A/N: I apologize for taking so long with this, but I had deviated into a lot of other story ideas and had just started to come back to this. My muse is unfortunately lacking in certain areas, so feedback is greatly appreciated. I'll probably post a shortened version of some of my unfinished stories to see if I should bother trying to finish a few of them. As always, please enjoy and I don't own anything.

The fervor in the press about the escaped dragon loose at Hogwarts lasted for about three days as the headline of the Daily Prophet. Reporters swarming the front gates of the old castle had been politely turned away the first two days and then simply left after the third when it became apparent that there was no real scandal involved in the dragon's appearance at the school. Rumors continued to fly throughout the castle about what actually happened as none of the stories matched up, but the general magical population was satisfied with the story that they were told and it seemed to be held up by several facts of the case. In any case the reporters lost interest in the story that they had found and went on to ponder over whether or not the Minister for Magic was having an affair with his Senior Undersecretary, a thought that had many simultaneously dry-heaving and scratching their heads in bewilderment.

The Daily Prophet reported that Hagrid had gotten the egg from a trader in a pub after a game of cards. He was led to believe that it contained a rare species of fire crab. While the Ministry generally wishes to know when new or rare species are being bred there is no real regulation for the control of such a small and insignificant animal. Ronald Weasley and Seamus Finnigan were said to have been helping the gamekeeper keep the egg well warmed and well stocked so that when it hatched they would be ready to take care of it. Hagrid had mentioned that he wanted to hand it over to Professor Kettleburn, the Care ofMagical Creatures, teacher for study once it had hatched and was proven to be viable. This all went downhill when the egg hatched.

Realizing that they had made a mistake in identifying the egg, the two students and gamekeeper went immediately to Professor Dumbledore to find out what to do about it. It was Dumbledore whom had suggested bringing in Ronald's older brother Charlie and his team of dragon tamers from the preserve in Romania. The idea was to get the dragon sedated while it was too young to really fight off a coordinated attack and then silently slip it out the front gates. How they expected to slip out unnoticed with a several hundred pound baby dragon, no one really questioned, but because so many students were outside on that particular day, everyone got to see what happened.

To this end, while the papers were giving up on the story, the student body was filled with wild speculation. Most students agreed that there had to be more to the story than what was printed in the newspaper as they had seen some of the events unfold first hand, but they simply didn't know where to turn for that information. They had seen Hagrid bemoaning the loss of the dragon, not to mention the size of the thing spoke volumes as to how long Ron and Seamus had waited in order to tell Professor Dumbledore. There were also stories of Ron showing up in the hospital wing with a bloody and greenish tinged hand and mumbling something about a teddy bear and a dragon. This all added up to while the rest of the magical community was satisfied to put the matter to bed and move on to a more juicy topic; a married celebrity witch was seen coming out of a restaurant with a different man, the students of Hogwarts were still buzzing about the dragon.

Harry had taken to wandering around the grounds a little and looking around at odd things on the castle, normally pointing at specific points on the battlements and shaking his head. He had talked with Hagrid about the incident and had gotten to know the gentle giant after a time. It seemed that Ron and Seamus wanted nothing to do with the man now that the dragon had been taken care of.

"It's all right, Hagrid." Harry patted the man's large arm as they sat at his large wooden table staring down into mugs of murky water that was supposed to be tea. "I'm sure that you'll see Norbert again."

This seemed to only make the large man cry harder as he snuffled like a baby into a large yellow bed sheet the size of a circus tent. While the larger man was a gentle creature he had a large nose to blow and so when he did it nearly made Harry's hair ruffle and knock him off the stool from the force. "It just that he's only a baby." Hagrid blew another loud blast into the sheet. "What if the other dragons pick on him for being so small?"

Harry simply patted the larger man's shoulder, or his lower arm as that was as high as he could get, even standing on this stool. Harry said no more about the fact that Norbert was nearly full grown for his species and decided to instead change the subject. "How did you expect to keep a dragon concealed on Hogwarts grounds anyway, Hagrid?"

