Chapter 7: The Forbidden Forest
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Total Words: 26,657
Hermione felt her heart sink. She had never been in so much trouble, and she feared that both she and Harry were going to be expelled. Hermione began to tremble as Filch led the two of them to Professor McGonagall's study on the first floor, wondering what she would say. There was no defense good enough to get them off the hook for wandering around the corridors at night, and Malfoy just made things worse for them by trying to tell what they were doing. Not only had they been walking around all night, but they were in the tallest tower, which was out-of-bounds to students except during classes. Hermione began to panic; they might as well be packing their bags now. And she hadn't even sat exams!
When Professor McGonagall finally came in, she was leading Neville. Hermione's heart sank. How could this happen? He didn't even know what was going on.
"Harry! I was trying to find you to warn you, I heard Malfoy saying he was going to catch you, he said you had a drag - " Neville burst out, but Harry shook his head vigorously to shut him up. Hermione felt herself go pink. So Neville had known what was going on; he just hadn't known how true it was. Hermione's terrified eyes turned back to Professor McGonagall. She looked beside herself.
"I would never have believed it of any of you. Mr. Filch says you were up in the astronomy tower. It's one o'clock in the morning. Explain yourselves."
Hermione looked at her feet. It felt as if her throat had stopped working, and was probably the first time that she had not answered a teacher's question. How could she even begin to explain why she and Harry were where they were without getting Hagrid into trouble?
"I think I've got a good idea of what's going on. It doesn't take a genius to work it out. You fed Draco Malfoy some cock-and-bull story about a dragon, trying to get him out of bed and into trouble. I've already caught him. I suppose you think it's funny that Longbottom here heard the story and believed it, too?"
It felt like Hermione's heart had stopped. That was so far from the truth... it was true, she didn't care if Malfoy had gotten into trouble, but she would never have tried to get Neville in trouble. She glanced up at him - he looked stunned and hurt. She wished there was a way to tell him that it wasn't true without Professor McGonagall hearing.
"I'm disgusted. Four students out of bed in one night! I've never heard of such a thing before! You, Miss Granger, I thought you had more sense. As for you, Mr. Potter, I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than this. All three of you will receive detention - yes, you too, Mr. Longbottom, nothing gives you the right to walk around the school at night, especially these days, it's very dangerous - and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor."
It would have been preferable for the Professor to have hit Hermione.
"Fifty?" Harry gasped beside her. Hermione's voice died in her throat.
"Fifty points each.
"Professor - please - " Hermione said in shock. She couldn't even form a coherent sentence.
"You can't - "
"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Potter. Now get back to bed, all of you. I've never been more ashamed of Gryffindor students."
It was a subdued walk back to Gryffindor Tower for the three of them. Hermione was still in shock that she had gotten her first detention and that they had lost their House one hundred and fifty points. When they finally reached the Fat Lady, they looked at each other awkwardly in the common room before silently making their way to their dormitories. Hermione lay awake for most of that night, glad she hadn't gotten expelled but wondering what they would do for detention and how the rest of Gryffindor would react once they had found out that three first-years had lost them that many House Points.
...
Once the rest of the House had figured out who had lost them so many points, their attitudes towards Harry, especially, changed for the worse. Hermione even noticed that the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had a rather sour attitude as well; the whole school had been longing to see Slytherin lose the House Cup this year and it looked like that was no longer going to happen.
Ron was trying his best to offer comfort to both Harry and Hermione.
"They'll all forget this in a few weeks. Fred and George have lost loads of points in all the time they've been here, and people still like them," he said bracingly.
"They've never lost a hundred and fifty points in one go, though, have they?" Harry said, still looking quite miserable. Hermione felt as bad as he looked.
"Well - no..."
Hermione frowned at her relatively untouched plate of food. She had eaten just enough to prevent herself from passing out, but had felt full after that and pushed the plate away. She didn't feel very well after losing all those points and getting into so much trouble. During classes, she kept her head down as well and didn't draw any attention to herself; not that anyone would speak to her anyway. Neville was having a hard time too and followed Hermione's lead in staying silent most of the day.
One afternoon, when exams were about a week away, Harry came running into the library where Hermione and Ron were finishing up some Astronomy work. He was bursting to tell them something and looked around before filling them in on what he had just heard - Quirrell was under even more pressure now, and he suspected that Snape had finally gotten him to tell what his enchantment was and how to pass it.
