0089 The Centaurs

"A large creature is rapidly approaching. If I'm not mistaken, it should be Hagrid."

Sherlock sheathed his sword and rock-skin shield, turning to Harry. "Harry, if possible, I hope you can continue to remain invisible."

Harry nodded. For various reasons, he didn't want Hagrid to know he was also in the Forbidden Forest tonight.

"Sherlock! Sherlock! Good heavens, what on earth happened here?"

When Hagrid arrived and saw the battlefield before him and the dying unicorn, he was so shocked he could barely speak, only tugging at his beard frantically.

"Hey, hold on. First, see if it can still be saved."

Sherlock pointed to the unicorn with both legs broken.

"Oh, Merlin's beard! Who—who could have hurt it like this—wait!"

At this point, he suddenly noticed the bite marks on the unicorn's wounds.

"Someone has been drinking its blood!"

Hagrid's eyes immediately widened to the size of copper bells.

"Hagrid, I think you should understand what this means. Even when dying, unicorn blood can sustain life, but only if willingly given. However, if someone forcibly takes the blood to save their own life, then from the moment that blood touches their lips, they will have a half-dead existence—a cursed life."

Sherlock spoke slowly, seemingly making a statement, but actually explaining to Harry, who stood invisible nearby.

This time, Harry understood completely.

The one he had just faced was none other than the murderer of his parents—the Dark Lord who made the entire wizarding world tremble: Voldemort!

But... he didn't seem that strong after all!

Harry understood, but Hagrid didn't.

Sherlock didn't expect him to understand anyway.

His main task was to examine the severely injured unicorn.

Fortunately, although the unicorn was badly hurt, because Sherlock intervened in time, it could still be saved.

With this, the investigation into the unicorn attacks in the Forbidden Forest was concluded.

Hagrid thought Sherlock was very lucky to have figured everything out on just the first night.

Sherlock knew clearly that it was because the enemy couldn't wait any longer.

His desperate actions just now proved this point even more.

Next was to tell Dumbledore everything and let him solve the problem.

As a leader, this was what he should be doing anyway.

In any case, after today's events, the enemy certainly wouldn't come to the Forbidden Forest again.

On the way back, Hagrid also found Fang, who had run far away, and—

A centaur.

However, this centaur they encountered was neither Ronan nor Bane.

From his appearance, this centaur looked younger and more handsome.

He had platinum-colored hair, the body of a silver-maned horse, and a pair of light blue eyes, looking exactly like a white horse prince from fairy tales.

"Firenze! How good to see you!"

Obviously, this was another of Hagrid's acquaintances.

"Hello, Hagrid—what's that? A unicorn! Is it all right?"

When Firenze saw Hagrid carrying a unicorn with broken legs, the centaur immediately panicked.

"It was that creature lurking in our forest who did this, wasn't it?"

"Calm down, Firenze," Hagrid patted the unicorn he was carrying. "Fortunately, Sherlock arrived in time. It didn't lose its life, and that poacher was driven away."

"Thank heavens!"

Getting this answer, Firenze let out a long sigh of relief.

Then he turned his gaze to Sherlock. "Thank you for saving this poor unicorn."

Firenze's attitude toward Sherlock was much warmer, forming a sharp contrast with the previously dismissive Ronan and Bane.

"Your name is Sherlock Holmes? I've heard of you. You're a remarkable child."

Hearing this, Hagrid immediately slapped Sherlock on the shoulder. "Haha! I never thought you'd be so famous among the centaurs. Before this, I thought only Harry could achieve that."

Just then, more hoofbeats came from the other side of the clearing.

It was Ronan and Bane, whom they had met before.

Sherlock's gaze swept over them, noticing their flanks heaving violently and dripping with sweat—they had obviously just engaged in some vigorous activity.

"Firenze!"

Bane called out Firenze's name as soon as he arrived.

"Bane, I'm not deaf. You don't need to speak so loudly."

Firenze's tone was not polite.

"What did you tell him?"

Bane said angrily, "Remember, Firenze, we swore never to defy fate! Haven't we seen the omens shown by the movements of the planets?"

Ronan shuffled his hooves restlessly in the dirt, continuing to explain for Firenze in his melancholy voice: "I believe Firenze thought he was acting entirely out of good intentions."

"Good intentions! What does this have to do with us?!"

However, Bane was not appeased and continued his angry outburst: "Centaurs care about the prophecies of the stars! We have no need to run around like donkeys following lost humans in our forest!"

