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"That isn't a shadow creature.."
"That's a wizard!"
The thought flashed through everyone's minds.
And a powerful wizard at that, because they hadn't seen him make any movements, nor had they heard him utter any spells.
This was standard silent, wandless casting—something they had only seen the Professor do before.
The cloaked figure quickly "swam" toward them. Hagrid hurriedly strung his crossbow, but his giant crossbow chose that moment to malfunction.
"Get out of here!" he immediately turned back and shouted at the young wizards.
But everyone was clearly scared by the dark figure; they stood rooted to the spot, not moving.
"Run!"
Hagrid roared, finally waking the few of them from their stupor. Fang, startled by the roar, tucked his tail and scurried away, and Malfoy also turned and fled.
Harry suddenly felt a searing pain in his forehead scar, as if a red-hot poker had been jabbed into his head, nearly making him fall to the ground.
"What's wrong, Harry?" Hermione noticed his abnormality and reached out to support the tottering Harry.
"Hermione.. I.. ugh.."
"We have to get out of here, or we'll drag Hagrid down!" the little witch said firmly, her thoughts incredibly clear at that moment.
"No, I don't think we can leave Hagrid…" Although Ron was very scared, he was unwilling to leave Hagrid alone here at this moment.
"Ugh.." Harry didn't speak. His vision was blurry, and his head was splitting; he could barely stand steady.
Not far away, Hagrid, holding two long arrows, charged fearlessly toward the dark figure.
"Flipendo!"
After a hoarse, low incantation of the Knockback Jinx, Hagrid's massive body was instantly struck by the spell, and he immediately flew backward at an even faster speed.
When he climbed back up from the ground, he had just shaken his somewhat dizzy head when he discovered that Harry and the other two were still standing there.
"Why are you still here?" he asked, surprised and a little angry. "Go back to Hogwarts, find Dumbledore, or any professor!"
"But Hagrid, Harry… I don't know what's wrong, he seems to have been hit by a spell…" Hermione said frantically.
"What?"
Hagrid asked in surprise, but he realized this wasn't the time to dwell on it. So he immediately turned around and slammed the stone crossbow in his hand at the dark figure, then reached out and grabbed the young wizards by their collars, lifting them one in each hand—the remaining one he tucked under his arm—and then turned and ran.
But as they turned, they saw a desperate scene—another figure in a silver-grey cloak stood behind them, pointing a magnificent and strange wand at them.
"Holy Light Expulsio!"
Pure white light burst from the tip of the other's wand, and Hagrid and the others instinctively covered their eyes with their hands.
—And then it seemed as if nothing had happened. The young wizards were unharmed, their faces full of confusion.
Hagrid checked his body in surprise and uncertainty. At this moment, that pleasant voice came again from beneath the silver-grey cloak.
"Glacies Inspiratione!"
A massive surge of ice energy condensed in the air, then swiftly brushed past their cheeks, striking the 'swimming' monstrous figure behind them like a cannonball.
Boom—!
A powerful explosion echoed through the forest, and the huge impact nearly made Hagrid lose his footing.
The few of them, stunned with fright, looked back and realized that the monstrous figure that had killed the Unicorn was gone.
"Haah.. haa.."
The pain in Harry's forehead scar disappeared.
He and the others looked in astonishment at the person in the silver-grey cloak, only then realizing that the hood had been blown back by the force of the explosion.
Long silver-white hair spilled from the hood, and the four of them—one large, three small—let out a collective gasp of surprise—it was a woman, and a very beautiful one at that!
At the same time, a Centaur emerged from the bushes behind her.
"Is he dead?"
"No, he escaped," the woman said expressionlessly.
"Alright…" The Centaur walked to the site of the explosion and used a hoof to turn over the frost-covered soil.
"Lyon?" Hagrid exclaimed in surprise.
"Good evening, Hagrid. Long time no see."
"Good evening..? Not at all, I'm sore all over right now…" Hagrid said. "Lyon, what are you doing here? What was that just now? And who is this lady?"
"I'm sorry, Hagrid, I can only answer your first question…" The Centaur smiled at him. "Not long ago, while I was patrolling the north, I was ambushed and captured by a group of Dark Wizards… Later, they sold me, moving me from place to place, until I ended up in Belgium…"
"Dark Wizards?" The few of them looked in surprise at the Witch in the silver-grey cloak beside him.
"She has nothing to do with this!" the Centaur said with a smile. "I was rescued at an underground auction house in Belgium, and this beautiful lady was entrusted to bring me back, and of course, collect her reward along the way."
Everyone's gaze returned to her.
"I am not responsible for collecting rewards." She stared intently at the Unicorn's corpse, speaking without emotion. "I am only responsible for bringing you back to Britain."
Lyon spread his hands, saying nothing.
"So you are all Hogwarts students?" the woman suddenly asked the three Young Wizards.
"Uh… yes, we…" The two young boys stammered, unable to speak. "We are… we are indeed Hogwarts students."
"We're first-years," Hermione added, feeling a bit embarrassed by her companions' performance.
"Thank you, Madam, thank you for saving us. To be honest, at first, we misunderstood and thought you were with that thing…" Hagrid pointed to the large crater created by the explosion.
She nodded without answering, then looked at the three Young Wizards with renewed interest. "Since you are all Hogwarts students, do you know Sagres?"
"You mean Professor Greengrass?" Hermione paused. "Of course, we certainly know him. His lessons are very interesting, and everyone learns a lot in his class!"
The woman showed a hint of a smile upon hearing this. Harry and Ron were caught off guard by this beautiful lady's sudden smile. They stood there dumbfounded, while Hermione kept pressing her hand to her forehead.
As they were speaking, a deeper darkness suddenly approached rapidly from afar, its immense presence twisting the body of the Forbidden Forest itself.
Malfoy emerged from somewhere, his face terrified, scrambling and stumbling to reach the others.
The dark shadow was too fast and incredibly vast, and the trees rustled with its arrival.
Everyone understood that no one could escape before it arrived. It felt like a premonition, as if something was urging them to give up resistance. So, everyone gathered quietly, silently awaiting the descent of the dark shadow.
Only the cloaked woman remained still. She looked up at the dark shadow, her face showing no emotion. After an instant — or perhaps longer — Just before it reached them, the dark shadow disappeared.
The wind suddenly ceased, and the trees stopped swaying.
In its place came a familiar voice:
"Who can tell me… what happened here?"
Appearing with the voice was the figure of Sagres in his black robes.