Can Things Change

Aurora smirked and moved off of Fred’s lap, but did as he asked and changed her hair back to its normal length at the small of her back.

Ted cleared his throat and began to read.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN The Forbidden Forest

Things couldn’t have been worse.

“You are so dramatic,” Sirius laughed, several others joining in. “You just forgot the cloak.” He stopped laughing quickly though when he realized that no one from the future was laughing with him.

Filch took them down to Professor McGonagall’s study on the first floor, where they sat and waited without saying a word to each other. Hermione was trembling. Excuses, alibis, and wild cover- up stories chased each other around Aurora’s brain, each more feeble than the last. She couldn’t see how they were going to get out of trouble this time. 

“Honestly I don’t know why you didn't say that you were studying for your astronomy exam,” Fred grumbled. “Considering who is with you and her study habits it would have been believable.”

Aurora looked thoughtful for a moment before shrugging. It might have worked if not for how mad McGonagall was at the perceived “prank” against Malfoy and then Amice and Neville. It was times like this when looking so much like her father worked against her, because that is the type of thing James would have done in school, close friend getting in trouble as well and all.

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 Aurora thought that things couldn’t have been worse? She was wrong. When Professor McGonagall appeared, she was leading Neville and Amice.

“What were you doing there!” Amos asked angrily.

“I was trying to stop Draco at first,” Amice said looking down shamefully. “I didn’t believe him about the dragon, but I didn’t want him to get in trouble for being out at night either. When I was too late to warn him, I was headed back to the dorm when Neville came across me. I was yelling at him about the three of them tricking Draco like that when we were caught.”

“And you never let any of them explain, did you?” Columba asked softly. Amice just shook her head.

“Aurora!” Amice burst out, the moment she saw the other two. “I was trying to find you, I heard Malfoy saying he was going to catch you, he said you had a drag—”

“I was trying to stop her,” Neville seemed to be whispering, but he was still loud enough for Professor McGonagall to hear.

Aurora shook her head violently to shut Amice and Neville up, but Professor McGonagall had seen. She looked more likely to breathe fire than Norbert as she towered over the three of them.

“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.

“Oh that’s just going to make her even more mad,” Peter sighed.

“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 and Diggory here heard the story and believed it, too?”

Aurora caught Amice’s eye and tried to tell  her without words that this wasn’t true, because Amice was looking stunned and hurt. Nevllie had known the plan so Aurora really didn’t know why he was out, but Amice looked at her and Hermione betrayed, with tears in her eyes. She would never want to hurt Amice, she was one of her first friends.

“I’m disgusted,” said Professor McGonagall. “Five students out of bed in one night! I’ve never heard of such a thing before! 

The Marauders, Lily, Alice, Marlene and Severus all guffawed at the Professor. She had caught all eight of them out one night afterall, as well as a couple others that weren’t in this room.

You, Miss Granger, I thought you had more sense. As for you, Miss Potter, I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than this. All four of you will receive detentions, 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 and Hufflepuff.”

“Fifty?” Aurora gasped — they would lose the lead, the lead she’d won in the last Quidditch match, plus she thought that was a little extreme when Malfoy had only lost twenty.

“Fifty points each,” said Professor McGonagall, breathing heavily through her long, pointed nose.

“Minerva!” Flitwick and Sprout both gasped. “That’s a little excessive don’t you think, especially as Miss Potter just thought, Mister Malfoy only had twenty taken,” the Charms Professor continued.

McGonagall held her head high, she had to be tough on the child of James Potter. Who knows what might happen if she wasn’t, James was far too much of a bully his first five years at school, she would not see his daughter turn out the same way.

“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.”

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. Aurora felt as though the bottom had dropped out of her stomach. How could they ever make up for this?

“Answering questions in class,” Lily said, a glare at McGonagall on her face. While she didn’t agree with how the children had gotten rid of the dragon, she thought the punishment for them was overly excessive. When all of them had been caught out of bed in the middle of the night last year only 10 points were taken from each of them and they were given detention.

