Page 68
Not long after walking, Kyle suddenly found that the surrounding environment was somewhat familiar.
Not far away, a group of moon-crazy beasts were staring at them curiously through the bushes with their big eyes.
At this time, Hagrid suddenly said: "In addition to the unicorn cubs, there are fewer moon beasts here."
Kyle panicked, but on the surface he asked calmly: "Are we going to look for them today?"
"No, there's no need." Hagrid shook his head and said, "Because the other Moon Beasts here don't behave strangely, so I think they may have gone to the woods in the south, where there is a larger group of Moon Beasts."
"Is that so... That's good."
Kyle breathed a sigh of relief and followed Hagrid into the depths of the Forbidden Forest.
However, before leaving, he took out a handful of Dictamni leaves and threw them nearby as a snack for the Moon-crazy Beasts.
Hagrid also saw Kyle's actions, but his mind was now full of the stolen unicorn cub, so he didn't care too much and just thought that these white mulberries were all grown by Kyle himself.
The further they walked, the more anxious Hagrid's expression became.
Kyle looked at him and thought for a while, "Could it be that other animals stole the unicorn cubs."
"Impossible," said Hagrid. "Unicorns are very careful with their young, and they have very strong magic. Even a dragon can't easily approach and take away their young without some trickery."
They walked through a woodland covered with mosses and mushrooms and came to a winding stream.
"Ah..." Yaya suddenly howled.
In the silent forbidden forest, the sharp barking of a dog sounded particularly harsh.
"YaYa, have you discovered something?"
Hagrid hurried over, pulling out an arrow and loading it onto his crossbow, ready to shoot at any moment.
Yaya sat there and patted a branch next to him with his front paws. A palm-sized piece of black cloth was hanging on the branch.
"Well done Tooth, well done!"
Hagrid took the rag, rubbed it lightly in his hands twice, and put it under his nose to smell it again.
"It feels rough... and has this special smell." Hagrid murmured, "I know, someone outside must have come to the Forbidden Forest."
"Isn't this just an ordinary piece of rag?" Kyle asked.
"No." Hagrid said affirmatively, "This cloth is made of a special kind of rattan, with a rough texture. Clothes made of it are very uncomfortable. The only advantage is that it is tough and wear-resistant.
Therefore, only those Aurors who need to perform missions outside for a long time, and those who raise dragons will wear it. "
This piece of cloth was the first clue they found.
Hagrid wanted Fang to find the man based on the smell, but Fang just circled around and returned to where he was.
Hagrid looked disappointed.
The two continued walking along the stream, carefully looking for something nearby.
Suddenly, a dark shadow flashed by.
"Who's there!" Hagrid raised his giant crossbow to block Kyle and shouted, "Come out, I see you."
"Hey..."
With the sound of horse hooves, a half-human, half-horse creature walked into the clearing.
Above the waist is a human with red hair and beard, but below the waist is a brown-red horse with a long red tail behind it.
"Oh, so it's you, Ronan." Hagrid breathed a sigh of relief and said, "How are you?"
He stepped forward and shook the centaur's hand.
"Good evening, Hagrid." Ronan's voice was low and sad. "You want to shoot me with an arrow?"
"Just in case, Ronan." Hagrid patted his quiver, "There's a little wizard coming this time, and I have to keep him safe.
Oh, by the way, this is Kyle Chopper, a student at Hogwarts."
Then he said to Kyle: "This is Ronan, a centaur."
After seeing that it was a male centaur, Kyle's interest instantly dropped by half, but out of politeness, he still nodded and said, "Hello."
Ronan took a good look at Kyle, then placed his arm over his shoulder, bent his front legs slightly and said, "Good evening, nice to see you."
Kyle was a little confused. He always felt that there was something wrong with this centaur. He seemed a little too formal.
The centaurs are proud. Normally, when facing strangers, they would just nod at most, instead of bending their waists and legs like they did just now.
That's a treatment only Dumbledore could get.
"Ronan, I'm glad to meet you here." Hagrid put away the crossbow and said, "A unicorn cub was stolen. Did you see anything?"
Ronan didn't answer immediately, he just stared at the sky without blinking.
"Don't worry," he said. "Mars is normal tonight."
"Yes, just like any other time." Hagrid raised his head perfunctorily and continued, "But did you see anything, Ronan? Anything unusual, or a stranger?"
