68: Chapter 68 The Centaur Ferenze's Dilemma

The silver blood in the clearing was still glistening between the blades of grass. Hagrid shielded Harry behind him, while his other hand held back Hermione and Ron.

"Don't get close. Nobody touch it."

Harry stared at the fallen Unicorn.

"Hagrid, will it survive?"

Hagrid crouched down to take a look, his beard twitching.

"I don't know, Harry. I need to get someone here."

Hermione looked toward the depths of the forest.

"What about that person from just now?"

Ron gripped Fang's leash, while Fang was trying to burrow behind his legs.

"You're asking too fast, Hermione. Right now, I just want to know if he's still nearby."

Neville stood at the back, holding the lantern.

"Can we go back to the Castle first?"

Firenze stepped out from the shadows of the trees, his front hooves stopping just outside the silver blood.

"Hagrid, take them away."

Hagrid looked up.

"Firenze, did you see that thing?"

"I did."

Harry asked immediately.

"Who was that?"

Firenze did not answer.

Ron couldn't help but speak up.

"Do you Centaurs always talk like this? Only saying half of what you mean?"

Hagrid stood up, blocking Harry's view.

"Listen to me, you lot. Go back now."

Harry didn't move.

"Hagrid, I saw that person drinking its blood."

Hagrid's face darkened.

"Don't say any more."

Hermione frowned.

"But this is important. Unicorn blood can extend life, right?"

Firenze looked at the ground.

"It will keep a person alive, but it will also make them pay a price."

Ron swallowed hard.

"That doesn't sound good at all."

Harry pressed on.

"Who would need blood like this?"

Firenze's gaze passed over him, directed toward the depths of the forest.

"Someone who is not willing to die."

Hagrid cut him off.

"Firenze."

Firenze looked down at Harry.

"The scar on your forehead will not be quiet tonight."

Harry raised his hand to touch his forehead.

"You know about this?"

Ron took half a step closer to Harry.

"Harry, is your scar hurting again?"

"It hurt for a second, but it's much better now."

Hermione looked at Firenze.

"Is the person who isn't willing to die related to Harry?"

Firenze did not answer.

Above the canopy, Allen Potter stood at the edge of the Spatial Folding, his soles not touching the branches.

Inside the Portable Space, Void coiled around a glass bottle, the drop of silver blood inside stuck to the glass wall.

Peter Pettigrew huddled in the corner of the cage, his lips moving a few times, but no sound came out.

Allen Potter spoke.

"Don't move."

Below, Ron was still pressing for answers.

"Firenze, just tell us."

Firenze turned his head to look at him.

"Some things are not for me to say."

Hagrid slung his crossbow over his shoulder.

"And I won't say it either."

Hermione spoke a bit faster.

"If the danger is related to Harry, we have the right to know."

Hagrid looked at her.

"The best thing you can do right now is go back to the Castle."

Harry stared at Firenze.

"Was that person just now Lord Voldemort?"

The forest went quiet for a moment.

Ron's face went pale.

"Can you not say that name directly?"

Hagrid's voice dropped.

"Don't say that in the Forbidden Forest."

Firenze did not shy away.

"A name is not more terrifying than the truth."

Ron glared at him.

"Of course it isn't for you; you have four legs and can run fast."

Firenze glanced at him.

"Running fast does not mean one can escape fate."

"I hate that saying."

Harry asked.

"He's really not dead?"

Firenze looked up at the night sky, blocked by the branches.

"Mars is bright; the stars are not merciful tonight."

Hermione frowned.

"That's not an answer."

"Child, humans like to put answers on paper; the stars do not do that."

Ron muttered.

"Well, the stars are very inconvenient then."

Hagrid turned around and urged them.

"Enough, let's go back."

Harry still refused to leave.

"I want to know why he wanted to drink the Unicorn's blood."

Firenze said.

"Because he is weak."

"Weak enough that he needs to rely on this kind of thing to survive?"

"Yes."

Hermione continued.

"Then he must need something else."

Hagrid looked at her.

"Miss Granger."

Hermione did not back down.

"If someone is relying on Unicorn blood to hang onto life, they must still be looking for a more stable method."

Ron looked at her.

"Are you thinking about that door on the Third Floor again?"

Hagrid's expression changed.

"What Third Floor?"

Harry said immediately.

"Nothing."

Ron waved his hand as well.

"Right, nothing. We were just talking about the stairs."

Hagrid glared at the three of them.

"Have you been wandering around again?"

Harry avoided his gaze.

"Now is not the time to talk about this."

Amidst the canopy, Allen Potter tapped his wand with his fingertips.

"They've taken the bait. That's enough."

Peter Pettigrew looked up in the cage, his eyes full of panic.

Allen Potter looked at him.

"You had better stay quiet."

Peter Pettigrew immediately lowered his head.

Below, Firenze suddenly looked up, his gaze passing through the branches and leaves, landing in the direction where Allen Potter was hiding.

Void's snake body coiled tightly around the glass bottle.

"Hagrid."

Hagrid stopped.

"What is it?"

Firenze was still looking at the canopy.

"There is something else here."

Ron almost dropped Fang's leash.

"Something else?"

Neville moved behind Hagrid.

"I don't want to know."

Hermione looked up at the trees.

"Where?"

Harry looked up as well.

"I don't see anything."

Hagrid raised his lantern, the light shining through the branches and leaves.

"Firenze, what do you see?"

Firenze took two steps forward.

"I can't see it."

Ron was getting anxious.

"If you can't see it, why say there is something?"

"The stars were in disarray just now."

Hermione asked.

