"Follow me," said Filch, lighting a lamp and leading us outside. "I bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh?" he continued, leering at us. "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."
As we closed in on Hagrid's hut, we heard him yell, "Filch, is that you? Hurry up. I want to get started." Harry's face lit up with a smile. "Suppose you think you'll enjoy yourself with Hagrid, eh?" Filch said to Harry. "Well, think again. You're going into the forest tonight, and I doubt you'll come out in one piece." "The forest?" Neville stammered. "We're not allowed in there." "Should have thought of that before you got in trouble then," Filch said. "What took you so long? I've been waiting half an hour," Hagrid said to Filch. "You're right, kids," he said to us. "Shouldn't be too nice. They're being punished, remember," Filch said. "Oh, that's why you're late. Been lecturing them, it's not your place. You've done your bit, off you go." "Alright, I'll be back at dawn, for what's left of them," he said in a huff and walked back to the castle. "Okay, it's dangerous work we'll be doing, so I don't want anyone taking risks," Hagrid looked at us. "Follow me." Hagrid led us to the edge of the forest, to a trail that led into it. "See this?" He shined his lantern on the ground, and we saw some silvery liquid. "That's unicorn blood. This one's been hurt badly. I found another dead last Wednesday, so we're going in to find the injured beast. Prepare yourself; we might have to put it out of its misery." I nodded solemnly. "Right, there's nothing that will hurt you in the forest as long as you're with me or Fang." Hagrid sighed. "We'll split into two groups. Stick to the trail; it forks, and that's where we'll split. There's blood all over, so it staggered for a bit, and I can't tell which way it came from or which way it went. Harry and Hermione, you're with me. Neville and Eddie, you're with Fang." "Come on, Fang," I said, lighting up my wand. Neville, Harry, and Hermione did the same. "If you get into trouble, use the red sparks spell. We can find each other."
"So why did you stun Malfoy?" Neville asked as we walked. He was a bit jumpy but had his wand at the ready.
"Oh, he and Crabbe tried to jump me. I just dodged and fought back," I explained.
"So why did you get detention?" he asked.
"Because Filch only saw me finish off Draco," I sighed. "And then Snape assigned me Draco's detention because Draco was in the hospital wing."
After another 10 minutes of walking, I spotted something. "Look," I shined my light on a patch of unicorn blood. It was large with bigger splatter marks. Shining my light down the path, I noticed there was no more blood. "Looks like this is where it was attacked," I said.
"What should we do?" Neville asked.
"Try and catch up to Hagrid?" I suggested. There was a breaking of a stick and hooves. "What was that?" Neville asked, then out of the gloom came a centaur.
"Who goes there?" I asked, and Fang growled.
"Students, from the castle, I presume," the centaur stepped further into the light. He looked up at the stars. "Mars shines brightly tonight."
"War is coming?" I asked.
"Very good, student," the centaur said.
"no but, close trouble is coming. You must meet with Hagrid, minstrel." And then the centaur left.
"Let's go," we caught back up to Hagrid with Fang leading the way.
"Why did you come back?" Hagrid asked.
"We found the start of the trail," I said.
"And a centaur told us to meet back with you," Neville added. Hagrid looked stunned for a bit.
"Okay, the trail splits again. Harry, Eddie, you go up that one, with Fang. We'll go down the other," he said. Me and Harry were both on the lookout, so we didn't speak much. Until we spotted the unicorn, dead, sprawled out on the ground, blood dripping from its neck. Harry started to approach. I held my wand at the ready. Voldemort came for Harry; he collapsed.
I awoke as Hagrid pulled me down off Firenze's back. "The minstrel was very brave," said Firenze to Hagrid.
"Err," I groaned and pulled out a Wiggenweld potion from my satchel, chugging it down. My head started to clear of cotton.
"The unicorn's dead, Hagrid. It's in that clearing back there," Harry said. "Whatever killed it was chased off by Firenze; it tossed Eddie into a tree too."
"I'll be fine," I said. "Got some Wiggenweld into me." Hermione grabbed my head and looked into my eyes, waving her wand back and forth in front of them.
"No signs of concussion, but you should go to the hospital wing," she stated.
"Fine, let's get out of here then," I said. And that's what we did. Hagrid led us to the castle and escorted me to the hospital wing. I told Madame Pomfrey, "I tripped and hit my head in the forest." There's no need to get people worried. I slept like a baby.
--a/n--
For all thoses comments about following the cannon, I plan to have him let the cannon happen in the first book, it's kind of the prelude to Eddies own story. Still a long story to go.