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And Dumbledore's words.
Memory, forgetfulness spell?
Or maybe it's... the venom of the curled-winged demon.
Kyle pulled a small piece of corroded wood from his pocket and rubbed it gently in his hand.
This was what he had secretly cut from the tree trunk when Hagrid wasn't paying attention.
In the moonlight, the wood block was glowing with a light blue fluorescence.
The color does match, but Kyle remembered that the venom of the Winged Demon was not corrosive. Could he have remembered it wrong?
Just as I was thinking about it, the door of the lounge was opened again, and two figures walked in one after another.
"Kyle, you are here."
Cedric lowered his voice and said, "Filch left just now and came back angrily. He went to look for you then."
Kyle put away the block of wood and nodded, "I did see him when I came back."
"What did you do to make him so angry?" Cedric asked curiously.
"It wasn't me, it was Hagrid." Kyle shook his finger and said, "He got humiliated by Hagrid."
"No wonder Filch is so angry. I remember he and Hagrid were always at odds."
Cedric continued, "By the way, what is your confinement? I thought we would definitely be able to come back before you.
Fred told me that it was extremely easy for five of them to clean the trophy room together, which had never happened before.
But Filch felt the same way, so he made us wipe it three times before agreeing to end detention."
"Me too." Kyle said, "I was taken to the Forbidden Forest and went with Hagrid to look for something."
"Go to the Forbidden Forest, at night?" Cedric was stunned.
He had thought of countless possibilities before, including copying books, cleaning classrooms, wiping armor and so on, but he had never thought that Kyle's confinement would be in the Forbidden Forest.
How can they be similar? They are obviously very different!
Were they really put in solitary confinement for the same thing?
Even though they had been to the forbidden forest once at night, that was only at the outermost edge, and there was no danger even at night.
But looking for something with Hagrid couldn't just be a stroll outside.
"Are you hurt?" Kanna asked nervously.
"Of course not. If I were injured, I would be in the infirmary now." Kyle smiled and said, "Let me tell you, I saw a centaur in the Forbidden Forest..."
Kyle told about what he saw and heard in the Forbidden Forest, leaving Cedric and Connor stunned.
Their expressions have gradually changed from worry at the beginning to envy.
They also want to go to the depths of the forbidden forest...
The sky gradually brightened, and the three of them stopped talking when they felt sleepy.
After returning to the dormitory, Kyle lay on the bed and couldn't fall asleep, so he took out parchment and a quill and wrote a letter under the moonlight.
Then he packed the letter, wrote the address on it and placed it in front of Laton.
"Thank you for your help." Kyle whispered, "Send this letter to Newt tomorrow morning. If he hasn't come back yet, put the letter on the biggest tree at the door.
There's a Bowtruckle there that'll keep the mail for you."
Kyle still decided to find Newt, just in case the venom of the curled-winged demon was indeed corrosive. After all, it was a magical creature, so it was not surprising that it would mutate.
I just don't know if he's back yet...
It’s best if you come back, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t.
Anyway, Dumbledore already knew about this matter, so he naturally didn't need to worry about the rest.
Raton opened one eye and placed his paw on the envelope.
After getting the reply, Kyle lay back on the bed, and this time he fell asleep quickly.
……
After that, neither Dumbledore nor Hagrid came to see him again, and Kyle was happy to have some free time. He suppressed his curiosity and began to concentrate on preparing for the final exams.
As exam week approaches, the castle seems to have changed overnight. Little wizards can be seen everywhere walking and practicing wand movements.
Hogwarts Castle at this time of the year is also the most dangerous time, because there will always be little wizards who subconsciously chant spells when waving their wands.
And there are quite a few people like this. Kyle just walked from the lounge to the auditorium and saw two unlucky people who were accidentally injured by the curse.
Fortunately, they only had levitation spells and repair spells, so they didn't need to go to the school hospital.
Kyle carefully avoided the assassins hidden in the crowd and arrived at the auditorium safely.
The professors also knew about this.
There was no way. There were two or three little wizards absent from almost every class because they were sent to the school hospital. It was difficult for them not to know even if they wanted to.
