Things at Hogwarts seemed to be going really great. I liked quite a few of my classes. Defense against the Dark Arts was interesting, learning about curses and counter curses. Charms was interesting as well as I figured it would be the skills I would use the most as a Wizard. Transfiguration was fun as well, although Professor McGonagall was one of the strictest teachers I had ever had. The only teacher that was worse was Professor Snape, my Potions professor. While the subject itself wasn't bad.. Hearing his drawl voice all of class gave me a headache.. And the way he treated Harry in our first class was enough reason alone to hate him. To put a guy who had been raised by muggles on the spot just because he was famous.. There was hate there. Hate we did not understand. Flying class was one of my favorites, as it had always been one of my dreams to fly. While I was slightly scared of heights, the thrill of a broomstick could not be denied. I wasn't bad at it either to be honest. I wasn't top of my class though, that went to Harry. After an incident involving Draco Malfoy and Neville Longbottom's Remembrall, Harry was chosen to be Gryffindor's Seeker in Quidditch! The Youngest player in over a century. Harry, Ron and I had officially become friends by this point, which was nice to have friends where I was equal to..and not kept around mostly for entertainment. I would even count Hagrid as a friend as well as we did have regular tea times the four of us.

However It seemed things would take a turn as two weeks into school. After Harry had told us of his spot on the team, Malfoy comes walking over to us, with his goons Crabbe and Goyle behind him "Having a last meal, Potter? Where are you getting the train back to the Muggles?" He Drawls. Harry says coldly "You're a lot braver now that you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends" I smirked at his response but stayed quiet. Malfoy retorted "I'll take you anytime on my own. Tonight, if you want. Wizard's Duel, Wands only, No Contact. What's the Matter Potter, never herd of a Wizard's duel before?" Ron then shoots back "Of course he has, I'm his second. Who's yours?" I was confussed but added "And I'll be his Third." This got a laugh from Malfoy "There is no Third in Wizard Duels Shuter, I bet if Daddy had been around he would have taught you that. However if you wish to suffer the same fate as Potter and Weasley.. Be my guest. Crabbe will be my second and Goyle will be my (he snickered as he said this) Third. Midnight alright? We'll meet you in the throphy room, that's always unlocked." And with that the three of them turned and left. Harry turned to Ron "What is a Wizard's Duel, And what do you mean you're my second." Ron then said "Well a second is there to take over if you die." Harry looked horrified. Ron then said quickly "But people only die in proper duels, you know, with real wizards. The most you and Malfoy will be able to do is send sparks flying at eachother. Neither of you know enough magic to do any real damage." I then added "He probably expected you to refuse anyways." Harry then asked "And what if I wave my wand and nothing happens." Ron smirked "Throw it away and punch him in the nose" I laugh. "Excuse me" Hermione Granger said walking over to us. "Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" Ron asked. I then hushed Ron and said "Stop being rude dude." Hermione ignored us and said "I couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying-" "I bet you could" Ron mutters. I shoot him a look "-and you musn't be wandering around the school at night. Think of the points you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught, and your bound to be. It's really selfish of you" Harry then said "And it's really none of your business." They got up and began to leave. I then said "Hey if this stops Malfoy bothering us for the next 7 years.. Its worth the points. Plus.. Can't you just get the points back for us?" I smiled and left, thinking I had just given her a compliment.

That night we made our way out of our beds down towards the portrait entrance when a voice said from a chair nearest us "I can't believe your going through with this Harry.. And David.. I expected more from you." I looked down, suddenly ashamed. Ron then said "You! Go back to bed!" Hermione then snapped "I almost told your brother, Percy, he's a prefect, he'd put a stop to this." Harry just said "Come on." We then climbed through the portrait hole and found Hermione climb through after us saying "Don't you care about Gryffindor, do you only care about yourselves. I don't want Slytherin to win the house cup, and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about switching spells." I turned to her and said "The way I see it, I make up for the points I lose because I got a bunch of points from Professor Flitwick for knowing what a Disilusionment charm is" She then retorted "all right, but I warned you, you just remember what I said when you're on the train tomorrow, you're so-"She turned to go back inside, but found the Fat Lady had gone on a night time visit so she was locked out. "Now what am I going to do?!" We left her and continued walking when Hermione joined us saying "I'm coming with you" Ron then said "No you're not." But of course.. She did. We even ran into Neville who had forgotten the password again. We had no choice but to let them tag along, of course under threat of Ron using the Curse of the Bogies Professor Quirrell had told us about.

