Soon, evening arrived. After dinner, Harry and Hermione walked together, heading towards the Forbidden Forest. From a distance, they could just see Hagrid also emerging from his hut.
On the way, Harry also told Hermione about what had happened last night.
Upon hearing that Harry hadn't drunk alcohol, Hermione finally breathed a sigh of relief.
This was the only thing Hermione learned that they, at their age, should be doing.
Soon, they met Hagrid, who was wearing a leather coat and waving at them.
"Hermione, good to see you. Sorry, Harry, honestly, inviting you out at this time isn't a good choice."
After being cleared of his name, Hagrid inexplicably cared a lot more about these rule-breaking matters. Hmm, he cared a lot more internally.
"No, it's my problem," Harry shook his head seriously. "Thestral… where is it? Let's go."
"Alright, let's go now, don't make it too late," Hagrid also nodded.
"But we have to find the Centaurs first."
"Centaurs?!" Harry was a bit puzzled. He knew they had a presence in the Forbidden Forest, but he had never seen them.
"Yes," Hagrid nodded. "The Centaurs live in the forest. You can't expect me to… the poor Thestral."
Hagrid's expression was a little sad.
"Sorry, Hagrid. During this time… I haven't paid much attention to this matter," Harry pursed his lips.
In fact, he had been busy with other things these past few days, and had advised himself to forget about it, hoping that Hagrid would only contact him after the Thestral had died.
He didn't want to keep wishing for its death.
That was too much.
"No, don't say such silly things," Hagrid shook his head, pinching his nose hard, making a rumbling sound.
"This is a very normal thing," Hagrid said. "So many little creatures live here. They need to eat meat, and they need to protect their territory. Death is a perfectly normal thing.
Newt said what was it called… an ecosystem or something.
It's just that I really can't help you… so we have to go find the Centaurs."
"Thank you," Harry nodded solemnly.
Soon, the trio walked deep into the Forbidden Forest. Gradually, a long-trodden, compacted dirt path appeared here.
Hagrid stopped and said, "Alright, this is it."
With that, he turned his head in advance, glanced at the two behind him, and felt a slight relief that the Malfoy child wasn't there.
Otherwise, he and these Centaurs would very likely clash. Both sides were prone to speaking with veiled barbs.
Then, he turned around, pulled out a wand, and shot a red firework into the sky.
Suddenly, sparks from Hagrid's hand exploded, splashing onto his beard, making him quickly wave his hand to pat it away.
"Hagrid, what's wrong?" Hermione asked anxiously.
"Oh, it's nothing. My old wand…" Hagrid quickly said.
"It was broken by the Ministry of Magic people back then, and Ollivander wouldn't repair it. I could only weave some Unicorn hair and tie it together."
"Oh, the umbrella. That one? Right? Can I see it?" Harry also remembered.
"That's right," Hagrid nodded, handing the wand to Harry.
Harry took it in his hand and immediately saw the conspicuous silver gauze. Hagrid's bandaging was rough yet meticulous. He had combed an entire lock of Unicorn hair, but simply wrapped it around the wand like a bandage.
Just as Harry was about to say something, hoofbeats appeared at the other end of the path.
A sturdy man with red hair and a beard walked out, but his lower body was that of a reddish-brown horse, with a red tail swaying behind him.
"Hagrid? Who are these two? Hogwarts students?" he said cautiously, holding a bow and arrow.
But very quickly, even before Hagrid could answer, he noticed Harry's scar.
"Oh… Harry Potter." The Centaur's expression softened a little, less wary.
"Yes, this is Harry. And this is Hermione Granger," Hagrid introduced. "This is Ronan."
"Hello," Harry nodded. "Pleased to meet you."
Ronan nodded. "Just say what you need." As he spoke, he looked up at the sky, gazing at the stars, a little lost in thought.
"Well, there's a Thestral in the Forbidden Forest that's dying. I was wondering if you could help dispose of its body when the time comes."
"A Thestral?" Ronan's gaze swept over them. "Do you take Centaurs for mere House-elves to be ordered around?"
"Just a favor," Hagrid shrugged. "We only need the heartstring. You can do whatever you want with the rest."
Upon hearing this, Ronan's expression softened a little. "Alright, you can give me the body then."
"It's a deal then," Hagrid smiled.
"Please return," Ronan nodded, turned, and left along the dirt path.
The trio also walked towards the Thestral settlement.
On the way, Hermione was a little puzzled. "Hagrid, why did the Centaur react so strongly when we mentioned helping?"
Hagrid shrugged indifferently. "They've always been like that. Except for Firenze, the other Centaurs aren't so easy to talk to."
"I remember the book said Centaurs are very proud creatures," Hermione recalled the description she had read in her book.
"Actually, not really," Hagrid pondered how to explain. "They just… they think everyone is equal. But…"
Combining Ronan's previous words, Harry seemed to understand what Hagrid wanted to express: "But to show this equality… so they're a bit sensitive about certain things?"
"Hmm, that's right," Hagrid nodded in agreement. "Harry, you speak so strangely. Are you chewing gum?"
"I wouldn't dare… chew it," Harry stammered, shaking his head helplessly.
"Then his analogy with House-elves? Isn't that also a manifestation of believing oneself superior to other creatures?" Hermione said indignantly.
"This… it's alright," Hagrid scratched his head.
"House-elves are specifically used for this purpose; it's been going on for hundreds of years."
As he spoke, he noticed Hermione's somewhat displeased gaze. "I mean… well, that's what I mean."
Hagrid didn't know what to say; he was always bad at arguing.
Harry also timely changed the subject: "Hagrid, would you mind if I took a look at this wand?"
"Oh, the wand. Yes," Hagrid nodded. "It really isn't that good anymore."
"Right," Harry also nodded. "What I mean is, Hagrid, you could ask Uncle Howl."
"Oh, no!" Hagrid immediately rejected the idea. "Howl is busy enough. Goodness, I don't know how to repay him for the help he gave me before."
"Alright," Harry could only nod. This was just a suggestion, and he couldn't possibly ask Uncle Howl for help. In his opinion, that would be taking advantage.
"Then if my wand turns out to be fine, I'll try to repair yours for you," Harry said.
"wand?" Hagrid was a bit surprised. "What wand of yours?"
"I'm going to make my own wand," Harry explained. "The Thestral heartstring is for that."
"Oh!" Hagrid's heart skipped a beat. "Really?"
"Of course, it's real," Harry nodded seriously.
"Then don't wait for your wand," Hagrid rubbed the spot where it had exploded in his palm earlier. "Harry, just take it and do it. Honestly… even though I don't mind that it often malfunctions, I'm also very worried that one day it will suddenly break in my hands.
Why didn't it do this when it was in the umbrella before…?"
"The ribs of the umbrella… another layer of wand core? Perhaps… that's the reason," Harry explained. "Are you really sure?"
"Of course, you can. If it really fails, just buy another one from Ollivander," Hagrid could only offer a comforting smile.
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