Chapter 6
"Dumbledore," he says.
He smiles.
"I'm surprised. I don't think I've seen you outside your office." He has.
His tired face drops from the window.
He chuckles. "Well, I came to find you and you are not in my office."
"Was I supposed to be?" No one told him to be there. Maybe there should be some kind of intuitive thing.
He shakes his head. "I suppose not," he says.
"Okay. What is it you wanted?" He isn't sure how he's supposed to treat the man he killed (will kill?).
"I was curious about what you've been doing." His eyes glitter in that way that says he knows something.
"School. I know it's surprising but sometimes I go to class," Draco says.
He nods and chuckles. "Right, but this year has been strange," he says.
"Maybe it has to do with the three-headed dog," he says, "Seems strange to me."
"Mr. Malfoy, I believe that you were told not to go to that area," he says.
"Doesn't matter to me. Your warning was specifically about dying and I did not die," he says.
He pauses but nods. "So, you have been going to class and exploring areas you are not supposed to?"
Draco shrugs.
"Tutoring too," he says.
He nods.
"Seems like you have a lot of time," he says.
Draco pulls his face into an innocent smile. "I just organize my schedule well," he says.
He nods. "Go-" he says.
"We have to go to detention," Harry says, "Hello, Headmaster."
He nods. "I will talk to you again later," Dumbledore says.
Draco and Harry head to Filch by the front door.
He leads us to Hagrid. He's still blubbering about his dragon.
"We're going into the forest," he says. He sniffles. "Something's in the forest. Killing unicorns."
Draco wrinkles his nose. He likes unicorns.
"They lose a piece of their souls each time they drink it," Hagrid says.
Hermione asks, "Who would be that desperate?"
Draco sighs. "Doesn't much matter," he says, "Since it is taking place so close to Hogwarts it could be a security issue."
Hagrid nods. "We'll be going in groups to cover more ground. We might need to contact each other so to let us know if you're in danger use this spell." He shows them how to send sparks into the air.
"Draco go with-"
"Harry," he says, "and Fang."
Hagrid nods. "You two with me," he says, "Fang's a coward though."
Draco walks into the forest with Harry hanging on my arm and Fang following them.
"Is Fang going to be helpful?" Harry asks.
Draco shakes his head. "Harry," he says. He points to a puddle of silver.
Harry nods and goes quiet.
They follow the trail of the silvery blood to a unicorn on its side taking its last breathes. A hooded figure hovers over it.
Harry gasps.
Draco pull Harry behind a tree and put a finger to his lips.
Leaves and rocks shift under their feet. Draco tugs him closer to him and sandwiches him between the tree and him. Hooves run toward them.
"Get on," the centaur says.
The unicorn makes a soft noise. Draco's chest tightens. So good and now gone. He can feel it's forgiveness but something this good should not be destroyed so brutally. Draco shoves Harry to the centaur and boosts him onto his back. He jumps on behind him.
"Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter," the centaur says.
"Good to meet you. Thank you for assisting us." Draco holds onto Harry's sides.
"It's dangerous out here tonight," the centaur says.
Draco laughs. "Honestly, one of the more peaceful experiences I've had here," Draco whispers. The forest is not a good place to be most the time but more than that. It's where Harry died and was carried out of.
"I'm Firenze," he says.
Draco notes the name in his head.
More galloping comes from across the clearing they've been brought to.
"Firenze," one yells.
"Bane," Firenze whispers.
"What are you doing? Two humans on your back! Have you no shame? Are you a common mule?" he asks.
"Do you realize who this is? This is the Potter boy. The quicker he leaves the Forest, the better."
So, Draco still has no bearing.
"What have you been telling them?" Bane asks. "Remember, Firenze, we are sworn not to set ourselves against the heavens. Have we not read what is to come in the movements of the planets?"
Another centaur paws the ground.
"I'm sure Firenze thought he was acting for the best," he says.
Bane kicks his back legs.
"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!"
Firenze suddenly reared onto his hind legs in anger, so Harry had to grab his shoulders to stay on. Draco falls onto the ground.
"Do you not see that unicorn?" Firenze asks. "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."
I sigh. I look at the sky. "Instead of talking about it, we should go. Hagrid will be expecting us. The moon will be setting soon," I say, "Wow, Mars is bright tonight."
The shuffling around us stops.