Hagrid wiped his nose noisily for a moment before throwing it into a corner where another heap of laundry looked almost ready to grow legs and walk away. He rubbed at his nose another few times with the front of his hairy vest before leaning heavily on the old wooden table that separated Harry and himself. "I thought that I could try and train him, you know, make him me pet. Maybe even get him to defend the castle when he got a little bigger."

Harry's mind flashed to a similar statement that he had heard quite some time ago from one of his tutors and couldn't help but smile. "Dumbledore and some of the best warders that this world has seen in the last thousand years have put considerable effort into protecting this school." He patted the man's elbow once more. "I'm sure that they would be very proud that you wanted to protect your home and their school."

Hagrid chuckled lightly as he nodded and wiped his nose once more before downing the entire tankard of murky water before pulling a disgusted face. He grumbled a moment before shaking his head. "Don't know how Ron and Seamus put up with this stuff for so long. Should have just told me how bad it was." He rumbled slightly as he moved over towards the fireplace in order to bank the flames slightly. "I'll have to make another pot before you're able to go, Harry."

Harry smiled and raised his tankard into the air; it was a considerable feat as the thing was nearly the height of his own arm and weighed a possible ten pounds. "It's all right, Hagrid. I have to get back to the castle soon at any rate as it's nearly curfew."

Hagrid gave a little sigh as he looked out the window at the rapidly darkening sky and then nodding slowly. He had set the kettle on the small spit that traversed his fire and was letting the water boil slowly so that it would be still warm when he came back to it later. "Indeed, Harry, you should head back up before one of the Professors catches you out of bounds at night." He shrugged on the moleskin coat near the door. "I'll walk you at least to the doors, but you'll be on your own to get back to the common room on your own."

True to his word, Hagrid was able to escort Harry up to the castle and left him at the entrance doors with a small nod and a pat on the back that nearly sent the young man to his knees. Harry stood watching the large man disappear into the darkness as he made his way back to his hut before turning to brave the castle at night. He had been out a few times before with his friends as well as on his own during the night, but this was the first time that he had really been on his own in the dark. He knew the hallways well and kept his feet light so that they didn't make any noise, but he knew that he was nearly caught out when he heard voices coming nearby.

"…stated previously, the Dark Lord is no closer to divining how to get past the Cerberus than we had suspected." Professor Snape's voice was always the most recognizable voice in the entire castle. It had the same sneering and vindictive tones as Draco Malfoy's but seemed to be even deeper as if he had perfected it after years of trying.

Harry quickly moved into a nearby alcove and the knight statue that was nearby slid aside to protect his hiding spot. The statues were prone to moving around the hallways at night and sometimes even during the day; it confused the new students as they attempted to create landmarks to get to class if the landmark would change every few days or whenever they desired it to. Just as the statue had finished sliding to the left to disclose where Harry was hiding a pair of men came around the corner.

"Calm yourself, Severus. It does us no good to simply worry over things that cannot be controlled or foreseen." The garish purple and blue robes of the Headmaster were not needed as his irritatingly calm voice could be well heard in the darkened corridor. "I wonder how far he will progress when someone comes to stop him."

Snape made a small snort of anger. "The arrogant brat has flouted our laws and our customs. Do you know that he carries a muggle weapon wherever he goes?"

Dumbledore's voice sounded curious and a little cautionary as they had come close to the statue by now. "I wonder what you might mean, Severus. Both of us carry blades and it is well within the laws to do so."

Snape made another huff of annoyance. "It's not as elegant or as smooth crafted as a blade. I've seen it on a handful of occasions when the brat has decided to show off, particularly at that Quidditch match."

Here they had stopped almost directly in front of the statue, but it didn't seem like they knew that he was there as Dumbledore's voice was still as loud, but had dropped some of the congeniality. "You and I both know, Severus, that Harry had nothing to do with that. Voldemort is actively seeking the boy and, although it would be advantageous in later years, now is not the time for him to get so close to him."

Snape's voice was nearly growling as he snarled. "That boy should have been kicked out of Hogwarts long before now with his wand snapped. I don't understand how you can coddle the boy and still preach the same about differences."

