Even though Flynn didn't care at all about the Hogwarts rumour mill, the news of Hagrid's dragon spread so fast and intensely that it was impossible to avoid hearing. Though the news hadn't become common until after classes were over, it quickly became the only thing that people were talking about, as the older students debated about whether the dragon would be featured in their Care of Magical Creatures classes, and whether that was a good thing or not.

Though Flynn didn't particularly enjoy listening to the other students talking about it, though that could be said for pretty much any other topic of conversation, he had to admit that the permanently pinched look on Malfoy's face was somewhat amusing.

At the very least, the trashbag wouldn't be getting Hagrid into trouble, and that's all that really mattered in the end.

"Bye bye, Honey. Mummy will miss you. Don't go actin up, just cause Mummy's gone, ye hear?"

"Little hope of that, Mr. Hagrid," Kettleburn said, with a laugh, as the dragon gnawed loudly on his wooden leg. "But I'm sure Norberta and I will get along swimmingly, regardless."

Hagrid sniffled, and wiped his nose against his sleeve before giving the Care of Magical Creatures Professor a wide smile.

"I can't thank ye enough fer lookin after her while I'm gone, Professor," he said.

"Nonsense, Mr. Hagrid," Kettleburn said. "I'm always eager to spend time with a dragon, especially one as beautiful as Norberta. You can leave her with me at any time, and I'll drop everything on my plate to make sure she's safe and comfortable."

Kettleburn let out a startled yelp as the dragon yanked hard enough on his prosthetic to pull him off balance, though he managed to reach down and detach his leg before catching himself and rolling away with an amount of speed and ability that was surprising for his age. Though the dragon seemed somewhat disappointed that she wasn't able to secure a meal out of him, she seemed content with gnawing on the wooden leg that he'd left behind.

"Ah, what a rascal," he said, though he chuckled as he waved his wand and summoned another peg leg from the pile he had laid out neatly against the wall of his office, and pressed it against his stump. Though there was no mechanism that Flynn could see to attach it, the peg leg managed to stick onto him, as if it had been glued on. "Might need to get another handful of these at this rate. If you boys find any nice sticks during your trip, try to bring them back for me, will you?"

"Sure thing, Professor. Bye bye, honey. Mummy will miss you!" Hagrid said.

Thankfully, instead of looping back to thanking Kettleburn for taking care of her for a fourth time, Hagrid actually seemed to be ready to leave this time around.

"Ye ready to leave, Flynn?" Hagrid asked.

Flynn gave Hagrid a blank stare, but didn't bother to state the obvious and simply turned around and walked out of Kettleburn's office.

Hagrid continued to worry out loud about his dragon until they made it to the edge of the forest and he suddenly stopped, a serious expression falling over him as he pulled his crossbow out.

"Alright, listen here, Flynn," he said. "Have I gone over what we'll be doin, today?"

"Yes," Flynn replied. "We'll be hunting whatever's hunting the unicorns in the forest."

"Close, but not exactly true," Hagrid said. "We ain't huntin it. Jus' trying te figure out what exactly it is. Must be a powerful dark creature if it's able to hunt a unicorn, after all. Wizards tend te think they're pushovers, on account of how sparkly they are, but unicorns can be mighty fierce if ye push them into a fight. I don't want ye te go lookin' for a fight, ye hear?"

"What makes you think I'm looking for a fight?" Flynn asked.

"Lily told me bout the troll, Flynn," Hagrid said.

"Fair enough," Flynn replied.

"Good lad," Hagrid said, apparently not realising that Flynn had never agreed to not go looking for a fight. "Now let's get a move on. We'll be hunting late in the night, but we won't be camping out this time round. Keep your eyes sharp and yer ears sharper."

Unlike the rest of their outings together, Hagrid kept relatively quiet this time around, speaking occasionally instead of chattering endlessly to fill the silence like he usually did. The forest felt different, and despite Flynn's familiarity with it at this point, he couldn't help but feel like there was an uncomfortable feeling of tension in the air, though he couldn't explain why.

