Bonus 3 - Essays

"Excellent analysis Miss Granger," said Professor Binns, handing back her essay on the Werewolf Code of Conduct. "I particularly liked your point on water and fish. An excellent analogy on the difficulties of objective cultural self-analysis."

"Thank you," said Hermione softly. She'd received an O of course. She glanced at Ginny's scroll. An O as well. Of course, Ginny hadn't used proper Chicago note-style citations. In fact, Ginny hadn't used citations at all, her essay was no greater than some sloppy opinion piece! It could have been written by any lowly honors high schooler! Did Professor Binns think them teen…

…Ginny was thirteen…

Hermione had spent nine hours writing her essay. She could have spent five minutes on it, and received an O all the same. These classes were designed for children. They weren't designed for Hermione Granger. She could learn all the material on her own in half the time, a quarter, an eighth…

Of course, it didn't really matter. It wasn't like she had anything better to do.

XOXOXOXOX

Bonus 4 - The Prophecy

"Three weeks detention," said Harry, barely able to contain himself. He paced back and forth across The Boy's Dormitory. "I don't care what my Dad did to him, this isn't right! You can't… You can't just go making things up! It isn't bloody right! I'm going to Dumbledore with this!"

Neville and Ron glanced at each other again. There was that look of concern. Why? Harry squeezed his fists.

"Look mate," said Ron. "We deserve it. I get that you're upset, but Snape's just doing his job. If he's not going to give us detention for what we did, what's even the point of being in school?"

"I DIDN'T BLOODY DO ANYTHING" Harry bellowed, slamming his fist into a bed. He started ripping off the sheets, tossing them into the air. Pointless, stupid, he felt like he was going to explode.

"Harry," said Neville quietly. "You were. We… You were right there with us."

"You were mate," said Ron. "You were standing right next to me, and the answer keys were scattered all about. Snape caught us. Whatever punishment he wants, we've just got to take it."

Harry didn't… He just… But… But if that's what Ron said… If that's what Neville said, then… Then fine.

XOXOXOX

"And if ya see ennehthing dangerous, ennehthing a'tall, yeh light up yer wands, yeh hear me?" Asked Hagrid, and then he hurried off to Sirius.

Ron nodded. Hagrid and Sirius had brought them into The Forbidden Forest to act as an extra set of eyes. Apparently, a unicorn was hurt, and they needed to find it, restore it back to health if possible. Sirius had gone in first, and sent up some red sparks.

"Fang, Fang no," cried Harry. The dog went running, barking into the forest. Harry chased after it. Ron followed after Harry, and he heard Nev's heavy breathing behind him, trying to keep up. He couldn't see a thing, he just kept running, following Harry into the darkness. Until he slammed into him, ran into Fang, and they all tumbled into a clearing in the forest, into the moonlight peaking through a collection of barren trees, whose branches didn't have so much as a single leaf. He slid on something colourful, flowers? Not flowers, butterfly wings.

In the center of the clearing, a dark figure laid flat against the ground, silvery liquid leaking out of it. The figure's head jerked towards them, but the silvery substance continued to leak. The figure was holding something that was a bit bigger than a bludger under its cloak.

"Expelliarmus!" Said Harry.

The figure deflected the spell back at Harry, throwing him back into Ron and Nev. It caught Harry's wand, and stuck it into something underneath it. The unicorn cried, and stilled.

And the dark figure laughed from behind that dark cloak, and somehow the laughter was all wrong… Too normal, too mundane, to come from such a creature. It could have been Dad's laugh, and somehow, that was even more horrifying than if it had been cold and cruel.

The creature slowly raised its wand, pointed it at Harry, and flicked it. And suddenly the wizard was gone.

Ron shivered. Harry was up suddenly, next to the unicorn. He pulled out his wand. It was silvery, dripping unicorn blood from tip to handle.

"Reparo," cried Harry. "Reparo! Reparo!"

But nothing happened. You couldn't fix death. The beautiful unicorn was no longer someone, it was just a corpse.

Ron shivered.

"Were you the one who did this boy?" Asked a centaur, trotting next to Harry, holding a spear. "No, you're a mere foal. Ahh, yes… I know who you are… Harry Potter…" The centaur trotted to Ron and Nev. "And I know who you are as well."

The centaur looked up at the moon. "The stars themselves speak of the end of times. The heavens will fall… Before July, you will meet your reckoning… Before August, the fate of the worlds will be decided. You are the true hero of this story, or perhaps the true villain. If you conquer your weakness before The Great Evil makes their move, you might save the worlds. But if you succumb to your weaknesses completely, the worlds will be reduced to a cursed rubble. And if you land somewhere in-between, total destruction awaits and nothing will ever be the same again. It is all up to you…"

The centaur glanced at them and smiled.

"Who is you?" Ron demanded.

"This creature," said the centaur, gazing sadly down at the unicorn. "Was raised by my herd for centuries."

The centaur dipped its hand in the unicorn's blood. "Beautiful… We cared for it… Made sure it was safe… And then you humans killed it. Drank its blood! You ate it?! How could you do such a despicable, deplorable, abominable thing?"

The centaur held his blood-soaked hand up into beams of moonlight shining through barren branches. For a moment, he was perfectly still, transfixed by the blood's ethereal beauty, by the transient fragility of life itse-

"I was going to eat that unicorn!" The centaur neighed furiously. "I'll see you in court! These are our hunting grounds, you greedy, gluttonous, felonious humans!"

XOXOXOX

"Another dead unicorn," said Severus. He tossed Sirius a vial of unicorn blood. "Use it, if necessary."

Sirius tossed it back. "I'd sooner be dead, than live a cursed life."

Severus should have expected as much fr-

"But thank you," said Sirius. "For the offer."

"You're an ally," said Severus. "It is to my benefit that you remain alive. That is all."