"You mean the same way that you coddle your Slytherins." It was obvious that the man had hit a nerve by the sharp intake of breath. "Mister Malfoy seems especially interested in Mister Potter's behavior as of late and I find myself wondering what you're going to do if he pursues the current course that he is on."

Snape was now defensive. "Draco only needs to be shown the correct path and he'll follow it. It'll take some time to get him away from his father and mother's teachings."

"Yes, but which is the correct path, Severus?" Dumbledore's voice started to fade as he was moving away from the statue back along the path that the pair had been taking before stopping. "You seem confident in his abilities that he could be turned to the light, I believe our best course of action should be to do nothing to encourage or discourage his bigotry."

Snape seemed pleased with this. "Yes, as if we discipline him then he'll be more inclined to go with the power that offers him free reign over those that he believes are inferior to him." They were nearly to the end of the corridor when he finally spoke once more, his voice loud enough to reach down to where Harry was crouched. "What of the brainless oaf?"

Dumbledore heaved a great sigh before replying. "Hagrid is a good and loyal friend. When the time comes I suspect that he will be a great asset to our cause as well."

Snape gave a huff of anger and indifference just before the pair rounded the corner and disappeared from sight and hearing range. Even so, Harry waited a good five more minutes to be sure that they were well and truly away before slipping out from behind the statue. He gave it a small pat on the arm and a smile before slipping through the shadows back towards the common room. The journey gave him some time to think to himself while he dodged from one shadowy corner to the next, deftly avoiding both Professor McGonagall as well as Filch, the caretaker. It wasn't until he was almost at the common room in fact before he even ran into another student.

Neville had been huddled on the floor near the portrait of the fat lady apparently trying to sleep on the cold stones. He had wrapped his cloak around himself and tried to use it as a pillow at the same time, his body shaking from the cold. When he had felt someone shaking him awake he gave a startled yell and sat up quickly. "Harry?"

Harry groaned as he could even now hear the rustle of feet and paws as the other teachers were to have surly heard the racket that Neville had made. Instead of making a run for it, he sat down in front of his friend. "Why are you out here, Neville?"

The poor boy sniffled a little. "I forgot the password again and I couldn't find you or the others to tell it to me. Weasley was taunting me about not having friends and I just completely forgot all about the password."

Harry sighed and patted the poor boy on the shoulder. "It's all right, Neville, we'll work on your memory and your magic a little more when the time comes. Really it all comes down to confidence and a little self-respect."

Neville gave a small dry chuckle. "I've gotten a lot of that from being friends with you and the girls, but…" He lowered his voice a little. "Hermione still scares me something frightful."

Harry chuckled and patted his friend on the back even as the Professors were coming around the corner. "You and me both, Neville, you and me both."

McGonagall was the first to get to them and looked a little red in the face. If it was from running from the third floor or from the embarrassment of catching the two out after curfew, neither could guess. "Explain yourselves, this instant."

Harry had barely opened his mouth before the silky smooth tones of Snape could be heard from the other direction. He didn't look quite as out of breath, but there were beads of sweat forming on his forehead. "Clearly, Potter and Longbottom think that they're above the rules. Out plotting some prank or another against my Slytherins." He gave a disgusted sniff. "Just like their fathers before them."

Harry shook his head a little and fixed his eyes on a point on the stone wall between the two Professors. "You know, Professor Snape, carrying around that much anger and resentment for so long can have a very damaging effect on you. Professor McGonagall, we are out here because we both forgot the new password to the common room. We attempted to ask Weasley as he was by recently, but he gave a rather undignified answer and slammed the door in our faces."

Snape gave another sniff of disgust. "Is that the best you can come up with, Potter? That's pathetic. Detention, for the both of you with Hagrid tomorrow night, I hear that he has a small errand to run in the Forbidden Forest." He almost sounded giddy at that last point and his eyes sparkled maliciously.

Harry turned fully towards McGonagall, but the woman didn't say a word. Hauling himself up to his feet he offered a hand to his friend before favoring the old Scottish woman with a stare. "It's nice to know that we're allowed a fair hearing in Hogwarts. I believe your words were that our house was like our family." The voice was polite and to the point as he turned away back to the common room.

