Chapter 242 Awning and Lockhart

With the protection of the wings of the Thestrals, Anthony felt that the journey was much smoother. The rain hit the black wings above his head, making almost no sound. The skinny body of the Thestrals with wings spread pressed against Anthony, and the bones wrapped in thin fur rose and fell as they moved forward, bumping into Anthony from time to time. Wuwu followed them with Hagrid's felt hat in his mouth.

When they arrived near Professor Kettleburn's awning, the Thestrals folded their wings and made a strange and sharp cry. Just like when they came, they disappeared silently and quickly in the Forbidden Forest, like a shadow blending into the darkness.

The awning was much larger than Anthony had imagined.

On both sides of the long walkway were areas surrounded by high and low railings. The lights were dim and filled with the smell of magical animals. Strange noises came from each fence from time to time. The skylight on the roof was shaking constantly due to the rain, and water dripped from several cracks, leaving several dark brown marks on the dry sandy ground.

In a fence, several Nifflers were busy drilling in the hay on the ground. Hagrid took out a bag of beer bottle caps from his pocket, stuffed them into the haystack next to him, and then threw another bundle of hay to the Nifflers. When the Nifflers were unpacking the hay, Anthony saw several beautiful marbles bounce on the ground twice, and the next second, they disappeared.

Next to the Nifflers, the fire crabs were hitting the wooden boards angrily. A Niffler put his eyes eagerly into the cracks of the wood, looked at the gorgeous gems on the fire crab's shell, stretched out his claws to dig the cracks, and turned his head to grab the golden teaspoon that fell to his side. The prickly man next to the fire crab huddled in the corner and did not move.

In another enclosure, several cruppies rushed over enthusiastically, pushing the door of the enclosure with their front paws, and wagging their forked tails.

Anthony looked at the magical animals in front of him in surprise: "Are these what students have to learn?"

"Oh, that's right." Hagrid said, "Professor Kettleburn divides the magical animals he raises into 'touchable' and 'forbidden' types. These are all touchable. He doesn't let students touch the fun ones, worried that they will be frightened by students... I checked the enclosure last week, there will be no problem."

Anthony was quite sure that Professor Kettleburn's Chimera must belong to the forbidden category.

Hagrid clinked out a bunch of keys, lowered his head and muttered: "Broom shed...door...no, not this one...yes, contact with magical creatures! Um, puff and flobber caterpillars...salamanders and fire ash snakes...murts...found it! Tool room!"

He carefully picked up a key that was a little small for his hand and turned the lock of a small room beside him. The wooden door was stuck, Hagrid frowned and pulled hard.

With an ominous cracking sound, Anthony watched fearfully as the door fell down reluctantly. The only remaining hinge stubbornly hung the door on the door frame, shaking slightly.

...

Hagrid used a large mass of sticky green stuff to block the gap in the roof, while Anthony was responsible for repairing the wooden door.

"Luckily you're here, Henry." Hagrid said gratefully, climbing down the ladder. "This door is always broken, and Professor Kettleburn has repaired it several times."

Anthony closed the door, opened it again, and looked carefully: "Maybe it's because it's in this position that it's easy to get damp."

"It's possible." Hagrid fed the remaining beef to the crup and looked at the time. "Oh, we have to go back, Henry!"

Anthony looked up: "What's wrong?"

"I should feed those little guys." Hagrid said anxiously, "They are in need of nutrition!"

"Okay, then let's go." Anthony said, standing up from the door, "But, Hagrid, I still have to remind you that you really need to contact someone as soon as possible to send them away... or get a license to keep Chimeras. Ask Professor Kettleburn."

"Okay, okay." Hagrid said perfunctorily, and looked at the time again.

Anthony said helplessly: "Let's go."

...

In order to save time, they passed through the Forbidden Forest again. The rain was much lighter, and the sound of rain in the forest was much softer. Along the way, Anthony didn't see any animals.

"I remember that the creatures in the Forbidden Forest will divide their own areas, right?" Anthony asked, "What kind of creature's range are we in now?"

"Ah, that, that's just a very rough division. Except for the real nest, there is no place that other creatures can't pass through." Hagrid said, waving his arm to the left, "But generally speaking, the centaurs will say that this is their territory. If they are in a bad mood, anything that breaks in may become their prey-"

Hagrid gestured to the right again: "That's the unicorns', but they will allow all animals to drink water and bathe by their pool, and no one can hunt there." He thought for a while, "I remember Aragog told me that there are several eight-eyed giant spiders that caught deer there. Every time they want to drink water, they will be driven away by the unicorns. Aragog and the others are farther away. Thestrals seem to be... well, it should be over there, but they don't care much about territory, and the animals in the Forbidden Forest don't care much about them."

Anthony asked curiously: "What else is there in the Forbidden Forest?"

"Deer, wolves, and hippogriffs sometimes come to the Forbidden Forest to give birth and raise young." Hagrid said without thinking, "Of course, there are also those birds and bugs, but we usually don't They were counted. Aragog told me that there were other things in the forest, but he was too lazy to care about them. Professor Sprout also said that there may be many unaccounted magical creatures in the Forbidden Forest, but they were in groups. That’s it for the team. What’s this for, Henry?”

"I wonder if there's room for five or six chimeras here," Anthony said. "You know, making the Forbidden Forest even more taboo."

As he spoke, he felt like he was discussing garbage classification with his neighbors - "I think someone threw five or six glass bottles into the general garbage. Is there any space left in the glass recycling bin?"

…

Before Hagrid hurriedly left to feed the Chimera, Anthony warned him again ("We are going to visit the Fire Dragon Sanctuary for Christmas, Hagrid, please don't get yourself into trouble") before he got wet. Returned to the castle.