"You're a little weird." Ronan said puzzledly.
"I'm fine!" Hagrid got a little impatient, "I mean, did you see anything unusual?"
"Come with me." Ronan glanced at them, turned and walked into a bush.
Hagrid and Kyle hurried to follow.
They walked through the bushes and stopped in front of a big, thick tree. Here, Ronan disappeared.
"This is really strange, he actually led the way for us." Hagrid looked around and whispered, "These centaurs know a lot of things, but they always keep their mouths shut. I always thought they were not interested in anything except the things around the moon."
At this moment, Yaya suddenly jumped out, lay under the tree and kept howling.
"Did you discover it so soon?"
Hagrid and Kyle quickly followed.
Where Yaya was, there was a piece missing from the tree trunk, which looked like a piece of bread that had been bitten by someone, and there were very obvious signs of corrosion on the edge.
Hagrid came over, stroked his chin and said, "This must be some evil dark magic."
Kyle couldn't see the gap because of his height, so he walked around.
This tree is really big, with a diameter of about five meters. Even in the forbidden forest, trees of this size are very rare.
Compared to it, the surrounding plants seemed to be malnourished, small and short. Kyle didn't even need to walk over, he could see almost everything with just a quick glance.
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 99 Footprints in the Forbidden Forest
Kyle, who found no clues, returned to the big tree.
Just as he was hesitating about what to do to see the gap, Yaya suddenly ran over and bit his robe with his mouth.
"Stop messing around." Kyle lowered his head and touched its head and said, "Now is not the time to play."
But Fang didn't care about that. He pulled him over to Hagrid and used his front paws to pick up the fallen leaves on the ground.
Two rows of footprints are clearly visible under the fallen leaves.
"This is..." Kyle took a deep breath.
"Hagrid! Look! There are footprints here!"
After hearing Kyle's voice, Hagrid also lowered his head quickly. He also saw the two rows of footprints.
"Well done, Tooth!"
Hagrid patted Fang's head and complained, "Why didn't you tell me earlier."
After hearing this, Yaya actually showed an aggrieved expression on his face, and slapped Hagrid's trouser legs hard with his front paws.
It was wet there, and there was a circle of obvious teeth marks.
It was obvious that Fang had tried his best to remind him, but Hagrid's attention was on the tree trunk and he didn't notice.
In desperation, it turned to Kyle.
"Sorry, Fang, I wronged you." Hagrid quickly apologized after noticing this.
It turns out that not every pet is like Fawkes. Hagrid's words made Yaya's mood better, and he lay there wagging his tail happily.
Kyle also took out a piece of Motla rat jerky and fed it to Yaya as a reward, then squatted beside and observed the footprints.
There were two rows of footprints, and they were very messy, as if someone had fought a fierce battle here.
The footprints in the outer circle were normal and looked to be the size of an adult, but the footprints in the row closer to the tree were different.
They were huge, almost twice the size of a normal human, and looked like they belonged to Hagrid…
No, this is Hagrid's.
Kyle suddenly remembered that he had seen similar footprints in the pumpkin patch. They were exactly the same size, and even the pattern on the soles was exactly the same.
Kyle frowned and said, "Hagrid, have you been here before?"
"Impossible." Hagrid said affirmatively, "If I had been here before, I would not have forgotten such a big tree, but I have no impression of it at all now."
"Then how do you explain this?" Kyle pointed at the large footprint and said, "The pattern on it is exactly the same as your shoes."
"What did you say?" Hagrid bent down with all his strength, and finally he could see the footprints clearly.
Then his pupils suddenly shrank, and he screamed as if he had seen a ghost: "This is impossible!"
"I have never been here, I promise!"
Then he seemed to have thought of something and said quickly: "Maybe I left it there accidentally just now."
"Not likely." Kyle shook his head.
Fresh footprints won't hide under fallen leaves.
And... Kyle touched the soil at the edge of the footprints again. It was already very hard. If it was just stepped on, the soil should be soft.
"Let's stop here today." Kyle stood up and said, "Let's go back and ask Headmaster Dumbledore. He might know what's going on."
Hagrid was completely confused at this moment. He sobered up a little after hearing Dumbledore's name. He nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Dumbledore must know."
Kyle took out his wand and used a cutting spell to remove the footprints along with the surrounding soil.