Chapter 68

A minute passed, and nothing happened, but just as Harry was about to give up, two balls of fire burst above the clearing, coalescing into two familiar birds. It was Hedwig! And she'd brought Fawkes to help!

They both flew down and without even needing to hear anything, joined Harry in healing the unicorn. Fawkes flew onto her flank and started dripping tears onto the wound, which instantly started closing much faster than before, while Hedwig perched near the equine's head and started singing a soulful tune, easing both Harry's nervous franticness and the unicorn's heavy breathing.

Slowly, more and more centaurs from the Forest's herd came, standing at the edge of the clearing, fighting off spiders and maghiras and any other dark creature that came towards the clearing with their lethal arrows.

They watched, as the boy and the two birds tirelessly labored over the unicorn.

Fawkes would lift the unicorn's legs and Harry would set them back into position and cast a solidifying spell at the broken bone with his wand. Hedwig sang a soothing tune, relieving the mare's pain that it felt from having its bones and joints snapped back together. One by one, as if they were putting a scattered puzzle back together, they worked tirelessly with naught a thought of giving up.

At last, Hedwig and Fawkes, armed with their ability to lift incredible weights, helped Harry lift the unicorn to a standing position, and Harry used his strength to balance the unicorn and help it take its first shaky steps.

When the unicorn started trotting around the clearing, albeit with a limp, Harry understood for the first time why becoming a healer was such a popular profession in the wizarding world. The sheer sense of relief and satisfaction that filled him upon seeing his work successful was beyond compare. Harry fell down to his knees with relief.

The unicorn saw him drop to the ground and idly ambled over to him to give him a lick on the hand and then going back to trotting around the clearing.

He smiled at that.

Ping!

Quest Completed!

Save the unicorn!

Rewards,

+5 stat points

5000 Exp

A brand spanking new perk!

Ping!

You have gained a new perk!

Unicorn's Boost - Allows user to run as fast as a unicorn for a brief amount of time. That's around 70 kilometers per hour. Much faster than most other magical creatures.

Ping!

You have gained a new skill by performing surgery on a magical creature!

Healing, Lv - 1 (0%)

Allows the user to heal diseases or ailments affecting himself or others.

Limit - 1 ailment can be cured per use.

Cost - 300 MP

A familiar voice filled his mind,

"We did it, Mr. Potter."

"That we did Fawkes," Harry said with a smile as he watched the centaurs disperse, the younger females amongst them helping the unicorn towards the direction of her herd.

Harry lay there for some time afterward, his two avian friends keeping him company, and once he felt a bit like himself again, he grabbed hold of Fawkes's tail feathers, and with Hedwig perched on his shoulder, they vanished in a burst of fire.

When Harry had walked into the black-eyed man's office the next evening for his detention/training, he had leveled a stare at Harry's eyes. A screen had popped up, saying,

Legilimency attack averted.

Harry had willed it away and stared back at his professor's eyes. "Any reason you're trying to get in here Professor?" he had asked, tapping the side of his head.

"Your shields are adequate. You won't be needing to meditate or further learn Occlumency," the professor had said and walked off into a side-door, which had led into a cavernous room with walls of black rock. It had a few potions stewing along one wall and the rest of the room was entirely empty.

From then on, a long and rigorous training exercise began.

The Professor would cast dark and dangerous spells at the wall opposite of Harry and Harry, with his eyes closed, would have to select which one of the given list of spells he was casting.

When Harry had asked why they weren't starting with easier spells, for a moment Snape had gained a faraway look in his eyes. "This ability you have Mr. Potter…it comes at great cost. Only those with the most difficult of childhoods have ever formed their shields this early. The Dark Lord had, Albus Dumbledore had," he had looked away. "I had…and now you have."

Harry felt awful. The normally closed off and strict professor clearly felt that Harry needed the empathy and shared a deeply intimate part of his childhood with him. He felt rather horrible for deceiving him with his Gamer's mind shields and had then and there decided that he would work hard and do justice to the Professor's teachings.

"Keeping the high cost of this gift in mind, it would be insulting to use this as a way to pass tests or win a dueling contest. Furthermore, for someone of your…notoriety, detecting dark and dangerous spells is useful. I am making you recognize dark spells Potter, so that you will always know when one is heading for you. So that you will be able to protect yourself, and if you cannot, you will at least know how incompetent you are before you die."

Shaking the thoughts of the conversation off, Harry refocused himself on the task at hand. A spell splashed against the nearby wall.

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