The same heated button was being gripped tight in a pair of hands.
The Forbidden Forest was pitch-black, utterly silent.
Justin—also serving detention—had just met up with Hagrid and the others when a piercing, sorrowful cry rang out.
They were supposed to comb the Forest for "something," but now it seemed Hagrid had found it—and the worst possible thing, at that.
"I've known there's been something skulking about in the Forest," Hagrid said. "Look over there, yeh see it? The stuff gleaming on the ground? Silver-white? That's unicorn blood.
"Never thought its target would be a unicorn. I've never heard o' unicorns bein' hurt…"
The five of them stared in silence. A shaft of moonlight fell through the branches overhead, lighting patches of silvery-blue blood spattered on the leaves.
"All right," said Hagrid, "your job hasn't changed. We still have to find what's done it.
"But listen close now—tonight's work will be very dangerous."
From the day before, Harry's unease had built to a peak; he'd thought Justin's arrival would calm him, but instead they'd been pulled into something even more perilous.
They had started to tremble—whether from fear or the cutting night wind, they couldn't tell.
"Don't leave the path. Right—now we'll split into two groups, three—no, four to a side, and follow the trail separately. The blood's everywhere—looks like the unicorn's been staggering about since last night at least."
"I want Fang," Draco said at once, eyeing the boarhound's great teeth.
Justin remembered what Sean had told him before he left:
"If you run into trouble in the Forest and you're with Fang—run faster. He looks fierce, but his courage is about on par with the Malfoy you're likely to meet."
That already seemed halfway proved.
"I'll go with Fang," Justin said. He was afraid too—but better himself than his friends… and he reckoned he could outrun Draco.
So Justin, Malfoy, and Fang formed one party; Hagrid went with Harry, Hermione, and Ron.
A wind gusted through. Justin held up the plan-map and gave it a shake in Harry's direction; they nodded that they understood.
Then they each headed into the trees.
"We're… going to find whatever hurt a unicorn—are you joking…"
Ron hadn't stopped panicking since yesterday, and Hermione and Harry weren't much better.
"Hagrid, could it be a werewolf?" Harry asked. Faced with the unknown, they'd rather believe a werewolf had gone mad.
"Werewolves aren't that quick—shh—"
Hagrid fell silent. The three pricked their ears.
Something was sliding across the fallen leaves nearby with a dry hiss—the sound of a cloak dragging along the ground. Hagrid squinted into the black path ahead. After a few seconds, the sound faded.
"I know it," he muttered. "There's something here that doesn't belong."
The words stunned them all—save Hermione. Her quick-quotes quill scratched busily.
Sean had asked her: if they ran into anything they hadn't foreseen, write it all down.
They walked on a ways until they came to a fork, took one branch, and kept going in silence, eyes fixed on the ground.
"Who's there?!"
A rustle—Hagrid whipped out his bow and bellowed.
Out of the trees stepped a creature half man, half horse.
"Good evening, Hagrid," said the centaur in a low, mournful voice. "Will you shoot me with that?"
"Oh—it's you, Firenze." Hagrid exhaled. "Seen anything strange the last two days?"
Firenze tipped back his head to study the sky. "Mars is bright tonight."
"I mean strange," Hagrid pressed.
"Mars is bright tonight," Firenze repeated.
Puzzled as she was, Hermione still jotted their exchange down. Sean wouldn't have her record anything pointless.
"I've heard that one already," Hagrid grumbled.
Firenze suddenly changed his tone. "I have seen the wandering of the planets. Mars still bright; Jupiter slowly rising to challenge it.
"Uranus flared, all at once—a rare thing in many years. And Pluto, sign of rebirth, hid behind cloud…"
"What are you on about?" snapped another voice. A tall centaur burst from the far side of the clearing, flanks heaving and drenched with sweat. Hermione jumped, quill jerking.
"Remember, Firenze—we swore never to defy the heavens. Did we not read the portents in the planets' paths?"
Then, from the dark came the sound of barking—Justin and the others, drawn by the centaurs' voices.
Justin and Hermione linked up first. While the centaurs argued, he glanced at Hermione's notes.
"Mars—desire and war; Jupiter—someone growing fast; the two flaring together means they'll clash…
"And Uranus—awakening and revolt; Pluto—rebirth—yet Pluto did not shine…"
Justin seemed to know a bit of astrology. Hermione, for some reason, remembered he'd given her a lunar chart and astronomy tools for her birthday.
"What does any of that… mean?" Harry asked blankly.
"Mars is too bright," said Firenze, his deep gaze moving from Justin to Harry.
Now even Justin was at a loss—he'd only a smattering, really.
After the centaurs withdrew, the night grew edgier still.
Hagrid was cross at Justin for rashly changing course; he'd have to reshuffle. Ron quailed; Hermione was pale. In the end Hagrid paired Harry with Malfoy.
They set off again.
And then—they found it. Malfoy screamed, a high, ghastly sound, and bolted—Fang fled for his life with him.
Harry alone was left, his scar flaming and burning. He couldn't move at all.
The night deepened.
Next day.
Sean did something rare—he made a request. "Professor McGonagall, may we depart early?"
The button in his pocket had gone searing hot. Sean knew Hogwarts must have suffered the worst outcome.
Think: what would Harry run into in the Forbidden Forest?
And what kind of danger would make Justin send such a desperate signal, heedless of everything?
The wrong choice—
—or the wrong time?
Sean dared not think further.
~~~
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