This is the second chapter that has been, in large parts, lifted directly from the book. If all you care about is the stuff different from canon, I'd advise you to read the first two scenes and then skip to the next chapter, when that comes out. Again, I'm at this time simply not skilled enough to avoid copying the book in certain sections. They have to take place to set up certain scenes for later, and compressing them would destroy the pacing completely, and I hate it when an otherwise familiar scene suddenly has dialogue that is just different enough to get on my nerves. The decision to copy was made consciously, but hopefully this chapter will be the last time where it's this blatant.
Chapter Ten: The Weight of Knowledge
Filch took Daphne to Professor McGonagall's office. She didn't know why he didn't take her directly to Snape, but maybe McGonagall was just on patrol duty tonight.
Snape is not going to be happy, she thought while she was waiting for McGonagall to arrive.
Fortunately, she'd neither seen nor heard from Harry since Filch had caught her, so she hoped he, at least, would've made it back to Gryffindor Tower without trouble.
Despite being nervous about the punishment she was about to receive, she also felt a grim satisfaction that at least, Malfoy's plan had backfired spectacularly.
At that moment, Professor McGonagall entered the office.
"Miss Greengrass," she said heavily. "Mr. Filch tells me you were in the Astronomy Tower. It's one o' clock in the morning. Explain yourself."
Daphne took a deep breath. "I heard Draco Malfoy telling wild stories about a dragon that Harry Potter was supposedly going to release from the Astronomy Tower at midnight," she said. "I knew it wasn't true — you know I'm friends with Harry and I've been studying with him, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley for weeks — but I was still curious if something would happen here, since Malfoy was so adamant about it, unlike that time with the fake duel, so I snuck up to the tower about half past eleven. When no one had shown up yet by half past twelve, I figured I'd go back to the common room, but that clearly didn't go as planned."
Professor McGonagall sighed deeply. "Miss Greengrass, I need hardly tell you that what you did was monumentally stupid. I'll take you to Professor Snape, who will handle the details of your detention, but nothing gives you the right to be roaming the school at night. At the very least, this will cost Slytherin twenty points."
Daphne couldn't keep a smirk from quickly crossing her face, and Professor McGonagall did not miss it.
"Do you find this funny, Miss Greengrass?"
"A bit, yes," Daphne admitted. "Malfoy was adamant to get Harry expelled, but not only was Harry entirely innocent, it's also cost Slytherin a lot of points. Whatever his plan was, I'm pretty sure it fell apart."
"I would take more points from Slytherin for that callousness, Miss Greengrass, but it would seem that would only amuse you further. I must say I had expected better from you."
The disappointment in Professor McGonagall's voice made Daphne feel a bit guilty in spite of herself.
"I know," she said softly. "And I am sorry…but Professor, I really, really don't like Draco Malfoy and his eternal quest to get my friends in trouble."
Professor McGonagall was silent for a moment and seemed to be thinking very hard about her next words. "The desire to protect one's friends is a noble one, Miss Greengrass, but do not let it be at the cost of others, even those you do not personally care for. Hurting others for personal gain is not the right way, even if…certain people might think differently. You must rise above that sort of behavior, Miss Greengrass, or it may lead you down a dark path."
Daphne gave a humorless chuckle. "Professor, what House do you think I'm in?"
"Do not hide yourself behind shallow one-liners, Miss Greengrass. Your House does not define you, and you are too clever to buy into that sort of thinking."
A thin smile appeared around her lips. "Or do you believe a 'true' Slytherin would be such close friends with a group of Gryffindors?"
Snape regarded Daphne coldly from behind his desk. "Well, Miss Greengrass? What is your story? I know you are not fond of Mr. Malfoy, so I don't believe for a moment that you thought there would really be a dragon at the Astronomy Tower, even though he seemed certain that Potter would be there. Would you happen to know anything about that, perhaps?"
"I'm friends with Harry, sir, and he certainly did not have a dragon," Daphne said.
"Then why did Mr. Malfoy think he did? Miss Greengrass, though I did and still do appreciate the conversation we had at Christmas, I'm still of the opinion that Potter has inherited more than a little of his father's troublemaking streak. While Mr. Malfoy is rather…blunt in his endeavors to get Potter in trouble — yes, Miss Greengrass, I am not blind — I don't believe that he would make up a story like this entirely."
