A Detention
By lunch, Harry is the talk of the school, much to his horror. So Hermione and Theo bring lunch to him in the dungeons and they eat next to the windows that show the Great Lake.
"A month of detentions? That's it?" Theo asks, not quite believing that Professor Snape would be so merciful. Afterall, they'd all heard Madam Hooch threaten expulsion to anyone who dared leave the ground.
"He told me I'll have to go into the Forbidden Forest!" Harry defends his punishment as sufficient. He takes a big bite of a sandwich that Hermione thought looked disgusting but that Harry seems thrilled to have.
Hermione felt it was more than fair to make him serve an entire month of- wait, what?
"Harry, did you just say they are going to make you serve detention in the forest?" She asks, more alarmed than she had been only moments ago. There are beasts in the forest that could swallow him in one bite.
"With Hagrid, Snape said. Something to do with unicorns. Can you believe unicorns are real?" He asks, smiling all the while.
She grimaces. Hermione is going to have to get another detention.
There is no way Hagrid can protect Harry in the forest. Plus, she is curious what is going on with the unicorns. She's had a fascination with them since she was a child, having spent nearly an entire day in the woods near Malfoy Manor with one. She'd accidentally apparated too far. Narcissa and Lucius hadn’t realised she was missing until she failed to appear at dinner.
Perhaps she could snag a couple hairs for herself too.
"I've heard there are werewolves in the forbidden forest," Theo says, looking appropriately wary.
"I'm sure they won't have him serve detention during a full moon," Hermione says, if only to convince herself.
Wizardkind can be incredibly dense sometimes. Pretending as though they are invincible and superior. That nothing can hurt them. Severus wouldn't be so dense though, of that she can be sure.
"Werewolves are real?" Harry asks, sounding intrigued.
He needs to work on his self-preservation.
“And dangerous,” she says.
“Cool.”
Great, now he’s going to want to meet a werewolf.
“When is your detention in the forest?” She asks, trying to figure out how quickly she’ll need to get detention.
“Um, Monday at 8.”
So in three days. And they’ve only got one more class before the weekend.
“That’s late for detention,” Theo says, sounding worried for Harry.
And it will be dark.
Before she can point that out, a blond haired girl comes over to sit in the chair next to Harry.
“You were incredible on that broom,” she says, literally batting her eyes.
Harry immediately looks uncomfortable. And shy.
He doesn’t reply. He just cringes and shrinks into himself.
Hermione makes a glass of pumpkin juice tip over on the other side of the girl.
She shrieks as it sloshes onto her robes and flees the common room without another word.
“You know, at some point you’ll have to talk to more than just Theo and me.” Hermione points out.
“Probably. But not just yet.” Harry takes a big bite of his lunch and grins.
Hermione laughs. He is doing loads better than he had been at the start of term.
“I think we should spread a rumour that you don’t speak to anyone unless they bow first,” Theo says, and the three of them laugh.
Theo tended to slip under everyone’s radar.
She’s neglected their friendship. Except he isn’t in any immediate danger. Right now, Harry is.
Hermione excuses herself to go to the library. She needs to come up with a rule to break and the fastest way to break it.
By their afternoon Herbology lesson, Hermione has come up with the perfect plan to get detention. She vanishes the cotton from the ear muffs the Gryffindors are wearing, watching as Sprout pulls an immature Mandrake from its pot. Those who don’t get their hands to their ears in time collapse, falling unconscious to the greenhouse floor.
Hermione laughs loudly enough to attract attention and leaves the stack of cotton on the bench behind her. Of course, if she hadn’t wanted to get caught she wouldn’t have.
Professor Sprout turns on her and says something about it not being funny. Then her eyes catch on the cotton.
"All three of you- detention!"
Hermione feels victorious for half a second before she realises that Professor Sprout had looped in Theo and Draco, who she hadn’t realised were right behind her.
"I'm sorry, professor-did you say all three of us?" Draco asks, incredulously.
"Yes, Mr. Malfoy!" She shrieks, clearly still upset about the number of unconscious lions there are in her greenhouse.