"Take them back to Hagrid," Bane says.
"Are you going to come back, Draco?" Harry asks.
Draco shakes his head. "Tell 'em I got eaten by the snake, dementor, thing. I'm sure it won't bother anyone," he says.
"Come along," Firenze says.
He sits up. "Why?" In some weird way, he's depressed. The first time he saw the unicorn he ran away and didn't see it die. This time he didn't just see it, he felt it, heard it, and it's ingrained on his soul. The beginning of this whole thing starts with something pure and innocent dying. That's all he has to look forward to.
"You're important to the survival of the boy," Firenze says.
Draco shrugs.
Firenze pauses and stares. "The stars shift without you," he says.
Draco sighs. He has to keep Harry alive. He knows that but seeing the unicorn die is nauseating. He stands and climbs onto his back.
He gallops to the edge of the Forest.
"Thank you, Firenze," Draco says.
"Give my best to Hagrid," he says.
Draco nods.
Harry walks back to the hut. Draco steps forward.
"The unicorn's death was in the stars," Firenze says.
Draco shrugs. "Sometimes I wish the stars didn't have to have it written," he says.
Firenze stares at the sky. "Things must happen the way they do," he says.
Draco clenches his fists. "Some of the stuff in the stars will change. I will change it," he says, "Sometimes there are things more important than fate."
Firenze looks down at him. "I think if anyone changes the stars it would be that boy," he says.
Draco nods. "Thank you again," he says. He turns away and walks to the hut.
Hagrid sits with Fang, Hermione, Harry, and Neville.
"Draco, Harry, I thought you were gone. No sparks sent up," Neville says.
Draco shrugs. "We were in a bit of trouble, but Firenze helped us out," he says.
Hagrid nods. "Good guy, Firenze is," he says.
He nods.
"Get back to the dorms and go to bed," Hagrid says.
Draco walks back to the castle a step behind the other three. They separate to go to their dorms. Draco turns to the astronomy tower.
"Mars is bright," Draco says.
Regulus coos and flies in front of him.
"I think so too," he says, "I remember Firenze because he was a teacher at Hogwarts for a bit. I knew Harry got out of the woods that night after I ditched him, but I didn't know how."
Reggie lands on his shoulder.
"I know, but to be fair I was not a good guy," Draco says.
Reggie nips his ear.
Draco sighs. He puts his head against the wall. "I don't think so either," he says, "I was so obsessed with being my father's perfect son that I did not take into account what it would do to me or the people around me. I constantly felt like I was walking on a knife's edge."
Reggie rubs his head on my cheek.
"Not like there was anything I could have done then. I was more likely to have embarrassed myself than become better. Then I died and didn't think there was a possibility of improvement, but I wanted it so much. I wanted to be me, not my father's son or a Death Eater for Voldemort. Just Draco, Draco who did whatever Draco wanted," he says.
Reggie coos.
"I'm tired, Reggie," he says, "I still have so much time before I die. I still have so much to do and yet I feel that I could sleep forever."
He nips his ear.
"Yeah. It'll be okay. I'll keep going," he says.
He coos.
"You're right. I'm probably tired from the detention and overthinking," he says. He changes and lays on the couch by the telescope.
"Draco, you have to do better," his father says, "Your mother and I love you, but you've been disappointing us."
Draco bows his head. "I am sorry father," he says. He fell asleep in the library and that disrupted a plan the Death Eaters had.
Voldemort smiles, or as close as he can with his ugly face.
"Crucio," his father says.
Draco collapses, but he doesn't feel anything. He feels it, he's screaming, but doesn't feel it. He blacks out.
When he wakes up his mother is dabbing at his face.
"I am sorry, Draco," she says.
He shrugs. "Not your fault," he says. It comes out scratchy. He must have screamed pretty loud.
Draco wakes up to a finger pressing into his cheek over and over.
"Blaise, I'm going to hex you," he says.
He laughs. "Poor, baby, " he says.
"Blaise, do you think I am strange?"
He nods. "You know the curriculum here until 7th year and you are abnormally good at understanding animals," he says, "And you sleep on a couch in the observatory instead of your bed. It took me forever to find you."
"Is that bad?" he asks.
He shakes his head. "Lara, told us about when you were younger," he says.
Draco's eyebrows knit together.
"How your parents locked you in your room because you were sick," he says.
