Harry Potter's Coolest Aunt

The Unicorn and The Centaur

"I knew it," he murmured. "There's summat in here that shouldn' be." "A werewolf?" Harry suggested. "That wasn' no werewolf an' it wasn' no unicorn, neither," said Hagrid grimly. "Right, follow me, but careful, now." They walked more slowly, ears straining for the faintest sound. Suddenly, in a clearing ahead, something moved. "Who's there?" Hagrid called. "Show yerself - I'm armed!" And into the clearing came - was it a man, or a horse? To the waist, a man, with red hair and beard, but below that was a horse's
gleaming chestnut body with a long, reddish tail. Harry and Aishi's jaws dropped.

"Oh, it's you, Ronan," said Hagrid in relief. "How are yeh?" He walked forward and shook the centaur's hand. "Good evening to you, Hagrid," said Ronan. He had a deep, sorrowful voice. "Were you going to shoot me?" "Can't be too careful, Ronan," said Hagrid, patting his crossbow. "There's summat bad loose in this forest. This is Harry Potter an' Aishi Merha, by the way. Students up at the school. An' this is Ronan, you two. He's a centaur."
"Nice to meet you, sir," said Aishi.

"Good evening," said Ronan. "Students, are you? And do you
learn much, up at the school?"Erm -" "A bit," said Harry. "A bit. Well, that's something." Ronan sighed. He flung back his head and stared at the sky. "Mars is bright tonight." Mars? Harry thought looking up. He knows that Ares's Roman name is Mars and if he said Mars is bright tonight means a war is coming. Thank you, heacte kids

"Yeah," said Hagrid, glancing up, too. "Listen, I'm glad we've run inter yeh, Ronan, 'cause there's a unicorn bin hurt - you seen anythin'?" Ronan didn't answer immediately. He stared unblinkingly upward, then sighed again. "Always the innocent are the first victims," he said. "So it has been for ages past, so it is now."
"Yeah," said Hagrid, "but have yeh seen anythin', Ronan? Anythin' unusual?"

"Mars is bright tonight," Ronan repeated, while Hagrid watched him impatiently. "Unusually bright." "Yeah, but I was meanin' anythin' unusual a bit nearer home," said Hagrid. "So yeh haven't noticed anythin' strange?" Yet again, Ronan took a while to answer. At last, he said, "The forest hides many secrets." A movement in the trees behind Ronan made Hagrid raise his bow again, but it was only a second centaur, black-haired and bodied and wilder-looking than Ronan.

"Hullo, Bane," said Hagrid. "All right?" "Good evening, Hagrid, I hope you are well?" "Well enough. Look, I've jus' bin askin' Ronan, you seen anythin' odd in here lately? There's a unicorn bin injured - would yeh know anythin' about it?" Bane walked over to stand next to Ronan. He looked skyward."Mars is bright tonight," he said simply.

"We've heard," said Hagrid grumpily. "Well, if either of you do see anythin', let me know, won't yeh? We'll be off, then." Harry and Aishi followed him out of the clearing, staring over their shoulders at Ronan and Bane until the trees blocked their view. "Never," said Hagrid irritably, "try an' get a straight answer out of a centaur. Ruddy stargazers. Not interested in anythin' closer'n the moon."

He should have met the party poines in America, Harry, thought remembering when he met them long ago."Are there many of them in here?" asked Aishi. "Oh, a fair few. . . . Keep themselves to themselves mostly, but they're good enough about turnin' up if ever I want a word. They're deep, mind, centaurs . . . they know things . . . jus' don' let on much." "D'you think that was a centaur we heard earlier?" said Aishi. "Did that sound like hooves to you? Nah, if yeh ask me, that was what's bin killin' the unicorns - never heard anythin' like it before."

They walked on through the dense, dark trees. Harry kept looking nervously over his shoulder. He had the nasty feeling they were being watched. He was very glad they had Hagrid and his crossbow with them and he had his trident. They had just passed a bend in the path when Aishi grabbed Hagrid's arm. "Hagrid! Look! Red sparks, the others are in trouble!" "You two wait here!" Hagrid shouted. "Stay on the path, I'll come back for yeh!" They heard him crashing away through the undergrowth and stood looking at each other, very scared, until they couldn't hear anything but the rustling of leaves around them."You don't think they've been hurt, do you?" whispered Aishi as she mutters some words.