“Quidditch,” James and Sirius said. “You can easily make up those points in your next game.” 

Aurora didn’t even have a chance to talk to Amice because McGonagall escorted everyone back to their dorms, dropping Amice off first.

She dropped to her knees as soon as they were in the common room, crying. Neville leaned down and wrapped his arms around her. “It's okay,” he whispered in her ear.

“She’ll never forgive me,” Aurora whimpered. “I didn’t want Amice to get in trouble.” 

Amice got up from her spot next to Draco and gave Aurora a huge hug. “I forgave you a long time ago. It just took Cedric knocking some sense into me first.”

Hermione joined the two on the floor, rubbing her hand up and down Aurora’s arm trying to comfort her.

“We’ll explain everything to her tomorrow,” Hermione sighed. None of the three even wanted to think of what tomorrow would bring when the rest of Gryffindor learned how many points had been lost in one night by the three of them.

Without saying a word, the three of them curled up together on the couch in front of the fire and fell into a fitful sleep.

Aurora didn’t sleep all night. She could hear Neville and Hermione shuffling around as much as she was. 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: Aurora Potter, the famous Aurora Potter, their hero of two Quidditch matches, had lost them all those points, her and a couple of other stupid first years. 

“How bad was it for you two?” Alice asked Neville and Hermione.

“With the rest of our year mates in Gryffindor, it was really bad,” Neville said.

“But with everyone else, all the older students and the people from the other houses, they mostly just ignored us,” Hermione continued. “Ro had it the worst because she’s so well known.”

No one but the house themselves even seemed to notice that Hufflepuff had also lost 50 points as well. Everyone in that house, except for Cedric, was quick to blame Aurora for their loss. It appeared that Amice had told them all her side of the story.

Once she had told Cedric what had really happened he tried to talk to Amice, and let her know the truth. She however didn’t want to hear it, and had been seen spending a lot of her free time in the library studying with Malfoy.

From being one of the most popular and admired people at the school, Aurora was suddenly the most hated. Even Ravenclaws turned on her, because everyone had been longing to see Slytherin lose the house cup. 

“So not only did your house turn on you,” Flitwick said to Aurora, but glaring at McGonagall, “But the entire school, except for I’m guessing a few of the more neutral Slytherins who wouldn’t hate you for the fall of You-Know-Who, hate you as well.”

“That sounds about right,” Aurora replied, ruely.

“And you are only eleven years old,” Alastor clarified.

“Yep.”

“You need to get your school under control, Albus,” both Augusta and Alastor reprimanded the Headmaster.

Everywhere Aurora went, people pointed and didn’t trouble to lower their voices as they insulted her. Slytherins, on the other hand, clapped as she walked past them, whistling and cheering, “Thanks Potter, we owe you one!” This of course only lasted a few days before they were right back to taunting her.

Only Ron and Fred stood by her in Gryffindor.

“Not even George and Percy stood by you?” Arthur asked.

“Percy barely noticed what was going on, he was so focused on studying for his O.W.Ls. But when he did, no he was quick to blame Aurora. As for George, he thought the whole thing was hilarious, so while he wasn’t actively tormenting Aurora like the rest of the school, he wasn’t standing up for her either,” Fred explained.

“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.”

“They’ve never lost a hundred and fifty points in one go, though, have they?” said Aurora miserably.

“We had actually,” Fred snarled, “That’s what pissed me off even more. We lost 200 points in one night with a prank gone wrong and we were never treated the way you were.”

“Well — I don’t know,” Ron admitted.

It was a bit late to repair the damage, but Aurora swore to herself not to meddle in things that weren’t her business from now on. She’d had it with sneaking around and spying. She felt so ashamed of herself that she went to Wood and offered to resign from the Quidditch team.

“What good would that do,” James exclaimed. “How are you going to get any points back if you can’t win at Quidditch?”

Ted and Aurora both let out a small laugh.

“Resign?” Wood thundered. “What good’ll that do? How are we going to get any points back if we can’t win at Quidditch?”

