#23 - Successfully collected wood

After finishing the grub, the Bowtruckle fiddled with its long tendrils, preparing to get to work.

Watching its movements, Moon suddenly felt like this little creature could understand what he was saying.

"Could it be that I can really communicate with magical creatures?"

Remembering Ron saying a couple of days ago that it was possible he could understand magical creatures, Moon couldn't help but be suspicious.

"It can't be that Ron was right."

Moon shook his head, dismissing the absurd thought. He had seen too few magical creatures to draw conclusions prematurely.

While Moon was pondering, the Bowtruckle had slowly climbed onto a small branch.

It was the thinnest of the three branches. Although he didn't know why the Bowtruckle chose it, Moon didn't doubt anything. After getting its approval, he directly cut the branch off with the small knife in his hand.

Following the same method, Moon collected a total of three suitable branches and saplings.

Besides the first willow branch, the remaining were a grapevine and a holly sapling.

Putting the saplings into the basket and covering them with dampened burlap, Moon quickly returned the way he came.

Now was the weakest time for these tender branches, and he had to plant them as soon as possible.

Halfway there, a huge black shadow suddenly flashed across the sky above the Forbidden Forest.

Moon had never seen such a large black bat.

He subconsciously reached for the fireworks Hagrid had given him, but the black shadow quickly disappeared into the depths of the Forbidden Forest.

"No wonder Dumbledore doesn't allow us to come to the Forbidden Forest. A bat that big could probably suck a person dry."

Knowing that some bats were vampires, Moon didn't loosen his grip on the fireworks until the bat had disappeared for a while. Then, he started running wildly down the path.

By the time he returned to Hagrid's hut, Fang's happy barks could already be heard, along with the voices of Harry and Ron.

"Oh, welcome back, Moon. How was the collecting?"

Seeing Moon's figure at the door, Hagrid stood up from his large chair and walked out.

"Very smooth. I collected three branches."

Hearing Moon's voice, Fang had already run out quickly and jumped on him.

Harry and Ron also curiously crowded around. They had already heard Hagrid talk about it, knowing that Moon was collecting magical saplings that could grow into wand-making materials.

"Is this it? There's nothing special about it!" Ron asked curiously, staring at the saplings in the basket.

"Of course, you can't tell now."

Hagrid took the basket and walked outside. "To be precise, unless you plant it yourself, you might never discover its magical properties in your entire life."

Moon agreed with what Hagrid said, and he followed Hagrid's steps outside.

In the vegetable garden behind the hut, Hagrid had already prepared several transparent bottles and a pile of wet mud, which just met the needs of the saplings' growth.

......

"Alright, let's leave it like this for now. As long as you go back tomorrow and transplant them into flower pots, they should survive."

Hagrid washed his hands in the wooden bucket next to him, looking at his masterpiece with satisfaction.

All three saplings had been transplanted into the bottles, and they could now freely bask in the sunlight.

"Thank you very much, Hagrid," Moon said sincerely.

"Oh, it's nothing. Professor McGonagall told me to do this."

As Hagrid spoke, he stretched out his huge palm and put it around Moon, Harry, and Ron, walking towards the hut.

"It's rarely this lively here. How about some afternoon tea?"

......

Hagrid's afternoon tea was all made by himself: a rock cake bigger than Moon's head, a large cup of red hot tea, and several wild fruits picked from the Forbidden Forest.

This rough way of eating gave Moon a feeling of returning to Xilin.

Hagrid was very enthusiastic, which made it impossible for the young wizards to refuse.

After tasting a rock cake, Moon felt that the name was definitely not wrong. It was too hard.

Fortunately, Moon had a way to deal with hard foods.

He first squeezed a few wild fruits into the red tea, then tore the rock cake into small pieces and put them into the tea as well. After the rock cake had fully absorbed the water, he picked it up with a spoon and ate it.

The soaked rock cake became soft, and he could even taste the unique grain flavor inside.

After adding wild fruits to the tea, the bitter taste was diluted, and there was also a faint fruity fragrance.

"Wow, I never thought rock cakes could be eaten like this. How about adding some other ingredients?"

Seeing that Hagrid also liked this Xilin-style delicacy very much, Moon suggested that he could add some dried fruit crumbs similar to hazelnuts, which would make it more fragrant.

"Little Moon, hiccup~, does this...soaked rock cake have a name?"

Hagrid burped comfortably after eating a full five rock cakes.

"It probably doesn't yet."

This way of eating was originally Moon's food when he worked on the farm, and it probably hasn't appeared in this world yet.

"I don't think something so delicious should be nameless. How about we give it a name?"

Harry and Ron agreed very much. They also thought that the softened rock cake was more delicious.

Moon had never thought of developing in the culinary world of this world, so the final name changed from "Moon's Soaked Cake" to "Hagrid's Shortbread."

While everyone was chatting, Fang had already made friends with Norbert.

Moon was discussing the big black bat he encountered on the way back with Hagrid when Harry pulled a small piece of paper from the table.

It was a part cut from the "Daily Prophet", and the content was about the Gringotts robbery.

"Hagrid, we were also at Gringotts on the day of the robbery. Maybe we even saw that person."

Moon noticed that Hagrid's eyes were a little evasive, and he stammered that he definitely didn't.

Although he didn't know why Hagrid was hiding this question, it just happened to fit Moon's idea, so he also cooperated with Hagrid to turn the topic elsewhere.

Harry did have a spirit of not giving up. He took the small piece of paper in his hand and read it carefully again.

When the sun set, the three said goodbye to Hagrid.

Moon picked up the sleeping Norbert from Fang's head, while Harry and Ron helped him take the saplings.

After entering the school gate, Moon separated from the two. He now had to go to Professor Sprout to borrow a few flower pots, otherwise, the saplings might not survive tonight.

......

"Three saplings! And they're even different varieties. Very good. I think as long as they can last for seven days, they will definitely survive."

After Professor Sprout finished the inspection, she very readily let Moon take away three flower pots and promised to fulfill a mysterious reward after the saplings survived.

Moon didn't know what the mysterious reward was, but he was very clear that this reward wouldn't be easy to get.

Based on his previous experience on the York Farm, Moon knew that the willow tree was the easiest to survive among the three saplings.

As long as cuttings were taken in spring and autumn and it survived the cold winter, it would survive. Its adaptability was very strong.

The holly tree was seedling planting, which required frequent watering, but it couldn't accumulate water.

Finally, there was the grapevine, which also required cuttings, but it needed frequent watering and couldn't let the roots rot, and it also had requirements for the soil.

Moon moved the three saplings to the windowsill of the dormitory. He had to take care of them wholeheartedly for this week.

Norbert was also very interested in these saplings, circling around the flower pots all the time.

After all the flower pots were put away, Seamus and Neville, who was wrapped in bandages, came back from outside. They were excitedly discussing the flying class that would be held next week.