Harry Potter: Miss Malfoy

"Is this how all centaurs talk?"

"Who knows. I heard they are great stargazers, and maybe their heads are a little different."

Hahaha, just like an astrologer."

"Master of Astronomy?"

"It's a profession in the Muggle world. It seems that you can predict the future by looking at the stars."

"It sounds a lot like divination..."

"Do wizards also do divination? Aren't they just a bunch of liars or psychopaths?"

"Do you think that person just now is different?"

"You really are good at cursing in a roundabout way, Malfoy."

"You were the first to say liar and psychopath, Potter."

Sometimes, when the awkward silence disappears, it will be replaced by warmth that fills the gap.

After leaving Luo Nan, on the way towards the depths of the forest, Harry and Draco finally broke the silence and talked in low voices with laughter.

"Actually, I always thought that we couldn't talk properly like this."

"Especially after Christmas Eve."

Harry suddenly whispered seriously, causing Draco to stop and watch quietly.

"I just... just thought this would be nice."

Harry suddenly hesitated.

It seemed that she was a little embarrassed by Draco's clear eyes.

"I told you, sometimes you feel... "

"How about Mingming?"

Draco half-closed his eyes and asked anxiously.

"It's obviously...it's very good."

Harry's eyes wandered and his voice became smaller and smaller.

Listening to Harry's frankness, Draco was stunned and turned his head away, hiding his slightly shy expression.

"Let's go...let's go."

He paused for a moment, urging Harry to set off again.

At the same time, I said silently in my heart.

"Don't keep playing the devil's advocate. It's obviously good too."

"I'm not singing a different tune!"

But she opened her eyes wide in astonishment when she heard Harry's defense.

Only then did I realize that I had accidentally blurted out what was in my heart.

The blush on her pretty face deepened, but her shy expression turned into embarrassment, igniting her anger.

She was torn between the shyness of revealing her true feelings and the feeling of blaming Harry for eavesdropping, and stared at Harry for a long while.

I could only stamp my feet heavily, bite my lips, and hum softly.

He turned around and ran straight into the depths of the woods.

"Hey!"

Harry's hurried footsteps rose behind him, accompanied by calls.

Yaya, who had been sitting quietly on the ground and watching the two of them, let out a helpless low growl and ran away.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, Harry finally couldn't help but rush forward and grabbed Draco's shoulders tightly.

Draco was filled with shame and anger when he was touched inexplicably.

As he turned around, he swung his hand hard, knocked Harry's hand off, and glared at him fiercely.

"You—!!!"

Before he could finish his words, Harry couldn't believe it and covered his cheek with his palm.

The rude action made Draco lose his mind instantly.

He was so angry that he couldn't speak. He raised his hand and was about to slap Harry, only to find that his face looked extremely nervous.

Only then did he realize that Yaya was huddled at Harry's feet, trembling.

Draco's eyes met Harry's, and in Harry's eyes he slowly regained his composure.

Harry slowly let go of his hand, looking apologetically behind Draco.

I turned around quietly and realized that the tree trunks two body lengths away in front of me were covered with sticky silver liquid.

When he smelled the unicorn's blood, Draco felt a wave of sadness in his heart.

Looking forward, I saw a figure emitting a faint white light lying in the empty woods—

The sad corpse of a unicorn.

-

Draco was so frightened that he dared not move. His mind was seduced by the smell of blood and tears welled up in the corners of his eyes unconsciously.

Seeing this, Harry quickly took two steps forward and hid in front of Draco.

But at the same time Harry was taking action, a black shadow in a robe suddenly and slowly emerged from not far in front of the left side of the two of them.

Draco and Harry looked at each other and both recognized the human figure they had seen not long ago.

The black shadow suddenly crouched, covered with a hood, and slowly crawled towards the unicorn's corpse.

Then, it slowly moved its head onto the unicorn's wound and greedily sucked its blood.

In the quiet forest, only the gnawing sounds of black shadows sucking blood were left, and the atmosphere was eerie and strange.

Draco and Harry were already too frightened to move.

Yaya kept backing away, but still stayed by the two men's side, enduring her fear.

It wasn't until the shadow raised his head, his eyes glowing red under the hood, and blood oozing from the corners of his mouth, that Draco suddenly came back to his senses.

