Archaeologists at Hogwarts

Chapter 196 Acromantula, Phoenix, Lockhart

A pair of shoes skimmed across the green grass, bent the fine grass, and then jumped up gently——

"Look down!"

Ginny quickly reminded that she and Luna lowered their heads together, their hair brushed against the branches of an oak tree, and fell again against a few leaves.

Luna hugged Ginny's body with one hand, and stretched forward with the other hand, but the small envelope seemed to have grown wings, and kept flying deeper into the Forbidden Forest.

"Is that important to you?" Ginny asked anxiously.

They have gone far into the Forbidden Forest, farther than when they secretly watched the Thestrals.

Luna kept stretching her arms forward and was within two feet of grabbing the envelope, but a gust of wind blew by, sending the envelope flying even higher.

Seeing her like this, Ginny knew that it must be very important, otherwise Luna wouldn't even bother to answer.

"Then keep chasing." She gritted her teeth and said, "After this incident, I must have a good talk with Pandora and tell her that you have used up all the opportunities to enter the Forbidden Forest."

Luna maintained the posture with her arms outstretched and said, "This seems unlikely, because Mom also likes the Forbidden Forest very much, and that's where she met Dad."

Regardless of Ginny's inadvertent knowledge of the Lovegood couple's love story, on the other side, Harry on the broom soon caught up with Hagrid who was running on his legs.

"Harry!" Hagrid was taken aback. He easily grabbed the tail of the broom and made it stop without even shaking his body.

"You shouldn't have followed!" he yelled.

Harry stared straight at the wound on Hagrid's face, which looked like he had been severely whipped, and while trying to push Hagrid's fingers away, he urged: "But you have to tell the reason first." I. It's no use avoiding answers, Hagrid, tell me what's going on in the Forbidden Forest, and I've sent Hermione and Ron to Professor Highmore, he'll be here soon - eh! "

When he heard "Professor Highmore", Hagrid let go of his hand suddenly, causing Harry, who had no time to react, to hit a yew tree on his broom, and fell down clutching his knees.

"You mean Toby?" Hagrid asked blankly.

"Yeah," Harry hissed, "what's the matter?"

"Oops, oops," Hagrid said to himself in panic, "Aragok only admitted to me before he got seriously ill. He almost let his children kill a Slytherin student. , the other party is still Toby’s classmate, if he really rushes over and meets Aragog again——Toby won’t let Aragog be imprisoned too? What should the office do?"

"Almost killed a student?" Harry asked in surprise. "Who is this Aragog you're talking about? Did it hurt you?"

"It's not it!" Hagrid retorted subconsciously: "Aragok is a good boy, he wouldn't do that. He's just very old and can't control his children like he used to, but it's not them There is still a chance to correct their mistakes, I will help them, it just takes time."

The more Harry listened, the more he felt something was wrong.

From Hagrid's point of view, it seems that he has not only kept one dangerous animal in the Forbidden Forest, but a whole group of them!

"What the hell is Aragog?" Harry asked in confusion.

"It's the acromantula." Hagrid said in an unnatural tone, but he quickly became tough again: "So you must leave the Forbidden Forest as soon as possible. I am here, and I will find those two little girls. Come back - Harry!"

Harry didn't know what magical creature an acromantula was, but just hearing the name was dangerous enough. Before Hagrid could finish his sentence, he got on his broom and rushed out, then turned back quickly a few seconds later, and flew to In front of the dumbfounded Hagrid.

"Ah—Which direction does the acromantula live in?"

"Over there." Hagrid subconsciously pointed to the direction of the depression, and then hurriedly chased after Harry's back and shouted: "Come back quickly! Listen to me, Harry, now is not the time to introduce you, come back quickly!"

At the same time, Ginny and Luna fell behind a huge rock, and the envelope fell on top of the rock.

Luna tiptoed to take off the envelope, carefully put it back in her pocket, and patted it lightly.

