Hagrid, leading the way, pushed aside the thorns with ease. Following behind him, Harley and Cho floated lightly in mid-air, the bamboo copters spinning rapidly above their heads.
The two girls, wearing skirts, certainly didn't want to end up in "sexy" tattered rags before they even reached their destination.
Only Lynn shared the hardship with Hagrid, walking on the Forbidden Forest floor. However, with his telekinesis pushing aside the thorns, Lynn actually had quite an easy time of it.
If Hagrid hadn't been there, Lynn would have just floated directly; he was usually too lazy to even move his legs when walking.
After walking for about ten minutes, the sound of a gurgling stream reached their ears.
"We're almost there, just a few dozen meters more," Hagrid said to the three behind him as he pushed aside the vines ahead.
Moments later, they stepped out of the dense forest. The view suddenly opened up into a grassy clearing. Knee-high, fresh alfalfa grew everywhere. A large herd of great white horses strolled leisurely through the grass and alfalfa, occasionally lowering their heads to take a bite, looking incredibly relaxed and carefree.
"So many unicorns!"
Harley let out a cry of surprise. Cho followed Harley, floating forward quickly for a distance before landing on the soft grass.
"Wow!"
The two girls' eyes lit up. Their attention was completely captivated by the handsome great horses before them, which radiated a faint, holy silver-white glow.
"This is the largest herd of unicorns in the Forbidden Forest; there are fully thirty-three of them."
"There was even a little one born this year." Hagrid pointed to a golden foal in the center of the herd. "When they're young, unicorns have golden fur. But once they grow a bit bigger and don't need their mother's milk anymore, the little unicorns will shed that golden fur overnight and turn white."
"I raised these little darlings with my own hands; I've even helped deliver them several times. Look at that one—Pipi, come here!"
Hagrid whistled, and a very strong male unicorn held its head high and trotted over. "I've held this lad since he was growing up. His mum was already pregnant when she came to the Forbidden Forest, but she'd been injured by a poacher's curse. I looked after his mum for a long time. When this fella was born, if I hadn't happened to be patrolling the woods and found him, it's likely only one of the mother or child would have survived."
"Isn't that right, Pipi, you little rascal?"
The unicorn, having its head rubbed by Hagrid, was nothing like the legends that claimed they only allowed pure maidens to touch them. Hagrid's giant palm was practically rubbing its fur off, but it didn't seem annoyed at all. Instead, it nuzzled Hagrid's hand, seeming to want him to pet it more.
"There are quite a few others like Pipi. Poachers target pregnant unicorn mothers because, at that time, their protective magic becomes fragile, and certain powerful dark magic can leave very painful scars on them."
"Sometimes I suspect that every unicorn in England has run off to live in the Forbidden Forest. Although I haven't really counted, there are definitely over three hundred of them, split into twenty or thirty small herds roaming the woods."
Pipi, having thoroughly enjoyed Hagrid's petting, flicked his tail and then strolled leisurely to the side to graze on the fresh alfalfa.
"Go on, these little guys have great tempers. Walk forward a bit, and they might just come up to you on their own."
Hagrid smiled at Harley and Cho, then plopped down onto the grass.
"But they don't really like being touched by males, so, Lynn, you might not have a chance. However, the young unicorns who haven't grown up yet are a bit less resistant to boys. If they're in a good mood today, you might be able to pet one too."
"These guys really are lechers."
Lynn watched with amusement as the herd of great horses flocked to Harley and Cho as they approached, enjoying the girls' gentle caresses.
"Unicorns can understand human speech. They are very intelligent and possess powerful magical means. Especially under moonlight, they are nearly immune to all dark magic; even the Killing Curse cannot easily kill these pure lives. And the force of their charge—especially in a herd—means that even a dragon, if it doesn't take flight in time, would have its scales pierced by their horns and be trampled into the ground."
"So, the unicorn's only weakness is that it can't fly?"
"You could say that, but aside from poachers, hardly anyone provokes them. Unicorns run very fast; even broomsticks have a hard time catching a unicorn at full sprint."
"They are more active at night. Occasionally, you can see them like a flowing silver tide—in the blink of an eye, they run from one end of the sky to the other. In the Forbidden Forest, perhaps other than Thestrals, no creature is faster than them."
"Even a Hippogriff's flight speed isn't as fast as their running speed."
Lynn lay on the soft grass, pillowed his head on his arms, and looked up at the sky. Probably because he hadn't slept enough last night, he soon dozed off in a daze. He didn't know how much time had passed when he felt something itchy and wet on his face, as if something was licking him.
Opening his eyes, he caught a glimpse of a golden shadow.
A young unicorn was curiously leaning close to him, washing his face with its tongue.
Seeing Lynn open his eyes, the little fellow darted away with a whoosh, hiding behind two figures not far away.
"Lynn, is your face clean now?"
