Neil didn't really know how the ecosystem of the Forbidden Forest worked, but in his opinion, if Hagrid could raise murderous monsters inside, it must be an outlaw place on the Hogwarts map...... At least an extralegal place where Dumbledore tacitly acquiesced. It is precisely because of this that he can confidently and boldly cultivate dangerous crops here.

He wasn't too worried about the recent increase in the number of injured animals mentioned by Hagrid, as it was likely that the furry Octopus friends finally lost their appetite and began to secretly add food to themselves despite Hagrid's advice.

He mentions this in front of the centaurs simply because he has a flash of inspiration and intends to find a random figure who looks more suspicious than himself to blame - it is not easy to explain to the centaurs what a misunderstanding is, and it is better to find an excuse to get away than to rack his brains to convince them that he has no intention of desecrating the forest, but has only used a little radical means in the process of domesticating the broomstick.

However, the reaction of the horses made Neil a little uneasy. As a race that talks about its disagreement with humans all day long, they almost unthinkingly accept the suspect he improvised is a very unusual thing. The only plausible explanation is that the new serial unicorn killer really exists, and has already caught the attention of the centaurs before that, but their pretentious nature makes them reluctant to get involved.

"It's a good discovery." Looking at Bayaze's embarrassed back, Neil muttered to himself.

Centaurs are highly intelligent, but vindictive, and often allow their impulses to override their own reason, and when they begin to act, the Forbidden Forest will surely become even more restless than it is now.

But that doesn't make him give up on tracking down the mysterious killer.

Unlike the level of guarding dangerous creatures in the school, even at the expense of having Hagrid take charge of dangerous creatures, Neal knew he hadn't seen the whole picture of Albus Dumbledore, but he didn't think he would be behind such a savage plan.

In other words, it's finally time to get to work.

The job he got from Mr. Chancellor was "last line of insurance" and the job was "don't put yourself to good use," which may sound paradoxical, but both sides of the deal were satisfied with the brief but comprehensive summary.

"Okay, let me think about where to start." Seeing his four-hoofed friend disappear into the distance, Neil stretched, slung his broom to his shoulder and turned leisurely towards the exit. However, when he stepped on the soft ground covered with humus, he did not leave a single footprint, "The horses are very sensitive now, and I think it is better not to go deep into the Forbidden Forest for the time being." Perhaps I should have taken a closer look around the castle, for a man would not suck the blood of a unicorn unless he had fallen to a certain extent—or madness to a certain extent, and both states of mind were apt to show their feet. ”

Saying this to himself, he suddenly glanced back at the meteor on his shoulder.

"What do you think, man? Oh yes, I'll have to give you a name before then...... Do you have a gender? How about calling you Mars? No, no, it's not good......"

The mane on the broom suddenly hung listlessly.

……

……

In order not to be caught by Hagrid and sneak into the depths of the Forbidden Forest alone, Neil deliberately made a large circle as he left, avoiding the vicinity of the guard's hut - using the stealth trick might save a little time, but it would be better to be a little cautious when he had just cleared his suspicion with the excuse of "no wand", and God knows if any of the centaurs on patrol would see him wielding a wooden sword and casting spells. By the time he had made it back to the castle, the next lesson for the first-year Ravenclaw students had already begun for almost ten minutes.

Luckily, this lesson is the history of magic.

Cuthbert Binns is the oldest of the working teachers, in fact, even without the preceding phrase - his coaching experience goes all the way back to the year Hogwarts was founded. Salazar Slytherin himself invited him to teach at his school, where he had been for hundreds of years.

It is said that one day he was napping in an armchair next to the fire in the faculty lounge, and then suddenly remembered that he had another class to go, so he hurried to the classroom, but left his body in place without paying attention. It didn't affect him personally, he, Binns, the embodiment of diligence and dedication, still repeated the daily life of going from the office to the classroom (literally "two points and one line", he no longer had to walk through the door since he became a ghost), except that, according to the students, his classes became more and more lifeless like his own from then on.

In any case, Binns has been the only ghost professor at Hogwarts since that day, and has performed this duty diligently to this day...... Well, the word "conscientious" may not be the right word. He couldn't remember the names of the students, and he couldn't notice what they were doing in his class, but he only read the whole lesson to the thick translucent book in his hand.

