Disclaimer 1: This is fanfic. That means I do not own any of it. I just borrow it to play with for a little while and let people see the pathetic results if they really want to.
Disclaimer 2: I'm not making any money from it. It's just for fun.
Disclaimer 3: What isn't borrowed is all made up. None of this is real or most likely at all realistic. Please don't trust any of the information in here. Most likely you know more about whatever I'm writing about than I do.
Disclaimer 4: Attitudes, views and opinions expressed by the characters or in the story are not necessarily those of the author. Even when writing Science Fiction or Fantasy I do not tend to attempt to create perfect/better worlds in which everybody gets a happy end ... or whatever is best for them. Please accept that some characters will have a bad ending or be unhappy.
Disclaimer 5: I intend no insult to anyone. If I offend anyone I'm very sorry. Please understand that it was an accident as I tend to be very clumsy in these things.
Notes: Ah, yes, Neville! How to include Neville now ...
Chapter 15: The Forbidden Forest
Professor McGonagall was furious. She'd already caught Neville who'd apparently overheard them talking and followed them out of curiosity to see the dragon.
"Oh Neville!" Hermione saved at least Hagrid by a quick lie. "Norbert the dragon is the stuffed toy Harry got for Christmas. That was just a game of make-believe."
"And the excursion onto the astronomy tower outside of class time?" McGonagall demanded sternly.
"A dare," Hermione lied again. "Draco challenged our Gryffindor bravery."
Unfortunately not even defending one's house's honour was a sufficient excuse for breaking school rules in the eyes of Professor McGonagall and they each lost their house fifty points and were assigned detention.
Harry soon discovered that the points by themselves were more than sufficient punishment. When they saw that they'd dropped to last place in the house cup overnight the other Gryffindors were so angry they didn't want anything more to do with the culprits. Ron and Oliver who knew the real story were the only ones who still spoke with Harry and Hermione. As for Neville who didn't share the extenuating circumstances of having helped Hagrid, he was left completely friendless which affected not only his spare time, but also his performance in class to the point that their teachers began to threaten him with failing the grade.
Draco at least had it a little easier. His house was angry about the lost points as well, but the Slytherins consoled themselves with the fact that Gryffindor had been much harder hit and they still had a chance to make up their losses, if they won the remaining Quidditch matches. Gryffindor stood no more chance at the cup.
"But we never win anyway," Oliver tried to comfort Harry. "Frederic and George alone lose us way too many points and for no better reason than to have a little fun. At least you can feel proud to know that you did it for Hagrid's sake. That was a very kind thing."
"Yeah," said Ron. "Maybe you should have been Hufflepuffs."
That didn't exactly raise their spirits.
"You know," Oliver made another attempt the next day. "It'll blow over soon. Frederic and George have been in similar disgrace over the cup many times, but do you see anyone avoiding them now?"
"Percival," Hermione replied instantly. "And he's a prefect."
"I think they're quite happy that way," Oliver pointed out. "They don't like Percival any better than he likes them."
Which was true. Hermione did like Percival, though, and Harry, too, frequently needed advice that he could have gotten from the prefect.
Such as an explanation why their detentions were to be in the middle of the night. As none of their prefects were talking to them, though, they turned up in the entrance hall in the evening with their school bags and were immediately sent back to their dorms to exchange them for their cloaks and boots. Only Draco had apparently been prepared to work outside.
"You're going into the forest," Mr. Filch informed them with glee.
"But it's forbidden," Harry protested.
This apparently wasn't true if it was for detention, though. At least they weren't going with Filch, after all, but with Hagrid and Fang. Hagrid assured them that they were perfectly safe as long as they remained on the paths and in the company of either him or his dog.
"We're looking for a wounded unicorn," he explained. "And whatever attacked her. That thing has to be very dangerous, though, so if you think you've found it, don't try to do anything about it, just send up red sparks to call me and I'll take care of it."
The only thing they found at first, though was a pair of centaurs called Ronan and Bane. Harry thought they were very frightening and stuck close to Hagrid, but Hagrid and Hermione exchanged a few words with them. All they learned was that Mars was very bright that night, though.
Harry thought that this might have been a lot of help if he'd had an Astronomy exam that night, but he didn't know how it was supposed to help them find the poor unicorn.
Red sparks from Neville and Draco gave them further cause for alarm. Apparently they had only been startled by a slithering sound in the bushes, though. Neville was shaking so badly, however, that Hagrid decided to keep him with him and send Harry to continue the search with Draco and Fang.
Nervously they followed the unfamiliar path with only the light of their own wands to guide them until finally Draco saw something.
"Look there, it's all silvery-white," he said pointing. "Do you think that's the unicorn?"
They walked closer to it and it did indeed have the shape of a horse, which Harry recognised from holo movies.
"It's beautiful," he said. "But why isn't it moving. Do you think it's dead?"
But before Draco could reply something else moved, something black that had been lying unnoticed in the darkness next to the unicorn, but now turned out to be a person in a black cloak. He - Harry was pretty sure it was a man - lifted his head and they could see the silvery unicorn blood dripping from his mouth.
Fang yelped, Draco screamed and they both turned and ran away, Draco shooting a veritable firework of red sparks all the way. Harry wanted to do the same, but he couldn't move. His scar was hurting again all of a sudden, much worse than ever before, and he couldn't think through the pain. All he could do was stare at the horrid scene before him.
The man stood up and came towards Harry, but before he reached him another centaur appeared and bowled the man over.
Perhaps he wasn't quite as terrible a monster as Harry had thought at first glance as he fled from the centaur who, though imposing, didn't look quite as terrifying.
The centaur, who introduced himself as Firenze, urged Harry to leave the forest as quickly as possible and even offered to carry him on his back, but Harry refused the offer. It was way too scary. He also tried to refuse to leave the path as Hagrid had told him not to, but Firenze pushed him along impatiently and after stumbling a few steps away from it Harry could no longer see it and had to rely on the centaur's guidance.
"What was that? Did that man kill the unicorn?" Harry asked once he'd calmed down a little.
"Most likely," Firenze answered. "Mars is bright tonight."
"But why? The unicorn was beautiful. Why did he kill her?"
"Do you know the properties of unicorn blood?"
Harry didn't even know what properties were.
"Unicorn blood can keep you alive even if nothing else can, but it is a terrible thing to kill a unicorn. You will be cursed forever and have only half a life ... unless of course you found something else that could restore you. Do you know what is hidden in the school right now?"
Harry did not, or at least he thought he didn't until the next morning when he told the whole story to Hermione and Ron.
"Oh, but of course we know, Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. "It's the Philosopher's stone. It can make the elixir of life, remember?"
Then she looked thoughtful for a while.
"But then it's not Snape that wants the stone - or not for himself. Snape is young and healthy. He'd want it for the gold, not the elixir. And he wouldn't be drinking unicorn blood either. No, Harry, ... Harry, I think that was Voldemort that you saw in the forest. He wasn't killed when he attacked the nursery institute, not completely, and now he's trying to come back. That's why your scar hurt when you looked at him. He's the one that gave it to you after all."