Last time...

"That dragon is going to grow the size of his hut in at least three weeks, if not sooner." Hermione said, once she had them out. "What are we going to do?"

"We could send a letter to Charlie. He works at that reserve in Romania, present it as an option to Hagrid after class." Ron suggested.

It was the only thing they could think of.

Chapter 5

"You want us to what?" George asked, not believing what he was hearing. Surely the fumes from their latest experiment were getting to him.

"I want one of you two to help me smuggle out a baby dragon." Hera insisted, sitting on Fred's bed. Fred himself was working over the cauldron filled with their latest brew of…something. "Was I not clear before?"

"Oh, I understood you the first time. I'm just…" George ran a hand through his hair. "How did you even get a baby dragon?"

"Hagrid."

"I can't." Fred grimaced. "I have to stay here to watch this. One wrong move, and…"

"Guess that leaves me then." George acquiesced. "Why not Ron?"

"He went to Hagrid's without me a few days ago to deliver the letter from Charlie, and Norbert bit him." Hera sighed. "Hermione is pretty wary of Norbert because of that, and admitted that her nervousness would cause more problems. Animals are tetchy about that sort of thing."

"Makes sense. We'd have to be up on Astronomy tower by midnight, you said?" George asked, just to be sure. Hera nodded. "Alright, I'll meet you in front of Hagrid's hut."

...

He made it to Hagrid's hut a little on the early side of Midnight, and didn't see anyone. There was the swishing sound of fabric, and suddenly Hera was standing there with a shimmering cloak in hand. He couldn't think of a single thing to say. An invisibility cloak? How much mischief has she been getting away with using that? She just gave a sheepish grin, placing a finger on her mouth as if to signal a secret to be kept, before turning and knocking on the door.

"Hagrid? Hagrid, it's me."

The door opened a crack, and then more when Hagrid saw it was truly safe.

"She's got lot's o' rats an' some brandy fer the journey." Hagrid relayed in a muffled voice. "An' I've packed her teddy bear in case she gets lonely."

"She appreciates it." Hera consoled him, patting his arm in an effort to comfort the man. George just blinked in confusion, but said nothing.

"Bye-bye, Norbert." Hagrid sobbed as George and Hera placed the invisibility cloak over the crate and got under it themselves. "Mummy will miss you!"

How they managed to get the crate up to the castle, he didn't know. He exercised regularly because of quidditch practice, and was by no means a lightweight, but he could feel his arms shaking with the weight of carrying the crate as they were, and he felt like his lungs were on fire. Hera didn't even look winded, though she too was shaking. It wasn't right, not with those noodle arms. One more staircase, and then another, and another; Midnight was approaching quickly.

"How are you…handling this so well?" George asked, gasping for air as they waited, finally up to the Astronomy Tower.
"I live with the Dursleys." She shrugged, as if that were answer enough. "You get used to doing a lot of things you shouldn't be able to do when no one will lift a finger to help you, like moving heavy furniture by yourself without magic."

He didn't really have time to process that, because the dragon started hissing, and Hera responded.

"Better not let Charlie hear you do that. He might try to offer you a job, or his hand in marriage." George quipped.

"Who am I offering to marry?" Charlie asked from above them, as he and three other comrades descended onto the tower. "Where are you anyway?"

Hera whips off the invisibility cloak, surprising the party, and declares. "I can talk to dragons."

To Charlie's credit, his slack jaw only lasted a second. "You wanna drop outta school, and become a dragon wrangler, Kid?"

Hera's beaming face was worth money. "Nah, I figure I'd better finish my education. I kind of want to leave my relatives' place as soon as is legally possible."

The party goes over the rigging with them, and Hera hisses towards the dragon. When the dragon responds, Charlie starts offering more and more amounts of money to get her to quit school to wrangle dragons, to the point where it was getting more than a little ridiculous; his traveling companions looking at him like he was insane. It's a good thing she has no concept of money. If she really knew what those figures meant, the girl might have been tempted to consider it. George isn't even sure Charlie can legally offer that kind of money, not with the looks his companions were giving him, never mind the whole trying to convince a minor to drop out of school thing. Charlie promises to keep in touch, probably with more money offers, and the party leaves with Norbert.

"Quick, under the cloak!" She hissed, throwing it over him before he could object. Before he could shrug it off or pull her in under it, he hears steps coming up to meet them. There's nowhere for her to hide in time, and there's no time for him to pull her under the cloak before either of them would be seen.

"Well, well, well," Filch whispers, looming over her now. "we are in trouble."

...

"It was bound to happen sometime." Hera admitted with a sigh. "Let's get this over with then."

"You're not trying to get out of it, are you?" Filch demanded, eyeing her with suspicion.

"If I'd wanted to do that properly, I shouldn't have gotten caught in the first place." Hera pointed out. "I'm just trying to accept that I did a thing I should not have, and have to take the punishment for it. School rules."