I wouldn't pout- she'll only take points. Hermione says into Draco's mind.
He glares at her and Theo, clearly thinking they are to blame. But he doesn't protest any further.
Once the Gryffindors are all taken to the infirmary for some rest, the Slytherins are dismissed for the day. Draco is showered with praise by the rest of their classmates and Hermione and Theo leave the pack to head towards the common room.
“Why did you do that?" Theo asks as soon as they are through the portrait hole. He sounds upset and Hermione twists to look at him, surprised by the hurt she finds in his features.
“Theo- I didn't mean for her to think you and Draco were involved," she tells him, confused by his emotional response.
"They'll write to my father now," he says, voice shaking.
Oh. Right. Lord Nott. He'll no doubt have an overreaction to Theo's involvement and subsequent detention.
"I'm sorry, Theo."
She should have made it clear no one else was involved. She hadn't thought about how it would affect him. Or Draco. Though Lord Malfoy would likely be more upset with Professor Sprout than with Draco.
"He'll probably come here. Remind me of his expectations," Theo mutters, though it is clear that he is talking himself through the worst case scenarios.
She'd forgotten how close their tormentors were. Only a floo grate or apparition point between them. Harry is safe until the end of the school year. His awful muggle relatives can't follow him here. All this time she should have been focusing on helping Theo.
"I can stop Sprout from sending a letter. He never needs to find out."
"He will. Somehow. I've embarrassed him."
Hermione knows that Lord Nott beats his son. Unlike Lord Malfoy, he prefers doing things the muggle way. More brutal. More intimate. More humiliating.
"You haven't. You embarrassed a bunch of ickle first year lions. We can preempt Sprout. Write to your father and pretend it was your idea. Include the fact that the Malfoy Heir was involved. Leave me out. Tell him it was fun. Humiliating the Gryffindors. Showing the entire school how weak they are.”
It isn't a bad idea. Lord Nott has always wanted his son to be tougher. To take pride in his superior blood.
"Do you think you could help me write it? I won't come across… the right way," Theo says, agreeing it is a feasible plan.
Hermione grins. "He'll be thrilled by the time I'm done complaining about the lowclass lions who toppled over like a series of puffskeins," she reassures him.
Theo finally cracks a small smile and Hermione is flooded with relief. She really hadn't thought of her friend when she had done it. She’d never had friends before. Never had to think about the consequences for more than just herself.
Now that there is more than one of them, she needs to be cognizant of how her friends are affected.
“I really am sorry, Theo," she adds, her tone softening.
“It's alright. Besides, now I get to come with you to protect Harry."
He's a wonder. How he was placed in Slytherin she'll never understand. Pure self preservation she assumes.
"And Draco will be joining us too. Strength in numbers and all that. Though I fear it will be more likely that I am forced to protect all three of you, plus the groundskeeper," she rolls her eyes.
Theo smiles.
Hermione needs to kill his father.
When they all meet at the castle gate, Hermione is relieved to see that it is a cloudless night.
The moon is bright, but not full. And there is a soft breeze that whistles through the trees that is almost pleasant.
“Hagrid, what is going on with the unicorns?” Harry asks.
The overlarge man who needs a haircut and a tailor informs them that something is attacking the unicorns.
Hermione immediately thinks of Tom. Unicorn blood would be able to keep him alive, no matter what form he was left in after killing Harry’s parents.
“We are goin’ to try and find t’e poor thing, patch it up.”
“What if the thing that is hurting them tries to hurt us?” Draco asks, his voice wavering.
Hermione doesn’t think that argument will get him very far. So she starts walking towards the tree line, reaching out in the dark and trying to find the unicorn from there. Perhaps then they won’t have to wander around a dark, beast infested forest for hours.
Draco still hadn’t used their sign. Hermione assumes it is because he is upset that she got him detention. At dinner last night he’d made another hurtful comment about her hair. She’d ignored it, knowing that vines and hail aren’t a permanent solution.
After tonight- if they all survive- Hermione is going to make an effort to win over more of the snakes. She’ll need allies if she is going to survive to her seventh year. Especially now that she’s earned the hatred of the Gryffindors in her year.
