Chapter 25: Exploration of the Forbidden Forest (2-in-1)
Harry immediately approached a few of his friends to discuss what to do next.
"We have to stop him," Ron said at the sound of Harry's words. Ron had long been impatient with Snape's various targets against Gryffindor, and he said it immediately when he heard Harry's words.
As soon as Ron's words fell, Hermione immediately spoke, "Go find Dumbledore." We should have done this a long time ago. If we ever go it alone, we will definitely be expelled from school. β
"But we don't have proof!" Harry looked helpless at Hermione's suggestion and said, "Professor Quirrell, he's scared, and he won't come out to testify for us." All Snape had to say was that he didn't know how the troll got in on Halloween Eve, and that he had to be close to the fourth floor but ended up with Professor McGonagall in front of us. Who do you say they will believe, Snape or us? It's no secret that we hate Snape, and Dumbledore thinks we're making up this nonsense to get Snape expelled. Filch wouldn't have helped us if his life had been threatened. He was too close to Snape, and he would have thought that the more students who were expelled, the better. And, don't forget, we shouldn't know about the Philosopher's Stone and the Loe. That's too cumbersome to explain. β
Hermione seemed to be subdued by Harry's tirade, but Ron didn't. "We can also find some more clues, or find someone who can help us."
"Who can help us?" Listening to Ron's words, Harry cried and said, "Even Hagrid doesn't believe Snape will harm us. Not to mention others. β
The discussion was fruitless, and Harry felt hopeless. He felt like he couldn't stop the man who wanted to snatch the Philosopher's Stone Land.
The next morning, Harry and the other four received notes at the breakfast table. The four notes are exactly the same: Your confinement begins at eleven o'clock tonight, and look for Mr. Filch in the foyer.
Ever since Harry and the others were deducted a huge amount of points by Professor McGonagall, they have been looked at and spurned by the people, and they have almost forgotten that they and the others will be punished. But the four didn't make sense, because they felt they deserved such punishment.
At eleven o'clock that night, the four of them went downstairs together and walked to the foyer. Filch was already waiting thereβand Malfoy. In the past few days, the four people who have been devoting their energy to frantically reviewing their knowledge because of the white eyes of others have almost forgotten that he will also be punished.
"Follow me." As he spoke, Filch lit the lamp in his hand and led them slowly out of the castle towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest. "It's a shame they've done away with the old-fashioned punishments of the past β like hanging your wrists and hanging you from the ceiling for ......days," he said.
Filch had a strange smile on his face as he recounted one after another terrifying-sounding punishments: "The punishment now is not simple, you have to go to the Forbidden Forest for a trip." That red-haired boy over there, if I'm not mistaken, your two brothers have been thinking about how to get to the Forbidden Forest all day. You've now fulfilled their dreams! Hahaha~"
Hearing this, Neville couldn't help but snort, and Malfoy stopped abruptly. "Forbidden Forest?" I couldn't believe what I had heard, Malfoy was no longer as calm as he had just been, and there was even a hint of horror on his face: "We can't go in in the middle of the night - there's everything in there - I've heard werewolves!" β
"You're only to blame, aren't you?" Filch said, with a happy expression on his ugly face and a cheerful voice, "You should have thought of these werewolves before you got into trouble, didn't you?"
Walking unhurriedly, Hagrid slowly appeared in front of several people. Filch sped up with a few people.
As if he saw Harry and the others, Hagrid strode towards them from the darkness, his fangs following him closely. Hagrid carried his massive stone bow and a well-stocked quiver on his shoulder.
