Chapter X: My Father Will Hear About This!

Chapter X: My Father Will Hear About This!

Later that week, Draca received a letter by owl: 

“Your detention will take place at eleven o'clock tonight. Meet Mr. Filch in the entrance hall.

– Professor McGonagall”

When she arrived at the entrance hall, she found Longbottom, Granger, and Potter were already there. Draca thought Potter looked a bit frightened of her. “What’s the matter, Potter? Did you miss me?”

“Just surprised to see you here, Malfoy. Forgot you had detention with us, honestly,” said Potter.

"Follow me," said Filch, lighting a lamp and leading them outside.

“I bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh?" he said, leering at them. 

Draca tensed. She’d heard horrible stories from her father about the kind of punishments Filch used to mete out.

Filch smiled, as if remembering those good old days. "Oh yes... hard work and pain are the best teachers if you ask me.... It's just a pity they let the old punishments die out... hang you by your wrists from the ceiling for a few days, I've got the chains still in my office, keep 'em well oiled in case they're ever needed.... Right, off we go, and don't think of running off, now, it'll be worse for you if you do."

They marched off across the dark grounds. Neville kept sniffing. Draca wondered what could possibly be in store for them. It couldn’t be another caning, or Filch wouldn’t be taking them away from the castle. 

The moon was bright, but clouds scudding across it kept throwing them into darkness. Finally, they arrived at the run-down hut where the half-breed giant lived. The windows were lit. Hagrid’s voice called from inside the hut. "Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started."

Draca’s heart sank. They were going to serve detention with this savage? It wasn’t fair! Hagrid was probably the one responsible for the stupid dragon in the first place.

She glanced at Potter, and saw him smiling. Filch must have noticed too, because he barked, “I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that oaf? Well, think again, boy–it's into the forest you're going and I'm much mistaken if you'll all come out in one piece.”

Draca froze. Longbottom let out a little moan.

"The forest?" asked Draca, trying desperately to keep cool. "We can't go in there at night–there's all sorts of things in there–werewolves, I heard."

Longbottom clutched the sleeve of Potter's robe and made a choking noise.

"That's your problem, isn't it?" said Filch, his voice cracking with glee. "Should've thought of them werewolves before you got in trouble, shouldn't you?"

Hagrid came striding toward them out of the dark, with a great dog at his heel. He was carrying his large crossbow, and a quiver of arrows hung over his shoulder.

"Abou' time," he said. "I bin waitin' fer half an hour already. All right, Harry, Hermione?"

"I shouldn't be too friendly to them, Hagrid," said Filch coldly. “They're here to be punished, after all."

"That's why yer late, is it?" said Hagrid, frowning at Filch. "Bin lecturin' them, eh? 'Snot your place ter do that. Yeh've done yer bit, I'll take over from here."

"I'll be back at dawn," said Filch, "for what's left of them," he added nastily, and he turned and started back toward the castle, his lamp bobbing away in the darkness.

Draca turned to Hagrid, her heart hammering in her chest.

"I'm not going in that forest,” she said, her voice frail.

"Yeh are if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts," said Hagrid fiercely. "Yeh've done wrong an' now yehve got ter pay fer it."

"But this is servant stuff, it's not for students to do. I thought we'd be copying lines or something, if my father knew I was doing this, he'd–”

“–tell yer that's how it is at Hogwarts," Hagrid growled. "Copyin' lines! What good's that ter anyone? Yeh'll do summat useful or Yeh'll get out. If yeh think yer father'd rather you were expelled, then get back off ter the castle an' pack. Go on"'

Draca didn't move. She looked at Hagrid furiously, but then dropped her gaze.

"Right then," said Hagrid, "now, listen carefully, 'cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, an' I don' want no one takin' risks. Follow me over here a moment."

He led them to the very edge of the forest. Holding his lamp up high, he pointed down a narrow, winding earth track that disappeared into the thick black trees. A light breeze lifted their hair as they looked into the forest.

"Look there," said Hagrid, "see that stuff shinin' on the ground? Silvery stuff? That's unicorn blood. There's a unicorn in there bin hurt badly by summat. This is the second time in a week. I found one dead last Wednesday. We're gonna try an' find the poor thing. We might have

ter put it out of its misery."