"Snape's done it, then!" Ron said, abandoning his studying. "If Quirrell's told him how to break his Anti-Dark Force spell - "
Hermione interrupted; there was something Ron was forgetting. "There's still Fluffy, though."
"Maybe Snape's found out how to get past him without asking Hagrid. I bet there's a book somewhere in here telling you how to get past a giant three-headed dog."
Although Ron was beginning to look excited, Hermione answered before Harry had a chance to. She was not about to get in trouble again.
"Go to Dumbledore. That's what we should have done ages ago. If we try anything ourselves we'll be thrown out for sure."
"But we've got no proof! Quirrell's too scared to back us up. Snape's only got to say he doesn't know how the troll got in at Halloween and that he was nowhere near the third floor - who do you think they'll believe, him or us? It's not exactly a secret that we hate him, Dumbledore'll think we made it up to get him sacked. Filch wouldn't help us if his life depended on it, he's too friendly with Snape, and the more students get thrown out, the better, he'll think. And don't forget, we're not supposed to know about the Stone or Fluffy. That'll take a lot of explaining." Harry hardly took a breath through his speech. Hermione immediately saw his point. Ron, however, wasn't so sure.
"If we just do a bit of poking around - " he began.
"No," Harry said, cutting him off. "We've done enough poking around."
...
The next morning during breakfast, notes were delivered to Hermione, Harry, and Neville.
"Your detention will take place at eleven o'clock tonight. Meet Mr. Filch in the entrance hall.
Professor McGonagall"
Hermione swallowed the lump in her throat and put the note down, no longer interested in breakfast. She believed that they deserved what they had gotten, but she still wasn't looking forward to it. Especially since she saw that Malfoy had gotten the same note - he had quite a sour look on his face.
At eleven that night, Hermione, Harry, and Neville made their way to the entrance hall to meet Filch, who looked like Christmas had come early. Malfoy was already there, his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.
"Follow me," Filch said nastily. He had a lamp and Hermione was glad for it, as that night was darker than usual. Even though the moon was bright, the clouds kept rolling over it and throwing them all back into shadow. "I bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh? Oh yes... hard work and pain are the best teachers if you ask me... It's just a pity they let the old punishments die out... hang you by your wrists from the ceiling for a few days, I've got the chains still in my office, keep 'em well oiled in case they're ever needed... Right, off we go, and don't think of running off, now, it'll be worse for you if you do."
The fact that Filch was enjoying this so much was putting Hermione on edge, and Neville seemed to feel the same way. He kept sniffing and it just made Hermione sadder to think that they had really gotten him into this trouble. Hermione's heart lifted, however, when she heard a familiar shout.
"Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started." It was Hagrid! Maybe this detention wouldn't be as bad as she thought.
"I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that oaf? Well, think again, boy - it's into the forest you're going and I'm much mistaken if you'll all come out in one piece."
Hermione ignored this; Filch must have seen the relief on Harry's face and decided to try and make things worse. But she knew that Hagrid would never let anything bad happen to them in the forest. She did grin to herself, however, when she heard Malfoy speak up, a definite note of fear in his voice.
"The forest? We can't go in there at night - there's all sorts of things in there - werewolves, I heard."
"That's your problem, isn't it? Should've thought of them werewolves before you got in trouble, shouldn't you?" Filch did not sound sympathetic. In fact, he sounded more gleeful than ever.
Hagrid was walking towards them, Fang at his heels and a crossbow in his hands. He looked quite formidable. Hermione wondered what he was going to have them do.
"Abou' time. I bin waitin' fer half an hour already. All right, Harry, Hermione?"
All Hermione had time to do was nod before Filch spoke up again.
"I shouldn't be too friendly to them, Hagrid. They're here to be punished, after all."
Hermione really wished Filch would just be quiet.
"That's why yer late, is it?" Hagrid did not sound happy and Hermione smiled inwardly, proud of him for standing up to the awful caretaker. "Bin lecturin' them, eh? 'Snot your place ter do that. Yeh've done yer bit, I'll take over from here."
"I'll be back at dawn... for what's left of 'em." Filch left, the lantern bobbing away as he went. Hermione frowned after him.