The noise from outside had apparently attracted some onlookers as the door was now completely open. As they slipped inside they pulled the latch closed so that they didn't have to see the disgusted look upon Snape's face or the somewhat pensive one that McGonagall favored. They entertained a few questions from their classmates, mostly about the fact that they were still outside. When it was found out that Weasley could have lost them points by not being friendly to a housemate several of his dorm mates had suggested that they go up and take care of the redhead. Harry had voted them down before they had all gone up to bed.

XoXo

The next day seemed to progress as normally as any day at a school for young witches and wizards. Neville was still having an issue with his wand and his confidence, owing mostly to the fact that several of their housemates had started to glare at them for their infraction the night before. While it was true that they had escaped any points being taken off it was still common knowledge that they were out after curfew and it could have lost the house the House Cup. Several seventh years had even stopped the pair of first years in the hall before class and threatened them with something fierce if they lost even a single point for them.

While Neville had shakily accepted the threats and the wands under their noses, Harry had simply raised an eyebrow and shrugged. He wasn't pressured to do much of anything and took the attitude of his dad when these situations came up. He would stay out of the way and observe as much as possible before having to step in and save the day; at least that was what his dad had always told him would happen, experience said otherwise.

Hermione of course was livid that they had been sneaking about at night. "Anything could have happened to you two." She had hissed during one of their meetings out in the courtyard during break. It was one of the few times that people from different houses were able to come together.

Harry gave a small shrug and a smile. "I can handle myself, always have. My dad seems to have an uncanny knack for finding danger wherever we go. Plus, I was coming back from talking to Hagrid."

Neville nodded slowly while attempting to not look into the furious glare of their friend. "I forgot the password and Weasley wouldn't tell it to me. I suspect that he had gotten some of the others on his side by saying that I was as good as a squib." He hung his head and much of Hermione's anger vanished as she patted her friend on the shoulder.

"You're worth at least twelve of him, Neville." She smiled a little as she favored the small boy with a gentle pat on the shoulder and the gentle smile went a long way to making him a little more comfortable.

Daphne however was another story. She was more upset that they had been caught and not about the fact that they were out of bounds at night. "You two really are Gryffindors. You could have done just about anything; instead you just sat there and got caught." She shook her head a little. "I guess my glorious influence hasn't rubbed off on you just yet."

Harry gave another shrug of indifference. "I didn't see the point in trying to run and hide. There are no classrooms on that level and the alcoves are all closed off. It would have been worse had they caught us later or worse, while we were running." He cut the conversation off by pulling a deck of muggle cards. "Now then, who's up for a deal?"

The friends passed the time playing a variety of muggle card games, soon joined by a small contingent of the study groups that had been formed around them. It was a fun time to be had, but soon enough dinner had ended and Harry and Neville were forced to then think about their detention that they were going to be serving that night with Hagrid. Snape had seemed gleeful that they were going into the forest and while McGonagall had been standing right there, she hadn't stuck up for them in the least. Filch was the one to come and collect them as they headed down towards Hagrid's hut situated on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

"It's a right shame that the Headmaster let the old punishments die out. Pain and hard work, those are the true teachers of discipline. Was in my day that you didn't get detention writing lines or scrubbing cauldron bottoms, it was thirty lashes and a stint on the rack for you." Filch was muttering as he shook his head.

"Must have been quite a trying time for you, Mister Filch." Harry reached up and patted the man on the elbow, but they had reached the hut and Hagrid was standing outside with his crossbow so the man couldn't rightly respond.

"There ye are, Filch, hurry up. Suppose you took the long way around just so you could give your speech about the old ways." Hagrid seemed dismissive about the old caretaker as he turned to address the two students before him. "Come on, ye rule breakers. We have some work to do." He had turned back towards the forest when a shout had caught his attention and he turned slowly back towards the castle.

