—•—
RON'S PREDICTION HAD been surprisingly inaccurate. For the next few weeks, the group of four put their ears to the door where Fluffy was and heard him growling inside, still guarding the Sorcerer's Stone under the trapdoor.
Snape also remained furious as ever, even worse that it had been throughout the year. He targeted Harry more than usual, and Archer really hoped he hadn't seen Harry stalking him in the Forbidden Forest.
Archer, Harry, and Ron tried to be as encouraging as possible towards Quirrell, such as yelling at people who mocked his stutter and giving him smiles whenever they saw him in the hallways.
Hermione had more on her mind than just the stone, to which Archer said, "Come on, Granger, we're looking at a wizard using one of the most powerful objects in the world for his own benefit!" Hermione was quite worried about exams, which no one else was too worried about.
"Hermione, exams are ages away." Archer reminded her.
"Ten weeks," she warned. "So, not ages. That's like ten seconds for Nicholas Flamel."
"We're not six hundred, though." Ron said. "Anyways, what do you need to study for? You'll get an A no matter what."
This comment seemed to set off Hermione, as she scoffed and waved her arms violently. "What am I studying for? Are you crazy? You realize we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me..."
The teachers gave them so much homework during Easter break that Archer often put the answers for Potions onto his Transfiguration homework. And of course, Hermione trying to yell at him for getting stuff wrong, (he never did, however) only made it worse. She dragged the boys to the library every single day without fail.
Ron was mumbling under his breath while Archer continued to read up on stuff in Herbology, which he'd gotten slightly better at thanks to Neville.
"Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?" Harry asked, making Archer look up. Hagrid was standing awkwardly near a shelf. His eyes widened, as if he wasn't expecting to see them. He held his one hand behind his back.
"Jus' lookin'," he said suspiciously, making Archer raise an eyebrow. "An' what're you lot up ter?" He looked from one student to another. "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"
"No, we found out about him ages ago." Ron said, looking quite proud of himself. "We know what the dog is guarding, it's the Sorcerer's-"
"Shh!" Hagrid hissed loudly. "Don' go around yellin' it!"
"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," said Harry, "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy-"
"Shh!" Hagrid repeated, looking around the library to make sure that no one was listening in to the conversation. "Listen... come to my hut later tonight. I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anything, but don't go yellin' about it in the library. They'll think I've told yeh..."
"See you later." Harry said cheerfully. Hagrid left the room, keeping his one arm behind his back, not allowing them to see what he was holding. Once he was gone, they immediately turned to one another.
"What was he holding?" Hermione asked suspiciously.
"Do you think it had something to do with the Stone?" Harry asked. Ron stood up. "I'll check the section he was looking in." Suddenly he widened his eyes.
"Dragons!" He hissed. "Look— Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide."
"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me so when I first met him." Harry said thoughtfully.
"Yeah, but it's against the law." Archer responded. "Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles from noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden— anyway, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. Lots of people get burned or... worse..."
"But surely there aren't wild dragons in Britain?" Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah there are." Archer shook his head. "Uh... Ron, what are some...? Common Welsh Green, obviously. Oh, and Hebridean Black. Charlie's probably told you, right?"
"Oh, yeah. Common Welsh and Hebridean Black are right. How do you know that?" Ron looked shocked.
"Photographic memory." Archer shrugged. "But the Ministry of Magic has a real hard time trying to hush them up; wizards have to put spells on Muggles to make them forget."
"So what is Hagrid up to then?" Hermione asked.
They went down to his hut later that evening, planning on asking him why he was so interested in dragons. But when they got there, his curtains were pulled tightly shut, which was strange, because usually they were open.
When Harry knocked on the door, Hagrid first asked, "Who is it?" Before letting them in. Another strange thing. And he shut the door immediately after they fit in the hut, which was at boiling hot temperature.
Hagrid made them tea and sandwiches, which they all refused. Archer had to take off his robes, he was so hot.
"So," Hagrid sighed as he sat down in a chair, which nearly snapped. "Yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"
"Yes," Harry said quickly. Archer crossed his fingers under the table, hoping that Hagrid would trust them enough to tell them what they wanted. "We want to know what else is guarding the Sorcerer's Stone other than Fluffy."
