In the early morning, the silent Forbidden Forest was awakened by a deafening cry.

The half-blood giant, more than three meters tall, fell to his knees in the clearing, looking at the pure, white animal carcass by the stream with teary eyes.

Dracula stood by and covered his ears helplessly, masking Hagrid's mournful wails.

……

Time goes back an hour and a half ago.

It's February, and Hogwarts has just started.

At the turn of winter and spring, the sun stays lazily below the horizon and refuses to show its head.

However, the world without the sun does not appear dim. When the heavy snow falls in winter, the thick and soft snow reflects the soft white of the stars in the sky.

Dracula loves this bright sky without the slightest ray, jumping out of his office window early in the morning and landing on the snow to hang out and enjoy the snow-covered Hogwarts Castle at night.

Not long after he walked around, a huge figure attracted his idea.

"Morning, Professor Dracula." Hagrid saw Dracula in the snow, greeted him hastily, and hurried in the direction of the castle.

Dracula noticed that he looked so anxious that he didn't even have time to wipe his dewy face.

"What are you doing at the castle so early, Hagrid?" Dracula asked curiously.

"There's some emergency in the Forbidden Forest, and I need to report it to Headmaster Dumbledore." Hagrid didn't stop, still striding in the direction of the castle.

"Oh, then there you go. Dumbledore should be sleeping at this point, so knock on his door so he doesn't sleep too hard. Dracula wasn't interested in what was going on in the Forbidden Forest, but he had some ideas about how to wake up the old headmaster, "If he doesn't want to wake up no matter how much you knock on the door, I'm happy to help." ”

He floated in the air as if he had wings, and he walked side by side with Hagrid, his black and red robes floating behind him. At the same time, he picked up a snowball from the ground about the size of Hagrid's head.

"I could fly right up to the roof of the main tower of the castle and smash the snowball through the window of the principal's office. Dumbledore would have woken up that way. Dracula said solemnly.

"Uh...... It's not that urgent. Hagrid looked at the snowball the size of his head and couldn't help but lift his heart for Dumbledore, "That is, there are traces of suspected vampires in the Forbidden Forest, and in order to protect the safety of the little wizard, I have to inform Dumbledore about this as soon as possible." ”

Dracula's floating figure abruptly stopped in place.

Hagrid looked back in confusion to see Dracula standing in the snow with a cloudy expression. He shuddered.

"Otherwise, don't bother Mr. Headmaster, Hagrid." Dracula casually tossed the snowball aside, letting it shatter into scattered snowflakes, "Wouldn't it be more worry-free for the headmaster to go directly to the Forbidden Forest and catch that troublesome vampire?" ”

He snapped his fingers, crisp in the silence of the night.

The next moment, Hagrid felt a dark moon crash into him and pass through his massive body. When he opened his eyes again, he was already near the Forbidden Forest.

Hagrid looked at the familiar shacks and vegetable gardens beside him, as well as the deep forest in front of him, and his heart was shocked.

It took a long time to approach Hogwarts Castle with a two-meter-long stride, and now Professor Dracula brought him back in an instant? He felt a little like crying.

"It's... What kind of magic is this? Hagrid asked, wiping the liquid from his face, who didn't know if it was dew or cold sweat.

"Let's just think it's a disfigurement." Dracula said casually, "Let's go, take me to find traces of vampires." ”

Hagrid was taken back to the Forbidden Forest in an instant, and now he doesn't bother to spend dozens of minutes running back to report Dumbledore, it's not worth it!

So he resigned himself to his fate and took Dracula into the Forbidden Forest.

"Professor Dracula, look at the poor rabbit." Walking deep into the Forbidden Forest, Hagrid found the carcass of a shriveled hare by a bush, "its blood completely drained, leaving only the shriveled flesh and skin." I can't think of any other animal other than vampires who would do that. ”

Dracula furrowed his eyebrows, letting the hare's corpse levitate in midair, taking a closer look.

"It's not a vampire's doing." He shook his head, "There are no wounds on the hare's body, and vampires can't drain the animal's blood out of thin air. ”

"This ...... Is there any other magical animal that can drain blood without causing a wound? Hagrid racked his brain as he thought back to the magical beasts he had seen, but had no clue, "Why don't you ask Professor Kettleburn?" He's been a professor of magical beast protection for sixty years, so maybe he'll have a different opinion. ”

Dracula didn't speak, his burgundy pupils staring at the hare's intact corpse.

"Hagrid, how many days do you think this hare has been dead?" He asked suddenly.

"Judging from the corpse, it should have been two or three days, I have been a hunting ground guard for so many years, I can't be mistaken!" Hagrid confidently patted his chest and assured.

As soon as he said this, Hagrid seemed to suddenly realize something, and looked at the carcass of the hare in amazement.

"How can this hare's carcass be kept for two or three days?!" He was shocked and said, "This is not right! In this season of scarce food, other carnivores in the Forbidden Forest will definitely drag it away and eat it when they see such a corpse. Not to mention three days, it is impossible to keep it even for a day! ”

"That's what I'm trying to say." Dracula bowed slightly, "So the biggest possibility is that this rabbit actually died under the curse of the dark arts." Therefore, the surrounding animals instinctively did not dare to approach this corpse with an evil aura. ”

"Professor Dracula, what do you mean...... The evil creatures in the Forbidden Forest are not vampires, but dark wizards?! Hagrid asked as he looked around and lowered his voice.

"It's just speculation." Dracula said, "Look for any other animal carcasses that have lost their blood." ”

Hagrid took the lead, using his familiarity with his surroundings to make his way into the depths of the Forbidden Forest, where he found many shriveled animal carcasses.

His expression was very sad when he saw the tragic death of so many small animals, and this sadness reached its climax when he came to a stream deep in the Forbidden Forest-

On the bank of the stream, a pure white horse-like creature with a single horn on its forehead fell on the pebble beach, and the stream flowed over her golden front hooves, soaking the pure white mane on her neck.

Even though two or three days had passed and her whole body had shriveled, her hair was still so bright white that the snow around her looked like it had turned gray.

It's a sacred unicorn.

……

……