When we arrives in the Trophey room Malfoy and his goons weren't there.. Time continued to pass and he never arrived "Perhaps he did chicken out" I mentioned , However I quickly realized it was a trap when we heard Filch say close by "Sniff around my sweet, they might be lurking in the corner." We then began to sneak our way through the room when Neville ended up accidently pushing Ron into a suit of armor, causing a lard crashing sound. Harry yelled "RUN!" And we took off running throught the corridors. We ended up running through a tapestry into a secret passageway. I ended up saying as we ran "Hogwarts has hundreds of these passageways according to Hogwarts a History, hopefully Filch doesn't know about this one." Hermione looked back at me with a weird look on her face and then turned her attention back to running. We finally came out near the charms classroom. "I think we lost him" Harry said as he tried to catch his breath. I was panting, bent over. I hadn't ran like that in quite a while.. I needed to get into shape If I was to keep breaking the rules here. "I-told-you I told you Malfoy tricked you. He was never going to meet you. Flitch knew someone was going to be in the trophy room. Malfoy must have tipped him off" I knew Hermione panted. Ron ignored her "We need to get back to our common room, quickly!" Harry Nodded "Lets go." We hadn't gone more than a dozen paces when a doornob rattled and Peeves shot out of a classroom in front of us. I hissed "Peeves, shut it.. Please, you'll get us thrown out of school if you keep up that racket!" Peeves cackled "Wandering around at midnight ickle Firsties? Tutu, tut, tut. Naughty Naught naughty, you'll get caughter. Should tell Flich I should. Its for your own good you know?" Ron took a swipe at him. I groaned "Dude.. He's a ghost. What's that going to do?" Peeves then bellowed "STUDENTS OUT OF BED! STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN BY THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!" And just like that we were running again.

We ran into a dead end with a door that was locked "This is it" Neville whimpered. Ron moaned "We're done for, this is the end." Hermione then said "Oh Move over!" She took charge and pulled out her wand, poitning itat the door "Alohomora!" The lock clicked open and we quickly snuck inside. We closed the door behind us and listened to Filch bartering with peeves. Then he went away. Neville began pulling on Harry and my sleeves. Finally we turned around "What Neville?!" He didn't need to answer. We were face to face with a three headed MONSTROUS Dog" I Suddenly remembered my promise to my Mom for not doing anything dangerous and knew in that moment I had broken it. This was the forbidden corridor on the third floor Dumbledore had warned us about.. And now we knew why it was forbiden. I then said "Um... good doggy?" The dog growled. We then quickly exited the room, choosing Filch over death. We closed the door behind us and booked it for out Common room. Filch had to have gone elsewhere as we didn't run into him. When we arrived at the entrance to the tower the Fat lady had returned. "Where on earth have you 5 been?" Harry replied "Nevermind that. Pig snout, pig snout!" We hurried inside and colasped onto the furniture, panting.

Ron finally exclaimed "What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school! If any dog needs exercise, its that one." Hermione then snapped "You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you? You didn't see what it was standing on." Harry then suggested "The floor? I wasn't looking at its feet, I was looking at its heads." I then added "Yeah, in case you didn't notice, it had 3 of them! Now I may be the foreigner from Canada here.. But as far as I am aware.. Dogs should only have one head... and be able to fit through a doorway!" She then stood up and glared at us "No it was standing on a trap door, it is obviously guarding something. Now I hope you are pleased with yourselves, we could have all been killed, or worse. Expelled." Ron was miffed as she left "You'd think we had invited her along, wouldn't ya?" I nodded "Although I wonder what the Dog is guarding..." Harry was suspiciously silent.. Something told me he had an idea.

The next couple months were pretty uneventful compared to my first two weeks at Hogwarts. We began actually learning how to cast spells, which I was excited to do. There was nothing like finding out you are a wizard and can do magic, to proceed and not learn how to do magic at the school that existed to TEACH YOU MAGIC. We also found out that Harry knew what the Dog was guarding.. Or more like the size. Something small that an fit in your pocket and was moved from Gringotts same day that both Harry and I were in Diagon Alley. Hermione continued to be insufferable to the three of us, although she seemed nicer to me given the fact I kept her on her toes in class. She was currently winning in house points received however, something she took time to gloat about every once and a while. Harry had also received a Nimbus 2000, something I was immensely jealous of. Now it was Halloween, and we were enjoying the feast it entitled. That was until Professor Quirell came storming into the great hall screaming "TROLL IN THE DUNGEON! TROLL IN THE DUNGEON! I thought you ought to know." Everyone started screaming. Harry and I looked at each other, not showing the same fear. I knew about Trolls, and sure felt scared, however I had just faced a three headed dog without screaming my face off and had lived the past 2 months of my life knowing at times it was right down the corridor from me.. And had my scent. So a Troll elsewhere in the castle wasn't that big of a deal. Finally Dumbledore stood up and said in a magically magnified voice "SILENCE! Prefects, escort your houses to their common rooms. Professors will accompany me to the Dungeons." We then all got up and exited the great hall following Percy, who was shouting "Follow me, stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me! I'M A PREFECT!."

