Ella Potter: Harry Potter Story

Chapter 9 - Philosopher's Stone

 The next night, we all had detention. Mr Filch guided Eric, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Malfoy and me outside toward Hagrid's hut as he spoke,

"A pity they let the old punishments die. There was a time detention would find you hanging by your thumbs in the dungeons. God, I miss the screaming."

I heard Malfoy gulp as he walked beside me. "You'll be serving detention with Hagrid tonight. He's got a little job to do inside the dark forest," Filch explained as we came up to see Hagrid near a fire with a crossbow in his hand. "A sorry lot this, Hagrid."

Hagrid merely sniffed, catching Filch's attention, "Oh, good God, man, you're not still on about that bloody dragon, are you?"

Hagrid sniffed again and sighed before turning to explain to us,

"Norbert's gone. Dumbledore sent him off to Romania to live in a colony."

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Hermione asked, and I added softly,

"He'll be with his own kind."

"Yeah, but what if he don't like Romania?" Hagrid asked, clearly quite upset as Filch rolled his eyes. "What if the other dragons are mean to him? He's only a baby, after all."

I frowned, sad that Hagrid didn't get to keep his dragon.

"Oh, for God's sake, pull yourself together, man," Filch reprimanded, "You're going into the forest, after all. Got to have your wits about you."

Malfoy whipped his head in Filch's direction with a worried expression,

"The forest? I thought that was a joke! We can't go in there. Students aren't allowed. And there are..."

Malfoy stopped talking as a howl could be heard from the forest. "... werewolves!"

"There's more than werewolves in those trees, lad. You can be sure of that."

Malfoy looked frightened, and I couldn't help but agree with him on this. "Nighty-night," Filch smirked before leaving the six of us with Hagrid.

"Right. Let's go," Hagrid nodded, turning to lead the way with Fang beside him. I didn't move right away, terrified of what could be in the forest. Harry must have noticed my hesitation and took my hand in his before lightly pulling me with him after Hagrid and the others. All of us walked deeper into the forest, walking on a path. As we got deeper into the forest, we continued along the path to a tree. Eventually, Hagrid stopped and bent down to dip his fingers in what looked like a silver puddle. Hagrid pulled his fingers out and rubbed them together before standing again.

"Hagrid, what is that?" I asked, my voice a bit shaky.

"What we're here for," Hagrid explained, looking down at me before showing us the stuff on his fingers from the puddle, "See that? That's unicorn's blood, that is."

All of our eyes went wide in surprise as Hagrid continued, "I found one dead a few weeks ago. Now, this one's been injured badly by something."

Suddenly, there was a rustling noise, causing me and Harry to look and see a large cloaked figure walking through the trees. I squeezed my brother's hand as we looked back at Hagrid, who followed our line of sight before turning back to us, "So, it's our job to find the poor beast. Ron, Hermione, Eric, you'll come with me."

"Okay," Ron let out weakly, so I took his hand to give it a comforting squeeze before letting it go.

"And Harry and Ella, you'll go with Malfoy."

Harry and I gave each other small looks of discontent before nodding simultaneously.

"Okay. Then I get Fang!" Malfoy demanded, causing me to roll my eyes as Hagrid answered the blond boy,