As soon as Marcel finished speaking, there was a rustle in the bushes behind Ronan. Hagrid raised his crossbow again, but it was only a second centaur, with black hair and a black body, who looked rougher than Ronan.
"Hullo, Bane," said Hagrid. "All right?"
"Good evening, Hagrid. I hope you are well."
"Well enough. Look, I was jus' askin' Ronan, you seen anythin' odd in here lately? There's a unicorn bin injured—would yeh know anythin' about it?"
Bane walked over to stand beside Ronan and looked up at the sky.
"Mars is bright tonight," was all he said.
"We've heard," said Hagrid grumpily. "Well, if either of you do see anythin', let me know, won't yeh? We'll be off, then."
"Oh, right," Marcel said, turning back to say goodbye to the two centaurs. "Farewell to you both."
The four of them resumed their search. Harry and Hermione chatted idly with Hagrid about the centaurs, while Marcel cautiously scanned his surroundings.
Just as they were rounding a bend in the path, Hermione suddenly grabbed Hagrid's arm.
"Hagrid! Look! Red sparks, the others are in trouble!"
"You two wait here!" Hagrid shouted. "Stay on the path, I'll be back."
He crashed through the low bushes. Harry and Hermione stood there, looking at each other, appearing quite frightened. Gradually, Hagrid's footsteps faded, and they could only hear the rustling of leaves in the wind.
"Marcel, they won't get hurt, will they?" Hermione asked in a small voice. "I don't care if Malfoy gets hurt, but if anything happens to Neville—it's our fault he's here for detention."
"Don't worry. With Hagrid and Fang there, the creatures of the forest won't harm him," Marcel said with a smile.
Before long, Hagrid returned with Malfoy and Neville. Fang followed behind, sniffing the ground. It seemed no danger had occurred.
In fact, it was just that Malfoy had deliberately scared Neville, but he hadn't expected Neville to be so timid as to send up a distress signal.
"We'll be lucky to catch anythin' now, with the racket you two were makin'. Right, we're changin' groups—Neville, you stay with me, Harry, and Hermione. Marcel, you go with this idiot and Fang."
"Sorry," Hagrid whispered to Marcel. "But he won't find it so easy to scare you, and we've got to get this done."
Malfoy was clearly unwilling to be with Marcel, but when Marcel glanced back at him, he didn't dare say anything more.
So, Marcel, Malfoy, and Fang headed toward the center of the forest.
Fang was already very familiar with Marcel and always liked to circle around him. But he still remembered his task of searching, so he didn't jump up to lick his face as he usually did.
Marcel walked quickly, and Malfoy had to jog to keep up, afraid of being left behind. They walked for no more than fifteen minutes. As they went deeper, the trees grew denser, and the path became almost impassable.
The bloodstains on the ground also became more obvious. A tree root protruding from the ground was spattered with a lot of blood. Marcel didn't look at it for long and continued forward. After a few more steps, they saw a clearing ahead.
Marcel stretched out an arm, stopping Malfoy from moving forward.
A silvery-white object was shining in the center of the clearing, very conspicuous in the night.
"Stay here and don't come out," Marcel instructed in a low voice. He didn't care if Malfoy listened or not and took two steps forward.
Fang obediently stood by the side of a tree, peeking timidly at the clearing.
It was a unicorn. Its body was pure white, its mane soft, and a long, spiraled silver horn grew from its head. It looked pure and beautiful—even though it was dead.
Marcel stood quietly behind the branches of a tree at the edge of the clearing, waiting. He knew it would be soon.
In the silence of the night, time seemed to flow very slowly. Malfoy was clearly getting anxious. He looked left and right, occasionally glancing at the unicorn's corpse in the clearing. But perhaps because of Marcel's presence, or perhaps because of his fear of the forest, he didn't dare make a move.
After about ten minutes or so, a rustling, slithering sound suddenly came from the edge of the clearing opposite them. Marcel immediately fixed his gaze there—the bushes nearby were shaking.
Before long, a hooded figure emerged from the shadows of the bushes. It crawled slowly across the ground, came to the unicorn's side, and began to drink its blood from the wound on its body.
"Ah! Aaaaaah!"
