(Edited: 17/07/2020)

Chapter 7

Percy's point of view

We just about survived our interrogation from the Snakes. Flint gave us a lecture on what was the proper way to act, and rebuked us for chasing after the Troll. I tried to explain that I just wanted a wrestling match, and he looked horrified! Apparently wrestling matches were for Muggles and mudbloods. We disagreed, but held our tongue. Even without Draco's foot to the shin we had worked out that this wasn't the time to start talking pro-muggle.

As for our Godfather... Severus gave us two nights detention with Filch. Or at least, it was going to be with Filch, then Hagrid asked for us instead. Something about a disturbance in the unicorn herds or something. I don't know. But yeah, so here we were, on the edge of curfew, waiting for the others with detention tonight to turn up, outside the Forbidden Forest. Seriously, Dumbledore specifically warned us not to go into the Forbidden Forest, and now we were being taken into it? What kind of backwards logic is that?

Mist curled around the thick trunks of the trees. It was probably due to the superstition surrounding the woods, but I could almost feel the trees' hatred for us, their branches reaching out with twiggy fingers to snatch us. The night time noise of the nocturnal animals filled the crisp night air. I could hear what might have been the Centaurs thundering through the woods shouting, the snuffling of what sounded like a pig-animal, and the almost silent padding footsteps of a predator, just beyond the grey bushes. I shivered.

'Hey.' Harry poked me with a smile. 'It's just like the woods at home, right? When we went searching for moonlace?'

'Yeah.' I grinned, suddenly not scared anymore. Harry and I joined control. I felt his calm fill me, and I let my excitement wash over him.

"There you are!" Hagrid exclaimed to somebody from behind us. We turned around, and groaned. Who else would it be but Charles and Ron with detention? Behind them stood a short slightly plump boy with a round face and dark hair that I recognised as Neville Longbottom.

Our brother scowled, and Ron glared.

"What are you doing here?" Ron demanded.

We sighed and rolled our eyes before answering truthfully, "We challenged a Troll to a wrestling match. Severus though it was a risk to our health, so put us in det to 'learn our lesson'."

The Gryffindors didn't look sure whether to believe us or not. Hagrid laughed.

"They did as well. If that wasn't a Gryffindor thing to do then I don't know what is."

Neither Ron nor Charles responded, and Neville looked petrified – he didn't look like he'd be speaking any time soon. Deciding to get on with things, Hagrid picked up his large lantern and heading into the dark trees. A small whimper left Charles' lips as the half-giant beckoned us with one enormous hand.

"You can't mean that you actually expect us to go in there, do you?" Charles begged in the smallest voice we'd ever heard him use. A small chuckle left our lips and we smirked at our brother.

"Scared, Charles? My, my, and we thought you were a Gryffindor..."

Charles stiffened, straightening his back and glaring at us. He curled his lip back in a sneer, and shook his head. The movement looked a bit forced and his eyes were constantly flicking around him, as if searching for something, for anything that he could use as an excuse not to enter the trees. Hagrid beckoned us again, a bit impatient now. Shrugging out shoulders, we moved past our brother, and entered the trees.

"Harry?" Charles spoke, his voice shaky and scared. "What are you doing? There are werewolves and vampires and all sorts of nasty creatures living in there..."

We gave him a slightly condescending look. "Charles. Haven't you even been into the library, let alone opened a book? Werewolves only change on the full moon, any other time of the month they are simply men, just like you and I. As for vampires... there are more tastier things to eat than us in that wood. Like unicorns."

We frowned. It was well known that Vampires adored human blood only second to that of the noble unicorn, but that wasn't a good thing, even if it might possibly save our lives tonight. Unicorns were an endangered species as muggles were destroying their natural habitats. And for any creature to kill a unicorn was... well, it was heavily frowned upon and highly illegal. Not that vampires cared, the slimy little worms...

'Percy.' Harry sounded amused. 'You're doing it again, getting distracted and then getting wound up over something.'

