"Thank you for saving us." Daphne said.
The centaurs all looked between each other before what seemed to be leader stepped forward. "It is not we who saved you, young seer, but the stars." Daphne's eyes widened. They knew she was practising divination. That was supposed to be, like, super top secret knowledge. "Umm…"
The centaurs all looked to the sky, but didn't say anything more.
Under her, the unicorn let out a little snuffling noise.
Hermione was still tending to her shoulder.
"Jupiter shines brightly tonight."
Daphne frowned. Angelystor hadn't taught her anything about astrology and their astronomy classes were of questionable helpfulness. "Is that good?"
The leader, large and chestnut coloured, looked down at her. "The last time around, it was Pluto, and the time before that, was Mars."
"The last time?"
"The stars carry messages of their changes, young seer — changes in space — changes in time."
The words crashed into Daphne like a hammer. "Y-y-you know?" she squeaked.
"Around and around you go, will you ever get it right? I hope for our sakes, that you will."
"W-we intend to."
"I'm sure you do." The leader looked around at his fellows again before turning back. He sighed. "Well, I understand that your kind set great store by trades. This thing for that thing. I would trade with you, Lady Slytherin."
Daphne was suddenly on guard. "Trade?"
"For saving your lives, young fillies, we simple ask that you remember that, for us, the forest is our home, and always will be."
"You want me to remember that?"
"Yes."
Daphne thought for a moment. "Very well. I, as Lady Slytherin, will remember that the forest is your home and always will be."
The centaur bowed. "That is all we ask."
Suddenly, from far in the distance, there was an almighty BOOM that shook the ground under them, and caused leaves to fall from trees. "What was that?" Daphne asked, alarmed.
"That, was your lord."
Daphne and Hermione stilled, wide eyed. Harry!
"I daresay, he is in need of your help, young ones."
And with an adrenaline fuelled jolt, the unicorn surged into motion again, Daphne and Hermione no longer thinking of anything, but getting to their friend and leader.
Dumbledore stood up from where he'd been crouching in a protective bubble of almost pure magic, reinforced by transfigured stonework, and conjured titanium. The room was a mess. Another large beam crashed down to the ground in a heap of flaming wreckage.
He quickly made his way over to the boy, now laying unconscious in a crumpled heap. That reaction had been the most extreme thing he'd ever seen, and he'd seen a lot. Magical meltdowns weren't unknown, but they rarely happened to people who had such apparently large cores.
He pointed his wand at the young boy's head. "Legilimens." His probe hit something as solid as steel and bounced straight off. He stumbled back, shocked. What in Merlin's name?
"Albus!" Minerva appeared by his side, stepping over rubble to do so. "What happened?" She caught sight of Harry. "Oh, my goodness!" "He needs medical help, Minerva. Can you take him up to the hospital wing?"
Minerva McGonagall nodded, "Certainly."
Albus Dumbledore watched his number two levitate the unconscious boy and leave the room.
Mmmm… now what to do?
Hermione and Daphne charged up to the school, pausing only for cleaning charms to get rid of as much unicorn blood as possible and turning their robes inside out to hide the rest. They ran past an incensed Filch, was screamed at them about at it being almost curfew, and ran down to the Slytherin common room, only to find Harry wasn't there. They then ran to the one other place they though he might be… the hospital wing. "Harry!" Hermione and Daphne cried in unison upon entering the wing.
"Miss Granger! Miss Greengrass!" The matron stormed over to them. "Keep your voices down. You, Miss Granger, I expect you to know better."
Hermione wasn't listening though. "What happened to Harry?"
"Some kind of magical overloading." Madam Pomfrey made an unamused cluck sound with her tongue. "Blew up one of the classrooms on the fourth floor."
Daphne took up position on Harry's right side. "Is he going to be okay?"
"Yes, with time and rest. It's very difficult to tell, of course, but he'll probably be up and about by as soon as tomorrow morning, as insane as that may be."
Daphne sagged with relief. She saw Hermione do the same. She could remember the last time something like this had happened—when Harry had been trapped at the Weasley's—but it hadn't been this bad then.
They both took one of his hands in theirs and sat down to wait for as long as they could, before Madam Pomfrey eventually kicked them out.
In a corner of the hospital wing, disillusioned and silenced, Albus Dumbledore watched the two young ladies eventually leave with mixed feelings. Such shows of loyalty and friendship were admirable, and in any other circumstance, he'd be beside himself with joy. But right now, it could not be happening at a worse time. He'd spent the last few hours thinking about what had happened and had come to the conclusion that Harry had not only shown himself to be powerful, charismatic, and likeable, but he was also keeping secrets, and had occlumency barriers far stronger than anything he'd ever seen before. Not only that, but all those normal memories and feelings that Albus had been plucking from the boy's mind up to now were obviously fake. An extra layer of shielding against legilimency attacks that only the very, very best occlumens could pull off.
That combined with the boy's apparent instability, as made clear by tonight's events, lead him to one painful conclusion. The lad was dangerous. Far too dangerous for the status quo to be allowed to stand. But what was he to do? Lily and James would never allow him to be pulled from Hogwarts, not without an obvious event that showed something had gone wrong. That would go counter to everything he'd told them.
But he needed Harry to be somewhere safer. Somewhere he could keep an eye on him, where Harry couldn't just run away, where he couldn't build up influence the way Tom had. And where Dumbledore could grab the boy when he was needed to square up against Tom again, after the experiment with the stone had run its course.
He stared at the blank wall of the hospital wing.
And then it came to him.
He let out a long, depressed sigh. Of course, that was were he could maneuver for young Harry to be placed, as horrific as it would be… Azkaban.
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