After leaving the principal's office, there was already a line of people waiting at the staircase on the eighth floor, most of whom were Ravenclaws, with some Hufflepuffs mixed in.
After Ethan briefly explained his punishment, he left with the crowd.
Later that night, Ethan appeared at the door of Filch's office.
Knock! Knock!
"Come in!"
A hoarse voice came from inside the door.
As soon as he entered, Ethan smelled a strong odor of grilled fish. A skinny Maine Coon cat with dark fur was squatting on a chair and staring at him.
"Follow me!"
Filch simply packed up, then limped out of the office with an oil lamp.
Along the way, Filch didn't say a word, not at all like Fred and George had described him, with an extreme foul mouth.
In fact, Filch didn't want to cause trouble. He knew everything Ethan did that afternoon. He was not like other little wizards.
Filch didn't care to badmouth Ethan because he didn't want to risk retaliation.
But if his cat, Mrs. Norris, had any problems, he wouldn't tolerate it.
So he treated people differently. He knew who he could badmouth and who he couldn't.
"This is it. Go by yourself!"
After leading Ethan to Hagrid's cabin, Filch turned around and left without any hesitation.
Looking at Filch, who was limping yet leaving as quickly as possible, Ethan was a little confused. He hadn't done anything to him!
Even when he was out at night, he hadn't run into him.
Woof! Woof!
Two barks were heard in the dark night. The next moment, Fang appeared from nowhere and circled around Ethan, wagging his tail.
"Ethan, is that you? Come in!"
The door was pushed open, and Hagrid stood at the door, calling in the direction of the barking.
Hearing Fang's barking, Hagrid knew the person coming must be an acquaintance.
At dinner, he had also received the news that Ethan would be coming to patrol with him.
"It's me, Hagrid!"
Ethan replied and then walked into Hagrid's cabin with Fang.
The fireplace in the cabin was burning so vigorously that it was still a little hot after entering. There was a large pot of venison and a plate of fried pork skin on the table, along with Hagrid's favorite rock cakes.
"Eat something first. The Forbidden Forest is quite cold now, and the patrol time is also very long."
After closing the door, Hagrid directly invited Ethan to sit down and poured him a bowl of venison soup.
In the Forbidden Forest in October, the temperature at night was almost freezing, and patrols typically lasted several hours. It was really hard to bear without eating something.
"Thank you!"
Ethan was not polite. He took the venison soup and ate a piece of venison with a fork, finding that the taste was actually quite good.
As for the rock cake, Ethan soaked it in the venison soup, which was much better than eating it dry.
"Hagrid, can you eat spicy food?"
After eating a little, Ethan stopped and asked Hagrid, who was still eating meat.
Although his physical fitness had improved and his appetite had increased, he was still far behind Hagrid.
"I can!"
Hagrid nodded in response, his mouth full of venison.
"Okay, I'll bring you some gifts tomorrow, a dish made by Muggles that the little wizards of Hufflepuff like very much."
During this period, Ethan had also eaten in the Hufflepuff common room several times, and hot pot was becoming more and more popular.
It's just that the hot pot made by the house-elves was still a little off, and he was still working on the recipe.
Ethan also wrote a letter home via owl, requesting a lot of hot pot base.
"Okay!"
When Hagrid had almost finished eating, he rested for a while and then took Ethan out.
At this moment, Hagrid was holding a giant oil lamp in his hand, a giant crossbow on his back, a full quiver on his shoulder, and Fang was following him.
Of course, Fang was a little timid, with a small temper. If something happened, he would probably run faster than Hagrid.
On the dark and gloomy forest path illuminated by dim lights, Hagrid was introducing the situation of the Forbidden Forest to Ethan, and comforting him along the way.
In his opinion, a normal young wizard should be afraid of the Forbidden Forest.
"Hagrid, is a crossbow better than a wand?"
After walking for more than an hour, nothing had happened except for a few magical animals that occasionally ran by. Ethan couldn't help asking a question he had thought about but hadn't answered yet.
The protection spell used by magicians is also called universal protection; it can shield against bullets from pistols and rifles, as well as the explosion of grenades.
Ethan had tested this.
His family did not lack various guns and ammunition due to their business.
As for the crossbow, it is indeed powerful at close range, but not enough to break the protection spell.
So Hagrid likes to carry a crossbow on patrol. Does it have magic-breaking properties?
"For maniac magical animals, bows and crossbows are still useful, but they're not so effective against poachers. They are too flexible and can use magic to defend against the crossbow arrows I shoot."
Hagrid had nothing to hide. This was the truth.
But he was not afraid of poachers in the Forbidden Forest. First of all, he had many pets. These pets were pets to him, but deadly to others.
He also had a good relationship with the centaurs and could get their support.
So Hagrid's mission was to resist and delay the poachers. With his high magic resistance and powerful strength from his giant blood, he could do this easily.
"Is that so?"
So there was no material with magic-breaking properties in this world. I was overthinking it.
However, guns and crossbows were still very threatening to wizards, especially guns, which could be used unexpectedly. Additionally, those who could use the armor spell were considered elites, and there weren't too many of them.
"Look, mooncalves!"
Suddenly, Hagrid pulled Ethan, pointing to an open space on the right, signaling Ethan not to disturb them.
Following the direction Hagrid pointed, Ethan saw some small creatures that looked like alpacas, with wide eyes, staring at the full moon in the sky with their necks raised, and their hind legs swinging irregularly.
You know what, this little thing is pretty cute.
"Ethan, you're lucky. Mooncalves usually only come out during a full moon, and they're very shy. They'll hide at the slightest noise."
"See those silvery-white spots? That's mooncalf dung. It's a pretty good fertilizer. If you use it on pumpkins, one can grow really big. Sometimes I give some to Professor Sprout."
Hearing Hagrid say this, Ethan instantly felt sick.
Dancing and pooping at the same time—it is indeed a magical creature.
Moreover, they poop a lot, almost every few steps, there are more silvery-white spots on the ground. As time goes by, these silver light spots gradually cover the entire ground, forming a stage just for them.
When the dance ends, the mooncalves also go back to their cave.
Hagrid just said that this is their courtship ritual, which means they are eager to go home for mating. It's only because Ethan doesn't play with the chomping cabbage; otherwise, he would have been led back to collect dung. (The chomping cabbage is indeed strong in the game, but not that strong in reality.)
"Let's go, let's collect the mooncalf dung. It's useless when it sees the sun."
Hagrid strode forward.
In his opinion, this was good stuff.
He had a vegetable garden.
In addition to providing himself with some food, he also grew pumpkins for Halloween every year.
After using Transfiguration to create a box, Ethan used the Levitation Charm to automatically load the mooncalf dung into it, saving Hagrid the trouble of picking it up one by one.
"Ethan, that's all for today. I'll put these away and send you back to Hogwarts."
Holding the box filled with mooncalf dung, Hagrid said to Ethan excitedly.
After patrolling for nearly two hours and watching the mooncalves dance for a while, it was almost time.
Hagrid naturally would not let Ethan stay until dawn.
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