14

The Forbidden Forest

The next morning when Emily entered the Great Hall for breakfast she noticed that the Gryffindor table seemed upset. People were whispering to each other and glaring over at the hourglasses that recorded the House points. She took her seat next to Draco who as usual was across from Marcus Flint.

"What's going on with the Gryffs?" she asked reaching for her morning coffee.

"They lost one hundred and fifty points last night."

Emily did a double take. She turned to look back at the hourglass and realized that they had indeed lost points, their glass far emptier now than the other three. Turning her attention to the Gryffindor table, she noticed that people were glaring at her brother and his friends. She was hoping it wasn't what she thought it was. Hadn't he had the cloak with him? "Exactly how do you lose one hundred and fifty points in one night?" she asked looking back to Flint.

"Apparently McGonagall took the points from her House herself when three first years were found out of bed last night."

"Why would she do that?"

"No idea, but I do know that we are now guaranteed the House Cup this year."

As the day continued it became clear the Slytherins were the only people who were happy with Gryffindor's loss. It turns out the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had been hoping the Gryffindors would beat Slytherin, breaking their winning streak. Now that there was no hope of that, they too had turned against the three first years that had lost the points. Emily found out that not only had her brother and Granger been caught but also Longbottom had been found with them. The three first years were being treated horribly. People insulted them as they walked through the halls and sat far away from them at meal times.

The Slytherins had taken to applauding the small group and while Emily considered hexing a few of them she remembered her brother's words from the night on the tower and decided to let it be. The Slytherins, for the most part, were quick to let the incident go and returned to their normal behaviors of ignoring the other Houses in the halls. Emily had been disappointed however in the Weasley twins. She had been working with them on a new potion when she heard them refer to her brother as 'the Seeker'. Apparently even they had black listed her brother, which was serious business since the pair had lost their fair share of points over the years.

"But we don't get caught," Fred corrected Emily when she had pointed out that small fact to the twins.

"Everyone knows a Weasley prank," Emily countered.

"Of course they do, but they can't prove it was us."

George nodded in agreement with his brother, "The points we lose are for small things since they can't get us for anything else."

"You can't tell me you have never been caught."

"Once."

"First year."

"We lost 20 points."

"Each?"

"Total," the duo chorused earning a sigh from Emily as she turned her attention back to her brewing.

ooo

"Dray, does Quirrell seem to be getting worse to you?"

Draco looked over at the man who was attempting to tell them about their exam that was only a week away. Instead of saying anything he was sweating and kept dropping what he was holding before giving up and just telling them to review. "I think he is muttering to himself," he whispered back.

Emily watched as the man moved his lips ever so slightly, he did indeed look to be mumbling to himself. Suddenly he looked at her and they locked eyes. Her shoulder exploded in pain, which quickly started to travel through her body. She forced herself to maintain eye contact until the professor finally diverted his gaze.

"I just have this bad feeling… and a headache," she reached into her bag looking for her headache potion and realized she had run out. "Maybe we can stop by Professor Snape's office and see if he has a headache cure after class, I'm out." Rolling her shoulder Emily moved her hand to rub it slightly, "And a pain potion."

"Is it still bothering you?" Draco looked worriedly at his friend.

"It's no big deal, I could have pulled it carrying all our books."

Draco looked like he didn't believe her but he nodded his head anyway in agreement before starting back in on his revision.

The next morning at breakfast Emily and Draco each received a note from Professor McGonagall informing them that they would be serving detention later in the evening. The pair were to meet Filch in the Entrance Hall no later than eleven o'clock.

"Bit ironic," Draco mumbled before taking a sip of his tea.

Emily nodded her head in agreement, it was a bit strange but the young witch preferred the night anyway. The one thing she was not looking forward to was being with the cantankerous caretaker, that was punishment enough.

Emily and Draco met Filch in the entrance hall at eleven and were told that they were waiting on a few more students. The students they were waiting for turned out to be Harry, Granger and Longbottom. Harry refused to meet her eyes but surprisingly Granger smiled at her.

"No time for hellos," the old man barked. "We have a job to do, follow me," he instructed as he lit a lantern to lead them out of the front doors. He began to ramble about pain and hard work being good punishments for students and wishing he could hang students from the ceiling with the chains he oiled daily hoping he could use them one day soon. He seemed to think he was scaring them but Emily couldn't stop her eye roll. His attempt to scare them was pointless, as long as Dumbledore was the headmaster the most he could do was make the students clean the chains in his office not hang them from there. She looked at the others and they seemed to be taking Filch more seriously.

