This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy.
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All that next day, Hermione Granger imagined how disappointed her mother and father would be if they ever learned that she had been given detention and lost points. The prefects were very tight-lipped about who had lost Gryffindor 150 points the night before but the other students were quick to figure it out. If not for Iggy's shield spells, Neville, Ron and Hermione might have been sore from all the spells thrown their way. Harry was quick to stare-down anyone who tried to make a snide comment. But nothing could alleviate the fear all three students felt about venturing into the Forbidden Forest–at night.
After dinner, the Gryffindors and one Slytherin trudged from the castle to the edge of the wards where the Forbidden Forest lay. After the students arrived at Hagrid's hut, Iggy listened carefully as the half-giant talked them hunting for 'something hunting and killing unicorns'.
Draco asked, "What are we supposed to do? Ask it not to hunt them anymore?'
Hagrid and Fang, his giant dog headed into the forest with Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley and Draco Malfoy following close behind, afraid of being separated from the half-giant.
"Hagrid, who thought up this detention?" asked Harry after a prompt from Iggy.
Hagrid replied immediately, "It was Dumbledore himself who told me to take you kids into the forest at night… Wait, I wasn't supposed to tell you that."
Hermione wanted to argue but Neville and Harry convinced her to wait until later. Ron and Draco both asked, "Who are you talking to? You say 'Harry' like he is here!"
This confused both Neville and Hermione who could see and talk with Harry without any problem while the other two boys could not. Hagrid ignored the conversation among the children as the group ventured further into the dark forest. The moonlight created creepy shadows and Harry reached out to Iggy, [This is not fun.]
[I am here with you and no one is going to hurt you,] came the reply from Iggy.
After twenty minutes, Hagrid seemed to consider two different paths before him, one heading right and the other left. "Longbottom, Potter and Malfoy, go left. Weasley, Granger, stick with me and we'll go right."
"What! No!" shouted Malfoy who refused to go with the other two boys along the path to the left and hurried after the half-giant.
Alone in the woods, Neville confessed, "Harry, I'm scared."
"Me too," Harry replied. He looked around carefully and found that he and Neville were standing in a small clearing. From ahead of them on the path came an injured unicorn. Silver liquid dripped from a wound in her neck and left a trail behind her for the hunter to follow – the moonlight the silver shone brightly. The unicorn came close to the two young wizards and stood behind them. Glancing about Neville found that the clearing was full of Angel's Wings, a leafy plant used to wrap wounds to stop bleeding and promote healing. He quickly gathered a large armful of the leaves that he pressed against the wound on the unicorn's neck and he used a charm from the greenhouse to stick the leaves to the unicorn's hide to hold them in place.
Harry and his companion Iggy kept watch as the clouds fled from the face of the moon and back along the path, Harry spied a creature bending down to lick the drops of unicorn blood from the leaves and the ground. It looked up with red eyes and growled to find a wizard applying some treatment to the wound it had inflected. A wizard protected the unicorn it had hunted the whole of the night. Now, so close to feeding from the life-sustaining blood, someone dared to stand in its way!
The figure rose and floated a few feet off the ground, before spreading its arms like a bird of prey and suddenly racing forward, aiming for Neville and the unicorn. The red eyes never saw Harry Potter standing in the way.
Seeing the figure float up and fly forward, Harry held his wand tightly and with Iggy in his mind, he cast [Friend Fire].
The young wizard watched the white spell fly from his wand and smack the figure in the head where it immediately burst into a white, hot flame. The flames spread to engulf the figure fully in the first minute, and while it screamed for a few seconds, the figure quickly burned to ash that blew back down the path. In the darkness of the night, only two pairs of eyes saw the remnants of the dark spirit that had possessed the figure flee up and away, the white flames of the spell continuing to burn the tattered soul.
From the shadows, the centaur named Firenze stepped forward and found the boy's wand pointed at him. Smiling broadly, the centaur lowered his bow and dropped his chin to acknowledge the wizards before he said, "Two young wizards saved the unicorn. Thank you, both. The healer and the warrior will always be welcome in this forest."
