We walked at a constant speed while I picked up as much of the unicorn blood scattered on the ground. Hermione followed me at a distance, not very close but not far either, trembling at the sight of the darkness of the forest and those sounds that during the day can be so peaceful but now have become terrifying.
"You were kidding, right?" She asked me.
"No, we'll have a great time on the return trip if you don't resist"
"I don't believe you"
"Okay, wait and see"
"You can't do anything, I know you"
"That should be enough to confirm what I said"
"You're just trying to scare me. You wouldn't risk not being able to go back to Hogwarts, you did a lot there to waste it. What can you do to me?"
"Maybe I already have everything ready, don't you think so? And I'm not going to tell you what I'm going to do to you, if I do, you'll probably run away and I'll have to start earlier. Better enjoy these moments because later nothing will be the same" I said while putting the glowing blood from the floating sphere in front of me into my [Blood Reserves].
"I…" Hermione didn't quite know how to react to those words but she wanted to keep trying to find fault with me so that would end it all, a simple hope that prevented her from really wanting to run away from me. She was about to respond but she was stopped by the circumstances.
"AAAGGHHHHHH...!!!" I let out an uncontrollable scream while all my orifices began to drain a liquid between red, black and white
"RED?!" Hermione freaked out when she saw me. She was embarrassed by my previous actions but seeing what happened to me, she couldn't help but honestly worry "What's wrong with you?!"
"B-blood... uni..." That was what I managed to say as my clone spat blood when speaking.
It didn't just happen with this clone, the others suffered too but not as much, just crying that colorful blood mostly. At the Tonks house, Tenebrios fell to his knees, startling Andromeda and causing Tonks to walk with her cane, her legs spread penguin-style, to try and get to him.
It was also my real body with Gemma that was the most affected, only instead of oozing that strange liquid from my body, I writhed and screamed in pain. Gemma was scared, thinking that she did something wrong while she was riding me, that maybe she squeezed too hard and she broke something.
...
"Unicorn blood?! DID YOU DRINK IT?! Why did you do that? You can't drink unicorn blood, it's cursed!" Hermione yelled at me in concern. Since she became friends with Daphne, she learned a bit about the condition of the women in her family and did some research on the subject and consequently, she also learned about unicorn blood.
"N-no... I-I d-d-drank..." I tried to express. I could feel like in my whole body there was an icy flame running through my veins, destroying them, while my clones were destabilized "K-keep... the s-blood..."
Hermione didn't quite understand what I was trying to say due to my mouth being full of liquid, so she grabbed her wand and was about to shoot sparks into the sky for help, but I was able to grab her hand before she did it and stop her.
"S-stop…" I stopped her, already feeling how that pain subsided and seeing that she received a warning.
[Skill: Improved "Blood Pool"]
[Blood Magic
[Blood type]
-Each time some type of blood with certain sufficiently significant characteristics is received, its data will be saved and it will begin to be produced in a space-separated from common blood (at a speed proportional to its rarity)-
I feel how the unicorn blood that I had just saved disappeared from my great reserve as it was organized in a different space. I felt how the pain subsided and how my clones stabilized and stopped to suppurate their insides.
"I'm... fine" I said, very exhausted, pale, and sweaty.
"You are not well! We must ask for help! You drank unicorn blood!!!" She exclaimed with concern.
"I didn't drink it, I kept it in my reserves with my power. It's not the same"
"But look what happened to you!"
"I didn't know this would happen"
"A..."
"Let's just keep going, it's over..." I stopped her words and started to walk so that he would put the idea of asking for help aside, but it was clearly noticeable that my speed was much lower than before.
I didn't want this to stop us, I knew what would happen, and only after obtaining this new ability could I feel the power of the unicorn blood. I plan to save it to sell it to the merchant since I knew it would be worth a lot, but now I could feel its power... after I stopped feeling like it was killing me.
Likewise, I wasn't sure how long it would take for Harry to find Voldemort, but if possible, I wouldn't want to miss out. In addition to being able to witness this important scene, I could also take the body of the unicorn without anyone knowing and blame the 'mysterious figure'.
"..." Hermione hesitated and even though she knew it was the right thing to ask for help, she didn't and decided to follow me to help me in case I needed it, even without putting away her wand. She got next to me, but when she noticed what I was doing, she couldn't help but yell at me "Are you still collecting unicorn blood?!"
"Yes…" I said, moving my wand slowly and limply, collecting the remains of unicorn blood on the ground.
"Red are you crazy?!" She couldn't understand how after showing such a scene I didn't stop.
"No... well, it's debatable... but don't worry. The problem has been solved. It won't happen again..." The pain dissipated, the discomfort went away and I could feel how that little by little, evils caused by blood were reduced... I hope it's until they disappeared completely.
"You're a lunatic, you're going to kill yourself"
"I think if you don't want me to do what I said I would do to you before... you should be wanting it..." I joked weakly to try to calm her down.
...
In another part of the forest were Hagrid, Draco and Harry, all facing a centaur they had passed and chatting briefly.
"... The innocent are always the first victims. It has been like this for centuries past and it is now" Said the centaur at the mention of the attacked unicorn.
"Yes," Hagrid said. "But did you see anything, Ronan? Anything abnormal?"
