Daughter of a Criminal

The Dark Forest

If Harry and Ann could list all of the worst things that could possibly happen to them at Hogwarts, this would be one of them. Filch took them down to Professor McGonagall's classroom where Hermione stood there trembling with fear in front of McGonagall's desk and Ron looked down knowing what was gonna happen to them, expulsion. Harry and Ann tried to come up with any excuse, alibi, or cover-up story to help them get through this, but not one was suitable enough for McGonagall to change her mind if it came down to it. None of them could see any way out this time. How could they have been so stupid to forget the invisibility cloak? But things took a turn for the worse when Malfoy, who was all smiles and gloating, showed up.
"I told you I wasn't making it up!They were hiding a drag -," Malfoy gloated "That will do, Mr. Malfoy! But that doesn't mean you will not deserve detention," McGonagall said
"But you said…," Malfoy said.
"Enough!!," McGonagall said. Malfoy went silent and his smile vanished. "Nothing, I repeat, nothing gives a student the right to walk about the school at night. And nothing, absolutely nothing gives a student the right to hide a dragon on the school grounds," McGongall said
"But, Professor the dragon was Hagrid's. We were only trying to help," Hermoine pleaded
"Silence! It was Hagrid's responsibility, not yours. If he had a problem with the dragon, then he should've gone straight to Dumbledore. Now, as for your punishment for your actions, 50 points will be taken," McGonagall said. Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ann were outraged by this outcome.
"50?!," Harry exclaimed.
"Each. And to ensure it doesn't happen again, Mr. Malfoy will be joining you four in detention," McGonagall said
"But, Professor…," Malfoy tried.
"No buts about it, Mr. Malfoy!! You will pay the consequences equally as the rest of the students. And, as honorable as your intentions were, you were out of bed after hours again! Therefore, you will serve detention with your classmates. Now, hand over wands. You won't be needing them for detention," Professor McGonagall said and she confiscated their wands before heading out with Filch.

