HP: Thunderstorm, Moon, and The Seer

May 26th, 1991, The Forbidden Forest, 8:00 PM.

"Haiz," Harry quietly breathed a sigh of frustration as he wondered how he had gotten into this situation. 

Looking up, all he saw was dense canopies of branches and leaves; the thickness grew as he walked further and further, rendering the moonlight nigh impossible to pierce. The rustling sound of whatever that was leaping from one branch to another.

All in all, making the Forbidden Forest truly lived up to its tales.

'Or it could just be the wind.' Harry comforted himself as he forced himself to not think about the eerie surroundings.

His mind rolled back to the day that the quartet found out what had been hiding within the castle by the Headmaster and Nicolas Flamel.

It was the Philosopher's Stone—one of the most intriguing, powerful Artefacts.

Hermione was the one to figure out the stone. The bushy girl was pulling with her a quite not-so-normal-sized leather book to the table, in which the three boys were sitting. Seeing how Hermione commented that she had checked this out weeks ago for a bit of light reading, Ron couldn't help but remark with his questioning gaze at the word 'light-reading' comming off her mouth.

According to the book, the sorcerer's stone (Philosopher's Stone) was a legendary substance with astonishing powers; it would transform any metal into pure gold and produce the elixir of life, which would make the drinker immortal.

Seeing such value, the quartet could already assure that it was kept behind the trapped door and guarded by Fluffy.

Just as the group of four was discussing their two primary suspects, the two professors, specifically each of their motives.

Coincidentally, the quartet was surprised to see Hagrid in the library, looking for books about raising dragons. All four grew rather questionable smiles.

So when they let on that they knew about Nicolas Flamel, the Philosopher's Stone, and Fluffy, Hagrid told them to come to his hut later, and he'd tell them more about it.

At Hagrid Hut, they were greeted with two important pieces of news; one was about Professor Snape, for he was the one to protect it, so he was off the list. Therefore, that left with Professor Quirrel. Still, they got no solid evidence to back this up, with just his strange behaviour towards Harry being enough, yet suspicion about him was still in the air.

Another piece of news was... Norbert—a Norwegian ridgback dragon.

The four arrived just in time to see the baby Norwegian Ridgeback emerge from its egg. The baby dragon sneezes some sparks and almost bites Hagrid, who was utterly delighted, in contrast to the four's wariness.

And so it was, a mishap was about to happen.

Ron ended up in the Hospital Wing with a badly infected dragon bite; his hand had swollen to twice normal size and turned green after Norbert bit it. He spent the next few days in the Hospital Wing recovering. Fortunately, Madam Pomfrey didn't ask too many questions. 

However, it couldn't escape Theodore Nott that slimy, devious little snake was the first to figure out what caused Ron's injury and quick to make a retaliation.

During that time, Nott came to visit Ron on the pretence of needing to borrow one of Ron's school books. He taunted the ginger about Norbert, threatening to tell the teachers about the illegal dragon.

As it transpired, that night only Ron and Harry and Draco were bringing Norbert to the Astronomy Tower at midnight on Saturday to deliver it to Charlie for proper handling. The four took time to persuade the half-giant to leave Norbert in professional hands. Hagrid cried a lot that night.

Just so, on their way back, the three were coincidentally caught by Professor McGonagall wandering about the castle at night. She was true to her strict persona.

Therefore, right now Harry, Ron, and Draco had to serve their detentions in the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid supervising; they were tasked with tracking down a unicorn.

*Thud!* Harig, putting down the lantern and stopping to touch the ground, drew Harry back to the present.

The three boys curiously lean forward, trying to see what Harig was touching.

It was a pool of silvery liquid, and both Harry and Draco immediately realised what it was... "unicorn's blood." The two spoke simultaneously under Ron's amazement, which really made the ginger boy's mind flash with thoughts of reading more books and studying properly, but still it was just a fleeting thought, as quickly as the wind came and went.

