It has been a while, hasn't it? But, I think I am mostly over the majority of my writer's block for my stories... for now, anyway.

Those from the past with an older self. Everybody else.

Parselmouth

Sign language

Sadly neither Harry Potter, nor any of his friends and companions belong to me. I really wish it were different, but it is not and likely never will be.

Sirius sighed. "Did you at least go back for the Cloak later? Anybody could have picked it up." He decided not to get on Harry's case about forgetting it in the first place. Even the Marauder's made mistakes when they were younger, after all.

Harry frowned at nothing. "Yeah... yeah I got it back." Just in time to use it to save the Stone...

"Well, shall we continue with the next chapter?" Filius asked, although he already had a pretty good idea what happened next. Minerva had ranted enough in the staff room after this. When everyone agreed and fell silent, the book restarted itself.

Chapter 15: The Forbidden Forest

Minerva winced while eyes widened all around the room. The four that went in there, and Hagrid, all winced. That had not been a pleasant experience for the students, while Hagrid had been shaken up about how close he came to losing Harry. If Firenze hadn't shown up when he did...

Molly frowned, not liking any reason this could possibly be the chapter title.

(Things couldn't have been any worse.)

Harry glanced at Draco, and they both shuddered at the thought of what they saw during that detention. Oh yeah, things definitely got worse.

Hermione and Neville could only think of how the rest of Gryffindor, not to mention the rest of the school treated them afterward. Harry really needed to rethink his idea of 'things being any worse'.

(Filch took them... to each other.)

"Ugh, the waiting is the worst." Bill groaned, to his siblings amusement and his mothers ire. Just because he was Prefect and Head-boy, didn't mean that he was a stickler for rules. Not. At. All.

(Hermione was trembling... feeble than the last.)

"Harry!" Sirius, Remus, and the Twins groaned.

"Come on! I thought you were better than that!" The Twins continued in unison.

Harry flushed a deep shade of red. "I was caught off guard, and I knew that she was already in a bad mood from catching Malfoy out." He muttered petulantly.

(He couldn't see how... They were cornered.)

"Nah, there's always a way out if you look hard enough." Sirius said with an easy going grin that hid his worry over what the pups punishment would be. From what they'd been saying already, he could already tell that the punishment did not fit the crime in this instance.

"Sirius Black! Will you please start acting responsible?" Molly demanded, and Harry stiffened as he remembered her asking Sirius that exact same thing not long after he arrived at Grimmauld Place before fifth year.

"You're not his mother, Mrs. Weasley." He said quietly, looking at her intently. She faltered when she caught his look, and Arthur stopped her before she could say anything else. Sirius looked at Harry in confusion, but neither Harry, nor any of his friends or even Remus would look at him right now. The older Weasley children all looked uncomfortable, what was it about that phrase that upset them?

(How could they have... except for classes.)

"Eh... if you two were older, there might be a reason she would accept. She wouldn't like it and you would still be in trouble, mind... but, she was a teenager once, too." Remus stated mischievously, eyes glinting.

Minerva gaped while most of the others tried not to laugh. "Remus Lupin!" She snapped. He looked at her innocently, and she almost faltered at seeing that expression on his face, but kept her 'teacher glare' up and directed at him. She missed the high-five Sirius gave him behind the boys backs.

(Add Norbert and... their bags already.)

Minerva snorted, and finally turned her glare from Remus, her expression softening as she did. "As I did not know about the dragon, or the Cloak, I think you were quite safe there. Although if I had known, perhaps the punishment would not have been quite so harsh. You would have still been punished, but only for being out after hours, not everything else." She informed. Indeed, she punished him for the lies she believed him to have told Neville with the intent of getting Neville in trouble, being out after hours and on the Astronomy Tower to boot, and for her general bad mood that night.

Severus shot her a dirty look, but didn't say anything. This time.

"And do you have to be so dramatic..."

"... All the time, Harry? They don't..."

"... kick people out just for being up and..."

"... about when they should be in bed." The Twins chimed. Harry shrugged.

(Had Harry thought... have been worse?)

"Yes."

"Rather stupidly, if you ask me." The Twins muttered. Harry shot them a glare.

(He was wrong. When... was leading Neville.)

"What were you doing out?" Molly asked in shock, everyone else who wasn't there was surprised, too. This was unexpected.

Neville turned red. "I was trying to help." He mumbled. Harry and Hermione both shot him a grateful smile while Minerva squirmed in her seat a little.

("Harry!" Neville burst... said you had a drag-")

"Oh, bad timing, mate." Fred winced.

"If she wasn't mad before, she will be now." George had a strange look on his face, one that none of them could quite identify.

Harry shook his head. "Thanks for trying, Neville." He said quietly. Neville waved him off with a grin.

(Harry shook his head... over the three of them.)

"She's very good at that." Sirius commented with a grimace. Minerva simply shot him a dirty look. She wouldn't have so much practice with that if students would just behave themselves.

("I would never have... a teacher's question.)

"I had no idea what I could say that could possibly lessen any kind of punishment, let alone get us out of one." She admitted, not that it was very hard to admit, if even Harry couldn't come up with an explanation.

"And I figured that she wouldn't believe anything we said, anyway." Harry added. It wasn't like he had a good track record with adults believing him or anything. The principle of his school when he was younger was the only one, and he couldn't really do anything about it after that other teacher got fired trying to help him. He wouldn't have been able to do anything if he was fired.

Minerva frowned and looked down in shame while minute glares were directed at the Dursley's, who had been silent for a while. Glares deepened when they noticed Vernon looked oddly gleeful at what they were hearing.

(She was staring... still as a statue.)

Ron and Harry had a sudden flashback to second year, seeing her lying petrified in the Hospital Wing. Both boys suddenly grabbed one of her wrists, and held on. She looked at them in shocked surprise, not having expected it.

("I think I've got... Professor McGonagall.)

"Oh, this can't be good." Charlie muttered, he'd heard something like that before. He hadn't even done it, but she wouldn't believe him. She saw what she saw, and decided that was that.

"It wasn't." Harry muttered.

("It doesn't take a... of bed and into trouble.)

"That's Malfoy's style, not mine." Harry said, referring to the midnight duel incident. Draco flushed red, remembering the same thing. "He was the one following us around, if it were up to me, he wouldn't have known anything was happening." If he sounded a little bitter about it, nobody said anything.

Minerva herself flushed. She hadn't even asked Harry for his side of the story, instead she'd accused him of behaving like his biggest school rival.

(I've already caught... and believed it, too?")

"Not even remotely funny." Harry growled darkly, hurt that she would really think that low of him. He made it known, too.

Sirius winced. "That might be your looks working against you again." He said apologetically. "When we were younger, James... well, none of us were ever saints exactly. Something like the scenario she thought actually happened would have been found extremely amusing by your father."

"You two grew up. Eventually." Remus said dryly. It had always been him reining in their more cruel sides when they were younger. Eventually they really did grow up and grow out of that.

Truthfully, he always thought it was the Black side of the both of them. James perhaps wasn't as bad as Sirius had been, because he had his father there to temper that side of his mother, and Dorea Black had not been your typical Black to begin with, as evident by the fact she married a Light Potter. She was still a Black, though. Sirius, on the other hand, was raised to be the next Lord Black, and his father had been in Voldemort's inner circle. His mother... enough said.

"Yeah... eventually." Sirius said quietly, and leaned back in his seat.

(Harry caught Neville's eye... dark, to warn them.)

The Gryffindor's shouted out their encouragement for Neville, to his embarrassed pleasure. Draco watched in envy.

You would never see this kind of comradery in the Snake Pit. There, the smallest mistake would see you being torn down, or torn up. When he got caught by Filch and McGonagall took twenty points from Slytherin, his House mates had... not been pleased. Here, Neville got caught doing something, and instead they were thanking him and praising him for trying to help out.

Sure, he knew about the aftermath Harry faced after this night, losing 150 points! But Harry had been the only one to really catch the blame, despite not being the only one there. Then again, Harry seemed to always be catching the blame for everything that happened, whether he actually had anything to do with it or not.

("I'm disgusted," said... such a thing before!)

"Hey! What about us?" Sirius protested, not liking how she seemed to have forgotten them, not when they put so much effort into being memorable.

"I was hardly going to encourage him with stories of his father's rule-breaking, and I was hardly going to bring you up, I still thought you to be a traitor at this point!" She defended herself. "No, if he was going to hear any stories about his father from me, they wouldn't have involved breaking all the rules."

"But... you never told me anything about him." Harry said, a little hurt and angry.

Minerva stopped, and stared at him in shock while she wracked her mind, trying to remember any time she mentioned his father in more than passing.

To her dismay, she couldn't remember any times. "You- you're right. I didn't, did I? Not once have I mentioned your father in more than passing. I meant to... I even knew which stories I was going to tell. Why didn't...?" She was disturbed by this.

(You, Miss Granger, I... will receive detentions-)

Remus nodded in approval, that was acceptable for what she thought was going on here. Although her diatribe towards the kids was a little harsh. Although, disappointment from an authority figure was the most likely way to get to Hermione. Harry, on the other hand, would hardly be affected by a small guilt-trip like that.

(yes, you too, Mr... it's very dangerous-)

"Saying something like that, and not saying anything about why it's dangerous will only make kids curious. Curious kids go looking for what they aren't supposed to find." Sirius pointed out with a small grin. He should know, he was one of those kids. All three of his former teachers shot him exasperated looks, along with Madam Pomfrey.

"The teachers make it a habit of saying things like that. They say there is danger, but they won't tell students where the danger might come from, or why there is danger. And then when the students walk right into the danger or continue to act as if it doesn't exist, they get all upset." Harry said bitterly. Third year, anyone?

(and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor.")

"That's excessive for being out of bounds at night." Remus said with a frown. "Why so many? At most, I would think twenty would do, and even that is pushing it."

Minerva frowned, but said nothing. She wasn't going to say that she had been tired and in a bad mood because of it, a bad mood she took out on three first year cubs.

"Well..." Percy said, hesitant to say anything, but feeling like he'd stayed silent on the matter long enough. "To be honest... yes, it is quite excessive for what she thought their only 'crimes' were. But... when you think about what actually happened that night, they should consider themselves lucky the Ministry didn't know about this, and that they aren't being arrested for dragon smuggling."

His siblings looked like they were going to verbally tear his head off, except for Charlie. "He's right." The Dragon Handler said with a sigh. "I should never have involved them. I may have provided my friends with the proper documents for transporting a dragon, but they could have been arrested for their part in the whole thing. And, even if their ages would have worked in their favor, they still would have faced serious discipline."

"All in all, they got off easy." Percy pointed out.

"That may be, but she didn't know any of that." Remus frowned.

"Yes, she did. I told her that there was a dragon, remember?" Draco reminded the room. "She refused to believe me."

"She has a habit of that." Harry informed him. Minerva shrank down in her seat, ashamed.

("Fifty?" Harry gasped... last Quidditch match.)

"Your priorities sure changed quick." Sirius said lightly, trying to inject some levity in the room. "First you're worried about expulsion, and now about the House Cup." Harry stuck out his tongue, but didn't say anything. He was right to be worried, not that he really knew it then.

The rest of Gryffindor had... well, to say they were less than happy was an understatement.

("Fifty points each,")

All the Gryffindors sat in stunned silence.

"Ok, that is more than excessive." Remus said in shock. 150 points for being out of bounds at night? Like he said earlier, even twenty points would have been pushing it a little. "On top of that, detentions, too? What were you thinking, Minerva?" But she didn't answer, instead she looked down in shame.

She shouldn't have taken her bad mood out on them. Remus was right, 150 points plus detention for each of them was more than excessive for what she thought the crime was.

(said Professor McGonagall... of Gryffindor students.")

"That's hitting below the belt, also might be entirely true." Sirius murmured, wrapping an arm around his godson protectively. He was sure that there were times when he and James were still in school. He didn't even want to guess what she might have thought when she thought he was the traitor.

Minerva sighed. "No, it wasn't." There had been moments when she was much more ashamed of one of her students than she ever could have been in that moment, but part of knowing how to punish students was knowing how to lay in a good guilt trip. That way, they almost punished themselves, the points and detentions were a more public punishment. In her mind, anyway.

(A hundred and fifty... had for the house cup.)

Harry grumbled wordlessly. The rest of his House sure turned on him real quick over it, too. Instead of working harder to earn those points back, or letting him promise to earn them back at the next game, they turned on him without hesitation.

(Harry felt as though... ever make up for this?)

"Quidditch." Sirius said immediately.

"Class-work and participation." Remus added. Getting those points back would be easy enough. "Helping teachers out to earn extra points would work, too." He added as an afterthought. He used to help Madam Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing all the time, she usually gave him points for it, even though that wasn't why he was helping.

Everyone else stared at the two Marauders in surprise. Remus shrugged when he noticed. "As you might guess, our group had a lot of experience with losing and then having to regain points back." He said with a smirk.

(Harry didn't sleep all... seemed like hours.)

"I had never been in so much trouble with the teachers before. I didn't know what my Gran was going to say when she heard about it... and I was honestly wondering if she was right about Harry and Hermione making that story up and all that." Neville finished quietly. He'd been so hurt by the thought of them tricking him like that... they'd been nice to him throughout the year and he'd started to think of them as friends.

"Neville, I could never do something like that to you." Harry murmured, upset that Neville had been so hurt.

"I know." Neville smiled softly at one of his best friends.

(Harry couldn't think of... what they'd done?)

"Nothing good." Sirius leaned back and ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Especially if they don't know the full story." Remus added with a wince.

"Which we most certainly did not." Percy muttered, grimacing when he remembered what happened next. Minerva narrowed her eyes and began to listen intently.

(At first, Gryffindors passing... there'd been a mistake.)

"It was very confusing to suddenly be short a hundred and fifty points." Fred nodded.

"At first we thought Snape had done something,"

"Especially since Slytherin was only down by twenty."

"And then we started to hear the rumors." The Twins shook their heads. How could they have turned on Harry like that?

"Where did those rumors even start?" Harry asked, he'd never actually considered it before, but... "The only ones that were there and knew what happened were those of us that were in trouble, and the two professors."

Draco coughed, looking somewhat embarrassed. "I... may have spread what I knew. I knew that they were going to be out, so I figured that they'd actually gotten caught." That, and he was trying to explain to those in his house what he was doing out after curfew and how he'd gotten caught.

Harry frowned. "But, then how did they know about Neville?"

Now it was the Twins turn. "We went through detention records and saw all three of you had been caught out of bed the night before, and told others who it was." They looked completely unrepentant when Minerva glared at them for going through what was supposed to be for-teachers-eyes-only.

