Pressing Flowers [ Harry Potter AU ]

Chapter 1 - Friends?

"Alrigh', listen up," Hagrid said after they walked a ways into the forest. "You see tha'? Tha' there is unicorn's blood, tha' is. Found one dead a few weeks ago." Then he cleared his throat. "Now this one's been hurt bad by summat. It's our job-" he paused, looking over into the trees, where Harry definitely saw a hooded figure walking into the shadows- "to go and find the poor beast."

"Ron, Hermione, you'll come with me. And Harry, you'll go with Malfoy." The two boys made faces, knowing they couldn't argue but very much not wanting to be alone together in a dark forest, looking for a wounded unicorn. And therefore, looking for the thing that harmed it. 

"Okay," Malfoy spat, "then I get Fang." 

Hagrid hid a smile, knowing Fang would be of no help whatsoever. "Fine. Just so you know, he's a bloody coward." Right on cue, Fang started whining. The look on Malfoy's face was absolutely priceless. 

As they separated, Draco immediately started ranting. "Just wait until my father hears about this! This is servant's stuff!" he huffed, holding the lantern up and walking as fast as he could. 

"If I didn't know better, Draco, I would say you were scared." For once, Harry didn't use his last name. He had a very small hope in the farthest corner of his mind that he'd catch on, and accept his peace offering. But as expected, it wasn't obvious enough. 

"I'm not scared, Potter," Draco sneered. Just then, a snap echoed through the clearing, and his proud and confident demeanor diminished instantly. "Did you hear that?" 

Harry shook his head, so Draco just walked on and shook it off. "Come on, Fang. Scared!" he said in disbelief. 

For a long while, neither of them said anything else, nor did they hear anything. They were just about to turn back when Fang started whimpering again, and Draco simply stared ahead in horror. 

Harry, completely oblivious, looked at the dog in confusion. "What is it, Fang?" 

Then he looked up, and he saw it. 

As his scar burned, his forehead searing in pain, he looked at the unicorn on the ground, presumably dead. But that wasn't what was so sickening about the scene in front of him. It was the same hooded figure from earlier, drinking the blood straight from the beast. 

As it looked up, its mouth was the only thing visible. Glowing, silver blood was dripping from the sides, like weird vampire fangs. And then it grinned in the least endearing way possible, so much so that it was closer to a snarl, and his head felt like it was about to explode into a billion pieces. 

Draco screamed, but his body was frozen still. Neither of the boys could move, but Fang booked it out of there. 

As the figure stood up, walking towards them, Harry finally regained control over his limbs. He turned around and tried to run, however, his body decided to fail him once more. He tripped on a root, and fell to the floor. When he looked back, he saw Draco still frozen in fear, and the thing was still walking directly towards them. 

As it pulled out its wand, Draco finally regained his senses and pulled out his own, casting the Shield Charm just in time. It gave the other boy enough time to scramble up. 

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Harry yelled, pointing his own wand to a giant branch before another spell was uttered, but the thing ran away before he could drop it over its head. 

Panting, he put his wand away and walked over to Draco, who was shaking. "You alright?" 

Completely disregarding the question, face paler than ever, he asked, "What was that thing?!"