"And what if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first?" said Draca, unable to keep the fear out of her voice.

"There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang," said Hagrid. "An' keep ter the path. Right, now, we're gonna split inter two parties an' follow the trail in diff'rent directions. There's blood all over the place, it must've bin staggerin' around since last night at least."

"I want Fang," said Draca quickly, looking at Fang's long teeth.

"All right, but I warn yeh, he's a coward," said Hagrid. " So me, Harry, an' Hermione'll go one way an' Draca, Neville, an' Fang'll go the other. Now, if any of us finds the unicorn, we'll send up green sparks, right? Get yer wands out an' practice now–that's it–an' if anyone gets in trouble, send up red sparks, an' we'll all come an' find yeh–so, be careful–let's go."

The forest was black and silent. A little way into it they reached a fork in the earth path, and Potter, Granger, and Hagrid took the left path while Draca, Longbottom, and Fang took the right.

***

Draca stomped along the forest path, holding tight to Fang. “This detention is completely ridiculous! What’s even the point of it?”

Longbottom’s face was pale, but as he glanced at Draca, some color returned to his cheeks. “We deserve this, Malfoy. Whatever the reason, we all broke the rules. We all let our houses down.”

“Oh, shut up, Longbottom. I wasn’t asking for your opinion. And anyway, you’re the one who screwed up Gryffindor’s chances for the house cup, not me. Frankly, I’m happy we came out ahead.”

Longbottom’s nostrils flared. “Why do you have to act this way, Malfoy? We’ve never done anything to you. Why can’t we be friends? Or at least… not enemies?”

In the distance, a wolf howled. Draca tightened her hold on Fang’s collar. “Friends? Who’d want to be friends with you, Longbottom? Your family is–”

“What do you know about my family, Malfoy?”

Draca hesitated. She didn’t actually know that much about the Longbottoms. She knew they were a prominent pure-blood family, with a lineage that even her father respected. But all she’d heard about Neville Longbottom’s family is that they’d taken the mud-blood’s side in the last wizarding war. And she recalled that her father had strictly warned her against saying anything bad about mudbloods or Dumbledore while she was at school. Apparently, despite her father’s influence with the school’s Board of Governors, mud-bloods were still favored under Dumbledore’s administration.

When Draca didn’t answer, Longbottom leaned forward and looked Draca in the eye. “I’m proud of my parents, Malfoy. And I’m not afraid of you.”

Draca tensed. She was all alone. Longbottom was short and fat, but Draca vividly recalled the time Longbottom had tried to fight both Crabbe and Goyle on his own. “You should be. You ever thought about what we’re going to do after school, Longbottom? I don’t have to worry about that. I’m destined for greater things. But maybe…”

Then, Draca remembered her father’s warning. She was supposed to make the right sort of friends. Of course, Longbottom was a pure-blood! That had to count for something. “... Maybe I could help you. My father’s a close friend of the Minister of Magic. If I asked him to help you, as a friend–”

“We’re not friends, Malfoy. You said so yourself.”

“Now, Longbottom, be reasonable. Maybe we got off on the wrong foot this year. You come from an old wizarding family, after all. You’re the same as me.”

“I’m not like you, Malfoy. And I don’t want to be like you.”

Draca felt her temper rising. “What do you mean? I’m a great witch. The best of my year, you’ll see.”

“Hermione Granger’s already the top of the class. Even ahead of the Ravenclaws. Harry Potter’s the youngest seeker in a century. And Roz Weasley looks out for me. She’s the one who taught me how to throw a punch, without breaking my wrist. Those are my friends, Malfoy.”

Draca spat. “Well, bully for you. A pathetic orphan, a penniless urchin, and a filthy–” Draca stopped herself before she uttered the word “mud-blood.” She almost forgot, at Hogwarts, the nobility of pure-blooded families was no longer shown proper respect, as it once had been.

“A filthy what, Malfoy?”

“Nothing! Just–look, Longbottom–all I’m trying to say is… can’t we try again? Why can’t we be friends?”

Longbottom looked stunned. Then he narrowed his eyes. “Are you ready to stop bullying my friends, Malfoy?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Harry, Ron, and Hermione are all my friends, Malfoy. You’ve been provoking us all year.”

