Chapter 405 Trackers

"Ron!"

"Ron Weasley! Did you hear that?"

"Ron!"

Calls echoed in the quiet Forbidden Forest. The half-giant Hagrid walked in the front with a crossbow, followed by Arthur Weasley, Hermione, Simon Finnigan, Rolf and Luna.

The winter in Scotland is longer than that in England, and there is no sign of snow melting. The orange halo of the portable lamp warms the icy forest.

"It's not a good idea to start calling people now." Hagrid stopped everyone in a low voice, "We have entered the territory of the centaur."

"So what's the matter?" Simon didn't know, so he had to ask back.

"How should I put it, they have a strong sense of territory." Hagrid tried to express himself in a tactful way.

"They hate humans." Hermione said directly, "The centaurs in the Forbidden Forest think that the entire Forbidden Forest belongs to them, but the Ministry of Magic has set aside a special living area, and they are only allowed to live within that range."

"The Ministry of Magic has a centaur liaison office, but the centaurs have never used it. There is a joke within the Ministry of Magic that being sent to the centaur liaison office means that you are about to be fired." Arthur tried to liven up the atmosphere, but no one want to laugh.

"The good news is that they don't take the initiative to attack people in front of young people, and they try not to hurt young people as much as possible." Rolf said, "They refuse to wear clothes, but they don't reject jewelry, so if anyone really puts If they are in a hurry, you can try to give them a gift."

"Is that so?" Arthur shouted to Rolf in surprise.

"This is how I met Luna." Rolf held Luna's hand and said, "She met a centaur kid and tried to approach him, but was almost attacked."

"I just want to be friendly." Luna shrugged, looking indifferent. "They are so nervous."

"A centaur colony generally contains ten to fifty centaurs. The cubs are not owned by the parents individually, but collectively. Every centaur has the obligation to protect and take care of the cubs. When the cubs encounter danger, Adult centaurs are obliged to stand up, even though they are classified as beasts voluntarily, it doesn’t mean they really regard themselves as beasts, you can’t touch their children like petting animals.” Rolf said with a little lesson The tone said to Luna, "I heard that there is a centaur in Hogwarts who teaches divination?"

"Yes, his name is Firenze," said Hermione.

"This is really rare. I rarely hear that centaurs approach humans on their own initiative." Rolf said, "They think it is a shame."

"What?" Seamus yelled in disbelief.

"It's interesting, isn't it?" Rolf said with a smile, "The Ministry of Magic believes that the centaurs are magical creatures with intelligence close to that of humans. The centaurs think that humans don't understand what real 'wisdom' is. Living in Olympus, the mythical Sagittarius is named after their image, they are not a human-horse hybrid, but another species, they are very intelligent, not only good at divination, archery and astronomy, they are also very good at healing magic , it’s just that they think they need to ‘accept God’s will’, so they don’t use it very often.”

Seamus looked even more confused.

"I heard you used them to kidnap Umbridge, Hermione." Luna said slowly, "It's good that you're not hurt."

Hermione glared at Luna Lovegood.

"Do you have a question?" Hermione folded her hands on her chest, looking like she was fighting.

"What questions can I have?" Luna asked with a smile, opening her big eyes that seemed to be always surprised.

"If you want to say something, just say it, why are you so secretive!" Hermione said angrily.

"Using people like you and letting others do things for you is really not a good habit. I think the horse people will be very angry. Maybe they will ignore the taboo and attack young people."

"It's an underage young man, my dear." Rolf explained aside, and Simon covered his mouth.

"If you're scared, you can go back, no one begged you to follow." In the middle of the night, the effect of the hair smoother wore off, and Hermione's hair became fluffy again, dancing with every word she said, Like a lion's mane.

"I'm not afraid." Luna stared into Hermione's eyes, as if seeing her soul through them. "But I think someone is afraid. Am I right? Hermione."

"Enough, children, my son is now alone in this forest full of monsters, can we hurry up and find someone, and stop wasting time on unnecessary things?" Arthur put his arm around Hermione's shoulders, forcefully Pulling her over, Luna put her arms around Rolf's arm briskly and whispered in his ear, as if to show off her victory just now.

"The centaur and Hagrid broke up, Hermione offended the centaur, that's good." Simon Finnigan complained, then heaved a long sigh and followed the team.

The blond-haired Luna and the brown-haired Hermione had always been arguing endlessly, and the small argument just now that was not considered a conflict made the atmosphere of the search team even more tense, and no one spoke anymore.

In the white mist, a person looks like a human figure drawn with a pencil. No matter how bright the clothes are, they lack color. With the addition of white snow and black trees, walking in the forbidden forest is like being in a white purgatory. the same.

Sometimes they seem to be able to hear a little sound, like the sound of spiders crawling past, or the dull sound of horseshoes, or the sound of human footsteps, no matter whether it is silence or other sounds. People feel elated.

"Mr. Weasley, did Snape really fight Sirius over a woman?" Simon asked suddenly.

"What?" Not just Arthur, everyone was frightened by Simon's question.

"You know, there are such rumors in the Order of the Phoenix..."

"There were rumors before that Sirius betrayed the Potters." Arthur paused and said, "Young man, I don't think you should talk about joining the Order of the Phoenix. I don't want to discuss this issue now. .”

"That was the last thing Ron and I discussed, and I think you should know."

"My son is still alive!" Arthur said angrily, and he seemed to regret taking Simon out to find someone.

"Siris Black also likes Lily Potter?" Rolf was very interested in this topic.

"I don't know, that's why I'm asking." Simon said helplessly, "But I think it's better to continue discussing the centaur than to continue discussing this topic."

At this moment, Hagrid seemed to have discovered something, raised his lantern and ran over quickly, followed by Arthur and Hermione, their breathing was extremely heavy, like the whistling wind on the edge of a cliff.

"Something fell over here," said Hagrid, finding a half-finished bottle of whiskey in the snowdrift, and then holding up the lantern to look around, he found a row of footprints in the snow.

"I gave it to him," said Rolf.

"Thank you, Merlin." Arthur seemed to have lost all his strength, and he had to rely on Hermione's support to barely stand.

"I don't want to make you sad, Arthur, but werewolves are often found in that area, and there is a Muggle town outside the woods, and they often come to the town to 'poach'." The arrowhead was removed and replaced with a silver arrowhead that glowed green. "Sometimes Muggles also bring shotguns to the forest to poach. We are about to enter the war zone."

"Shh, did you hear that?" Luna raised her finger, "I think I heard a voice."

Simon sneered, "You can't hear any sound."

Rolf glanced over.

"I'm sorry." Simon whispered immediately.

"Don't worry, Simon, I understand." Luna said magnanimously. "Our senses can sometimes deceive us, and things we think exist don't really exist."

"Then do you still believe in the Rotten Tooth Project?" Hermione asked coldly.

"That is undoubtedly true." Luna looked at Hermione confidently and said, "Today I met someone who believes in me, and she is much easier to communicate with than you."

"Well, since we found his trace, we don't need the help of magical animals." Rolf patted his suitcase and looked back at the direction he came from, "We've been walking for twenty minutes, right? Why was the explosion so powerful that it made him fall here?"

"I see hoofprints." Luna said, pointing to the footprints on the ground.

"It might have been left by the centaurs patrolling the chassis." Hagrid looked at the footprints suspiciously. "It might have been left by other animals."

"Follow the footprints anyway, right?" Arthur said, looking at Hagrid.

"Yes, that's right." Hagrid shook his head at the others. "Let's all follow."

So a group of people chased a series of footprints and walked into the white mist.