Archaeologists at Hogwarts

Chapter 196 Acromantula, Phoenix, Lockhart

A pair of shoes swept across the green grass, bending the thin grass, and then jumped up gently——

"Lower your head!"

Ginny quickly reminded her. She and Luna lowered their heads together, and their hair brushed against the branches of an oak tree and fell back down with a few leaves.

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

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

They had gone very far into the Forbidden Forest, further than when they secretly watched the Thestrals.

Luna kept stretching her arms forward, just two feet away from catching the envelope, but a gust of wind blew by, causing the envelope to fly 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, "I will have a good talk with Pandora after this incident and tell her that you have used up all the opportunities to enter the Forbidden Forest."

Luna maintained the posture of stretching out her arms and said: "This seems unlikely, because my mother also likes the Forbidden Forest very much, and this is where she met her father."

Regardless of Ginny's unintentional knowledge of the love story of Mr. and Mrs. Lovegood, on the other hand, Harry, who was riding a broom, quickly caught up with Hagrid, who was running on his legs.

"Harry!" Hagrid was shocked. He easily grabbed the broom's tail and stopped it without even swaying.

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

Harry stared straight at the wounds on Hagrid's face, which looked like they had been severely whipped by a whip. While trying to pry Hagrid's fingers away, Harry urged: "But you have to tell the reason first.

There is no use avoiding the answer, Hagrid, tell me what happened in the Forbidden Forest, and I have asked Hermione and Ron to find Professor Highmore, he will be here soon - eh!

"

When he heard "Professor Hemmer", Hagrid suddenly let go of his hand, and Harry, who didn't have time to react, hit a yew tree on his broom and fell down holding his knees.

"You mean Toby?" Hagrid asked blankly.

"Yeah," Harry hissed in pain, "What's wrong?"

"Oh no, no, no," Hagrid said to himself in panic: "Aragog only admitted to me before he became seriously ill that he almost let his children kill a Slytherin student.

, the other party is still Toby's classmate, what if he really comes over and meets Aragog again - Toby won't let Aragog be put in solitary confinement, right? He is very sick, what if he dies in Toby's body?

What should we do in the office?”

"Almost killed a student?" Harry asked in surprise: "Who is Aragog you are talking about? Did it hurt you?"

"That's not it!" Hagrid subconsciously retorted: "Aragog is a good boy, he will not do this. He is just very old and can no longer control his children like before, but this is not them.

There are still opportunities to correct their mistakes, and I will help them, but it just takes time."

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

From what Hagrid said, it seemed that he had not just one dangerous animal in the Forbidden Forest, but a whole group of them!

"What exactly is Aragog?" Harry asked uncertainly.

"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 kind of magical animal the Acromantula was, but just hearing the name was dangerous enough. Before Hagrid could finish his words, he got on his broom and rushed out. After a few seconds, he quickly turned back and flew to

In front of a stunned Hagrid.

"A-which direction does the Acromantula live in?"

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

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

Luna stood on tiptoe and took off the envelope, carefully put it back into her pocket, and patted it gently.

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

Ginny was standing in the opposite direction to her. Her face turned extremely pale and her lips trembled as she said, "Tell me, Luna, is what I saw all an illusion?"

"What?" Luna turned her head and asked.

Spiders. Unlike those small spiders crawling hurriedly among the fallen leaves below, each one is as big as a cart horse, with eight eyes and eight legs. They are dark and hairy, like giant monsters.

In the center of the depression is a misty hemispherical spider web, surrounded by restless spiders. The unexpected visitor frightened them all at the same time, and no one could react in time.

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

Ginny froze in place, she was afraid that Luna would make some rash move at this time, but what she felt was a body hugging her arms tightly. She caught a glimpse of Luna leaning towards her little by little with her peripheral vision, the golden

The tips of her hair made her nose itchy.

"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, leaping high, and saw the spiders coming like a black tide.

, all moved their large claws excitedly, making a clicking sound.

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

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

"Stop talking." Ginny felt like she was about to cry. She took back her "reliable" thoughts and decided that she would never accompany Luna to the Forbidden Forest again.