Harley asked with a beaming smile. Judging by her expression, the little unicorn had most likely been lured over by her.
"It smells like milk, and it's a bit sour."
Lynn wrinkled his nose and wiped his face with his sleeve in mild disgust. "Where did Hagrid go? Why did he leave you here?"
"Hagrid heard fighting nearby and said he went to break it up. But with the unicorns here, no one in the Forbidden Forest would be foolish enough to come here and cause trouble."
"But how can you say Nimue smells sour? Hurry up and apologize."
The little unicorn hiding behind Harley poked its head out and nuzzled Harley affectionately.
"Is Nimue the name you gave her?"
"Cho picked it. She said it's the name of the Lady of the Lake from legend. I think it fits perfectly."
"Do you want to pet her? Actually, Nimue likes you quite a bit. Isn't that right, Nimue?"
The little unicorn, held by the crouching Harley, kicked its little leg and looked at Lynn with two large, curious eyes.
After Harley let go, it slowly took two steps forward and stopped a meter away from Lynn.
"Hello there, Nimue."
Lynn, sitting on the ground, waved at it. The golden foal moved two steps closer, lowered its head to sniff Lynn's clothes, and after Lynn gently stroked its neck, its body seemed to relax a little.
"It feels so good, just like touching silk."
The moment he touched the little unicorn's fur, he was immediately conquered by the unexpected softness and smoothness. The little fellow didn't resist the touch much, so it lay down, resting beside Lynn.
"Nimue is so well-behaved, isn't she?"
Harley and Cho walked over and sat on either side of Nimue. Finding the petting quite comfortable, Nimue narrowed her eyes, her golden tail swishing back and forth, clearly enjoying herself immensely.
"If it were possible, I'd really love to keep one."
Cho spoke softly; to be honest, she was a bit reluctant to leave.
"Maybe we can come to the forest often to visit them."
"But the Forbidden Forest is dangerous. Today we had Hagrid."
Cho sounded a bit worried. "And the school forbids us from coming here. I heard the Forbidden Forest has werewolves, vampires, and even terrifying creatures like Nundus. Quintapeds are scary too; they hide in shadows and attack from behind."
"The Forbidden Forest is even scarier than you imagine."
Hagrid's voice came from the woods to the side. Clearly, he had heard what Cho said.
Hagrid, covered in blood, gave Nimue quite a scare when he appeared; she bounded away to her parents' side.
"Hagrid, are you hurt?" Harley asked nervously.
"No. Two Mountain Tyrant Dragons in the forest got into a fight over mating rights. I gave them a slap. The blood sprayed from their wounds all over me. Just a bunch of restless little troublemakers."
"Is a Mountain Tyrant Dragon considered a type of dragon? I haven't seen a clear classification for them in books."
"Personally, I don't think so. Mountain Tyrant Dragons are viviparous, while dragons are oviparous. And these guys are much heavier than dragons—at least fifty tons. Even I find them a bit of a struggle to handle. When they're smaller, I can grab them by the tail and swing them around, but once they're adults, if I don't kick them over first, I can't even reach their heads."
Hagrid described this extremely violent scene with simple, plain words. It was hard to imagine how Hagrid, who weighed at most a ton, could tear apart a ferocious creature fifty times his weight with his bare hands.
"It'll be noon soon; you lot should be heading back. Remember, don't tell anyone about coming to the forest today. The Forbidden Forest is very dangerous. You absolutely, absolutely must not sneak in here without me. And whatever you do, don't be like the Weasley twins. I feel like I've used up half a lifetime's worth of energy just to keep them from dying a horrible death in the forest."
Mentioning the Weasley twins brought a look of distress to Hagrid's face. Those two were a real headache.
"Weasley?" Harley and Cho exchanged a glance, recalling the unpleasant experience on the train.
"It seems... there are a lot of Weasleys in the school?" Harley suddenly thought of something. "Yesterday's prefect was called Weasley too, right?"
"Percy," Lynn nodded.
"The Weasley family has a lot of children," Hagrid chuckled. "Bill and Charlie have already graduated. There should be four studying in the school right now. I remember their youngest boy also got into Gryffindor this year."
"Although Fred and George give me a headache, Charlie and Bill are great. Charlie went to Romania to raise dragons; he even sent me photos a while back."
"Oh, okay." Harley's brows furrowed slightly. "Let's go back."
"What's wrong, Harley?" Hagrid asked, seeing Harley's lack of interest.
"I just hope the other Weasleys aren't like their youngest, letting a fat rat run loose everywhere."
"Is that so?" Hagrid was a bit puzzled. Wizards had all sorts of strange pets, so keeping a rat wasn't particularly odd. Rats were very suitable props for practicing Transfiguration and were commonly used in class.
"That rat ruined the snacks Cho's mother made for her. Anyway—forget it, it's all in the past."
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