"Don't you think it's strange," said Malfoy suddenly ,"that the three of us — the three students — were sent to go alone?"
It was the first time that evening that our blond comrade in misfortune said something in a more or less human form. Before that, he had only twisted his face and mumbled something about the subject.: "When my father finds out..."
And now, despite my dislike for him, I mentally joined in with this question.
"If you want to know my opinion," Pat replied, "everything here seems strange to me, including you!"
"Isn't it clear?" I chuckled. "How easy they decided to get rid of the three of us!"
"We went into the forest and didn't return," my friend confirmed gloomily and was the first to see what we were looking for, "oh, here is the blood of the unicorn. Congratulations, we are on the right track."
"I'm not happy about this," Malfoy told us sullenly, "let's set off a signal spark and go back."
"Well, if we need to find a unicorn," I protested, "then we will look for it." Pat agreed with a second delay and Malfoy was outnumbered.
True, I suspect that my friend, in the depths of his soul, also did not want to drag himself deep into the forest, but out of solidarity supported me. The three of us followed the bloodstained tracks of the wounded unicorn, which we could see in silvery pools. For some time we walked in silence along the path, which became narrower and narrower. It was much darker in the forest than near Hagrid's cabin. Gloomy mossy trunks surrounded us in the gathering dusk, and it seemed to me that someone was watching us from the depths of the forest. Tenacious branches strove to cling to clothes, gnarled roots seemed to jump out of the ground on purpose to put a bandwagon. There was a soul-depressing silence, breaking which seemed like a crime, the retribution for which would come immediately and inevitably. Probably, there are few such forests left, creepy and mysterious, and where evil spirits really live...
"Hey, doesn't it seem to you," Pat said quietly, looking at another "footprint", "that there is less and less blood, and it comes across less often?"
"Maybe the unicorn stopped bleeding and ran off to lick its wounds?" I also said softly. "Maybe we can go back?" Hissed Malfoy, "I don't understand, what do you need most of all?"
Pat and I turned to look at him.
"You want to go back?" - my friend raised his eyebrows and pointed in the opposite direction, - go ahead!"
At these words, Fang whined and clung to my leg. Maybe he thought they were talking to him? A branch snapped very loudly not far from us, and the three of us jumped, drawing our chopsticks.
"Who is it?" Malfoy whispered.
"A unicorn," I said confidently, and dashed off into the thicket.
I don't know whether I saw a flashing white side out of the corner of my vision, or just my instinct led me, but I knew where to go. Pat immediately followed me. Malfoy let out an incomprehensible whining groan, too. He didn't want to be left alone. One thing I can say for sure — this animal did not look like dying in any way. Despite his wound and obvious lameness, this fabulous creature beat us in all respects. It was as if the unicorn was deliberately leading us into the thicket of the forest — appearing from a distance and as if allowing itself to be overtaken a little, it immediately galloped on. In short, he mocked us in full. We have long since lost at least some semblance of a path from sight, pushing through the bushes and jumping over ravines. Later, an analogy will come to me with crazy running around the castle after a rat - absolutely the same whim entered my head.
Pat breathed, putting his hands on his knees: "I can't take it anymore!"
"Where is he?"
"Um..." I was embarrassed - the unicorn caught a trace, "it seems that he left."
"Where did this beast lead us?" exclaimed Malfoy, barely catching his breath, "look around - we're lost!"
To my deepest regret and great regret... he was right. The trees surrounded us closely on all sides, closing high above our heads, and there was not the slightest sign of a path or any other identifying marks.
"We're in deep trouble," Pat said coolly.
It seemed to me that ahead of us between the trunks was somewhat lighter. I squinted, peering.
"Look, it seems there is a clearing there," I said, "let's go and see."
"We've already gone for the unicorn, Potter!" Hissed Malfoy, "maybe it's time to sit still and think about how to get out of here?"
"Sit here and think," I turned to him, "maybe you'll sit through something."
I patted Fang's massive withers reassuringly and stomped in the chosen direction. It didn't take long to walk - there really was the edge of the forest.
"Oh…" I blurted out involuntarily.
Fang beside me whimpered piteously. Pat swore juicy and flowery.
"Fack! I hate you both!" Malfoy expressed his feelings, the last to fall out of the forest.
The moon sparingly illuminated the clearing, and it seemed as if we had entered the other world. In fact, we were at the top of the hill. Further, there was also a forest - but it was already foothills. The mountains themselves were already very close. In the middle of the clearing, an old sprawling oak tree grew in proud solitude. And on its branch, gently swaying in the wind, hung a skeleton hung on a chain. The chain creaked. So we stood, silently staring at the ghoul, for about three minutes. I was the first to pluck up the courage to go closer. There was no fear as such - it is not easy to scare a modern person with such little things. But the feeling... of some kind of tragedy plunged the three of us into an appropriate state. Even just speaking seemed sacrilegious. Typical funeral state.
