A/N: Okay, I posted this chapter and the next one on Ao3 months ago, but I somehow forgot to post them here as well. I took a short hiatus from this story because I've been sort of busy this summer (I swear I've done more things this summer than I did last year and we can't even go very many places now), but I'm back now. There will be seven more chapters, including this one, and I have all of them at least drafted. I have a month until school starts, so I'm hoping to finish this book before that, and then we'll see when I manage to write the second one. Anyways, sorry it took so long for this to come out, but I hope you enjoy it!
Over the next week, Harry's popularity as being the youngest Seeker in a century, and having brought Gryffindor to victory against both Slytherin and Hufflepuff, quickly dissipated, along with Draco's welcomeness among the Gryffindors. Most had gone back to being suspicious of him, and practically everyone was angry at Harry for putting them in last place for the House Cup by losing them 150 points and thereby leaving Slytherin in first place. Nobody cared much about Hermione's involvement in everything, despite the fact that she had made them lose just as many points as he and Harry had. Perhaps it was simply because she was good at earning them points back by doing everything perfectly in class and knowing all the answers. Draco, of course, did the same thing and got just as many points, but nobody cared because many thought he was secretly loyal to the Slytherins. If any of them cared to pay attention to the way the Snake Squad, and practically all of the other Slytherins, were making fun of him and laughing at him, they would realize that it was quite the opposite.
The dislike towards them however was pushed to the back of most people's minds three days before Harry, Hermione, and Draco were supposed to have detention when they woke up to find that Slytherin had somehow, by unexplained means, lost 80 points over-night, as if a group of those from the snake house had done something similar to what the three first year Gryffindors had done. This put Ravenclaw in first place, and suddenly most people forgot that they had really done anything in the first place because Slytherin was now in third place, over 15 points behind Hufflepuff.
"What happened?" Draco asked when they walked into the Great Hall that morning to see the hourglass filled with emeralds much emptier than it had been the previous morning. He wasn't the only one who seemed to be wondering this, judging by the many stares the hourglasses were getting, even from the Slytherins, who all seemed horrified.
"I don't know, but I don't think Slytherin does either." Ron said, his blue eyes glinting in very obvious amusement as he looked over at the table on the other end of the hall. Draco followed his gaze and saw Pansy, Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle all glaring at the front of the hall, though Theo seemed to have disappeared. Professor Snape, who was always one of the first teachers to show up for meals simply so he could be finished before most, was also nowhere in sight, which was also something that many began realizing and speculating about.
"Do you think it has something to do with Snape not being here, or…" Hermione trailed off for a second, glancing from the teachers' table, to the Slytherin one, and then at those sitting around them before continuing. "Or do you think it's a coincidence and we should be concerned about -" She broke off abruptly, her widening eyes trained on the doors of the Great Hall, as many eyes in the room suddenly were. A silence fell over the hall and Draco turned to face the direction everyone was staring, his jaw dropping in shock when he saw what everyone was staring at.
Snape, who had obviously just entered the hall, was standing in the doorway, an infuriated look on his face, with bright pink hair and neon orange robes. Draco's mouth opened and closed multiple times in disbelief and then, at the same time as at least half of the students in the hall, started laughing, not even attempting to stifle it. Whoever had managed to pull that off was a genius.
"Twenty points from everyone who laughs again!" Professor Snape's voice seemed to echo through the hall, amplified to such a loud volume it was impossible to not hear. Immediately everyone stopped laughing, though many, Draco, Ron, and Harry included, had to cover their mouths with their hands to stop their laughter from escaping. The potions master, his hair and robes creating a sort of pinkish orange glow, like a sunset or something, around him, walked through the Great Hall, sitting down at his spot at the teachers' table.
After a few minutes people slowly stopped staring at Snape and went back to their breakfast, beginning to chat with one another again. "Who do you think did it?" Ron asked them when the noise in the Hall gradually went back to normal. His blue eyes glinted with excitement and an awful lot of amusement and he had a large grin on his face.
"Your brothers, maybe?" Harry suggested, his expression rather similar to Ron's. Before any of the other members of the quartet could say anything in response, two new voices spoke up from beside Draco.
"I wish -" Fred said as he slid into the seat on Draco's left, a huge grin on his face.
"it was us -" George continued, sitting down on Harry's right, an identical grin on his face.
"Who is responsible for this masterpiece -"
"Of a prank -"
"But sadly,"
"we can take no credit." Draco looked from one twin to the other, torn between laughing and leaning away from them. It was as if they had one stream of consciousness, like their thoughts were connected somehow.
"If it wasn't you, then who was it?" The blond asked and both Weasley twins shrugged at the same time, the grins on their faces seeming to grow even wider.
