Reaper Of The Wizarding World - Volume 1 Chapter 35 Haunted Forest

“Yer late” Hagrid looks at Filch annoyed.

Filch clicked his tongue “Blame the kids.” he turns and gives a creepy smile showing his dirty teeth “Have fun in the forest, don’t get bit.”

He walks away while Hagrid glares at him not liking the man very much.

As he gets out of earshot I look at Hagrid “Why exactly are we going into the forest? And what’s this about it being your suggestion?” Neville and Harry nodded in agreement and Malfoy still looks terrified.

Hagrid puts his hands up defensively “Don’t worry yer self boy, I know this forest like the back of me hand. Ain’t nothin goin’ tah get ye. Now each of ye grab a lantern and put on some boots or yer shoes’ll be ruined.”

All of us hesitantly begin to put on a pair of boots and grab a lantern. Hagrid gives an affirming nod seeing us getting our boots on but his gaze lingers on Malfoy complaining while putting on his boots.

It’s hard to hear him muttering but I can pick out a few words “…Till my father hears about this… ” “… what does a keeper of keys even do anyway” “… listening to a man who looks like a filthy half-giant”

Honestly, I’m kind of annoyed at his bickering so I glare at him. It took him a second but once he realized I was glaring at him he immediately shut up.

Hagrid smiles once he shuts up “Alright yer ready?” We give a small nod “Good, it’s dangerous at night so stick close to Fang and me. We’re just doin a round of the forest so keep close.”

As we walked into the forest it seemed as if a fog latched onto us making the floor of the forest barely visible. The only source of light came from our lanterns and the moon shining through the blue and silvers leaves that clung to the nearly barren and gaunt trees.

“Hagrid what will we do if something comes after us?” Neville says from behind me as if he is hiding. Not a very good hiding spot since he is exposed in three directions but I digress.

Hagrid keeps leading us as he talks “Don’t ye worry, nothing here will get ye as long as yer with me.”

Neville gives a small nod but still seems terrified, Draco isn’t really any better off. Being an immortal is pretty nice in situations like these but I’m still kind of freaked out. Not because of getting hurt but if something happens I’m not sure I’m strong enough to protect everyone here.

Not too far away from the entrance to the forest Hagrid stops us and bends over what seems to be a liquid pool of metal.

“Hagrid, what is that?” Harry asks looking over his shoulder.

“Unicorn blood, the reason wer’ doin’ rounds in the forest. Found a dead one a few weeks back. Most pure things y’ill ever come across unicorns they are.” Hagrid’s face scrunched at his words.

“But who would be killing them?” I ask

“Only a foul creature could do such a thing. It’s ther’ blood they’re after, unicorn blood can save a person from even the brink of death. But it’s a cursed existence it is living off unicorn blood, many would say no better than death. It’s the price for killing something so pure” Hagrid gets up and scans us all with his eyes.

‘Voldemort’ I think to myself.

“The injured unicorn should be nearby, Neville, Malfoy, you’ll be with me. Soren, Harry you take Fang and don’t stray too far. Send a flare if yer’ in trouble.” Neville and Malfoy look happy they’ll be with Hagrid but they are still shaking in their boots.

“Will do.” I say ‘…maybe’

Harry seems to be relieved at my confidence and just follows me as I pat Fang’s head and walk the opposite way as Hagrid. I close my eyes and focus to see souls, and to my surprise, the forest is packed with human-like souls but not quite human. But the closest soul near us is one I recognize because it’s human and has a black growth on it.

My gaze hardens as I look in the direction of the soul which just so happens to be directly where we were heading. I wave my hand signaling Harry to slow down as we sneak up on heavily cloaked Quirell standing over a unicorn about to feast on its blood. Noticing it’s still alive I feel a need to save it.

I look over at Harry “Go get Hagrid, he couldn’t have gone far. Be quiet about it.” I order Harry in a whisper.

“But Hagrid said to send up a flare, what’s over there anyway.” Harry says as he peers over my shoulder to see Quirrell about to feed on the unicorn. As Harry sees him he yells in pain holding his scar alerting Quirrell that we are there.

“Damn, GO! Get Hagrid.” I say as I pull out my wand and throw a chantless Stupify at him.

Quirrel quickly pulls his wand and deflects the spell as Harry struggles to his feet and begins to sprint in the direction of Hagrid’s group.

Seeing Harry out of earshot I look at Quirrel in his eyes past to darkness of the hood. “I see why you are canceling class so often, aye Professor Quirrell.”

He doesn’t remove the hood but I can hear a muffled whisper coming from him like he is talking to himself. But the voice isn’t the same.

Not wanting the unicorn to die I have to kill this idiotic Professor quickly. “Sorry, but you’ll have to die for me. Reducto!” I send three quick Reducto towards him while stepping closer.

Quirrell backs away as he deflects the Reducto which instantly turns a few tree bases to ash causing them to fall down. Using this as a chance to escape as he turns around and begins using the death eaters signature flying spell.

“Petrificus Totalus” As he turns his back I cast to petrifying curse which he deflects without looking like it’s nothing. “F.u.c.k this,” I mutter under my breath as my cloak wraps around me and I begin to transform into my Dementor form. Once I transform I quickly catch up to him grabbing him by the back of the neck dragging him to the ground.

My cloak wraps his struggling body making him go limp as I rip off the top of his cloak revealing a deformed face. The face looks at me with its lack of nose and red snake-like eyes. The back of Quirrell’s head is another face that looks like the Dark Lord in Bellatrix’s memories.

Looking at me the face speaks but not to me “QUIRREL! YOU INCOMPETENT FOOL I TOLD YOU TO KILL THE BOY! I TOLD YOU HE FELT SIMILAR TO THAT DEMENTOR!” His eyes glared at me with hatred.

‘The Dark Lord reduced to being attached to someone like Quirrell, how you have fallen why don’t you just die already you rat.’ My voice speaks directly into his their? Heads.

“Boy, I will not die even if you kill me now and I will come after you, why don’t you join me. We could rule this world, with your power we could rule both muggles and wizards alike.” The deformed face tried to give a charming smile but it did nothing but disgust me.

‘You can come for me again, and you will die like the dog you are. Stretch your soul as much as you want, into as many Horcux’s as you want, I’ll just eat them all.’ I flip Quirrell and look into his terrified eyes as my grip tightens I choke Quirrell and begin to feast.

Common sense is telling me this is stupid, to eat the soul of one of the evilest wizards ever to live but something inside me is telling me to do it. As I feast I feel the weight of the soul is many times heavier than any soul I’ve eaten before. Quirrell has tears streaming down his face as he watches his own mutated soul leaving his body and entering my ghastly mouth.

As the mutated soul reaches my ‘lips’ part of the growth turns into fog leaking away. I try to ‘eat’ the fog as it pours from the soul but it’s stronger than me and a portion of it is still able to leave in the form of a screaming face as it flys away. Part of Voldemort’s soul escapes but the majority of it I was able to keep attached to Quirrell’s soul.

After eating the soul memories flood my head but almost none of them are of Quirrell, instead, they are of a young boy known as Tom Riddle and his life at Wool’s Orphanage and his first few years at Hogwarts. From the few snippets of memories I got a good idea of why Voldemort is the way he is. He can’t feel love or compassion but he feels most other feelings, that includes fear. An ungodly fear of death haunts him.