Things couldn't have been worse.
When the other Gryffindors discovered that the top people (and gargoyle) had lost them all 150 points, Harry and Brooklyn both began to lose popularity. Even the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws started to hate them.
Brooklyn had the hardest time with it, for every time he passed students not in Slytherin in the hallways, they began to jeer at or blame him for being involved with the Boy Who Lived that lost them house points, even throwing things at him on occasion.
This brought back bad memories for Brooklyn in Manhattan whenever people had discriminated against them. And it didn't help with McGonagall watching him whenever he tried getting alone time.
Well, you are being punished, mocked the voice in his head. He didn't say anything in response to that.
Hermione and Ron had suffered, too. But not as much as Harry and Brooklyn did, for they weren't being spoken to anymore.
Brooklyn and Harry were both walking the hallway together when they heard cheering. It was the Slytherins who always teased them for helping their house gain momentum.
"Here comes the 'great' gargoyle and the 'Boy Who Lived'! How does it feel to be at the bottom, huh?" Sneered Flint. Brooklyn just growled and moved his brother away from the troll.
"They'll forget about it, eventually," He muttered, hating Flint's guts every day when this happens. Harry lowered his head. He wasn't so sure about that.
Brooklyn had finally managed to sneak away from McGonagall's prying eyes as he found a quiet hallway for himself, giving a small sigh of sadness, wondering when this would all blow over. But then he heard a familiar voice from a classroom door.
He cautiously moved towards the door. Something inside Brooklyn's head told him that he didn't want to do anything else to get him into more trouble, but he just couldn't ignore this.
"No! No! Not again! Please!" It was Quirrell. And he sounded terrified. Brooklyn gripped the wood on the door with his talons, tensing at the sound of fear in the strange man's voice. Who was talking to him in there?
"Alright—alright—!" Came Quirrell's choking sobs. Footsteps proceeded towards the door and Brooklyn quickly stepped back into the shadows, watching Quirrell come out, his face pale and shaken as he walked away.
The gargoyle folded his arms, so many questions rattling his brain. Why was Quirrell scared? Who was threatening him?
He was probably talking to himself.
Shaking his head, Brooklyn proceeded back to the common room, hoping that Harry would figure this out.
He returned to the common room, finding his friends doing Astronomy homework. Harry glanced up at his return.
"Hey. What's up?" He asked, his voice still pretty down from all the torment earlier. Brooklyn sat down near them.
"I just heard something interesting," he muttered, looking around to make sure nobody was listening.
He told them about hearing Quirrell, and just as Brooklyn had suspected, it all went down to them thinking it was Snape.
I have a feeling they will all be wrong in the end, even if Snape is sometimes pretty cranky, he thought privately to himself as Ron kept coming up with wild stories about how the conversation with Quirrell went.
"If we just do a bit of poking around," Ron suggested. But Harry shook his head.
"No, we've done enough of that already. And I'm surprised that McGonagall didn't catch you sneaking in on Quirrell, Brooklyn."
Brooklyn narrowed his eyes and flapped his wings in irritation. "I was just trying to get alone time when I suddenly heard Quirrell down there!" He defended himself.
Harry didn't respond as he pulled his Astronomy homework closer to himself.
Later that day, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all got the same note:
Detentions take place at 9:00 tonight. Meet Filch at the entrance hall.
"Listen, Harry, I know I really shouldn't, since McGonagall's been watching me, but I need to go with you to ensure you're safe," Brooklyn had insisted.
Harry had ended up agreeing. "I guess that makes sense."
"I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt, since I was involved with you getting in trouble in the first place," he added, looking down shamefully. Harry gave him a small smile.
"It's okay, Brooklyn. We all make mistakes. Let's just make sure we get through whatever it is we're doing safely."
Right at 9:00, Harry, Brooklyn, Ron, Hermione and Malfoy managed to meet up with Filch, who eyed Brooklyn with disapproval.
"It would seem that Potter brought company that wasn't needed," Filch said in an insulting tone. Brooklyn growled lowly, eyes narrowed. If there was one other person here he hated more than Malfoy and Flint, it was Filch.
Harry stepped up to his defense. "Brooklyn insisted on coming. Plus, he will never leave my side. We're brothers!"
Filch rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he muttered. "Follow me. And don't think about running off, or it will be even worse for you!"
They walked down the yard for a while and Brooklyn saw that they were at Hagrid's hut, who was waiting for them while setting up his crossbow, and saw them arrive.
"Been waitin' fer yeh, Filch."
Brooklyn felt a small wave of relief. It shouldn't be so bad if Hagrid was with them. Filch had noticed, though.
