Chapter 170: Chapter 170: The Thestral Geraldine
At the critical moment, an extremely old house-elf suddenly appeared beside Harry, grabbed his arm, and vanished with him in an instant.
At the same time, three or four spells hit the attacking Thestral, freezing it in mid-air.
One of the spells came from Wade.
Wade dismounted from the Thestral while holding his wand and ran over to check.
Immediately afterward, Professors Sprout and Snape appeared nearby.
"What's going on?" Professor Snape asked with a dark expression, his gaze was dangerously fixed on the terrified girls.
"Something invisible… it attacked Harry Potter!"
One of the younger girls said in panic, she looked close to tears.
"A house-elf took Harry away!"
Wade glanced at the girl's red hair… another Weasley.
Hagrid hurried over too, and looked at the Thestral suspended in the air with a mix of concern and confusion. "But Geraldine is a gentle creature… she's never attacked anyone…"
"What did that foolish Gryffindor do this time?" Snape asked coldly. "He must have provoked the Thestral!"
"Harry didn't do anything!"
Ginny Weasley gathered her courage, looked Professor Snape in the eye, and said loudly:
"He had just helped us drive away a Grindylow when he was suddenly attacked!"
"I don't think it was Harry's fault, Professor."
Wade suddenly spoke up. "Look at this Thestral; there's a wound on its back."
Professor Snape approached and saw a thin, bleeding wound near the Thestral's hind legs.
He moved closer to the Thestral, and his hooked nose twitched slightly.
"The scent of scurvy grass."
"Scurvy grass?" Ginny asked instinctively.
"Read your textbooks!" Snape glanced at her and said, "Scurvy grass is used in brewing Confusing Draught. It can induce fear, palpitations, even hallucinations and aggressive behavior."
"So… someone gave the Thestral a potion?" Wade said solemnly. "Are they trying to harm Harry with the Thestral, or to cause chaos at Hogwarts?"
Professor Sprout pried open the Thestral's mouth to examine it and said, "It's not a finished potion… There are still grass roots between its teeth. It looks like someone directly fed it a large amount of scurvy grass."
"I remember that this grass is mainly produced in countries in East Africa and the Arabian region, and it's banned for transport and sale in most countries…"
Wade recalled the information from his book, "But… uh… it is allowed to be sold in limited amounts in the UK and New Zealand, although it's not something most people could easily get their hands on."
"If you have the right channels, it's much easier to obtain than you'd think. More importantly… who would dare target the Hogwarts Thestrals…" Snape murmured.
Hagrid said angrily, "If I find out who did it, they'll be in big trouble!"
Ginny watched the discussion from the sidelines, struggling to find a way to join in. Her friend tugged at her arm, wanting to leave, but Ginny seemed rooted to the spot, unwilling to move even an inch.
When there was a pause in the conversation, Ginny cautiously said, "Professor, Harry was taken away…"
"The house-elf will have taken him to the infirmary, if that's what you're asking," Snape replied.
His tone was cold and he seemed impatient, but compared to how other Gryffindors were treated, he was actually being quite lenient with Ginny.
Wade looked thoughtfully at Ginny's striking red hair.
"Thank you, Professor."
Ginny didn't feel she was being treated any differently; to her, Professor Snape was as intimidating as ever. She quietly thanked him, then pulled her friend along as they left.
By now, Dumbledore had also arrived at the scene.
The reason he was a bit late was that he had first gone to check on Harry; there were still traces of blood on his sleeve.
"How is Harry, Dumbledore?" Hagrid asked anxiously.
"Just some minor injuries; Madam Pomfrey will have him healed in no time."
After saying this, Dumbledore waved his wand gently and examined the Thestral as well, while Professor Sprout filled him in on what the others had discovered.
Dumbledore nodded slightly.
"Hagrid, take all the Thestrals back to the stable. I think we need to conduct a full inspection."
"Geraldine, sir?" Hagrid asked nervously. "I know it hurt Harry, but it wasn't intentional. Geraldine has always been a good creature…"
"Of course, it was only manipulated by someone with malicious intentions," Dumbledore said. "Until the effects wear off, it will be under your care."
"All right, Professor." Hagrid sniffled, picked up the immobilized Thestral with one hand, and carried it off.
"Dumbledore!" Snape objected. "A creature that has injured someone cannot remain here…"
Professor Sprout frowned. "There's a difference between acting aggressively and unintentionally causing harm, Severus. It was confused by the scurvy grass and didn't know what it was doing."
Dumbledore didn't decide immediately but instead asked, "Mr. Grey, what do you think?"
Wade was taken aback. Snape and Professor Sprout both turned to look at him.
Under their gazes, he thought for a moment and said, "I think the students participating in the challenge should be dismissed for now, and the event should be temporarily halted to check if any other creatures are tampered with."
"As for what to do with Geraldine… why not ask Harry's opinion? After all, he's the one who was affected."
Dumbledore nodded. "Then let's do that."
Snape immediately gave a disapproving huff, casting an unsatisfied look at Wade.
Everyone knew that, given Harry's character and his friendship with Hagrid, he would probably not press charges.
Wade simply pretended not to notice.
After all, Professor Snape was always like that—never showing a friendly face, never offering kind words, but always ready with answers and willing to help if asked.
Since Wade had started at Hogwarts, he'd only ever seen Snape praise Draco Malfoy once.
Of course, this might be because they hadn't taken Potions with the Slytherin students; otherwise, they'd probably see Professor Snape's creative ways of complimenting Slytherin students.
Still, over the past year, whenever Wade had asked Professor Snape about potion-related questions, even advanced ones, he had always received answers.
When Wade began using the Room of Requirement for brewing, he stopped practicing in the dungeon classroom.
After a few sarcastic remarks from Professor Snape when they crossed paths, Wade finally deduced that "Why aren't you still practicing? Don't abandon things halfway!" was the Professor's way of urging him to continue.
Wade: "…"
So after the next Potions class, Wade brought his recent work for Professor Snape to review, explaining that he had changed practice locations because some potions took too long to brew, making it inconvenient to occupy the Potions classroom.
He received comments like "mediocre" and "don't get too full of yourself."
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