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Accompanied by the soft sound of hooves striking the ground, a creature with the upper body of a man, the lower body of a horse, a bow in hand, and human speech slowly came into view.
A centaur.
A legendary being from Muggle stories, a humanoid creature with intelligence close to that of humans.
Even so, centaurs themselves did not consider themselves magical creatures. And, proud as they were, they did not see themselves as "people" of the same kind as wizards, vampires, or hags.
Because of that, the Ministry of Magic had simply classified them as beasts.
It was said that a herd of centaurs lived deep within Hogwarts' Forbidden Forest.
This was one of them.
The moment he appeared, the cloaked man reacted at once. He flew backward immediately and vanished into the darkness of the Forbidden Forest.
From beginning to end, he had not spoken a single word or made a single unnecessary move.
Dudley did not even think about chasing him.
He still understood the logic of not pursuing a cornered enemy.
For now, he still had no way to keep that man there.
"Thanks for the help, Firenze."
Dudley thanked him. If Firenze had not intervened, then with only Dudley and a young dragon, dealing with that man would have been quite troublesome.
Both the variety of his spells and the level of his magical power were far above those of an ordinary wizard.
Of course, Dudley still had several cards he had not revealed, but who could guarantee the other side was not also holding something back?
At the very least, Dudley was certain of one thing: the enemy seemed to have some kind of restriction, because throughout the fight, he had only used the wizarding world's most famous killing curse, Avada Kedavra, a few times.
To say he did not know how to use it properly?
No one would believe that.
"There's no need to thank me."
Firenze replied, then let out a snort through his nose, exactly like a real horse.
Since Dudley came and went from the Forbidden Forest often, he had already had some contact with the centaurs.
Most of them hated getting involved with wizards. In truth, they hated dealing with any creature that was not another centaur, let alone helping someone.
Only this one, called Firenze, was an exception.
He helped young wizards who got lost in the forest, and he also appeared when one of them was in danger.
Among centaurs, that was highly unusual.
After a brief exchange of greetings, the two of them moved closer to check on the unicorn. It was lying on the ground, extremely weak, while silver blood still flowed freely from its wounds.
It was obvious that the cloaked man had done this.
The unicorn's injuries were severe. Silver blood kept spilling out, and black mist continued to rise from the wounds.
A unicorn's hide possessed extremely high magical resistance, so to leave it in that state, some brutally powerful Dark Magic must have been used.
"Mr. Dursley, you must have some way to treat his wounds, don't you?"
Firenze asked, clearly worried.
He only knew Dudley from the occasional encounter. He had no idea that Dudley was merely a first-year wizard at Hogwarts. Because of Dudley's size, and because the two of them almost always met at night, Firenze had naturally mistaken him for one of the school's professors.
Dudley did not bother correcting him.
After studying the unicorn's wounds for a moment, he nodded, pulled several potions from the pouch at his waist, and began treating it carefully.
Up in the sky, the little dragon kept beating its wings, naturally taking on the role of lookout, clearly afraid that the man might suddenly come back.
"Firenze, you should not be helping them."
Soft hoofbeats sounded again, and a few more centaurs stepped out of the forest. One had a reddish-brown equine body, while the other was completely black.
Of the two, the black-bodied centaur seemed especially agitated, and his tone was anything but friendly.
He was the one who had just spoken.
"We swore an oath. We must never go against the will of the heavens. Did you not see the omen revealed by the movement of the planets?"
The centaur spoke again, now loudly demanding an answer from Firenze.
The other centaur first gave the unicorn a deeply sorrowful look, then looked at Dudley, who was treating it, but did not take a single step forward to help.
He merely said indifferently,
"Poor creature."
And then remained standing there, watching coldly, without the slightest intention of helping.
"So you wanted me to stand by and do nothing? The unicorn lives in the Forbidden Forest just as we do. And this one is a wizard of Hogwarts."
Firenze shot back without giving an inch.
"That has nothing to do with us. The stars did not guide us. We are not mules, running after humans."
"They could have been hurt, or worse, they could have died!"
"Then that is their fate."
There was no direct malice in those words, but the tone still made Dudley frown slightly.
It was incredibly irritating.
That other centaur was basically accusing Firenze of sticking his nose where it did not belong, and of not helping Dudley and the unicorn.
If Dudley had not known centaur history well, he probably would already have taught that fellow a painful lesson.
If you do not want to help, fine. That is normal. You owe me nothing.
But if you are going to complain because someone else helped me, then I already have a reason to hit you.
Centaurs were a race obsessed with astrology and divination.
In truth, "obsessed" might still have been too mild.
It was almost a pathological devotion.
They depended on signs from the stars for everything. They did nothing without first reading the omens. If the stars did not indicate a certain action, then they simply would never do it.
Although, for the most part, centaurs did not seek out fights and were not aggressive by nature, the truth was that they cared about no one but themselves.
Just like that wounded unicorn.
Even seeing its condition, all they were capable of was a cold remark.
"The innocent are always the first victims."
"It was like that for centuries, and it is still like that now."
And then they would simply move on.
A classic case of watching someone die without offering help.
They were excellent at divination and truly could see many things in the stars. Some of those visions even had value. That was exactly what led them to believe they understood fate, placing themselves in the role of prophets, always wearing that posture of wise men who thought the whole world around them was drunk while they alone remained sober.
In practice, it was an extremely stupid way to behave.
That was what made centaurs one of the least liked humanoid races of all. It was also why the Ministry of Magic preferred to classify vampires and hags as beings, while leaving no similar place for centaurs.
They never helped anyone.
Even when someone begged them directly for help, they would only watch coldly.
That was why, when the centaurs themselves later began to suffer attacks and invasions, no wizard or magical creature came to help them.
And now, the centaurs were on the verge of extinction.
In Dudley's words, they were merely reaping what they had sown.
"Today you stood by while that thing tried to kill a unicorn. Tomorrow you will stand by when it kills other magical creatures in the forest as well. And when the blade finally points at us, no one will come to help us."
Firenze blew white vapor from his nostrils and roared, agitated:
"We have to resist the thing hidden in the forest. It is far too dangerous. Bane, if necessary, I will stand with the humans."
Firenze saw things very clearly.
If something was capable of leaving an adult unicorn in that condition, then it would also be perfectly capable of killing the centaurs with ease.
Maintaining a good relationship with the unicorn herd and with the wizards of Hogwarts was absolutely necessary.
The centaurs had nowhere left to retreat to.
If they lost the Forbidden Forest as their territory, Firenze had no idea where they could possibly go.
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