We began climbing the stairs and Harry asked "How could a troll get in." Ron then said "Don't ask me, they're supposed to be really stupid." I shrugged and said "Well even the stupid can follow, perhaps someone let it in as a Halloween joke or something." Ron looked at me "Is that a thing in Canada?" I shrugged. That was when Harry grabbed both of our arms and said "I just thought.. Hermione." to which Ron replied "What about her?" I realized what Harry was getting on to and exclaimed "She has no idea about the Troll, come on!" Ron hesitated before saying "Oh all right, but Percy better not catch us." We then broke off from the group of Gryffindors and began making way for the girls bathroom. Before long we heard footsteps behind us "Percy!" Ron hissed and we ducked behind a stone griffin. It was Snape walking past, heading away from the dungeons. Harry asked "What is He doing. Aren't all the professors supposed to be dealing with the Troll?" I then hissed "Who cares? We need to get Hermione and get out of here before we are noticed. I don't think Hermione would be too grateful if we lost house points to save her." Ron then held up a hand "Can you smell something." I sniffed and instantly regretted it. The foul stench smelt of old socks and a dirty toilet. Following smell was a low grunting and shuffling footfalls. Then we saw it. The troll. Twelve feet tall ugly monster. Now I understood why everyone was screaming. There was no way we could take THAT on. I remembered my promise to my mother again Don't do anything dangerous. I had already broken it once.. And between Hermione's life and that promise... I couldn't let Hermione die. I hated to admit it, but despite her attitude I was falling for her. However our moment came when the Troll slandered its way into a room. "The key is in the lock, we could lock it in" I nodded "At least then when we are caught we can say we trapped the troll and maybe not loose as many points." Ron nodded as well and we rushed forward and locked the door. We grinned "YES!" we cheered. I then said "Okay, back to searching for Hermione" We turned and left. But froze when we heard a high, petrified scream. My eyes widdened. It was coming from the room with the Troll. Ron said "Oh no." Harry then gasped "That was the girls' toilet!" I then yelled "Hermione!"

We rushed back and ripped the door open, to find Hermione shrunk against the wall opposite us, with the Troll bearing down on her. "Distract it!" I yelled. We began to throw debris the troll had caused at it. Harry then said "Confuse it!" We spread out. The Troll went for Harry, Ron then yelled "Oy! Pee-brain!" He threw a pipe at it. It began to go for him. Harry tried to get Hermione, but she was petrified in fright. "Come on Hermione! Move it!" I yelled, throwing another pipe at the Troll, it coming from me. My heart dropped. Harry then jumped forward and climbed onto the Troll's back, sticking his wand in its nose. The Troll went berserk waving his club and thrashing around. Harry was in serious Danger. Ron and I pulled out our wands and Ron stammered out "Win-wingardium Leviosa!" Nothing happened. I then said "Ron! The club. Together! Remember, swish and flick." He nodded seeing the desperate look in my eyes and together we cried out "Wingardium Leviosa!" The club flew up and dropped on its owners head with a sicking crack. The Troll stumbled, twisted and began to fell backwards towards Ron and me. I quickly twirled my wands and cried out "Flipendo!" The knockback jinx Quirrell had taught us the previous week. This caused the troll to fall forward onto his face.

Harry clammered off the Troll. I slunk around the troll, still pointing my wand shakily at it and knelt next to Hermione "Are you okay?" She looked up at me, fear still present in her eyes. I helped her to her feet. She then asked "Is it...Dead?" Harry the said "I don't think so, I think it's just been knocked out" He then pried his wand and it was covered in grey goo. "Eww, Troll boogers" He added as he cleaned off his wand on the troll's trousers.

