The Forbidden Forest was pitch-black, the night silent.
Harry hurried along at the front of the group, following the scattered traces of silver-blue unicorn blood. Since he had not used Glimmering Flash, he stumbled along, tripping over Tree roots jutting out from either side of the path every so often.
Zheng Qing led Hermione and Ron behind him.
"Could it have been a werewolf?" Ron's voice trembled slightly. He thought of the book that had come to mind before entering the forest. To wizards, it was an unmistakable sign.
"There are no werewolf tribes in the Forbidden Forest. A passage in A History of Hogwarts records that none of Hogwarts' headmasters would have allowed such a thing to happen." Hermione swiftly rejected the red-haired boy's guess. "As for a lone werewolf, it simply wouldn't be capable of injuring a unicorn this badly!"
"It could also have been Aragog... that giant spider Hagrid used to keep. It was as big as a house. Harry and I saw it before and nearly got eaten by it." Ron thought of the animal he hated most again.
Hermione had never seen Aragog.
But she had heard of it.
And in the Monster Illustration Book, Acromantulas were well-known carnivorous and dangerous Magical Creatures. They also lived in groups. A unicorn really might have been injured if it encountered them.
"Those Acromantulas?"
Zheng Qing's cheerful voice rang by the two young wizards' ears. "Not them. Hagrid mentioned them to me this morning. He said all the giant spiders had vanished, and their nest was completely empty except for a few severed limbs... He was planning to investigate when he had time."
"They vanished?"
Ron visibly let out a huge sigh of relief.
"That's not a good thing!"
In comparison, Hermione had clearly thought of more possibilities,