To have more free time, quite a few students chose to stay at school over the Christmas holidays.
Students who chose to leave school could see this scene aboard the Hogwarts Express.
Even students like Vizet and Luna, who boarded rather late, could casually slide open a compartment door and find it either completely empty or occupied by only one or two scattered students.
Some students had already slipped into holiday mode, even lying straight across the seats and taking up half a compartment as they snored away.
Vizet and Luna were not surprised by this. Every year, they returned to Ottery St Catchpole for the Christmas holidays.
Recently, the Baby Thunderbird had been very interested in Thor and had already gone ahead of Vizet and Luna, flying with Thor to Ottery St Catchpole.
Following their usual routine from past years, Vizet and Luna very naturally held hands and walked toward the compartments farther back.
Vizet had just put away their luggage when the Hogwarts Express started moving.
He sat down holding a vine basket. "When I went to the Forbidden Forest two days ago, I ran into Mr. Bane..."
Bane was a member of the Centaur Tribe. His hair and the coat on his body were both black, and he was considerably stronger and rougher than an ordinary centaur.
Compared with Firenze, Bane was far less friendly toward humans. Hagrid, Vizet, and Luna counted as exceptions.
Looking at the red berries in the vine basket, Luna blinked. "Mr. Bane? Was it because of that Acromantula territory?"
"That's right, because of that place." Vizet nodded. "That place has been recovering better and better. Even Bowtruckles were drawn there and chose to make their home in a birch tree."
"That's wonderful!" Anticipation shone in Luna's eyes. "Let's go and see it