the wrong choice // d.l.m.

eight

the five children stood in front of professor mcgonagall. y/n, ron, hermione, and harry in the middle while draco stood to the right with his arms crossed and a smirk plastered on to his face.

"nothing, i repeat, nothing gives a student the right to walk about at night. therefore, as punishment for your actions, 50 points will be taken."

"50?" hermione said, causing a sorrowful look to swipe across their faces.

"each." mcgonagall finished, "and to ensure it doesn't happen again, all 5 of you will receive detention."

draco looked quite pleased with himself, even after getting detention for both him and y/n and getting 100 points taken away from the slytherin house.

the five children walked out of the classroom, one with a more gleeful step in his stride. once out of the classroom ron turned to a sad y/n, both harry and hermione turning towards her as well.

"i can't believe you ratted us out y/n. i thought we were your friends."

y/n shook her head but draco stepped up next to her, "she didn't. in fact she didn't even want to come with me. we only got caught because stupid mcgonagall saw me and her talking in the hallway."

y/n rolled her eyes at the words he said, yet still nodded. "i only said i'd go with malfoy because he promised to do my homework for a month. and it's true, when we got back inside i told him i was going to go back up to bed and told him not to tattletale," she looked at draco as she emphasized the word, "but mcgonagall saw us and then you guys walked through the door."

she sighed lightly as ron nodded his head and hermione and harry gave small smiles.

"at least you got detention with us," ron laughed. "so i guess it's fair."

~

the next night, the five of them walked outside with filch after the sun had gone down and the moon was now clear. "a pity they let the old punishments die. was a time detention found you hanging by your thumbs in the dungeons. god, i miss the screaming." the old man grumbled.

y/n shot ron a confused look as his face displayed terror. they walked further down the courtyard until hagrid came into clear view.

"you'll be serving detention with hagrid tonight. he's got a little job to do inside the dark forest. a sorry lot, this, hagrid." filch said as hagrid didn't even look up, and instead sighed. the old man continued, "good god, you're not still on about that bloody dragon, are you?"

hagrid finally looked up, a wooden crossbow in hand and said, "norbert's gone. dumbledore sent him off to romania to live in a colony."

"that's good, isn't it?" hermione asked.

y/n looked towards hagrid and nodded, "he'll be with his own kind."

"yeah but what if he don't like romania?" hagrid asked, sounding as if he was on the verge of tears, "what if the other dragons are mean to him? he's only a baby, after all."

filch rolled his eyes, "for god's sake, pull yourself together, man. you're going into the forest. got to have your wits about you."

draco looked up at filch as he exasperated, "the forest? i thought that was a joke. we can't go in there! students aren't allowed. and there are, werewolves!"

y/n nudged his shoulder, "scared, malfoy?"

he looked at her angrily, "no! i'm not scared. however, i have a feeling you are. but don't worry, i'll protect you."

not only did y/n roll her eyes, but ron and hermione did as well. "like i need your bloody protection."

hagrid looked down at the children, "right then. let's go."

the sixth of them ventured off into the dark and eerie forest. they walked until hagrid spotted a pool of a reflective liquid. he dipped his fingers into it and pulled them up towards his eyes to further his examination.

"hagrid," harry said, "what is that?"

"what we're here for. see that?" the large man said, "that's unicorn blood, this is. i found one dead a few weeks ago. now, this ones been hurt bad by something."

the children all looked around at each other and then directed their gazes towards different directions in the forest. without thinking, y/n softly grabbed dracos hands and interlaced it with her own. although she didn't notice, he did and sent his eyes down towards their hands. he smiled softly, not wanting to let her know he knew as he thought she may let go.

"it's our job to go and find the poor beast. ron, hermione, come with me."

"okay." ron said, barely audible making malfoy pass him a disgusted look.

"malfoy and y/n, you'll go with harry."

y/n looked at harry and smiled, getting one back from him. she then looked down at her left hand which was still interlocked with dracos. "sorry." she quietly blurted out, pulling her hand away.

he didn't look at her, but grabbed her hand once more and gave it a gentle squeeze. this time, she didn't pull away.

"okay, then i get fang." draco said.

hagrid pursed his lips, "fine. just so you know, he's a bloody coward."

y/n, draco, and harry looked down at fang, their once brave demeanors turning into ones of fear.

they then split up into groups, hagrid and his group walking one way, and y/n's group walking in the other. her hand was still holding malfoy's as he held a lantern in his free one. "just wait until my father hears about this! this is servant's stuff."

"bloody hell malfoy, will you quit complaining!" y/n said, not in the mood to put up with his constant protests. he didn't say anything, but instead held her hand even tighter as they walked deeper into the forest.

"if i didn't know better, draco, i'd say you were scared." harry said, earning a giggle from the girl.

the blonde boy looked at her quickly, and then glared at potter, sending him a deadly glare as if to tell him to stop making him look weak to the girl his right hand was holding. "i'm not scared, potter!"

just then a howl came from behind them and they all quickly turned to look in that direction. "did you hear that?" draco whispered quietly to the girl so harry wouldn't hear.

y/n just smiled and looked at him. he was scared.

they began to walk again, careful not to trip or stumble on any roots or fallen branches that laid on the dirt below their shoes. y/n was about a step behind draco, so when he abruptly stopped she accidentally walked into his back. she peered around to see what had made the boy stop and her eyes widened.

sitting there, merely 10 steps ahead, a dark and hooded figure sat drinking the blood of a unicorn that laid dead on the ground. the children didn't say anything, but instead froze in horror. y/n had always been brave and almost never afraid of anything, yet the sight in front of her made her tremble. she gripped dracos hand tighter, her knuckles turning red.

harry put his hand to his forehead at a new pain coming in through his scar, and the hooded figure looked up. malfoy screamed, turning his body to run in the opposite direction. he didn't let her hand go, and pulled her along with him. she looked back at harry and realized he wasn't running along with them. "harry!" the girl screamed. the young potter looked up and began to run in the same direction as the other two.

shortly after, they soon ran into hagrid and the others. "harry, y/n!" hermione shouted, "what happened!"

y/n was at a loss for words, all she could do was rest her head on dracos shoulder as they both tried to catch their breaths.

"i'm not entirely sure."