"I'm not going into that forest," Malfoy said, now sounding quite panicky. It took a lot of restraint from Hermione to not laugh at him.
"Yeh are if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts. Yeh've done wrong an' now yeh've got ter pay for it."
"But this servant stuff, it's not for students to do. I thought we'd be copying lines or something, if my father knew I was doing this, he'd - "
" - tell yer that's how it is at Hogwarts," Hagrid finished for him, sounding irritated now. "Copyin' lines! What good's that ter anyone? Yeh'll do summat useful or yeh'll get out. If yeh think yer father'd rather you were expelled, then get back off ter the castle an' pack. Go on!"
Malfoy didn't answer and dropped his gaze.
"Right then. Now, listen carefully, 'cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, an' I don' want no one takin' risks. Follow me over here a moment."
Although Hagrid said that they were going to be doing something dangerous, Hermione still trusted him to keep them safe. She followed him along with the other three to the edge of the forest.
"Look there. See that stuff shinin' on the ground? Silvery stuff? That's unicorn blood. There's a unicorn in there bin hurt badly by summat. This is the second time in a week. I found one dead last Wednesday. We're gonna try an' find the poor thing. We might have to put it out of its misery."
"And what if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first?" Malfoy sounded even more scared this time. Hermione was a little nervous now too, but was also wondering why someone would try to kill a unicorn. It was beyond bad luck to do something like that.
"There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang. An' keep ter the path. Right, now, we're gonna split inter two parties an' follow the trail in diff'rent directions. There's blood all over the place, it must've bin staggerin' around since last night at least."
When they all walked into the forest, they reached a fork in the path. There was no noise around them and the trees seemed a little menacing, but Hermione was glad Hagrid was with them.
"I want Fang," Malfoy said instantly. Hermione silently hoped Hagrid would take her with him, she felt more comfortable with him.
"All right, but I warn yeh, he's a coward. So me, Harry, an' Hermione'll go one way an' Draco, Neville, an' Fang'll go the other. Now, if any of us finds the unicorn, we'll send up green sparks, right? Get yer wands out an' practice now - that's it - an' if anyone gets in trouble, send up red sparks, an' we'll all come an' find yeh - so, be careful - let's go."
Hermione wondered if Hagrid knew Malfoy and Neville's relationship... it was probably not the best to send them into the forest alone together, but she didn't argue. At least Neville could send up sparks and let them know if he was in trouble; something that seemed to happen when he was around Malfoy. A little further into the forest she, Harry, and Hagrid came across another small pool of silver-blue blood on the ground. Hagrid looked worried.
"Could a werewolf be killing the unicorns?" Harry asked him.
"Not fast enough. It's not easy ter catch a unicorn, they're powerful magic creatures. I never knew one ter be hurt before." Hagrid said. Hermione didn't like how he sounded. It must be something very powerful and probably full of Dark Magic that was going after them. The path that they followed had spots of blood on it and soon Hermione could hear the sounds of a brook or stream close by. She must have had a worried look on her face, because Hagrid was gentle when he spoke to her next.
"You all right, Hermione? Don' worry, it can't've gone far if it's this badly hurt, an' then we'll be able ter - GET BEHIND THAT TREE!" Hagrid raised his voice and grabbed both Harry and Hermione, dragging them behind a towering oak by the path. He readied his crossbow and the three remained silent as he held the weapon ready to fire. There was something slithering across the ground not too far from where they stood; it almost sounded like a cloak running across the ground, but none of them had worn their cloaks out that night.
"I knew it," Hagrid said quietly, lowering the crossbow. "There's summat in here that shouldn' be."
"A werewolf?" Harry asked.
"That wasn' no werewolf an' it wasn' no unicorn, neither. Right, follow me, but careful, now."
The three set off again, listening hard for any weird noises. It was silent until a few moments later, when something moved up ahead. Hermione's heart skipped a beat.
"Who's there? Show yourself - I'm armed!" Hagrid's voice carried through the trees and sounded quite menacing. Hermione gasped as she saw what entered their path.
It was a centaur. She had read about them, but had never seen one in person. This one had red hair and a red beard with a chestnut body and reddish tail. She couldn't believe centaurs lived in the forest!
"Oh, it's you, Ronan. How are yeh?" Hagrid lowered the crossbow and walked forward to shake his hand.