"It's almost time," he said, "and I've been waiting for half an hour." You're all right, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. β
"They shouldn't have been so polite, Hagrid," Filch said with some displeasure at Hagrid's attitude towards Harry and the others, "after all, they're here to be punished. β
"That's why you're late, aren't you?" Hagrid frowned at Filch as he listened to Filch's words, and said solemnly, "I've been teaching them a lesson, huh?" This is not the place for you to teach. Your task is accomplished, and from now on I am responsible. β
"I'll be back at dawn," Filch said, displeased with Hagrid's words. Viciously said to a few of the little ones who were going to be punished, "Come and clean up their wreckage." β
As soon as the words fell, Filch turned and walked in the direction of the castle. Gradually, Filch, who was carrying the lamp, gradually disappeared from everyone's view.
"Sorry for the long wait, Hagrid, have the kids arrived?" At this time, a crack suddenly appeared in front of the little guys, and Yang Su walked straight out of it.
As early as the morning, Yang Su received a message from Hagrid that he wanted to come over and help protect the punished children. Although they are still punished, it does not mean that they are going to be hurt because of it. It's not a bad thing to have a powerful wizard on the team who is familiar with the Forbidden Forest.
Originally, Professor Keitel, who lived with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest, was the most suitable, but he didn't have the time. In Professor Keitel's words, "I'm going to protect this guy, and I'm going to have to keep an eye on him, or we'll lose all the time in his training." β
"No, you came just in time for Robin." Looking at Yang Su's figure, Hagrid said with a smile: "Filch just left. We're going to go now. β
"Okay, let's go, remember that what we have to do tonight is very dangerous, and if you don't want to lose your life in the Forbidden Forest, cheer me up. I don't want you to be hurt either. β
With that, he led them to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, held the lamp aloft high, and pointed to a path that gradually disappeared into the depths of the black forest. They looked into the Forbidden Forest, a breeze blowing in their hair.
"Look over there," said Hagrid, "do you see that shining thing on the ground?" Silvery white? That's the blood of a unicorn. One of the unicorns in the Forbidden Forest was injured by something, and it was badly injured. This is the second time in a week. Last Wednesday I found one dead. We're going to try to find that poor unicorn and free it from its misery. β
Malfoy, who was already a little frightened when he heard Hagrid's words, said, "What if we are attacked by the unicorn guys?" I've had enough of being here, I'm going back to the castle! β
In response to Malfoy's words, Hagrid said with a blank face, "If you still want to stay at Hogwarts, you have to stay and keep going." This is the punishment for what you have done wrong. β
"My father is a school trustee, and he won't approve of this! If you force me to stay, he'll definitely get you fired! In response to Hagrid's words, Malfoy sacrificed his father. But Hagrid only listened to Dumbledore's orders in this school, and he stared at Malfoy with a hint of anger on his face and said, "He will agree, this is Hogwarts." Either stay and be punished, or just get out of the way. If you think your father is willing to let you be expelled, then go back to the castle and pack your belongings yourself. β
"Hagrid, there's no need to spread the experience over meaningless disputes. What we're going to do now is find the unicorn and the guy who attacked it. Listening to Hagrid's words to Malfoy, Yang Su calmly persuaded. He could hear Hagrid angry at Malfoy's words.
"Yes." After taking a deep breath and calming himself down a bit, Hagrid looked at the unicorn's blood on the ground and tried to find the unicorn's location. Unfortunately, there was blood everywhere, and Hagrid couldn't help but feel heartache when he saw this scene, which meant that the unicorn had been stumbling around since at least last night.
After thinking about it for a while, Hagrid said to the people behind him, "The blood stains are too scattered, we have to split into two teams to search." Harry, Hermione, and Ron, you three follow me and Tooth. Neville and Malfoy, you two follow Professor Robin. How's it going, does that pure-blooded imp feel safe following the professor? β
Listening to Hagrid's taunt, Harry and the others had a smile on their faces, and on Malfoy's face, Yang Su seemed to see the word angry. Oh no, it's the word angry. He seemed to have imagined that when he returned to the castle tomorrow, there would be another rumor that he was a coward like Neville.
