Chương 26: ITW,H - Chapter 26 - Morning Exploration

(Word Count: 1, 105) Early the next morning, before anyone else in his room was awake, Harry opened the window and jumped out. He shifted forms midair, easing his fall into a smooth glide. Held in his beak were a few shiny bits of metal. It had been a while since he last transformed into a crow, and he was feeling the need to go flying. It was a Saturday anyway, so he was free of classes.

He was going to take this opportunity to find the local murder of crows to befriend them, using the bits of metal as a sort of peace offering. Crows were a highly intelligent and social species of birds. So a new crow they've never seen before isn't very common, and is likely a part of another group. Which meant a potential turf war. The offerings would lessen their worries. Harry swooped and dove, and looped his way around the castle until he spotted another crow.

He followed it around for a bit, before it cawwed at him in annoyance. He landed on a roof nearby, and the crow followed, chittering and cawing, demanding a reason why he was bothering it. Clear black eyes examined him, noting every detail about this strange new crow with emerald eyes. Harry did the same. This one was a hooded crow, one of the common variants found in the Scottish Highlands. It actually wasn't all-black. It got its name from its grey body, and black head.

The other variant, the carrion crow, was the all-black one. This was the type of crow Harry was. Harry set down the shiny pieces, and gave them a small nudge towards the crow, indicating for it to take them. The crow's demeanor changed from annoyed to curious. It examined the metal, pecked at it, and finally picked them up in its own beak and flew off. It will take more visits before that particular murder of crows opens up to him. His mission was accomplished, but Harry didn't really feel like returning just yet.

He wanted to fly some more. Instead, he took flight over towards the forbidden forest. It had been about a week since he summoned the snakes, and he hadn't heard from any of them yet. That was a good sign, but might as well check in. He dove down beneath the canopy, and flitted between the trees. He followed the general sense of direction that he was getting from his familiar bonds with the snakes. As he flew, Harry pulled open his Quest Page to look at the Quest. [Magic Quest: Save The Unicorns! Unicorns are precious symbols of purity and magic. Unfortunately, there aren't many Unicorns left in Magical Britain. Yet, in this first year, Tom Riddle and Quirrell kill several of them! This travesty must not be allowed to happen. You are hereby tasked with saving them. Do not allow Tom Riddle to kill any of these unicorns. Reward: Perk: Purify] Perks were the best kind of reward he's seen being offered so far, since these quests were the only easily available way to get them.

Otherwise, they were worth five whole levels in a class. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. There wasn't a punishment for failure that was stated in the system, but he knew that these quests were being offered by actual gods that were watching him. If he failed one, he knew that they wouldn't be too happy with him, and since Magic was the governing deity over his own magic, he didn't dare fail her.

Speaking of perks, he had gotten a new one from the night visit to Fluffy for including the others: Teamwork Makes the Dream Work! This perk boosts the magic of everyone in his "team" while they were on a "quest" or during a canonical event by around 20%. Closing back out of the system page, he turned his attention back to his surroundings. The forbidden forest was huge. It covered the entire upper valley that Hogwarts resided in. The trees were huge, and varied.

Some of the trees had gnarled roots extending above the ground around them, making for a very bumpy forest floor, other parts of the forest were more normal looking, with a thick coverage of leaves over every inch of ground. Harry eventually found the unicorns. They were in a thinner part of the forest, where the ground was flatter. They stood out against the darker forest, being pure white with a sheen of silver as the light caught the coat just right.

There was even a young unicorn, its coat a bright golden color. He had to perch on a branch nearby to watch them graze. As soon as he did, all of the older unicorns stopped grazing and looked directly at him. That was a bit unnerving. He sent out a thought to his snakes." $How are things out here? Anything strange happening? $" A chorus of replies hissed in his mind." $We've found the unicorns, master! $"" $Nothing hunts the unicorns, master. $"" $Nothing so far! $"" $I've hunted a young acromantula!

$" A particularly proud snake said. He reached out with his magic to attempt to reassure the unicorns about his presence, but as soon as he did that, the unicorns all bolted, the young unicorn's mother keeping pace with its child. All of his snakes cursed at him angrily as they all slithered into motion, racing to not lose sight of the herd." $You scared them off! $"" $You wanker! $"" $You know how difficult it is to keep up with a unicorn? You don't, do you? Ignoramus. $"" $You muppet! $""All right! I get it!

I'm sorry!" Harry squawked frustratedly. Now that he was used to his crow form, he could speak, but it came out a lot higher than his normal voice." $Just tell me when something happens then, I'll stay out of it. $" Left alone in the forest, he sighed regretfully at chasing the unicorns away. Still, Harry transformed back into his human form. A quick "accio unicorn hair" gave him a nice handful from the surrounding area. Some of them were golden!

It was only unicorn blood that was cursed, so these hairs were free game. It was a nice bit of money made this morning. He stashed the unicorn hairs into a small lockbox in his trunk.

Flying back to the opened window to his room, he peeked inside and saw everyone was still asleep. He quickly transformed back and closed the window. Right. Now that his early morning escapades were out of the way, he went to join Hermione. She was probably waiting for him in the common room or already down at the library.