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𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟕: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭
Things couldn't have been worse. Filch took us down to Professor McGonagall's study on the first floor, where we sat and waited without saying a word to each other. Hermione was trembling. We were cornered. How could we have been so stupid as to forget the cloak? There was no reason on earth that ProfessorMcGonagall would accept for being out of bed and creeping around the school in the dead of night, let alone being up the tallest astronomy tower, which was out-of-bounds except for classes.
Add Norbert and the invisibility cloak, and we might as well be packing our bags already. Can anything get worse? Oh yes.
When ProfessorMcGonagall appeared, she was leading Neville.
"Harry!" Neville burst out, the moment he saw us. "I was trying to find you to warn you, I heard Malfoy saying he was going to catch you, he said you had a drag—"
Harry shook his head violently to shut Neville up, but Professor McGonagall had seen. She looked more likely to breathe fire than Norbert as she towered over the three of them.
"I would never have believed it of any of you. Mr. Filch says you were up in the astronomy tower. It's one o'clock in the morning. Explain yourselves."
It was the first time Hermione had ever failed to answer a teacher's question. She was staring at her slippers, as still as a statue.
"I think I've got a good idea of what's been going on," said Professor McGonagall. "It doesn't take a genius to work it out. You fed Draco Malfoy some cock-and-bull story about a dragon, trying to get him out of bed and into trouble. I've already caught him. I suppose you think it's funny that Longbottom here heard the story and believed it, too?"
Harry caught Neville's eye and tried to tell him without words that this wasn't true because Neville was looking stunned and hurt. Poor, blundering Neville — I knew what it must have cost him to try and find them in the dark, to warn them.
"I'm disgusted," said Professor McGonagall. "Four students out of bed in one night! I've never heard of such a thing before! You, Miss Granger, I thought you had more sense. As for you, Mr.Potter, I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than this. All three of you will receive detentions— yes, you too, Mr. Longbottom, nothing gives you the right to walk around school at night, especially these days, it's very dangerous — and you, Miss Dursley!" She shot at me. "What on earth were you thinking going after your cousin like that? Don't you understand that sometimes you have to make hard choices?"
I was stuck with silence. All these years... I always thought of Harry as my other self — a best friend who knew everything about me ... I went along with his plans... I rescued him a couple of times... and now Professor McGonagall wants me to make hard choices and go along with my plans sometimes.
"And fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor."
"Fifty?" Harry gasped — we would lose the lead, the lead Harry had won in the last Quidditch match.
"Fifty points each," said Professor McGonagall, breathing heavily through her long, pointed nose.
"Professor — please —"
"You can't —"
"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Potter. Now get back to bed, all of you. I've never been more ashamed of Gryffindor students."
Two hundred points were lost. That put Gryffindor in last place. In one night, we had ruined any chance Gryffindor had had for the house cup.
That night I didn't sleep at all. I could hear Hermione muttering all through the night. Why did I have to do this? I could have just not. This was all my fault. If I hadn't been at Hogwarts at all, this would have never happened.
From being one of the most popular and admired people at the school, Harry was suddenly the most hated. Even Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs turned on him because everyone had been longing to see Slytherin lose the house cup. Everywhere Harry went, people, pointed and didn't trouble to lower their voices as they insulted him. Slytherins, on the other hand, clapped as he walked past them, whistling and cheering, "Thanks Potter, we owe you one!"
Only Ron stood by him.
"They'll all forget this in a few weeks. Fred and George have lost loads of points in all the time they've been here, and people still like them."
"They've never lost a hundred and fifty points in one go, though, have they?" said Harry miserably.
"Well — no," Ron admitted.
He felt so ashamed of himself that he went to Wood and offered to resign from the Quidditch team.
"Resign?" Wood thundered. "What good'll that do? How are we going to get any points back if we can't win at Quidditch?"
But even Quidditch had lost its fun. The rest of the team wouldn't speak to Harry during practice, and if they had to speak about him, they called him "the Seeker." Hermione, Neville, and I were suffering, too. We didn't have as bad a time as Harry, because we weren't as well-known, but nobody would speak to them, either.
