A/N: Sorry I'm a day late, I've actually gotten up and done stuff this week instead of just watching Netflix... surprisingly...

Here is another throwback to first year in this universe, the trio have detention with Ronald!

Enjoy it:)

INTERLUDE 2

FIRST YEAR: DETENTION

...

"It's from Hagrid," Harry said, opening the letter Hedwig had just dropped off for him at the Slytherin table. "He wants us to meet him in his hut later, to talk."

Draco grimaced into his cup as he took a sip of pumpkin juice. He was not a fan of Hagrid, not since he had told them the ferocious, and definite safety hazard, three-headed dog on the third floor belonged to him, and that the half-giant had called the beast 'Fluffy'.

Do we have to go and visit that oaf? Can't you just go?"

Harry frowned at his best friend disappointingly. "Hagrid isn't an 'oaf' Draco, he saved me from the Dursleys."

"Any fool could have done that, muggles are easy to apprehend," he stated with pride. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Would you say that to Hermione?"

"I said muggles, not muggleborns."

"Nice save."

Harry was scanning the letter again, and Draco decided (since he would most likely be dragged along to Harry's tea and rock cakes meeting with Hagrid) to peer over his friend's shoulder to read the note himself. He was shocked when he read what time Hagrid wanted to meet.

"Half past nine? We're not supposed to leave the castle after dinner. And we're supposed to be in our dorms at nine." Draco was looking at Harry with a look that said 'I don't want Snape to shout at me' but his friend ignored him.

"Have you forgotten my Christmas present? It's not called an invisibility cloak for any old reason." Harry replied obviously. His new invisibility cloak, although still a mystery as to where or who it came from, was his pride and joy. He and Draco had already spent hours sneaking out of their dorms to research Nicolas Flamel in the restricted section, so far however, they had no more information than last time.

"What about your cloak?"

Both Harry and Draco looked around to see Hermione stood behind them, her arms were laden with books and her wild hair was as bushy as ever.

"Been studying hard?" Draco asked, taking in his friend's appearance. Hermione sighed, glancing around quickly to make sure nobody saw her, before shuffling in between Harry and Draco.

"Not much, just working on Professor McGonagall's essay. I've been so stressed about it, 14 inches."

"Hermione, you do realise that essay isn't due for another week?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, thunking her books down on the table. "I know that Harry, but I'm also thinking ahead. We have Snape on Friday, and that means another 12 inch essay of the weekend. Anyway, stop changing the subject, what was that about your cloak?"

Draco returned to his breakfast, leaving Harry to explain to Hermione about Hagrid's letter.

"We should go," she finally said.

"What?" Draco asked, joining their conversation. "We can't go, if anyone sees us we'll…"

"We'll find out more about Nicolas Flamel," she stated, standing up. "But anyway, now I have History of Magic, and you have Defence Against the Dark Arts. I'll see you in Charms," and with that she hoisted her books into her arms and flounced away from the Slytherin table, out of the entrance hall door.

"She's mental," Draco muttered under his breath.

"But she gets us to class on time," Harry mentioned as he dragged Draco out of his seat, the pair following the rest of Slytherin and the population of Hogwarts out of the great hall to first period.

...

"Remind me why we're doing this again?" Draco questioned as the three of them trekked across the school grounds towards Hagrid's little hut next to the Forbidden Forest. He and Harry had snuck all the way up to the Gryffindor tower under Harry's cloak in order to pick up Hermione, and then the three of them had gone all the way back down to leave the castle. Luckily the main door had still been open and the three of them had managed to escape without being spotted.

"Because we need to know more about Nicolas Flamel and the Philosopher's stone," Hermione replied matter-of-factly. "And Hagrid seems to be the only person dumb enough to let something slip."

"Hey, Hagrid isn't dumb," Harry protested, he stopped when Hermione gave him a pointed look.

"No offence Harry, but he told a bunch of first years about a secret stone and a three-headed dog hidden in the castle."

Harry spluttered. "In Hagrid's defence Hermione, we knew about Fluffy before he told us."

"Would you stop calling that… thing, Fluffy." Draco shuddered. "It sounds like something Longbottom would call his…"

"Please don't finish that sentence, Draco," Hermione chided. Draco's eyebrow rose.

"I was going to say bunny rabbit."

There were lights on inside Hagrid's hut, Draco was genuinely shocked the shed had not burnt down from the amount of candles and fires Hagrid lit inside of it. Harry knocked on the door gingerly, if opened to reveal an anxious looking Hagrid, holding a crossbow.

"Hagrid!" Hermione said, alarmed. Hagrid pushed the shotgun away, stashing it in the corner, letting the three of them in.

