[Chapter Size: 1700 Words.]
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"Are you a Potter child?" The silver centaur noticed the scar on Harry's forehead. His expression was extremely exaggerated.
"Yes, I am Harry Potter." Harry, who had recovered a bit, turned his head and looked past the centaur in front of him, trying to find the trail of the creature. But unfortunately, had disappeared into the darkness.
"My name is Firenze. You really shouldn't be here." The silver centaur, Firenze, shook his head. "The Forbidden Forest is not a good place at this time of year. In fact, the Forbidden Forest at any time is not suitable for wizards your age."
"It's all Hagrid's fault." Draco finally recovered from the shock and struggled to stand up. But his legs felt a bit weak, and he couldn't stay on his feet for long. He could only sit there and spit words.
"Draco, I don't want to defeat you here, so you'd better watch what you say." Harry glared fiercely at Draco.
Although Harry also thought that Hagrid's decision to take them into the Forbidden Forest was definitely a bad one, that didn't mean Draco could badmouth his friends in front of him.
Harry and Dudley had always helped their relatives, not others, since they were young.
Draco opened his mouth but ultimately didn't dare to say anything.
However, the centaur Firenze beside him looked surprised at Harry.
At that moment, a series of rapid hoofbeats were heard from a distance, followed by a dozen centaurs appearing at the edge of the plain.
Leading the group was Bane, with black hair, whom Harry had seen before.
Bane looked at the three, two humans and one centaur, to be exact. His eyes were sharper than an eagle's. "Firenze, I hope you haven't said anything you shouldn't."
"Yes, Bane, I haven't said anything yet." Firenze nodded slightly at Bane.
After hearing this, Bane's extremely stern expression softened a bit. "That's good, now come back with me. At this time of year, we shouldn't have much contact with human wizards."
"Bane," Firenze furrowed his brow. "I will return with you, but I must send these two children to Hagrid first. The Forbidden Forest is too dangerous right now."
"I said you must come back with me immediately." Bane's eyes regained their sharpness, and he looked at Firenze.
"Bane," Firenze seemed a little irritated. He pointed to Harry and said, "This is Potter's child. We can't leave him alone in the Forbidden Forest right now."
Bane looked at Harry and seemed a bit hesitant.
"Bane, I think Firenze knows what he's doing," said Ronan, whom Harry and the others had already met, stepping slowly forward. "He has good intentions..."
"What do human wizard affairs have to do with us, centaurs?" Bane's tone softened slightly, but he still seemed a bit dissatisfied. "The stars have never been as chaotic as in recent years. In times like this, we centaurs should keep our distance from wizards."
"Bane, you are blinded by prejudice." Firenze looked at Bane intently. "Although the stars are chaotic and the mist obscures your vision, you should be able to clearly see the unicorn in the forest, right? Or has your star-gazing become so dull that you can't even see that? We..."
"Shut up!" Bane interrupted Firenze's words, hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "I will go with you to send these two humans to Hagrid, and then you will return with me."
"Okay, Bane." Firenze seemed taken aback for a moment, but he hadn't expected Bane to yield. "Thank you, Bane."
Bane did not respond.
Draco finally managed to stand up, and along with Harry and some centaurs, they left the Forbidden Forest.
"What was that just now? The thing you scared away." Harry couldn't help but ask.
"That..." Firenze looked at Bane beside him. "I can't tell you. But, Potter, you can think about it yourself. For example, what can be done with unicorn blood?"
"Unicorn blood?"
Harry and Draco were surprised when they heard this topic.
Unicorn blood is an extremely rare magical substance. Even advanced potion classes for sixth years and above don't use it. In fact, Harry and Hermione had read many high-level potion books in the library, but never about unicorn blood.
There are plenty of unicorn hair and horns, but they are all naturally shed by unicorns.
In other words, hunting unicorns is extremely rare, at least much rarer than hunting dragons.
So, even after reading many large books, Harry really didn't know what unicorn blood was used for.
But unexpectedly, Draco beside him spoke up. "Unicorn blood... I remember it can prolong life, right? I think I heard my mother say that even a dying person can prolong their life by drinking unicorn blood. However, after doing that, they will be cursed..."
"Malfoy, you knew that?" Harry looked at Draco in surprise.
"I am the heir to the ancient and noble Malfoy family." Draco said arrogantly. "I'm not comparable to someone like you, Potter."
