"Ron and Draco… they won't start fighting, right?"
On the other path, Harry kept glancing worriedly into the distance. Even though he couldn't see anything, just doing this made him feel a little more at ease.
"Relax. Fang is with them. As long as they stick close to Fang and don't go poking at any dangerous creatures on purpose, the outer layer of the Forbidden Forest is actually pretty safe."
They didn't need to go deep. In the outer zone the biggest threat was the eight-eyed giant spiders. But with Fang there, Aragog would keep his children in line for Hagrid's sake.
"Plus, I gave them a secret weapon!"
Hagrid looked proud, though a hint of heartache slipped through.
Just thinking about how he had personally handed little Norberta to Draco made his chest ache. Still, considering how much Draco clearly adored the baby dragon, leaving her in the boy's care for a while… wasn't completely unbearable.
"? You mean that bag? What exactly was inside it?"
Hermione asked curiously.
"Of course it was Norberta! I figured I'd let her get a head start on learning about her future living environment."
Hagrid answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"?!"
Hermione's face went blank. Wait, what? Hagrid actually brought the fire-dragon into the Forbidden Forest? And a newborn one at that?
"Aren't you afraid she'll set the whole forest on fire?"
"Well… it should… probably be fine, right? You saw how good she is at controlling her flames."
"…Let's hope so."
Hermione fell silent. She genuinely didn't understand why Dumbledore would entrust the Forbidden Forest to someone as dangerous as Hagrid. Wasn't he worried the half-giant would one day burn the entire place down?
"Hold on, who's this 'Norberta' you keep talking about?"
Hannah, who had only just arrived, looked completely lost listening to everyone. She had only stayed behind a little while to help Tom tidy up the shop—how had she missed so much?!
[Well, Norberta is the fire-dragon Hagrid's raising.]
Tom explained.
"So the little dragon hatched?! And I missed the actual moment she broke out of the shell?!"
The moment Hannah heard that, her whole body deflated.
She wasn't as obsessed as Hagrid and Draco, but it was still a fire-dragon! She might never get another chance to see a dragon hatching in her entire life! And she had missed it. What a tragedy.
[You want to see it? Just say so! I recorded the entire hatching process~]
Tom pulled out the camcorder he had used earlier and waved it teasingly.
[Rare footage of a fire-dragon breaking out of its egg. Want to watch?]
"Ahem. We should probably get moving."
Hagrid coughed twice, interrupting the conversation between Hannah and Tom. Still, the way his eyes kept flicking toward the camcorder gave him away. A sacred moment like that—how could one viewing possibly be enough? But right now there were more important things to do, so Hagrid forced down his desire. "Anyway, Firenze told me someone has been targeting the unicorns. They'll make their move one of these nights."
"Wait, what do you mean 'targeting the unicorns'?"
Hermione looked puzzled. She knew about unicorns—they were gentle, pure creatures whose hair and horns had magical properties. Especially the hair. Besides being used in potions like the horn, unicorn hair made an excellent wand core. If she remembered correctly, both Ron's and Draco's wands used unicorn hair.
"Could someone just want materials from a unicorn? But aren't all those materials renewable?"
"No, Hermione. It's more than that."
Unlike Hermione, who was Muggle-born and only had access to the standard Hogwarts library books, Hannah instantly understood the real issue.
Hermione had read a lot, but most of it was publicly available. The deeper secrets were either locked in the Restricted Section or deliberately hidden. The truth about unicorn blood was one of those hidden things.
As a descendant of one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight families, however, Hannah had been taught the hidden lore. "Unicorn blood can bring someone back from the brink of death. As long as there is still a single breath left, drinking it can restore life. But unicorn blood is cursed. Anyone who drinks it will be forever cursed."
"Then why would anyone still go after a unicorn?"
[That's basically a second life!]
Tom yawned. Although he was already immortal himself, he had far more experience with this kind of thing:
[You might not get it yet, but for a lot of people, even an eternal curse is acceptable if it means they get to keep living. Not to mention it's only a curse—there's always a chance it can be broken.]
"Exactly like you said. Someone is after unicorn blood, so we have to stop the danger before any of those poor little creatures die!"
Hagrid might prefer dragons, but the lives in the Forbidden Forest were still his friends. He would never allow anyone to harm them.
[Leave it to me~]
Tom nodded. Honestly, he was pretty curious what a real unicorn looked like. If possible, he even wanted to try riding one.
He just wasn't sure whether the unicorns—who only liked pure young girls—would accept a male cat like him~
With that thought, the group headed deeper into the forest along one path.
As they advanced, the ground beneath their feet changed from firm dirt to soft fallen leaves. The trees grew denser and denser until even moonlight could no longer pierce the canopy. Only the weak glow from the lantern in Hagrid's hand lit the way.
Of course, for Tom it made no difference—he was a cat, after all, and his night vision was excellent. So he was the first to spot the anomaly in the bushes:
[Wait! Look over there!]
"Something wrong?"
Hagrid raised the lantern in confusion and walked toward where Tom was pointing. The moment he pushed the bushes aside and saw what lay behind them, his expression turned grave.
On the dirt and fallen leaves, silvery-white liquid had been spilled. Under the lantern light it shimmered like melted moonlight—pure and beautiful.
But the meaning behind it made Hagrid's heart jolt. "Unicorn blood… fresh… looks like it was spilled not long ago!"
"It seems the culprit is nearby. He might be even more dangerous than we thought."
Hannah's face was equally solemn. Normally only someone truly desperate would choose to use unicorn blood to prolong their life. Yet here there was only blood—no signs of a struggle.
Unicorns might not be aggressive, but they were still classified as a dangerous creature (level four). Hurting one in an instant… that meant—
"Maybe we should go find the Headmaster right now? Tom can get back to the castle in a second."
Hermione suggested.
"No—"
Before Hagrid could finish, a bright red spark suddenly shot into the sky from the direction where Ron and Draco's group had gone.
"Oh no—Ron and the others are in danger!"