A faint sound of hooves echoed through the forest, and a centaur came into view. He spoke like a man, carried a bow, and his upper body was human while his lower half was that of a horse. Centaurs are beings of legend, a humanoid species with near-human intelligence.
They don't consider themselves magical creatures, however, and are far too proud to be categorized with wizards, vampires, or banshees. So, the Ministry of Magic simply classified them as Beasts. It's said that a colony of centaurs lives deep within the Forbidden Forest, and this one was a part of it.
Upon seeing the centaur, the cloaked figure was decisive. He retreated, vanishing back into the dark forest without a word or a wasted motion. Dudley didn't pursue him, knowing it was unwise to chase a cornered enemy, especially one he couldn't take down just yet.
"Thank you for your help, Firenze," Dudley said. Without his intervention, taking on the cloaked man with only Malfoy—a minor—for backup would have been difficult. The man's magical power and spells were far beyond that of a normal wizard. Though Dudley had plenty of tricks up his sleeve, he couldn't be sure the man didn't have a few of his own. At the very least, he seemed to have some restraint, as he never used the most infamous Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra. To say he didn't know it would be a lie.
"You're welcome," Firenze said, giving a snort like a true horse.
Dudley had encountered centaurs before due to his frequent visits to the Forbidden Forest. Most centaurs despise contact with wizards, or with anyone who isn't a centaur, for that matter, let alone offering assistance. Firenze, however, was an exception. He would help lost students and would even step in if they were in danger. This was highly unusual for a centaur.
After a brief exchange, they went to check on the unicorn's injuries. The creature was lying on the ground, weak, with its silvery blood pooled on the forest floor. It was clearly the work of the cloaked man. The unicorn was badly hurt, and a black vapor was rising from its wounds. The creature's hide had a high resistance to magic, so it must have been a very powerful dark spell that had wounded it.
"Mr. Dursley, you must have a way to heal its wounds," Firenze said, his voice laced with concern. He knew Dudley only as an acquaintance and didn't realize he was just a first-year student at Hogwarts. Judging by Dudley's size and their late-night encounters, he naturally assumed he was a professor. Dudley didn't bother to correct him.
Dudley nodded. After examining the unicorn, he pulled a few potions from his pouch and carefully began to treat the creature. Malfoy, who was flying above them, acted as a lookout, fearing the cloaked man would return.
"Firenze, you shouldn't have helped them," a new voice said as more centaurs emerged from the trees. One had reddish-brown horse hair, and the other was pure black. The one with black hair was agitated, his voice unfriendly.
"We swore we would not defy the will of the heavens. Did you not see the signs in the movement of the planets?" the centaur asked, his voice ringing out.
The other centaur, with the reddish-brown hair, looked at the unicorn with a touch of sadness and at Dudley as he worked. He didn't offer to help, only saying, "A pitiful creature." He then simply stood there, watching, with no intention of asking for an update on the unicorn's condition.
"Are you saying I should have just stood by and done nothing? The unicorn is one of us here in the Forbidden Forest, and this is a wizard from Hogwarts," Firenze retorted, standing his ground.
"That has nothing to do with us. The stars didn't guide us. We are not mules to be running after humans," the other centaur snapped back.
"They could have been hurt or even died!"
"Then that would have been their fate."
Though the words were not malicious, Dudley couldn't help but frown. The centaur was criticizing Firenze for helping him and the unicorn. If Dudley hadn't known the history of centaurs, he would have taught the centaur a lesson. You don't have to help me, you don't owe me anything. But to criticize another for helping me is a different story entirely.
Centaurs are obsessed with astrology. It's a pathological obsession, really. They rely on the stars for everything, and if a situation isn't foretold in the stars, they won't do anything about it. While they aren't generally aggressive, they care for no one but themselves. Even when faced with a dying creature like the unicorn, they'd simply sigh and say, "The innocent will suffer first."
They would then just walk away, a prime example of a bystander. They are skilled at divination and see many things in the stars, some of which are indeed useful. This has led them to believe they are the masters of their own destiny, acting like all-knowing seers while everyone else is blind. It's a foolish approach, and it's why centaurs are one of the most unpopular humanoid species, so much so that the Ministry of Magic would rather classify vampires and banshees as humanoids before centaurs. They never help anyone, not even if they're asked, and so when centaurs are attacked or invaded, no wizard or magical creature comes to their aid. Now, they are a dying race.
In Dudley's opinion, it was entirely their own doing.
"Today, you stood by while that thing killed the unicorn. Tomorrow, you will do the same when it kills other creatures in the forest, and when the blade comes for us, no one will be there to help us," Firenze said, his nostrils flaring. "We must stand against the thing hiding in the forest. It's too dangerous. Bane, if necessary, I will stand with the humans."
Firenze saw the situation clearly. A being that could bring an adult unicorn to the brink of death could also easily kill a centaur. It was necessary to be on good terms with the unicorn herd and the wizards of Hogwarts. The centaurs had no other choice. If they lost the Forbidden Forest, he didn't know where they would go.