Under the moonlight, they could already see the silver-blue blood from a distance—the magical blood of a unicorn.
Even though they'd mentally prepared themselves, the moment Draco and the others dismounted Norberta and saw the scene before them, they couldn't help but feel a jolt of shock.
The fallen leaves scattered across the ground were speckled with blood, and the winding path showed the unicorn's desperate final struggle.
Bathed in moonlight, the unicorn's long limbs were still twisted in the position it had collapsed in. Its front legs were unnaturally outstretched, as if it had been dragged, and its mane spread across the dark, damp leaves, gleaming white like pearls.
This beautiful yet tragic sight left both Draco and Hermione speechless...
"Ugh... it's just too cruel."
Hermione, visibly distressed, let out a muffled sound as she covered her mouth. Without thinking, she instinctively hid behind Draco again, unable to look in the unicorn's direction.
Draco took a deep breath before turning his gaze toward the scene of the killing.
Blood was splattered across the roots of a nearby tree, as if the unicorn had thrashed and struggled in agony right there.
The streaks of silver-blue blood on both the tree and the ground made the brutality of the killer even more apparent...
...
Unlike Hermione, who was completely unguarded, Draco immediately began scanning the surroundings cautiously after confirming that the unicorn was beyond saving.
Though it had been dead for some time and the chances of the killer still being around were slim, Draco didn't let his guard down for a second.
Remaining alert in the Forbidden Forest was absolutely essential...
"Norberta, take to the air. If you sense any wizards nearby, alert me immediately."
"Gaw!"
"Hermione, now's not the time to throw up."
"Who... who said I was going to throw up?!"
Draco's words weren't exactly gentle, but it was that very bluntness that snapped Hermione into awareness of how serious things were. She forced herself to push past the nausea and focus on her surroundings. The last thing she wanted was to drag Draco down.
Once he confirmed that Hermione was okay and there really weren't any other threats nearby, Draco slowly walked toward the unicorn that had long since died.
He narrowed his eyes slightly.
Judging from how dried the blood was, the unicorn must've been dead for quite some time—but Draco couldn't tell exactly how long.
"Was it attacked by another creature?"
"No. I don't see any obvious wounds. It's very likely it was killed by a spell."
"You mean... a spell?"
Seeing Draco's serious expression and the way he raised his wand, Hermione quickly reached for her own.
Without Draco by her side, she was sure this forest would've swallowed her whole.
This place offered her no sense of safety at all. And with a unicorn's corpse lying not far off, her unease only grew—so much so that her small hand trembled slightly as she gripped her wand...
But that wasn't all. Draco had discovered something even more troubling.
"And this isn't something just any ordinary wizard could pull off."
Draco, body tense, slowly shifted his gaze, carefully examining the silver-blue blood still glistening at the scene and the wounds on the unicorn's body.
His cautious demeanor made Hermione, who was still hiding behind him, nervously rise onto her toes to peek past him.
She was clearly scared, but curiosity tugged at her all the same, and her timid attempts to look added a subtle lightness to the otherwise grim atmosphere...
"Don't let the unicorn's beauty fool you into thinking it's a fragile magical creature. You should know, capturing a unicorn is as hard as capturing a dragon—let alone killing one."
Draco didn't mean that a unicorn could rival a dragon in strength, but rather that its speed and stealth made it an SSR-tier rarity.
Not sure if Hermione would misunderstand his point, Draco didn't bother to explain further and continued as if talking to himself.
"More importantly, capturing a unicorn is far more profitable than killing one. After all, unicorns are full of precious magical materials."
"...No, that can't be what the killer was after."
"Or maybe... they didn't get the chance?"
Seeing no immediate danger, Draco cautiously stepped forward again. It was only then that he noticed the unicorn's body was completely intact—nothing was missing like he had initially assumed.
In fact, even the horn, worth hundreds of Galleons, was still perfectly attached. No one had tried to cut it off.
Despite observing for a while, Draco, who had never formally studied Auror fieldwork, couldn't glean much more from just the corpse.
The fact that he'd managed to deduce even this much was already impressive.
"Tch, I've got a bad feeling about this."
Draco pulled his eyes away from the unicorn lying on the ground, his thoughts drifting to recent events. A deep frown formed on his face as unease began to stir in his chest...
...
Hermione, having slowly adjusted to the scene, carefully moved to Draco's side.
"Did you find anything?"
"No. I'm not a Muggle forensic examiner, and I'm definitely not one of those Aurors. This is as far as my skills go."
Hermione wanted to correct Draco's mislabeling of forensic doctors, and she was a bit surprised to find there was something Draco wasn't confident about. But her whole body felt uncomfortable now, and all she really wanted was to get out of this creepy place.
"I think we should report this to Hagrid. Besides, it's almost dawn."
Hermione's reminder pulled Draco from his thoughts. She was right—they didn't have much time left.
But just as he turned to leave, a strange sense of dissonance crept into Draco's mind.
Why kill a unicorn and leave without taking anything?
He couldn't wrap his head around the killer's motive—and the fact that someone could actually kill a unicorn only deepened his curiosity.
Was it done out of boredom?
Or was there something crucial he'd missed?
It couldn't be that the killer is actually an S... right?