In the Transfiguration class, Professor McGonagall strictly forbade the young wizards to practice wand movements in the corridor.
"What were you doing earlier?"
Professor McGonagall pursed her lips and said, "If you want to practice in the future, find an empty classroom. If I see anyone who can't control his wand again, he will be locked up for a week."
Compared to Professor McGonagall, Snape's approach was more direct. He told everyone that if anyone missed the Potions class because of this incident, then sorry, no matter if they were absent or the instigator, their final Potions grades would be directly invalidated.
It's just so unreasonable.
Also, he didn't know if it was an illusion, but Kyle always felt that Snape glanced at him when he said this.
Under the professors' clear ban, in less than half a day, all the castle assassins disappeared.
By the time of dinner, Hogwarts had returned to its previous calm and peaceful state, as if nothing had happened.
At the dining table, Kyle was cutting the steak on the plate absentmindedly.
He was not worried that Snape would secretly attack him, but he was worried about Laton.
Five days have passed since the letter was sent, and Laton has not returned yet.
In five days, you can travel from Dorset to Hogwarts several times even by train.
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 102 Final Exam
A few days before the exam, Laton finally returned to Hogwarts.
When Kyle returned to the common room after dinner, he saw Laton standing on the windowsill.
It looked exhausted, with drooping eyes, and its body had visibly become thinner. Its once beautiful feathers had become dull and looked gray.
After seeing Kyle, Rodan raised his head and flapped his wings, trying to fly over. However, halfway through the flight, he began to fall continuously due to exhaustion.
Kyle rushed forward to catch it.
"I remember this is your owl."
Cedric, who was standing next to him, looked at Laton who had fallen asleep in Kyle's arms and asked in confusion, "How many letters did you let it deliver? How come it is so weak?"
"Just one... but I think it misunderstood what I meant."
Kyle carefully placed Raton on the couch next to him and removed an envelope from his paw.
It was a reply letter, and the handwriting on the envelope was Newt's.
Obviously, Rodan did not deliver the letter to Dorset as Kyle had instructed and then come back, but flew directly to find Newt. No wonder it took so long to come back.
Kyle shook his head with a bit of a smile...this silly bird.
Tomorrow is the final exam. In order to ensure that they can be in a good mental state the next day, the little wizards went to bed early.
Kyle ruffled the feathers on Laton's neck, sat down beside him and opened the envelope.
Inside was a brief reply.
"Kyle:
I am surprised to receive your letter from such a far place. I have thought about what you said. The venom of the curled-winged demon is not corrosive at all and only targets the brain. It has no effect on plants.
But I have checked the piece of wood you sent, and it does contain the ingredients of the venom of the curled-winged demon. This is a very important discovery. As soon as things here are finished, we will go to Hogwarts immediately.
(Your father asked me to tell you to stay away from dangerous things. Dumbledore is involved.)
—Newt Scamander. "
After reading the reply, Kyle closed his eyes and sat there silently thinking about something.
Hagrid went to the Forbidden Forest that night not because he discovered them taking a night stroll, but because of another person.
After he went deep into the forbidden forest, he probably found the man and fought with him, so there were two rows of messy footprints left next to the tree.
But unfortunately, the opponent had a curled-winged demon, and because of the influence of the venom, Hagrid forgot about this matter.
He forgot that he had been to the Forbidden Forest and forgot everything that happened during that time, so on Christmas Day, Hagrid did not deliver the Christmas tree to the hall at the appointed time.
Because in his memory, Halloween had just passed not long ago.
Now, everything makes sense.
And that curled-winged demon is most likely the escaped fish that the Ministry of Magic has been looking for.
The only question now is who was the person who poisoned Hagrid.
Are they the hidden wizards in the Hog's Head? Or are they some rat hiding in the castle...
After half an hour, Kyle, who had no idea what to do, decided to give up.
There is nothing difficult in the world, just give up.
Just like what the letter said, Dumbledore will take care of everything. I will be on vacation soon, so why should I worry about this?
Kyle stood up and carried Laton back to the dormitory.
……
The next day, the exam began.