Chapter 62
"Maybe this bottle was deliberately dropped by Snape. He wants to divert our attention and pin everything on Professor Quirrell. After all, Professor Quirrell always smells of garlic—we'd definitely think of him first." Harry voiced his idea. Right now his mind was extremely active; he felt this was the smartest he had been in his twelve years of life.
Because he had seen through Snape's scheme.
"Right, it has to be that. Otherwise why would it be such a coincidence that the bottle that fell contained garlic essence? I refuse to believe he didn't have other bottles on him," Ron agreed, convinced that was the case.
Hermione also felt this explanation seemed more reasonable and fit their suspicions about Snape.
Gray listened from the side and found it very plausible. If he hadn't already known who the person really was, he might have believed this deduction himself.
But since that person had already been confirmed to be Quirrell, the previous two possibilities no longer held. That left only one remaining possibility: Quirrell deliberately dropped it to frame Snape.
This was Gray's conclusion; he couldn't think of any other explanation.
"So in other words, Snape first attacked the unicorn, then the unicorn escaped and ran into Gray. Snape came out again to attack Gray but was scared off by Gray's fire spell. Then the centaurs arrived, so he had no choice but to flee. Later he came back and pretended to be protecting Gray and the unicorn." Hermione explained step by step until the entire sequence became clear.
"It must be that. He even fooled Professor Dumbledore. Dumbledore believes he was protecting the unicorn, but the one who actually hurt it was him," Ron said excitedly.
"We have to warn Professor Dumbledore," Harry immediately added, his expression fervent.
"Calm down. Professor Dumbledore won't believe us—just like Hagrid wouldn't believe that Snape put a jinx on your broom," Hermione poured cold water on them.
"Besides, you saw it last night—Professor Dumbledore was with Professor Snape, not Professor McGonagall or Professor Flitwick. He trusts Snape far more than we imagined," she continued.
Harry and Ron deflated. Ron stubbornly looked toward Gray, but Gray just shrugged.
"Unless you put evidence right in front of me," a cluster of light points appeared in front of the three, and by now they were already used to it.
Honestly, if they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they wouldn't have believed a professor would help Voldemort—and even harm students.
"This bottle," Harry said, unwilling to give up.
Gray thought for a moment before answering, "This doesn't prove anything. It could also have been dropped by Professor Quirrell."
"You mean Professor Quirrell? That's impossible. His body is so weak he'd probably faint before even reaching the Forbidden Forest," Harry retorted.
"Besides, Professor Quirrell is the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher—he's supposed to be opposed to You-Know-Who. He even helped design one of the protections for the Philosopher's Stone on the fourth floor," Hermione added.
Ron nodded vigorously beside them, fully agreeing with both.
"Fine. If you insist," Gray said helplessly.
Fortunately there was less than a month left until the exams. They would soon see Quirrell's true face for themselves, so he was too lazy to waste more words trying to persuade them.
"That's definitely how it is," Ron declared, his freckled face brimming with confidence.
By now breakfast was almost finished. The group stopped discussing the matter and prepared to head to Hagrid's hut to see the unicorn they had rescued yesterday.
Ron was extremely curious about unicorns. They were magical creatures even rarer than dragons, and very few people ever got close to one.
"They can see into a person's heart, so anyone with evil thoughts or who isn't kind cannot approach them," Ron said excitedly on the way.
He had heard unicorn stories since he was little. He never imagined he would actually get to see one this time—and maybe even touch it.
This was something even Bill, Charlie, Percy, George, and Fred had never done. It was incredibly thrilling.
"I know about that too. I read that in the past unicorns were used to select pure maidens to become temple priestesses. I'm not sure if it's true, though," Hermione said, also excited.
Like dragons, unicorns were one of the legendary creatures in human society and enjoyed extremely high fame, which was why Hermione was so thrilled.
Harry, on the other hand, didn't feel particularly excited. He wasn't that interested. He even thought they would be better off using this time to check what Snape was up to—what if he was preparing to steal the Philosopher's Stone right now?
But he comforted himself: with Dumbledore in the school and Fluffy guarding the place, Snape had no chance.
When the four of them walked out of the castle and reached the lawns, they saw Hagrid's enormous figure bustling about in front of his hut, though it wasn't clear what he was doing. In front of him, the unicorn held its proud head high, nimbly hopping with all four hooves to avoid Hagrid.
Only when the four got closer did they realize Hagrid was trying to apply a prepared poultice to the unicorn so its wound would heal faster.
Seeing them approach, Hagrid happily greeted them.
"Hey, good morning, Harry, Ron, Hermione—and Gray! Gray, come quick and help! Hold the unicorn steady for me so I can put the medicine on its wound."
Gray stepped forward. The unicorn calmed noticeably when it saw him, but when Hagrid tried to come closer, it raised its head and pointed its horn directly at him.
Lightning crackled along the horn, snapping and popping, radiating danger.
"I'll do it," Gray said.
He walked right up to the unicorn with no resistance at all. The creature meekly lowered its head, allowing him to stroke it.
"All right, Gray, looks like it only wants to let you near it," Hagrid said helplessly, setting the prepared ointment down on the ground.
Every time he tried to approach while Gray was there, the unicorn glared at him, ready to attack at any moment.
Gray waved his wand; the bowl containing the ointment flew up and came to rest in front of him.
What looked like a teacup in Hagrid's hand was larger than Gray's entire palm. Inside was a green-and-black ointment giving off a faint scent like fresh grass; just smelling it made one's body feel lighter.
The trio also tried to come closer to help, but just like with Hagrid, the moment they approached, the unicorn showed clear resistance and hostility. Its body tensed, horn aimed at them, prepared both to attack and to flee.
Even Hermione received the same reaction.
"Don't come any closer. It only trusts Gray. Let him take care of it," Hagrid said.
"Why though? Norbert too, now the unicorn too—why do all the magical creatures like Gray so much?" Ron grumbled, unconvinced.
"I've heard that people from the East have a special talent for these kinds of things—taking care of animals, growing plants, that sort of thing. But I'm not really sure," Hagrid said hesitantly.
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