"Yes, there it is; this is what we came here for." Harig elaborated. "I found one dead a few weeks ago; now this one's been 'urt bad by summat, an' we gotta figure out what."

"Ugh," Ron growled. "This is going to be a long night, innit?"

"Then we had to find it out quick by doing more and less whining." Draco snorted.

"Alright!" Hagrid stood as his eye darted between the three. "Harr-"

"I'll go with you," Draco said decisively as if he had known what Haridg was thinking. Quite a cunning Slytherin.

"Suit yer'self." Hagrid shrugged.

"I wouldn't really want to spend time with that slick hair anyway." Ron snorted. "So in return, I said we get Fang."

"Fine, just so you know... he's a bloody coward." Hagrid scratched his head under Ron's darkened face and Draco's giggles.

...

As they split into two groups, each heading the opposite way. The forest became more and more scary.

Both Harry's and Ron's hair was standing on end as howls and dots of gazes from the dark appeared more and more frequent.

The two of them clung to each other, taking careful steps with Fand cowardly following behind.

But soon the two found traces of Unicorn's Blood.

"Do your thing, Fang." Ron said hastily.

Afterward, they followed the dog to a wide clearing not far away from the traces.

*Grrrr* Suddenly Fang stopped in its tracks; the allegedly cowardly dog sprung into a protective stance in front of the two boys.

"W-what is it, Fang?..." Ron's mouth quivered as the two followed the dog's gaze.

There, right in front of the two boys, a figure shrouded in a black hooded robe, sitting not so far away, separated by a thin veil of mist, yet it was clear enough under the light of the lantern for the two to witness a horrible scene: that hooded figure sucking the dead unicorn blood dry.

The moment Harry's eyes laid on the figure, a searing pain erupted from his forehead's scar; the boy was soaked with cold sweats as he endured the agony, his breathing heavy, his limbs felt wobbly, and his vision turned hazy, but he could still clearly feel the two similar pairs of gazes coming from the black figure; even that black hooded robe was oddly familiar.

"Come on, Harry, RUN! ARGH!" Ron hugged Harry's arms, trying to lead the boy into safety to no avail as Fang was barking intensely at the coming figure.

Ron's began to shed tears as he already thought of the worst scenario, being eaten alive.

*Whoosh!*

A big silhouette flashed out from behind them, rustling toward the black figure driving whatever that was away.

By the time Harry recovered, the silhouette also revealed its identity.

He was a Centaur.

"Wow," Ron exclaimed, wiping away his tears. "Thank you." The ginger boy expressed his genuine gratitude toward the centaur; he had heard many things about them, one thing for sure, the centaur protected the children. Fang also stopped to pay it respect.

"Children, you mustn't be here; the forest is not safe at this time." The centaur spoke in a gentle voice.

"But what was that thing you saved us from?" Ron's legs were still shaking from all of that, while Harry was massaging his temple.

'"A monstrous creature..." The Centaur turned to the dead Unicorn; his eyes shone with sadness. "It is a terrible crime to slay a unicorn. Drinking the blood of a unicorn will keep you alive even if you are an inch from death... but at a terrible price. You have slain something so pure that from the moment the blood touches your lips, you will have a half-life, a cursed life."

"Who would choose such a life?" Ron shook his head.

"Can you think of no one?" It was at this moment Harry felt a heavy gaze coming from the centaur, and then something clicked inside Harry's mind; he already got the answer. The same black hooded robe, the same malicious gaze from under the hood, was recorded in his mind, in his distant memory of that fateful day.

Just before Harry could answer, Hagrid's group came over. "Harry! Ron! Fang!." The half-giant was running over with his crossbow ready to shoot down any foe.

"Are you alright?" Draco also dashed to Ron's side, his worried eyes searching for any possible injuries to his friends.

"We're fine." Ron still tried to look cool under Draco's rolling eyes.

"Oh, hello, Firenze, I see you've met our young Mr. Potter. "

"Children, you are safe now. It's time to return." Firenze nodded toward Harig before walking off in the distance."