"Sorry about that," he said gruffly. "Never sure what's knocking on your door."

"You told us to meet us here at nine thirty," Harry said. "It's nine thirty."

"Yeah, well. You're here now aren't you. Come in, come in. Although I wasn't expecting you to bring company Harry." He eyed Draco carefully. The blonde rolled his eyes, Hagrid had never been a fan of his family, as Harry had told him Hagrid had slated the Malfoys pretty badly in Diagon Alley, and he struggled to understand why Harry would choose to be friends with such a 'purist'. He always looked wary and shifted around a lot when Harry was with Draco.

It was only then that Draco noticed Hagrid's pink, floral apron he was wearing. The blonde turned to Harry with a confused expression. Harry understood immediately.

"Hagrid, why are you wearing an apron?"

"What?" The half-giant avoided the question just as a loud squeal erupted from the fireplace, it sounded like a kettle going off after it had boiled. Hagrid rushed over to a pot on the fire, which was rocking on its hooks dangerously. He returned to the table seconds later, his oven mitt hands juggling with a sizzling large, goldenish orb.

"Hagrid, what is that?" Hermione asked curiously, her muggle nature taking over her. Draco cut her off.

"I know what that is! Where the hell did you get one of those? You do realise they're illegal!"

Hagrid glared at the Slytherin. "Of course I do Malfoy, so you better not go blabbing to your daddy or any other ministry officials he knows."

"Draco won't tell anyone," Harry assured, sending a scowl in his best friend's direction. Draco opened his mouth to speak, but thought better of it. Slowly, the egg shell began to crackle, revealing a very small, very slimy baby dragon.

"Wait, is that what I think it is?" Hermione finally clocked on. "Hagrid, Draco's right you know. Dragons are illegal!"

"Where did you get it?" Draco asked quizzically, genuinely interested in where Hogwarts' game-keeper had come into a possession of a dragon's egg.

"I won it off some guy in a pub, he wanted to get rid of it and I told him I had an interest in deadly creatures. Aw look, he knows his mummy."

The little dragon coughed and spluttered, releasing a torrent of fire from it's tiny mouth that set Hagrid's beard alight. He brushed it off, getting rid of the embers.

"This person was interested in dragons?" Harry questioned, he had never known anyone who carried around a dragon egg. Draco also narrowed his eyes, thinking the same thing.

"Well no, that's why he gave it to me, obviously. We just got talking." Hagrid turned back to the shrivelled dragon, petting it's head affectionately. "I think I'll call him, Norbert."

"Norbert?" Hermione responded with a disgusted look on her face. "Shouldn't it be called something more ferocious?"

"What, like Fluffy the three headed dog?" Draco mumbled under his breath. Luckily only Harry heard, but the latter snorted respectively.

There was a bang from outside the window, as if somebody had slipped. The four occupants of the hut looked out to see a gangly figure peering in, his long nose pressed up against the glass and his red hair difficult to miss.

"Who's that?" Hagrid asked, a hint of horror in his voice. Draco's eyes narrowed at the figure outside, who quickly disappeared once he realised he was suddenly the centre of attention, and Hermione huffed angrily as Harry replied to Hagrid.

"Weasley."

"Oh," Hagrid said faintly. "That's not good."

...

"Mr Potter, Miss Granger, Mr Malfoy. Can you follow me back to my office please?"

The three friends winced at the sound of McGonagall's voice from behind them as they ran down the corridor. They froze, slowly turning around to face her. Her hair was scraped back into her usual, tight bun and her lips were pursed disappointingly. Hermione looked the most upset, ashamed that she had been caught after hours by her Head of House.

"Now."

"Yes Professor," the three replied, following the Transfiguration professor into her classroom. The second they entered they spotted Weasley stood by McGonagall's desk, a smug look on his face. Draco and Harry glared, Hermione crossed her arms.

"So, Mr Weasley informed me that you were out of bed after hours and roaming around outside by the Forbidden Forest, which you know is out of bounds."

Hermione was now looking at her feet anxiously. McGonagall was looking at her over her spectacles.

"I have no choice but to subtract fifty points from the three of you…" Harry started to protest but McGonagall's stern gaze stopped him, "…As well as give the four of you detention tomorrow night."

Harry, Draco and Hermione's mouths all fell open. Then Hermione frowned.

"The four of us? Professor, there's only three of us."

"No, I was correct Miss Granger. The four of you. You see, Mr Weasley, however good his intentions were, was also out of bed after hours. He therefore also has detention."

Weasley was now the one protesting, his face slowly turning flushed. "But Professor, I…"

"I believe my points are justified Mr Weasley. You will join Mr Filch tomorrow for detention. Good night students."