Heavy footfalls were heard as Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell barged into the room. Quirrell sat down on a toilet and clutched his heart with a whimper and Snape inspected the Troll. McGonagall looked furious, lips white in anger. She then said furiously "What on earth were you 4 thinking? You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory" My hand holding my wand continued to shake but I was able to lower it. We had no excuse thought up of. Finally Hermione said "Please, Professor McGonagall, they were looking for me." McGonagall was shocked "Miss Granger!?" Hermione continued "I went looking for the Troll because I-I thought I could deal with it on my own, you know, because I've read about them" My eyes widdened. Hermione was lying to a teacher. To protect Us. Hermione continued "If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Harry stuck its wand up its nose and Ron and David knocked it out with its own club, David even stopped it falling on anyone with a knockback jinx. They didn't have time to fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived." I put on my best poker face and just nodded hoping it was convincing. Professor McGonagall said "Miss Granger, 5 points will be taken from Gryffindor for this. I'm very disapointted in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get back to Gryffindor tower, students are finishing their feast in their houses." Hermione looked down and she left. McGonagall turned to the 3 of us. "Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a fully-grown mountain troll. You each win Gryffindor 5 points, and Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go." And with that we left.

On our walk back Ron said "15 measley points! We took down a Troll and only got 15 points?!" I then added "Yeah, we should have gotten more." Harry then pointed out "10 points really, Hermione lost 5 remember?" Ron then said "Yeah.. Good of her to get us out of trouble like that. Mind you we did save her life." Harry then reasoned "She might not have needed saving if we hadn't locked the thing in with her" I shook my head "Nah, The Troll was already in the washroom when we locked it in there. We saved her life.. She owed us." And she must have thought so as well as from that moment forward, she began to hang out with us and I had to admit.. I enjoyed that very much. I found spending time with her ended up being enjoyable..despite her being a tad of a know-it-all.

The next few months were a little more interesting. Harry pointed out Snape had received an injury the night of the Troll attack.. And was seen heading towards the forbidden corridor. He could be going after whenever was under the trap door. Harry was digging a little deeper but Hermione was against that, as it could lead to us getting expelled (funny how being killed didn't even register on her 'why it was bad to do' meter anymore) Focus ended up shifting to Harry's first Quidditch game, which he won. However it was a close call as Snape was jinxing his broom to try and kill him. That allowed Hermione to jump on the bandwagon and try to figure out what was behind the trap door. We got a break in the case early on when Hagrid let slip that the object belonged to a Nicolas Flamel, which meant we spent a great deal of time in thel obrary trying to found out who he was. We didn't get more cracks in the case once Harry received an Invisibility cloak over Christmas break, however a new mystery arose in the form of a mirror that showed Harry his dead parents. He had offered to show Ron and I which we agreed to do. That night we had been walking arround under the cloak until Harry tracked down the room with the mirror.

We ran to the mirror "See?' Harry asked. I raised an eyebrow, seeing nothing. I said "I can't see anything" Ron nodded in agreement. Harry replied "Look at it properly, go on, stand where I am." I did it first and gasped. I did not see Harry's parents, but my own. My mother I knew easily of course.. But my Father I knew only from my dream.. However there was no mistaking it.. He was there. He had his arm around my mothers shoulders, who leaned her head on him, both had hands on mu shoulders. They grinned.. They were happy.. We were together.. As a family. I then said softly "Dad? Mom?" I felt a tear roll down my cheek "Isn't it wonderful David!" I nodded slowly. Ron then said "My turn!" I reluctantly moved and Ron stood in my place. "Can you see your family?" I asked him. He shook his head "I'm alone, but I'm different. I look older. Blimey I'm head boy! I'm holding the house cup AND the Qudditch cup. Merlin's beard I'm Quidditch Captain too! Harry, do you think this shows the future?" Harry then said sadly "How can it, all my family are dead. Let me have another go." Ron then said "You had it all to yourself last night, give me a bit more time." Harry then said "You're only holding the Quidditch cup, what is interesting about that? I want to see my parents." He began pushing Ron. I then said "Hey, I want to see my dad too! He may not have been worth getting to know as he was evil for a time and all.. But he is still my Father! Let me have another go." We began pushing and shoving until we heard a noise outside the room. That sobered us up and we left under the cloak.

The rest of christmas break Harry spent going back to the mirror. I decided not to go back, remembering how quickly I had begun fighting with my best friends to see a false image, and didn't want that kind of situation to happen again. I knew I would never actually get to be a proper family with my father, but falling out with my best friends was not worth a getting to fake a fantasy. It wasn't long before Harry informed me that Dumbledore caught him and informed him the mirror was going to be moved to a new home. And also that Dumbledore told him to tell me that my father was worth knowing, and that I was wrong.. Whatever that meant.