"I don't know, but whoever they are, I would like to congratulate them on pulling off a better prank on Snape than we've ever managed. Seriously, they're a legend, especially if they didn't get caught." Fred said and George nodded, looking around at all of the students currently sitting in the Great Hall. He was obviously trying to figure out who might have done it, but judging by the puzzled look that appeared on his face, he didn't have a clue.
Snape's hair and robes did not return to their actual color until the next morning, and by then he seemed even more angry than he had before. Maybe that's why Draco wasn't all too surprised when Harry came rushing back into the library after having left about a half an hour earlier to… do something, though the blond wasn't sure what, and said: "I just heard Quirrell talking to someone in an empty classroom, pleading with someone and then giving up or something. I think Snape finally broke him."
Ron, Draco, and Hermione all looked up from the notes they had on astronomy, which they had been quizzing each other on, still using the Bertie Botts bean "game" to keep each other motivated. Even Hermione, who at first thought it was rather stupid, now enjoyed it because studying for their final exams had started getting rather boring for her as well.
"If Quirrell told Snape how to get past those wards against dark magic -" Ron started to say, a grimace of concern crossing his features as he did so, only to be interrupted mid-sentence by his brunette best friend.
"At least there's still Fluffy." She said and Draco nodded in agreement, even though he was pretty sure if his godfather didn't already know how to get past the three-headed dog, then he would in the next couple days.
"Maybe Snape found out how to get past him without even asking Hagrid." Ron said, voicing the blond's thoughts, as he looked around the library, his eyes lingering on the taller piles of books that were stacked on their table. "I bet, there's at least one book in here that explains how you get past a giant three-headed dog. So, what do we do, Harry?" The redhead's eyes suddenly seemed to have an excited glint in them, like he was expecting them to go off together on some sort of adventure.
"We go to Dumbledore." Hermione and Draco both said at the same time and he glanced over at her for a second before returning his gaze to Harry. "We should have done that ages ago. If we keep doing things ourselves, we'll be expelled instead of actually helping anyone."
The raven-haired boy shook his head, looking exasperated as he ran his left hand anxiously through his hair. "But we don't have any proof ! Quirrell's way too scared to take our side. All Snape would have to do is say he doesn't know how the troll got in on Halloween, and that he was never on the third floor - who will they believe, us or him? It's not exactly a secret that we don't like him, Dumbledore will think we just made the story up to get Snape sacked. Filch won't help us either, even if his life were to depend on it, he's too friendly with Snape, and the more students thrown out, the better for him, he'll think. And don't forget, we're not even supposed to know about the stone or Fluffy. We'd have loads to explain."
Hermione sighed softly and nodded, agreeing with him, even if she seemed a bit reluctant. Ron on the other hand didn't seem all that convinced with Harry's reasoning for not going to the Headmaster. "And if we just poke around a bit -"
Harry cut him off rather abruptly, shaking his head rapidly, his green eyes glinting with determination and slight anger. "No. We've poked around enough." Draco, even though he understood what his best friend meant, couldn't help but open his mouth to protest.
"Harry-" The blond started to say, but the boy he was addressing shook his head again.
"This isn't yo- our fight You were right, Draco, that day when we found out about Norbert. This is too dangerous for us. I can't let you guys get hurt because I'm getting myself into things like this. It's not fair for any of you…" Harry said, his gaze locked on Draco for a few seconds before looking first at Ron, and then Hermione, before sitting down and grabbing a map of Jupiter and its moons.
The morning after, at breakfast, three school owls swooped down from the ceiling and landed on the gryffindor table, right in between Harry, Hermione, and Draco. Each of them had identical envelopes held in their beaks and they dropped them at the same time before flying away, not waiting for treats like Hedwig always did, leaving the three first years to stare at the letters in front of them, each of their names scrawled onto the front in dark green ink. In sync Harry, Hermione, and Draco all reached towards them and picked them up with slightly trembling hands. If his father heard about this… it wouldn't be good, no matter how little he wanted to do with him.
Your detention starts at eleven o'clock tonight.
Meet Mr. Filch in the Entrance Hall.
Prof. M. McGonagall
Draco sighed and ran a hand through his platinum blond hair, knowing that he deserved to have detention. He'd helped sneak an illegal dragon out of the school in the middle of the night, something he would technically be in a lot more trouble for if anyone knew the first part. "Tonight will be… fun." He mumbled under his breath and placed the letter and envelope back down on the table.
"It'll probably just be copying lines or cleaning the cages for Care of Magical Creatures. That's what Fred and George usually have to do." Ron said from across the table, his blue eyes glinting with a mix of pity, amusement and something else Draco couldn't quite place.
"That doesn't make it any more fun, but I hope that's all it is we have to do…" Harry muttered and Hermione glanced onced over at him, her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion.
