Hermione gaped at her father. Harry and Draco's eyes seemed to bulge out of their heads
"You mean, Lily Potter?" Draco asked Severus, a definite question in his eyes.
"Yes, Draco, I do. It was a complete shock to me as well, but your father was there, he knows the truth as well. You can write to him if you don't believe me. I cannot stay for much longer, but I do wish to speak with you all. What have you found out about the Dark Lord and the Headmaster?"
"Well," Hermione began, "I don't think that Professor Dumbledore was telling the whole truth about himself, just from the way he was acting."
"Understood, continue," Severus said.
Hermione went first, recapping all that she had read and heard from the Headmaster, trying to keep every single detail in her speech as possible. She first told him of their encounters under Harry's invisibility cloak, followed why what she had read in the restricted section. She avoided looking her father in the eye, not wanting to see the look of disappointment he had on his face from hearing about their rule breaking experiences. When she got to the part where she and Harry found the Mirror of Erised, Severus's eyes flashed, and he muttered something under his breath that sounded oddly like 'damn bastard'.
Once Hermione's recount of the night's events was complete, Severus checked with Harry and Draco to make sure that she was indeed telling the whole truth. Draco, however, remained silent. Severus, being the clever man that he is, rounded on Draco and demanded that he also recount the night's events. So, Draco told him everything that had happened. By the end of the speech, all three Slytherin's were avoiding looking at their Head of House.
"I am very disappointed in all three of you. The three smartest and best first years all out after curfew, not caring about how many points you could have cost Slytherin or the reputation you have placed on me," Severus snapped. Draco opened his mouth to speak, but was silenced with a look from his godfather. "When I sent you that message yesterday, I meant research them today after your homework was done, or when Potions class was supposed to be held."
"You will meet your mother, and in your case, Draco, godmother, during the easter holidays. For now, you three will go to bed, and Harry, hand over your invisibility cloak. You will get it back after the Easter Holidays, and after you have proven that you are responsible enough to have such an object."
Harry reluctantly shuffled to his dorm room to fetch his cloak, while Hermione and Draco remained staring at the floor in front of Severus. Hermione was doing her best to hide the tears that were welling in her eyes, and Draco was having a debate with himself on whether or not to say that this was his idea. He had noticed Hermione's tears and for whatever reason, it made him feel guilty.
"Um, Uncle Sev?" Draco whispered.
"What is it, Draco?" Severus drawled.
"Please don't be too mad at Hermione and Harry. It was my idea to go to the library after hours, and I feel guilty about it. I understand if you want to give me another detention, as I deserve it."
"My wards are turning into bloody Gryffindors," Severus muttered under his breath as he walked towards his desk. "Draco, thank you for being honest, but they still went along with the plan, so they are still at fault. Whether or not you instigated this, they are at fault. I will not be giving out more detentions, but I want a-foot-long essay from each of you on what you have done. Place them here on this desk when they have been completed. I want them done by the end of the week."
Hermione and Draco nodded. Harry walked calmly back into Severus' quarters and handed over his invisibility cloak. While he was bummed about not having it, he understood why Severus was disappointed and worried about him having it. Severus gave a curt nod as he received it and shoved it into his coat pocket.
"Now off to bed, all three of you. I will see you during the Easter Holidays, as they are only 2 weeks away now. I hope that you three start studying for your exams soon, as well. Good night, children," Severus said, ushering them out of his chambers.
"Good night," the three chorused back. Hermione gave him a kiss on the cheek before walking back into the common room to pack up their games for the night.
Draco walked the corridors after hours again, only this time was for his detention with Hagrid, Weasley, Finnegan, and Thomas. He was dreading it. Not only would he have to spend hours with Gryffindors, he would have to face the possibility that Hagrid would be angry with him for turning them in. He didn't turn Hagrid in out of spite, but out of concern, and that's what most people didn't understand about him.
Draco walked out into the chilly air and drew his cloak around him tighter. He walked towards Hagrid's hut, and he appeared to be the first one there. Then again, he was fifteen minutes early. He sat outside on the stone steps for five minutes or so, until he heard Filch coming around the corner with the other Gryffindors.
"Ah, I miss the old punishments," Draco heard Filch wheeze as he came out the front doors. "We could hang you by the wrists, and it was glorious. Ah, yes, here's the other troublemaker."
Draco rolled his eyes as he got up to follow the wheeze-machine and the three proud Gryffindors. They eyed him warily before continuing to follow Filch. When they got to Hagrid's hut, Hagrid was outside waiting for them. He was adjusting his crossbow, and tied it to his overlarge waist when he noticed them.
"Sorry that you have to deal with this Hagrid," Filch muttered.
"Norbert's gone," Hagrid sniffed. Draco rolled his eyes, yet again. "They sent him off to live in a colony in Romania. I'm worried about the creature, he's just a baby."
This time it was Filch who rolled his eyes.
"Pull yourself together man, you're going into the forest tonight. Need to have your wits about you," Filch muttered in a sing-songy voice.