Eventually, Hagrid fell into a dead silence, and with Flynn not talking, the only thing that they could hear around the forest was the sound of their own breathing, as if the insects and bird within it had disappeared.

It took a few hours, around mid-afternoon, for Flynn to spot something glimmering in the forest shrubbery.

"Hagrid," he said, keeping his voice low subconsciously, pointing to the bush.

"Good eye," Hagrid mumbled, before walking closer to the bush. Following close behind him, Flynn focused on scanning around, watching their backs on Hagrid's behalf as he inspected the bush, until Hagrid tapped his shoulder.

"Unicorn blood," he said, with a sad grunt as he pointed out the silvery drops of blood that painted a few leaves. "There's not very much of it, so hopefully the poor thing's not too hurt, but there isn't much out there that can wound a unicorn in the firs place. Hopefully we can find it before whatever hurt it has the chance te finish the job."

For the next three hours, Hagrid and Flynn slowly tracked down the unicorn blood, following along in a vague trail that was nearly impossible to follow, even after Flynn realized he could use the wand-lighting charm at max power to try and catch the small glimmers of unicorn blood reflecting back at him after every couple of feet.

Hagrid assured him that the slow progress was actually a good thing, since a small amount of blood meant that it probably wasn't too injured. They stopped to eat a light meal after a certain point, with Hagrid explaining that there was no guarantee that the trail of blood was from a recent attack, since unicorn blood was so full of life that it never dried up, and that it could even be several decades old, since not many creatures could drink unicorn blood without consequence.

It wasn't likely that that was the case, since it seemed like the unicorn blood could still be washed away by rain, but Flynn didn't say anything since it already seemed like Hagrid didn't believe it himself.

It was already starting to get dark by the time that they found something, and though Hagrid's shoulders hunching deeper and deeper as the search went on, Flynn didn't know for sure whether he was getting frustrated or just tired.

At a certain point, after being unable to find any more drops for the past ten minutes, Hagrid let out a heavy sigh and tossed his crossbow onto his shoulder.

"Alrigh' then," he said. "I think we've done enough here. I'd say if a unicorn was hurt, but still had the energy to run for as long as we've been trailin' it, it should be somewhat fine. I did promise te get us back before night, so let's-"

There was no sound to warn him, but the sudden flash in Hagrid's eyes made Flynn whirl around and raise his wand.

He didn't have the time to process what he saw, before his mouth started to form a familiar chant, but the familiar glint of sharp metal pointed directly at him was enough for him to let go of any hesitation.

"Flipendo!" he shouted.

There was a loud crack, and a flash of light, but it was muffled and muted by the giant hand that had closed itself around the end of Flynn's wand.

Hagrid let out a grunt and a hiss of pain as he pulled his hand away from Flynn's wand, wincing as he cradled it gently in his other.

"Got sum power there, Flynn," he said, letting out a weak laugh through gritted teeth. "That might bruise something good in the mornin."

"Hagrid," the creature standing a few feet away from them said. "You have quite the energetic friend there."

"Might've been less energetic if you didn't greet us with the business end of an arrow, Firenze," Hagrid grunted. "What did ya have to do that fer?"

Though the stoic expression on the creature's face didn't twitch, he nodded and lowered his bow and arrow to the ground and slowly released the tension drawn behind the string. Flynn glared at it, and though he thought that he saw the horse-man glance in his direction for a split second, the horse-man was quick to return his attention to Hagrid.

"I apologize," the creature said. "I heard you approaching, but wasn't sure if you were a friend, or if you were a foe. I hadn't been expecting you to arrive so soon."

"Ye were expecting us?" Hagrid asked.

"It was written in the stars," the creature said. "That an evil would touch upon this land, and that a benevolent force would cleanse it. Perhaps it is not you that the stars speak of, but regardless of what they say, I would only assume that the castle is aware of the dangers that lurk within its forests and that you would be sent to investigate it."

