Harry Potter: The Lion of the Serpent House

Harry noticed Draco's pallor and spoke with concern. The clock read past 10:50 PM, with less than ten minutes until their detention began.

"Draco, you look pale. You okay for detention? Need Madam Pomfrey?"

Draco, already fair, looked ghostly, but he stood firm. "Worried about me, Potter? Or mocking me? I'm insulted. I know more spells than you and can use them. The forest's only dangerous for incompetent students like Longbottom. I'm fine—just hate getting my uniform dirty."

"Glad you're yourself," Harry said.

If they were closer, Harry might've noticed Draco's voice pitch higher than usual. But, assuming Draco was back to normal, and with their recent distance, Harry didn't dwell on it.

Relieved, Harry left Draco to join Ron and Hermione. Draco's eyes followed him. Neville, watching from afar, tilted his head curiously.

"Evening, Ron, Hermione, Neville," Harry greeted. "Ready for the forest? Got snacks?"

"Evening, Harry," Hermione replied calmly. "No unnecessary items for detention. My wand's ready."

Unlike Draco, Hermione treated the forest as an adventure, a fitting punishment—a true Gryffindor.

"Didn't want to come," Ron muttered, less enthused.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked.

"Spiders," Ron grimaced, as if he'd eaten cockroach candy. "They're everywhere in there."

"You use spiders in Potions all the time," Harry teased.

"Those wriggly legs! Fred once turned my pillow into a spider to scare me," Ron groaned.

"That's awful," Hermione said, unsurprised.

"No giant spiders here," Harry reassured. "They wouldn't send us otherwise. You okay, Neville?"

Neville, staring at Draco, nodded vigorously when addressed. "Y-yeah… with everyone here."

Alone, he'd have been terrified, but his detention mates gave him courage.

"All here?" Hagrid emerged from his hut, lantern in hand. Fang, his dog, looked more reluctant than Ron or Neville.

"Evening, Hagrid," Harry said.

"Evenin', Harry. Tonight, a centaur'll guide us to their stargazing spot deep in the forest," Hagrid announced.

Centaurs, proud beings who didn't bow to humans, were kind to children and maintained a safe territory. The detention involved stargazing there—a punishment set by Filch, who loathed students and wanted to see them squirm. He'd even pushed for corporal punishment's return.

Like the troll incident that bonded Harry, Ron, and Hermione, this detention exploited the thrill and fear of the unknown, a psychological "suspension bridge effect" for young students.

"Centaurs read stars to predict the future," Hagrid said. "Dunno if it's true, but greet 'em politely."

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville nodded. Draco snorted, pale with fear, and snapped at Hagrid. "If anything happens to me, my father won't stay quiet. You'll get us into that beastly territory safely, right? Father says forest work is for servants, not students."

(I'll need to Silencio Draco if he keeps this up…)

Harry, unfamiliar with centaurs, sensed trouble in Draco's tone. Hagrid, patient as with a stubborn child, warned him. "Your father'd say you broke rules. Want to stay at Hogwarts? Take your punishment. Centaurs are proud. Don't be rude, or your father'll be mocked for raising you poorly."

Draco fell silent, humiliated. Hagrid's tone grew grave. "This forest's dangerous for first-years. Stay near me or Fang if you want to leave in one piece. No one attacks with us around."

Following Fang, Harry explored the forest. Poisonous mushrooms and herbs from Herbology grew wild, and Hermione eagerly showed off her knowledge. "That's a Laughing Mushroom! Used in Pep-Up Potion! And that's…"

"A dead Viper Vine," Harry noted. "Draco, snake fangs are Potions ingredients, right? For what?"

Draco, voice high, puffed up. "Asking me, Potter? Boil-Cure Potion. I'd have Father send the best, no need to brew it."

"Impressive," Harry said dryly. "Hope you never need it."

Thanks to intense study, Harry and Hermione excelled in Potions; Draco's elite tutoring and effort kept him competitive. They identified herbs and poisons, but one stumped them—a drooping, budded plant in a rock's shadow.

"Neville's a Herbology expert," Hermione said. "Neville, what's that? I don't know it."

"Uh… Moonbloom," Neville answered. "Only blooms under a full moon, so picking it now's useless."

"Wow, Neville knows more than Hermione," Harry said, impressed.

Draco glared at Neville.

Like a dare, the group ventured deeper, half-fearful, half-thrilled. Harry, regretting not bringing a basket, longed to collect the diverse poisons. Following Fang's pace, Harry, Draco, and Hermione outstripped Neville, who rested, and Hagrid and Ron, who gave him tea.

"Hurry up!" Draco barked. "Why're you dawdling?"

"Ease up, Draco," Harry said. "Hermione's tired. Let's rest with tea."

