"Hey, I'm asking you a question! Did you hear me?"
Malfoy looked thoroughly annoyed.
He, the noble Malfoy, heir to one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight pure-blood wizarding families, had practically ruled the Slytherin first-years since starting school. Almost everyone sucked up to him.
Apart from that wretched Harry Potter, no one had ever ignored him like this.
"I heard you. Stop shouting."
Hermione didn't even look up. "Keep running your mouth and I'll leave right now. You can stay here on your own."
A chilly gust blew past right on cue. Feeling the eerie atmosphere around him, Malfoy shuddered and involuntarily edged closer to Hermione.
A second later, apparently embarrassed, he blustered:
"Hmph, we're looking for a unicorn right now, so I'll let it slide. Once we get back, I dare you to face me in a Wizard's Duel!"
"Oh? Are you sure?"
Hermione glanced at him, her tone teasing.
Malfoy's expression froze.
Only then did he remember that the girl before him was no ordinary wizard.
The sight of Hermione brutally slaughtering the troll in that horrifically bloody fashion was still fresh in his mind.
Never mind him-even most of the older students were clearly no match for her. Her Shield Charm alone left him helpless.
God only knew how she'd learned a spell that only older students could cast just by reading a book.
"Let's go. I think I've found the way." Hermione stood up.
After analyzing the surrounding tracks, she could roughly work out which direction the wounded unicorn had fled.
She looked in the direction Hagrid and the others had gone and was left speechless.
They'd gone completely the wrong way.
Most wizards focused solely on magic, neglecting even the most basic observation and deduction.
You've been a gamekeeper for all these years and haven't improved one bit... No wonder you managed to get framed twice for the same thing during the Chamber of Secrets incidents, even with so many years between them.
After walking for a while, Malfoy grew bolder again when Hermione remained silent.
"How do you know the unicorn ran this way?"
"Are you sure we're going the right way?"
"You're not getting us lost, are you? I knew we shouldn't have listened to you. We'd have been better off staying where we were and waiting for Potter and the others."
"You..."
Fed up with his incessant yapping, Hermione turned and glared at him.
"None of your damn business. Shut up!"
"With your IQ, I'd have a hard time explaining it to you. If you don't want to come, piss off back there yourself. Stop whining!"
Malfoy stood rooted to the spot after she snapped at him.
She dared yell at me? She actually dared yell at me?
All my life, even my dad hasn't... No, apart from my dad, no one's ever yelled at me!
"Stop acting so pleased with yourself. You're nothing but a filthy Mud-"
The next second, the words caught in his throat.
Malfoy had spotted a ghostlike figure ahead, shrouded entirely in black robes, crouching over a dying unicorn and greedily drinking its blood.
Beneath the robes, silver liquid still trickled from the corner of the figure's half-hidden mouth.
"Aaaah!!!!"
Malfoy let out a terrified scream.
Drawn by the scream, the black-robed figure raised its head and drifted toward them like a phantom.
Malfoy turned to run but tripped over a vine. He could only scramble backward until his back hit a tree, watching helplessly as the black-robed monster drew closer.
Bang!
Just as the black-robed figure was about to pounce, a thunderous crack echoed through the Forbidden Forest.
The figure's advance stopped short. Then it stumbled and fell to the ground, unable even to maintain its floating form.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
A string of shots rang out. Hermione held a pistol and fired repeatedly at the dark figure, emptying the magazine in an instant.
The figure's entire body shook violently. It let out a low groan of pain, twitched a few times, then went completely still.
A Glock Wand, solid steel core, nine-millimeter magic, kid!
Never seen that before, have you?
She'd taken the gun after killing that black robber on his "free shopping" spree back then. It had turned out to be surprisingly useful.
Hermione calmly removed the magazine, took out a handful of gleaming brass cartridges, and loaded them one by one.
Then she raised the pistol again and aimed at the corpse.
"Fuck!"
The dark figure could no longer keep up the act. With a furious curse, he suddenly rolled over, scrambled up on all fours, and fled, stumbling and crawling away at a speed that rivaled Bolt's.
Knew you were playing dead, you bastard... Hermione snorted but didn't fire again.
She had no intention of killing him.
It wasn't worth it.
If a professor's bullet-riddled corpse turned up tonight, she'd have a hard time explaining herself as the person responsible.
More importantly, killing Quirrell wouldn't stop Voldemort from switching bodies. God only knew who his new host would be, and even her plans to get the Philosopher's Stone would be affected.
She'd lose more than half the advantage her plot clairvoyance gave her.
The fish hadn't swum into the net yet. Pulling it in now would only scare it away.
Only after the dark figure vanished into the depths of the Forbidden Forest did Hermione look at Malfoy, who lay collapsed on the ground, and point the gun at his head.
"Oh, right. What were you saying about mud? I didn't quite catch that."
Malfoy swallowed, his eyes full of terror as he looked at Hermione.
Hermione slowly lowered the pistol. Any more scares and he'd wet himself.
Harry, this works way better than a wand!
Just then, Hagrid, Harry, and the others came running from the distance.
"What happened?"
Hagrid demanded an explanation the moment they arrived.
They'd heard a loud bang from far away and hurried over, worried about Hermione and Malfoy's safety. On the way, a dark figure had brushed past them as though fleeing for his life.
Harry had also felt a sudden stab of pain in the scar on his forehead.
"Nothing much. We ran into the culprit who attacked the unicorn. I drove him off," Hermione said lightly.
So that was it.
Harry and Ron accepted it immediately.
After witnessing Hermione's ferocity, both had developed an inexplicable confidence in her.
Some mere attacker couldn't hold a candle to Hermione. Of course she'd send him running.
"More importantly..."
Hermione gestured with her chin.
Following her gaze, Hagrid spotted the unicorn's body. After examining it, he shook his head.
"Who did this?" Hagrid asked through gritted teeth.
Voldy Quirrell, obviously. Who else? Hermione thought.
He'd deliberately let the troll into the school to create an opportunity to steal the Philosopher's Stone from the third-floor Restricted Area, but Snape had discovered and stopped him.
Having failed, he'd had no choice but to come to the Forbidden Forest and drink unicorn blood to cling to life.
She didn't know whether it was some trick of Quirrell's or Voldemort's, or the effect of the unicorn blood, but being able to run around after taking that many bullets was seriously badass.
"What's wrong with him?"
Only then did Harry notice Malfoy, who had been scared senseless.
"Too much of a coward. Got frightened, I suppose." Hermione spread her hands helplessly.
Harry and Ron both gave him disdainful looks.
"That vile murderer!" Hagrid said bitterly.
Another offense was added to Quirrell's tally.
Only then did Hermione notice that the soul energy stored in the Spellbook had somehow increased by a full five hundred points!
Apparently, when Quirrell killed the unicorn earlier, her presence nearby had triggered Dark Harvest.
Perfect. You take the blame, I reap the rewards.
What a good man!
Deeply moved, Hermione wiped away her nonexistent tears.
Still, one unicorn gives five hundred points. If I could kill twenty, wouldn't that... Stop right there, brain! Hermione!
Before you continue