"Let us find the groundskeeper and have him continue treatment for the unicorn," Firenze said, leading Neville and the unicorn forward while Harry followed at the rear, his wand in his hand and Iggy watching in every direction.
The centaur spoke sharply to the half-giant about leading children into the forest and leaving them behind. While Hagrid apologised to the centaur, his attention was on the unicorn and praising Neville for use of the Angel's Wing leaves.
"Fifty points to Gryffindor for quick thinking and five hundred points for saving the life of a unicorn!" Hagrid said.
"What? How is that fair?" Draco asked.
"Good job Neville and Harry!" Hagrid continued.
"Harry? Where's Harry?" asked Ron. "That pounce ain't here!"
After another ten minutes of Hagrid's treatments, the wound on the unicorn's neck was closed and she rubbed her head against Neville for a moment before running back into the woods.
"Did you see that been huntin' the unicorns?" Hagrid asked Firenze.
Lifting his bow with an arrow notched, the centaur replied, "The creature is mostly dead and will never hunt unicorns again. The danger has passed."
Neville glanced at Harry who smiled at the centaur for keeping his secret and none of the others noticed while they turned toward the castle.
"Thank you, sir," Harry said with a bow to the centaur. Without another word, the magical being turned and vanished into the darkness of the Forbidden Forest as quickly and silently as the unicorn.
"We have very strange adventures," Neville said as they walked back to Hogwarts.
"What adventures?" complained Ron. "How can you call chasing shadows in the Forbidden Forest at night, an adventure?"
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The soul remnant attempted to possess a serpent recently out of hibernation and seeking its first spring meal. The flames from the spell that clung to the spirit quickly roasted the serpent and Tom Riddle found himself expelled from the carcass to seek another entity. In the forest it flew from tree to tree until it found the colony of giant spiders. Diving into the nest, it quickly possessed a spider as large as cow and found while it could not take command of the creature, the spell for the fire seemed to be suppressed. For the next day, Tom Riddle rested until the spider host finally expired from a high fever. A feeding frenzy ensued as the other spiders ate their dead kin, injecting venom into the carcass to liquify the internal organs before sucking out the 'juice'. While his host dissolved, Tom took time to select a healthy spider and leap aboard for another ride within the spider.
The next morning, Dumbledore made a visit to Hagrid's hut and asked several questions about the previous night's detention. Professor Quirrell had vanished overnight and while the elves reported all of the man's possessions remained in his quarters, the professor was nowhere to be found in Hogwarts. With exams complete, Dumbledore would not seek to replace the missing DADA professor.
Hagrid was pleased with the results of the hunt–Firenze, Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter saved the life of a unicorn, and the centaur reported that he had killed the creature that had hunted unicorns that spring.
'I can't read Hagrid's mind, Longbottom's mind is impossible to enter because all he knows is green stuff, and I can't find… 'that boy',' Dumbledore grumbled. His mind would move in many different directions but after a year of headaches every time the word 'Potter' was muttered or considered; he could not bring himself to think of 'that boy' clearly.
The Great Hall was quiet when Harry, Neville, Ron and Hermione appeared a few minutes late for breakfast. The Gryffindor table rose to applaud the four first-year students who had somehow won 550 house points overnight and pushed their house above all others in the race for the house cup.
At the table, Ron was glad to make up some story about chasing off trolls in the forbidden Forest to earn the points while Neville just shrugged and said, "It was scary but we saved the unicorns."
Considering what Hermione had heard last night when Hagrid and the centaur spoke, she announced, "The unicorn's purity and the centaur's bow drove away or killed the creature."
Harry endorsed Hermione's theory and turned his attention to his breakfast. But Hermione began asking questions, "Harry, why can't some people see you? I'm worried about that."
"Why?" asked the curious young wizard. He respected his friend's great mind and wanted to hear her opinion.
"If adults can't see you, they can't help you when you're hurt or ill," she said certain he would see the reasoning in her argument.
"Madam Pomphrey sees me just fine but I haven't been into the infirmary since before Christmas. Professor Sprout sees me in the greenhouses…"
Now Neville interrupted the discussion to say, "Miss Granger, we have five days left at Hogwarts before we leave for the summer holiday. I suggest that you watch and record which people cannot see Mr. Potter and who can. If you put your great mind to examining the evidence before you, you will reach an interesting conclusion."
