Although Zhang Xiao repeatedly insisted that the matter was behind them, Hagrid still offered a sincere apology and said he had already gone to warn Aragog.
Aragog had also been frightened by the special crackdown, with the professors taking turns going into action. He was nearing the end of his life, and his only wish was to spend his remaining days in peace.
He promised to keep his descendants in line and make sure nothing like this happened again.
Besides that, Hagrid quietly revealed another piece of news: Professor Dumbledore had personally visited the Forbidden Forest and discussed the alliance with the centaurs again.
The school would forbid young witches and wizards from entering the Forbidden Forest, but if any of them ended up there by accident, the centaurs had to guarantee their safety!
That was the condition for the centaurs to retain their independence and be left undisturbed.
Ever since sensing that presence, Zhang Xiao had felt as though a pair of yellow-orange snake eyes had appeared behind him, driving him to study and train even harder than before.
Yet after that fleeting appearance, the presence had never returned. Zhang Xiao even began to wonder whether he had imagined it.
He had even made time to sneak back to the Washroom to check on the traps, and recruited Moaning Myrtle as his informant in exchange for "prefects' bathing times."
But everything was as quiet as before. That terrifying, uncanny presence really did seem like nothing more than an illusory nightmare.
Everyone still happily attended classes and did their homework with miserable expressions. No one knew what kind of monster lurked beneath Hogwarts.
Early on Saturday morning, Zhang Xiao returned to the Room of Requirement. After conjuring his familiar Training Room with practiced ease, he pushed open the door