Hogwarts: Who made her a professor?

Chapter 53 Footprints Revealed

Meanwhile, Rupert Hagrid stood at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, looking up at the castle on the other side of the field.

He was completely wrapped in a long mole fur coat, wearing rabbit fur gloves, huge beaver fur boots, a huge bow on his back, and a quiver full of arrows hanging from his shoulder.

Neapolitan mastiffs played nearby, leaping and splashing, kicking up large snowflakes.

Before long, a petite figure appeared on the wide open space. The figure strode across the pristine white ground and headed towards the Forbidden Forest.

"Why is it Professor Black?" Hagrid muttered, shaking his messy head.

That's right, the person who came was Belvina, who had just finished her Muggle Studies class.

After seeing all the students off, Belvina had planned to rest for a while before dinner, but before she could return to the common room, Dumbledore's note was already in her hands.

If the note comes a little earlier, the student will see it; if it comes a little later, Belvina will refuse to see it.

"Hagrid! What happened?" Belvina walked over. Before leaving, she had put on a trench coat, a cloak, a hat, and gloves, making her fully armed.

At at least five feet seven inches tall, Belvina wasn't short, but when she stood next to Hagrid, the gamekeeper's imposing physique made her appear exceptionally petite, like a child who hadn't grown up.

"Professor Dumbledore sent me. What happened?" Belvina repeated, while pulling out the note that had just arrived at the classroom.

The note had thin, slanted handwriting that read: "Hagrid awaits you at the edge of the Forbidden Forest."

The cryptic note left Belvina completely bewildered. She had no idea what Dumbledore was up to this time. Could it be that Quirrell had turned his attention to the Forbidden Forest? Probably not, Quirrell knew perfectly well that the Philosopher's Stone was in the castle.

"Alright, oh, Professor Black." Hagrid glanced at the note. "Let's talk as we walk."

With that, Hagrid led the way toward the Forbidden Forest, and Belvina followed, taking quick, short steps behind him.

Surprisingly, Hagrid, who seemed careless and rough around the edges, was actually a gentle and considerate person. He kept adjusting his pace to match Belvina's behind him.

As the two entered the forbidden forest, the light suddenly dimmed, and tree branches were everywhere. The snow that had fallen over the past few days had accumulated to a great thickness, and a narrow path was faintly visible.

Hagrid, who was leading the way, stopped. He took a lamp from his mole-skin coat, lit it, and hung it in front of him. Then he took a large bow from his back and drew an arrow from his quiver.

"Professor Black, please be careful, there are many dangerous creatures in the Forbidden Forest," Hagrid warned, a puff of white mist rising from his lips. "They are not very friendly. Also, if you encounter centaurs, leave everything to me."

"I know there are centaurs in the Forbidden Forest, and I'm not Minister Spaven, so I won't tell hellish jokes in front of centaurs." Belvina drew her wand, and a glowing light appeared at the tip.

Hagrid turned to look at Belvina, who was standing in his footprints. His bushy, fierce face seemed to ask: Which college is Minister Spaven from? Why is he joking with centaurs?

"Ah, well, Hagrid, you can just call me by my name," Belvina said. "Whether it's the length of your life or the time you've spent at Hogwarts, you're the one who comes out on top."

Although Hagrid appears to be in his prime, he was actually a contemporary of Voldemort, and was a year older than Belvina's father, Orion Black.

When Hagrid entered Hogwarts, Churchill, the Muggle king, had only recently formed his government, and the dark wizard Grindelwald was still running rampant in Europe.

"Brabelvina, we need to be careful now," Hagrid said. "I've recently found some strange traces in the Forbidden Forest. I suspect someone has sneaked in and is probably looking for something."

Having said that, Hagrid took the lead again, with Belvina following behind him, stepping in the small boat-like footprints he left behind. The Neapolitan Mastiff, Tooth, lagged behind, still frolicking in the snow.

In the 91-92 school year, whenever something strange happened at school, just blame it on Quirrell, since he was the one who started all the trouble.

But then again, shouldn't his goal be the Philosopher's Stone? Why did he end up in the Forbidden Forest? What made him abandon the Philosopher's Stone and become attracted to the Forbidden Forest instead?

The deeper Hagrid and Belvina ventured into the Forbidden Forest, the darker it became. Fortunately, it wasn't too late, and there was still snow on the ground, which made the remote Forbidden Forest less eerie and terrifying.

Are there really werewolves in the Forbidden Forest?

