Hogwarts Lion Girl

"Forbidden Forest? Merlin's stinky socks! Professor Snape must be crazy to let me go to such a hellish place!" Colin's voice became sharp with fear, like a cat whose tail was stepped on.

Salina closed the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and sighed helplessly. Colin was a good kid in every way except that he was a little timid. He was particularly keen on using his camera to capture Harry's "heroic" figure, and was often caught by Professor Snape for this.

"Come on, Colin, isn't it just cleaning up the Forbidden Forest? Salina and I will go with you, there's nothing to be afraid of." Ginny patted Colin's shoulder carelessly, almost knocking him to the ground. "Besides, don't you want to observe those magical creatures up close? Maybe you can even take a picture of the troll!"

"I'd rather brush Hagrid's teeth!" Colin was about to cry, "Besides, there might be giant spiders, vampires, and..."

"Okay, Colin, stop scaring yourself." Salina interrupted Colin's mumbling with a smile, "We will protect you, right, Ginny?"

"Of course!" Ginny assured, patting her chest.

In the evening, the afterglow of the setting sun sprinkles on the tower of Hogwarts like golden honey, rendering the ancient castle warm and mysterious.

Salina took a deep breath. The fresh air was mixed with a hint of soil and grass, which was the unique scent of the forbidden forest.

"To be honest, I really don't understand why we have to clean the Forbidden Forest at this time." Colin had a sad face and followed Salina closely. His voice was as small as a mosquito's hum.

"Don't complain, Colin, just treat it as an adventure." Ginny turned around and winked at him, "Maybe we can even encounter a unicorn!"

Colin obviously didn't agree with Ginny's optimism. He shrank his neck and muttered softly: "I don't want to run into any moving creatures, especially those with eight legs..."

Hagrid's hut came into view. The pumpkin field in front of the door was glowing golden in the setting sun. A huge furry creature was circling excitedly in front of the hut, making deafening barking sounds from time to time.

"It's Fang!" Ginny's eyes lit up and she quickened her pace, almost jogging to Hagrid's side.

"Good evening, Hagrid!" Ginny greeted Hagrid enthusiastically, and then lowered her head to avoid the excited Fang's enthusiastic attempt to lick her face. "Good boy, Fang, I know you are very enthusiastic, but please control your saliva, okay?"

Hagrid laughed heartily. He grabbed Fang's collar and stopped him from expressing excessive enthusiasm to Ginny. "Good evening, Ginny, and Serena, Colin."

Colin looked at the huge Fang with fear, hid behind Salina, and greeted Hagrid in a low voice.

"Don't worry, Colin, Fang is very well behaved, he's just a little... enthusiastic." Salina comforted, but there was a hint of uncertainty in her tone.

Hagrid took them to an open space next to the hut, which was full of fallen leaves and broken branches. "Your task today is to clean these up and move them to the open space over there." Hagrid pointed to an open space not far away.

"Is it that simple?" Ginny was a little surprised. She originally thought that Hagrid would ask them to clean the spider webs or give the giant eight-eyed spider a bath.

"Of course, this is just a warm-up exercise." Hagrid grinned, revealing a mouthful of uneven teeth. "When you finish these, there will be more exciting tasks waiting for you."

Salina and Ginny looked at each other and saw uneasiness in each other's eyes. Only Colin was so scared that his face turned pale and he almost fainted.

"Okay, kids, hurry up, it's getting dark," said Hagrid, handing them a few huge brooms and turning back to the hut.

Ginny took the broom and shrugged helplessly at Serena and Colin. "It looks like we'll be busy tonight."

Salina smiled bitterly, picked up the broom and started cleaning up the fallen leaves.

The sun sets gradually and the shadows of the forest lengthen.

Hagrid walked around the clearing, carefully examined the results of the three people's work, and nodded with satisfaction.

"Well done, boys! It's getting dark now, we need to go deeper into the forbidden forest."

As he spoke, he turned back to the hut and brought out a huge oil lamp. The dim light dispelled some of the darkness, casting his and Yaya's tall figures on the open space.

"Follow closely," Hagrid said, holding the oil lamp in one hand and holding Fang's tail, who was wagging his tail excitedly, in the other hand, leading the way. "Be careful not to fall behind."

As soon as I stepped into the forbidden forest, a damp and corrupt smell hit me in the face. The tall trees blocked out the sun, and only a few faint rays of light shone through the gaps between the branches and leaves, casting mottled shadows on the ground.

"Merlin's beard! It's so scary here!" Colin's voice was trembling, and he grabbed Salina's robe tightly, as if he was grabbing the last straw.

"Don't be afraid, Colin, we are just here to clean, not to take risks." Salina comforted, but she couldn't help but tighten her wand and look around vigilantly. After all, the Forbidden Forest was not really safe.

But this time, without Harry and the other two following us, nothing should go wrong.

Ginny walked in front. Unlike Salina and Colin, she was not nervous. Instead, she looked around with great interest, as if she was on an exciting adventure.

"Hey, look, what is that?" Ginny suddenly said, pointing to a big tree not far away.

Salina and Colin looked in the direction of Ginny's finger, and saw something seemed to be wriggling on the trunk of the big tree.

"Acromantranna!" Colin screamed in horror and hugged Salina.

Salina was also startled, but she quickly calmed down and took a closer look, only to find that it was not an eight-eyed giant spider, but a ball of furry thing.

"Don't be afraid, Colin, it's just a Bowtruckle," Serena explained with a sigh of relief.

"Bowtruckle?" Colin carefully let go of Salina and peered at the furry thing. "What is that?"

"Bowtruckles are magical creatures that protect trees," Serena explained patiently. "They are usually harmless to humans, unless..."

"Unless someone wants to harm the trees they're protecting, right?" Ginny said with a grin.

Only then did Colin suddenly realize what he had just done. He had actually hugged Salina.

He hurriedly withdrew his hands, but the warm breath of Salina seemed to remain on his fingertips.

A light fragrance penetrated into Colin's nose, making Colin's cheeks instantly hot, as if they were on fire, and quickly spread to the tips of his ears and all the way to the base of his neck.

But he still didn't dare to stay too far away from Salina. On the one hand, he was afraid of encountering something terrible again. On the other hand, the feeling of skin contact just now made him want to get closer and feel it again. Fortunately, it was dark at this time, and no one noticed his shy face, which made him feel relieved.