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Harry told them what Dumbledore said when he was found with the mirror again. "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live," Harry recited. "I wonder what he means by that?"

"He must have meant that when we were looking into the mirror, we weren't seeing what was real. Dreams show us stuff that isn't real, so I guess he was telling you to forget the mirror and keep living," Rosalie offered after a moment. However, the thought of her parents and the strange boy in the mirror often persisted in her thoughts, distracting her from everyday tasks and lessons. She just wanted to be able to meet her parents, and discover who the strange boy was.

The next day, the four of the were in the library, researching on different topics, completing homework, and writing papers. Hermione startled them all by slamming a large, heavy book down in front of them, Rosalie very nearly spilling her ink all across her paper.

"I had you looking in the wrong section. How could I be so stupid?" Hermione ranted, though Rosalie was unable to tell if it was directed to them, or if she was talking to herself. "I checked this out weeks ago for a bit of light reading."

"This is light?" Ron asked, disbelief coloring his voice. At this, Hermione gave him a sharp glance, before flipping the book open. Skimming the pages, she finally paused, her finger resting at where she was looking. "Of course! Here it is. Nicholas Flamel is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone."

"The what?" Ron and Harry asked in unison. Even Rosalie gave Hermione and the book a strange look, unsure of what Hermione meant. Also, that book simply had to be one of the largest she had ever seen. Rosalie wondered what it was about as she examined the old, large pages.

"Honestly, don't you two read?" Hermione chastised the two boys, knowing better than to say that to Rosalie, who claimed to be neutral about reading, but could often be found staying up late at night, reading through a book from the library simply for fun. The books at Hogwarts simply fascinated Rosalie, who loved learning about the wizarding world. Every book in the library seemed full of information that she hadn't learned yet, and she was determined to learn as much as she possibly could.

"'The Sorcerer's Stone is a legendary substance with astonishing powers. It'll transform any mental into pure gold, and produce the Elixir of Life which will make the drinker immortal.'" Hermione read from the book.

"Immortal?" Ron sounded disbelieving at this statement.

"It means you'll never die," Hermione told him.

"I know what it means!" Ron exclaimed, looking annoyed with Hermione. Harry shushed him quickly, in order to keep them from being kicked out of the library. Rosalie quickly glanced around for Madam Pince, worried that she had overheard Ron, but she didn't see the librarian anywhere.

"'The only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicholas Flamel, the noted alchemist who last year celebrated his six hundred sixty fifth birthday.'" At this, they all exchanged looks, startled by the large number. Rosalie didn't think that she had heard of anyone living past one hundred, much less past six hundred sixty five years only.

"That's what Fluffy's guarding on the third floor. That's what's under the trap door. The Sorcerer's Stone!" Hermione exclaimed. This time, not only was an exchange of glances sent around, but a silent agreement of what to do that night.

The four ran through the rain to Hagrid's hut, exactly as they had agreed on. Harry knocked on the door, pounding away until the wooden door swung open, creaking in protest. "Hagrid—" Harry immediately began, but was abruptly cut off.

"Oh! Sorry, don't wish to be rude, but I'm in no state to entertain today," he told them, pulling the door closed.

Just as it locked into place, the four called out together, "We know about the Sorcerer's Stone."

The door immediately swung back open, Hagrid looking at them for a moment. "Oh," he said, and led them inside. Rosalie was the last to enter, and pulled the door closed behind her. As she turned around, Harry had already begun talking. "We think Snape's trying to steal it," he informed Hagrid.

"Blimey, you're not still on about him, are ya?" Hagrid asked, turning to face Harry as they all sat near the fire, chasing away the lingering cold from the rain outside. Hermione and Rosalie sat together on the edge of a rather large chair closest to the fire, the heat warming them rather quickly. Rosalie caught sight of a large black kettle hanging over the flames, and momentarily wondered what its contents were.

"Hagrid, we know he's after the Stone, we just don't know why." It was clear that Harry was frustrated at the obvious fact that Hagrid didn't believe them.