Harry just sighed. Of course they did. Because nothing could ever be private in a place like Hogwarts, could it?

(How could they suddenly... the most hated.)

Minerva narrowed her eyes and shuffled around her parchments trying to find the right one. When she found it, she poised her quill and stared intently at the book, wanting to hear more. The really bad part was, she didn't think this would be the last time she heard about something like this happening over points.

Molly frowned in concern, but took solace in the fact that he would have still had her boys looking out for him.

Harry snorted while others either looked guilty, or angry on his behalf. "Of course, what else was going to happen?" He muttered under his breath. Sirius and Remus glanced at each other in concern.

They knew full well the levels Gryffindor's could and would go to in order to make their displeasure with a Housemate clear. Eventually, it would calm down, but... (Sirius could freely admit that he and James were probably the start of it, as well.)

"Those held on a pedestal are often those who have people turn on them the hardest and quickest." Severus murmured, concerned. All he knew, was that Harry hadn't been in the Hospital Wing during this time, to his knowledge, anyway.

(Even Ravenclaws and... we owe you one!")

Sirius snarled darkly at the treatment his pup was receiving from the rest of the school. Harry just sighed and hugged his arm, if he was getting this worked up over this, then he was going to really love the coming books.

"And of course, they seemed to have all forgotten that Harry wasn't the only one to have lost points that night." Hermione said with a sigh. Not that she'd been complaining about the lack of attention being turned her way at the time, oh, no. She'd been grateful that she wasn't getting the majority of the bad attention. Now, she could complain about her friend shouldering it all himself.

(Only Ron stood by him.)

"EXCUSE ME?!" Molly shouted, turning on her twin boys and Percy, who all sank back in their seats.

Percy said nothing, he'd never been as close with Harry as the rest of his younger siblings, so he had no reason to interact with him on a daily basis beyond his Prefect duties to the younger years. Him getting in trouble hadn't changed anything as far as he was concerned. That, and with his OWLS coming up... he honestly hadn't really noticed anything was wrong.

Fred and George looked at each other, ashamed. "Sorry, Harry. We shouldn't have just..." Fred waved a hand, trying to convey what he was trying to say, when he himself didn't really know what to say. Harry shook his head, accepted the apology, and told them not to worry about it, as it was years ago.

"Gryffindor house is full of Nargles. I've seen it all the time over the years." Luna said with a frown.

Ron snorted. "Isn't that the truth?" He grumbled.

("They'll all forget... people still like them.")

"We're not famous people whose fame has been ramped up by time and a lack of access to him." Fred said with a grimace.

"We also tend to make people forget all about it the next time we pull off a prank." George added.

"Also, people know better than to go after us." Fred finished. And it was true, anybody who truly annoyed or angered them would often find themselves the unwilling testers of new pranks until they apologized or the Twins felt they'd 'done their time'.

("They've never lost... said Harry miserably.)

"Uh, no. No, we've never gone that far before. Not with any real teachers, anyway." Fred said with a grimace. All the Gryffindor's flinched, violently, at the small reminder of Umbridge and held their hands to their chests protectively.

"Yeah... that year did not do the House cup any favors." George agreed.

"Or our hands." Harry muttered bitterly, with a minute glare towards the teachers that had failed to notice anything. Or if they had, chose not to think about it.

("Well- no," Ron... repair the damage,)

"Damage?" Draco asked in confusion.

"Damage to our 'reputations', to the Houses chances at the House Cup..." Harry waved his hands in dismissal. "You saw how the House treated me afterwards, there was no reversing that." It was just the beginning, really.

(but Harry swore to... business from now on.)

"You did?" Ron and Hermione asked in confusion.

Severus snorted. "That resolution didn't last long." He commented dryly.

Harry shrugged sheepishly. "Nobody else was going to do anything, and nobody would listen to us when we tried to tell them what was going on." He defended himself.

Albus' eyes twinkled minutely in satisfaction, but otherwise he looked disturbed about something.

(He'd had it with... from the Quidditch team.)

"What?" The Twins yelped, not knowing that he'd tried to quit Quidditch. They looked at each other, remembering how they'd all treated him, especially the two of them, the Beaters.

Minerva stared at him, doing her best fish impression. "You tried to quit? But why? I thought you enjoyed playing..." She didn't understand why he would want to quit Quidditch, she'd overheard him say once that he liked flying, that he felt free and could leave his problems behind on the ground. He could often be found just flying around on the pitch, over the Forest, over the Lake, usually whenever something was going on or he was getting more attention than usual.

"It wasn't very enjoyable when the rest of the team was doing their best to make me as miserable as the rest of the House was." Harry answered blankly. Of course, the extra bruises from the Bludgers didn't really feel good, either. At least the Quaffle didn't leave bruises or break bones, not that the Twins caused quite that much damage.

"Excuse me?" Minerva asked quietly, dangerously. When she said in her beginning of year speech to the First Years that the House was like their family, she clearly needed to define what family was.

Molly could only stare at her twin boys in disappointment while their father couldn't look at them at all. The Twins hung their heads in shame.

("Resign?" Wood thundered... win at Quidditch?")

"That's a good question, but there are other ways to earn points back." Remus sighed. Wood reminded him a lot of James and Sirius in regards to Quidditch sometimes.

"He's not even going to ask if there was a particular reason why you were wanting to quit when you obviously loved the sport?" Minerva asked, somewhat put out by it.

(But even Quidditch had lost its fun.)

Everyone murmured, trying to wrap their heads around that one.

"How could Quidditch lose it's fun?" Sirius asked incredulously.

The Twins sank down into their seats, knowing that they were part of the reason.

(The rest of the team... called him "the Seeker.")

"And when they did pay him attention, it was to direct Bludgers or throw the Quaffle at him as he passed by looking for the Snitch." Ron said bitterly, glaring at the Twins.

"What?" Minerva asked the two Beaters dangerously.

"Were you trying to kill him?" Charlie asked incredulously. "You two should know better, it's dangerous enough during a game, but at least then you're aiming at the other team! Not your own Seeker!" He ranted at the two of them. Everyone was glaring or staring at the Twins incredulously or in disappointment.

"Guys. This was years ago. Drop it." Harry said quietly. He was tired of rehashing this, it was bad enough all of it was being brought up again in these stupid books, without everyone having to talk it to death or yell at everybody. Besides, as far as he was concerned, the Twins more than made up for it over the years.

(Hermione and Neville... as well-known,)

"Most people seemed to lay the blame solely on Harry, too." Hermione said with a grimace.

Neville nodded. "I still got plenty of practice in hiding out in plain sight." He muttered. Of course, he, being a pureblood heir to a Noble and Ancient House, had gotten it worse than Hermione, who was more or less a no-name muggleborn whose only real claim to 'fame' was having top marks and always knowing the answers in class.

(but nobody would speak... working in silence.)

Remus groaned. "You could have earned back those points!" He said. "Why wouldn't you continue on in class as normal?"

"I didn't want to draw attention to myself from the rest of the House." Hermione said quietly. "I already got enough bad attention for being the 'Know-it-all' of the House of Lions, I didn't want to fan those flames so soon after losing all those points."

Minerva breathed in hard and started scribbling in determination. This would not happen again. She could not believe that her Lions were reacting like this over some points that could so easily be earned back. She was seriously thinking that the point system needed to be overhauled.

(Harry was almost... weren't far away.)

The Twins looked at him in betrayal, but didn't say anything, still feeling too guilty about how they treated Harry that year.

"Aw, pup! Why?" Sirius whined.

Harry shrugged. "Kept my mind off things, not even Quidditch was working for that." He said softly. Honestly, he was still amazed he did as good on the exams as he did, considering he was expecting Voldemort to show up at any moment. The three of them had spent a lot of time in the Maze for the rest of that term.

(All the studying he... off his misery.)

Sirius slumped down in his seat, miserable right now. This wasn't supposed to be how Harry's first year went, he was supposed to have fun. Hang out with his friends, play Quidditch, do his school-work (not to take his mind off things, but to get good grades so he could have options in his future)... not being ostracized like this by the entire school.

Harry sighed and leaned against his godfather.

(He, Ron, and Hermione... and goblin rebellions...)

Without fail, everybody younger than Bill made a face. "I think I know more about the Goblin's history than I do wizarding history." Ginny grumbled. "And I grew up in the wizarding world."

"How do you think those of us who grew up with Muggles feel when we come in to this new world?" Harry asked rhetorically. "All we ever hear about, instead of history or anything to do with culture or how things like the government works, is how the Goblins are always rebelling against the 'good and kind' wizards." He said that as sarcastically as possible.

"What? Binns never said anything like that." Hermione said, confused laughter in her voice.

"Going off that stupid Fountain of Magical Brethren, or whatever it's called, he might as well have." Harry shot back. "The only thing they got right there was the way House-elves view their Masters most of the time." Hermione made a face at that reminder, but didn't say anything after the talk they had with Arthur.

"Yeah... Binns needs to go." Remus said with a grimace, choosing not to get into that conversation.

(Then, about a week... an unexpected test.)

"That lasted a surprisingly long time."

"You don't have to sound so surprised." Harry scowled at Ginny, who smiled innocently.

Hermione laughed. "Yeah, it really did, didn't it?" She asked. She smiled sweetly when Harry turned his scowl on her.

"Traitors. You're all traitors." He grumbled, to everyone's amusement.

(Walking back from... one afternoon,)

"Why were you on your own?" Neville suddenly asked. "Whenever you're alone during times like this, you always end up attacked at some point. Safety in numbers." He reminded Harry.

He grimaced. "I managed to avoid running into anybody. I mostly stuck to hidden corridors the entire time, and I was going straight back to the dorm to get something, and straight back. Luckily nobody is stupid enough to mess around in the library." He commented. He barely registered Remus' growling and Sirius' stiffening up with anger before he was moving to calm both men down.

(he heard somebody... not again, please-")

"Not... again?" Molly asked, hesitant. She wanted to know what was going on, and she wanted to know how much danger it was putting her children in.

Harry frowned and thought back to everything he knew about that year, and Voldemort. "He was probably being punished because he was taking too long to get the Stone, either that or he was being ordered back into the Forest to get another Unicorn." He said with a grimace.

"Another Unicorn?!" Molly screeched. Hurried silencing charms had to be placed around Remus to protect his ears.

"Yeah..." Harry said slowly, leaning away as he glanced at Ron, who grimaced. He hadn't told his parents about this either?

Albus looked grave. "Always the innocents are targeted..." He muttered. This only fueled his belief that he was doing the right thing, Tom needed to be stopped, and Harry was the only one who could do it. Therefore, the boy had to be prepared to do whatever was needed, no matter the personal cost or risk.

"Two of 'em were killed tha' year." Hagrid said quietly. Gasps and sounds of shock and dismay echoed around the room.

"Hang on... if Quirrell was working for You-Know-Who, then that means..." Fred started, shocked by the realization.

"You-Know-Who is in the room with him. Right now." George finished, and Sirius' grip on Harry tightened almost painfully while Molly went white as a sheet. That had been information Dumbledore had never shared with the Order, all they had known was that Quirrell was an agent of Voldemort.

"Don't worry, he didn't do anything to any of the students that year..." Harry reassured quietly. Although, there was still the question of how Dumbledore hadn't known he was there...

(It sounded as though... Harry moved closer.)

"Harry." Hermione groaned while Ron sighed. Honestly, keeping him alive and out of the Hospital Wing was a full time job sometimes.

Remus sighed. "James and Lily should never have had a kid, he inherited both of their natural curiosity and doubled it." He grumbled.

"When somebody is being threatened, you don't move closer, you go get help!" Molly snapped, not at all happy that the boy was going towards danger. Honestly!

("All right- all... heard Quirrell sob.)

A few people made faces of disgust at the way the man was acting, momentarily forgetting that he was currently being threatened somehow by Voldemort himself.

"Well, he didn't put up much resistance to following these orders." Bill muttered.

Harry, Severus, and Draco snorted. "Are you kidding? I'm surprised he tried to resist at all." Harry scoffed. The two Marked Death Eaters nodded their agreement.

It was rare that somebody got the guts to try and question an order. If they did, then they better hope that the Dark Lord approves of the alternate they had in mind, or their punishment for questioning him would be even worse. If they survived it at all.

(Next second, Quirrell... his turban.)

Sirius frowned suddenly. He was sure that nobody would be in that room when Harry went to check it out. Why were there so many references to the turban...? He didn't like it.

(He was pale and looked... about not meddling.)

The room echoed with snorts and snickers, but nobody dared say anything when faced with Harry's 'try it and face the consequences' glare.

(All the same, he'd... just left the room,)

Hermione snorted. "Pay up." She said sarcastically. Harry shot her a dry glare.

The thought briefly crossed his mind that the Room could probably provide all the Philosophers Stone's they could want, but dismissed it easily enough. What could he want with one of those?

Severus scowled. "You never heard another voice, and yet you still thought it was me?" He considered why he was so disappointed by that.

Harry flushed slightly. "I figured you were being quiet. You don't ever need to raise your voice to get attention or anything, or intimidate." He muttered. Severus fixed him with a look, but was inwardly pleased with the answer, to an extent.

Draco rolled his eyes when he caught the pleased gleam in his godfather's eyes.

(and from what Harry... given in at last.)

"Well, that was partially true, anyway." Harry muttered to himself. Quirrell had given in... just not with what he thought it was.

Hermione snorted. "Watching Professor Snape with a 'spring in his step' would've been... odd." She finished diplomatically. Severus grimaced at the thought.

He had a reputation to uphold, after all.

"If he did that, I think I would have written home to see if mom and dad would come get me early." Ron informed the room. His mother scowled (half-heartedly) while a few others snickered and Severus' customary scowl deepened.

"And now is when you go tell a teacher what you know, and leave things to those in charge while you focus on your school work." Molly said with a stern glare, despite knowing that that wasn't what would have happened at all. She could dream, though, couldn't she?

(Harry went back... Ron on Astronomy.)

Ron scowled while all those who'd ever tried to 'study' with Hermione grimaced. One thing you never wanted to do, was agree to test Hermione on material.

Ever.

(Harry told them... Anti-Dark Force spell-")

"'Anti-Dark Force spell'?" Bill repeated, amused. "Really?" He asked his youngest brother, who turned a very, very bright red.

"Shut up." He muttered while everyone else chuckled fondly or sighed in exasperation.

("There's still Fluffy, though," said Hermione.)

"Fluffy is very easy to get past. All it takes is a little bit of research or knowledge about Creatures, and you're past. You don't even need any kind of musical talent." Neville commented, more than a little disturbed by that fact.