James blushed bright red.

But even Quidditch had lost its fun. The rest of the team wouldn’t speak to Aurora during practice, and if they had to speak about her, they called her “the Seeker.” She had heard Fred arguing with the rest of the team after practice about their treatment of Aurora. She didn’t stay to listen, rushing to the library to finish her homework. She didn’t want to hear what they had to say about her.

Fred pulled Aurora into him, trying to comfort her.

Hermione and Neville were suffering, too. They didn’t have as bad a time as Aurora, 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.

“But that’s the best way to earn points back,” Remus announced.

“The couple times I did try to answer questions the first two days were bad,” Hermione explained. “Sprout ignored me, Flitwick gave me points, but those were quickly taken away by Snape or Quirrell. McGonagall glared at me for raising my hand, and Binns it’s pointless to even try.”

The mentioned teachers looked down in shame, as well as to not see the glares they were getting from everyone else in the room. They had no idea why they would act this way towards a student, and knew they deserved those glares though if what Hermione was saying was true, and they seriously suspected that it was.

Aurora was almost glad that the exams weren’t far away. All the studying she had to do kept her mind off her misery. She, Ron, Neville 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, Aurora’s new resolution not to interfere in anything that didn’t concern her was put to an unexpected test. Walking back from the library on her own one afternoon, she heard somebody whimpering from a classroom up ahead. As she drew closer, she heard Quirrell’s voice. 

“No — no — not again, please —”

It sounded as though someone was threatening him. Aurora moved closer.

“All right — all right —” she heard Quirrell sob.

“What’s going on with him?” Fabian asked.

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; Aurora didn’t think Quirrell had even noticed her. She waited until Quirrell’s footsteps had disappeared, then peered into the classroom. It was empty, but a door stood ajar at the other end. Aurora was halfway toward it before she remembered what she’d promised herself about not meddling.

All the same, she’d have gambled twelve Sorcerer’s Stones that Snape had just left the room, and from what Aurora had just heard, Snape would be walking with a new spring in his step — Quirrell seemed to have given in at last.

Aurora went back to the library, where Hermione was testing Ron on Astronomy. Aurora told them what she’d heard.

“Snape’s done it, then!” said Ron. “If Quirrell’s told him how to break his Anti-Dark Force spell —”

Regulus, Barty and Severus all snorted. Lucius smirked in amusement, Severus was almost as proficient as he was in the Dark Arts, and to truly know the Dark Arts you had to know how to fight the Dark Arts. There was nothing that Quirrell could come up with that Severus wouldn’t already know how to get past.

“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. 

“There were,” Fred sighed.

So what do we do, Aurora?”

The light of adventure was kindling again in Ron’s eyes, but Hermione answered before Aurora 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 Aurora. “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.” 

“I am sure that while I might not have believed you about your hunch for Mister Snape,” Dumbledore said, for he seemed to have figured out that he at least trusted Severus Snape in the future, “I would have looked into things more closely.”

Aurora goggled at Dumbledore for a moment, forgetting that this Snape hadn’t sold his life to Dumbledore yet in exchange for saving Lily, and then protecting her. This Snape was technically still a student, and therefore, it would be weird for the Headmaster to call him Severus instead of Mister Snape, or insist on people (Aurora) calling him Professor. This Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape hadn’t been working for 17 years to bring about the death of Voldemort. Fred drew her attention back to the book before she could draw too much attention to her staring at the Headmaster.

Hermione looked convinced, but Ron didn’t.

“If we just do a bit of poking around —”

“No,” said Aurora flatly, “we’ve done enough poking around.”

She pulled a map of Jupiter toward her and started to quiz Ron on the names of it’s moons. If there was one subject that Aurora had memorized, it was astronomy.

The following morning, notes were delivered to Aurora, Hermione, 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

“It’s rather ironic,” Sirius laughed.

“You get detention for being out in the middle of the night,” James scoffed.

“And your scheduled detention is in the middle of the night,” Remus growled.

