"Does anyone know how to get back?" I asked.

"Uh...right through there," Terence said, pointing at an opening in the thick underbrush. "I think we took two lefts?"

That vaguely fit with what I remembered, and if we started to get lost, I could always send my bugs up above the canopy to check the location of the castle. With their poor vision, they likely wouldn't be able to see it very well, but they'd be able to see the lights well enough.

"Let's go," I said. Without asking anyone I plunged into the underbrush, and I heard Miles Bletchley and Terence Higgs follow me without comment. I could see Draco with my bugs hesitating, but then he too followed behind us.

Plunging into the dark, I didn't even bother to light my wand. The light from the wands of the others behind me created a dim light, but I was mostly moving by feeling the insects under my feet.

Miles caught up to me from behind.

"So you really are a girl," he said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked. The bliss that I'd experienced from being with the Unicorns was wearing off, and in its place was anxiety at the thought that we wouldn't make it in time.

"Some people thought you were a Death Eater polyjuiced as a way to test us," he said. "Weed out the ones who weren't really into the whole racial purity thing."

"Then why would I beat up on those three idiots the first night?" I asked.

"I didn't say it was a good theory," he said. "But you have to admit you aren't normal."

I glanced back at him. "I don't know what you mean."

"Just the way you move... it's creepy. You sit and stare past people like they aren't even there, but you see everything."

I shrugged. "What do you want me do? Act weak and helpless?"

"Act like a human being," he said. "It's like you're some kind of spider or something, just waiting to pounce on anybody that walks by."

"All I want is to be left alone," I said. "Then I can act like a human being and enjoy the unicorns."

"There's always some people who can't leave enough alone," he said. He glanced behind him; the others were further back along the trail. "Not all of us feel that way."

"But nobody wants to do anything about it," I said. "Yeah, I've heard."

"Who says help has to be obvious?" he asked. "It's not like we're all Gryffindors, and won't do anything unless we have an audience to clap for us."

I frowned.

"If you can't keep people off my back, what can you do?"

"Slip a word here and there," he said. "About how it's not worth it to step on a mudblood when the Gryffindors are the real enemy. Oooor... it would be easy to get the people who want to give it a shot even more reason to hate you."

"So what do you want?" I asked.

"I want to beat the Gryffindors," he said. "And that won't happen as long as our house is fighting itself. Sooner or later, you're going to end up seriously injuring a member of the Quidditch team, or they'll be suspended for killing you. Dumbledore doesn't like us all that much anyway, and he's probably looking for a chance to chuck us out on our ear."

"So keep your people in line," I said. "Convince them, and I'll remember who not to thank."

He blinked for a moment, and then he nodded. "Right. Best not."

"I remember my friends," I said. "And the people who cross me. It doesn't mean that everybody has to fit in one category or the other."

"None of this means I like you," he said. "I think you're the worst thing that happened to this House since the Potter kid got sorted...not because you're a mudblood, but because you're a really violent person. If it had been one of us purebloods who did all the crap you've done, we'd have been out on our ear."

"I was Sorted before Potter was," I said, ignoring his comment about be being violent. It was actually somewhat true, even if I'd had my reasons.

"Yeah, but you didn't start beating people until afterwards," he said. "Or dropping them in boil potion."

"He fell in himself," I said. "The aurors said so."

"Right... only an idiot would actually believe that," he said.

"As long as you make sure the idiots know that, I think we should be able to..." I stopped.

There was something moving in the underbrush. It was too dark for me to see well, even with the bugs, but it was massive.

We stepped out into a clearing, and I reached into my fanny pack for the knife. Contrary to what I'd told Draco, I hadn't actually managed to turn it silver, or even silver plated, even with two weeks of obsessive transfiguration practice. I had managed to make it shiny, but if there really were werewolves in the forest, I might regret not learning to make it silver.

With my other hand I pulled out my wand.

"There's something coming," I said. "Something big."

The others were bunching up behind me. That wasn't good tactically; something big enough would be able to plow through all of us at the same time, and we'd get in each other's way trying to fight back. Sticking together had worked in the days of melee weapons and shield walls, but none of us were particularly big or strong. Wizard tactics were likely close to riflemen tactics anyway.

A moment later the others heard the sound of something pushing its way through the undergrowth.

I smelled it before I saw it. It stank worse than any boy's locker room that I'd ever been in, not that I'd been in many. I'd smelled gas stop bathrooms that were easier on the nose.

