A Certain Scientific Harry Potter 44

The task of purchasing food was naturally handed over to Hagrid. With the help of the Invisibility Cloak and a hidden Space Ring, Harry could easily transport the crates of brandy, broiler chickens, and even dead rats that Hagrid brought back into the Room of Requirement, ensuring Norbert could feast to his heart's content at any time.

As for Hermione, besides providing the funds for Harry, she also had to help cover for him at school, while simultaneously assisting Harry in recording various conditions and data regarding Norbert to continuously optimize their rearing plan.

Furthermore, she leveraged her status as a top student to wheedle some necessary dragon-rearing spells out of Professor Flitwick.

For example, Episkey for treating injuries, Reducio for portability, Scourgify for cleaning up waste... and so on.

Of course, given the bottomless pit that Norbert's appetite would become in the future, relying solely on the small savings of Harry and Hermione would definitely not be sustainable.

However, there was no need to worry about them running out of resources, because Scamander had already sent a reply.

'Go ahead and raise it with confidence; I'll cover all the money and technical support~'

Harry: This guy is really something else...

Oh, right, another incident occurred during this period.

A certain brat from Slytherin House insisted on wandering around the Astronomy Tower late at night instead of sleeping. After being caught, he tried to lie and frame Harry and Hermione, who weren't even present. In the end, he was decisively docked fifty points by the passing Professor McGonagall...

And he was slapped with a night of detention to boot.

"Facts prove that Malfoy's brain is just for show; getting punished is purely what he deserves~"

After dinner, when Filch mentioned that Malfoy would be serving his detention tonight, Harry curled his lip in disdain.

Malfoy was indeed aiming to catch them 'red-handed.' He knew that the crime of harboring a dragon egg and harboring a live dragon were not on the same level, so he had kept quiet, waiting to jump out and expose them at the very last moment.

However, his every move could not escape Harry's counter-surveillance. Harry had simply chatted with Hermione about sending Norbert away, letting Malfoy 'accidentally' overhear the plan, and the idiot had indeed gone to the Astronomy Tower to stake them out in the middle of the night.

Honestly, he didn't even bother to use his brain. The Bat Professor had publicly praised Harry's rampant disregard for school rules countless times; if Harry really wanted to send Norbert away, would he even need to sneak around until nightfall?

The First-Year War God, a specialist in challenging school rules—that title wasn't just for show.

"Boy, I must remind you," Filch slapped a note in front of Harry, "don't forget, you and Granger have also been given detention for allegedly deceiving Draco Malfoy. You are to patrol the Forbidden Forest at eleven o'clock tonight!"

To be fair, Malfoy had been accusing the two of them ever since he was caught, and given that his feud with Harry was common knowledge throughout the school, it was reasonable for the Granger Siblings to receive detention for trumped-up charges... as if!

Harry knew perfectly well that even if the previous mess had nothing to do with him, he wouldn't be able to dodge this detention today.

The first school year was coming to an end, and someone was clearly getting anxious.

"Mr. Filch, do you think I'm a child?" Harry asked with a faint smile.

"A child?" Filch was stunned for a moment, then decisively shook his head. "You're no child! I think you're a walking firecracker!!"

Having slept... er, lived with Harry for so long, Filch, who considered himself to know Harry inside and out, would never treat him like an ordinary child.

In his mind, Harry was as cunning as a fox, very much like the old street-smart veterans he had heard about lurking in Knockturn Alley.

"Oh my... your evaluation of me is truly high~" Harry shrugged helplessly, though a playful smile gradually appeared on his face. "But fortunately, the opinions of certain people are finally starting to align with yours."

That's right, the person in the Headmaster's Office had finally begun to realize that he could no longer treat Harry as a child.

At the very least, from the matter of raising the dragon, he should have been able to see that Harry's psychological maturity was definitely superior to Hagrid's!

Hagrid would only cry and shout about wanting to raise Norbert, but Harry could help him arrange everything flawlessly—that was the gap between the two!

And it was precisely this gap, finally understood by a certain someone, that led to this inexplicable detention tonight.

"Certain people... what are you pondering again?" Filch couldn't understand a word Harry said; he felt this kid had become increasingly cryptic lately.

"Just talking to myself~" Harry waved his hand and smiled. "Mr. Filch, please go tell Hermione that her detention tonight is canceled."

"Fine." Filch nodded, agreeing quite readily.

After he left, the curve of Harry's lips gradually vanished.