Aurora 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 Aurora, she felt they deserved what they’d got.

At eleven o’clock that night, they three of them said good-bye to Ron in the common room and went down to the entrance hall. Filch was already there — and so was Amice and Malfoy. Aurora 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.”

“He really is a horrible man,” Amelia muttered to Kingsley, who nodded in agreement.

They marched off across the dark grounds. Amice kept shivering. Aurora 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, Aurora 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.”

Aurora’s heart rose; if they were going to be working with Hagrid it wouldn’t be so bad. Her relief must have showed in her 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, Amice shivered violently, and Malfoy stopped dead in his tracks.

“The forest?” he 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 Aurora’s robe and made a choking noise. “The full moon was four days ago, there won’t be any werewolves in there,” Aurora grumbled. If people were that afraid of werewolves you would think that they would at least know when the full moon was.

“She’s always kept track of the moon phases,” Fred said.

Remus looked intrigued, and curious, he really wanted to know if Teddy was affected by the moon at all.

“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, Aurora, Hermione, Neville?”

“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.

“You were out all night for a detention!” Molly shouted. 

“You’re eleven and twelve years old, your bodies can’t handle being up all night like that,” Andromeda exclaimed. 

“We weren’t out all that long actually,” Amice clarified.

“Maybe two hours at most,” Hermione added.

“It was really just Filch being dramatic like usual,” Neville said.

Malfoy now turned to Hagrid.

“I’m not going in that forest,” he said, and Aurora 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 yeh’ve 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 you not to get caught and get detention in the first place,” Lucius growled angrily. “But I also would not condone any child being sent into the forest in the middle of the night for detention.”

“—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.

“I might not have wanted to go into the forest for detention but I did get that detention for breaking the rules so I wasn’t going to argue too much.”

“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.”

“There’s nothing in the forest that can kill a unicorn though,” Sirius and Remus said. Remus might not remember their full moon runs, but he was an expert at magical creatures and there wasn’t much that could kill a unicorn and none of those creatures were in the forest.

“Who would even do such a thing?” Pandora asked, breathlessly, “Who would want to hurt something so pure?”

“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. 

Ron scoffed lightly, apparently Aarogg didn’t get that message, he thought.

“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, Aurora, an’ Hermione’ll go one way an’ Draco, Neville, Amice, 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 Aurora, Hermione, and Hagrid took the left path while Malfoy, Neville, Amice, and Fang took the right.

“I don’t like you guys being split up like this,” Columba sighed.

“It’s just asking for trouble pairing Draco and Neville up also,” Frank and Narcissa said at the same time.

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.

Aurora saw that Hagrid looked very worried.

“Could a werewolf be killing the unicorns?” Hermione asked. 

“Werewolves aren’t fast enough,” Aurora said.

“It’s not easy ter catch a unicorn, they’re powerful magic creatures. I never knew one ter be hurt before.” Hagrid added.

They walked past a mossy tree stump. Aurora 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 aren’t anywhere near the unicorn if you’re just seeing spots of blood,” Xenophilious said. “Though that was probably where the initial attack took place if you are near a stream.”

“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 Aurora 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?” Hermione suggested.

“Why are you so focused on the werewolf bit?” Sirius asked, seeing that Remus looked a little uncomfortable.

“It wasn’t something I had read about yet,” Hermione admitted. “I didn’t know if they could shift outside of the full moon or not, and honestly I never paid attention to the moon phases before so I didn’t know.”

“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. Aurora and Hermione’s jaws dropped.

“Oh don’t try talking to the Centaur’s,” James moaned. “They never tell you anything useful.”

“I don’t know,” Aurora laughed, “I figured out what they were trying to say fine enough.” She really did enjoy teasing her father, he made it so easy sometimes.

“Oh, it’s you, Ronan,” said Hagrid in relief. “How are yeh?”

He walked forward and shook the centaur’s hand.

“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 Aurora 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.

Several people chuckled at Hermione’s reaction.