As it broke through the undergrowth, I saw it; in the dark it looked taller than Hagrid, although it was possible that was an illusion. It had greenish, rubbery flesh, and it had straggly green hair.

I heard Draco give out a scream, and it grunted and began to come toward us.

Miles and Terence gamely stepped forward and began to launch stunners at the thing, but it didn't seem to have much of an effect.

I launched the flare spell at one of its eyes, and while it didn't seem to hurt it, it stopped and batted at the fire in its face.

Terence seemed to get the idea first; he launched his own flare spell at its face, and then Miles followed suit. Draco stopped screaming and did so as well.

The thing was roaring and swinging its club around, but it didn't look like it intended to run. It was putting one hand over its face and swinging its club blindly. Sooner or later it was going to hit one of us, and when it did, someone was going to die.

Slipping my wand into the fanny pack, I tensed, watching its movements. I couldn't afford to make a mistake here, or I was dead.

I watched the way its club was moving, and then I darted forward.

The way it had pushed through the underbrush told me that its skin had to be tough; it was obviously somewhat resistant to magic, and the way the tree cracked when it struck it with its club told me that it had massive amounts of strength.

The one saving grace was that it seemed to be slow, not just physically, but mentally.

I darted between its legs, and I slashed upward. I felt my knife connect, and then a putrid liquid splashed all over me. I wasn't sure what it was, but I doubted that I wanted to think about it too much. The thing roared and tried to dance back, stomping at me.

It dropped its own club on its foot and it screamed again.

I took the opportunity to slash at its thigh, where the femoral artery would be on a human. Its skin really was tough, but I managed to jam it in as hard as I could and drag my way down, putting my entire weight into it. My hands were slick, but I managed to catch hold of the knife.

A hand reached down to grab me, but I rolled aside. The thing roared in pain, and its claws caught at my robes. It started to lift me up, but I managed to slip out of them, leaving it to stare stupidly at my empty robes. The knife was still stuck in its thigh.

The boys were shooting flares at its face, but it was ignoring them now, concentrating on trying to find me. I grabbed the knife and yanked it out again, and then I ducked as a massive hand came down to where I had just been. I rolled to the side as a foot stomped at me, and I slashed at the back of it's leg, trying to hamstring it.

My knife didn't cut deep enough, and I grimaced as I slipped on what was becoming an increasingly slippery section of ground. The thing was bleeding heavily, but it was so large that it had to have a lot of blood.

I cut at it again and again, slashing at it with my knife. I felt it bite into the tendon, and then I hit it again in the other leg. It screamed again, and then I felt it starting to collapse.

Lunging to get out from under it, I was almost fast enough, but my feet slipped out from under me, and I landed on my arm just as the thing landed on me. I felt a sickening crunch, followed by a sensation of cold on the outside, and hot embers on the inside of my arm.

Worse, I was partially trapped under the thing, and from close up it smelled infinitely worse than it had when I'd fought it from a distance.

Without the light from their wands, everything was in shadows. I looked up and saw the three boys standing in the distance.

"Is it dead?" Draco asked. "Is she dead?"

"You couldn't be that lucky," I called out.

Slowly, cautiously the three of them approached. I saw Miles standing over me, and he simply stood there, watching me. My wand was in my fanny pack, under a ton of whatever this thing was, and my knife was lost, probably stuck in the thing somewhere.

I was completely helpless, unable to move, and if he wanted to kill me, he could do it now, easily. He could even blame it on the monster, and no one would ask any questions. They'd think I was really stupid, and then they'd go back to their day to day lives.

He was silent for a moment, and I wondered what he was thinking. Finally he spoke.

"Can you move?" he asked.

"No," I said, wondering if I was making a mistake.

"We won't be able to lift the whole thing," he said, "But if the two of us use the levitation spell, Draco might be able to pull you out."

"Fine," I said.

A moment later they gave it their first try.

"You stink," Draco muttered as he put his hands under my shoulder blades. I felt a jolt of intense pain in my arm as I slid out from under it.

The boys lifted with the spell, and Draco pulled while I pushed with my feet. It took us four tries before I was out.

Miles held his wand up, lit.

I could see the white of the bone sticking out of my arm.

"Either of you know any healing spells?" I asked.

"Not that'll heal that," Miles said.

"Give me your robes," I told Draco.

"What?" he asked.

"If I bleed out, I'll be dead before we get to the castle. Lend me your robes."

My own robes were drying in a pool of monster blood.