'Huh? Oh, sorry Harry.' I blushed, tinting our cheeks pink. Harry laughed.

'Aw, Percy. You're too cute sometimes.'

I blushed harder, mumbling, 'I'm not cute. Girls are cute. Fluffy animals are cute. I'm not cute!'

Harry laughed out loud this time, gaining us strange looks from the Gryffindors. We waved them off with an angelic smile, saying, "Don't mind us, private conversations and all..."

Then we followed Hagrid into the forest. There was a moment of silence from behind us, then all the supposedly 'brave' lions came chasing after us, yelling at us to wait for them. We smiled. Nothing riled up Gryffindors more than the idea that someone was braver than them.

Despite its gloomy appearance, the forest was actually really pretty at night. My ADHD was going wild, making us buzz with energy and putting me in a constant state of distraction. I could feel Harry getting slightly annoyed with it, but he knew there wasn't anything he could do, so he put up a weak shield to block the worst it. I just watched in amazement at the pretty glowing moss and twinkling fireflies. There were fungi that seemed to move and dance, and the trees seemed to be welcoming us, opposed to the trees at the edge of the wood that had been warning us away.

I saw tree nymphs peering at us from their leafy homes, and saw little pixies flying round a tree. An almost idiotic smile lit up our face, but I didn't care. I was happy, and this place was beautiful.

'Can you see all this, Harry?' I asked. 'It's beautiful and gorgeous and I love it! We've got to come here again at some point, hopefully when it's daytime.'

Harry chuckled. 'We will, don't worry. I doubt Draco or Severus will approve, however, so we'll have to be stealthy.'

'We can do that!' I exclaimed, happy that Harry had agreed.

Eventually we came to a stop at a 'T' in the path. Hagrid looked us over.

"Right. We're here searching for the unicorn herd. They've been quiet the last couple of days, and the Headmaster and I agree that something's troubling them. Now, given we're all male, they're less likely to trust us, but if you see them just send up gold sparks with your wands. If you're in trouble, send out red sparks. Got it?"

We nodded, and Hagrid grinned. "Right. Ron, you go with Percy and Harry. I'll take Charles and Neville."

Ron scowled at this, but we all agreed and split up. Ron and I went left; Hagrid and the others went right. We walked in silence a while, Ron all but hiding behind us as he clutched a lantern in his hands.

"Cheer up Ron." We said cheerfully. "It could be worse. After all, Filch wanted to put us in the dungeons."

"How are the dungeons worse than this? We could die here. The dungeons are just cold and damp."

"True, but at least it's pretty here. And –"

A sharp crack cut us off before we could say anything else. We frowned. It sounded like a twig had been stepped on. We looked around, squinting into the darkness. Unfortunately the lantern impaired our vision, so we could only just make out a faint outline of a black figure running past. We turned back to look at Ron, and frowned. He was gone, the lantern forgotten on the floor as he fled back the way we'd come. Shrugging, we blew out the lantern to guarantee that it wouldn't set fire to the forest then continued on our way, the forest much clearer now it was only being lit up by the faint light from the stars and the moon. Glancing upwards we frowned. Mars was awfully bright tonight.

We carried on down the path, singing softly to ourselves as we walked, until we came across a small clearing. It took us a while to notice the poor unicorn, its legs struggling feebly as a large cloaked figure drank from its neck. I was beyond enraged, but Harry kept a clear head, trying to make sure that the thing – whatever it was – wasn't a vampire.

"Killing a unicorn is a crime worthy of a punishment worse than death, you know." Harry said conversationally as we walked slowly towards the figure. "Though I imagine you'd know this, of course. Who doesn't? Except those ignorant muggleborns obviously."

The figure turned to face us, silvery blood dripping from its mouth. The top half of its face was hidden by the cloak, leaving only its mouth and jaw uncovered. It hissed at us, a low drawn out sound.

"You know nothing about this, boy. Leave now, or face your end!" The creature snarled.