"Because of that cloaked person?"

"Not entirely."

Harry asked.

"Who else?"

Firenze stared at the canopy.

"There is a shadow over there; it does not belong to the present, nor does it belong to the future."

Hagrid gripped his crossbow tighter.

"Firenze, don't scare the children."

"I am not scaring them."

Hermione spoke cautiously.

"Are you talking about a person?"

Firenze was silent for a moment.

"I don't know."

Ron scratched his hair.

"Your 'I don't know' sounds worse than knowing."

Harry took a step forward.

"If there is someone there, why didn't he help just now?"

Hagrid pulled him back.

"Harry, come back."

Harry looked at the canopy.

"Who are you?"

Allen Potter stood in the Spatial Folding, looking down at Harry.

Void pressed against the edge, snake eyes fixed on Firenze.

Allen Potter did not speak.

Harry called out again.

"Is anyone there?"

Ron tugged at him.

"If there really is someone, is it appropriate for us to be shouting like this?"

Hermione stared at the shadows between the branches and leaves.

"Maybe that person from earlier hasn't left."

Hagrid raised his crossbow.

"Who is there?"

Firenze raised his hand to stop him.

"Don't shoot."

Hagrid frowned.

"You just said there was something."

"There is."

"Then why not shoot?"

Firenze looked upward.

"The crossbow bolts won't touch it."

Ron opened his mouth.

"How many more strange things are there in this forest?"

Harry stared at the canopy.

"You know me, right?"

Allen Potter just looked down at Firenze.

Firenze met his gaze through the branches, his hand pressed to his chest, his brow furrowed.

Hermione noticed his reaction.

"You saw it?"

Firenze did not answer her, only speaking toward the canopy.

"You shouldn't have come near this blood."

Allen Potter's fingers paused on his wand.

Harry asked immediately.

"Who are you talking to?"

"A passerby."

Ron said immediately.

"Passing through the depths of the Forbidden Forest? That's even more ridiculous than Hagrid's detention."

Hagrid glared at him.

"Ron."

Hermione looked at Firenze.

"Will he hurt us?"

"Not tonight."

Harry pressed further.

"What about later?"

"The stars did not give me that answer."

Allen Potter spoke, his voice only spreading within the Spatial Folding.

"Too talkative."

Void flicked its tongue.

Firenze, however, looked up and took a step forward.

"You can hear me."

Hagrid became alert.

"Firenze?"

Firenze did not look back.

"He is here, yet he is not here."

Ron complained.

"I'm really sick of this kind of talk."

Hermione looked at the canopy, her tone urgent.

"If you are here, please tell us who that person was just now."

Harry also said.

"Was he trying to steal something from the Third Floor?"

Hagrid was so angry his beard was twitching wildly.

"Harry!"

Harry turned his head.

"Hagrid, we already know."

"Whatever you know, you shouldn't be saying it here."

Hermione continued.

"But now someone knows more."

Ron looked at the tree, then at the Unicorn.

"Hermione, are you sure you want to negotiate with someone who might be in the tree?"

Hermione ignored him.

"If you don't want to be discovered by the Professor, we can also not mention that we saw you."

Allen Potter's gaze swept over Hermione.

"Too clever for your own good."

Void pressed closer to the glass bottle.

Peter Pettigrew lifted his face in the cage, his lips moving silently.

Allen Potter glanced at him.

"Shut up."

Firenze spoke again.

"Leave, stranger."

Harry was anxious.

"Wait!"

The edge of the Spatial Folding above the canopy folded gently.

Firenze looked up, his hooves shifting on the muddy ground.

"He is leaving."

Hermione asked quickly.

"Do you know who he is?"

Firenze looked at the empty darkness between the branches and leaves.

"I do not."

Ron breathed a sigh of relief, but then felt something was wrong.

"Then who exactly were we talking to just now?"

Hagrid pulled Harry back.

"Don't say anything to anyone else, let's go back."

Harry was still looking upward.

"Was he watching us the whole time just now?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't he come out?"

Firenze withdrew his gaze.

"Because he does not want to be remembered by you."

Hermione said in a low voice.

"But you remembered."

Firenze looked at her.

"I only remembered an empty space."

Ron rubbed his arms.

"That doesn't sound good either."

Before the Spatial Folding closed, Allen Potter took one last look at Firenze.

The Centaur did not look away.

Allen Potter raised his wand, and his figure disappeared from among the canopy.

The branches and leaves did not sway, and there were no footprints on the ground.

Hagrid asked.

"Gone?"

Firenze nodded.

"Gone."

Harry pressed on.

"Where did he go?"

Firenze looked toward the outside of the Forbidden Forest.

"He walks his own path."

Ron pulled Fang and squeezed behind Hagrid.

"Then let us walk our own path, preferably the one back to the Castle."

Neville nodded immediately.

"I agree."

Hermione was still looking at the canopy.

"There are no traces there at all."

Hagrid shoved the lantern into Ron's hand.

"Stop looking for traces, let's go."

Harry looked down at the Unicorn.

"What about it?"

Hagrid said in a muffled voice.

"I will notify Dumbledore."

Firenze turned around.

"I will see you to the edge of the forest."

Hermione asked again.

"Firenze, was the shadow you mentioned earlier really related to time?"

Firenze walked into the forest path.

"Miss Granger, you have already heard enough tonight."

Harry followed, looking back at the canopy one last time.

"I keep feeling like he knows who I am."

Hagrid urged him on.

"Harry, watch your step."

The lantern gradually moved further away.

The canopy returned to silence, leaving only that empty space without a trace.