The final month before the exams was a busy one for most students, everyone and their cats were in the library, completing extra assignments and preparing for the exams.

Except for Ben, he didn't need to prepare for the exams as that would be lame; that and cause he was way ahead of his classmates, he was Enchanting stuff to open portals for Merlin's sake while they were still trying to make things float.

And at this moment, he was in the Room of Requirements, trying to push his skills further. Although he could now open portals to Romania and had done so a few times to meet Norene, he was still limited by the use of portal seeds.

For the past few weeks, he had been trying to figure out how to open portals without the need for these seeds, but progress was slow. He had yet to be able to open a portal without having a clear line of sight or without a portal seed.

Unlike Apparation, which simply created a tiny wormhole between two points in space and then squeezed the wizard through it, portals used other dimensions to bypass the constraints of space. This made them both incredibly powerful and incredibly dangerous.

It was just as difficult as apparating if not more as one might get lost in those dimensions if the Mage does not have enough Magicka or a clear understanding of his destination.

One of the advantages of portals, as Ben had discovered, was that the anti-Apparation wards of Hogwarts were powerless against them. He had thrown Silvaticus The First, through the portals numerous times and each time it had reappeared unscathed on the other side.

--

While Ben was working hard to improve his skills, four students were being led out of the castle by Filch.

"Follow me," said Filch, lighting a lamp and leading them outside.

"I bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh?" he said, leering at them. "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."

Neville was trying his best not to cry, Harry and Hermione were wondering what their punishment was going to be and Draco Malfoy was doing what Young Masters did best, trying to hide his fear behind a sneer.

They were led to Hagrid's hut by Filch's lantern and a gruff voice called out from the dark.

"Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started."

Harry and Hermione's faces lit up as soon as they as Hagrid, but they soon received another shock when Filch said, "I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that oaf? Well, think again, it's into the forest you're going and I'm much mistaken if you'll all come out in one piece."

At this, Neville let out a little moan, and Malfoy stopped dead in his tracks.

"The forest?" he repeated, and he didn't sound quite as cool as usual. "We can't go in there at night; there are all sorts of things in there -werewolves, I've heard."

Neville almost choked on his own tongue at the mention of werewolves and clutched onto Harry's robe.

"That's your problem, isn't it?" said Filch, his voice cracking with glee. "Should've thought of them werewolves before you got in trouble, shouldn't you?"

Hagrid came striding toward them out of the dark, Fang at his heel. He was carrying his large crossbow, and a quiver of arrows hung over his shoulder.

"Abou' time," he said. "I bin waitin' fer half an hour already. All right, Harry, Hermione?"

"I'll be back at dawn," said Filch, "for what's left of them," he added nastily, and he turned and started back toward the castle, his lamp bobbing away in the darkness.

Malfoy now turned to Hagrid.

"I'm not going in that forest," he said, with panic in his voice.

"Yeh are if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts," said Hagrid fiercely. "Yeh've done wrong an' now yeh've got ter pay fer it."

"But this is servant stuff, it's not for students to do. I thought we'd be copying lines or something, if my father knew I was doing this, he'd-"

"-tell yer that's how it is at Hogwarts," Hagrid growled. "Copyin' lines! What good's that ter anyone? Yeh'll do summat useful or yeh'll get out. If yeh think yer father'd rather you were expelled, then get back off ter the castle an' pack. Go on."

Malfoy didn't move. He looked at Hagrid furiously but then dropped his gaze and quietly followed the Giant into the forest, along with the group.

---

While the group of first years prepared to face a nerfed final boss in the forbidden forest, Ben sat in his favourite chair in the Room of Requirement, his mind racing with frustration.

Tonight, he had planned a heist; a heist to get the philosopher's stone. Ben was going to steal the whole damn mirror if he couldn't get the stone out.

He was certain that Dumbles would be busy, orchestrating a meeting between the boy who lived and the man who kinda lived and hence the best opportunity for him to enter the third-floor corridor.

He had placed a Portal seed in The Room of Hidden Things so that he would be able to escape before Dumbledore had any time to react once he stole the stone.

Yet, his carefully crafted plan to steal the philosopher's stone had been thwarted before it even began as Dumbledore hadn't left the castle; at this very moment, he was sitting in his office, instead of the Forbidden Forest.

'If he's here, instead of the forest, then it either means that he isn't aware of the dark lord's presence in the forest, or he doesn't need to be in the forest to keep an eye on Harry.'

'Which one is it?' He thought, pulling out a small black hair from under his robes.

"Agh, I'm slowly turning into a hair-collecting freak," he cursed, closing his eyes.

Channelling his Magicka through the hair, he followed its subtle magical aura and entered a sort of trance,

In a dark forest, two pairs of footsteps and a set of paws could be heard traversing the forest floor, under the thick trees that were blocking even the tiniest moonlight,

The trail of silvery liquid on the forest floor shone even in the darkness, leading them deeper into the forest. Ben's vision was blurred, but he could make out a clearing ahead through the tangled branches of an ancient oak.

"Look-" Harry Potter's voice broke the silence, his arm outstretched to stop Malfoy. Something bright and white was gleaming on the ground in the clearing.

It was the unicorn, its long, slender legs splayed out at odd angles where it had fallen, its pearly-white mane spread out on the dark leaves.

Through the vision, Ben felt that he had never seen anything so beautiful and sad.

Suddenly, a slithering sound made the small party freeze where they stood. A bush on the edge of the clearing quivered, and out of the shadows, a hooded figure crawled across the ground like a stalking beast. Harry, Malfoy, and Fang stood transfixed as the figure reached the unicorn and began to drink its blood.

"AAAAAAAAAARGH!"

Malfoy let out a terrible scream and bolted, followed closely by Fang. The hooded figure raised its head, its gaze falling on Harry. Unicorn blood was dribbling down its front, and it got to its feet, coming swiftly towards Harry.

Even Ben felt a chill running down his back.

Harry clutched his forehead, as if in great pain, and staggered backwards as the dark figure charged at him. Just as everything screamed 'game over' for Harry, he heard hooves behind him, galloping, and something jumped clean over him, charging at the figure.

But Harry had little time to rejoice, the pain in his head was so bad he fell to his knees. Even Ben back in the castle could feel excruciating pain through Harry, a side effect of divining through a living being it seemed, he had to break the spell to calm down.

When he focused again, the figure was gone. A centaur was standing over him or rather over Harry; he had long white-blond hair and a muscular human-like torso on the body of a palomino horse.

"Are you all right?" the centaur asked, pulling Harry to his feet.

"Yes, thank you," Harry replied, still feeling the lingering pain in his head. "What was that?"

The centaur didn't answer. He had astonishingly blue eyes, like pale sapphires. He looked carefully at Harry, his eyes lingering on the scar that stood out, livid, on Harry's forehead.

The centaur didn't answer; he looked carefully at Harry, his blue eyes, like pale sapphires lingering on Harry's livid scar.

"You are the Potter boy," he said. "You had better get back to Hagrid. The forest is not safe at this time, especially for you. Can you ride? It will be quicker this way."

"My name is Firenze," the centaur said, bowing his head slightly so that Harry could climb onto his back. Harry didn't need to be told twice. With a quick nod, Firenze took off through the forest, his hooves pounding against the earth.

But another two centaurs came bellowing in, making Firenze skid to a stop.

DreamyApe

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