The girl with golden hair (Harry Potter fanfic)

Chapter 1.15 (The detention with centaurs)

The figure had either managed to darken itself, or it had travelled far away in a matter of seconds. Both options weren't very plausible.

Three minutes later, Hagrid came out of the dark. "What's goin' on? Are yeh hurt?"

"No, we're fine. Draco, here, thought it was funny to create a racket by scaring Neville. He sent the red sparks into the air." Artemis rolled her eyes. "But Hagrid, we heard something strange a few minutes ago. A sort of rustling, it was not like anything the creatures in here could have caused."

"We heard ter same." Hagrid nodded, still fuming as he held Draco by the back of his neck. He made them follow him back to the others and re-grouped. "Neville, you stay with me an' Hermione. Harry, Ara, you go with Fang an' this idiot. I'm sorry," he added to Harry and Artemis in a whisper. "But he'll have a harder time frightenin' you, an' we've gotta get this done."

They walked for nearly half an hour, deeper and deeper into the Forest, until the path became almost impossible to follow because the trees were so thick.

"Ouch!" Artemis complained. Her hair got stuck around the branch of a large tree. There was something sticky on it so she couldn't move. "Can someone help me?" The boys hurried forward, pushing each other out of the way. "Today, please." Artemis rolled her eyes.

Her golden hair and silver eyes seemed to be glowing in the dark, which, Harry thought, made her look like an angel in the dark forest. He gently untangled her hair from the branch and she smiled at him. He stood frozen to his spot, blinking. Draco noticed and slapped the back of his head quite forcefully. "Stay away from my cousin, Potter!" He hissed.

"The blood seems to be getting thicker." Harry cleared his throat, looking away from Artemis. There were splashes on the roots of a tree, as though the poor creature had been thrashing in pain close by. "There's a clearing ahead. Maybe...look..." he held out his arm to stop the others from moving.

Something bright white was gleaming on the ground. They inched closer. It was the unicorn and it was dead. Artemis gasped. She had never seen something so beautiful yet so sad. Its long, slender legs were stuck out at odd angles where it had fallen and its mane was spread pearly-white on the dark leaves.

Harry took a step forward but the familiar slithering sound made him freeze where he stood. A bush on the edge of the clearing quivered...Then, out of the shadows, a hooded figure came crawling across the grounds like some stalking beast. The cloaked figure reached the unicorn, lowered its head over the wound in the animals side and began to drink its blood.

"AAAAAARGH!" Draco let out a terrible scream and bolted. Artemis would've been angry that he just left her there, if she hadn't been so scared herself. Fang also disappeared and the hooded figure raised its head and looked straight at the two of them. Unicorn blood was dribbling down its front. It got to its feet and came swiftly towards them.

Suddenly, Harry staggered backwards, his eyes shut tightly and his hand was clutching his forehead. Artemis heard hooves behind them, galloping, and something jumped over them, charging at the figure.

Harry fell to his knees and Artemis fell down beside him trying to somehow take the pain away as the creature took care of the hooded figure. "Harry, Harry! Can you hear me?" She wrapped her arms around him, holding his head as he screamed into her shoulder. After about two minutes he finally looked up at her. His normally electric emerald green eyes were a dark obsidian as the pain slowly faded away.

When Artemis looked up she noticed a centaur standing over them. He had white-blonde hair and a palomino body. "Are you all right?" Asked the centaur, helping them to their feet.

"Yes...thank you...what was that?" The centaur didn't answer Harry's question. He had astonishingly blue eyes, like pale sapphires. He looked carefully at Harry, his eyes lingering on the scar that stood out, burning red, on Harry's forehead. Artemis noticed it was a much darker red than usual, because normally it was just a bit pinkish. The pain must have come from there.