A Different Life

Draco was able to visit one more time. His family had been invited to have afternoon tea with a distant relative of his father's. As with the Ministry party, Draco had faked feeling unwell to avoid going. Once his parents had left, he had Flooed over to the Black home and spent two hours with his friends at Hermione's house. He would have stayed for three hours, but he was afraid that his parents might decide to come home early.

When the holidays ended, it was time to return to Hogwarts. Ron wanted to try out the Invisbility Cloak, but Beth reminded him that it wasn't big enough to cover all six of them. It could cover three at most, or maybe four if it consisted of the girls and Draco. (Ron being too tall and Neville wasn't as small as Draco.)

"Then that means all six of us can't ever sneak out together," said Draco. "Oh well, we're not planning to become exactly like the original Marauders, and anyway, that's less points we'd have to lose if we were caught wandering about."

"There's always the Disillusionment Charm," suggested Hermione. Then she turned red and looked horrifed. "I can't believe I actually just suggested that!" she gasped.

"We've corrupted you, Mia," said Susan jokingly.

"You're no longer the model student with a mania for following rules, Mia," added Neville. "Next thing we know, you'll be pulling pranks on Slytherins."

"Oh shut up, Nev," said Hermione. "I did take part in the prank on Pansy and Tracey, after all. I was the one who found the spell that flashed words on clothing and did it on those two."

"And you can take part in another prank against them," said Beth. "Sirius did give me those prank items for Christmas, and Tracey and Pansy were very rude to us on the train ride back to Hogwarts. I can't believe they called Draco a 'blood traitor'."

"They deserve it," said Ron. "But let's just limit our pranks to those two and anyone else that's really annoying or rude. And maybe as payback to Fred and George if they prank us. I don't feel comfortable pranking anyone else, because of the inter-house thing and how everyone's been getting along so well."

"Well, let's learn the Disillusionment Charm," said Susan. "Just in case all of us have a need to sneak around after curfew. You never know. And if it's spur of the moment, whomever planning this will let the others know with the notebooks Beth gave us for Christmas. It's a good thing you thought of getting us that, Beth."

Beth shrugged modestly. "Since we're in different houses, I thought it would be useful to have notebooks we could use to communicate with each other. The original Marauders used similar notebooks so they could send notes to each other during History of Magic and any other class that got boring and that's where I got the idea."

After a week, the Junior Marauders had mastered the Disillusionment Charm, though the strength of it depended on the size for Neville. Casting it on a person was weaker for him than if he cast it on a book. However, after another week of practice, he was on par with the others.

When the snow started melting, Quidditch practices resumed. Wood was something of a fanatic. While Beth agreed with the complaints of the Weasley twins, she also understood Wood's thinking. After all, if they won the match against Hufflepuff, Gryffindor would overtake Slytherin in the House Championship, and also be a strong contender for the Quidditch Cup.

After one practice in late March, Wood informed the team that Snape would be refereeing the next match. George, who had been pretending to fall off his broom, really did so at these words. "When was the last time Snape refereed a match?" he demanded. The other members of the team looked shocked and unhappy as well, except Beth. She knew the reason Snape was refereeing was to make sure Quirrell didn't try a repeat of Gryffindor's last match. She didn't say so, of course, for the others wouldn't believe her, and Snape's true loyalties weren't supposed to be made public.

After Wood had told everyone to be on their best behavior in the match so Snape wouldn't have an excuse to award penalties to Hufflepuffs, the team showered and changed. In the study room, Beth told her friends in a whisper about Snape refereeing.

"Why would he do that?" asked Draco. "Snape's not the type of person to referee Quidditch matches."

"He doesn't want a repeat of what happened in my first match, Drake," responded Beth, using the shortened name they had lately taken to calling Draco by. "You know, when Quirrell jinxed my broom?"

Susan shuddered. "Yeah, we definitely don't want a repeat. We'd better keep an eye on Quirrell as well."

"But what do we do if we catch Quirrell hexing Beth's broom again, Susie?" asked Ron.

"Distract him," replied Susan. "And don't call me Susie. I don't like that nickname. Sue is much better."

