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WHEN THEY GOT back to the common room, they found Ron asleep on the couch, mumbling something about Quidditch referees. Harry shook him awake, and once Ron's eyes fluttered open, he moved back and started pacing around the common room.
"Voldemort was the one killing the unicorns in the forest. He's back." Harry somehow choked out. Ron was wide awake now. "My scar was killing me when he came close to me, but luckily Firenze saved me.
"Voldemort is back, but he's weak. 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!" Ron advised furiously.
"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."
"Stop!" Ron hissed. "Stop saying the name!"
"So all we have to do is wait for Snape to steal the Stone. Then Voldemort can finish me off. Bane will be happy about that."
Hermione spoke next. "Harry, 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."
"Fortune telling isn't always inaccurate." said Archer with a small shrug. "And even if it is, centaurs are far more accurate than wizards."
Harry nodded. "So I have everything to be worried about?"
"Harry, I didn't mean-"
"It's alright." Harry mumbled quietly, pulling his knees up to his chest and rocking slowly back and forth.
By the time they went to bed, the sun was rising in the air, and Archer could barely walk. But the thought of Voldemort being alive, somewhere in the depths of the Forbidden Forest, made it much more difficult for Archer to fall asleep.
Archer somehow got through exams, even with the hanging thought of Voldemort being so close to the castle without Dumbledore knowing.
It was also so hot that Archer looked forward to his Potions exams in the cold dungeons. That happiness faded when he saw Snape, who constantly breathed down his neck while he tried to make the potions he needed to.