"Well, you assumed right," Hagrid said. "Dumbledore's sent us on a search for whatever's been hunting the unicorns in the forest, and we were following a trail of blood when we ran into ye. Any chance ye've seen it?"

In place of an answer, Firenze spun on the spot, shuffling around with his hooves with a surprising amount of dexterity for a creature of his size, and started to walk away.

"Come," he said. "I will lead you to it."

Hagrid and Flynn followed the horse-man closely, since he somehow moved so silently that they might've lost him if otherwise, until they reached a small clearing where a shimmering white horse laid down on a makeshift bed of foliage.

As soon as it saw them arrive, it got startled and jumped to its feet, but Firenze was quick to raise his hands, and whisper something to it that Flynn couldn't quite catch, calming the unicorn enough that it laid back down on its bed of leaves, though it stared wide-eyed and wary at both Hagrid and Flynn.

"Do not approach," Firenze said, turning his body sideways, as if to block the unicorn's sight of them as best as he could, though it was a pointless effort for someone as large as Hagrid. "She is not significantly injured, but she is feeling restless after being attacked by a dark being."

Hagrid bowed at the unicorn, and hunched his shoulders together, as if he was trying to make himself look smaller.

"It's good te hear you're not injured," Hagrid said, talking past Firenze, to the unicorn itself. "I won't ask ye te let me touch ye myself, seeing as yer already in good hands already, but the people from the castle gave me some ointments that might help with the dark stuff, though I s'ppose Firenze already has that covered."

"As a matter of fact, I do not," Firenze said. "Your ointments are very much appreciated, Hagrid."

"I thought ye centaur folks had yer own brand of magical medicines," Hagrid said.

"We do, but our medicines, as potent as they may be, are designed to heal us from any maladies that the forest and her creatures may inflict upon us," Firenze said. "Though it may be difficult to admit, we do not have much knowledge in treating wounds caused by the dark magicks of man."

Immediately, Flynn saw Hagrid tense up and a quiet creaking noise echoed in the clearing, as Hagrid clenched his fists together.

"A wizard did this?" he asked, his voice quieter, but somehow much more intense than Flynn had ever heard from him before.

"It is very likely," Firenze said, his stoic expression not changing at all at Hagrid's reaction. "Though her injury was shallow, she continues to bleed despite the wound being inflicted more than two days ago, and the stain of dark magic that remains on her body has caused the rest of her herd to cast her out in fear. She has been isolated, and is constantly leaving a trail of blood for her assailant to track. Such an injury speaks of a malicious creativity that a dark wizard might produce."

"Nothing else could've done it?" Hagrid asked.

Firenze shook his head slowly. "There are many creatures with similar capabilities," he said. "But rarely will a creature of the wild partake in the blood of a unicorn. The damage to the soul would outweigh any short term benefits that would be achieved by feasting on the life of such a pure creature, though I suppose that also applies to dark wizards. Perhaps I was hasty in my judgement."

Hagrid opened his mouth, but snapped it shut immediately to shake his head.

"Doesn't matter what did or didn't do it, righ' now," he said. "We'll get the smarter folks back at the castle to think about it later. What matters now is makin' sure that this young'un is safe and healthy. Could ye try the ointments I brought ye, and see if they help?"

Hagrid slowly pulled out a small cloth bag from his pocket, pausing when he saw the unicorn flinching and only continuing after Firenze calmed her down with a few shushed whispers. Moving slowly as he could manage, Hagrid passed the cloth bag to Firenze and barely even breathed as the horse-man took it and walked over to the unicorn. Though the bag contained a wide assortment of bottles, the horse-man seemed to know what he was doing, inspecting each of the bottles and either placing it down on the floor or putting it back into the bag.

Once he seemed satisfied with the bottles that he had chosen, he opened them one by one and held them out to the unicorn, letting the creature sniff it carefully while whispering something gently at it. When he finally dipped his fingers into the bottle, and rubbed the ointment onto the unicorn's open wound, the creature flinched, but relaxed almost immediately afterwards.

A few minutes passed as Firenze applied the chosen ointments, he inspected the wound again before walking back to Hagrid and Flynn.

