Chapter Eighty-Five: The Unicorn's Blessing Is Wildly Intense / Chapter Eighty-Six: Some Things Cannot Be Avoided Forever

His muscles were well-defined. As he leaned over to look at Harry, Harry could see his sapphire-blue eyes.

"Were you the one who saved this Unicorn?" The Centaur glanced at the scar on Harry's forehead and asked with what seemed like surprise, "Are you a boy from the Potter family?"

Mm, this Centaur didn't seem very good at acting.

"The forest isn't safe right now. I'll take you out first," the Centaur said kindly. "By the way, I'm Firenze."

"I need to treat this Unicorn's wound first."

Harry continued with what he was doing, applying Dittany Ointment to the Unicorn's wound. He had specially made the salve to deal with Norbert's accidental scratches and bites, purifying Essence of Dittany and mixing it with Vaseline. It worked wonderfully for healing wounds and preventing scars.

"Also, I'm guessing you already know I changed my surname... unless a certain old gentleman, as usual, hasn't told you anything."

"..." Firenze froze. It was the first time that night he'd been at a loss for words.

"Um... Granger, have you noticed? Mars is unusually bright tonight." After thinking it over briefly, Firenze still felt he ought to finish his task and pass on the information the boy before him needed.

"Mr. Firenze, don't you think it's rather impolite to discuss the stars with a nearsighted person on such a pitch-black night?" Harry turned around to show Firenze his glasses, never stopping his treatment of the Unicorn.

The wariness in the Unicorn's eyes had faded considerably, and it no longer struggled slightly as it had before.

"..." Firenze fell silent again.

Someone had indeed told him, when asking for his help, not to treat Harry like an ordinary child. But Firenze hadn't expected the boy to be this difficult!

As for Harry, he thought the Centaur could use some work on his ability to lie with a straight face. He really wasn't in the same league as him and old Dumbledore.

Mars... Could you at least look up at the sky before saying that?

You know perfectly well Mars can't be seen in the sky at this time of year!

Ever since his eyes had mutated just like his ears, Harry hadn't been nearsighted anymore. He wore his glasses now out of habit; they were new, non-prescription lenses.

He'd only made that little jab because Firenze's attempt to fool him was so poor.

It seemed a certain old gentleman had trouble picking his actors.

After all, the Centaurs who knew how to act probably couldn't be bothered to help him, while the only one willing to assist, Firenze, happened to be terrible at playing a soothsayer.

"Mr. Firenze, how about we get straight to the point?"

After a quick check showed that the Unicorn's wound had stopped bleeding, Harry cast several more Episkey charms, then turned to face Firenze.

"I know you're trying to use a nonexistent Mars in the sky to hint at a conflict that shouldn't have happened in the Forbidden Forest. But I think getting to the point would save time," Harry said bluntly. "I know very well what sort of half-alive, half-dead curse comes from killing a Unicorn and drinking its blood. And I, you, and the person who sent you to find me all know exactly who just ran away!"

"..." It was the third silence. Firenze realized Harry had already said everything he was supposed to say.

He'd been asked to use the Unicorn's death and the signs in the stars to tell Harry that You-Know-Who had returned and might try to seize the Sorcerer's Stone at any moment. He hadn't expected the boy before him to have figured it all out already!

Besides, the boy had reached the Forbidden Forest much earlier than expected. According to the schedule Firenze had been given, Harry and his two companions weren't due to begin their detention until eleven at night. They shouldn't have encountered the supposedly dead Unicorn and that mysterious person until at least one in the morning.

But it was only half past ten, and the whole show was already over.

Harry Granger had used the Invisibility Cloak to launch a surprise attack. Not only had he saved the Unicorn, he'd driven You-Know-Who away all by himself—and hadn't even given Firenze a chance to step in...

At that moment, Firenze began to regret accepting the assignment.

He felt like a Bronze-ranked player caught between two big shots, completely out of his league and not even able to get the message across properly.