"Good evening to you, Hagrid." He sounded quite sad to Hermione, but didn't look it; his face was thoughtful. "Were you going to shoot me?"
"Can't be too careful, Ronan. There's summat bad loose in this forest. This is Harry Potter an' Hermione Granger, by the way. Students up at the school. An' this is Ronan, you two. He's a centaur."
It took Hermione a second to find her voice. "We'd noticed," she said, sounding faint even to her own ears.
"Good evening," Ronan addressed she and Harry. "Students, are you? And do you learn much, up at the school?"
"Erm - " said Harry.
"A bit," Hermione said, still sounding quiet.
"A bit. Well, that's something." Ronan paused and looked up at the night sky, barely visible between the tall trees. "Mars is bright tonight."
"Yeah," Hagrid glanced up but didn't sound too interested. "Listen, I'm glad we ran inter yeh, Ronan, 'cause there's a unicorn bin hurt - you seen anythin'?"
Ronan continued to stare at the sky; Hermione noticed that he didn't need to blink very often. "Always the innocent are the first victims. So it has been for ages past, so it is now."
"Yeah... but have yeh seen anythin', Ronan? Anythin' unusual?" Hermione noticed that Hagrid sounded a bit irked.
"Mars is bright tonight. Unusually bright."
Hermione noticed Hagrid growing impatient. "Yeah, but I was meanin' anythin' unusual a bit nearer home."
This time, Ronan took his time answering. "The forest hides many secrets."
Hermione thought he was being quite unhelpful. Whether deliberately or not, she wasn't sure. Then there was movement in the trees behind the centaur, and Hagrid raised his bow once more. Out stepped a black-haired and bodied second centaur, looking wilder than Ronan.
"Hullo, Bane," Hagrid grunted. "All right?"
"Good evening, Hagrid. I hope you are well?"
"Well enough. Look, I jus' bin askin' Ronan, you seen anythin' odd in here lately? There's a unicorn bin injured - would yeh know anythin' about it?"
Bane did not answer right away. Instead, he walked over to where Ronan stood and looked skyward. Hermione guessed what he was going to say before the words left his mouth.
"Mars is bright tonight."
"We've heard," Hagrid now sounded annoyed. "Well, if either of you do see anythin', let me know, won't yeh? We'll be off, then."
Hermione followed Hagrid, staring at the two centaurs as they left the clearing. They were both looking skyward still, presumably thinking about how bright Mars was. Hermione wondered if they always talked about astrological occurrences.
"Never try an' get a straight answer out of a centaur. Ruddy stargazers. Not interested in anythin' closer'n the moon."
So Hermione was right. They did talk about astrology a lot. "Are there many of them in here?" she asked Hagrid.
"Oh, a fair few... Keep themselves to themselves mostly, but they're good enough about turnin' up if I ever want a word. They're deep, mind, centaurs... they know things... jus' don' let on much."
"D'you think that was a centaur we heard earlier?" Harry asked. Hermione didn't think it was - they hadn't heard hooves, but more of a swooshing.
"Did that sound like hooves to you? Nah, if yeh ask me, that was what's bin killin' the unicorns - never heard anythin' like it before."
The fact that Hagrid had never heard that sound before put Hermione slightly on edge. He was very used to this forest, and that meant that there was something in here that shouldn't be. And if it was killing unicorns, one of the purest magical creatures on earth, then it would have no second thoughts about killing them all if it got the chance. She also felt like they were being watched, which did not help her feel any better. All of a sudden, Hermione saw a shower of red burst up ahead of them. She grabbed Hagrid's arm.
"Hagrid! Look! Red sparks, the others are in trouble!" She wondered if it was something that Malfoy had done to scare Neville, which, in all fairness, would not be that hard to do.
"You two wait here! Stay on the path, I'll come back for yeh!" Hagrid crashed away through the trees and growth towards where the sparks had been. Hermione didn't think she could have moved even if her life depended on it. She and Harry looked at each other.
"You don't think they've been hurt, do you?" She asked, her voice shaking slightly.
"I don't care if Malfoy has, but if something's got Neville... it's our fault he's here in the first place."
They waited for what seemed to be an eternity before more crashing alerted them to Hagrid's return. He, Neville, Fang, and Malfoy were all okay, but Hagrid seemed furious. Apparently, Malfoy had snuck up on Neville and grabbed him as a joke, making Neville jump and send up the red sparks that Hermione had spotted.