Undaunted, we stared coolly back. "We know that we aren't going to let you kill that unicorn, sir, so please stop threatening us and leave before we are forced to hurt you."

The creature laughed, it laughed and laughed until tears were streaming down its face. Slightly annoyed now, and feeling rather reckless, I flicked our wrists, summoning our wands from where they had been safely stored in holders on our forearms. The creature froze for a moment, confused that we had two wands, not just one like every other wizard.

"Looks like I'm not the only one here doing something illegal. One wand per wizard, that's the law." The creature sneered. We smirked back, not bothering to reply.

'Expelliarmus!' I mentally shouted, even as Harry shouted, 'Incarcerous!'

The creature was flung back into a tree, ropes binding him tightly there. Convinced the creature was under control now, we turned to where the unicorn was still struggling weakly. We moved over to it, a lone tear falling down our cheek at the sight of its ravaged neck. The salty water droplet landed on the edge of the wound, and hissed slightly as it came into contact with the blood. The poor unicorn let out a low whine of pain.

"Shush now." We soothed, stroking its flank gently. "We're going to try and help you now."

A beautiful dark eye met our green ones, glistening with pain. 'Thank you Lords.'

We stared at the animal in shock for a moment, then shook ourself and held one hand over the bleeding wound. We summoned all the magic we could, pushing it out through our hand and into the unicorn, imagining her undamaged and healthy once more.

After our magic had healed the unicorn's damaged neck we felt it moving though the majestic beast, healing tiny scars and strengthening her left femur which the equine had broken a long time ago. When our magic reached its heart it paused for a moment, gently touching the unicorn's own magic that dwelled there. Finally, it retreated back into us.

"What... what are you?" A stunned voice came from the figure tied to the tree behind us. We turned to face it.

"We are a twin-soul." We told it, before turning back to the unicorn. "Are you ok now? Will you make it back to your herd safely?"

'Yes Little Lords. That you for helping me.' The unicorn touched her horn to our forehead, where our lightning bolt scar lay. The skin around the scar grew warm for a second, then the warm feeling of magic washed over us. We smiled, pure delight filling us. 'Would you like a ride back to the castle? It is late for you, I believe, and the Forest can be unsafe at this time.'

We smiled. "That is very kind, thank you."

The unicorn knelt down and we grasped a handful of her silvery mane lightly for balance as we swung our leg over. As we left the clearing a silent thought made the bonds that bound the creature to the tree fall loose. The unicorn nickered softly in approval.

'You are kind, young Lords, and untouched by the evil of your kind. Don't ever lose that, little Lords, for it is treasure worth more than any amount of gold.'

We smiled. "Thank you."

As we rode up the path, a sudden commotion up ahead brought the Unicorn to a halt. A pair of centaurs blocked the path, their bows pointed directly at us. We tilted our head and frowned slightly, watching them and waiting for them to state their business.

"You are different." One said in a tight voice. "You aren't fully one of the Wizards, and yet you are still one of them. And then there is that feeling of fealty, as if you are our Lord..."

"We are a Twin-soul." We offered, thoroughly confused.

The unicorn glanced at the Centaurs. 'He is our Little Lord, and means you no harm. I am returning the boys up to the Castle, where they'll be safe. I owe them a life-debt for saving my life tonight.'

We shook our heads in horror at the unicorn. "No, no, no, please. You owe us nothing. We only did what we believed to be the right thing."

"And yet you saved her life." The second centaur murmured. "Not many would do that."

The first centaur glanced up at the stars. "Mars is bright tonight. I feel we shall be meeting again, young Lord. Good luck, and greet Chiron for me this summer."

"Who's Chiron?" We asked, but the centaurs were gone, melding into the woods like shadows.

The rest of the ride out of the Forest was uneventful, and we simply admired the natural beauty of our surroundings. The trees grabbed at our clothes as the edge of the Forest grew near, trying to prevent us from leaving.

"We'll be back." We promised even as we broke through the last of the trees.

Immediately we were met by a worried Hagrid and annoyed Charles.

