Chapter 16 – The Dark Forest
"You married a Weasley?" Lucius yelled towards his future son.
"So, what! I love her." Draco told him calmly, proud over the fact that he now could stand up to him and be proud of it.
"Why?" he asked confused though angry.
"There are many things I love about her; She fiercely loves our children, and she isn't afraid of saying what she means, even when it's harsh to hear it." Draco told him some of the things he loved about her, "Father, you don't need to like her." he sighed, "but if you love me, you will respect her and the way we raise our children in the future."
Lucius sighed, knowing that he couldn't do anything about it but see about the future would change. Narcissa could hear this loud and clear and hit him over the head. "You won't sabotage the future, dear." She told him sternly, "how many grandchildren do we have?"
"Two, Lucian and Alexander." Draco told her proudly, "and you spoil them." He said with a smirk, not saying which of them does it, but that's the same.
It was the next day, and the scene changed to see Hadriana, Ron, Hermione, and Draco walking behind MR. Flitch in Hogwarts courtyard. The sky was pitch black, with not a star in sight.
"A pity they let the old punishment die. There was a time detention would find you hanging by your thumbs in the dungeons. Good, I miss the screaming." Mr Flitch told them, and Hadriana gave him a 'what the heck look.
"You'll be serving detention with Hagrid tonight. He's got a little job to do inside the dark forest. A sorry lot this, Hagrid." Flitch told him.
Hadriana brightened up when she saw Hagrid standing at the entrance of the forest and knew that this would be better than serving it with Snape.
Hagrid sniffed loudly; it brought their attention to him though Flitch seemed to become annoyed by it. "Oh, good God, man, you're still not on about this bloody dragon, are you?"
"Norbert's gone. Dumbledore sent him off to Romania, to live in a colony." Hagrid told them, wiping his eyes.
"Well, that's good, isn't it? He'll be with his own kind." Hermione said and tried to comfort him though it didn't work.
"Yeah, but what if he doesn't like Romania? What if the other dragons are mean to him, he's only a baby after all." Hagrid said, much to Flitch aggravation.
"Oh, for god's sake. Pull yourself together man. You're going into the forest after all. Got to have your wits about you."
"The forest? I thought that was a joke. We can't go in there. Students aren't allowed. And there are… Werewolves." Yelled Draco, mumbling the last part.
Remus looked down at that, though, there were many other dangerous creatures inside that forest. Not only werewolves.
"Isn't the forest forbidden?" someone from the Gryffindor table asked.
"It is." Professor McGonagall told them, even more, confused not because of what was Dumbledore thinking.
"There are a lot more than werewolves in those woods' lad. You can be sure of that. Nighty-night." Flitch smirked and finished off with a laugh and started his walk back towards the castle.
"Right, let's go," Hagrid said as the five of them began to walk through the first few of trees – only to stop when they spotted some silvery liquid on the soft ground.
Almost everyone in the hall quieted down to stare at the screen in shock, they knew what that liquid was.
Hadriana shifted in her seat knowing quite well what was coming next.
"Hagrid what is that?" asked Hadriana.
"What we're here for. See that? That's unicorn blood that is. I found one dead a few weeks ago." Hagrid informed the trio, and Draco's eyes widened.
"Who would have done such a thing?" Luna asked angrily, but no one would have noticed because of her eerily calm voice.
"Slaying such an innocent creature like a unicorn is despicable, it could even curse the holiest of humans," Regulus told them, he was surprised to find his parents and his older brothers nodding to this and agreeing with him. It surprised him because they never agreed on something before.
"Now, this one has only been hurt badly by something," Hagrid told, Hadriana looked over to one of the sides and saw a cloaked figure gliding alongside the forest's shadows.
"So, it's our job to find the poor beast. Ron, Hermione you'll come with me."
"Ok." Hermione agreed and gave Ron a nod.
"And, Hadriana, you'll go with Malfoy." Hagrid then said, and Hadriana couldn't help to role her eyes at the boy.
"Okay, then I get Fang." Demanded Draco.
Hagrid chuckled slightly, "Fine. Just so yer know. He's a bloody coward." He said as Draco's face dropped.
Hadriana made her way into the forest following a laid-out path, exasperated over Draco's behaviour.
"You'll wait until my father hears about this. This is servant's stuff." Fumed Draco.
Hadriana gave him a sarcastic smile, "Like your father even wants to hear about it." she muttered to herself before saying, "If I didn't know better, Draco, I'd say you were scared."
Draco's head snapped towards her, "scared Potter?" he snapped, before spinning around as loud noises were heard howling. "Do you hear that? Come on, Fang. Scared." He mumbled and scowled at Hadriana as they continued walking. When Draco suddenly stopped, and stared right ahead, lip quivering in fear.
"What's going on?" Narcissa said, a little bit afraid for her son.
"What is it, Fang? Have you found something, boy?" Hadriana asked, petting the frightened dog's head, before looking up herself. Fear along with something else was shown across her features as she watched someone wearing a cloak leaning over the now-dead unicorn.
It had its face buried in its neck, and her scar began to give of hurtful pulses of dripping pain as she clutched the scar on her forehead.
The figure quickly spun around as they heard someone behind him, blood was dripping from his mouth as it stared at Hadriana who continued clutching her head in pain.