"What else would we do?" She asked and for a second Harry looked like he was trying to figure out what to say in response, his green eyes glinting with contemplation. Then he just shrugged, reaching across the table to grab a piece of toast, biting into it to avoid speaking. Draco raised a questioning eyebrow in the raven-haired boy's direction before shaking his head and going back to his breakfast, his mind trying to figure out what besides copying lines and cleaning cages they might have to do for detention.
Later that night, at about 10:45, the three gryffindors who had detention all made their way down towards the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts. It felt odd walking through the castle at night without the invisibility cloak, even though they had only used it a couple of times. The corridors were dead silent and completely empty besides them as they walked through them, their footsteps echoing slightly off the walls.
When they reached their destination they saw that Filch was already there, Theodore Nott standing next to the caretaker with an annoyed and rather impatient look on his face. What is he doing here? What did he do to get detention? Draco thought in confusion and froze for a second at the foot of the staircase they had been going down to get to the Entrance Hall, suddenly wishing he could simply turn around and walk back up the steps. He really did not want to deal with one of his old friends now, detention would be bad enough without the slytherin making fun of him and the others. The blond didn't do that though, and instead finished walking towards the caretaker and Theo.
"Follow me." Filch said and then turned around, lighting a lantern as he did so. "I bet you'll think twice about breaking school rules next time, won't you, eh?" As he continued to speak he led them out the front door of the school and down the steps leading up to it, a freaky grin on his face while his eyes seemed to glow like Mrs. Norris's when he looked at the four students out of the corners of them. "Oh yes… hard work and pain are the best teachers, if you ask me… It's just a pity they let the old rules die out… Could leave you hanging from the ceiling by your wrists for days, I've still got the chains in my office, always keep 'em oiled in case we need them again… Right, off we go, and don't even think about running off now, that'll just make it worse for you."
The rest of the walk through the dark school grounds was silent, the only sounds in the night being their muffled footsteps and faint, eerie sounds that were coming from Forbidden Forest. The more minutes they walked, the more anxious Draco began to feel, his mind coming up with all sorts of terrible things they might have to do. It seemed rather unlikely that they would be copying lines if they were outside, so perhaps they did have to clean cages and such? Except, that was something they would likely do inside as well with the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Professor Kettleburn. What kind of things could you do for detention outside in the middle of the night? Nothing good was the answer to that, especially considering how pleased Filch seemed.
The night sky was covered in clouds, making the night darker every time one of them slid over the moon, which shone brightly otherwise, and hid the stars from view. It was a warm late-spring night, a soft breeze blowing and making Harry's hair even messier than it was before, blowing Hermione's long, bushy hair behind her shoulders, and causing his to grow rather loose, the magical hair-gel he used somehow losing its strength. The dark cloak Theo had fastened around his shoulders billowed out behind him slightly as they walked and his curly chocolate brown hair grew a bit messy, which was a rather unusual sight for him considering he always made sure he looked perfect, even if all they were doing was going to the back garden to play Quidditch.
As they approached the edge of the forest, which looked even creepier at night, Draco noticed that Hagrid's hut was completely dark, not even a lamp turned on inside. Just as the blond was about to break the silence that had fallen over the group to ask Harry and Hermione if either of them found this strange as well, someone else called out to them from somewhere behind them. "Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get goin'." Relief filled Draco, and a bit of the tension he had been feeling eased away. If they had detention with Hagrid, there was no way they would be doing anything too terrible. Well, actually, that wasn't exactly true considering they had gotten in trouble in the first place by sneaking a dragon out of the castle for him.
His relief, though somewhat momentary, must have been shared by Harry, and likely Hermione as well, because the grin on Filch's face grew when he looked over at the Boy-Who-Lived. "I suppose you think you're going to be enjoying the night with that oaf? Think again, boy -" Harry flinched ever so slightly at that, though there didn't seem to be much of a reason behind it that Draco could place. "It's into the forest you're going and I'm much mistaken if you all come back in one piece."
The blond froze at those words, fear shooting through him like he had been shot in the chest with some sort of spell. His silvery grey eyes widened in terror and he looked between the forest and the caretaker, hoping that what he had just heard was false. "Into the forest?" Draco's voice shook slightly as those words slipped from his lips and Harry looked over at him, a worried look in his emerald green eyes. "We can't go in there at night… there's all sorts of things in there - even werewolves, I heard." His mother had indeed told him that there were sometimes werewolves in the Forbidden Forest, and that there were always other terrifying things lurking in there.
"That's your problem, isn't it?" Filch's voice was much too happy for this, much too excited. How could someone enjoy torturing people so much? "Should've thought of the werewolves before you got yourselves in trouble."