“Good evening,” said Ronan. “Students, are you? And do you learn much, up at the school?”

“Erm —”

“A bit,” said Hermione timidly.

“If you only learned a bit what did the rest of us learn,” Ginny teased.

“Oh shut up.”

“A bit. Well, that’s something.” Ronan sighed. He flung back his head and stared at the sky. “Mars is bright tonight.”

“War is coming,” all the Blacks in the room said. Sirius looked at Aurora concerned. He didn’t want a war anywhere near her.

“But how does Voldemort come back,” Amelia asked.

“Was he even really gone in the first place,” Kingsley added.

“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.”

“Divination might not be the most precise branch of magic, but the centaur’s were right on the money here,” Aurora whispered to Hermione.

As much as she didn’t want to admit it, Hermione had to concede that Aurora was right. Cedric was truly innocent and didn’t deserve to die the way he did. He should have at least gone out fighting, not as a ‘spare’. Not even mentioning the fact that most of the people fighting this war had been children. She wouldn’t have done anything differently though, she would never turn her back on Aurora, but they had barely been legal when they went horcrux hunting, let alone everything that came before that. 

“Yeah,” said Hagrid, “but have yeh seen anythin’ Ronan? Anythin’ unusual?”

“Mars is bright tonight,” Ronan repeated, while Hagrid watched him impatiently. “Unusually bright.”

“It’ll be soon then,” Regulus said sadly. He didn’t really want to take the dark mark, he didn’t truly believe in what the Dark Lord was doing, but after seeing what his mother put Sirius through, he knew he had no choice in the matter.

“It doesn’t truly start for most people for another few years,” Aurora let everyone know. She also knew that most could infer that for her the war really did start soon after this.

 James and Lily let out a soft whimper. Why did it have to be their daughter?

“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.

“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 get it!” Fabian and Gideon exclaimed.

“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.”

Aurora 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.”

“They are very knowledgeable though if you can actually understand them,” Remus defended. 

“And that conversation was rather easy to follow for a centaur,” Xenophilius added.

“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 Aurora.

“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. Aurora kept looking nervously over her shoulder.

She had the nasty feeling they were being watched. She 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!”

“Oh no,” Alice squeaked, grabbing Frank's hand, while Columba hid her face in Amos’ shoulder.

“You scared one of them didn’t you,” Narcissa asked her son, already knowing what happened.

Draco looked down ashamed, nodding his head. Looking back on his actions now, he could see how bad that was at that moment in time. There was something killing the unicorns in the forest and he thought it would be funny to scare Neville.

“You two wait here!” Hagrid shouted. “Stay on the path, I’ll come back for yeh!”

“Oh why did he leave you,” Lily moaned.

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 or Amice… it’s our fault they’re here in the first place.”

“Thanks Ro,” Draco drawled, while Aurora chuckled at the put upon look he was sporting.

The minutes dragged by. Their ears seemed sharper than usual. Aurora’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, Neville, Amice, and Fang were with him. Hagrid was fuming. Malfoy, it seemed, had sneaked up behind Neville and grabbed him as a joke. Neville had panicked and sent up the sparks. 

“We’ll be lucky ter catch anythin’ now, with the racket you two were makin’. Right, we’re changin’ groups — Neville, Amice, you stay with me an’ Hermione, Aurora, you go with Fang an’ this idiot. I’m sorry,” Hagrid added in a whisper to Aurora, “but he’ll have a harder time frightenin’ you, an’ we’ve gotta get this done.”

“I don’t think I like this arrangement any better,” James grumbled.

So Aurora 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. Aurora 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. Aurora could see a clearing ahead, through the tangled branches of an ancient oak.

The two Lovegoods, as well as the future Lovegood, all let out soft whimpers. Neville pulled Luna into his side, he knew this chapter would be tough on her. She loved all magical creatures, and didn’t want to see any of them hurt, especially not a unicorn.

“Look —” he murmured, holding out her arm to stop Malfoy.