"Uncle Remus is going to be there, too," said Beth. "Mum and Sirius aren't becauseit's too close to the due date."

Neville looked puzzled for a moment, then understanding dawned on him. "Oh right! You're going to be a big sister soon."

"Oh, we haven't sent in the names for the babies!" exclaimed Hermione. She took out a sheet of parchment and continued, "So what first names did we agree on? Aunt Natalia and Uncle Sirius are picking out the middle names."

There was discussion and finally they narrowed down their choices to one boy's name and one girl's name. Hermione wrote down "Christopher" and "Katherine", added that it was their choice for the twins' names, and then Beth sent the note via Lily.

The day of the match finally arrived. Wood took Beth aside and told her to catch the Snitch before Snape could favor Hufflepuff too much. She nodded and promised to do her best.

"The stands are crowded," reported Fred, peering out. "Bilmey! Even Dumbledore's here to watch!"

Beth's heart gave a leap. If Dumbledore was there, than Quirrell wouldn't dare try anything. She followed the rest of the team outside, feeling relieved.

She took off when Madam Hooch blew her whistle and saw Remus wave. Beth returned the wave and then focused her attention on looking for the Snitch. A minute later, Snape had awarded Hufflepuff a penalty because one of the Weasley twins had hit a bludger towards him. Two minutes later, Snape was awarding Hufflepuff another penalty for no reason at all when Beth spotted a glint of gold. It was the Snitch. She went diving after it.

Snape turned aside on his broom just in time as something scarlet streaked past him. A few second later, Beth pulled out of the dive, her hand raised triumphantly. "I've caught the Snitch!" she yelled.

The stands were in uproar. Beth had to have set a record, for nobody could remember the Snitch being caught so quickly in Hogwarts history. After all, the match hadn't even lasted five minutes.

Wood hugged her and then she was mobbed by the Gryffindors. Even many of the Hufflepuffs were cheering, despite their losing the match, because of the whole inter-house unity.

Some time later, Beth left the changing rooms, having showered and donning her everyday clothes. She headed for the broom shed to put her broom away when she saw a cloaked figure head for the Forbidden Forest. It was Professor Snape.

She got on her broom and flew after him, taking care not to be seen. She soon came across a clearing. Quirrell was waiting there. She couldn't catch every word, but heard most of the conversation between Snape and Quirrell. It involved the Philosopher's Stone, and Snape was clearly asking Quirrell how much he knew. Since she knew that Snape was actually quite nice and on Dumbledore's side, she knew that he wasn't after the Stone. He was merely trying to find out how much Quirrell knew about the defences on it in order to counter it.

When Snape had left, Quirrell stood in the clearing for a few minutes, completely silent. Then he left as well. Once he was gone, Beth flew to the broomshed and put her Nimbus away. Her friends met her in the entrance hall and started to congratulate her, but stopped when they saw the look on her face. "What's the matter, Beth?" asked Neville.

"I overheard a conversation between Snape and Quirrell, Nev," answered Beth. She quickly told them everything she had heard.

"If I didn't know that Snape was one of the good guys," said Hermione, "I would think that he was after the Stone and was bullying Quirrell into giving information based on that conversation."

"Let's hope Quirrell never find out how to get past Fluffy," said Susan. "It's a good thing that Snape is keeping an eye on him. Anyway, let's go to the celebration party."

As they walked, Ron said, "Oh, Remus had to leave a few minutes after the match. He wanted to stay and congratulate you, but he got an urgent message from your parents, Beth. He didn't tell us what it was, but we think it might be that your mother's about to have the twins."

Beth stopped and stared at him. "Really? But it's a week early!"

"Twins sometimes arrive a bit early," pointed out Draco. "A cousin of mine had twins two years ago and they arrived two weeks early."

Beth nodded and the Junior Marauders continued on their way to the study room. They managed to have a good time, desipte their worry about Quirrell being after the Philsopher's Stone.

