52 First meeting. (1/2)
Hagrid came striding toward them out of the dark, Fang at his heel. He was carrying his large crossbow, and a quiver of arrows hung over his shoulder.
”Abou' time,” he said. ”I bin waitin' fer half an hour already. All right, you guys?”
”You shouldn't be too friendly to them, Hagrid,” said Filch coldly, ”They're here to be punished, after all.”
”That's why yer late, is it?” said Hagrid, frowning at Filch. ”Bin lecturin' them, eh? 'Snot your place ter do that. Yeh've done yer bit, I'll take over from here.”
”I'll be back at dawn,” said Filch, ”for what's left of them,” he added nastily, and he turned and started walking back towards the castle, his lamp bobbing away in the darkness.
Ron turned towards Hagrid, ”Are we really going in that forest,” he said, Theodore was pleased to hear the note of panic in his voice.
”Yeh can't do nothin' about it.” said Hagrid. Looking at things it seemed Ron and Harry apologized to Hagrid but their relationship seemed to have become more awkward than before.
”Is the forest really that dangerous, Hagrid?” Harry asked
Hagrid looked at Harry then quickly looked away as he said, ”It can be.”
”Right then,” said Hagrid, ”now, listen carefully, 'cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, an' I don' 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 an' find the poor thing. We might have ter put it out of its misery.”
”And what if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first?” said Neville, unable to keep the fear out of his voice.
”There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang,” said Hagrid. ”An' keep ter the path. Right, now, we're gonna split inter two parties an' follow the trail in diff'rent directions. There's blood all over the place, it must've bin staggerin' around since last night at least.”
”So Harry...” Hagrid awkwardly said, ”Sigh!, So me, Ron, an' Neville go one way an' Draco, Theodore, an' Harry go the other.”
”I will go with Neville.” Theodore said sighing. ”I don't trust him with some people.”
Hagrid looked at Draco but before he could say anything Harry spoke out, ”Me, Draco and Fang can take the other way.”
Hagrid thought for a while and nodded, ”Now, if any of us finds the unicorn, we'll send up green sparks, right? Get yer wands out an' practice now -- that's it -- an' if anyone gets in trouble, send up red sparks, an' we'll all come an' find yeh -- so, be careful -- let's go.”
The forest was black and silent. A little way into it they reached a fork in the earth path, and Harry, Draco, and Fang took the left path while Theodore, Neville, Ron, and Hagrid took the right.
They walked in silence, their eyes on the ground. Every now and then a ray of moonlight through the branches above lit a spot of silver-blue blood on the fallen leaves.
”So you apologized to him, didn't you?” Draco asked, Even though he wanted to go with Harry just for the lucky chance to meet Voldemort he didn't expect the atmosphere to be so weird.
”I did.” Harry replied, ”But he is still upset about Norberta.”
”I see.” Draco said calmly.”No wonder he sent you with me.”
”So... do you think a werewolf is killing the unicorns?” Harry asked.
”Do you know what werewolves are?” Draco asked instead of answering.
”I have read stories...” Harry replied, ”A man turning into a wolf in the full moon.”
”It's pretty similar to that.” Draco said, ”But its more of a disease than a curse since it spreads by blood and saliva. They form a pack and live mostly hidden from people, so do you think Dumbledore or any other headmaster before would keep crazy man-eating animals around in the forbidden forest, who can come out anytime and kill students? You know what he might actually.”
Harry was about to say something when they suddenly heard a moan.
”What was that?”
”Just because there aren't any werewolves around doesn't mean that there aren't many other dangerous creatures lurking around.” Draco said not even looking back, ”Don't you find it funny, Potter?”
”What?”
”The fact that they send us out the castle for being out of the castle in the first place.” Draco said, ”And especially to this godforsaken place where creatures like Troll are hanging around everywhere.”
”There are Trolls here?” Harry asked a bit afraid since the last encounter with a Troll wasn't really a good memory to be exact.