"How did you know that bit?" Hermione asked, already knowing the answer, but wanting the teachers to hear it.

"I looked it up the day after we found Fluffy." Neville answered.

"We asked Kettleburn." The Twins said together, raising their hands. "And that obstacle course down below was kinda lame." Fred shrugged.

The Heads of House all either growled, winced, or scowled. They'd told him that that whole thing was a bad idea. They'd told him not to say anything about it to the students, they'd told him that every 'trap' they'd laid would be too easily passed. Did that fool of an old man ever listen to anyone but himself, though? No.

("Maybe Snape's found... asking Hagrid,")

"Not like that would have been difficult." Neville grumbled again.

(said Ron, looking up... three-headed dog.)

"Several, in fact. As well as a few other people who could also tell you." Neville nodded.

"Alright! Mr. Longbottom, we get the point." Minerva finally had enough of his rubbing this in their faces. He just blinked slowly at them.

(So what do we do, Harry?")

"Hopefully the first thing you do is go to an adult." Molly was really starting to get tired of the kids trying to do it on their own. This was starting to get very dangerous, and she didn't want her son going anywhere near any of it.

"Like that will do any good." Harry muttered.

"Molly, this already happened." Arthur laid a hand on her arm.

(but Hermione answered... thrown out for sure.")

"No we wouldn't have. We could have probably murdered somebody right in front of Dumbledore, and he would have covered it up and let us off with a slap on the wrist." Harry scoffed. Honestly, they got away with so much. According to Remus before his fifth year, if the Marauders had done half of what Harry and his friends had done, they would have gone in a second. And Harry hadn't even told him everything!

Hermione and Ron made a face, but had to agree with him.

Albus frowned at him while the other adults agreed that Harry did seem to get away with a lot with regards to Albus Dumbledore.

("But we've got no proof!" said Harry.)

"I don't know why I was so insistent on proof, it's not like anybody ever listens to us even when we do have proof." Harry grumbled.

("Quirrell's too scared... believe, him or us?)

"Him." Everyone younger than the Twins said at once.

"Nobody ever listens to kids, especially when they're right." The Twins added.

"Just because somebody is young, doesn't mean they don't know what they're talking about." Neville shrugged. He was pretty sure that getting older did something to people, because older people always had to make things so complicated, or they thought they knew everything no matter what was really happening.

(It's not exactly a... but Ron didn't.)

"I wanted some more adventure." Ron said with a shrug when he got incredulous looks. Molly groaned while his brothers grinned.

("If we just do... poking around-")

"You have done enough 'poking around' young man." Molly informed her son sternly. "And you," She turned to her youngest son. "Had better not even think about following his example." He shrank back and nodded his head frantically. The other Weasley children shrank back as well and tried not to be noticed.

The teachers watched in amusement. They wished they had half the ability she did to cow her brood.

("No," said Harry... poking around.")

"What?!"

"Harry!" The Twins protested, feeling betrayed by that. Molly and the teachers looked pleased by that, although they all knew that this attitude didn't last long.

"Don't worry, this didn't last." Ron told the Twins dryly. They looked pleased by this, although they'd known that it clearly didn't, because Harry still found a lot of trouble over the years despite his current attitude in the book.

(He pulled a map... names of its moons.)

"Just as long as you remember they don't have mice on them." Hermione said with a smirk, earning a dirty look from the boys.

"So I added an 'm', who cares." Ron grumbled.

(The following morning... o'clock tonight.)

"Why so late?" Molly asked. "They need their sleep." Especially if exams were coming up so soon.

Minerva looked bothered by something. "That was the time I was told. I never did find out why you were doing it so late at night." She glanced at Hagrid in question.

"It were the on'y time I could get fer it." He frowned. "Some o' the Thestrals was sick tha' week, an' I was busy wit' them." He explained.

(Meet Mr. Filch in the... points they'd lost.)

"Why did it take so long to assign it, anyway?" Remus asked. "Usually the detentions are assigned the next day, or on the spot. If it took so long that the students in question forgot they even had one coming..." He glanced at Minerva, confused about it.

"Everyone else said they were too busy preparing for exams to oversee four students in detention." Minerva sighed, annoyed. She'd counted herself lucky when Hagrid volunteered to take it, although she had hesitated at the time until Albus stepped in and told her it would be fine.

(He half expected... of studying lost,)

"One would think that you would already be in bed around eleven. It's just first year, there's not that much material to cover, nor is it really all that complicated in the end." Molly frowned. They were young, they needed their sleep. How could they expect to do well if they didn't get sleep?

Ron snorted. "It's Hermione, mom." He said dryly. The girl was very much a perfectionist when it came to her schoolwork, and she seemed to think that she would forget everything if she missed one moment of studying. If she could go without sleep entirely in order to study, she would.

Hermione scowled at everyone who snickered or nodded in agreement with Ron.

Pomona frowned. "Sleep is more important than rereading something you've probably already read five times." She said quietly and sternly to Hermione. "It is first year, nobody expects you to know everything."

(but she didn't say... a detention, too.)

"If it's been so long that they forgot they even have a punishment coming, then there's no point in even carrying it out at this point. The lesson won't be learned. Besides, the way the other students have been treating them, I'd say the lesson has been taught far better than a detention can ever do." Remus pointed out with a sigh.

Minerva frowned, but admitted privately to herself that he had a point about the detention being almost useless at this point as a punishment. It had been too long between the action, and the punishment actually being carried out. At this point, the only reason the punishment should really take place was because she said they would have detention, and so they would get a detention, if only so they didn't think she was soft and they could get away with stuff with her.

("Follow me," said... them outside.)

"Outside?" Molly asked. "What could they possibly be doing outside at eleven o'clock at night?" She asked the room at large, and Minerva and Hagrid shifted.

"Hagrid was actually overseeing this detention." Minerva said with a wince. She must not have caught Hagrid's explanation for why it was being held so late earlier.

"What could Hagrid be having two students help him with so late at night?" She demanded.

Severus shifted. "There are many potions ingredients that Hagrid collects for me that can only be collected at night. There are some nocturnal creatures he tends to as well that the children could have helped with." He tilted his head in acknowledgement, although he knew perfectly well that wasn't what they were doing in there.

She frowned, having a bad feeling about this.

("I bet you'll think... won't you, eh?")

All the past and current (supposed to be) students snorted. "No."

"They'll just be more careful not to get caught." Bill shook his head. Why was he even working there? His attitude and children should not be in the same building.

(he said, leering at... you ask me...)

"Well nobody asked you, and pain?" Arthur asked, incredulous. He'd heard the complaints of his children over the years, but thought that they were exaggerating as children often did. He wouldn't be allowed to work near children if he really said or did half the things his children told him about, after all.

"Yup... I think Filch was in love with Umbridge..." Harry muttered.

"Filch would love nothing more than to torture the students into obedience." Neville informed. Possibly the only reason Filch wasn't treated horribly by the Death Eaters over the past year. They thought alike.

(It's just a pity... punishments die out...)

"A pity?" Molly asked incredulously. "Those punishments didn't 'die out', they were forcibly changed, and for good reason." She ranted.

"That man should not be near children if that's his attitude. Are you sure he's never done anything?" Arthur asked with a frown. Moody matched his frown.

"No. He has not." Albus said sternly. "He is watched by at least one ghost when alone with a student for detentions, and the portraits keep an eye out for everybody. He also knows that if he ever does anything more than talk, he will be gone."

"Someone like that shouldn't be in a school at all." Arabella said with a frown. She knew Argus, the Squibs all had a bit of a network, and she also knew what it was like to not have magic when everyone around you did. She knew what it was like to be bitter over it.

However, that was not in any way an excuse to take it out on children.

Albus frowned at her, but the book continued reading before he could chastise her for not being more understanding of Argus's plight.

(hang you by your... they're ever needed...)

"Excuse me?" Molly demanded, and all the teachers grimaced.

"That's a favorite of his. Along with whipping disobedient students." Percy said with a scowl. He tried to make sure none of the younger lions ran across him, or if they did, that they knew not to give him any reason to stop them thinking they were up to something. He didn't want them subjected to his brand of 'discipline'.

"I thought that those stories were wildly exaggerated." Arthur muttered to himself in disbelief.

Fred snorted. "This is tame for him, believe me." He informed the room.

(Right, off we go... you if you do.")

"No... I think it would have been better if we ran for it." Harry muttered under his breath. Draco nodded in fervent agreement while Hermione glanced at both of them in concern.

(They marched off... sounding so delighted.)

The adults who didn't work at Hogwarts frowned.

Just how awful was the man on a regular basis that the students could gauge how bad the detention would be based off his mood?

Now everybody was worried. Just what were they doing that had Argus Filch in such a good mood over it?

(The moon was bright,)

"But not full." Harry pointed out to those who looked worried about the moon being mentioned. "Not yet. The full moon wasn't for another couple of nights, I think." He glanced at Hermione in question, but she shrugged.

She didn't remember. So much had happened between this moment in the book and the end of that year alone, let alone the years that followed.

(but clouds scudding... ter get started.")

"Get started with what?" Molly asked in worry. Nobody answered her, either because they didn't know or because the book was likely to go through it in detail for them.

(Harry's heart rose... wouldn't be so bad.)

Harry grinned at his half-giant friend, who smiled back, grateful for Harry's faith in him.

(His relief must have... yourself with that oaf?)

Several people scowled or growled at the slight to Hagrid, while Draco sank into the couch. He had, after all, called Hagrid the same thing many times over the years.

(Well, think again... you're going)

"WHAT?!" Molly screeched, jumping off her couch and away from her husband who might have the audacity to try and calm her down right now.

Remus grunted at the sudden noise, but didn't say anything else.

"They were with Hagrid, they were safe with him." Minerva tried to placate the protective mother lion standing in front of her and glaring. (The four in question wisely decided not to mention the group splitting up).

Molly glared. "If anything at all happened to them..." She threatened, and then moved to an open area where she could pace. She didn't think she could stand sitting down right now.

(and I'm much... in one piece.")

"What a horrible man." Molly murmured, incensed. How dare he make insinuations like that to children!

"Now, Molly, he's had a hard life." Albus chastised.

"I don't care how hard his life has been, he has no business being around children!" She snapped.

Minerva sighed. "Agreed. I will think of something else for him. I believe he is well past the Muggle age of retirement... and he doesn't do anything the House-elves don't already do on a daily basis..." She muttered, scribbling something down. She ignored the betrayed look shot her way by Albus.

(At this, Neville let... go in there at night-)

"Shouldn't be going in there at all." Molly muttered mutinously. It was called the Forbidden Forest for a reason, after all.

(there's all sorts... werewolves, I heard.")

"That was years ago, and unless this was a night of the full moon, I think you were safe enough." Remus said dryly, and slightly bitterly. He was not at all impressed that the first thing he said was werewolves.

"Sorry, Professor Lupin." Draco said with a wince. All he'd ever heard about werewolves growing up was that they were filthy, dangerous beasts. Learning that Professor Lupin, his favorite Defense teacher, was a werewolf at the end of his third year had honestly been what made him start thinking and questioning his parents and the beliefs they'd taught him growing up. After all, Professor Lupin wasn't a filthy beast, or dangerous. He was actually quite intelligent and gentle. He had a wicked sense of humor, and he clearly knew his stuff. Of course, he'd since met Fenrir Greyback, and he's met some others who were like Remus, just trying to live their lives.

Remus looked at him and sighed. "Don't worry about it. But the only werewolf that has ever been in there, to my knowledge, was me. Nothing to worry about on that front." He said with a sigh, and was pleased when Ron and Draco didn't react too violently. They must have been informed quietly at some point before now.

"Wait... you're a werewolf?" Dudley asked in amazement, his younger self staring in awe and a little bit of fear. Their parents looked at Remus with terror clearly showing in their eyes, they didn't move though, merely watched him.

Remus blinked at him for a moment before remembering that they'd never actually outright said he was a werewolf. There had just been vague comments that only somebody who already knew, or was wizard-raised would understand. "Yup." Remus flashed a quick smile and let his eyes flash amber for a moment before he blinked and his eyes were back to normal again.

"Wicked." Dudley breathed.

"Even if there were werewolves in there, that's only one night a month. There are things that call the Forest their home that are far worse than werewolves should you stumble across them." Harry said with a grimace. A giant spider and his children came to mind...

(Neville clutched the... a choking noise.)

"I was terrified of anything to do with that Forest. It looked terrifying, plus we weren't allowed to go in there for good reason." Neville felt the need to defend himself with an embarrassed shrug.

Harry gave a small smirk. "I wouldn't worry too much about it, I wasn't exactly wanting to go in there right then, either." He said quietly, thinking back.

("That's your problem... cracking with glee.)

"That man should not be around children." Arabella said again with another shake of her head. Molly nodded, in complete agreement.

"And it wasn't 'their problem', they shouldn't be sent into the forest, no matter what they are being punished for." Remus frowned, not sure how he felt about this.

("Should've thought of... shouldn't you?")

Molly snorted in disbelief. "Well, considering that they shouldn't be going into the Forest at all..." She snarled under her breath. "Why should they consider something that isn't even a concern?" Her boys and daughter looked at her warily.

(Hagrid came striding... over his shoulder.)

"I thought you said that nothing would attack you in there!" Molly burst out, scared about why he needed that.

"It won't." Hagrid said, eyeing her in surprise. "Bet'er safe 'han sorry."

"Sometimes things happen. Hagrid doesn't exactly have a wand to protect himself with." Minerva shrugged, shaking her head. That was another thing she was going to have to make arrangements for. Hagrid had been cleared after Harry's second year, and allowed to carry a wand again, but she didn't think anybody had ever bothered to catch him up on the education he missed after his expulsion.

Molly whimpered at the reminder that Hagrid didn't have magic to protect the students with should anything happen.

("Abou' time," he said... Harry, Hermione?")

"Not going to greet the other two?" Bill asked in amusement, knowing that Hagrid tended to ignore or forget about others unless he counted them as friends.

"I didn't know 'he other two." Hagrid mumbled, and he looked at Neville apologetically.

"Don't worry about it, Hagrid. I was too terrified to even notice you there." Neville waved off.

"Wow." Harry looked at Neville in amazement, considering Hagrid's size, that was actually quite impressive.

("I shouldn't be too... over from here.")

"Go Hagrid!"

"Tell him like it is, Hagrid!" The Twins cheered, to Hagrid's embarrassment.

The teachers frowned. They all knew that Hagrid and Filch did not like each other at all, but they usually at least tried to keep the animosity hidden from the students.

("I'll be back at... left of them,")

Molly hissed. "What an awful man." She muttered, and Arabella pursed her lips in disapproval. Honestly, taking it out on innocent children.