“Do you think we’ll see any centaurs?” Theo asks, catching up with her.
It breaks her focus but she just shrugs as she looks past the trees into the forest. A nest of acromantulas three kilometres to the west, a herd of centaurs two kilometres straight ahead.
And the unicorn, lying amongst the great roots of a tree less than 500 metres from where they are currently standing. With any luck this will be easier than she thought.
The thing that is drinking from the unicorns is much deeper into the forest, and weak. Not a threat to them in this form.
Part of her can’t help but acknowledge it could be a piece of Tom Riddle’s soul. One that is depending on unicorn blood to survive.
The other part pushes it from her mind. He is going to remain in fractions for as long as she can manage it.
“Ah,” Harry complains, lifting his hand to his forehead.
Hermione tucks away the knowledge that his scar is pained when he is in close proximity to the wraithlike thing lurking deep in the forest. Adds it to the list of reasons to believe a fracture of Tom is the very same wraith.
Has it happened anywhere else?
Why was a piece of Tom lurking in the hills of Scotland when he’d been blown apart in Godric’s Hollow?
And how was Hermione going to stop the train running down the tracks at her?
“Stay close,” Hagrid says, finally catching up to the three of them. Draco is less than a foot behind him.
As Hagrid leads them through the forest, Hermione takes note of how beautiful it all is. Overgrown and allowed to thrive. Every rustle in the leaves and faint sound sends the rest of the group flinching, but Hermione takes it all in.
So alive.
“What is that?” She asks, pointing in the direction she knows they’ll find the unicorn. As much as she is enjoying her waltz through the woods, it is safer if they just finish their task and return to the safety of the castle.
“Blimey, the poor beast,” Hagrid exclaims, marching through the woods, stepping over roots easily while the rest of their group climbs over them.
Hermione hangs back, watching as Harry looks the opposite direction. Towards the deeper parts of the forest. Towards the wraith.
“Are you alright?” She asks.
He nods.
“It’s sort of nice,” he shrugs.
“Nice?” Draco interrupts. “What did you grow up in? Some hovel?”
Hermione glares, but Draco just laughs, carrying on his way.
“Ignore him. I think it's bloody beautiful.”
Harry looks at her strangely and then smiles.
“Now come on, Hagrid’s found the unicorn. Don’t you want to see it?”
The wraith is closer. Much closer.
Hermione nearly grabs Harry and apparates away.
Dear sparrow, so grown.
Tom. But not Tom. How does he know her? Does he know Harry?
Harry has moved ahead of Hermione and gives no sign of having heard the thing that seems so keen to speak to her.
She waits until Harry is within spitting distance of Hagrid and the others and then turns back, walking deeper into the forest.
He won’t hurt her.
She can’t say the same about Harry.
And you- so broken.
A hiss slices through her mind and she winces.
Point made, Tom.
You came to find me.
She hadn’t even known he was here.
“I don’t think you should remain here. So close to Dumbledore.”
The hiss comes once more.
I will come back to myself with or without you, Sparrow.
You don’t really believe that, Tom.
And then she lights the forest so that she can see the thing that he has become.
He’s barely corporeal, his shoulders thin and shrouded in black fabric, his face more like a skeleton than a man.
He turns away from the light and disappears amongst the trees, leaving her to wonder why he is here.
To what end would he return to Hogwarts?
“Mione!” Harry calls, sounding a bit panicked.
She runs as quickly as she can manage towards the voice, not wanting him to come searching and get lost.
“Weren’t meant ta be wanderin off,” Hagrid says gruffly.
“Is the unicorn going to be alright?” She asks, trying to distract from her little detour.
Draco is staring at her with keen eyes.
She ignores him, stepping towards the beast and kneeling beside it.
“Hagrid’s going to have to bring it back to his hut,” Theo says.
Hermione frowns. It is losing too much blood. The silver sinking into the earth and making the beast’s eyes dim with every second.
So she presses her fingers into the beast’s hair and weaves the skin back together.