The next few months brought about another victory for Gryffindor in Quidditch, one of the fastest ever. We also learned of what the Dog was guarding for Flamel.. The Philosophers Stone. Some kind of magical stone that could create and elixir to make the drinker immortal. Now that explained why Snape was so interesting in getting past the Dog. We also learned Snape had been trying to bully Quirell into giving him help, which lead to us being nicer to our weird professor in the hopes it would help him keep his nerve in the face of the Greasy haired professor. Exams were still over 2 months away at this point, but Hermione said we needed to study.. And I happened to agree. While maybe in Muggle school I had slacked off and didn't care about passing or failing, it was because I wanted to read to escape to a magical place. Well I was now in that magical place.. And doing well in school meant I got to stay in that place.. And now I had quite a few good reasons to. Hermione, Harry and Ron being the main ones.

We were in the Library over Easter break, studying. I had just finished memorizing the technique and incantation for the Disillusionment charm. While I technically did not have to learn this until my OWL year, I remember Dumbledore mentioning my father being the greatest caster of the charm he knew.. And wanted to have a least one thing in common with my father. I then began to do some reading for the most boring of the subjects (Though it was mroe due to the professor than the subject) History of Magic, when I heard Ron said "Hagrid? What are you doing in the Library?" I looked up to see Hagrid shuffling inbetween some book shelves and said in a shifty tone "Jus' lookin'. An' what're you lot up ter? Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?" Ron then sta up straighter and said proudly "oh we found out who he is ages ago. And we know what that dog's guarding, it's the Philosopher's St-" "shhh!" Hagrid cut him off and whispered "Don' go shoutin' about it, whats the matter with yeh?" Harry then perked up and said "There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact. Like what's guarding the stone apart from Fluffy-""SHHHH. Listen, come an' see me later. I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin' mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yah.." He then hurried off, hiding something behind his back.

I then asked "What do you think he was hiding behind his back?" Hermione added thoughfully "Perhaps it had something to do with the stone?" I pondered this as Ron said "I'll go look what section he was in." He then came back a moment later with a pile of books "Dragons!" He whispered "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: Dragon species of great britain and Ireland; From Egg to inferno, a Dragon keeper's guide." Harry then added "Hagrid always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I ever met him." I then smirked and said "I wouldn't mind one of my own.. A beast to ride into battle on, commending fear in my enemies eyes..." Hermione gave me a look and I realized I was being stupid. Ron then said "It's against our laws though. Dragon Breeding was outlawed by the Warlock's Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles from noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden. Anyways, you can't tame dragons, its dangerous. You should see the burns charlie's got off wild ones in Romania." I then asked "So there aren't any in Britain then? What were they, hunted off?" Ron shook his head "There still are. Common welsh green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our kind have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them to make them forget." Hermione then asked "Then what is Hagrid up to?" I bit my lip "Probably something highly illegal that we are about to become accomplices too." She gave me a look "Not funny David" I shrugged.

An hour later we arrived at Hagrids hut, and were quickly let in. I immediately notice how hot it was. "My gods Hagrid, you trying to kill us? I'm Canadian remember? I'm liable to melt in this heat!" He replied "Sorry ther' David, but its nece'ary. I'll explain in a mo'. Yeh lot had questions for meh?" Harry then said "yes we did. We were wondering if you could tell us what else is guarding the stone, except for Fluffy of course." Hagrid shook his head "o' course I can't. Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. That's Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts. I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy." I took a seat and waved air in my face "Oh, that was an unfortunate accident which lead to us having a face to faces meeting months and months ago. Honestly Malfoy is to blame for that one." I chuckled. Hagrid looked mortified. Hermione gave me a shushing look before saying ina velvet voice that gave me goose bumps "Oh come on Hagrid, you might not ant to tell us. But you do know, you know everything that goes on round here. We wonlt wondered who had done the guarding really. We wondered who else Dumbledore trusted well enough to help him" Hagrid's beard twitched and we could tell he was smiling. He then said "Well I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that. Let' see. He borrowed Fluffy from me, then some o' the other teachers did enchantments. Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall, Professor Quirrell an' Professor Dumbledore did something hi'self o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten something. Oh yeah. Professor Snape." Ron then said "Snape?" Hagrid replied "yeh, yer still not on abou' that are yeh? Look Snape is tryin' to protect the stone. He's not abou' ter try and steal it." I then said "You are the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy though right?" He nodded "jus' me and Professor Dumbledore of course."