"Okay," she said cheerfully, "can we leave now, or do you plan to go see thestrals together again?"

Ginny was standing in the opposite direction to her, her face turned extremely pale, and she said with trembling lips, "Tell me, Luna, are all I seeing hallucinations?"

"What?" Luna asked, turning her head.

spider.Not like those little spiders crawling hurriedly among the fallen leaves below, but each one was as big as a cart horse, with eight eyes and eight legs, black and hairy, like giants.In the center of the depression was a misty hemispherical spider web, surrounded by restless spiders, the unexpected visitors frightened them all at the same time, and none of them could react in time.

For a moment, it seemed that even time had stood still.

Ginny froze in place, she was afraid that Luna would make some rash move at such a time, but what she felt was a body with arms clasped tightly.Out of the corner of her eye she caught Luna leaning slightly towards her, the ends of her blond hair tickling her nose.

"It's time to dance," Luna whispered.

Ginny never expected that Luna would have such a reliable day, she hugged Luna suddenly, bent her legs and jumped back, jumping high, watching the spiders coming like a black tide , all moved their pincers excitedly, making a clicking sound.

In mid-air, Luna looked down at her exposed wrist, and said in surprise, "So many goosebumps."

Then she rolled up Ginny's sleeve and took a look, her tone became even more surprised: "You have more!"

"Stop it." Ginny felt like she was about to cry. She put away her "reliable" thoughts and decided that she would never come to the Forbidden Forest with Luna again.

The rustling sound was getting closer and closer to them, accompanied by the sound of rolling stones and trees being pushed down.Ginny didn't dare to look back, Luna turned her head and reminded: "It's getting closer, it's getting far, it's getting closer, it's getting far——why did you stop?"

She turned her head to see that Ginny's face was pale with terror.

Looking down again, what I saw was a pair of shoes entangled by vines, which I couldn't pull out no matter what.
-
Harry dodged left and right, avoiding the spreading treetops, the results of the special training were fully displayed at this moment, otherwise he would not be able to fly so fast in such a dense environment.

He ran fast among the bushes, always flying in the direction of the depression, and vaguely heard a movement coming from ahead, the dull sound spread across the city, and it was creepy to hear.

Harry quickly turned the direction of the broom, he flew to the top of the tree branch, looked into the distance, and saw an extremely terrifying scene - under the moonlight, countless dark monsters knocked down the slender tree trunk, Overwhelming the bushes, appearing and disappearing from time to time, like black quicksand rushing in his direction.

It couldn't have been worse.

Harry was momentarily frozen in shock, thinking only of the situation of Ginny and Luna, who—

"Harry? Really Harry!"

The voice came from the ground below, Harry quickly lowered his head and opened his mouth wide in surprise.

A beautiful unicorn carried Ginny and Luna on its back, and it turned into a silver streamer in the woods.

Harry quickly caught up with them in the air and shouted down, "Where did you find the unicorn?"

"I don't know either!" Ginny hugged the unicorn's neck tightly, she raised her head and shouted, "It appeared suddenly, and we couldn't escape without it!"

After seeing this scene, Harry finally relaxed, but when he thought of the acromantulas behind——

At this time, the three finally met Hagrid who was coming from afar. Harry suddenly remembered that neither the unicorn nor the broom could save Hagrid, and he heard Hagrid shouting in surprise: "How is it possible? How did they leave the depression? Could it be that Aragog is dead?"

"What's the matter, Hagrid?" Harry asked distantly.

Hagrid let the unicorn run away from him, and patted it on the side to speed it up.

"Get out of here quickly!" Hagrid yelled, throwing the crossbow aside. "I'll buy you time, hurry up and call the—well, hurry up the professors! The kids are out of control! Or they You won’t leave the depression casually!”

"Never let them break into Hogwarts, God, never"

Harry was stunned by Hagrid's words. He quickly passed through the bushes, trying to take Hagrid away, but Hagrid grabbed the broom's tail again, swung it around and returned to the air.