"Well, you're in luck, you've got company." Filch stated. "Let's move along now."

He lead her all the way to Professor McGonagall's study on the first floor. Hermione and Neville both looked subdued. While Hera had a pretty good idea why they were out after curfew, she didn't want to risk asking in case anyone were to hear. All she could see in her mind was visions of Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia yelling at her for what a freak she was, and how they had put up with her long enough, kicking her out of the house and everything. She had quite the nightmare scenario going in her head before Professor McGonagall even walked into the room.

"I don't know what you three were thinking." The woman stated sternly. "The youngest Mr. Weasley has been bitten by something, and is spouting delusional ramblings about dragons, and you thought it would be a good idea to go look for them?"

Hera's head snapped up so fast, she thought she heard it crack. There was no way they were going to get away with this.

"You're not the only ones." Professor McGonagall sighed in disappointment. "Mr. Malfoy fell for it too. That doesn't get you out of the detentions you're going to get, or the points that will be taken."

"So we're not…We're not going to be expelled?" Hera asked, her voice so small it was a wonder McGonagall heard it at all. Hermione hesitantly looked up as well, having also feared this.

"No, you will not be expelled." Professor McGonagall replied, thin lipped. Hera had no idea what that look meant. "Fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor."

"Fifty?" Neville gasped.

"Each." Professor McGonagall clarified. "Your detention will be determined at a later date."

A hundred and fifty points. That put them in dead last. In one night, they'd ruined any chance they had at winning the House cup. No one spoke as they were escorted back to the tower, though she'd tried to give Neville a bracing clasp on the shoulder in camaraderie. He'd only been trying to help them, after all.

"Is Norbert…?" Hermione whispered once they were in their dorm room, trying to contain her tears.

"Safe and on her way to Romania." Hera confirmed, and then with a smile she did not feel. "Charlie tried to get me to quit school by offering me a job. If I had been old enough, he might have proposed marriage. Can you believe it?"

Hermione snorted with laughter, but it quickly turned into sobs.

"Take heart, Hermione Granger. All will be well in time. We know what it is to be shunned. This will be no different." Hera tried to comfort her, but Hermione shook her head.

"This will be worse."

"Then it will be worse." Hera shrugged. Grabbing Hermione's shoulders, she tried to bolster the girl. "We will suffer. They will hate us, but we can not let them win. We make our stand here. Take heart, and never let them see that they get to you."*

In the morning, the Gryffindors look confused, thinking there might have been a mistake. They were in dead last, which simply wasn't possible. Then the story starts to spread: Hera Potter had lost them those points, along with a couple other first years. Hera had known it would be hard, but she'd never been well liked at her last school. The Dursleys had seen to that. It had been wonderful and strange to be so well liked here, but of course it had ended, not that they knew why she had lost those points.

George had tried to tell people, but no one would listen. Ron felt bad, having been the reason the others had gone after her, delirious rantings or no. Fred and George stood by her during Quidditch practices, but they were the only ones. If the rest of the team had to talk about her, they called her "the Seeker", which at any other point in time would have sounded like an awesome nickname or title. Wood refused to let her resign, but that was of little hope to her.

Neville hadn't fared too badly, because he wasn't as well known, but Hermione's reaction bothered her. Hermione had stopped drawing attention to herself in class, keeping her head down, working in silence. The study sessions helped, but Hera could see that the girl's heart wasn't really in it. Rooming with Lavender and Parvati hadn't helped any, as they were known for being particularly vindictive and cruel when crossed. Seeing as how Hermione was sinking faster than the rest of them, Hera decided to do something about it.

So she took her aside one evening, and showed her the cloak. Once Hermione got over the shock of that, Hera told her about the late night reading sessions in the restricted section, and then the Gemino charm she'd used to make non-magical copies of everything in an effort to start her own library. In turn, Hermione tells her about an idea she'd had about creating a bag with undetectable weightless and extension charms. Once they put their heads together, working out the formula takes almost no time at all, and Hera has Flitwick double check the results before sending it in to the goblins at Gringotts. The investment offers are enough to send Hermione over the moon, and after carefully reading the contract (adding Hera as a 20% founder, which still felt like too much to Hera, even after she managed to talk Hermione down from half), Hermione signs off on it; That they take the first two prototypes and raid the library at night under the cloak might also have something to do with Hermione's sudden uplifted mood.

...

When the time for their detention came, they said good night to Ron in the common room, and went down to the entrance hall with Neville. Malfoy was already waiting with Mr. Filch. They had forgotten Malfoy also had the same detention with them. He looked just as forlorn as they did. No one said a word as Mr. Filch lead them across the grounds in the dead of night.

Hera did not need the help to see, but it would have been nice for there not to be so many clouds obscuring the moon. Filch spent most of the time trying to creep them out with old stories of punishments, which seemed to work quite well. The man really was in his element. Neville clutched the sleeve of Hera's robes, Hermione doing the same on the other side. Detentions weren't supposed to be dangerous. Surely it wouldn't be so bad.