That relieved us.. Until we saw the Black Egg. "Where did you get it Hagrid" Ron asked fascinated. I as interested too. Hagrid cleared his throat and said "Well I, er, Won it. Las' night, I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game of cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest." I nodded "Probably because its highly Illegal Hagrid! What were you thinking?" Hermione nodded in agreement "What are you going to do when it's hatched." Hagrid then explained about why it was in the fire.. And how to feed it.. As well as that it was a Norwegian Ridgeback. Hermione then said incrediously "You plan on raising it?! Hagrid you live in a wooden house!" Hagrid wasn't listening. With that we left.

The next few days weeks were stressful between homework and worrying about Hagrid and the newly hatched dragon named Norbert. Malfoy had witnessed the hatching through the window and now we just waited for the hammer to fall. We convinced Hagrid the dragon needed to go be with his own kind, and even got in contact with Charlie Weasley to get the dragon out of the country. The plan had been set. However Ron was benched due to his injury from the dragon. That meant Hermione had to take his place as the three of us were to use the invisibility cloak to sneak to dragon to the Astronomy tower. However Malfoy also knew of the plan due to a note left in a book he ended up taking.

That Saturday night the three of us snuck our way to Hagrid's. We were a tad late due to having to wait for Peeves to get out of the way at the Enterence hall, where he had been playing tennis against the wall. When we arrived Hagrid handed us a crate, saying "He's got lots o' rats an' some brandy fer the journey. An' I've packed 'is teddy bear in case he gets lonley. Bye bye Norbert, Mommy will never forget yeh!" We stuffed the crate under the cloak with us. This lead to our ankles and feet showing, but there was no helping that. If only I had perfected the Disillusionment charm by now.. That would have made the impossible task of bringing a dragon through the castle unseen a lot easier.

We made it to the Astronomy tower, but had to take cover behind a suit of armor when we heard muffled footsteps. We then saw Professor McGonagall who had Malfoy by the ear, dragging him away from the tower. "Detention!" She shouted "And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night! How dare you!" Malfoy pleaded "You don't understand Professor, Harry Potter's coming, and he's got a Dragon!" McGonagall luckily did not believe him as she said "What utter Rubbish? How dare you tell such lies! Come on, I shall see Professor Snape about you Malfoy!" They left. We made our way up the spiral staircase and once we had hit the cold night air we removed the cloak. Hermione started jumping up and down saying "Malfoy got detention, I could sing!" I grinned and began to do the same grabbing her hands and began to chant quietly "Malfoy got detention, Malfoy got detention!" Harry then shushed us "Don't.. Later." we stopped and I let go of her hands. We waited 10 minutes for Charlies friends, who showed up on Broomstick. We chatted with them, helped them secure Norbert to their brooms, then watched them take off. We walked back down the staircase with the best feeling in the world. Norbert was gone, Malfoy had Detention. Nothing could spoil our mood.. Except "Well, well, well. We are in trouble." It was Filch.

Well it was bad.. Very bad. Neville got wind of what we were doing and tried to warn us that Malfoy knew, getting caught in the process. McGonagall was furious. She had expected better from Hermione and I, and drew Harry's "lack of love" for our house into the mix and she took 50 points from each of us.. Meaning we had lost 200 points in one night.. Which was most of our points. Plus we had Detention. No one would talk to us anymore, except for Ron of course. Harry had it worst of all since he was more well known than Neville, Hermione and myself. However it was still bad. This was the worst time I had spent at Hogwarts to date.. And almost wished for the school year to be over so I could leave.. It was even worse than Muggle school.

The week before exams we found out our detention was happening that night and we were to meet Filtch in the entrance hall, detention with Filch did not sound like a fun time, so I was dreading it. However there was no avoiding it, so that night, Harry, Hermione, Neville and I made our way downstairs to the entrance hall.. To find Malfoy was with Filch. He must have also had to do detention with us.. That just made this even worse. Filch then said "Follow me" And we left the castle and made our way towards Hagrids hut. Filch continued "I'll bet you 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." I noticed is emphasis on eh, obviously making fun of the classic Canadian saying.