Hermione had stopped drawing attention to herself in class, keeping her head down, and working in silence. He, Ron, Hermione, and I kept to themselves, working late into the night, trying to remember the ingredients in complicated potions, learn charms and spells by heart, memorize the dates of magical discoveries and goblin rebellions...
Then, about a week before the exams were due to start, we were walking back from the library one afternoon when Harry and I heard somebody whimpering from a classroom up ahead. As we drew closer, we heard Quirrell's voice.
"No — no — not again, please —"
It sounded as though someone was threatening him. We moved closer.
"All right — all right —" we heard Quirrell sob.
The next second, Quirrell came hurrying out of the classroom straightening his turban. He was pale and looked as though he was about to cry. He strode out of sight; I didn't think Quirrell had even noticed us. We waited until Quirrell's footsteps had disappeared, then peered into the classroom. It was empty, but a door stood ajar at the other end. Harry was halfway toward it before I made him remembered what he'd promised himself about not meddling.
All the same, he'd have gambled twelve Sorcerer's Stones that Snape had just left the room, and from what we had just heard, Snape would be walking with a new spring in his step —Quirrell seemed to have given in at last.
We went back to the library, where Hermione was testing Ron on Astronomy. Harry told them what he'd heard.
"Snape's done it, then!" said Ron. "If Quirrell's told him how to break his Anti-Dark Force spell—"
"There's still Fluffy, though," said Hermione.
"Maybe Snape's found out how to get past him without asking Hagrid," said Ron, looking up at the thousands of books surrounding them. "I bet there's a book somewhere in here telling you how to get past a giant three-headed dog. So what do we do, Harry?"
The light of adventure was kindling again in Ron's eyes, but Hermione answered before Harry or I could.
"Go to Dumbledore. That's what we should have done ages ago. If we try anything ourselves we'll be thrown out for sure."
"But we've got no proof!" said Harry. "Quirrell's too scared to back us up. Snape's only got to say he doesn't know how the troll got in at Halloween and that he was nowhere near the third floor — who do you think they'll believe him or us? It's not exactly a secret we hate him, Dumbledore'll think we made it up to get him sacked. Filch wouldn't help us if his life depended on it, he's too friendly with Snape, and the more students get thrown out, the better, he'll think. And don't forget, we're not supposed to know about the Stone or Fluffy. That'll take a lot of explaining."
Hermione and I looked convinced, but Ron didn't.
"If we just do a bit of poking around —"
"No," said Harry flatly, "we've done enough poking around."
He pulled a map of Jupiter toward him and started to learn the names of its moons. The following morning, notes were delivered to Harry, Hermione, Neville, and me at the breakfast table. They were all the same:
Your detention will take place at eleven o'clock tonight. Meet Mr. Filch in the entrance hall -
Professor McGonagall
I had forgotten we still had detentions to do in the furor over the points we'd lost. I half expected Hermione to complain that this was a whole night of studying lost, but she didn't say a word. Like me, she felt they deserved what we'd got.
At eleven o'clock that night, we said goodbye to Ron in the common room and went down to the entrance hall with Neville. Filch was already there — and so was Malfoy. I had also forgotten that Malfoy had gotten a detention, too.
"Follow me," said Filch, lighting a lamp and leading them outside. "I bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh?" he said, leering at them. "Oh yes... hard work and pain are the best teachers if you ask me... It's just a pity they let the old punishments die out... hang you by your wrists from the ceiling for a few days, I've got the chains still in my office, keep 'em well oiled in case they're ever needed... Right, off we go, and don't think of running off, now, it'll be worse for you if you do."
We marched off across the dark grounds. Neville kept sniffing. I wondered what our punishment was going to be. It must be something really horrible, or Filch wouldn't be sounding so delighted. The moon was bright, but clouds scudding across it kept throwing them into darkness. Ahead,I could see the lighted windows of Hagrid's hut. Then we heard a distant shout.
"Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started."
My heart rose; if we were going to be working with Hagrid it wouldn't be so bad. My relief must have shown in my face, because Filch said, "I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that oaf? Well, think again, girl — it's into the forest you're going and I'm much mistaken if you'll all come out in one piece."
At this, Neville let out a little moan, and Malfoy stopped dead in his tracks.
"The forest?" he repeated, and he didn't sound quite as cool as usual. "We can't go in there at night — there's all sorts of things in there — werewolves, I heard."