Malfoy let out a terrible scream. He froze for a moment, then immediately turned and ran. And at that moment, Fang's cowardly nature was fully exposed—he also fled for his life.
The hooded figure looked up at the sound, but Marcel had already moved to another position. He had not been discovered.
At this moment, Marcel was leaning against another tree trunk. He tilted his head, watching the figure move in the direction Malfoy had fled, and thought to himself.
"Should I make a move here?" he thought. "Although I didn't deliberately try to run into him here, since I have, perhaps I can take him out once more while he's weak and push things back a bit—"
Just as he was thinking, Marcel shook his head again.
"Better not. Killing him once here is useless anyway. I might as well take this opportunity to experience his personality firsthand. Mmm, and I need to confirm the extent of the effect that creating Horcruxes and splitting his soul has had on him."
With this in mind, Marcel decisively took a step forward.
"Wait," Marcel said, feigning a look of terror. "Who are you? Did you kill the unicorn? What are you trying to do?"
The figure had already started to move into the forest, but because of Marcel's sudden appearance, it turned back.
The figure didn't seem to want to say anything and instead rushed towards him.
"Impedimenta," Marcel's panicked expression was instantly swept away. With a flick of his wand, he quickly cast a jinx.
"Petrificus Totalus," he followed up with a second spell while the opponent was caught off guard.
Just as the opponent was immobilized by Marcel's surprise attack, Marcel suddenly heard the sound of galloping hooves.
"Huh?" Marcel looked surprised. He didn't remember this part. "Finite Incantatem."
Marcel cast a counter-spell. Freed from the curse, the figure immediately darted into the bushes and disappeared into the depths of the forest. From beginning to end, Marcel hadn't managed to exchange a single word with him, which clearly rendered his plan useless.
Almost as soon as the figure left, a centaur leaped out from behind Marcel, trotted a few steps into the clearing, and stared for a few moments in the direction the figure had gone.
"Are you all right?" he asked, turning back to Marcel.
"I'm fine," Marcel sighed inwardly, but his face showed a trace of gratitude. "Thank you."
"You had better get back to Hagrid. The forest is not safe at this time," the centaur said, then added, "My name is Firenze."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Firenze," Marcel said with a smile. "But I have to call Hagrid over first. We came in here to find it."
He raised his wand, and green light began to gather at the tip, glowing brightly in the darkness.
Before long, Hagrid emerged from the darkness opposite them. He seemed to be carrying someone under his arm. Marcel looked closely and saw that it was Harry. He seemed to be injured.
"What happened to him?" Marcel asked in surprise.
"He was knocked over by a figure. I reckon it was the one that killed the unicorn," Hagrid said, panting heavily. "I scared him off, but I couldn't catch him!"
Marcel looked at Harry, who seemed a bit out of it, his eyes flickering as he thought about something.
"That is because it is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn," said Firenze, looking at the corpse on the ground. "Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime."
He paused, then turned his gaze to Harry.
"This is the Potter boy?" he said. "I see his forehead."
"Y-yes, I am," Harry said weakly, looking at Firenze.
"Stop chatting, let me have a look," Marcel said suddenly. "Harry, where are you hurt?"
At his words, Hagrid let Harry lean against a tree trunk. He thought this would at least make him more comfortable.
"My leg—I think my leg really hurts. Is it broken—" Harry said through the pain, pointing to his left calf.
Marcel bent down and gently touched the injured area. Harry let out a low grunt of pain, and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
"It's fine. It's not a magical injury, and the bone probably isn't broken."
He took out a vial of bright green potion, uncorked it, and handed it to Harry.
"Drink this. You'll be better soon."
While they were waiting for the potion to take effect, the two centaurs they had met earlier also arrived. They were discussing the unicorn's corpse in low voices, and their conversation drifted over.
"The one who slays a unicorn, perhaps he seeks to prolong his life."
"That may be so, but it is clearly too mad."
"Yes! A unicorn's blood can sustain life, but one must pay a terrible price. To slay a pure and defenseless creature to save oneself grants a cursed, half-life. It's too mad..."
"Alas, Mars is so bright tonight."
"Yes, unusually bright..."
Harry, slouched against the tree trunk, looked at them and couldn't help but ask loudly, "But who was that desperate man?"