Uninvited Guest

Hogwarts was exceptionally quiet late at night, with only a few scattered lights shining in the castle—the location of the school's common room.

Some energetic students would wait until the early hours of the morning before reluctantly putting down their Exploding Snap or Wizard's Chess and returning to their dormitories.

A bright, clear moon shines outside the castle.

Under the moonlight, two figures, one tall and one short, stealthily passed through the Whomping Willow, without making a sound.

"Kyle, it's not too late to turn back now..."

Newt Scamander was walking at the front, couldn't help but say, "You're a student, you can't go out at night. If the professors find out, they'll expel you."

"Don't you feel guilty saying that...?" Kyle said irritably from behind.

He simply wrote Newt a letter asking how to deal with the Manticore. Who knew he'd show up that very night and even use Disillusionment Charm to sneak into Hufflepuff's dormitory?

Kyle was getting ready for bed when he suddenly heard Newt's voice, and he thought it was just his imagination.

I can't believe it's true.

Kyle is tempted to report those Dementor... They're letting just anyone in there, it's so unprofessional!

"I only came to ask if there are Manticore in the Forbidden Forest... I didn't tell you to go for a night stroll," Newt said. "You came along yourself, so getting expelled is none of my business."

"Anyone would have come along in this situation..." Kyle said, pursing his lips. "Besides, it's just a night stroll. Even if we get caught, we won't get expelled."

The two arrived near Hagrid's Hut.

"Should we go around?" Kyle said. "There's a hound here with a very sensitive nose; it'll definitely smell us if we go any further."

"Unnecessary."

Newt took out a small bottle, opened it, shook it a few times on himself, and then handed the bottle to Kyle.

"This is pollen from the Patok Butterfly Flower, which effectively masks its own scent."

Kyle took it, waved it around like Newt, and then casually put the bottle in his pocket.

He went into the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night; he should at least charge a guide fee, right? And this pollen just happens to be good.

Newt waited for a long time but Kyle didn't return the bottle, so he turned around and said, "You..."

"Shh, keep your voice down, Fang's ears are sharp too," Kyle whispered. "Just ahead is the path Hagrid often takes to the Forbidden Forest; it's much flatter there than anywhere else."

Seeing Kyle's expression, Newt knew he was probably not going to get his pollen back, and could only sigh helplessly.

Well, although there wasn't much of it, he still had a small bottle in his box, which should be enough.

The two tiptoed past Hagrid's cabin, which was pitch black inside, and they could clearly hear Hagrid snoring.

After arriving at the Forbidden Forest, they walked on for a while longer...

Once Hagrid's cabin was completely out of sight, Kyle finally relaxed and looked at Newt curiously, asking the question that had been troubling him all the way, "Why did you come to Hogwarts? Just for the Manticore?"

"I guess so," Newt said. "And Three-headed Dog ..."

In fact, since Dobby came, my work has become much easier. What used to take a whole day to complete can now be done in just a few hours.

So I was planning to rewrite * Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them *, but just having the Basilisk was too monotonous... Just then, I received your letter."

"But..." Kyle asked doubtfully, "I remember there was an introduction to them in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them to Find Them."

Yes, but not many.

Newt chuckled and continued, "Whether it's the Three-headed Dog or the Manticore, they are both rare Fantastic Beasts. I only saw them once, twenty years ago, in Greece."

Later, due to some special reasons, I was banned from entering the country by the Ministry of Magic there, and my research on them had to be suspended.

Now that this opportunity has come up, I've come.

Special reasons?

Kyle understood.

It's easy to guess that Newt must have gotten himself into a lot of trouble back then, which is not surprising for him.

Newt continued walking, with Kyle following behind him. Kyle couldn't help but ask, "Where are we going?"

"I don't know the location of the Manticore; Hagrid never told me."

"It's alright, we can look for them," Newt said directly. "Manticore like to nest by lakes, and there are three lakes in the Forbidden Forest. I happen to know where they are."

"So we have to search place by place?" Kyle asked. "How long will that take?"

"One night should be enough," Newt said. "If all else fails, we can ride brooms...you have a broom, right?"

Kyle nodded.

The problem is that riding a broomstick would make you too conspicuous, and you'd be easily spotted by other creatures in the Forbidden Forest... like centaurs or wandering Dementor.

Sirius Black is being hunted everywhere right now; it would be troublesome if he were misunderstood.

"Wait a minute..." Kyle for a moment, then suddenly said, "I remember Hagrid saying that he encountered the Manticore while he was looking for Aragog."

Aragog?

"An Acromantula," Kyle explained.

"Oh, that makes things easier." Newt clapped his hands, closed his eyes, and carefully sniffed something.

He walked slowly forward and soon found a piece of white spider silk on a tree branch.

"The silk of the Acromantula," Newt said. "It has a very special sweet smell that helps them attract enough prey. You see..."

On the spiderweb nestled among the tree branches, there was a large, bulging white cocoon; it was probably some greedy creature that got stuck on it and couldn't escape.

There were also a few very small spiders nearby, crawling in one direction.

"We're so lucky."

Newt said happily, "This prey is too big for them to carry, so they have to go back to their nest to notify more spiders."

"Quick, keep up with them..."

So the two followed the spider into a thicket, which was off the forest path and full of tree roots and stumps. This was nothing to the spider, but it was a different story for Kyle and Newt.

They had to carefully navigate around the obstacles, making as little noise as possible to avoid being spotted by the spiders ahead.

About twenty minutes later, Kyle noticed that the ground seemed to be sloping downwards, but the trees remained just as lush.

At that moment, Newt, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped and blocked Kyle.

"This is enough." He glanced warily around. "There are more and more spider webs; if we go any further, we'll definitely be discovered."

Kyle noticed a thin spider web less than a foot away from Newt; it was so thin it was almost invisible in the moonlight.

Newt slowly took two steps back, looked up at the sky, as if trying to determine his direction.

"I think I know the location of the Manticore..."

He turned and disappeared into the bushes on the left, walking quickly, with Kyle pushing aside branches and thorns to follow closely behind.

Five minutes later, the once dense thicket had turned into a flat clearing, in the middle of which was the lake Newt had mentioned, as large as Quidditch Pitch.

Under the moonlight, the calm lake water resembled a giant mirror, mysterious and beautiful.