"Mr. Firenze, you don't need to make this so difficult for yourself." Seeing Firenze's conflicted expression, Harry said casually, "You can just report back to Headmaster Dumbledore and tell him I agree to fight Voldemort!"

Honestly, tonight's business was entirely old Dumbledore's doing.

With only a week left until final exams and the first school year nearly over, Harry was still 'unmoved' by the matter of Voldemort and the Sorcerer's Stone. Old Dumbledore was getting anxious, so naturally he'd come up with a way to hurry Harry along.

His idea was to pick the right night to trick Harry into the Forbidden Forest, have the Boy Who Lived come face-to-face with the Boss ahead of schedule, and then have Firenze tell him the story of the Unicorn and the mysterious man, so Harry would feel the urgency of the situation.

Old Dumbledore's plan was certainly thorough. But if you followed the timeline, it was still easy enough to see through.

First, a Unicorn had been killed last Wednesday, which meant Voldemort had started hunting as far back as last week.

Then, on Saturday, Malfoy had been tricked by Harry into going to the Astronomy Tower. Malfoy had lost points and been given detention, and Harry and Hermione had been dragged into it too, receiving detention of their own.

But even though the gamekeeper had clearly said that a Unicorn had died, the punishment of searching the Forbidden Forest hadn't been carried out immediately. Instead, it had been delayed for nearly a week, only being put into effect tonight.

And during that time, the Unicorn Harry had saved had also been attacked. Fortunately, though it was gravely wounded, it hadn't died on the spot...

Well... by now, it was all quite clear.

Harry had been given detention last Saturday, but instead of being carried out as usual, it had been put off again and again. The Unicorn had been attacked earlier this week, but Harry and his friends still hadn't been sent into the Forbidden Forest.

The reason for all of this was that, during that period, even if Harry had come to the forest, he wouldn't have encountered Voldemort!

So much for the signs of Mars, and searching for and saving an injured Unicorn. It had all been a load of nonsense.

The Unicorn in front of Harry had been on the sacrifice list from the start. The admirable Dumbledore hadn't even intended to save this so-called pure creature. He'd clearly planned to use it as bait to lure Voldemort out.

As for Firenze, who'd arrived late, perhaps he really had seen something in the stars. Of course, that might well have been why he'd agreed to take Dumbledore's assignment.

In short, he was only there to pass on a message. Like old Dumbledore, he'd never intended to save the Unicorn's life.

"What's this...?"

But just as Harry pieced together old Dumbledore's entire plan and felt a bitter sense of irony, a cool sensation suddenly brushed against the back of his hand.

Looking down, Harry was surprised to see the Unicorn he'd just saved gently rubbing its cheek against his hand...

(Note: A quick explanation of the relationship between Centaurs and Unicorns... It's unclear what their relationship was in ancient times, but the Centaurs and Unicorns in the Forbidden Forest were definitely not close. You can tell from the way the Centaurs talk about Unicorns. In the original, Ronan calls them "innocents," while Firenze calls them "pure and helpless creatures." It's clear the Centaurs might feel sorry for Unicorns, but they don't respect them, let alone share a close bond with them.

Also, given the Centaurs' intelligence and numbers, they couldn't possibly have failed to notice Quirrell-Voldemort gnawing on a Unicorn's neck in the Forbidden Forest. Yet they let two Unicorns die one after the other. Put simply, apart from Firenze, the rest of the tribe didn't want to get involved in the matter between the Boy Who Lived and Voldemort. A Centaur named Bane even wanted to let Voldemort kill Harry.

As for this novel's interpretation, Dumbledore telling Firenze about his plan and using the Unicorn's death to teach Harry is my own alternate take. I don't think the Centaurs' prophecies, however impressive, were enough to determine through stargazing that the Sorcerer's Stone was hidden in Hogwarts. So either Hagrid had a loose tongue, or old Dumbledore told Firenze beforehand. That would explain why Firenze in the original directly told Harry that Voldemort was going to steal the Stone. That's all~)

Chapter Eighty-Five: The Unicorn's Blessing Is Wildly Intense

The Unicorn's mane felt wonderful. It was cool and smooth, like threads of ice, but when Harry paid close attention, he could sense a trace of warmth flowing from his palm into his heart.