The floor of the hall was covered with muddy footprints, so the mud he had just brought back from the Forbidden Forest was nothing. Peeves was puffing up his cheeks and blowing cold wind on the students, making the few unlucky ones who had just come in through the gate shiver. The students with steam in their ears were talking loudly, and they seemed unable to hear clearly what the other party was saying.

Anthony drove Peeves away, flicked his wand, cleaned himself up, barely dried his clothes, and walked to his office.

Just as he opened the door with the key, another door in the corridor opened. Lockhart walked out gracefully, his wavy blond hair shining delicately under the firelight, and his soft sky-blue robes perfectly matched his blue eyes.

"Good afternoon, Henry!" Lockhart said loudly, looking at Anthony's miserable appearance. "Gee, you look like you just had a rough day. What happened?"

Anthony had to admit that he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he saw Lockhart emerge intact. Even though the wraith rat never alerted him, he couldn't help but worry about someone adventurous enough to explore his office.

"Good afternoon," said Anthony. "No, nothing happened... How was your morning, Professor Lockhart?"

"Very good, very good. It may surprise you, Henry," said Lockhart, showing his shining teeth and gesturing for Anthony to come closer. "I have finished the first chapter of the new book. Sh--don't Scream, it's still a secret." He put his finger in front of his lips and winked at Anthony.

"That's great. I'm looking forward to the publication of the new book." Anthony said, glancing towards his door, hesitating whether to say goodbye as soon as possible and return to his office, or stay to inquire about Lockhart and explore his office plan of.

"I know you are all looking forward to it! I assure you that I am working on the new book with two hundred percent enthusiasm. It will be my second autobiography." Lockhart said radiantly, " When the book comes out, I can sign it for you! How does that sound? First print, autographed - for my colleague and dear reader Henry!”

"Uh... that's great, thank you," Anthony said, smiling at Lockhart and putting a little more distance between them. Lockhart was so enthusiastic that he felt a little guilty.

Anthony asked, "What is Chapter 1 about?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Henry, cunning Henry. I usually don't tell readers my writing plans, but I can secretly tell you that this book is about my life at Hogwarts." Loha Te lowered his voice, "You must think this is my adventure story again, right? But I have a surprise for you - just like no one would have expected that I would be writing "Lockhart and Dangerous Creatures" Having written How to Get Rid of Household Pests, which became a record-breaking bestseller, I'm going to bring my life to life for my loyal readers, and in this book, Henry, I'm going to let those who are not as good as you be. Such lucky readers can also hear what I say and see what I do.”

Anthony breathed a sigh of relief: "So you don't plan to take risks in Hogwarts, Professor Lockhart?"

"Oh, no. I would like to leave Hogwarts to those young students who are willing to take risks." Lockhart said, "Even if I don't expect anyone to achieve my level of achievement, I still want to encourage them to devote themselves to fighting. In the cause of dark magic. Yes, I know, many people will say that with Lockhart, there will never be a new adventurer in this century, but let's not dampen the enthusiasm of the children too much. Really, Hogwarts is too easy for me, after all, it's a place full of secrets, don't you think?"

Many things flashed through Anthony's mind instantly: the Acromantula in the Forbidden Forest, the dead Basilisk, Voldemort possessing the professor, the Philosopher's Stone hidden in the castle, the Norwegian Ridgeback sent away, the basilisk that became a pet Animagus, smuggled Chimera...

Necromancer Anthony said calmly: "Really? I didn't find it."

"That's because you are not an adventurer, Henry." Lockhart said tolerantly. "If you had an adventurer's nose, you would smell adventure and secrets on the first day of the term banquet. Like I used to."

Anthony asked curiously: "What secret did you find, Professor Lockhart?" He did not remember that he had seen this passage in Lockhart's book, but considering the prominence of Myrtle, he did think that the Basilisk It's a very easy problem to find.

Lockhart smiled brightly and said: "If you ask me, I'll tell you, Henry. Fame is an obstacle on the path of an adventurer. No matter where I go, the eyes of admirers will follow me. In order not to let They got into trouble and I had to put my adventure plans on hold, which is why I left the UK as soon as I graduated to explore exotic lands and help them solve their little troubles caused by dark magic and dark creatures. , Even so, I still became a best-selling author? Fame is entangled with me again..."

Anthony internally translated it as "found nothing."

…

After seeing Lockhart off ("I need to go, Henry. I don't want to keep my club members waiting for me. Why don't you come to tomorrow's event?"), Anthony finally opened the door to his office.

To his relief, there were only some papers scattered on the floor. Ginger cats, ghost chickens and ghost mice occupy the platform on the cat climbing frame from top to bottom, and they all seem to be sleeping.

"Good afternoon." Anthony said, closing the door behind his back, taking off his dry coat and hanging it by the door.

The Wraith Chicken drowsily opened his eyelids and glanced at him. He curled up his neck and prepared to continue sleeping. Suddenly he saw the cat's tail hanging in front of him. He grabbed the cat's fluffy yellow tail and tugged, and immediately another fight began.

The resentful mouse climbed up very calmly, climbed onto the cat climbing frame further down, and continued to sleep in a ball.

"If you dare to spill the ink, I will make you take another bath." Anthony warned.

The ginger cat and the wraith chicken coincidentally moved farther away from the desk.

Anthony smiled and waved his wand, causing the papers that looked like the Muggle world to fly back to the table. He walked around behind the desk, looked down, and saw it was a letter from Mr. Linde. Mr. Lynde asked him if he had any plans for Christmas, as his wife and children were very interested in having the wizard come to their home.

Anthony calculated the time it would take for him to return from Romania and told him that he would only be free during the last few days of the New Year's holiday. If he is burned or eaten by a dragon, this time will probably be postponed further.