Draco gulped in fear and looked over at his friends, who both seemed just as scared as him, even if they seemed to be a bit better at hiding it than he was. Just then Hagrid came striding towards them, Fang at his heels. He, as usual, had his thick fur coat on despite the warmth and humidity of the night and he had a quiver full of arrows along with a crossbow slung over his shoulder.
"Abou' time." The gamekeeper said, giving Filch a somewhat exasperated look. "Bin waiting a half an hour already. Alright there, Harry, Hermione, Draco?"
The caretaker scowled at him, looking as if he were resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "I wouldn't be so friendly to them, Hagrid." Filch said, his voice cold. "They're here after all to be punished."
Hagrid frowned at that, looking even more annoyed than before. "So tha''s why yeh're late. Gave 'em a lecture, did yeh? Not your job, ter do tha'. Yeh did your thing, an' now I'll take over." Filch looked as if he couldn't decide whether to grin, smirk, or scowl at him, and just decided to go with a very confusing mix of all three.
"I'll be back at dawn," He said, finally deciding on smirking. "To pick up what's left of 'em." After he said that the caretaker turned around and walked off into the darkness, his lantern slowly becoming a smaller and smaller dot of light in the distance as he walked back up to the castle.
"I will not go into that forest." Theo suddenly said, his voice trembling ever so slightly as he turned to face Hagrid. Draco looked over at him in surprise, in all the years he had known the brunet he had never heard his voice tremble at all. Panic was also shining in his hazel eyes and he was wringing his hands together anxiously. Despite the way Theo had treated him and his best friends since the beginning of school, a small part of Draco fought back against his own fear and wanted to make the other boy not scared either. It was stupid, he knew, Theo wasn't nice to him anymore, and he most certainly wasn't his friend anymore.
"Yeh have ter if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts." The blond quickly shook himself out of his incredibly confusing thoughts when Hagrid spoke and he looked away from the Slytherin who used to be one of his best friends. "Yeh did wrong an' now yeh have ter pay fer it."
For a few seconds all Theo did was stare into the forest, his eyes a bit distant and still shining with fear. "But it's dangerous in there. Professor Dumbledore himself told us it was, and that we were never allowed to go into the forest. We're first years! Even the seventh years aren't allowed into the forest, so why do we have detention in there?! Isn't detention usually copying lines, or something? All I did was sneak into the restricted section at night! This seems a bit harsh!" He made a fair point, Draco had to admit, though for whatever reason Hagrid didn't seem to agree.
"Copyin' lines! What good's that do ter anyone? C'mon, we've got work ter do." Theo pursed his lips slightly and looked down for a moment, his hands balling to fists and then slowly letting out a long sigh. His fists unclenched and his shoulders relaxed, the tension seeming to bleed out from him as if from a wound.
"Okay, listen carefully, 'cause, like Theo said, it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, an' I don' want no one takin' risks. Follow me over here a moment." Hagrid said and led the four first years to the very edge of the forest, holding his own lantern up when they reached the tree-line. The dim, yellowy orange light revealed a narrow, winding path lined with dark trees that wound its way into the darkness of the Forbidden Forest. The breeze that Draco had felt before seemed to grow a bit stronger as they stood in front of the path and a few strands of his platinum blond hair blew into his face, tickling his forehead slightly.
Just before Hagrid pointed it out something silver and glinting caught the corner of his eye and he looked over at it, his eyebrows scrunching together in confusion. "Look here," The gamekeeper said right as Draco opened his mouth to ask about what he was indicating. "See that stuff that's shinin' on the ground? Silver stuff? That's unicorn blood. There's a unicorn in there somewhere that's bin hurt pretty badly. This is the second time this week. Las' Wednesday I found a dead one. We're goin' ter try ter find the poor thing. We might have to put it out of its misery." Draco and the rest of the first years stared at the gamekeeper in shock for a few seconds, none of them sure what to say.
"We're going to do what?" Theo demanded after the momentary silence, his voice high and even more panicked than before. "Just going in there and getting… fairies or bowtruckles to move somewhere else wouldn't be… that bad, admittedly, or in-incredibly dangerous, but finding unicorns while they're being hunted and killed by someone, or something?! This is Auror work! Not detention for first years!" Even though Draco really didn't like his childhood friend much anymore, the blond couldn't help but agree with him.
"'s likely jus an animal o' some sort. There's nothin' ter worry abou'." Hagrid said, but his words didn't sound very convincing to Draco, or the others judging by the looks on their faces.
"But what if it's not? What if it is something really bad, and it finds us first? It killed a unicorn! That doesn't happen!" The blond said, a hint of fear creeping into his voice.