Hagrid shook his head midway through the sentence and didn't stop until Harry went silent. "I can't tell yeh that information, one, because I don' know meself. Two, yeh already know more than yeh should, so I can't tell you anything else. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts, but yeh already knew that. I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."
They all stole a glimpse at each other.
Hermione sat forward. "Oh, come on, Hagrid." She said in a flattery way, trying to flatter him into giving them answers. "You might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here."
Archer saw Hagrid's beard move slightly, and he could tell he was smiling. Leave it to Hermione to become Hagrid's favorite.
"We wondered who was helping Dumbledore, we said, 'Who could Dumbledore trust this information with so much?' apart from you, of course."
Archer could practically feel Hagrid's heart swell, and he knew Hermione had done it. Archer made a mental note to give her a high-five when they left.
"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that... let's see, well he borrowed Fluffy from me... then some o' the teachers did enchantment... Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall..." he ticked them off on his fingers, "Professor Quirrell, an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape." Archer's head snapped back in shock. Surely Hagrid had said something he didn't mean to.
"Snape?" All the kids repeated in obvious shock.
"Oh, yer not still on about that, are yeh? Snape is trying to protect the stone, not steal it." If this were true, and Snape helped protect the Stone, that meant...
"You're the only one that knows how to get past Fluffy, right?" Harry asked quickly and anxiously. "Nobody else knows?"
"Not a soul but me an' Dumbledore!" Hagrid replied proudly.
"Well, that's something." Harry started to fan himself with his hand. "Hagrid, can you open a window? It's so hot in here..."
"I'm afraid I can't do that."
Archer's eyes landed on something big and black under the kettle of Hagrid's stove. He gasped.
"Hagrid, what is that?" Archer already knew, of course; it was a dragon egg. He recognized it from his Defense Against the Dark Arts book.
"Uh," Hagrid stammered, "nothin', that's-"
Ron moved over to see the egg closer. "Where did you get it? It had to have cost you a fortune!"
"Nah, I won it, actually." Hagrid answered. "Las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest."
Archer narrowed his eyes at the egg weirdly. He won it in Britain, where dragons were illegal. It almost seemed like the perfect opportunity for Hagrid to find himself in trouble.
"What are you going to do when it hatches?" Hermione asked.
"Well, I've bin doin' some readin'," said Hagrid, pulling a large book from under his pillow. "Got this outta the library; Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit... it's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on I em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here, how ter recognize diff'rent eggs... what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."
Archer shook his head. "Hagrid, you live in a wooden house!"
Hagrid ignored Archer's worry and started stoking the fire while humming cheerfully. Archer and Hermione looked at each other with wide eyes.
There were a lot of things piling up on their plate; the Stone, Snape trying to steal it, exams, and Hagrid possibly being caught for having an illegal dragon.
They left not long after, and Archer immediately turned towards them. "I need to think about what the teachers have planned to guard the Stone. Obviously something to do with their specialty..."
*
One breakfast, everyone was sitting at the table when Hedwig dropped a letter in front of them. It was from Hagrid, and Archer read it to see that the dragon was hatching today. Ron insisted they skip Herbology to see it, but Hermione immediately shut down the idea.
"No!" she argued, narrowing her eyes at them. "We have to go to lessons. If we don't, we'll get in trouble. And that trouble is nothing compared to what will happen if anyone finds out about Hagrid and what he's doing-"
"Shut up!" Harry shouted. They all turned to see Malfoy staring at them from three feet away. He'd stopped dead in his tracks to eavesdrop into their conversation, and Archer's stomach turned as he saw the smallest hint of a smirk on his pale face.
After the bell rang for Herbology, which Ron and Hermione bickered through, Hermione gave in to visit Hagrid during their break. So they rushed down to the hut and burst in as fast as possible.
"It's nearly there." Hagrid was beaming, and Archer looked down to the table to see the egg shaking and cracking slowly. Everyone sat down to watch as something inside the egg. Before anyone knew what was happening, the egg burst open. The dragon was black with a spine far too big for its body, which was frail and weak. It had a long snout and big nostrils, and small horns were peaking out of the top of its head, and Archer felt terrified as its large, orange eyes set on him. It closed those eyes when it sneezed, and Hagrid whimpered in joy.
