"—and I and Hermione were just standing there," Ron said helplessly. "I swear — at one point Snape looked like he wanted to give McGonagall detention too."
"..."
Bernadette looked at Malfoy. "And you?"
"I... happened to be passing by."
Hagrid raised his hands: "Right. Time to go."
They reached the edge of the forest. Hagrid lifted his lantern high, pointing to a path that wound away into the black.
He suddenly quickened his pace, crouched down, and examined a pool of silver-white liquid on the ground. "Blast. Another unicorn's been attacked. Badly wounded, from the look of it. This is the third one this stretch."
Hagrid stood and looked back. "Sorry, Moriarty — I may need to find that poor creature first. There may still be time."
Bernadette felt a pull of recognition. That scent — it was familiar. The same blood-tinged smell she had sensed on the figure in the castle corridors some time ago.
So that was unicorn blood.
At that moment, a shadow bolted out of nowhere and crouched over the silver pool — a cat.
Hermione's eyes went wide, then immediately realised the cat was entirely black, its fur almost indistinguishable from the surrounding dark. She had no idea where it had come from.
The black cat sniffed at the liquid, then padded over to Bernadette in that particular unhurried gait of hers.
It was of course the same cat, in a new form.
"Right. Let's go take a look together."
"I think we should split into two groups — Harry and Hermione with me, Ron and Malfoy with Moriarty. We need to move quickly."
With that, Hagrid ushered Harry and Hermione away.
Harry waved back. "See you in a bit, Professor Moriarty."
Bernadette turned to the black cat: "Lead me to the unicorn."
...
I'm not a dog.
But despite thinking this, it let out a single meow and trotted briskly forward.
The Forbidden Forest at night was deeply dark. Ron stayed in a state of sustained high alert the entire way, dreading the moment a giant spider would lunge from the shadows — even a fingernail-sized spider was enough to ruin Ron's day under ordinary circumstances, and if the actual giant ones showed up, he would simply pass out where he stood.
"Professor Moriarty."
After a while, Malfoy overcame his fear and hesitated before speaking. "Father would like to meet you this Saturday. In Knockturn Alley."
"Fine."
Bernadette had nearly forgotten about this entirely. But she noted that Lucius Malfoy's efficiency was somewhat poor — it had taken almost two weeks to settle on a time and venue.
Malfoy visibly relaxed. The task his father had given him was finally complete.
It wasn't that he had chosen to delay. He hadn't managed to retrieve his two-way mirror from Professor Quirrell until today. When he'd finally reached his father again, his father had shown no irritation at all — and had apparently even forgotten about arranging the meeting with Moriarty. He'd seemed distracted and troubled. What had happened in the interim, Malfoy had no idea.
Nearby, Ron was keeping a surreptitious ear open. Professor Moriarty is meeting Malfoy's father? The news came as a surprise. They can't be close — can they? Well, they're both Slytherin, he supposed. Although Malfoy always goes after Harry...
At that moment, the black cat in the lead let out a cry and accelerated.
Bernadette caught the scent of blood — stronger now. She quickened her pace in the direction of the sound. "Stay close."
As they pushed through a patch of dense undergrowth and emerged into a clearing, they found a unicorn lying still in a pool of silver-white blood. It had been there for some time.
Ron and Malfoy froze.
A hooded figure came scrambling out of the undergrowth, pulling itself along the ground like something not quite human. It crawled to the unicorn's body, pressed its mouth to a wound on its side, and began to drink.
"AHHHH!!!"
Malfoy and Ron screamed in pure horror.
They turned and bolted — and were immediately seized, one in each of Bernadette's hands, hauled back by their collars.
"Don't run."
She raised the "wand." In an instant it detonated into a blinding circle of white light — a Lumos so powerful it bleached a radius of ten metres into harsh daylight, revealing everything at once.
The feeding figure reeled from the sudden light, raised its head toward the three of them. Bernadette's free hand turned over, and scarlet fire condensed out of the air, rolling toward the hooded shape.
Crack!
The hooded figure threw itself backward, eyes turning blood-red. "Avada Kedavra!"
Three jets of green light came streaking toward them. Bernadette shoved the two boys aside with a single push, sidestepped all three Killing Curses, and then magic surged outward from her. She sent another wave of fire and in the same motion launched herself directly forward.
Boom.
The staff came down hard on the figure's Iron Body Shield. It lasted less than half a second before it shattered under the impact, and the figure went flying.
