!" the Gryffindor called. She ran to her friend, and, at once, noticed something wrong.

"Where's the cover?" she asked immediately. It had become so accustomed to see Thorn with it on that, even though her arm was down and generally unseen, it was quickly noticed.

Thorn shook her head. "Sparkie accidentally ripped it," she lied, though she knew that the only way Sparkie could rip it was if he bit it, for his claws were too weak. How could you bite something on accident?

Well, Celestial didn't seem to notice that, because she said, "Oh, okay…" Her eyes never moved from Thorn's left arm, as if she was waiting for her robes to disappear so she could spot what the Slytherin was hiding from the rest of the world.

Thorn, however, was not about to share. She cleared her throat and said. "Yes, well, now I must go get my spare." She gave a short nod and said, "See you at dinner, then."

She then left Celestial in the entry hall and quickly sped to her common room. She raced through the nearly empty chamber and up to her dormitory. Luckily, the three others were not there. Thorn threw open her trunk and dug to the bottom to get one of her many spare covers. Almost gratefully, she pulled it over the pail red dark mark, and surveyed her arm. Giving a sigh of relief she descended the stairway and entered the common room. She stopped dead, though, as Malfoy entered with a malicious laugh.

"What's so funny, Draco?" Thorn asked harshly.

The blonde first year turned sharply, as if he hadn't noticed her in the room. He smiled and said, "Let's just say, Rose, that the oaf, Hagrid, won't be here much longer." He laughed again and went to his dormitory. Then Thorn realized why he'd been so hasty when he'd entered the castle earlier.

He's seen the dragon…

At dinner that night nothing interesting happened. Celestial obviously hadn't told Maken or Cade that Thorn had spent even a moment without the cover, for neither of them asked her about it. After that they headed back to their common rooms. As she and her roommates changed to their pajamas, Thorn heard Dreara give a short gasp. "What happened, Rose?"

"What?" she asked. Her shirt was off and she was about to pull on her nightshirt. She looked to where the other three girls' attention was centered and gazed at the large, black and purple mark on her stomach. Sparkie, who had been perched on her night stand, glanced up to her and screeched.

"What happened?" he babbled, "Who did this to you? It was Maken, huh? He did this to you, didn't he? I'm gonna kill him! He'll never know what hit him! I'll—"

Thorn silenced him by tossing her day-shirt over his little form. "Nothing," she said as she pulled her night-shirt on. "A spell didn't work for me and it backfired." Sparkie fought his way to get through the black cloth and looked up to her. Antonette and Phillis didn't question further, they merely continued to get dressed. Dreara, however, gave Thorn a suspicious look. She clearly knew that Thorn was not someone whose spells suddenly didn't work for.

Luckily, though, her fellow Slytherin didn't press for answers and merely changed as well. What did happen, Thorn? Sparkie's voice cooed in her head as she finished dressing and pulled the curtain to her bed around them.

Shooter accidentally kicked me, she replied as she crawled under the covers. Sparkie followed suit and curled up at her side. That isn't our problem, though…

Sparkie sighed deeply as sleep began to take him. Hmm?

Draco Malfoy, wonderful little imp that he is, knows about the dragon…But Sparkie didn't reply, for he was already snoring loudly.