"Snape is one of the teachers protecting the Stone. He won't steal it," Hagrid reassured them.

"What?" Harry asked, surprised. He, along with the other three, hadn't been expecting Snape to be in on protecting the Stone.

"You heard. Come on, I'm a bit preoccupied today." Hagrid gestured with his arms, but was interrupted by Harry. "Wait a minute. 'One of the teachers'?" He'd just processed all of what Hagrid said, and was once again surprised.

"Of course. There are other things defending the Stone, aren't there? Spells, enchantments." Hermione realized.

"That's right. Waste of bloody time, if you ask me. Ain't no one gonna get past Fluffy. Ain't a soul knows how, except for me and Dumbledore. Ah, I shouldn't have told you that. I should not have told you that," Hagrid muttered to himself.

He was interrupted by a sharp pattering noise, almost sounding like someone was knocking sharply on a metal door. The only issue was that it was coming from the kettle behind Hagrid, who promptly reached down, pulling a large dark egg out of the kettle. Even with his oven mitts on, it was clearly hot, because Hagrid proceeded to gasp as he gently juggled the egg between his hands.

The quartet quickly gathered around the table that Hagrid sat down at, gently placing the egg onto the wood. "Hagrid, what exactly is that?" Harry asked as they all eyed the egg.

"That? It's a... it's um..."

"I know what that is!" Ron exclaimed. "But Hagrid, how did you get one?"

"I won it. Off a stranger I met down at the pub. Seemed quite glad to be rid of it, as a matter of fact," Hagrid mused.

As the egg began rocking more and more, Rosalie found herself leaning backwards in preparation for whatever was about to come out of it. Bits of the egg flew off, revealing a tiny dragon. It shook the remaining pieces of egg and goo off of it, before making a sound that sounded like a tiny kitten crying.

"Is that a dragon?" Hermione asked slowly, looking over at Hagrid.

"That's not just a dragon. That's a Norwegian Ridgeback," Ron informed them. "My brother Charlie works with these in Romania."

"Isn't he beautiful? Oh, bless him. Look, he knows his mummy," Hagrid stated, sounded close to tears as the dragon turned to face him. "Hello, Norbert." Reaching down a hand, Hagrid gently stroked the dragon's neck.

"Norbert?" Harry asked, looking over at Ron.

"Yeah, well he's gotta have name, don't he?" Hagrid asked. They all chuckled at the situation. "Don't you, Norbert?"

As the dragon laughed, he coughed up a fireball, singing the edges of Hagrid's beard, which he quickly patted out. "Whew! Well, he'll have to be trained up a bit, of course. Who's that?"

Everyone quickly turned to look out the window. Rosalie was the last to turn around, but caught a glimpse of white hair with a pale face. "Malfoy," Harry revealed. "Oh dear," Hagrid said quietly.

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Back in the castle, the four students walked together. "Hagrid always wanted a dragon. Told me so the first time I met him," Harry informed his friends. "It's crazy. And worse, Malfoy knows." Ron added.

"I don't understand, is that bad?" Harry asked.

"It's bad," Ron sighed, before they caught sight of Professor McGonagall.

"Good evening," she said to them, before Malfoy stepped out from behind her, a smirk forming on his face. Rosalie grimaced. Of course he would immediately inform the first professor he could find that the quartet was up and about during the hours that they were to be in bed.

In her classroom, the professor chastised them before her desk, while Malfoy stood off to the side, smirking to himself with his arms folded. "Nothing. I repeat, nothing gives a student the right to walk about the school at night. Therefore, as punishment for your actions, one hundred fifty point will be taken. Several from each of you."

Rosalie couldn't hold back a gasp, while Draco smirked to himself. "To ensure it doesn't happen again, all five of you will receive detention."

That wiped the smirk off of Draco's face. "Excuse me, professor," he began immediately, stepping up to her, "perhaps I heard you wrong. I thought you said the five of us."