In the dark gloom a figure could be making their way down the long sloping lawn of the grounds towards Hagrid's hut. At first it seemed that it was stooping, or at the very least quite wide, but as it started to come closer to the light of the lantern that Hagrid was holding it was shown to be two figures, one smaller than the other. When they were almost upon the small group it showed to be Professor Sinistra, the astronomy professor, leading Ronald Weasley by the arm down along the grounds. Harry shared a small look with Neville as it seemed that Ron was grinning from ear to ear.

"Have another one for you, Hagrid." The woman's voice was soft with a small accent that belied her heritage of the eastern lands. Her hair was dark and her skin slightly dusty like a well-made tan. She smiled lightly to the two boys already there and pushed Ron towards them. "Found him wandering alone the corridors, Headmaster suggested that he be made to come out here with the other two." She raised a small pencil thin eyebrow as she looked over the small group. "Not sure what you are planning to do with them, but we'll welcome them back come the morning." She gave a small nod to the others and then turned and headed back towards the castle.

Hagrid gave a large shrug as he hefted his crossbow up onto his shoulder and looked over the three students that he was now in charge of. "Well, I sup'ose 'e should get on with it 'hen." He pointed a large hand over their heads towards the forest. "There be 'omething killin unicorns in the forest. Need to find out who and bring in the perpies."

Ron, who up until now had been grinning, suddenly went pale. He had slid closer to Harry and seemed to be trying to now hide behind him, which was made all the more difficult by Neville being close by as well. Both boy seemed to look to Harry instinctively, but for two very different reasons. Ron was more out of hero worship, the belief that Harry could get him through any situation completely unharmed while Neville looked for the comfort of his friend. Harry was more than up to the task as he gently patted Neville on the shoulder before turning towards Hagrid.

"Hagrid, not to be suspicious, but shouldn't this be handled by the other professors?" At the large man's confused look, Harry continued. "We're three first years that can barely defend ourselves, much less attack some kind of unicorn munching creature."

Ron was nodding as all the color had drained from his face. When he spoke his voice was broken and high. "Plus I heard that there might be werewolves in there. I'm not going up against a werewolf all by myself."

Hagrid was left scratching his beard in thought before he shrugged. "We'll break into pairs. Weasley and Harry will stay behind us and take the branch of the path to the left, while Neville and I take the right." He didn't seem to give much mind to the whimpers of Neville and Ron or the eye roll of Harry as he turned and headed off towards the tree line.

The bright full moon shone down on the sloping lawns of the grounds. It wasn't much to see by for only a few meters in front of them, but with the lantern of Hagrid's it was enough to move across the grass. Approaching the trees that loomed up ahead of them there was a sense of foreboding. It was as if the trees sprung from the ground in a neat path line that almost seemed impregnable except for a small cut path that looped around just past Hagrid's cabin. If the others were suspicious of why this was, they didn't say anything, but Harry was keeping his eyes open.

Harry could feel the comforting warmth from both of his wrists as there rested a weapon, of sorts, on each. The larger one on his left gave him more comfort than the wooden one on his right. His eyes flicked from one side to the others as they seemed to break through the trees. Once under the canopy all light was extinguished save for the small bouncing lantern that Hagrid held aloft. Even the soft flickering light from that was not enough to push back the darkness more than a few feet in any direction. Not that it really mattered as the only thing that they could see at the moment were dark trunks of trees that leaned precariously out towards them.

They had been walking for almost ten minutes when they came to the fork in the path. The left branch was clearly the one that was least travelled as tangles of vines draped down over it and large knotted branches snarled around the path. The right, by comparison was trodden down with trees pushed back to make the path at least five feet wide even at the smallest points. Again, Harry had to roll his eyes as he took Ron by the arm and started to lead him down the left fork.

They hadn't gone very far before Hagrid's voice stopped them. "Send up sparks with yur wand ifen there be any trouble." He turned and headed down the other fork, Neville clinging close by. The small boy gave an audible gulp and tried to smile at Harry before they disappeared. Harry answered with a genuine smile of his own with thumbs up.

Ron had moved closer to Harry and was grasping towards his robes. "You'll protect me, right, mate? I mean, I'm sure that you've dealt with worse than werewolves in the past few years, right?"