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"While the ointments have soothed the pain somewhat, the wound continues to bleed and stink of cursed magic," he said.

Hagrid nodded, and after a moment of thought, he turned to the unicorn.

"Do ye think ye'd be able to convince her te come closer te the castle?" Hagrid asked. "I don't know nothing 'bout dispelling curses and such, but I'm certain Dumbledore will know something."

Firenze's frown deepened, but he nodded regardless.

"I will see what I can do," he said.

Walking back to the unicorn, he had a short and unintelligible conversation with it before the unicorn stood up and glared warily at them.

"She has agreed to approach the castle, but refuses to exit the forest," Firenze said. "Though your ointments have earned you some of her trust, she is still wary of wizards and is only agreeing to your suggestion because she wishes to reunite with her herd as soon as possible."

"Tha's fair enough," Hagrid said, smiling gently at the unicorn despite the shaking fists that he had clenched behind his back. "I only hope ye can go back te your family soon, young'un."

The unicorn didn't reply verbally, but she did toss her head back, flipping her mane back with a tangible attitude that was way too haughty to belong on a horse.

"She does not appreciate being called, young one," Firenze said. "She has long since been weaned off her mother's milk and is on a complete diet of shrubs and grasses."

Hagrid chuckled. "Oh, is that so?" he said. "In that case, I humbly apologize, Madam."

The unicorn let out a huff.

Flynn was grateful that he managed to navigate the forest well enough that the rest of the group didn't have to slow down on his account, but they still moved slow enough that night had fallen completely by the time they made it close to the edge of the forest, and the unicorn stopped in its tracks, refusing to take another step forward.

"We're almost there," Hagrid said, mumbling in a way that it seemed like he was talking more to himself than he was to anyone else in the group. "Flynn, once we get te the edge of the forest, can I trust ye to get word to Dumbledore?"

"You're not going?" Flynn asked.

"Someone's got te stay with Firenze and the fine lady, in case something attacks again," Hagrid said. "And if something does happen, I'd rather if ye weren't around te get hurt."

"I can handle myself," Flynn said, with a grunt. "But it might be annoying for me to dodge the Prefects and Filch while I try to find Dumbledore."

"Didn't I get permission for ye to be out and about past curfew, whenever yer helping me out?"

"You did, but that doesn't mean they won't be annoying about it," Flynn said.

Hagrid thought about it for a moment before nodding.

"I hear ya," he said. "Well, in that case, ye'd know what's best suited for ye. Filch tends te bother me too whenever he can, but I s'ppose the young prefects won't try te stop me. The idea of leaving ye in the forest does bother me, somewhat, but at least I know ye pack a punch with yer spells."

In response to the praise, Flynn didn't have to think twice about denying it immediately, shaking his head.

"Don't humour me, Hagrid," he said. "If you really wanted to help the horse, you wouldn't even ask. You think I'm stupid enough to think that I'm the better choice to stay behind?"

Hagrid gave Flynn a sheepish smile.

"Well, I thought that maybe ye'd have more tricks up yer sleeve, being a Hogwarts student and all. Been a while since I've been in school and te be honest, I was never too good at it in the first place."

"I barely know shit," Flynn growled, upset that he was being forced to admit it out loud. "Besides you blocked my best spell with your hand without even flinching, and I doubt I'm strong enough to use your crossbow."

"I'm pretty sure I flinched at least a little," Hagrid said, though he didn't seem too confident about it.

Flynn grumbled something unintelligible before turning around and heading towards the castle.

Jogging into the castle, Flynn kept his footsteps light as he headed towards Dumbledore's office, peeking around every corner to make sure that he wouldn't run into any prefects or Filch. Thankfully, other than a single small detour to avoid a pair of quiet voices travelling down a dark hallway, he made his way to the stone gargoyle that stood in front of Dumbledore's office.

