When Wade returned to the scorched land, he immediately noticed from a distance that Hagrid and Noberta were gone, and the students were in some disarray.
"Hurry! Help them over here!"
"Gently, that hurts!"
"Need water? I can cast Aguamenti!"
"Come on, what are you waiting for?"
Wade grabbed someone passing by and asked, "What happened?"
"You weren't here just now?" Ryan looked a bit surprised, then said, "Noberta accidentally sneezed, and then… well, you saw what happened."
He shrugged helplessly and helped a younger student repair their mostly-burnt robe.
"Where's Hagrid?" Wade asked as he walked toward the chaos.
"The shouting earlier seemed to scare Noberta. Hagrid had a hard time getting her back into the cave. He's probably trying to calm her down now!" Ryan replied.
As they spoke, a deep roar echoed from the cave, it rolled out like waves and caused the entire forest to fall momentarily silent.
After a brief pause, Wade continued forward and, unsurprisingly, found that the worst-injured was the unlucky Malfoy.
His wizard robe was mostly undone, revealing large areas of horrifying burns on his once-pale skin, now dark red and blackened—truly shocking to behold.
Although most of the students present weren't fond of Slytherin, basic decency and compassion hadn't vanished. Many gathered around Malfoy with concern and fear, while Percy, Penelope, and a few other senior students carefully cast healing spells.
Malfoy was gritting his teeth with tears streaming down his face from the pain, but this time he didn't scream "I'll tell my father." Instead, he gasped, "Madam Pomfrey… I want Madam Pomfrey!"
"This is terrible!" Hermione said anxiously. "We need to get the injured to the hospital wing as soon as possible."
"Don't worry," Ron said reassuringly. "Madam Pomfrey can fix this kind of minor injury in no time."
Malfoy shot him a furious glare. "Easy for you to say! You're not the one in pain!"
Ron pointed at Harry beside him and mocked, "Harry broke his arm before and didn't cry like you, Draco sweetie."
Malfoy immediately made a face of utter disgust. "Don't call me something that gross! Who do you think you are?"
"Enough!" Percy suddenly snapped. "Anyone who keeps arguing will lose twenty points! I mean it!"
He gave his youngest brother a hard glare, then put away his wand and said, "This is the best we can do for now. Let's get back to school quickly."
"But Hagrid hasn't come out yet," Penelope said with a frown. "Without him, we'd better not go into the forest on our own."
"Let me take a look." Wade pushed through the crowd, walked over, and checked Malfoy's injuries. Then he reached into his pocket, fumbled for a moment, and pulled out a slender crystal vial.
Malfoy had been watching him suspiciously. When he saw Wade open the bottle and bring it toward his wounds, he immediately asked warily, "What is that?"
"If your nose is still working, it's burn salve."
Given that Malfoy was injured, Wade didn't take offense at his tone and replied mildly, "To be precise, it's the best kind."
Ever since the mission to rescue Haley on the island, Wade had received a variety of potions from Professor Snape and Madam Pomfrey—remedies for colds, antidotes, wound-healing, blood replenishment, and more.
All of them were significantly more effective than anything Wade could brew himself.
He had to admit, he didn't devote much time to practicing potion-making, so while he was considered talented among students, he was nowhere near the level of a master like Snape.
Pale green liquid flowed from the bottle as Wade softly chanted an incantation. The potion seemed almost alive, creeping along the burns until all the damaged areas were covered.
Within seconds, the swelling subsided rapidly. The terrifying red and yellow burns faded into a light reddish mark, some charred skin flaked away, and even the thumb-sized blisters that had just begun to swell disappeared.
"Amazing!" Astoria said happily. "Looks like you're already recovering, Malfoy!"
"But my shoulder still hurts!" Malfoy exclaimed. He reached up and cautiously prodded it, only to cry out in pain.
"Is it really that bad?" Harry asked skeptically.
With a grimace, Malfoy said, "I'd love for you to try it yourself, Potter!"
Astoria sighed in exasperation and confusion. "You're injured and still this annoying. You're seriously not afraid we'll leave you behind in the Forbidden Forest?"
Even though everyone knew that Hagrid, as a professor, would never abandon a student, Malfoy's face still turned pale at the thought, he was clearly shaken.