It only takes a few seconds for the unicorn to bray, scrambling away from her and standing up, dashing away from them.
“Whoa!” Hagrid tries to calm the poor thing.
Hermione stands up and glances at her friends. None of them seem particularly suspicious about how the unicorn could suddenly stand up and run away.
“Merlin’s beard!” Hagrid exclaims. “I thought the poor beast was done fer.”
Hermione grimaces at the crude words.
“Shouldn’t we be going back to the castle?” Draco asks, adopting the aristocratic tone that often seemed to get him whatever he wanted.
Though presently, Hermione doesn’t mind.
The five of them march back out of the forest and up to the castle gate, Hagrid bidding them all a good night and reminding them to go straight to bed.
Of course, Hermione is too amped up to sleep.
Fancy a bit of dessert? She presses into Draco’s mind.
He turns wide eyed as the four Slytherins wander towards the dungeons.
And then he nods, a small smile breaking over his pointed features.
Meet me back in the common room in five minutes.
“I’ll see you both at breakfast,” she says to Harry and Theo, relieved that nothing awful had happened tonight.
She might even prefer a detention served in the forest rather than one writing out lines or cleaning cauldrons.
They both say goodnight and Draco offers a well practised sneer before following them towards the boys dormitory.
Hermione hurries off to her own rooms to change out of her robes and into her pyjamas.
Luck strikes again as she finds her roommates already asleep.
Draco is already there when she gets back to the common room.
He stands up from the couch and follows her outside to the portrait that leads to the kitchens.
“We really shouldn’t be doing this,” Draco says, excitement in his tone. This was much more his speed than the forbidden forest. The worst that would happen here was a loss of house points or a scolding from the house elves.
“That’s exactly why we are,” she answers.
She tickles the pear and the pair of them find themselves standing in a still bustling kitchen. The food for the most part is gone, with the elves cleaning dishes and preparing for the next morning.
“Mr. Malfoy, Sir,” a house elf greets Draco, bending over.
“We’d like a bit of cake,” Draco replies.
Hermione follows him over to the low tables clearly meant for the elves and he orders them around.
“Thank you,” Hermione says to the elf that places a chocolate torte in front of her.
“Did you heal the unicorn?” Draco asks.
Hermione takes a slow bite of her dessert.
Nods.
“I knew it! The thing was nearly dead when we found it. That oaf practically cried at the sight. And Potter got all misty eyed.”
“The Dark Lord is feeding from the unicorns,” she tells him, not wanting to talk about Harry or the oaf.
“Why would you think that?”
“I saw him, Draco. In the forest. He spoke to me.”
“Hermione- I don’t think you should tell anyone else that he’s- alive?”
Hermione shakes her head.
“He isn’t. Not really. He’s fractured into pieces. Weak. But he is going to try and come back. I thought maybe he was here because of me but I don’t think that's it. I think someone else at Hogwarts is helping the Dark Lord.”
“Do you think father knows?” Draco asks, looking a bit ill.
She feels a bit bad for spoiling their dessert.
Lucius. She hadn’t really asked herself if he could be involved.
Surely he’d have been unable to hide that from her.
“I don’t think so.”
“Can’t you figure out who it is?”
She shakes her head again.
“No, Draco. There are too many minds here. Too many motivations. Desires. If the Dark Lord has an ally within the castle, we are all in danger.”
“Not you. You are his… his-” Draco can’t seem to come up with the word.
“His sparrow,” she whispers.
She needs to talk to the Tom Riddle in the journal. He seems more sentient than the wraith. More capable of logic and reasoning.
Even if he will want her to open the chamber.
She can resist that.
“Why tell me?” Draco asks.
Hermione smiles.
“Because you are my friend. More than that, you are the only person in the world who knows who I am. What I am tethered to.”
His brow lifts and he goes a bit pink.
“What are you going to do?”
Hermione hasn’t gotten that far.
She looks down at the table between them and picks up her fork.
“I’m going to find them and stop them. The Dark Lord will live or die on my terms.” She takes a big satisfying bite of her dessert.
Draco looks a bit afraid of her.