Neville clutched the sleeve of Harry's robe and made a choking noise.
"W-werewolves?" I stammered, taking a step back. "This can't be detention —"
"That's your problem, isn't it?" said Filch, his voice cracking with glee. "Should've thought of them werewolves before you got in trouble, shouldn't you?"
Hagrid came striding toward us out of the dark, Fang at his heel. He was carrying his large crossbow and a quiver of arrows hung over his shoulder.
"Abou' time," he said. "I bin waitin' fer half an hour already. All right, Harry, Hermione, and Diane?"
"I shouldn't be too friendly to them, Hagrid," said Filch coldly, "they're here to be punished, after all."
"That's why yer late, is it?" said Hagrid, frowning at Filch. "Bin lecturin' them, eh? 'S not your place ter do that. Yeh've done yer bit, I'll take over from here."
"I'll be back at dawn," said Filch, "for what's left of them," he added hastily, and he turned and started back toward the castle, his lamp bobbing away in the darkness.
Malfoy now turned to Hagrid. "I'm not going in that forest," he said, and I was pleased to hear the note of panic in his voice.
"Yeh is if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts," said Hagrid fiercely. "Yeh've done wrong an' now yeh've got ter pay fer it."
"But this is servant stuff, it's not for students to do. I thought we'd be copying lines or something, if my father knew I was doing this, he'd—"
"—tell yer that's how it is at Hogwarts," Hagrid growled. "Copyin' lines! What good's that anyone? Yeh'll do summat useful or yeh'll get out. If yeh think yer father'd rather you were expelled, then get back off ter the castle an' pack. Go on."
Malfoy didn't move. He looked at Hagrid furiously but then dropped his gaze.
"Right then," said Hagrid, "now, listen carefully, 'cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, an' I don' want no one takin' risks. Follow me over here a moment."
He led us to the very edge of the forest. Holding his lamp up high, he pointed down a narrow, winding earth track that disappeared into the thick black trees. A light breeze lifted our hair as we looked into the forest.
"Look there," said Hagrid, "see that stuff shinin' on the ground? Silvery stuff? That's unicorn blood. There's a unicorn in their bin hurt badly by summat. This is the second time in a week. I found one dead last Wednesday. We're gonna try an' find the poor thing. We might have ter put it out of its misery."
"And what if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first?" said Malfoy, unable to keep the fear out of his voice.
"There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang," said Hagrid. "An' keep ter the path. Right, now, we're gonna split inter two parties an' follow the trail in diff'rent directions. There's blood all over the place, it must've bin staggerin' around since last night at least."
"I want Fang," said Malfoy quickly, looking at Fang's long teeth.
"All right, but I warn yeh, he's a coward," said Hagrid. "So me, Harry, an' Hermione'll go oneway an' Draco, Neville, an' Fang'll go the other."
"No," I said.
Hagrid raised his eyebrows.
"Please, Hagrid, I can't," I said, tears now filling my eyes. "Please, can I come with you?"
"That much of a coward are you, Dursley?" Malfoy sneered.
"Shut it," I hissed.
"Diane," Harry said patting my shoulder. "You'll be okay."
"I don't want her," Malfoy said.
"Okay, okay! Diane, yeh're with us. Now, if any of us finds the unicorn, we'll send up green sparks, right? Get yer wands out an' practice now — that's it — an' if anyone gets in trouble, send up red sparks, an' we'll all come an' find yeh — so, be careful — let's go," Hagrid said.
The forest was black and silent. A little way into it we reached a fork in the earth path, and Harry, Hermione, Hagrid, and I took the left path while Malfoy, Neville, and Fang took the right.
We walked in silence, our eyes on the ground. Every now and then a ray of moonlight through the branches above lit a spot of silver-blue blood on the fallen leaves. I saw that Hagrid looked very worried.
"Could a werewolf be killing the unicorns?" Harry asked.
I shivered.
"Not fast enough," said Hagrid. "It's not easy ter catch a unicorn, they're powerful magic creatures. I never knew one ter to be hurt before."
We walked past a mossy tree stump. I could hear running water; there must be a stream somewhere close by. There were still spots of unicorn blood here and there along the winding path.
