Chapter 14: Encounters in the Forest
A/N: Don't own a thing!
Finding the unicorn set the castle ablaze with rumors. Everyone was worried as to who would be so mad as to kill a unicorn. Harry and his friends all decided to keep their suspicions to themselves. Professor Quirrel still seemed pale and miserable and Professor Snape was perhaps even angrier than before, taking points away at the drop of a hat. Harry made sure to stay on his good side by asking interesting questions about the potions they were studying and making and this seemed to relax Professor Snape for at least a small time. Harry made it a point to follow Professor Quirrell around in his invisibility cloak when he could, but he never made a misstep or did anything suspicious. The weird thing however, was that Harry's scar would hurt him as he followed Professor Quirrell, nothing that he couldn't handle, but enough to cause concern. He had reported this to Hermione, and she had said the only way to find out for sure that it was Professor Quirrell causing the pain was too dangerous and even then, curse scars were another hard subject to study in themselves. She did make Harry stay away from Professor Quirrell for some time, and the pain faded away. She said this meant that it was very likely to be caused by the professor, but Harry knew it had to be him.
It was four weeks from exams that the second unicorn was found, perhaps worse off than the first. Harry decided enough was enough and that Friday he would visit Hagrid again. Hermione declined joining him as did Malfoy. The two were getting almost ridiculously nervous and competitive as exams were coming up. Ron and Neville joined him as he knocked on the door, they were surprised to see that the curtains were closed. "Who is it?" he called out. Harry responded and they were let in to a stifling hot cabin. "So Harry, yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?" "Yes," said Harry, there was no point beating around the bush. "We were wondering if you knew who was after the unicorns, and perhaps more importantly if you know what's guarding the Sorcerer's Stone apart from Fluffy." "O' course I can't," he said, "Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn't tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts – I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy. As fer the Unicorns? I've been investigating that me self. Do you've any suggestions?"
"We've been taking a look at Professor Quirrell..." Ron said, then at the other twos looks, "What, we have!" "Professor Quirrell? He was one of the ones who set up the defenses!" "Really?" "Yeah, along with me, Professors Sprout, Flitwick, McGonagall an' Dumbledore himself did somethin' o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone..." "Professor Snape?" "Yeah, that's it. But Look, Quirrell helped protect the Stone, why would he want ter steal it?" "Why would anyone want to murder Unicorns?" Neville asked rhetorically, "We've read up a bit on them, Unicorn give up things like hair and bits of their horn for the right people. But unicorn blood is forbidden even if given freely." "You think - Quirrell? I've been searching the forest and seen no signs of him or anyone... But I could use a fresh pair of eyes. I'll owl you as soon as I get word of a fresh kill."
They nodded and left, pleased to have made some headway. It was when they got back to the castle that any one of them remembered that they should have asked about the fantastic heat in Hagrid's hut. It was a week from exams when Hagrid's owl arrived, even Harry was getting nervous about exams over the Stone. "There's fresh trails of you-know-what in the forest, could use them eyes I was talkin about." Harry barely managed to drag Hermione and Draco away from their studies and Ron came as well. Neville was stuck with Madame Pomfrey, having suffered an explosion in potions for not being pared up with Harry.
They found Hagrid's hut in shambles, burnt to a crisp. Hagrid was standing there with Fang in tow. "Hagrid, what happened?" Hermione asked. "Bit of a mishap with a drag-." Hagrid said then stopped. "A dragon?" Ron asked, and Hagrid looked annoyed at himself again, they knew they had gotten it right. "What... happened with this Dragon? How'd you get him?" "won him in the village after havin' a few drinks with a stranger. Little Norbert ran off into the forest, don't know where he's gotten but he's definitely not after the unicorns." They sighed and split into two groups following the blood, Harry with Draco and Fang and Ron and Hermione with Hagrid. They walked for quite some time, using Lumos to light the way. The path became almost impossible to follow, but they found a clearing ahead.
Something bright white was gleaming on the ground, they inched closer. It was the unicorn, and it was dead, beautiful and sad. Harry was about to move toward it when from out of the shadows, a hooded figure came crawling across the ground. The cloaked figure reached the unicorn, lowered its head and drank the blood. "AAAAAAAARGH!" Malfoy and Fang screamed and ran off. The Hooded figure raised its head and there was pain like he'd never felt before; It was as though his scar were on fire. He heard hooves and suddenly a strange creature was there and his pain was gone, the hooded figure was gone.