While hurriedly stabilizing his body, Harry caught a glimpse of Hagrid being engulfed by the attacking acromantulas, unable to stop them at all, and soon disappeared into the black sea of ​​tide.
-
Deep in the tunnels of the ancient magic professor.

"Is that a broomstick?" Lockhart asked in surprise, "Why did you send it away?"

"Because it finally felt the call." Toby withdrew his gaze from a distance, and the black mist under the hood faced Lockhart and asked: "So, have you really decided to start practicing the magic circle? Shedding skin?"

"Oh, of course." Lockhart said awkwardly, "Otherwise it would be really difficult to write more manuscripts."

"Huh? Do you have any questions about the work I gave you?"

".That was not what I meant."

After a while, two other people suddenly appeared at the other end of the tunnel.

Ron and Hermione came in a hurry. They couldn't find Professor Highmore in the Office of Ancient Magic, and the only thing they had hoped for was this special classroom.

The armor dutifully stayed beside the examination room.

The flame balls flew together and then scattered suddenly.

"Professor Highmore! Professor Highmore!"

The two kept shouting loudly, Ron went to the special training room, and Hermione tried to pass the exam that she had passed long ago, but the restless state could not be subsided quickly, which made her not at all Unable to focus on recalling the happiest memory ever - that was the moment when she gained true friendship in her first year at Hogwarts.

"What can I do!" Hermione jumped anxiously. She tried to communicate with the armor, but the armor ignored her at all, and just kept recording more "fail" and "fail" on the report card.

At this moment, a large hand fell on her head, making Hermione feel as if she had become a Quaffle.

Ron's experience was earlier than hers. He was brought to Hermione's side at some point, and he was staying stiffly under the other palm, not even daring to turn his neck.

The black devil standing behind the two said in a satisfied tone:

"So you haven't forgotten what I expected of you. Let me see, it's Mr. Potter, right?"

"He went to get Dumbledore into trouble?"

"It's really exciting."

On the other side, in the depths of the Forbidden Forest, Dumbledore suddenly appeared beside the hollow. He was standing in front of a faintly breathing acromantula, and at his feet was the unconscious house-elf Dobby.

Dumbledore stared at Aragog, who didn't know whether he was alive or dead, and suddenly he looked back at the distant woods, and said aloud, "Go, Fox. Remember to put on the sorting hat."

At the same time, at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, Harry slowly lowered his height, and retreated with Ginny and Luna on the unicorn until he completely left the Forbidden Forest and came to the grass that was damp due to the fog.

Behind them was the castle with its lights fading out in its windows.

And in front of them were large groups of giant arachnids, and Hagrid could no longer be seen there.

Under this terrifying scene, Ginny hugged Luna in panic, and Harry kept looking in the direction of the castle, wondering why no professors had arrived yet.

At this moment, the sound of music floated from nowhere, and it became louder and louder.This voice is illusory, ethereal and mysterious, and it is exciting to listen to.It made the hairs on Harry's scalp stand on end and made his heart twice as large.The music grew louder and louder until Harry felt it vibrate in his chest.

"Sounds really good." Luna raised her head and commented, looking at the top of the tree closest to the three of them, where flames suddenly spewed out.

A crimson bird suddenly descended from the sky, the size of a crane. It had a golden tail as long as a peacock's tail, and a pair of golden claws, holding a tattered package on it.

The phoenix flew around the heads of Harry, Ginny, and Luna a few times, and it seemed unable to make up its mind all at once.In the end, he even threw the tattered thing on the paw a few feet away from the three of them.

Harry recognized that it looked like the Sorting Hat. The most amazing thing was that the Sorting Hat didn't fall directly to the ground, but was raised a few centimeters out of thin air.

Under the eyes of the three people and the unicorn, the hat shook twice, and then there was a bang, and a familiar cry of pain came out almost at the same time—"Ah!"

