Parents of Hogwarts

After a while of silence.

"Instead of retiring, maybe you should bring more raw beef."

Slughorn was startled as he watched the Thestral in front of him eat a large piece of raw beef in two bites, and it kept rubbing its head against the barrel in Kettleburn's hand.

Kettleburn saw that he was deliberately stirring up a new subject.

"Tell me about Steve's two roommates."

He took the initiative and said, "If I remember correctly, one of them, Callan Sangster, was the student who spoke good words for her after being injured by Dorcas."

After listening to his summary, Karan suddenly felt a little strange.

"Yes, it's him."

Slughorn said: "A very mature kid who is polite to everyone, but turned down all the interviews with Skeeter, which saved Albus a lot of trouble."

"Moreover, he also has a high level of magical talent."

"Magic talent" Kettleburn asked: "What's going on?"

"Iron Armor Curse."

Professor Slughorn's answer made Karan narrow his eyes slightly: "He successfully cast the Iron Armor Curse in the first Defense Against the Dark Arts class. If Dorcas hadn't been so angry at the time, he might have actually cast it. Just let him block it."

"This is what Dorcas told me personally. She has always been one of my favorite students and is willing to share with me some things that happened in the classroom."

After saying this, he smiled slightly contentedly.

Professor Kettleburn snorted again.

"What about the other one?" he asked.

"Gespard Singleton."

Slughorn said the name immediately, obviously remembering him for a long time.

"His parents are both highly reputable alchemy experts and are particularly famous throughout the world. And he also performed very well in potions class, especially when he was assigned to a group with Steve. when."

This time Kettleburn snorted louder.

"Don't be dissatisfied with me, old man." Professor Slughorn shook his head and said: "If you have ever seen Steve Scamander's poor performance in Potions class, you will know what I said. What does it mean?"

"It was a disaster."

Slughorn didn't know what he was thinking of, and he began to make a "tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk" sound.

"Perhaps what you really should do is give up your ridiculous educational philosophy."

Kettleburn seemed offended and shouted: "Steve is more talented than these people you think of, just in Magical Creatures and not in your damn Potions class"

"Hey, don't get excited."

Slughorn looked taken aback. He didn't expect Kettleburn's reaction to be so big.

"If Steve is really talented, then why not let him go see that unicorn," he said, "This is better than us trying our luck in the Forbidden Forest."

It seems that Larry still hasn't woken up, and his condition may not even have improved.

Kettleburn hummed for a while, and after a while, he spoke in a low voice.

"It's not that kind of talent."

"Humph"

Now it was Professor Slughorn's turn to hum. He teased his old colleague beside him: "What about you?"

"Since you can see the talent that I can't see, you should be able to know why that unicorn was injured. If you don't know the reason, no matter how many kinds of strange monsters we can find here, The ingredients for the medicine are all in vain.”

"Potions can increase reputation, create honor, and even prevent death, but they are not omnipotent."

"You should know this, Sylvanus."

As he spoke, he also intentionally looked at the parts of Professor Kettleburn's severed limbs.

However, Kettleburn was also silently staring at his broken arm.

"There are many secrets in the Forbidden Forest."

After a while, he slowly whispered.

As soon as he heard him speaking in this tone, Slughorn's expression gradually became serious.

"Before Albus took over, I spent a lot of time exploring the Forbidden Forest."

Kettleburn spoke in a leisurely tone. Neither he nor Slughorn noticed the grass being pressed down not far behind them.

Karan quietly approached them and hid behind another yew tree so he could hear better.

"During that period, I went deep into the Forbidden Forest countless times. For this reason, Armando also allowed me to accumulate dozens of additional probationary experiences. He lived too long, more than 300 years old , the Forbidden Forest already existed in Hogwarts when he was a student."

"It taught him reverence."

"But it also cost me most of my limbs."

As he said that, he laughed out loud.

But Slughorn didn't smile. He just shrugged, showing a helpless expression at this old colleague's behavior.

"I've never regretted it."

As if in response to the look on Slughorn's face, Kettleburn proudly said: "The mutilation of my body is an honor to me, and it proves my dedication to my work."

"Newt is nothing like you." Slughorn said mockingly.

Kettleburn pretended not to hear, and continued: "But unfortunately, until now, I have not been able to see the whole of the Forbidden Forest. And those centaurs have a strong sense of territoriality and have never been willing to Talk more. Even if they say something, they are all weird words that no one can understand."

"It's like those powerful weapons and armors made by goblins. Only they know the secrets."

"What do you mean by this?" Slughorn interrupted in confusion: "What does this have to do with the unicorn?"

There was a brief silence, and the only sound left was the sound of the three thestrals tearing into raw beef.

Kettleburn poured out all the raw beef from the bucket, and gently patted the back of the tallest Thestral.

"Sometimes, I feel that the reason I got out of the Forbidden Forest alive was not because I was lucky enough."

He finally spoke.

"But it never meant to hurt me."

"It" Slughorn asked with a frown: "Who is it?"

Professor Kettleburn stepped on the ground with his wooden prosthetic leg. After staring at it for a while, Slughorn immediately shook his head and said, "Are you kidding me?"

Kettleburn rarely refuted him, but changed the subject and said: "Larry's situation is very special. He is an extremely rare unicorn, but after being in such a near-death state, he did not survive. No damage, not even a tail hair missing.”

"You even know this." Slughorn looked at him strangely.

He himself had personally inspected Larry and found that there were a lot of tail hairs on its tail, one of which was worth ten galleons.

But Larry was still alive after all, so he gave up his little thoughts and didn't do anything secretly.

"For a magizoologist, it is not difficult to detect such changes."

Kettleburn said: "And the tail hair is originally an item with very magical properties on unicorns, just like these Thestrals. In addition to natural shedding, other methods of forcible pulling can remove it from some subtle places. I can see a difference."

"Unicorns themselves are also very sensitive to their tail hairs. Ollivander almost got kicked hard back then, and that kick was not light."

"Okay, it looks like we should go"

Kettleburn said this in a questioning tone, and after Slughorn nodded, he gave the tall Thestral a final pat.

"Now only Wuwu and its children are willing to come out. The other Thestrals must be staying deeper in this area."

"I hope the anomalies in the Forbidden Forest can end as soon as possible."

He sighed heavily at the end, picked up the empty barrel, and walked away with Slughorn.