"Isn't he beautiful?" he whispered. Archer couldn't disagree more. Hagrid tried to stroke the dragon's head, but the dragon did not like that, so it snapped its long fangs at Hagrid's fingers. It did not bother Hagrid in the slightest, however.
"Bless him, he knows his mommy!"
"How fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, Hagrid?" Hermione asked slowly. Archer's eyes drifted to the window, where the curtains had been parted slightly. His heart fell into his stomach as he saw the easily recognizable blonde hair of Draco Malfoy. Hagrid also saw him and jumped to his feet.
"Someone saw him! Oh, someone was at the window!" Hagrid wailed.
Archer put his hands on top of his head in utter terror. Malfoy had seen the dragon.
*
The week passed, and each time Archer saw Malfoy in the halls, his heart fell. Because each time, Malfoy smiled knowingly. Everyday, they went down to Hagrid's hut and urged him to give up the dragon, but each day he came up with a new excuse.
"You have to let him go, Hagrid." Harry told him seriously. "Set him free."
"He's too little, he'll die." Hagrid moaned. Archer rolled his eyes, as much as he didn't want to. Archer felt bad for the dragon, but he knew it needed to happen.
The dragon had grown three times the size of how large it was when it was born. Archer knew that it couldn't be good how fast he was growing.
"I've decided to call him Norbert, what do you think? Oh, Norbert, come to mommy! Come to mommy, Norbert!"
"He's lost his marbles." Ron breathed out.
"Hagrid!" Archer shouted, making Hagrid look away from the baby dragon for three seconds. "You need to let him go. In two weeks, Norbert will be larger than your house. Malfoy could go to Dumbledore any second now."
"I know, I know, I can't keep him forever, but I can't just dump him off, can I? I just can't."
"Charlie." Harry said to Ron, who looked at him as if he'd just seen a ghost.
"I'm Ron. Have you lost your marbles, too?"
"No, no. Your brother Charlie. In Romania. Studying dragons. We could send Norbert to him. Charlie can take care of him and then put him back in the wild!"
"That's brilliant!" Ron exclaimed. "How about it, Hagrid?"
Hagrid finally agreed after much consideration. They could send an owl to Charlie and ask him to take the dragon. The quartet all breathed a sigh of relief.
A week dragged on so slowly that Archer thought time was in slow motion. His anxiety spiked to rising high levels, and every night it got worse.
One evening, Hermione, Harry, and Archer were sitting on the couch without Ron, who'd gone down to Hagrid's to help out with feeding Norbert. Then he came through the portrait hole, a bloody wrap covering his hand.
"The bloody thing bit me!" He shrieked. "I'm not going to be able to hold a quill for a week. I tell you, that dragon's the most horrible animal I've ever met, but the way Hagrid goes on about it, you'd think it was a fluffy little bunny rabbit. When it bit me he told me off for frightening it. And when I left, he was singing it a lullaby!"
Archer started laughing when Harry shouted, "Hedwig! He'll have Charlie's answer!"
The owl was at the window, and Harry had to run to get it. Archer stood up as the group formed into a circle to read the letter.
Dear Ron,
How are you? Thanks for the letter.
I'd be glad to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week. Trouble is, they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon. Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him away while it's still dark. Send me an answer as soon as possible.
Love, Charlie
Archer looked up as soon as he finished reading the last line. Ron and Hermione looked up shortly after, and it was evident Hermione had read it a few times over.
"We have the invisibility cloak." Harry said. "It shouldn't be too difficult— I think the cloak's big enough to cover three of us and Norbert."
Everyone else nodded. The sooner they got rid of Norbert the better. It wouldn't give Malfoy something to hold over them.
There was a slight problem, because the next day, Ron's hand had swollen drastically. It was huge, and two times the size it normally was. Ron hesitated about going to the Hospital Wing, in fear that Madam Pomfrey would know about dragon bites. But by the end of the day, he realized he had to go. His hand was green.
Once Harry, Archer, and Hermione heard the news, they rushed up to the Hospital Wing to see how he was.
