Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. That privilege solely belongs to JK Rowling.
Chapter 10 The Monster in the Forest
"I am disgusted. Five students out of bed in one night! I've never heard of such a thing before!"
Vesper thought the stone floor looked very interesting right at this moment. Well, she amended, perhaps not interesting. But it was better than looking at Hermione, who seemed like she was on the verge of tears. It was certainly better than meeting Professor McGonagall's accusatory stare. And it was infinitely better than looking at Draco Malfoy's stupid smug little face.
"Nothing, I repeat, nothing gives a student the right to walk about the school at night."
Was it the original floor? Had the Founders placed a spell on them to keep them from cracking? Were the stones routinely replaced or only as needed? And where did wizarding schools purchase their flooring? Was there some special wizard floor shop? All your wizarding castle floor needs met here!
"Therefore, as punishment for your actions, fifty points will be taken."
"Fifty?" Harry asked.
"Each, Mr. Potter."
Vesper's head shot up. Two hundred points lost in a single evening this close to the end of term? She sighed internally; the Gryffindors were going to kill them. They were all dead.
"And," Professor McGonagall continued, "to ensure that this doesn't happen again, all five of you will receive detention."
"Excuse me, Professor," said Malfoy, his smirk vanishing. "Perhaps I heard you wrong. I thought you said, 'the five of us'."
"No, you heard me correctly, Mr. Malfoy," Professor McGonagall said. "You see, as honorable as your intentions were, you too were out of bed after hours. You will serve detention with your classmates. Now, go straight to your common rooms. I don't want to hear another thing about you sneaking out at night!"
The five of them filed out of McGonagall's office, Malfoy shooting them a glare before turning in the direction of the dungeons.
Well, at least McGonagall's not writing to our guardians, thought Vesper as she, Harry, Ron, and Hermione sullenly made their way back to Gryffindor Tower. Definitely not in the realm of 'Don't go getting into trouble.'
Two weeks later at 11 o'clock at night, Vesper, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, along with Malfoy, met Filch in the Entrance Hall for their detention. Filch looked at them with a twisted sense of pleasure in his eyes. "This way," he said, grabbing a lantern sitting by his feet and leading them outside.
"A pity they let the old punishments die," Filch said as they walked. "There was a time detention would find you hanging by your thumbs in the dungeons. God, I miss the screaming." He gave them a wide grin. Vesper increased the space between herself and the caretaker and Hermione gave a small whimper. "You'll be serving detention with Hagrid tonight," Filch continued. "He's got a little job to do inside the Dark Forest. A sorry lot this, Hagrid."
They had finally reached Hagrid's hut. He was waiting for them, a crossbow slung on his shoulder. Fang was sitting beside him. Hagrid greeted them with a sniffle.
Filch rolled his eyes. "Oh, good God, man, you're not still on about that bloody dragon, are you?"
Hagrid took a deep breath, trying to compose himself. "Norbert's gone," he explained. "Dumbledore sent him off to Romania to live in a colony."
"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Hermione asked. "He'll be with his own kind."
Hagrid looked at her with sad eyes. "Yeah, but what if he don't like Romania? What if the other dragons are mean to him? He's only a baby, after all."
"Oh, for Gods sake," said Filch, "pull yourself together, man. You're going into the forest, after all. Got to have your wits about you."
"The forest?" asked Malfoy, a hint of panic in his voice. "I thought that was a joke! Students aren't allowed, and there are…werewolves in there."
A howl from within the forest caused them all to stiffen. Filch smirked at them. "There's more than werewolves in that forest. I'll be back at dawn to collect what's left of them, Hagrid. Nighty-night." He laughed as he started back up to the castle.
"Come on, don' worry 'bout him," said Hagrid. He guided the five of them over to the edge of the forest. "Long as yeh stay on the path, nothin's gonna eat yeh."
