Melanie was in an absolutely foul mood. It had little to do with being stuck with Ron for the better part of a night, and everything to do with the fact that someone was apparently killing unicorns.
Her displeasure had nothing to do with some weird girlish delight most had towards the creatures, and everything to do with the fact that unicorns were a protected species in Briar Valley. So much so that intentionally hurting, much less hunting a unicorn was punishable by an immediate death sentence. They were sacred creatures of light magic, and any trade regarding items made from the discarded remnants of their tail and horn was strictly regulated.
On the plus side, she was partnered up with Silver. Poor Sebek got stuck with Ron. She did not envy Hagrid.
As they went deeper into the forest, Melanie's sharp eyes could see everything.
"I find it strange that there's an overabundance of spider webbing around here. I wonder if they have an infestation," said Melanie.
Silver had noticed that too, and was a bit curious himself. He would swear he heard scuttling close by, but he never saw any spiders.
So you could imagine their annoyance and surprise when a spider the size of Fang appeared. The thing was huge, and Silver didn't feel the immediate connection he usually felt towards animals.
If anything, he felt repulsed by the obviously feral spider.
Melanie let out a deep growl, and Fang shivered. Silver put a comforting hand on the hound.
"Silver, protect Fang. I'll deal with these...pests."
"Understood," said Silver, and he created a magical barrier between them and the spider. Melanie knew the spell to allow her past, but it was unlikely she'd need it.
Besides, it had been a while since she practiced her fire.
Hearing more spiders swarm them, Melanie's eyes glinted from internal fire.
Thirty minutes later...
Silver looked at the devestation around him, and carefully walked around the charred corpses of spiders. Fang whimpered, but stayed close to Silver.
Fang instinctively knew it was safer to be around Melanie than be in the line of her fire.
As they left the scene of carnage behind, Silver noticed something.
"I think I see unicorn blood," he said quietly.
"It is," said Melanie, covering her nose.
Just being this close was playing merry hell on her sinuses. And that was before you got into the fact that the magic it was giving off would drive any magical being into a murderous frenzy if they got too close.
They went in deeper, following the blood drops. What they found made the air around Melanie heat up considerably.
A...creature...was bent over the body of a dying unicorn, clearly drinking it's bloody.
Silver quickly put a hand on Melanie's shoulder. She looked at him, and he shook his head. They'd need to get into position before they could do anything. Fang shivered in place.
With the ease that came from living in the forest all his life, Silver crept along the wooded area until he was in position. He had his enchanted sword already drawn from the special bag that it stayed in during class.
Melanie was as silent as the night, before she revealed herself to the creature. It took a moment, but it lifted it's head, silvery blood dripping from it's mouth. It had likely heard her taking a deep breath.
Melanie did not hesitate. She breathed deep green flames racing from her maw to the creature itself.
It shrieked like the damned when it hit, as it clearly didn't expect actual dragonfire from what appeared to be a human girl. It shrieked even louder when Melanie's claw connected to barely protected flesh.
Silver's sword shone in the darkness, nearly severing one of it's arms.
Realizing the potential threat and being wounded, the creature fled into the night.
Melanie and Silver went to the unicorn. It was fading fast, and didn't have much longer to live.
Melanie reached into her own spelled bag, and quickly found what she was looking for. A bottle of pure phoenix tears, which was mostly a gift from her very overprotective great-grandmother.
Using her magic, she created a thin mist from the tears and spread it over the wound.
The unicorn's breathing was very labored...it was debatable whether it would survive the night. Silver knew a few healing spells, but it was better than nothing. He cast as many as he could, without caring about how much blot he was likely acculmulating.
They both almost missed the sound of hooves nearby. It was too heavy to be another unicorn, and they didn't feel any sense of malice like the creature from before.
Fang let out a bark, mostly to let them know someone was there, and Melanie only briefly glanced behind her to see what it was. And froze.
There, standing behind her was a centaur.
She let out a deep growl.
"I have to inform you that if you attempt to stop me from trying to save the unicorn, I will be forced to flash fry you," she said calmly. There was an undercurrent of threat in her tone, but she kept her posture neutral.
Melanie was very well aware of what centaurs would likely do to a female. Especially a young female in their territory, with very limited protection. She was honestly surprised that there was one this close to a school, but perhaps they had an accord with the inhabitants?
"I have no intention of stopping you," said the centaur. He had a cultured tone in his voice. "I merely came to drive off that foul creature before it caused any further harm."
Silver could feel something in the air. There was a sense of magic in the air, as Melanie did her best to help fuel Silver's healing spells.
The unicorn beside them wheezed for a moment, and all five of them stilled. Then it gave another wheezing gasp, before letting out a pained whinny. It's eyes began to clear up, just a bit, and it let out another pained whinny.
The wound still looked awful, and it would require some additional healing from someone who knew what they were doing...but it had a greater chance of survival now than it did when the creature was there.
Hearing someone deliberately parading around in the forest, Silver prepared for a fight.