"It's not just my hand," Ron whimpered dramatically. "Although that feels like it's about to fall off. Malfoy told Madam Pomfrey he wanted to borrow one of my books so he could come and have a good laugh at me. He kept threatening to tell her what really bit me. I've told her it was a dog, but I don't think she believes me... I shouldn't have hit him at the Quidditch match, that's why he's doing this."
Archer put a hand on the redhead's shoulder, trying to calm him down. Ron was sucking in breaths rapidly, as if he were in an enclosed space.
"It'll all be over on Saturday at midnight." Archer said consolingly. He expected this to calm him down in the slightest bit, but it did the opposite. Ron sat up straight and got even paler than he was before. He turned to his three best friends and said weakly, "Midnight on Saturday! Oh no oh no... I've just remembered; Charlie's letter was in that book Malfoy took, he's going to know we're getting rid of Norbert."
Before anyone could say anything in response, Madam Pomfrey insisted that they leave so Ron could get some rest. The three that hadn't been bitten by a dragon left and headed down to Hagrid's hut, discussing what to do now.
"We can't switch the plan." Harry said. "We need to go through with it, and we have the invisibility cloak, which Malfoy doesn't know about."
Fang was sitting outside with his tail bandaged, and Archer guessed it was from Norbert. Harry knocked on the door, but Hagrid didn't open it. He moved over to the window and opened so they could talk. "I won't let you in!" He huffed loudly. "Norbert's at a tricky stage, but it's nothin' I can't handle."
"Hagrid..." Archer looked around cautiously from Hermione to Harry. "We have news."
They told him about Charlie's letter, and tears welled up in his eyes. Archer felt terrible for him, but he knew it was for the best for both Hagrid and Norbert.
But then Archer looked down and realized the tears might've been because Norbert had just bitten him in the leg, which he waved away. "He just got my boot! Jus' playin'! He's jus a baby!"
Archer anticipated Saturday with anxiousness, and when it finally came, Archer was surprised he hadn't been expelled yet. Malfoy still hadn't told on them, but he was sure the worst was yet to come.
They arrived at Hagrid's a bit late, considering Peeves decided to play a long game of tennis against the wall in the entrance hall just when they needed to go down. When they did finally get down to the small hut, Hagrid had Norbert all packed and ready in a small cage.
"Packed him lots o' rats and brandy for his trip." Hagrid choked out. "An' his teddy bear, jus' in case he gets lonely."
There was a loud ripping noise, and Archer assumed that the teddy bear had already been ripped to shreds. Hagrid didn't seem to notice, for he was sobbing too loudly.
"Bye-bye, Norbert! I love you!" Hagrid sobbed his goodbye, waving wildly. "Mommy will never forget you!"
They covered themselves in the cloak, along with Norbert in his cage. Archer's heart began to race as midnight ticked nearer on his wristwatch. They made their way through the entrance hall, up the staircase, through more and more corridors, which Harry told them was a shortcut.
"Almost there," Harry hissed in the lowest voice possible. Then they stopped short as they saw movement in the corridor in front of them. Hermione pulled them back into the shadows, and that's when they saw Professor McGonagall in her bathrobe and hair net, dragging Malfoy by the ear. It took all the self-control Archer had not to laugh in pure joy.
"Detention!" she shouted furiously. "And twenty points from Slytherin! How dare you! Sneaking around in the middle of the night-"
"You don't understand, professor!" Malfoy wailed. "Potter- Harry Potter is coming through here with a dragon!"
"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on, I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"
They disappeared and Harry led them up a final staircase that led out to the roof of the tower. Throwing the cloak over their shoulders, Archer grinned as he saw Hermione do a small dance.
"Malfoy has detention! Oh, I could sing!"
"Don't." Archer advised jokingly. Hermione elbowed him.
They all chuckled cheerfully, and only had to wait about ten minutes until Charlie's friends came down, four of them, all flying on brooms. They showed the three kids the small harness they'd set up to suspend Norbert underneath them.
After saying a few short goodbyes, and watching Norbert disappear into the darkness, the kids turned around and went back down the staircase, forgetting completely what they had left. And that was a huge mistake.
"Well, well, well." A voice sneered. "We are in trouble." Filch had found them.