Outside the castle, the moon was bright, but the clouds slightly covered it. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ann, and Malfoy were all led out by Mr. Filch to Hagrid's hut. On the walk down, Filch scared them on the way.
"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,you'll be serving detention with Hagrid tonight," Filch continued.
"He's got a little job to do inside the dark forest," Hagrid came out of his hut with his crossbow in his hand and sniffled, obviously still upset over releasing Norbert to Charlie's friends.
"A sorry lot this, Hagrid," Filch said before noticing Hagrids sobs.
"Oh, good God, man, you're not still on about that bloody dragon, are you?," Flinch asked. Hagrid didn't say a word, but the tears came once again.
"Oh, for God's sake! Pull yourself together, man. You're going into the forest, after all. Got to have your wits about you," Flinch said
"The forest? I thought that was a joke! We can't go in there. Students aren't allowed. And there are…," Malfoy said. At that moment, everyone heard a howl in the distance.
"Werewolves!," Malfoy cried.
"Werewolves?!," Ann said.
"There's more than werewolves in those trees, lads. You can be sure of that. Nighty-night," Filch said before he left them all terrified with Hagrid.
"Right. Let's go," Hagrid said. Everyone followed behind Hagrid. The forest was black and really quiet. Holding his lamp up high, Hagrid pointed down a narrow, winding earth track that disappeared into the thick black trees. As they got deeper and deeper into the forest, the sound of howls got worse. Then, Hagrid stopped, bent down, and dipped his fingers in a silver puddle. He pulled out his fingers out of the puddle and rubbed them together.
"Hagrid, what's that?," Harry asked
"What we're here for. See that?," Hagrid said, showing them the silver liquid. "That's unicorn's blood, that is," Hagrid said
"Unicorn blood? There's unicorns here?," Ann asked
"Yes, I found one dead a few week ago. Now, this one's been injured badly by something. So, it's our job to find the poor beast. Hermione, Ron you'll come with me. Harry, Ann, you'll go with Malfoy," Hagrid said. Malfoy grimaced and Harry nodded, but Ann just glared at Malfoy.
"Okay,then I get Fang!," Malfoy said
"Fine. Just so you know, he's a bloody coward," Hagrid said Fang whined as he looked at them innocently. Everyone split up in directions once they reached a fork in the road. Harry, Ann, Malfoy, and Fang went to the left and Hermione, Ron, and Hagrid went to the right. Harry, Ann, and Malfoy walked in silence through the forest with Fang leading the way. carried the lamp while Ann gripped Harry's arm. Every now and then Malfoy would look over at Ann who was surprisingly calm.
"You wait till my father hears about this. This is servant's stuff," Malfoy said
"Can't solve your own problems huh, Malfoy?," Ann sneered
"Hey! I wasn't the one hiding a dragon!," Malfoy said.
"It wasn't our dragon!! It was Hagrid's! We were trying to get rid of it before you found out!," Ann yelled
"If I didn't know better, Malfoy, I'd say you were scared," Harry said
"Scared, Potter!?," Malfoy said. Then the three of them heard a howl.
"Did you hear that?," Malfoy asked, his face going pale.
"Definitely sacred," Ann said
"Come on, Fang," Malfoy said. They continued walking with Fang trotting alongside. Ann could hear Malfoy mutter under his breath, "Scared."
Malfoy, Harry, and Ann arrived at flat ground with gnarled roots all over. The howls started to lessen.
"Could a werewolf be killing the unicorns?," Ann asked.
"Who knows? It could be anything. A werewolf, a vampire," Harry said
"Or a psycho-wizard," Ann joked, trying to lighten the mood. Then, Fang stopped and growled.
"What is it, Fang?," Harry asked. Ann started to panic and gripped Harry's arm again in fear. Then, up ahead, there was a cloaked figure crouched over a dead unicorn... drinking its blood.
"Harry?," Ann whispered in terror as she pointed to the hooded-figure.
"What's that?," she gulped. Harry gasped and pressed his fingers into his scar in pain. The figure raised its head to see who it was that screamed and silver blood was dripping from its mouth. Then Malfoy with pure fear in his face screamed at the top of his lungs.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!!," He ran off with Fang right in front of him.
Harry and Ann were left alone in the dark forest to fend for themselves. The pain in Harry's scar was so bad he fell to his knees in agony. Ann knelt beside Harry trying to comfort him. Then the figure slid along the ground like a giant snake over the unicorn and stood up fully erected right in front of them. It was advancing slowly toward Harry and Ann who were completely defenseless. "Come on!!," Ann said, trying to get Harry to stand up.
"I can't!!! It hurts too much... AAAAHHH!!!," Harry shouted. Then all of a sudden everything around him; the trees, the ground, the night sky; started getting blurry. Harry was getting extremely dizzy, on the edge of passing out right on the spot. Ann backed up with her arms around Harry who was still in a lot of pain and they both fell backward over a loose log. Ann crawled back up the gnarled roots and looked at Harry to see he was not moving. She couldn't just leave Harry here alone. Suddenly, the hooded-figure was advancing closer towards Harry's motionless body. There was nothing Ann could do. She didn't have her wand with her and even if she did have her wand, she wouldn't have known any spells to scare it away other than the Levitation Spell. Ann did the only thing she could do.
"HEY!!! Leave my friend alone!!!!," Ann yelled. The hooded-figure turned toward Ann and advanced on her. Then she heard a noise in the forest. It was hooves galloping along the forest floor. The noise startled the hooded-figure. A horse-like figure came soaring over Harry and Ann. As it landed near the hooded-figure, Ann noticed it was a centaur. A silver centaur who is known by Hagrid to be named Firenze. Firenze reared up on his hind legs and the hooded-figure retreated into the fog and flew away. Harry woke up after the hooded figure left. Ann ran over to him.
"Harry," she yelled
"Hey Ann," Harry said weakly. Then, Firenze trotted over to Harry and Ann "Harry Potter, you and your friend must leave. You two are known to many creatures here. The forest is not safe at this time. Especially for you two,"
"What do you mean by the two? Harry the chosen one ," Ann said
"I can take you both to Hagrid. Follow me," Firenze said, ignoring Ann's question. Sooner or later they meet up with the others. Everyone was glad to see Harry and Ann were okay. But Ann couldn't figure out what Freinze meant by "You two". Everyone headed back to the castle through the dark forest, the fog drifting past them as they walked. Everyone went inside but Harry who stayed behind to talk to Freinze. As Ann was walking she turned and saw Harry who ran by her. Ann went outside. Freinze was still outside.
"Ahh..Anastasia Black," he said
"Umm..I was wondering what you meant by "You two" ?," Ann asked
"Ahhh,yes. Well you see your father and his friends spent many a night here in the woods, as such they made many friends of the forest,"
"But how do they know about me then?,"
"Of course they know about you, before Cyrus was sent to Azkban he asked us to protect you should your feet ever walk these grounds, we all agreed as Sirius was a good man, he still is," Freinze said
"No he's not, he doesn't care about me,ok? He's a murderer!!," Ann shouted, running off. Ann ran all the way back to her dorm where everyone else was already asleep. But Ann couldn't sleep.
The next morning Hermione and Ron wanted to know what happened in the forest,and because Ann was being uncharacteristically silent that day, Harry told them everything that happened.
"You mean that You-Know-Who's out there, right now, in the forest?," Hermoine asked after Harry had told them everything
"But he's weak,he's living off the unicorns. Don't you see? We had it wrong. Snape doesn't want the stone for himself, he wants the stone for Voldemort. With the Elixir of Life, Voldemort will be strong again. He'll... He'll come back," Harry said
"But if he comes back….you…You don't think he'll try to... kill you again, do you?,"
"I think if he'd had the chance, he might have tried to kill me last night," Harry said. Ron gulped
"And to think, I've been worrying about my Potions final!," Ron said. Then Hermione realized something.
"Hang on a minute. We're forgetting one thing. Who's the one wizard Voldemort always feared?," Hermoine asked. Harry and Ron shrugged, not having a clue what Hermione was talking about.
"Dumbledore!," Ann said, speaking for the first time that day.
"Exactly, as long as Dumbledore's around, you and Ann are safe. As long as Dumbledore's around, you can't be touched," Hermoine said, stopping everyone from questioning Anns sudden burst of speech.