At the same time, Harry noticed that some of the specks of light that had originally surrounded the Unicorn's coat seemed to have wound around his wrist, like a glowing band.

"Incredible... This is a sight the stars have never foretold!"

Firenze was so astonished that his legs nearly gave way.

"What's going on?" Harry asked, confused.

Though he could vaguely hear the Unicorn's gratitude in its Voice of Magic, he didn't know what the Unicorn was doing.

"It's blessing you out of gratitude!" Firenze explained in amazement. "Granger, do you know how incredible this is? In our Centaur records, there hasn't been a single account of a Unicorn blessing a human in hundreds of years!"

"But... why?" Harry was still confused. "I only happened to save it. Besides, at first, I was going to stand by and do nothing..."

"Because your choice broke the fate that had been set for it!" Firenze gave Harry a rather cryptic explanation. "Unicorns possess powerful magic. At certain moments—when they're about to die, for example—they can even sense what's going to cause their death. But Unicorns are weak by nature, and by the time they have that awareness, they're already powerless to fight fate."

Harry understood. Firenze's rather soothsayer-like explanation boiled down to two words...

Cause and effect.

Firenze meant that, in the instant before it had nearly died, the Unicorn had seen the cause of its death.

Dumbledore had used it as bait to lure Voldemort, so it had been attacked twice in the space of a week. Yet neither Dumbledore, nor the Centaurs in the Forbidden Forest, nor even Harry at first, had wanted to save it!

That sacrifice, left to die by everyone around it, was the fate it had been powerless to resist!

But Harry's choice at the crucial moment had broken that fate, and so the Unicorn was expressing its gratitude with a blessing.

Only...

"Mr. Firenze, are you sure this is also part of the blessing?"

Looking at the Unicorn as it lowered its head in front of him, Harry felt that it didn't want to bless him so much as skewer him.

Hey, could you keep your front hooves still? Why are you pawing at the ground right in front of me?

"Uh... probably. The records in our tribe are rather vague." Firenze looked a little awkward. "Anyway... there is indeed a Centaur legend about 'the horn entering the belly.' It's said that Unicorns are attracted to pure-hearted virgin witches. If they truly need a Unicorn's horn, the Unicorn will shed tears as it drives its horn into the witch's belly, allowing her to cut off its horn..."

"So you're sure this is a blessing and not mutual destruction?" Harry's face fell. "And even if it is a blessing, when did I say I wanted its horn? Most importantly, there's no way in this life I could ever be a virgin witch!"

"This... I'm sorry, Granger. I can't judge the specifics." Firenze shook his head regretfully. "Whether to offer a blessing and whether to accept it are matters between you and the Unicorn. I'm only telling you what I know."

WTF, this Centaur uncle was passing the buck now?

So, was he really going to accept this wildly intense 'blessing'...?

Looking at the spiral horn gleaming coldly beneath the night sky, Harry suddenly felt as if the ground in the Forbidden Forest had turned to sponge... It felt a little unsteady beneath his feet~

But... the Voice of Magic couldn't lie, could it?

Ever since Harry had inexplicably heard the Voice of Magic in Diagon Alley, it had never let him down, nor had it ever harmed him.

The voice of the wand core had helped him choose the wand best suited to Hermione. The Flying Broomstick's voice had helped him thoroughly trounce Malfoy. The dragon egg's voice had guided him as he hatched Norbert almost perfectly...

And now, the desire and excitement in the voice coming from the Unicorn should be trustworthy too.

"Fine... I accept!" Harry gritted his teeth and nodded. He decided to trust the Unicorn!

