POV of Veatrix Lestrange
Filch accompanied us outside, where Hagrid was already waiting for us in front of his hut. As we walked through the ankle-deep snow, which had definitely not been there this afternoon, I could only marvel at how peaceful and beautiful even the forest looked from here. If I hadn't known that quite a few monsters were up to mischief in the forest, I wouldn't have considered the detention a real punishment, but as it was, I simply couldn't believe that they were actually sending students, for whom the forest was otherwise taboo, into it, and at night no less...
We had just arrived at the hut when I heard footsteps and voices behind us. A glance towards the castle revealed that Parvati, Ariana, and Hermione had also been caught. Due to the fact that they were accompanied by Professor McGonagall, I suspected that they had lost more points than we had. Our Head of House at least didn't look particularly pleased when she recognized me and realized that Lavender was the only "sensible" one of us sleeping alone in the dormitory.
"You'll be helping me find an injured unicorn tonight. This is already the third one in the last 4 weeks. Something in the forest seems to be attacking the poor creatures," Hagrid explained to us when we were all there. He divided us into two groups, while he and his dog formed the third group. As a signal in case any of us discovered something suspicious, it was agreed to shoot green sparks into the air; if there was potential danger, they should be red sparks.
Much to my chagrin, I was put in a group with Zane, but also with Bella. I still couldn't get used to the idea that he apparently liked her quite a bit.
Bella also didn't seem particularly satisfied with this arrangement. Apparently she would have even preferred to be in a group with Parvati, whom she had been avoiding for several weeks. So one could imagine how much she must hate me. All three groups entered the forest together, where we then split up: My group took the first fork that led to the left.
We walked silently side by side, with Zane in the middle so that Bella and I didn't have to be too close to each other.
The deeper we went into the forest, the darker it became around us, which is why I soon pulled my wand from my hair and whispered "Lumos."
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Bella giving me an evil look as she also made light. She couldn't hide the fact that she was cold and otherwise quite uncomfortable, as she was shivering all over and had her arms crossed in front of her, which meant that the beam of light from her wand didn't reach very far.
After what felt like an eternity we arrived at a fork in the road and stopped to decide which way to go. This meant that we inevitably had to talk to each other, which we had avoided so far. After neither of them made any move to suggest a path, I decided to go left, which resulted in Bella finally speaking up: "Don't we want to go right instead?" she interjected with a doubtful look, glancing at Zane. "No, we don't!" I snapped back and was about to continue on my way when she claimed to spot something silver to the right with her keen eyes. We both looked expectantly at Zane, who seemed overwhelmed by the situation and didn't want to get involved if possible. "Let's just follow the trail?" he finally answered hesitantly, not looking at either of us. "So to the right," Bella stated and determinedly went ahead, as the path became narrower here. "Fine, if Bella thinks she sees something back there..." I muttered quietly, annoyed, so that only Zane could hear me, though he couldn't see me rolling my eyes.
Bella had clearly lied, as I couldn't spot anything silver anywhere. She probably just hadn't wanted to agree with me. When we had followed the path for quite a while, we stopped because we heard noises. Something seemed to be there; we just couldn't place it. We waited quietly for a few minutes before we dared to continue, as the noises had ceased and whatever it was had apparently disappeared.
Maybe 200 meters further on, Bella, who was leading the way, stopped again and illuminated a tree with blood on it. "See, we're on the right track, there's plenty of blood here!" she said with a triumphant undertone. "I wonder how the blood got here, but we're looking for SILVER, not red!" I retorted, but thoughtfully examined the tree trunk. "But what's the red from then?" she asked, irritated. "No idea, and I'd rather not know..." I answered, shrugging my shoulders and was about to continue when Zane suddenly spoke up. "Look, there really is silver blood... and there's something lying in the snow over there, you can barely make it out," he whispered almost and pointed in the direction. Indeed! That really seemed to be unicorn blood, and the creature over there was probably the unicorn it came from.
I was about to approach the unicorn when Zane held me back: "Don't! Let's inform the others that we've found something. Hagrid might be able to help the unicorn before it's too late," he interjected. I nodded. Of course, he was right, but I would have loved to take a closer look at the unicorn. However, we shouldn't waste any time. If there was a chance to save the unicorn, we should take it, which is why I raised my wand and shot green sparks into the air.
Now we had no choice but to wait for the others to find us, and that could take a while, as the forest was huge.