Daphne had expected a question along those lines, and she'd come up with a partial explanation, but she would have to choose her words very carefully.
"Well…Hagrid borrowed a book from the library about raising dragons," she said. "He told us that he would very much like to have his own dragon, and we were afraid that he might actually try and get his hands on a dragon egg — you know what he's like — so we often went down to his hut to try and talk him out of it. We were discussing it over breakfast a bit too loudly, and Malfoy must've heard us somehow. I don't know what he could've seen that convinced him there was a real dragon, though. Perhaps he saw Fang from a strange angle."
Snape was silent for a long time, and Daphne found it hard to keep answering his gaze. His black eyes seemed to be looking straight through her.
Then, with maddening slowness, Snape opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a letter. Daphne's blood ran cold when she remembered how Malfoy had discovered the plan in the first place. He had Charlie's letter.
She shivered and felt her heartrate spike. She'd been caught red-handed in a lie. What was Snape going to do now? And what would happen to Hagrid, now that Snape had incontrovertible proof that there had been a dragon? And what about Harry and Ron and Hermione?
"I see you recognize the letter," Snape said coolly.
"I took the dragon up the tower," she said, deciding that since the game was up anyway, she might as well do some damage control.
Snape raised an eyebrow. "Indeed?"
"I didn't want Harry or the others to get in trouble, so I volunteered, in the hopes that if things went wrong, I'd take Malfoy down with me," Daphne said. It wasn't a lie — it just wasn't the whole truth, either.
Again, Snape remained silent for a while. Was he deliberately trying to unnerve her?
"A Norwegian Ridgeback, even a small one, is too large for one person to carry. At least one of your friends was with you, and I think that it was Potter," Snape said.
Daphne swallowed hard, but said nothing. Snape had no proof of Harry's involvement; as long as she kept her mouth shut, he wouldn't be able to do anything.
"Why do you go to such lengths to protect him, Miss Greengrass?"
"Harry is my friend," she said defiantly.
When Snape kept staring at her, she went on, "When has Harry caused trouble for the sake of causing trouble? He went after the mountain troll to help me. We carried the dragon to the top of the tower to help Hagrid. And Neville's cauldron melting in the first Potions class, sir, was not his fault."
She knew she'd just admitted that Harry was also guilty, but Snape had clearly figured it out already, and it wasn't hard to see his reasoning even without his dislike for Harry. Ron was injured, and Hermione hated breaking rules. Harry was the natural choice, and she wasn't about to let him take the fall too, not after he'd managed to safely return to his common room.
When Snape still didn't say anything, Daphne continued, "Please, sir. You caught me. Fine, punish me. But don't go and punish people who were only trying to help. I at least was trying to bring Malfoy down, so I had some selfish motivation. Harry didn't. His friend was in trouble and he acted on it. He doesn't deserve to be punished for trying to do good."
"And yet, he remains a troublemaker all the same, consistently ignoring rules created for his own protection, thinking he knows better than everyone else. Why not come to a member of staff to get this sorted out?" Snape asked.
Daphne couldn't answer that question. If she mentioned the duel, she might get Harry in trouble for something that had happened months ago. Besides, that had been one of the few occasions where Harry had been mostly acting on a selfish desire to take Malfoy down. If they'd gone to Snape or McGonagall with Hagrid's situation — most likely McGonagall, given their suspicions of Snape's integrity — what would have happened? Hagrid might have gotten in trouble, but maybe not, if the egg would've been removed before it hatched. But if they had gone to a teacher, they would have betrayed Hagrid's confidence, and that wouldn't have sat well with her, either.
"I admire the loyalty you display to your friends, Miss Greengrass," Snape said when it was clear to him that Daphne had no answer. "It is a trait that few in this House share, and one that is even often looked down on as a sign of weakness. Those who look down on it, however, simply don't know what loyalty truly means."
He fell silent for a moment and looked at the letter in his hand. "Potter…will not be punished, nor will Weasley or Granger, whom I know to have been involved as well. You will shoulder their burden, and for each of them, another ten points will be deducted, meaning thirty points from Slytherin in total, in addition to the points Professor McGonagall has already taken from you."
