"Harry... is it warmer around here? Or... is it my imagination?"
Ron's feeling was not wrong, because many little wizards had noticed changes in the surrounding temperature. To be precise, every time they take a few steps forward, the ambient temperature will rise.
After everyone followed Hagrid for a short distance along the forest path, the students wearing scarves had to take them off.
"Hagrid, what did you get?" Hermione asked nervously as she stuffed the scarf into her bag.
Yes, she couldn't calm herself down because the temperature here was no longer what it should be in the woods. If it went higher, she was really afraid that she would have to face a terrifying forest sea of fire.
"We're almost there," Hagrid looked very calm. He even had time to pretend to be mysterious. "Those little guys are easy to get along with... Of course, maybe you have felt it, but they are a little hot."
However, even though everyone felt as if they were in an oven, the forest was still as dark as ever. The flames that everyone expected showed no sign of appearing.
After walking for about ten minutes, Hagrid led everyone around another corner. Suddenly, the little wizards immediately discovered several large wooden boxes lined up in the darkness ahead.
And that flame-like heat seemed to be emanating from those wooden boxes.
Most of the students from the two colleges used the cover of the tree trunks to carefully stare at the wooden boxes. Most of them had surprise and astonishment in their eyes.
"Do you think it's incredible?" Hagrid said with a happy smile, "Come on, come closer, come closer - they are all docile, almost no danger, and have good tempers."
"A box made of wood?" Ron asked doubtfully, "With such a high temperature, why are those wooden boards not burning? What is in there?"
"Good question!" Hagrid stepped forward, stretched out his hand and patted one of the wooden crates gently, "I will open them in a while, but before that, I want to tell everyone one thing -"
"I want to make a special statement," he paused and said seriously, "the little guys here are very precious, and they are not very strong, so they should be treated with care. And then... these little guys are all made by your McLean The professor provided them, he said—the girls might like them!”
Before he finished speaking, there was a buzz of whispering around him.
As a professor, Maka is basically the most popular person at Hogwarts. Of course, his popularity does not all come from his brand-new ancient magic text class, but more from his legendary experience.
After all, Hogwarts has never had a professor as young as him!
After Hagrid said this, everyone's curiosity was aroused. Hermione and the three of them also felt a little relieved after Hagrid's words.
"Okay, then I'm going to open the box, everyone, look at it carefully-"
As he said these words, he had already lifted the top cover of the wooden box. Judging from his light appearance, it seems that these covers were not nailed down with nails, but were just placed on top casually.
When the wooden box was gently opened by Hagrid, the students who got closer immediately caught a glimpse of a warm red color. There seemed to be some little things moving around in the wooden box.
"Students in the back -" Hagrid waved his hand and said, "Stay closer and it will be fine!"
He kept talking without stopping. Without hesitation, he stretched out his hand into the box that was constantly radiating high temperatures. The next moment, a cute little creature covered in red was lifted out by him.
"Oh my God!" Hermione couldn't help but exclaimed, "Cat?"
In front of everyone, the person being held up by the scruff of the neck by Hagrid was a red kitten with no trace of color on its body. In Hagrid's hands, it remained very obediently motionless, just observing its surroundings with its pair of big, jewel-like orange eyes.
To be honest, everyone is actually wondering why Hagrid can carry it directly with his hands
Judging from the temperature they felt, the kitten should be as hot as lava. How could it be held in their hands so easily
"As you can see, this little guy is very well-behaved and not very afraid of people." Hagrid said enthusiastically, "To be honest, when Professor Maclean handed them to me personally, it was also my first time. See this creature.”
"But Professor McLean has already introduced them to me in detail. It is said that they are called 'Fire Civets', and they are a very wonderful and rare creature - at least I have never heard of them."
"...But they look beautiful, don't they?" Hagrid took two steps forward, stretched out his arms and showed the kitten in his hand to the class.
"Professor Hagrid," Hermione said with gleaming eyes, "isn't it hot?"
