The Silent Witch of Hogwarts

Chapter 74: The Story of the Forbidden Forest

"Mr. Hagrid, are you aware of this?"

"Ah, of course I know," Hagrid said, leading Toothbrush by the hand. "Professor Dumbledore told me before."

Did Dumbledore himself come to say this?

How terrifying...

Loila tapped her fingers and said, "Then...then do you also think...this...this is dangerous?"

"Danger?" Hagrid paused for a moment, then burst out laughing. "No, not at all. Don't you find it quite amusing?"

"I've already decided what I'm going to pretend to be."

"..." Looking at Hagrid's enthusiastic expression, Loila sighed softly. Her leather boots trod on the fallen leaves of the Forbidden Forest, but it felt as if she were stepping into a swamp that was about to engulf her.

She was searching for herbs in the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid. After shopping with Royla in Hogsmeade, Hagrid had mentioned that some of those herbs seemed to be found in the Forbidden Forest.

This is great... It will save a lot of Galleons. The only danger is having to travel with Hagrid.

Loila had tried her best to suppress her and Hagrid's fear. Perhaps because she had been in contact with more people lately, Loila felt that she was no longer so afraid of Hagrid.

Of course, just not quite... somewhere between Professor McGonagall and Miss Lovegood?

"Don't you like the ball, Professor Hamilton?" Hagrid said, stepping over a huge tree trunk and then reaching out his hand to Loila.

Loila pursed her lips but didn't take Hagrid's hand. Instead, she waved her wand, making the tree trunk on the ground move aside. As she waved her wand, she said, "I don't... I don't really like it."

Loila did attend Durmstrang's ball... but the experience... well, it was "good," absolutely amazing! The kind of experience I never want to attend again in my life.

the reason is simple.

A dance party requires a partner... Loila was well aware of this, but... Loila didn't think she had anyone who could be her dance partner.

Miss Lovegood is his friend, but she is a student... and only a first-year student. He doesn't have any other friends besides Miss Lovegood.

If only I could be friends with Mr. Lockhart… Loila couldn’t help but feel a little guilty.

It's all Dumbledore's fault.

"Is that so?" Hagrid scratched his head, not quite understanding why a beautiful young woman like Miss Hamilton would dislike the ball.

"I reckon you'll get a lot of invitations to be my dance partner, Professor Hamilton."

"Ugh!" Loila stumbled and almost fell to the ground.

Is Hagrid joking?

You must be joking, right? I'm not exactly a popular person... and I wear a mask every day.

"I heard Fred and George mention it before," Hagrid said to himself. "They think it would be really cool to dance with you."

Is it cool?

That's definitely not a nice word... and George and Fred... if Royla remembers correctly, they're the Weasley twins, right...?

"Ah... here!" Hagrid suddenly stopped holding the lantern, and Loila bumped into his butt.

"This is wolfsbane and aconite," Hagrid said, pointing to the ground at his feet. "Do you think it's suitable?"

"I..." Loila covered her head and bent down slightly to look at him.

This is indeed wolfsbane and aconite, and it looks very good... This place truly lives up to its reputation as a forbidden forest; it actually has such high-quality medicinal herbs...

Why did Professor Snape still go to Hogsmeade to buy medicine?

Loila nodded gently and said, "This... is very good."

"Thank you, Mr. Hagrid."

"Hahaha, no need to thank me, you're Remus's friend." Hagrid laughed and patted his chest. "Then naturally you're my friend too."

"Don't call me Mr. Hagrid, just call me Hagrid," he said, holding up his lantern. "That's what they all call me."

No, no, no, wait a minute, don't talk so fast... You're friends and you don't need to call me "sir" or anything... Things are moving too fast.

"Ah...I...Mr. Hagrid..." Seeing Loila's stammering, Hagrid burst out laughing: "Professor Hamilton, just call me Hagrid."

"Ha... Hagrid..." Loila's voice was not even as loud as the crows in the Forbidden Forest... but Hagrid still smiled and nodded when he heard her.

"Then you should... call me... call me Loila..." Loila pursed her lips and said softly, then immediately covered her mouth.

I was so greedy!

Hagrid was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this, and quickly waved his hand, "That won't do... You're a professor." Hagrid's tone was quite respectful: "Every professor at Hogwarts is a worthy respect."

"Oh... Mr. Lockhart is out of the question."

Why exclude Mr. Lockhart? Royla, who was initially a little disappointed because Hagrid didn't want to call her by her name, was immediately distracted.

She instinctively wanted to ask a question, but Hagrid interrupted her.

"Oh! Here!" He gestured for Loila to come over with his lantern. "There's also wolfsbane and aconite here, Professor Hamilton."

"Ah...okay...Haihai...Haig."

There was quite a lot of wolfsbane and aconite in the Forbidden Forest. As the most important ingredient in wolfsbane medicine, Loila collected about a semester's worth in just one hour.

This is wonderful! Hagrid saved himself a lot of money... If it were Royla on her own, she definitely wouldn't dare to come here.

"Awoo!"

The howl of wolves came from afar, causing Loila to slightly tighten her grip on her wand.

"Professor Hamilton, we're almost there," Hagrid suddenly said.

"Have we arrived?" Loila suddenly remembered that Hagrid had said before they set off today that they were going to visit a friend in the Forbidden Forest.

It seems to be called Aragog?

But... does he live here?

Loila looked at the cave-like place in front of her strangely... Was Mr. Aragog the Bigfoot?

She had heard Luna mention it before; it was a magical creature that usually lived in caves...

But shouldn't they be living in the snow-capped mountains?

Loila followed Hagrid into the cave, puzzled. It wasn't cramped at all, but rather exceptionally spacious... except for the abundance of spiderwebs.

Loila carefully stepped over the spider silk tangled on the ground.

It seems the owner of the "house" isn't very hygienic... Loila glanced at Yaya walking in front of her; it skillfully avoided all the spider webs.

"Aragok?" Hagrid slowly stopped and shouted, "I've come to see you."

"I also brought you some food!"

"Is the food in that bucket for Mr. Aragog?" Royla paused, looking at the large bucket Hagrid had been carrying... "It's raw meat!"

Wait a minute, Hagrid didn't seem to say Aragog was human...

Loila raised her head slightly and saw a huge spider crawling on the ceiling, scrutinizing her with its dense compound eyes.

So Mr. Aragog was a spider?

Loila suddenly felt a sense of relief.

It's better than humans, isn't it? At least it can't talk...

Loila watched curiously as the giant spider slowly crawled down from the ceiling, then opened its enormous mandibles: "Oh... Hagrid..."

"what!"

A talking spider?! How...how scary!