Chapter 18 – Ironic Detention

Emma started wandering toward the library, mulling over everything McGonagall had said. She wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings and was suddenly overcome by the smell of garlic, as if she'd just walked into a wall. Before she knew it, she was curled up on the floor, leaning against a wall with her hands clutching the side of her head.

She quickly put her robes over her nose again and wondered what was going on. At first she thought she was going the wrong way, but now that she was looking around, she was where she should be. So, it was Quirrell who was in an unusual place, and now she was paying attention, she could make out his stuttering in a room just down the corridor.

Curious, Emma crawled closer. What was he doing in this part of the castle, it was mostly disused classrooms.

'No – no – not again, please-' he stuttered.

Wondering who he was talking to, she trained all her attention on the room. Curse the garlic for making her hearing so bad.

'You will do this for me!' hissed an unusual, raspy voice. 'Or else.'

That wasn't Snape. Emma had no idea who it might be.

'All right – all right -' stammered Quirrell.

Emma then heard a rustle of cloth and Quirrell strode out of the room, straightening his turban. He was so flustered he didn't see Emma sat on the floor near the door. She listened out for someone else leaving the room but nobody did. Chancing a look inside, in case they were still there, she saw no-one.

'What on Earth?' she thought.

Emma sat inside the room for a short while, trying to piece together what might have happened. When she put her robes back down, the garlic smell had mostly faded, however, in its place was the stench of rot and decay.

Eyes bulging, she realised what the garlic was for. It had nothing to do with repelling vampires, though it was certainly good for that, it was to cover up the smell of him dying. What could kill in such a horrible manner.

'Not again.' repeated Emma to herself. 'He's going to kill another unicorn!'

Emma burst out of the room and ran straight to the gargoyle on the second floor, avoiding the route Quirrell was likely to have taken.

'Uhm, what's the password?' she thought to herself, going over her memories from the week before. 'Chocolate Limes.'

Emma really had to thank her vampire brain for keeping track of little details that she had either blocked out or was too busy to pay attention to.

She ran up the stairs to Dumbledore's office and knocked urgently on the door.

'Come in.' she heard, and burst in.

'Ahh, Miss Pearson, to what do I owe the pleasure?'

'Sir, I think another unicorn is going to be killed tonight.'

He looked thoughtful for a moment and gestured for Emma to sit at his desk.

'And why is that?' he asked, evidently curious.

Emma started to explain why she thought it was Quirrell that killed the previous unicorn.

'You see, he was getting ill for months, and suddenly he got better.' she said, talking fast. 'That and I know he was in the forest at around the same time.'

'That is a serious accusation, Miss Pearson. However, if you are correct in your assumption that he is ill, why would he not go to Madam Pomfrey?'

'Because he's dying.' she said before explaining what she had overheard, and smelt. 'And someone – or something, is forcing him to kill the unicorns.'

Emma thought really hard about whether or not she should mention the rest of her theory. It wouldn't just risk getting herself in more trouble, it would risk Hermione, Harry, Ron and even Hagrid too. She decided to go ahead, but to leave the others out as much as possible.

'I think he, and whoever is threatening him...' she stammered. 'Is after the Philosopher's Stone.'

Emma waited barely a second, expecting a reaction from Dumbledore, but his eyes were still passive and thoughtful. She carried on quickly, desperate to make her case known.

'I overheard Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell in the forest talking about it.' she said, hoping Dumbledore would think that's how she found out. She didn't want to get Hagrid in trouble. 'I'm sure Professor Snape would agree with me, that Quirrell wants the stone. To save himself, and for this other... person.'

She continued explaining more evidence. Things like Quirrell trying to kill Harry at the Quidditch match and how Harry had seen Quirrell in Diagon Alley the same day Gringotts was broken into. The same day Harry witnessed the stone being removed.

She finally stopped for breath, wondering if she'd left anything out, and stopped pacing. She didn't even realise she had gotten out of the chair. Dumbledore's expression was still quite light hearted, but Emma could see him considering it.

'Well, well.' he said, chuckling a little. 'You and your friends have been quite busy, haven't you. Your theory is well thought out, and appears very solid. Ten points to Gryffindor for bringing this to my attention. I will certainly look into it.'

'Oh!' said Emma, remembering one more thing. 'I also think he released the troll on Hallowe'en. I was reading Hermione's Defence Against the Dark Arts notes, and the ones on trolls were far more detailed than normal, even by Hermione's standards.'

He nodded infinitesimally. Emma thought he already knew that, and she noticed him smile a little.

'Ahh yes, Miss Granger. I presume she has been lending you her notes because of your aversion to garlic?'