"Where do you think you've been?" Hagrid demanded. "It's almost ten o'clock, curfew began an hour ago!"

"We found a creature feeding of a unicorn." We explained. "So we tied the creature up and healed the unicorn. As you can see, she offered us a ride back up to the castle."

We slipped off the unicorn's back, patting her flank in thanks. It seemed then that Hagrid noticed exactly who our steed was, and frowned.

"She actually let you ride her? How... but... Unicorns don't..."

"I see you found our little run away then." The overly cheerful voice of Albus Dumbledore cut in. The old man took one look at us and the unicorn and beamed. "Did you find out what was wrong with the herd then?"

We nodded. "Some creature's been feeding off them. We're not sure what; it was wearing a hood. We do know it wasn't a vampire though. No fangs."

Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, well, good work Mr Potter. Off to bed with the lot of you now. It's late."

We nodded again, and stroked the unicorn's flank before reaching up to whisper in her ear, "Thank you for everything. It the creature comes back, contact us. We'll come and help, no matter what."

'Thank you little Lords. May the gods be with you.'

We smiled, then turned to follow our brother back up to the castle. A soft clatter of hooves alerted us of the unicorn's departure. We turned to watch her go, her glowing white pelt somehow fading in with the shadows of the Forest.

"You rode a unicorn." Charles muttered. "You rode a unicorn. You rode a unicorn."

We sighed. "So?"

"Even I know they don't like boys." Charles exclaimed, looking at us with a strange sense of awe, the normal hostility gone from his gaze.

"So?" We shrugged. Back at home in the woods by the river we'd been friendly with the local herd too. And all the other beings that had lived in the woods. To us, this was normal.

"Anyway," Charles glared at us a bit, "don't do anything like that again. Mum will have my head. She believes that as you're my 'baby brothers' I should be looking after you."

Despite the slight anger in his words, we could hear that the warning wasn't just because of Lily.

'He kind of cares.' I said, surprised.

Harry smiled. 'He is our brother and our twin. Deep down, we still have that bond that links us.'

'I guess...'

We both smiled at Charles. "No promises, but we won't go out of our way to get into trouble. Who does?"

We laughed. A hand closed around our shoulder. Surprised, we jerked our head up to see Severus standing behind us, his expression a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

"If I remember correctly, boys, the actual reason that you were in the Forest on detention in the first place was because you recklessly decided it would be fun to challenge a Troll to a wrestling match. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but surely that counts as going out of your way to get into trouble."

We blushed, and bowed our heads. "Sorry Professor Snape. It was a genuine accident this time, we promise! We were just following the path..."

Severus breathed out in a long sigh and knelt down to our level to look us in the eye. "Harry, Percy, you were alone in the Forest. Why didn't you follow Ron when he ran back to Hagrid?"

"Because we always go for midnight walks in the woods back home." We said as a way of explanation. "And the Forbidden Forest is so pretty, we didn't want to leave it yet."

"Huh." Snape huffed, putting an arm round our shoulders and pulling us away down to the Dungeons. "Percy, just because something is pretty, doesn't mean it's safe. You should know that, Harry. And I doubt the woods at home were very safe either at night, were they?"

We yawned. "It was fine, the local werewolf pack were perfectly nice to us when we met them."

"What?" Severus exclaimed.

We looked at him with heavy eyes, the heavy weight of sleep starting to press down on us now that I wasn't hyper.

Severus sighed and picked us up, aware he wasn't going to get anywhere with us tonight. We drifted slowly off to sleep in his arms, falling into sweet dreams of a summer camp and a white centaur and a serious little girl, her bright blond hair and grey eyes flashing with delight as she sparred with an older boy, who had a deep scar on his left cheek. To the left lay a large field of strawberry plants, and to their left lay a deep wood, which looked similar to the Forbidden forest. Behind them lay the ocean, blue and beckoning, it felt like home. We smiled. Just before the dream ended a young satyr who hadn't yet grown his horns caught sight of us and mouthed the words, "We're coming for you soon."