Our hopes rose when we heard Hagrid's voice from the darkness "Is that you Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started!" Filch hissed at us " I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that oad? Well, think again. It's into the forest you're going and I'm much mistaken if you'll come out in one piece." This caused Malfoy to stop in his tracks "The forest? We can't go in there at night, there's all sorts of things in there.. Werewolves I heard." I had to admit I agreed with Malfoy.. I did not want to go into the forest at night..but it was almost worth it to see Malfoy practically soiling his pants. I felt bad for Neville though.. He didn't deserve this. Filch cackled with glee "That's your problem, isn't it? Should've thought of them werewolves before you got in trouble, shouldn't you?" We finally made our way over to Hagrid, who said "Abou' time. I;ve in waitin' fer half an hour already. All right, Harry, David, Hermione?" Filch then said "I wouldn't be too friendly to them Hagrid. They're here to be punished, after all." Hagrid frowned "Is that why yer late? Bin lecturin' them , eh? 'S'not your place ter do that. Yeh've done yer bit, I'll take over from here." Filch grinned a wicked grin "I'll be back at dawn, for whats left of them." He then turned and left.

Malfoy then said "I'm not going in that forest." I rolled my eyes. Hagrid then replied Fiercely "yeh are if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts. Yeh've done wrong an' now yeh've got ter pay fer it." Malfoy then said "But this is 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" Hagrid cut him off "Tell yer that's how it is done at hogwarts. Copyin' lines. What's good that ter anyone? Yeh'll do sommat 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." Malfoy backed down. Hagrid then said "Right then. Now lis'en carefully, cause It's dangerous what we've gonna do tonight, an' I don' want no one takin' risks. Follow me over here a moment."

He then took us a little into the forest. He pointed out silvery stuff. "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 going to try an' find the poor thing. We might have to put it out of its misery" Malfoy then said "And what if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first?" I then smirked and said "We push you over and run away of course!" I swear I heard Hermione snort. Malfoy looked at me and retorted "Like you could outrun me Shuter." I shot back "I guess I just don't have as much practice running away as you do." Hagrid gave me a look before saying "Enough! There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang. An' keep to the path. Right, now we're gonna split up 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" Malfoy said quickly "I want Fang." Hagrid nodded "Alrigh'. So me, Harry an' Hermione'll go one way an' David, Draco, Neville and Fang will go another. If anyone sees anything send up red sparks with your wand, an' we'll come n find you." He then bent down and whispered in my ear "You're in charge David.. Keep Malfoy'rom messing with Neville too much, alrigh'?" I nodded "Yeah Alright." I was a little disappointed I didn't get to be with Hermione and Harry though.

We took off away from our chaperone. I commanded "Fang, stay close to us. Warn us if you see anything. Neville, stay close to me too. Malfoy...try not to get us killed eh?" He grunted "Who put you in charge Shuter. My father is on the board of directors, I'm in charge." I gave him a look "Hagrid put me in charge Malfoy. Fang knows me, he doesn't know you.. Except from sneaking around his territory. So if you think he'll take a command from you without biting your face off.. Be my guest." Fang got my tone and let loose a growl. Neville whimpered "Can you make him stop David..? Its bad enough we're in here.. The animal growls aren't helping.." I nodded "Agreed. Fang, chill." He stopped growling and panted happily. I patted his head and we continued on our way. We didn't run into anything unusual.. So that being said we heard pitter pattering in the far off distance, wings flapping, birds cawing.. But none of that was unusual for the forbidden forest. We didn't see any more blood either. I was a little disapointed as I was tired and the sooner this was done the sooner we could go to bed. I had more studying to do tomorrow after all. That was when Neville screamed and shot red sparks into the air. I twisted arround and whipped my wand out of my robes to find malfoy had jumped from behind a bush and scared Neville. I growled "Malfoy! What the blazes do you think you are doing. I could have jinxed you! In fact I have half a mind to!" He shrugged "I was bored." I pursed my lips and asked Neville "Are you okay?" He whimpered but nodded. I then said "Well now we have to stay put until the others get here. Stay on guard, wands out. Those sparks could attract whatever hurt the unicorn." I then eyed Malfoy "Could be you get to say hi to that werewolf after all Malfoy.. I'll be sure to give you plenty of private time for you to get acquainted." Neville shuddered and I gave him a reassuring look.