He set the letter down on his desk and tapped it with his wand. It immediately caught fire and was burned to ashes in mere seconds.
Daphne couldn't believe her eyes. Snape had destroyed the evidence, and evidence that could help him get Harry in trouble, to boot.
"The details of the detention you and Mr. Malfoy will serve will be determined later. For now, return to your dorm. You are not to speak about what we talked about to anyone, including Potter. Do you understand me?"
She nodded, fully intending to tell Harry and the others everything anyway. "Yes, sir."
"Miss Greengrass, I'll repeat myself: do not speak of this to anyone. You may inform them of your punishment, when it has been decided, but no more," Snape said.
She looked up in confusion. Had Snape realized she'd been intending to ignore the order?
"Information is powerful, Miss Greengrass, especially in the wrong hands, as you have just seen. It's even more dangerous when one does not fully comprehend the true value or nature of the information they possess."
Daphne nodded. She didn't know if she had fully understood what Snape had just told her, but perhaps that was the entire point. As much as she wanted to tell Harry and the others about it, something told her that it was better to listen to Snape's request to keep it secret, if for no other reason than that he could have punished all of them. Keeping what appeared to be a minor, harmless secret was a fair price to pay for that.
"Sir, what if Malfoy writes to his father about the dragon?"
"There was no dragon, Miss Greengrass. It was a story invented by Potter and backed up with a fake letter that has at any rate been disposed of. Mr. Malfoy was foolish enough to believe it and get caught in the hallway. As for what he saw…perhaps it was merely Hagrid's dog from a strange angle. You were simply out there hoping for Mr. Malfoy to get in trouble, but were caught as well." Snape's face was entirely expressionless while he said this.
Daphne nodded once. "Yes, sir."
Snape made a dismissive motion with his hand. Daphne was grinning all the way back to her dorm.
The next day, the Slytherins walking past the giant hourglasses that recorded the House points were a bit confused as to why they suddenly had seventy points fewer than the day before. Then word began to spread that two extremely foolish first-years had been caught in the hallways. Both being from Noble Houses, neither was directly accosted, but Daphne had to endure extremely dirty looks from the other Slytherins.
She didn't care, though, because even though she'd lost more points than Malfoy — Snape hadn't needed to punish people by proxy with him, after all — Malfoy was still partially to blame, and for once he wasn't trying to focus attention onto himself.
Daphne's Gryffindor friends, however, were in awe. Slytherin had effectively destroyed their chances at the House Cup by losing so many points, and that would mean they would lose for the first time in years. Even the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs gave her appreciative glances and thumbs-up, which she accepted with a grin.
Aside from the points situation, though, she'd once again started to think about the problem with the Philosopher's Stone. Her conversation with Snape had renewed her conviction that Snape wasn't trying to steal the Stone. Every extended interaction she'd had with him had been fairly neutral, and he had shown great restraint in not punishing Harry, even though he probably could have found a way to. His actions and apparent actions simply didn't add up, and it made Daphne wonder if he had perhaps been hinting at that very thing with his 'nature of information' bit.
With exams drawing ever closer, however, she didn't get nearly as much time to ponder about the Stone in the days that followed. She spent most of her time in the library with Harry, Hermione, and Ron, generally working until late into the night to get everything done.
She'd kept her promise to Snape and hadn't told them how close he'd been to busting Harry, but she felt that if things came to a head with the Philosopher's Stone, she would have to.
That day, it seemed, came about a week before the exams. Harry had left the library to head back to the Gryffindor common room, but returned only a couple of minutes later, telling the others that he'd overhead Quirrell begging and pleading in what appeared to have been an empty classroom.
"Snape's done it, then," Ron said immediately. "If Quirrell's told him how to break his Anti-Dark Force spell…"
"There's still Fluffy, though," Hermione said.
"Maybe Snape's found out how to get past him without asking Hagrid," Ron said.
"It's not Snape," Daphne said before more speculation could be made.
"We've been over this," Ron said. "No matter how you look at it, he–"
"It isn't him," Daphne repeated. "Look, when I was in his office after Norbert…"
She hesitated.