"The Forest," Draco asked, genuinely confused. "We can't go in there, Professor Dumbledore said students aren't allowed."
"Nothing will hurt ye when yer with me," Hagrid reassured, fixing Draco with a cold look.
And so, they followed Hagrid into the forest. Hagrid had told them that they were looking for the thing that was hunting and killing unicorns. He explained that this was a crime, especially if the thing that killed the unicorn was human. When they got to a fork in the road, Hagrid stopped and separated them into two groups. Unfortunately, he was put with Weasley. Draco inwardly sighed.
"Fine, then I get Fang," Draco said, not wanting to be alone with Hagrid.
"Fine. Just so ye know, he's a bloody coward," Hagrid said with a look that Draco couldn't decipher. Draco swallowed loudly, mostly out of fear.
Weasley and Draco set out on the path. Fang kept whimpering, and frankly, Draco was getting a bit tired of it.
"My father will be hearing of this," Draco said. "Even Professor Dumbledore said that we shouldn't go into the forest. If the professors are having us do something against the rules, then there is a serious problem with the school."
"If I didn't know better, Draco," Weasley said, taunting him. "I'd say you were scared."
"Scared, Ron? Ha!" Draco lifted the lantern a little higher. "Wait, Weasley, there's a unicorn. I think it's dead."
"Maybe we should get a closer look at the wound," Ron proposed.
"For once, Weasley, I agree with you."
They got closer to the dead unicorn. Its white coat seemed to glow in the moonlight, and its silver blood sparkled as it dripped to the frosty ground. There was something so mournful about this scene that Draco felt a pang in his heart for the creature that he knew nothing about. Draco looked around for a leaf to wipe off some of the blood near the puncture wound, and for a mere second, he saw a simple 5-centimeter-long slash before blood started pouring out of the wound again. Draco sat back on his heals to ask Weasley to send up red sparks for Hagrid, but was interrupted by a blood curdling scream.
Weasley was the color of the unicorn, his hand pointing at a hooded figure a mere meter away. Draco stumbled away from the unicorn, his heart pounding. Draco stared at the black figure, petrified. He knew that he had to run, but his legs weren't working. He heard Fang and Ron run away from the figure, but he couldn't stop staring at it. It was almost as if he were entranced. The figure slowly crept forward to him. Draco's eyes grew wide and he grasped for his wand.
All of a sudden, Draco felt a whoosh of wind, and the cloaked thing was pushed away from him. Standing before him was a centaur, who was nearly double his height. The centaur introduced himself as Firenze and peered down at Draco, who was terrified.
"Are you alright, young foal?"
"Yes, yes, I think so. What did you just save me from?" Draco asked, awestruck.
"A terrible creature. You see, it is a terrible crime to slay a unicorn, since it is so pure and it is the representative of innocent in this world. The moment the blood touches your lips, you will live a half, cursed life," Firenze responded calmly. "The centaurs have noticed something is amiss in the stars. The thing that is being hidden in the school is in terrible danger of being stolen by one of the few people who are protecting it. Do you understand what the stars read as well, young foal?"
"Yes, and no. I think I know who you are talking about, but I will need to ask my friends about it."
"Do not worry about that, young foal. Read the stars and you will understand. I sense Hagrid is coming, so I will leave you here now. You are safe now that Hagrid is here."
And with that incredibly short encounter, Firenze leaped away as Hagrid came into sight.
"Malfoy!" Hagrid called, doing a sort of awkward run to get to him. "Are ye alright?"
"Fine. Firenze knocked the cloaked figure away from me before he could hurt me. There's the unicorn though, Hagrid. It has a small slash where the blood is coming from."
"I'm glad yer alright," Hagrid said, not looking at Draco in the eye. "We should probably make our way back to the castle. It's almost midnight."
Draco nodded, and pulled his cloak around him. He followed Hagrid and the other Gryffindors back to the castle, but not before stopping at Hagrid's hut. Hagrid waved the three Gryffindors into the castle and asked Draco to stay behind for a little bit before heading back to bed. Draco was a little concerned, as he wasn't sure whether Hagrid wanted to talk about the dragon, who's name was apparently Norbert, as he had learned earlier, or the unicorn incident that had happened earlier. He waited patiently for the other trio to leave before asking Hagrid what he wanted.
"Well, firstly, I wanted to ask if ye were okay. That was quite a scare we had back there, and I'm sure ye were terrified," Hagrid said, handing Draco a cup of tea.
"I'm fine. Just a little shaken," Draco responded.
"I also wanted to ask why ye turned me, Ron, Seamus, and Dean in," Hagrid asked. "That wasn't very kind of ye."
"I told Professor McGonagall about the dragon and you, because, well, dragons grow fairly large, and you couldn't keep him in here forever, especially since it breathed fire. You live in a wooden house, sir. Weasley and the others were because they were out after curfew. I had already been given a detention so I figured why not." Draco shrugged.
"Very well. Off to bed with ye. Good night."
"Yes, sir. Good night," Draco said as he set his cup of tea down and headed out the door, utterly exhausted.