"We'll be lucky ter catch anythin' now, with the racket you two were makin'. Right, we're changin' groups - Neville, you stay with me an' Hermione, Harry, you go with Fang an' this idiot." Although Hermione knew Harry wasn't thrilled, she agreed with Hagrid when he whispered to them that he would be less of an easy scare. Hermione felt bad for Harry, though, as she watched him walk away with the annoying blond boy and Fang.
She, Hagrid, and Neville walked for what seemed like ages, none of them speaking but all of them listening and looking hard for any signs of the unicorn. Hermione's mind began to wander back to the centaurs and what they were saying about Mars being "unusually bright."
I wonder if that has anything to do with the odd things that have been happening, she thought to herself as they went deeper and deeper into the forest. They didn't turn up any evidence of the unicorn or of whatever had injured it and Hagrid had just suggested they go back and find Harry and Malfoy when -
"AAAAAAAAAAARGH!"
Though none of them knew who had screamed, it still made Hermione's blood freeze. She, Hagrid, and Neville took off towards the sound, not knowing what they would find when they located the source. Hermione was in the lead, tearing through the brush until she came across Malfoy and Fang, Malfoy with a pink face and winded and Fang at his heels.
"Where's Harry?" she demanded of him.
"I - don't - know," Malfoy panted. He didn't offer her any further information. Hermione continued running, hearing Hagrid behind her along with Neville. She soon came upon a centaur that was talking to Harry, who was on his back. Her heart skipped at beat and she smiled; thank god he was safe!
"Harry! Harry, are you all right?" she said as she came up to him, panting. Hagrid was right behind her.
"I'm fine," Harry answered her. He then turned to Hagrid. "The unicorn's dead, Hagrid. It's in the clearing back there."
Hermione's heart sank. She didn't even realize through her fears of being killed that she had been hoping to find it alive and maybe to nurse it back to health. She didn't want to see it and stayed with Harry as Hagrid hurried along to see where the unicorn was. As Harry slid off, Hermione noticed that he looked quite shaken and she was glad the night was almost over.
"Good luck, Harry Potter," the centaur said. "The planets have been read wrongly before now, even by centaurs. I hope this is one of those times."
The centaur left them, Harry shivering and Hermione thinking about what he meant and hoping that whatever was in the forest wasn't as bad as everyone thought it was.
...
When Hermione and Harry had made it back to the Gryffindor common room, they found Ron, who had fallen asleep waiting for them. When he was shaken awake, he yelled out something that Hermione didn't quite catch about Quidditch fowls and then the two of them sat down, eyes wide as they listened to Harry explain what had happened in the forest. Harry didn't sit down with them, however. He paced back and forth, still shaking slightly as he spoke.
"Snape wants the Stone for Vodemort... and Voldemort's hiding in the forest... and all this time we thought Snape just wanted to get rich..." he said. Hermione's head was reeling with all this information and ideas.
"Stop saying the name!" Ron said, flinching every time he heard it. But Harry continued as if he hadn't heard him.
"Firenze saved me, but he shouldn't have done so... Bane was furious... he was talking about interfering with what the planets say is going to happen... They must show that Voldemort's coming back... Bane thinks Firenze should have let Voldemort kill me... I suppose that's written in the stars as well."
Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing. Voldemort, here? In the Forbidden Forest, nonetheless? How did nobody know? Especially Dumbledore?
"Will you stop saying the name!" Ron hissed angrily. Harry still ignored him.
"So all I've got to wait for now is Snape to steal the Stone, then Voldemort will be able to come and finish me off... Well, I suppose Bane'll be happy."
After she heard this, Hermione spoke up. "Harry, everyone says Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was ever afraid of. With Dumbledore around, You-Know-Who won't touch you. Anyway, who says the centaurs are right? It sounds like fortune-telling to me, and Professor McGonagall says that's a very imprecise branch of magic."
The three continued talking until the light began to shine on the castle and grounds, finally calling it a night and going to bed. Although Hermione was worried about Harry, especially because of what he had seen in the forest, she fell asleep seconds after her head hit the pillow, exhausted from the day and their detention and hoping that the centaurs were wrong.