(he added nastily, and... turned to Hagrid.)

"And cue the whining and refusal to carry out his punishment." Harry muttered, shaking his head. Honestly, he'd heard Draco whining about how he wasn't going to do whatever his punishment was often enough over the years.

"With some added 'when my father hears about this!' thrown into the mix." Ron added, smirking at Draco, who scowled at them. Moody looked at him in disgust.

For one, that was not being Slytherin, for another, the kid should stop being a whiny brat and grow up. Hopefully he wasn't still like that.

("I'm not going in... panic in his voice.)

"Harry." Molly said in disappointment, eyeing him. No matter how much the two didn't get along, he shouldn't be pleased with the other boys obvious fear.

"What?" He asked, confused about what she was disappointed with. Mentally, he ran through the books last sentence. "Oh, come on! I was eleven! He was nothing but a bully to me and my friends all year long! Of course I was going to enjoy seeing him brought down a few pegs like that!" He protested.

Her eyes narrowed further, but Arthur distracted her from going on a tirade. Sirius' own narrowing eyes told him that the ex-convict (although he was never even officially convicted) was not appreciative of her trying to parent his godson with him right there. He'd get the same look on his face that summer they were all living at Grimmauld Place.

("Yeh are if yeh... for students to do.)

"No, it's a punishment." Pomona corrected. Although she did have to wonder what Minerva was thinking letting Hagrid take them into the Forest... "And a little hard and dirty work never hurt anybody, no matter their social status." She said sternly.

"It is not for students to pick and choose their punishments. The student is there because they have done wrong and must face the consequences." Minerva lectured.

(I thought we'd... or something,)

The professors snorted. Lines? Like Pomona said, good hard work wasn't going to hurt anybody, and it would certainly teach a better lesson than copying lines down. Honestly. Tedious, and certainly boring, sure. But also mindless work where they didn't have to think after a bit. One teacher in the past had used it as their favored go-to punishment, and she'd actually had students fall asleep on her while writing.

Oh, no. Writing lines didn't teach anything.

(if my father... this, he'd-")

"Scold you for being stupid enough to get caught in the first place." Moody snarled. "Don't you ever do anything for yourself? I'm tired of hearing about your father, boy!" He barked.

"Alastor." Minerva snapped quietly, and shot him a warning look. He grumbled, but quieted down. That old cat still had claws to her, after all.

Draco stared at him warily. He may know that his fourth year Defense professor was really a Death Eater in disguise, but that didn't mean he forgot the face that turned him into a ferret and bounced him around. He'd had to go to the Hospital Wing with a sprained wrist and a bruised rib over that.

("- tell yer that's... that ter anyone?)

The other teachers nodded in firm agreement. Remus had to hide his grin, knowing that some students figured out quick which teachers were 'soft' enough to favor that punishment, and make sure that if they had to be caught, it was always that one teacher that caught them.

(Yeh'll do summat... an' pack. Go on.")

Minerva sighed. "Hagrid..." Her head shook fondly. "Refusing to properly serve a detention doesn't equal expulsion. It equals another detention, and more will be tacked on until they are finally served."

"There's a limit of ten added detentions, though, past the original. Once it gets to ten additional detentions because you have yet to serve the original, then you're suspended." Remus added, and gave a side glare to Sirius. "Little known fact." Most of the other teachers didn't even know about that.

"And just how do you know about that?" Severus drawled, sounding vaguely amused, and knowing.

Remus jerked a thumb in Sirius' direction with mild irritation. Sirius looked far too pleased with himself, in the teachers opinions. "Because somebody wanted to know just what would happen if he refused to serve his detentions. Luckily, after the tenth added one, he finally served them, and of course told us that Minerva informed him that if he refused to serve another detention, he was suspended for two weeks."

And in the end, he didn't really get anything out of it except a long week with eleven detentions in a row, and a very loud letter from home about the letter the school sent about the Black Heir's current detention load.

"Is that what that Howler was about in fourth year?" Severus murmured. Slytherin House had tried to find out what it was about from Regulus, or one of the Black sisters, but none of them were talking.

Sirius shrugged, unrepentant. He'd wanted to know, he'd found out.

"Why ten?" Hermione muttered quietly to herself.

"You didn't tell me Hagrid told him off! Oh, I would have loved to have seen that..." Ron said dreamily, earning dirty looks from both Draco's, Severus, and his mother. Everyone else found some amusement from it, although Minerva was more exasperated.

She'd dealt with those four (mostly Ron and Draco with Harry and Hermione being caught in the middle) for years. She was too used to it happening to pay it any kind of significant attention.

(Malfoy didn't move... we're gonna do tonight,)

"If you knew it was going to be dangerous, then why did you request to take their detention?" Molly asked in a hushed voice.

Hagrid flushed, but didn't say anything, knowing that poking the Lioness wasn't the best action right now.

"Well, as long as they stay with Hagrid, they'll all be safe enough." Remus tried to soothe Molly's ruffled feathers, but his heart wasn't in it right now. (Personally, he thought she was blowing this way out of proportion, but...)

(an' I don' want... here a moment.")

Most of the room looked around in curiosity.

"Wonder what he's showing them?" Ginny asked herself, curious.

(He led them to... the thick black trees.)

Draco shivered. "It was very creepy." He informed the room. He'd made up his mind then and there to never go near the Forest again, at least not at night. Of course, that resolve didn't work when Severus decided he was old enough to help him gather ingredients from the Forest.

"Yeah, it was a bit, wasn't it?" Harry asked with a slight grin while he absently drew out the scene.

(A light breeze lifted... That's unicorn blood.)

Everyone gasped in shock and disgust. "What could be hurting unicorns?" Was the general consensus by those that didn't know. They seemed to have temporarily forgotten about the conversation earlier about Quirrell attacking unicorns.

"So awful. Why would anyone want to attack such pure creatures?" Luna asked, sorrowful.

"Only the purely evil and those with nothing to lose would ever stoop so low as to attack those who are so pure and innocent." Albus said gravely, the twinkle long gone from his eyes, and sorrow etched all over his face. He made a mental note to pay closer attention to the unicorn herd this coming year.

(There's a unicorn... dead last Wednesday.)

Luna made an injured sound, and Neville moved to comfort her. She hated hearing about such things happening to any creature, especially the ones that were so good and pure.

"Two unicorns in a week?" Sirius asked in horror. From what he remembered, the herd in the Forest wasn't that big to begin with, and unicorns on a whole weren't really that populous, anyway. Harry nodded, eyes glazed over as he remembered.

(We're gonna try... fear out of his voice.)

"Whatever it is will not hesitate to attack four children, no matter who is with you." Remus informed matter-of-factly, trying to keep his voice steady.

The last thing he wanted was for his Cub to go into that forest where something was killing unicorns. Such a being was incapable of remorse or care for those they hurt.

("There's nothin' that... Fang," said Hagrid.)

"I highly doubt that whatever it is that's killing unicorns actually belongs in that forest." Arabella pointed out dryly. "And anything capable of something so heartless isn't going to care that your there, either." Unknowingly voicing Remus' concerns.

("An' keep ter the... inter two parties)

The adults all burst out into protests. "EXCUSE ME!" Molly shrieked the loudest. Hagrid cringed.

"What happened to nothing happening while they were with you? How can you be with them to keep them safe if you split up and send two off on their own?" Pomona demanded, not at all happy with this.

"As long as they stayed on 'he path, they were safe." Hagrid said stubbornly.

"And what are they supposed to do when the trail of blood goes off the path?" Molly asked, icily. "They are supposed to be following it, after all. And if they run into whatever is injuring unicorns while searching for the poor creature? A monster like that would have zero problems hurting or killing defenseless children." She ranted.

Hagrid shifted. He'd had all those thoughts himself. After the night was over and the children were back at the castle and safe in their beds. He hadn't thought of any of that... until exactly that scenario happened.

"We should continue reading. The children clearly made it out alive, we should find out what happened." Arthur gently stopped his wife's rant before she really got going. Her dark look said exactly how she felt about that plan, but she didn't say anything else, instead she kept pacing.

(an' follow the trail... last night at least.")

"Oh, how awful. That poor thing. It must have been so scared, and in pain." Luna choked out, almost in tears at the thought of what that poor creature must have gone through before being found... by either it's attacker or Hagrid and the others. Neville's arm around her tightened as he attempted to comfort her.

("I want Fang,"... Fang's long teeth.)

Everyone who knew Fang snorted while Draco himself scowled.

That dogs name and appearance were very misleading.

Hagrid hid a smile, but didn't say anything. He missed his dog.

("All right, but... said Hagrid.)

Harry laughed. "Sorry, Malfoy, but... with Hagrid its the cute and cuddly names that you need to be wary of, while the animals with fierce sounding names are the gentle ones." He said with a grin. Everyone else who really knew Hagrid laughed in agreement while Hagrid looked around in bemusement.

What was wrong with how he named his pets?

Draco's scowl deepened.

("So me, Harry, an'... go the other.)

"Bad idea!" Almost everyone yelled or stated at once. And really, having somebody go off alone with somebody who constantly bullied him, was so not a good idea, especially when they were somewhere like the Forbidden Forest at night... they all knew something was going to happen. Either to them, or between them was a difficult decision to make.

Hagrid's face was red under all that beard. "I know tha' now." He muttered. Harry thought he almost sounded petulant.

"I didn't want to go anywhere with him." Neville denied at once.

(Now, if any of us... send up red sparks,)

"Preferably as you're running away." Harry commented, having not even thought of this until now. Harry had been too petrified at the time to send up red sparks, it had been Draco running and screaming back towards Hagrid that alerted both Firenze, who was passing by, and Hagrid that something was wrong. Of course, his screaming probably got other creatures attention, too, luckily Harry was with Firenze and Hagrid showed back up soon enough.

"We were lucky that nothing actually happened." Hermione glanced at Harry nervously, remembering what he'd described, and knowing that he probably left some of the details out, details that she was now going to learn.

Molly whimpered at the thought of them finding trouble.

(an' we'll all come... black and silent.)

"And creepy." The four who had to go in that night all said at once.

"It felt like the whole Forest was holding it's breath... just waiting for something to happen." Hermione continued with a shudder. The three boys paused for a moment to consider, but agreed with her.

Everyone else was silent.

(A little way into it... looked very worried.)

Hagrid sighed, he'd tried to hide it from the kids, because he didn't want to scare them or anything. He underestimated how observant his young friend was, again.

"What were you so worried about? Other than the fact that you just sent two children off on their own with a dog that would run from it's own shadow." Molly asked, curious and slightly alarmed. She also couldn't help the little dig she took.

"I was worried fer the unicorn, and I didn' know what was killin' them." Hagrid explained. All he knew was that it couldn't have been anything that lived there, or belonged there. This was the first incident they'd ever had, after all, where a unicorn was hurt or killed by anything other than natural causes. Not even the Acromantula colony would ever dare touch a unicorn, and they mostly went after anything that moved, especially since Aragog died.

("Could a werewolf... Harry asked.)

"Not fast enough. Not to mention, it's not the full moon, so nothing to worry about there... When was the last full moon, anyway?" Remus asked.

"I don't know..."

Remus frowned and a moment later, found a lunar calendar in his hands from that year. "Huh. The full moon wasn't for another week, so the timing there is also wrong." He said after examining it for a moment. "Plus... a werewolf would never consider touching a unicorn, even at the height of their bloodlust. Unicorns are too pure, too good. Wizards and witches are the only beings on the planet that would ever consider stooping so low." And most wizards considered them to be the animals. Ha!

Not to mention that Magical Creatures were well aware of the curse that comes with drinking unicorn blood, and they weren't arrogant enough (most of them) to think that such a thing couldn't possibly affect them!

"There are many things wizards seem to be the only ones to consider. No respect." Filius muttered angrily, showing his goblin heritage.

("Not fast enough," said Hagrid.)

Remus grinned smugly, and suffered a punch to the shoulder for his troubles. "Hey!" He protested, he failed at looking outraged. Sirius merely rolled his eyes at his best friend.

("It's not easy ter... be hurt before.")

"At least, not by anything that wasn't everyday living, natural causes, etc." Remus murmured. Hagrid nodded in agreement.

He'd been very alarmed to find a dead unicorn when he was walking back to his hut from checking on the Thestral herd. He'd been even more alarmed to see signs that the unicorn had been killed, and hadn't just died of old age or something. For one thing, the poor thing had been young, and healthy. Well, aside from being dead.

(They walked past... somewhere close by.)

"There are streams running all through the Forest. There's a rather large river deeper in that comes down from the mountains." Hagrid said absently.

(There were still... the winding path.)

"Just how long was it staggering around?" Luna asked quietly, filled with sorrow for the creature.

"On'y a coupla hours 'fore I found the blood trail." Hagrid answered sadly, and then it was a few more hours before he was able to really do anything about it.

("You all right, Hermione?"... GET BEHIND THAT TREE!")

"What?" Most of the readers yelped.

"What was it?"

"Oh, goodness." Minerva put a hand over her chest, the book had shouted that last command as loud as Hagrid would have done it. She really had to wonder just what charm it was that Filius used. She could have sworn that Harry was with Draco Malfoy when they found the Unicorn, though, so she knew that this wasn't that.

"Oh, please stay safe." Molly whispered, slouching in Arthur's hold, but still tense as she waited for confirmation of what was there.

(Hagrid seized Harry... three of them listened.)

"Where are your wands?" Moody suddenly snarled, annoyed.

"Huh?" Hermione asked.

"Your wands had better be in your hands, and not in your pockets." He sneered the word 'pockets'. He'd already made his opinion on wizards who didn't use a wand holster clear, though, so nobody paid too much attention to that.

"Oh, yeah, mine was out." Harry hurried to reassure the paranoid old Auror.

"Umm... Sorry." Hermione apologized. She'd trusted Hagrid to protect them, so she hadn't even bothered to have hers out. Harry had been using his to help light the path, though. Moody scowled at her, but didn't say anything at the look on Minerva's face.

(Something was... leaves nearby:)

"A really big snake?" Charlie suggested, head tilted to the side. Ginny paled, thinking it might have been the Basilisk, but from what little she remembered, she thought that it was trapped down there, behind that statue since Tom last released it fifty years ago...

"No... I wish." Harry snorted. A snake he could have spoken to, and his Parseltongue abilities would have been revealed sooner, meaning he would have been more careful about revealing them to the student body as a whole.

Hermione shivered. "Something much worse." She said.

(it sounded like... along the ground.)

"Somebody else is there with you." Bill stated grimly. Probably the same somebody that was attacking the unicorns.