So, he knows that Hermione knows. Of course he does. He seems to know everything that goes on in the school. Nearly everything, anyway. She wondered what might happen to her, now that she had been directly accused of breaking her promise, but it's been months and he'd never brought it up before, so she must not be in much trouble.

'Yes, Professor... You're not mad?'

'I told you, Miss Pearson, that it would be out of my hands. It is now between you and Miss Granger.'

Emma nodded absent-mindedly, not quite sure what Dumbledore meant by that.

'Now, if we are finished.' he said quietly. 'I'm really very busy and must be getting back to work. I will make sure that your suspicions are investigated fully.'

'Okay, Professor. Thank you, for listening to me. Goodbye.'

Emma walked down passed the gargoyle thinking that that couldn't have gone much better. Nobody was in trouble, except maybe Quirrell. Now she had to tell Hermione, Harry and Ron what she'd done, and she didn't know how they were going to take it. She made her way to the library as quick as she could, knowing they'd still be there. She slipped in and found them sitting at the usual table, and sat down on the empty seat.

'We need to talk.' said Emma, seriously, before the others could even say hello, and glanced around the room. 'Privately.'

She got up and walked to the library entrance, waiting for the others to pack up their things in confusion. When they finally started making their way toward her, she lead the way to a more secluded part of the floor, near where the mirror used to be kept. She entered a disused classroom and then shut the door behind the others.

'Sit down.' said Emma, worried now. 'I don't think you're going to like what I've got to say.'

'What is going on?' demanded Ron, clearly irritated.

'I told Dumbledore.' whispered Emma, hoping the other three wouldn't hear.

'Told him what?' asked Hermione, concerned about how her friend was acting.

'Everything.' replied Emma.

'What do you mean, everything?' asked Harry.

Grudgingly, Emma began talking. She started with what she heard Quirrell and his accomplice say and then she finished with most of the meeting with Dumbledore. She made a point of mentioning that she tried to make sure all the blame landed on herself, and kept the others out as much as possible.

When she was only met with silence, she worried that they'd taken it badly.

'Did I do the right thing?'

'Yes!' said Hermione emphatically. 'We should have gone to him from the very beginning.'

'But we didn't have any proof.' said Harry, subdued. 'We still don't.'

'Better a detailed theory than nothing.' replied Hermione. 'If nothing else, it might make him improve the security on the stone.'

Harry nodded, seeing her point.

'You could have gotten us in trouble.' said Ron, indignantly.

'I know.' sighed Emma. 'But I couldn't let Quirrell kill another unicorn...'

The death of the unicorn the week before had affected Emma more than she was willing to admit. She kept remembering the scene when she least expected it, and she was sure that if she could still sleep, it would be giving her nightmares.

'So what are we going to do now?' asked Harry.

'We go back to our revision and let Dumbledore deal with it.' said Hermione, matter of factly. 'It's not our problem any more.'

They all nodded and started making their way to the common room before curfew.

'Oh, Hermione.' said Emma smiling finally. 'You can stop with the game of torture-your-little-sister. I'm all caught up now. McGonagall and Dumbledore both gave me ten points, so there.'

She stuck her tongue out at Hermione, childishly, for emphasis, which made Hermione burst out laughing.

'As long as you've learned your lesson.' she said, impishly.

The Exams were now so close, Emma felt as if she might be able to touch them. They'd gotten back to the common room and started working in the corner. Everyone else must have been thinking the same thing as the common room was eerily quiet.

Just as Emma thought that she could finally put all her attention toward revision, she heard the tell-tale beat of owl feathers outside the window. She got up quickly, making a few people jump, and went to open the window. A second later, a small dark brown owl flew in and landed on the table they were working on.

'How does she do that?' exclaimed Ron.

'Magic.' said Hermione sarcastically and frowned.

At that, Harry choked on his drink, laughing.

'Who's it for?' asked Emma, pretending she hadn't heard their exchange and sat back down as Hermione took the letter.

'You.' she replied, passing it over as the owl flew back out the window.

Emma opened the note.

Your detention will take place at eleven o'clock tonight. Meet Mr Filch in the Entrance Hall.

Prof. M. McGonagall

She read it through a couple of times and then passed it to Hermione. The irony wasn't lost on her.

''For going out after hours, she's giving you a detention... to go out after hours.' said Hermione, incredulous. 'What is she thinking?'

'She's barmy.' laughed Ron.

Emma just shrugged.

That night, Emma made her way down to the entrance hall to meet Mr Filch. She'd sneaked down as she normally did, hiding her presence with her ability. It was more out of habit than anything else, so when she'd gotten into the hall and announced herself, Filch jumped. As unintentional as it had been, it still took her a lot of effort not to laugh.