Emily noticed Filch was leading them from the school towards Hagrid's hut. Emily was curious, if they were going to be serving detention with Hagrid what could they possibly help him with at eleven o'clock at night? Harry looked relieved which Filch seemed to notice immediately.

"If you think you'll be having a good time with the oaf you're wrong. You're all going into the forest tonight. And you'll be lucky if you come back in one piece." Did this man have nothing better to do then try and scare children? She couldn't take him seriously but the others did. She noticed Longbottom let out a bit of a squeak and Draco stopped walking.

"The forbidden forest?" he said. Emily had a strong urge to tell him to buck up. "But students are not allowed in the forest – there are werewolves and all sorts of creatures in there."

Longbottom seemed to be choking as he held onto Harry for dear life. Emily wanted to point out that it was not a full moon tonight and she highly doubted there were any humans in the forest waiting to jump out and bite them.

"Not my problem boy," snarked Filch, "Maybe if you had thought of this beforehand you wouldn't be worrying about them werewolves."

Emily groaned this man was a broken record. Hagrid chose that moment to join the group, with a crossbow in his hand. "What took yeh so long I've been waitin' fer half an' hour?" Hagrid looked at Emily who slyly pointed her thumb at Filch before making a talking motion and he nodded in understanding.

"Remember you aren't their friend Hagrid," said Filch coldly, "they are being punished."

"Why don' yeh head on back, I got 'em from here." Filch glared at them saying he would collect them at dawn before turning around and heading back up to the school.

Draco watched Filch leave and he turned back to the others. He refused to go into the forest and Emily had to roll her eyes at her best friend. Now was not the time to play the prissy heir.

"Yeah, yeh will be," Hagrid told him sternly. "If yeh wan' ter stay here, yeh got ter go into the forest with the others."

"This is not a task for students. We should be doing lines not going into the forbidden forest, if my father knew about this —" Emily nudged him in the side to silence him.

"—he'd say that yeh have ter do as yer told," Hagrid growled.

Hagrid took Draco's silence as acceptance and he led them to where a dirt path led into the forest, disappearing into the dark trees before them. Hagrid bent down and dipped his finger into a silvery substance pooled to the side. He held out his finger so all the first years could get a better look.

"This here is unicorn blood," he told them. "I already found one dead last week and it looks like another's been hurt by summat and it's our job ter go and find it."

"You think it is safe, for us to go into the forest when something is killing unicorns?" Draco said in disbelief.

"Nothin' that lives in the forest will hurt yeh as long as me or Fang are there," Hagrid responded proudly but Emily had to agree with Draco on this one, if something was killing unicorns perhaps it wasn't the best idea to venture into the forest.

"It'll be alright," the giant announced obviously noticing the unease of the group before clearing his throat and pointing down the path. "The trail heads off into two directions. We're goin' ter have ter split up since the blood is on both paths."

Draco misjudging Fang's ability to be ferocious when needed requested to take him. Hagrid agreed but Draco paled even more when he was informed that Fang was a coward. Emily, Harry and Granger would be going with Hagrid while Draco was with Fang and Longbottom. Hagrid told them that if they found the unicorn they were to send up green sparks so the other group could meet up with them. He had them practice a few times before they entered the forest and separated into their groups.

"Do you think its werewolves killing the unicorns?" Harry asked.

"They aren't fast enough," Emily answered for Hagrid. "Unicorns are one of the fastest creatures in the forest, a werewolf doesn't have the speed to come close to one."

"Em is righ', I've never known a unicorn ter be hurt, let alone be killed before," Hagrid said motioning for the group to be quiet as he inspected the path.

As they walked they noticed blood scattered but not enough for Emily to think their group was headed in the correct direction. She glanced at Harry who was trying to comfort his friend Granger, the poor girl's face was extremely pale. Hagrid noticing the witch's state asked if she was ok but quickly yelled at all of them to move behind a tree.

Hagrid pushed the three first years behind him before they could attempt to move. They were all silent, listening intently. Emily swore she could hear something that sounded like a cloak dragging on the ground and twigs snapping under someone's feet. The sound faded after a few seconds of silence.

"I don' like this," Hagrid whispered.

"Is it a werewolf?" Harry asked looking around them into the trees.

"Harry would you look at the moon, it isn't full tonight," Emily said pointing up at the sky. "The werewolves aren't even werewolves tonight. They are probably at home in bed like every other human being, so stop asking about them."

