Chapter 14
(Thank you for reading! Don't forget to kudos and comment what you think!)
The next evening, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Cassidy, and Draco followed behind Mr. Filch, the school caretaker, as they walked out of the castle and across the damp lawn.
It was time for their detention.
"A pity they let the old punishments die," Mr. Filch grumbled, as Cassidy discreetly pinched her nose. He smelled like cat's fur, mildew, and bad decisions. "There was a time detention would find you hanging by your thumbs in the dungeons," he continued with relish.
"Was there ever a time you found yourself bathing twice a day, Mr. Filch?" Cassidy asked sweetly.
The group erupted into laughter, even Draco letting out an involuntary snicker. Filch's face turned a blotchy shade of red.
"Quiet, girl!" he barked. The laughter faded quickly, replaced by the rhythmic crunch of footsteps on the grass.
Cassidy, ever the opportunist, made a point of stepping on Draco's foot every few steps.
"Quit it, Sickly Sweet!" he hissed under his breath.
"Oi, shut it, Malfoy," Ron snapped, stepping up to defend Cassidy.
"God, I miss the screaming," Mr. Filch muttered wistfully, leading the way.
They soon reached Hagrid's hut, its windows glowing faintly in the evening gloom.
"You'll be serving detention with Hagrid tonight. He's got a little job to do inside the Dark Forest," Mr. Filch announced, rubbing his hands together with what looked like glee.
Cassidy shivered at the mention of the forest, and her necklace warmed slightly against her chest. She leaned toward Hermione and whispered, "I've got a bad feeling about this."
Hermione shook her head in a silent plea for her to be quiet.
Cassidy sighed, glancing at Hagrid, who was fiddling with a crossbow. He looked miserable.
"A sorry lot, this is, Hagrid," Filch sneered.
Hagrid didn't reply, his expression somber as he adjusted his equipment.
"Oh, good God, man, you're not still on about that bloody dragon?" Filch sighed dramatically.
Draco snickered, but Cassidy elbowed him sharply in the ribs, cutting his laugh short.
"Norbert's gone," Hagrid said, his voice heavy with sadness. "Dumbledore sent him off to Romania. To live in a colony."
He sniffled loudly, and although Cassidy had thought the dragon was quite hideous, she couldn't help but feel sorry for Hagrid.
"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Hermione piped up, trying to be optimistic. "He'll be with his own kind."
"Yeah, but what if he don't like Romania? What if the other dragons are mean to him? He's only a baby, after all," Hagrid replied, his eyes glistening.
Oddly, in that moment, Hagrid reminded Cassidy of how her father had looked when he said goodbye to her at King's Cross. She swallowed the lump rising in her throat.
"Oh, for God's sake, pull yourself together, man. You're going into the Forest, after all," Filch said sourly, his breath so rancid that Cassidy gagged. "Got to have your wits about you."
"The Forest?" Draco's voice cracked. "I thought that was a joke. We can't go in there! Students aren't allowed! There are... werewolves!"
As if on cue, a distant howl echoed through the night.
Cassidy rolled her eyes. "The only joke here is how much hair gel you use a day, Malfoy," she said icily.
Draco glared at her as the others snickered.
"Silence, girl. And there's more than werewolves in those trees, lad. You can be sure of that," Filch said, his tone almost gleeful. Draco looked ready to faint.
"Nighty night," Filch said mockingly, turning on his heel and leaving the group standing awkwardly by Hagrid.
"Let's go," Hagrid said gruffly, leading them toward the forest's edge.
The forest was vast, shadowy, and far more eerie than Cassidy had imagined. Gnarled branches loomed overhead, and a blue mist clung stubbornly to the ground as they trudged along the uneven path.
Cassidy couldn't shake the gnawing sense of dread that settled in her chest. The forest looked suspiciously like the one from the nightmare she'd had on her first night at Hogwarts.
To make matters worse, her necklace was growing warmer with each step, heating up like a warning she couldn't ignore.