Something bright white was gleaming on the ground. They inched closer.

It was the unicorn all right, and it was dead. Aurora 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.

Luna let out a soft cry. Everyone else was stunned, what could do that to a unicorn?

Aurora 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. Aurora, 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.

“NO!” Lily and Severus shouted. Why would you do such a thing to yourself, they both thought.

“AAAAAAAAAARGH!”

Malfoy let out a terrible scream and bolted — so did Fang. The hooded figure raised its head and looked right at Aurora — unicorn blood was dribbling down its front. It got to its feet and came swiftly toward Aurora — she couldn’t move for fear.

Then a pain like she’d never felt before pierced her head; it was as though her scar were on fire.

“What’s going on?” James asked, frantic. Why was her scar acting like that? That wasn’t normal.

Half blinded, she staggered backward. She heard hooves behind her, galloping, and something jumped clean over Aurora, charging at the figure.

“Oh thank Merlin,” Sirius sighed.

The pain in Aurora’s head was so bad she fell to her knees. It took a minute or two to pass. When she looked up, the figure had gone. A centaur was standing over her, not Ronan or Bane; this one looked younger; he had white-blond hair and a palomino body.

“Are you all right?” said the centaur, pulling Aurora to her feet. 

“Yes — thank you — what was that?”

The centaur didn’t answer. He had astonishingly blue eyes, like pale sapphires. He looked carefully at Aurora, his eyes lingering on the scar that stood out, livid, on Aurora’s forehead.

“You are the Potter girl,” he said. “You had better get back to Hagrid. The forest is not safe at this time — especially for you. Can you ride?

“No way!” Remus exclaimed. 

“You got to ride a centaur?!” Peter said breathlessly.

“I’ve never heard of a centaur allowing anyone to ride them before,” Xenophilius said in awe.

It will be quicker this way.

“My name is Firenze,” he added, as he lowered himself on to his front legs so that Aurora 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!” 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. The quicker she leaves this forest, the better.”

“Does Voldemort really get bad enough that his defeat is even known by the centaurs?”Marlene asked. No one from the future had an answer for her, and that was all the confirmation that she really needed.

“What have you been telling her?” growled Bane. “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?”

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!”

Firenze suddenly reared on to his hind legs in anger, so that Aurora 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.”

“He is a rather unique centaur,” Amos said, bemused. He had talked with some before and he agreed with Hagrid, trying to get a straight answer out of a centaur was difficult.

“Firenze is the best,” Aurora said. “He’s now head of the clan,” she added.

And Firenze whisked around; with Aurora clutching on as best she could, they plunged off into the trees, leaving Ronan and Bane behind them.

Aurora didn’t have a clue what was going on. 

“Why’s Bane so angry?” she asked. “What was that thing you saved me from, anyway?”

Firenze slowed to a walk, warned Aurora to keep her head bowed in case of low-hanging branches, but did not answer Aurora’s question. They made their way through the trees in silence for so long that Aurora thought Firenze didn’t want to talk to her anymore. They were passing through a particularly dense patch of trees, however, when Firenze suddenly stopped.

“Aurora Potter, do you know what unicorn blood is used for?”

“No,” said Aurora, startled by the odd question. “We’ve only used the horn and tail hair in Potions.”

“Because it’s monstrous!” Lily exclaimed. “What it does to your soul…” she trailed off.

The trio whipped their heads to look at each other. Could this have been part of the reason that Voldemort was never truly at his full power like he was before he was defeated the first time. Could the curse of the unicorn blood, along with all his horcrux, and by the time of his rebirth, one of those horcrux, his first, and the largest piece of his soul, having been destroyed.

Or was it Quirrell who took the brunt of the curse from the unicorn blood? 

“That is because it is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn,” said Firenze. “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.”

Aurora stared at the back of Firenze’s head, which was dappled silver in the moonlight.

“But who’d be that desperate?” she wondered aloud. “If you’re going to be cursed forever, death’s 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. Miss Potter, do you know what is hidden in the school at this very moment?”