He pulled out his wand with trembling hands, pointed it into the air, and shot out red sparks.

The sudden flash of light also attracted the attention of the black shadow.

"Go! Go!!!"

Draco screamed in shock, almost crying, and Yaya also howled and ran quickly back the way he came.

It was not until Draco ran two steps that he realized Harry had not caught up with him, so he quickly turned around.

Harry was shocked to find himself kneeling motionless, trembling all over.

He supported himself on the ground with his left hand and covered the scar on his forehead with his right hand.

The cloaked man lowered his head again nonchalantly and took a big gulp of the unicorn's blood.

Then, slowly, the pale hands beneath the robe lifted up the body of the unicorn.

He seemed to be about to stand up and face Harry.

Deep down in Draco's heart, he was already screaming with fear and confusion.

His body involuntarily ran to the kneeling Harry.

"Get up quickly!!!"

Despite the repeated exclamations, Harry remained motionless and half fell to the ground.

Draco had no choice but to half-crouch down, holding Harry with his trembling left hand.

At the same time, he found the courage from nowhere and pointed the wand in his right hand at the ghostly shadow.

"This young lady...this young lady is warning you in the name of the Malfoy family!"

"No...don't come over here!"

He spoke in a harsh voice, but he couldn't control the chattering of his teeth, nor could he hide the sobs that were almost frightened to tears.

Fortunately, the name of the Malfoy family seemed to intimidate the shadow.

The cloaked figure hesitated.

"Are you...are you okay?"

Draco asked hurriedly in a low voice, but Harry just broke out in a cold sweat.

"Scar...pain..."

He could only utter single words incoherently, obviously in too much pain.

Draco was anxious, but there was nothing he could do, so he could only helplessly soothe Harry's back.

The trembling wand was still pointed at the unicorn's corpse, and his eyes never left the shadow.

After a moment, to Draco's horror, the shadow stood up.

"what!!!!!"

Harry roared in pain and curled up on the ground.

Draco could only bite his lip, not knowing what to do, and secretly cursing why Hagrid didn't show up.

The black-robed figure took another step forward. Draco struggled to get up, but found that his legs were already sore and weak.

He had no choice but to maintain a half-kneeling position and slowly move in front of Harry, who was almost unconscious.

The wand was still pointed threateningly.

The black shadow moved and was about to pounce on him.

Draco closed his eyes nervously and mumbled the spell Severus had taught him.

At the critical moment, a burst of hurried horse hooves sounds suddenly came from behind.

Draco quickly lowered his head and caught a glimpse of a tall figure swooping out, with its front hooves raised high, and slamming into the black shadow.

Using the shadow, I saw the black figure in a panic, turning around and running away.

Then, the centaur figure approached and spoke softly.

-

"Are you okay?"

Draco then slowly raised his head, and was shocked by the Centaur's blue eyes.

He realized that his left hand was still on Harry's back, so he quickly pulled it away.

There were still traces of cold sweat on Harry's palms, which had soaked his robes.

The centaur knelt down on its front hooves and looked at Harry worriedly.

After Harry slowly regained consciousness, he turned to look at Draco.

He frowned heavily in worry.

"The Potter boy, and the Malfoy girl?"

"You'd better get out of here quickly. Can you ride a horse? It's faster this way."

Unlike Luo Nan, the man in front of him spoke fluently.

Without waiting for the two men to reply, the centaur squatted down and let the two men sit on his back.

Harry sat astride the front, gently supporting the centaur's waist and back.

Draco sat back with his hands on Harry's shoulders.

"I'm Firenze."

After making sure the two were seated securely, Firenze introduced himself to them.

At the same time, he muttered a few words in a low voice, turned quickly, took a detour, and walked towards the edge.

"I'm sorry, I have to take a detour."

"My compatriot, Bane, he is ahead."

"He just ran into Hagrid and there seemed to be a bit of a conflict."

"If he sees me letting a human ride now, it won't end well."

Firenze said this as he drove.

"You...you want to help us?"

Harry asked through gritted teeth, enduring the aftereffects of a splitting headache.

He was hesitating whether he should turn back to check on Draco.