"Yes?" Hermione said.
Daphne made a frustrated noise. "He made me promise not to tell what we'd talked about," she said angrily. She was irritated that Snape made it so hard for her to defend him. "I didn't really understand why, but I got the feeling that was the reason I'm not allowed to talk about it in the first place. The point is, he did something that night that makes me absolutely certain he's not the guy we're after."
She was laying it on a little thick; despite Snape's mercy for Harry, she did still have some doubts, but this wasn't the moment to express them.
"I can't tell you anything else, but you have to trust me on this."
Harry, Hermione, and Ron looked from Daphne, to each other, then back to Daphne.
"I trust you," Harry said eventually.
He grinned at her. "You took the fall for me with Norbert. I don't think you'd lie about this now. If you say Snape is innocent — in this — then I believe you."
"I don't know, Daphne," Ron said. "Snape is exactly the sort of guy who would threaten you to get what he wants. But I do trust you, even if I don't trust him, so fine, I'll go along."
"And besides, this shouldn't be our job to begin with," Hermione said. "We should go to Dumbledore and have him sort it out."
Harry sighed. "I wish we could, but what would we tell him? We don't have proof and if we rule out Snape, we don't have a suspect, either. Whoever is threatening Quirrell has him terrified, so I don't think he would back us up either. We'd spend a lot of time trying to explain how we knew about the Stone and Fluffy, and then we'd be shown the door with a pat on the head, and maybe a slap on the wrist for knowing things we shouldn't."
He shook his head. "I think for now, we'll just have to wait and see."
The following morning, Daphne received a note at the breakfast table, saying her detention would take place at eleven o' clock that evening, and that she was to meet Filch in the entrance hall.
She smiled brightly at Harry and the others and said, "My first detention! I wonder what it'll be like."
"I don't know if you should be quite so happy about this," Hermione said.
"Malfoy will be there as well, and for a change I can be the one gloating. Whatever the punishment is, he'll have it worse than me," Daphne said.
That evening, Daphne and Malfoy made their way to the entrance hall. Neither spoke a word to the other, but Daphne saw that Malfoy looked uneasy.
Filch was already waiting for them in the entrance hall.
"Follow me," he said as soon he'd spotted them.
He lit a lamp and led them outside. "I bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh?" he asked with a leer.
He kept on rambling about corporal punishment all the way across the grounds, and Daphne tuned him out as she wondered where they were going.
The moon was bright, but the night was cloudy, and they alternately walked in light and patches of complete darkness. Up ahead, she could she the lights of Hagrid's cabin.
From somewhere to the side of the cabin came a shout. "Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started."
Daphne looked up in surprise and elation. Would they be serving their detention with Hagrid?
Filch clearly noticed Daphne's expression, because he said, "I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that oaf? Well, think again, girl. It's into the forest you're going and I'm much mistaken if you two come out in one piece."
Malfoy stopped dead in his tracks at those words. "The forest?" he repeated, sounding frightened. "We can't go in there at night! There's all sorts of things in there! Werewolves, I heard."
"That's your problem, isn't it?" Filch said gleefully. "Should've thought of them werewolves before you got in trouble, shouldn't you?"
Hagrid came striding towards them out of the dark with Fang at his heel. He was carrying his large crossbow, a quiver of bolts hung over his shoulder.
"Abou' time," he said. "I bin waitin' fer half an hour already. Alright, Daphne?"
"I shouldn't be too friendly to them, Hagrid," Filch said coldly. "They're here to be punished, after all. I'll be back at dawn for what's left of them."
He turned around and began to walk back to the castle.
"I'm not going in that forest," Malfoy said.
Daphne grinned at the panic in his voice.
"Yeh are if yeh want to stay at Hogwarts," Hagrid said fiercely. "Yeh've done wrong an' now yeh've got ter pay fer it."
"But this is servant stuff, it's not for students to do. I thought we'd be copying lines or something, if my father knew I was doing this, he'd–"
"–tell yer that's how it is at Hogwarts," Hagrid growled. "Copyin' lines! What good's that ter anyone? Yeh'll do summat useful or yeh'll get out. If yeh think yer father'd rather you were expelled, then get back off ter the castle an' pack. Go on!"