The next day, a very jubilant Sirius arrived. "You're a big sister!" he shouted the instant he spotted Beth. "Come on, I'm taking you to St. Mungo's so you can see the twins and your mother." He then turned to the rest of the Junior Marauders. "Katherine Natalia and Christopher Sirius Black are are perfectly healthy, happy, and good-looking. We're going to call them Kate and Chris for short. Great names that you came up for them, by the way. I'll send some pictures in a few days. Let's go, Beth."

Beth and Sirius Flooed to St. Mungo's and then went up to the Maternity Ward. Remus was there, along with the Drs. Granger, Aunt Dromeda, Uncle Ted, and Tonks. Mrs. Granger was holding Kate, while Remus was holding Chris. Natalia hugged Beth tightly and then introduced the twins to her.

"They're adorable, Mum," said Beth, looking down on her new adoptive siblings. She took Kate in her arms and sat down, cradling her sister. After a few minutes, she handed Kate to Aunt Dromeda and cradled Chris.

"Next Saturday we're having the baptism ceremony and officially naming the godparents," said Sirius. "You're coming, Beth, and your friends are all invited as well. I've arranged it with Dumbledore."

"Okay," said Beth. Chris woke up and began crying and she hastily handed him to her mother, who began nursing him. Chris stopped crying and Beth left the room, because she didn't really want to see the breast-feeding part. The males, except Sirius, left with her. After awhile, she returned to the room and talked with her mother, telling her all about yesterday's Quidditch match. Natalia smiled and congratulated her, adding that she was certain Beth had set a record.

When an hour had passed, Beth bid everyone good-bye and kissed her new brother and sister. She then Flooed back to Hogwarts. Professor Dumbledore asked, "And how was the visit, Miss Potter-Black?"

"It was great, Professor Dumbledore," replied Beth, grinning. "Mum's fine, and I love Chris and Kate. They're adorable, even if all they can do now is eat, sleep, cry, and get their nappies messy. As long as Mum doesn't ask me to change their nappies and they don't keep me up all night with crying during the holidays, I'll continue to think of them as adorable."

Dumbledore chuckled. "Quite true. Well, you can go and tell your friends all about your new brother and sister."

Beth did just that. Hermione and Susan were just as enthralled as her. The boys were interested, but they weren't enthralled by it, and Draco commented that babies were fine, but not when they were crying all night long. That was one benefit of being an only child.

On Saturday was the baptism ceremony. Owen and Emilia Granger were named godparents to Kate, and Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks were named godparents to Chris. Tonks made a face when the vicar said her first name, but she didn't say anything. The twins cried when the water was splashed on their foreheads, but stopped a few seconds later.

When it was over, the Junior Marauders returned to Hogwarts and changed out of their dress robes.

The next week, Hermione started obsessing over exams. She had started drawing up revision timetables and colour-coding all her notes. The others wouldn't have minded, but she kept nagging them to do the same.

"Mia, the exams are ages away," said Draco.

"Ten weeks," Hermione snapped. "That's not ages, that's like a second to Nicolas Flamel."

"But we're not six hundred years old," Ron reminded her. "Anyway, what are you revising for, you already know it all."

"What am I revising for? Are you mad? You realise we need to pass these exams to get into second year? They're very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's got into me ..."

Unfortunately, the teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Hermione. They piled so much homework on them that the Easter holidays weren't nearly as much fun as the Christmas ones. Also, the fifth and seventh year students were busy revising as well, for they had OWLs and NEWTs to take. They dominated the study room, so the Junior Marauders took to spending some of their study time in the library.

"I'll never remember this," Ron burst out one afternoon, throwing down his quill and looking longingly out of the library window. It was the first really fine day they'd had in months. The sky was clear, forget-me-not blue and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming.

Beth, who was looking up 'Dittany' in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, didn't look up until she heard Ron say, "Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"

Hagid shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked very out of place in his moleskin overcoat.

"Jus' lookin'," he said, in a shifty voice that got their interest at once. "An' what're you lot up ter?"

"Revising for the exams," responded Susan with a sigh.

"Oh. I thought yeh migh' be still lookin' for Nicolas Flamel," said Hagrid.

"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," said Ron impressively. "And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Philosopher's St-"

"Shhhh!" Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening. "Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?"