'Follow me,' said Filch, lighting a lamp and leading her outside. 'I bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh?' he continued, leering at her. 'Oh yes …'

Emma just ignored him. He was always droning on about the old punishments. Instead she wondered where they were going. It seemed to be toward Hagrid's hut, but that didn't make sense.

'Where exactly am I serving my detention, sir?' she said interrupting him, mid sentence.

'It's into the forest you're going.' he sneered.

'Wonderful.' said Emma, sarcastically.

She was sure she told Dumbledore and McGonagall that the Centaurs had said that if she returned, they'd kill her. What were they thinking?

'Afraid, are you?' smirked Filch, at her confused expression.

'Hardly.' drawled Emma. 'Going into the forest is what got me this detention in the first place.'

Filch actually looked a little put-out. His whole punishment spiel was well rehearsed and never had a first-year so casually shrugged it off, except maybe the Weasley Twins.

'Is that you, Filch?' called out Hagrid. 'Hurry up, I want ter get started.'

So she was going into the forest with Hagrid. That shouldn't have been much of a surprise, but Emma wasn't sure what to think. She and Hagrid hadn't really seen eye-to-eye the past few weeks, and the last time she saw him, she hissed at him.

'Abou' time,' he said to Filch. 'I bin waitin' fer half an hour already. All right, Emma?'

Filch and Hagrid started a bit of a heated discussion, so Emma ignored them, looking into the forest. She breathed in and she could already smell unicorn blood.

'What was the point in telling Dumbledore if he didn't do anything?' thought Emma, angrily, before she was interrupted by Hagrid.

'I'm sorry,' he stammered. 'Abou' thinkin' you murdered... and...'

Emma looked at him and he definitely did look sorry, even if she could barely see his face. His body language was obvious. She felt a little anger toward him, but if she was honest with herself, she'd forgiven him the moment she hissed at him last week.

'Forget about it, Hagrid. I understand. You lost Norbert. That must have been difficult.' she said, waving away his apology. 'I'm more concerned that you want me to go in there, with the Centaurs.'

'Oh, they won' hurt you if yer with me.'

'I think you underestimate just how much they hate vampires, Hagrid.' said Emma.

Hagrid was particularly unreliable when it came to assessing how dangerous something was. She thought it must be a Giant-thing, but they had more important things to do.

'Anyway, let's find this unicorn.'

Hagrid looked taken aback and stared at her questioningly.

'I can smell it from here.' said Emma, wrinkling her nose.

Hagrid nodded and picked up an unlit lantern. He pulled out a matchbox to light it when Emma stopped him.

'Please, don't.' she said. 'I see better without it.'

It was clear when they entered the forest that Hagrid was uncomfortable without the lantern so Emma ended up taking the lead, given her excellent night-vision. She laughed at herself, mockingly, when she realised that she was basically only there to be a sniffer dog.

They'd had gone quite some distance when they reached a fork in the path. It was their first sighting of unicorn blood, only it was on both paths. It was clear the unicorn had been wounded, and had fled this way, but they couldn't tell which direction it went.

'We should split up.' said Hagrid. 'We can cover more ground.'

'I hate to be selfish, but, you said the centaurs won't kill me if I'm with you... If we split up, I won't be with you.' rushed Emma, worried.

'It'll be fine. Jus' tell 'em yer with me and they'll leave yeh alone.'

'Fine.' said Emma flatly, taking the left fork. 'But if I die, it's your fault.'

Hagrid pretended not to notice that comment, and just started to light his lantern. Before it could blind her, Emma started running, following her path.

Emma had slowed down once Hagrid was out of sight as she felt uneasy. It was much like before, though the drops of silver blood were fewer and further between. She still couldn't tell if the unicorn had been coming or going. It must have been moving very fast though.

After a good twenty minutes, deep in the forest, she knew she'd taken the correct route. There was a large spattering of blood on the trees ahead of her, and the amount of blood on the floor had increased dramatically. She knew the unicorn must have been struck by something here. As she followed on, knowing it couldn't have gotten much further, she started getting a headache. It must be garlic, but it was very weak. So, Quirrell was around here somewhere, or he had been recently.

As Emma suspected, the trail didn't go on much further. It seemed to have pooled just at the entrance of another open area. It looked like it had fallen there, and was then dragged into the clearing. Emma focussed on not being noticed and looked around one of the trees. To her horror, she found Quirrell, drinking from the unicorn. She couldn't help but think that that is probably what she would look like drinking from a human. Unsettled, she was going to turn around to find Hagrid, because there was no way she could take on Quirrell alone, when a voice rang out through the clearing.

'Come out little vampire. I know you're there.'

