A/N:- HI!! Thank you all for the great reviews, those that are leaving them and those who are "just" reading...alright fine, be that way :(
Chapter Thirteen
The look on his face had been priceless, Samantha thought as she sat on her bed waiting for Lily to come back. He had been horrified, as if she had told him that she was really a man or something completely outrageous. Of course he had said that there was no way in hell that she was accompanying him on this. They had argued and threatened for almost fifteen minutes until he finally gave in and said that they would go tomorrow around midnight. Of course he was lying to her but she played along and made sure that he believed that she believed him.
They prepared a whole plan, what to bring, where to meet, how long they thought it would take to find the Unicorns that were known to live in the forest. He even had the strategy to mention that they should seek out Hagrid who knew the Forbidden Forest back to front.
But she knew that he was lying. That he would go tonight, thinking that she was under the impression that they were going tomorrow night.
Annabel and Annabel had changed into their nightgowns and were sitting on Annabel's bed talking and laughing. Samantha looked over at them and from the hysterical fit they were in smiled and asked, "What's so funny?"
They both looked over at her and grinned. Alexis told her, "How outrageous it is that we both thought that the reason why you where to flushed and breathless when we found you and Snape in the corridor was because he had kissed you." They both broke into giggles again.
Samantha's heart sped up, "What?" she said. That was crazy, they had actually thought that?
"Sam, you should have seen it from our end." Alexis said.
"Your hair was rumpled. You were sort of blushing and breathless. And then Snape! He had his hands wrapped around your arms. He actually had you pulled against him, didn't you realize that?" Annabel said wrinkling her nose.
Samantha didn't remember being pressed against him. He had just pulled her to her feet.
"For a second I was wondering if we should go back inside." Alexis stated, "But then we saw the terrified look on your face and it clicked in my head exactly who you where with."
"Snape." Annabel supplied. "Then we worried of course."
Samantha was quiet for a moment looking at them. Finally she said, "That is crazy."
Before they said much else Lily came back into the room, gave Samantha a look and headed into the back. Annabel and Alexis had already started a new conversation and didn't notice when the other two girls disappeared into the back of their shared room.
"You owe me something big for this one." Lily said as she handed over the cloak.
Samantha looked down and touched the smooth silky fabric of the Invisibility Cloak and excitement began to bubble within her. She smiled and asked, "Did he try to squeeze a date out of lending this to you?"
Lily groaned, "It was so much worse. He wanted me to come to his house for a day during the Christmas break…said he wanted me to meet his parents." She paused, her eyes closed tight, then continued, "I promised him a date instead."
"Wow, you could have just said no to me." Samantha laughed. But she was grateful that Lily hadn't said no.
"You owe me a date now." She smiled and added, "With anybody I choose."
Samantha groaned but nodded and Lily's face brightened. She was pretty sure she knew who it was going to be, but having the Invisibility Cloak tonight was important. She could suffer one date with one boy for this.
"Why do you need it anyway?" Lily asked, watching her suspiciously.
"You really don't want to know, Lil." I really don't want to tell you.
Lily threw up her hands in surrender. "Okay."
That was the great thing about Lily, she could take a hint. If you asked her to leave something alone she would no questions asked.
A little after midnight Snape crouched down as Filch, the Caretaker passed yet again with Mrs. Norris, his cat, slithering through his legs as he sort of limped down the corridor. He was already on the first floor and so far no one knew that he was out of bed. He silently waited until old Filch, cursing and threatening, disappeared around the corridor bend then jogged towards the front door of Hogwarts. He used his wand to open the door, silencing the creaks and groans it made as he opened and closed it behind him.
It was extremely cold outside, his breath showed in the dark air around him and he tried to slow his breathing even more, though he was already breathing lightly. Snow covered everything and tonight the moon was full and bright making the snow twinkle and reflect.
He looked around and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. No one was out there but him. He stuck to the outskirts of the castle, climbing over and under the bushes and trees that were in his way, so that no one would be able to see him from the gardens or the windows above. It was freezing, so he pulled his coat and cloak tighter around himself.
