Another Potter

fourteen

chapter fourteen
the philosophers stone

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There was suddenly a sound of more galloping from the other side of the clearing. Ronan and Bane came bursting through the trees, their flanks heaving and sweaty.

"Firenze!" Bane thundered. "What are you doing? You have a human on your back! Have you no shame? Are you a common mule?"

"Do you realize who this is?" said Firenze. "This is the Potter girl. The quicker she leaves this forest, the better."

"What have you been telling her?" growled Bane. "Remember, Firenze, we are sworn not to set ourselves against the heavens. Have we not read what is to come in the movements of the planets?" Ronan pawed the ground nervously. 

"I'm sure Firenze thought he was acting for the best," he said in his gloomy voice.

Bane kicked his back legs in anger.

"For the best! What is that to do with us? Centaurs are concerned with what has been foretold! It is not our business to run around like donkeys after stray humans in our forest!"

Firenze suddenly reared on to his hind legs in anger, so that Amelia had to grab his shoulders to stay on.

"Do you not see that unicorn?" Firenze bellowed at Bane. "Do you not understand why it was killed? Or have the planets not let you in on that secret? I set myself against what is lurking in this forest, Bane, yes, with humans alongside me if I must."

And Firenze whisked around, with Amelia clutching on as best she could, they plunged off into the trees, leaving Ronan and Bane behind them. Amelia didn't have a clue what was going on.

"Why's Bane so angry?" she asked. "What was that thing you saved me from, anyway?"

Firenze slowed to a walk, warned Amelia to keep her head bowed in case of low-hanging branches, but did not answer Amelia's question. They made their way through the trees in silence for so long that Amelia thought Firenze didn't want to talk to her anymore. They were passing through a particularly dense patch of trees, however, when Firenze suddenly stopped.

"Amelia Potter, do you know what unicorn blood is used for?"

"The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive," Amelia said, "even if you are an inch from death."

"Exactly," Firenze said, " it is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn. Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime. You have slain something pure and defenceless to save yourself, and you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips."

"But who'd be that desperate?" Amelia asked. "If you're going to be cursed forever, death's better, isn't it?"

"It is," Firenze agreed, "unless all you need is to stay alive long enough to drink something else. Something that will bring you back to full strength and power, something that will mean you can never die. Miss. Potter, do you know what is hidden in the school at this very moment?"

"The Philosopher's Stone!" Amelia said, "of course, the Elixir of Life!"

"Can you think of anybody who has waited many years to return to power, who has clung to life, awaiting their chance?"

It was as though an iron fist had clenched suddenly around Amelia's heart. Over the rustling of the trees, she seemed to hear once more what Hagrid had told her on the night they had met: "Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die."