Hogwarts, where the stars shine

The brown-red centaur Ronan was recovering feather arrows, and Baine angrily scolded his own kind Firenze, thinking that he had revealed too many secrets that the centaurs had observed.

Mesa did not stand still. He pretended to help the centaur recover the feather arrows, but in fact he was circling the giant spider's head.

"You said these spiders came from a foreign land, which means they are not natives of the Forbidden Forest?" Mesa asked. He squatted in front of the spider that was cut in half, seeming to examine the hairy flesh. Big brain.

But the flash of light from the glass bottle completely exposed Mesa's true intention - he was collecting the venom secreted by these spiders.

When leaving the dormitory, Mesa took a fanny pack that was cast with a traceless stretching charm, and put several leather bags and glass bottles into the fanny pack.Unexpectedly, it actually came in handy. The leather bag contained unicorn hair and the glass bottle contained spider venom.

"Yes, Acromantulas do not belong to this ancient forest." Centaur Firenze said, "They only came here four to fifty years ago. In just a few decades, they have bred A huge tribe.”

The Acromantula is a large spider that usually lives deep in the rainforests of southeastern Asia, especially the island of Kalimantan.This giant spider, which is cruel in nature and loves to eat human flesh, is considered to be a species cultivated by wizards.

When he saw that these spiders had eight eyes, Mesa guessed that they might be Acromantulas. At this moment, his guess was confirmed by Firenze.

In other words, opportunities really come along with dangers.The opportunity to get rich overnight appeared in my dreams this night.

Acromantulas are very dangerous creatures, and it is very difficult to obtain venom from living Acromantulas.Therefore, venom is usually obtained from recently dead Acromantulas.

But after the Acromantula dies, its venom dries up quickly.Things are rare and expensive, and a pint of Acromantula venom costs as much as 100 gold galleons!

To make this huge sum of money, Mesa needs to act fast or the priceless venom will dry up.

"So many spiders have appeared in just a few decades?!" Lilia looked a little surprised. She felt that the spiders that had just besieged her and Mesa were probably hundreds of them!

At this time, the brown-red centaur spoke, his voice low and sad.He said: "The Acromantula is huge and has a long lifespan. Female spiders can lay a hundred eggs at a time. Moreover, they have no natural enemies in the forest."

One hundred eggs are laid at a time, and female spiders will hatch out of these one hundred eggs. Each of these new female spiders will lay another hundred eggs... Coupled with the fact that they have no natural enemies and their own huge size, these far-reaching The Acromantula that came here was at home in the Forbidden Forest.

It can be said that the Acromantula group has threatened the ecological balance of the Forbidden Forest.There are not enough bugs in the Forbidden Forest to fill the stomachs of these spiders, which are bigger than horses.

"Dumbledore actually allowed such dangerous things to exist in the school!" Lilia said dissatisfied, "What if they are extremely hungry and rush into the castle?"

The little girl wanted to lend a hand to help, whether it was recycling arrows or collecting venom.

But as soon as Lilia stretched out her hand, before she could touch the spider's big hairy head, she took her hand back in disgust.

"This is our forest!" Bain, the Centaur, said loudly, "You humans should not interfere here!"

Lilia's statement seemed to offend Baine, making the centaur think that humans wanted to invade this dense forest.However, centaurs are a proud people and they usually don't do anything to their cubs.

The Forbidden Forest has been around a long time, probably longer than Hogwarts.But there is no doubt that the Forbidden Forest is the permanent property of the school.

The reason why centaurs live in the Forbidden Forest is because the Ministry of Magic has demarcated their living areas, and Hogwarts has provided them with a place.But over time, territorial creatures like the centaurs began to regard the Forbidden Forest as theirs.

Mesa was speeding up the collection of venom, trying to collect more before it dried up, while paying attention to the conversation between the centaur and Lilia.Mesa essentially doesn't trust anyone, let alone a centaur he meets for the first time.