"It was a dragon fire injury," Wade explained. "The outer skin has mostly healed thanks to the potion, but the deeper tissue hasn't yet. As long as you don't touch the wound, it shouldn't affect your normal movement."
Malfoy looked doubtful but carefully draped his robe over himself and stood up. He walked a few steps and, sure enough, didn't feel the searing pain from before.
He opened his mouth slightly, as if to say thank you, but the words never came out.
While he hesitated, Wade had already been pulled away by other students. Malfoy wasn't the only one burned—just the most seriously hurt.
Malfoy, still cautious, adjusted his robes. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed someone lingering nearby. He looked up and, to his surprise, it was Harry. With a sneer, he said:
"What? Want to interview me about how it feels to be injured?"
"No," Harry said, a bit awkwardly, while rubbing his nose. "Malfoy, since your injury's healing quickly, you're not going to run off and tattle to your dad, right? You know this was all just an accident…"
The first time when the accident happened in Care of Magical Creatures class, Harry firmly believed it was Malfoy's fault. After all, Hagrid had repeatedly emphasized the need to respect hippogriffs, but Malfoy had deliberately provoked and insulted Buckbeak.
But this time… it was just bad luck that he happened to be standing too close to the dragon's nose. The responsibility definitely lay more with Hagrid.
Upon closer reflection, keeping a dangerous Norwegian Ridgeback in the Forbidden Forest or bringing a group of students to observe and interact with a dragon up close—either of those clearly violated school rules.
Harry only now realized how reckless Hagrid had been, which made him feel especially unsure of himself when he told Malfoy he hoped he wouldn't make a fuss.
"What I choose to do is none of your business, Potter!" Malfoy said coldly. "Stay away from me!"
After driving off a few Gryffindors, Malfoy didn't dare move too much himself. He carefully supported his injured shoulder and kept his distance from the others.
At this moment, Malfoy felt relieved that Blaise and the others hadn't come here—especially those annoying Weasley twins. If they had, he was certain they'd "accidentally" bump into his injured spot on purpose.
A figure approached from behind. Malfoy thought it was Harry again and turned around in irritation, only to see the small figure of Astoria.
He frowned. "What? You here to plead for that big oaf too?"
"No," Astoria shook her head. "I know you won't make a fuss."
"Oh yeah?" Malfoy drawled maliciously. "What makes you so sure? I'll have my father flay her alive. And Hagrid—he'll never teach again. He's going straight to Azkaban!"
If Harry or the others had been there, the argument would've turned into a full-blown fight. But Astoria only shook her head again.
"You won't. You like Noberta—more than any of us do."
Astoria said this with certainty: "Even now, you still call Noberta 'her'—not 'that beast.' But you always called the hippogriff that, right? I've heard you say it more than once."
Malfoy turned his head away awkwardly. After a moment, he asked, "So why are you here? To laugh at me too?"
"I just thought you might not want to be alone—while everyone else is with their friends."
Astoria walked beside him with hands behind her back, and asked plainly:
"Why are you always so mean to people? Potter and Grey didn't mean any harm earlier, and neither did I. Even if you don't like Ron Weasley, his brother helped heal you a few minutes ago."
Draco Malfoy looked into the blonde girl's eyes—clear as water—and suddenly felt that all the jealousy, resentment, fear, and doubt he'd buried in his heart were as ridiculous as a pile of stinky socks hidden under the bed.
In the end, all he said was, "Do you need a reason to hate someone?"
Astoria didn't argue. After a moment's thought, she said, "Fair enough… I've got someone I hate too."
Malfoy paused mid-step, curious. "Who?"
Astoria didn't answer. She just tilted her head up and looked at him quietly.
Malfoy grew a little confused—then suddenly realized: "—Pansy?"
"I think she bullies my sister all the time, but when I told Daphne to stay away from Pansy, she said the same thing you just did—told me to mind my own business."
Astoria sighed. "Why are you all like this? You know someone's a bad friend, but you still can't cut ties with them?"
"It's not as simple as you make it sound," Malfoy snapped. "These things are complicated—what would a little girl like you understand?"
Astoria replied sharply, "Staying away from people who make you feel bad doesn't take deep wisdom… you're all just lacking a bit of courage."