"There's nothin in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with Fang or me." The Hogwarts gamekeeper said, once again attempting to sound reassuring. "An' stay on the path. Right then, we're gonna split inter two parties an' follow the trail in diff'rent directions. There's blood all over the place, it must've been staggerin' around since las' night. Harry, yeh an' Draco go with Theo." Both first year gryffindors Hagrid mentioned glanced over at the only Slytherin in their group, rather apprehensive looks on their faces.
"Do we get Fang then?" Draco asked, a bit of fear still in his voice, though it was much less than before, as he looked apprehensively at the dark trees spread out in front of them for miles. He then glanced over at Harry, and saw him looking back at him with a somewhat exasperated and confused expression on his face.
"You think we wouldn't be able to protect ourselves against whatever's out there?" He asked and for a few seconds all the bond did was stare at his best friend in shock, blinking repeatedly as if he would be able to understand what he said if he did that enough. When it finally clicked in his mind what Harry had meant, and that he actually thought what he said, a scoff of disbelief escaped his mouth.
"Did you not hear what Hagrid said? Harry, we're first years ! We barely even know how to cast a knockback jinx." Draco said and the other boy paused, as if realizing that he was right, before nodding slowly, a faint dusting of rosy pink covering his cheeks.
"As I was sayin', if yeh find the unicorn, send green sparks up into the air, alrigh'? Take out yer wand and try it." Hagrid continued as if Harry and Draco hadn't spoken in the first place and all four students pulled out their wands, staring at them rather cluelessly for a few seconds. How do you even do this? Just think "green sparks"? The blond thought and then flicked his wand slightly as he lifted it and, sure enough, bright green sparks shot from the end of it. The other three quickly did the same and Hagrid nodded slightly before continuing. "Very good. If one o' yeh is in trouble, send out red sparks and we'll come an' help. Alrigh', be careful - let's go."
The forest seemed even darker inside, and all of the sounds they had been able to hear outside seemed to die down, leaving them in eerie silence. It didn't take long for the path they were on to split in two and Hagrid and Hermione went left, while Harry, Theo, Draco, and Fang went right.
They walked in silence for a while, keeping their eyes on the ground so they could spot anything out of the ordinary. Every once in a while a stray beam of moonlight would reveal a bit of silvery blood, though the moonlight made it have a bit of a bluish tint. Dead leaves littered the ground below their feet, crunching softly as they walked and random, big tree roots jutted out of the ground, making it difficult to not trip.
"Are there really werewolves in the forest?" Harry asked after a while, looking over at Draco with slight fear shimmering in his emerald eyes. The blond redirected his gaze up from the forest ground to the raven-haired boy in surprise, not having expected him to ask about that or be scared of it in the first place, but then again, Harry still didn't know all too much about Hogwarts, or the Wizarding World as a while for that matter.
"There are rumors, but no real proof or anything. A few years ago a girl got attacked, but it just turned out to be another student who got bit as a kid and was usually rather calm, apparently. There really probably aren't any in the forest at the moment, and besides, they wouldn't be able to do much anyways, it's not the full moon." Draco said, though he himself glanced around at the dark trees that stretched on for who knows how far, hoping that what he said was correct.
"There are still other thi- Did you hear that?" Theo suddenly demanded, spinning around with a panicked look on his face, eyes a bit wide. Neither Harry nor Draco seemed to have heard anything, however, when the blond glanced over to his right he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He quickly spun around to face it, but by the time he did the shadow was gone and the leaves that were scattered on the ground had a few more shimmering silver drops of blood sprayed on them, as if the unicorn had walked by, which was impossible due to how visible it would have been.
"Someone's here." Draco said, his voice trembling slightly as he took a hesitant step back. He almost tripped over something and yelped in a bit of fear, spinning around to face what he had run into, only to realize it was just Fang. A bit of the tension that had built up in him dissipated and his shoulders relaxed. "Whoever's hurting the unicorns is here, I-I think."
Theo gulped rather audibly, his eyes wide as he looked around them, obviously trying to spot whatever had just passed them. There was another sound then, as if someone were sweeping the leaves covering the forest floor up with a broom, and all three first years looked around themselves frantically, a bit panicked, while Fang whimpered in fear of something they couldn't really see. "Who's there?" Harry called suddenly and Draco glanced at him for a brief second, trying to silently ask why the raven-haired boy would purposefully draw attention to himself.
Harry glanced his way for a moment as well, as if knowing the blond had done so, and seemed to understand what Draco was trying to say, though all he did in response was shrug and then pull his wand out of his robe-pocket. Draco quickly did the same, gripping the familiar handle of his 12 ½ inch long hawthorn wand, feeling a comforting, tingling warmth in his fingers as he did so. Suddenly a twig snapped somewhere to their left and all three of them spun towards the sound, weak red sparks already beginning to trail around them flies, not going any higher than their wands. Before they could actually send up proper sparks, someone, or something, stepped out of the trees.