"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," said Beth, "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy -"

"SHHHH!" said Hagrid again. "Listen - come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've old yeh -"

"See you later, then," said Beth.

Hagrid shuffled off.

"What was he hiding behind his back?" asked Hermione thoughtfully.

"Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?" asked Neville.

"I'm going to see what section he was in," said Ron, who'd had enough of working.

He came back a minute later with a pile of books in his arms and slammed them down on the table.

"Dragons!" he whispered. "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide."

"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told Beth and me that on one of our visits to Hogwarts," said Hermione.

"But it's against our laws," said Ron. "Dragon-breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden - anyway, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania."

"But there aren't wild dragons in Britain?" asked Beth, frowning.

"Of course there are," said Ron. "Common Welsh Green and Hedridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our lot have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget."

"So what on earth's Hagrid up to?" said Hermione.

"Knowing Hagrid, something that spells trouble," answered Draco darkly. "I wouldn't put it past him to have somehow gotten hold of a dragon or dragon egg."

They all groaned. "This is not good," said Neville. "If you turn out to be right, Drake, that is."

"I hope I'm not, Nev," said Draco, sighing. "But this is Hagrid, so we have to expect the worst."

Beth groaned again. Hagrid having a dragon wasn't good. Dragons in the wizarding world were nothing like the dragons in Muggle fiction. The dragons in the Dragonriders of Pern series were telepathic, bonded with a human who would ride them, and chewed something called firestone so they could burn a dangerous parasite called Thread. Dragons in the Pit Dragon trilogy either were trained to battle other dragons, made into pets, or turned into steaks. They also had some telepathic abilities, mostly by putting words into pictures. A real dragon, however, could not be tamed, like Ron said, and weren't that intelligent.

When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut an hour later, they saw that all the curtains were closed. The Junior Marauders exchanged worried looks, for it seemed that their worst fear might be true.

Hagrid called, "Who is it?" before he let them in and then shut the door quickly behind them.

It was stiflingly hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate.

Hagrid made them tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which they refused. "So - yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"

"Yes," said Beth. There was no point in beating about the bush. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Philosopher's Stone apart from Fluffy."

Hagrid frowned at him. "O' course I can't," he said. "Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn't tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts - I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know about Fluffy."

"Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here," said Hermione in a warm, flattering voice.

Hagrid's beard twitched and they could tell he was smiling. "We only wondered who had done the guarding, really," Hermione went on. "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."

Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words. The others beamed at Hermione.

"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that ... let's see ... he borrowed Fluffy from me ... then some o' the teachers did enchantments ... Professor Sprout - Professor Flitwick - Professor McGonagall -" he ticked them off on his fingers. "Professor Quirrell - an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."

The Junior Marauders exchanged looks again. If Quirrell had taken part in protecting the Stone, he could have found out how the other teachers had guarded it. The only thing he didn't know was how to get past Fluffy, though he might also not know how to get past whatever protection Dumbledore had set up.

"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you, Hagrid?" asked Beth anxiously. "And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"

"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore," said Hagrid proudly.

"Well, that's something," Beth muttered to the others. "Hagrid, can we have a window open? I'm boiling."

"Can't, Beth, sorry," said Hagrid. Beth noticed him glance at the fire. She and the others looked at it too.

"Hagrid - what's that?"
But she already knew what it was. In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, black egg.

"Ah," said Hagrid, fiddling nervously with his beard. "That's - er ..."

"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" said Ron, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. "It must've cost you a fortune."

"Won it," said Hagrid. "Las' night. I was down in the villiage havin' a few drinks an' got into a game of cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest."

"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" said Hermione.

"Well, I've bin doin' some readin'," said Hagrid, pulling a large book from under his pillow. "Got this outta the library - Dragon-Breeding for Pleasure and Profit - it's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on 'em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here - how ter recognise diff'rent eggs - what I got there's a Norwegian Ridegback. They're rare, them."

He looked very pleased with himself, but Hermione didn't. "Hagrid, you live in a wooden house," she said.

But Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire.

When they left, Susan said, "We need to convince Hagrid to give up the dragon."

