enchanted • draco malfoy

Year 1: Detention...

Felicity's POV

Professor McGonagall led us to her office, an angry expression on her face and, undoubtedly, a smirk on Malfoy's. I glared at the back of his head as we turned into the large room. McGonagall sat at her desk as Harry, Ron, Mione, and I stood in front of her, Malfoy off to the side.

"Nothing, I repeat, nothing gives a student the right to walk about the school at night," McGonagall lectured. "Therefore, as punishment for your actions, 50 points will be taken from Gryffindor."

"50?!?" Harry gasped. She nodded. "Each," she added, "And to ensure it doesn't happen again, all five of you will receive detention."

I watched the smirk slip off Malfoy's face. He walked in front of McGonagall's desk, a skeptical look on his face. "Excuse me, Professor, perhaps I heard you wrong. But I thought you said 'the five of us'," he pointed out.

McGonagall nodded sternly. "No, you heard me correctly, Mr. Malfoy. Though honorable as your intentions were, you, too, were out of bed after hours. You will join your classmates in detention."

I grinned.

Malfoy turned and glared at the four of us before stomping out of the classroom, presumably down to the dungeons. McGonagall turned to us. "Off you go, now. If you are caught out of bed one more time this year, you will be given 3 months worth of detention. I trust it will not happen again."

***

The next day went by quickly, until finally, Filch came and retrieved us from the Gryffindor Common Room. Malfoy, who was already with him, smirked at us, and we glowered in return.

As we were exiting the castle, Filch spoke. "Shame they let the old punishments die. Most of the time in detention, you'd find yourself hanging by your thumbs in the dungeons." He sighed. "God, I miss the screaming," he murmured sadistically. My eyes widened and I shivered, rubbing my arms. It was freezing.

We neared Hagrid's hut, and Filch spoke again. "You'll be serving detention with Hagrid tonight. He's got a little job to do." He paused for effect.

"Inside the Dark Forest."

We stopped outside of Hagrid's home, shivering. Hagrid just sniffled in greeting. "Good God, man, you're not still on about that bloody dragon, are you?" Filch asked disgustedly.

"Norbert's gone. Dumbledore sent him off to Romania," Hagrid informed me, Ron, Harry, and Hermione in a sad voice, "to live in a colony." My brow furrowed in confusion. "Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?" I questioned, "He'll be with his own kind."

Hagrid sniffled yet again. "But what if he don't like Romania? What if the other dragons are mean to him? He's just a baby, after all," he said dejectedly.

"Oh, for God's sake, man, pull yourself together," Filch interrupted. "You're going into the forest after all, and you've got to keep hold of your wits."

"The forest?" Malfoy exclaimed, panic tinging his words, "I thought that was just a joke! We can't go in there; students aren't allowed! Besides, there are-" A long, drawn out howl caused Malfoy to break off from his speech. "-werewolves," he finished in a frightened voice.

"Oh," Filch sneered, "There's a lot more than werewolves in those trees, lad. You can be sure of that..."

He looked around, surveying the six of us, before adding, "Well, nighty night."

We watched as his figure disappeared into the castle before Hagrid cleared his throat. "All righty now, follow me," he said gruffly.

He led us through the outskirts of the Dark Forest, his dog, Fang, a couple feet ahead of him. We'd been walking in tense silence for a while until Hagrid stopped abruptly, almost causing me to run into him. He knelt down by a tree, examining a gooey substance near the base of it. He dipped his fingers in, before lifting them up to show the moon glinting off the silvery fluid.

"Hagrid..." Harry began questioningly. "What is that?" I finished, waiting expectantly for his answer. "This," Hagrid said, rubbing his fingers together, "is what we came here for. This here, is unicorn blood." I exchanged a puzzled glance with Hermione, who looked equally as freezing as me.

"I found one, dead, a few weeks ago. Now, this one's been hurt bad by someone, and so it's our job to go and find the poor beast. Ron, Hermione, you'll come with me, and Harry, Malfoy, you'll go with Felicity," Hagrid said, leaving no room for argument.

I grimaced and shared a look of exaggerated pain with Harry. "Okay," Malfoy agreed reluctantly, "But I get Fang." "Fine," Hagrid said, a hint of a smile on his face, "But just so's you know, he's a bloody coward."

As if on cue, Fang whimpered and Malfoy's eyes widened.

***

"Just wait till my father hears about this. Me, a Malfoy, stuck in the Dark Woods with two Gryffindor scum, and-"

"Would you shut up, Malfoy? You were the one that caused all this; if you weren't the annoying prick that you are, we wouldn't be here in the first place, so don't make this harder than it has to be and shut your bloody mouth, would you?" I interrupted angrily, raising my voice.

His eyes widened for a millisecond before he scoffed and resumed grumbling under his breath.

"This is servant stuff!" Malfoy complained loudly after a minute of peaceful silence. I rolled my eyes as Harry piped up. "You know, Malfoy, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were scared," he said tauntingly, equally as irritated by Malfoy as I was. "Scared, Potter?" he asked, "I am not-"

A low rumbling growl cut him off and he whipped around frantically, almost swinging the lantern into my head. "Watch it!" I snapped. He recovered quickly, rolling his eyes and following Fang into a clearing.

Just like that, we went from moonlit to pitch black, the clearing seeming to shy away from the bright moonlight.

Fang began growling, a low and intimidating sound. "What is it, Fang?" I asked the grey dog, patting his head. His hackles were raised and he was glaring menacingly toward the center of the clearing.

I followed his gaze to see a cloaked figure hunched over the body of a clearly dead unicorn.

I gulped and began slowly backing away.

I was almost to the edge of the trees, and I could hear Malfoy and Harry backing up, too, when-

Snap.

I stepped on a stick, a stick that made the loudest cracking sound I'd ever heard.

Or maybe that was just the intensity of the moment.

We all inhaled sharply as the figure turned to us slowly.

It stood up and took a step, but before it could get any closer, Malfoy bolted, screaming, and Fang followed. I looked over to Harry, seeking reassurance; instead, he had his hand pressed to his forehead in pain. The figure took a few more steps forward, and we took a few back.

Suddenly I fell backwards with a yelp, tripping over the entangled roots of an ancient tree.

I scrambled for my wand in my boot, but came up empty. I scanned the area for it, finding it lying a few yards away, closer to the shadowed creature than me. How the hell did it get there? With what luck?

I stood up cautiously, pulling Harry up with me, who seemed to be in pain. "Harry," I whispered quietly, "Um... wand?"

He didn't seem to hear me over the shock of the moment, the pain in his head, and the approaching sound of rapid hoof beats. We looked up in time to see a centaur arc over us. I gasped as it nearly slammed into the strange figure.

The centaur reared up on his hind legs kicking out and neighing. I let out a sigh of relief as the creature disappeared into the fog of the night before turning to look up at the centaur who'd saved our lives.