The rustling sound was getting closer and closer to them, accompanied by the sound of rocks rolling and trees being pushed down. Ginny did not dare to look back, and Luna turned her head to remind: "It's close, it's far, it's too far, it's too close."

Close, then far - why did you stop?"

She turned her head and saw that Ginny's face was completely pale with fear.

When I looked down again, I saw a pair of shoes that were entangled in vines and couldn't be pulled out.

——

Harry dodged left and right to avoid the spreading treetops. The results of his special training were clearly demonstrated at this moment. Otherwise, he would not have been able to fly so fast in such a dense environment.

He was running very fast through the trees, always flying in the direction of the depression. He vaguely heard a movement coming from the front, and the dull sound echoed throughout the city, making people's hair stand on end.

Harry quickly turned the direction of the broom. He flew to the branches and looked into the distance. He saw an extremely terrifying scene - in the moonlight, countless dark monsters knocked down the slender tree trunks.

Overwhelming the bushes, appearing and disappearing, like black quicksand running towards you.

This couldn't be worse.

Harry was too shocked to move for a moment, thinking only of Ginny and Luna's situation. The two of them——

"Harry? It's really Harry!"

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

A beautiful unicorn carried Ginny and Luna on its back and turned into a silver stream of light 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 and raised her head and shouted: "It appeared suddenly. Without it we wouldn't be able to escape at all!"

After seeing this, Harry finally relaxed, but when he thought of the Acromantulas behind him——

At this time, the three finally met Hagrid, who was coming from a distance. Harry suddenly remembered that neither the unicorn nor the broom could save Hagrid. Moreover, he heard Hagrid yelling in surprise:

"How is that possible? How could they leave the depression? Is Aragog dead?"

"What's wrong, Hagrid?" Harry asked distantly.

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

"Get out of here quickly!" Hagrid shouted, throwing the crossbow aside: "I'll help you buy time, hurry up - well, hurry up and call the professors over! The children are out of control! Otherwise they will

You won’t leave the depression casually!”

"We must not let them break into Hogwarts, God, we must not"

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

While hurriedly stabilizing himself, Harry caught a glimpse of Hagrid being swarmed by the incoming Acromantulas, unable to stop him at all, and quickly disappeared into the black tide.

——

Deep in the tunnels of the ancient magic professor.

"That's a broomstick?" Lockhart asked in surprise, "Why did you give it away?"

"Because it finally felt the call." Toby retracted his sight from a distance, and the black mist under the hood faced Lockhart and asked: "So, have you really decided to start practicing magic circles? In front of the basilisk,

Shedding skin?"

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

"Hmm? Do you have any questions about the work I assigned you?"

".That was not what I meant."

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

Ron and Hermione hurried over. They didn't find Professor Heimer in the Ancient Magic Office. The only hope was this special classroom.

Armor stayed by the examination room dutifully.

The flame balls gathered one after another, and then suddenly dispersed.

"Professor Heimer! Professor Heimer!"

The two kept shouting loudly, Ron went to the room used for special training, and Hermione tried to find a way to pass the exam that she had passed long ago, but her restless state could not stop quickly, which made her simply

She couldn't focus on her happiest memory - the moment when she gained true friendship during her first year at Hogwarts.

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

At this moment, a big hand fell on her head, making Hermione feel as if she had turned into a Quaffle.

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

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

"So, you have not forgotten the expectations I gave you. Let me see, it's Mr. Potter, right?"

"He went to cause trouble for Dumbledore?"

“It’s really exciting.”

On the other side, deep in the Forbidden Forest, Dumbledore suddenly appeared next to the depression. He was standing in front of a weak acromantula, and at his feet was the unconscious house elf Dobby.

Dumbledore stared at the unknown Aragog for a while. He suddenly turned back to look at the woods in the distance and said loudly: "Go, Fawkes. Remember to put on the sorting hat."

At the same time, at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, Harry slowly lowered his altitude and retreated with Ginny and Luna on the unicorn until they completely left the Forbidden Forest and came to the grass that had become moist due to the mist.

