❝ Maybe we could drag the body?❞
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"Bennet, your detention is scheduled with Hagrid at eleven." Mcgonnagall had told her earlier, during lunch. You'd think that the strictly enforced curfew Hogwarts had, would make sure that students would do detention at a normal time of day, not during an hour until midnight.
Wrong.
Vienna had almost scoffed in the woman's face, but stopped herself just at the right moment. She nodded and excused herself, leaving to the rest of her lessons in a sour mood.
She and Allie had paired up in potions so by association, Vienna was also under Snape's wrath. Especially after the night he caught her in the dungeons after curfew. He seemed to have it in for her, and she's 100% convinced that he supplied her with a fault cauldron during todays lesson. Her potion had leaked all over the floor, accidentally burning Goyle in the process. If you were to ask Vienna, she would say that the goon definitely got into the potions way just to make Snape take even more points away from Gryffindor.
As usual, Cardan was being a dickhead. He wasn't speaking to her after she threw the book at him, claiming that she had 'bruised his precious skin'. She had been sure that she didn't throw it too hard, but Cardan had always been too dramatic for his own good. He was probably over exaggerating his injury. The most that book could've left was a red mark. Fred and George came over the next morning to congratulate her on the throw, talking down her ear about her 'impeccable aim' and how she had to 'teach them throwing techniques'.
Vienna shuddered just thinking about what they could use 'throwing techniques' for.
As of right now, she was making her way down to detention. The corridors were quiet, the sound of her footsteps ricocheting through them like bullets. Her thoughts consumed her mind like parasites, the quiet atmosphere only fuelling their intensity.
"Bennet." She heard. Her head snapped to the sound, eyes locking on Hagrid's figure. Beside him, stood a Ravenclaw girl she recognised from her own year and a Slytherin boy from second year. "Okay, we have everyone, let's go, Hunter, Rigby."
Hunter and Rigby fell in line next to her and the four of them walked down to the ground keepers hut, watching their feet to stay stable on the uneven dirt and rocks. At Hagrid's hut, they stopped.
The giant man turned to them. "We're going into the forest." He told them.
Vienna's mouth almost flew open in shock. The forest was forbidden. Hence the name, the forbidden forest. And to have students serve detention in there during night? Yeah, it was probably a discouraging technique used to scare students into behaving. Clever, she had to admit.
"It's.... We can't do that!" Exclaimed Hunter, her mouth open in shock. "What if we get eaten by a creature?"
"That's why 'yall have these." Hagrid said, passing each one of them a dagger. It was five inches at most, and the rubber grip had started to chip away. "Protection. Happy?"
"So happy." Mumbled Rigby.
"Alright, let's go." Said Hagrid, lifting a massive lantern. It was bigger than Three of Vienna's heads put together. "Fang! Come on!" A massive dog ran out of the hut, barking happily at the sight of its owner.
Hagrid walked down the path to the forest, not looking back to see if the kids were following him. Vienna shared a look with Hunter and Rigby before she gripped her dagger tightly as reassurance and stepped forward. If neither of them would take the first step, then she would.
The forest almost seemed alive, and the moment Vienna stepped into it, a thick cloud of darkness surrounded her. Tendrils of Ivy climbed up the trees, and spiders of several sized scuttled up the trunks and over the leaves.
A melancholy howl in the distance made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She could hear Hunter's and Rigby's footsteps behind her, the crunching of twigs, and Fang's heavy panting.
After a while of walking, Hagrid stopped by a puddle of silver. He pointed to it. "You see this?" He asked. "Unicorn blood."
Rigby gasped. "Unicorn blood?" He repeated. "But what creature would ever want to harm something so pure?"
Hagrid nodded solemnly, agreeing. "Only something capable of terrible, horrendous things, Michael."
Michael Rigby pursed his lips, eyes becoming glossy the longer he started into the puddle.
"So what's our role here?" Vienna asked, becoming impatient. She didn't come to the forbidden forest for detention to hear a sob story about unicorn blood. Yes, there were things in the world capable of killing such pure and innocent creatures, but was it her job to go hunting them down as a first year during her first week of magic school? Probably not.
"You three are going to find the bodies." Hagrid said. "The least we can do for them...." He sniffled. "The least we can do for them is save them from that horrible thing going around...."
"Got it." Vienna replied curtly, earning a side eye from Michael.
"Stop being insensitive." He told her.
"I'm in the cold forest doing a detention when I could be sleeping. I'll be as insensitive as I want, thanks." She snapped.
Hagrid sighed, looking at his watch. He reached into his pocket and pulled out three identical ones, handing each to the students. "We meet back here in three hours. Try not to get injured. Madame Pomfrey is sleeping."
Vienna took the watch from him along with a small lantern he handed her.
"Bennet, Hunter, go together. I'll go with Rigby."
Vienna and Hunter went off, the silence between them drowned out by noises from critters and from the twigs and sticks snapping under their feet. They wandered around the forest for what seemed like ages, before they finally caught sight of a sparkling white body fallen on the forest floor.
