The enormous Tiger-Dragon Roundel stood out starkly. The muscles in Hagrid's face kept twitching from the strain.
The fireworks startled him. In that brief moment of distraction, the troll immediately gained the upper hand, pressing its enormous wooden club down another few inches.
Hagrid felt the pressure surge. With difficulty, he forced a few words through his clenched teeth:
"Zhang, Harry..."
Zhang Xiao understood. He immediately grabbed Malfoy and ran toward the firework signal, remembering to shout:
"Hagrid, the signal's really obvious! The professors are bound to see it! I'll go check on them first. If I can't handle it, I'll hide!"
A muffled sound rumbled out of Hagrid's chest. He no longer had anything to worry about. Slytherin students were the most dependable teammates!
They always knew how to make the right choice.
Malfoy stumbled along behind Zhang Xiao, struggling through the dense forest:
"Zhang, are we... are we really going to Potter and that Weasley kid?"
Zhang Xiao murmured an affirmative and raised his wand to light the path ahead.
Malfoy stopped. Tears and snot mingled on his pale face as he broke down and shouted:
"You saw it! That was a troll! A troll! That's not something first-year wizards can handle!"
Zhang Xiao paused. He hadn't felt any fear because he knew Dumbledore must be secretly watching everything.
But Malfoy was different. He wasn't actually very brave. Beneath that arrogant exterior lay a lonely, sensitive heart.
Draco had always been cautious, and living that way exhausted him. Perhaps that was one reason he couldn't help wanting to get close to Zhang Xiao.
He envied Zhang Xiao's carefree attitude and freedom. No need to worry about his family, no need to weigh up advantages-he could simply live as he pleased.
But right now, making Draco confront such terror was undoubtedly cruel. He wasn't a Gryffindor who, in a fit of reckless stubbornness, would dare use a Disarming Charm even against Voldemort.
Realizing this, Zhang Xiao immediately said earnestly:
"You're right, Draco. I didn't think this through. We need to split up anyway. Go wait at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. As soon as the professors arrive, bring them here to help!
"I'll check on Ron and Harry!"
Malfoy trembled. He said nothing more, but followed Zhang Xiao and kept running. Their school robes were clearly slowing them down on terrain like this.
Zhang Xiao simply took off his robes and stuffed them into his Heaven and Earth Bag. When they reached the fork where they had parted earlier, Malfoy suddenly asked in a hoarse voice:
"Zhang, will you think I'm a coward?"
"A coward? No, Draco. I think you've always had tremendous courage inside you. You just haven't discovered it yet."
Did Draco have courage? Yes, perhaps not much, but that didn't stop Zhang Xiao from encouraging a classmate out of habit.
After hastily leaving him with those words, he ran toward Harry, leaving Malfoy standing beneath the trees, watching his retreating figure with a complicated expression.
A faint golden glow slowly rose around Zhang Xiao's body. Like an agile ape, he darted and leaped through the forest, racing between the trees far faster than before.
From a long way off, Zhang Xiao heard the troll's deep roars and Harry's shout:
"Ron, Neville! Do something to distract it! I can't keep this up much longer!"
He rounded a fallen tree, and the view suddenly opened up. In a rare patch of clear ground, an enormous figure was chasing Harry.
Ron and Neville stood behind it with their wands raised, at a complete loss.
Zhang Xiao sighed. He had been wondering where the Halloween troll had gone. So it had been waiting here!
But why did this troll seem to be moving at half speed? Its movements were so sluggish it might as well have had a stroke. Despite standing several meters tall, it somehow couldn't catch Harry on his short little legs.
Dumbledore must have done this! The one Hagrid encountered was the normal one.
If trolls really were all such ridiculous hulks, Quirrell would have needed a couple more faces before choosing to let one into Hogwarts in an attempt to disrupt the school.
Zhang Xiao raised his wand and cast Stupefy at the troll. The searing spell struck its body as though it had hit a wall.
The troll merely shook its head and recovered. It turned toward Zhang Xiao in confusion, seemingly wondering what had hit it.
Harry seized the opportunity to sprint farther away, then hid behind a large tree, panting heavily.
Ron and Neville cried out in delighted surprise:
"Zhang!"
Zhang Xiao tried every spell he knew. The three boys watched openmouthed as spells of every color streamed from his wand.
Like gleaming whips, they struck the troll, carrying scorching heat and hissing as they sliced through the air.
But they were utterly useless. The troll's resistance to magic was terrifyingly high.
Had Dumbledore gone easy on them by an entire ocean's worth back then for Ron to defeat this monster so easily?
Once Zhang Xiao realized the spells were useless, he immediately turned and ran, putting some distance between them again before shouting to the other three:
"Hagrid ran into a troll too! One even stronger than this! It's keeping him busy for now. We'll have to keep this one occupied for a while!"
The three boys, who had relaxed at the thought that Hagrid would soon arrive, immediately grew tense again.
Ron shouted in despair:
"This thing's a monster! Fang's already run off, that disloyal great dog! Zhang, what do we do?"
What exactly was Dumbledore thinking? Did he expect the four of them to take down a troll?
He had already tried the Levitation Charm. Against the troll's monstrous strength, the charm's pathetic power shattered instantly, like an egg smashed against a rock.
As the troll drew closer, Zhang Xiao waved his wand and dragged over some broken trees, trying to block its advance.
"Have you ever flown a kite? The four of us should spread out. Whoever the troll charges at, the person diagonally opposite should do something to get its attention!
"Keep stalling! The professors must be on their way!"
"Good idea!" Harry and Ron cried together. They scattered, firing minor jinxes and sparks at the troll while shouting loudly.
Sure enough, the troll turned and chased after them. From then on, whenever it charged at one of the young wizards, someone farther away immediately attacked it to draw its attention.
With the situation temporarily under control, their taut nerves gradually relaxed. They even had enough breathing room to come up with creative ways to mock the troll.
"I've realized the Ministry of Magic was very wise to exclude trolls from beings and classify them as beasts. It's just a brainless idiot!"
Ron shouted as he fired sparks.
Harry nodded in agreement and complained:
"Snape's always calling us trolls, but he really ought to see this. Even Goyle and Marcus are much smarter than a troll. At least they can read!"
Zhang Xiao kept his lips pressed together and said nothing. That strange sense of danger, however, kept growing stronger, making him increasingly agitated.
Judging by the troll, this should be Dumbledore's handiwork. But what was this sudden sense of danger about?
Surely Dumbledore wouldn't let anything happen to a few young wizards?
Naturally, just when nothing was supposed to go wrong, something did.
Dumbledore's faint voice suddenly sounded in Zhang Xiao's ear, unusually grave:
"Zhang, my agreement with the centaurs prevents me from intervening directly here. Something extremely dangerous has entered the Forbidden Forest. He is approaching you, and I must go stop him.
"Hold on. The professors are on their way."
Fuck!!!!!!
Zhang Xiao finally understood where his sense of danger had come from. He had overlooked one thing.
Dumbledore
Had never been a babysitter, but a man rational to a terrifying degree!
The troll suddenly sped up!
Before you continue