𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 | √

⎡10⎦

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Together, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I ran back to the castle. As we walked down the corridor, we discussed Norbert the dragon. 

"Hagrid always wanted a dragon. He told me so the first time I met him," Harry told us.

"It's crazy. And worse, Malfoy knows." Ron said. My lips pushed themselves into a thin line.

"I don't understand. Is that bad?" Hermione asked him.

"It's bad," was all I said to her. We all stopped as McGonagall, in her nightgown, appeared.

"Good evening," she said. 

Draco appeared smugly beside her. I glared at him as we were herded into McGonagall's classroom and bumped into his shoulder forcefully on the way in. We walked up to McGonagall's desk in the front of the room where she stood behind it with Draco a few feet away, smirking.

"Nothing, I repeat, nothing gives a student the right to walk about the school at night. Therefore as punishment for your actions-" 

Draco cut her off.

"I don't think Hazel should receive a punishment. She followed Potter out, it wasn't her idea." 

I glared at him and said.

"No Draco, I was out after hours," I turned to McGonagall, "and I will be willing to accept the consequences of my actions." 

McGonagall continued.

"Thank you for your honesty Ms. Rosewood. As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted" she said glaring at Draco, "as punishment for your actions, 50 points will be taken."

"50?!" Harry shouted.

"Each. And to ensure it doesn't happen again, all five of you will receive detention," she finished. 

I nodded. Draco nodded too, but then his smile vanished and he stepped towards the desk.

"Excuse me, Professor. Perhaps I heard you wrong. I thought you said... 'the five of us.'"

"No, you heard me correctly, Mr. Malfoy. You see, as honorable as your intentions were, you too were out of bed after hours. You will serve detention with your classmates," she told him. 

The four of us grinned as Draco scowled.

. . .

Our detention time finally came, and we walked out of the castle, being led by Filch. Draco was mad at me for spending time with the Gryffindors, so I just ignored him. And James was mad that I lost Slytherin 50 points. I didn't really care.

"A pity they let the old punishments die. There was a time detention would find you hanging by your thumbs in the dungeons. God, I miss the screaming," Filch told us. Draco gulped."You'll be serving detention with Hagrid tonight. He's got a little job to do inside the dark forest."

Hagrid appeared with a crossbow. He sniffled.

"A sorry lot this, Hagrid. Oh, good God, man, you're not still on about that bloody dragon, are you?" Filch asked, clearly annoyed.

Hagrid sniffed again and sighed.

"Norbert's gone. Dumbledore sent him off to Romania to live in a colony," he told us.

"Well, that's good, isn't it? He'll be with his own kind," I said to Hagrid reassuringly.

"Yeah, but what if he doesn't like Romania?" he asked. I noticed Filch roll his eyes.

"What if the other dragons are mean to him? He's only a baby, after all."

"Oh, for God's sake, pull yourself together, man. You're going into the forest, after all. Got to have your wits about you," Filch said to him rudely.

"The forest?" Draco asked, completely dumbfounded. "I thought that was a joke! We can't go in there. Students aren't allowed. And there are..." There was a howl in the distance "...werewolves!" 

I rolled my eyes. Scaredy cat.

"There's more than werewolves in those trees, lad. You can be sure of that," Filch told him. 

Draco looked absolutely frightened.

"Nighty-night," Filch said as he left.

"Right. Let's go." Hagrid said leading us into the forest. 

Unlike the others, I was excited to explore the Forbidden Forest. As we walked along a path I thought I saw some kind of winged animal in the trees. Suddenly Hagrid stopped and bent down. He dipped his fingers into a silver puddle and pulled out his fingers, rubbing them together. A silver like liquid was smeared on his fingers.

"Hagrid, what's that?" I asked.

"What we're here for. See that? That's unicorn's blood, that is. I found one dead a few weeks ago. Now, this one's been injured bad by something so, it's our job to find the poor beast," he explained "Ron, Hermione, you'll come with me." 

"Okay," Ron said in a strained voice. And Harry, you'll go with Hazel and Malfoy. Draco grimaced while Harry nodded.

"Okay. Then I get Fang!" Draco demanded.

"Fine. Just so you know, he's a bloody coward." 

Fang, Hagrid's dog, whined as we all looked at him.

"You wait till my father hears about this. This is servant's stuff." Draco complained. I rolled my eyes.

"If I didn't know better, Draco, I'd say you were scared," Harry said which made a smile appear across my face.

"Scared, Potter!" he scoffed. I heard a howl in the distance.

"Did you hear that? Come on, Fang. Scared..." Draco muttered. 

I sighed at their bickering. We walked deeper into the forest and made it to a place with flat ground and gnarled roots all over. Fang suddenly stopped and growled.

"What is it, Fang?" I asked the dog. 

I glanced up ahead and noticed a cloaked figure crouched over a dead unicorn, drinking its blood. The figure raised its head and silver blood was dripping from its mouth. I gasped as Harry grabbed his scar.

"AHHH!!! AHHH!" Draco yelled as he and Fang ran away. "HELP!!!"

"Draco! Get back here!" I yelled before running after him. I chased him and Fang back towards where Hagrid, Ron, and Hermione were.

"Malfoy! Hazel! What happened over there?" Hagrid asked.

"Harry—person—unicorn blood!" I said through my panting. "We need to—help—him!"

"Which way did you go?" Hermione asked. I took the lamp from Draco and started running back into the forest. Fang barked and I saw Harry talking to what looked like a horse with the torso of a man. A centaur.

"Harry!" Hermione and I yelled.

"Hello there, Firenze. I see you've met our young Mr. Potter. You alright there, Harry?" Hagrid said. Harry only nodded.

"Harry Potter, this is where I leave you. You're safe now. Good luck," The centaur, Firenze, said before he galloped off. I let out a breath of relief and felt the exhaustion from the night's events fall over me. I had had enough commotion for one night.