Ron unceremoniously came out of the trees, followed by a very disgruntled Sebek and decidedly unhappy looking Hagrid.
Melanie actually pitied Hagrid for that...he had no idea how irritating Sebek could be to those not already used to his usual outdoor voice. At least he knew how to move around in the forest properly, unlike Ron.
The centaur left, having made sure the children were now safe with Hagrid once more...and taking the unicorn with him. It was a very odd sight, but at least it would be safer with the centaur herd than alone.
"You alright kids?" asked Hagrid. "Must be a rather nasty beastie out tonight...there were a lot of acromantula corpses on the way here."
"Is that what they're called?" asked Melanie.
"The living ones looked rather feral," commented Silver.
"Well Aragog is alright, and his mate is nice enough...but I wouldn't want to run afoul of their children," said Hagrid cheerfully.
Ron shivered, his face very pale. He hated spiders, so finding the charred remnants of ones bigger than him had been absolutely terrifying.
~*~*~*~
Melanie was decidedly not a morning person. This was an established fact the castle had come to learn within the first week of her being there.
So the fact she took one whiff of Professor Quirrel during breakfast, whipped her head around and outright glared at him did not really raise any eyebrows.
The fact she immediately drew her wand and a sword however, did.
"Ms. Evans, is there a reason you're brandishing a wand against a teacher?" asked Snape.
"Considering he reeks of tainted magic and flame damage?" she snarled.
That got Sebek and Silver to stand up and draw their own wands.
While the Hufflepuffs didn't know what was going on, they did know something was up and would stand with their housemates.
Quirrel began to stutter and stammer, which made Melanie glare harder.
"Drop the act. Those herbs and potions you are using do not mask the smell of tainted blood or the burn damage I inflicted in the forest three days ago," she snarled.
That got Snape to draw his wand, as he was very well aware of what Melanie had been sent into the forest to do during her detention. She had explained it in graphic detail, as well as gave a very horrifying (but accurate) description of why Unicorns were a protected species and why only complete idiots would dare go after one to acquire it's blood.
Her explanation had several of the pure bloods openly paling at the description of what unicorn blood did to the body and the magical core. You were pretty much screwed and it would be less painful to accept death in the long run than it was to imbibe it. Worse, it ran the risk of a generational curse being placed on your bloodline if you happened to have children after the fact, one that would never fully go away no matter what you did.
When McGonagall rushed into the great hall, it was to see Melanie casting a rather nasty looking curse at Quirrel, which missed. However Melanie wasn't aiming at the professor...she was aiming for that turban, which had always smelled rather foul to her senses.
The sight of a second face on the back of Professor Quirrel's head would haunt the nightmares of those present for years. It was horrific, and that was before you actually got to the features on the secondary face which was clearly very aware and was actually swearing.
It took exactly ten seconds before anyone with a wand was either casting, or heading out the great hall to alert anyone coming in to avoid the area because there was something big coming on.
By the time the madness ended, Quirrel was decidedly dead as the entity fled from his body and turned him into a dust pile for the house elves to clean up.
Needless to say, the Aurors had questions for Melanie, who had outed the man in the first place.
In an unused classroom
"You smelled the herbs on him?" said Amelia Bones, the aunt of Susan Bones who was in the same house as Silver and Sebek.
Melanie had a flat look on her face. Snape was present as well, because she wasn't an idiot and had asked for her head of house to be present.
So you could imagine the amusement on Madam Bones' face when Melanie cited a very obscure law that only those studying how to become an animagus would need to know. Specifically the one stating that anyone who wishes to legally become one would have to register in their country of origin, or at least the country they called home for longer than decade at the minimum.
Amelia raised an eyebrow.
"Are you an animagus, Ms. Evans?"
"My family specializes in shifting, which is close enough to be mistaken as such," said Melanie calmly. "My great-grandmother and father are both shifters, and I learned the art from them before I was even accepted into this school. I recognized the herbs Professor Quirrel used from my magical lessons and identified him as the one who attacked the unicorn that night."
"I see," said Madam Bones.
She shifted the parchment in front of her.
"Thank you Ms. Evans for your time. I wish none of you had to witness that abomination, especially so early in your magical education. There will be a full investigation on the matter."
Melanie and Snape left the room. Snape had to comment, once they were well out of earshot.
"How did you really know something was off about Quirrel?" he asked.
She smiled grimly.
"The herbs he used were the most effective...and pungent...of what is available within range of the school. Whoever was attacking the unicorn had to be close, and with the damage Silver and I inflicted, they would not be healed anytime soon," said Melanie.
Dealing with dragon fire wounds required some rather pungent herbs if one didn't visit a healer. Melanie knew there was no way the culprit would dare visit one if they were attacking unicorns so blatantly, so she had kept a nose out. Quirrel's scent had been rife with it, enough so that there could be no mistake.
Admittedly, she had not expected there to be a parasite on the back of his head. It explained his need for unicorn blood though.