Into the Forbidden Forest

Worried about Professor Kettleburn's condition, Xiwen got up early the next morning and hurried to the hut where the professor lived.

He knocked on the hut's wooden door and waited anxiously outside.

After a long while, just as Xiwen was about to break the door down, Professor Kettleburn finally appeared in the doorway, his face exhausted and covered in stubble.

"Little Xiwen?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Professor, are you all right?" Xiwen chose his words carefully and asked tactfully.

The professor looked at him in confusion. "What could be wrong with me? Let me tell you, I slept wonderfully last night. I even dreamed about that Great Cat-Leopard I saw in America before. That thing was incredible..."

As he spoke, he suddenly realized something was off.

"Wait, how did I fall asleep yesterday?" He eyed Xiwen suspiciously. Xiwen guiltily lowered his head to stare at his toes. "And why didn't I take off my shoes before going to bed?"

Could I say the smell was so bad I didn't dare take them off...?

Of course, Xiwen did not dare say that aloud. He only said, "Professor, after you looked into my Little Cat's eyes yesterday, you collapsed right there. I was the one who carried you to bed..."

"Little Cat is still young. She definitely didn't do it on purpose, and you weren't hurt. So could you please not punish her..." Worried about Little Cat, Xiwen began pleading with Professor Kettleburn.

The professor froze for a moment, then suddenly became excited.

"Cat-Leopard! It has to be a Cat-Leopard!" He grabbed Xiwen by the shoulders and shook him as he shouted, "Yellow eyes, skilled at hypnosis. Quick! Where is your cat? This is a major discovery—confirmation that Cat-Leopards can crossbreed with small felines like Kneazles!"

"Uh..." Xiwen was shaken so badly that he felt dizzy. He quietly broke free from the professor's only remaining right hand. Afraid the professor might retaliate against Little Cat, he said cautiously, "I didn't bring her this morning. How about tonight?"

"Then come here at seven sharp tonight!" Professor Kettleburn said briskly. "That gives me time to prepare some materials."

With that, he urged Xiwen away as though chasing him out, while he himself hurried toward the castle on his crutch.

Watching the professor rush off in such a hurry, Xiwen shrugged and began his daily morning training nearby.

Expecting that he would not return to his dormitory early that night, Xiwen went to the library during the day and finished that week's homework.

Since only a week had passed since the start of term, none of the professors had assigned much homework. For Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts, the young wizards were merely told to practice the spells they had learned in class. Xiwen had already mastered those, so there was no pressure at all.

The Herbology assignment was a seven-inch essay on the processing and storage methods for Dittany. Although Xiwen had missed one class, after obtaining the notes of Miranda, the perennial top student of the year, finishing such a task was no challenge at all.

For Potions, they had to preview some basic details of preparing the Draught of Living Death. Xiwen skimmed through it once and committed most of it to memory with his powerful recall.

History of Magic had the most homework: a one-foot essay on the code of conduct for Werewolves. Xiwen spent quite some time finding the relevant materials in the library, revising and rewriting until he finally produced something that looked fairly good. Still, he was very curious about how Professor Binns, as a ghost, graded homework...

After Abraxas and Mobley snatched away his assignments in the name of "reference," Xiwen helplessly carried Little Cat along the path to Professor Kettleburn's hut.

By the time Xiwen arrived, the professor was already standing outside the hut in full gear. For once, he was not using his crutch, instead standing casually on the gravel path before the door. He wore a leather hood with frayed edges, a dusty yellow jacket with only one sleeve, and a pair of faded jeans. A leather waterskin and an oil lamp hung from his waist.

"Professor, your leg?" Xiwen looked at the professor's empty right hand and intact jeans and asked in surprise.

Professor Kettleburn lifted his trouser leg and showed Xiwen the wooden leg beneath it. "This thing works wonderfully. It's more than enough to serve as a right leg. See? I don't need to regrow a new one at all!"

Xiwen looked at the so-called prosthetic leg, which was no different from an ordinary wooden stick, and fell into deep thought...

"Let's go. You're coming with me to patrol the Forbidden Forest today." The professor waved a hand and walked ahead. "You can't get out of it this time!"

"Professor, what about Little Cat?" Xiwen hurriedly asked.

"Bring her along," the professor said. "Let her see the world!"

Xiwen was still somewhat worried. Frowning, he asked, "But won't she be in danger?"

"She has Cat-Leopard blood! Instead of worrying about her, you should worry about yourself." Professor Kettleburn turned back and glared at him as though he could not live up to expectations.

"Besides, I know the Forbidden Forest like the back of my hand. There's nothing dangerous there, so relax!"

Xiwen could only nod and say nothing more.

In truth, Xiwen had been very curious about the Forbidden Forest himself. After all, at the opening feast, Headmaster Dippet had personally made a stern announcement forbidding young wizards from entering it.

Wait, Professor Kettleburn said there was nothing dangerous there. Then why did the headmaster forbid students from entering the Forbidden Forest?

So Xiwen asked, "Professor, if the Forbidden Forest isn't dangerous, why doesn't Headmaster Dippet allow students inside?"

"I don't want to enter the Forbidden Forest every day just to drag out some little troublemakers who got lost," Professor Kettleburn said irritably. "Besides, part of the Forbidden Forest is Centaur territory. They won't be polite to wizards."

"I see." Xiwen nodded.

That made sense. One of the greatest dangers of entering a forest was not necessarily what lurked inside, but the risk of getting lost among dense vegetation and complicated terrain. Even forests in the Muggle World were filled with unknowns, let alone the Forbidden Forest, which teemed with magical creatures.

Professor Kettleburn carried the oil lamp as the two wizards, one tall and one small, entered the Forbidden Forest one after the other. In the lamplight, their shadows stretched long behind them.

From afar, anyone would have seen the Forbidden Forest as dark and deeply sinister, the entire woodland shrouded in mist. Massive, dense trees stood joined together, casting heavy black shadows beneath the moonlight. Like a gigantic beast waiting to devour its prey, it swallowed Professor Kettleburn and Xiwen whole...