Hagrid came running onto the scene "What the bloody 'ell happened?" He demanded. I sighed "nimrod over here decided it would be funny to jump at Neville when his back was turned" Hagrid shook his giant head "Well the lot of yer might as well come wit' me. We'll go join the others an' split up differently." We then made our way back to the rest of the gang "I'm sorry Hagrid" I said as we walked, he looked down at me "Wha' ter blazes ar' yeh talkin' abou' David? Yer a first year, I hardly expect yeh to keep a laso on a character like Malfoy. Perhaps one day yeh will be a prefect or 'ead boy then I would expect more from yeh. Don' worry 'bout it." We finally made it back to Harry and Hermione and Hagrid quickly explained what had happened to the pair. He then said "We'll be lucky ter catch anythin' now, with the racket you two were maki'. Right, we're changin' groups. Neville, you stay with me an' Hermione. Harry, you go with David, Fang and this idiot."

We spent the next half hour walking through the dense forest. I was happier having Harry at my side as I knew I could count on him if we ran into something, and he wouldn't get spooked by Malfoy. After a little bit longer of walking Harry held out both his arms to stop us "look.." We saw the beautiful unicorn.. Dead. I was suddenly filled with anger and wanted to hurt whatever hurt this innocent creature. We took a step forward when a rustling in the bushes nearby caused us to freeze in our tracks. A hooded figure slithered across the ground and began to drink from the Unicorn. Malfoy let loose a loud scream and bolted, Fang on his tail. I turned to run but froze when Harry yelped in pain and fell to his knees. I cried out "Harry!" I turned and noticed he was holding on to his scar. I whipped my wand out of my robes and stood in front of him, pointing my wand shakily at the hooded figure "S-stay back!" I yelled. All of a sudden something rushed onto the scene, scaring the hooded figure off. I then saw it was a centaur, usually peaceful creatures from what I read. I kept my wand him and he said "Don't worry young human child.. I mean you no harm. Is your friend alright?" I hesitated but pocketed my wand, turning to Harry and helping him on his feet "Are you alright man?" I asked. He looked at the centaur, then at me and nodded "Yes.. Thank you.. What was that?" I shrugged and the Centaur looked at Harry. He then said "You are the Potter boy.. You had better get back to Hagrid. The Forest is not safe at this time, especially for you. Can you two ride? It will be quicker that way. My name is Firenze" He lowered himself on to hi front legs so that we could get on. We did, myself holding on to Harry to stay on. Firneze took off and quite a quick speed. Whatever that hooded thing was, it scared a Centaur.. And that wasn't good.

It wasn't long before more galopping could be heard.. And two more centaurs burst onto the scene. The first one roared "Firenze, you have two humans on your back! Have you no shame? Are you a common mule?" Firenze responded "Do you realize who this is? This is the Potter boy and his friend. The quicker he leaves the forest the better." the Centaur growled "What have you been telling him? Remember Firenze, we are sworn not to set ourselves against the heavens. Have we not read what is to come in the movement of the planets?" The other Centaur pawed the ground nervously "I'm sure Firenze thought he was acting for the best." The first centaur replied angerly "For the best What is that to do with us? Centaurs are concerned with what has been foretold! I is not our business to run around like donkeys after stray human fawn in our forest!" Firenze reared on his hind legs, leading to me yelping and gripping tighter to Harry to stay on. He bellowed "DO you not see that unicorn? Do you not understand why it was killed? Or have the planets not let you in on that secret? I set myself against whatever is lurking in this forest, yes, Bane, with humans alongside if I must." He took off running. After a few seconds Harry asked "Why is Bane so angry? What was that thing you saved us from anyways?" Firenze slowed to a walk "Harry Potter, do you know Unicorn blood is used for?" I then answered for him "Unicorns have extremely magical properties, which is why hair is used in wand cores.. And we use the horns in our potions. We don't use it for anything else though." Firenze said "You are a smart one little fawn. But there is a reason for that. It is because it is a monsterous thing to slay a unicorn. Only those who have nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something pure and defenseless to save yourself, and you will have but a half of live, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touched your lips." Harry then asked "Who would be that desperate? If you're going to be cursed forever, death's better, isn't it?" Firenze nodded his head "It is., Unless all you need is to stay alive long enough to drink something else. Something that will bring you ack to full strength and power, something that means your can never die. Mr Potter, do you know what is hidden in the school at this very moment?" I then spoke up and said"The philosophers Stone! Of course, the Elixir of life! But I don't understand who.." Firenze cut me off "Can you think of nobody who has waited many years to return to power, who has clung to life, awaiting their chance."

Of course.. It all began to make sense now. Snape was trying to get the stone for Voldemort.. And Voldemort was in the forest.. And he was still alive.. Barely. My father.. Died for nothing. Voldemort would come back.. And finish what he started.. Killing Harry Potter.