Harry raised an eyebrow before he crossed his arms over his chest. "Ronald, I'm not exactly sure how to respond to that. I grew up in the muggle world." He didn't want the redhead to know just then that he had of course faced things much worse than a single werewolf; the fact that there were things worse out there than a lycanthrope was proof that Ronald Weasley didn't know much about the rest of the world, much less the universe.

"But…but those stories…" As Harry still looked mildly confused, Ron expounded. "The Great Adventures of Harry Potter." He waved his arms around as if saying that meant something, but Harry merely shrugged before starting down the path.

The path continued in the same vein, twisting and turning for another fifteen minutes. There didn't seem to be much down this way as the branches were already starting to make their path difficult as it snared against their robes and pulled against their hair. Harry picked his way easily over some of the fallen branches, using some of the reflexes from his tutors, while Ron Weasley was stumbling along, frequently crashing through the undergrowth. If there had been anything around them, Weasley's crashing had made enough noise to either scare away whatever it was, or draw them towards the pair of first years. It was another five minutes before the path seemed to almost disappear.

The path was so overgrown by this point that the only thing to do was to either divert into a small tree hollow on the left or to move backwards until they were able to turn around in the undergrowth. The hollow was a small indentation in the ground where it appeared a pond or a lake had once stood. Trees had grown up around it with their overarching roots entangled with one another, but leaving an opening about fifteen feet wide and twenty feet long. There were openings in the trees from what they could assume was water going from the path and then straight down to where the trees formed back up again leaving a small hole between the roots. They had just started to turn around when a hissing noise drew their eyes towards the lowest point of the hollow.

The ground seemed to ripple slightly before it peeled back and started to form up into a shadow like figure. It looked like a long black cloak that had peeled up to reveal something lying on the ground. The body of a dead unicorn had a large gash taken out of its neck with the silver blood leaking onto the ground into a small puddle around the head. The silver blood was also dripping from under the hood of the figure that was now standing over it. The silver seemed to outline the figures mouth and large fangs that were now dripping with the blood. It hissed again before it started to move towards the pair of first years, it seemed to slither across the ground however instead of walking.

Ron gave a terrified shriek and started to back away from the figure as it was advancing. He had moved behind Harry and seemed to be pushing the other young man towards it. "Do it, Harry, unleash your magical power." Harry briefly looked over his shoulder at Ron before raising his eyebrow a little.

"You're really an idiot, do you know that?" He turned back towards the figure and winced a little as he saw it approaching. He squinted his eyes a little as the hissing that the thing was making seemed to be getting louder as it approached.

"….nice snack. When I get the stone, Potter, your life will be forfeit." The figure lunged suddenly out of the darkness, but before it could get too close to them a large beast had leapt over their heads and slammed hard into it.

The beast was at least eight feet tall and with four hooves that were now tearing into the dark figure. The figure retreated for a moment before lunging at the creature and fastening his jaws around the neck. It was a terrible shriek from the creature that had leads Hagrid to the hollow on the other side of the path from where Harry and Ron stood. In a moment he had unleashed a string of arrows that sunk deep into the cloak of the shadow and seemed to cause it pause as it drew back from the other beast. It started off at Hagrid for only a moment before the cloak swept across the ground and the shadow wraith lifted off the ground and vanished among the tree trunks on the side of the hollow.

Neville had come in behind Hagrid holding the lantern. When the shadow had moved off he had rushed past Hagrid and towards Harry, wrapping his arms around the other boy. It was an unnatural display of affection from the shy and quiet Gryffindor, but considering what had just happened it wasn't unappreciated. "I was so scared when I heard the screams, who was it?"

Ron flushed a little as he remembered that he had screamed, but he thumped Harry on the back. "Good thinking mate, summoning a guardian spirit to help us out; wouldn't want to tear into it with your own powers." He gave a lopsided smile and a knowing nod.

Harry sighed as he rubbed against his temples slightly as he slipped past Ron and headed down into the hollow. Hagrid had knelt down next to the fallen creature and appeared to be putting a large bandage on the wound as well as talking to it. "Ron, if you used your brain for once in this entire year, you would see that it's a centaur." He indicated the fallen half-man, half-horse on the ground. "And no, I didn't summon him, he probably heard your screams and came to investigate."

