CHAPTER 22:
THE FORBIDDEN FOREST
Rubeus Hagrid may have been a big oaf of a man, and more than a little simple, but people forgot that in many regards, he wasn't actually completely stupid. And something stank about what was happening in the Forbidden Forest. It was certainly no coincidence that this was happening at the same time as the Philosopher's Stone was being hidden, that was for sure.
Hagrid had an obsession with all magical creatures. While he was infamous for treating fearsome beasts like they were cuddly, it didn't mean he felt that traditionally endearing magical creatures were beneath his notice. Unicorns, for example. No, he thought all creatures great and small were bright and beautiful…even the ones that breathed fire or spat poison. He'd be entranced by a Basilisk even as it killed him with its gaze.
So when his occasional sojourns into the Forbidden Forest turned up evidence of attacks on unicorns, he was angry. Furious beyond belief. Unicorns were both a beautiful beast, and a pure one. Not only that, but their whole bodies were saturated with magic. Unicorn horns, shed from the beasts, were ingredients in many a potion, while unicorn hairs were standard wand cores.
But Hagrid knew what purpose these poor animals had been slaughtered for: their blood. It was a potent source of life-force, able to keep even one on the verge of death alive. But to drink the blood, you had to kill them, and to drink the blood then meant you were cursed. No joy would be felt from anything you did in life. A half-life, at best.
It was not just that, though. Some unicorns had been found dead, killed by some unknown magic. As they had been outside the main detection wards of Hogwarts, nothing had been noticed until Hagrid stumbled across the corpses.
And Hagrid wasn't stupid: he had an inkling of who would be doing it. Quirrell. After all, Harry and the others had talked about Quirrell and Snape being suspects, and while Snape was not a friend, he'd have put more money on Quirrell, despite how hard it was to believe. He had brought the matter to Dumbledore's attention. The Headmaster had nodded gravely, and told him to warn the centaurs. Any unicorns the centaurs herded, they should take deeper into the Forbidden Forest.
Twice a week, he took nightly sojourns into the Forbidden Forest, to patrol for anything. On occasion, he'd visit his old friend and former pet Acromantula, Aragog. However, this time, he wasn't alone.
This night, Aerith Gainsborough and Cait Sith would be accompanying him.
The young woman was fearless. There was much in her that reminded Hagrid of Harry's mother, and it wasn't just the warm, green eyes. There was the fearless qualities, not to mention being one of the few people able to get Snape, the bane of many a Gryffindor, to open up. Hagrid didn't quite like Snape, but the two had an understanding of sorts, and the two were on as good terms as Snape could ever be with anyone.
In the day since the Quidditch match, and the theft of Harry's Materia and the snapping of his wand, most of the staff had been on the warpath. Some were close to Harry because they had been close to one or more of the boy's birth parents. Many knew that whoever stole the Materia and snapped his wand had nothing less than Harry's downfall in mind.
Even Argus Filch was ready and willing to help. The embittered older man had gotten his first taste of magic-casting thanks to Aerith's Christmas gift of Materia, and was paranoid that someone may attempt to steal his own.
But they were no closer to finding the culprit. The prime suspect was Quirrell, but without evidence, they could not confront him, and he had been in the stadium the entire time. It was possible that a student was involved. The Heads of Houses were asked to confront their students and warn of the consequences if the thief didn't come forward. To nobody's surprise, not only did nobody come forward, but in much of Slytherin, there were many who reckoned Potter didn't deserve his trinkets. Malfoy and his supporters were the most vocal in this.
That being said, Snape did get some support from a few of his students. Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis, and Blaise Zabini in the first year, along with a number of older students, agreed to keep their ears to the ground and see whether anyone knew anything. Their reasoning was somewhat pragmatic: an attack on Harry would immediately cast suspicion on Slytherin. The first Quidditch match had already shown that, with the other three Houses casting suspicious looks at any Slytherins afterwards. After all, many former Death Eaters had children in that House. Some might want, or have been encouraged by their parents, to take revenge for Voldemort.