"I shouldn't be too friendly with them, Hagrid. They are being punished, after all! And this gargoyle here shouldn't be too protective of them, either. Shouldn't have come, anyway."
Brooklyn hissed, stepping towards Filch menacingly, but Hagrid held up his hand, halting him in his tracks.
"It's not yer place to tell me how to handle them, Filch. I'll handle 'em me own way!" Hagrid said to Filch in a firm voice. But Brooklyn detected a hint of sadness in his voice, and he remembered the dragon, Norbert.
Filch looked annoyed. "Jeez, man, not still on about that bloody dragon, are yeh?"
"Norbert's gone," Hagrid announced. "Dumbledore sent him off to Romania to live in a colony."
Hermione spoke up. "Well, that's good, isn't it? He'll be with his own kind?"
Brooklyn said his own piece. "He's better off with other dragons, Hagrid. It's good for the both of you." It's better for him to not have that fire breathing beast burning down his house, anyway! He added to himself.
"But what if he don' like Romania? Wha' if the other dragons are mean to him? He's only a baby, after all!"
"Oh, for gosh sakes, pull yourself together, man! You're going into the forest, after all! Got to have your wits about you."
The red gargoyle's eyes grew round and his nerves started to act up again. They were going into the forest? His previous wanderings in there had left him with the desire to never set foot in that terrible place again, and especially with Firenze's warning about the unicorn killer on the loose!
Malfoy's voice jerked him out of his thoughts.
"The forest? I thought that was a joke! We can't go in there! Students aren't allowed! And there are-werewolves!"
Ha! He's scared! Brooklyn thought in revenge triumph. He didn't care about Malfoy, but worry for his friends mounted, especially if they met anything that wanted to kill, like that monster spider! He shuddered at the memory of it.
Filch gave them a creepy smile. "There's more than werewolves in those trees, lad. You can be sure of that!"
No kidding!
"Nighty night!" Filch then proceeded back to the castle.
"Well, that was pleasant for him," Brooklyn muttered sarcastically to Harry, who nodded in agreement as Hagrid led them all into the wood.
If Brooklyn could compare daytime to nighttime for this forest, he had to choose the forest in the day. Everything seemed to be alive everywhere he looked, the mist swirling the trees like untamed spirits, making him shiver in fear.
This place definitely goes on my top ten creepiest places list, for sure!
Malfoy suddenly stepped in next to him.
"You scared?" He sneered. Brooklyn glowered at him.
"Just leave it, Malfoy!" He growled. Brooklyn was going to prove that Malfoy was more of the coward than him!
Then Hagrid halted in front of them, and Brooklyn saw a strange puddle of silvery liquid.
"Hagrid, what is that?" Harry asked. Brooklyn also wanted to know.
"This is what we're here for. It's unicorn blood. I found one dead a while back, and this one's been stumblin' about, just attacked. Somethin' in there is killin' them. And, if we find it, we might have ter put it out of its misery."
Brooklyn felt his heart stabbed with anger at this. The idea of killing something because you couldn't help them always sickened him at heart. But sometimes you just had no choice. And he hated it.
That's when his ears pricked up, his sensitive hearing picking out the strangest sound: like a cloak slithering over leaves. He even thought he spotted something in the trees. Growling softly, he stepped closer to Harry.
"You heard something?" Harry asked nervously. Brooklyn nodded. "Something's in here who shouldn't be."
After seeing nothing, Hagrid spoke.
"Alrigh', we're splittin' up. Hermione and Ron will come with me. Brooklyn and Harry, yer with Malfoy."
He looked at them sympathetically when he said that, and Brooklyn couldn't help but be frustrated at this. He didn't want to have to deal with the Malfoy brat complaining in his ears while on their mission!
"Okay! Then I get Fang!" Malfoy then said. Hagrid furrowed his brow at him. "Fine. Jus' so you know, he's a ruddy coward."
Brooklyn raised his brow at Malfoy, who was now looking unsure of the dog, that gave a small whimper and tilted his head at them.
As the trio strode through the forest, Brooklyn did his best to block out Harry and Malfoy's bickering, keeping his eyes open for the unicorn or the unicorn's killer, noticing the blood was getting thicker in the trees, making him feel just a tad nauseous in his stomach.
They entered a clearing after a few minutes of walking, and were met with a terrible scene, making them all freeze in their tracks.
There was a unicorn lying on the ground, and it was dead. Brooklyn's heart had a small surge of grief for it, remembering that he had seen one in his last journey in here. And now here was one dead right in front of them.
Such a waste of a beautiful animal, he thought, anger towards this unicorn's murderer rising in his blood.
He then heard the same slithering noise from before, and got into a defensive position, eyes glowing fiercely as he saw a hooded something crawling out of the bushes towards the unicorn.