Malfoy didn't move. He looked at Hagrid furiously, but then dropped his gaze.
"Right then," Hagrid said. "Now, listen carefully, 'cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, an' I don' want no one takin' risks. Follow me over here a moment."
He led them to the very edge of the forest. Holding his lamp up high, he pointed down a narrow, winding earth track that disappeared into the thick black trees.
"Look there," Hagrid said. "See that stuff shinin' on the ground? Silvery stuff? That's unicorn blood. There's a unicorn in there bin hurt badly by summat. This is the second time in a week. I found one dead last Wednesday. We're gonna try an' find the poor thing. We might have ter put it out of its misery."
"And what if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first?" Malfoy asked, clearly unable to keep the fear out of his voice.
"There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang," Hagrid said. "An' keep ter the path. Right, there's blood all over the place, so the unicorn must've bin staggerin' around since last night. You two and Fang are going ter take one path, and I'll take the other. If yeh find the unicorn, send up green sparks. I'll do the same, o' course. If yeh're in trouble, send up red sparks and I'll come find yeh. Now, let's go."
They headed into the forest, and what little light the shrouded moon gave off was darkened by the trees closing in above the path. Soon, they reached a fork in the path. Hagrid headed left, and Daphne, Malfoy, and Fang went right.
They walked in silence for a while. Then Malfoy grumbled, "This is all your fault, Greengrass."
Daphne scoffed. "Right, because I made you be in that hallway at midnight," she said. "What's your problem with Harry, anyway? You've spent the entire year trying to get him expelled."
"He doesn't have proper wizarding pride. Not that you seem to know what that is, either," Malfoy said.
"You mean he's not a bigot like you," Daphne corrected.
"Call it what you want, Greengrass. Certain people are just better than others," Malfoy said.
"Yeah, only you seem a bit confused about your place in the hierarchy."
Before Malfoy could reply, Daphne held up her hand to silence him. "Look over there," she said.
Something bright white was gleaming on the ground in a clearing up ahead. They crept closer, and Daphne saw that it was indeed the unicorn, and it was dead. It was beautiful and sad at the same time. Its long, slender legs stuck out at odd angles where it had fallen and its mane was spread pearly-white on the dark leaves.
There was a slithering sound over the leaves, and a bush at the edge of the clearing quivered. Out of the shadows, a hooded figure came crawling across the ground like a stalking beast.
Daphne, Malfoy, and Fang stood transfixed. The cloaked figure reached the unicorn, lowered its head over the wound in the animal's side, and began to drink its blood.
Malfoy let out a terrible scream and bolted. So did Fang.
The hooded figure raised its head and looked right at Daphne. Unicorn blood was dribbling down its front. It got to its feet and came swiftly towards Daphne, its movement unnatural, like some kind of wraith. It looked almost like a Dementor.
Behind her came the sound of hooves galloping, and something jumped clean over Daphne, charging at the wraith-like figure. She saw that it was a centaur, who had white-blond hair and a palomino body.
The centaur reared up on his back legs, kicking at the figure with the front ones. The figure drew back and seemed to glance at Daphne, past the centaur, but the centaur kept attacking, and the figure retreated into the darkness.
The centaur turned around face Daphne. He had very blue eyes.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
Daphne nodded shakily. "Yes, thank you. What…what was that?" she asked.
"You had better get back to Hagrid," the centaur said. "The forest is not safe at this time. Can you ride? It will be quicker this way."
He lowered himself onto his front legs so Daphne could climb on his back. "My name is Firenze," he said.
"My name is Daphne," Daphne replied. "Daphne Greengrass."
There was a sound of more galloping from the other side of the clearing, and two more centaurs came bursting through the trees, their flanks heaving and sweaty.
"Firenze!" the first one thundered. "What are you doing? You have a human on your back! Have you no shame? Are you a common mule?"
"She needs to leave the forest, Bane, the quicker the better," Firenze said.
"What have you told her? Remember, Firenze, we are sworn not to set ourselves against the heavens. Have we not read what is to come in the movement of the planets?"