“Oh,” Arthur sighed. Of course the person after the stone didn’t want it for the riches. They wanted to bring Voldemort back.

“The Philosopher'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 Aurora’s heart. Over the rustling of the trees, she 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,” Aurora croaked, “that was Vol- ”

Sirius stood and started pacing. He didn’t want to think about what might have happened had Firenze not shown up when he did.

“Aurora! Aurora, are you all right?”

Hermione was running toward them down the path, Hagrid puffing along behind her.

“I’m fine,” said Aurora, hardly knowing what she was saying. “The unicorn’s dead, Hagrid, it’s in that clearing back there.”

“This is where I leave you,” Firenze murmured as Hagrid hurried off to examine the unicorn. “You are safe now.”

Aurora slid off his back.

“Good luck, Aurora Potter,” said Firenze. “The planets have been read wrongly before now, even by centaurs. I hope this is one of those times.”

“It’s not,” all the time-travelers sighed.

He turned and cantered back into the depths of the forest, leaving Aurora shivering behind him.

Ron had fallen asleep in the dark common room, waiting for them to return. He shouted something about Quidditch fouls when Aurora roughly shook him awake. In a matter of seconds, though, he was wide-eyed as Aurora began to tell him, Neville, and Hermione what had happened in the forest.

Aurora couldn’t sit down. She paced up and down in front of the fire. She was still shaking.

“I hate it when you do that,” Neville complained. “It makes me dizzy.”

“I think best when I’m moving,” Aurora chuckled. She knew full well how much it bothered Neville and Ron both, but she still did it. It really did help her sort her thoughts.

“Snape wants the stone for Voldemort… and Voldemort’s waiting in the forest… and all this time we thought Snape just wanted to get rich…”

“Stop saying the name!” said Ron in a terrified whisper, as if he thought Voldemort could hear them.

Aurora wasn’t listening.

“She never does.”

“Firenze saved me, but he shouldn’t have done so… Bane was furious… he was talking about interfering with what the planets say is going to happen… They must show that Voldemort’s coming back… Bane thinks Firenze should have let Voldemort kill me… I suppose that’s written in the stars as well.”

“Will you stop saying the name!” Ron hissed.

“So all I’ve got to wait for now is Snape to steal the Stone,” Aurora went on feverishly, “then Voldemort will be able to come and finish me off… Well, I suppose Bane’ll be happy.”

Hermione looked very frightened, but she had a word of comfort. 

“Aurora, everyone says Dumbledore’s the only one You-Know-Who was ever afraid of, with Dumbledore around, You-Know-Who won’t touch you. Anyway, who says the centaurs are right? It sounds like fortune-telling to me, and Professor McGonagall says that’s a very imprecise branch of magic.”

“There are ture seer’s out there,” Barty said. “And centaurs are very adept at reading the planets.”

Hermione looked fondly at Luna, it had taken her time to realize that true seer’s existed, as well as prophets, which were a little more rare, and never actually remembered their prophecies. “I know, but it takes me a while to get out of my literal mindset.” 

Luna beamed at Hermione. She knew that the older girl had a hard time believing what she couldn’t see and do but to hear the confirmation once more that Hermione did believe in seer’s made Luna feel warm inside. She knew she didn’t have to hide her powers from her friend, but for the first couple years of their friendship she had, because she knew Hermione wasn’t comfortable with them.

The sky had turned light before they stopped talking. They went to bed exhausted, their throats sore. But the night’s surprises weren’t over.

When Aurora pulled back her sheets, she found his invisibility cloak folded neatly underneath them. There was a note pinned to it:

Just in case. 

“Who returned it?” Peter wondered.

“Probably Dumbledore,” James said. “He’s the only one other than Aurora, Ron, Hermione and Neville that even know that Aurora has it.”

“That’s the end of the chapter,” Ted said, marking the place in the book and closing it.

“Shall we go eat then,” Ron said, jumping up and almost running to the kitchen, followed by the sounds of his friends' laughter.