He cursed under his breath, and then he pulled them over his head. A moment later I wrapped them around my arm, putting pressure on it. I pulled it tight, and I ignored the sudden burst of pain. When I was satisfied that I'd done the best I could I stood up.

"Doesn't that hurt?" he asked.

"Does it look like it hurts?" I asked testily. "We can stand around talking, or we can get back to the castle."

We started walking faster. I was feeling a little faint; whether it was from blood loss or shock I wasn't sure, It wasn't a good sign. It didn't matter; leaving me alone in the forest wasn't an option, and getting help for myself and the Unicorn was a priority.

"What the hell was that?" I asked.

The others were no longer trailing far behind. They were all crowded up behind me, although whether it was because they thought I was going to protect them, or whether they thought they could protect me I didn't know. In my current condition I wasn't going to be able to protect anyone.

"That was a forest troll!" Draco said. "It's an XXXX creature! That's a wizard killer!"

"No... XXXXX creatures are wizard killers." Miles said.

"We're wizards, it would have killed us..." Draco said. "I can't believe that you killed it with a knife. You stabbed it right in the stones!"

"What else was I going to do?" I asked. "Run away?"

"Yes...?" Draco asked. "Most people's response to a troll isn't to run up and stab it in the crotch."

"Have you met her?" Miles muttered. He was staring at me like he'd never seen me before. Most likely he was re-evaluating how dangerous I was.

"It could move through the undergrowth faster than we could move through the trail," I said. "And it would have caught one of us sooner or later."

We broke through the undergrowth, and we were suddenly back on the lawn.

Making our way up the slope was hard, but I forced myself to do so. In the light I could see that I looked like Carrie after her prom; I probably smelled twice as bad. I was leaving blood on the grass as I walked, although it was rapidly drying.

It wasn't bedtime yet for the older students, and I heard gasps as I stepped into the hallway. I ignored them, and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. The last thing my reputation needed was for me to collapse right in the main hall.

The crowd parted in front of us, and everyone was silent as I walked past. No one said a word, but I felt the weight of dozens of eyes on me. Every step felt heavy, but I kept my head up and my face as neutral as I could.

Madam Pomprey was on her feet the moment she saw us. "What in the world?"

"I killed a troll," I said. "I need you to stabilize me, and then go out to the forest to help Hagrid. One of the Unicorns is dying."

"Students are my first priority," she said. Her wand was out. "You must be in a lot of pain."

"You should see the other guy," I joked. "Just stop me from bleeding and get me to a bed, and then you can get to Hagrid."

Snape stepped into the room.

"Is Miss Carrow still alive?" he asked after doing a mental head count.

"This is from a troll," I said. "I just need the bleeding stopped, and then Madam Pomprey needs to get out to help Hagrid with a dying Unicorn."

He stared at me for a long moment, then turned to Pomprey.

"Is Miss Hebert in any danger?"

"She needs treatment," Pomprey said. "She's in tremendous pain."

"My experience is that if a student says they can tolerate their pain, and they are not a Gryffindor, then they probably can. I will stabilize Miss Hebert."

She looked at me for a moment, and I waved my good hand at her. "I'll be fine," I said. "It only hurts when I laugh."

"Are your ribs injured?" she asked, frowning. "I didn't see anything when I...?"

"I was joking," I said. "I don't laugh."

Her lips tightened, and she said,"If you are well enough to joke, then perhaps Professor Snape can help you. I'll go get my supplies."

I sat on the edge of a bed, ignoring the mess I was making, and I watched as Snape began to make preparations to treat me. I hadn't had any experience with Wizardly healing, and it was going to be interesting seeing how different it was from Panacea.

"Drink this," Snape said.

"Is that going to make me sleep?" I asked suspiciously. I'd already been dosed by calm inducing berries this evening without my consent; I wasn't going to drink anything without knowing what it did.

"It reduces pain," Snape said.

"I'll do without it," I said.

The last thing I needed was to be in the infirmary alone with people knowing I was hurt.

"Fine," he said. He pulled out his wand and pointed his wand. "Brackium Emendo."

Wizardly healing, as it turns out is much more painful than what Panacea had used. I managed to keep my face calm throughout however.

"Now you need to drink this," Snape said. "It is a blood replenishing potion."

I looked at him suspiciously.

"You have lost copious amounts of blood. You will be required to stay here overnight because of the possibility of infection. Trolls are filthy creatures."

"Fine," I said.