"You all right, Hermione?" Hagrid whispered. "Don' worry, it can't've gone far if it's this badly hurt, an' then we'll be able ter — GET BEHIND THAT TREE!"
Hagrid seized Harry, Hermione, and me and hoisted us off the path behind a towering oak. He pulled out an arrow and fitted it into his crossbow, raising it, ready to fire. The four of us listened. Something was slithering over dead leaves nearby: it sounded like a cloak trailing along the ground. Hagrid was squinting up the dark path, but after a few seconds, the sound faded away.
"I knew it," he murmured. "There's summat in here that shouldn' be."
"A werewolf?" Harry suggested.
"That wasn' no werewolf an' it wasn' no unicorn, neither," said Hagrid grimly. "Right, follow me, but careful, now."
We walked more slowly, ears straining for the faintest sound. Suddenly, in a clearing ahead, something definitely moved.
"Who's there?" Hagrid called. "Show yourself — I'm armed!"
And into the clearing came — was it a man, or a horse? To the waist, a man, with red hair and beard, but below that was a horse's gleaming chestnut body with a long, reddish tail. Harry and Hermione's jaws dropped and I gripped my wand.
"Oh, it's you, Ronan," said Hagrid in relief. "How are yeh?" He walked forward and shook the centaur's hand.
"How are you?" I hissed. "What is he?"
"Good evening to you, Hagrid," said Ronan. He had a deep, sorrowful voice. "Were you going to shoot me?"
"Can't be too careful, Ronan," said Hagrid, patting his crossbow. "There's summat bad loose in this forest. This is Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Diane Dursley, by the way. Students up at the school. An' this is Ronan, you two. He's a centaur."
"We'd noticed," said Hermione faintly.
"Good evening," said Ronan. "Students, are you? And do you learn much, up at the school?"
"Erm —"
"A bit," said Hermione timidly.
"A bit. Well, that's something." Ronan sighed. He flung back his head and stared at the sky."Mars is bright tonight."
"Yeah," said Hagrid, glancing up, too. "Listen, I'm glad we've run inter yeh, Ronan, 'cause there's a unicorn bin hurt — you saw anythin'?"
Ronan didn't answer immediately. He stared unblinkingly upward, then sighed again. "Always the innocent are the first victims," he said. "So it has been for ages past, so it is now."
"Yeah," said Hagrid, "but have yeh seen anythin', Ronan? Anythin' unusual?"
"Mars is bright tonight," Ronan repeated, while Hagrid watched him impatiently. "Unusuallybright."
"Yeah, but I was meanin' anythin' unusual a bit nearer home," said Hagrid. "So yeh haven't noticed anythin' strange?"
Yet again, Ronan took a while to answer. At last, he said, "The forest hides many secrets."
A movement in the trees behind Ronan made Hagrid raise his bow again, but it was only a second centaur, black-haired and - bodied and wilder-looking than Ronan.
"Hullo, Bane," said Hagrid. "All right?"
"Good evening, Hagrid, I hope you are well?"
"Well enough. Look, I've jus' bin askin' Ronan, you saw anythin' odd in here lately? There's a unicorn bin injured — would yeh know anythin' about it?"
Bane walked over to stand next to Ronan. He looked skyward. "Mars is bright tonight," he said simply.
"Damn," I whispered. "Anything else?"
"We've heard," said Hagrid grumpily. "Well, if either of you does see anythin', let me know,won't yeh? We'll be off, then."
Harry, Hermione, and I followed him out of the clearing, staring over our shoulders at Ronan andBane until the trees blocked their view.
"Never," said Hagrid irritably, "try an' get a straight answer out of a centaur. Ruddy stargazers.Not interested in anythin' closer'n the moon."
"Are there many of them in here?" asked Hermione.
"Oh, a fair few... Keep themselves to themselves mostly, but they're good enough about turnin' up if ever I want a word. They're deep, mind, centaurs... they know things... jus' don' let on much."
"D'you think that was a centaur we heard earlier?" said Harry.
"Did that sound like hooves to you? Nah, if yeh ask me, that was what's bin killin' the unicorns –never heard anythin' like it before."
We walked on through the dense, dark trees. Harry kept looking nervously over his shoulder.