"How long has he been here?" Pat asked himself quietly.
This guy's probably been hanging around for a long time. With some strange composure, I examined the skeleton close up - the corpse of a once living person, who had long ago passed all the stages of decay and decay, leaving only bones that would also someday decay. I can't imagine how it didn't crumble at all - it must have been some kind of magic. The skeleton was missing his left arm to the elbow.
"Maybe the unicorn wanted us to bury it?" I thought thoughtfully.
"Unicorn wanted?" Malfoy whispered irritably, "the unicorn just wanted us to get rid of him, because it's an animal... Wow!"
"What?" Pat and I burst out.
"Can not be?" said Malfoy in surprise, stepping closer to the skeleton.
"He is your friend?" I couldn't help but sneer.
"Cretin, this is Elidor One and a half Hands!"
I looked at Pat, who raised his eyebrows questioningly. This name meant nothing to us.
"He invented the Living Death," Malfoy enlightened us, "he studied vampires."
"Yeah," I chuckled grimly, "I guess they hung him up here."
He snorted in annoyance and continued to state his knowledge of history:
"He believed that you can find a way to Avalon. He disappeared in 1834."
"Avalon?" Pat squinted incredulously, "although I think he is now in more remote places."
"Depends on how he behaved in life," I agreed.
"We must bury him, after all," said my friend gloomily, " or something will... Not Christian. Does anyone know a spell to dig up the earth?.."
"...I'm beginning to think that we'll have to spend the night here" gloomily muttered Pat.
By this point, we had been went towards Hogwarts for about an hour. That is, we assumed that the school is located there. They just walked in the opposite direction to the mountains. I remembered the spell that made the wand point north, but it didn't help a damn thing. Because none of the three of us had any idea which way to go to reach the castle. It was cold and dark, but no longer scary. I was so tired that the gloomy hooting of the owls in the distance and the mysterious crunch of branches somewhere behind me no longer evoked any terrible associations. Well, the eagle owls hoot. Well, the branches are crunching... Malfoy stumbled over a bump, nearly sprawled on the ground, and kicked it in anger. The tussock thudded against a tree, the moss fell off, and a skull appeared before our eyes. Quite human.
"It's not for nothing that Dumbledore warns about the Forbidden Forest," I muttered.
"Ugh!" Malfoy spat. "Will you offer to bury him too?"
Pat coolly picked up the remains of someone's head from the ground, rapped the skull in a businesslike manner, and grunted.
"Man," he announced his diagnosis, "see how big the head is? And there weren't thirty, otherwise it would have shattered to smithereens," with these words, he carefully placed the skull under the tree, and then took out a cigarette and lit it with a calm look.
"Poor Yorick," I commented.
"Your friend?" Malfoy snarled at my old joke.
"It's Shakespeare, you fool," Pat said reproachfully, and we moved on.
"So Yorick or Shakespeare, you decide..."
"You are a fool and an ignoramus!"
"Hey, that's so unfair!" Malfoy was suddenly indignant, "poking me in the nose with some Muggle names! But if I..."
"Malfoy, what did you say?!" I goggled at him, "repeat, maybe I misheard? Did you say unfair?! From you it sounds like a curse."
"Hey you!" Pat shouted sharply. "Shut up, both of you! Don't you think this is strange?"
He pointed to some whitish fibers hanging from branches here and there. They began to catch our eye for a long time, but before this was not so much. I became uncomfortable. "We need to get out of here," Malfoy said tensely, "urgently!"
"why?" I asked.
"Which one of us is stupid and ignorant?" almost on the verge of hysteria, he shouted, "this is a web! And who spins the web, you don't know?! Spiders!!!"
"And how big do the spiders have to be to weave so many webs," Pat finished his thought.
Fang, sensing our mood, whined plaintively. We moved on with a quick nervous step. "These are acromantulas," Malfoy continued in a kind of frenzied vehemence, "they inject poison into their victims' bodies, and then wrap them in a cocoon. And when all the insides become like porridge, they devour all the flesh, leaving only the bones..."
"Malfoy, can you shut up?" Pat suggested rudely.
"I just thought you wanted to know what would happen if we fell into their clutches!"
We walked in silence for several minutes, and the rustling behind us no longer seemed harmless. Pushing fatigue into the background, fear returned, sticky tentacles crawling under clothes and slowing down mental activity. It was not my plan to die in the clutches of a mutant spider. To be honest, I didn't want to die at all... They still smelled us and overtook us in some clearing. We stopped for a couple of minutes to catch our breath when we heard a sickening clicking behind us. The three of us turned around in a dumb daze and saw them - and they really were huge furry spiders, clearly burning with the desire to do with us everything that Malfoy had told us about.
"How are we run?" Pat asked through clenched teeth.
"But like this!" Malfoy shouted in falsetto and pulled into third gear.
