#458 - Werewolf

"Dumbledore?" Hearing this name, Moriston became excited, and he said loudly, "I know Dumbledore! He is the strongest wizard in the world!"

"Yes, indeed." Wade smiled and said, "Have you ever met Dumbledore?"

"No, I haven't." Moriston shook his head and said, "I've only heard my dad talk about him; he sometimes reads us the newspaper."

As he spoke, he turned around in Wade's arms, looking at the gradually receding castle.

Hogwarts in the morning light was very beautiful, shrouded in a thin mist, with the rising sun gilding the castle's towers and stone walls with a pale golden glow.

Students rushing to class and breakfast shuttled back and forth in the castle, their youthful figures running lightly past the windows, and the faint sound of laughter and play could be heard, full of vitality, making the ancient castle glow with life.

Undisguised envy flowed in Moriston's eyes.

"Wade, can't I really study here?" he asked softly.

Wade was silent for a moment, then said, "Hogwarts students all receive their acceptance letters when they are eleven years old."

"Eleven years old? I'll be an adult by then."

Moriston sighed, resting his head on Wade's arm, his eyes fixed on the castle.

Wade had already reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and the surrounding air felt cooler.

He was about to go find Hagrid and ask him to take this two-year-old little guy back when he suddenly saw a figure emerge from behind a tree in the dark forest, watching him silently and somewhat vigilantly.

Unlike Lupin, who could still integrate into normal human society, this person's eyes, nose, and ears looked very similar to those of a real wolf, his face was pale, his eye sockets were deep, his hair was as messy as a savage, the clothes on his body were ragged, and he wasn't even wearing shoes.

He carried a bow and arrow on his back, curved knives and daggers were fastened to his waist and legs, and he held a dark shotgun in his hand, the muzzle drooping towards the ground, with no intention of raising it.

Wade stopped, looked at the person named Lucas Holden, and shook the wolf pup: "Moriston, is that your father?"

"Ah?"

Moriston was trying to take in every tree and plant of Hogwarts, and he was stunned when he heard this, turning his head to see the man in the forest, and was immediately frightened and rolled out of Wade's arms.

"Dad... Daddy..."

Moriston lowered his head timidly, tucked his tail between his legs, and said softly, "I'm sorry... I... I shouldn't have run around..."

The man said in a hoarse voice, "Moriston, come back."

"...Oh." Moriston looked back at Wade and the castle behind him with reluctance, and walked towards the Forbidden Forest reluctantly.

His wounds had basically healed, but he still looked a little weak. The man waited for him to slowly walk to his side, bent down, picked up the wolf pup, and checked him over.

"I'm fine." Moriston didn't want to be turned over and over, pushed away his father's hand with his little paws, and said embarrassedly, "Wade found the school doctor to treat me."

"Wade, is it?" The man looked at Wade and said, "Thank you for saving my son."

Wade looked into his amber eyes, nodded, and said, "You're welcome. Take him home, I should go to class too."

"Wait!" The man suddenly shouted, and then said, "Be careful, child. Recently, many vampires have come to the forest, and they are looking for me to help guide them, and have also contacted the Acromantula tribe."

Wade was stunned, first raising his eyebrows upon hearing the name Acromantula, then remaining silent for a moment, and asked, "Does Professor Dumbledore know about this?"

"Of course." The man's lips curled up, and he said in a mocking tone, "He allows people with such impure bloodlines like me to live in the Forbidden Forest, and in return, we naturally have to act as spies for Dumbledore."

Wade tilted his head slightly because of his tone, frowned and said, "Sorry, it sounds like Professor Dumbledore has provided assistance to your family, but I always feel... you seem to be very dissatisfied with him?"

"...Dissatisfied?" The man sneered, "No, I am in awe of him. But Dumbledore? It is he who has disappointed everyone time and time again!"

Wade thought of the story of giving a pint of rice in kindness but incurring enmity by demanding a bushel later, and his face completely cooled down, and asked, "What do you mean?"