Neil didn't know if it was a side effect of becoming a ghost, or if he was already doing it before he died, but his confusion was very convenient for students who wanted to skip class.

As Neil slipped into the classroom with his waist snuggled against the wall, Professor Binns was talking about the death of Strinch, how the femme fatale had played with all the male members of the five great families with money, sex, and aphrodisiac, and how she had become so confident in her own means that things spiraled out of control and triggered the wizarding version of the Trojan War that swept through Ireland.

No matter how vivid and interesting the history is, it will become as gloomy as a grave when it comes out of Binns's mouth, not to mention that this story with a love-hate entanglement as the core is already a bit obscure for students, and within ten minutes of class, the classroom is already full of corpses. Even the students, who were barely conscious, looked dazzled and starved, not even noticing that someone had slipped past them in the open.

As for Professor Binns himself, we don't know if he actually noticed, but the truth is that he clearly didn't care, just as he didn't care if there were students chatting in class, sleeping, or dueling in the last row of the classroom. Blaming these actions will take away valuable time from reading lecture notes and slow down the progress of the lesson. Classroom order? So what's the point?

In this half-dead atmosphere, Neil slipped smoothly to the back row, found an empty seat and sat down, the whole process was like no one, only the next seat Pollack Verguel showed a moment of disgust when he saw him sit down next to him.

"Where have you been?" He whispered, not forgetting to show with his eyes that he didn't care about the answer at all, "Michael has been looking for you." ”

"Mr. Kona?" Neil was stunned for a moment, and asked in the same volume, "What about others?" ”

"I fell asleep."

“…… Very good. It's called artistic creation, isn't it? The person who is looking for people and the person being found are always not touched, like Hermia and Lashander who were lost in the Athenian forest...... I thought that since the pager was invented, this kind of plot would no longer be used. He craned his neck to look around, and sure enough, he saw a familiar head lying on the table two rows in front of him, "Well, I don't think there's any need to disturb his rest, if you're not interested in the history of a group of Irish people holding twigs cannibalizing each other, would you like to talk to me?" ”

Pollack's expression showed that he had no such intention at all, but Neil held out his hand before he could translate it into words.

"Here, show me how your money string goes."

The corners of Pollack's mouth twitched slightly, and he reluctantly touched his pocket, and pulled out a brass rope buckle from it, on which were strung with red strings of five ancient coins of different colors, the material of which looked like some kind of jade. The yellow, red, blue, and white pieces are still crystal clear, but the black luster of the fifth piece at the end is already a little dull.

"Wow, that's a bit ...... Against all odds. Neil took it cautiously and held it up to his eyes to examine it carefully, "Nearly a fifth of the spiritual power has passed, and it's only been a month now—with all due respect, Mr. Vergeyle, how unlucky were you before?" ”

Pollack's gaze hidden behind the lenses dodged for a moment, but was quickly replaced by an angry look, and he snatched the string from Neil's hand, clutching it with his thin fingers, "It's none of your business...... I mean, that's what you should be thinking about! As a condition for helping you, you are responsible for solving my physical ...... Troublesome. ”

His expression became painful at the mention of the word constitution, but once again, Pollac controlled himself with his bony rage.

"I'm willing to pay anything for a normal life – not every leaf stuffed between my teeth, every new dress with threads hooked to my fingernails, every quill scratches the paper, and every morning I get up with my toes kicking my toes into the legs of the bed! I don't care if you're a devil or not! ”

Neil smiled charmingly—if he were an Irish leprechaun, that smile would have been charming: "Of course, Mr. Vergail, though I have a bit of a bad opinion about your analogy...... Before its spiritual power is exhausted, I will prepare a corresponding replacement. Now, I suggest you pay attention to the part of your obligations that you need to fulfill in the agreement. ”

"Good." Pollack said coldly, "What do you need me to do?" ”

"I need a detailed report on unicorns and their blood products." Neil replied without hesitation, "It should cover all the information that can be found in the school library, and the sooner the better—I would have liked to do it myself, Mr. Vergayle, but I found that the ancient books in the library in Anglo-Saxon were a blatant challenge to foreigners like me." ”