Descendant of Hogwarts

Chapter 12: Forbidden Forest

I can honestly say that this forest is the scariest place on the planet. As Hagrid, Draco, Ron, Hermione, my brother, Fang, and I are walking through the Forbidden Forest, I look around our surroundings and they are very bare. The only thing around us is eighty-foot tall trees and dead grass underneath all of our feet. Hard crunching noises are made as we step on dead leaves and sticks that for some reason are still here since autumn. A dense fog is keeping me from being able to see further than thirty feet in front of us. Even with Hagrid carrying a large lantern, the fog stays around the forest and keeps us from catching glimpses inside of it. The fog isn't the only natural phenomenon that makes this forest creepy. In fact, the complete pitch black darkness is another factor that makes me want to run all the way back to Hogwarts. In order to feel some security, I push myself into my big brother's side as much as possible and he wraps his left arm around my shoulders as we continue to walk behind Hagrid.

We keep walking in complete silence until we reach a more lively part of the forest. By 'more lively' I literally mean where there are some green bushes and some green grass. For the most part, however, everything is still dead and still creepy. Hagrid stops a few feet ahead of us and sets his crossbow next to a turned over dead tree, also known as a log with its roots still attached. I pull my heavier cloak closer around me as I watch the half-giant kneel down on the ground. Confusion crosses over me as I notice that Hagrid's body is blocking my view of what he is looking at. Stepping away from my brother's side, I move to the right side of the group to only stop and cover my mouth with my hand as a gasp escapes my lips. There is a giant pool of silver liquid on the dirt floor! I know that that doesn't sound scary or sad but my mind instantly goes back to the book that I just recently finished. The book was about unicorns and apparently in the wizarding world...they...are...REAL!!!! Godric, I was so excited over that fact so I read the entire book in two days. The unicorn is the purest being in the world.

"What's wrong, Ana?" Draco worriedly asks me and momentarily I forget about what transpired earlier. I hug him tightly as I try to force the horrendous thoughts and images out of my head. There can be only two possible reasons as to why there is unicorn blood on the ground in that large of quantity, and they are two possibilities that I don't want to think about.

"Hagrid? What is that?" I hear my brother ask the man, as I feel someone's presence coming closer to me. The feeling of someone's hand rubbing slow circles on my back makes me look over and I realize that it is my brother. He continues to watch Hagrid as I hear the man standing up from his kneeling position by the crunching of the leaves.

"This is why we are here. See this? This is unicorn blood," Hagrid says and I feel my brother's hand stop its movements while Draco's arms tighten their grip around me.

"Is this why you're crying, Ana? You knew it was unicorn blood," Draco whispers in my ear and I nod my head. Pulling away from him, I wipe away the tears that I didn't know I shed and look at my fellow Slytherin. Suddenly, all of the scenes that transpired earlier that made us come here in the first place comes running into the front of my mind. Quickly, I turn away from Draco and walk over to Hermione, who still has her mouth opened after learning that the liquid is blood from a unicorn.

"I found a dead one a few weeks back," Hagrid continues his reason for us being out here, "This one appears to be hurt badly."

Right as he finished that sentence, I hear some rustling of bushes but it isn't coming from the light breeze that is passing through. I turn my head to my right I notice a dark outline of a cloaked figure walking through the trees. Jumping a few inches in the air, I look around to see if anyone has seen what I just saw. Thankfully, I notice that my brother is looking over in the same direction that I was previously looking. He turns to look at me with wide green eyes and I nod my head slowly as a silent way of saying that I saw the same thing.