"Of course, it's not hot at all..." Hagrid seemed happy that someone could ask, "In fact, their body temperature is not much different from that of ordinary cats. The reason why we feel very hot - yes, the closer we get to them The hotter it feels—but in fact, this high temperature doesn’t really exist.”
"It doesn't really exist?" Harry looked at the kitten in confusion and asked, "What do you mean?"
"According to Professor Maclean, this feeling of heat comes from the soul." Hagrid first said in a mysterious tone, but the next second, he smiled again, "Well, of course, under normal circumstances, it will only make us It just 'feels' warmer and won't cause any harm."
"Although this kind of heat immediately makes us think of flames, this little guy is actually afraid of flames. Remember what I said before? They don't like bright places, let alone flames... "
Having said this, Hagrid suddenly waved to the students.
"Okay, then, who wants to be the first to hug it?"
The little wizards have all seen with their own eyes that Hagrid came into contact with it without any damage, and this little animal that looks exactly like a cat also looks very cute, and many people can't hold it anymore.
However, at this moment, there was a sudden commotion deep in the forest. Immediately afterwards, the sensitive person suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet begin to vibrate slightly.
The students who noticed this change immediately panicked, because the vibrations expanded over time, and it seemed like something was rushing towards them.
Hagrid frowned, turned his head sharply, and looked into the distance through the gaps in the trees.
But this is a forest after all, and the trees are so dense that you can never see far with just your eyes. He was not observing with his eyes, but listening with his ears.
"... Are they centaurs? There are quite a lot of them... What happened to them?" Hagrid listened carefully for a moment, then stopped wasting time thinking about it and took the time to greet the students from the two colleges, "Don't panic. , walk back along the path you came from—there is only one path, don’t worry about getting lost! Move, everyone move—"
At his urging, the students turned around in a hurry and hurried away out of the forest. Because I was just walking here, and now I was going back as fast as I could, so I ran out of the forbidden forest in just a few minutes.
At the edge of the forest, Hagrid did not continue to follow everyone, but stopped.
"Harry, take everyone back to the castle!" he shouted from behind. "If you meet other students on the way, take them with you and notify Professor McGonagall as soon as possible!"
"Hagrid, what happened?" Harry turned around and asked loudly.
"Centaurs! There are a lot of them—abnormal!" Hai Geyan said briefly and concisely, and then waved his hand towards him, "Go quickly, I'll go back and take a look at the situation first!"
After saying that, he turned around without hesitation, plunged into the dim Forbidden Forest, and soon disappeared from Harry's sight.
At the same time, among the people running behind the three Harrys, two figures slowed down and looked towards them.
"Hermione, you and Ron will follow everyone first, and I'll go take a look too—" Harry said and tried to rush back, but was staggered by Hermione.
"What are you talking about! I have to go too-" Hermione frowned.
"And me!" Ron also continued.
"You are prefects. Shouldn't you be playing the role of prefects now?" Harry retorted seriously, "We definitely can't all go into the forest. Someone has to report the situation to Professor McGonagall! Other students can't just do this either. Leave it alone—"
After all, things have not been peaceful recently. When such an unexpected situation occurs, we must treat it with caution. The three people present knew this and there was nothing wrong with Harry's decision.
"Then - you must be careful and don't be reckless!" Hermione warned.
"I understand." Harry nodded immediately.
Hermione and Ron looked at each other, said nothing more, turned around and chased their classmates towards the castle.
"So, maybe the Ministry of Magic's Auror Investigation Team will actually come in handy?" Harry muttered, moved his feet, and ran towards the Forbidden Forest again.
Although Hagrid said it was a centaur, it was not known whether it was actually Harry. If it was a centaur, he had encountered it before in the Forbidden Forest, and he didn't seem to have any ill intentions toward the wizard.
As Hagrid said, the centaurs and Hogwarts have been together for a long time. Although the exchanges between the two parties are not very frequent, they have always been in harmony with each other.
Centaurs never leave the forest, and at Hogwarts, except for Hagrid, they rarely go into the Forbidden Forest. After so many years, the two parties have always been at peace with each other, so there should not be any inexplicable conflict this time.
At least that's what Harry speculated at this moment.