Harry and Draco's banter ultimately ended without a clear winner. Hagrid, holding a lantern and leading his large black dog Fang, walked out of the small cabin. He nodded gently at Harry and then turned to the two young wizards present to give them a warning.
"Recently, there have been incidents in the Forbidden Forest where unicorns have been harmed. The main purpose of going into the Forbidden Forest today is to investigate what is causing the harm to the unicorns."
"This is very dangerous, so you must pay attention to your safety."
Harry was initially a bit nervous, but as soon as he remembered that Draco Malfoy was right next to him, he quickly hid his anxiety. No matter what, he couldn't let Malfoy see him make a fool of himself.
Draco, however, couldn't hold back, "Something that harms unicorns?!"
"This is too dangerous! I want to go back; my dad won't agree to me going."
Hagrid snorted dismissively, "This is the confinement set by Professor Dumbledore, and Professor Snape has agreed to it. You can have your dad talk to them."
Draco gritted his teeth and closed his mouth. The person his dad feared the most right now was Dumbledore, and Professor Snape was his dad's partner.
The fact that both of them agreed to this confinement meant that… there was no room for negotiation for him this time.
Listening to Hagrid's words, Lin Yue's mind was also quickly analyzing the situation. Something that harms unicorns—unicorns possess very powerful magical abilities, and ordinary adult wizards cannot contend with them alone. This means that whatever is in the Forbidden Forest right now is very powerful.
Slowly and mechanically turning to look at the Forbidden Forest, Lin Yue recalled Hagrid's next words. This confinement was set by Professor Dumbledore, which means that the person who hopes Harry Potter will go into the Forbidden Forest to see what there is Professor Dumbledore.
Lin Yue concluded without any emotional fluctuations, which also indicated that Harry Potter would be safe. After all, Professor Dumbledore would never harm Harry Potter. As for what he hoped Harry would see in the Forbidden Forest, it should be that thing that harmed the unicorns.
In just a few seconds, Lin Yue had already sorted out almost all the truths in her mind. Hagrid, Harry, and Draco were all ready, with Hagrid leading the way as they headed into the Forbidden Forest.
Lin Yue and Hermione followed behind them, cloaked in invisibility. Hermione bit her lip, feeling Lin Yue's warmth beside her, and couldn't help but feel a bit nervous.
"Lin Yue... what do you think that thing that harms unicorns in the Forbidden Forest could be?"
Lin Yue didn't sense Hermione's anxiety at all. She spoke in a calm tone, summarizing the facts, "I don't know what the thing that harms unicorns is."
"But the fact that it can harm unicorns proves that it is very powerful and very evil."
Hermione shivered, clearly agreeing with Lin Yue's words. She took a deep breath to calm herself and pulled out her wand.
Next to her, Lin Yue had her wand ready in her right hand, always prepared to respond to any possible emergencies.
At first, everything was calm as they walked around the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. However, as they ventured deeper, the path they had been following split into two smaller trails.
Hagrid looked at Harry with some difficulty, "Harry, we might have to split up."
"What?!" Before Harry could speak, Draco was the first to shout in disbelief, "Are we going to be alone in the Forbidden Forest?!"
Harry felt annoyed by the shouting of the guy next to him. He turned to Draco and sneered, "What's wrong? Are you scared, Malfoy?"
"Who’s scared?!" Draco forced himself to glare at Harry fiercely. "You're the one who's scared, you filthy Potty!"
Harry twitched the corner of his mouth and turned to Hagrid. "No problem, we can split up and search faster."
Hagrid nodded and handed a lantern to Harry. "If anything happens, just shoot up red fireworks into the sky."
"Okay." Harry took the lantern from Hagrid and agreed.
Draco glanced down at the imposing Fang and quickly spoke up, "We need Fang to follow us."
Hagrid handed Fang's leash to Draco. "Alright, but I have to warn you, he's quite timid."
After giving a few more reminders, Hagrid headed down the small path to the left, while Harry and Draco took Fang down the small path to the right.
Lin Yue and Hermione, cloaked in invisibility, followed them. Lin Yue scanned her surroundings with vacant eyes; although she lacked any spark, she wouldn’t miss any clues.