Vesper wasn't so sure of that. She knew that the full moon was a week ago, but that wouldn't stop normal wolves from going after them. Or any other creature for that matter. And Hagrid didn't exactly have the best record when it came to dangerous animals.
They walked for nearly fifteen minutes before Hagrid stopped them. He bent down and when he stood up he showed them his fingers. They were painted in some kind of shimmery, silver substance that had a thick consistency that reminded Vesper of honey.
"What is that?" she asked.
"Wha' we're here for," Hagrid answered. "This is unicorn blood. I found one dead a few weeks ago. Now, the one that left this has been injured bad by somethin' so it's our job teh find the poor thing." He looked at each of them in turn before nodding. "Right, we'll split up. Ron, Hermione, yer with me. Harry, Vesper, and Malfoy go with Fang. Send up green sparks if yeh find the unicorn, red if yeh get inta trouble. Right, let's go."
Vesper, Harry, and Malfoy started off in one direction while Hagrid, Ron, and Hermione went another. The trees grew closer together the further they ventured into the forest and soon they were forced to walk single file on the twisting path, Fang leading them. The forest was eerily silent, the only sound the snapping of twigs as they continued on.
"How long are we supposed to be out here anyway?" Vesper asked some time later, a yawn escaping from her mouth. "They can't let a bunch of first years wander the Forbidden Forest all night, can they?"
"This is ridiculous," said Malfoy. "This is servant stuff. We shouldn't be out here in the first place."
"It's your fault we're out here in the first place, Malfoy," Vesper grumbled.
"If I didn't know better," said Harry, "I would think you were scared, Draco."
Malfoy scoffed. "Scared, Potter?"
Something glistened in the corner of her eye. "Wait. Stop." Vesper grabbed Harry's sleeve to keep him from walking any further. She trudged through a dying bush and went over to a tree just off the path, Harry and Malfoy following behind. Sure enough, the tree was spattered with silver unicorn blood. Looking around, Vesper spotted a bush not far from the tree that had blood on it too.
"It went this way," she said. "Let's go."
They followed the trail of blood, which steadily grew in volume. They had only been following the trail for a few minutes when Fang stopped and started to growl.
Harry looked at the dog. "What is it, Fang?"
Fang barked once and took off in the direction of a clearing. Vesper, Harry, and Malfoy followed close behind.
Pushing their way through branches and leaves, they finally came to the clearing. What she saw made Vesper's heart stop. In a pool of its own silver blood lay the unicorn, its neck torn and mangled. A figure in a dark cloak was hunched over the unicorn, its face buried in the unicorn's neck.
"Harry," Vesper choked out. Her legs felt weak. "We –"
"AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"
Malfoy screamed and bolted, as did Fang. Vesper could help the slight twinge of annoyance at the other boy despite the fact that she would very much like to be doing the same. "Harry, run!"
But Harry didn't run. Instead he pitched forward, clutching at his head, grunting in pain. Vesper rushed forward to him, but kept her eyes on the figure which was now steadily stalking towards them.
"Harry," she pleaded, voice trembling. Vesper grabbed one of his arms and pulled him back further from the haunting figure. "Come on."
Suddenly Vesper was pitching backwards, pulling Harry down with her. A wayward root had tripped her up and now the figure was right before them and she could smell the blood drenching its cloak and they were going to die and –
There were hoof beats rapidly approaching them. Vesper turned just in time to see a centaur leaping over her and Harry. The centaur galloped toward the figure, rearing itself up on its hind hooves. The cloaked figure startled and retreated back into the forest, disappearing into the black.
Vesper stood and then helped Harry to his feet. "Thank you," she said to the centaur. Now that she wasn't scared for her life Vesper got a better look at the centaur who had saved them. He seemed young, with the face of a young man who had just reached adulthood. His coat was palomino and his eyes a startling blue.
"You are most welcome," he said. "Are you and your friend alright?"
"We're fine," said Harry, pulling his hands away from his head.
The centaur nodded. "Then we had best not linger here. The forest is not safe. Come."