Draco nods. So, that happened in this timeline too.
"You must have needed something to do there. It makes sense that you would study," he says, "As for the animal thing. There are a variety of wizards so talking to animals isn't so bad."
"Blaise," Draco says. He sits up.
"Hm?" Blaise sits beside him.
"Are we friends?" He doesn't know who he's close to anymore. He didn't have friends last time, he had followers.
"I don't see why we wouldn't be," he says.
"I'm glad. I never had a true friend. I had enemies, acquaintances, and followers but not friends," he says.
He sighs. "Harry's going to be bummed when he hears," he says.
He laughs. "Yeah. I guess he is my friend," he says, "Insane." He wanted to be allied with him and eventually wanted to be friends, but he didn't think that would happen.
He pats Draco's head. "You're strange when you first wake up in the morning," he says.
"I thought we agreed I am always strange," he says.
"True," he says, "Stranger then."
"Why were you waking me up?" Draco asks.
"I want to have breakfast with you."
He stands. "Do you want something? Where's Reggie?" He rolls his shoulders.
"No. He flew out earlier when I came in," he says.
Draco smiles. "He must trust you to have left," he says. Reggie rarely leaves him alone or with strangers.
Blaise grins. "Of course. I'm your best friend," he says.
Draco changes his robes and walk with him to the Great Hall.
"Finally. What took so long?" Millicent asks.
"Draco, was feeling like he was weird," Blaise says.
"He is," Pansy says.
"In a bad way?" Draco asks.
Blaise nods.
Millicent shakes her head. "You're weird in the best way," she says, "Not in a Slytherin pompous way, but a genius with a cunning thought process."
He laughs. "You're all annoying," he says. Yet he likes them more than Crabbe and Goyle for sure.
Pansy pats his head. "Your mouth says it, but your cheeks are rosy," she says.
He pushes her away. "Let's go before I lose my mind," he says.
They go into the Great Hall.
Harry pulls Draco into the seat beside him. "I was telling them about the incident last night," Harry says.
"It was weird. It wasn't an animal," he says. Not even a slight feeling of it.
"How are you sure?" Hermione asks.
Draco taps his head. "I can understand animals well. There are no animals that kill unicorns. Even in desperation, they do not kill unicorns because animals understand the implications of killing a unicorn. It's a basic instinct. Werewolves wouldn't do it either," he says.
Hermione frowns. "A person?" she asks.
Draco nods. "Has to be, they're the only ones that are stupid enough," he says.
"Who would do that?" Ron scowls.
Draco shrugs. "They'd have to be desperate. Every time they do it, they're losing a part of their humanity," he says, "They're alive, but only just. They're probably physically sick too."
"At this point, we have far more questions than answers," Lara says.
Draco nods. "Here's what we do. Lara, Blaise, Milli, and Pansy go to the library to research. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and I will go to Hagrid, he knows something," he says.
"What do we do?" George asks.
"You can help research," he says.
"We ca-"
"Help research in the library," he says.
Draco admits knowing that Fred died might affect his choice to make them research in the library. After all, they could get them to work their mischievous charms and find something elsewhere, but why do that when the library is the safe, logical choice? He needs them to stay alive and Harry too. He needs everyone to live no matter how improbable that is. If he controls the board then no one will be able to take any of his pieces without his permission, but he has to remember that no matter what someone will die. It might not be soon, but they will die, and there will be suffering because pawns are often removed from the board to protect the important pieces. He also doesn't know if the world where Harry and he died the war continued or it ended. His head throbs.
"You always look like you're thinking about the most interesting things," George says.
Draco laughs and massages his temple.
"No really. You look like someone who has seen everything," Blaise says.
He shakes his head. "That's no possible since I was locked away like Rapunzel in my younger years. I've barely even seen Hogwarts," he says.
Lara nods. "He rarely even got to go outside. I was surprised when father and mother said he would be coming to Hogwarts," she says.
"Why did they let him if they were so worried?" Millicent asks.
"Let's not discuss me right now. The important thing is figuring out what was in the woods and what the dog is protecting. Hermione you said the name Nicholas Flamel was mentioned, right?"
"Yes, but we have not found out what he was involved in," she says.
"Okay. You also should look into Flamel and all his projects. Maybe check teachers in the yearbooks to see if any are suspicious, but that is secondary. We need to know what's down there," he says.