Harry pulled out a thermos with Warming Charms, its fresh-brewed aroma easing his fatigue. Draco wrinkled his nose. "Cheap leaves. Our house-elf brews better."

"House-elf?" Hermione asked, intrigued. "You have fairies at home?"

Draco preened. "You commoners wouldn't get it, but I'll explain. Noble houses have elves for chores."

(Oh no…)

Draco's face fell, realizing he'd spoken too warmly. He was meant to converse only with those of good lineage or fame like Harry, or risk his father's wrath.

"That's amazing!" Hermione said innocently.

Harry and Hermione, unaware of house-elf realities, took Draco's words at face value. Draco, regretting defying his parents, grudgingly accepted their response.

Illuminating their path with Lumos, Harry suddenly clutched his head as his lightning scar seared. A snake slithered from a mulberry tree—not between branches, but from the tree itself.

(Something's ahead.)

"Flee…" the snake hissed, coiling near Harry.

He didn't reply.

Tense, voice strained, Harry ordered without looking back, "Hermione, Draco, wands ready. Something's ahead."

"What?" Hermione asked.

"Harry?" Draco echoed.

Harry stepped forward and shouted, "Specialis Revelio!"

His Lumos lit a seemingly ordinary forest with ancient oaks. But Revelio unveiled the truth: the mulberry tree was gone, just a path.

And ahead, a radiant white horse gleamed under Lumos.

Not a horse—a unicorn, a magical creature said to protect pure maidens with powerful magic.

"Unicorn…?" Hermione whispered, then gasped. The unicorn lay bleeding, dying.

Draco stared beyond it, where a cloaked figure—a monster—sucked its blood like a leech. Each movement of the black hood drew more blood into the creature.

Harry saw it too.

"Arghhh!" Draco screamed, mistaking it for a vampire, a dark creature far beyond first-years. But it wasn't knowledge driving him—it was raw terror.

Draco fled with Fang. His scream alerted the monster, which raised its head. Hermione froze.

Vines shot toward them as the monster attacked. Harry, head throbbing, yelled, "Bombarda!"

His explosion spell, honed through training born of troll-fights and Dumbledore's resentment, scorched vines and surged toward the monster. But a casual wave of its hand dispelled it, as if Harry's enhanced magic was nothing.

The monster felled trees, hurling them at Harry and Hermione.

"Incendio!" Harry burned the trees targeting him.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Hermione levitated others, no longer the Halloween novice. Having faced a troll and Cerberus, she acted decisively, her levitated trees shielding them from the monster's next strike.

The monster, Harry realized, wasn't mindless—it used magic with intent, concealing itself, targeting him with stones, countering his fire with precision.

(This isn't a monster—it's a cunning wizard!)

Harry burned ground branches, planning to levitate them back, when two figures intervened: Hagrid, towering over three meters, and Firenze, a platinum-blond centaur with a horse's body.

Hagrid's bulk deflected the monster's spells. Magic from his umbrella forced the creature to dodge, but it pressed forward. Hagrid's impossible speed blocked its path.

Firenze loosed an arrow, and the monster retreated for the first time.

"Climb on!" Firenze urged. "I'm Firenze, a centaur. I'll take you to safety."

"But Hagrid—!" Harry protested.

"Listen, child!" Firenze snapped. "Don't you see what he's protecting?"

Firenze hoisted Harry and Hermione onto his back, fleeing as Hagrid's spell-casting shouts echoed.

Draco, Neville, Ron, and Fang were safe with other centaurs. Ron comforted a trembling Hermione, while Draco, glancing at Harry, hung his head, unsure what to say.

Harry didn't blame him. "Anyone would've run. Glad you're safe, Draco. I was careless. Shouldn't have noticed it."

"Shut up, Potter!" Draco shouted. "You found it! Why? What was that thing? Why's it in the forest?"

Harry had no answers. Firenze did.

"Unicorn blood grants life and vigor," Firenze said. "That creature sought it, but the cost is a curse worse than death."

Firenze, noble and upright in Harry's eyes, earned his respect. Despite backlash from his kin for carrying humans, he didn't resent Harry or Hermione. Unlike his cryptic kin, who only said, "Mars is bright tonight," Firenze offered clear, vital advice, vowing to break centaur laws to protect his forest kin.

"To defy a unicorn's curse, one needs a counter or a cure," he said.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione realized: the Philosopher's Stone. Its Elixir of Life.

Looking at Harry, Firenze continued, "The stars warn of evil—a frail, fading life seeking to regain power. Tell Dumbledore: darkness approaches."

Draco's heart: He has other friends… and they're having so much fun…

Note: Unlike the original, where the detention was to find the unicorn's attacker, here it's a stargazing punishment. The original includes a witch who disdains the noble Firenze.