"What was that thing?" Harry asked as they walked.
"A monstrous creature," said the centaur shaking his head. "It is a terrible crime to slay a unicorn. Drinking the blood of a unicorn will keep you alive even if you are an inch from death…but at a terrible price. You have slain something so pure that the moment the blood touches your lips, you will have a half-life. A cursed life."
"But who would choose such a life?" Vesper asked.
The centaur turned to her. "Can you think of no one?"
"Do you mean to say..." Harry trailed off, hesitating, "that that thing that killed the unicorn...that was drinking its blood...that was Voldemort?"
Vesper inhaled sharply. There was no way You-Know-Who was skulking around the Forbidden Forest, on the very grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; it was impossible. Dumbledore would've known straight away if he was and besides, You-Know-Who was dead…wasn't he?
"Do you know what is hidden in the school at this very moment?" inquired the centaur.
Vesper's stomach flipped. She shared a look with Harry, seeing her own fear mirrored in his eyes. "The Philosopher's Stone," Harry whispered.
"Which produces the Elixir of Life," she added. "We –"
"Harry! Vesper!"
Hermione came running down the path, Ron close behind her. Hagrid came panting after them. Malfoy was lagging behind with Fang.
"There you two are!" said Hermione. "We've been looking all over."
Hagrid nodded in the direction of the centaur. "Hello there, Firenze," he said. "I see yeh've met our young Mr. Potter an' Miss Black." He looked down at them. "You alright there, Harry, Vesper?"
They both nodded.
"Harry Potter, Vesper Black, this is where I leave you," said Firenze, pawing at the ground. "You are safe now. I wish you good luck."
And he vanished into the trees.
The walk back up to Gryffindor Tower was silent, a heavy air hanging around the four friends. Every so often Harry would reach up and rub at his forehead in agitation. Hermione was casting him and Vesper worried looks but kept quiet.
The common room was empty when they reached it. Wordlessly, they flopped down on the couches before the still burning fire. Vesper didn't even want to know what time it was or how little sleep she would be getting. She didn't think she would be able to sleep tonight anyway.
It was Ron who eventually broke the silence. "You two gonna tell us what happened out there or what?"
Vesper let Harry do the explaining. She was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that a supposedly dead Dark wizard was trying to break into their school so that he could come back to life and they were the only ones who knew about it.
Remus is going to kill me when he finds out, Vesper thought.
"So," said Hermione when Harry had finished speaking, "you mean, You-Know-Who's out there, right now, in the forest?"
Harry nodded. "But he's weak. He's living off the unicorns. Don't you see?" he said suddenly, jumping off the couch. He started pacing. "We had it all wrong. Snape doesn't want the stone for himself, he wants the stone for Voldemort. With the Elixir of Life, Voldemort will be strong again. He'll…" Harry paused, looking like he had run out of steam. "He'll come back," he said quietly.
"But if he comes back, you don't think he'll try to kill you, do you?" Ron asked, looking nervous.
"I think if he'd had the chance, he might have tried to kill us tonight," said Harry.
Ron gulped. "And to think, I've been worrying about my Potions final!"
"Hang on a minute," said Hermione. "We're forgetting one thing. Who's the one wizard Voldemort always feared?"
The boys shrugged and Hermione rolled her eyes. "Dumbledore! As long as Dumbledore's around, you're safe, Harry. As long as Dumbledore's around," she smiled, "you can't be touched."
"And if he tries, he'll have to go through us first," Vesper added.
AN: Bit shorter this time, but we are getting close to the end! Only two more chapters after this!
Chapter 11 A Daring Rescue is nearly complete. Chapter 12 might take a bit longer to finish but it will be done by the end of the year (Hooray for setting the bar low).
Thank you again to everyone who reads this story and adds some kind of alert or favorite.
Reviews would mean a great deal. I would like to know how the writing is and your opinions!
Love, Lora