Things were not going as smoothly as expected.
At first, every punch and kick from Professor McGonagall's fire giant tore a huge wound in the monster's pale skin, leaving its flesh mangled and charred.
Yet those wounds always vanished in the blink of an eye.
Not only that, but after a few exchanges, the damage the fire giant's attacks inflicted on the monster visibly diminished.
The same thing happened on Professor Flitwick's side. His lightning whip had some effect at first, but later, it could only slow the monster slightly, unable to leave a single wound.
"This monster can adapt to magic?" Professor Flitwick said in astonishment.
"That's incredibly rare!" Professor McGonagall's expression grew even graver. "That should be an ability found only in the offspring of high-ranking evil gods. This is trouble. Far too much trouble."
While Professor McGonagall and the other two grappled with the strange monster, Snape's search in the Forbidden Forest was not going smoothly either.
The monster had clearly charged out from deep within the Forbidden Forest. Trees had been knocked askew all along its path, most of them already dead, some even reduced to rotten wood.
Large swathes of shrubs had also rotted and turned yellow.
Simply finding its trail was relatively easy. Yet these signs made Snape uneasy.
Judging by the course of the trail, the monster seemed to have charged in a straight line toward Hogwarts, or even the Quidditch Pitch.
That was strange. There might well be something peculiar behind this.
At that thought, Snape picked up his pace even further.
Not long after entering the Forbidden Forest, Snape spotted a tall, familiar figure whom he disliked.
It was Hagrid.
With his enormous crossbow on his back-the one Ron believed could easily kill a rhinoceros or an elephant-Hagrid was running