Gabrielle looked at Victor with bright, curious eyes. "Have you ever seen a unicorn?"
Victor nodded without much interest. "I have."
Gabrielle's face immediately lit up. "Really? What's it like?"
"They're not as extraordinary as people imagine. Basically horses with a horn. The only thing that truly makes them different is their blood."
Gabrielle blinked. Fleur looked at him in disbelief. "Zat has to be the least romantic description of a unicorn I've ever heard."
"You asked what they were. That's what they are."
Fleur shook her head. "Wait... do you sneak into the Forbidden Forest every day?"
"No. About once a week."
Fleur stared at him. "You say zat as though it makes a difference. A few minutes ago you were telling us how dangerous this place is, and now you're telling me you come here every week."
"There is a difference. I know what's in this forest — where the Acromantulas nest, where the unicorns usually roam, which areas to avoid. I don't wander around hoping for the best."
"So you deliberately come here knowing all zat?"
"I come here because I know all that."
Fleur didn't know how to respond. Victor spoke about the Forbidden Forest the way someone spoke about their own back garden.
No fear, only familiarity. For someone who had grown up at Beauxbatons, where students were kept well away from anything genuinely dangerous, it was deeply unsettling.
Victor suddenly stopped.
"Why did we stop?"
He scanned the darkness between the trees. "I think our spider friends came back." His brow furrowed. "In much greater numbers."
That was unusual. Acromantulas rarely gathered like this unless something had attracted them — two extra people probably made the group look like an easier meal than usual.
Before Fleur could say anything, a loud rustling spread through the forest. She turned toward the sound and her face immediately paled.
Acromantulas were descending from the trees in every direction, others crawling out of the undergrowth, surrounding them until no path remained.
Gabrielle grabbed Fleur's arm and hid behind her. "F-Fleur... why are zere so many spiders in zis forest?"
"Overpopulation," Victor answered, already drawing his wand. "Nobody has bothered controlling their numbers for years." He pointed at the ground. "Fiendfyre."
Red flames erupted from the tip of his wand and raced across the forest floor.
Instead of spreading uncontrollably, the cursed fire curved around all three of them, forming a perfect ring that rose higher and higher until it completely surrounded them.
The Acromantulas charged. The first spider leaped through the flames and was consumed instantly.
More followed — one after another they threw themselves at the ring, their screeches echoing through the forest before fading as the cursed fire devoured everything that came near.
Fleur watched in stunned silence. She had studied Fiendfyre at Beauxbatons.
It was one of the darkest curses known to wizardkind — the kind that could consume an entire forest if the caster lost concentration for even a moment. Victor controlled it with frightening precision, every flame staying exactly where he wanted it.
He gave his wand a small flick. The ring shrank and vanished, leaving nothing behind except scorched earth and drifting ash.
Fleur slowly lowered her own wand. "...Aren't you only a fourth-year student?"
Victor looked at her with a completely straight face. "No."
Fleur blinked.
"I'm actually an old wizard who drank Polyjuice Potion and replaced a fourth-year student."
For a second, Fleur almost believed him. Then she saw the deadpan expression and sighed. "...You're making fun of me."
"A little."
Fleur gave him a long look. Despite herself, she was impressed — not that she had any intention of showing it. "Has anyone ever told you zat you are a terrible liar?"
"Almost every day." Victor shrugged. "I've heard it often enough that it doesn't bother me anymore."
Fleur let out a soft, disbelieving laugh and shook her head. "For some reason... I believe zat."
The quiet of the forest was suddenly broken by the sound of galloping hooves.
A silver-white unicorn burst through the trees and ran straight toward Victor, completely ignoring Fleur and Gabrielle.
It stopped in front of him and gently nudged him with its muzzle before rubbing its head against his shoulder.
"Ah... a unicorn!" Gabrielle exclaimed, eyes shining.
Victor patted the unicorn's neck absently. "Yeah." He pointed at the side of his head. "This one is a little lacking in this department."
The unicorn ignored the insult entirely, happily circling around him before returning to nudge him again.
Fleur watched with undisguised surprise. Unicorns were deeply distrustful of humans — at Beauxbatons, their Care of Magical Creatures professor had spent an entire semester on exactly that point. Yet this one behaved as though Victor were an old friend.
Victor noticed her expression and answered before she could ask. "I saved it once." He scratched the unicorn behind one ear while it closed its eyes contentedly.
"It wandered into an Acromantula nest. I happened to be nearby and got it out before the spiders could kill it."
Ever since that day, the unicorn had acted like this whenever it ran into him in the Forbidden Forest.
*****
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