Chapter 72: Sneaking into the Forbidden Forest, Tea Leaf Divination
Harry, Neville, and the others returned to the dormitory one after another.
Dylan read for a while longer until bedtime, then pretended to go to sleep—and then actually fell asleep.
Harry and Ron exchanged glances, then lowered their voices and tidied up before climbing into their own beds.
Finally, in the dead of night, it was Coal Ball who nudged Dylan's chest with its little head.
Only then did Dylan wake up.
"How did I fall asleep?"
Dylan glanced at the time; it was almost dawn.
However, having slept, his spirits were high, and he didn't even need to cast a Tire-Banishing Charm on himself.
He turned his head towards the already soundly sleeping Harry and the others, quietly took his Invisibility Wizard Robes, put them on, and his figure instantly vanished.
"Sliencio!"
Dylan murmured in his mind, waved his wand, and cast a Silencing Charm on himself.
He tiptoed off the bed and quietly slipped out of the dormitory.
Hogwarts at night was exceptionally quiet.
Filch was still patrolling the castle. Dylan could hear his heavy footsteps even through two corridors.
"Oh! Perhaps Filch really should give Mrs. Norris a good bath. This smell is almost making me bring up what I ate yesterday."
It was Dylan's first time sneaking around Hogwarts at night, but despite it being his first time, he skillfully avoided Filch and left the castle.
"Maybe I should put on Slytherin's robes and pretend to be caught by Filch, then deduct all of Slytherin's points. That way, Hermione won't worry about Professor Snape targeting Gryffindor."
Arriving outside the Forbidden Forest, he saw Hagrid in the distance, carrying a large lantern and patrolling back and forth to prevent anyone from trying to sneak into the forest or any creatures from running out.
A dog was also following at Hagrid's feet—Fang, huddled at Hagrid's feet, pressed against his leg, not daring to wander far.
Dylan didn't approach Hagrid but found a place with less undergrowth and directly entered the Forbidden Forest.
The night was deep. As Dylan stepped into the edge of the forest, the scent of damp soil mixed with the smell of decaying leaves rushed towards him.
The surrounding trees were very tall, their branches intertwined, and there were many thick fallen leaves on the ground.
Dylan kept the Silencing Charm constantly active on himself, which meant that although every step he took made a slight "rustling" sound, it was also negated by the power of the spell.
He didn't take off his wizard robes, always concealing his figure.
Suddenly, a rustling sound came from the nearby bushes.
Dylan turned his head. With the help of the faint light, he saw a hedgehog-like creature covered in spikes busily searching for food in the pile of fallen leaves.
"A spiky fellow?"
Dylan observed carefully. As he watched, although the little creature couldn't see him, it seemed to sense something and directly raised its head, its spikes standing on end, its small head turning back and forth.
"The intuition of living things?"
Dylan didn't disturb the little creature's foraging. The materials on the hedgehog weren't very attractive to him, and it wasn't worth his personal effort.
Moreover, collecting materials from a hedgehog was too troublesome; he might as well just buy them.
Not far ahead, Dylan discovered a patch of grass emitting a soft blue light.
Taking a closer look,
"Glowgrass. Not too precious, but since I'm here, I might as well collect some. It's perfect for brewing a Lumos Potion in the next Potions class."
Crouching down, Dylan collected some and then put it into the inventory of the system panel.
Continuing deeper into the Forbidden Forest, the trees became taller and denser. Dylan occasionally saw some mushrooms flickering with strange lights. "They're all highly poisonous mushrooms that you can't even touch."
The species in the Forbidden Forest were quite diverse, nurturing many magical creatures.
Dylan stopped, looking at the hoofprints ahead.
Dylan bent down to observe them.
"Centaur or unicorn?"
Dylan recalled the records in the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
"The simplest way to identify the owner of the hoofprints is to look at the weight distribution."
A centaur's front hooves are much heavier than their hind hooves, and this sign will be very obvious.
Ordinary horses, or unicorns, exert more force with their hind hooves, but when walking normally, their gait will definitely be more balanced than that of a centaur.
Dylan observed for a while and found that these hoofprints weren't uneven, nor were they deeper in the front than in the back. Clearly, these were likely the footprints of ordinary equine magical creatures.
Dylan straightened up. "Of course, it could also be a unicorn."
However, unicorn sightings were rare, and he didn't think he would be so lucky as to encounter one as soon as he entered.
Continuing forward, Dylan couldn't help but chuckle to himself. "If I really do encounter a unicorn, I'd like to grind some unicorn horn powder."
Along the way, he had picked up quite a few materials just by chance.
Poisonous aconite, black horehound that could counteract spells, and knotgrass for making Polyjuice Potion.
But after searching for a long time, he realized he seemed to have lost his way a bit.
"Strange, I clearly planned the route, how come as soon as I came in, it seems like I went the wrong way?"
He hadn't found any trace of the Acromantula yet.
"Hagrid's usual activity in the Forbidden Forest leaves heavy traces, but it doesn't seem like he often goes to the Acromantula's territory."
This meant that although there were traces of Hagrid clearing paths on the ground, Dylan couldn't rely on this to find the Acromantula.
"In that case..."
Dylan stopped and then took out a tea leaf from his pocket, squatting down beside a moss-covered boulder.
"Luckily, I usually learned a lot of divination knowledge from Professor Trelawney. Now, just finding a way will come in handy."
Especially tea leaf reading, which he had specifically asked Professor Trelawney to teach him, was convenient, fast, and very much in line with Eastern divination effects.
Dylan held the tea leaf in his hand and took out a cup of water from his inventory.
Since the inventory had no restrictions on what could be placed in it, Dylan had stuffed a lot of things inside for emergencies.
Raising his wand, he waved it gently.
"Calefacio!"
A stream of magic flowed from the wand and into the water cup in front of him.
Soon, the cool water in the cup was quickly heated until it boiled.
Dylan timely put the tea leaf into it, letting it roll and spin in the water, gradually unfurling.
When the tea water had cooled slightly, he drank most of it, leaving the tea leaf inside. Then, he picked up the teacup and gently rotated it three times, letting the tea leaf sink to the bottom.
Dylan stared at the tea leaf, silently thinking about the direction of the Acromantula. When the tea leaf had completely settled, he noticed that some peculiar patterns seemed to have formed on it.
On the central vein of the leaf, Dylan saw a large arrow pointing directly at himself.
"Hmm?"
(End of chapter)
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