Chapter 91 - The Wraith
I followed the faint feeling coming from my wand. The wand was still giving the hints and feeling while pointing deeper into the forest.
Harry and Draco followed close behind me with determined expressions. Both had their wands out as I had asked them to.
They were nervous and afraid of what we might find but neither of them ran away. They kept their composure. For all the differences between them, they both had enough courage to walk into danger when it mattered.
Fang was with us as well, trotting beside Harry and Draco.
I continued moving forward, leading them into the forest.
From what I knew and remembered from the original timeline was, that this was the night Harry encountered Voldemort in his weakened wraith form who was probably hunting a unicorn, and maybe he had already killed it.
But what I did not understand was why my wand was reacting like this. The feeling of urgency was growing stronger with every step.
Along the way we found few more puddles and solitary drops of silver blood. It seemed that the unicorn had clearly been wounded and was running for its life.
It also meant that we were on the right trail, rather than Hagrid's group. It also meant the we were close to the danger.
A couple of minutes later, the forest became quiet. Even the normal sounds of insects and animals seemed to disappear. I tightened my grip on my wand and then we stepped around a massive tree.
The scene before us froze all of us in place.
A unicorn was lying on the ground. This was the wounded unicorn whose blood we found along the way. Its pure silver coat was stained with blood. The beautiful creature was breathing weakly. It looked as though it was already on its last breath.
Beside it stood a hooded figure, a black-cloaked wraith-like being. It was bending down toward the unicorn.
Our footsteps on the leaves and branches on the ground alerted it. The figure looked up, probably surprised, but we could not see what the wraith's emotions were as his face was hidden in the cloak.
For a moment, everything became still.
Draco gasped seeing it and Harry also stiffened beside him.
The wraith like being did not speak. Somehow its presence felt wrong. It radiated an aura of danger and coldness.
Then Draco screamed after seeing the wraith clearly and immediately turned to run. At the same moment, Fang let out a frightened yelp and bolted into the forest, along with Draco. The dog could smell the danger that the wraith radiated.
I did not look back, and instead, I shouted loudly at them.
"Harry! Draco! Red sparks! Now!"
Harry understood and reacted instantly. He raised his wand and red sparks shot into the sky.
It was an emergency signal for distress.
Draco was running away, but he still heard me. He hesitated only for a second before doing the same. Another shower of red sparks exploded above the trees.
Good. Help would be coming soon, even from Hogwarts.
Meanwhile, the wraith likely recognised us began moving towards us, but I could feel he was going for Harry. I could somehow feel its attention focused solely on him.
I stepped in front of Harry and without hesitation, I fired a Stunning Spell.
"Stupefy!"
The spell struck the figure, but nothing happened.
I followed with a Binding Spell with similar result. These spells did not hurt the wraith at all.
The wraith seemed to be invulnerable against these spells as they seemed to pass over it with little effect.
My mind raced thinking for solutions. Normal spells were proving useless against it.
Then I remembered there was one spell made specifically for such enemies like the Dark creatures, Dark spirits and Wraith-like beings.
I took a deep breath and I thought about my happiest memories. It was of my parents, my brothers Harry and Dudley. Our family together. The feeling and responsibility of protecting the people I loved.
I raised my wand as I chanted the strongest white spell I knew.
"Expecto Patronum!"
A brilliant silver-white light exploded from my wand and the entire forest lit up. For a brief moment it felt like daylight.
Harry shielded their eyes while Draco looked back at me in surprise and shock.
The wraith recoiled.
The silver light gathered together and began taking shape.
At first it looked like a horse. Then it grew larger and a long horn formed on its forehead. Then finally, wings appeared on its back.
A magnificent creature emerged from the light. It resembled a unicorn yet it was larger and more powerful.
Its body shone like liquid silver, wings were broad and radiant while the horn gleamed brighter than a sword forged from moonlight.
The creature let out a powerful cry, which resembled a neighing of horses. The sound echoed throughout the forest.
The winged unicorn did not even wait for my instructions.
The moment it appeared, its wings beat at once and it charged. The creature shot forward at a great speed.
Its glowing horn slammed directly head on into the centre mass of the wraith. The impact threw the dark wraith backward.
It crashed through bushes and rolled across the ground. The wraith seemed genuinely shocked by the attack.
Before it could recover, the Patronus attacked again.
The winged unicorn flew forward. Its front hooves came down heavily and struck the wraith's chest.
The dark figure was thrown back once more. This time it stayed down longer.
Harry looked stunned and I was not doing much better.
The Patronus was acting entirely on its own. It was behaving less like a spell and more like a sentient creature.
The wraith slowly began getting up. Before it could attack or fly away, voices echoed through the forest.
"Harry!"
"Arthur!"
It was Hagrid. A moment later the giant gamekeeper burst through the trees. His crossbow was already raised towards the wraith.
Behind him ran Hermione, Neville and Draco. Even Fang was there. They all looked terrified.
The wraith turned toward the newcomers. It seemed to hesitate.
Then another sound came from a different direction. It was the sound of large number of hooves.
Several figures emerged from between the trees.
They were Centaurs. Their bows were already drawn, arrows pointed directly at the dark figure.
The wraith looked around. It was outnumbered and surrounded by Crossbow, Centaurs and the strange Patronus.
There were too many enemies, so without another moment of hesitation, it flew away. It moved unnaturally fast.
Most of the centaurs immediately chased after it. Few of them remained behind at the scene.
The danger was gone for now. Everyone slowly lowered their weapons.
Then something unexpected happened.
After the second attack, my Patronus did not attack again. Instead, the winged unicorn turned away from the fleeing wraith and moved calmly toward the injured unicorn lying on the ground.
The unicorn was barely alive. Silver blood covered the forest floor around it.
For a moment it simply looked at the dying unicorn, then the Patronus lowered its head.
Then it did something which shocked everyone present there, including me, its caster.
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End of Chapter 91 - The Wraith
'Unicorn wins, but it will be not just a normal Unicorn. It will be something different and interesting, a new concept which I thought today.'