Where Is Fluffy?

The Forbidden Forest is vast, but dogs are hard to find.

Albert and Hagrid had been walking in the Forbidden Forest for over ten minutes, but still hadn't found any clues. To put it bluntly, they were just aimlessly wandering Forbidden Forest.

"Hagrid, do you have any plans?" Albert thought that Hagrid, the person involved, was probably too anxious to think and had overlooked many things, so he spoke up to remind him.

Albert had no desire to wander around the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid. Although he felt he was lucky, he always felt that relying on luck was unreliable.

"This..." Hagrid plucked out several hairs from his long beard upon hearing this, still unable to regain his composure. "I don't have time to think about these things, and I'm not good at using my brain. I'm just planning to go to the Forbidden Forest to look around, maybe I can find traces left by Fluffy."

As expected, there was no plan. Are you just going to search around and try your luck?

Albert couldn't help but sigh inwardly, stopping in his tracks and looking helplessly at Hagrid, saying, "Searching like this is entirely a matter of luck. If we're lucky, we'll find it soon; if we're unlucky, we might not find it for ten days or half a month."

Hagrid fell silent, then said to Albert, "My mind is a complete mess right now. I know you're smart, so tell me what to do?"

"This..." Albert asked tentatively, "How did you find things before?"

"Wandering around in the Forbidden Forest." Hagrid looked a little embarrassed. "I'm very familiar with the outer areas of the Forbidden Forest, but... it will take a lot of time, and I'm worried that Fluffy will run around and hurt the Hogwarts students."

"Concern leads to confusion," Albert sighed, holding up two fingers. "There are two ways. First, ask the residents here. You should know the people in the Forbidden Forest, right?"

"Residents, residents?" Hagrid asked Albert, somewhat confused. "Do you mean the Centaurs?"

"Not just Centaurs, but other Magical Creatures as well," Albert reminded Hagrid. "Three-Headed Dog is a very dangerous Magical Creatures. Without your feeding, it needs to hunt to fill its belly. It is definitely a top predator on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, and most animals have specific territories. Of course, it would be even better if the Centaurs could provide useful information."

Hagrid immediately understood: Three-Headed Dog was running around in the Forbidden Forest, but he still needed to fill his stomach, which meant that Fluffy would be attracted to hunting grounds rich in prey.

This was also one of Hagrid's original concerns: what if Fluffy attacked the students on a hunger pang?

There aren't many animals in the Forbidden Forest during winter.

"Let's go look for Fluffy in a few nearby areas where animals are plentiful." Hagrid led the way; he was very familiar with the Forbidden Forest and knew where to find animals in winter.

"The second method is Felix Felicis," Albert said as he walked behind Hagrid, seeing that he had realized what was happening.

"What is that?" Hagrid had never heard of Felix Felicis, and his knowledge of magic was probably not as extensive as Albert's.

"It's Lucky Potion, the kind of magical potion that makes you lucky. I still have some Lucky Potion left. If we really can't find Fluffy, we can use them to try our luck," Albert explained casually. "Of course, it's not guaranteed to work."

Hagrid breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that it was wonderful to have a reliable helper. At least he wasn't worrying alone anymore.

Initially, Hagrid left food in the area where Fluffy was originally kept and would check it every day. Although the food showed signs of being torn or bitten, it wasn't Fluffy who did it.

The two walked on the snow for a while longer, Hagrid pointed to the tracks on the ground and said, "There's a trail here. Occasionally, deer or other animals will pass by. However, most animals drink from the nearby river in winter, where there are springs that don't completely freeze over."

Upon arriving at the riverbank, we did find many signs of animal activity, but we still couldn't find any of Fluffy's footprints.

"Let's keep going up. The spring is located near the Centaurs ' range. Let's go see if the Centaurs have seen Fluffy. It's hard to keep what happened in the Forbidden Forest from the Centaurs." After receiving Albert's reminder, Hagrid quickly got into the zone.

Although this approach was equally unreliable, Albert couldn't think of a better solution.

"Wait, Hagrid, let me try the Summoning Charm." Albert suddenly remembered something, raised his wand, and chanted a Charms towards the surrounding forest.

"Fluffy Accio."

The Summoning Charm works on living things as well, and Albert thought his magic was already quite powerful. Maybe if he was lucky, Three-Headed Dog would fly back on its own.

This is the ideal situation.

Of course, reality is quite harsh.

It failed.

However, thinking about it, it makes sense. Magical Creature Three-Headed Dog that would likely have strong resistance to magic. Unless Albert uses the Elder Wand to cast a spell, there's no point in expecting it to succeed. He just wanted to try and make a fuss; if he was lucky, he might actually succeed.

Hagrid looked at Albert casting the spell, then glanced at the surrounding woods, a little disappointed.

"Hagrid, do you know how to use the Summoning Charm Summoning Charm? Want to try summoning something from Fluffy's body?" Albert thought for a moment and then said, "I mean something like a dog collar."

"No, you know, Fluffy grows too fast, I didn't put a collar on him." Hagrid was a little embarrassed.

Albert found himself speechless; the Three-Headed Dog in its growth stage did indeed grow very quickly.

The two continued upstream along the river, entering the territory of the Centaurs.

Before he had gone far, he heard some noises beside him, so he raised his bow, aimed in the direction of the sound, and asked, "Who's there? Come out."

"It is I, Hagrid." The reddish-brown Centaurs emerged from the woods, his gaze sweeping over Hagrid, landing on Albert, before returning to Hagrid and saying, "You shouldn't have brought your foal here."

"Ronan, have you ever seen a Three-Headed Dog?" Hagrid asked his Centaurs friend expectantly.

The reddish-brown Centaurs didn't reply, but instead looked Albert over again and asked softly, "Have we met before?"

"Yes, thank you for your help last night."

"Ronan," Hagrid repeated, his voice tinged with displeasure. No one likes to be ignored, and Hagrid was no exception.

"I've seen it, Hagrid. A Three-Headed Dog. It wasn't very friendly and seemed hungry. The patrolling Centaurs chased it away with arrows. You can try your luck over there." Ronan pointed in a direction that was where Albert and Hagrid had come from.

Hagrid glanced in the direction Ronan was pointing and fell into a brief silence.

"You are practically the owners of this place. Could you help Hagrid find his little pet? I think you should be able to...!" Albert tried to ask the Centaurs for help.

Before Albert could finish speaking, Hagrid gave him a push, signaling that it was time to leave.

Albert looked at Hagrid with a strange expression, but quickly shut up.

"Goodbye, Ronan, thank you for the intelligence!" Hagrid bid farewell to the Centaurs.

"The Centaurs won't help." Hagrid said after he had led Albert far enough away. "That's how Centaurs are. Don't expect them to be of much help. Let's go and keep looking. I have a feeling we might find Fluffy today."

Having a premonition is useless.

Albert couldn't help but complain, thinking that if Hagrid had told Dumbledore the truth, he might have already found his little pet.

"By the way, Hagrid. Are the Centaurs ' range very wide?" Albert asked curiously, remembering something.

"Yes, it's a wide range," Hagrid cautioned. "You need to be very careful when dealing with them; most Centaurs don't like wizards."