The light of the magic circle flashed, and Al pulled out a long sword from under the sorting hat as if by magic. It clutched its head vigorously, and the magic ball floated beside it.

"Mr. Al!" Harry exclaimed, "Why are you here? Could it be that you have arrived long ago?"

Al's body froze, its eyeballs rolled around twice, and suddenly it wobbled and stood up the sword, pretending to be very powerful and shouting: "Ah!"

"Hey!" Harry quickly dodged back, almost being swept by the edge of the sword.

"Where's Professor Haimo?" Ginny asked confusedly, "Where is Professor Haimo? Is it just you?"

Al murmured dissatisfiedly, as if disdainful of Ginny's questioning of Toby.It simply sat on the ground, looked back and forth at the sword in front of it, and stared straight at it.

That's too bad.

I thought I had a helper, but it turned out to be a financial fan.

Harry wanted to continue asking anxiously, but he saw the magic ball immediately floated backwards, and landed right next to a elusive figure.

Finally, it was Professor Highmore!

he came!
Harry had never felt so relieved when he saw Professor Highmore walking towards him, placing a palm on his head.

Well, the position was kind of weird, it made Harry feel like he had turned into a Quaffle, but whoever!

Toby looked towards the acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest, and he murmured: "So when he was in school, the student who was sent to St. Mungo's Hospital was attacked by acromantulas? I actually I couldn’t find this group of guys, they hid really deep enough.”

Then he looked at the unicorn that was looking at him, and somehow felt that it looked familiar.

"I remembered, in the last semester, Quirrell and I discovered you - no, Quirrell should have wanted to kill you, but I saved your life in disguise - well, don't Looking at me this way, I really wanted to take you away. After all, it was a unicorn, a very rare animal. It is said that unicorns only like to be close to girls, but they are unwilling to accept the contact of wizards. This is just an experiment. .”

The unicorn in front of him behaved a little differently. Its eyes swept around, as if wondering where Toby hid the shovel.

"Professor." Harry pointed to the mighty acromantulas and reminded, "What should they do?"

"Oh, and you!" Toby patted Harry on the head as if he had just discovered him, and said with satisfaction, "I am very satisfied with your grades, Mr. Potter. You have offended Principal Dumbledore." An unparalleled big trouble, if this continues, I'm afraid it won't be long before I can become the headmaster of Hogwarts."

"I'm not, Professor, I'm not—"

"Don't worry, Mr. Potter, I will reward you well. Prefect, president of the student union, experience all the honors of your father and uncle, and I will let you steal the show."

"Uncle? I still have an uncle?"

"There's more than one, they're all a group of guys with no skills"

"what?"

In front of a large group of acromantulas, Harry was destined not to get the answer he wanted.

Professor Highmore turned the black mist from under his hood towards the Forbidden Forest.

"Get rid of these ugly guys first."

Just when Toby had just finished speaking, as if in response to his order, the gate of the castle in the distance was slammed open—a giant snake more than ten feet long crawled out of the castle, heading towards the castle. Came from the direction of the Forbidden Forest.

At the same time, the giant eight-eyed spiders seemed to have been frightened by something. They all turned around and ran desperately to the original path, for fear of being one step behind.

Harry yelled in horror, "The Basilisk! Is that a Basilisk, Professor?"

"Calm down, Mr Potter."

Toby said in a low tone: "Even if it is, it is a blind basilisk, otherwise you and I would have died standing here."

This basilisk really has no eyes, and when it finally got close to Hagrid's cabin, it suddenly became swollen, and then exploded with a bang, scattering limbs and internal organs everywhere , followed by a hissing sound of decay in the blink of an eye.

The three of them stared blankly for a long time, and the unicorn stood silently a little further away from Toby.

They took it for granted that this was Toby's method.

Only Al looked at Toby in surprise, he didn't even care about the sword anymore.

Toby knew what Al wanted to ask.

Is this really what Lockhart did?

Using molt to temporarily resurrect the basilisk - does he have this ability?

(End of this chapter)