She was already closing in to follow when she felt a rush of wind from behind. She spun, shadow-stepped behind the source — and the staff connected with a resounding crack against an enormous shape that came thundering down.
The figure toppled to the ground. It was half-human, half-horse.
A centaur who had just attacked her from behind.
Accompanied by the sound of hoofbeats, more than a dozen centaurs emerged from the trees in a circle. Each held a spear or a bow, all levelled at Bernadette. None of them looked friendly.
Their leader raised a hand. "Seize this murderer!"
When Hagrid arrived with Harry and Hermione, drawn by the noise, the scene that greeted him stopped him cold. The centaurs — creatures with almost no natural predators anywhere in the Forbidden Forest — were lying scattered across the clearing, stunned or groaning from injuries.
And there was Professor Moriarty standing calmly in the centre, holding that enormous, blazing "wand," while Ron and Malfoy stood nearby trembling like two chicks caught in a downpour.
How could they not tremble?
What they had just witnessed was genuinely appalling. In the space of two or three minutes, those centaurs — who had come in swinging their full terrifying weight — had been laid out one by one. If she'd used spells, they could have chalked it up to magic and been merely astonished.
But she had done it with the staff. Physically. One at a time. With a kind of brutal efficiency that made the scene feel deeply, deeply wrong.
Malfoy: Now I finally understand why Father told me never to provoke him.
"Oh heavens above, who can tell me what happened here?"
"Hagrid!!!"
Bane, bleeding and flat on his back, bellowed furiously: "You humans — not content with slaughtering a unicorn, you attack our people? Do you intend to declare war on us?"
Hagrid: "???"
Bernadette looked at Malfoy.
"Oh. Right."
Malfoy swallowed and walked Hagrid through what had happened. "That unicorn — it wasn't killed by Professor Moriarty. It was killed by whatever that blood-drinking creature was. And the centaurs were the ones who attacked the Professor first."
Bane refused to believe a word of it. "Lies!"
"No. I believe him."
Firenze struggled to his feet. "Can you not see? If she truly were the killer, she would not have stopped at simply stunning and wounding us — would she?" He turned to Bernadette and bowed. "I apologise, sir. The fault was mine in creating this misunderstanding."
Then, lower: "I had followed the stars here hoping to intercept and stop the source of disaster lurking in this forest. I failed — and because of my intervention, it was able to escape. The prophecy of the stars, perhaps, truly cannot be changed."
Bernadette's brow furrowed slightly. "You say prophecy cannot be changed?"
"Yes. When we read the stars and see what is coming, every attempt we have made to change it has only served to push events closer to the foretold outcome. Our ancestors warned us long ago. And so for generations, we have only observed — and never intervened." He paused. "But I have always wondered: if prophecy cannot be changed, what is the point of being shown it?"
Bane let out a furious roar: "Firenze — silence!"
Bernadette was thoughtful. Was this world one where prophecy was fated? Immutable?
"Could you tell me how your people read prophecy in the stars?"
Firenze looked puzzled. "I couldn't put it into words. As far as I know, among humans, the ability to receive prophecy requires a particular kind of gift. Like... the legendary Cassandra Trelawney."
"I understand."
After a little while, the centaurs recovered one by one, and departed — each with a careful glance back over their shoulder.
Hagrid walked over. "Sorry, Moriarty. That's just the way they are — not malicious, I promise."
"Mm. I wasn't the one who got hurt."
Bernadette glanced at the blood-pooled unicorn. "Right. We should head back."
On the walk out, Ron spent the entire journey murmuring to Harry and Hermione, describing in minute detail precisely how Professor Moriarty had single-handedly taken down every centaur — with the air of someone who had personally fought the battle himself.
Hermione looked increasingly incredulous with every sentence. "Impossible. There's no wizard who can do that."
Harry came back immediately: "There absolutely is. I looked it up — Godric Gryffindor, our founder, was known for duelling with his wand in one hand and the Gryffindor sword in the other. Professor Moriarty just... replaced the sword with a very long staff."
"But that's Gryffindor. The Professor is Slytherin."
"Who says Slytherin can't fight like Gryffindor?" Ron said, fired up. "That was incredible. I want to learn how to do that!"
Harry nodded seriously. "Me too."
"Me too."
A small, hesitant voice came from slightly behind them.
Malfoy.
To be continued…
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