It was Quirrell's voice, completely free of a stutter. In fact, he seemed mildly amused. Emma considered her options quickly, and decided it would be best to show herself. She could delay Quirrell from leaving, and Hagrid would get here soon enough. She let herself be noticed and walked into the clearing.

'Well, well. Miss Pearson. Are you out for a midnight snack?' said Quirrell, smirking at her.

'As a matter of fact, yes, I was.' snarled Emma. 'Until you stunk up the place with... that thing. How am I going to find something to drink now?'

She was angry that he'd managed to kill another unicorn, so building on that would make a more convincing lie. That and it was exhilarating to play the role of an annoyed hungry vampire.

'Yes, well. It was necessary.' he said, looking uneasy for once.

'Yes, it's all about you isn't it.' shouted Emma, focusing her anger. 'Do you have any idea how hard you've made this year for me, with the garlic? And then, to top it off, you go and kill a unicorn, get me caught, and now Dumbledore is threatening to hand me over to the ministry! I don't care what your reasons are!'

Emma was amazed at how easily the hurt, anger and lies slipped off the tongue.

'Maybe I really would have made a good Slytherin.' she thought to herself, errantly.

'It's all a matter of perspective, little one.' said Quirrell silkily. 'It's not for me, it's for my master.'

'And...?' she said, blankly. 'How does that help me?'

'Because,' hissed the unusual raspy voice, from behind Quirrell. 'when I return, you will be free to hunt wherever you please, instead of scrounging for scraps.'

'And you are?' said Emma, curious.

This whole situation was conflicting for Emma. On the one hand, she was terrified, Quirrell could kill her at any moment, but on the other, she might finally be getting some answers. The old adage of cats and curiosity seemed to be very appropriate right now.

She heard a whispering and then Quirrell started turning his back on her as he took off his turban. She was shocked when she saw that on the back of Quirrell's head was another face.

'I am Lord Voldemort.' hissed the face, proudly.

Emma knew that name immediately. She'd been around Harry and his scar long enough to hear the story multiple times, even while trying not to eavesdrop.

She was about to ask whether he was the reason Quirrell was after the stone, but Quirrell and Voldemort reacted to something nearby and started to run from the clearing. At the same time, Emma heard an odd sound from behind her, and a weird whooshing noise. A moment later, Emma felt a force hit her in the back, knocking her forward a step, along with an incredibly sharp pain that continued through her body and out through her chest. When she looked down, there was an arrowhead sticking out of the upper part of her ribcage.

The centaurs had managed to ambush her again, and even Quirrell was afraid of them.

'Okay, stay calm.' she thought, instantly panicking.

At first, the pain was quite bearable, but when her legs fell from underneath her and she fell to her knees, the shaft of the arrow shifted slightly and made the pain blinding. The amount of blood flowing from her chest wasn't helping either.

The first thing she did was grab her wand, which was held in place on her left thigh by her stockings, and threw red sparks into the sky, just as Hagrid had told her to. The next task was to assess the damage. Her heart was still beating, too fast, but it was fine. She could still breathe, so the arrow had missed her lungs. Emma tried to remember the few lessons on anatomy from middle school and the only things she could think of that were around the heart and lungs were a lot of incredibly important arteries. So that's why she was getting so dizzy so quickly.

She needed to get the arrow out of her so that she could heal. She considered pulling the arrowhead, but given how much pain a small nudge caused and how light headed she was becoming, she thought she'd just cause more damage.

Thankfully, she'd guessed right that Hagrid would already be on his way. She heard and felt him crashing through the forest toward her less than thirty seconds later.

'Emma!' he shouted as he got closer and saw the state she was in.

It certainly wasn't a pretty sight. While the flow of blood from her wounds had slowed somewhat, she was still kneeling in a small pool of her own blood.

'Told you... they'd kill me.' winced Emma.

'I need to get you to the hospital wing!' said Hagrid, moving closer to pick her up.

'Don't... you dare.' she said, loudly, making him stop dead. 'Get this out of me... or you'll just make it worse!'

'But if I take it out, you could die.' stammered Hagrid who was also beginning to panic a little.

'Hagrid... I'm a vampire... I'll heal.'

Hagrid nodded and quickly moved round behind Emma, using one hand to steady the shaft of the arrow, and ripped off the fletching. She was thankful that he didn't just snap the end off, she didn't fancy having splinters of wood break off inside her. Hagrid then came round the front, pressed one of his huge hands against her chest, around the wound and gave her a pained look.

Emma was losing consciousness, but she still managed to shut her eyes tightly and nod. Hagrid pulled the arrow out in one swift motion. The pain was so intense that Emma momentarily became fully alert, screaming in agony, but then she quickly passed out.