For the rest of the night, Harry laid awake-trying to figure out what it was he saw. What was that black smoke that resembled a snake slithering across the night sky and disappearing over the forest? He laid there on the ground watching the moon sink lower and lower in the sky before disappearing over the horizon. As soon as its unworldly glow disappeared the light of the sun began to rise behind them. The other two woke up as soon as the sun was in the sky.

"Oh, Harry!" Hermione called furiously when she looked around to see that Harry was wide awake and looking tired. "Why didn't you wake one of us up? You must be exhausted!"

"I'm fine," he lied. "I just couldn't sleep that's all."

He hesitated, but then he decided to come clean and tell them what he saw last night. Hermione stared at him, but Ron merely looked confused. "It was just smoke wasn't it? It could've come from anywhere right? Maybe there was some kind of a fire far off or...?"

"It wasn't any ordinary smoke," Harry sighed as they gathered around the campfire and began to cook up the little food that they had left. "I'm telling you that it was like a snake or something! It went against the wind and disappeared over the forest."

"What can smoke do to us though?" Ron asked nervously. "I mean, it's bad enough that we have to go walking around a creepy forest, but to think that there's something really dangerous in there...?"

"That forest is already a dangerous place," Hermione interrupted him. "But Harry, could it be that you just started to doze off and imagined it? Or even dreamt it?"

Harry sighed in frustration. The thing about Hermione was that she didn't like to believe anything without any proof.

"I'm telling you that I saw something last night," he said firmly. "I don't know what it was but I know that it was bad news."

They all hesitated and glanced at the dark trees.

"So... what do we do?" Hermione asked. "Do we forget about it...?"

"We can't do that," Harry sighed, running a hand through his messy hair. "What would've been the point in coming all the way out here? I'm just saying that we have to be extra careful. We've got to get in and out before dark... I feel safer that way."

The other two didn't disagree; they sat in silence for the rest of their meal before they put out the fire and stood on the edge of the trees. Harry shook his head as he looked at the dark path as Hermione got out a small lantern and some flint.

Why did it feel like he was willingly walking into the lion's den? Or maybe a nest of snakes would be more appropriate in this case? He shook his head, trying hard to put what he saw out of his mind. He didn't want to think about that anymore. They go into the shrine, get the key, and then leave. The less time that he spent here the happier he'd be.

Hermione held up the lantern and asked, "You boys ready?"

"No," Ron muttered nervously as he glanced at the tree branches overhead. "But I'll go."

And they all stepped into the darkness, and couldn't help but feel as if they were leaving the world they knew behind.

The forest was black and silent. The hard, dirt road that they were all travelling on winded around the tree trunks and passed beneath the low-hanging branches. The branches that were like hands, continued to snag their hair and clothes so travelling just a few yards could take several minutes just to pull themselves free.

They walked past a mossy tree stump. Harry could hear running water; there must be a stream somewhere close by. The only light that they had was the lantern that Hermione held in front of her, making them all feel a little bit safer.

"How far do we have to go?" Harry asked as she handed him the light so that she could clamber over a fallen log.

"Let me check," she answered, pulling the map back out and he held the light close for her to read.

"According to this, we're on the right path," she said carefully, tracing the path with her finger. "We need to continue like this until we reach a fork in the road."

"And then where do we go?" Ron asked anxiously, glancing around them. "Something's wrong with this place, it doesn't feel normal."

Harry could understand what he was talking about. This dark forest felt like something that had come from a nightmare.

"Well," Hermione said folding up the map and sticking it back down her clothes. "We have to take the left path."

"But isn't that the longer way?" Harry asked, having traced the path with his finger before she put the map away.

"Yes, but it's much safer," she said. "The right path will take us straight into the heart of those Acromantulas I mentioned before."

Even in this low light, Ron's face grew pale. "Ok," he croaked in a higher voice than normal. "The left path it is then."

"I take it that you're not a fan of spiders?" she asked him with a smile.

"It's not funny," he hissed back. "I've had a bad experience with spiders alright? Just drop it."

"Ok, ok," Hermione said with a slight giggle. "Let's just keep moving fast. But stay quiet, we don't know what's here and..."

Harry suddenly flung out his arm to silence her.

"What?" she asked, startled. But he just put a finger to his lips and listened. The three of them stopped dead when they heard something slithering over dead leaves nearby: it sounded like a cloak trailing along the ground. They all froze in silent terror as the sound became louder and louder... Harry held his breath as the vivid image of the black smoke last night.

But then just as the noise sounded like it was only a few feet away, Hermione covered the lantern with her cloak and suddenly they were all cloaked in darkness. Just then the sound stopped. They froze-waiting, still as statues-Harry suspected that no one was even breathing. And then slowly the sound disappeared-slowly fading away into the darkness.

"What was that?" Hermione asked softly, uncovering the light, her breathing was in hard and short pants.