"If they were friendly, they probably would have come to investigate when they heard Hagrid shout, or announce themselves." Charlie exchanged a look with his older brother. Molly whimpered at the thought.

(Hagrid was squinting... that shouldn' be.")

"And yet, you still brought four students out there?" Molly asked, incredulous.

"Molly. This has already happened, and the children clearly are fine." Arthur said, exasperated and highly annoyed. Besides, Hagrid wasn't the only one involved in them being out there, and the half-giant looked guilty enough as it was.

("A werewolf?" Harry suggested.)

Despite the tension in the room, Remus shot Harry an exasperated look. "Harry." He whined.

"What? He's the one who brought them up!" He blamed Draco for having werewolves on the mind. "And I was eleven!" He defended himself. Remus just shook his head while Sirius watched in amusement.

It served to break some of the tension in the room, though. Fred and George were starting to feel the need to lighten the mood soon enough.

("That wasn' no werewolf... said Hagrid grimly.)

"From the sounds book-Harry described, I would say human, or humanoid at least." Moody commented on, helpfully.

("Right, follow me... something definitely moved.)

Any levity from Harry's comments disappeared like it never existed. "Did it come back?" Dudley asked, curious and a little nervous for his cousin. Nobody answered, they knew the book would reveal that.

("Who's there?" Hagrid... or a horse?)

"Ah, just a Centaur." Arthur sighed in relief, leaning back. They would be fine, a Centaur would never dream of harming a child. The relief in the room was almost tangible.

"That was no Centaur making those noises, earlier, though." Bill murmured quietly to his brother.

While the Dudley's were amazed, their parents were horrified at yet another reveal of a mythical creature that was so unnatural. "Filthy, unnatural things." Petunia murmured quietly, horrified.

(Privately, Harry thought that her and Delores Umbridge would get along well together, once they got past their own prejudices towards Muggles and wizards respectively, of course.)

(To the waist, a... jaws dropped.)

"It was quite the sight." Hermione admitted, although she didn't really like horses, so centaur's actually made her rather nervous.

"Cool." Dudley muttered, and his older self nodded in agreement. They wished they could meet a Centaur.

("Oh, it's you, Ronan,"... the centaur's hand.)

Hagrid sighed unhappily. Ever since he brought Grawp back home with him, his relationship with the Centaur herd in the Forest had severely soured. His intervention when they went after Firenze had only worsened it, of course.

He'd enjoyed his friendships with them, and missed the conversations and walks the Centaur's would occasionally join him on.

("Good evening to you... to shoot me?")

"If he was a danger ter Harry an' Hermione." Hagrid shrugged. He was grateful that he didn't actually have to shoot, though.

("Can't be too careful... He's a centaur.)

"I think they can see that part for themselves, Hagrid." Charlie said, amused. Hagrid turned red and shrugged.

"And I think that if those students had to go into the Forest for detention, that a wand would be more useful than a crossbow." Remus commented with a frown.

("We'd noticed," said Hermione faintly.)

"Are you alright, Hermione?" Sirius asked in concern.

"Huh? Oh, yeah... I just don't like horses much. And I wasn't expecting to run into a Centaur that night." She said quietly.

"Why don't you like horses?" Neville asked, curious.

"I used to go to riding lessons, but... something happened and I just... never went back." She said with a shrug. She'd enjoyed riding, but that riding accident had changed everything for her. She hadn't been able to get on horse again ever since.

("Good evening," said... said Hermione timidly.)

"Well, I should hope we manage to teach you more than 'a bit'." Filius said with a grin.

Hermione turned red while a few of the others started snickering. "Shut up!" She elbowed Ron and Harry roughly, earning pouts from both of them. "I was surprised to meet a Centaur." She muttered, embarrassed.

("A bit. Well, that's... is bright tonight.")

"Huh?" Was the general consensus from the wizard-raised.

Harry, though, gasped quietly. "He was warning us." He said, shocked.

"What do you mean? Warning us about what?" Ron asked, confused.

"Mars is the Roman god of war. He was warning us that the war was coming. Maybe that it had already started, or never really ended, but..." He shrugged helplessly.

"Hmm... well, you guys know how I feel about Divination, but... knowing what I know now..." Hermione frowned.

"I share your thoughts about Divination, Miss Granger, but the Centaurs are known for being far more accurate and reliable with their predictions than human Seers or those pretending to be." Minerva shook her head.

"He might not have been talking about our war, though. There is always a war going on in some part of the world." Hermione reminded Harry.

"That's true. I think one of my teachers mentioned last year about a war a few years ago that the Americans were leading, I don't remember where though." Dudley shrugged. "And then there were the World Wars, Korea..." He trailed off, not able to remember anything else right off the top of his head. He hadn't exactly spent much time studying before the Dementor attack.

"The Wizarding World is the same way. Somebody is always fighting somebody else, somewhere." Arthur sighed.

("Yeah," said Hagrid... you seen anythin'?")

Hagrid snorted. As if they ever looked anywhere closer than the stars. Oh well, he had to ask, they lived there after all. Besides, the Centaur's were rather... territorial. They guarded their territory quiet zealously, and everything that lived within that territory, even the Unicorns. Perhaps especially the Unicorn herd.

(Ronan didn't answer... past, so it is now.")

"He is." Minerva said, surprised. "He is warning about the coming war."

"Now, we don't know... he might simply be commenting on the death of a Unicorn." Albus said, unsettled. He kept an eye out, how could he have missed the signs that the Dark was gearing up to start the fight again?

"You'll listen to that drunk Trelawny, and yet you won't listen to a Centaur who is studying the heavens?" Severus asked dryly. Albus just shot him a dark look.

("Yeah," said Hagrid... Anythin' unusual?")

"Define unusual." Draco piped up. Even he knew that what they found unusual, the Centaur's might not even blink at.

("Mars is bright... "Unusually bright.")

"That settles it, he was warning us about our war." Harry said, sighing. "He actually sounded a little impatient right then." He tilted his head to the side, thinking.

"And we didn't listen to him." Hermione muttered, angry with herself.

"We didn't know to listen to him." Harry corrected.

"I think I would be pretty impatient, too, if I tried to tell somebody something, and they weren't listening." Arthur muttered, knowing how that could be from experience. His wife could be rather... overbearing and bull-headed at times, after all.

("Yeah, but I was... hides many secrets.")

"That's the truth." Fred snorted.

"I don't think we could ever figure out all it has to offer, not even if we explore it all our lives." George agreed. Molly looked like she wanted to say something, but held back.

Barely.

(A movement in... raise his bow again,)

Everyone tensed up again. Now what?

(but it was only... looking than Ronan.)

"How many more are going to show up?" Molly asked, the switch between tension and relief was starting to get to her at the moment.

"I think we need to take a break after this book is over." Sirius said weakly.

"We just saw the two of them." Hermione said quietly. Although, she supposed that technically three of them were there, Firenze showed up with Harry on his back.

("Hullo, Bane," said... you are well?")

"Is this really the time to exchange pleasantries?" Filius asked, amused. There was a Unicorn injured, possibly dead, two students were running around alone with a wizard depraved enough to have attacked said Unicorn in the same Forest as them, and they were standing there asking how the other was doing?

Hagrid shrugged. "I didn' want ta be rude." He tilted his head to the side.

("Well enough. Look... anythin' about it?")

"Somehow, I don't think Bane is going to give you a different answer than Ronan has already given you." Remus said, amused.

Harry had to hide his smile at the disgruntled look on Hagrid's face. "He didn't."

Hagrid grunted. Getting straight answers out of the Centaur's was like pulling teeth from a Runespoor without getting bit sometimes!

(Bane walked over to... he said simply.)

"Wizards are so stupid. So assured of their superiority..." Filius murmured. "Of course, the two of you didn't know enough to even know to listen to what they were saying, but..." He assured Harry and Hermione that he wasn't talking about them. Hagrid should have known better than to think they were just spouting something, though.

"I think Hagrid had other things in mind right then." Minerva defended him. "Like finding and helping that Unicorn." She gave a stern look around the room, warning everybody to stop and leave the friendly half-giant alone.

("We've heard," said... be off, then.")

"I think they've already told you all they know." Minerva murmured, disturbed by the conversation.

"If they learned anythin' else, I wanted them to tell me." Hagrid frowned. They never had come to him with anything else, he hadn't learned what happened to those Unicorns until the end of the year.

(Harry and Hermione... blocked their view.)

"We'd never seen Centaur's before." Harry shrugged. He'd been curious.

Hermione nodded in agreement. Despite her slight fear of horses, she was still extremely curious.

("Never," said Hagrid irritably,)

The teachers glanced at Hagrid in concern. They knew full well that Hagrid had a violent temper. He controlled it very well, but when he went off...

"I can control meself." Hagrid grumbled, catching their looks.

("try an' get a... closer'n the moon.")

"That's not true, they are extremely protective of their people and territorial." Minerva stated simply.

Harry snorted. "Yeah, until one of their own tries to do a favor for a friend that involves leaving the Forest for a while." He said, referring to Firenze's banishment.

"There is that, I suppose. They do, however, protect many of the Forests' inhabitants from wizards stupidity. Other creatures like House-elves go to them if they're sick or injured, as well. Their Healers are very good." Filius said with a small smirk.

There were many things about the Creature community that Wizards would never know or understand.

("Are there many... asked Hermione.)

"There's a good sized herd in there." Pomona said, tilting her head. She did some trading with them, for fresh plant cuttings when she needed them to replenish the greenhouses when her current plants were 'tired' or her budget was especially tight that year.

"How many Centaur herds are there in Britain?" Dudley asked, curious.

"There are... four that I know of, but I know that they're a very private race, and I highly doubt that the Ministry is half as good at tracking them as they think they are." Remus said in amusement.

("Oh, a fair few... want a word.)

"They used ter be, anyway." Hagrid said with a frown.

"Yeah... they weren't too happy about Grawp, I imagine." Harry said with a wince. Hagrid shook his head.

"Grawp?" Arthur asked, not sure if he wanted to know. Not with already knowing what he knew about Hagrid's taste in pets.

"Me half-brother." Hagrid said brightly.

"He, er- came back with Hagrid during our fifth year." Harry said diplomatically, knowing that Grawp didn't exactly come willingly.

"Fifth year... isn't that..." Arthur asked in dread. The Trio nodded before he could finish, and he and Molly paled. Hagrid brought a giant back with him?

(They're deep, mind... don' let on much.")

"Or maybe they do, the person their talking to just doesn't listen." Hermione suggested. After all, they were just warned that war was coming, and they dismissed it so easily as nothing.

("D'you think that... earlier?" said Harry.)

"Those weren't hooves you heard." Moody growled. Couldn't the boy even tell sounds apart? And here he was thinking that the boy showed promise.

Harry flushed red. "Sorry for being eleven." He muttered. It wasn't like he'd been listening for the Centaur, either, or ever been around horses before. Bane and Ronan were the closest he'd ever been to one at this point, and they were only half-horse!

"Mad-eye." Sirius frowned at his old mentor, not liking how he was being so demanding of book-Harry, who was only eleven. For some reason, Moody felt like apologizing to the kid when he caught the face Sirius was making him.

He scowled and looked away, not wanting to admit how uncomfortable he was at seeing that look in Sirius's eye. Of course, he was also proud that his protege seemed to finally have grown up, too bad it took Azkaban to do it.

("Did that sound... killin' the unicorns-)

"Which is why you should turn around, get the other two, and leave right now." Molly muttered, quiet enough that Sirius and Remus were the only ones to hear her.

She still got a stern look from Minerva, who guessed that Molly had said something against Hagrid again.

(never heard anythin'... dense, dark trees.)

"That sounds so creepy." Ginny deadpanned.

"Try being in there." Neville muttered, shuddering. That was the first, and at the time he'd hoped, last time he'd ever been in there. Although, he supposed that they hadn't gone all that far in to reach the Thestrals before going to the Ministry...

"Why do you have to be so descriptive?" Ron complained. He never wanted to go anywhere near that Forest as long as he was at Hogwarts.

(Harry kept looking... were being watched.)

"You probably were." Ron said immediately while Hermione shuddered, thinking of walking through that forest with Voldemort watching them.

All the adults looked at the Trio in question.

"His instincts are rarely wrong." Hermione said with a sigh. "When he listens to them, anyway." She grumbled.

(He was very glad... crossbow with them.)

"I would feel better if he had a wand and the knowledge to use it." Arthur said with a grimace.

"Eh, he's pretty deadly with that thing." Harry smirked towards Hagrid, who flushed.

"Some people rely too much on magic, anyway." Hermione murmured.

(They had just passed... are in trouble!")

Molly shot forward to the edge of her seat, eyeing Draco and Neville in worry. "Oh, dear. Were you two alright?" She fretted.

"They were fine, Mrs. Weasley, don't worry about it." Harry snorted, shooting Draco a dark look. He at least had the decency to look ashamed of himself, while Severus eyed him warily. He never had learned just what happened in that forest.

"Molly, dear." She reminded Harry gently before turning her attention back to watching the two boys in worry.

"We were fine, Mrs. Weasley." Neville finally reassured her himself.

("You two wait here!"... come back for yeh!")

"Don't leave them alone!" Molly cried in disbelief. Honestly, now they knew something bad was in the forest with them, and he was just leaving them there alone?

"Would you rather he took them with him, towards whatever is going on with the other two? He didn't know whether the other two were in actual trouble or not." Minerva said, testily. She was getting very, very tired of Hagrid being picked at right now.

"... Sorry, Hagrid." Molly muttered, sufficiently cowed by Minerva. He nodded his acceptance of her apology, but didn't really believe that it was needed. She was only concerned for the kids safety, after all.

(They heard him... whispered Hermione.)

"We were fine." Neville reassured the room again, although his face was a little red. Draco nodded, embarrassed.

It was his fault, after all. Although, he was kind of impressed with the speed at which Neville threw up those sparks. He hadn't thought the other boy would have been capable of throwing up sparks at all. Let alone be able to do it so fast.

("I don't care if Malfoy has,)

Draco, his younger self, and Severus shot Harry a dirty look.

"What?" He asked defensively. "Can you blame me after the way he'd been going after me the entire year so far?" He demanded.

"He's got a point, there." Ginny pointed out. Ok, even Draco could admit that one...

(but if something's... in the first place.")

"No, it wasn't." Neville said sharply. "I knew exactly what I was doing when I left the Common Room to find you two. I knew there was a chance I would get caught outside, and I still went. You didn't even know I was out there." He glared at Harry, knowing that if he didn't nip this right now, Harry would try to argue the point. Harry could hold onto guilt like a Niffler held onto shiny objects, even when the guilt wasn't his to hold onto.