Harry smiled sheepishly at the others, following Hagrid as they moved closer to a clearing ahead of them. Hearing a sound Hagrid called for whoever it was to show themselves and into the clearing stepped a centaur. He had red hair and his body was a chestnut color. Hagrid seemed to know him and called him Ronan.

"Well met Hagrid. Were you going to harm me?" Ronan asked tilting his head as he examined the crossbow in the giant's hand.

"Sorry, Ronan," said Hagrid, patting his crossbow. "Not sure what is in the forest righ' now."

"You and your companions are."

"Righ', this is Emily an' Harry Potter an' Hermione Granger. Yeh three, this here is Ronan."

"Good evening," Ronan said acknowledging the first years. "You are students then? Are you learning much?"

All Harry and Granger could do was nod their heads. Emily barely heard Granger's whispered 'a bit'.

The centaur seemed distracted and didn't even notice the lack of an answer to his question as he stared up to the sky and commented on the brightness of Mars. Emily felt he was trying to imply something and thought about his statement focusing on Mars. Weren't centaurs supposed to predict the future based on their readings of the sky or was she just so on edge being in the forest that she was overthinking things.

"Sure," replied Hagrid, glancing up at the sky too. "Have yeh seen anythin' odd in the forest by chance? There's a hurt unicorn, found one dead las' week and we need to find what's doin' it."

It took Ronan a moment before he replied. He gave a big sigh before looking at them, "It's always the innocent who are the first to fall. It's a shame history repeats itself. If only people would listen." Emily was starting to get the idea she wasn't over things and was getting unsettled at the Centaur's implications but looking at the others they just seemed confused.

"Okay," said Hagrid, "but do yeh know anythin' about what's been hurtin' the unicorns?"

Again Ronan looked back up to the night's sky seemingly ignoring the giant's question, "Mars grows ever brighter."

"You mean that it approaches soon then?" Emily finally asked, deciding she needed to know if the forest was merely getting the better of her.

"It has already begun, child of prophecy."

Just then a black-haired centaur emerged from the trees, while the others were looking at Emily as if she had grown a second head. Hagrid turned and upon noticing the new centaur, he greeted him calling him Bane.

"You scared us," Hagrid admitted patting his chest.

"You have brought children into the forest?" came the reply. Bane didn't look very happy at the idea of the first years being present.

"Well they are helpin' me look fer the unicorn that has been hurt. Have you seen anythin' or know where the poor thing is?"

Bane just looked skyward and stepped up alongside Ronan, "It grows ever brighter."

Hagrid seemed annoyed and bid Ronan and Bane goodbye. The three first years followed him out of the clearing and back onto the dark path. Emily swore she heard a cloak again but this time she had a strong feeling of being watched. Whatever it was though she couldn't figure out because they were far enough away that she couldn't feel its magical signature.

They were just passing a bend when they noticed some red sparks in the air, Emily immediately was worried about Draco. Hagrid told them to wait where they were and took off in the direction that they had seen the sparks come from.

"You don't think they've been hurt, do you?" whispered Granger as she held on tighter to Harry.

Emily listened as her brother told Hermione he didn't care if Draco had been hurt he just hoped Longbottom was okay. Emily had an urge to punch her brother. How rude can you be? He could care less if the Slytherin was hurt but if the Gryffindor was then he could feel compassion.

When Hagrid returned he seemed to be angry, Draco looked upset as well and Longbottom seemed to be fearful. Hagrid told them that Draco had grabbed Longbottom as a joke causing him to set off the sparks out of fear. Draco was trying to explain that he had heard something and tugged the other boy's arm to ask if he had heard it as well, but his explanation fell on deaf ears. Obviously, Harry was not the only person there that thought the worst of Slytherins, Hagrid did too.

"We're changing groups," Hagrid announced. "Neville you are stayin' with me an' Hermione. Draco you go with the twins an' Fang."

For the next half hour the three walked deeper into the forest. Harry seemed to be upset he was with them and Draco was angry Hagrid hadn't listened to him. Annoyed that both boys were behaving poorly Emily focused on what they were supposed to be doing, finding the wounded unicorn. She noticed the blood getting thicker and then she saw it. Looking up as Harry and Draco took to move toward the dead unicorn, she grabbed them roughly pulling them both behind her feeling the familiar magical signatures that were not friendly.