"You two, stay behind me!" He ordered in a commanding tone, wings spreading out battle ready as he drew his wand.
The boys were more than happy to oblige, and hid behind Brooklyn just as the hooded thing leaned over, and, to the gargoyle's disgust, began to drink it's blood.
He could have kicked Malfoy in the shin right there because the idiot boy let out a scream and made a break for it, Fang following Malfoy before Brooklyn could grab him.
Brooklyn continued to shield his brother from this terrible monster as it noticed them and began to slither towards to where they were. He wouldn't back down from it!
His heart raced as he wondered how on earth he was supposed to fight this whatever it was as it soared up to its full height, looking rather intimidating. Brooklyn backed away, growling threateningly at it.
"Stay back! I'm warning you!" He bellowed, holding out his wand. What spell can work on this thing?
Before he could figure it out, the familiar galloping of hooves reached his ears, and Brooklyn saw the familiar palomino centaur charging out of the bushes, rearing up in front of the creature, which cowered and slithered back into the trees.
Firenze had rescued them once again. Brooklyn felt really grateful towards this brave centaur. He turned to Harry and Brooklyn, his eyes wide with astonishment.
"Why did you come back, Brooklyn? Do you now see the danger this forest now holds? And why is Potter with you?"
"Hagrid brought us in here to find a unicorn that's been hurt," Brooklyn explained.
Firenze looked at him for a while before nodding.
"But now you two must leave. The forest isn't safe at this time."
Harry was shaking a little, but he asked a big question. "What was that thing you saved us from?"
"A monstrous creature," Firenze replied. "It is a terrible crime to slay a unicorn. Drinking the blood of a unicorn would keep you alive even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price."
"What's that?" Brooklyn questioned, already dreading the answer. Firenze looked at him with a solemn expression.
"Have you slain something so pure. From the moment the blood touches your lips, you will have a half life, a cursed life."
Brooklyn and Harry both gazed at each other with disgusted expressions. Who would want to live a cursed life, just to be immortal? Not me! The gargoyle thought, shuddering.
"But who would choose such a life?" Harry asked.
"Can you think of no one?"
Demona? Brooklyn thought sarcastically to himself. Even though she wasn't here, he knew what lengths she would go to to stay in her youth. The Weird Sisters, for example. He wondered now if they had ever showed up in this Wizarding World.
"You mean to say, that thing that killed the unicorn, that was drinking it's blood, that was Voldemort!"
I take that back! This guy is worse! He thought, eyes growing round. He just realized that they were almost murdered by the almost dead dark wizard Dumbledore warned him about!
"Do you know what is hidden in this school at the very moment?"
That's when they both knew, and even more dread filled them. "The Sorcerer's Stone!" Harry gasped in realization. Brooklyn then knew too they were in even more trouble if Voldemort was here and the Stone was just a few feet away from him!
Suddenly, loud barking sounded and Hagrid with the others appeared, with Hagrid holding his crossbow.
"Harry! Brooklyn!" Cried out Hermione in a relieved voice.
"Yeh two alrigh'?"
Brooklyn and Harry nodded as Hagrid exchanged a small bow with the Centaur.
Firenze turned to leave. "Brooklyn, Harry Potter needs you more than ever. I see that you are to be a part of stopping Him from getting the Stone. This is where I now leave you. Good luck."
Brooklyn continued to hold Harry's arm, the weight of his duty to protect his brother feeling heavy on his shoulders as they walked back. Even if it meant sacrificing himself, he would do anything to protect the only human brother he ever had!
Once they were back in the common room a bit shaken but okay, they all sat down to discuss what happened.
"Don't you see? Snape wants the Stone for Voldemort so he can come back! Harry proclaimed, pacing back and forth. But Brooklyn facepalmed himself in the forehead again. How many darned times was he supposed to repeat himself?
"Harry, it doesn't make sense for him to work for Voldemort if Dumbledore trusts Snape!" Brooklyn argued, now wondering if he was wasting his breath.
"Will you guys stop saying the name already?" Ron cried out in fear, as though Voldemort was going to appear in the fire. Brooklyn still couldn't get over that nobody had the guts to say Voldemort's name out loud. He himself didn't feel scared of that name.
"Wait, who was the one wizard Voldemort always feared?" Hermione suddenly asked. The boys all looked at each other, not sure who it was. And Brooklyn was startled that Hermione had suddenly said the name.
"Dumbledore! As long as Dumbledore's around, Harry, you're safe. As long as he's around, you can't be touched."
Harry smiled at that idea and Brooklyn put an arm around his brother. Even though they disagreed about Snape being the villain, it will never break their friendship.
