Seventh Horcrux

Harry Potter vs. Remus Lupin (Pt. 2)

"We are breaking so many rules right now," Hermione fretted. "Out after curfew, out of bounds, walking around in the Forbidden Forest…"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Don't be such a stick in the mud, Hermione."

"This is a real problem, Ronald!" she cried. "Oh, and that isn't even getting into the morality of this…"

"We're hunting unicorns," I said. "What could possibly be immoral about that?"

"Hunting," she said grimly as we trudged through the forest.

"Well, it's not like we're killing them. Would you feel better if I said we were looking for unicorns?"

She huffed. "I don't know why we're doing this in the first place."

I heaved a heavy sigh. "We've been over this. Hagrid burned down half of the Forbidden Forest a couple of years ago with his evil dragon. That means we're twice as likely to find unicorns."

"But why?"

I abruptly stopped walking. Ron oafishly bumped into me, possibly because I was once again using my invisibility cloak as a regular cloak. I stared at my favorite minion. "Are you telling me you don't want a unicorn? Dear Merlin, Hermione, what kind of little girl are you? Do you even have a soul?"

She seemed unsure of how to respond, descending into sullen silence. I grinned as we continued our walk through the forest. "Now, let's go over the plan. Ron, you'll be bait."

"I don't think I like being bait," Ron said, glancing at the shadows in search of man-eating spiders.

"It's only a unicorn. Don't be a Hufflepuff," I said.

Attempting to lend some degree of comfort, I reached over to pat him on the shoulder. He shrieked. Ah right, my arm was still invisible because of the cloak. I'd take it off, but it was bound to wear down before graduation, so I hoped to get some use from it while I still could.

"Can't Hermione be bait?" Ron whined.

"No, unicorns only come to the pure of heart. She doesn't have a soul, remember?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Hermione snapped. "Really, why is having a unicorn so important, anyway?"

I sighed and reminded myself once again that my companions were still very young and naïve. "One day, Hermione, you're going to wake up and realize that you're nothing but an angry old man lashing out at everyone who reminds you of how miserable you are. And you'll think to yourself: If only I had seen just one beautiful thing. If only I could have found proof that the world wasn't entirely horrible and corrupt. If only I had seen a unicorn."

"…Okay, we can look for unicorns," Hermione mumbled.

I beamed, slinging a still-invisible arm around her shoulder. "I knew you would see things my way. Now, all we have to do is –"

"Stop!" a voice shouted from behind us. "Don't go any farther."

I cursed as Professor Lupin jogged over to us. The werewolf had followed us into the forest. At this rate, we would never find a unicorn.

"I told you we shouldn't do this," Hermione hissed.

"Oh, we'll be fine." I'd have disappeared under my cloak and continued the search, but I didn't trust Hermione to cover for me. Besides, I couldn't leave without my unicorn bait.

Lupin said, "I've finally found you. Now, where's Miss Weasley?"

"Ron's right over there," I said, pointing at him with an invisible arm.