It was clear the conversation was over and the four students nodded before exiting McGonagall's office.

"Brilliant, I told you Harry." Draco huffed sarcastically.

"Don't blame me. Blame Weasley," Harry answered, sending a scowl in the redheads direction who was now disappearing up the staircase in a strop.

"It is nobody's fault," Hermione said, sounding slightly disheartened. "I'm just annoyed we didn't even get to find out anything else about Nicolas Flamel and Snape trying to steal the stone."

"How do we even know it is Snape?" Draco argued as the three of them walked up the staircase to drop Hermione off at Gryffindor tower.

"I'm not saying he is, it was Harry who started that."

"It was just fishy that he had an injured leg the day after Halloween, when the troll was let in as a diversion," Harry responded. He did trust his Head of House, he was just worried about who was trying to steal the stone and why.

Suddenly, Draco stopped. "Hang on, maybe we did find out something. Hagrid just happened to come across a man in a random pub who has something he wants, isn't that a bit odd?"

Harry's eyes narrowed. "You might be on to something there?"

"Can't we just go to bed?" Hermione pleaded. They had reached the Gryffindor portrait hole. "I want to find out about Hagrid's strange dealer just as much as you, but we're already in enough trouble. You don't want another detention do you?"

"I guess not. We'll see you tomorrow," Harry answered, sending a weak smile to Hermione, who vanished inside the Gryffindor common room, before throwing the invisibility cloak over Draco and himself.

"What do you think we'll have to do tomorrow? I heard Filch sometimes ties you to the ceiling by your thumbs."

"I'm pretty sure that's illegal and most likely not true," Draco replied as the pair made their way back towards the Slytherin common room, hoping Snape didn't catch them.

...

Draco was dreading their detention by the time midnight rolled around. Professor McGonagall had sent the four of them, including Weasley, a note in Charms class announcing that they were to meet Filch in the school's entrance hall at quarter to midnight. Hermione had been horrified by the time, stating that she would not have time to wake up early the next morning to do a spot of 'reading' before her Potions class with Snape. Draco and Harry had also been annoyed, having planned a First Year tournament of Wizard's Chess between themselves and their dorm-mates. Weasley had grumbled all the way through Charms as well, moaning about his unnecessary detention to anyone who would listen, primarily Thomas, Finnegan and Lavender Brown, who spent most of her time dreamily watching Weasley with a glazed expression on her face - Draco thought she was mental.

Hermione and Weasley were already in the hall, stood as far away from each other as possible, when Draco and Harry finally ran up the steps that led from the dungeon to the entrance hall. Filch was stood next to the door, his usual foul look on his face, clutching a lantern.

"Good, you're all here." He drawled, his limp hair swinging as he turned to face the four first years. Weasley edged closer to the other three, fear suddenly overtaking him.

"Where are we going?" He asked, biting his lip nervously. Hermione also looked afraid, running her hands up and down her arms. Draco and Harry tried to remain passive, but inside they were shaking in fear.

Filch led them out of the school and across the grounds towards Hagrid's hut. His lights were on, as usual, but as the group drew closer, they saw that Hagrid was sat outside, fiddling with his crossbow.

Filch rolled his eyes. "You're not still snivelling about that blasted dragon are you?"

Hagrid looked up, directly at Harry, Draco and Hermione. His eyes were rimmed with red and bloodshot.

"They took Norbert away. They're going to send him to Romania to stay with other dragons like him." He sniffed, pulling a small pillowcase sized handkerchief from his pocket to blow his nose. Draco's lip curved in disgust at the sound.

"But that's good isn't it?" Hermione attempted to reassure. "He'll be with other dragons, dragons who understand him?"

"But he's only a baby, what if the other dragons are mean to him?"

"Oh pull yourself together man," - Filch took the words right out of Draco's mouth - "It's a dragon, not a kitten." He turned back to the four students. "You'll be serving your detention with Hagrid tonight. You'll be heading into the Forbidden Forest."

Weasley's eyes widened in shock and his face started to turn it's signature red. "The Forbidden Forest, but it's forbidden. There are…"

"Werewolves… and other things…" Draco supplied, regretting agreeing with Weasley. However, teachers letting four first year students into the Forbidden Forest, with only Hagrid the hysterical half-giant for protection, was barbaric. His father would definitely hear about this.

"And students aren't allowed in there," Hermione protested, backing up her friend. Harry nodded.

"Well, Hagrid's got a job for you. Have fun." Filch replied, his smirk literally dripping with mirth. He was enjoying their suffering. He trundled away, his lantern swinging. Hagrid stood up, taking his crossbow and holding it in front of him. Fang got up too, his sloppy face crossing over to Draco and drooling all over his school robes. Draco leapt away from the dog's saliva, crashing into Hermione who glared at him.