Half way to the area where he would meet the first trees of the Forbidden Forest a bunch of snow fell from a tree and onto his head. Luckily he was wearing his hood but still he looked up and cursed the tree he stood under. He was getting closer to the edge of the forest when suddenly snow hit him in the back of the head. He whirled around, knowing that someone had to have thrown it at him.
His eyes roamed the area from which the snow came. Nothing was there. He searched the ground but could only see his own foot prints in the snow. He heard the crunch of snow under someone else's foot and jumping to face the direction pointing his wand at the same time a ball of snow hit him in the face.
Samantha started laughing as Snape fell backwards into the snow and took off the cloak. She was standing at his feet as he got most of the snow out of his hair and face. He glared up at her. Of course, it had to have been her.
"Surprised to see me?" she asked. He ignored her outstretched hand and got to his feet. "You seemed a bit scared there for a moment." She taunted and laughed.
"You, Cromwell, are lucky that I didn't put a spell on you." He groaned. What was he to do now; she was going to hold him back.
However, before he could say or do anything more he heard more footsteps and heavy breathing. They both spun around to see Filch through the trees heading their way.
"Shit." Snape muttered under his breath and started to quickly inch further along the side of the castle. Perhaps he could make it to the forest before the caretaker saw them. Perhaps he would make it and Cromwell would be caught and punished, he sped up. But before he even reached the cover of the next tree ahead of him he was thrown to the ground and covered by something silky and not to mention - Cromwell.
Snape tried to push Cromwell off of him but she wrapped an arm into his cloak and put a hand over his mouth. Her palm was warm and soft against his cool lips. She knew that he was angry from the hot air hitting her fingers and how his jaw tightened under her hand. He grabbed her arm and pulled her hand off of his face and she whispered, "It's an invisibility cloak. We're fine, let's just wait until he leaves."
Snape didn't say anything, just tried to inch away from her. She was all over him, she had a leg thrown over his, her hands in his cloak and her face was so close to his that he could feel her warm breath against the nape of his neck. He could even smell her, he couldn't place what she smelt like but it was all around him.
Filch seemed to have heard something and stopped just a few feet away from where they sat in the snow covered ground.
"Rotten kids. Bet they are out here." He muttered to himself, "Show yourself!"
Samantha tried to sit still as Filch's pale eyes drifted back and forth, stopping now and then on where she and Snape sat. Her heart started to beat faster as Mrs. Norris eyes meet her own. Could animals still see through the Invisibility Cloak?
After a few more silent searching moments Filch seemed to think that no one was out here after all and clucked to his cat, "C'mon Mrs. Norris. Many there are some inside looking for some good old fashioned punishment." Mrs. Norris, eyes intent on Samantha's took a few steps towards them meowing traitorously. Samantha's heart was beating hard but let out a silent breath as Filtch picked up the damned cat and started back the way he had come.
As soon as the Caretaker had disappeared around the corner of the castle wall, Snape pushed Samantha away from him.
"Hey!" she yelled out as she landed face first in the snow.
"Shh." Severus demanded. He grabbed her roughly around the wrist and pulled her to her feet. He pushed her ahead of him and they quickly jogged to the trees before she could make any more noise.
Once under the cover of the dark Forbidden Forest Samantha stopped to catch her breath. Snape stood next her breathing regularly. He must be in better shape than she was. Then she thought of what they had just done and what that could mean for her Prefect status if they had been caught. She would have been in huge trouble, she should know because she knew the rules and consequences of the school. She would have lost her Prefect position and been suspended. It was no laughing matter but she couldn't help herself as she looked up into Snape's angry face - she laughed.
Severus looked down into Cromwell's upturned face and saw that she was laughing. She was absurd. They could have been caught wandering the grounds after midnight, which in the least would definitely have gotten them points removed and detentions for a week.
"That was such fun." She said, still grinning.
