Stay - Theodore Nott

The Forest

At eleven o'clock that night, Kirra said good-bye to Rudy and Adira in the common room and went down to the entrance hall by herself, once again, as usual, she was wrapped up tightly in jumpers and long pants.

Filch was already there — and so was Theodore and Malfoy. Kirra had also forgotten that Malfoy and Theodore had gotten a detention, too, especially when Theodore had gone out of his way to give her detention.

"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 but none of them said anything, the two Slytherins were in front while the Hufflepuff stayed a few steps behind them by herself as they walked.

"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." Filch continued

They marched off across the dark grounds. Kirra was shivering horribly as the cold wind blew harshly against her face as she 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, Kirra 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." Kirra's heart rose; if they were going to be working with Hagrid it wouldn't be so bad.

Her relief must have shown 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, Theodore kept a straight face, 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." Kirra had read all about werewolves, they were hated by the wide majority but she supposed they were kind of like Slytherin students, stick together most of the time, have a bad reputation because there are quite a few bad ones, but misunderstood, as not all Slytherins were 'evil'.

"You can't seriously be sending students in there? There is no way that that is ethical, we are 11 years old for Merlin's sake, we could be killed in there," Theodore said with a scoff as he looked at the old man

"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 and Neville, Hermione and Harry behind him. 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 there Kirra, you look freezin'?"

"I shouldn't be too friendly to them, Hagrid," said Filch coldly, "they're here to be punished, after all." He said as he turned around and sneered at the petite girl who was rubbing her hands up her arms trying to get warm

"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. Malfoy now turned to Hagrid.

"I'm not going in that forest," he said with a clear note of panic in his voice. This panic seemed to be amusing to Ron and Harry as Kirra caught them smirking at each other from behind Hagrid.

"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." 

Theodore let out a scoff and rolled his eyes

Draco spoke up, "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 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.

"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."

"And what if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first?" said Malfoy, unable to keep the fear out of his voice, Theodore had subtly moved closer to the Hufflepuff girl, his hand was in his left pocket, gripping his wand in case something jumped out to attack them.

Kirra somehow hadn't noticed the close and protective proximity between her and Theodore as she attempted to think about being wrapped up in her blankets in front of the fire while drinking hot chocolate, her mouth practically drooling at the thought of it as he body shook violently from the cool.

"There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang," said Hagrid. "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 and Kirra let out a snort of laughter which caused Draco to turn and glare at her

"what are you laughing at Potter?" Malfoy sneered at the Hufflepuff, his face squishing up in disgust as he looked down at her

"Im laughing at you clearly" she states "Fang isn't going to help, I wouldn't be surprised if he ran off faster than you, and that is really saying something," Kirra said and tried to stop herself from laughing as she bent down and pet Fang on the head and rubbed under his chin, "whose a good boy?" she asked the dog as she scratched behind his ear

"So me, Harry, Neville an' Hermione'll go one way an' Draco, Kirra, Theodore an' Fang'll go the other." Theodore let out a small breath of relief but he was the only one as the others were quick to protest

"are you serious?" Ron asked with wide eyes, worried for his best friends sister. He and Harry were sure that the two boys would leave her in an instant as soon as something bad was about to happen.

"No way, she isn't going with the two of them" Harry shot out quickly and glared at the two Slytherins, clearly not on board with the plan that Hagrid had put forward. "I'll go with them if I have to but there is no way that I am letting her go with them, if anything happens they will just leave her there to die" Harry quickly said and gave Hagrid a pleading look

"That's how it's going Harry," Hagrid said finally and Harry looked beyond pissed off at Hagrid "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 Harry, Neville, Hermione, and Hagrid took the left path while Malfoy, Theodore, Kirra and Fang took the right.