Professor McGonagall looked down at him. "No, you heard me correctly, Mr. Malfoy. You see, as honorable as your intentions were, you too were out of bed after hours. You will join your classmates in detention."

Rosalie and the other three by her sides all shared little smiles at this news, while the blond-headed boy frowned in dismay. Melanie thought he ought to be a bit happier. After all, he had caused them to loose a significant amount of house points, and receive detention. Had it been up to her, she would have also deducted points from the Slytherin house.

As Filch walked them to the Forbidden Forest the next night, he told them what he thought of the punishments they used nowadays versus the punishments they once used. "A pity they let the old punishments die. There was a time detention found you hanging by your thumbs in the dungeons. God, I miss the screaming."

Rosalie wasn't sure if he was joking or being completely serious, and his tone didn't let on to which. Neither did his face, which displayed no emotion whatsoever to go on.

Hagrid stepped out of his hut as they neared. "You'll be serving detention with Hagrid tonight. He's got a little job to do inside the Dark Forest," he informed them, before greeting Hagrid. "A sorry lot, this, Hagrid." When Filch received no response, he sighed. "Oh, good God, you're not still on about that bloody dragon, are you?"

Hagrid gave Filch a cold look as he prepared his rather large crossbow. "Norbert's gone. Dumbledore sent him off to Romania to live in a colony." His voice wobbled as he spoke to them.

"Well, that's good, isn't it? He'll be with his own kind.," Hermione asked.

"Yeah, but what if he don't like Romania? What if the other dragons are mean to him? He's only a baby, after all." Hagrid seemed more and more worried as he spoke.

"For God's sake, pull yourself together. You're going into the Forest, after all. Got to have your wits about you," Filch half snapped at Hagrid.

"The Forest? I thought that was a joke. We can't go in there!" Malfoy protested, looking up at Filch. "Students aren't allowed. And there are..." he hesitated for a moment before finishing his sentence. "...werewolves!"

"Ah, there's more than werewolves in those trees. You can be sure of that," Filch informed them, his eyes glancing around them. "Nighty-night," he added, holding his lantern in front of him as he walked away.

"Right. Let's go," Hagrid stated, leading them into the dark forest.

When all they could see was fog, trees, and ground, and all they could hear were odd noises such as howling, branches breaking far above them, and the occasional shrieking that Rosalie hoped wasn't an animal being killed, Hagrid stopped. Setting his crossbow down, he knelt next to a small puddle of something shimmery, dipping his fingers into the liquid. They were covered in something silvery, similar to mercury, when he pulled them out, examining the substance.

"Hagrid, what is that?" Harry asked, voicing the question the others dared not to ask in fear of what the answer could be.

"What we're here for. See that?" The man asked them,  holding his fingers up to display the liquid. "That's unicorn blood, that is. I found one dead a few weeks ago. Now, this one's been hurt bad by something. So, it's our job to go out and find the poor beast."

Rosalie was shocked. Unicorn blood? And it was their job to go find the injured unicorn? What about the thing that had been powerful enough to injure a unicorn so badly? Were they not concerned about that?

"Hm." Hagrid surveyed the five students before them. "Okay. Ron, Hermione, come with me."

"Okay," Ron agreed, sounded completely terrified.

"And Harry, Rosalie , you'll go with Malfoy."

Rosalie sighed. She would much rather go with Hagrid, who knew the forest well.

"Okay. Then I get Fang," Malfoy quickly lay claim to the dog.

"Fine. Just so you know, he's a bloody coward," Hagrid informed him. Rosalie sighed at this new bit of information, looking over at the dog as he whined.

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"Wait till my father hears about this. This is servant's stuff," Malfoy complained as he led the way, lantern held high in the air.

"If I didn't know better, Draco, I'd say you were scared," Harry spoke.

"I'm not scared, Potter," Malfoy spat. However, the second he heard a howl, he whirled around. "Did you hear that?"

Rosalie sighed. "Oh, you're definitely not scared," she agreed sarcastically. "Not at all."