"I don't know," Harry answered uneasily, sweat dripping down his face. "But there's something in this forest that isn't right..."

"I don't like this place period," Ron said quickly, looking around anxiously. "This place is creeping me out. Let's just find the stupid key and get the hell out of here."

They walked on, quickening their pace, ears straining for the faintest sound. But then, suddenly, in a clearing ahead, something definitely moved.

"Who's there?" Harry called, throwing out his arm to stop the other two. He felt Hermione wince from next to him and knew it was because he spoke out, revealing where they were. They froze, all of them tensing, readying themselves for whatever came out. They heard the sound of hooves in the distance and out came...

Harry stared at what he saw. At first he thought that it was a man... and it was-at least to the waist. The upper part of his body was that of a human... but below him was...

"A centaur?" Hermione croaked out in a hushed whisper. "I've never seen one!"

The centaur looked mildly surprised to see them all there, but he merely glanced at them all as if they were an interesting piece of art. "And what brings three human children here?" he asked deep voice. But Harry could see his eyes narrow in suspicion.

Harry blinked before he shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Hello," he answered firmly. "Sorry, we thought that you were something else. Who are you? Do you live here?"

"My name is Ronan," he said, his hooves making clopping noises on the dirt road. Suddenly, a movement in the trees behind Ronan but it was only a second centaur, black-haired and wilder-looking than Ronan-and he was carrying a bow with a quiver of arrows on his back.

"Ah, Bane," Ronan said looking at his friend. "Look at what I found here."

"Humans?" Bane asked looking over them. "You don't see too many of them in here." His expression darkened. "You think that they're the ones?"

"Most likely," Ronan said darkly. "It's not that often that you get something so terrible happening and then running into humans. Destruction isn't exactly something new for humans after all..."

"What happened?" Hermione croaked out. "We just got here and..."

"I can tell that you're lying," Bane said, coming forward and poking her in the shoulder with an arrow.

"Oi!" Ron yelled and stood in front of Hermione. "Ok, we got here last night, but we didn't get into the forest until just a little while ago!"

Harry also stepped forward. "What happened here?"

"I think that you should tell us that," Bane said coldly, his eyes narrowed into slits.

"Hey, wait!" Hermione called when suddenly they heard more hooves behind them, galloping, and something spoke.

"Enough!"

They all spun around to see another centaur was standing over them; this one looked younger; he had white-blond hair and a palomino body. But the strangest thing about him were his astonishingly blue eyes, like pale sapphires.

"Are you all right?" said the centaur to the three of them. Unable to say anything Hermione could only gulp and nod nervously with a squeak.

The centaur looked up at his two comrades and walked forward, the three of them quickly moving out of his way. "These three did nothing wrong," he said to Ronan and Bane. "It was something else that destroyed the shrine."

"And what makes you say that?" Bane barked, his hoof stamping the ground in agitation. Suddenly Ronan put his hand on his friend's arm and asked, "You were watching the stars last night were you not, Firenze?" he asked.

The centaur named Firenze nodded. "Yes, the serpent did appear and he was the one who took it."

Ron and Hermione both glanced at Harry, who returned the tense look.

"And what makes you think that these children aren't working for him?" Bane demanded. "After everything that he did last night...?"

Firenze shook his head. "I will take responsibility for these three. Please. I will take them out of the forest myself. But they are innocent here. They honestly don't know anything of our business nor of what became of the forest."

Ronan looked convinced, but Bane looked furious. "What makes you think that...?" he began, but Ronan held out his arm again.

He looked at Firenze carefully. "Very well, Firenze, but you know what is to come, do you not?"

Firenze nodded and Ronan put a hand on Bane's shoulder. "Come," he said deeply. "We must return anyway."

Bane stood where he was for a second longer, shooting the three of them a nasty look like he expected them to pull out swords and knifes to attack them.

"Hmph," was all he said as he turned and galloped away.

"What was with that guy?" Ron demanded, thought he had the sense to keep this to himself until he was sure that Bane was out of earshot. Firenze, who hadn't said a word, watched until they were alone had turned to the three of them. "You three must leave this forest," he said firmly.

"Hey," Ron said hurriedly. "Look, I'm sorry! But you've got to believe us, we don't know what happened here last night! We only came here so that we could get something for Dumbledore. You know him right? Did he tell you to guard something for him until someone came to...?"

"Wait," Hermione said, holding up the lantern to see their new friend's face. "Please... what is happening here?"

Firenze glanced at them sadly and muttered, "I know what it is you seek. I know why you are here and I'm aware of what you must do. But I'm afraid to tell you that what you are looking for is no longer here."

"What are you...?" Ron began but Firenze interrupted, "The key that you are looking for is no longer in this forest."

Silence seemed to press in around them.

"What do you mean that the key isn't here anymore?" Harry asked in amazement. "And how did you know that we were looking for it?"

