Hogwarts: Don't call me the Staff Maker

Chapter 59 The Mysterious Runes, the Unicorn

Hagrid didn't know why Siren was suddenly running towards the center of the Forbidden Forest, but seeing how anxious he looked, he decided to follow him.

Time passed very slowly, and the deeper they went, the quieter it became. Their ears seemed to be much more acute than usual, as if they could catch every gust of wind and the sound of every branch breaking.

After an unknown amount of time, the trees began to grow lush and thick, and the once wide path became almost impassable, but none of the three stopped.

Because there was more and more blood around.

We no longer need Xilun to lead the way here.

Hagrid ran to the front and cleared away all the vines and branches blocking their way, making it easier for Harry and Siron to pass.

After parting a large patch of bushes, a pure white object finally came into the three people's view.

It was a dying unicorn, lying on the roots of an ancient oak tree, struggling in agony, its silvery-blue blood splattered like glittering gems on its body, mane, and the ground.

Beside the unicorn, a black figure slowly crawled on the ground. It looked like a person wearing a black hood, but its movements were more like those of a wild beast.

Harry was completely stunned. He had never seen such a beautiful, tragic, yet eerie scene. He felt he should do something.

But someone was faster than him.

"What are you?!" Hagrid snarled as he swept through the low bushes. "Stay away from unicorns, or I'll get rough with you!"

The shadowy creature seemed to have been caught off guard. Faced with the enraged Hagrid, it hesitated for only a moment before pouncing on the wounded unicorn and greedily sucking the blood gushing from its wounds.

As it moved, the unicorn's struggles grew weaker and weaker, its mouth opening and closing as if it could no longer even let out a mournful cry.

"Stop!" Hagrid's eyes were red.

But when he finally reached it and raised his fist to teach the monster that had slaughtered unicorns a lesson, the creature coiled around the tree trunk behind him like a snake, then twisted its body and disappeared into the dark thicket.

Blinded by rage, Hagrid didn't think twice and immediately gave chase, leaving Siren and Harry standing there. Gradually, Hagrid's heavy footsteps faded away, and they could only hear the rustling of leaves in the wind.

"Do you think that monster might come back..." Harry asked softly.

"I don't know." Xilun shook his head, but his eyes remained fixed on the unicorn as he slowly walked over.

Seeing this, Harry immediately followed.

"Is it dead?"

Xilun didn't speak, just watched the unicorn's eyes grow dimmer and dimmer.

He saw many things in those eyes: resentment, anger, longing, pain, pleading...

"It's dying..."

"Who goes there!" Harry was startled by the sudden voice behind him and turned around in a panic, almost dropping his wand.

By the dim moonlight, Harry finally made out who it was—or rather, who was a centaur.

It wasn't Ronan and Bane we'd just seen, but a younger centaur with platinum blonde hair.

"It's dangerous here, especially for you," the centaur said. "I can take you away. Can you ride a horse?"

"I..." Harry didn't answer, but pointed to Siren, "And him?"

From the beginning, Xiren had been standing facing the unicorn, and they hadn't turned around while they were talking.

"I'm sorry, I can only carry one person at a time." The centaur shook his head.

"Then I won't leave either," Harry said without hesitation.

Although Harry is reckless and impulsive, he is also very loyal. If Siren knew this, he would probably be very touched.

Unfortunately, he didn't hear it.

Because at this time, Xilun was in a very strange place.

He was still standing in the Forbidden Forest, but in front of him had become a boundless white world, with faint traces of flowers, lakes, and trees in the distance.

Xilun looked down and saw that the boundaries of the two spaces seemed to surge and collide like ocean waves, pushing against each other yet clearly distinct.

Looking up again, Xilun saw the unicorn standing in the middle of the white space, but unlike the others, it had no wounds or bloodstains on its body.

How is that possible?

Xilen wanted to get closer to see clearly, but she couldn't. It seemed like they were less than five feet apart, but it also seemed like they were five hundred feet apart. She couldn't touch them no matter what.

At this moment, Xilun seemed to have guessed something, and looked down at the willow staff in his hand.

At some point, the blue-silver light had gone out, and the runes themselves had become blurry.

It seems the unicorn was dead, but by some twist of fate, the runes on the empty staff mistook it for the dying staff core and put it to use.

However, this magical rune was only meant to protect the core of the staff... a single tail hair. Its effect on an adult unicorn was negligible, barely enough to keep it a little longer on the edge of life and death.

But only for a short while. Once the magical runes on the staff have completely disappeared, he should be able to go back.

But now another problem has arisen.

Xiren glanced at the wand, then at the unicorn in front of him, and sighed softly.

In this way, the core of the Whomping Willow Wand can only be made from this unicorn. Siron can only hope that Hagrid and Dumbledore will give him the unicorn horn in consideration of the fact that he just helped him find the way.

Xilun couldn't help but look up at the top of the unicorn's head.

It would be a waste to use such a good staff only for its tail hairs.

Perhaps his gaze was a bit too impolite, for the unicorn opposite him immediately looked over and adopted a wary posture.

"Save it, do you think you can even fight me?" Siron muttered to himself. "I won't take your horn for nothing. How about this, I can lend Harry the wand I make later."

"In that case, when he killed Quirrell, you could say you got your revenge yourself, right?"

The unicorn continued to stare at him from the other side.

"What, you don't believe me?"

Xilun sat down cross-legged and started chatting with the unicorn, regardless of whether it could understand him or not.

"I'm a... wand maker with some special abilities. You know what a wand is? It's this." He picked up the willow branch and waved it around. "Of course, you probably don't, but that doesn't matter..."

As Xilun spoke, the white space opposite him was gradually being eroded by the "waves" on his side, and soon only a small area the size of a window remained.

Meanwhile, Siren could also hear Harry's voice. At first, the voice was very soft, but it became clearer and clearer. He seemed to be talking to someone. Was it Hagrid?

When this last piece disappears, the unicorn will be completely dead.

Xilun stood up from the ground.

"In short, I'll put a part of your body into this wand, and then have someone take it to kill the monster that killed you—that thing is terrifying, and you won't lose out on this deal."

The space opposite had shrunk to the size of a palm, looking like a lamp in the Forbidden Forest from a distance.

"What a wonderful experience," Xiren thought to himself. "Did his grandfather know that the Empty Staff Body possessed such amazing abilities? He probably did. I can write back tomorrow and ask him."

The sound grew louder and louder, and behind him, the figure that Harry had just disappeared reappeared, but standing next to him was not Hagrid, but a centaur.

No wonder he could always hear the sound of horses' hooves...

Wait, the centaur didn't move, so why can he hear the sound of horses' hooves?

Xilun subconsciously turned around again to look in the direction he had just been. The white space had completely disappeared, but the unicorn was not there.

A unicorn, radiating blue light and resembling a ghost, was charging at an incredible speed, giving it its all to crash headfirst into Xilun's... staff of willow branches.