Quirrell's face twitched. Anger and disappointment extinguished his newfound excitement—when he moved closer, he discovered that this was no unicorn at all. The upper body concealed by the tree trunk belonged to a centaur!
This was a white centaur!
Quirrell's mood had soared and plummeted within a single minute. Now he seethed with rage, pointing his wand at the centaur, who had struggled himself to exhaustion. Nothing short of killing him would vent Quirrell's fury.
But before Quirrell could strike, Voldemort stopped him. "Use Legilimency. Use Legilimency on him..."
The cold, hollow voice in his mind reminded Quirrell.
Of course. These centaurs lived in the Forbidden Forest all year round. They were far more likely to encounter unicorns than he was. Even if he couldn't find the unicorns' habitat, he could at least work out a route.
His wand aimed at the centaur.
"Scourgify!" Harry cast a Cleaning Charm on Bane, the black centaur. The sand, dust, mud, and rotting leaves covering him vanished.
The ill-tempered centaur had been running ahead of them when he stumbled and fell, leaving himself filthy from head to hoof. Harry had stepped in to clean him up.
"Thanks, wizard boy."
Bane looked Harry up and down, then thanked him stiffly. Harry thought these centaurs were easier to get along with than Dudley (of course, that was because he hadn't truly come to understand them).
Amid cries of "Firenze!" and "Firenze! Where are you?" Harry also came to learn about the two centaurs' temperaments.
The chestnut centaur was named Ronan, and his voice was low and melancholy, like a poet's. The black centaur was named Bane, and he had a foul temper.
Harry flew around Ronan and Bane, rising and dipping as he searched for the white coat that would stand out so clearly