"If we hadn't let Malfoy get a hold of our plans..." Harry tried to argue.

"Excuse me? I'm pretty sure I'm the one who let Malfoy get our plans, not you. If anybody is to blame for Malfoy knowing anything to be overheard, it's me." Ron interrupted. "However, Neville is right. He's the one who left the Common Room to warn us after overhearing Malfoy discuss his own plans, and Malfoy was the one who was stupid enough to talk about something like that where he could be overheard in the first place."

"So... if you want to blame somebody for Neville being in trouble, your three choices are Ron, Draco, and Neville himself. Or... you could even go for Professor McGonagall- er, sorry, Professor. Since she's the one that punished us without even listening to our side of the story first." Hermione chimed in.

Ginny giggled when she saw the dumbfounded look on Harry's face, while a few others chuckled as well.

"If I were you, I'd listen to your friends." Sirius whispered in Harry's ear, having been in a similar situation once, only that time it was James who was pointing out all the reasons why he, Sirius, wasn't at fault for something.

(The minutes dragged... sharper than usual.)

Moody nodded in approval. Good, they were being vigilant and wary.

Hermione snorted softly. "Speak for yourself, I couldn't hear anything above my heart pounding." She muttered.

Moody scowled at her. Well... one of them was being vigilant and wary.

The rest of the group was at the edge of their seats, waiting to hear what happened with the other two boys.

(Harry's seemed to be... Where were the others?)

"Hopefully safe and with Hagrid by now." Minerva muttered, trying to answer the questions book-Harry asked.

(At last, a great... Fang were with him.)

"Oh, thank goodness." Molly sagged in relief.

"Oh, they were alright. They were more than alright." Harry muttered, still angry about that. Draco shifted uncomfortably.

(Hagrid was fuming.)

Everyone was shocked, (and some were a little concerned about Hagrid's temper). They'd never seen or heard of Hagrid being anything but easy-going.

"Was everything alright?" Arthur asked, worried about what happened out there.

"Yes... just some immaturity happening at the worst possible time." Hermione said, frosty.

(Malfoy, it seemed... grabbed him as a joke.)

"Whoa!"

"Hey, not cool, man!" Fred and George protested while everyone else who hadn't known of this incident gasped in shocked surprise and horror.

Severus closed his eyes, resigned, in disbelief, and too angry to speak. One look at his face, and Draco flinched.

"Young man!" Molly yelled, incensed. "Of all the irresponsible- I would have thought that you would have been mature enough to behave yourself when in such a dangerous place." She scolded, causing him to sink back into his seat. He didn't say anything, though, although he did look at Neville apologetically.

"That is quite enough, Molly." Severus cut in when it looked like she was going to continue on. "I would thank you to leave my godsons discipline to me." He warned, eyes flashing. He would never understand how Black had just stood by and let her parent his godson in his place during that summer.

(Neville had panicked... two were makin'.)

"The noise probably drew the attention of every bad thing in that Forest, too." Fred frowned.

"Including the one who is attacking Unicorns." George said, worried.

"Don't speak like that!" Their mother protested, not wanting to hear anything about that. Well, at least they were back with Hagrid now. Hopefully he showed sense now and didn't split the group up again.

(Right, we're changin'... Fang an' this idiot.)

"Ah." Fred said, concerned. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" He asked. (Everyone ignored Draco's offended look at being called an idiot.)

"Yeah... I don't think sending those two together is going to end well..." George agreed with his twin.

"They're more likely to kill each other." Ron completely agreed with his older brothers. The rest of the Weasley siblings glanced at each other in concern.

They knew that Draco and Harry fought almost everytime they saw each other, but it wasn't that bad, was it...?

"Are you sure you should be sending them back out on their own? Draco and Neville would have drawn attention..." Remus said, hesitantly.

"We 'ad to get the job done." Hagrid said, determined that he was right.

(I'm sorry," Hagrid... get this done.")

"If that's the case, then why didn't you send Harry and Draco out together in the first place?" Sirius asked, slightly amused at this. "It would have saved Neville a lot of panic, and saved you the time and effort of having to find them. Plus, they wouldn't have alerted the Forests residents of your presence."

Hagrid blinked and opened his mouth a few times to speak, before he merely closed it again and looked away. Truthfully, he hadn't wanted to let Harry out of his sight while they were in there. He didn't know Neville that well, so honestly hadn't thought about letting him go off with Draco Malfoy, who he honestly didn't care all that much for. True, he was blaming the son for the sins of the father a little bit, but... then again, with everything he'd seen and heard from Draco that year so far, it wasn't all that undeserved in his mind.

"You know, Sirius, you should sound intelligent more often." Remus commented idly, earning a glare from his best friend.

(So Harry set off... deeper into the forest,)

"Careful." Remus murmured, almost absently. "The further in you go, the more chance to run into something dangerous."

"Why are you going further in?" Molly fretted, worried about them being in such a dangerous place.

"We were following the blood trail." Harry defended himself.

"As long as they stay on the path, they'll be fine." Hagrid cut in. Aragog made sure his children knew that anyone and everyone on the paths were off-limits, and the other creatures in there and him had something of an understanding in that respect, as well. As long as they stayed on the path, they would be fine.

(until the path became... be getting thicker.)

"You're getting closer to the Unicorn." Pomona said softly.

"I'm concerned about the amount of blood... at this rate, it won't matter if you find it alive. It's lost too much blood for the four of you to do anything for it. Not unless Hagrid is hiding a full triage hospital in his pockets." Poppy said sadly. She may not know much about creatures and their healing, but she knew that nothing could survive so much blood loss.

"I do 'ave a full hospital kit in my pockets." Hagrid admitted. But, she was right. By the time he got there, the Unicorn was already dead. He was able to mark the place so he could go back and give it a proper burial, though, when the kids weren't around.

(There were splashes... pain close by.)

Luna whimpered, just imagining the suffering the poor thing must have gone through. Oh, it must have been in so much pain, and so scared.

Filius' normally cheerful expression darkened. Oh, if he ever got his hands on the one responsible for an act like this... he was going to make his Goblin ancestors proud.

(Harry could see a... arm to stop Malfoy.)

If it was possible, the tension in the room rose to higher levels. Fred and George even forgot about their plans to relieve it in favor of listening to the story, listening to what their littlest brother went through during his first year.

"That might be the first cordial moment between those two." Neville said, surprised.

"Those confrontations are never started by me." Harry reminded everybody. "I was actually focused on what we were out there for." He glared lightly at Draco, still incensed about him scaring Neville like that.

(Something bright white... and it was dead.)

Everyone gasped softly and murmured. Filius quivered with rage.

(Harry had never... on the dark leaves.)

Almost automatically, almost without even realizing it, Harry's pencil had started sketching the sad picture. Everyone else was silent with disbelief.

They hadn't really expected them to find the Unicorn dead... they knew it was a possibility, but... Luna had tears streaming down her face, no matter how much Neville and Ginny tried to comfort her.

She wasn't the only one crying, either. Most of the women in the room were crying silently. Some, like Hermione, were being comforted by the nearest person, others were just sitting there. Hermione was clutching Pomona like her life depended on it.

"Do you have to be so descriptive, mate?" Ron asked, uncomfortable with all the emotionally charged women around, even though he himself wasn't unaffected.

(Harry had taken one... where he stood.)

"Isn't that..."

"... What you heard when you were still with Hagrid?" The Twins asked, not sure they wanted the answer.

"Yeah... we were lucky he didn't decide to attack us when we first heard him." Harry muttered.

"That would have drawn too much attention to himself. And the risk of getting injured... he wouldn't have wanted to deal with having to hide something like that." Hermione reasoned, looking pale. She'd never wanted to learn the full, uncensored version of what happened that night.

(A bush on the... clearing quivered...)

The tension in the room ratcheted up to new levels as everyone sat on the edge of their seats, waiting and hoping to hear that it was just another animal. They doubted that it would be another Centaur, but it couldn't hurt to hope.

(Then, out of the... some stalking beast.)

"Oh, no." Molly whimpered. "Get away, run!" She cried in worry.

"We were alright, Mrs. Weasley." Draco muttered, uncomfortable with the worry she was showing for Har- for both of them.

"She's right, though. You two need to get out of there." Arthur said, just as worried.

"Quietly, you don't want to attract attention from whoever that is." Fred cautioned. Whoever was sick and desperate enough to attack unicorns would have absolutely no problem attacking two eleven year olds and a dog.

Everybody missed the droll look Harry sent Draco's way, or Draco's beet-red face.

(Harry, Malfoy, and... drink its blood.)

The room erupted into outrage and disgust. Bill and Filius started whispering furiously with each other, the younger kids were staring around in wide-eyed horror, and the rest of the room were in complete disbelief at what they were hearing.

"That being must truly be desperate to do such a thing." Albus said solemnly.

"What do you mean? Other than the fact that to harm a Unicorn is a desperate act itself." Hermione asked, not having heard the conversation between Harry and Firenze.

"Firenze explained it to me." Harry cut in, not wanting to hear it twice.

"Who's Firenze?" Molly demanded.

"A Centaur." Harry said shortly, wanting to get this part over with before Sirius cut off complete circulation in his arm.

("AAAAAAAAAARGH!")

"What?"

"What's wrong?"

"Did something happen?" The room erupted in questions. (Nobody noticed Severus' hand on Draco's knee. His knuckles were white, and Draco was grimacing in pain.)

"Yeah... you could say that." Harry muttered drolly.

(Malfoy let out a... so did Fang.)

"Why would you do that?" Fred moaned.

"You just drew attention to yourselves!" George exclaimed.

"More like he just drew attention to Harry... he just ran for it. Harry is still there." Remus said slowly, and Sirius' grip on Harry's arm tightened even more, making him grunt in pain. "Sirius... I think he would like to keep that arm." He whispered to his best friend.

Sirius looked down at his godson's arm, and yelped before letting go quickly with an apology.

"It's fine." Harry smiled tightly, rubbing his arm where Sirius was gripping him.

(The hooded figure... down its front.)

"I had nightmares about that for weeks." Harry shuddered.

"I can imagine." Remus said with a frown.

"Why would anybody..." Hermione started to ask in horror.

"Only a truly desperate man would even consider it." Filius said darkly.

(It got to its feet... swiftly toward Harry-)

"Run." Several voices said at once.

"Get out of there, cub." Remus breathed, actually getting up and putting himself between the two boys, forcing Sirius to the floor, to his annoyance. He settled for wrapping a hand around each boys ankle, that way he was still touching his godson.

"Happened years ago." Harry muttered, but didn't say it louder for fear of attracting some of the women's ire.

(he couldn't move for fear.)

This time last year, Draco would have been taunting Harry for an admission like that (ignoring that he himself had run in fear). Now, however, he knew that Harry had been fine, he wasn't hurt by whatever that thing was, so he sat back and listened in suspense.

"No, no, no, no." Sirius was chanting while Molly was held back from going to smother Harry by Arthur.

Everybody else was on the edge of their seats, waiting to hear what happened, waiting to hear how Harry got out of this one, how he got away from the person desperate and cold-hearted enough to kill and drink the blood of a Unicorn.

It was probably lucky, though, that nobody noticed the expectantly hopeful looks on the Dursley parents' faces.

(Then a pain like he'd... scar were on fire.)

"What?" Was yelped from around the room, only those few (Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, Ginny, the Twins, and Severus) that knew what happened whenever Voldemort was nearby had any clue what was happening right now.

"Harry. Get. Out. Of. There. Right now." Ron whispered, horrified that his best friend came this close to Voldemort on that night. He knew Voldemort was in the Forest. He knew Voldemort was the one attacking Unicorns, and he knew that Voldemort was nearby when Harry found the Unicorn. But he had not known that they were this close, or that he had come so close to losing his friend so early.

"I was working on it." Harry said, tiredly. He flexed his ankle where Sirius was gripping it, and the pressure relaxed. It seemed Sirius was more conscious of how tight he held on now, not wanting to hurt his godson again.

"That only happens when..." Ginny started uncertainly, only to stop at the sharp look Harry gave her. He didn't want to get into that right now, everything with his scar would come out throughout the books.

"Oh, get out of there, now." Molly fretted from where Arthur was gently holding her in place. By this point, everyone was barely still in their seats, they were sitting so close to the edge.

(Half blinded,)

Severus frowned. He would have to figure out a potion for that... getting Harry to the goblins for that ritual would be, well... difficult. There was every chance that the boy would have an encounter with the Dark Lord before that happened, and the last thing any of them needed was for their precious savior to be blinded by pain from his scar to the point he couldn't fight or even think.

Perhaps renewing Occlumency lessons would be advised, as well. Maybe he should teach it differently, too...

(he staggered... hooves behind him,)

"Yes!" A few cheered.

"Wait! We don't know what that is back there, yet. It might be a Centaur, and they might not know Harry's there or in trouble." Sirius barked, staring intently at the books. He didn't want to get his hopes up that that was rescue.

Everyone went silent immediately and stared at the book so intently that Harry briefly wondered if they were still breathing.

(galloping, and... charging at the figure.)

The room was full of cheers and hollers. "Chase him off!" The Twins both called out happily. Harry laughed, and was pleased when Sirius and Remus both relaxed the grips they had on their two boys.

Everyone else slumped in relief and laughed. If there was a hysterical tinge to their laughter, nobody commented.

(The pain in... two to pass.)

"Is it always that bad?" Hermione asked, horrified that he was in so much pain everytime Voldemort was nearby.

"Eh... it depends on how close he is, how angry he is, and how much warning I have beforehand so I can try to block the pain out." Harry shrugged. Severus frowned and started planning in earnest now.

Sirius frowned, knowing that was probably the soul-piece reacting... Harry wouldn't have been properly prepared to be a Horcrux, so the soul-piece was able to affect him like that and cause him pain.

(When he looked... one looked younger;)

"That might explain why he's more... rebellious." Ginny said in amusement. Now that that thing was gone, and Harry was with a Centaur, everyone had relaxed.

"Rebellious?" Ron asked his sister in amusement.

"Well, yeah. He left his herd to teach us Divination. You saw the hoof marks on him that first day." She said, frowning. "He went against the wishes of the herd. And Hagrid said he had to step in and stop them from attacking him." She shrugged.

(he had white-blond... to his feet.)

"This one seems more... down to earth than the other two were." Ginny commented.

"Yeah... I like Firenze, he's cool. But, like you said. He's kind of a rebel." Harry smirked.

("Yes- thank you- what was that?")

"That, is a very good question." Remus said quietly.

"Although, I think a better question would be, who was that." Sirius said, just as quietly. He had his suspicions, and was hoping he was wrong, but he knew he wasn't.