After an incredible amount of excitement and Centaur politics. Harry and the others were armed with new knowledge. Voldemort was in that forest, and it was likely Quirrell had some odd connection to Voldemort according to Hermione. "It just makes scientific sense. Unless there are other variables I'm missing." Harry and the others nodded at that, now it was just time to find a Professor, even without proof, they needed help.
It was both good and bad really, that both they and the Professors were incredibly busy that week. Harry made it through exams just barely as he was still keeping tabs on Professor Quirrell, who still seemed pale, thin and most importantly at the school still. Harry reasoned that it was incredibly unlikely that he would stick around if he had the stone. They had both practical and written exams for all of their classes, thankfully Voldemort hadn't seen Harry in the forest as Professor Quirrell hadn't done anything to them for the practical exams, though Harry's scar continued pressing him in pain.
They finished their exams on Tuesday and Harry marched them to Professor McGonagalls office and knocked on the door. "Potter? What are you doing here?" A tired face greeted them. "Professor, it's about the Sorcerer's Stone." Harry said. The Professor gasped and let them in. "How do you know-?" She spluttered. "We did a bit of research and found it out, and we think that with it's powers, whoever is after the unicorns..." "Will not be getting through the arrangements your professors set up!" "But what if they had a way of getting information? A source inside this castle?" Ron asked. "Who would do a foolish thing like that?" Professor McGonagall asked. "Professor Quirrell ma'am." Hermione responded. Professor McGonagall laughed, "Professor Quirrell specifically asked for the Defense position this year knowing full well what it entailed precisely because he wanted to PROTECT the stone! Besides, not even he could get past what I've set up. Only a fellow Grandmaster could. Rest assured, even with Dumbledore out for the evening there's no need to worry." "Dumbledore's out?" Harry said, and at a look from the Professor, "Erm- Headmaster Dumbledore, sorry ma'am." He corrected, and she nodded, "He received an urgent owl to head for London at once. I'm acting Headmaster for the day and you five need to head out of this office and keep the Stone a secret to yourselves!"
Harry and the others couldn't enjoy the sunshine once they were out on the lake. "It has to be tonight." Harry said, "After exams, probably during or after dinner."
"So what will we do? We're just students! We have to let someone else know! Professor Snape could help." Hermione said. They ran down to the Dungeons, but Professor Snape wasn't down there. They ran up to the staff room and he wasn't there either. They asked for Professor Snape, but none of the other Professors had seen him, saying that he was likely in his office grading. Harry and the others pressed on, but the Professor wasn't there either. "Quirrell must have done something to him as well!" Ron said.
"We've got to go to the third-floor corridor." Harry said solidly, "Now." "But we don't even-" Hermione started. "Fine, let's grab some stuff that might be helpful and go after dinner. I won't be there though, so grab me some food." Harry said. "What are you planning?" Draco asked. "I've got to prepare my spells, I didn't think we'd need to do this TODAY." Harry responded and they all went upstairs. Harry poured over his spell-book and began reading the notes again, wondering if there was anything on how to stop an evil wizard.
Finding himself alone, Harry's stomach grumbled and he quieted it down. Suddenly he felt an odd sensation he hadn't felt for a while. "Oh no, not now." He suddenly felt a bite on his left shoulder, which hurt. BAD. He stood up and turned around to face 3 frothing rats, one who had taken a bite right out of him. Luckily his reflexes were quick, "Illustrio Collisto, Conius Sprirus!" The cone burst from his hand towards the rats. The rats all swiftly fell unconscious and Harry thanked his lucky stars, the gods, whatever. He kicked them all to bits as quick as he could, and sat back down resting in the chair. His Spell-book was giving out a golden glow, and he touched it. Warmth spread through him and he suddenly felt a lot better, his wounds healed and his mind open. He grabbed a pen, some ink, and smiled.
A/N: I know, I know, Harry gaining a level before the Sorcerer's Stone dungeon was probably heavily expected. To be fair, level 2 is not all that exciting anyway. I tried rolling an easy encounter and almost got Harry killed for it. The dice definitely were not behind me on this decision, but were allowing me to use Color Spray to full effect. Harry was at an HP of 2 on his turn, and baring a trip to Madame Pomfrey... I also decided, heck, why not allow the Book to heal Harry. The thread of why will be unanswered for a while, but it will be a nice piece of the puzzle.