Obtaining Mooncalf Fur was no easy task. These gentle magical creatures, which only emerged to dance in circles on full-moon nights, provided fur that was an important ingredient in certain advanced Confusing Draughts and Memory Potions. Professor Slughorn's private stores might have some, but for a first-year student, acquiring it alone meant taking a risk.
Lin Yanqing neither complained nor tried to discuss it with Snape. He understood that under the new rules Snape had set, he only needed to carry out orders. Using the [Magical Perception] skill and information he had overheard from older students, he deduced that small groups of Mooncalves occasionally appeared in a clearing near the Whomping Willow at the edge of the Forbidden Forest on clear full-moon nights.
The next full moon was only a few days away. Lin Yanqing began preparing. He consulted materials on Mooncalf habits and learned that they were timid and easily startled. Their fur had to be collected while they were absorbed in dancing, using a special silver comb to gently brush it out. It could not be forcibly plucked, or the fur would lose its magic. He exchanged Gold Galleons through the system for a small mithril comb.
The full-moon night came again. This time, Lin Yanqing received no note from Snape and had no contact with him in any form. Yet he knew Snape was surely waiting for the result. Through the contract, he could sense not anticipation from the other end, but a calm, almost merciless watchfulness, as though Snape were awaiting the result of an experiment.
The night was deep, and the moonlight was even brighter than before. Lin Yanqing donned the Invisibility Cloak once more. This time, his destination was no longer some corner of the castle, but the perilous Forbidden Forest.
He carefully avoided the light from Hagrid's hut and walked along the forest's edge. Dense trees cast mottled, eerie shadows. Rustling from unknown creatures and distant howls drifted from the woods from time to time, sending chills down his spine. He gripped his wand tightly, keeping [Magical Perception] fully activated as he remained alert for any malicious magical fluctuations nearby.
Following his plan, he arrived at the forest clearing near the Whomping Willow. Moonlight poured down like liquid silver, illuminating the clearing as brightly as day. Fortunately, the place was empty tonight, save for the rustle of night wind brushing through the grass.
He hid in the shadows at the edge of the clearing and waited patiently.
Second by second, time passed. Just as he began to think he might return empty-handed tonight, an exceedingly faint rustle reached him, like dewdrops rolling off leaves. Then several round little creatures with enormous blue eyes and smooth silver-gray fur timidly hopped out from deep within the woods. Mooncalves!
They first looked around warily. Then, as though hypnotized by the disk-like moon in the sky, they began to turn and leap in strange yet graceful dance steps. Moonlight reflected in their huge eyes, giving them a hazy, dreamlike glow, while a faint pearly radiance began to emanate from their bodies.
The moment had come.
Lin Yanqing held his breath, removed the Invisibility Cloak, and stepped out from the shadows with extreme slowness, afraid of disturbing these little creatures immersed in their own world. He took out the mithril comb and approached the two Mooncalves nearest him.
They seemed completely unaware of his presence and continued dancing with rapt fascination. Lin Yanqing reached out and, moving with the rhythm of their dance, gently combed the shimmering fur on their backs. Several strands of fine, soft fur, glowing faintly like moonlight, silently wound themselves around the comb's teeth.
The process went unexpectedly smoothly. He successfully collected enough.
However, just as he was about to leave with his prize and carefully place the fur into a special container, a sudden change occurred!
A magical fluctuation filled with savagery and hunger suddenly came from the woods on the other side of the clearing! The [Magical Perception] skill issued a piercing warning!
Lin Yanqing jerked his head up and saw a pair of eyes glowing with vicious red light ignite among the dark trees. Then a burly magical creature with matted fur and thick saliva dripping from the corners of its mouth—a clearly untamed Kappa—emerged with a low growl! It resembled an ape, its body covered in scales, with a water-filled hollow atop its head. At that moment, it stared fixedly at Lin Yanqing—or rather, at the Mooncalf Fur in his hand, which gleamed with alluring magical light!
The Mooncalves scattered in panic at the sudden threat and vanished into the forest in an instant.
Lin Yanqing's heart stopped for a moment. A Kappa! These aquatic magical creatures were vicious by nature, especially fond of drinking blood and devouring internal organs. They were extremely dangerous to a student alone!
He immediately raised his wand, his mind racing. He knew the Kappa's weakness—the water in the hollow atop its head. If that water ran dry, it would lose all its strength. But how could he make an aggressive Kappa obediently lower its head?
"Incarcerous!" He tried firing a Binding Charm, but the red light struck the Kappa's scaled body and only made it stagger, enraging it further. It let out a piercing roar, dropped to all fours, and lunged at Lin Yanqing!
It was too fast! Lin Yanqing could even smell the foul stench from its mouth! He rolled backward and to the side in a panic, barely avoiding the attack, but its claws tore a gash in the hem of his robes.
Fear seized him instantly. He could feel his magic beginning to destabilize from his tension. Through the contract, he clearly sensed that Snape, far away in the Slytherin dormitory, had suddenly stirred the emotions that had remained calm and still on the other end. There was shock, irritation, and perhaps a trace of... anger at being forced into trouble?
The Kappa turned again, its scarlet eyes locking onto Lin Yanqing as it prepared to pounce.
At that critical moment, Lin Yanqing felt the hand gripping his wand being subtly guided by an external force—cold and precise! At the same time, an extremely brief word, carrying intense impatience, exploded directly in his mind:
"Water!"
It was Snape! Through the contract! He had sensed the crisis from afar and given the most direct and effective instruction!
Understanding dawned on Lin Yanqing. Without the slightest hesitation, he pointed his wand at the hollow atop the Kappa's head and shouted with all his strength the spell most likely to remove the liquid:
"Aguamenti!"
A thick jet of water burst from the tip of Lin Yanqing's wand. Rather than attacking the Kappa itself, it shot precisely at the hollow atop its head!
"Splash—!"
The small amount of water already in the hollow was instantly blasted away, muddied, and swept off by the powerful current!
The ferocious Kappa suddenly froze, its forward lunge halting abruptly. It let out an incredibly strange, panic-filled shriek. With the hollow atop its head dried out, it was as though all its strength had been drained away in an instant. It cast Lin Yanqing a terrified glance, then tucked its tail and staggered back into the depths of the Forbidden Forest without looking back, moving even faster than when it had come.
The danger was gone.
Lin Yanqing dropped to one knee as though all strength had left him, gasping heavily. Cold sweat had already soaked through his inner robes. He clenched the precious bundle of Mooncalf Fur in his hand, his heart still pounding wildly.
He could feel Snape's violently fluctuating emotions at the other end of the soul bond rapidly settling, returning to their icy silence, as though that momentary intervention had never happened. There was no concern, no question—only the indifferent relief of having a problem resolved.
But Lin Yanqing knew that this bond between them was no longer merely a channel for transmitting emotions and supplies. At a moment of life and death, it had become a true channel of "protection," conveying crucial information and aid.
He struggled to his feet, gave the Forbidden Forest one last look as it returned to silence, carefully put away the Mooncalf Fur, draped the Invisibility Cloak over himself again, and set off back toward the castle.
This nighttime venture into the Forbidden Forest had not only brought back the material required for his task, but also confirmed the unexpected role this soul contract could play in times of danger.
And far away in the Slytherin dungeon, perhaps Snape was staring at the hand he had just unconsciously raised, as though it still retained a trace of that guiding sensation. In those black eyes, beyond their usual gloom, had there also flashed a new understanding and wariness of the complex power of this inescapable bond?
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