Archer was debating whether or not to run back and jump off of the Astronomy Tower. For whatever reason, death seemed a better option than whatever punishment awaited them in Professor McGonagall's office.
She wasn't there when they arrived, yet that only made Archer feel worse. Hermione trembled in the seat next to him, and he wished she hadn't come. It was possibly the worst thing to happen to her. All Hermione cared about was her grades.
Somehow, things got worse. Because when Professor McGonagall arrived, she was dragging Neville along with her. When Neville saw them, he immediately burst out, "Harry! I was trying to find you and warn you! Malfoy said he was trying to catch you, he said you had a drag-"
Harry made a slicing motion across his throat for Neville to shut up, but McGonagall turned just in time to see it, and that only made everything worse. Archer leaned back in the chair, gripping it tightly as he possibly could. This was the worst punishment ever, and she hadn't even given it to them yet.
"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."
Words failed Archer, because he'd never seen McGonagall look at him with such disappointment. His heart was in his throat as he tried to say something, but when he opened his mouth, nothing came out. Hermione was also dead silent, staring at the ground in total shame.
"I think I've got a good idea of what's been going on," said Professor McGonagall furiously. "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?"
Archer gave Neville a glance that said the opposite, but it didn't fix Neville's appearance of hurt and sadness. Archer felt terrible, because it wasn't true.
"I am disgusted. Five 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. Mr. Griffin, I have never been more disappointed. I thought you'd take my request a little more seriously. 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 fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor."
"Fifty!" Archer and Harry exclaimed in total shock.
"Each." Professor McGonagall finished, and Archer wanted so badly to protest, but he knew it would only make things worse. "Except for Mr. Longbottom. No points will be taken from him."
"Professor, please!" Hermione begged.
"You can't-"
"Don't tell me what I can and cannot do, Mr. Potter. Now get back to bed, all of you. I've never been more ashamed of Gryffindor students."
They all left, although Archer hesitated, turning back to McGonagall and even getting so far as to open his mouth, but he just shook his head and left the room, his heart physically shattering. They had put Gryffindor in last place, all in one night.
Harry, who'd been increasingly popular recently, had lost all of that popularity after people heard what had happened.
Archer couldn't even look at people as he walked through the hallways, staring at the ground. He felt more ashamed than he ever had in his entire life.
"Don't worry." Marty said, although he sounded slightly annoyed. "The twins have lost so many points that it's beyond count. People will forget about this eventually."
Hermione had even stopped raising her hand in class, as had Archer, for the Slytherins would cheer any time he did. Dean wouldn't even talk to him anymore, nor did the rest of the boys in the dorm, except for Neville, who practically had no choice.
Exams were not too far away, and Archer was actually looking forward to the end of the year. He just wanted to get out of the castle and hope that everyone would forget what he had done.
One evening while Archer, Hermione, and Ron were sitting in the library, Harry came rushing in with news.
"Quirrell told Snape about something, because Snape was threatening him."
"That's it, then." Archer said half-heartedly. "Snape knows. He can get past Quirrell's Anti-Dark force spell."
"There's still Fluffy." Hermione said hopefully. She'd been trying to get Archer to smile all week, because it was the longest he'd gone without doing so. But nothing worked. It seemed being called disappointing by Professor McGonagall was the worst punishment anyone had ever appointed him.
"Maybe Snape figured out how to get past Fluffy without asking Hagrid." Ron said, adventure glinting in his eyes. "I bet you a Galleon there's a book in here about how to beat a three-headed dog. So, what do we do? Archer, Harry?"
Harry was about to respond, but Hermione did it for him.
"Go to Dumbledore." She advised sternly. "We should've done that ages ago. If we do anything else, surely we'll get thrown out."
"Archer, tell her she's wrong!" Ron insisted, but Archer shrugged.
"She's not. We should've told Dumbledore. Then none of this would've happened." Archer said solemnly.
"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."
Archer and Hermione nodded, but Ron bickered.
"If we just do a bit of poking around-"
"No! No more poking around!" Harry insisted seriously. And then he went back to studying in silence.
The next morning, Archer received a note.
Your detention will take place at eleven o'clock tonight.