The blond boy glared at her. "Come on, Fang." He walked ahead of them. "Scared," Rosalie heard him scoff.

They walked for a good while in silence, Rosalie occasionally forgetting what exactly they were searching for. Coming to a stop in a small clearing, Fang began to growl. "What is it, Fang?" Harry asked the dog.

Rosalie froze as she spotted what the dog was growling at. It was a dark, cloaked figure, crouched over a fallen white unicorn. As soon as she spotted the figure and unicorn, a hot pain shot through her temple, coming from where her scar was. She bit back a gasp, forcing herself to concentrate on the picture before her. This was no time for headaches.

The cloaked figure suddenly raised its head, baring its teeth at them as silver blood ran from the corners of its mouth Malfoy began to scream, causing Fang to run back the way they came, barking, followed by Malfoy. Rosalie , startled, did nothing but turn to watch the boy and dog retreat.

The person seemed to float away from the unicorn, landing in front of Rosalie and Harry. They both began stepping back, away from the figure as it moved towards them. Beside her, Harry fell, and grabbed onto Rosalie's robes, pulling her down with him. Before the dark figure could advance any farther, however, something that Rosalie would later realize was a centaur leaped over their heads, forcing the cloaked figure to retreat, flying away.

Harry stood, moving forwards slowly as Rosalie remained on the ground. "Harry Potter, you must leave," the centaur told the boy. "You are known to many creatures here. The Forest is not safe at this time. Especially for you."

"But what was that thing you saved me from?" Harry questioned as the centaur stepped closer.

"A monstrous creature. It is a terrible crime to slay a unicorn. Drinking the blood of a unicorn will keep you alive even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. For you have slain something so pure, that the moment the blood touches your lips, you will have a half-life. A cursed life," the centaur informed them gravely.

"But who would choose such a life?" Harry questioned.

"Can you think of no one?"

"Do you mean to say that that thing that killed the unicorn, that was drinking its blood, was Voldemort?" Harry came to the conclusion that Rosalie had already reached the moment the centaur spoke about having a half-life.

"Do you know what is hidden in the school at this very moment?" The centaur leaned even closer to Harry.

Harry looked up. "The Sorcerer's Stone," he whispered.

Fang and the others came around a tree, spotting Rosalie and Harry. "Harry! Rosalie!" Hermione exclaimed.

The centaur, hearing Rosalie's name, snapped his head forwards, peering around Harry. Rosalie resisted the urge to jump as his eyes met hers, and instead found herself climbing to her feet.

"Hello there, Firenze. See you've met our young students. You all right there, Harry? Rosalie ?" Hagrid asked them. The duo nodded in response.

"Harry Potter, Rosalie, this is where I leave you two. You're safe now. Good luck." Firenze turned and walked away, leaving them all alone.

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"You mean, You-Know-Who is out there right now in the Forest?" Hermione asked.

"But he's weak. He's living off the unicorns," Harry reminded her.

"The poor things," Rosalie mused quietly to herself.

"Don't you see? We had it wrong. Snape doesn't want the Stone for himself. He wants it for Voldemort. With the Elixir of life, Voldemort will be strong again. He'll come back." Harry sat down, frustrated.

"But if he comes back, you don't think he'll try and kill you, do you?" Ron asked.

"I think if he'd had the chance, he might have tried to kill me tonight," Harry replied.

"And to think I've been worrying about my Potions final," Ron exclaimed, looking down.

"Hang on a minute. We're forgetting one thing," Hermione interrupted. "Who's the one wizard Voldemort always feared?"

Ron and Harry shrugged, unsure of the correct answer. Rosalie thought about the question for a moment, attempting to remember from the books she'd read over Voldemort, but came up blank.

"Dumbledore. As long as Dumbledore is around, Harry, you're safe. As long as Dumbledore is around, you can't be touched," she informed them, giving Harry a reassuring smile. Harry returned the smile, looking down as he mulled over this new information.