West of Hogwarts Castle lay the Forbidden Forest, a stretch of dark, brooding woodland. Beside a narrow, swift-running river that flowed along the valley floor, great swathes of foxgloves and wild roses grew in the clearing by the bank, bees buzzing busily back and forth. This was also one of the Centaur Tribe's main watering places.
Allen stepped out from the shadow of a great tree.
Several young centaurs dropped the water jugs in the stream and cried out a warning. A few guards who had been kneeling on the hillside, where lush, soft grass grew thickly, instantly raised the bows in their hands and sprang up from the ground on alert.
Then they recognized that the wizard before them was the current headmaster of Hogwarts, Allen Harris. But the wizard before them, with his strangely pale cheeks and the ominous aura radiating from his entire body, was no longer the Allen of the lower years. Even the centaurs who knew him felt uncomfortable all over, their hooves scraping uneasily at the ground a few times.
A chestnut-red filly even shivered, and only then did Allen realize that this was probably the first female centaur he had ever met. She had long red hair; her upper body was human, while below the waist was a glossy chestnut-red horse's body, with a long red tail trailing behind her.
The centaur guards slowly lowered the bows in their hands, bent their forelegs in the direction behind him, lowered their proud heads, and bowed their bodies.
Allen took the initiative and stepped forward to greet them. "Hello. I'm Allen Harris, the current headmaster of Hogwarts. I've come to see Matilda. Please trouble yourselves to pass on the message."
"The chieftain knows all," said a centaur with a brown mane, his words somewhat indistinct.