Harry's sister

chapter fifteen

"Yeh three wait here!" Hagrid shouted. "Stay on the path, I'll come back for yeh!" We heard him crashing away through the undergrowth and Harry and harmione stood looking at each other, very scared, while I surveyed our surrounds until i couldn't hear anything but the
rustling of leaves around us.
"You don't think they've been hurt, do you?" whispered Hermione. "I don't care if Malfoy has, but if something's got Neville... it's our fault he's here in the first place." I rolled my eyes and said "my charm wouldn't fail to protect them, don't worry."

The minutes dragged by. What was going on? Where were the others? At last, a great crunching noise announced Hagrid's return. Malfoy,
Neville, and Fang were with him. Hagrid was fuming and so was i when I heard what Malfoy'd done. Malfoy, it seemed, had snuck up behind Neville and grabbed him as a joke. Neville had panicked and sent up the sparks.

"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, canis, you two go with Fang an' this idiot. I'm sorry," Hagrid added in a whisper to Harry and I, "but he'll have a harder time frightenin' you two, an' we've gotta get this done."

So i set off into the heart of the forest with Harry, 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. The blood seemed to be getting thicker as well. There were
splashes on the roots of a tree, as though the poor creature had been
thrashing around in pain close by. I could see a clearing ahead, through the tangled branches of an ancient oak. "Look --" I murmured, holding out my arm to stop the two. Something bright white was gleaming on the ground.

We inched closer. It was the unicorn all right, and it was dead. The sight nearly broke my heart. 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, and Fang stood transfixed while I pointed my crossbow at it. The cloaked figure reached the unicorn, lowered its head over the wound in the animal's side, and began to drink its blood. I was enraged and shot the creature in it's shoulder as Malfoy let out a terrible scream and bolted, along with fang.

The hooded figure raised its head and looked right at Harry and I -- unicorn blood was dribbling down its front. It got to its feet and came swiftly toward us -- I quickly shot another arrow at it, hitting it in the shoulder again. My attention was pulled towards Harry as he staggered backward. I heard hooves behind us, galloping, and something jumped clean over Us, charging at the figure. Harry fell to his knees and I rushed over to him worried. It took a minute or two for him to look up as I comforted him.

I looked over to see not Ronan or Bane but firenze "Are you all right?" He asked, pulling Harry to his feet. I got up as well as harry said "Yes -- thank you -- what was that?" Firenze didn't answer. I smiled and said "thank you for saving us firenze." He looked carefully at Harry, his eyes lingering on the scar that stood out, livid, on Harry's forehead. He nodded towards me before turning his full attention on Harry and saying "You are the Potter boy, You 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." he lowered himself on to his front legs so that we could clamber onto his back.

Unlike Harry who got onto firenze's back quickly, I was hesitant, knowing how centaurs felt about being ridden or treated like horses in any way. There was suddenly a sound of more galloping from the other side of the clearing. Ronan and Bane came bursting through the trees, their flanks heaving and sweaty. "Firenze!" Bane thundered. "What are you doing? You have a human on your back! Have you no shame? Are you a common mule?" I sighed, I knew something like this would happen "Do you realize who this is? This is the Potter boy. The quicker he leaves this forest, the better." Firenze said.