"You okay?" I asked.
"I feel like we're being watched," Harry whispered to me and Hermione.
At once, we both looked behind. No one was there.
I was very glad we had Hagrid and his crossbow with us. We had just passed a bend in the path when Hermione grabbed Hagrid'sarm.
"Hagrid! Look! Red sparks, the others are in trouble!"
"You two wait here!" Hagrid shouted. "Stay on the path, I'll come back for yeh!"
We heard him crashing away through the undergrowth and stood looking at each other, very scared, until they couldn't hear anything but the rustling of leaves around them.
"You don't think they've been hurt, do you?" whispered Hermione.
"I don't care if Malfoy has, but if something's got, Neville... it's our fault he's here in the first place."
The minutes dragged by. Our ears seemed sharper than usual. My ears seemed to be picking up every sigh of the wind, every cracking twig. What was going on? Where were the others?
At last, a great crunching noise announced Hagrid's return. Malfoy, Neville, and Fang were with him. Hagrid was fuming. Malfoy, it seemed, had sneaked up behind Neville and grabbed him as a joke. Neville had panicked and sent up the sparks.
"We'll be lucky ter catch anythin' now, with the racket you two were makin'. Right, we're changin' groups — Neville, you stay with me an' Hermione, Harry and Diane, you two go with Fang an' this idiot. I'm sorry," Hagrid added in a whisper to Harry, "but he'll have a harder time frightening you, an' we've gotta get this done."
So Harry and I set off into the heart of the forest with Malfoy and Fang. We 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. I thought the blood seemed to be getting thicker. There were splashes on the roots of a tree, as though the poor creature had been thrashing around in pain close by. I could see a clearing ahead, through the tangled branches of an ancient oak.
"Look —" he murmured, holding out his arm to stop Malfoy.
Something bright white was gleaming on the ground. We inched closer. It was the unicorn all right, and it was dead. I had never seen anything so beautiful and sad. Its long, slender legs were stuck out at odd angles where it had fallen and its mane was spread early-white on the dark leaves. Harry had taken one step toward it when a 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 ground like some stalking beast. Harry, Malfoy, and Fang stood transfixed. The cloaked figure reached the unicorn, lowered its head over the wound in the animal's side, and began to drink its blood.
"AAAAAAAAAARGH!"
Malfoy let out a terrible scream and bolted — so did Fang. The hooded figure raised its head and looked right at Harry — unicorn blood was dribbling down its front. It got to its feet and came swiftly toward Harry — he couldn't move for fear.
"DON'T TOUCH HIM!" I yelled, taking out my wand. "DO SOMETHING, MALFOY, DON'T JUST STAY THERE LIKE AN IDIOT!"
But Malfoy didn't do anything, he just kept running.
"NO — LISTEN TO ME, MALFOY! DO SOMETHING, DO SOMETHING, DO SOMETHING!" I yelled as Fang whined in a distance.
Harry staggered backward. I heard hooves behind me, galloping, and something jumped clean over Harry, charging at the figure. Harry fell to his knees.
"Harry!" I cried as I skidded next to him. "Harry? Harry, talk to me!"
It took a minute or two to pass. When I looked up, the figure had gone. A centaur was standing over us, not Ronan or Bane; this one looked younger; he had white-blond hair and a palomino body.
"Are you all right?" said the centaur, pulling Harry to his feet, me grasping his shoulder.
"Yes — thank you — what was that?"
The centaur didn't answer. He had astonishingly blue eyes, like pale sapphires. He looked carefully at Harry, his eyes lingering on the scar that stood out, livid, on Harry's forehead.
"You are the Potter boy," he said. "You had better get back to Hagrid. The forest is not safe at this time — especially for you. Can you ride? It will be quicker this way. My name is Firenze," he added, as he lowered himself onto his front legs so that Harry and I could clamber onto his back.
There was suddenly a sound of more galloping from the other side of the clearing. Ronan andBane came bursting through the trees, their flanks heaving and sweaty.
"Firenze!" Bane thundered. "What are you doing? You have a human on your back! No — you have two! Have you no shame? Are you a common mule?"
"Do you realize who this is?" said Firenze. "This is the Potter boy. And whoever the other girl is. The quicker he leaves this forest, the better."
