Chapter 069: Confinement (I)

On Saturday morning, the week before the exam, while Catherine and Draco were having breakfast, an owl brought them two identical notes:

Your confinement begins at eleven o'clock tonight. Look for Mr. Filch in the foyer.

Professor McGonagall

This made Catherine wonder if their confinement did not begin until eleven o'clock, and they had to go to the foyer, and that their confinement needed to be carried out outside the castle.

Despite their doubts, Catherine and Draco arrived in the foyer early at eleven o'clock that night, waiting for Harry and Hermione with Filch carrying a lamp.

"Follow me." When Harry and Hermione arrived, Filch lit the lamp and led them out of the castle, "I think you'll have to think twice about breaking the school rules in the future, don't you, huh?" He squinted at them and said in a cheerful tone, "Oh, yes...... If you ask me, I would say that hard work and hardship are the best teachers...... It's a shame that they have abolished the old-fashioned form of punishment of the past...... Hang you by the wrists and hang you from the ceiling for days. I still have those chains in my office, and I often oil them, so maybe they will come in handy one day...... Okay, let's go, but don't try to run away. But if you run away, you will have no good fruit to eat. ”

Although his words were eerie, Catherine had already discovered that there was no malice in his eyes, so she had long focused her attention on the night at Hogwarts.

It was the first time she had been outside the castle after the lights had been turned off, and although the moonlight was bright tonight, the grass looked darker without the castle light, and the Forbidden Forest looked more like a monster waiting for its prey, and the light from Hagrid's hut was the eyes of the great monster, which was waiting for them with its mouth wide open.

"Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I'm leaving. Hagrid's shouts came suddenly, and Catherine could feel the other three involuntarily breathe a sigh of relief, it was obvious that Filch had scared them a lot, and it was even more obvious that he wasn't going to let them go.

"You probably thought you'd have a good time with that idiot, right? Think again, boy—you're going to the Forbidden Forest! If you can come out unharmed, even if I was wrong. ”

"Forbidden Forest?" Draco stopped abruptly and said, his voice far less calm than usual, "We can't go in in the middle of the night - there's everything in there - I've heard werewolves." ”

Catherine could clearly feel that Draco's words made Harry and Hermione tremble.

"You're only to blame, aren't you?" Filch said, his voice cheerful, "You should have thought of these werewolves before you got into trouble, didn't you?"

As he spoke, he winked at Catherine, then gloated at the others. The girl immediately understood that although this confinement was very unreasonable, the safety should still be guaranteed, but she didn't understand why?

"It's almost time," Hagrid strode toward them from the darkness, Tooth followed behind, carrying his massive stone bow and a full quiver on his shoulder, "I've been waiting for half an hour. How's that, you four? ”

"They shouldn't be so polite, Hagrid," Filch said coldly, "after all, they're here to be punished. ”

"That's why you're late, aren't you?" Hagrid frowned at Filch and said, "I've been teaching them a lesson, huh?" This is not the place for you to teach. Your task is accomplished, and from now on I am responsible. ”

"I'll come back at dawn," Filch said, "to clean up their wreckage." He said viciously, glanced at Catherine again, and then turned and walked towards the castle, the lamp staggering into the darkness.

At this point, Draco turned to Hagrid. "I'm not going into that Forbidden Forest." There was a hint of horror in his voice.

"If you still want to stay at Hogwarts, you have to go." Hagrid said, shaking his head.

Draco tried to say something, but Catherine grabbed him by the sleeve and stopped him.

"Hagrid, what's our mission tonight?" Catherine asked.

"Your mission tonight is dangerous, and I don't want to put anyone in danger." Hagrid said, leading them to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, pointing to a path that was gradually disappearing into the depths of the black forest, "See that shining thing on the ground?" Silvery white? That's the blood of a unicorn. One of the unicorns in the Forbidden Forest was injured by something, and it was badly injured. This is the second time in a week. Last Wednesday I found one dead. We're going to try to find that poor unicorn and free it from its misery. ”

"What if the thing that hurt the unicorn finds us first?" Draco said, his voice filled with irrepressible fear.

"As long as you're with me or Toothtooth, no creature in the Forbidden Forest will hurt you." Hagrid said, "Don't leave the path. Alright, now we're going to split up and follow the bloodstains in two separate ways. There was blood everywhere, and apparently it had been stumbling around since at least last night. ”

"I want teeth." Draco looked at the long teeth and said busily.

