A/N: Just so you know im dedicating a chapter to each of my folowers.
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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 and I were trembling. Never and I repeat NEVER get in trouble with Aunt Minerva. Excuses, alibis, and wild cover- up stories chased each other around Jenna's brain, each more feeble than the last. She couldn't see how they were going to get out of trouble this time. They were cornered. How could they have been so stupid as to forget the cloak?
There was no reason on earth that Professor McGonagall would accept for their 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 they might as well be packing their bags already.
Had Jenna thought that things couldn't have been worse? She was wrong.
When Professor McGonagall appeared, she was leading Neville.
"Harry! Jenna! Lilian!" Neville burst out, the moment he saw the other four. "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 --"
I shook my 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 five of them. I'm dead. I'm dead, I'm dead.
"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?"
Lilian 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 -- Lilian 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 five 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?" Harry gasped -- they would lose the lead, the lead he'd won in the last Quidditch match.
"Fifty points," said Professor McGonagall, breathing heavily through her long, pointed nose. "Each. And 10 points from Hufflepuff Ms.Starling"
"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. Jenna please stay behind."
Lilian, Neville, Hermione, and Harry filed out and towards the common room.
Minnie closed the door with a swish of her wand and turned furiously at me. I kept my sight down on the floor.
"I am very very disappointed in you."
Disappointed
I HATED that word. It made me feel like a waste of air. It made me feel like I wasn't worth it. But nobody knew. Why? Because I hide it with a smile.
"I will be informing Severus on this." Minnie says.
I nod and leave struggling to hold back a tear. I rush to the common room and immediately pull the curtains shut on my four poster bed.
A hundred and fifty points lost. That put Gryffindor in last place. In one night, they'd ruined any chance Gryffindor had had for the house cup. I felt as though the bottom had dropped out of my stomach. How could they ever make up for this?
I didn't sleep all night. What would happen when the rest of Gryffindor found out what they'd done?
At first, Gryffindors passing the giant hourglasses that recorded the house points the next day thought there'd been a mistake. How could they suddenly have a hundred and fifty points fewer than yesterday? And then the story started to spread: Harry and Jenna Potter, the famous Harry and Jenna Potter,Harry their hero of two Quidditch matches, had lost them all those points, him and a couple of other stupid first years.
From being one of the most popular and admired people at the school, Jenna was suddenly the most hated. Even Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs turned on him, because everyone had been longing to see Slytherin lose the house cup. Except Lilian and one gryffindor boy who was in the same year as her. Everywhere Jenna went, people pointed and didn't trouble to lower their voices as they insulted her. Slytherins, on the other hand, clapped as he walked past them, whistling and cheering, "Thanks Potter, we owe you one!" All except Pansy, Blaise and Draco who just frowned but still talked to her.
"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." Ron said.
"They've never lost a hundred and fifty points in one go, though, have they?" said Harry miserably.
"Well -- no," Ron admitted.
It was a bit late to repair the damage, but Harry swore to himself not to meddle in things that weren't his business from now on. He'd had it with sneaking around and spying. 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, Lilian, and Neville were suffering, too. They didn't have as bad a time as Harry and Jenna, because they 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.
Jenna was almost glad that the exams weren't far away. All the studying she had to do kept her mind off his misery. She, Harry, Accalia, Ron, and Hermione 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, Harry and Jenna's new resolution not to interfere in anything that didn't concern them was put to an unexpected test. Walking back from the library on their own one afternoon, they heard somebody whimpering from a classroom up ahead. As they drew closer, he heard Quirrell's voice.
"No -- no -- not again, please --"
It sounded as though someone was threatening him. They moved closer.
"All right -- all right --" he heard Quirrell sob.
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; Harry and Jenna didn't think Quirrell had even noticed them.
They waited until Quirrell's footsteps had disappeared, then peered into the classroom. It was empty, but a door stood ajar at the other end.
Jenna and Harry were halfway toward it before they remembered what they'd promised themselves about not meddling.
All the same, they'd have gambled twelve Sorcerer's Stones that Snape had just left the room, and from what Harry had just heard, Snape would be walking with a new spring in his step -- Quirrell seemed to have given in at last.
Harry and Jenna went back to the library, where Hermione and Accalia were testing Ron and Lilian on Astronomy. Jenna 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 Jenna 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 Accalia looked convinced, but Ron didn't.
