At Hogwarts, on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, bucktoothed Marcus Flint stared into the trees with his bloodshot gray eyes as a breeze ruffled his hair.
The light inside the Forbidden Forest was dim, and everything was silent. Marcus strode forward, hurrying in. After walking for a while, he reached a fork in the path. He panted heavily. Though this was not exactly his first time here, the surroundings all looked so similar that he still took out a rather crude marked map, pointed his wand at it, fixed his eyes on it, and continued along the direction it indicated. After climbing over a moss-covered tree stump, he could hear the sound of water gurgling.
Marcus stopped and straightened his clothes. Just then, from behind an oak tree high above him, a centaur leapt out carrying a spear. He had black hair and a swarthy body, and he looked rather rough.
"Bane, I'm truly glad to see you again." Marcus breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was the centaur he had already become fairly familiar with through their previous dealings. "Bane, I have important business and need to see Chief Matilda. Does the chief have time today?"
"Marcus... you know the chief won't like that set of yours." Bane lifted his head, scratched at his thick black hair, and left his hand stiffly there for a moment before habitually raising his head to look at the sky. "There are no stars to guide me now. Come with me."
"I've brought new information." Marcus followed behind Bane, looking at the swish of Bane's horsetail, and spat inwardly: *Idiot, it's daytime right now. What stars could there be? You can never get a straight answer from these damned centaurs—and Bane used to be very nasty to wizards, but