The centaur looked up at the night sky with a frown and clenched fists. There was something that had made the centaurs uneasy lately, and that was one of the reasons why he patrolled these parts at this hour, like many other colleagues.
"The moon is very bright tonight... unusually bright. Mars, Venus and Pluto resonate in a strange circle... something important is coming, it is brewing in the aspect of the rivers of life. The end or the beginning of something dark will happen these days..."
These strange words were misunderstood by everyone except Ronan himself. Shortly after, more centaurs appeared armed with their bows and arrows, which worried the half-giant a bit, since it was not that common to see it, but the only answer he got when asked 'why' was the same thing he had heard before about the planets, and those incomprehensible astrological things.
...
"Are you okay? Did something happen to your real body? Do we have to go help?" Tonks asked concerned.
"No, it's fine" Tenebrius managed to stand up with the help of Andromeda "I'm fine now... besides, I don't think the help of a eunuch would be of much use" I mocked, trying to calm the atmosphere that was very tense since I didn't I wanted this to affect the lives of these women.
"I'll show you what it's like to be a eunuch!" Tonks yelled at me in anger.
She tried to grab me to do something nasty, but I easily backed away and she had to slowly walk over with her legs apart. It never stops being funny, and at least they weren't so worried after that.
...
"Sorry sorry sorry..." Gemma apologized to me repeatedly.
"Okay..." I patted her head "But I don't think we can be too rough tonight... I want kisses on the neck"
Gemma listened to me and lifted her hips, parting our genitals, then lay down next to me to give me short but loving little suckers. Feeling comfortable and relieving my discomfort, I took her hand and put it on my member.
"You can do it, slow"
Gemma started rubbing me, up and down, while she didn't let go of my neck. Feeling so comfortable, I decided to compensate her as well by using my [Blood Control] to convey to her a sense of inner peace.
...
"Sure you're okay?" Hermione asked once more.
Despite I was mentioning over and over again the horrible things that I would end up doing to her, she no longer listened to me, believing that I was only saying it to distract her from my situation and calm her down.
"I'm not at my best..." I told the truth.
"Then stop pooling that blood!"
"Do you know how difficult it is to get unicorn blood? It's a controlled product. And my problem was solved, my ability solved everything"
"Your ability was what got you like this in the first place"
"But now I'm fine..." I was telling her but I noticed that in front of us, in a clearing, there was something that was not very convenient "Hermione, stay behind me"
It was probably because of my current state, but until now I couldn't notice how the blood on the ground had increased and how close to us there was a dark and powerful presence along with the moans of a creature.
We were between a couple of trees, there was an open space in front of us and there was a figure dressed in black on a bright white horse that seemed to reflect the light of the moon.
I wanted us to back away slowly without attracting the attention of 'you-know-who', because even in my best state I couldn't be sure I had everything to win... and less so in my current condition.
Unfortunately for us, we were easily noticed due to Hermione's groan as she noticed what was happening in front of us and even though she covered her mouth with her hands, it was already too late.
Seeing the hooded man she quickly turned to us, with my experience as the 'ex-Hunter of ministry' I knew that hesitation would not do. At first, I pushed Hermione behind a tree and cast a spell, as two of my clones came out of the woods as well.
These were the clones that held Hermione in the beginning and that they had followed us around in case something like this happened, only they weren't invisible anymore due to it being hard for me currently to keep it.
*confringo*
*Reducto*
*Bombarda*
Vol-rrell didn't hold back either and cast a strong dark curse on the clone in the center while he dodged the other spells. Trying to avoid his curse, I moved quickly, but this sudden action in my current deplorable condition made me feel very nauseated.
The dizziness was mostly received by the clone who dodged but affected the others as well. Losing balance, our enemy seized the opportunity to attack and I had no chance to avoid it.
...
Hermione had fallen to the ground, but didn't complain because she was paralyzed with fear and she understood that what he had done was to protect her, just like with the troll situation.
She had taken cover behind a dark oak tree, trembling with fear as she heard the start of the battle. She took courage slightly, driven by curiosity, and just as she leaned out to see what was happening, she could see how a spell similar to a black cloud hit one of my clones. This causing it to explode, spreading drops of blood to the surroundings, including some that fell on the tree where she was hiding and a few on her face.
Hermione screamed in fright and with her wand raised, she uninterruptedly released strong red sparks. One after another, they completely illuminated the place, but at the same time made her position clear.
Even in my weakened state and with one less clone, noticing how Hermione had called for help but she also revealed her location, I put more effort into my offense. I released most of the blood in my reserves and manipulated it against Vol-rrell in a bloody tide, hoping this would hamper his movements and buy us some time.
It mostly worked. The wave I created caused him to stop attacking to cover himself and since this blood has slight magic resistance, it was a bit more difficult for him. My other clone also used area spells but they were no longer offensive and more control.
The lights from our fight continued to illuminate the area, as well as red sparks from Hermione, who didn't stop either.
Right after another one of my clones was split in two and turned into a puddle of liquid, arrows rained down on our enemy. He was able to defend himself against it, but seeing that reinforcements were arriving from our side, he escaped.
Exhausted, my vision blurring, and an urge to throw up, I finally relaxed and fell to my feet, breathing heavily. Looking at where my partner was, I noticed that she was still shooting sparks. Looking to the other end, I could see a group of around 5 Centaurs rapidly approaching, followed by Hagrid and the others.