Chapter 38 - 38: 38: Mars Is Very Bright Tonight

Two hours earlier, Sagres had waited a long time at the edge of the Forbidden Forest but saw no one. Just as he thought the other party had encountered an accident, a magical fluctuation suddenly arose from deep within the forest. "Hmm?" He rose from the stone, frowned as he looked toward the Forbidden Forest, then transformed into a giant shadow and quickly flew toward the source of the explosion. A few minutes later, Sagres saw everyone gathered in an open clearing. "Who can tell me.. what happened here?" he demanded. He landed on the ground, narrowed his eyes, and, looking at the dead unicorn not far away, asked. "Good evening, Sagres, someone was chasing them..." "Professor? Oh! He is here!" "Professor Greengrass?" "Oh! Thank goodness you are here..." "Finally, we'll be safe!..." Sagres frowned, trying to find some useful information amidst the clamor of voices, but he quickly gave up. "Quiet!" A "Silencing Charm" was instantly cast, and everyone immediately fell silent. Sagres pointed at Nightingale. "Veiliss, you tell me." Only then did everyone realize they knew each other. "Alright, Sagres…" Nightingale said with a smile. "I accepted the commission. I was supposed to meet you at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, but while waiting for you, I found something unusual. Hmm, perhaps a Dark Wizard? I'm not sure. Then I quietly followed him and rescued your students from him…" At this point, she pointed at Hagrid. "And this big guy, of course." Sagres nodded, then turned to Harry, Hermione, and Malfoy, thinking to himself: These Young Wizards are really troublesome. Not only do they sneak out at night in the Castle, but they even dare to sneak into the Forbidden Forest? He had already decided in his heart that he would deduct a lot of points from the four of them and give them a whole month of detention! No, three months! Make them report to their Head of House every day after class! But before that, he still needed to get a clear understanding. "So you four—" He pointed at the four Young Wizards. "Who will tell me why you are here?" He spoke with a stern, expressionless face. "If you can't give me a reasonable explanation, then all your free time from now on might be spent in detention." Looking at the four students gesticulating and wanting to speak, he finally pointed his finger in the air at Hermione. "Miss Granger, you tell me!" "Uh, Professor, we weren't breaking school rules this time…" Hermione realized she could finally speak and quickly explained, "T-This is detention. Professor McGonagall sent us here." "..." Sagres raised an eyebrow: So the price of breaking a school rule is breaking another school rule? He was somewhat speechless, grumbled a few times in his mind, and then stopped dwelling on the issue. Hermione continued to recount, "W-We were assigned to search for an injured Unicorn with Hagrid, and we encountered another—dying, and the killer of the Unicorn was also here... Uh.. A creature or a wizard.. um.. It tried to attack us, and.. and.. Hagrid told us to run, but we couldn't, I mean Harry couldn't move for some reason, but I could, and uh, Ron said we should not.. uh.. and.. and…" "You can take your time, Miss Granger." Sagres cast a Cheering Charm on her, and Hermione visibly calmed down immediately. She also realized she had been a bit too excited, looked up at Nightingale, and said somewhat awkwardly, "Then this lady appeared, um, she saved us." Sagres narrowed his eyes, many thoughts flashing through his mind, but in the end, he said nothing and turned back to Hagrid. "Hagrid—" "Professor, Hermione is right…" Hagrid was also somewhat agitated. "That thing was attacking Unicorns and drinking their blood. I found one dead last Wednesday, and this is already the second one." After listening to Hagrid, he felt he was one step closer to the truth, but to prevent missing any crucial information, he continued to ask questions. "Hagrid, you know the Forbidden Forest very well. What do you think that thing is?" "I don't know, Professor, but I don't think it's a person; it's more like some kind of animal…" "Animal?" "I don't know, maybe a Vampire?" he said uncertainly. "It was wearing a cloak; we couldn't see clearly…" Sagres nodded without speaking, then looked at the Centaur. "Do you have anything to say?" "Ah, if you ask me, Mars is very bright tonight…" the Centaur said out of the blue. Sagres glanced at him, thinking that these Centaurs were indeed as rumored—a bit mystical. This was a common ailment among Seers; they definitely knew something, but since they chose to protect themselves, he couldn't force them. Stepping toward the corpse, he bent down to carefully examine the Unicorn's torn throat. The Silencing Charm had been lifted, but the Young Wizards had nothing to say at this point. "I don't think it's a Vampire!" Nightingale suddenly interjected. "'My Holy Light spell' couldn't harm it, so it definitely isn't a Dark creature…" "I think I understand…" Sagres said without turning his head. "Alas, it's always the innocent who suffer first," the Centaur said sadly. "It was like this three hundred years ago, and it's like this again today, three hundred years later." Sagres hated the Centaur's enigmatic behavior the most. He thought it was fine for the Centaur to keep secrets, but why did he have to open his mouth and make his presence known at crucial moments? This feeling was like reminding everyone: Come ask me! I know a secret! "Lyon, you know what that thing is, right?" Sure enough, Hagrid immediately asked when he heard the Centaur say that, "Tell us, Lyon." "Sorry, Hagrid, this is the stars' instruction—a secret of the forest—so I cannot tell you…" Lyon said vaguely, looking at the sky. "But didn't you see that Unicorn?" Hagrid pointed incredulously at the corpse not far away. "It's dead, killed by something lurking in the forest, and you're still keeping secrets for the killer?" "I'm really sorry, Hagrid…" Lyon apologized again. "We've sworn an oath; we must never defy the will of heaven or reveal the omens shown by the stars." "Why can't you take your eyes off those distant stars?" Harry couldn't help but ask. "Preferring to gaze at ethereal stars rather than look at the innocent victim lying right before your eyes?" Evidently, he found it very difficult to understand why the Centaur remained so tight-lipped. "Alright." Sagres interrupted their conversation and said calmly, "Centaurs are skilled in astrology and herbal knowledge, capable of predicting the future and interpreting celestial phenomena. But rather than interfering, they prefer to observe the world as bystanders." He raised a hand to stop Hagrid, who was about to speak again, then continued to tell everyone, "I know everyone is eager to know the truth, but we cannot expect others to risk retaliation to help us." The Centaur cast a grateful look at him, but Sagres ignored it. _____ ????Support & read up to 12+ chapters ahead on P@treon/DarkDevil1???? Join to get early access and exclusive content!✨