He had a good personal relationship with Filch, but it hadn't reached the point where the man would obey his every command. Therefore, the fact that Filch was so compliant clearly meant he had received instructions from someone else.

For Harry, it was hard to say whether this trend was good or bad.

But at least the fact that the other party was willing to play these riddles—which a child shouldn't be able to guess—meant that his positioning in that person's mind had begun to shift toward that of an adult.

"It seems tonight's social engagement cannot be avoided... oh well, might as well go early and return early~"

As night began to fall, Harry covered his entire body with the Invisibility Cloak, took the wand he had retrieved from Hermione earlier, and left Hogwarts Castle alone without alerting anyone.

It was time to take a trip to the Forbidden Forest.

The Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts was a place strictly off-limits to students under normal circumstances, but this ban wasn't actually that strict; many students had snuck into the woods when the gamekeeper wasn't looking.

For example, the Weasley Brothers, or Harry at this very moment.

In the original story, Harry and Malfoy should have arrived here at eleven o'clock, but Harry had come just as night fell, definitely much earlier than the original timeline.

He was here to find that Centaur.

The tragedy in the Forbidden Forest in the original story was a bit bloody; Harry didn't want Hermione to see it, and he couldn't be bothered to act with Malfoy, so he simply came ahead of time.

Find the Centaur quickly, preferably before meeting Voldemort, listen to the guy finish assigning the main quest with his cryptic nonsense, and then head back to bed... that was Harry's plan for the night.

So, he was purely here to go through the motions.

However, before he could successfully meet the Centaur, he discovered wisps of silvery-white blood on the ground of the Forbidden Forest.

Looking at the beautiful figure not far ahead, bathing in the moonlight and licking its wounds, Harry, hidden under the Invisibility Cloak, didn't know whether to lament his good or bad luck.

At the same time, the scar on his forehead began to ache more and more...

Chapter 83: The Unicorn Was Sacrificed

The Unicorn, Harry had to admit, was truly an incredibly beautiful creature.

Looking at its appearance alone, the Unicorn was essentially just a white horse with a spiral horn, yet the "white horse" before Harry was constantly surrounded by a faint, ethereal glow, as if it were a darling of the forest that enjoyed the moonlight all to itself.

Even though its mane was disheveled and its body was mottled with scars and blood, it could not hide that ethereal, otherworldly temperament that made one instinctively want to draw close.

Harry could even hear the mournful cries of magic emanating from it; that wailing, pleading sound kept drilling into his ears, leaving his mind in chaos and even making him want to abandon his concealment to intervene.

But Harry held back, forcing himself to endure. He had only taken on Dumbledore's mission tonight to go through the motions; he didn't want to invite extra trouble, and he certainly didn't want to suffer the visual trauma of that man-or-ghost Voldemort like in the original story.

"Hhh..."

However, when he heard that terrifying, low rasp drawing nearer and felt the scar on his forehead begin to throb with piercing pain, his fists clenched involuntarily.

The forest began to stir; the Unicorn's struggles splashed mud and dead leaves everywhere. It shook its head and horn incessantly, trying to drive away the enemy that had been hunting it down with this desperate, futile display.

Yet, that greedy, black-robed shadow kept hurling dark curses from within its body, striking the Unicorn repeatedly and causing the creature to let out bursts of agonizing wails.

Finally, weighed down by its injuries, the Unicorn could no longer withstand the attacks. As it stumbled and fell, the figure seized it by the neck with a vicious grip!

The black-robed figure committing the crime seemed completely unaware of Harry's presence—or perhaps he was simply too impatient—as he actually pinned the Unicorn to the ground and pressed his disgusting mouth toward its wound!!

"..."

At the moment its life was about to end, this beautiful creature did not let out a single shriek. It only looked toward Harry's hiding spot with helpless eyes, which seemed to be brimming with profound despair.

Watching the light in those eyes grow increasingly dim and hearing the faint, thread-like sound of the Unicorn's magic fading in his ears, a surge of fury ignited in Harry's heart!

All his previous thoughts about not wanting to complicate things or expose his strength in front of Voldemort were thrown to the winds!

F**k! Was he really just going to let this bastard commit such atrocities right in front of him?

So what if he was a Boss?!

Screw him!!

"Waddiwasi!!"

Tearing off his Invisibility Cloak, Harry swung his arm violently. A brand-new brick, launched from his Space Ring by the Waddiwasi Spell, instantly turned into a cannonball and smashed solidly into the black-robed figure's face!!

"Waaah!!"