All three boys quickly back away from the figure, Harry beginning to raise his wand to shoot off bright red sparks, only to freeze when a ray of moonlight revealed that it was a centaur. For at least twenty seconds none of them moved, even the half-horse, half-man with auburn hair and fur.
"Now what might a few Hogwarts students be doing down in the forest?" The centaur finally asked, his voice deep and a bit gravily. "Mars is very bright tonight, it is not safe."
Harry stared at the centaur in shock, obviously never having seen one before, while Draco took another hesitant, fearful step back, and Theo stepped forward ever so slightly. What did he think he was doing? "We-We have detention out here, Mr. Centaur-sir." The brunet suddenly said and both other boys looked over at him in shock. Why was he speaking to the centaur? If he said even one wrong thing they were all screwed, though if Draco had ever known Theo, that was something he was aware of.
"With Mars this bright? Something is coming, and I think you'd rather not be here when it does." Draco glanced over at Harry to see him looking rather perplexed as well, obviously not sure what he meant either. They both knew the planets often "told" certain creatures things based on their color, their brightness, their position in the sky, and many other things that the blond really didn't want to bother remembering at the moment, but what did Mars being brighter than usual mean?
"There's a hurt unicorn somewhere in the forest, and we're supposed to find it. You wouldn't happen to have seen anything, sir?" Theo continued and Draco turned to face him, his eyes a bit wide and his eyebrows raised. The brunet ignored his look however and simply kept his gaze locked on the centaur, who for a long time didn't respond.
"Mars is very bright… You ought to find that unicorn rather quickly if you want to avoid what is coming." He said finally, somewhat repeating his previous words, and then turned around and trotted off, leaving the three of them, and Fang, where they were.
"Do you think it was him we heard before?" Harry asked a few moments later, still staring at the spot of the forest where the centaur, whose name they had not discovered, had disappeared into. Draco finally pulled himself out of his daze and shook his head, though whether it was to clear it, or answer his raven-haired best friend's question, or both, he wasn't sure.
"No, that sounded more like… like someone was flying way too close to the ground on their broom, or something like that. Definitely were not hooves…" The blond said, even though he wished he could be saying the opposite. At least then they wouldn't really have to worry about it being whoever, or whatever, was killing and injuring unicorns.
"Nevermind that, we should keep going, unless of course you idiots want to be here all night . I, personally, would rather be in my bed down in the Slytherin dorms, so with or without you two I am going to keep going. Come on, Fang." Theo said and continued walking down the path in the same direction they had been going before, Hagrid's dog following at his heels.
Draco glanced over at Harry, who nodded and then began following the Slytherin, his wand still gripped tightly in his right hand. The blond quickly followed, and for the next fifteen or twenty minutes none of them said a word. The silver blood that had previously just specked the side of the path gradually became thicker and the puddles grew larger, with the occasional spray of silvery blue going up the bottom of a tree, as if the unicorn had stumbled and aggravated the wound in a way that it sprayed out rather than just dripped. Eventually a clearing came into view, though most of it was difficult to see until they stepped into the circle of ground where there weren't any trees due to a particularly old looking oak tree's branches.
"Look." Harry mumbled as they stepped into the clearing that was lit with silver moonlight, sticking his arm out to stop both Theo and Draco from going any further. The raven-haired boy pointed towards something white and shimmering that was lying on the ground a few feet from the other side of the clearing. Carefully the three of them approached the thing, only to freeze at practically the same time when they all realized what it was.
The unicorn was lying on its side, its pearlwhite mane spread out behind its head on the dark leaves of the forest. It seemed to glow, as if made of moonlight, and it would've been beautiful if it weren't so obvious that it was no longer alive.
Harry stepped closer to it, shrugging off Draco's hand that tried to stop him, but he froze after just two steps, seeming to stiffen when the same noise they had heard before, the sweeping sound as if someone were flying by on a broom, came again. Draco and Theo both froze as well and the three of them all stared in horror at the edge of the clearing, where one of the many bushes had begun shaking. Seconds later something came out of it, something that reminded the blond of how his parents had described the way the guards of Azkaban, Dementors, looked. It crawled, or glided more like, slowly across the clearing and didn't even glance their way when Fang let out a tiny whimper of fear. Then, when the shadowy figure reached the unicorn, instead of picking it up or anything else similar, it sank its head down to the wound at its neck and began to drink .
Theo let out a shriek of terror and turned abruptly, bolting out of the clearing with Fang hot on his heels. Harry and Draco stayed exactly where they were, both wide-eyed and terrified as they stared in horror at the figure hunched over the animal that symbolized everything innocent and good in the world. How could someone hurt something like that?