"Indeed." He looked into the darkness of the forest and plotted which direction he would head into first. He saw a slight path heading to the north and thought back to everything that he had read that evening about Unicorns.
Samantha watched as Snape closed his eyes and frowned. He will forever have a frown on his face whenever she thought of him. Since he was obviously thinking really hard she took the time to fold the Invisibility Cloak and put it into a bag that she had brought with her. She took her wand out of her robes pocket and hexed the bag to shrink and places both objects back into her robes.
Snape, ready with his course of action opened his eyes to find Cromwell in his line of vision. She smiled when their eyes met and he groaned. "Why are you here?"
She raised a brow, as if surprised that he had had to ask, "I told you earlier that I wasn't letting you go alone." Her smile brightened, "You didn't honestly think that I believed you when you told me that you would take me with you tomorrow night?" she twirled and looked around the forest encompassing them, "I know when you're lying to me, Snape. Which way are we going?"
It was his turn to raise a brow. He was an excellent liar. For her to say that she knew when he was lying made him mad, but then again there she is. Obviously he wasn't going to get her to go back to the castle so he groaned and pushed past her.
Samantha smiled to herself as she picked up pace to keep up with him. He was murmuring to himself as he avoided overgrown tree roots and rocks. She tried to look ahead of him to get some idea of where they were heading but all she saw was darkness and shadows ahead of them.
After about fifteen minutes of none stop power walking Samantha sped up to walk side by side with him. She glanced sideways at him expecting him to still be angry but his eyes were neutral as they searching the area around them.
"How do you know where to go?" she asked him.
Severus looked to the right at her upturned face and again he realized that she wasn't as tall as him, that she was just a few inches shorter than he was but she was still quite tall for the average girl that went to Hogwarts and for some reason this was important. But it wasn't so he looked ahead again.
"I did some research. Unicorns don't tend to live on the outskirts of a forest. They tend to dwell in the center of the forest near a stream or some sort of water supply and only really drift from the area to search for food." He figured if they headed in straight they should cross through the center of the forest and hopefully come across one. He had also read that they left behind hoof prints on the ground that shimmered gold slightly under the shine of the moon. He told her to keep a look out for such a thing. Here inside of the forest was just as cold as it was on the grounds of Hogwarts but not as much snow covered the ground – only in areas where there is a large gap between trees.
"So you like to read, don't you?" Samantha asked after more moments of silence.
He sighed but didn't look at her when he said, "Cromwell, reading is inevitable, and it must be done."
Samantha wrinkled her nose. What a strange answer that of course didn't answer what she asked. "But you must like to read, as much as you read. Who is your favorite Author?"
"I have many." He said avoiding her question because it was insignificant.
She was quiet for a while after that. Thinking to herself and watching the shadows around them. They had both pulled out their wands earlier and lit them to enable them to see better ahead of them in the dense overgrown forest.
"What are we going to do when we find it?" Samantha asked, unsure of how to approach a Unicorn. She couldn't imagine that it would be an easy task.
When he didn't answer she looked at him and again he looked angry. "Well?" she prompted.
"Look, you forced me to do this tonight with your interference and I haven't thought out the perfect foolproof plan. If it weren't for you I would have planned this out thoroughly and done this sometime next week perhaps." He raved.
He was blaming her for this and she wasn't surprised. "See, either way I would have come along, you should have just sucked in your pride of whatever you are working from and just let me help." She argued back. Again they were quiet, both probably thinking of ways to corner a Unicorn and calm it enough to rip out a few of its tail hairs.
Samantha nearly tripped over a large root and cursed at it then smacked into Snape's back. "Watch-" she began but he shh'ed her.
He held up his hand and looked around for a moment then asked, "Did you hear that?"
She listened for a moment, "Hear what?" then she heard it. Something coughed ahead of them. Then there was the sound of…feet…no, hoofs hitting the ground. And as they stood there listening quietly, the sounds came nearer.
Samantha took a step back and whispered, "Do you think it is a Unicorn?"
