Harry Potter and the Twin Sister

Chapter 15 - The Forbidden Forest

If Harry and Annie could list all of the worse things that could possibly happen to them at Hogwarts, this would be one of them. Filch took them down to Professor McGonagall's classroom where Hermione stood there trembling with fear in front of McGonagall's desk and Ron looked down and knew what was gonna happened to them, expulsion. Harry and Annie tried to come up with any excuse, alibi, or cover-up story to help them get through this, but not one was suitable enough for McGonagall to change her mind if it came down it. Nothing of them could see way out this time. How could they have been so stupid to forget the invisibility cloak? But things took a turn for the worse when Malfoy, who was all smiles and gloating, showed up. "I told you I wasn't making it up!" said Malfoy. "They were hiding a drag -" "That will do, Mr. Malfoy!" said McGonagall. "But that doesn't mean you will not deserve detention." "But you said..." said Malfoy. "Enough!!" said McGonagall. Malfoy went silent and his smile vanished. "Nothing," said McGonagall. "I repeat, nothing gives a student the right to walk about the school at night. And nothing, absolutely nothing gives a student the right to hide a dragon on the school grounds." "But, Professor," said Annie. "The dragon was Hagrid's. We were only trying to help." "Silence!" said McGonagall. "It was Hagrid's responsibility, not yours. If he had a problem with the dragon, then he should've gone straight to Dumbledore. Now, as for your punishment for your actions, 50 points will be taken. Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Annie were outraged by this outcome. "50?!" said Harry. "Each," continued McGonagall, "And to ensure it doesn't happen again, Mr. Malfoy will be joining you four in detention." "But, Professor..." said Malfoy. "No buts about it, Mr. Malfoy!!" said McGonagall. "You will pay the consequences equally as the rest of the students. And, as honorable as your intentions were, you were out of bed after hours again! Therefore, you will serve detention with your classmates. Now, hand over wands. You won't be needing them for detention." Professor McGonagall confiscated their wands before heading out with Filch.

Outside the castle, the moon was bright, but the clouds slightly covered it. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Annie, and Draco were all led out by Mr. Filch to Hagrid's hut. On the walk down, Filch said, "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." Annie looked over at Harry and gulped."You'll be serving detention with Hagrid tonight," Filch continued. "He's got a little job to do inside the dark forest." Hagrid came out of his hut with his crossbow in his hand and sniffled obviously still upset over releasing Norbert to Charlie's friends. "A sorry lot this, Hagrid," said Filch. "Oh, good God, man, you're not still on about that bloody dragon, are you?" Hagrid did say a word, but the tears came once again. "Oh, for God's sake," said Filch. "Pull yourself together, man. You're going into the forest, after all. Got to have your wits about you." "The forest?" said Malfoy. "I thought that was joke! We can't go in there. Students aren't allowed. And there are..." At that moment, everyone heard a howl in the distance. "Werewolves!" said Malfoy. "Werewolves?!" said Annie. "There's more than werewolves in those trees, lad" said Filch. "You can be sure that. Nighty-night." Filch left them all terrified with Hagrid. "Right. Let's go," said Hagrid. Everyone followed behind Hagrid to the edge of the forest except Annie who stood there frozen in fear. Harry turned around and said, "What's wrong?" "I'm not going in there," said Annie. "Come on," said Harry. "We need to get this over with. Otherwise, we'll be expelled for sure." But Annie couldn't move. She'd rather be expelled than to go into the Forbidden Forest and be eaten alive by werewolves or worse... turn into one. "Look," said Harry. "I'm scared as much as you are. But you need to try to be brave. Just for one night, okay? I'm gonna be right here." Annie nodded and followed behind Harry hold his hand.

The forest was black and really quiet. Holding his lamp up high, Hagrid pointed down a narrow, winding earth track that disappeared into the thick black trees. As they got deeper and deeper into the forest, the sound of howls got worse and Annie squeezed Harry's arm tighter with every noise made. Then, Hagrid stopped, bent down, and dipped his fingers in a silver puddle. He pulled out his fingers out of the puddle and rubbed them together. "Hagrid," said Harry. "What's that?" "What we're here for," said Hagrid, "See that?" he said showing them the silver liquid. "That's unicorn's blood, that is." "Unicorn blood?" said Annie. "There's unicorns here?" "Yes," said Hagrid. "I found one dead a few week ago. Now, this one's been injured bad by something." Suddenly, Harry noticed a large cloaked figure walking through the trees. "Harry, what is it?" whispered Annie. Everyone went completely quiet. "Nothing," Harry lied trying not to scare Annie more than she was. He looked back at Hagrid. "So, it's our job to find the poor beast. Hermione, Annie you'll come with me." "No!" said Annie, "I'm not leaving without Harry!" "What's the matter?" said Malfoy sarcastically. "Scared of the dark?" "Shut up, Malfoy!" said Harry. "Fine," said Hagrid. "Hermione, Ron, you'll come with me." "Okay," said Ron weakly. Harry, Annie, you'll go with Malfoy," said Hagrid. Draco grimaced and Harry nodded, but Annie glared at Draco. "Okay," said Malfoy. "Then I get Fang!" "Fine," said Hagrid, "Just so you know, he's a bloody coward." Fang whined as he looked at them innocently.