Harry looked his way, and Malfoy instantly threw his chin up with a sniff. "What? Got a problem with it? My father and Professor Vincent are friends!"
"Friends?"
Harry scoffed. "Funny — the way I remember it, your father got a good thrashing from Mr. Vincent back in Diagon Alley."
Malfoy's face flushed crimson. He seethed. "That was a misunderstanding! You heard it yourself last time — Professor Vincent was the one who reached out to Father. They're meeting this very weekend!"
Ron leaned in and muttered, "That's true."
Once they were back in the castle, Bernadette parted ways with the little trio. When they asked to be taught the "Gryffindor fighting style," she didn't say no — just told them there'd be a chance for it later.
By the time she got back to her room and lay down, it was almost two in the morning. She fell asleep quickly, lulled by the distant chirping of insects.
The next morning, Bernadette was jolted awake by a frantic, thunderous pounding on her door. She had barely swung her legs off the bed when — boom — the door was smashed open, and an furious voice bellowed:
"Vincent! Vincent, get out here!!!"
The moment Bernadette opened her bedroom door, she saw Hagrid — enormous as ever — barrelling toward her, one of his dinner-plate-sized hands swiping out to grab her.
"Vincent! Why?! Why would you do this?!"
Bernadette stepped back at once. She channelled her magical power into her right hand and met his giant palm head-on with a firm push.
Thud, thud, thud!
In an instant, the hulking man was shoved stumbling backwards, nearly toppling over.
Hagrid stared at her, stunned for a long moment. It was the first time in his life that a wizard had matched him — beaten him — in raw strength. If he hadn't been able to see how small she was standing right there, he'd have sworn a full-blooded giant had just shoved him.
But his anger flared right back up. "Vincent, what did you do last night?!"
Bernadette looked at him, perfectly calm. "Last night? I went with you to the Forbidden Forest, then came back and went to sleep. Don't tell me you've already forgotten the whole thing, Hagrid."
She paused, then added, "More to the point, I'd suggest you tell me exactly what's happened first."
"You—"
"Aaaahhh!!!"
A piercing scream cut through the conversation. Then more shouts, followed by a wave of chaotic voices.
Bernadette frowned and stepped around Hagrid, heading outside. That's when she caught it — a familiar, metallic smell. The blood from last night. The same unknown creature with that Beyonder-tinged scent.
A creature lay right outside her dormitory door. It shimmered with a faint, pure light — white as fresh snow, its slender legs stretched straight out in the stiff, unnatural position of something that had fallen and never gotten up. Beneath it pooled a liquid of silvery-white.
Its blood.
It was a unicorn.
A dead unicorn.
A handful of early-rising students who had passed by were frozen in horror, staring at the body — some screaming, some pressing hands over their mouths, a few looking like they were about to faint.
"Vincent! Explain yourself! Why did you kill this unicorn?!"
Hagrid demanded furiously.
Bernadette's expression remained completely flat. "So your theory is that after we parted ways last night, I snuck back into the Forbidden Forest, killed a unicorn, dragged it all the way back, and laid it out right in front of my door specifically for you all to find in the morning?"
"???"
Hagrid blinked. Slow as he was, even he could see the problem with that. "So... so the real killer is someone else, and they dumped the unicorn here to frame you?"
"How did you find your way here?"
"Well, I woke up this mornin' and found unicorn blood on the doorstep of my hut. So I... I followed the trail. Followed it all the way here."
Bernadette's brow furrowed. "And you didn't see through something this obvious?"
Hagrid flustered. "I — I was too angry. I wasn't thinkin' straight."
At that moment, several figures came striding up in quick succession — Professor McGonagall, Snape, and Dumbledore.
"Oh, good heavens." Professor McGonagall clutched her chest, swaying slightly, as though she might faint. "Who — who can tell me what's going on?"
Snape regarded the unicorn's corpse with a cold, thin smile. "Vincent, don't tell me this is some sort of gift you've arranged for me. As it happens, I've been in need of—"
"Severus."
Dumbledore cut him off. Then he turned to the gathered students, his voice warm and gentle: "All right, children. Off you go — leave this to us."
As he spoke, a soft current of magic drifted from him, carrying with it an air of calm that seemed to settle over everyone like a warm blanket.
Professor McGonagall stepped forward and herded the students away from the scene.
Dumbledore's expression grew serious. "Let's speak in my office. Hagrid, would you mind cleaning this up and joining us shortly?"
"Of course."
A few minutes later, the group arrived at the headmaster's office. As Bernadette passed the grotesque stone gargoyle guarding the entrance, her gaze lingered on it for just a moment — it looks remarkably similar to the magical golem she kept at the Emerald City as a guardian.
"Tell us what happened."
Behind the half-moon spectacles, Dumbledore's blue eyes were more serious than Bernadette had ever seen them.
"Truthfully, I don't know anything," Bernadette said evenly. "But..."
She then recounted what she had witnessed on her way back the previous night.
"So you believe this is that person's retaliation — done specifically to frame you?"
"Perhaps."
Dumbledore looked to the other two in the room. "Severus. Hagrid. What do you think that person's motive might have been — for hunting the unicorn in the first place?"
Snape let out a derisive snort. "Professor Dumbledore, you're accepting rather quickly that this has nothing to do with Vincent, aren't you?"
But Hagrid actually spoke up in Bernadette's defence. "I... I reckon if Vincent really wanted to do something, he'd have a thousand ways to make sure no one ever found out. I'm sorry, Vincent — I was being stupid just now."
Bernadette gave a quiet "mm" and left it at that.
"Unicorns are valuable from horn to hoof — their hair, their hide, their organs, their flesh and bone, and of course the horn itself, all widely used in potion-making and alchemy," Snape said at last. "But if that were the goal, we wouldn't be looking at this intact carcass right now. And besides — going by what you said, Vincent, you and Hagrid actually saw that person drinking the unicorn's blood last night?"
"That's correct."
"Then he's a fool of the highest order. Unicorn blood can sustain life, yes — but it carries a terrible curse. Whoever drinks it is condemned to live a half-life, shadowed by that curse, and will pay the price sooner or later." Snape's voice was cold. "Unless all they want is a temporary burst of vitality, and they don't care about the curse."
Dumbledore's eyes flickered. "Vincent — did you manage to wound that person?"
"I can't say for certain. I broke their Armour Charm, but before I could press the attack, the centaurs set upon me."
"I see."
He thought for a moment. "It's clear enough what this morning was — retaliation. Clumsy retaliation, at that, but the sort that could easily be used against you by those with an agenda. From here on, be careful."
Bernadette caught his meaning. She gave a simple nod. "Understood."
The moment she stepped out of the headmaster's office, something shifted in Bernadette's expression.
She had left out one detail.
When she had looked at that silvery-white blood pooled beneath the unicorn, she had felt something stir inside her body — a deep, primal urge rising from somewhere instinctive. A craving. A thirst for unicorn blood.
She had wanted to drink it.
To be continued…
Advance 100 Chapters are up on my Patreon!
pat reon.com/AlphaSenatus
Guys, due to Eid Holidays, the updates might be inconsistent!