"I am not sure but somehow I don't think so no." he whispered back. He was sure that he had just heard something cough and he had a feeling he knew what it was.
Realizing that they had been fools to come into the Forbidden Forest, with its unknown creatures and horrors Samantha grabbed onto the back of Snape's robes and pulled him backwards with her.
At first he didn't protest and let her pull him backwards slowly. She had a hand out behind her feeling for obstacles and when she touched a tree maneuvered around it.
"I think that they are Centaurs." Severus told her after a moment.
Just then Samantha's hand came in contact with another obstacle behind them but her heart stopped at the furry coarse feeling of it. She felt a hand touch her shoulder and she jumped to look behind her.
Severus felt Cromwell let go of his robes and heard her breath hitch as someone or something male said, "I believe that you are correct." At the same time he felt someone back into him and they both fell to the ground.
For the second time that evening Samantha found herself on the ground whilst sitting atop Snape. But she didn't think about it as she looked up at the Centaur towering over where they lay on the ground. He had the black coated body of a horse and his human torso and upper body were also dark, he seemed to eerily fade into the darkness around them. She had heard stories about Centaurs fighting with Wizards and Witches for equality and though they were usually a peaceful race she knew from the expression on his young severe face that he was not happy at all that they were in his forest.
"What brings you to our forest?" he demanded, "You humans are unwelcome here!" his hoofs stomped on the ground and he moved forward, trying and succeeding to intimidate them.
Samantha crawled backwards away from the stomping hoofs of the livid Centaur, with half her body on Snape, it proved difficult to do so.
Snape grabbed his wand and aimed it at the Centaur but uttered no spell. He too could try to intimidate. However, the presence of a wand directed at the Centaur really angered it and the dark Centaur reared. "You think to come into my home and threaten me with you magic!" he yelled.
"What out!" Severus yelled and grabbed hold of Cromwell around the waist. With her in his arms he rolled to the left, trying to let from under the much larger Centaur. He had refrained from sending a spell at the Centaur because he knew that even though the Ministry of magic has restricted them in all ways, the Centaurs still lead their lives by their own laws. He was in their terrain.
Samantha grunted as she and Snape rolled into a ditch and he landed on top of her, knocking the breath out of her. They scrambled but the Centaur was already over them again yelling at them that they dare threaten him with wands. He snorted as he stood on his hind legs again as he kicked with his front two. Samantha thought that he was going to trample them and grabbed onto Snape's hand. She closed her eyes and counted the seconds waiting and then suddenly Snape pushed her away from him and the angry Centaur.
Snape watched as the hoofs of the beast came down and as another Centaur, a blonder one in color sprang out in front of him. Its horse half was like a barricade, as the darker Centaur pushed at it. It used its human upper body to hold the other Centaur's flailing arms. After a moment of struggle the other Centaur backed off.
"You would try to protect these Wizards, Firenze?" the darker of them asked, distastefully, his lips curling as he said 'wizards'. "They who have banished us to live out our lives in selected forests?"
"They are but young. They have nothing to do with the past rulings, Bane, but certainly the future." The lighter Centaur said in a calm and soothing voice.
Samantha looked over to Snape from where she lay flat against the ground. He motioned for her to follow him and he crawled backwards towards the nearest tree.
"Fine, but they should not be in here. They are trespassing and the elders shall want to know about it." The dark one said.
"I think not." The blond one replied, "I have seen it in the stars that I would meet with a beautiful Witch and a dark Wizard." He looked over his shoulder at them and Severus pointed his wand at him. Dark Wizard?Firenze turned back to Bane.
"You have seen this in you planet searching?" The dark Centaur asked with suspicion making his features even darker.
From where they sat they couldn't exactly hear everything that was being said as the two Centaurs continued to talk. The dark one seemed to be agitated and quarrelling and the blond was calm and serene as if he hadn't just had to fight off the other. "I think he's trying to help us." Samantha whispered to Snape. She watched as the dark Centaur nodded and with a distrusting stare in their direction started to back away.