The man squinted his eyes and said, "You are still studying, kid. In your heart, you probably think that your headmaster is very great, trustworthy, and you can rely on him at any time. But after you graduate..."

His voice stopped abruptly, his nostrils twitched a few times, and his teeth gnashed.

After a long while, he spoke again: "After you graduate, you will see that the Ministry of Magic is corrupt, inefficient, and procrastinating, always messing everything up, full of discrimination and prejudice, criminals are at large, and people who live peacefully are thrown into Azkaban for buying a second-hand wand..."

"You know there are big problems in it, and you also know that there is someone who definitely has a way to solve... at least improve some of it. You ask him once, once, and once again! Again! And again! Beg him to stand up! But he always refuses!"

"As long as Dumbledore nods, he doesn't need to do anything, and the position of Minister for Magic will be sent to him!"

"But what about Dumbledore? He would rather watch a greedy fool sit in that position than leave Hogwarts!"

"Tell me, child, in this situation... how are you supposed to be grateful to him?"

The werewolf asked, but then, he saw Wade's face, still carrying some childishness, smiled bitterly, and wiped his face.

"Sorry, you're still a child, I shouldn't have said these things to you... Go back to studying, and don't come to the Forbidden Forest again recently."

Then, he picked up Moriston, who didn't even dare to breathe loudly, and walked into the forest.

Wade stood there for a while before turning around and walking towards the castle.

Hagrid had faintly heard the werewolf's roar just now, and was standing outside the hut looking around, holding an axe in his hand.

"Oh... that guy."

Hagrid was relieved, and a tangled expression appeared on his bearded face.

"What's wrong?" Wade asked curiously.

"Don't approach them actively, Wade." Hagrid tugged at his messy beard and said, "Of course, Remus is a good person, I like him very much; Lucas is not bad either."

"And then?" Wade said with a smile.

"Well... but Wade, you are too unguarded towards werewolves."

Hagrid bent down, looked at him worriedly, and said, "Most werewolves are extremely violent guys, especially towards wizards, they don't have a good impression. During the last war, werewolves were almost all on the Mysterious Man's side."

"I know." Wade listened to the advice and said sincerely, "I won't approach those strange werewolves casually again."

"That's good." Hagrid didn't doubt it, and a happy smile appeared on his face when he heard this: "You can write a paper later, the content is how to correctly identify werewolves..."

"Stop!" Wade made a gesture and asked strangely, "Hagrid, why have you become fond of assigning homework recently?"

Even taking the students on an "excursion" requires them to bring a paper as a "souvenir".

"Oh, this is Professor Kettleburn's suggestion to me." Hagrid said, "I'm very worried that you won't be able to pass the OWLs exam, I heard that it's terribly difficult. Professor Kettleburn said that as long as you write more papers, you will always imprint the knowledge in your mind..."

Wade was speechless.

The two people who originally didn't write much on weekdays actually discussed the homework method to improve their scores, which is... too surprising.

He asked, "But Hagrid, isn't that a question that fifth-year students should consider? We're only in third grade and you've already arranged it?"

He likes to learn all kinds of magical knowledge that he hasn't been exposed to, but Wade doesn't have the patience to write papers over and over again on content that he has already completely mastered.

Hagrid scratched his head and said simply, "There's no harm in learning earlier."

"There is." Wade said seriously, "If everyone knows that this course has a lot of homework, there may not be many new students willing to choose your course next year! There are too many papers to write, even Hermione can't stand it!"

Hagrid was stunned: "Really?"

"Of course." Wade nodded.

The half-giant fell into contemplation.

Wade quietly left his side and walked towards the castle.

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Speaking of Hermione, Hermione arrives.

When entering the hall, Wade saw Hermione being bumped into, and the books she was holding in her arms scattered.

"Hey!" Hermione shouted angrily.

Pansy, who bumped into her, pretended not to see or hear, and walked quickly into the auditorium with several Slytherin girls, and then let out a gloating laugh.

Hermione's eyes instantly became very fierce with anger, but she was too busy to retaliate at all, and immediately squatted down to pick up the books.