Malfoy was speechless. For once, his usual quick tongue—the one that worked so well when arguing with Harry—felt completely rusted.
Just then, Hagrid finally emerged from the cave, with a large piece of his beard burnt and several holes in his clothing.
"Alright, kids, is everyone okay?"
He looked around cautiously, paying extra attention to Malfoy, who had screamed earlier. Seeing that everyone seemed fine—already treated by Wade—he finally relaxed and said hastily:
"Right, let's head back to the school. Noberta's… um… not in the best mood right now. Did anyone get hurt? Nothing serious, I hope?"
Hagrid glanced at Malfoy several times, but Malfoy didn't respond. His mind was elsewhere—he'd just realized that he had forgotten to argue back at Astoria.Pansy isn't a bad friend, is she? She is my most loyal supporter in all of Slytherin.
But as he walked with the group, memories of their daily interactions began resurfacing, and slowly, a troubling thought crept in:
"Maybe… Astoria wasn't completely wrong."
…
Wade stayed at the back of the group. He took a dry branch and transfigured it into a thin wooden board, wrote a short message on it, then returned to the spot where he'd found the wolf pup and hung the board from a tree using string.
He quickly caught up to the group. Fang was still happily bouncing beside him.
"Strange…"
Hagrid kept glancing around as he walked, but the towering trees blocked his view, and he couldn't spot anything unusual.
"What's strange?" Harry asked.
"The Forbidden Forest feels warmer than usual," Hagrid said, puzzled. "And don't you smell that? There's this faint scent of… roasted meat…"
Harry sniffed the air, and his stomach growled loudly.
"You're just hungry, Hagrid," Harry concluded. Then he added, "So am I. Hopefully dinner in the Great Hall hasn't vanished yet."
"Don't worry," Theo said. "If we're late, we'll sneak into the kitchens and whip something up for everyone."
He winked, and Harry laughed, picturing the delicious food and cheerful house-elves waiting there.
At that moment, he almost hoped the dining tables would be empty—just to have an excuse to go to the kitchens.
The mention of dinner made Hagrid forget all about his earlier suspicions. After all, his top priority now was to get all the students back safe and sound.
The return journey was smooth and quiet—so quiet, in fact, that it felt a little too quiet.
Normally, the forest at night would be filled with all sorts of ambient noise, but tonight it was as if even the insects had fallen asleep. Only the sounds of footsteps and breathing could be heard.
Hagrid felt uneasy. He quickened his pace and urged the group to walk faster. It wasn't until the lights of the castle came into view that he finally let out a breath of relief.
Wade paused briefly, and in that moment, a streak of fire shot out from the darkness of the forest, flashed past him, and vanished.
He tucked his pencil case back into his pocket and glanced at Fang, whose eyes were wide. Wade gave a soft smile.
The hound tilted its head in confusion, then shook it off and trotted ahead toward Hagrid's hut. Once there, it collapsed on the steps as if completely exhausted.
"Alright then, go get something to eat," Hagrid clapped his hands.
"If anyone got hurt earlier, go see Madam Pomfrey in the hospital wing—though I'm sure you all know that. Also, I want a paper on the Norwegian Ridgeback by next week…"
Amid loud groans and protests from the students, Hagrid cheerfully assigned the homework and strode off toward the castle.
…
Over half an hour later, a hand reached up and took down the wooden board hanging from the tree. A man dressed in rags—who looked like a walking scarecrow—stood beneath the tree, flipping the board over to read the message.
By his side stood a white wolf and several wolf cubs. The white wolf waited for a while, then impatiently pawed at the man's leg.
"Quit scratching," the man rasped. "This is the only pair of pants I have that's still in one piece."
"The wizard took Morris into the castle," he continued. "Said he'd bring the child back once he's healed."
The white wolf let out a few soft whimpers, its eyes reflecting a very human-like worry.
"We can't get into that castle," the man said. "So we have no choice but to trust them."
He tucked the wooden board behind his waist and turned to one of the wolf cubs with amber-colored eyes.
"Karen, tell me everything that happened—exactly as it happened."
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⭐Harry Potter: Becoming a Study God (HP:BSG)- +235 Chapters
⭐MCU: Druid's Adventures (MCUDA)(⭐COMPLETE⭐) - Total Chapter 460
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