"Yes, I can see that." Professor McGonagall now understood how serious this was, her expression grave.
"I'll go there first. You'd better find Professor Dumbledore. The password for the headmaster's office is... Fizzing Whizzbees." After speaking, Professor McGonagall transformed with a flourish and leaped from the third-floor window with surprising agility.
"Professor McGonagall!" Hermione rushed to the window anxiously, watching Professor McGonagall fall rapidly through the air before waving her wand and landing smoothly.
"That's brilliant, a Cushioning Charm. Should we try it too?" Ron said enviously.
"This is the third floor! If we don't cast the spell in time, we'll fall to our deaths!" Harry had to remind him.
"Let's get to Professor Dumbledore as quickly as possible."
Though Professor McGonagall had rushed to help, Hermione was still worried. Only Dumbledore could give them real security.
"No need, I heard everything."
Just as Hermione was about to lead the way, Dumbledore's figure suddenly appeared from the shadows, looking toward the distant Forbidden Forest. Even his normally calm face showed slight concern, clearly what was happening in the forest was worse than he'd expected.
Deep in the normally quiet, dark Forbidden Forest, there was a burst of chaos.
After a while, a huge figure over six feet tall came out of the bushes with difficulty. His patched clothes were stained with blood, and a strong metallic smell drifted through the forest.
Normally, the predators hidden in the Forbidden Forest would have been circling by now, but except for the slight noise Hagrid made, only insects could be heard in the silence.
"Hah... hah..." Hagrid panted heavily, gripping a wooden stick he'd found as a weapon, leaning against a large tree and staring ahead intensely.
In the shadows, a figure covered in black robes slowly approached. Hagrid, already unable to walk properly, threw the wooden stick with all his strength.
As a half-giant, Hagrid's power was naturally way beyond ordinary people, one of the reasons he could successfully tame so many magical creatures.
The thick stick brought fierce wind through the air, but unfortunately, such methods seemed useless against an alert and powerful wizard.
"Reducto!" The black-robed wizard simply waved his wand carelessly. The wooden stick exploded in mid-air, and sawdust fell like rain.
"Who are you? Why are you attacking unicorns in the Forbidden Forest?" Hagrid demanded angrily, his eyes red with rage.
The black-robed wizard didn't answer, he wasn't stupid enough to explain his reasons for hunting unicorns to Hagrid. He simply raised his wand, pointed it at Hagrid, and whispered:
"Avada Kedavra!"
A sickly green light shot toward Hagrid at incredible speed. Hagrid, recognizing the spell from the wizard's words, fell into deep despair.
'Harry... Dumbledore... Aragog... Adrian... Hermione... Ron... Norbert...'
A series of memories flashed through Hagrid's mind like a slideshow. Just as Hagrid was about to quietly wait for death, a gleaming white figure rushed out like lightning, blocking the path.
"No!" Hagrid screamed in pain.
But no matter how Hagrid roared, he couldn't change what happened. The green light struck the white figure directly, and it stopped suddenly before falling to the ground.
It was a unicorn...
Even as a powerful, top-tier magical creature, after taking the Killing Curse, its life was fading rapidly and coming to an end. Its white mane was stained with silver blood, but even so, it struggled bravely to stand.
Hagrid was already in tears, wanting to crawl over to check on the unicorn, but his body had lost all strength.
Quirrell, wrapped in black robes, trembled slightly as the Dark Lord's voice echoed in his mind.
'Useless fool! You can't even kill a beast.' Voldemort felt this was the most incompetent host he'd ever had. An Avada Kedavra that hit directly hadn't killed the target immediately for the first time.
Quirrell felt wronged. This was obviously because Voldemort had absorbed too much life force recently, causing his magical power to weaken considerably...
But facing the Dark Lord who controlled his life and death, Quirrell didn't dare complain. Instead, he poured his anger onto Hagrid.
If not for this reckless idiot suddenly appearing when he was hunting the unicorn, he would have succeeded. How could he have wasted so much time?
So Quirrell ignored the unicorn whose life was fading and was about to die. Instead, he walked slowly toward Hagrid, enjoying the helplessness and despair in Hagrid's eyes.
Quirrell raised his wand, about to end Hagrid's life with another Avada Kedavra. But as he lifted his hand, he saw Hagrid's eyes suddenly burst with a different light, shifting from despair to shock. With trembling lips, Quirrell could faintly make out what Hagrid wanted to say:
"Dragon..."
"Don't try to fool me with that old trick," Quirrell said scornfully. He'd seen this kind of distraction tactic too many times.
Besides, where would there be dragons at Hogwarts?
'Look up, you fool!' Voldemort's voice appeared in Quirrell's mind again.
Though his perception was greatly reduced while wearing the cloak, Voldemort could still detect an attack that threatened his life.
The moment Voldemort spoke, a clear dragon's roar reached Quirrell's ears. By the time Quirrell turned around, it was too late, he could only see hot flames getting closer and closer.
Voldemort violently seized control of Quirrell's body. The disgusting, snake-like face had somehow turned forward, pressed closely against Quirrell's face. The two faces overlapped in a grotesque appearance.
Even so, Voldemort had no time to raise and wave his wand before being swallowed up in flames...
In the middle of the dragon's fiery breath, a purple magical barrier suddenly blazed to life, barely keeping out the flames. But the scorching heat and rolling shock waves made Voldemort afraid to relax at all, not to mention the hastily put up barrier was already showing cracks and signs of collapse.
Fortunately, the flame breath lasted only three seconds before ending. Just as Voldemort felt relief, a massive dragon head suddenly appeared before him. With the tremendous force of a diving attack, it instantly shattered the barrier and sent the grotesque body flying...