Scared, she reached out and tugged on Ron's robe, just as she had the night of the Sorting Ceremony. This time, he didn't tell her to stop.
"You alright, Cass?" Ron whispered, though he was trembling slightly himself.
"Yeah, Ron, I'm fine," she lied, the warmth of the necklace a constant reminder that something was very, very wrong.
"Not so brave now, are you, Sweet?" Draco taunted, glancing over his shoulder at her.
"Shut up, Malfoy," Ron snapped before Cassidy could respond.
Harry grinned faintly, despite the tension.
They entered a clearing dominated by a gnarled, ancient tree. Hagrid knelt down by a puddle of silvery liquid and dipped his fingers into it, his expression grim.
"Hagrid," Harry asked nervously, "what is that?"
"It's what we're here for," Hagrid replied darkly, holding up his fingers. They glistened in the moonlight. "That's unicorn blood, that is."
Hermione gasped.
Ron's eyes widened.
Harry looked around in growing horror.
Cassidy gagged, her stomach twisting.
"I found one dead a few weeks ago," Hagrid said, his voice heavy. "This one's been hurt bad by someone."
The group exchanged uneasy glances. Cassidy's necklace was burning now, so hot that she resisted the urge to take it off.
"So," Hagrid continued, breaking the silence, "it's our job to find the poor beast."
"Aren't we a bit too young for this?" Cassidy asked, trembling slightly.
"Yer a bit too young to be sneakin' around at night, but here we are." Draco chuckled at Hagrid's response, and Cassidy shot him a glare.
"Right. Ron, Hermione, you'll come with me." Hagrid nodded at the two of them.
"Okay," Ron said shakily.
"Harry, Cassie, you'll go with Malfoy." Hagrid continued. Draco let out a dramatic sigh of despair.
"We don't want to go with you either, Blondie," Cassidy snapped, crossing her arms as she glared at him.
"Shut up, Sweet. I'll do it. But I get Fang!" Draco snapped back, his voice bratty.
"Fine. Just so you know, he's a bloody coward," Hagrid retorted with a smirk. Draco's face fell as the sound of a distant wolf's howl echoed through the forest.
They all shared a moment of tense silence, Fang the dog included.
Later, as Cassidy, Draco, and Harry made their way into the dark forest with Fang, Draco started complaining. The lantern in his hand swayed back and forth as he spoke.
"Wait till my father hears about this. This is servant's stuff!" he sneered.
"If you don't shut it, the only thing he'll hear about is how his precious son got beaten up by a witch," Cassidy shot back, her voice sharp.
"Twice," she added for emphasis. Harry chuckled quietly, and Draco stepped farther away from Cassidy, visibly perturbed.
"If I didn't know better, Draco, I'd say you were scared," Harry teased.
"Scared, Potter? Of her?" Draco scoffed, looking Cassidy over with a smug grin. "The only thing scary about Cassidy Sweet is that wild hair of hers."
Cassidy's eye twitched, the urge to kick him in the shins strong, but she restrained herself. Another howl rang out through the forest. The group froze.
"Did you hear that?" Draco whispered, all his earlier bravado gone. They glanced around, their nervous eyes scanning the darkened trees before continuing.
"Come on, Fang," Cassidy murmured softly to the dog, urging him to keep up.
"He's totally scared," Cassidy whispered to Harry, who grinned.
"Tell me about it," he replied quietly.
The group walked on in silence, following Hagrid's dog. The trees around them seemed to stand as silent, watchful sentinels. Cassidy's necklace remained unbearably hot, and she absentmindedly clutched it, her anxiety growing.
"You alright, Cass?" Harry asked, noticing her discomfort.
"Yeah, I'm fine, Potter," she reassured him, though her voice held a hint of unease. The trio reached another clearing, where Fang abruptly stopped, sniffing the ground intently.
"What is it, Fang?" Harry asked, kneeling down beside the dog.
"He probably wants to—" Cassidy started, but her words cut off as a deep, guttural growl pierced the air. Slowly, she followed Fang's gaze.