"Somebody that Harry is never going near again." Molly said firmly, trying to convince herself that she could make that happen.

"We don't even know who it was..." Fred said slowly.

"... how is he supposed to avoid somebody when..."

"... he doesn't know how it is, or even..."

"... what he looks like?" The Twins asked their mother, who looked at them sternly, annoyed that they couldn't let her hope for just a little bit.

(The centaur didn't... on Harry's forehead.)

Harry hissed lowly and grumbled about getting rid of that thing someday. There were no magical means of doing it, but he hadn't searched out Muggle options yet... now that he was of age, at least in the magical community, maybe...

("You are the Potter boy," he said.)

"Even the Centaur's know your name and what you look like?" Arthur asked, slightly amused, but also feeling a little sorry for the boy who hated all the attention he got.

Harry grumbled some more while his younger self looked disturbed by the thought.

("You had better... especially for you.)

"He knows something." Fred said suddenly.

"Something about whoever, or whatever that was." George finished for his Twin.

"Yet another example of how wizards need to listen to other Beings more often." Harry muttered, eyeing Dumbledore suspiciously. There was no way he hadn't asked the Centaur's for their version of events. There was no way that Firenze, at least, had not told him exactly who was in the Forest killing Unicorns. And yet... nothing was done?

(Can you ride? It will be quicker this way.)

"Whoa." Remus and Filius both breathed in awe.

"Do you have any idea the kind of honor that is?" Filius asked Harry. "In all of known history, there is not one account of the Centaur's willingly allowing anybody on their backs, not even during the days when all the magical races got along." He informed the room, but mostly Harry, who stared at him in amazement.

"Huh." Was all Harry could say, while turning beet red. "I knew that it wasn't... well, wasn't done, based off of the other's reaction, but..." He shifted uncomfortably.

("My name is Firenze,"... onto his back.)

"Don't be so trusting, lad!" Moody barked, annoyed. Sure, the Centaur saved his life, but that could just be a clever trick to make him trust them. You never knew who was really friend, and who was an enemy, especially when you just met the other person.

"Alastor!" Minerva snapped. "A Centaur isn't going to hurt him, you know full well how they view those who harm children." She scolded, not wanting him to push his paranoid beliefs on the children.

He merely grimaced while nobody else said anything.

(There was suddenly... heaving and sweaty.)

"Huh, wonder what they were in such a hurry for." Hermione murmured, curious.

"They probably heard Draco's screaming and Fang's barking." Harry said. "They already knew that there were at least two 'foals' in the Forest with Hagrid, and they knew that we were searching for the injured Unicorn, so..." He shrugged. "And the amount of times Fang goes in there with Hagrid, yet he wasn't with Hagrid when Bane and Ronan ran into us, they probably figured Fang was with the other group of people in there with Hagrid."

"Foals?" Dudley asked in amusement.

"It's what the Centaur's call me every time they see me. I'm considered a foal in their eyes, still just a kid." Harry said with a grimace.

No matter why they were there, or how they came running so quickly, Molly was just relieved to have the two extra bodies there, just in case that thing came back.

("Firenze!" Bane... are you doing?)

"What does it look like he's doing?" Harry asked in confusion. "He's giving a kid in trouble a ride back to safety." He looked to Remus, confused.

Remus grimaced. "Centaur's are very proud. And, well... you'll probably hear it in a moment." He said slowly, choosing his words.

(You have a... a common mule?")

"Whoa, they have no love for normal equines, do they?" Hermione muttered, blinking in surprise. Remus looked at Harry, and grimaced to show that this was what he was talking about a minute ago.

"No, Centaurs do not approve of the way full equines 'allow' humans to ride them, pen them up, and otherwise put them to work." Minerva clarified. "They find it disgraceful."

"And well they should. Horses are beautiful, powerful creatures. And yet..." Hermione said. "What?" She asked when she saw their looks. "Just because I'm not... comfortable around horses anymore doesn't mean I can't appreciate their beauty." She shrugged. Maybe... maybe when this was over she could try it again.

"Of course, as lowly as Centaur's see horses and such, they have an even worse opinion of humans in general, so..." Remus cut in with a sheepish shrug.

("Do you realize who this is?")

"Me'thinks they know exactly who that is." Fred tilted his head to the side.

"Yeah, even if Hagrid hadn't introduced them earlier." George agreed.

"I think Firenze was being rhetorical." Hermione pointed out dryly. The Twins looked at her and shrugged.

"Gee, thanks, guys." Harry muttered to the Twins, not at all appreciating the reminder of his fame.

(said Firenze. "This... you been telling him?")

"Nothing." Harry said, innocent. "I hadn't even had a chance to ask yet." He shrugged.

"Whatever he does tell you, is none of their business, anyway." Ginny said hotly, sounding disgruntled. "And what is his problem right now, anyway? Sure, they don't like that Harry is on Firenze's back, but didn't you say that a Centaur would never harm a foal? And yet, Bane wants to just leave Harry there when there is somebody out there, nearby, who was willing to kill a Unicorn?" She scoffed.

Remus and Filius both frowned, confused and concerned by that. "Yeah... that's true. What is going on?" Filius muttered to himself. That wasn't right...

(growled Bane. "Remember... of the planets?")

"Whatever it is they've read is open to interpretation, and those interpretations can be wrong." Minerva said simply. That was most of her problem with Seers and anything to do with prophecies or telling the future. There was so much that was open to interpretation, and people were generally wrong. They let their experience or their own personal bias color that interpretation. She acknowledged that real Seers, and real prophecies did exist, but when people started making them say what they wanted them to say... that was where she had a problem with it.

"I thought you said..." Hermione started.

"Centaur's are the most reliable when it comes to Divination. However, even they can be wrong." Minerva said. "There is also every chance that they haven't read everything there was to read, too. And, I like to think that people can make their own fates."

"Correct, Minerva." Filius said quietly, in complete agreement. The Centaur's were willing to leave a 'foal' out to die because they saw something in the stars? Something that a Centaur himself had once told him was open to interpretation, and often those interpretations could be wrong?

"So, wait a minute, though. They would let the world burn, if it's written in the 'movements of the planets'?" Dudley asked. Talk about cold.

"They've seen that war is coming, and yet Firenze is the only one interested in making sure one of the key players for that war lives long enough to do anything." Ginny said after a moment.

"Centaur's are... very complicated sometimes." Remus said with a grimace.

(Ronan pawed the... back legs in anger.)

"Bane is very hot-tempered." Luna noted.

Hagrid grimaced. "Yes, he is. He's also the Herd Chief's son." He said, which meant that things in the Forest were going to become very interesting when the Chief died...

("For the best! What is that to do with us?)

"Besides the fact that if You-Know-Who were to take over, he would probably completely eradicate your entire way of life, if not you yourselves?" Ginny asked dryly.

(Centaurs are concerned... in our forest!")

"And we don't ask you to." Hermione sniffed, insulted.

Luna frowned. "I've never seen a Centaur act like this. His head must be full of wrackspurts." She said in concern. A few people chuckled, happy to see the return of the Luna they knew and loved. Hermione and a few others, however, looked at her like she'd grown two heads, or exasperated and long-suffering.

Sirius immediately decided that he liked her, and agreed.

(Firenze suddenly reared... to stay on.)

Harry grumbled about a lack of warning.

"Good thing you have such quick reflexes." Hermione said with a grimace. Harry nodded in agreement.

("Do you not see... on that secret?)

"Oh?" Filius murmured. "Did Firenze see something the others didn't, I wonder?"

"Probably did, either that or he was more objective in his interpretation." Minerva agreed.

(I set myself against... me if I must.")

"I like him." Sirius decided. "He doesn't let prejudices or past history get in the way of doing what needs to be done." Most of the communities had refused to join any side in the last war, saying that the affairs of humans were none of their business. If they wanted to kill each other off, that was there business, they were the ones stupid enough to try and limit magic in the first place. However, that didn't stop those communities from viciously defending their homes and families, naturally. A few even went on the offensive a few times, striking at the wizards before the wizards could strike at them.

"Yes... it is a difference." Filius said with a shrug.

(And Firenze whisked... best he could,)

"Again, a little warning would have been appreciated." Harry sighed. "It was a good thing I'd already been hanging on from when he reared." He didn't fancy falling off or anything like that. That just did not sound fun, at all.

(they plunged off... was going on.)

"That seems to be most of the time." Harry pointed out dryly. He never seemed to have any idea what was going on until the last minute, then he ended up having to scramble to survive the 'ambush'.

"It would be nice if you were to be told the full story about things before it was too late." Hermione grumbled. Honestly, take this Horcrux hunt for example. Some more information would have been very helpful. If Harry had been told about what it was the Order were guarding sooner, he might have been more prepared when he got that false vision, at least. If he'd been told about the prophecy earlier, he could have started training more, and with a final confrontation in mind.

("Why's Bane so angry?" he asked.)

"Bane... is like most Creatures anymore, and hates or distrusts wizards on principle." Remus said slowly, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

"It is a hatred and distrust bred through generations of mistreatment and being ostracized by wizards." Filius agreed.

"Most Creature communities could care less about wizards, or what wizards think of them, but when wizards actively hunt or try to control everything you do just because you're not human..." Remus sighed. Sadly, he doubted it would ever change.

"That is so wrong." Hermione muttered, angry.

("What was that... from, anyway?")

"An absolute monster." Moody growled softly. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"But just who is that monster?" Was asked.

(Firenze slowed to a... to him anymore.)

"Nah, he was probably just organizing his thoughts or trying to decide how much to tell you." Ron dismissed.

Harry scowled. "I wish people would just tell me what I need to know, and not what they think is safe for me to know." He grumbled. He hated not knowing things, especially when they affected him or his friends.

"Or maybe he wants to be sure that they're alone for whatever he needs to tell Harry." Ginny suggested, and Harry had to admit that was a possibility too.

(They were passing... blood is used for?")

"Nothing." Bill scowled. "Which is the point. It shouldn't be used for anything."

("No," said Harry... tail hair in Potions.")

"For good reason." Nearly every adult said solemnly. Severus decided not to mention the Potions he regularly created for the Dark Lord where the main ingredient was Unicorn blood.

"The horn and tail have very magical properties, as does the rest of the Unicorn, but there are some things that should not be used." Ollivander said with a shudder. He was always very careful when gathering tail hairs for his wand-craft, that he didn't pull hard enough to draw blood. Unfortunately, Unicorn tail-hair as a wand core worked best when pulled directly from the source and had certain enchantments cast immediately, otherwise the magic would 'leech out' of the hair enough that it would be useless for something like wands.

"I've seen the results of somebody who drank the blood down in the tombs, it's not pretty." Bill said with a grimace. Those that died under the curse of drinking Unicorn blood were usually horribly disfigured. All the accounts they'd found and read about it said one thing, that they'd been arrogant enough to drink such a pure substance and as a result were cursed. And he knew from other Curse-breakers that it wasn't just Egypt, they'd found such things in ancient burial sites all over the world.

"The tombs?" Remus asked, confused.

He nodded. "You would not believe how many Egyptian Pharaohs or lords thought that drinking Unicorn blood would grant them long life and prosperity. There were a few recorded times when it was even recommended by their Healer as a 'cure' for a fatal medical condition." He said in disgust. "According to the texts found, they'd heard about the 'so-called' curse, but believed that their power and 'heritage' made them immune to such things." Of course, there were some of those civilizations that had never even heard of the curse, they just knew that drinking the blood of a Unicorn kept them alive or healed their injuries at a faster rate.

"Amazing what arrogance can do to a person."

("That is because... said Firenze.)

"More than simply monstrous, it is a purely evil act." Filius said, still shaking in fury after hearing what happened with the Unicorn.

His former and current students eyed him warily, having never seen him this riled up. His Raven in the room was in complete agreement with him, though.

("Only one who has... such a crime.)

"The truly desperate." Remus said. Even he had never sunk so low that he would ever consider such a thing, but then he'd never been afraid of the idea of dying. In fact, after that Halloween, he would have welcomed it if it were not for his Cub still being out there somewhere. That short amount of time teaching Harry and Dudley had been what kept him going until Dumbledore contacted him about teaching Defense.

"There are many that would never consider it no matter how desperate." Pomona pointed out, and the others had to admit that she had a point.

(The blood of a... inch from death,)

A few were mildly impressed at how powerful a substance Unicorn blood was.

"I knew blood was powerful, but..." Hermione murmured.

"Powerful?" Dudley asked.

"Magical blood is a very powerful substance. When we say that magic flows through us, we mean it in the sense that it is in our very blood. If somebody were to get ahold of a person's blood, they could literally control them, as if they were under the Imperious, but much more powerfully. They could even control Harry, and he's known to be able to throw off the Imperious." Hermione answered.

"It could even be used to give your enemies a body back." Harry said darkly.

"Blood is not something to be taken lightly, ever. Or left lying around." Filius said. The Goblins were just lucky that the idiots that wrote up the treaty forgot to mention anything blood related, or they wouldn't be able to run inheritance tests like they needed to. Luckily for wizards, Goblins would never imagine using that blood for anything but what it was initially taken for.

"Whoa." Dudley muttered. His older self was right, there was much, much more to magic than just waving a wand and saying words. The whole culture behind it was amazing to them.

(but at a terrible... touches your lips.")

"Does he mean a shortened life-span, or a string of extremely bad luck?" Dudley asked.

"Well, the blood will save your life, and even restores health, so probably a string of bad luck." Draco reasoned.

(Harry stared at the... be that desperate?")

"Good question." Was muttered. Everyone else was confused and baffled, except for those that already knew Voldemort was responsible.

They all kept quiet, though.

(he wondered aloud... better, isn't it?")

"Yes." Was the unanimous decision in the room.

"Some think otherwise." Albus said quietly, thinking of Voldemort's severe fear of death in general.

("It is," Firenze... something else-)

A few people wondered where this was going, while a few others started to put a few pieces together.

"This isn't good." Minerva murmured. And wondered, again, why Albus thought hiding such an object in a school was a good idea.

(something that will... the Elixir of Life!)

Everyone gaped in horror. "This can't be good."

"That would not negate the curse, though." Bill frowned.

"But it would restore whoever was that desperate momentarily. Although the curse would still be a part of them, regardless." Albus countered, frowning.

"Why was such a powerful and coveted object in a school?" Molly burst out, incensed. Somebody dangerous and desperate enough to kill Unicorns was after something in the school, students were going to get hurt or killed!

"It was to be protected. Hogwarts was the only place safe enough to hide it." Albus said stubbornly, that was what he was currently telling Nicolas, after all.

"And what about the children? Are they not to be protected, too?" Molly demanded. "Putting something like that in a school full of children. That puts them in the line of fire!" She ranted.