"Right. Let's just get out of here." Snape got to his feet and reached a hand out to her.
She let him help her to her feet and as he let go of her hand his other raised and pointed his wand at the approaching Centaur.
"You back off." Snape said in warning. Samantha looked up at him. He wasn't scared and he wasn't bluffing as he pointed his black wand at the Centaur.
"I am not as my brethren, Bane." The Centaur said but he did stop approaching them. "I know why you have come here tonight. I know what you seek. And it is in my destiny that I take you to it, that I assist you in this quest though my herd would disapprove." He took another step closer and Snape lifted his wand even more.
Samantha watched the Centaur. His features were softer than the other, his face gentle his eyes genuine. She put out her hand and wrapped it around the hand Snape had his wand in. "He's not going to hurt us." She whispered.
Snape spared her a short glance. His eyes were narrowed and told her that she was a naïve fool to trust so easily. She tried to push his hand down but he fought her, not budging an inch. She smiled and he groaned. He looked back at the Centaur and asked, "What exactly is it you think we came here for?"
"You are in search of a Unicorn and I have seen that you will not find it unless you accept my aid." He said. He walked closer and the light from their wands lit up his face and upper body. He looked as though he was their age, his face youthful his body young but muscled. He smiled down at Samantha and gave a slight bow, "I am called Firenze." He said.
Samantha gawked; having never seen a Centaur in the flesh before and then realized he had introduced himself. "Oh, ugh I'm Samantha." She said and looked over Snape waiting for him to say something.
He arched a brow at her, and she wondered why she had even expected him to have manners and so she said, "And this is Severus. Forgive him, he is quite rude."
Firenze laughed; it was a serene laugh as though he were whispering his pleasure. "Then you shall forgive my brethren, for he as well has no manners."
"You can say that again. Was he really trying to harm us?" she asked.
He shook his head, "No, in truth he just wanted to scare you."
"So much for being a peaceful bunch." Snape muttered under his breath as he dusted off his robes and pants.
Though it was a mere whisper Firenze nodded again, "There have been many of my people that have hardened over the past and present, their ways diverted slightly. There are those like Bane who refuse to look towards the future and only dwell in the past. With age we all mature, or we should but it isn't written in the stars exactly."
"So you are going to help us find the Unicorn? But why would that be in the stars. How is that important?" Samantha wondered.
"What if foreseen, need not be important but is always in some way relevant." Firenze said. "Come, it grows late."
Samantha frowned at what he had said. He was speaking circles. Centaurs are highly integument and he probably knew exactly what he had said.
Firenze was a few paces ahead of Samantha and Severus. It was a strange sight, from behind at the angle that she saw him it looked like a regular shirtless human sitting atop a horse. She had never seen a Centaur in the flesh before now, and was surprised at how beautiful he really was.
Snape was walking beside her, quiet and in thought. Then she remembered what Firenze had called him.
"Why do you think he called you a dark Wizard?" she asked him, curious to see what he would say.
He looked at her, his eyes searching hers before he said, "I'm not sure. Why would he call you a beautiful Witch?"
He watched as she frowned and met his eyes. She must have seen something there that wasn't since she smiled and said, "Probably foretold how sinister and evil you really are."
He watched her for a moment wondering if she thought that was true. He wasn't sure. "Indeed. He was probably delusional about you to."
Firenze stopped abruptly in front of them. Samantha and Severus watched as Firenze looked towards the direction of the castle. His pointy ears seemed to perk and twist and his eyes narrowed.
He was obviously listening to something Samantha thought and she strained to listen. At first she heard nothing but after a second there came a faint noise. Something animalistic but still very faint. "He grows restless." Firenze whispered to himself.
Samantha waited for him to say something else, to further his comment but he quickly started moving again.
What seemed like a quarter hour later Firenze stopped for a second time and they walked to his side. "I hope it brings you luck in whatever you need it for." He told them as they stared at the glowing beautiful animal ahead of them.