The centaur had pulled himself partially up so that his four legs were tucked under him and he was sitting straight up. Even with him on the ground he still came above Harry and the other students by a good two feet. By the light of the lantern they could see that he had a palamino body with blonde hair covering his chest and part of his head. "Indeed, Harry Potter. There are many things that lurk in the shadows in this forest." He partially turned towards Hagrid. "Hagrid, my friend, I thank you for your kindly intervention on my behalf."

Hagrid waved the centaur's thanks aside as he finished up with the bandage and then patted him lightly on his flank. "'ou be allright, Firenze. I have to thank ye for your intervention with young Harry and Ronald." He nodded towards the gathered first years nearby.

Harry stepped forward and offered his hand to the centaur that the half-man creature bowed his head to and gently took it within his own larger one. "I am indebted to you, Centaur Firenze. You risked your life and your soul for a human's this night."

If the centaur was shocked at the pronouncement he didn't show it, instead he inclined his head slightly towards Harry and gave a smile. "You, young Master Potter, have nothing to be indebted to me for. Go with the stars and keep your eyes alight." He gave another short nod before trying to stand. He waved Hagrid off once more as he seemed to move to help, keeping his eyes on Harry. "You know what that thing was and more importantly what will come to pass should events continue in the vein they have started." Harry seemed to be the only one that seemed to understand at all what the centaur was saying, but in a moment he had shuffled up to his hooves and was disappearing deftly among the trees.

"Ruddy star gazers, the lot of them." Hagrid grumbled lightly as he hauled himself back up to his feet and dusted off his coat. "I dinna suppose we get much done now with all the racket."

Neville was shaking his head slightly. As he hadn't been there until towards the end, and mostly because he was with Hagrid the entire time, he didn't seem as shaken up as Ron was. "Hagrid, I think that you found your answer though. Whatever that thing was it was clearly feeding on the unicorn for whatever reason."

Ron was shaking his head. "Why would anyone want to do something so…so…..Slytherin?" He was shaking his head a little so missed the rather pointed looks in his direction.

Hagrid bent over to retrieve his crossbow from where he had dropped it in his hurry to help Firenze. "Unicorn blood is precious stuff, Ron. Can keep ya on the edge of death and keep ya alive indefinitely, but it's a cursed life." He shook his head. "Canna imagine anyone able to kill one though." He looked sadly at the fallen unicorn in the middle of the small hollow. "The spiders be getting it soon I suppose."

"Spiders?" Ron's face seemed to have gone even paler, if that was even possible, as he quickly started to look around as if something was going to come crashing through the trees at any moment. Instead of moving towards Hagrid though, he quickly moved closer to Harry.

Harry sighed as he moved away from Ron for a moment before he looked back towards Hagrid. "I don't suppose you can call off our detention as we now know for certain what's been killing the unicorns."

Hagrid nodded slowly as he looked up towards the moon and then around at the forest around them. He led them back to the path that he and Neville had taken to get into the hollow. It was a wide path with branches freshly snapped from Hagrid's large personage moving through them. "Come on then, take ye back up to the castle and report to Professor Dumbledore."

Harry snorted a little as he walked next to Neville. Ron kept trying to hold onto his arm as he twisted out of the way continuously. "What do you want to bet that we'll never hear about this again?" Neville snorted a little and then turned it into a cough when Hagrid turned around to see what they were laughing at.

Harry wasn't thinking about what had happened though; he was concentrating on the future. In the dim light of the forest from the full moon overhead and the small lantern that Hagrid was carrying up above them, Harry's eyes started to glow a faint golden. Things were falling into place as they should have as they were meant to, but there was still only one more piece of the puzzle to be considered. Voldemort now had everything that he needed to move against what was being hidden in the castle at that very moment; the unknown was what Harry was going to have to do in a matter of a few days to get his friends not to come with him when he went after the evil wizard. He fingered the cold metal against his left wrist and the soothing warmth against his right as it gave him some confidence about what was to come.