#30 - Discover the secrets of trees

In the end, Muen still suggested that Hagrid replace the dried salted fish with milk and shortbread.

This delicacy, composed of milk, tea, sugar, dried fruit crumbs, and soaked naan bread, dominated the table at the Xilin Harvest Festival.

The latest 'Hagrid Shortbread' was simply naan bread replaced with rock-crust biscuits.

Hagrid fell completely in love with the taste after just one bite.

"This is so delicious!"

Hagrid praised the delicacy in his hand and then turned to look at Muen.

"Snape, of course, it's him. Even Dumbledore trusts him very much."

While enjoying the final version of 'Hagrid Shortbread,' Muen shared his experience of receiving a Potions reward.

To his surprise, Hagrid also praised Snape highly.

"Alright, let's talk about your saplings. I imagine they've changed a lot now!"

"When I came, they were still growing wildly. The tallest one is already over five feet tall. Crunch ~"

Muen took a bite of the dried fruit crumbs mixed with milk, making a crunching sound.

"Five feet a day, in two days they'll grow... it seems like they'll be adults by tomorrow or the day after."

Hagrid put down his large spoon, pondered for a long time while counting on the fingers of his left hand, and then leaned slightly closer to Muen.

"Glurp~, I think it's necessary to tell you a secret."

After swallowing the food in his mouth, Hagrid's expression became serious.

"Ollivander always comes at night to collect wood from the Forbidden Forest."

......

After enjoying a large afternoon tea, Muen and Bouncy left the wooden house. On the way back, they detoured to see how the saplings were growing outside the greenhouse.

The holly tree was clearly a strong finisher, and its current height had surpassed the previous two, reaching a full six feet.

"Chirp?"

"That's right, we need to guard this place tonight."

After Hagrid said that Ollivander would collect wood suitable for making wands at night, Muen decided to imitate him.

This family has mastered more than two thousand years of wand-making experience, and there must be a reason why they choose to work at night.

It happened to be Friday today, and the control in the castle would not be as strict as usual for the next few days. Filch also needed to enjoy his weekend, so Muen planned to sneak out quietly at night.

Fortunately, Muen had experience living alone. At night, while everyone was having fun in the common room, he packed all his belongings and came to the greenhouse.

When he just walked to the entrance of the greenhouse, he found that the greenhouse where the first years usually had classes was not locked.

"Could it be that Professor Sprout forgot?"

Muen pushed open the door and walked into the greenhouse. All the plants here had been cleared out, and in the middle of the greenhouse was a burning small stove.

"Chirp ~"

Bouncy jumped out of Muen's pocket and jumped onto the edge of the stove to enjoy the warmth.

Looking at the stove that shouldn't have appeared in the greenhouse, Muen smiled and sat down on the side, but his eyes were always fixed on the three saplings outside.

......

On Saturday morning, Muen had just fallen asleep in his chair.

Cedric suddenly came at this time and gently pushed Muen.

"Wake up, go back to sleep quickly, I'll guard this place during the day."

After watching the saplings all night, Muen's head was now dizzy. He vaguely thanked Cedric, put Bouncy back in his pocket, and walked towards the dormitory in a daze.

Seeing Muen leave, Cedric took the almost extinguished stove outside.

......

On Saturday afternoon, after dripping three more drops of potion on the three saplings that had grown into big trees, Muen waited another night.

The same was true on Sunday afternoon. At this time, the tallest holly tree had exceeded twenty feet, and the grape vine had also covered an entire glass wall of the greenhouse.

As for the willow tree with the most vigorous vitality, its canopy had expanded to five or six meters, and birds had been attracted to build nests on it.

Muen found in the library that plants would reveal their magical characteristics when they became adults.

Now that all three plants had become adults, tonight became the time he needed to observe carefully.

Worried about missing the magical changes of the three plants, Muen went to the Forbidden Forest in the afternoon and spent ten dung beetles to hire a Bowtruckle.

This green magical creature was slightly stunned when it saw the three big trees.

The Bowtruckle could feel that the smell of the three big trees was exactly the same as the ones its family guarded, but it was somewhat surprised that the saplings had grown so big without being discovered by their kind.

The Bowtruckle jumped from Muen's arms onto the willow tree in one fell swoop. After choosing a comfortable spot, it lay prostrate on it, motionless.

"It's really magical, isn't it?"

Cedric seemed to have received guidance. He also came when Muen returned to the greenhouse.

"That's right."

Muen had seen the skills of the Bowtruckle. Now that this little animal was willing to stay on the willow tree, it meant that this big tree was very likely to awaken magical characteristics.

"Actually, after graduation, I want to work in the Magical Creatures Management Control Department of the Ministry of Magic. My dad is there. When I was a child, he would tell me a lot about magical creatures every day..."

In Muen and Cedric's chat, the night slowly fell, and a silver plate-like bright moon slowly climbed to the center of the sky.

Whether it was an illusion or not, Muen found that the originally still willow branches actually swayed without wind when the moon rose to its highest point.

At the same time, the Bowtruckle also let out a long cry.

"Tss ~ ~ ~"

In this slightly harsh cry, the willow branches swayed even more violently, and even those flying willow branches occasionally threw out green fluorescent spots.

"Tss ~ ~ ~"

The Bowtruckle's voice was louder.

When it finished its third cry, those fluorescent lights that were originally scattered outward began to slowly return to the surroundings of the willow tree, and then all gathered to the place where it was prostrate.

Seeing this magical scene, Muen and Cedric hurried over.

They saw that after those fluorescent lights approached the willow tree, they slowly penetrated into the bark and then disappeared without a trace.

"Where did they all go?" Cedric asked.

Muen had already taken out the dung beetle and a knife and stretched it towards the tree trunk.

Perhaps it was because he was too invested just now, the Bowtruckle subconsciously wanted to attack when it saw Muen's outstretched hand.

However, after seeing the food, it immediately retracted its sharp front claws and lightly jumped onto Muen's hand to enjoy the delicious food.

The knife had already gently cut a line on the willow tree, and a layer of green light film appeared under the originally hard bark.

Both pairs of eyes looked at the gap, and Muen found that these light films were still slowly penetrating downwards until they completely penetrated into the tree trunk.

"They're all hiding, what should we do?"

After the fluorescent light penetrated into the tree trunk, the entire willow tree no longer had any peculiar features, and it was exactly the same as an ordinary willow tree.

"It's okay, I found them."

Muen smiled and peeled off a layer of bark, scraped off a little tree trunk tissue with a knife, and then looked at it against the moonlight.

They saw that the originally disappeared fluorescent light reappeared under the moonlight, but now they were all integrated with the tree.

"So that's how it is. The Bowtruckle left these magical powers in the big tree, so this is why the wood can be used to make wands."

Muen very much agreed with Cedric's statement. With tonight's experience, he finally knew how to find magical trees that could be used to make wands.

However, tonight's changes were not limited to this. The Bowtruckle, having just finished eating two dung beetles, had already jumped from Muen's body onto the grape vine.