A certain Hogwarts professor of runes

Chapter 149 Forbidden Forest

The Easter holiday lasts about two weeks, during which time Hogwarts is already in summer, and the school is full of lush bushes and laurel trees.

But the students didn't feel any leisure during the holidays. The professors assigned a lot of homework, which made the Easter holiday far less fun than the Christmas holiday.

Especially under Belby's guidance, the professors (led by McGonagall) successively discovered new uses for the answer parchment, constantly updating it with various test questions.

In the common room, Ron stared wide-eyed as he made a simple die out of parchment and chose an answer based on the result.

As a result, he rolled the highest number, six, three times in a row.

He pressed the tip of his wand against the dice and shouted angrily, "Look closely, there are only five possible answers. If you give me another one that doesn't exist..."

Hermione looked up impatiently. "Can't you just do it yourself?"

Ron slumped onto the table in despair: "What can I do? Every professor assigns so much homework."

"You just piled all your homework up to the last minute! For the first three days, you went to watch Harry train every single day!"

Amidst the commotion, Harry dragged his weary body back; he looked quite exhausted.

"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione asked with concern. "You don't look too good."

"I'm fine," Harry said, noticing his voice was unusually hoarse. He cleared his throat and explained, "I spent too much time discussing tactics with Wood..."

"We're currently in first place, and Slytherin is in second. The scores are very close."

"How many points is the difference?" Ron asked with interest, casually stuffing the parchment containing the answer key into his bag.

Thirty points.

"This number is dangerous."

"Wood said the same thing. They're getting better and better at using the new brooms and have scored a lot of points in the later races."

"When is the next match?"

The first Saturday after the holiday ends.

Harry took out his parchment and began to do his homework. He saw Hermione drawing squares with different colored inks.

"What is this?"

Hermione didn't look up. "The study schedule."

Ron's mouth dropped open: "Hermione, aren't you thinking this way too soon?"

"I must remind you," Hermione looked up at them seriously, "that we only have six weeks until the exams."

……

Deep in the forbidden forest.

Felix and Belby trudged through the knee-deep grass, having exhausted themselves. There were no more paths; all they could see were tall trees, low shrubs, and wildly growing herbaceous plants.

A thin layer of mist gave the Forbidden Forest a hazy, dreamlike appearance.

During the Easter holidays, Felix and Belby agreed to explore the Forbidden Forest together. Belby was doing so to create a Forbidden Forest creatures project for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, while Felix simply wanted to see some new and interesting plants and animals and collect some materials for his experiments along the way.

"Damocles, wait!"

Felix crouched down, parted a bush, and carefully plucked a magical plant with black roots and white flowers, roots and all.

Belby glanced at it and said excitedly, "Blackroot grass? That's quite rare. What do you plan to do with it?"

"I'm going to prepare a potion using a recipe I found in the library that can neutralize the cold and damp properties of magical creature materials."

Belby pondered for a moment and said, "I don't know that. I only know that consuming black root grass can effectively resist the damage of black magic."

"The effect is that exaggerated?" Felix looked at the black plant in his hand with some surprise.

"I can only say it has some effect... Actually, it would be better to make it into a potion, as it has miraculous effects on all kinds of black magic damage." Belby is an authority in this field.

Felix transplanted the black root grass into a copper vessel, and Belby took out a thumb-sized transparent glass tube from his robe and carefully dripped two drops of medicine onto it. "Alright, it should survive the transplant period—if you want to keep it."

"I need its flowers, which part do you need?"

"Roots," Belby said without hesitation.

The two exchanged a glance and smiled knowingly.

This was the third day of their forbidden forest expedition, and they were quite familiar with each other's attitudes and habits.

A series of heavy footsteps sounded in the distance—

Both of them simultaneously pointed their wands in that direction.

The bushes ahead shook violently, and in the dim light, Belby shouted nervously, "Who's there?"

The Forbidden Forest is also known as the Dark Forest because its dense, tall trees block out the sunlight.

"Woof! Woof woof!" A huge black hunting dog emerged from the dense foliage, followed by a burly man.

His height was imposing, making him look like a giant, and his tangled long black hair and beard almost completely covered his face.

"Hello, Hagrid," Felix greeted.

Hagrid, carrying a large bucket, first glanced warily at Belby, then relaxed when he saw Felix behind him. "Hello, Felix."

Hagrid said gruffly, "What are you doing here?"

"Find some magical materials." Felix waved the bronze vessel in his hand. Then, he placed the black root grass into a specific area of ​​the ring.

Belby said politely, "I've come to see the creatures of the Forbidden Forest and pick some for the young wizards' lessons."

"Really?" Hagrid asked with interest. "What's the goal?"

“Some dangerous creatures,” Belby said. “Regular magical creatures are not within the scope of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.”

Felix suddenly spoke up: "Hagrid, I heard that Professor Kettleburn has officially retired, and he recommended you to Dumbledore."

Hagrid's face flushed. "Yes, I haven't told anyone. I always felt there was something fishy about it... but Dumbledore promised to resolve my identity issue, and he always keeps his word."

Next, Hagrid led them around the neighborhood; he always managed to easily find traces left by various magical creatures. He pointed to an imprint on the ground and said, "It looks a bit like a porcupine's footprint, or maybe a Tepo warthog. I've seen those a few times..."

After walking a short distance, Hagrid said to them, "That's unicorn territory up ahead, but they've just had their babies and are being very wary."

Hagrid placed the barrel on an open ground, stepped back a short distance, and whistled.

Two or three minutes later, a tall and agile male unicorn emerged, its fur snow-white, and it stared warily at Felix and Belby.

"Ruby, those two are my friends," Hagrid called from afar. He turned to the two and explained, "I brought them some supplements, which are good for female unicorns after giving birth. I can get closer in a while, but not now; they're at their most wary."

The unicorn nodded to Hagrid, then carried the large bucket away.

"Have they always been this arrogant?" Belby asked with interest.

Hagrid said in a deep voice, "Actually, it's not like that. Take humans, for example. We seem quite strange to some creatures, not even eating raw meat. It's just instinct, isn't it?"

"A very interesting point, Hagrid."

(End of this chapter)