"The stars have always told the centaurs what is to come," Firenze said, his long tail swishing back and forth as he tilted his head back to look up at the tree branches, as if he could see pass it all and see the forest. "Last night, while we were star-gazing, I foresaw three people coming here to finally take the key that once laid in the shrine. The shrine was an old tree in the center of this forest... but then a dark shadow appeared across the evening sky."

Harry felt as if his breath was caught in his throat as the image of the snake flashed in his mind's eye.

He stepped forward and asked, "A dark shadow? Just what was it?"

Firenze merely shook his head. "I cannot say. But you must leave here now. This forest is not safe at the moment."

"But what happened?" Ron cried out desperately. "Look, we need that key! Where is it?"

"It was taken last night by the shadow," Firenze explained. "When we saw the shadow land in the forest, we immediately went to the shrine... but by the time that we got there, the key was stolen and the tree was in flames."

It was as if the ground was falling away from them. They couldn't believe what they were hearing. They came all this way only to be told that they no longer had any chances.

"Who...?" Harry asked and then Firenze said one word that sent the cold sense of dread throughout his body.

"Voldemort..." he whispered.

●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●

"So now what?" Hermione cried out. They were back where they started and outside the forest watching the sun sinking in all the shades of reds, orange, and yellow. Once Firenze had led them on the shortest path out of the woods, they were here in this field, trying to figure out what to do. Ron had spent the last few hours pacing the ground, kicking at rocks and twigs, trying to vent his anger as Hermione sat on a large rock-trying to figure out what to do-while Harry was just staring up at the sky, a lost look on his face.

"Voldemort's got the key..." Hermione said softly. "He somehow figured out what was happening and took action."

"I don't suppose that we could go back to Dumbledore and have him make another key could we?" Ron asked worriedly. "Do we really need it anyway?"

"How should I know?" Harry asked, trying hard to think of a way out of this. "I don't know anything about magic. But if it was that simple then Dumbledore would've given us a new key to begin with right? And if your sister's room is magically locked, how else are we supposed to reach her?"

"We can use an ax on the door?" he suggested before he cursed out, "Damn it!"

He then kicked the wagon out of frustration, thus resulting in pain. "When I get my hands on Dumbledore..." Ron threatened, hopping up and down on his foot.

"That doesn't matter," Hermione said, helping him to sit down. "Even if you do kill him, that's not going to get the key back. Look... why don't we..." she hesitated as if worried how they would react if she went on, but then, "Go back home? I'm sure that Dumbledore must still be there right? We can tell him that we got the stone and sword back, but the key was stolen. He must know something... what else can we do?"

They all argued... but in the end, they knew that she was right. It was the last thing they wanted to do, but they had to go back to Dumbledore and tell him what happened. Yet, why did it feel that every time they took a step forward, they ended up taking three steps back?

They just packed up and left the field, not at all sorry to see the forest fading from behind them. They only traveled for a short time however because they soon came upon a river. Hermione knelt by the water, gathering water as Ron spoke.

"You think that he would've found a safer place to hide the key," Ron complained for the millionth time that day. "I mean... the key to my sister's room? You think he would've found a better place for..."

"We know, Ron," Hermione sighed as she stood up, her gourd full of water and taking a long sip. "But there's nothing we can do about it now is there? We don't know where the key is now-for all we know Voldemort could've destroyed it by now."

"I doubt it," Harry said as he ran his hand through the horse's mane. "The key was enchanted wasn't it? It's not going to break that easily."

"Well, the only choice we have now is to go to Dumbledore and ask him what to do," Hermione declared.

"I hate this," Ron grumbled. "I hate this so much."

"What else do you suggest we do?" she demanded. "It's not like we can go waltzing up to Voldemort's caste, wherever that may be, and ask for it now can we?"

Harry sighed. "We know, Hermione," he told them. "I mean, even if we did, we don't know where his castle or even where to start looking? So it looks like we're out of other options but to go to Dumbledore. Maybe he'll be able to come up with a plan." He looked up at her, "Funny, normally you're the one with the plan."

She rolled her eyes. "There's nothing else for it. Besides, it would be good to see Mum and Dad again. Hey, we might even run into Sirius there. He did say that he was going to see them...?"

Ron sighed from his seat and didn't say anything, but nodded.

Harry knew how he felt. If it was his family who were in trouble, he'd want to do something about it. He clapped a hand on his shoulder and said, "Don't worry. We'll get you home as soon as we can. We just need to work out a few last details before we go and take the fortress."

Ron smiled. "Well, could be worse I guess."

That was when it did.

It all happened at once.

Hermione screamed as the horse went crazy.

Harry spun around, but it was too late-the last thing he saw was a large club swinging down at him... and nothing else.

A/N: Thanks for reading and please vote and comment!

I've completed writing this story. Only 10 chapter are left and then I will start a new story.