It was only 'the horn entering the belly.' If the stories in Firenze's tribe were true, those virgin witches had enough strength after being stabbed to cut off a Unicorn's horn. There was no reason Harry would die the moment he got stabbed!

"Go ahead!!" Harry shut his eyes and spread his arms, exposing his chest and stomach completely!

"Hiiii!"

For the first time, Harry heard the Unicorn let out a long, high-pitched neigh. Then came the sound of its hooves as it galloped straight toward him!

Thump!!

The sensation of being pierced flashed past. A moment later, Harry felt the Unicorn's head resting gently against him.

"This feeling..." Harry looked down and saw the Unicorn kneeling in front of him with its legs folded beneath it.

From where he stood, its horn should have pierced his belly. The problem was, Harry didn't feel the slightest pain.

"So... this is the true meaning of the blessing?"

As if guided by something, Harry gently stroked the Unicorn's cheek with his left hand, which was surrounded by a faint glow, then finally gripped the horn about an inch from its base.

There was a soft snap. The horn broke off, but the broken horn wasn't solid. Instead, it seemed to turn into a special kind of magic that spread through Harry's body.

In an instant, Harry felt a strange power fill him!

The surroundings became clearer. The mist no longer shrouded the night before him; his vision was practically as good as in daylight. The sounds around him became clearer too, and he could even make out the emotions carried by the Unicorn's magic as it flowed...

"You... you did that on purpose to scare me?" Realizing that he seemed to understand the Unicorn's feelings, Harry couldn't help laughing in disbelief.

So this Unicorn was the sort to settle things one at a time. It was angry that Harry hadn't rushed to save it right away, so it had deliberately turned what should have been a warm, affectionate blessing into a thrilling, terrifying charge~

"Mm-hm, it's all my fault. You really gave me quite a fright~" Harry gently stroked the Unicorn's neck and apologized to it like he was soothing a child.

To Harry, the way the Unicorn used the Voice of Magic to explain the true meaning of the blessing, all smug and boastful, made it seem like a sweet, innocent child.

It also gave him a deeper understanding of Fantastic Beasts. They weren't confined by some fixed label, and just like humans, each had its own unique appearance and inner nature.

A Unicorn, thought to be noble and graceful, could be innocent and carefree, while a Dragon, usually treated as an extremely dangerous creature, could also become dependent on humans...

"Mr. Firenze, if you want, you can tell Headmaster Dumbledore what just happened too." When Malfoy's frightened scream came from the distance in the Forbidden Forest, Harry looked calmly at Firenze. "And please tell him for me: I don't mind communicating with him in riddles like this, but next time, could he please keep innocent lives out of it?!"

To be fair, a Unicorn was only a Fantastic Beast. Even if it really had died, Harry wouldn't have cared that much.

He'd handled Unicorn horns and Dragon blood in Potions Class. And in his previous life, he'd killed more frogs, rabbits, and white mice than he could count.

But in Harry's eyes, the behavior of people who had already decided to sacrifice a Unicorn as a pawn but still claimed to be trying to save it was far more contemptible than openly using or killing it!

Especially Hagrid. He'd reported the matter to Dumbledore, hoping he could help save the Unicorn. But what had been the result he'd been eagerly waiting for?

Old Dumbledore and Firenze... Wasn't what they'd done a betrayal of Hagrid's trust? Hadn't they hurt him?

"This..." Firenze wanted to say something more, but Harry had already climbed onto the Unicorn's back, and it raced away like the wind.

"Have the stars... all gone awry?"

Firenze instinctively looked up at the sky, hoping the planets he'd always trusted would point the way. Instead, he saw only an indescribable chaos...

Chapter Eighty-Six: Some Things Cannot Be Avoided Forever

"Harry, you jerk! I hate you, Harry! You rotten Harry! You sneaked off by yourself again without taking me along!!"

Sure enough, when Hermione found out that Harry had secretly gone to the Forbidden Forest alone, she grabbed him by the ear and gave him another long, earnest lecture.