"You're right, Sue," said Draco. "Once that thing hatches, it'll grow quickly. In a month's time, it'll probably be half the size of Hagrid's home. And Mia's right about his house being wooden. The dragon could burn it down if it decided to blow fire."

"But where would we send the dragon?" asked Beth.

Neville stared at Ron. "Your brother Charlie works with dragons, right?" he asked. Ron nodded and Neville continued, "Well, why can't we send the dragon to him? Charlie and the rest of the workers on the dragon preserve can take care of it."

"That's brillant, Nev!" exclaimed Ron. "I'll write to Charlie tonight and ask him."

A week later, Hagrid sent a note with the words, "It's hatching" written. After Herbology, the four Gryffindors and Susan found Draco and they went to visit the gameskeeper during break.

Hagrid greeted them looking flushed and excited.
"It's nearly out." He ushered them inside.

The egg was lying on the table. There were deep cracks in it. Something was moving inside; a funny clicking noise was coming from it. They all drew their chairs up to the table and watched with bated breath.

All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split open. Tha baby dragon flopped down on to the table. It wasn't exactly pretty; Beth thought it looked like a crumpled, black umbrella. Its spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny jet body and it had a long snout with wide nostrils, stubs of horns and bulging, orange eyes.

It sneezed. a couple of sparks flew out of its snout.

"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmered. He reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs.

"Bless him, look, he knows his mummy!" said Hagrid.

Beth sighed. "Hagrid, are you really equipped to take care of a dragon?"

"And wouldn't he be better off with his own kind?" added Hermione. The girls then spent the next hour reasoning with Hagrid, with occasional input from Draco. Neville and Ron stayed quiet, for the former didn't know what to say to help talk Hagrid around and the latter wasn't always the most tactful of persons.

Finally Hagrid agreed that the dragon, whom he decided to name Norbert, would be happier with other dragons. He reluctantly allowed Norbert to be sent to Charlie, if he said yes.

The next evening, Charlie's reply arrived.

Dear Ron,
How are you? Thanks for the letter - I'd be glad to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week. Trouble is, they musn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon.
Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him away while it's still dark.
Send me an answer as soon as possible.
Love,
Charlie

They exchanged looks. "Well, I have my father's Invisbility Cloak," said Beth. "It shouldn't be too difficult - I think the Cloak's big enough to cover two of us and Norbert. And the Marauder's Map will let us know if a teacher's coming."

"The only problem is that nobody can carry Norbert and look at the Marauder's Map at the same time," pointed out Susan. "Which means someone is going to have to do the Disillusionment Charm and go along to use the Map."

After some discussion, it was decided that Beth and Neville would carry Norbert and Susan would use the Map.

When Saturday came, though, Susan couldn't go. She had been bitten when helping Hagrid feed Norbert the day before and had to go to the Hospital Wing, as the bite seemed poisonous. Draco immediately volunteered. In the end, it was decided that he and Hermione would both go. If all four of them were caught, they could claim to be out on a double date.

They would have felt sorry for Hagrid when the time came for him to say goodbye to Norbert if they hadn't been so worried about what they had to do. It was a very dark, cloudy night and they were a bit late arriving at Hagrid's hut because they had to wait for Peeves to get out of their way in the Entrance Hall, where he'd been playing tennis against that wall.

Hagrid had Norbert packed and ready in a large crate.
"He's got lots o' rats an' some brandy fer the journey," said Hagrid in a muffled voice. "An' I've packed his teddy bear in case he gets lonely."

From inside the crate came ripping noises that sounded to Beth as though the teddy was having his head torn off.

"Bye-bye, Norbert!" Hagrid sobbed, as Beth and Neville covered the crate with the Invisibility Cloak and stepped underneath it themselves. "Mummy will never forget you!"

Draco and Hermione were waiting for them in the Entrance Hall, but Beth and Neville didn't know until they spoke, because of the Disillusionment Charm. "All clear," said Hermione. "Let's go."

They managed to get to the Astronomy tower, though how, they didn't know. Once they arrived, Beth and Neville removed the Cloak and Hermione and Draco took off the Charm. About ten minutes later, four broomsticks came swooping down out of the darkness.