It was at that moment that Flynn realized that he had no idea what to do from this point on. Even though he was standing close to where Dumbledore might be, he doubted that he could just walk in uninvited. On a whim, he raised his hand and knocked on the gargoyle's chest, but other than an unamused glance, it gave him no other indication that it would move for him. But even though it refused to move for him with just a knock, the confirmation that it was sentient, like most of the other objects in the castle, gave Flynn hope that he could at least reason with it.

"I need to talk to Dumbledore," he said, locking eyes with the gargoyle.

Unfortunately, the gargoyle's only response was to break eye contact and look away, pretending to be inanimate once more.

"Hey, asshole," Flynn said. "Don't you fucking ignore me."

When the gargoyle refused to move any more, even when Flynn kicked at it with a heavy stomp, Flynn decided that talking to it might not be a viable option, but with how loosely it covered the opening behind it, he had to assume that Dumbledore's office might not be completely soundproofed.

Though he still had Filch and the prefects to worry about, he could only hope that Dumbledore would come out to meet him before they could be attracted by his shouting.

"Dumbledore!" Flynn shouted, as loud as he could. "Open up! Hagrid needs your help with something!"

The gargoyle's lips twisted slightly in an annoyed grimace, but it did nothing to stop him so Flynn continued to shout, ignoring the portraits and ghosts who wandered by to see what the commotion was about. He could hear them murmuring and gossipping around him, but he paid them no attention and continued to shout at Dumbledore's office, hoping that his voice would reach him.

It took about five minutes for the gargoyle to shift to the side, giving Flynn a scowl before it did, to reveal a spiral staircase that led upwards. Before Flynn could think to go up it, he heard soft footsteps travelling down and so he waited.

When Dumbledore reached the bottom of the staircase, he greeted Flynn with a small smile that showed more in his eyes than it did in the curl of his lips.

"Good evening, Mr. Fredericton," he said. "It's been a while since I've been woken up in such a lively manner."

Though Dumbledore trailed off, like he was going to continue the thought, he never did and simply stared at Flynn expectantly.

"Hagrid sent me to get you," Flynn said. "We found an injured unicorn, and whatever medicine we brought with us isn't working. A horse-man, Firenze, said that it was probably a dark wizard that hurt it."

Though Dumbledore's lips remained curled upwards, the smile in his eyes faded immediately. He remained silent for a few seconds before letting out a low chuckle, though it sounded dry.

"I would suggest not referring to a centaur as a horse-man, at least within their earshot," Dumbledore said, with a wink. "They can be very peculiar about that sort of thing, and it would be wise to keep them as friends if you want to continue visiting the forbidden forest."

Flynn nodded, but frowned when he realized that Dumbledore wasn't addressing the immediate issue.

"So are you coming to the forest, or not?" Flynn asked.

Surprisingly, Dumbledore shook his head and pulled out his wand instead. "I'm afraid that despite Hagrid's faith in me, I am not the best choice for solving every problem. Though some may know me as the leading expert in Dark Magicks, it's more in a capacity of combatting them rather than understanding them. Thankfully, I have the habit of surrounding myself with excellent staff who can make up for my many shortcomings, though I won't deny the possibility that one of those shortcomings is the fact that my legs refuse to run as well as they used to."

Instead of elaborating, Dumbledore raised his wand, swirling his wand around in a complicated sequence before whispering the words, "Expecto Patronum" into the air.

Flynn watched as a silvery shimmering bird erupted from the tip of Dumbledore's wand and quickly flew down the hall, leaving what looked like silvery wisps of flame in a trail behind it.

"Professor Snape shall meet you out on the grounds, Mr. Fredericton," Dumbledore said, as he smiled down at Flynn. "Hopefully, we can resolve this all quickly, so you can head to bed as soon as you can. Many of my Professors love to brag about how attentive and studious you are in their classes, and I'd hate it if I were the reason for you to fall asleep in any class that doesn't belong to Professor Binns."

Though it was still a Saturday, and he doubted that he wouldn't be able to recover any lost sleep by Monday, he didn't see any point in arguing. With a nod, Flynn ran off towards the school grounds, and only ended up waiting for about five minutes before Snape ran out of the gates and spotted him.