The dark, shadowed figure looked up from the unicorn's neck as the Slytherin's scream echoed through the trees and the clearing. Thick silver blood dripped down its front and it slowly rose, as if standing up, beginning to glide towards them like it was a ghost.
Harry suddenly let out a terrified gasp of pain and his left hand flew up to his forehead as if someone had thrown something hard at him. He stumbled back a few steps, and Draco did the same, reaching over to grab onto his best friend's wrist, both to steady himself and him and to make sure he stayed at his side. "Harry…" The blond's voice trembled as he mumbled the raven-haired boy's name. There was no response from him, not even a glance his way, and Draco was about to just turn around, with Harry's wrist still gripped tightly in his hand, and run. Before he could do this, however, he heard hooves begin galloping towards them from behind and something came soaring over the two first year gryffindors. It landed on the shadowed figure and then reared back on its hind legs, kicking its front two out at the figure just as Harry fell to his knees, still clutching his forehead in pain.
"Harry!" Draco yelped and, glancing up at the centaur that he didn't recognise in slight fear, knelt down in front of his raven-haired best friend. "Harry, are you okay?" His voice shook slightly in panic as he gripped Harry's shoulders tightly, trying to get him to respond somehow.
It took about thirty seconds for him to look up, and by then the angry noises the centaur had been making behind them had stopped. Harry's green eyes shone with a hazy sort of pain for a few seconds before they cleared up and he gave Draco, who was still asking if he was okay, a small, tight smile. "I'm fine, Draco." He said and the blond frowned in response, obviously not believing him but choosing not to comment on it. After a moment, he helped Harry to his feet and then turned to face the centaur that had likely just saved them.
"Thank you." Draco said, surprised that his voice was actually still working properly, especially considering he was talking to a centaur.
"What was that?" Harry asked then, but he received no response from the centaur, who looked very different from the one they had met earlier. His hair was long, and almost the same platinum blond as Draco's, and his eyes were a brilliant blue, similar to Ron's. He gazed down at the two of them, as if taking them in and trying to figure out who they were and what they were like. His eyes stopped at Harry's forehead and in that moment Draco realized that his scar seemed to have become a bruise of some sort, like some spell had hit him, and a frown tugged at his lips.
"You are the Potter boy." The centaur said finally and, even though it was dark outside, Draco could see Harry's cheeks flush in embarrassment like they always did when someone mentioned his fame. It was odd that he reacted like that every time, as if he was still becoming comfortable with being known by everybody. "You'd better get back to Hagrid. It's not safe - especially for you. Can you ride? It'll be quicker that way." Then, after a moment's hesitation, he added. "My name is Firenze."
The centaur then sunk down to his knees, making it easier for the two of them to climb onto his back. Harry got on without much hesitation, though Draco paused uncertainly for a second before climbing on behind Harry.
Just after Firenze rose to his hooves again more galloping hooves suddenly became audible and seconds later two other centaurs, one of which Draco recognized as the one they had encountered before, burst into the clearing. "Firenze!" Yelled the one that he didn't recognize angrily, dark eyes glinting dangerously as he glared at the centaur he was addressing. "What are you doing? You have two humans on your back! Have you no shame? Are you a common mule?"
This seemed to make Firenze angry as well and he snapped, sounding equal parts annoyed and indignant. "Do you realize who this is? It's the Potter boy. The sooner he gets out of the forest, the better." Draco, knowing how dangerous it could be to correct or talk back to a centaur, had to refrain himself from muttering about how he was there too, not just Harry. Saying that would certainly not help them get back to Hagrid and then out of the forest, away from whatever killed the unicorn and somehow hurt Harry.
"What did you tell him?" Demanded the same centaur as before, looking much more disappointed and annoyed now than angry. "Remember, Firenze, we are sworn not to set ourselves against the heavens. Have we not read what is to come in the movements of the planets?" Draco furrowed his eyebrows in slight confusion, what did that mean? Did the centaurs know things about the future that they didn't warn others about?
The centaur that Harry, Theo, and Draco had met previously in the forest nervously pawed at the ground with his hoof, averting the other two's eyes. "I'm sure, Firenze thought he was acting for the best…" He said quietly and the other centaur kicked his back legs up angrily, as if he couldn't believe what the auburn-haired centaur was saying.
"The best! What does that have to do with us? Centaurs only care about what's written in the stars! It is not our job to follow stray humans around like donkeys!" Suddenly, without any warning, Firenze kicked up with his front legs, leaving only his back two still on the ground. Harry yelped and grabbed hold of the centaur's shoulders, while Draco frantically wrapped his arms around Harry from behind so that he didn't fall, trying to to scream out.