The great hall was in chaos, everyone was afraid of what was coming to be shown.
James along with Lily hugged one another, sitting close and whispering seeing it for what it was – their daughter being one heck of a little girl though they were afraid for her.
Young Sirius gave his future self a quivering smile and got a comforting smile in return by them both. Then he looked towards his younger brother and saw him looking confused but scared from what was happening on the screen. When their eyes met, they smiled and wondered if their relationship would ever be mended.
Moody was one of those few people who weren't screaming, he only wondered what that thing was – for being that desperate to slay a unicorn and live a cursed life.
A little while later, things had calmed down and they could continue to watch it.
Malfoy let out a loud and terrifying scream, running away alongside Fang leaving Hadriana there frozen in place.
"You left my granddaughter there alone?" Yelled the Potters right out to Draco who looked at them sheepishly.
"Well… I thought that she would follow me. Clearly, I was wrong." Draco defended himself.
Hadriana was knocked out of it, when the figure quickly begins to glide over to where she was standing, stopping right in front of her. It made her step a couple of steps before she tripped over a large tree root.
Hadriana still continued to crawl backwards away from the figure until she reached the front of a tree, stopping her from moving anywhere. The figure continued after her, before it suddenly stopped. Almost like it was fearful of whatever was coming their way, as the figure stepped soundly away by the sound of hooves.
Suddenly a centaur jumped over Hadriana, landing in front of her and stopping the creature from moving forwards to her. The centaur raised its front legs, trying to kick the hooded figure, only for it to slither away back to where it came from.
"Thank you…" Euphemia gave a sigh, that it had gone so well from the looks of it.
Other than Euphemia saying this, the great hall looked on in silence at the screen wondering who this was.
"Hadriana Potter, you must leave. You are known to many creatures here. The forest isn't safe this time at night. Especially for you." The centaur told her kindly, as he turned around to face her.
"But what was that thing you saved me from?" Hadriana asked him, though, she had a clue about who it could be.
"A monstrous creature. It is a terrible crime to slay a unicorn. Drinking the blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch form death. But there is a terrible price. For you have slain something so pure from the moment the blood touches your lips, that you will have a half-life. A cursed life."
"But who would choose such a life?" Hadriana asked him.
"Can't you think of someone?"
"Do you mean to say, that, that thing that killed the unicorn, that was drinking its blood, that was Voldemort?" Gasped Hadriana.
A lot of people in the great hall flinched at hearing her say the name, and the purebloods that still supported the guy looked on in disgust. They couldn't believe that he would sink so low to do something as horrible as killing a unicorn – all because of one lousy girl.
"Do you know what's hidden in the school, this very moment, miss potter?" asked the centaur.
"The philosopher stone." She mumbled clearly realizes that why it had been taken out of the vault now.
Hagrid then suddenly came rushing up behind them, with a crossbow in hand. Ron and Hermione, with Draco behind him.
"Hadriana Potter, this is where I leave you. You're safe now. Good luck." The centaur told her, before returning to the woods.
Hadriana had just right this moment spent her last couple of hours trying to explain the conversation to her friends in their common room.
"You mean, You-Know-Who, is out there right now, in the forest?" Ron gulped, looking over his shoulder fearfully.
"But he's weak. He's living off the unicorns. Don't you see We had it wrong? Snape doesn't want the stone for himself. He wants the stone for Voldemort. With the elixir of life, he will be strong again, he'll come back." Hadriana told them, though, there was something wrong with this picture.
Ron and Hermione's eyes widened, "But if he comes back, you don't think he'll try to kill you, do you?"
*He did. * Hadriana said quietly to Sirius, a little bit hurt that there were only a few people that had protected her back then and trusted her.
*You've been so brave! * Sirius said and let her rest her nose in the crock of his neck and sighed to himself that things had left its toll on his wife.
The hall saw them and knew that it was true.
Regulus sighed, knowing that things weren't as simple as some people in this hall would think the future is. There was a lot more, and things were going to get a lot worse.
"I think if he had a chance, he might have tried to kill me tonight." Hadriana sighed.
"And, to think I've been worrying about my potion's final." Hermione scolded herself.
"Only you, Mione," Neville said while shaking his head. While the rest of the great hall chuckled at what the girl had said.
"Hang in a minute. We're forgetting a thing. Who's the one wizard Voldemort's always feared? Dumbledore. As long as Dumbledore's around, Hadriana, your safe. As long as Dumbledore's around you can't be touched." Hermione said and shared a smile with Ron.
Hadriana couldn't help but let out a snort at that sentence because Dumbledore had never been there for her – the only time she saw him was when he needed something from her.
Lily and James could see the hurt shining through her eyes at the headmaster – since they were now more than ever clear that the headmaster shouldn't be trusted, that Dumbledore didn't lift a finger to help their daughter, or did he? They would keep an open mind, as they looked each other in the eyes.
Alistor Moody, one of the few Aurors around the hall, knew that things, a few things were becoming clearer as they watched – that this was just one of the few scenes of the movie that made sense. The thing was, he had always been suspicious of the genial Headmaster. What's the saying, 'Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.' Like the saying, he too has a saying, Constant Vigilance!