Together, Hermione, Hagrid and I ran over to the source of the scream, only to find Ron Weasley with his hands in fists, hollering at the top of his lungs at Draco Malfoy, "It's not FUNNY!"

I crossed my arms, half in relief and half in exasperation, "Alright, what did he do?"

"Spiders! He started talking about spiders!" Ron said. Everyone started to wear expressions of disbelief. He'd been shrieking because of that?!

Malfoy smirked, smug as a cat, "That's not all I did."

"Bloody hell !" Ron said, "Then he ran his fingers along the nape of my neck, making this chittering sound."

Hagrid said, kindly, "Spiders are people too, leastaways the ones in the Forbidden Forest. Ye can talk to 'em, ya know?"

"I HATE SPIDERS!" Ron hollered, as loud as possible. It echoed through the trees.

Hagrid said, slowly, "Alright, alright, who wants to be with Fang and Malfoy, then?"

Harry really, really didn't. But he knew his temper was a better match for Malfoy's 'pranks.' Hermione was the type to punch first and feel upset later. And they were really supposed to be ... looking for unicorn killers.

Harry really, really really didn't want to go with Malfoy. "Suppose It'd better be me, then." he muttered, stepping forward.

The forest was loud, as they walked away from Hagrid's group. Un-fortunately, Malfoy was loud too, making it hard to hear anyone sneaking up on them.

"I live beside a forest you know, not a real forest, but this one isn't real either." Draco Malfoy said smugly.

Now, Harry Potter didn't want to give him the time of day, but he found his curiosity, burn it to pieces, rising, "What do you mean, real forest?"

"Real forests haven't seen axes, not really. Big and dark and gloomy. You know, the type they write childhood tales about." Draco said smugly.

"Like Hansel and Gretl?" Harry said, not that he'd read it, just wanted to stump Malfoy.

"What's that?" Malfoy said. Stumped. Harry suppressed a smirk.

"A fairy tale." Harry said, "You know, what the Muggles tell their kids."

"Oh." Malfoy said, looking less like he wanted to sneer and more like he wanted to read it. He quickly masked that impulse.

In the ensuing silence, Malfoy lowered his voice. "Something's wrong" he said in a voice quieter than a whisper.

"What?" Harry asked gamely, trying not to be afraid of being in the Forbidden Forest, with Fang and Malfoy, After Dark.

"Listen," Malfoy said.

Harry did. It sounded like even the rustling of trees had stopped. Maybe the wind had died? Harry felt more confident without the constant rustling, "I don't hear anything."

"Exactly," Malfoy said, "It's a forest, it makes sounds..."

"Except when there's danger afoot," Harry said, his voice as low as Malfoy's.

"It's up ahead," Malfoy said.

"How do you know?"

"The last few sound were from behind us. Moving away from us," Malfoy said.

Harry fingered his wand. Act like a Gryffindor, dammit. "Let's go," he bluffed, striding forward.

[a/n: I have no idea how the kids weren't completely catatonic afterwards. Leave a review!]