Draca snarled. “Potter started it!”

Longbottom looked confused. “What?”

“I asked Potter to be my friend! I offered to shake his hand, and do you know what he did? He insulted my pride!”

For a long while, Longbottom looked like he was struggling to find the words to say. Finally, he mumbled, “I didn’t know you asked to be Harry’s friend. Would… would you still want to be Harry’s friend, if he wanted to make up?” 

Draca shouted. “No! Not even if Potter came to me groveling, on bended knee, I won’t forgive him! Potter, Weasley, Granger,” Draca spat on the ground, “I hate them all! They are my enemies! I’ll never be their friend. Don’t you understand? Never!”

Suddenly, Draca felt tears building up in her eyes, and quickly looked away. She couldn’t let Longbottom see her crying.

Longbottom took a deep breath. “Then that means we can’t be friends either, Malfoy.”

Then, there was a distant sound of leaves rustling, deeper in the forest, and Fang bolted. With a squeak of surprise, Draca was yanked forward, dragging behind Fang for a few feet before the dog pulled free and ran further along the path.

Draca picked herself up, spitting out a clod of dirt. “No! Come back, you stupid dog!”

Longbottom cupped his hands to his mouth and called out, “Fang!”

Far ahead, they heard Fang whining. It seemed the dog had finally realized he was alone, and was too scared to move. Longbottom swallowed. “It’s all right. We’ll just… t-try to catch up with Fang. B-b-better have our wands ready, just to be safe.”

As she wiped her mouth on her sleeve, Draca glanced at Longbottom. He was shaking. Draca grit her teeth. “Not so tough without Fang, are you? Pretending to be tough. You’re a fake,” thought Draca.

Slowly, Longbottom tiptoed forward. “F-F-Fang? Good doggie! C’mere, boy.”

Draca stumbled to her feet. Longbottom’s attention was fixed on fang. Then, a devious idea occurred to her. It would be so easy to teach Longbottom a lesson he’d never forget. 

Carefully, Draca snuck up on Longbottom, her wand at the ready. Then, she leapt on Longbottom from behind, hooking her arm around his neck, and firing green sparks from her wand, right in front of Longbottom’s face. “Rrrrawr!”

Longbottom squealed, and twisted wildly to break free from Draca’s grip. He pulled away so hard, Draca fell backwards onto her bottom, and yelped in pain. “Owww!”

Then, Longbottom shot up his arm, and sent red sparks flying into the sky.

***

In a few minutes, Hagrid found them. When Fang heard his master’s voice, he came running back to join them.

Longbottom was still in a state of panic, but he managed to stammer out enough for Hagrid to get the gist of what happened.

Draca froze as the half-breed giant fixed her with a furious look. “What’d think yeh were doing, Malfoy? Why’d yeh grab on ter Neville?”

“I only… I thought it’d be funny. It was just a little joke.”

Hagrid’s beetle-black eyes glistened, his fists tightening on his crossbow. “A joke? Why I ought ter…”

For a moment, Draca thought Hagrid was debating whether to put her across his knee and spank her, or just shoot her head with a cross bow bolt. Then, Hagrid seemed to think better of it. “C’mon, follow me, both of yeh.”

Hagrid led them along a branching path through the underbrush that was apparently only visible to him. They emerged from the forest to find another well-trodden path. Potter and Granger were waiting for them. 

As Hagrid gruffly explained what happened to the others, Draca noticed the look of disgust on Potter and Granger’s faces. She scowled right back at them.

Finally, Hagrid sighed. "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, you go with Fang an' this idiot."

Hagrid bent low to whisper something to Harry. Intrigued, Malfoy leaned a bit closer to catch it. “...I'm sorry. But she'll have a harder time frightenin' you, an' we've gotta get this done."

So, Draca Malfoy found herself marching deeper and deeper into the heart of the forest, with Harry Potter at her side. Fang led the way. Gradually, the trees seemed to press in on the forest path, until it became difficult to walk. 

When she felt Potter’s shoulder bump into her chest, Draca tensed. “Watch it, Potter!”

“There’s more blood,” said Potter.