Meet Mr. Filch in the entrance hall.
Professor McGonagall
Archer shrugged as he felt Harry's eyes boring into him. He deserved the punishment. What he did was wrong.
So at eleven o'clock, they all went to the entrance hall, including Hermione, Neville, and Malfoy, who Archer had forgotten about momentarily.
"Follow me." Filch growled, holding a lit lantern in front of him.
They continued to venture down the grounds, and no one said anything for several minutes. "I bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh?" Filch sneered, the only indication that he was there being the lamp lighting the outline of his body. "Yes, yes. Hard work and pain are the best lessons, the best teachers, if you ask me. I wish we never got rid of the old punishments... letting you hang by your wrists from the ceilings for a few days... I still have the chains in my office, oil them a few times a year, just in case we need them again. Right, now, don't think about running, or you'll just be in worse shape."
Neville had already been whimpering in fear thanks to the wrists bit, but now he was grabbing onto Archer's sleeve as tight as he could. Archer felt slightly hopeful as he saw Hagrid's hut in the distance and saw that they were going towards it.
Filch glanced behind him and saw Harry looking quite pleased. He shut it down immediately. "I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that big idiot? Think again, tonight, you'll be going into the Forbidden Forest."
Malfoy stopped dead in his tracks and Neville let out a terrified moan. Archer felt his blood run cold.
"The forest?" Malfoy repeated. "We can't go in there at night. There's werewolves, I heard." Malfoy looked around the group for other calls of support, and as much as Archer hated it, he agreed with the blonde.
"That's your problem, isn't it?" Filch said gleefully, and Archer saw a grin stretch across his face. "You should've thought about all the werewolves before you snuck out at night."
Hagrid appeared from the dark with a crossbow in hand and Fang at his side.
"Finally, yer here. 'Ve been waiting half an hour. Alrigh' there, Harry, Hermione, Archer?"
"Don't be too nice to them, Hagrid." Filch warned menacingly. "They're here for punishment."
Hagrid frowned. "So that's why yer late then, you've bin lecturin' them! Well, it's not yer place to do that. I'll take them now."
"I'll be back at dawn for what's left of them." Filch cackled as he walked away— well, it was more of a hobble.
Malfoy immediately whipped towards Hagrid.
"I am not going in that forest." He said, and Archer nearly smiled at how much his voice was wavering.
"Yeh will if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts. Yeh gotta go through with yer punishment."
"But this is servant stuff! This is not for students to do! I thought we'd be doing lines. Why, if my father hears about this, he'd-"
"Oh, please." Archer grumbled.
"Tell yer that this is how it is at Hogwarts. And copyin' lines! Yeh'd learn nothin' that way. If yeh think yer father would rather yeh be expelled, then head back up to the castle and pack your bags!"
Malfoy didn't move, but he continued to glare in the direction of Hagrid.
Once Hagrid had finished, he looked pleased with himself, he cleared his throat. "Righ' then, 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."
They all walked over to the very edge of the forest, where Hagrid bent down and examined something on the ground.
"Look, look. See that stuff shinin' on the ground? Unicorn blood. There's a unicorn in there that's been hurt bad by some'in. Second time in a week. I found one Wednesday too. We oughta try an' find the poor thing. We might have ter put the thing out of its misery."
"What if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first?" Malfoy asked, trying to sound dignified but failing horribly.
"There's nothin' in that forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang. An' just remember to keep to the right 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." Malfoy said quickly.
"Righ', you can have him. But he's a bit of a coward. So, me, Harry, and Hermione will go one way. Malfoy, Neville, and Archer the other. Send up sparks if yeh see a unicorn, and red if yeh are in trouble. Well, we'd best be off then."
So Malfoy, Archer, and Neville went to the right and Hermione, Harry, and Hagrid to the left. Fang howled occasionally, but other than that, nothing happened.
"This is ridiculous. Students shouldn't be in the forest at night." Malfoy muttered.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were scared, Draco." Archer said.
"Scared? Of course I'm not scared." Malfoy spat.
"I am," Archer heard Neville whisper.
There was some silvery blood on the ground, but it never led anywhere. Wherever the unicorn had gone, it wasn't directly down the path that the three boys and Fang had taken.