"Have Acromantulas hunted students who entered the forest before?" Mesa asked. He did not intend to argue with the centaurs about the ownership of the Forbidden Forest. He was not the principal, so why bother with this?

Firenze inserted a few feather arrows into the quiver, turned around lightly, and then said: "No, their leader strictly restrains them. They will neither hurt students entering the forest nor leave the forest. Eight Eyes The giant spider's hunting range is only in this forest."

"Hmph!" Bain, who has a bad temper, snorted coldly, "Despicable animals, they won't even spare their babies, and they will cruelly eat their own companions!"

It can be seen that the relationship between the centaur community and the Acromantula is not friendly.I'm afraid the centaurs are also within the giant spider's hunting range. Even if the centaurs are strong and strong, it's hard to say about those young foals.

"Then what happened to them tonight?" Lilia asked. She held a handful of recovered feather arrows, bypassed the ugly spider corpses, and returned the feather arrows to Ronan.

Ronan said in a sad voice: "Mars has always been extremely bright in recent days."

Bain looked at Ronan in surprise, as if he didn't understand why Ronan also told them about the stars they observed.

Mars was called "Yinghuo" in the ancient East, which means "Yingyinghuo".In ancient Eastern astrology, the appearance of Yinghuo is often associated with evil, and "Yinghuo Shouxin" is even more likely to shake the rule of the dynasty.

Coincidentally, Western astrology also associates Mars with wars and disasters.Horse people who are good at divination and astronomy also believe that Mars is a disaster star.

Lilia was confused and didn't know what the centaur wanted to express.Could there be another unexpected situation in the school after Steele Martin last year?

Although she really hopes that her life will not be too dull, Lilia also doesn't want to be too exciting.Because right now, I really don’t have the ability to deal with accidents.

"Is the abnormal behavior of the Acromantula related to the brightness of Mars?" Mesa asked. He had already filled the glass bottle he had brought. He could only look at the spider corpses on the ground, saying nothing.

This forest is called the Forbidden Forest, largely because the school prohibits students from entering.But students don't care about this. Under the dual influence of curiosity and rebelliousness, the Forbidden Forest has become a treasure place for many students to explore.

Every year, students sneak into the Forbidden Forest and explore the dark forest.If they had been attacked by an Acromantula, the school would have had a list of missing students.

If the students were lucky enough to escape, there should at least be rumors of man-eating spiders among the student body.But so far, the rumored theory is that there are werewolves in the Forbidden Forest.

"Yes, the Forbidden Forest has been very unstable recently." Centaur Firenze said, "The Acromantulas have become extremely irritable, and their hunting behavior has become more frequent."

It's very possible that someone entered the Forbidden Forest before him, and some of this person's actions irritated the Acromantula!

Just when Mesa was about to ask questions again, the centaur had already recovered all the feather arrows. The sound of horse hooves sounded in the jungle not far away, and the invisible centaur left.

"You should go." Ronan said, "Don't come back again. This forest is not the place you should come."

After saying that, Ronan and Bain turned around and left to chase their retreating companions.Firenze hesitated to speak, and in the end he just gave a few words of advice, and then slowly ran back to the woods.

Following the winding path at their feet, Mesa and Lilia walked out of the Forbidden Forest.

As the castle drew closer, Mesa re-imposed the Disillusionment Charm to prevent him from being discovered by the patrolling Filch.The two carefully passed through the hall, walked underground, and returned to the Slytherin dungeons safely.

The fire in the common room had burned out, leaving only glowing embers.After lifting the illusion spell, the two of them returned to their dormitories. Mesa and Lilia both needed a good rest.

But Mesa didn't sleep well that night. He had a nightmare.

The Mars in the dream became extremely bright, and the entire night sky was rendered red.The Acromantula, which was as dark as a tide, besieged the castle with bared teeth and claws.

When the Acromantula invaded the foyer, Mesa saw Professor Mikkelsen's face on the leading spider.