The black-robed figure let out a shrill scream. The sudden flying brick sent him tumbling across the ground, forcing him to let go of the delicious meal that was almost at his lips.

"Go!!" Harry didn't care if the Unicorn could understand him; after a roar, he raised his wand toward Voldemort once more!

Lumos! Expelliarmus!

One blinding flash of light, followed by a disarming charm that sent the black-robed monster flying again. The dying Unicorn seized the chance to scramble to its feet and stumbled behind Harry.

"Har-ry... Pot-ter, how dare you?!"

The black-robed monster roared in fury, but the brick had clearly broken his front teeth, causing him to not only mispronounce Harry's name but also speak with a distinct lisp.

However, the guy's magical prowess was truly formidable. Harry didn't even hear him chant; the figure simply clawed the air, and suddenly, rapidly growing vines bound Harry tightly against a dead tree.

The vines tightened, but the black-robed monster seemed to have no time for Harry. He crawled onto the ground and began to lick up the blood the Unicorn had just spilled!

"To survive, you don't even care about turning yourself into this ghost of a thing?"

Harry frowned slightly. Honestly, he felt that this version of Voldemort was somewhat pathetic.

He should have been a terrifying Dark Lord, yet here he was, like a stray dog gasping for breath, groveling on the ground and swallowing blood mixed with dirt without a shred of dignity... the scene was too twisted.

But conversely, those who are pathetic often have their hateful side!

And Harry clearly held a deep-seated hatred for Voldemort!

Having truly seen the possessed Voldemort, Harry realized he couldn't just ignore this guy's existence as he had thought when he first transmigrated.

He would always inexplicably recall that night eleven years ago, the devil's sinister laughter, and that sickly green light of the Killing Curse!

His parents in this life had actually been killed by this man-or-ghost creature in front of him?!

This kind of thing was, truly...

Unbearable!!

Hum!!

The layered vines shattered instantly. The Obscurus transformed into a terrifying gale, driven by Harry's rage, and whistled toward Voldemort!!

"Damn you!" The moment the Obscurus entangled Voldemort, Harry heard a dark, guttural roar.

Immediately after, the black-robed monster floated away rapidly, leaving behind only a pile of blood-stained robe fragments.

"He just ran away... so much for the prestige of a Boss."

After silently despising the fleeing Voldemort, Harry couldn't help but chuckle at how transparent the plot of the Sorcerer's Stone had become.

Quirrell, possessed by Voldemort, was strong, but he was certainly no match for the former Dark Lord. At the very least, in Harry's view, his teacher, Professor Flitwick, was likely above him.

Yet, for a guy who wasn't hard to defeat, Dumbledore had let him run wild in the school. It was clear that he had already given up on curing Quirrell and was instead using him as a pawn to scheme against Voldemort.

"Sigh, you're pathetic too, being used just the same~"

The Unicorn hadn't run far before it collapsed again. By the time Harry approached, it was filled with wariness, but it could no longer stand.

"It was my fault for not stepping in to save you sooner. I am truly sorry..."

As he cleaned the wounds and stanched the bleeding of the Unicorn, Harry kept whispering apologies.

The Unicorn before him was not the first one Voldemort had attacked; Hagrid had previously revealed his worries to Harry, mentioning that one Unicorn had already died last Wednesday, and this one had actually been ambushed and severely wounded earlier this week.

Dumbledore must have known about this as well, which meant he was fully aware that a weakened Voldemort would inevitably return to attack the injured Unicorn; otherwise, he could not have timed the detention so precisely.

Therefore, the Unicorns in the Forbidden Forest were, in fact, just like Quirrell—they were pawns, expendable pieces...

No, it was different from Quirrell, who was already under Voldemort's control.

The Unicorn was an entirely innocent life, so it wasn't being abandoned; it was being sacrificed!

Harry knew that all these abandonments and sacrifices were ultimately intended to force him into a face-to-face encounter with Voldemort!

But... why?

What exactly was so special about him that made Dumbledore care so much, to the point of fixating on him and being willing to risk the lives of others to achieve it?!

"Are you alright!!"

The shout accompanied the rhythmic sound of hooves arriving 'belatedly,' and a robust figure came to a sudden, sharp halt in front of Harry, rearing up on its hind legs!

The Centaur had arrived!

Chapter 84: There is a Reason for Firenze's Silence

A Centaur, as the name implies, is half-human and half-horse. The Centaur before Harry looked quite young, sporting a head of platinum-blonde hair, with the body of a silver-maned horse beneath.