Chapter 147
Easter break lasts about two weeks, when Hogwarts had entered into summer, the school is full of lush bushes and seasonal laurel.
But the students did not feel the leisure of the holiday, the professors left a lot of homework, which makes Easter break is far less fun than at Christmastime.
Especially under the guidance of Belby, the professors (led by McGonagall) one after another discovered new uses for the answer space, constantly updating it with new test questions.
In the common room, Ron stared at the parchment and used it to make simple dice, in order to choose the answer according to the result he got.
As a result, he rolled the largest number six three times in a row.
He put the tip of his wand against the dice and yelled angrily, “Look, there are only five options at most, if you give me one more option that doesn’t exist …”
Hermione looked up impatiently, “Can’t you be serious and do it yourself?”
Ron looked desperate and slumped on the table: “What can I do? Every professor has left so much homework.”
“You just piled up all the homework to the end! You went to watch Harry’s practice every day for the first three days!”
Amidst all the bickering, Harry came back dragging his tired body, he looked quite exhausted.
“Harry, are you okay?” Hermione asked with concern, “You don’t look too good.”
“I’m fine.” Harry said, noticing that his voice is unusually hoarse, he cleared his throat and explained, “Spent too much time discussing tactics with Wood …”
“We’re currently in first place for now, with Slytherin in second, and the points are tightly matched.”
“What’s the gap in points?” Ron asked with interest, tucking his answer space into his book bag smoothly.
“Thirty points.”
“That’s a dangerous number.”
“That’s what Wood said. They’re getting adept at using their new brooms and scoring a lot of points in the later rounds of the Tournament.”
“When’s the next game?”
“The first Saturday after the holidays.”
Harry took out his parchment and started to finish his homework, he saw Hermione drawing a square with a different colour of ink.
“What’s this?”
Hermione didn’t look up, “Review schedule.”
Ron’s mouth wide opened, “Hermione, you’re thinking about this too soon, aren’t you?”
“I have to remind you,” Hermione looked up at them with a serious expression, “we only have six weeks until the exam.”
…
Deep in the Forbidden Forest.
Felix and Belby travelled through the knee-high grass, where there were no more paths, and everywhere you looked there were tall trees and low shrubs, and herbs that grew unchecked.
A thin layer of fog coated the forbidden forest with a hazy colour.
During the Easter holidays, Felix and Belby agreed to explore the Forbidden Forest together. Belby wanted to explore the Forbidden Forest for the purpose of creating a topic on Forbidden Forest creatures for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, while Felix simply wanted to see some new and interesting flora and fauna, and pick up some materials for experiments along the way.
“Belby, wait!”
Felix squatted down, plucked a shrub, carefully with the roots and leaves, and picked off a plant with black roots and white flowers.
Belby took a look at it and said excitedly, “It’s Moly, right? It’s quite rare, what are you going to do with it?”
” Brew a potion, I found a recipe in the library that can neutralize the cold properties of magical biological substances.”
Belby said thoughtfully, “I’m not sure about that, I only know that after taking Moly it can counteract enchantments.”
“The effect is that exaggerated?” Felix looked at the black plant in his hand with some surprise.
“I can only say that it is somewhat effective … actually it is better to make it into a potion, and it has a miraculous effect on all kinds of dark magic damage.” Belby is an expert in this area.
Felix transplanted the Moly in a copper vessel, and Belby took a thumb-sized clear glass tube out of his robe and carefully put two drops of potion on it, “There, it should last through the transplanting period – if you want to keep it.”
“I need its flowers, which part do you need?”
“The roots,” Belby said without thinking.
The two looked at each other with a silent smile.
This is the third day of the forbidden forest expedition, they know each other’s attitude and habits well.
There is a heavy footstep in the distance.
Both of them pointed their wands in that direction at the same time.
The Forbidden Forest is also known as the Dark Forest, just because the dense, tall trees block out the sunlight. The bushes ahead shifted violently, and with the dim light, Belby shouted nervously, “Who’s there?”
“Woof! Woof!” A huge black hound emerged from the dense foliage, followed by a burly figure.
He stood so oppressively tall that he looked like a giant, and his long, tangled black hair and whiskers almost covered most of his face.
“Hello, Hagrid.” Felix greeted.
Hagrid, carrying a large bucket in his hand, gave Belby a wary look before seeing Felix behind him and relaxing his expression, “Hello, Felix.”
Hagrid asked hoarsely, “What are you doing here?”
“Looking for some magical materials.” Felix raised the copper vessel in his hand. He then put the Moly into a specific area in the ring.
Belby said, “I came to meet the forbidden forest creatures and pick some for the young wizards’ lessons.”
“Yes?” Hagrid asked with interest, “Any targets?”
“Some dark creatures,” Belby said, “Regular magical creatures, are not in the scope of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.”
Felix suddenly spoke up, “Hagrid, I heard that Professor Kettleburn decided to retire, and he recommended you to Dumbledore.”
Hagrid’s face turned red, “Yeah, I didn’t mention it to anyone, I always thought it would be somewhat suspenseful … but Dumbledore promised to solve my status problem, and he always does what he says.”
Next, Hagrid led them around the vicinity, he easily found the traces left by various magical creatures as always. He pointed to an indentation on the ground and said, “Some of these look like porcupine walk marks, or maybe it’s a Tebo warthog, I’ve seen it a few times …”
Walking forward some distance, Hagrid said to them, ” Up ahead is the territory of the unicorns, but they just gave birth and were extra vigilant.”
Hagrid placed the large vat in a clearing and stepped back a short distance, whistling under his breath.
Two or three minutes later, a tall, athletic male unicorn came out, covered in snowy white fur, and it stared warily at Felix and Belby.
“Lupe, these two are my friends.” Hagrid said from afar, turning his head to the two and explaining, “I brought some nourishment with them, it’s good for the female unicorns after they give birth.”
The unicorn nodded at Hagrid and left with the vat in its mouth.
Belby asked with interest, “Are they always this proud?”
Hagrid said gruffly: “Actually, not really, consider an animal like a human, we are also quite strange in the eyes of some creatures, do not even eat raw meat. It’s all habit, isn’t it, you know?”
“Very interesting point, Hagrid.”