In the headmaster's office, Snape stood in front of Dumbledore with a gloomy expression.
His legs were covered in blood, and it was obvious that he had been bitten by a dog.
"I think you should know what happened to Quirrell. It's one thing if you don't tell me, but why allow such a malicious person to become the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?"
Snape was very dissatisfied with this.
He and Quirrell had worked together for several years. Although their relationship wasn't great, he still knew who Quirrell was. He wasn't that bad.
This year, Quirrell seemed to have changed and applied for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position.
Let's not even talk about how he had his sights set on that position first. He applied for it many times, but Dumbledore never approved it. So why could Quirrell become the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?
Putting that aside, it was uncertain whether Quirrell was still Quirrell.
Even so, Dumbledore still dared to let him stay at Hogwarts. Snape wondered if Dumbledore had Alzheimer's disease.
Dumbledore's behavior today also made Snape question whether Dumbledore did all this on purpose.
Was he doing it on purpose or by accident?
Quirrell came to Hogwarts with evil intentions. There were two special things this year: one was Harry, the savior in the prophecy, and the other was the Philosopher's Stone for refining the Elixir of Life.
The target could only be one of the two, or both.
This was also the main reason for Snape's anger.
"I arranged this, and of course, I have my own reasons."
Dumbledore looked calm, as if he were talking about something unimportant.
"What reasons?"
Snape felt very angry. If he wasn't supposed to protect Harry, he would really want to make Dumbledore's crooked nose even more crooked.
"That can't be revealed yet!"
Dumbledore knew that his plan wouldn't be recognized by most people, especially Snape.
If Snape knew that Quirrell had Voldemort with residual blood, he would probably make a scene, and if he wasn't careful, he'd cause trouble.
"Humph! I checked the room on the fourth floor and found that it had been opened!"
Snape snorted coldly and prepared to leave.
"Phoenix Tears!"
Dumbledore took out a small bottle with a thin layer of transparent liquid in it.
The three-headed dog's teeth were poisonous, and similar to a curse, it was difficult to remove, but the phoenix's tears had a miraculous effect on it.
Grabbing the phoenix tears, Snape left without looking back.
He was quite dissatisfied with Dumbledore, who was hiding everything from him.
Trick Expert
Behind the curtain of laughter, there are tricks and well-designed traps, waiting for prey to fall into them. Secretly replaced chairs and strange noises that suddenly sounded— the seemingly peaceful daily life is full of unexpected variables.
Achievement goal: Successfully trick others (100/100)
Achievement reward: A random black magic spell
On the way to Hagrid's cabin, Ethan finally had time to check this achievement reward.
Even if today was Halloween Eve, the punishment of confinement was still valid.
Shadow Wolf, the name of the black magic drawn today, is quite effective, at least better than the Budding Spell. Ethan didn't really want to use this curse spell. Why would he use a curse when he could kill directly? The need for a curse only proves that you're not powerful enough.
The effect is very strange. It's not regular magic; it summons wolves from the shadows to attack, but it has two characteristics.
One is that it can split, like the French Ministry of Magic's "Guard Cat" civet cat. The specific effect is to absorb the magic energy of the attack and split into several beings slightly smaller than the original body.
The second is that it can switch between incorporeal and real, like Peeves. It has a physical body, but the incorporeal body can pass through walls and float.
The specific number of summons is determined by Ethan's magic power. As long as the magic power is sufficient, they can be summoned continuously.
And when it is materialized, it can also block the Killing Curse.
The Killing Curse, whether it is the Protection Spell or the Armor Spell, is useless because it has no physical body. It will only be penetrated by the Killing Curse and hit the target directly.
It doesn't matter if you cover yourself with mice or use a Transformation Spell for protection; you still have a physical body.
So this Shadow Wolf can also materialize at a critical moment and serve as a Killing Curse shield for Ethan.
After arriving at Hagrid's hut, Fang ran to greet him as usual.
"I wish I had your talent."
Standing at the door, Hagrid looked at the scene with some envy.
The two had patrolled the Forbidden Forest together for almost half a month. No matter how ferocious the magical creatures were, they were quite obedient when they saw Ethan.
Hagrid went from initial surprise to numbness, and now he was completely envious.
This could be said to be the ability Hagrid wanted most.
"Ethan, pay attention tonight. The centaur told me during the day that a very dangerous guy came to the Forbidden Forest."
After carrying the equipment and setting off, Hagrid reminded Ethan with a serious face.
Although the centaur did not make it clear, the dangerous guy who came to the Forbidden Forest was most likely a poacher. If it were a little wizard who broke into the Forbidden Forest, the centaur would have only said it was a foal.
"Yeah, I get it."
This is probably Voldemort, who is possessed by Quirrell and can't bear it any longer. He wants to suck the blood of the unicorn to increase his vitality. He is here to check the area.
This time, Hagrid and Ethan were not patrolling aimlessly as before but were specifically going to several valuable magical creature habitats to look for clues, such as unicorns, thestrals, chimeras, and horned serpents.
"How can there be no traces?"
After circling the area, Hagrid was a little anxious.
"By the way, I can go find Aragog!"
Hagrid suddenly thought of something and hurriedly took Ethan deeper into the Forbidden Forest.
"Aragog is a spider I raised. Don't be afraid later. They won't attack you. Maybe I'm worrying for nothing. They won't hurt you."