"Okay, but let me warn you, it's a coward." Hagrid said, "Well, Catherine, you—"

"I'm with him." Catherine said, pointing at Draco.

"Okay, then, me, Harry, and Hermione go one way, and Malfoy, Catherine, and Toothtooth go the other. If anyone finds a unicorn, they shoot a green spark, understand? Take out your wands and practice - yes - if anyone is in trouble, shoot red sparks and we'll all come to you - all right, be careful, everyone - let's go. ”

The Forbidden Forest was dark and silent. They walked a little further inside and came to a fork in the road, Harry, Hermione, and Hagrid on the left, and Draco, Catherine, and Toothtooth on the right.

"Catherine," Draco asked softly shortly after parting, "do you think it has something to do with Dumbledore's 'Savior' development plan?" ”

"It's very likely," Catherine said Tracey into an illusion, her eyes fixed on the ground for blood, "I think you'd already see how unreasonable tonight's confinement was. ”

"Of course!" Draco said arrogantly, "Otherwise do you think I need to pretend to be that coward?" ”

"It's a pity they had to let us in." Catherine stopped abruptly and looked behind her.

"What's wrong?" Draco hurriedly took out his wand and stood guard beside Catherine.

"Looks like someone is following us." Catherine carefully moved her wand and replied softly, "I can hear the breathing, but I can't find the other party, I'm too new to the Forbidden Forest." She grumbled dissatisfied.

"It can't really be a werewolf, right?" Draco's body shook slightly, his expression even more nervous.

"Probably not, I don't perceive malice." Catherine raised her hand, and Tracey landed lightly on her arm, and she smelled a faint smell of candy.

"Then do you need to force him out?" Draco's tone relaxed slightly.

"No, you don't." Catherine gave a bright smile to the dandelion that had bent down for no reason in the shadow of a large tree, "Let's go find the injured unicorn." With that, she turned and continued along the winding path strewn with speckled blood stains of unicorns.

"Wait for me!" Draco hurried a few steps to keep up.

Shortly after they left, something seemed to emerge from the shadow of the big tree, and the dandelion quickly straightened up again.

In order not to waste any more time, Catherine asked Tracey to lead the way, and soon they saw a silver-white animal leaning against a tree stump, its chest still slightly heaving.

"It's still alive, fire the spark." Catherine ran towards the unicorn.

Draco fires green sparks, and when he looks back, he sees Catherine in a stalemate with the unicorn.

"Catherine, help it stop the bleeding!"

"But it doesn't ......," Catherine turned to answer Draco's question, but stopped abruptly, with a look of horror.

Draco followed her gaze as a man in a black cloak approached them, a green light flying out of his wand and striking the already crumbling unicorn.

"Run!" Draco didn't know where the strength was coming, so he grabbed Catherine's hand and rushed the way he came.

The path twisted and turned, and soon they couldn't see the unicorn that had fallen to the ground and the man in black who had hurt it.

"He's not going to chase him!" Draco held on to a tree and gasped.

"He's targeting unicorns, not us." Catherine reached out and pressed her chest down, and when the Man in Black appeared, her heart seemed to ache as if it had been overhearing Snape's conversation with Quirrell.

"Oops." Draco suddenly shouted, "We forgot to fire the red spark." ”

A thought popped into Catherine's head: "Let's go back!" ”

"What? Get back? Draco exclaimed.

"We just need to get close to the red spark and not face him at all." Catherine persuaded, "And we can't let Hagrid and them face that guy unprepared. ”

"Well," Draco hesitated, "okay. ”

"Thank you, Draco." This made the platinum boy's face flush.

The two of them walked gently back the way they came, and through the gap in the roots of the tree, they saw the dead unicorn, still so graceful, and the hooded man lying on top of it.

Catherine raised her wand and fired a red spark into the sky, the sound of the spark alarmed the man in black, he looked up, and Catherine saw that his lips were stained with unicorn blood.

Catherine's eyes widened at the thought of the unicorn's blood, and then she thought of the Philosopher's Stone hidden in Hogwarts that could make potions of immortality, and she immediately understood the identity of the person in front of her.

"Ahh As Catherine froze, Draco let out a terrible scream and pulled her up to run away again, but the men in black had already spotted them.