Draca glanced down. Sure enough, there was a thick puddle of silver blood, shining like the moonlight, splashed on the roots of a tree.

As she drew closer to the blood stains, Draca’s mouth went dry. “The poor unicorn… it must have been thrashing around in pain.”

Potter held out an arm to stop her, and pointed past an ancient oak tree. “Look–” he murmured.

Draca looked, and could make out a clearing ahead.

Something bright white was gleaming on the ground. They inched closer.

It was the unicorn all right, and it was dead. Draca wanted to cry at the sight. 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.

Potter took a single step forward, then froze as they heard a slithering sound. 

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. Draca stood transfixed. The cloaked figure reached the unicorn, lowered its head over the wound in the animal's side, and began to drink its blood.

Draca screamed, then turned to flee back the way they came. "AAAAAAAAAARGH!" 

Without thinking, she ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Sher barely noticed as Fang passed her, then left her behind.

Then Draca’s foot caught on a raised tree root, and she crashed down hard on the ground, rolling head over heels. Crying from the pain, she picked herself back up and kept running, only to lose her balance again, and catch herself against a tree. “Run! Hurry, Potter… Run…”

Draca stared around. She was all alone. “Harry?”

Sinking to the ground, Draca clutched her head. Why wasn’t Potter here?

“That thing’ll kill him! I have to go back! I have to help him, before…”

But no. If that thing could kill Potter, then it’d make short work of her too. Draca roared, and slammed her fist into the ground. Didn’t that idiot know when to run away?

Then, she realized the only possible answer. “Hagrid!” screamed Draca. “Hagrid, hurry! Harry’s in trouble!”

Draca felt tears spilling down her face. This was wrong! This whole stupid detention was unfair! What kind of stupid teachers would send kids their age into a dangerous forest. It was all her fault! If only she was a better witch…

Then, Draca stared at her wand. Of course! She was a witch!

Draca pointed her wand up, and sent up a shower of red sparks. As she watched them flicker and die, Draca screeched, and shot even more sparks into the air. Where was Hagrid.

And then, a horrible thought struck her. As tears spilled down her face, Draca sent up another blast of sparks in a steady stream. What if Hagrid thought she was just playing another little joke? What if he didn’t come. With a scream of rage, Draca poured every ounce of her anger and frustration into her magic. A gigantic red star blasted from her wand like a rocket, before shooting high into the sky and detonating like a firework. 

Draca fell on her bottom, sobbing.

Then, Hermione Granger burst out of the woods. “Harry? What’s wrong? Where are–”

Granger stopped as she looked down on Draca’s prone form. “Malfoy? What are you up to? If this is another prank, so help me–”

Draca wailed. “Harry! Monster! Please! Puh-leeeze! Help Harry!”

Then, a giant form emerged from the woods, and Hagrid stood towering over them, his crossbow in hand. “Harry?” 

Granger’s eyes went wide. “Where is Harry?”

Struggling to catch her breath, Draca pointed weakly down the forest path. Hermione sprinted down it, her wand at the ready. With a groan, Hagrid hurried after her.

Draca sat up, and buried her face in her hands. She was all alone.

A few minutes later, Granger returned, with Hagrid following her. Then, Harry Potter appeared from behind Hagrid. He looked visibly shaken.

Draca shot up to her feet, then quickly wiped her runny nose on her sleeve. “Potter! You’re alive?”

Potter glanced at her. “Dissapointed, Malfoy?”

Draca grit her teeth. “You dim-wit! Why didn’t you run away?”

Potter shrugged. “I froze up. Guess I’m not as brave as you, Malfoy.”

Draca choked with rage. Then, Granger stepped between Draca and Potter. “We’d better find Neville. He must be terrified.”

Hagrid nodded. “Don’ worry, he’s got Fang with ‘im. I’ll lead the way.”

After they reunited with Longbottom, they returned to the castle without incident.

As she saw the rest of the group walking ahead of her, Draca noticed Potter put his hands on the back of both of their shoulders, Longbottom on one side, and Granger on the other.

Draca knew she wanted to say something, but she couldn’t think of the right words. Several devastating insults came to her mind, but none of them seemed to be right for the moment.

She’d just have to wait for a better opportunity to get back at Potter.

***