Viennas words died in her throat as she looked at the animal, it's eyes wide open in a state of fear, no doubt the fear it died in. There was a large gash by its throat, silver blood flowing out of it like there was no tomorrow. She regretted being so insensitive earlier.
"One question." Asked Hunter, breaking the silence. "How do we get the corpse back to Hagrid?"
"That," Said Vienna, pausing. "Is a very good question."
"Maybe we could drag the body?"
"That won't work. The unicorn weighs twice our weight put together."
An idea sparked in Vienna's head. Lorelei had taught her a charm yesterday, and despite not having much practice with it, it would be the only solution to the unicorn problem.
She dug her wand out of her pocket and aimed it at the unicorn, ignoring Hunter's curious look. "Locomotor."
The body levitated into the air and stayed put for a few seconds before it fell back down to the ground. Vienna sighed and tried again. This time, it stayed in the air for a couple of minutes.
"Let's go." She said to Hunter, raising her leg to step over a fallen tree trunk.
"Wait..." said Hunter. "Do you hear that?"
And indeed, Vienna could hear it. It was a low hissing, coming from between two tres to their right. She frowned, squinting to see where the sound was coming from. A dark shadowy figure was situated in between the two trees, and the only thing Vienna could distinctly make out were two gleaming red eyeballs.
"Hunter..... run."
"What? Im not leaving you here." She scoffed.
"I said run."
The shadow leaped forward.
"Run, Hunter!" Vienna screamed, brandishing her dagger. She slashed at the figure as it hovered above her, time feeling like she just melted it into jelly. Everyone was going so slow. She could vaguely make out someone shouting, but it sounded muffled and as if she were underwater.
The unicorn dropped to the ground with a large thud, as did her wand. She would retrieve it later.
The shadow hissed again, and Vienna could feel the morbid and sour smell radiating from the thing in waves. Her body was frozen but her mind screamed at her to defend herself, to do anything.
"Give it to me." She heard the shadow hiss, barely able to understand the words between the sheer snake-like noise.
"Aaarhhh!" And with that, she swung her dagger with as much force she could muster, sending the shadow back.
It screeched at her before readying to leap again. Its blood red eyes were narrowed in malevolence, possibly to kill her. But she wouldn't go down without a fight. No way.
Several loud thuds ricochet around her ears, followed by a neigh, before the figure of a horse jumped next to her. The shadow hissed once more before retreating back into the darkness, the red eyes which Vienna couldn't take her mind off also disappearing into nothing. She looked up, and her surprise must've been evident on her face. It was a centaur. She had only heard of them in books before, and never thought she'd actually see one in real life.
"Thankyou." She told the centaur, struggling to catch her breath.
"You are Vienna Bennet." The centaur said.
Surprise lifted her face. "How– how'd you know my name?"
"We know the names of anyone who enters this forest." The centaur said. He looked at her with a tilted head, eyes studying her face. "The stars have aligned in your future. I fear some bad things will– must happen."
"Uhhh. What?"
He shook his head. "Do not fret about it now, Vienna Bennet." His eyes bore into her soul, and she felt as if every single thing that made her, her was being extracted and analysed. "But when the time comes, do not be afraid to keep fighting. It is determination that has led wars and also determination that has stopped them."
Vienna stayed silent, mulling the information over in her head. She didn't know what any of this meant? And did she want to? Truth be told, not really.
She went to open her mouth to say something but the centaur beat her to it. He held a finger up and looked up. "Mars and Jupiter are in correspondence.... I fear it has already started. I wish you the best of look, young soul."
He galloped off into the dark forest, leaving behind an extremely confused Vienna. Her mind was spinning one million miles per hour, and her body hurt from where the shadow figure had grazed it. There was definitely dark magic going on here, and the sooner she got out, the better. She would go to sleep and pretend this was all a bad dream. Or maybe she'd convince herself that it never even happened.
"Vienna! Are you okay?" She heard someone shout from not that far away.
"I'm fine, Hagrid. Come here, it's the unicorn!"
Hagrid came running over, Hunter and Rigby right behind him. The man stopped in his tracks to look over the dead magical creature, eyes welling up with tears the longer he stared at it.
"Oh... errr.... Yeah, I'll guess I take that." He mumble before waking up to the unicorn and hoisting it over his shoulder. "You three– dismissed. Go get some sleep."
Vienna didn't need telling twice. Within seconds, she was making her way back to the castle, Hunter and Juniper right behind her. The three of them badly desired to forget about this night, even if it was for a temporary time. Something was going to happen at Hogwarts, and she had a bad feeling.
The clock tower struck midnight. A harsh sigh ripped through her throat. The first years only had two more days left before someone would go missing. Missing forever. To never be seen again.
Vienna shook her head and glanced back at the full moon to burn it into her mind to distract her thoughts from the shadowy figure and her burning arm.
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