"I'm sure Firenze thought he was acting for the best," the other centaur said, pawing nervously at the ground.
Bane kicked his legs in anger. "For the best! What is that to do with us? Centaurs are concerned with what has been foretold! It is not our business to run around like donkeys after stray humans in our forest!"
Firenze suddenly reared on to his hind legs in anger, so that Daphne had to grab his shoulders to stay on.
"Do you not see that unicorn?" Firenze bellowed at Bane. "Do you not understand why it was killed? Or have the planets not let you in on that secret? I set myself against what is lurking in this forest, Bane, yes, with humans alongside me if I must."
And Firenze whisked around; with Daphne clutching on as best he could, they plunged off into the trees, leaving Ronan and Bane behind them.
Daphne didn't have a clue what was going on. "What was all that about? What did you save me from, and why are the others so angry?" she asked.
Firenze didn't answer at first. He simply kept walking on. Just when Daphne was sure he wasn't going to answer anymore, he said, "Daphne Greengrass, do you know what unicorn blood is used for?"
"No," Daphne said. "I know tail hair is used in wands and potions, and the horn is sometimes used in potions as well, but I don't know about blood."
"That is because it is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn. Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something pure and defenseless to save yourself, and you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips."
Daphne considered that as they walked on. She thought about the wraith-like figure that had drunk the unicorn's blood, and what Firenze had just told her. It was pretty obvious that this…thing…was what had been threatening Quirrell all along. Because she'd realized immediately that, if this entity needed unicorn blood to live, it would surely be searching for something stronger and more potent. It would be looking for the Philosopher's Stone, she was sure of it.
But who would… Her blood ran cold when she realized it. There was one wizard she knew of who wouldn't care about being cursed, if it meant he could live. There was one wizard who would slay a unicorn without hesitation, because he was already evil to begin with. A wizard whose name everyone knew, yet feared to ever speak.
"Voldemort…" she whispered, feeling the sting of fear the name brought even her, though she'd only been one year old when Harry had beaten him. But just as Harry hadn't died, neither had he.
There was a loud crashing through the woods as Hagrid came running towards Firenze and Daphne, and she only now realized they were near the start of the forest again.
"Daphne! Are yeh all right?" Hagrid asked, checking her for injuries.
"Yeah…Firenze saved me," she replied. She slid off Firenze's back. "The unicorn is dead. It's in that clearing back there," she said.
Hagrid nodded gruffly and then turned to Firenze. "Thank yeh, Firenze. I hope Bane wasn't ter upset abou' it?"
"I am fine, Hagrid, thank you," Firenze said. "But you must keep the students out of the forest. It is not safe for them in here."
Hagrid nodded. "I know."
He looked at Daphne, and she could see he felt guilty about taking her into the forest at all. "Can yeh make yer own way back ter the castle?" he asked. "I think Malfoy's already run back there."
Daphne nodded shakily. "I think so. Hagrid, about the thing that killed the unicorn…I think it was…"
She wanted to use one of his many nicknames, but after having been confronted with him, she felt like none of the euphemisms truly conveyed how terrible he was.
"I think it was V-Voldemort," she said, and Hagrid clutched his chest.
"It can't be," he said.
"I saw him, Hagrid. He was drinking unicorn blood, and he's trying to get the Philosopher's Stone, I'm sure of it," Daphne said.
"No…no…yeh got ter be wrong," Hagrid said. "He can't be here. Yeh get back ter the castle and go straight ter yer dorm. I have ter take a look at that unicorn…"
He stomped off into the undergrowth, and Firenze looked at Daphne.
"He does not want to understand because he fears the implications, Daphne Greengrass. But we who watch the heavens have seen what is to come. I dearly hope that we have read the planets wrongly."
He paused, seemingly uncertain of what else to say. "There is but one in the castle who may stand against him. Warn him, Daphne Greengrass. For without him, all will be lost."
I'd like to get it on record that I think it's funny and a bit ironic that I copied the line about copying lines. It certainly isn't very good writing on my part, nor is most of this chapter past the first two scenes, but the things that happened in these scenes were all necessary. Again, though, this chapter should be the last one where it's this egregious, and from year two onwards things will be getting different enough that the similarities with the books get less and less.