The Silent Witch of Hogwarts

Chapter 75: The Story of the Forbidden Forest

"This is Aragog... Oh, Professor Hamilton, are you afraid of spiders?" Hagrid saw Loila trembling and quickly said, "Don't worry, Aragog won't eat people."

"I...I'm not afraid of spiders..." Loila shook her head and whispered, "I'm just afraid of...talking spiders..."

Mr. Aragog breaks his greatest advantage as a magical creature: he cannot speak.

Fortunately... watching Hagrid and Aragog's conversation, Royla quickly recovered.

Because, in the end, Mr. Aragog is still an eight-eyed spider. He is not very good at talking and only says a few words occasionally. Most of the time, Hagrid does the talking.

He seemed to have a good relationship with Hagrid, as if they had known each other for a long time... Hagrid is really amazing; he can not only easily make friends with humans, but also with magical creatures...

But he himself... wait, he and Hagrid are friends, aren't they? That's what he just said.

A smile involuntarily crept onto Loila's lips. What?! Aren't I amazing too?

"Professor Hamilton, shall we go?" Hagrid slowly turned his head and said as Loila grinned foolishly, "It's getting a bit late."

"Ah... okay..." Looking at Aragog, who was happily devouring his food, Loila pursed her lips and asked curiously, "Why... are we feeding it?"

"It... looks... really impressive."

"Aragok is still just a little spider," Hagrid said, waving his hand. "I'm worried about it."

Is it a little...little spider?

Loila felt that if Aragog were to eat people, he could probably devour two of her in one bite.

"And the eight-eyed spider also has natural enemies," Hagrid said, shrugging and holding up his lantern, "like basilisks and the like..."

"Ah, I shouldn't have said that, I shouldn't have said that." He shook his head and shut his mouth.

Basilisk? Loila seemed to vaguely recognize it... She thought she'd seen it in Newt Scamander's "Fantastic Beasts in the Stomach" before...

"Is it just this basilisk?" Loila wanted to ask curiously, but seeing Hagrid's refusal to talk, she just pursed her lips in the end.

I don't want to put my friend in a difficult position... Ah, wait a minute.

Since Hagrid is my friend... then wouldn't the masquerade ball be...? Wouldn't that be a little awkward...? What if Hagrid has his own dance partner?

Or maybe Hagrid doesn't want to dance with her... After all, she can't dance, and she's so short, not pretty... and she's socially awkward... But... but...

The thought that I might very well repeat the embarrassing scene from the Durmstrang ball, and that Muller wouldn't be by my side...

Loila took a deep breath and mustered her courage.

"Um... Ha... Hagrid." Loila tugged at the back of Hagrid's clothes.

"What is it, Professor Hamilton?" Hagrid turned his head slightly and said, "I really can't say anything about the Basilisk."

"Ah...it's not about the basilisk." Loila quickly waved her hand, then said a little embarrassedly, "Um...we're friends...right...right?"

"Of course," Hagrid nodded and said, "We're definitely friends."

"Ah... well... would you... at a masquerade ball... with me..." Royla poked her fingers, looking a little embarrassed, and said.

"Wait a minute!" Suddenly, Hagrid seemed to notice something, and he quickly pulled Loira behind him, shielding her. "Who's there?"

He extinguished the lantern and then slowly took out his crossbow.

Ah...who is it? Where? Why are we being so...cautious?

Interrupted, Loila hurriedly took out her wand and carefully looked around.

"It's probably poachers," Hagrid muttered, glancing ahead. He seemed to hear a noise behind the bushes.

"Logically, the centaurs should stop them... but these poachers seem to have gone unnoticed," Hagrid muttered, gripping his crossbow tighter. "You stay behind me, Professor Hamilton..."

"Also, be careful," he said, bending down, but even so, he was still a head taller than Loila.

"These poachers are not good people; most of them are dark wizards."

Loila really wanted to ask what kind of dark wizard it was... was it a dark wizard like the members of the smeared sorcerer party in the Ministry of Magic, or a dark wizard like Mr. Burke?

Is Mr. Burke a dark wizard? Well, he just used a non-standard Killing Curse on himself... Hmm, so he should be a dark wizard.

But... does this mean I have to fight?

Loila glanced nervously at Hagrid, then gripped her wand tightly.

"Don't worry, Professor Hamilton," Hagrid said as he walked with a stoop. "Most poachers wouldn't dare fight us."

"They are afraid of Professor Dumbledore."

Ah... I'm also afraid of Dumbledore.

Loila found that the more nervous she became, the more her mind wandered... She unconsciously gripped her wand tighter to keep herself from getting too distracted.

As the two slowly approached, Hagrid stopped speaking, and even Tooth lowered his body.

Soon, Hagrid slowly reached out and pushed aside the bushes in front of him... then his eyes widened.

"By Merlin!" he muttered, rising to his feet and roaring, "Stop! You filthy poachers!"

His voice was incredibly loud, like a muffled thunderclap striking Loyla's ear. She shuddered and instinctively stood up with Hagrid.

That is……

She saw three men in robes standing not far away, and beside them lay a white... horse-like animal.

Is that a unicorn?

Loila stared wide-eyed at the bleeding unicorn.

How could there be such magical creatures in the Forbidden Forest, and they actually...attacked a unicorn?

Ah, Loila seems to have heard that unicorn blood has powerful magic back in Durmstrang...

However, the three poachers seemed to be startled by Hagrid. They hastily raised their wands at Hagrid, but none of them cast a spell for a moment.

"What's going on...didn't they say no one would come?" one of the poachers muttered. "Why is Hagrid here?"

"How should I know!" another poacher cursed. "How could this idiot even spot us?"

idiot?

Loila glanced at Hagrid... Was it Hagrid?

"Put down your wands!" Hagrid shouted, frowning. "And then obediently take off your hoods!"

"You despicable bastards, you dare to steal Hogwarts' property!"

"This isn't poaching," one of the poachers said somewhat sheepishly. "We... we're just selling its blood for money... I used to be a Hogwarts student, and I own some of the property..."

"Why waste your breath talking to him?" the leader of the poachers yelled. "Do you want to go to Azkaban?"

He glanced at Hagrid and the short student beside him and said, "Hagrid doesn't have a wand, and the other one's just a student. Let's go!"

With that, he raised his wand high: "Illusion..."

"Buzz!"

A silver spell flew like lightning, striking his hand as he held his wand high.

Immediately afterwards, he felt his right hand lighten, and his wand swept through the air and landed in the hand of the silent person next to Hagrid.

What...what?

Before he could think it through, another red curse flew over and struck his companion beside him, sending him flying backward.

He seemed to have just tried to retaliate with his wand...

In the blink of an eye, only one of the three poachers was left still holding the magic wand.

He was holding the wand trembling, seemingly at a loss for what to do.