Charlie's friends were a cheery lot. They showed the four kids the harness they'd rigged up, so they could suspend Norbert between them. They all helped buckle Norbert safely into it and then the four shook hands with the others and thanked them very much.

At last, Norbert was going ... going ... gone.

They slipped back down the spiral staircase, their hearts as light as their hands, now that Norbert was off them. No more dragon - Malfoy in detention - what could spoil their happiness?

The answer to that was waiting for them at the foot of the stairs. As they stepped into the corridor, Filch's face loomed suddenly out of the darkness.

"Well, well, well," he whispered, "we are in trouble."

They'd left the Invisibility Cloak on top of the tower, forgot to do the Disillusionment Charm again, and forgot to check the Map. The four groaned. Beth silently cursed her stupidity.

Things couldn't have been worse.

Filch took them down to Professor McGonagall's study on the first floor, where they sat and waited without saying a word to each other.

Professors McGonagall and Flitwick arrived several minutes later. McGonagall demanded to know why three Gryffindors and one Ravenclaw were out of beds at this hour.

"We were double dating," answered Draco hesitantly.

McGonagall raised a brow. "Considering that the four of you are first years, I find it hard to believe. In any case, I am very disguted with you. Four students out of bed in one night! That hasn't happened since your father and his friends graduated from Hogwarts, Miss Potter-Black!"

Flitwick shook his head. "Mr. Malfoy, how can you do this? Ravenclaws are normally rule-abiding. And I thought Ravenclaw meant more to you than this. You will receive a detention, and fifty points will be taken from Ravenclaw."

Draco gasped, but didn't say anything. The loss of points was not going to make him popular tomorrow when the other Ravenclaws found out what had happened. His only friends were in Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, so none of the Ravenclaws would sympathise with him. His dormmates were friendly to him, but he would bet they'd stop talking to him.

"And the rest of you also receive detention and will have fifty points taken from Gryffindor," said McGonagall.

"Fifty?" Beth gasped - they would lose the lead, the lead she'd won in the last Quidditch match.

"Fifty points each," said Professor McGonagall, breathing heavily through her long pointed nose.

"Professor - please -" began Neville.

"You can't-"

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Miss Potter-Black. Now get back to bed, all of you. I've never been more ashamed of Gryffindor students."

"And I of a Ravenclaw student," added Flitwick, frowning at Draco.

Draco looked completely miserable, but his friends had no words of comfort for they were feeling miserable as well. When they had to separate, Beth looked at Draco and said, "Ravenclaw only lost fifty points. Gryffindor lost one hundred and fifty. We're going to be hated more than you. Especially when in one night we lost Gryffindor's chance of winning the house cup."

He knew Beth was right, but it didn't make him feel any better. He hugged her, then the other two, and silently returned to the Ravenclaw common room, wishing for once that a password was needed to enter, not answering a question.

The next day was a disaster. It soon got out to the other Ravenclaws that Draco was the one that had lost the fifty points. His dormmates stopped speaking to him except when necessary, and the other Ravenclaws avoided him as well. It was nothing compared to what Beth, Neville, and Hermione were going through. The Gryffindors were furious with them, especially Beth, for losing all those points. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff turned on Beth as well, because everyone had been longing to see Slytherin lose the House Cup.

Everywhere Beth went, people pointed and didn't trouble to lower their voices as they insulted her. Slytherins, on the other hand, clapped as she walked past them, whistling and cheering, "Thanks Bethany, we owe you one!" The only Slytherins that didn't act that way were the four in the study group, and even they were pleased that Slytherin was going to win. Only Beth's cousin, Daniel, didn't seem to be pleased, and with his sister Julie, cornered Beth one afternoon and asked how she and her friends could have lost so many points. When they found out it was because of Hagrid and Norbert, they said, "Well, why didn't you tell Aunt Natalia and Uncle Sirius about it? They could have gotten the dragon to Charlie Weasley without you and your friends being out in the corridors after curfew." They then patted her, told her that they weren't mad anymore, and left.

Ron and Susan were the only ones that stuck by their friends' sides and did their best to comfort them. As most of the school were mad at four members of the Junior Marauders, the group had taken to revising in the Room of Requirement rather than in the study room.

