The next night, the five kids are led out to the woods by Filch.
"A pity they let the old punishments die. There was a time detention would find you hanging by your thumbs in the dungeons. God, I miss the screaming."
Hearing this, Draco gulps nervously, and Bloom whispers to Hermione "Yeah? Well they would hardly be able to do any magic. He's messing with us, Hermione."
Filch doesn't hear, and says "You'll be serving with Hagrid tonight, he's got a little task to do."
Hagrid comes out of his shack with a crossbow, sniffling.
"A sorry lot, this. Good god man, you're not still on about that bloody dragon, are you?"
Hagrid sniffs again, and says "Norbert's gone. Dumbledore sent him off to Romania to live in a colony."
Hermione says "Well, that's good, isn't it?"
Bloom adds "He'll be with his own kind; which can probably take care of him much better than we could."
"Yeah, but what if he don't like Romania? What if the other dragons pick on him? He's only a baby after all."
At this, he gets an eye roll from Filch and Malfoy.
Filch says "Pull yourself together man! You're going into the forest! Got to have your wits about you."
Malfoy visibly pales, and argues "The forest?! I thought that was a joke! We can't go in there, students aren't allowed! And there are…werewolves!"
Bloom laughs and asks "What's wrong Malfoy? Scared of a little dog? If so, then you won't last ten seconds in there."
Filch says "She's right lad, there's much worse than werewolves in those trees. You can be sure of that. Nighty-night."
Malfoy gulps, wishing he had never stole out of his dorm and followed them to Hagrid's hut the night before.
Bloom and Harry share a look, and Hagrid says "Let's go group."
In the forest, the group walks along the path to a nearby tree.
Hagrid stops, bends over, and runs his finger through a silver puddle.
When he pulls his fingers out and rubs them together, they smear silver.
"Hagrid, what's that?" Bloom asks.
"That's what we're looking for. See that? That's Unicorn's blood. I found one dead a few weeks ago. Now, this one's been injured bad by something."
Bloom looks around on reflex, and sees something like a large cloaked figure moving through the trees.
She looks back at Hagrid just as he says "So it's our job to find the poor beast. Ron, Hermione, you're with me."
Ron nods weakly, and they both stick close to Hagrid.
"And Draco will go with Bloom and Harry."
Draco grimaces, and Bloom and Harry roll their eyes at one another.
Draco declares "Fine, but I get Fang!"
Hagrid shrugs, and says "Ok, but just so you know, he's a bloody coward."
Bloom can guess Fang's not the only coward in the group.
Harry, Bloom, and Draco are walking through a forest path.
Draco has the lamp and Bloom and Harry are holding their wands tightly.
Draco complains "Just you wait till my father hears of this. This is servant's stuff!"
Bloom annoyedly says "Oh, quit whining Draco! It's your fault we're here in the first place, so you can only blame yourself."
Draco's been griping for the past ten minutes, and it's starting to get to both of them.
Harry teases "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were scared."
Draco is about to say something, but Bloom suddenly freezes.
She claps a hand to her forehead and stumbles to the ground. "Oh, my head…"
Harry kneels down and says "Bloom! What's wrong?"
"Something's up ahead, I just saw it. It's giving me such a migraine, give me the lamp Draco! Don't ask why, just hand it over."
She sounds urgent, so he actually shuts up and hands her the lamp; and it doesn't escape him or Harry that the lamp immediately flares up when she grabs it.
She's calling on this power inside her, this power that can connect her with fires, getting ready for a fight.
They hear a howl, Fang goes forward, and the others follow after a second.
The group approaches a long, flat ground covered by tree roots, and the higher light from the lamp is just enough to illuminate a dead unicorn; but not the cloaked figure drinking its blood.
The figure raises its head, its mouth dripping silver, and Harry gasps and grabs his scar - which is burning worse than he can ever remember.
They all back up as Bloom says "Get behind me, both of you."
They all back up, but Harry trips over a tree root and falls on his butt.
Draco screams in fear and runs away with Fang hot on his heels.
Bloom opens the glass of the lamp, and points her wand at the exposed flame, and then at the ground.
It leaps out of the lamp, and onto the ground at one side.
Another fire spontaneously starts at the other side, about four yards away, and they race together and meet; forming a barrier of flames between them and the dark figure in front of them.
Bloom says "Harry, whatever you do, you can't tell anyone about this. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, this isn't happening."
The barrier of fire gets three feet higher, and suddenly a silver centaur comes out of nowhere. He leaps over Bloom and Harry, and Bloom's wall of flames, and lands near the figure; which flees as soon as he lands.
"Harry Potter, you must leave at once; you are known to many creatures here. The forest is dangerous at this time, especially for you."
Bloom says "Thank you, but what was that thing?" as she opens the lamp again and focuses.
All the fire swirls together and jumps back into the lamp, like it never left.
"A monstrous creature. It is a terrible crime to slay a unicorn. Its blood will keep you alive even if you are at the brink of death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something so pure that the moment it's blood touches your lips, you will live a half-life - a cursed life."
Harry is rubbing his scar, trying to work off a good headache setting in. "But who would choose such a life?"
The centaur asks "Can you think of no one?"
Bloom goes pale, and asks "So that thing…that was drinking the unicorn's blood…that was Voldemort?"
The centaur asks "Do you know what is hidden at this very moment in your school?"
They say together "The Sorcerer's Stone."
Suddenly, Fang barks, and Harry and Bloom turn around to see Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, and Draco standing there.
Draco is looking at Bloom with a mixture of fear and awe in his eyes, but Hagrid greets the centaur. "Hello Firenze, see you've met our young Mr. Potter. You alright Harry, Bloom?"
Harry nods, while Bloom is looking around watchfully, her hand on the door of the lamp and her wand.
Firenze says "Bloom and Harry Potter, this is where I leave you. You are safe now, goodnight."
He bows and leaves, and everyone is glad they can leave the forest now.
Nobody has any ideas about staying in this creepy forest a moment longer than necessary.
AN: Good thing Draco ran off before Bloom could really get going with that fire, or he'd have been blabbering like a crazy person all the way back about living fire and how she can control it. Harry will probably want an explanation about that, but he also said he wouldn't tell anyone. If you're waiting for the Stone to be found, the wait is only a little more!