As they ventured deeper, Lin Yue keenly noticed some faint signs of running and signs of a struggle on the ground.
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Suddenly, she looked up, and before she could say anything, she heard Draco shout in panic. He then dropped Fang's leash and ran away without looking back.
The reason for his escape was right in the clearing ahead of Harry.
Lin Yue looked expressionlessly at the dark figure lying on the ground not far away. In front of the figure was a small pool of silvery blood and a unicorn whose fate was uncertain—whether it was dead or alive.
Just now, Draco's exclamation had clearly caught its attention. The dark figure suddenly raised its head, locking eyes with Harry.
Harry held his breath, drew his wand, and shot a red firework into the sky.
The dark figure quickly lunged towards him, and under the invisibility cloak, both Lin Yue and Hermione instinctively raised their wands.
" Petrificus Totalus!"
"Stupefy!"
The two spells hit the dark figure one after the other, causing it to pause momentarily in place.
Hermione, trembling under the Invisibility Cloak, shouted to Harry, "Harry, run!"
Hearing Hermione's shaky voice beside him, Harry pinched his palm hard to regain his ability to move, and in the next moment, he raised his wand towards the shadow without hesitation.
Run? How could he run! Hermione was still here; Lin Yue was still here; he couldn't abandon his friends and escape.
" Petrificus Totalus!"
Harry cast a petrification spell at the shadow, imitating Hermione, but the effect was not significant. The shadow was clearly enraged, drawing its wand to deflect Harry's spell.
Then, astonishingly, it bypassed him and charged directly towards Hermione and Lin Yue, whose earlier incantations and shouts had already revealed their positions.
Seeing the shadow rushing towards them, Lin Yue didn't need to think. She lifted the Invisibility Cloak and dashed out, firmly shielding Hermione behind her, just like when they encountered the troll back then.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
With her wand tracing circles in the air, her incantation was devoid of any emotional fluctuation. The fallen leaves in the area began to float off the ground, rising into the air and spinning rapidly, encircling Lin Yue, Hermione, and Harry tightly in the center.
The edges of the swiftly moving leaves were as sharp as blades. Lin Yue's wand movements changed quickly, and the leaves gathered into a long dragon, charging towards the shadow.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Spells shot out from the shadow's wand, continuously shattering the dragon made of leaves, but in the next moment, more leaves would immediately fill the gaps.
The shadow roared in anger, and many fallen leaves had already broken through his defenses, leaving countless wounds on his body that felt like cuts from a knife.
It seemed that he was completely enraged, as the frequency of the spells he cast increased. Hermione and Harry could only see flashes of red light mixed with green light in front of them, blinding them.
As the standoff continued, Lin Yue's face quickly turned pale. Her brain was rapidly analyzing the situation under emergency conditions; she recognized the spells the shadow was using: the red one was the Cruciatus Curse, and the green one was the Killing Curse.
If this continued, her magical power would eventually be depleted, and at that point, the three of them would likely be doomed. After dodging a Cruciatus Curse and pushing the shadow back, Lin Yue concluded that the best choice was to act.
Without hesitation, she charged forward, breaking free from the range of the fallen leaves, and collided directly with a red light that was rushing towards her without dodging or evading.
The red light-struck Lin Yue, causing pain—excruciating pain that penetrated to the bone and pierced her heart.
Lin Yue's face remained expressionless, but her feet couldn't help but stumble for a moment.
The shadow let out a mocking laugh, thinking to itself that she was just a little wizard, unable to keep her composure, her magic still insufficient. Now that she had fallen victim to a Cruciatus curse, how could she fight back?
All she could do was lie on the ground and wail! With this thought, the shadow's vigilance completely relaxed.
Unfortunately, what it didn't know was that Lin Yue had long anticipated this reaction, or rather, she had been waiting for the moment when the shadow would let its guard down.
Steadying her footing, she waved her wand towards the sky. Lin Yue's voice was hoarse, yet still calm.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
Four streams of falling leaves rose from the ground around the shadow, fiercely charging towards it.
The shadow looked at Lin Yue, who was still able to stand and even cast such a wide-range spell with disbelief in its eyes.