Beth was almost glad that the exams weren't far away. All the revision she had to do kept her mind off her misery. The Junior Marauders kept to themselves, working late into the night, trying to remember the ingredients in complicated potions, learn charms and spells off by heart, memorise the dates of magical discoveries and goblin rebellions ...

A week before the exams were due to start, Beth, Hermione, Neville, and Draco were given notes at breakfast telling them to report for their detention that night at eleven.

Filch met them in the Entrance Hall and took them to Hagrid's hut, talking about the old punishments at the same time.

Hagrid called, "Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started."

Beth's heart rose; if they were going to be working with Hagrid it wouldn't be so bad. Her relief mush have shown on her face, because Filch said, "I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that oaf? Well, think again, girl - it's into the Forest you're going and I'm much mistaken if you'll all come out in one piece."

At this, Neville let out a little moan and the others exchanged horrified looks.

"The forest?" Draco repeated. "We can't go in there at night - there's all sorts of things there - werewolves, I heard."

Neville clutched the sleeve of Beth's robe and made a choking noise.
"That's your lookout, 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 towards them out of the dark, Fang 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, you four?"

"I shoildn't be too friendly with them, Hagrid," said Filch coldly, "they are 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 down," said Filch, "for what's left of them," he added nastily, and he turned and started back towards the castle, his lamp bobbing away in the darkness.

Beth turned to Malfoy. "First of all, it's not a full moon, so if there are werewolves in the Forest, they wouldn't be able to bite us and turn us into werewolves. Second of all, werewolves aren't all bad. My father was friends with one and when it isn't a full moon, he's as harmless as a - a - a powder puff."

"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 long 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?" asked Draco, his voice trembling with fear.

"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 been staggerin' around since last night at least.

"So me, Neville an' Hermione'll go one way an' Draco, Beth 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' practise 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 Neville, Hermione and Hagrid took the left path while Beth, Draco, and Fang took the right.

They walked in silence, their eyes on the ground. Draco and Beth held hands tightly, partly for comfort and partly so that they wouldn't get separated from each other.They walked for nearly an hour, deeper and deeper into the Forest, until the path became almost impossible to follow because the trees were so thick.

Beth thought the blood seemed to be getting thicker. There were splashes on the roots of a tree as though the poor creature had been thrashing around in pain close by. She could see a clearing ahead, through the tangled branches of an ancient oak.

"Look -" she murmered, holding out her arm to stop Malfoy.

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

It was a unicorn all right, and it was dead.

Beth had never seen anything so beautiful and sad. 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.

Beth had taken one step towards it when a slithering sound made her freeze where she 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. Beth, Draco, and Fang stood transfixed. The cloaked figure reached the unicorn, it lowered its head over the wound in the animal's side, and began to drink its blood.

Draco let out a scream just as Fang bolted. Beth stood transfixed in fear, her scar feeling as though it was on fire. Then she felt a jerk as Draco ran, dragging her behind him. After several seconds, she got a hold of herself and began running also.

Finally they reached Hagrid and Draco gasped out what had happened. Hagrid went to deal with the unicorn and the four students decided that the cloaked figure drinking unicorn blood could be Voldemort. After all, unicorn blood would keep you alive, but give you a cursed life. As Voldemort wasn't dead, only powerless, it stood to reason that he was responsible, and no doubt he could care less about the cursed life, especially if it was a temporary measure. That led to them deciding that Voldemort was after the Stone and Quirrell was just the servant, doing the Dark Lord's bidding.

When they finally returned to the castle, Draco said he would tell Susan what had happened via the notebook. Beth, Neville, and Hermione woke up Ron, who had fallen asleep while waiting for them to return. They told him what had gone on in the Forbidden Forest and the theory that Voldemort was the one after the Stone and Quirrell just the servant.

The sky had turned light before they stopped talking. they went to bed exhausted, their throats sore. But the night's surprises weren't over.

When Beth pulled back her sheets, she found her Invisibility Cloak folded neatly underneath them. There was a note pinned to it:

Just in case.