We were completely in solidarity with him and were only a second behind him. We rushed like mad, scratching on low branches and stumbling on roots, but still continuing to run to the best of our ability. When the safety of your skin is at stake, a second wind opens up very quickly. But we had two legs, and the spiders had eight, and there were many of them, and they overtook us, and even overtook us. I don't remember the moment I changed, just a sudden feeling of power flooding through the muscles of my body. It must have happened when one of the pack appeared right in front of me and swung its claws menacingly. And only when I went with my front hooves on his head with all my might, I realized that I was no longer a man. Kicking was easy, comfortable and fun. But there were still too many of these creatures. And then Pat pushed the dumbfounded Malfoy onto my back, and in one stroke he turned into a kite, and we continued our rescue run from the acromantulas.
"You are Animagi!" - Malfoy squealed triumphantly, as soon as he came to his senses after a crazy gallop, "they will put you in Azkaban for this!"
Pat and I, angry and tired as hell, looked at each other frowningly. My friend grimaced unpleasantly and pulled a crumpled pack of cigarettes from his pocket. For some reason, this action looked so ominous that the blond Slytherin shut up.
"What a pig you are, Malfoy," I said quietly, looking at him frowningly, "we just saved your life, I dragged you away from death, so to speak, on my hump, and you are already in a hurry to pawn us!"
Pat snatched the wand from his hand rather rudely. He backed away towards the tree, looking dumbfounded from me to a grimly grinning Pat with a cigarette in his mouth. I would like to believe that we looked cool at that moment.
"Hey… w-what are you doing?" - bleated Malfoy, seriously frightened, "you're nothing..."
"Did you really think," my friend interrupted him, "that we would calmly let you leave with such compromising evidence on us? Come on, Draco, put us in Azkaban, blackmail us... So what did you think?"
"And you!" Snapped Malfoy, "two for one!"
"The rumors of Gryffindor nobility," I said, pointing my wand at him, "are greatly exaggerated."
And I said this spell for the first time in my life...
"...Well, then we met a centaur," Pat finished the story, "and he led us out of the forest into the arms of the teachers who were starting to search. Such is the walk through the moon forest."
"Wow!" Lu expressed her feelings, "you are lucky for adventures!"
I did not understand what was more in her voice - shock or envy.
"Some kind of horror," said Hermione with genuine concern, "you could have died! How could Dumbledore send you to go alone?"
"Dumbledore can do anything," Pat said sarcastically.
"And did you really bury Elidor Hand and a Half?" Hermione has already switched to an enthusiastic tone, "in fact, this is a historical discovery!"
"Elidor was there or not Elidor," I replied, "but we buried someone. Malfoy assured us it was the one.
"And what about Malfoy?" Lou asked.
"What will happen to him?" I shrugged my shoulders. "I hope he doesn't have any nasty complications like a brain tumor..."
"Are you sure he won't remember anything?" Hermione hesitated.
"You will say too," I grumbled, "I erased my memory for the first time in my life!"
Pat snorted. "He won't remember shit! As yesterday I woke up from obliviate, so immediately - "where are the spiders? What happened? did we run away from them? It seems that he was convinced that he was so mad with fear that he forgot half of the events."
I closed my eyes in the sun. We were lucky that it was Saturday - we at least got enough sleep after long and tiring wanderings through the forest. I was fine yesterday, tumbled into the Gryffindor common room, all dirty and scratched, my robes torn in places. The girls who attacked me almost strangled me like that - they decided to wait for me and already managed to bury and mourn us three times. And now the four of us were improvising a picnic at our favorite meeting place - by the old wooden pier. As Hermione had said, it was much cozier here in summer than in late autumn. A light breeze played in the young foliage, squid splashed in the lake, birds sang and the sun shone. It was absolutely unbelievable that we were burying a 150-year-old skeleton yesterday and running away from giant spiders.
"...this is strange," Hermione's thoughtful voice brought me back to reality, "Acromantulas are found in the jungle. How did they get here?"
"Oh, I'm afraid it's got to be Hagrid," muttered Pat.
"He probably didn't do it on purpose," Lou stood up for the forester.
"Yeah," he agreed, "I have no doubt…"
"Some kind of nonsense," I opened my eyes, "something about the will of providence, interference in fate and a misinterpretation of heavenly signs. And, about some moment of truth that will put everything in its place. And about hopes that will either come true or collapse."
"Yeah, that's all right," Hermione drawled ironically.
"What told he about Mars?" Pat recalled.
"Mars wants to lead your destiny, but Venus and Mercury pushed it back," I said, imitating the detached tone of a centaur named Firenze, "do not push them away, Harry Potter, they will bring you good luck."
"Well, it's clear about Venus," Lou chuckled with a sly look, "but what does Mercury have to do with it?"
"Mercury, or Hermes," Hermione quoted wisely, "is patron of intellectuals, merchants, and thieves."
