Quirrell returned to the spot where he had been before. The young unicorn still lay there stiffly on the ground.
Silver blood had soaked into the earth.
He bent down, lowering himself to drink deeply of the blood, as though he were swallowing molten mithril.
But just then, a rough, deep, and booming shout erupted from behind him.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
Hagrid burst through the thicket like a charging beast!
Quirrell had no choice but to retreat once again. He could somewhat guess the man's heritage—after all, no ordinary human could possibly grow so massive.
"Get out of my way!"
He swung his wand. A powerful spell shot toward Hagrid and exploded against his body!
Crack!
Blood sprayed through the air.
Hagrid's innate resistance to magic kept the attack from killing him outright, but the blast still left a deep, gory wound. Flesh and muscle were torn open where the spell had struck.
Though Hagrid's umbrella was his wand, in a moment like this, it was his own body that served him best. Ignoring the pain, he roared and swung his fist toward Quirrell—but hit nothing but air.
Quirrell's figure was shrouded in a swirl of black mist, moving with inhuman speed as he dodged the blow.
It was actually a special variation of Apparition, a short-range combat technique that reduced the dizziness that came with normal teleportation.
The moment his foot touched the ground again, Quirrell's wand slashed through the air.
Several spells shot forth like bolts of lightning, lighting up the night sky in a flash.
"Diffindo!"
—
"Wait for me, Harry!"
"Hurry up! Come on!" Harry shouted back without even looking over his shoulder as he ran, Ron and Hermione struggling to keep pace behind him.
Hagrid was an adult—and a giant one at that—so his strides easily outpaced theirs. Now he was far ahead, leaving the three of them anxious and breathless.
"Rrrr!"
Two Houndours ran in front, sniffing the trail of Hagrid's scent.
Just then, Harry heard rustling ahead, but the Houndours didn't slow down.
"Be careful," he warned, lowering his voice. He tightened his grip on his wand, breathing hard from tension. Ron and Hermione caught up, gasping for air.
"Could you maybe—slow—down—we don't have—your stamina—"
They were completely exhausted.
"There's movement ahead," Harry whispered.
"What?" Ron immediately snapped alert, clutching his wand like a soldier on the battlefield. "It better not be spiders! I heard the Forbidden Forest's full of giant eight-eyed ones. Inferno, if that thing shows up—wait, where's Inferno?!"
"He ran ahead," Harry said tensely.
The noise grew louder—dry leaves crunching, branches snapping, something was crashing toward them through the forest!
Through the glare of his glasses, Harry caught sight of a shadow, hulking and black, charging at them with four raised limbs!
"It might be an Acromantula! On three, we cast together!" Harry said quickly. He and Hermione stayed much calmer than Ron, whose wand hand was shaking uncontrollably.
"One, two—"
"Three!"
The shadow lunged forward!
Ron immediately dropped to the ground with his hands over his head, while Harry and Hermione raised their wands in unison!
"Wingardium Le—""Incendio—"
But both of their spells fizzled out mid-incantation. The light at the tip of their wands sputtered and went out like damp fireworks.
"Captain, don't shoot! It's me!"
Draco Malfoy and Neville Longbottom stumbled out, both with their hands raised high, faces pale and terrified like surrendering soldiers.
"Neville? Malfoy? What are you two doing here?" Harry quickly lowered his wand, rushing forward.
Ron pulled his head out of the dirt, praying Malfoy hadn't seen his cowardly display—but honestly, anything was better than spiders.
"We—we—" Neville stammered, unable to form a full sentence.
"We ran into a Dark wizard! He was terrifying!" Malfoy blurted out. "We need to get out of here now! I'm not sticking around to die!"
"You saw a Dark wizard?" Instead of fear, Harry's eyes lit up with excitement.
"Did you see Hagrid? We got separated. He saw your distress signal and came this way."
"No," Neville said, shaking his head. "Harry, we should go. Now."
"No, we need to find Hagrid. If he's in danger, we can't just leave him—he can't even use magic," Harry said firmly.
"What? Are you insane?" Malfoy stared at him wide-eyed. "You've no idea how dangerous Dark wizards are! Why care about that big oaf now?"
"Hagrid's our friend!" Harry snapped.
Then, taking a deep breath, he steadied himself.
"Fine. Since you didn't see him, you two should go back—especially you, Neville. You don't even have a Pokémon with you. It's too dangerous to stay."
Harry didn't even bother mentioning Malfoy. Expecting him to take any risk was laughable.
"Suit yourselves!" Malfoy shouted, turning and running full speed out of the forest.
Neville, however, stayed behind.
"If Hagrid only came this way because he saw our signal and got into trouble, then I can't just run away," he said, trembling but resolute.
"Don't push yourself, Neville," Hermione urged. "You don't have a Pokémon—it's too risky!"
"At least I'm still a wizard," Neville insisted, fumbling in his robes for his wand—only to pull out a red Poké Ball instead.
"Oh… right. My wand was shattered by that Dark wizard earlier… it was my parents' wand…" he said softly, eyes filled with grief.
"Then all the more reason for you to go," Hermione said gently. "We need someone to warn the professors."
She had already sent a letter to Professor Charles Gold, but it was safer for Neville to leave the forest immediately.
"All right… just be careful," Neville said finally.
Once he was gone, the trio pressed on through the dense woods.
Before long, flashes of spellfire lit the distance—followed by explosions and shouting voices.
"Firenze!"
"I'm fine! Go on ahead!"
"Hagrid, use some herbs first!"
Hoofbeats thundered through the forest.
Ronan raised his bow and loosed an arrow into the darkness—
The shaft cut cleanly through the trees, flying straight toward Quirrell.
Quirrell deflected it with his wand, but it forced him to halt his assault, giving Hagrid and Firenze a brief moment to breathe.
(End of Chapter)