"Molly." Arthur put a hand on her arm. "This can be discussed more later, after we find out everything that happened." He calmed her down. For now.

(But I don't understand... awaiting their chance?")

Realization rushed through the people there.

"You-Know-Who." Was muttered by everybody. They'd known already that Voldemort had been close to the school, and they knew that Voldemort was certainly enough of a monster to kill Unicorns, but...

He was right there, right in front of Harry.

"Were you alright, dear?" Molly asked, concerned.

"Fine, it was just the headache left over from my scar hurting." He dismissed.

"That Stone should never have been in the castle." Remus said this time, in complete agreement with Molly.

(It was as though... left in him to die.")

"I can safely say that he doesn't." Harry shuddered. Sirius took this as further confirmation to his theory of multiple Horcruxes, even though Snape had already confirmed it himself.

"What do you mean?" Neville asked.

Harry was silent for a few moments. "Nothing." He finally said. "I'm sure it will come up later." He looked at Dumbledore thoughtfully.

The horror in the room grew, and Molly took in a shuddered breath.

"Why does it always seem to happen to you, Harry?" Hermione sighed.

("Do you mean," Harry... you all right?")

"Did Draco finally reach them, or did they hear the commotion?" Ginny wondered, looking at the four curiously.

"We heard the screaming and came running. Hagrid tried to leave us behind, but I was too worried about Harry." Hermione said the last bit sheepishly.

"We crossed paths with Malfoy while we were running to find them." Neville supplied. "We could barely get anything out of him before Hermione took off again, and Hagrid had to scramble after her." Hermione flushed slightly.

"I was worried about my best friend!"

"That was very reckless, young lady!" Minerva scolded half-heartedly, proud of her lioness for rushing after her friend like that, even as she felt obligated to scold for the recklessness.

"Yes, professor." Hermione muttered, not at all sorry.

(Hermione was running... along behind her.)

"She runs fast." Hagrid said with a snort.

"Which is surprising for somebody who's not that athletic." Harry snorted. Hermione shrugged.

("I'm fine," said... he was saying.)

"I was going on auto-pilot, I think I was in too much shock from being told Voldemort was right in front of me." Harry tilted his head to the side in thought.

"Understandable." Neville muttered.

("The unicorn's dead... examine the unicorn.)

"I covered 'er, and marked the spot so I could go back and give 'er a proper burial." Hagrid said sadly. The Centaur's had come and they had a nice memorial service.

"Thank you, Hagrid." Luna said softly.

"Least I could do." He said gruffly.

("You are safe now."... even by centaurs.)

"Wow, a humble Centaur." Minerva said in surprise.

"Minerva." Albus scolded lightly, eyes twinkling in amusement.

"Oh, come on, you know that most Centaur's have their heads so far up their... well, their heads are so far in the clouds, they can never admit when they're wrong about something." She scoffed. "As far as their concerned, what the stars tell them is the end-all-be-all."

"Not all of them... just the ones that live in the Forbidden Forest." Filius commented in amusement.

(I hope this is one of those times.")

"Sadly, I don't think this is." Minerva said sadly.

"I wonder just what it is they saw, though..." Harry said slowly.

"I don't think we need to wonder. After all, the war is here, isn't it?" Hermione scoffed.

(He turned and... shivering behind him.)

"Hagrid gave me his coat." Harry grinned at his half-giant friend. "It's really warm." He said simply.

"Well, yeah. Not only is it made out of fur, it's also massive." Ron scoffed, grinning along with Harry. Hagrid turned a slight red.

"Thank you, Hagrid." Sirius grinned at the large man, who waved off his thoughts.

(Ron had fallen... them to return.)

"I don't think waiting up worked all that well." Fred said in amusement.

Ron flushed. "Hey, at least I tried, they were out later than I thought they would be." He protested.

"It was also a long day of classes that day, and Hermione had us in the library for as long as possible, and then in the Maze afterward when we got kicked out of the library for curfew." Harry explained, not at all surprised that Ron had ended up falling asleep while waiting up.

"Besides, I didn't see you waiting up with him." Hermione raised an eyebrow at the Twins while ignoring everything Harry said about her dragging them around from the library to the Maze.

(He shouted something... shook him awake.)

The rest of the tension in the room dissipated as everyone chuckled and Ron turned red.

"That was a good dream, too, we were winning." Ron grumbled.

"Against who?" Ginny asked, curious.

"It was a nameless, faceless team..." Ron said, slightly uncomfortable. "But we were winning! Especially since they kept fouling and getting penalized." He smirked slightly.

"So... kind of like the Slytherin's tend to do?" Ginny asked, and everybody glanced at Draco, who turned red but didn't say anything. He knew full well that Flint at least had gone more for bulk, brute strength, and cheating tactics than he had skill. Severus sighed. Unfortunately, there was only so much he could have done about the Quidditch teams tactics, except make sure Rolanda kept an extra eye out on his team.

"It wasn't the Slytherin team, though. They were just faceless players." Ron shrugged.

(In a matter of... in the forest.)

"With more than a few bits left out." Hermione glared at Harry, who swallowed and smiled sheepishly.

"That seems to be a recurring event." Remus said dryly. He knew for a fact that Harry had never told him or Sirius everything, either.

"I don't want to worry people needlessly, especially when there's nothing they can do about stuff that already happened." Harry defended himself.

"Sometimes, pup, it's best to just tell people the truth, especially if you were hurt in any way." Sirius said quietly, tugging on his ankle lightly from where he was still sitting on the floor in front of the couch. "And you," He turned to Harry, "I better not ever find out something happened and you didn't tell me everything." He warned lightly, tugging on his ankle as well. The younger boy nodded slowly, not sure how to respond to that.

(Harry couldn't sit... He was still shaking.)

"Adrenaline wearing off?" Fred suggested.

"Terror, probably, at what he just learned." George added.

"Probably a mix of the two." Fred finished.

"Are we done analyzing what was going on in my head that night?" Harry drawled. "And I'm pretty sure it was a mix." He added before the book kept going.

("Snape wants... for Voldemort...)

"I would never bring something like that to the Dark Lord." Severus immediately denied, not even wanting to comprehend the Dark Lord in possession of something like that. "Nor was I the one wanting to steal it!" He exclaimed suddenly.

(and Voldemort's... in the forest...)

A few significant looks were exchanged, but nobody said anything about that.

(and all this... to get rich...")

"If only that were the only reason somebody could be after something like that." Ginny groaned. It was bad enough a teenaged Voldemort almost came back at the end of her first year, the thought of him coming back as himself a year earlier... she was honestly terrified of the thought and glad that it clearly didn't happen.

"Indeed, humans have a habit of attempting to have those things that they really shouldn't." Albus said in agreement.

"I don't need a Stone to get rich, anyway." Severus grumbled. He was an accomplished Potions Master on top of the Prince Family fortune he'd inherited from his grandparents. When he wasn't at the school dealing with other people's brats or brewing stuff for the Hospital Wing, he was at home experimenting or brewing for St. Mungoes when they needed something that was a little too difficult for the brewers they had in their employ. That wasn't even talking about the patents he held several potions that he'd invented or improved. He was quite comfortable financially.

("Stop saying the... could hear them.)

Ron got some strange looks. "He didn't even have a body at that point."

"Not to mention, it's just a name." Harry grumbled. "It's not even a real one."

"The Taboo..." Ron started.

"Didn't even exist then." Harry reminded. Ron went to say something else, but Hermione covered both their mouths with her hand, rolling her eyes.

(Harry wasn't listening.)

"Of course he wasn't, when does he ever when he starts going?" Hermione asked rhetorically. Harry just looked at them both in betrayal when Ron nodded.

"He does have very selective hearing sometimes." Neville agreed, much to Harry's indignation and everyone else's amusement.

("Firenze saved me... coming back...)

"Hmm, you put that together rather nicely even back then." Neville commented.

"I didn't put the reference to Mars together, though, until just now." Harry denied.

"You kind of did. I mean, V-Voldemort coming back does kind of imply that the war starts back up." Hermione corrected him. Harry made a face, not quite sure what to think about that.

(Bane thinks Firenze... the stars as well.")

"I doubt that one." Remus grumbled. Sirius's hand clamped down around his boys ankles at the thought of Voldemort being allowed to kill his pup.

"I'm right here, Sirius, it didn't happen." Harry leaned down to murmur in his godfather's ear while Remus comforted a sheet-white Harry.

("Will you stop... name!" Ron hissed.)

"It's just a name." Harry grumbled, annoyed with people's reactions to him simply saying a name.

"A name that currently has a Gaes spell on it." Ron retorted.

"Not here, and not then." Harry shot back.

"Alright!" Hermione intervened, again. "You two have been arguing about this for years, I have gotten rather tired of it." She glared both boys into submission.

"Wow. She is used to breaking up that argument." Draco muttered, looking at the Trio speculatively.

"You have no idea." Neville snorted. Although, he was pretty sure that Harry had the most experience with breaking up Ron and Hermione's arguments, either that or he ignored them altogether. Unless, of course, he felt like it was getting out of hand, then it was suddenly as though he'd been paying attention the whole time instead of ignoring them.

Come to think of it, all of Gryffindor was used to tuning them out when they started going at it...

("So all I've got... Bane'll be happy.")

"You really need to stop talking about your death so casually." Remus frowned at Harry, to everyone else's agreement.

Harry grumbled about nothing.

"He's not so bad about it, anymore." Ron helpfully informed the rest of the room. He hadn't even noticed it at the time, but now that he thought back, he could easily pick out every time Harry spoke so casually about himself dying.

"No... I think we've finally started to get through to him that there are people who care about him. He didn't have anybody to care before that if something happened to him." Hermione said thoughtfully, and Harry glared when he felt Sirius and Remus stiffen beside him.

(Hermione looked very... Who won't touch you.)

"I'm more concerned about when he isn't around." Sirius said suddenly, and everyone could tell that he still hadn't forgiven the old man for his sticky fingers in regards to Harry's inheritance, or for leaving Harry with the Dursley's in the first place. But, he could readily admit that Dumbledore was a powerful old man. "After all, he holds three positions and is often called away by the Ministry at least for business." Even back during the war when he wasn't Chief Warlock, he was always being called away to the Ministry for something or other.

"He does seem to not be around quite a bit whenever something happens." Harry muttered, and Minerva pursed her lips.

Now that he mentioned it... yeah. He was gone a lot right when something bad happened that Harry happened to be right in the middle of.

(Anyway, who says... telling to me,)

"Fortune-telling?" Neville asked.

Hermione hesitated. "It's... kind of like the Muggle version of Divination. Unless the person doing it is actually a witch or wizard, though, then you can bet that the whole thing is fake, but..." Hermione shrugged.

"I think it's mostly a tourist thing, but there are some Muggles who take that kind of thing very seriously. For the most part, though, nobody really believes any of it." Harry agreed.

"They use a lot of the typical... props that a Seer would use, though. Crystal balls, palm reading, etc. I think most of that was passed down from before the Statute of Secrecy, though, from what the Muggles saw of the Seers that were employed by the Lords and Ladies of the courts." Hermione continued.

"Most of how Muggles see magic today comes from what they saw of it back before the Statute of Secrecy." Harry agreed. "And of course, the stories became garbled over time and with the help of misinformation by the magicals as needed."

(and Professor McGonagall... branch of magic.")

"Very imprecise." Minerva agreed with herself.

"When were you asking Professor McGonagall about fortune-telling?" Harry asked, confused.

Hermione turned red. "I believe it was during my initial visit to her house, if I remember correctly. She had... a great many questions about the things the Muggles see as magic versus how magic really is." Minerva said, amused while everyone else chuckled at Hermione's typical curiosity. She left out how she immediately warned the other teachers the moment she returned to the school after scheduling a date with the Grangers to return and take them to Diagon Alley.

"That sounds like Hermione." Harry said, amused.

"Oh, shut up." Hermione grumbled.

(The sky had... their throats sore.)

"Oh dear, you shouldn't have stayed up so late, you need your sleep." Molly fretted.

"You didn't have classes the next morning, did you?" Remus asked, concerned about that part. He wasn't worried about the lack of sleep, they were pre-teens. Staying up late when they had a chance to was to be expected. Although he was surprised at Hermione for doing that.

"No, it was Friday night... well, I suppose Saturday morning now." Harry answered after a moment of trying to remember just what day this was.

(But the night's surprises weren't over.)

Everyone frowned in confusion. What was that supposed to mean?

(When Harry pulled... underneath them.)

There was silence in the room for a bit. "Who-" Molly started to ask, confused and surprised.

"How did that get there?"

"I knew Harry got it back eventually, but I wasn't expecting it this soon." The Twins commented. Harry shrugged, he'd been just as shocked as everyone else when he saw it there.

Then Fred had a sudden thought. "Hey, we could all the Invisibility Cloaks we want while we're here..." He mentally told his Twin, a skill they'd picked up and perfected over the years. Of course, being Magical Twins helped.

Mentally, George smirked. "Let's wait until we're alone, no need to alert the others." He suggested, to his Twins agreement.

(There was a note pinned to it:

Just in case.)

"'Just in case'? Just in case of what?" Sirius asked suspiciously.

"Well, he is Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. Having something like that would come in handy if he needed to get away quickly without being seen." Remus said hesitantly. Harry had carried it on him constantly starting after the Third Task just for that reason. But, for him to just be getting it back like this...

"But... there's no reason for him to need to carry it around like that. Not at this point in the books, at least not while he's at Hogwarts." Molly said, concerned. A few people looked at her incredulously. He was Harry Potter, he should have probably started keeping it on him way back when he first came to Hogwarts, certainly since he got it at Yule.

"Only a teacher could have arranged for that to be returned. And there is only one who knew he had it." Moody grunted. He'd recognized the description of the handwriting on the note during the Christmas scene. He absently wondered if he was the only one who found the timing of it all to be more than a little suspicious.

Severus shot Dumbledore a glare. "Giving something like that to an eleven year old is very irresponsible." He said. "No matter the reasons, especially if a conversation about responsibility with it has not yet happened."

"He's a responsible young man, I'm sure whoever gave it to him trusts him to be responsible enough with it." Albus said mildly.

"Hem-hem." Ginny cleared her throat, sounding so much like Umbridge that all those who endured the year with her looked around frantically, terrified that she was there. When they saw she wasn't, they all turned to glare at Ginny. (Their reaction drew some suspicious looks from the adults and teachers). "How about we keep reading instead of debating how mature and responsible Harry is or isn't."

When nobody had any objections to that, Filius restarted the charm on the book.

Chapter Sixteen: Through the Trapdoor