"If we just do a bit of poking around --"
"No," said Jenna flatly, "we've done enough poking around."
She pulled a map of Jupiter toward her and started to learn the names of its moons.
The following morning, notes were delivered to Harry, Jenna, Hermione, Lilian, and Neville 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.
Jenna had forgotten they still had detentions to do in the furor over the points they'd lost. She half expected Hermione to complain that this was a whole night of studying lost, but she didn't say a word. Like Jenna, she felt they deserved what they'd got. At eleven o'clock that night, they said good-bye to Ron and Accalia in the common room and went down to the entrance hall with Neville and soon joined by Lilian. Filch was already there -- and so was Malfoy. Jenna 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."
They marched off across the dark grounds. Neville kept sniffing. Jenna wondered what their 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, Harry could see the lighted windows of Hagrid's hut. Then they heard a distant shout.
"Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started."
Jenna's heart rose; if they were going to be working with Hagrid it wouldn't be so bad. His relief must have shown in his -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 Lilian and Draco stopped dead in their tracks.
"The forest?" Draco 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 Lilian's robe and made a choking noise.
"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 them 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, Jenna, Lilian, Neville, Hermione?"
"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? 'Snot 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 nastily, 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 Lilian was pleased to hear the note of panic in his voice.
"Yeh are if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts," said Hagrid fiercely.
"Yeh've done wrong an' now yehve 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 ter 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 them 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 their hair as they 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 there 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, Jenna an' Hermione'll go one way an' Draco, Lilian, Neville, an' Fang'll go the other. 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."
The forest was black and silent. A little way into it they reached a fork in the earth path, and Harry, Jenna, Hermione, and Hagrid took the left path while Malfoy, Lilian, and Neville, and Fang took the right.
They walked in silence, their 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.
Harry saw that Hagrid looked very worried.
"Could a werewolf be killing the unicorns?" Harry asked.
"Not fast enough," said Hagrid. "It's not easy ter catch a unicorn, they're powerful magic creatures. I never knew one ter be hurt before." They walked past a mossy tree stump. Harry 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 and Hermione and hoisted them off the path behind a towering oak. He pulled out an arrow and fitted it into his crossbow, raising it, ready to fire. The three of them 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."
They walked more slowly, ears straining for the faintest sound. Suddenly, in a clearing ahead, something definitely moved.
"Who's there?" Hagrid called. "Show yerself -- 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.
"Oh, it's you, Ronan," said Hagrid in relief. "How are yeh?"
He walked forward and shook the centaur's hand. Jenna bowed at it. It was a sign of respect. The centaur smiled.
"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 and Jenna Potter an' Hermione Granger, 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 seen 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. "Unusually bright."
"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. Jenna bowed again.
"Hullo, Bane," said Hagrid. "All right?"
"Good evening, Hagrid, I hope you are well?"
"Well enough. Look, I've jus' bin askin' Ronan, you seen 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.
"We've heard," said Hagrid grumpily. "Well, if either of you do see anythin', let me know, won't yeh? We'll be off, then."
Harry, Jenna and Hermione followed him out of the clearing, staring over their shoulders at Ronan and Bane 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 Jenna.
"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."
They walked on through the dense, dark trees. Jenna kept looking nervously over her shoulder. She had the nasty feeling they were being watched. He was very glad they had Hagrid and his crossbow with them.
They had just passed a bend in the path when Hermione grabbed Hagrid's arm.
"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!"
They 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."
I glared at Harry. The minutes dragged by. Their ears seemed sharper than usual. Harry's 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, Lilian, Neville, and Fang were with him. Hagrid was fuming. Malfoy, it seemed, had sneaked up behind Lilian and Neville and grabbed them as a joke. Neville had panicked and sent up the sparks.
"We'll be lucky ter catch anythin' now, with the racket you three were makin'. Right, we're changin' groups -- Neville and Lilian, you stay with me an' Hermione."
" Jenna, Harry, you go with Fang an' this idiot. I'm sorry," Hagrid added in a whisper to Harry, "but he'll have a harder time frightenin' you, an' we've gotta get this done."
So Harry and Jenna set off into the heart of the forest with Malfoy and Fang. 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. Jenna 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. Jenna could see a clearing ahead, through the tangled branches of an ancient oak.
