Chapter 36: Chapter 36. Rest Of The Night

The walk back was drowned in silence, nobody uttering a word as Hagrid led the way back out from the forest. Ron and Harry glanced at Hermione, all of them silently wondering what to do about the Slytherin walking beside them. Hermione glanced at Lucas, seeing him clutching a small vial of unicorn blood tight to his chest. His gaze was distant, his expression was empty, his clothes smeared in the silver blood of the creature that died in his arms only moments earlier. 

 

Hermione realized that even if he was a bit strange and a jerk, Lucas was still a person. He wasn’t something evil like you know who. A wave of pity and sadness for Lucas washed over Hermione, alongside Ron and Harry. Each of them was truly saddened to see Lucas in such a state. However they weren’t friends with him, they couldn’t comfort him, and Ron didn’t especially want to. All they did was just give him silence, and avoided looking at him directly to let him mourn in privacy.

 

Once everyone reached the end of the forest, and back to Hagrid’s hut. Hagrid let Harry, Ron, and Hermione off to their house, and took Lucas into his hut to get cleaned up. Hermione, after walking off towards the castle with her friends, glanced back at a somewhat broken Lucas, entering Hagrid’s hut. “That was… Something…” Ron said, not knowing how to truly react to everything that happened tonight. “What happened out there Harry?” Hermione finally asked, Harry stiffening up in response.

 

“We walked for a while, until Lucas pulled out a bit of Vitamix to help him search… He suddenly led the way, until we found…” Harry stopped, taking his hand to rub his scar in pain. “Voldemort.” He muttered, Hermione and Ron both freezing in their tracks. “Voldemort was drinking that unicorn’s blood…” Harry muttered, shivering at the reprehensible sight that was burned in his memory, more than the burning his scar was feeling at the moment. 

 

“Drinking blood from a unicorn? Everyone knows that it can heal anything, but you’ll be cursed forever afterwards.” Ron said, unsure of why ‘you know who’ would do that, but Hermione's mind kept showing the image of Lucas’ broken demeanor. She couldn’t fully concentrate on the problem that laid before her, with that image running through her mind. “That’s it! That was how Lucas scared him off!” Harry whispered, figuring out everything. “Lucas scared off you know who!?” Ron yelled, much louder, before being shushed from Hermione.

 

They entered their common room, late enough for everyone to be long asleep. The warm glow of the fire in the hearth lifted their spirits as Harry explained. “Voldemort is weak right now. That’s why he is using unicorn blood to keep himself alive, but it’s not enough. Snape doesn’t want the stone for himself, he wants to give it to Voldemort.” Hermione nodded, wondering how she didn’t think of it earlier. The night with all three talking over the Sorcerer's Stone, and how to keep it safe from Voldemort led on into the night. Hermione, still wondering in the back of her mind if Lucas was okay.

 

Inside Hagrid's hut, I heard Norbetta in the back while Hagrid drew a bath for me to wash off all the blood I still had on my hands, since using the Slytherin baths would contaminate them, perhaps curse everything in the black lake. I silently went along, not really caring about much of anything at the moment. Hagrid gave me some privacy in his bathroom, and I let myself sink into the hot water after removing my robes. 

 

I left them near the door, so Hagrid could take them to be burned, anything covered in unicorn blood was tainted. While I sat inside the massive wooden tub, big enough to swim laps in, all I could think of was the unicorn’s weight in my arms. I continued to clutch onto the airtight vial of her blood, rubbing it between my fingers. Thinking of her, I silently sobbed, keeping my voice low so as nobody would hear me.

 

After what felt like moments, Hagrid knocked on the door. “Got new clothes for ya…” I sighed, trying to calm myself down, and shove my depression back down as I stood up. I dried myself off, and quickly placed my new robes on. However there was something new in the woven basket of clothes Hagrid left for me. A long brown leather strap, tied into a loop, with a small leather pocket on one end, perfect for storing a singular vial. I placed the loop around my neck, and tucked the vial of unicorn blood inside the small pocket, all before tucking it all under my robes, hiding them from being seen.

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Walking outside the bath, I saw Hagrid sitting in his chair beside the fire, Norbetta eagerly eating his stew. “Mama!” Norbetta yelled after seeing me, charging at me from Hagrid’s lap, and fluttering her wings to glide over to me. She was still very bad at knowing how to fly, but she could remain airborne for a few feet. She latched onto my robes, her snout rubbing against my chest where I kept some of my food. “Sorry ‘bout that.” He said, getting up to pull the baby dragon from me. 

 

I just watched the small baby dragon cling and burrow into my robes, searching for more of her favorite food. “It’s alright…” I muttered, opening the small bottle of food, much to Hagrid’s surprise. He watched as I dumped some of the food into my hand, and let Norbetta gobble the food in an instant,  chirping happily with her filling stomach. “Yummy!! This is my favorite!” I scratched the back of her head as she ate, taking solace in this moment.

After I was out of food, and Norbetta quieted down in my arms, I handed her over to Hagrid. He carefully took her in his arms, the crackling of the fire echoed through the silent room. “Norwegian Ridgebacks mostly eat fish… If you’re going to feed her, do it right.” I mumbled, still staring at the small baby, her chest slowly moving up and down as she breathed. Hagrid was silent as he glanced at the baby in his large arms. “I’m heading to bed…” I announced going to the door.

 

I stopped at the door, my hand over the handle while my other hand clasped my chest. “At least your leatherworking skills are passable…” I muttered, before heading outside. The frigid air filled my lungs as I studied the stars. The unicorn’s glistening hair reminded me of the shining stars in the far off reaches of space. I sniffled, partly from the cold, and made my way back inside the castle.

 

Walking through the halls, the sound of my footfalls echoed loudly. However my mind was in a far away place. ‘Who was it…? Who did this…?’ I bit my lip, clasping my chest while in thought. ‘It would have to be the worst of the worst dark wizards… Only they could do something so vile…’ With that thought in mind, I could only think of one name. Voldemort. It all added up too perfectly. He wanted the boy who lived, dead, so one of his minions came here to finish what he started.

 

“Pureblood.” I muttered to the door, heading inside as it creaked open. The thoughts of the hooded figure’s blood soaked chin, smiling viciously at me, only made my rage boil. The bookshelves, tables, and couches all shivered from my magic starting to run amok. I took a large breath of air to hold in my anger, along with my magic. Finally making it to my room, I collapsed on my bed, hardly bothering to remove even my shoes or robe. My face buried in my pillow, tears began to finally pour again, as I groaned and howled into it in sadness.

 

That night, I had a dream. I watched the same unicorn running through open plains, happily moving at untold speeds. I quickly ran after her, but she continued to pull further away. Finally after running with the help of my hands, running on all fours did I manage to catch up to her. She looked at me, and I could feel her smiling at me, enjoying us running openly together. We continued for an untold amount of time, before she seemed tired.

 

It was then that we were enveloped by fog. I stood up to see better, and when the fog dissipated the unicorn was across a sudden river from me, a strange black wolf accompanied her. She glanced at the wolf, his yellow shining eyes reminded me of that fateful night, but I focused on her instead. She slowly trotted towards the river, and crossed the wooden bridge. Finally with me, she bumped her head against my chest, letting it rest there gently.

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