Honestly, Harry wondered who let that man anywhere near children. This kind of sadism, especially towards preteens, was just not normal. Anyway, they marched off across the dark grounds and Harry started to slowly realize what their punishment was.
No way.
No fucking way.
They were not going to deal with a unicorn killing monster that was secretly the dark lord possessing their Defense against the dark arts professor. Someone had to be laughing at him somewhere. Why of all the detentions, he had to attend that one. Who even lets first years spend their detentions in the forbidden forest of all things?
The culprit revealed to himself to be Hagrid, who exclaimed, "Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want to get started."
Harry's heart sank, and he let out a small whine. Longbottom smirked at his expression for some reason. Of course, Filch wanted to take a last dig in, "I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that oaf? Well, think again, boy - it's into the forest you're going and I'm much mistaken if you'll all come out in one piece."
Yeah, that sealed the deal. They were going to the forbidden forest. Hagrid came striding toward them out of the dark, a large dog at his heel. He was carrying his large crossbow, and a quiver of arrows hung over his shoulder.
The groundskeeper and the caretaker ended up insulting each other. Harry ignored most of it since he was slowly paling in fear at what was probably coming for them.
After the asshole of a caretaker left, Hagrid knelt down at them and spoke seriously, "Right then, listen carefully 'cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, and I don't want no one takin' risks. Follow me over here a moment."
He led them to the very edge of the forest. Holding his lamp up high, he pointed down a narrow, winding earth track that disappeared into the thick black trees. A light breeze lifted their hair as they looked into the forest.
"Look there," said Hagrid, "see that stuff shinin' on the ground? Silvery stuff? That's unicorn blood. There's a unicorn in there bin hurt badly by summat. This is the second time in a week. I found one dead last Wednesday. We're gonna try and find the poor thing. We might have to put it out of its misery."
Harry audibly groaned, "Did you seriously ask us to follow you in a forest with something capable of killing a unicorn and drinking its blood?"
"What? Are you scared, Potter? It's just unicorns" Longbottom taunted.
"Of course, I'm scared, you idiot. Do you know what's capable of killing a being as innocent as a unicorn? A monster, that's what. To do so, you have to stomach doing truly horrible and accept the curse that comes with it. Am I the only one who is scared of something like that?" Harry responded.
Hagrid looked uncomfortable, but Weasley interjected on his behalf, "You're overexaggerating, Potter. You're just afraid of the forest."
"I don't care what you say, I'm not going inside that forest," Harry protested.
"Yeh are if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts. Yeh've done wrong an' now yehve got ter pay fer it. Besides, it's probably an accident. The deaths only started a week ago. There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang."
Harry wasn't convinced one but stiffened, "One week, you say?"
The half-giant nodded, and the Potter scion had a lot to think about. This was too coincidental. The magical screaming every night, with such intensity, could be explained by the unicorn killings. The timeline fit. But Harry had never witnessed something this profoundly wrong in his life. It was an abomination. He had never seen a unicorn before, so he didn't understand. But as Harry's magical crest started burning slightly, the young Slytherin felt an irrational revulsion towards whoever was responsible for the horrible act of slaying a unicorn before its time.
He couldn't ignore it even if he wanted to. Maybe it was the crest, or maybe it was the desperation at the idea of finally being able to sleep, but Harry irrationally wanted the unicorn killings to stop. He couldn't even say no anyway, so that made no difference.
They ended up splitting up while Harry's protest at the idea was completely ignored. Hermione just kept alternating from looking at him guiltily and glaring at her Gryffindor friends for some reason. In the end, Hagrid, Hermione, and Ron ended up forming a group, while Neville, Harry, and Fang made up another one.
They followed the silver unicorn blood, walking past a mossy tree stump. Harry could hear running water; there must have been a stream somewhere close by. There were still spots of unicorn blood here and there along the winding path.
Longbottom was the one who broke the silence, "What's the deal with you and unicorns."
"You have no idea how dangerous this is, do you? Honestly, I would have been fine with the Thestrals, the fucking giant spiders, the centaurs, and countless magical creatures. But killing a unicorn… that's just wrong. There's a reason we only use the horns and tails, which are harvested after their natural deaths, or sometimes even given away by the unicorn, but killing something this pure, this innocent is abominable in a way that cannot be expressed with words. It would stain your soul, and curse you with misfortune. You would live a half-life, a cursed life. It's not a fate I would wish on anyone, but if they killed a unicorn, then they would deserve it." Harry answered passionately.
The Longbottom scion seemed nervous about Harry's seriousness in the situation and simply stayed silent. They walked for nearly half an hour, deeper and deeper into the forest, until the path became almost impossible to follow because the trees were so thick. Harry thought the blood seemed to be getting thicker. There were splashes on the roots of a tree, as though the poor creature had been thrashing around in pain close by. Harry could see a clearing ahead, through the tangled branches of an ancient oak.
They stayed frozen when they saw it. It was the unicorn all right, and it was dead. Harry had never seen anything so beautiful and sad. Its long, slender legs were stuck out at odd angles where it had fallen and its mane was spread pearly-white on the dark leaves.
It was bright in a way that Harry never felt possible, and yet so sad. It didn't look real at least not in terms of flesh or blood. It was a being of energy, of light, of innocence and purity. Harry could understand now why it was such an abominable thing to willingly harm such a being.
That was when Harry noticed the hooded figure appear from the shadows. It was so malicious, so horrible that Harry shivered. It was wrong in so many ways. Harry watched transfixed as the cloaked figure reached the unicorn, lowered its head over the wound in the animal's side, and began to drink its blood.
The moment the blood touched the man's lips, something fundamentally changed. Harry ignored Longbottom's moans of pain as he reached for his scar, too preoccupied with the utter agony and wrongness that seemed to magically scream to everything around it. The world itself cried out at the act, and Harry was deafened by its screams.
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