In the early morning, the sky above Hogwarts Castle was gradually darkening, the light of the stars gradually dimmed, and a ray of sunlight quietly passed through the clouds in the sky and shone obliquely into the dense Forbidden Forest.
However, the forbidden forest of Hogwarts is not as peaceful as it appears on the surface. The atmosphere deep inside is extremely solemn and tense.
"Hagrid, lower your head now and look at your friend, look at Ronan's pain!" Bane stared at Hagrid's unshaven face and asked harshly, "Do you still think such a cruel person is just a harmless Hogwarts professor?"
Hagrid hesitated for a moment, but then realized that Dracula was one of Dumbledore's own people who had gained Dumbledore's trust, and the centaurs were actually just outsiders.
His eyes became firm and he wanted to defend Dracula.
Hagrid started arguing with Bane, but because of his poor tongue, his neck turned red but he didn't say anything to Bane.
In the end, he reluctantly gave up communicating with the centaurs and rolled up his sleeves to fight Bane.
At this moment, the circle of centaurs silently opened up a passage.
"That's enough, Bane!"
A centaur with extremely outstanding appearance walked over from the passage and spoke in a gentle voice that suppressed anger.
His hair was platinum blonde, and he had the body of a silver-maned horse.
"Why are you here, Firenze?" Bane looked at the centaur and asked in confusion.
"We were the first to strike, Bane. There's no need to show off if we're not as skilled as others." The white-haired centaur named Firenze didn't answer Bane's question, but went straight to the point. "War is coming. We can't impose crimes that don't belong to others on others just because of the prejudices we've formed. This will only benefit our real enemies!"
"Do you know what you are talking about, Firenze?" Bane said angrily. "Remember, Firenze, we have sworn an oath not to defy the will of Heaven! Do you think I don't see the signs of the planetary motion?"
Hearing this, Ronan, who was still lying on the ground, looked up at Dracula, his expression became a little uneasy, and he kept digging the snow on the ground with his hooves.
It was unknown what Bain's words had triggered, but Firenze's face instantly darkened, and he suddenly stood up on his hind legs in anger.
"Didn't you see the unicorn?" He changed his gentle tone and roared at Bane, "Don't you understand why it was killed? Now I really doubt that you are so stupid that you can't see the secrets revealed in the planet's trajectory!"
"I will stand against the one who lurks in our forest, Bane. Yes, if necessary, I will side with any Clan that can be united!"
Firenze said, ignoring Bane and walking straight towards Dracula who was surrounded by centaurs.
"Professor, please let Ronan go this time. I will ensure that you leave the Forbidden Forest safely." He bowed slightly to Dracula, then looked into Dracula's eyes thoughtfully.
"Firenze, you'd better know what you are doing!" Bain saw this scene and continued to speak sternly, "What does that have to do with us? The centaurs have always been neutral, and they are only concerned about the prophecies of the stars! We don't need to go against the principles of our tribe and associate with those evil creatures just to fight against the enemies of the wizards!"
However, Firenze was too lazy to pay attention to him at this time. He just stared at Dracula's wine-red eyes with his astonishingly blue eyes, like pale sapphires.
Looking at the unusual centaur in front of him, Dracula chuckled softly.
"I didn't expect that there is an interesting centaur like you in this stubborn and old-fashioned tribe." He glanced at the nervous centaurs around him and said to Firenze with a chuckle, "For your sake, let's leave it at that for today. Of course, if there is a next time, I will not show any mercy."
When he said the last sentence, Dracula's tone became extremely cold.
Bane opened his mouth in anger, wanting to utter a few more words of reproach and ridicule, but he suddenly found a tiny bat with sharp teeth flapping its wings beside his ear and flying over the Forbidden Forest.
He sensed an extremely dark and dangerous aura from the bat's fangs, but he had no perception of it before.
As the first tiny bat flew away, the sound of flapping wings continued to be heard. Countless smiling bats flew towards the sky above the Forbidden Forest, where some sunlight was faintly visible, and turned into powder in the sunlight and disappeared.
Bane noticed that each bat flew out from the centaur's ear. None of the centaurs were left behind, and each one had a corresponding bat.
He looked at the sharp teeth of the bats, felt their dark breath, and was startled. He subconsciously looked at Ronan who was lying on the ground with a questioning look.
Ronan looked solemn and shook his head at him.