"Ah, good, yer here." Hagrid called, seeing them make their way. "Filch, good ter see ya. Thanks for bring'n em."

Filch just sneers and walks away, lamp lighting his way back to Hogwarts.

"Right then," Hagrid said, "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."

Hera realized as she looked at the silvery blood at the edge of the forest, that Hagrid didn't seem to have a proper idea as to what constituted detentions or dangerous. Something that could kill a unicorn should worry a person, and should not be something seen fit for a detention for children, and he wanted to split them into groups! He contradicted himself, saying it was dangerous, and then saying nothing would hurt them. It could not be both, something even Malfoy grasped as he tried to point out what a bad idea this was in his usual snobbish air.

"Hagrid, why not let Neville go with you, while Hermione, Draco and I go with Fang?" Hera suggested, after Hagrid made the initial groups. "Fang's a bit of a coward, I know, but he'll let the inhabitants of the forest know we're with you. Neville is observant when there aren't a lot of distractions, and is excellent in herbology. He'd be better able to help you if you find the wounded unicorn before we do."

"Alright. Now, if any of us finds the unicorn, we'll send up red sparks, right?" Hagrid agreed. He allowed them to practice a bit with the sparks before they went in, Hera's group going right, and his left.

"So, how terrible is this plan?" Malfoy drawled. "If something is killing unicorns, it can kill us, never mind that oaf's assurances."

"Don't talk like that about Hagrid." Hermione hissed.

"Regardless of his deplorable attitude, Malfoy's not wrong, Hermione." Hera countered. Hermione glared at her, while Draco looked surprised at the statement. "I know the man means well, but think about it. Hagrid said nothing would harm us, but he also said something was killing unicorns. Those two statements can't work together. You've read about this in Hogwarts: A history. The forest inhabitants follow their own rules, but even so…Unicorns are protected. Anything willing to disregard the rules of the forest, to kill a unicorn, would kill us if given the chance; Hagrid's protections be damned."

"I'm seriously debating whether I should come back here next year. There are other schools I could have gone to." Hermione grumbled. "I know. I checked."

"If you leave, you'd better tell me where you're going, so I can apply too." Hera insisted as they made their way. "I hear Durmstrang has ice skating. I think I'd like to try that."

"Beauxbatons has culinary arts." Hermione adds.

"Learning to cook with magic? The Dursleys would die if I told them their food was cooked by magic." Hera hummed. "I'd do it just for that."

"You two are weird." Malfoy declares, not sure what else to make of them.

They didn't talk much after that, having spotted the silvery blood of a unicorn and began following it. There was a heaviness in the air that was nearly oppressive, and the further in they went, the darker it got. Silvery blood coated roots and leaves, obvious signs of the creature's pain. Eventually they came upon the unicorn, though it was already dead. It was the most beautiful, and yet tragically sad thing Hera had ever seen. Hermione was about to send the red sparks, but a bush beyond the dead unicorn began to move. A cloaked figure crawled over to it like some stalking beast, its face slowly lowering as if to drink.

"Bombarda!" Hera shouted; wand in her hand, word out of her mouth before she can even think about what a bad idea this was. The explosion causing the cloaked figure to abandon the unicorn's body, instead charging straight at Hera.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Draco screamed, and bolted…as did Fang.

Blue bell flames shot forth from Hermione's wand, making the cloaked figure leap back again. It was just as well, because Hera dropped like a stone as she clutched at her forehead. Blood gushed from the scar, and she could hear hooves…galloping, and something jumped over them, charging at the figure. When the pain passed, she looked to find the figure gone, and Hermione was helping her to stand. A centaur stood nearby; white-blond hair, and a palomino body.

"Are you alright?" The centaur asked, in concern.

"Well enuff." Hera slurred, trying to blink away the copies of him she could see as she leaned onto Hermione for support. "Wha'z'at thing?"

Instead of answering, the centaur stared at her with startlingly blue eyes.

"You are the Potter girl, and yet you are…more." He observed. "You had best get back to Hagrid. The forest is not safe, especially not for you. Can either of you ride? It will be quicker this way."

"Take Hera. She's unsteady on her feet." Hermione insisted. "I can run with you."

"I will keep the pace within reason." He nodded in agreement, as he lowered himself so that she could help Hera onto his back. "My name is Firenze."

"Hermione."

There was suddenly a sound of more galloping, as other centaurs came rushing in.

"Firenze! What are you doing?" One demanded. "You have a human on your back! Have you no shame?"

"In'case you hav'n nnnoticed," Hera slurred, her voice taking on a sardonic drawl that sounded damned similar to Snape's own, barely conscious now. "this human is injured, an bleeding out ov'her face. So if you could get tha'stick out of your arse, that'd be great."