Wade walked over quickly, waved his wand, and all the books on the ground floated up and landed in Hermione's hands.

The last remaining thick History of Magic had already been picked up in advance.

"Here you go, Granger." Carryl handed over the book.

"Thank you." Hermione took it, then glanced at Wade, and reminded, "Class is about to start, Wade, remember not to be late!"

"Yes, I won't miss the time." Wade asked, "Why didn't you put all the books in your bag?"

The SSC members' bags have all been cast with Undetectable Extension Charms, which can fit a lot of books, and have almost no weight.

"Oh, I'm going to return these books to the library while I'm at it," Hermione said urgently. "I have to go!"

The girl hurried away, and when Wade turned his head, he found that Carryl had already left at some point.

"Looking for that little sharp-tooth just now? He left with his girlfriend."

A fellow hanging on the frame of a portrait on the wall suddenly spoke.

"Griffiths?" Wade looked at the red-haired guy in surprise, then asked, "Girlfriend?"

"I guess so." Griffiths said with a smile, "Although I haven't heard any news, they've been so close, their relationship must be extraordinary."

Wade didn't care about Carryl's love life, but still warned, "Don't spread rumors, or students will complain, and you'll be moved to the Astronomy Tower again!"

Griffiths looked solemn and made a gesture of zipping up his mouth.

After watching Wade enter the auditorium, he complained to the people around him, "Young people nowadays really don't respect their elders anymore."

The person in the portrait next to him was sleeping with his eyes closed, not answering.

Griffiths could still talk happily even by himself: "But this is good, if everyone is always so respectful, it's not interesting... Oh, you don't have to pretend to be asleep, I won't bother you today."

The old man next to him wearing a pointed hat seemed determined to "pretend to be asleep" to the end, not even a strand of hair moved, only the slight snoring could prove that it was still a portrait of the magical world.

Griffiths' expression became a little sad, he retreated to his original place, sitting there dejectedly, as if he had also become a static portrait.

...

The werewolf Lucas threw his son onto his shoulders, letting him lie there, and while scolding Morris for being disobedient and encountering danger, he strode towards home.

For some reason, from last night to today, the Forbidden Forest seemed to have suddenly become friendly. He slept outside for a night, not in a cave, nor in a built nest, and didn't encounter any danger.

Suddenly, Lucas paused. At the same time, Morris also raised his head, his wet nose sniffing hard, trying to capture the slightest sense of incongruity in the air.

"It smells like barbecue, Dad," Morris said pitifully. "I'm hungry."

"Wait a moment." Lucas parted the bushes and cautiously walked towards the direction the smell was coming from.

A man was lying on the ground, he looked bloody and very embarrassed, with several burns on his body, and his hair was almost burnt off.

Lucas carefully identified him for a while, then was stunned.

—Isn't this the person who asked him about the Acromantula's nest a few days ago? If he remembered correctly, he claimed to be a vampire.

Lucas looked back at the direction of Hogwarts, only seeing continuous trees and leaves.

Without much hesitation, he dragged the man up from the ground, and after testing to see if he was still breathing, took out a crystal bottle from the bag around his waist and carefully dripped a few drops into the man's mouth.

Good potions always have immediate effects. After a while, the man barely opened his eyes and coughed a few times.

"Hi, Thomas," the werewolf asked, "Did the negotiations with the spiders not go well?"

"Lucas... it's good to see you."

Thomas recognized the guide he had hired before, held his head and stood up, and said puzzledly and discouragedly: "The negotiations completely failed... or rather, it's not as meaningful as we thought—there are too few members of the spider tribe than expected."

"Few?" The werewolf didn't understand. He remembered that when he passed by not long ago, he saw countless spiders in the spider's nest.

Just as he was about to ask a question, the vampire opposite him suddenly gestured to "stop talking."

The two fell silent, and Morris didn't move at all.

Then, they heard the sound of chaotic, hurried footsteps gradually approaching, and finally stopping.