"Do you see this unicorn?" Firenze demanded, voice rising angrily in volume. "Do you not understand why it was killed? Or did the planets not tell you that secret? I'm standing up to what's in this forest, and yes, Bane, with humans at my side, if it has to be like that!" After he said that Firenze spun around and galloped off with them on his back, both Harry and Draco trying desperately to hold on as tightly as they could, leaving the other two centaurs behind.
Draco didn't have any idea what was going on, and from the brief glimpse he got of Harry's face while he clung to him so he wouldn't fall off of Firenze's back he guessed the raven-haired boy didn't either.
"Why was that centaur - Bane?- so angry?" The Boy-Who-Lived demanded after they had been galloping through the forest for at least a minute or so. "What was that thing you saved us from earlier?" Firenze didn't answer either of his questions and simply slowed down his pace a little bit, every once in a while telling them when to duck under a branch. For at least ten minutes they rode in silence, the only sounds audible being Firenze's hooves as they slammed into the ground and the blood still rushing through Draco's ears from the adrenaline he had felt in the past half hour.
Finally, when they reached a particularly thick part of the woods, Firenze stopped walking and looked back at them. "Do either of you know what unicorn blood is used for?" He asked, breaking the silence, and for a second both Harry and Draco were too surprised and confused by the strange question to answer.
"No," The raven-haired boy admitted after a moment's pause, glancing at his blond best friend as if to make sure he didn't know either before continuing. "We only use their hair and horns in potions." Draco nodded, even though he was sure he had heard somewhere that the blood was used for something, though it wasn't potions related. He couldn't quite place what it was, or where he'd heard it from, so he simply kept his mouth shut.
"That is because it is a truly terrible thing to kill a unicorn." Firenze said and Draco had to bite his lip to stop himself from commenting that technically to take a unicorn's horn, they also had to at least hurt the creature they took it from. "Only someone with nothing to lose and everything to gain, could commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch away from death - but it comes with a terrible price. He killed something pure and defenseless to save himself, but now he only has half a life, a cursed one, from the moment his lips touched the blood."
Both first years seemed to fall into a sort of shocked daze at that, neither one of them having expected something like that. "But who would be so desperate?" Draco asked, even though he knew there were some people in the world who would rather be cursed than die. If he was being completely honest with himself, he got the feeling if his father were truly an inch from death, he would at least consider it.
"If you become cursed, then isn't being dead better?" Harry added, his eyebrows scrunched together in a look of confusion as he tried to figure out why someone would want to do something like that.
"That is true." Firenze agreed, nodding slightly as he turned his head to face away from them again. "Unless you only have to stay alive long enough to drink something else - something that gives one all of one's strength and power back - something that makes it so one never dies. Do you know what is in the school at this very moment?"
The second he said that both Harry and Draco gasped slightly and exclaimed at the same time. "The Philosopher's Stone!" They looked at each other for a brief second before Harry mumbled something, a line suddenly appearing between his knit eyebrows as he said something about who would steal the stone.
"Can you think of no one who has waited years to return to power, who has held onto life and waited for his chance?"
It hit Draco like a curse who Firenze was referring to, and he felt his breath catch in his throat. If he returned, then there would be no hope left for anything. His father would likely return to his side, he would either become some sort of pawn, or he would be killed, and Harry… there was no way Harry would be able to survive if he returned. The blond gulped in fear and noticed that Harry had begun to tremble ever so slightly, obviously having realized who Firenze was talking about as well.
"You mean…" Harry's voice broke slightly and Draco, who was still sitting rather close to him, couldn't stop himself from reaching forward and softly grabbing his best friend's wrist, hoping it could somehow reassure him. "That was Vol - "
A shout from nearby interrupted Harry and both gryffindors looked up, spotting Hermione running towards them, her hair even bushier than usual as if the wind had messed it up. "Harry! Draco! Are you okay?" She demanded and Draco spotted Hagrid and, surprisingly, also Theo and Fang following her.
"I'm fine." The raven-haired boy in front of him said, his voice trembling slightly, and the blond gave him a concerned look, knowing that was a lie.
"So am I. Hagrid, the unicorn's dead. It's lying in a clearing somewhere over there." Draco said and the gamekeeper nodded slightly, running off in the direction he was pointing to go examine the unicorn.
"This is where I leave you." Firenze murmured then, looking down at Hermione for a few seconds. "You are safe now."
Draco and Harry both slid down off the centaur's back, the latter of which would've stumbled had the former not grabbed his arm and held him up, once again looking at him with concern glinting in his silvery grey eyes. "Good luck, Harry Potter." Firenze said and both first years looked up at him as he bowed his head slightly. "The planets have been read incorrectly by centaurs many times before, I hope it is the same this time." With that said the centaur turned and galloped off, leaving them there, Harry once again trembling.