"I've never seen them, I've only seen a litter of very beautiful wolf cubs."

Although the Department of Magical Creatures Management and Control has a Werewolf Registry, a Werewolf Support Service, and a Werewolf Capture Project, none of these three departments functioned well, and their existence seemed to serve only to mock the Ministry of Magic's incompetence.

How incompetent were they? They let Fenrir Graybuck go.

That happened in 1965. A werewolf attack resulted in the deaths of two Muggle children, and Fenrir Greyback was brought to the Ministry of Magic for questioning.

Greyback disguised himself as a Muggle vagrant; his dirty clothes and lack of a wand convinced those attending the interrogation that he was just an innocent Muggle caught up in the affair. Only Lyle Lupin was convinced that Greyback was the murderer responsible for the deaths of Muggle children.

As a result, Lyle Lupin was ordered to leave and was no longer allowed to participate in the questioning. Greyback swaggered out of the Ministry of Magic, attacked a Ministry employee who was about to cast a forgetting charm on him, and made his escape.

Lyle Lupin had a son named Remus, Remus John Lupin.

"Brahma—Belvina, we're here." Hagrid stopped. "I discovered the anomaly right here; there's a trail of footprints."

Before me was a small open space with several dead trees lying haphazardly to one side. Thick branches were stuck in the ground, forming a circle, and a cloth was covering it. The cloth trembled under the weight of the snow and fallen leaves.

Hagrid stepped forward and slowly lifted the sheet protecting the scene. He continued, "These footprints... I think they belong to a man, or maybe an older student."

The footprints were well preserved, not covered by heavy snow, nor disturbed by animals living in the forbidden forest. Judging from the messy set of footprints, Hagrid's initial judgment was correct; women's shoe sizes are usually not this large.

It's that straightforward and simple. Hagrid and Belvina aren't forensic experts; they can only make judgments based on everyday life.

Belvina gripped her wand in reverse, raised her right hand, and gently pressed the base of her thumb and the tip of the wand against her lips. Then she took a deep breath—whoosh!

With her hamster-like form, Belvina's cheeks puffed out, her bright eyes narrowed into slits, and her supple waist bent higher and higher as she pressed down. Her acacia wood wand emitted wisps of silver smoke, which drifted and swirled across the open space.

Then a magical scene unfolded: the drifting silver smoke slowly coalesced, forming the figure of an ordinary-looking man wearing a hood, who circled around in place, perfectly coinciding with the footprints left in the snow.

Then, the hooded figure suddenly crawled on the ground, his movements and trajectory resembling a snake.

Judging from his physique alone, Belvina couldn't be sure if this person was Quirrell, but that didn't stop her from splashing dirty water on the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

Belvina just couldn't understand Quirrell's reason for doing this. What was his purpose in going to the Forbidden Forest? It couldn't have been performance art, could it?

The silver smoke continued its movement, but the smoke grew thinner and thinner until the eerie figure climbed to the side of an ancient oak tree. The silver smoke then dissipated and became ethereal again.

“Strange, this person didn’t conceal himself at first; my magic easily copied his movements,” Belvina said. “When he lay on the ground like a snake, he used magic to hide his whereabouts.”

Like a snake.

Who would be like a snake?

Of course, it's Salazar Slytherin.

"We still can't figure out what he's doing, right?" Hagrid asked. "We don't know what this weirdo is up to in the Forbidden Forest."

"No, I think I already know." Belvina pointed. "Look."

The drifting silver smoke gathered again, and a beautiful and pure magical creature appeared on the snow. It walked slowly and gracefully, somewhat like a horse, with a horn on its forehead.

"Merlin, the unicorn!" Hagrid exclaimed. "He's looking for the unicorn!"

Rubeus Hagrid, a man who possessed a mountain of treasure yet lived in abject poverty, a man who regarded Galleons as mere dirt.

Hagrid ignored the eight-eyed giant spiders in the Forbidden Forest, whose venom could fetch a hundred galleons with a pint; and the unicorn hair, an excellent material for making wands, which Hagrid used to tie things up.

"I'm afraid so. He's looking for a unicorn, perhaps for its magical horn, or perhaps for its blood," Belvina said.

No wonder Quirrell has been so quiet since the start of the school year. He was looking for a unicorn. Was there something wrong with his body, or was his master in poor condition and in dire need of unicorn blood to prolong his life?

For the holy unicorn, this was the worst possible news; for Belvina, it was the best possible news.

Time is running out for Dark Lord and Quirrell; they must act quickly.