The four streams of falling leaves were rushing towards it; there was no way to block them, and any one of them that collided head-on would surely result in death.
With a reluctant roar of anger, the shadow's body began to mist, transforming into a cloud of black fog that soared into the air, then attempted to dive back down towards the ground.
Whoosh! A sound sliced through the air as an arrow landed in front of the black fog. Clearly, it was the centaurs arranged by Professor Dumbledore who had arrived.
The black fog paused for a second, then immediately turned and fled without hesitation.
Lin Yue stood in place with a pale face. Although she had only been hit once, the pain throughout her body was still lingering.
She dropped her wand, and with a loud thud, all the fallen leaves lost their support and fluttered down to the ground.
Without the leaves blocking her view, Hermione immediately identified Lin Yue's location, rushed over, and pulled her into the invisibility cloak, looking at her with concern.
"Lin Yue, how are you? You're not hurt, are you?"
Lin Yue hoarsely replied, "I'm not hurt..." There were no injuries on her body, so it was the truth.
"What's wrong with your voice?" Hermione felt a bit relieved to hear Lin Yue say she wasn't hurt, but she couldn't help but worry about her unusually hoarse voice.
It was too dark in the Forbidden Forest, so she couldn't see Lin Yue's pale face; otherwise, she would have probably screamed and dragged her to the hospital wing by now.
"It's fine, it'll be better in a while," Lin Yue answered in a flat tone.
Once the pain subsided, her voice would naturally recover.
"Alright," Hermione said, biting her lip, and fell silent. Hagrid and the centaur had already arrived.
When Harry was simultaneously asked about the situation by Hagrid and the centaur, he casually made up a story about what had just happened, but his gaze kept darting towards the spot where Lin Yue and Hermione were. He was genuinely worried about how Lin Yue and Hermione were doing.
The centaur, worried that Harry was frightened, let Harry ride on his back and quickly took him out of the Forbidden Forest along with Hagrid. Lin Yue and Hermione, on the other hand, slowly walked towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest while cloaked in invisibility.
Her legs felt weak, and her feet felt unsteady. Lin Yue had never felt her body so powerless before. Even though she was weak and in pain, there was no change in her expression; her face was calm and steady.
Finally, they exited the Forbidden Forest, and Lin Yue's breathing became uncontrollably heavy. However, Hermione, due to the sound of the wind around them, did not hear it.
"Hermione, you go back first. You can let Harry know I'm safe," Lin Yue said in a hoarse voice, her tone indifferent. Her mind was racing with thoughts amidst waves of intense pain, urging Hermione to leave first.
"I'll take you back to the Ravenclaw tower," Hermione shook her head. She didn't want to leave Lin Yue here.
"The professor won't catch me," Lin Yue said in a hoarse, flat voice. "You go back first. You can let Harry and Ron know I'm safe."
Hermione glanced at Hogwarts Castle, then lowered her gaze. Indeed... if she didn't go back, after Harry returned and told Ron the specifics, they would likely think something had happened to her and Lin Yue. If they had to go find the professor then... Harry would probably end up in detention, and she and Lin Yue would also lose points.
"Alright, then I'll go back and tell Harry and the others. You be careful and get back to the dormitory quickly."
"Okay." Lin Yue replied without any fluctuation in her tone.
Hermione, cloaked in invisibility, hurriedly left, while Lin Yue stood at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, reaching out to steady herself against a nearby tree. Her face was pale, and she was sweating profusely. Lin Yue stumbled as she leaned against the tree, inching her way toward Hogwarts Castle.
Even though she was already accustomed to pain, the agony from the Cruciatus Curse was still too much for her. However, it could be said that it was fortunate she had grown used to pain; otherwise, she would have collapsed without any ability to resist the moment the curse struck her.
Step by step, she made her way into Hogwarts Castle, leaning against the wall as she slowly climbed the stairs. The pace of her ascent seemed to slow down, as if afraid that moving too quickly would cause this frail child to topple over.
After hoarsely answering the question at the door knocker, Lin Yue finally entered the common room and slowly crawled up the last flight of stairs. She opened the dormitory door, walked to her bed, and without even taking off her shoes and socks, she collapsed directly onto the bed.