"What are you doing?" Harry hissed but Emily motioned him to be quiet.

A hooded figure crawled out of the darkness towards the unicorn, lowering its head it began to drink. Emily got the idea that the being knew they were being watched.

Seeing the sight, Draco screamed and took off running with Fang not far behind him. Harry seemed frozen behind Emily. The figure rose to its feet and began to advance on the twins, a shimmer of silver blood the only thing visible in the black distortion of the face. Clearly the being was using a strong concealment charm. The pain in Emily's shoulder was unlike any pain she had felt before, it quickly traveled through her until she felt like her head and chest were being split open. Harry fell to his knees grasping at his own forehead while instinctively Emily forced herself to ignore the pain and moved to block Harry from the figure completely. She felt relief flood her as she heard hooves shortly followed by something that came jumping through the air into the clearing landing just in front of her. The figure turned and left quickly at the arrival of what Emily realized was a centaur. Turning she helped Harry to his feet.

"Are you both unhurt?" the centaur asked.

"We're fine, thank you," Emily replied.

"What was that?" Harry was looking in the direction the figure had fled.

"You are the child of prophecy," he responded dismissing the question and looking at Emily. "Climb on my back. We need to get you away from here."

"What is your name?" Emily asked him as he lowered himself for the pair to climb on his back. Before he could answer they were suddenly joined in the clearing by Ronan and Bane.

"Firenze!" Bane thundered. "How can you let the humans ride you? Are you a common mule?"

Ronan placed a hand on Bane, "That is the girl of prophecy, her eyes are open and she hears us. Allow Firenze to take them to safety. We both know she should not be in here. No child should." Bane didn't look happy with the suggestion and pawed at the ground before turning and galloping out of site. "Be quick Firenze, Mars is bright, you know what you risk." With that Ronan turned following after where Bane had disappeared into the dark trees.

Firenze immediately took off running through the trees. It was obvious Harry was confused.

"What was that in the clearing back there? What are you risking?" Harry rapidly asked.

Firenze slowed his pace but did not answer yet. When they reached a dense grouping of trees Firenze stopped and asked Harry if he knew what unicorn blood was used for. Harry replied in the negative.

Emily paled, "It is used to sustain life. No matter how close to death you may be it will keep you alive. It is said to be a great offense to nature to partake in the properties without a willing sacrifice."

"That is correct, it is a terrible crime to kill a unicorn. Without it offering a sacrifice, you have slain something so pure to save your own life you will lead a cursed life."

Harry seemed to not understand and asked Firenze who could be that desperate when surely death was better than a lifetime that is cursed. "Indeed death would be better," Firenze answered. "But for someone who only needs it until they can reach something else. Something that once drunk would give the person full power and strength again. Something that would grant the drinker immortality."

It clicked for Emily at that moment, everything fell into place. Harry and Firenze were still talking but her mind was elsewhere... the centaur's warnings, the pain in her scar, the magic she recognized as being hostile towards her, it all made perfect sense. She was broken from her thoughts by Draco. "Em! Em, oh I'm so sorry I ran! Are you ok?" her friend was frantic with fear.

"We are fine," she said as she and Harry climbed off Firenze's back. "Thank you, Firenze."

"Of course, child of prophecy. Be safe and head our warning, do not forget how brightly Mars is beginning to shine," he bowed his head to her before running off into the forest.

Later when Emily and Draco entered the common room, the Slytherin first years went straight to the blonde's room, both putting on their pajamas and crawling into the bed. Propping themselves up against the headboard they sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Draco finally asked. "Why did he call you child of prophecy?"

"I don't know, I can only guess as to why all the centaurs referred to me as that but what I am certain of is he wants the stone."

"Who?"

"Voldemort, that is the hostile magic I have been feeling."

"What are you talking about, I think we would know if he was in the school, Em."

"Firenze hinted that the figure was Voldemort and the magic felt the same. And you heard all the centaurs, they kept saying Mars was bright!"

"I don't understand."

"Draco what was Mars the god of?"

"War… Oh."

"Yeah, they said Mars was bright and the innocents are always the first casualties."

"So war is close then and innocent people are going to die."

Emily nodded, "Voldemort wants the stone. He is drinking the unicorn blood to keep himself alive. If he had the stone he would be strong again. The year is almost up Dray, he will have to make his move soon..." After sitting together in silence for a while they both moved to lie down under the covers. Draco reached over and took Emily's hand as they fell asleep, both worried about the days ahead.