Forbidden Forest (Part 1)

Vaughan did not go looking for Hagrid right away.

It was not until the next day, after receiving a small package Zhu Weiqiong had sent him, that he carried it along with Fruit Tea out of Hogwarts Castle. He followed a stone stairway over the hill behind the castle and arrived at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

It was a flat meadow, likely cleared regularly to prevent the forest from expanding. There were hardly even any shrubs growing there.

Hagrid's house stood out especially clearly.

It was a small hut pieced together from wooden planks. A gravel path extending from the castle led all the way to its front door. Moss covered the stone foundation, while a simple fence stretched out along either side of it, enclosing a pumpkin patch behind the house.

When Vaughan arrived, Hagrid was sitting on the steps with a large copper basin at his feet, peeling potatoes.

Above him, thick smoke billowed from the hut's strange pointed roof.

Seeing Vaughan from afar, Hagrid put down his work and rubbed his enormous palms over his apron again and again.

"Vaughan Weasley?" he called loudly.

"That's me!"

Hearing an unfamiliar voice, a large dog came barking out of the house. Hagrid hurriedly grabbed it. "Fang, you bad thing, shut up."

Vaughan quickly approached, glanced at the filthy, shaggy dog, and greeted it with a smile. Then he raised the package in his hand. "Hello, Hagrid. It's our first time meeting, so I brought you a little gift."

"Ah, this..."

A flush instantly spread across Hagrid's bearded face. Both hands hovered awkwardly, as though he had no idea where to put them. After stammering for a while, he suddenly came to his senses and hurriedly pushed open the door.

"Quick, come in. You're far too kind. I only wanted to remind you in person—I never thought... it would be this formal. Really..."

This half-giant who had once been classmates with Socket Hero possessed none of the maturity someone his age ought to have.

He was flustered and impulsive, more like a child.

Vaughan followed Hagrid inside. The hut was not particularly tidy. It reminded Vaughan a little of the single men's dormitory from when he had first started working in his previous life—things were piled up haphazardly everywhere, yet somehow could always be found at hand when needed.

The fire in the hearth burned brightly, filling the room with warmth.

A huge table and huge chairs stood beside the fireplace, with a moleskin coat and a pink umbrella tossed over them.

Hagrid hastily grabbed them and threw them aside, invited Vaughan to sit, then poured him some tea while rambling on.

"You really didn't need to bring a gift. You're too polite. I wasn't prepared at all... What would you like to drink?"

"...You're already pouring tea, Hagrid."

"Oh? Oh... sorry. I mean, hardly anyone brings me a gift when they come to see me. I'm a bit nervous..."

After handing Vaughan his tea, Hagrid dropped heavily into his enormous chair. His tiny beetle-like black eyes kept drifting unconsciously toward the small package Vaughan had brought.

Smiling, Vaughan opened it. Inside was an illustrated book.

"I heard from Ron that you really like animals. I definitely don't know as much as you do about magical creatures, so I asked my dad to buy an animal picture book from the Muggle world."

"It has animals from all over the world. There are probably some you haven't seen before, so you can look through it when you're bored."

The gift clearly struck a soft spot in Hagrid's heart.

He carefully opened it and took a look.

The book was sized for an ordinary human, so in the hands of eleven-foot-tall Hagrid, it looked extremely tiny.

That only made him cherish it more. After turning through a few pages, he put it away.

Having accepted the gift, Hagrid found it difficult to say the words he had been preparing. He explained, "The matter of the Philosopher's Stone concerns Headmaster Dumbledore, so I specifically told you to keep it secret. I didn't mean anything else by it."

"I know. Aside from Harry and the others, I haven't told anyone. You can rest assured, Hagrid."

Hagrid breathed a sigh of relief, only to hear Vaughan say, "Actually, I came this time because I have a small favor to ask of you."

Hagrid immediately patted his chest. "What is it? As long as I can do it."

"I want to take a look around the Forbidden Forest."

"Ah..." Hagrid froze, then shook his head repeatedly. "No, no. Young wizards aren't allowed into the Forbidden Forest. Vaughan, I heard you're doing very well in school, right? Don't you go following your two brothers, Fred and George. Those two little troublemakers have given me endless headaches..."

Vaughan interrupted him. "Hear me out, Hagrid. I wouldn't be going alone. I need you to be my guide and tell me what kinds of magical creatures and magical plants can be found in different places."

"Er, what do you want to do?"

"I'm a potion maker. I'm preparing to develop a new potion recently, and I may need certain ingredients, so I want to observe the area in person."

"This..."

Hagrid hesitated. He had heard of Vaughan, of course, though everything he knew had come from Harry and Ron.

Seeing his attitude soften, Vaughan immediately launched into a lengthy explanation of his ideas for potions, their significance, and the difficulties involved in selecting ingredients.

The academic failure Hagrid was left dizzy and bewildered by it all. After a while, he finally nodded blankly.

"All right, all right. I can take you, but we have to agree on this first. We can't go deep into the Forbidden Forest, and we can't go anywhere I think is dangerous—like where the Acromantulas and werewolves are. Oh, and centaurs too. Those fellows aren't very easy to talk to either. They're always going on about mysterious nonsense."

Hagrid acted swiftly and decisively.

Since he had agreed, and after asking whether Vaughan was free today, he put on his moleskin coat, picked up the stone crossbow by the door, and decided to take Vaughan for a walk around the forest that very day.

"Fang, come he—oh! What a beautiful cat, Vaughan. What's its name?"

"Fruit Tea," Vaughn answered, then called out, "Fruit Tea, stop hitting Fang. He's already hiding under the bed."

After a few more kitty punches that sent Fang scurrying away with his head in his paws, Fruit Tea finally held her head high and returned to Vaughn's side.

Hagrid wasn't angry. Instead, he explained to Vaughn, "I'm not surprised at all. Fang's a coward who bullies the weak and fears the strong, but he's a great helper. Lots of animals in the Forbidden Forest know him."

The two of them, accompanied by a cat and a dog, soon entered the Forbidden Forest.

This forest, which had existed for who knew how many years, possessed a landscape utterly unlike the outside world. The enormous canopies supported by ancient trees stretched overhead and blocked out the sky, claiming almost all the sunlight. Only scattered patches of mottled light filtered down, keeping the woods from falling into complete darkness.

Wisps of thin mist still curled around the thick trunks of the ancient trees within sight.

Perhaps because it was daytime, before most animals became active, the forest was quiet, as though even the air had frozen in place.

Only the rustling of feet treading over the thick layer of fallen leaves could be heard.

Vaughn drew his wand.

Noticing the movement, Hagrid reassured him, "Don't worry. I've lived here for decades. I definitely won't let anything happen to you."

Though he had objected before, now that they had truly entered the Forbidden Forest, he had become the proactive one instead.

Vaughn smiled without saying anything, nor did he put away his wand.

After all, he knew that the Forbidden Forest was anything but safe this school year!