Pansy nods.
"Why are you so sure that there would be any change in behavior?" Harry asks.
"Mostly, because if they knew something this year or in the last few years was going to happen then they would change to accommodate it," he says.
"So, just this year?" Pansy asks.
Draco shakes his head. "It could be many years," he says.
She nods.
The library group gets up and leaves.
Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Draco get up. They leave the castle and go to the hut. He knocks.
No answer.
"We can come back later," Hermione says.
Draco nods. "In the meantime, we should go to the forest," he says.
Harry shakes his head.
"Fine. We won't go in, but going along the edge we might see something," he says. He might go in by himself.
Hermione nods. "Could be helpful," she says.
They go to the edge and follow it. The light drastically drops for every meter they try to see in. Draco turns away and gasps.
"What?" Harry asks.
He points in front of him. Ron, Hermione, and Harry follow his finger.
"There's nothing there, Draco," Ron says.
Draco takes a step forward. Horses? No. They're more bony and ghostly. He reaches a hand forward. The creature rubs against it.
"Wow," he whispers, "You're beautiful."
It preens.
"Draco," Lara says.
He turns to Lara standing by the other three.
"Fred found Nicholas Flamel," she says.
He turns his head. The creature is no longer there.
"Right. Who is he?" he asks. He needs to ask Hagrid about another thing now.
Hermione, Ron, and Harry move toward them.
"He's an alchemist who created the Philosopher's stone," Lara says.
"Okay. So, the dog is protecting that...What is it?" He's heard of it but cannot remember what it is.
"It can make anything into gold and provide eternal life," she says.
Hermione claps. "You said the Unicorn blood gives a little more life so whatever or whoever it is wants to live longer and the stone would give that."
Draco nods. "Yes! Thanks, Lara," he says. Everything is making sense.
She nods and ruffles Draco's hair. "See you later. Be careful," she says.
Draco nods. Why does everyone keep touching his hair? Maybe he should gel it again.
Hagrid comes up the path.
"Hagrid, where did you get Norbert?" Draco asks.
"Won 'im," Hagrid says.
"Where Hagrid? From who?" Draco leans forward.
"Just in a game of cards against strangers."
"Okay. What else did you say to the stranger?" Harry asks.
Hagrid stiffens. "Nothing."
"Are you sure? It seems convenient that they had a dragon while you were looking for a dragon," Hermione says.
Draco sighs. "Hagrid, we need to know, please," he says.
"He asked about my other creatures."
Draco waves his hand to get him to keep going.
"I talked about Fluffy, and he asked about weaknesses so I mention'd music puts him right to sleep. A big ol' dog that sleeps from a little music," he says, "I should not have said that."
"Hagrid, you need to learn to keep your mouth shut," he says. He rubs at his head.
"Draco," Harry says.
He sighs. "Bye," he says.
They turn and walk toward the castle.
Draco pauses. "What are the ghost, horse, creatures?" he asks.
Hagrid's eyes widen. "They're called Thestrals," he says, "You shouldn't be able to see them."
Draco tilts his head.
Hagrid waves him toward the castle.
They walk to the castle.
"What should we do?" Hermione asks.
"We need to tell Dumbledore," Harry says.
"Tell him?" Ron asks.
Harry nods.
Draco sighs. "He's right. There is a major security threat. If someone knows how to get past Fluffy and knows what the stone does it can cause problems," he says.
McGonagall comes from the hall. "What are you four doing?" she asks.
"Where is Headmaster Dumbledore?" Draco asks.
She tilts her head, so her eyes focus above her glasses. "He left to tend to an emergency," she says.
Makes sense why he didn't help then. Whoever it is must have distracted him.
"They'll do it tonight," Harry says.
Draco nods. Harry is surprisingly intelligent, sometimes.
"What is going on?" McGonagall asks.
"We know about the Philosopher's stone," Harry says.
She gasps. "Do not speak of things that do not concern you."
Draco groans. "Professor, why would we bring it up if it wasn't important? We need Dumbledore here," he says.
"He is gone. No more discussion of this," she says.
"Listen, something is going to happen tonight," Draco says.
She shakes her head. "Go outside it is nice," she says.
Harry tugs Draco's arm.
"Let's go," Hermione says.
Ron scowls at the professor.