Behind them is the castle with the lights gradually extinguishing in the windows.

In front of them were large groups of Acromantulas, among which Hagrid could no longer be seen.

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 became louder and louder. The sound was ethereal, ethereal and mysterious, and it was exciting to hear. It made the hair on Harry's scalp stand up and made him feel excited.

His atrium swelled to twice its original size. The music became louder and louder, until finally Harry felt as if it was vibrating 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 spurted out.

Suddenly a crimson bird fell from the sky, as big as a crane. It had a shining golden tail, as long as a peacock's tail, and a pair of shining golden claws, holding a tattered package in its claws.

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

Harry recognized that it looked very much like the Sorting Hat. The most amazing thing was that the Sorting Hat did not fall directly to the ground, but rose a few centimeters out of thin air.

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

The light of the magic circle flashed, and Al pulled out a long sword from under the Sorting Hat as if by magic. It covered its head hard, and the magic ball floated next to it.

"Mr. Al!" Harry exclaimed, "Why are you here? You must have arrived a long time ago, right?"

Al's body froze, its eyes quietly turned twice, and suddenly it stood up with the sword unsteadily, pretending to be very powerful and shouted: "Yeah!"

"Hey!" Harry quickly ducked back and was almost struck by the blade of the sword.

"Where is Professor Highmore?" Ginny asked confused: "Where is Professor Highmore? Is it just you?"

Al muttered dissatisfiedly, as if he was disdainful of Ginny's questioning of Toby. He simply sat on the ground and looked back and forth at the sword in front of him, his eyes straight.

This is really too bad.

I thought I had help, but I turned out to be a money obsessed person.

Harry wanted to continue asking anxiously, but he saw the magic ball immediately drifting back and landing right next to an elusive figure.

Finally, it’s Professor Heimer!

he came!

Harry had never felt so at ease. He saw Professor Hemmer walking towards him and placing a palm on his head.

Okay, this posture is a bit weird, it makes Harry feel like he has turned into a Quaffle, but what the hell!

Toby looked at the Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest and murmured: "So when he was in school, the student who was sent to St. Mungo's Hospital was attacked by the Acromantulas? I actually

I couldn’t find these guys, they’re really hiding deep enough.”

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

"I remembered that last semester, Quirrell and I discovered you together - no, Quirrell probably wanted to kill you, but I actually saved your life in disguise - okay, don't

Look at me like this, I really wanted to capture you at that time. After all, it is a unicorn, a very rare animal. It is said that unicorns only like to get close to girls, but are not willing to accept contact from wizards. This is just an experiment.

.”

The unicorn in front of me behaved a little differently. It glanced around, as if wondering where Toby had hidden the shovel.

"Professor." Harry pointed at the massive 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 results, Mr. Potter. You have caused trouble for Principal Dumbledore."

An unparalleled trouble. If this continues, I'm afraid it won't be long before I become the Headmaster of Hogwarts."

"I'm not, Professor, I don't—"

"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 bunch of guys with no skills."

"ah?"

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

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

"Let's get rid of these ugly guys first."

Just when Toby had just finished speaking, as if in response to his order, the door of the castle in the distance was slammed open - a giant snake more than ten feet long crawled outside the castle and headed towards

Coming in the direction of the Forbidden Forest.

At the same time, the Acromantulas seemed to have been frightened by something. They all turned around and ran desperately towards the original path, for fear of falling one step behind.

Harry shouted in horror: "Basilisk! Is that a basilisk, Professor?"

"Calm down, Mr. Potter."

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

This basilisk really had no eyes, and when it finally got close to Hagrid's cabin, it suddenly became bulging and then exploded, spreading its limbs and internal organs everywhere.

, then corrupted in the blink of an eye, making a hissing sound.

The three of them had been stunned for a long time. The unicorn stood silently farther 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.

Toby knew what Al wanted to ask.

Did Lockhart really do this?

Using shed skin to briefly resurrect the basilisk—does he have this ability?