"Right, well," Hagrid finally started. "I've got a little job for you all tonight, follow me."

The four first years looked at each other before following Hagrid into the outskirts of the forest. A eerie howl filled the practically silent air and Hermione grabbed Draco's arm. Weasley snorted at her pathetic action.

Hagrid kept walking until they reached a clearing, Hermione gasped as the group of students spotted the creature Hagrid was walking towards. It was white, pure as snow, and a silvery liquid pooled around it.

"Hagrid, what is that?" Harry stuttered, stepping closer to get a better look. Draco followed his best friend, Hermione still latched to his arm.

"This Harry," Hagrid responded, scooping up the silvery liquid with his gigantic finger. "Is unicorn blood, I've seen it all over the place at the moment, and we're going to see if any others have been hurt."

"You mean, we're going in there? Alone?" Weasley cried, pointing at the dark trees ahead which twisted and coiled, intwining with each other and cutting out the light. Draco gulped when Hagrid nodded.

"Yep, but don't worry. I'll put you lot in two groups. Harry, you go with Weasley. Malfoy, Hermione, you're with me."

Harry looked appalled by Hagrid's decision before sighing and going over to stand next to a terrified Weasley.

"Fine, but we get Fang!" Weasley demanded. Hagrid shrugged.

"Okay, but you should know now. He's a coward."

If possible, Weasley's face shrivelled up even more and became even more frightened. Hermione and Draco said a woeful 'see you later' to Harry before following Hagrid off into the bushes. Harry and Weasley leading Fang in the opposite direction.

...

"So what exactly are we looking for?" Hermione asked from beside Draco. The two were practically running in order to keep up with Hagrid's long strides. The game-keeper peered his head around.

"Anything really, a shimmer of what could look like unicorn blood? A whole unicorn? Anything to show how far out this killing has been happening, or identification of what might be doing the killing."

Hermione and Draco both started looking around, taking in all their surroundings, but also sticking close to Hagrid for protection.

"I hope Harry's okay with Weasley and Fang," Hermione said to Draco as the pair pushed leaves out of their way. Hagrid was up ahead, observing another patch of unicorn blood he had found. He had commanded Draco and Hermione to search the surrounding area for any other traces.

"He's probably fine, having a laugh about Weasley's face. Did you see it? He looked like he was going to shit himself!"

"Draco." Hermione chastised. She hated Draco and Harry using curse words. Her parents had always told her to never use them, yet Draco and Harry were both so blasé about them.

"Sorry, but he did."

Hermione snickered. "You're probably right. He did look scared," she sent Draco a sideways smirk, he caught her eye and couldn't help but laugh as he pictured Weasley's face again.

A loud scream pulled them out of their mirth. Hagrid leapt up, his crossbow ready as the scream grew nearer. Hermione and Draco both pulled out their wands in terror, Draco taking a tiny step in front of his friend defensively.

Seconds later, Weasley ran around the corner, his red face contorted and bawling. He grabbed Hagrid fearfully.

"There's something in there… drinking blood… it saw Potter…" he managed to get out through sobs and gulps. Hermione's hand flew to her mouth in horror.

"Hagrid, we have to find him," she said urgently. "He might be in trouble."

"Right, Malfoy, you take Weasley. Calm him down." Hagrid as good as threw Weasley at Draco, the redhead gripping at his cloak until Draco tossed him away. He clutched Weasley's robes by the scruff of the neck, dragging him along as they chased after Hermione and Hagrid. He had half a mind to stun Weasley and leave him stranded in the middle of the Forbidden Forest for what he had done to Harry, but thought better of it.

"You are so going to pay for this," he threatened in Weasley ear, still hauling him along. Weasley glowered at him but said nothing, still trying to catch his breath from all the screeching he had taken part in.

"Draco quick, we've found him," Draco heard Hermione shout from ahead of them. They picked up the pace, eventually reaching their original group, now accompanied by a magnificent centaur.

"Thank you, Firenze," Hagrid was saying to the centaur, Firenze, who nodded before wishing Harry well and disappearing back into the gloom of the forest.

"Are you okay?" Hermione urged, seizing Harry by the shoulders and giving him a motherly once over.

"I'm fine," he answered gravely, checking around to make sure Hagrid wasn't listening. "But I think I know who's been murdering the unicorns."

...

A/N: Thank you for all the support so far! I haven't finished the next chapter yet but it is on my to-do list so fingers crossed it will be ready next week!

Remember to tell me what you think, every response helps! And thank you to those who have stuck by me from the first chapter at the moment :)

See you next week, will Draco tell Harry and Hermione his secret? x