Hagrid knew that Dumbledore would do the right thing. But he also knew that not everyone shared his faith, especially at the moment.
Aerith was cursing herself. She should have found a way to make sure that the Materia Harry had had some sort of protection against theft. An oversight that may not just cost Harry his life, but, if her suspicions were correct, might also bring Voldemort power he didn't deserve, but he would nonetheless exploit. Harry had barely used the full capabilities of the Enemy Skills Materia in his duel with Draco, but Quirrell had seen Frog Song, Magic Hammer, and Beta. Aerith had used Pandora's Box against the troll, but Quirrell hadn't been present to see that. She shuddered to think of Voldemort using Bad Breath or Shadow Flare against a student.
In the absence of anything constructive to do against Quirrell, lest she foul up the chance to trap Voldemort, she seized upon a chance remark that Hagrid had made about the unicorns in the Forbidden Forest. And as there had been not much demanded for her services as a Healer lately, she decided to accompany him.
Cait Sith was also coming with her, though Jenova was staying to keep an eye on the Materia situation. The toy cat was clinging to her shoulders as she strode from the castle, warm heavy robes over her usual garb. "Lassie, yer sure this is a good idea?" Cait Sith asked.
"Probably not," Aerith said. "But those unicorns…Hagrid said that some were being killed by unfamiliar magic. At least one of those sounded like Bad Breath. Partial blindness, partial petrification, they died in a rabid rage…they're immune to poison, though, from what Hagrid tells me."
They soon came to Hagrid's hut, where the giant man was readying a massive crossbow, his massive boarhound by his side. "Alright there, Aerith? Cait Sith?"
"Hi, Hagrid," Aerith said with a smile. Despite his rather simple nature, it was hard not to like the man. More than a little oblivious to the dangers of many a magical creature, but it was probably because, according to Dumbledore, Hagrid was half-giant, and thus less likely to be hurt by many of these creatures. Maybe one day, she should take him to the Planet to see some of the beasts there. She had given him a zoology book from the Planet, an old book she had found in her father's laboratory at Icicle Inn. Not surprisingly, he had been entranced.
Hagrid nodded, before his expression became serious. "Now, listen carefully, Aerith, 'cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, and I don' want you takin' risks." He led them over to a dirt path, and pointed out a faint shining light, reflecting the moonlight amongst the dark trees on the edge of the forest. "See that there?"
"I do," Aerith said, walking over to the liquid pooled in a small puddle on the ground. It seemed to shine not only with the moonlight, but also from within. It was beautiful, and yet, melancholy. "This is unicorn blood, then?"
"Aye. A unicorn has been hurt badly by summat," Hagrid said with a growl of anger. "It's happenin' more an' more frequently. We'll hafta find it. If necessary, we may hafta put it out of its misery."
"Let me try healing spells first," Aerith said. "I might even be able to do one of my Limit Breaks. Great Gospel would be best, but Healing Wind might work. If the unicorn's only just dead, a Life spell or a Phoenix Down might help."
Hagrid nodded. He would rather a unicorn was saved if he could help it, and these healing spells Aerith used were potent. He hoped that they were enough, though…
They followed the trail of the blood into the forest. Aerith did feel a slight thrill of fear, going through the forest at night, but she had been in more frightening locations. The Cave of the Gi in Cosmo Canyon came to mind, filled with ghosts and monsters. And, of course, there was the Crater, when they travelled down to confront Sephiroth.
Even so, the darkness could hide a lot of things. Things that could kill them.
It didn't take much searching to find the unicorn. Aerith and Cait Sith both gasped in horror at the sight of the beautiful creature, sprawled on the ground, its very lifeblood leaking onto the grass. It moved, weakly, so it was still alive. Immediately, Aerith knelt next to the creature, and tapped the Materia on her bangle. "Curaga," she intoned(1).