A cloaked figure was hunched over the corpse of a unicorn, drinking its blood. The sight sent a chill down Cassidy's spine.
Harry gasped in pain, clutching his forehead. Cassidy rushed to his side, her hand on his arm.
"Harry! Are you alright?" Cassidy asked, concern flooding her voice.
Before Harry could respond, Cassidy felt a sharp, icy sensation creeping up her chest. She blinked, her vision blurring as a trickle of blood dripped from her nose. Her necklace had grown unbearably hot, almost burning her skin. She could barely hold it in place.
"Agh!" she cried out, collapsing to her knees, her hand clutching her chest as she looked at the monstrous creature in front of them. The figure's teeth glinted with the blood of the unicorn, its grin a sickening, toothy display.
Draco screamed in terror and bolted away, Fang darting behind him.
Harry scrambled to help Cassidy up as the cloaked figure slithered toward them.
"Cassidy! Cassidy, get up!" Harry urged, his voice panicked as he pulled at her arm. Cassidy didn't respond, her eyes locked onto the creature, her breath shallow.
The necklace pulsed with an overwhelming energy, drawing her toward it. Her heartbeat quickened, and images flashed through her mind like an endless reel of memories.
A woman's fury.
A child's scream.
A fire.
A promise.
The pieces of the puzzle she hadn't yet understood began to swirl in her mind.
"Cassidy!" Harry shouted, his hands desperately trying to pull her back, but it was as though she couldn't move, couldn't breathe. The creature was getting closer, inching its way toward them.
"Cassandra..." The voice hissed, sending a chill down her spine.
Suddenly, a burst of movement cut through the air. A majestic, white horse leapt over them, its hooves striking the ground with a powerful thud. It reared upwards, its form powerful and commanding, and with a sudden, forceful motion, it sent the dark figure fleeing into the mist.
Cassidy gasped for air as the suffocating pressure lifted. Her necklace was stone cold against her chest.
She scrambled backwards, her body trembling as Harry helped her up. The two of them exchanged a bewildered glance, their hearts still racing from the close encounter.
The figure who had saved them now stepped forward—half man, half horse—an imposing centaur.
"Harry Potter, Cassandra Sweet," he spoke, his voice deep and wise. "You must leave. The Forest is not safe, especially not for you."
"How do you know our names?" Cassidy asked, still shaken.
"What was that thing you saved us from?" Harry added, his voice thick with awe.
"A monstrous creature," the centaur explained. "It is a terrible crime to slay a unicorn. Drinking its blood can keep a person alive even on the edge of death... but at a terrible cost." He gestured toward the lifeless unicorn. "A cursed life, a life that is no longer truly living."
"Who would choose such a life?" Harry asked, baffled.
"Can you think of no one?" the centaur replied cryptically, looking between them both.
Cassidy suddenly understood. "It was Voldemort," she said, the words coming easily, though she wasn't sure how she knew.
The centaur studied them both, his gaze intense. "You know what is hidden here at Hogwarts?" he asked Harry.
Harry's eyes widened in realization.
"The Sorcerer's Stone."
The two of them spoke in unison, the weight of the revelation sinking in. Just then, the sound of barking reached their ears, and Cassidy spun around to see Hagrid and the others approaching through the trees.
"Harry!" Hermione called.
"Cassidy!" Ron shouted.
"Hello there, Firenze," Hagrid greeted gruffly. "I see you've met our young Mr. Potter and Miss Sweet." He clutched his crossbow tightly, his gaze darting warily between the children and the centaur.
"You alright there, Harry and Cassie?" he asked, his voice softer now.
They nodded silently, the shock of the encounter still fresh.
"Harry Potter," the centaur said, turning to face him once more. "This is where I leave you." He stepped back, his hooves stirring the earth. "You are safe now. Good luck, and keep her close." Firenze nodded toward Cassidy.
Cassidy gave him a silent nod of thanks as he disappeared into the trees.
"Come on, Harry," she said, her hand slipping into his. "Let's go."