"Robin, if you're in trouble, send the two of them away. If I'm in trouble, I'll have Harry shoot a red signal. They'll send them back to the castle and help me. β
Listening to Hagrid's words, Yang Su nodded slightly, and then led the two little guys towards a bloodstain. At this time, Malfoy and Neville walked slowly behind Yang Su.
At this time, he was no longer as scared as before, after all, Robin could go directly back to the school castle when he was in danger. The foundation of dimensionalism that his father asked him to read was not for nothing. At least he had a clear understanding of the various abilities of dimensionality. Cutting through dimensional rifts and navigating through space must have been easy for Professor Robin. This can be seen from his appearance.
The three of them walked forward in silence, their eyes fixed on the ground. Every now and then, moonlight in the sky spilled down from the branches above, illuminating the silver-blue blood stains on the fallen leaves.
"Look, another big stain of blood. I really don't know where the unicorn is now. Malfoy, who saw the silver-blue bloodstain, said excitedly.
But he soon felt scared again, and the unicorn was a powerful being in his memory. He really didn't know how he and the others were going to face the guy who attacked the unicorn. All he wanted now was that Robin could send them back to school when the unicorn hunter showed up.
Perhaps because of Yang Su's presence, Malfoy didn't play tricks on Neville like in the original book, but Neville was still scared in this dark forest.
"What's that? You're coming here. Suddenly, Neville seemed to see something coming towards him, and he exclaimed, exclaiming, exclaimed.
Neville's voice caught Yang Su's attention, and looking in the direction Neville said, he saw a tall person, no, his lower body was a horse, it was a horse man.
"I'm lucky to see you hidden deep in the Forbidden Forest. Ask what your name is, and please say hello the next time you show up, you will scare my students. Looking at the centaur in front of him, Yang Su said with a kind expression.
But the centaur in front of him didn't respond, and Yang Su then asked, "There's a bad guy in the forest, and he's hunting unicorns." Did you find anything? β
The man still didn't answer, and after looking at the stars in the sky for a moment, he looked in front of him and said, "Mars is bright tonight, but it seemsβ"
Before he finished speaking, the horseman left quickly, and Yang Su remembered an idiom when he looked at his departing back - flee in the wilderness.
Yang Su didn't know what made the centaur so frightened, but he knew that he should be able to meet Voldemort who poached unicorns tonight.
Mars is bright tonight, isn't that what the centaurs said to Harry in the books? Unless these damn guys say this every day, Yang Su would believe that today would be the day Harry encountered Voldemort head-on and was saved by Fezzellon the centaur.
Continuing deeper into the woods, a slight gust of wind blew through the dark woods, and though it didn't rustle the leaves, the leaves that fell on Neville's shoulders from time to time made the poor creature scream.
"Calm down, Neville. It's just a normal leaf. I can't imagine how you mustered up the courage to go to Harry and the others that day. Looking at Neville's performance, Yang Su felt very helpless, feeling that these little guys were really dragging themselves back.
"I'm sorry Professor." Listening to Yang Su's words, Neville lowered his head and apologized.
"Be quiet, I think we're going to find the injured unicorn." At this time, looking at more and more silver blood on the ground, Yang Su said loudly: "I don't want that unicorn to run away after hearing the movement." β
Several of them walked forward slowly, and after turning a small bush, Yang Su immediately opened the spatial rift and threw Neville and Malfoy inside, and then immediately closed it.
Professor McGonagall, who was working on the papers in her office, saw the two little ones who suddenly appeared in front of her and asked, "Aren't you supposed to be being punished right now?" How did you get here? β
"Professor McGonagall, Professor Robin sent us here." Listening to Professor McGonagall's doubts, Malfoy fled back to the school to prevent Professor McGonagall from misunderstanding himself and Neville, and immediately spoke, "We saw the blood of a unicorn in front of a bush, and we suddenly came here when Professor Robin got out of that bush. β
"I see, it looks like Robin should have seen the unicorn hunt. I'll take you back to the dormitory first, and since Robin sent you back, then your punishment will be like this. β