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Forbidden Forest.
In a mysterious and dangerous forest.
Under the moonlight, shadows lay thick. The normally quiet environment was filled only with occasional soft rustlings, but now that silence was shattered by a tremendous roar.
It had to be said that it was truly terrifying.
Hermione, Ron, and Neville stood in a clearing, gasping for breath. The sudden roar made them all tense up instantly; Neville even dropped his wand with a loud clang.
"What! What was that?!" Neville looked around nervously.
"Huh?"
Ian also looked toward the source of the noise with confusion, too far away, too many trees blocking the view. He couldn't see clearly what had happened.
All he could make out were flocks of birds scattering in panic.
It seemed as if something terrifying had appeared.
Then,
"ROAR!!"
An even more ferocious roar echoed through the Forbidden Forest. The sound rumbled like thunder, shaking the trees and rustling leaves; the very ground seemed to quake, as if the entire forest were trembling.
"Ahhhahhh!" Hermione, Neville, and Ron all fell to the ground in fright.
Truly,
No sense of composure remained.
Only a gut-wrenching fear filled their minds completely; this had nothing to do with bravery. It was pure instinct, hardwired into their very beings.
"Th-this is…"
Hermione's voice trembled, full of doubt and fear. She almost wet herself. If even Hermione could be this terrified, Neville was far worse.
Neville had fainted outright from sheer fright.
Hermione hurried to check on him.
Ian sighed and handed her a bottle of potion. After feeding it to Neville, his eyelids fluttered wildly, and he abruptly snapped awake.
"Heavens! I had the most terrifying dream! I dreamt we went into the Forbidden Forest, and then we encountered…" Neville was drenched in sweat, speaking with a mix of fear and relief, still unable to finish his sentence.
A cold wind blew.
The night in the Forbidden Forest was shrouded in thick, inky darkness.
Moonlight filtered through the towering trees, scattering into silver patches that dappled the leaf-littered ground. The damp air carried the pungent scent of pine needles.
'Isn't this the Forbidden Forest from my nightmare? No, there were no nightmares! I actually fainted here in the Forbidden Forest!
The realization caught Neville in his throat.
His face, barely revived by the potion, turned pale again. Had it not been for Ian's potent potion, he might have passed out once more.
Honestly,
It was no wonder these three young wizards were so timid. Even Ian felt his eardrums ache at the roar.
And he was a Legendary Wizard.
Never mind three first-year students who had just arrived at Hogwarts and had yet to experience anything, the fact that they hadn't wet themselves yet was already a testament to their Gryffindor courage.
"Ian… what kind of creature made that sound? Was it a dragon?" Hermione, encountering a gap in her knowledge, looked at her most learned senior with a terrified expression.
Ian remained silent.
"Yes! Th-this is 100% the sound of a dragon!" Ron blurted out, eyes wide in fear, his voice trembling as if it were forced out from his throat.
"It's the sound of a dragon! My elder brother Charlie loves dragons, he used to tinker with dragon toys at home. They weren't this terrifying, but I'm 100% sure this is the sound of a dragon!"
His memories involuntarily drifted to his elder brother Charlie. He had never understood why Charlie liked dragons before; now, hearing this, Ron understood even less about his brother's fascination.
Dragon.
It was terrifying enough to make him shiver. How could anyone possibly like them?
"Your elder brother Charlie? You have several elder brothers? Oh!" Hermione, clearly hearing the name for the first time, looked surprised. Ron let out a shaky, bitter laugh.
"Our family's poor because there are too many kids. Everything I have is hand-me-downs from my elder brothers… even my…" He began rambling, complaining about his life.
Hearing this, Neville's face turned paler than the moonlight. Fine beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead, and he pressed his back tightly against a tree, as if that could give him some sense of security.
"I-I've seen dragons… but their roars… aren't this terrifying…" His legs trembled uncontrollably; even lying on the ground, he couldn't stop.
The little chubby boy's voice grew smaller. "I-I feel my soul trembling… of course, maybe I'm just timid, but I really feel like I'm going to die."
"Your mind's gone blank, right? It's not your fault, Neville. We feel the same," Hermione swallowed hard, both fearful and curious. "Are there really dragons in the Forbidden Forest?"
Although she had extensive knowledge of magical creatures and knew the Forbidden Forest was home to a vast variety of beasts, the idea of dragons actually being there still shocked her deeply.
Hearing this, Ron shook his head helplessly, indicating that he didn't know either.
So Hermione turned her gaze back to Ian.
"Yes, there are dragons in Hogwarts' Forbidden Forest," Ian said, his eyes fixed on the direction of the commotion, brows furrowed. "However, the dragon here shouldn't be of this species."
His tone carried a hint of confusion.
"So it's really a dragon!" Hermione's eyes lit up instantly; her thirst for knowledge momentarily overcame her fear. "Heavens! Such a terrifying dragon? Could it be a Hungarian Horntail?"
She spoke the name of the strongest western dragon she knew. Just from the ear-splitting roar she had just heard, she was certain that the dragon in the Forbidden Forest wasn't an ordinary one.
However, in response to Hermione's guess, Ian shook his head.
Hermione paused, slightly taken aback.
"A Hungarian Horntail?" She tried guessing again.
Ian shook his head once more and Hermione's confidence began to waver.
"Then… could it be a Fluffy back dragon?"
She stubbornly tried elimination. She named several more species in succession.
Yet Ian still shook his head each time.
Hermione was completely stunned.
"These are all the dragons recorded in books… what other dragons are in the books?" Her expression turned a bit dejected. She scratched her head, quickly scanning her memory for knowledge.
Meanwhile, Ron's expression kept shifting. Suddenly, as if realizing something, his face turned serious. Lowering his voice, he spoke in a conspiratorial tone:
"This might be the secret of the Forbidden Forest! That person…" Ron glanced at Ian, hesitating, "…He keeps dangerous dragons in the Forbidden Forest!"
Even now, he was being evasive. No one knew why he was so wary of Ian.
"Who?" Hermione frowned.
Ron stammered and finally mumbled vaguely.
"Just… that… person… we talked about before." His gaze kept flicking toward Ian as he spoke.
Ian rolled his eyes.
"You mean Harry, Harry Potter, right?"
He simply exposed Ron's supposed "secret."
Ron's eyes went wide.
"How do you know?!"
His expression was full of shock and disbelief.
(To Be Continued…)