That day, Hermione found that Professor Pretzel could see Harry in her potions class but when they passed Professor Snape in the hall, that wizard could not see Harry. The next day, she confirmed that Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout could see and interact freely with Harry. On the next day, she discovered that Professor McGonagall, and several unpleasant Slytherins could not see Harry.
At a pickup match for Quidditch, Hermione was shocked when she realized that Headmaster Dumbledore could not see Harry under any circumstances. During the walk back to the castle from the quidditch pitch, she spoke to Percy about her observations and he confirmed for her that he, Fred and George could see Harry without any problem but Ron only saw his friend once a week, when Harry went out of his way to play chess with the youngest Weasley brother.
Percy explained, "I remember Professor Dumbledore being quoted in an article in the Daily Prophet last summer that Harry Potter was protected by special magic created by his mother's sacrifice. No one who thinks bad thoughts about Harry can find him to hurt him."
"What?" she exclaimed and hurried to the library to find a copy of that Daily Prophet.
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Walking about his castle on the last afternoon before the students left for their summer vacation, Albus Dumbledore was pleased when he noticed that the house elves had decided to decorate their space with some bright colours that rivalled his robes. The walls around the door into the kitchens were painted with stripes of bright green and yellow. After about ten seconds he had to look away as the vision of the jagged lines made his brain begin to hurt.
'There's been entirely too many headaches this year,' he thought. As he climbed the stairs to the third floor, he sighed with disappointment. No one had attempted to run the gauntlet of challenges he had laid out to protect the Sorcerer's Stone underneath the castle. Hagrid retrieved Fluffy in the middle of the night to prevent any student or professor one seeing the dark creature. Today, Dumbledore spent thirty minutes clearing away the mess and smell left by the three-headed dog hidden on the third floor for ten months.
Sealing the trap door and then the outside door, Dumbledore walked down to the second floor and opened a secret door that allowed him to access the final room of the protections where the Mirror of Erised stood, a trap that was never viewed and totally untouched for the entire year. Moving in front of the mirror's shiny surface, Dumbledore viewed his lost desires with the usual regrets and justifications in his mind and waited.
The figure of Dumbledore in the mirror frowned and reached into his pocket and pulled out a few lemon drops. Outside the mirror, Dumbledore closed his eyes, cleared his mind and mediated for a few minutes before opening his eyes and trying once again to obtain the Sorcerer's Stone from its resting place inside the mirror's magic.
It was time for the final feast to begin and everyone waited for the headmaster to appear. Finally, he hurried into the Great Hall, awarded the house cup to Gryffindor and called for the feast to begin without his usual unnecessary comments. The change was noticed by everyone and enjoyed by all.
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In Gryffindor dormitory, Hermione Granger compiled her notes on her observations and the unpleasant conclusions she had reached. There was something dark–some dark magic–hiding Harry Potter from the professors who must be able to see him. Headmaster Dumbledore was a great man–the greatest wizard since Merlin–and everyone must listen to his sage advice and follow his direction. She would present this information to the headmaster tonight and he would set things straight before 1 September and the beginning of their second year at Hogwarts.
Suddenly, the bright witch yawned and realized, 'I am tired. This can wait until morning.'
Thinking of her comfortable bed, the young witch changed for bed and fell asleep almost instantly. At her desk the papers she had written about Harry Potter were removed by the house elves as they finished Hermione's packing and laid out her robes and muggle clothes to wear the next morning.
When she rose and found her packing complete except for her nightclothes and toiletries, Hermione smiled and appreciated magic. She never thought of her papers and the story she wanted to tell Headmaster Dumbledore. At breakfast, she sat across from Neville and after a few minutes, she asked, "Have you seen Harry this morning?"
Taking a deep breath, Neville replied by asking another question, "What did you discover in your research about the magic that's protecting Harry?"
Because Neville asked about her research, Hermione launched into a detailed description of the persons who could see Harry Potter and the ones who could not see him. She didn't realize that several upper year students were listening and making notes about her observations. When she finished, Neville asked for her conclusion.
