The Girl Who Hid | ✓

|4| Scars

With only a week left until the end of our first year, Harry, Hermione, and I managed to get into loads of trouble. Despite my telling them what Lupin had said about me getting into trouble, they still convinced me to go with them to the Astronomy Tower to release Hagrid's hidden dragon. Not only did Harry forget his Invisibility Cloak, but we also managed to get caught by Filch and lost fifty House points— each— and detention with Malfoy and Neville.

Just when I thought that detention wasn't going to be bad, Hagrid took us into the Forbidden Forest, for our detention, to find what's killing the Unicorns for their blood. In the forest, we had to split into two groups but the groups changed because Malfoy kept pulling jokes on Neville.

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

So Harry and I set off into the heart of the forest with Malfoy and Fang. We 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. There were splashes on the roots of a tree, as though the poor creature had been thrashing around in pain close by.

"Look—" Harry murmured, holding out his arm to stop me and Malfoy.

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

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

I had taken one step toward it when a slithering sound made me freeze where I 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. Harry, Malfoy, Fang, and I 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.

"AAAAAAAAAARGH!"

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

Then a pain like I'd never felt before stabbed me in the chest; it was as though my scar was on fire. Out of breath, I staggered backward as did Harry. From behind me, I heard hooves, galloping, and something jumped clean over us, charging at the figure.

The pain in my chest was so bad, I leaned up against the tree behind me. As I doubled over, I saw Harry on his knees, clutching his head. When I looked up, the figure had gone. A centaur was standing in front of us, not Ronan or Bane; this one looked younger; he had white-blond hair and a palomino body.

"Are two you all right?" said the centaur, pulling Harry to his feet.

"Yes— thank you— what was that?"

"Yeah," I panted once the pain stopped.

The centaur didn't answer. He had astonishingly blue eyes, like pale sapphires. He looked carefully at Harry, his eyes lingering on the scar that stood out, livid, on Harry's forehead. He then flickered his eyes to me and looked me over, stopping at my exposed shoulder.

"You are the Potter boy," he said to Harry. "You and your friend had better get back to Hagrid. The forest is not safe at this time— especially for you. Can you ride? It will be quicker this way.