Samantha thanked him again and he nodded in welcome down at her. "I must warn you however. My people will soon know that you are here. You must hurry and keep to the of the trees." He pointed towards a direction. "Go straight in this direction and you will reach where you have come from. Make as little noise as possible and keep alert." He gazed dreamily around, "There are far more dangerous creatures in these parts then you think." With that he turned away and trotted back into the darkness of his forest.
Severus looked at the beautiful creature in front of him. Pushing Cromwell out of his way he moved closer to the Unicorn. Its glimmering white coat was purer than snow. Its coat was so blindingly white that it had to be over eight years old, a full adult with its pearly horn atop its head and its golden hoofs stomping the ground.
It was looking at them, curious as to what they were and what they were doing so near to it. He inched a bit closer. The Unicorn stomped the ground again, clearly uneasy now with his close proximity. He dared one more step and it proved to one too many for the Unicorn which trotted away from him and stopped a few feet from Samantha keeping its wary eyes on Severus.
Severus watched as the Unicorn realized there were two of them. It stretched its neck towards Cromwell and its nostrils flared. Thinking that the animal might want to throttle her and run away he waved her to back away from it but she wasn't looking at him. Stupid girl.
Samantha watched the beautiful animal in awe. It was just a few feet away from her. She had befriended wild animals before and knew that some could be dangerous and some might never be curious enough to get to close to a human but like times before she stretched out her hand and took a smooth small step closer to the animal talking sweetly and soothingly to it. It stretched its head closer towards her hand and she took another step, then another until finally her curled fingers were a mere two inches away from its face.
Snape watched as she slowly uncurled her fingers and lifted them so that her palm was to the Unicorn and he watched as the Unicorn rubbed its snout into her palm. With her other hand she slowly petted its cheek and smiled as she cooed the large animal. He then remembered reading, a long time ago that Unicorns preferred a woman's touch. Standing next to her it was about one and a half feet higher than she was, proving to be a full grown healthy male Unicorn. As she continued talking and petting the animal he crouched down and moved closer to the rear of it. He looked up to find Cromwell looking at him with worried eyes and he wondered if that worry was for him or herself.
He was a foot away. He stood to the side to avoid its rear legs in case it decided to kick back when it realized he was behind it. He reached out and grabbed about three strands of the Unicorns tail. There was a split second when the Unicorn jumped and grunted and then Severus quickly ripped the hair out – roots intact.
The unicorn trashed and squealed. It ran past Samantha, knocking her to the ground and turned to see Severus crouched were it had stood. It stamped the ground once as it snorted, shaking its head from side to side, and then it headed straight for him.
Samantha watched as the Unicorn headed towards Snape and all she had to do was take two steps to the right and she could stop it and realizing how stupid it was she took one big step and held up her arms as the Unicorn struggled to sway from hitting her. She counted to five and realized that nothing had hit her she opened her eyes to find the Unicorn drifting back to the ground just inches in front of her. As it touched the ground it nuzzled her cheek once and turned to gallop away.
Severus sat on the ground, his wand stretched out in front of him and mind racing with ways of disposing of her body.
"Never again." He had said it over and over again as they had made their way back to the edge of the forest.
Samantha smiled, he was angry because he had saved her, not once but twice. He was mad that she had tried to save him and he had repeated to her over and over again that it had been a fruitless attempt on her part.
Though he was saying horrid things to her, trying to get her to blow up at him and be as angry as he was, Samantha couldn't help but smile and laugh as they got closer to the castle. The whole night had been exhilarating, she had finally had a little adventure and not even Snape could have ruined it with his rude and biting words. She thought back to all the fantasy and romance books she had read, the characters in them had always been in an adventure, were things went wrong but oh so right, where life wasn't just about school or doing what was right.
And thought she went to bed happy and reliving everything she woke up the next morning, or rather two hours later, petrified.
A/N:- Remember to read and reveiw :).
I really like whats coming next, I hope you do to!!