"Look --" Jenna murmured, holding out her arm to stop Malfoy.
Harry's POV
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 pearly-white on the dark leaves.
I looked over at Jenna and she had taken one step toward it when a slithering sound made her freeze where she 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. Jenna however, looked at it with squinting eyes and approached it.
"AAAAAAAARGH!"
Malfoy let out a terrible scream and bolted -- so did Fang. The hooded figure raised its head and looked right at Jenna -- unicorn blood was dripping down its front. It got to its feet and came swiftly toward
I couldn't move from fear. Jeenna stretched out her arm aiming for it.
I wanted to tell her to get away from it but then a pain like I had never felt before pierced my head; it was as though my scar were on fire. Half blinded, I staggered backward. I heard something fall on the ground.
I heard hooves behind me, galloping, and something jumped clean over me, charging at the figure.
The pain in my head was so bad I fell to my knees. It took a minute or two to pass. When he looked up, the figure had gone. A centaur was standing over him, not Ronan or Bane; this one looked younger; he had white-blond hair and a palomino body. There was another centaur standing over a body on the floor that looked unconscious. I didn't think of the body much. It may just be the unicorn and it was too dark I couldn't make out its face.
"Are you all right?" said the centaur, pulling me to my feet.
"Yes -- thank you -- what was that?"
The centaur didn't answer. He had astonishingly blue eyes, like pale sapphires. He looked carefully at me, his eyes lingering on the scar that stood out, livid, on my 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 and your sister. Can you ride? It will be quicker this way."
"My name is Firenze and that's Melay," he added,nodding at the centaur over the other body that was pulling the unconscious body so it would be on its back. as he lowered himself onto his front legs so that I could clamber onto his back.
There was suddenly a sound of more galloping from the other side of the clearing. Ronan and Bane came bursting through the trees, their flanks heaving and sweaty.
"Firenze! Melay!" Bane thundered. "What are you doing? You have a human on your back! Have you no shame? Are you a common mule?"
"Do you realize who this is?" said Firenze. "This is the Potter girl and boy. The quicker he leaves this forest, the better."
"What have you been telling him?" growled Bane. "Remember, Firenze, Melay, 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! It is not our business to run around like donkeys after stray humans in our forest!"
Melay's voice was softer though stern. "The girl is unconscious. She needs to get to the school as fast as possible."
Harry did a double take. That was his sister right there. She was unconscious. It looked like she was barely breathing. Oh Merlin.
Firenze suddenly reared on to his hind legs in anger, so that Harry had to grab his shoulders to stay on.
"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 and Melay whisked around; with Harry clutching on as best he could, they plunged off into the trees, leaving Ronan and Bane behind them.
Harry didn't have a clue what was going on but Jenna needed to get to the castle.
"Why's Bane so angry?" he asked. "What was that thing you saved me from, anyway?"
Firenze and Melay slowed to a walk, warned Harry to keep his head bowed in case of low-hanging branches, but did not answer Harry's question. They made their way through the trees in silence for so long that Harry thought Firenze didn't want to talk to him anymore. They were passing through a particularly dense patch of trees, however, when Melay suddenly stopped.
"Harry Potter, do you know what unicorn blood is used for?"
"No," said Harry, 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 Melay. "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 stared at the back of Melay's head, which was dappled silver in the moonlight.
"But who'd be that desperate?" he wondered aloud. "If you're going to be cursed forever, deaths 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 can 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 Harry's heart. Over the rustling of the trees, he seemed to hear once more what Hagrid had told him on the night they 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 thinking what damage that could to to Jenna, "that was Vol-"
"Harry, Jenna! Harry, are you all right?"
Hermione was running toward them 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. But Jenna is in trouble! She's unconscious....."
"This is where I leave you," Melay murmured as Hagrid hurried off to examine Jenna and Hermione and Lilian examined the unicorn.
"Good luck, Harry Potter," said Firenze as Harry slid off its back"The planets have been read wrongly before now, even by centaurs. I hope this is one of those times."he said, casting a worried look at Jenna.
He turned with Melay and cantered back into the depths of the forest, leaving Harry shivering behind him.
Hagrid lifted Jenna's body and started towards the castle. Lilian, Hermione, Neville, Malfoy, and I followed, throwing nervous looks at Jenna. They were too terrified to speak.
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urgghhhhh i really hate this chapter