The unicorn let out a faint whinny of pain as its wounds closed up, sparkling with green light. As the beast got, rather unsteadily, to his feet, Aerith heard a voice say, "What sort of magic does this woman use on the most pure of creatures?"
Hagrid emitted a yelp, and then said, "Bane! You startled me! I could have shot you!"
"I could have shot you long ere you saw me, Hagrid," said the voice, with an amused undertone. "Now, I ask again, what sort of magic did she use?"
Aerith turned to face the speaker, and paused, for a moment. A trio of centaurs were present: man from the waist up, and below that, the body of a horse. The leader, a proud, wild-looking man with dark hair, was looking at her with naked suspicion. Another had red hair and a beard. The youngest of the trio had pale, white-blonde hair, and was looking at her with curiosity in his bright blue eyes.
"Healing magic," Aerith said, speaking for herself.
"It was not like any magic I have ever seen," the red-haired centaur, not the one who had spoken, mused. He had a deep, mournful voice.
"I use a different focus for it," Aerith said. Her hand went to roll back her sleeve, only for the leader to raise the bow.
"Bane, she's okay, she's a friend!" Hagrid protested. To Aerith, he said, quietly, "Show them slowly."
She did so, and the trio of centaurs trotted forward, and examined what lay exposed. "It cannot be," the youngest one murmured.
"You, woman," Bane said.
"My name is Aerith Gainsborough," Aerith remarked acidly.
"Very well, Aerith," Bane said, though his scowl showed that he didn't take kindly to the correction. "Why do you carry a magic focus that hasn't been seen for centuries? Why do you carry Materia?"
"I come from another world," Aerith said. "I am the last of the Cetra born on that world. Have you heard of them?"
"Of course, though you are bold to claim such a connection."
"Does one need to be bold to tell the truth?" Aerith asked. "Anyway, I revived the unicorn. A near-thing, too. A minute more, and…" She left that in the air with a morose sigh.
"Then you have our thanks, Aerith Gainsborough," the blonde-haired centaur said.
"Indeed," the red-haired one concurred. Bane merely nodded.
"Ronan, have the unicorns under your care been moved deeper into the forest?" Hagrid asked.
The red-haired centaur nodded. "But we cannot do much about some who wander from the herd, and their killer is growing ever more bold. Always the innocents are the first victims. So it has been for ages past, so it is now."
"Someone is murdering the unicorns for their blood," the blonde-haired one said. "Someone who desires immortality. Someone who believes that what they seek lies within the castle."
"Firenze…" Bane said, warningly.
"We know," Aerith said. "And I give you my solemn vow, I will do my utmost to stop them."
"Many humans have given vows before," Bane said haughtily. "On their honour, on their magic, on their lives. And they have broken them before. What makes your vow any different?"
"How many have kept their word?" Aerith asked. "I intend to be one of them. If I break it, it will be not by my choice. And I am not the only one who wants to stop the evil."
"Then what of the Calamity?" Bane asked. "The stars foretold that the Calamity from the Skies, the doom of the Cetra, would come here."
"Did the stars foretell what she would do?" Aerith asked. "She is as much the guardian of the Stone as I am. Voldemort will not get the Stone. And his days of murdering the unicorns, or anyone else, are numbered." She looked at the unicorn, which trotted over to her and nuzzled her gently. "That is what I vow."
CHAPTER 22 ANNOTATIONS:
God, this was a hard one to get out. I've been distracted by other stories. And my playthrough of BioShock Infinite.
Anyway, I wanted to do a Forbidden Forest scene, but because I wanted the story to wrap up earlier than in canon, I decided to have Aerith assisting Hagrid.
1. I decided that, for some of the spells, I would say 'Curaga' and the like instead of, say, 'Cure 3'.
CHAPTER 22 SOUNDTRACK:
The Forbidden Forest: City Music 1 and 2, from Doctor Who: The Daleks, composed by Tristram Cary.