"H-How much farther do we need to g-go?" Neville stuttered.
"Until we see green sparks from them." Archer replied casually, as if fear wasn't enveloping him. Malfoy didn't say anything, but Archer could tell he was trembling in fear.
They'd been walking for quite a while, and Archer was examining behind some trees when Neville suddenly screamed and sent up red sparks. Archer turned around and saw Malfoy had jumped up behind him and scared him. He was laughing.
"You idiot!" Archer shouted. "What are you doing?"
"Having fun!" Malfoy retaliated. Archer dove at him and tackled him to the ground. Suddenly they were rolling around and attempting to throw punches. Neville watched them, wanting to move in and separate them, but he seemed to be frozen in fear.
"WHAT'S- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Someone bellowed. Malfoy quickly jumped to his feet.
"Malfoy," Archer began, getting up and dusting himself off, "thought it would be funny to go and sneak up behind Neville and scare him."
"Yeh bloody idiot." Hagrid murmured. "Let's go. We're regrouping."
Hagrid led them to where Hermione and Harry were. They looked alarmed, but their faces relaxed as they saw Neville and Archer coming up the path unharmed. Hermione ran into Archer with a hug. Hagrid told them, furiously, what had happened.
"We'd be lucky to catch anythin' with the racket yeh were making. Neville and Archer, come with me and 'Mione. Harry, go with this idiot."
They separated again. Harry looked annoyed with his new group, but went along anyway.
"Did you find anythin' while you were out there?" Hagrid asked Archer. Neville was too petrified to say anything.
"Just a little bit of blood, but nothing concrete. It didn't lead anywhere." Archer replied, feeling terrible for how loud they'd been.
"Well, hopefully we can find some'in down here." Hagrid huffed. Archer wanted to ask how he was, considering the whole Norbert situation was what landed them here.
About half an hour later, they found a small pool of blood on the ground that Neville nearly fell in. Archer leaned down to look at it. It was new, but it started leading somewhere else. Then the trail stopped cold.
"It must've ran off somewhere." Archer told Hagrid. "And I'm guessing... Can unicorns jump?"
"Yes," Hagrid said.
"It probably tried to jump away from whatever was attacking it. The blood probably leads somewhere-"
"AAGHH!"
Archer stood up and turned to where the screaming was coming from. It was Malfoy with Fang not far behind. Harry was nowhere to be seen.
"What happened?" Hagrid yelped.
"There was a cloaked figure! It came toward Potter and me! I ran." Malfoy panted in terror.
"Where's Harry?" Archer demanded.
"I don't know... Down in the clearing, I think."
Archer didn't wait another second before sprinting off in the direction of something... a cloaked figure... that came towards them. Who could it be? Whoever it was, they were attacking unicorns, which was the worst thing anyone could do. If you killed a unicorn, your life would be cursed forever. But killing and drinking the blood of a unicorn also meant that, even if you were about to die in thirty seconds, you'd survive and become stronger.
"ARCHER!" Hagrid bellowed, but Archer could hardly hear him over the pounding in Archer's ears. Who was desperate enough to kill a unicorn? Hermione caught up to him in practically no time. He was sure he'd never seen her run faster.
There was a pounding of hooves against the dirt, and Archer saw Harry maybe a hundred feet away from him, getting off of a centaur's back. They spoke while Archer continued to sprint.
"That was Vol-?"
"Harry! Harry! Are you okay?" Hermione cried out. Hagrid wasn't far behind them.
"I'm fine." Harry responded. "Hagrid, the unicorn is back there in that clearing. It's dead."
"This is where I leave you, Harry Potter." The centaur said. Hagrid rushed off to where the unicorn was. "The planets have been read wrongly before now, even by centaurs. I hope this is one of those times."
Harry stared in awe at the half-man half-horse as he spoke, and Archer wondered what they had been talking about. The planets? Being read wrong? Surely it wasn't something bad, although by the centaur's tone, Archer could only insinuate that it was indeed something bad.
The centaur turned and ran away, leaving the students who'd originally come into the forest all staring at each other. Archer glanced over at Harry out of the corner of his eye, noting the way that Harry's face had paled significantly.
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