Harry felt his fists clench, his knuckles hard, and he wanted to hit someone, but he held back.
"Well," Draco seemed to notice Harry's fierce expression and quickly changed the subject. "But as far as I know, the curse of killing a unicorn is extremely terrible. As for drinking blood, I don't even need to say that the curse will last a lifetime. Those who do it are almost worse than death. What kind of idiot would do that?"
Harry was also a bit surprised when he heard this. "Is there such a thing? If the curse lasts a lifetime, then it's better to die, right?"
"Normally, that's the case," Firenze looked deeply at Draco and Harry. "Unless it can keep them alive until they can drink something else. Something that can really prolong their life. Mr. Potter, do you know of anything?"
"Enough, Firenze!" Bane interrupted Firenze rudely again. "You've said too much."
At that moment, a tall figure quickly appeared in the distance. It was Hagrid.
"That's great. Hagrid is here too. Now, come back with me immediately." As he said this, two exceptionally strong centaurs stood up behind Bane and went to Firenze's side.
Firenze didn't resist and obediently walked to Bane.
Seeing Firenze's behavior, Bane obviously calmed down quite a bit and shook his head. "Firenze, you have a once-in-a-lifetime talent. But you always overthink things, which isn't good for you or your tribe. Now, come back with me."
Firenze didn't say anything, just followed Bane in silence. The centaurs didn't even greet Hagrid and ran toward the depths of the forest.
Hagrid walked up to Harry and Draco, and only when he got closer did Harry realize that Neville had been following Hagrid. Well, there was no way. With someone as large as Hagrid, it was really hard to notice little Neville beside him.
"Harry, Malfoy, are you all right?" Hagrid asked nervously.
"Of course something's wrong. We almost died." Draco became agitated and shouted loudly, "What did you do? You really let me, the heir of the Malfoy family, do something so dangerous. And what kind of rubbish is your dog? He really ran faster than we did."
"I told you at the start, Fang is a coward..." Hagrid also looked a little embarrassed. "Tell me, what happened?"
Draco tried to complain, but Harry kicked him in the backside.
Draco glared at Harry, angry but not daring to say anything.
The two briefly described what happened. Draco tried to hide the fact that he had fallen and was so scared that he couldn't get up, but Harry emphasized it.
Draco looked at Harry again, still angry but not daring to speak.
It was dark in the Forbidden Forest. Who knew if the cruel Gryffindor would kill him and then pretend he was killed by a werewolf or something else? Anyway, a unicorn had already died, so if a little wizard died, no one would suspect anything, right?
Hagrid asked Harry and Draco to take him to see the unicorn.
Harry didn't say a word on the way but kept thinking about what Draco and the centaur had said earlier.
Drinking unicorn blood can delay death, but it brings a curse.
A normal person wouldn't do that.
Unless they wait until they can drink something else that can really keep them alive.
Harry's eyes suddenly lit up as he thought about it.
The only thing that can truly prolong life is, of course, the legendary Elixir of Life. Harry didn't know where the Elixir of Life was, but he knew there was a Philosopher's Stone hidden at Hogwarts, which could make the Elixir of Life.
So, who needs the Elixir of Life?
Snape obviously didn't need it, he was still very young. At least he didn't need to drink unicorn blood.
"Unless… Yes, Voldemort!"
Harry thought of that name, which was taboo in the wizarding world.
When Harry first heard the name, he asked Hagrid if Voldemort was alive or dead.
Hagrid had said at the time that, although some people thought Voldemort was dead, he thought it was impossible. But Voldemort had suffered a huge blow.
Although Harry had no idea what happened, ten years ago, it was recorded in countless books that Voldemort disappeared after that night.
So, there's a possibility that after that night, Voldemort entered a half-life, half-death state? To the point where he needs to drink unicorn blood to survive?
And this half-dead Voldemort needs the Philosopher's Stone to make an Elixir of Immortality and come back to life.
Everything suddenly seemed to fit together.
Some things that were originally hard to understand now made sense.
Snape wanted the Philosopher's Stone not to make himself stronger or achieve immortality, but to help Voldemort resurrect!
Thinking about this possibility, Harry suddenly stopped and wanted to speak, but in the end, no words came out. Because Draco was beside him. He had absolutely no trust in Draco.
Ron had said that Draco's father was a Death Eater. And Death Eaters were Voldemort's most fanatical followers!
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