Her hands on her shoulders were still trembling.

He kept his head down and said nothing.

"Yes."

While Harry was still hesitating, Firenze spoke slowly, but his steps only became faster.

"Bane believes that the Centaurs should abide by the oath not to reveal the prophecy."

"But I believe that we must fight against the evil that lurks in the forest."

"You also saw what happened to the unicorn."

Firenze suddenly turned sharply, causing Harry and Draco to lose their balance.

Harry had no choice but to hold Firenze's waist tightly with his left hand, and quickly grabbed Draco with his right hand and pulled her towards him.

"Feel sorry..."

He remembered that she came from a prominent family and had been touched by him several times tonight, so he quickly apologized.

"No...it's okay..."

"Thank you... thank you..."

Hearing Draco's soft response, his voice tinged with sobs.

Thinking of how she stayed and stood in front of him when he was in danger, he couldn't help but feel confused.

At the same time, a sour warmth flashed through my heart.

Before I could say thank you, I heard Draco's weak voice coming from behind me.

"You...do you know what unicorn blood is good for, Firenze?"

Firenze made a sudden, quick half turn and looked at Draco approvingly.

Then he quickened his pace.

"Killing unicorns is a very cruel and cursed thing."

“Only those who have nothing but want everything would commit such a crime.”

"Even if you only have one last breath left, the unicorn's blood can keep you alive."

"But as you can imagine, you will have to pay a heavy price for this."

Firenze spoke in a gentle tone, but the content was so heavy that Harry and Draco were both troubled.

Without realizing it, they were still clinging to each other.

"To kill such a pure and innocent creature in order to save oneself would mean—"

"From the moment the blood touches your lips, you can only have one,"

"A half-dead, cursed life."

As soon as Firenze finished speaking, Harry hurriedly asked.

"Who would go out of their way to do something like this?"

"If I have to be cursed for the rest of my life, I might as well just die, right?"

Draco was equally curious, but Firenze remained quiet.

The three of them ran silently in the woods for a while, and then Firenze spoke carefully.

"You're not wrong, unless you just need to use it to delay for a while."

"So that you can drink something else that can completely restore your physical strength and magic power, making you immortal."

"Do you know what is hidden in the school, Mr. Potter, Miss Malfoy?"

"The Philosopher's Stone!"

Draco and Harry looked at each other and spoke at the same time.

"But I don't understand how anyone would—"

Before Harry could finish his words, Firenze suddenly stopped in his tracks.

-

They had returned to the edge of the forest, and Fang was leading Hagrid, Hermione, and Neville towards the three of them.

"Have you ever thought about—"

After Firenze put the two men down, he looked at Harry quietly, and then his eyes were strangely locked on Draco.

"Is there anyone who has been waiting for so many years to restore his magic power?"

“Who has to cling to a glimmer of life and quietly wait for the opportunity to make a comeback?”

Firenze's look and conversation cast a shadow on Draco's heart.

But what really chilled her to the bone was Harry mumbling beside her.

"Hagrid said that he might not be considered a human being anymore, so he couldn't die..."

Halfway through his hesitation, Harry suddenly spoke with an epiphany.

"You mean, it's V-"

Draco's eyes widened, his lips slightly parted in fear.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Potter."

Fortunately, Firenze interrupted Harry's sentence.

"Harry! Harry! Are you okay?"

Harry's eyes widened with fear as Hermione's voice came closer.

Draco felt as if the blood in his body froze, and he stared at Firenze motionlessly.

The centaur spoke quietly as he watched Hagrid running closer and closer.

"I'll leave you here. It should be safe now."

Then, he looked at Draco again.

"Miss Malfoy, you did the noble thing."

"But please remember, your family has too many entanglements."

Finally, he leaned over and whispered softly.

"Good luck to you, Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy."

"The stars have been misread before."

"Even the best astrologers can make mistakes sometimes."

"I hope it will be the same this time."

The figures of the men and horses gradually disappeared, and Hagrid's light came in.

But Harry and Draco just looked at each other.

After the fear, the only thing that echoed in his exhausted consciousness was Firenze's last words before he left.

"But if unfortunately, please remember—"

"Tonight, you are the ones who will face him together."