"It's evil…something dark is hiding Harry Potter from Headmaster Dumbledore."
"That's hogwash, Granger," Percy interrupted. "You are not objectively looking at the data you gathered. You had decided before you began what you wanted to find and made the results fit into your preconceived idea."
"What do you mean?" she asked with some distress in her voice.
The fifth-year prefect offered his argument saying, "Your observations are valid. Sprout, Flitwick, Pretzel can see Potter and he works with those professors. But Snape can't see Potter. How does that hurt Potter?"
Hermione didn't answer.
Now, consider how McGonagall does nothing for the kids in the Gryffindor. Her seeing Harry doesn't help him in any way.
"I…Professor McGonagall is a great professor for transfiguration."
Nodding his head in agreement, Percy said, "And she has a second full time job as deputy headmistress. That means she doesn't have time for house meetings, student counselling sessions or helping anyone personally. The other heads of house do all those things!"
"But Dumbledore! He…"
Percy nodded and said, "I know. It's scary to think that the headmaster is not thinking about the best future for Harry…or how many other students?"
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On the Hogwarts Express, Harry sat in a compartment with Neville, Ron and Hermione. She could not see Harry still and found that she couldn't see Ron while he played chess with someone. Neville talked to her about herbology and transfiguration for a time, but then she left to walk around the train and spent many minutes talking with Lavender and Parvati about their summer plans.
"We're supposed to go to Paris this summer," Hermione said in passing and the two classmates immediately asked for copies of fashion magazines from the City of Lights. Hermione knew she would never pay attention to such things but these were her roommates and suddenly she wanted to improve her relationship with both girls.
"What kinds of things are you looking for in the magazines? I don't think I'll be anywhere there are magical magazines."
"No, magical fashions have not changed in two centuries," Lavender replied. "We want muggle fashions."
After talking with the girls from her year in Gryffindor, Hermione realized she could be a better friend to others by listening to them more and understanding that 'her' opinion was not the only one in the world. Perhaps Professor McGonagall could be a better head of house than she had been in the past year. Determined to help the other Gryffindors next year, Hermione thought of several letters she should write to encourage people.
And she thought of her friend, Harry Potter. His horrible homelife and relatives left him at a disadvantage to every other student in Hogwarts. If some magic wanted to protect her friend from other students who wished him ill–people like Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape– the same magic would protect him from adults who wished him ill. If magic–a natural force in the world – decided that Professor McGonagall and Headmaster Dumbledore wished her friend ill, she would not argue with that force.
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Alone in the compartment with Hermione out to visit the other girls and Ron hunting for a chess partner, Neville laughed and explained that Hermione was trying to find out how to see Harry again.
Harry sighed and said, "I wish that was the only problem I had this summer."
What do you mean?" asked Neville. He encouraged Harry to tell him about his relatives and the conditions at Privett Drive in Little Whining.
"Okay," Neville said. "If you need food or water, or if you need help with your chores, call for Sluggy."
"Who is Sluggy?"
A house elf appeared in the train compartment, bowed to Neville and Harry and said, "How can Sluggy help Master Greenplants and his friend?"
"Sluggy, this is my friend…my best friend, Harry Potter. He has to go live with muggles this summer. They are afraid of Harry and they don't feed him properly. I want you to make take Harry food and drink this summer to make certain he stays healthy."
"Mr. Harry Potters just call 'Sluggy' and you gets all the helps you needs."
The elf reached up for Harry's trunk and shrank it to the size of a match box. "Youse touch the lock with your finger and it returns to full size. Touch lock with two fingers and it shrinks again."
"Thanks, Sluggy," Harry said before the elf vanished with Neville's trunk.
Harry grinned at his friend and said, "Thanks, Neville! This'll help a lot!"
[Harry, Neville Longbottom is a good friend,] stated Iggy. [I am glad you have him on your side.]
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In London at Cross Street Station, Neville left to find his grandmother while Harry helped Hermione with her heavy trunk.
"You got to learn the featherlight charm if you're going to steal half the library every summer, Hermione!" he teased.
"Harry, why can I see you again now?" she asked surprized and pleased.
"You're my friend and not going to wish me 'ill'," he explained.
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