This immediately angered Hagrid.

But before he could react, Firenze had already reared up on his hind legs.

This was an action centaurs only took when extremely angry.

"Didn't you see that unicorn?"

Accompanying this action, Firenze also began roaring at Bane: "Don't you understand why it was killed? Or didn't the planets reveal this secret to you? Listen, I must resist that creature lurking in our forest, Bane. Yes, if necessary, I will stand with humans."

After saying this, he no longer paid attention to Bane and Ronan, lowering his front legs again while indicating that Sherlock and Hagrid should leave with him.

Sherlock and Hagrid naturally had no objections.

After all, they both disliked riddle-chatterers.

Only after completely leaving Bane and Ronan behind did Firenze stop and turn to Sherlock: "Holmes, do you know why Bane was so angry just now?"

Hagrid laughed. "Firenze, you never speak directly about anything. Even Sherlock couldn't guess, right, Sherlock—"

"I can roughly deduce something."

Hagrid was stunned, while Firenze's eyes lit up. "Let's hear it."

"Simple. He just didn't want you to tell us the results you obtained from observing the stars."

Firenze's blue eyes became even brighter. "Not bad. Do you know what the results are?"

Sherlock sighed. "Obviously, the one who harmed the unicorn was Voldemort."

When Sherlock spoke this name, Hagrid involuntarily gasped.

The invisible Harry couldn't help but pull his cloak tighter, feeling as if the temperature around him had suddenly dropped.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Hagrid shook his massive head violently. "Hogwarts has Dumbledore! You-Know-Who couldn't possibly get in!"

Firenze's reaction to Voldemort's name was far less dramatic than Hagrid's. He merely looked at Sherlock with considerable approval: "Holmes, you're exactly as I've heard. I think you should study divination."

"Divination?"

Sherlock shook his head. "This is a result I deduced through scientific methods. It has nothing to do with divination."

"The stars told me the prophecy, but you say you used science—"

When saying this word, the centaur Firenze's expression was somewhat subtle.

After all, talking about science in a magical world always felt a bit strange.

"Actually, deducing this was simple."

Seeing Sherlock like this, the still-invisible Harry smiled knowingly.

He knew his friend was about to begin again.

"Unicorn blood carries a curse when forcibly taken. For normal people, living half-dead with a curse for a lifetime is worse than dying cleanly. Unless the purpose is only to sustain life long enough for the cursed person to obtain something else that can completely restore energy and magic. It so happens that the school is keeping the Philosopher's Stone, which can make the elixir of life. For Voldemort, who has been dormant for years and wants to make a comeback, I don't think he would pass up this opportunity."

This time, Firenze was completely stunned.

"Sherlock, you already told me this!"

Just as Firenze was shocked, Hagrid seemed to have enlightenment: "So you had already thought of this back then!"

The invisible Harry nearly stumbled. Their giant friend was really too slow!

But even though he belatedly understood Sherlock's deduction process, Hagrid still muttered: "Although your skills are impressive, Sherlock, I think you're wrong this time. As long as Dumbledore is at the school, You-Know-Who won't succeed!"

It was clear that his trust in Dumbledore had risen to a level of blind worship.

Sherlock didn't argue. Firenze softly said: "This isn't just deduction—it's also centaur divination. Hagrid, you know we're rarely wrong."

"But you're wrong this time! You too, Sherlock!"

Seeing that Hagrid had entered a state of indiscriminate attack, Firenze stopped saying more.

Mainly because he understood Hagrid's personality and knew there was nothing good to say to him in this situation.

Soon, the three people, one centaur, one unicorn, and one dog reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

"We'll part ways here."

Firenze stopped and looked at Sherlock and Hagrid.

"Good luck to you—in the past, the stars of fate have been misunderstood, and even centaurs make mistakes. I hope this is one of those times."

Looking at the centaur who, unlike Ronan and Bane, continued to show him kindness, Sherlock added something more.

"Actually, I think there's a phrase more suitable for your divination results today."

Firenze looked puzzled. "What?"

"Suddenly there's a madman sharpening his blade at night, the emperor star wavers while Mars burns high."

After saying this, Sherlock waved to Firenze and walked toward the castle with Hagrid.

"By nightfall, a mad blade is drawn; the star of kings shivers, and Mars watches from above."

Firenze repeated this phrase several times silently.

Suddenly, his eyes became startlingly blue for a moment, like pale sapphires.

"Indeed, this phrase is much more suitable than 'Mars is bright tonight'—"

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