Bane raised his hand, stopped the centaurs' pursuit, and watched Firenze lead Dracula and Hagrid disappear into the shadows of the trees not far away.
"Ronan, you told me not to act rashly just now, was it because you know those evil bats?" Bane stared at the receding backs of a centaur, a vampire, and a half-giant. The moment they disappeared, he quickly walked to Ronan, bent down and asked.
"Well, if my judgment is correct, those small bats are the ones that the legendary vampire used against the two clan leaders more than a hundred years ago." Ronan said with difficulty.
"If Firenze hadn't shown up, he would have turned all of us centaurs into vampires!"
…
At the edge of the Forbidden Forest, Dracula said goodbye to Firenze and Hagrid, put up an umbrella, and strolled in the Hogwarts campus under the faint spring sunshine.
It was Wednesday, and he had a class in the afternoon, which was Defense Against the Dark Arts for first-year Gryffindor and Hufflepuff wizards.
When Dracula arrived at the classroom, all the first-year wizards were already there. They sat upright and saluted their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor in unison.
Dracula nodded with satisfaction and picked up the lesson plan and textbook that Quirrell had carefully prepared from the desk.
He rarely followed the lecture schedule and turned to the part where he was supposed to talk about this lesson.
At this moment, Harry, who was sitting in the audience, suddenly raised his hand.
"Mr. Potter?" Dracula looked at him with some confusion.
"Professor, Hagrid told us at noon today that some dead animals with their blood sucked out appeared in the Forbidden Forest, and asked us to stay away from the Forbidden Forest." Harry said, "Hermione said that only vampires could do such a death. We want to know if there are really vampires in the Forbidden Forest?"
Hearing Harry's question, Dracula's mouth twitched.
He really didn't expect that the "tight-mouthed" Hagrid couldn't even hold out for half a day and directly told Harry and the other three little wizards about the situation in the Forbidden Forest.
Of course, Hagrid's original intention should be good. He didn't want these three dishonest little wizards to get close to the dangerous Forbidden Forest, so he revealed some information about the Forbidden Forest, hoping that they would be afraid.
…But what he didn't consider was that this level of danger might not be able to stop the three Gryffindors from seeking death, and it was even more likely to arouse their curiosity further.
In addition, innocent vampires were once again implicated, and the Count was very unhappy!
So he motioned Harry to sit down, and once again disrupted the teaching plan, threw aside the lesson plan written by Quirrell, and then flipped through the book "Dark Arts: A Guide to Self-Defense" on the desk to the end -
"Since Mr. Potter mentioned vampires, let's talk about vampires today." He said to the young wizards in the audience, "Turn to the second to last chapter in your textbooks!"
The young wizards in the audience had long been accustomed to Dracula's unconventional teaching style, and they quickly flipped through the catalog.
The sound of flipping pages was heard in the classroom.
"Before I start the lecture, is there any student who has prepared for this lesson who can tell me how the wizarding world defines vampires?"
Since Dracula himself had never seen the textbook for this lesson, he came up with a good idea to quickly understand the contents of the book.
He turned his gaze to the little witch with messy hair in the first row.
Hermione really lived up to Dracula's expectations. She had reviewed the contents of this chapter more than once and quickly raised her hand:
"Vampires are dark creatures that feed on the blood of living things. They are afraid of sunlight and cannot go out during the day, so they often roam and forage at night, and pierce the throat of their victims with their fangs in a very evil way..."
Dracula had been listening with great interest to the wizard who compiled the textbook's views on vampires. However, as he listened, he felt something was increasingly wrong, and his face gradually darkened.
He quickly glanced through the textbook and saw the words on it -
"Vampires are dark magical humanoids known for biting humans' necks and sucking their blood. They are classified with zombies as living dead creatures, highly contagious and dangerous..."
Dracula exhaled and suppressed his irritability.
"You memorized the definition very well, one point for Gryffindor." He interrupted Hermione's incessant recitation and said perfunctorily.
Hermione was reciting with great interest, and she still felt a little unsatisfied after being interrupted. Moreover, the extra points this time seemed too stingy, and she felt like a beggar who was being sent away.
However, Dracula's historical deterrence made her dare not refute, so she could only pout and sit back on the stool.
"Okay, everyone close your textbooks." Dracula was silent for a moment and suddenly spoke.
Hearing this instruction, the little wizards who had just opened the book raised their heads in surprise.
…
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