"What have you been telling him?" 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! Itis, not our business to run around like donkeys after stray humans in our forest!"
Firenze suddenly reared onto his hind legs in anger, so that Harry had to grab his shoulders to stay on and I had to grab Harry's shoulder.
"Girl? I'm Diane Dursley," I whispered.
"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 Harry and I clutching on as best he could, we plunged off into the trees, leaving Ronan and Bane behind us.
I didn't have a clue what was going on.
"Why's Bane so angry?" Harry asked. "What was that thing you saved me from, anyway?"
Firenze slowed to a walk, warned Harry to keep his head bowed in case of low-hanging branches, but did not answer Harry's question. We made our way through the trees in silence for so long that I thought Firenze didn't want to talk to us anymore. We were passing through a particularly dense patch of trees, however, when Firenze suddenly stopped.
"Harry Potter and girl, do you know what unicorn blood is used for?"
"No," said I, startled by the odd question. "We've only used the horn and tail hair in Potions."
"That is because it is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn," said Firenze. "The only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something pure and defenseless to save yourself, and you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips."
Harry and I stared at the back of Firenze's head, which was dappled silver in the moonlight.
"But who'd be that desperate?" Harry wondered aloud. "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 never die. Mr. Potter, do you know what is hidden in the school at this very moment?"
"The Sorcerer's Stone! Of course — the Elixir of Life! But I don't understand who —"
"Can you think of nobody 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 my heart. Over the rustling of the trees, I seemed to hear once more what Hagrid had told me on the night we had met: "Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die."
"Do you mean," Harry croaked, "that was Vol- "
"Harry! Diane! Both of you, are you all right?" Hermione was running toward us down the path, Hagrid puffing along behind her.
"I'm fine," said Harry, hardly knowing what he was saying. "The unicorn's dead, Hagrid, it's in that clearing back there."
I was slightly gasping as I slid off Firenze's back and I turned to Hermione, who patted me on the shoulder, whispering, "It's alright, Diane, we're here. . ."
"This is where I leave you," Firenze murmured as Hagrid hurried off to examine the unicorn."You are safe now."
Harry slid off his back.
"Good luck, Harry Potter, and girl," said Firenze. "The planets have been read wrongly before now, even by centaurs. I hope this is one of those times."
He turned and cantered back into the depths of the forest, leaving Harry shivering behind him.
Ron had fallen asleep in the dark common room, waiting for us to return. He shouted something about Quidditch fouls when Harry roughly shook him awake. In a matter of seconds, though, he was wide-eyed as Harry and I began to tell him and Hermione what had happened in the forest.
Harry couldn't sit down. He paced up and down in front of the fire. He was still shaking.
"Snape wants the stone for Voldemort... and Voldemort's waiting in the forest... and all this time we thought Snape just wanted to get rich..."
"Stop saying the name!" said Ron in a terrified whisper, as if he thought Voldemort could hear us.
Harry wasn't listening. "Firenze saved me, but he shouldn't have done so... Bane was furious... he was talking about interfering with what the planets say is going to happen... They must show that Voldemort'scoming back... Bane thinks Firenze should have let Voldemort kill me... I suppose that's written in the stars as well."
"Will you stop saying the name!" Ron hissed.
"So all I've got to wait for now is Snape to steal the Stone," Harry went on feverishly, "then Voldemort will be able to come and finish me off... Well, I suppose Bane'll be happy."
Hermione looked very frightened, but she had a word of comfort.
"Harry, everyone says Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was ever afraid of, withDumbledore around, You-Know-Who won't touch you. Anyway, who says the centaurs are right? It sounds like fortune-telling to me, and Professor McGonagall says that's a very imprecise branch of magic."
"H-Hermione's right, Harry," I whispered.
"Hermione's always been right, now that you think about it," Ron muttered.
"Shut it, Ron, I'm trying to talk! As I was saying, Hermione's right, Harry, Dumbledore's the only one Voldemort —"
"Not you too," Ron moaned.
"Is scared of," I went on. "He won't touch you."
The sky had turned light before we stopped talking. We went to bed exhausted, our throats sore. But something wasn't right. As I pulled up my sheets, I saw a tiny letter which said: To the cousin of Harry Potter.