He sighed deeply.

"Ferenze said they weren't happy that he was going to work for Dumbledore," Harry said, stumbling over the sticking roots as he was too busy looking at Hagrid's face.

"yes," Hagrid said heavily, "well, it's not ordinary gas, it's just a thunderstorm, and if I hadn't interfered, I'd say they'd have kicked Ferenze to death--"

"They hit him?" Hermione said, seemingly quite shocked.

"Yes," Hagrid said gruffly, squeezing through a few particularly low branches, "at least half of the centaurs are chasing him." ”

"What a bunch of weird-tempered creatures, who are sheltered by humans, but don't want to get close to humans......" Lockhart said with a frown.

"You knocked them back?" said Harry, both surprised and admiring, "just you?"

"Of course, you can't just stand there and watch him kill them, can you?" said Hagrid, "and it's a real blessing that I happened to pass by...... And I thought Ferenze would remember my help before he sent him that stupid warning!" he added excitedly and unexpectedly.

Hermione and Harry looked at each other, a little shocked. But Hagrid still frowned, and did not continue.

"Anyway," he said, breathing a little heavier than usual, "the other centaurs have hated me to death since then, and the trouble is that they have a lot of influence in this forest...... They are the smartest animals here. ”

"Hagrid, are we here for this?" asked Hermione, "centaurs?"

"Oh, no," Hagrid said, shaking his head disappreciatively, "No, it's not them. But of course, they make things more complicated, no...... But you'll see what I mean right away. After saying this incomprehensible sentence, he walked further without saying a word. They had to take three steps for every step he took, and they had to keep up with him.

The weeds on the road are getting taller and the trees are getting denser. The deeper they went, the darker it became in the woods. Soon they were far behind the charred earth, and Hermione began to feel uneasy, and she gripped Lockhart's hand tightly, "We've never been this deep, Professor. ”

"Hagrid!" Lockhart soothed Hermione with his thumb and soothed her, then turned his head and shouted, using his wand to separate a tangled bush of thorns, which Hagrid had of course stepped on effortlessly. "How far do we have to go?"

"A little ahead," Hagrid snapped back, "hurry up,...... We can't spread it out now. ”

Had it not been for Lockhart, it would have been no easy for the children to keep up with Hagrid, and the branches and thorny bushes Hagrid could easily stride over them as if they were cobwebs. Lockhart would have had to cast a spell to separate them, or the children's robes behind them would be hooked, often tightly, and they would have to stop, and it would take them minutes to untie them, and there would be a series of cuts and scrapes.

Now that they had reached the depths of the Forbidden Forest, sometimes the only thing the people behind could see in the dim light was the great black shadow of Hagrid in front of them. Any sound sounded intimidating in the closed silence, the sound of a branch breaking would have a loud echo, and the slightest rustle, though it might have been made by an innocent sparrow, would have the children nervously scouring the surrounding darkness.

Lockhart also realized that he had never gone so deep into the forest, but fortunately there were no creatures in the Forbidden Forest that could threaten him. But the children in the back were terrified.

"Why can't you see any critters here?" Hermione grabbed Lockhart's robe and hid under his arm, almost trying to squeeze herself into Lockhart's robe, "Can we light the wand?"

"I'll do something. Lockhart gently caressed Hermione's shoulder with his right hand, and could feel her trembling, and took the wand in his left hand—" fluorescent flickering. ”

A gentle white light came out of the wand, and Lockhart shook his hand, and a cloud of white light flew out from the tip of the wand, illuminating the way forward. Hagrid jerked to a halt and turned, and Lockhart nearly ran into him with his arms around Hermione.

"What's the matter, am I alarmed by something?" asked Lockhart, confused.

"No...... Maybe we can take a break here so I can ...... Explain to you," said Hagrid, "that you can't get there, and you won't ...... anything."

Lockhart shrugged, signaling that it didn't matter, he had already guessed what was going to happen anyway.

"Good!" Harry sat down and pulled out his wand, "Fluorescent flicker!" The light made Hagrid's face fade in and out of the darkness, and he looked nervous and extremely melancholy.

"yes, well, you see...... This thing is ......" he took a deep breath, "Well, now, I'm going to be fired right away,"

Hermione looked at Lockhart, then Harry and Ron. "But the professor has promised you--" Hermione said tentatively, "he'll help you--"

"Umbridge wasn't going to give anyone face this time, he always thought I had put those weird things in her office. ”

"Do you, then?" Harry said.

"No, of course I didn't!" Hagrid said angrily, "and that's it, I had a big argument with her the other day when I was teaching a sixth grader, and I almost wanted to hit her...... He insulted my blood!"

"It's too much!" Harry and Hermione protested at the same time, but Hagrid just waved his large palm, completely unlistened.

"It's not the end of the world, once I'm gone, I can still help Dumbledore, I can do something useful for the Order of the Phoenix. And you have other professors, and I'm sure Gildelow can tell you about magical creatures as well...... You're going to - you're going to take the exam. ”

"You're thinking too much, I'm not going to help you with the lesson!" Lockhart resisted the urge to roll his eyes, Hagrid really thought he was a magical creature fan.

"You have to help me," Hermione said hurriedly as he tried to pat him on the arm. Then he pulled out a huge dirty handkerchief from his vest pocket and wiped his eyes, "Listen, I won't tell you this, if I don't have to...... You see, if I'm gone...... I can't just sue someone...... Let's go...... Because I- I need a couple of you to help me ......."

"Of course we'll help you," said Harry at once, "what do you want us to do?"

Hagrid sniffed hard and patted Harry on the shoulder without saying a word, only to be so powerful that Harry fell crookedly into a nearby tree.

"Look, you've always been like that!" Lockhart grumbled dissatisfiedly, reaching out to help Harry up.