Flynn didn't bother to say anything to Snape. Already knowing his role, Flynn jogged towards the spot that they'd left the unicorn in, making sure to run slow enough that Snape could still keep up.

Though it had gotten dark enough that it might've been impossible to spot the hiding place if it weren't for Hagrid's towering figure waving at them as he held a lantern up in the air.

"Glad te see ye, Flynn, Professor Snape," Hagrid said.

"Where is it?" Snape asked, not bothering to return the greeting.

"It's jus' past these here bushes," Hagrid said. "Just make sure not to approach too aggressively. She's jumpy as it is."

"I am no oaf, Hagrid," Snape grumbled. "I employ delicacy wherever I can, in all things. How does she prefer to be called?"

"O' course, Professor," Hagrid said, with a nod. "She's a young'un, but she prefers te be called a lady."

After Snape nodded at him in thanks, Hagrid held back the bushes for them to walk past. True to his word, Snape entered the clearing with his head bowed in respect and his eyes glued to the floor.

"Greetings, my lady," Snape said. "My name is Severus Snape, and I was called here to assist you in your plight. I am quite versed in the intricacies of dark magic, and am the Master of Potions at Hogwarts, and am a licensed emergency healer, as certified by St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, giving me a unique insight to what might be plaguing you. I hope that you would give me the honour of diagnosing and treating the wounds that have befallen your fair flesh."

From his spot next to the unicorn, Firenze frowned.

"Dumbledore sent a male professor?" he asked.

Though Snape twitched slightly, he kept his head down in a deep bow. "Is that a problem?" he asked.

"It very well may be," Firenze replied. "Though unicorns may grow to trust anyone, given enough time, they have their preference for who they will allow to touch them. They are typically adverse to the touch of adult men, unless-"

"I am very well aware of the specific preferences that unicorns hold," Snape said. Though Flynn couldn't see Snape's expression, with how deep he was bowing, it sounded like he was speaking through gritted teeth for some reason. "I assure you that I was sent here for a reason."

Firenze stared blankly at Snape, before glancing down at the unicorn who, though she was still cautious, didn't seem too put off by Snape's introduction.

"I see," Firenze said. "I humbly apologize."

"Don't mention it," Snape hissed out, stressing each individual word before standing up and giving both Flynn and Hagrid a glare, for some reason that Hagrid seemed to be aware of, even if Flynn had no idea what Snape was talking about.

Watching Snape work was both impressive and anti-climatic. After approaching the unicorn, he knelt down to inspect the wound for about two seconds before his eyes went wide and he reached for something inside his robes. When the unicorn twitched at the sudden movement, he apologized before pulling out his wand. After asking for her permission to cast a spell, and receiving a hesitant nod from the unicorn, Snape waved his wand around and slid it over the wound, sealing it up almost instantly. Without even bothering to inspect his work, he stood up, bowed to the unicorn and walked away, sweeping his long flowing black robes behind him.

As Snape walked past Hagrid and Flynn, Hagrid raised his hand, as if to pat Snape on the shoulder, but seemed to change his mind quickly when Snape gave him a glare that promised death.

When they left the forest, Hagrid silently slinked away from the group as fast as possible to head towards his hut, while Snape and Flynn continued towards the castle in silence.

The sound of something akin to the melodic ring of metal of wind chimes mixed with the loud whinny of a horse echoed suddenly in the air, making Flynn and Snape turn simultaneously towards the source of the sound instinctively.

Standing in the courtyard, just barely outside the edge of the forest, the unicorn stared out at them for a moment, before turning around, sweeping its mane dramatically behind it before disappearing back into the forest. They stared out towards the spot that it disappeared to for a few more seconds before turning back around and walking towards the castle, neither of them caring enough to discuss what had happened.

Once they got into the castle, Snape spoke.

"Do you need to be escorted to the Slytherin dorms?" he asked.

"No," Flynn said simply.

"Then be off," Snape said.

"Alright," Flynn said.