Evan returned to the Forbidden forest, and walked along the path for a while.
He was looking to find a place where he could ambush Peter Pettigrew, but he stopped immediately when he heard something trampling on the fallen leaves.
Evan hurriedly hid behind a big tree and listened attentively. He left his Animagus form and pulled out his wand. The sound was like a galloping on the ground, getting closer and closer. Could it be an Acromantula?!
Suddenly, an arrow flew through the air, and he heard it slamming on the tree, right on top of his head. That was creepy, extremely creepy.
Evan's curse almost flew instantly as well. Through the light of the spell, he saw something appearing in the open space in front of him. It looked like a man, with black hair and beard. But waist down, it was a brown-black shiny horse with a long black tail behind it.
It was a Centaur. He dodged Evan's spell agilely and pulled his bow to aim at Evan.
“Who are you, human?” The Centaur's face was full of anger, and he said rudely, “You break into our woods, and intend to attack me with magic?!”
“I am sorry, this is a misunderstanding! I thought you were an Acromantula. You know, I've just been attacked by them." There was a faint light on the tip of Evan's wand, “I introduce myself, my name is Evan Mason, from Hogwarts."
In his mind, Evan tried to recall what information he had related to the Centaurs. In most wizardry books he read, the introduction of these humanoid creatures was full of contempt.
For example, in Article 7 laid down by the “Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures”, the definition of the Centaur is:"A being with human head, torso, and arms joined to a horse's body and a magical animal with near-human intelligence." Their use of words is worth noticing, saying that they have near-human intelligence. This very humiliating vocabulary represents the absolute views of wizards on all humanoid creatures.
But that was not the case at all. The Centaur is a very proud creature.
They are generally speaking as mistrustful of wizards as they are of Muggles and indeed seem to make little differentiation between them. The Centaurs are reputed to be well-versed in magical healing, divination, archery, and astronomy.
They often live together in herds forming colonies.
The Centaur's colony in the Forbidden Forest in Hogwarts is currently the largest known Centaur's ethnic tribe, and it has been in existence for more than a thousand years. Before the Four Founders established the Hogwarts School of Magic, the ancestors of the Centaurs lived in this magical forest that was later called the Forbidden Forest.
Evan was not dumb to treat a Centaur in accordance with the contents of what he read in book, unless he wanted to infuriate him and die faster. He tried to think of him as an equal person, and he tried not to look away from his eyes to his lower limbs, even though they were indeed different and strange.
“I am avoiding the Acromantulas…”
“Acromantulas!!!” Rage became even more apparent on the centaur's face. He said angrily. “I don’t know when the number of these ferocious, hateful creatures started to increase in the woods. They are arbitrarily attacking other creatures, and they have occupied much of the territory that used to belong to us."
Evan was amazed. It's no wonder that the Acromantulas had been classified one of the most dangerous magical creatures by the Ministry of Magic, and were clearly listed as a Class A Non-Tradeable Goods by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.
Yes, maybe their single attack ability is slightly weaker. But the ferocious personality, super high intelligence and strong ability to multiply, give the Acromantulas strong ability to invade other species, causing great damage to the ecological system. It can be seen from the tone of this Centaur that Aragog and its descendants must have been giving the Centaurs in the Forbidden Forest hell.
There was a sudden movement in the bush, and Evan hurriedly raised his wand.
He thought it was an Acromantula. But it turned out that it was only a second Centaur, with red hair, a gleaming chestnut body, looking thinner than the first one.
“Good evening, Evan Mason!” The second Centaur's character was much milder. He said in a melancholy voice, “My name is Ronan, this is Bane. I hope we have not scared you! You are the foal from the Castle? Do you learn much, up at the school?”
"Yes, I get to learn a bit…" Evan said modestly, deliberately ignoring his other words. For the Centaurs, a foal is probably how they describe any child.
“A bit. Well, that’s something!” Ronan sighed. “Although you humans waste most of your lives on useless things because of ethnic restrictions, I have to admit that you still have achieved some remarkable magical achievements.”
This sentence sounded like a compliment, but Evan did not know how to answer.
Ronan didn’t seem to expect Evan to answer. He flung back his head and stared at the sky. He said in a very melancholic tone, “Mars is bright tonight.”
He seemed to have forgotten about Evan and the Acromantulas. His eyes stared up and seemed to see something from it.
Evan also looked up and saw that Mars was indeed really bright.
He didn't know what that meant. In his opinion, that was only one of the natural phenomena of the stars running. But for the Centaurs, that was obviously not the case. For centuries, they have been persistently observing and recording the operation of various celestial bodies, trying to find out the symbols that show the waves of great evil or transformation there.
"What does this mean?" Evan asked softly.
Considering that the key to the Gryffindor Secret Treasure was being preserved among the Centaur's colony, Evan felt that it was necessary to have a good relationship with them.
Perhaps, he could also ask them to help him catch Peter Pettigrew. With so many Acromantulas, it was impossible for one person to win.
“The war is about to ignite, and always the innocent are the first victims!” Ronan sighed a few more times. “So it has been for ages past, so it is now.”
“Yeah.” Evan dragged his voice, he didn’t know what the other had seen, he said, “I am going to the Forbidden Forest this evening to catch an evil wizard and not let him run away. Otherwise, it will have a very bad effect on the future, and you will also be involved. Presumably, you've noticed this abnormality too…”
“Mars is bright tonight.” Ronan repeated it again, adding to the tone, “Unusually bright!"
“I know, as you just said, I hope that you can help me with the evil Dark wizard."
He turned his head and looked at Bane. The latter didn’t seem to be looking at him.
He walked over to stand next to Ronan. He looked skyward for a long time. “Mars is bright tonight,” he said simply.
Again, Evan sighed. He found that it was really difficult to communicate with the Centaurs. They probably knew a lot of things, but they never said it straight out. They kept their mouth shut about what they observed.
Like Professor Trelawney, they always like to tell others about the divinations they observe, the warnings from the sky, but they often turn a blind eye to what is happening around them.
Evan realized that ascending to the heavens might prove to be easier for him than getting help from the centaurs with catching Pettigrew.
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T/N: Hey there this is Translating_Wizard. I hope you like the story so far and are happy with the releases, I just posted the chap 246 in Patreon! If you’re interested in supporting me and reading more chaps hit the button below ^^
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