Hagrid didn't want people to know that he had raised an Acromantula.
When he patrolled with Ethan before, he had never been to the territory of the Acromantulas.
But at this moment, there was no other choice.
He had to let Aragog take action.
There are so many of its descendants that they are spread all over the Forbidden Forest.
With its help, no poacher can hide.
Along the way, the frequency of encountering spiders became higher and higher, until they reached the front of a tree root cave.
Ethan finally knew what the kingdom of spiders was.
There were white spider silks everywhere, and dense spiders were crawling on the ground, trees, and spider webs.
Spiders the size of a human head were only considered cubs here—there were many spiders as big as cars.
From time to time, Acromantulas would spit silk and fall in front of Ethan to show their presence, or they would try to rub against him, but he always avoided them.
Hagrid being expelled from school was not undeserved.
When watching the movie, Ethan thought these spiders were just so-so.
Now, seeing them up close, they were definitely worthy of being classified as XXXXX-level creatures.
They are incredibly fertile.
If these spiders were to attack Hogwarts, if there were no professors to resist, they would easily wipe out the students of all seven grades.
"Hagrid, are you sure it's safe to raise these spiders in the Forbidden Forest?"
Ethan felt that if no one suppressed them, the Acromantula clan might rule the Forbidden Forest and exterminate other species.
"They're fine!"
Hagrid looked at Ethan in confusion. He had been raising them for decades, so why wouldn't it be safe?
"Have you ever thought about how much these big spiders eat every day? If they continue to reproduce, I'm afraid the entire Forbidden Forest won't be enough for them to eat."
"The Forbidden Forest is so big, I think it should be fine."
"Okay!"
After getting this answer, Ethan realized that while Hagrid loved magical creatures, he didn't understand biology at all.
"Aragog, I'm here to see you!"
Standing at the entrance of the tree root cave, Hagrid shouted loudly inside.
A rustling sound came from the bottom of the cave formed by huge tree roots, and what finally appeared in Ethan's eyes was a spider the size of a small truck.
However, this spider was very old, and its eyes were a little gray and dull.
When it saw Hagrid, it was quite excited, waving its two front legs vigorously. "Hagrid, you haven't been here for a long time!"
Ethan had only seen one other magical creature that could speak.
It seemed that Ethan had no particular attraction to Aragog.
Its nearly blind eyes were focused solely on Hagrid.
Whether it was due to its eyes, its intelligence, or something else, it only had eyes for Hagrid.
"Sorry, I have something I want to ask you for help with. There's a damn poacher in the Forbidden Forest. I hope you can help me find him."
Hagrid looked at Aragog apologetically. During this period, because Ethan was on patrol, he had no time to visit at night.
"I will have my offspring keep an eye out for him."
Aragog had no objection to Hagrid's request.
"Thank you, Aragog!"
"As long as you visit me more often, I can feel that I don't have many days left. When I am with you, it is my happiest time."
Hagrid was stunned and then stepped forward to hug Aragog's long legs, his eyes full of sadness.
He could also see that Aragog had aged a lot over the years, but he didn't expect this day to come so soon.
Ethan did not disturb the tender moment between Hagrid and the spider but found a car-sized Acromantula.
Patting its smooth head, Ethan took out a clear glass jar and said, "Aragog, can you give me some venom?"
The Acromantula was stunned but then nodded. This person seemed quite kind and felt good. Anyway, the venom wouldn't be used up, so why not give some!
Then it extended its mouthparts and injected venom into the bottle.
Seeing this, Ethan happily patted the head of the Acromantula. Initially, he thought these spiders were ugly, but now they seemed quite cute.
A pint of Acromantula venom is worth 100 gold galleons, a rare item even for the potion master Horace Slughorn. It can be said to be priceless.
And now, the Acromantula venom was available to him at no cost, and he could get it continuously.
Relying on his animal affinity, Ethan kept asking one Acromantula after another until two jars were filled, containing about seven or eight pints (a pint is 568.26125 ml).
Although Acromantulas produce little venom individually, their large size means they can produce a significant amount at one time.
Now, with just a portion of their venom, it was clear that they had more than enough.
"Ethan, we should leave!"
Initially, it took a lot of time to search for clues in various precious magical creature habitats.
Now, after chatting with Aragog for so long, it was almost dawn.
Hagrid himself didn't care.
He could continue to accompany Aragog, but Ethan couldn't.
He was still a young wizard and had to attend class today.
"Ah! Got it!"
Ethan, who was collecting spider silk, turned his head and responded.
Not only the venom, but Ethan also found the spider silk to be very tough. It was slightly afraid of fire, but even so, it was an excellent alchemical material.
On the way back, Hagrid was in a very low mood.
Even if Ethan tried to comfort him, Hagrid just nodded perfunctorily without saying anything.
Ethan knew he couldn't persuade him and could only hope Hagrid would figure it out on his own.
He just didn't know whether his energy cube could extend the life span of the Acromantula.
Ethan couldn't comment on Aragog; after all, it was just a magical creature.
But for Hagrid, it was definitely a very reliable partner. Because of Hagrid's orders, it didn't eat human flesh in its lifetime, although the data said Acromantulas liked to eat human flesh.
Aragog also restrained its descendants for a lifetime. But after his death, Acromantulas completely let loose and joined the Death Eaters.
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