22 Inner Forest

On Saturday morning he left a note for his roommates that he may be away till Sunday night, with the made-up excuse of a Potion experiment. He took his trunk with his stuff and potions and stopped by the Kitchens. He got Sandwiches and enough Water from the happy House-elves. After his preparations were finished he left for a part of the ancient castle where no Portraits were present. After disillusioning himself, he sneaked out of the castle and returned to the outskirts of the old and massive forest.

Matthew used a different path than last time, thanks to his previous explorations he that knew this one led into the inner parts of the forbidden forest. After wandering for a while through the thick forest, the vegetation became denser and wilder the more into the central parts he came. On his way, he, unfortunately, met 3 other Acromantulas who tried to prey on him. Unfortunate for them, since they were alone every time, killing them off quickly. He really needed to thank Professor Snape somehow, without his dark-cutting curse he would have real trouble disposing of them without causing a commotion and luring other predators in. He had other spells which would be effective but they were far louder like the blasting curse, the dark cutting curse was his most deadliest and silent spell.

After some time the pathway ended and was overgrown by the wilderness of the forest, with the help of the AI Chip and the point me charm he was able to create a compass for his mental map and continued into the center of the ancient forest. He reached a wide clearing with some plants he never saw inside potion stores only read of them. Deciding it was time for Lunch, he rested on a tree stump where he ate some of his sandwiches. After Lunch, he carefully harvested the plants and stored them inside the potion storage sections of his trunk.

The clearing would make a good central point to explore the inner parts of the old forest. Matthew decided to create a basic shelter inside a thick tree, with cutting charms he carved a cave out wide enough for him to lay in, the entrance he hid behind leaves and bushes which he moved there. He cleaned the inside out with a few cleaning charms and transformed a nice and clean wooden floor with inanimate to inanimate transfiguration, out of the scraps formed by him cutting a cave into the tree. Since it was just changing the form of the material, not the material itself the transfiguration would be permanent. It was getting slowly dark, after completing his rudimentary base inside the forest he decided to explore the surroundings of the clearing with the Night- Owl potions he prepared. He wanted to use most of his time inside the forest productively, since he could only enter this deep into the forest again, on the next weekend, at the earliest.

So he explored the surroundings, he gathered some materials until he heard galloping steps, similar to horses, Centaurs! He quickly silenced and disillusioned himself, and hid behind a tree while observing the direction where he heard the sounds from. After a few moments something appeared, It was a group of Centaurs, like horses they had different kinds of colors most were a shade of brown or black, but one of them had even white fur. They had the body of a Horse but the Torso of a man with different facial features, hair, and eye colors. They had a quiver of arrows on their backs and a bow in their hands. One of them complained in an angry voice, "These Acromantulas becoming more and more a menace inside the forest. Even though Hagrid told them to only stay in their part of the forest they are traveling more and more out of the forest. Some of them dared to enter the dark ruins. Unbelievable.".

"Calm down, Bane. They don't understand the ancient danger inside. I will talk with Hagrid again, he may be able to convince them to keep their distance from the black castle.", reasoned an old-looking Centaur in the front of the Group as they left Matthews hearing range.

Matthew stayed hidden for a while until he was sure they left the area, 'AI Chip mark the unexplored area in the direction they left as possible Centaur Camp. Also, mark the area they came from, there seems to be something interesting to explore tomorrow. A Black Castle, or at least its remains. I wonder what that is about.' Pondered Matthew, since he didn't remember anything from the Harry Potter books or movies about it.

His hiding from the Centaurs turned to be unexpectedly fruitful, after all this was interesting information. Luckily they didn't spot him or they would have definitely escorted him out of "their" forest. Especially since he only was a student or a foal for them. After exploring a bit into the direction the Centaurs came from he decided to return to his base since it was getting late, and the effects of his potions would end soon. He didn't want to use another one since he needed to rest, especially since he may explore ancient ruins tomorrow. He needed to be on top of his game.

After returning to his clearing, while making sure nothing was following him. He passed through the bushes and entered the inside of his tree base. While enjoying a Sandwich for dinner, he wondered what he would discover tomorrow. After dinner he took out a blanket and a pillow out of his magical trunk, to keep him warm during the cold night. After making sure the AI Chip was on alert, he fell asleep to the sounds of the forest, the rustling of leaves, and the sounds of different animals.

Nothing happened during the night and he could rest without trouble. The Ai Chip woke him up early on Sunday morning. After cleaning himself up, he enjoyed a quick breakfast and left his base after making sure it was well hidden since he wanted to use it in the future again.

Matthew left in the direction the Centaurs yesterday came from. He made sure to travel carefully and was disillusioned since he didn't want to be discovered by them. The deeper he traveled in that direction, the darker and colder it became. The Atmosphere inside the forest became darker and darker even though it was day already and the sun stood high above the forest. Plants and Trees took a darker shade than normal. Something about his destination was clearly suspicious. He would need to be very careful in his exploration.

Traveling for over an hour in that direction he arrived at a dark clearing. In the clearing were spread black stones on the forest floor. But there were only ancient-looking black stones, well, and an unpleasant atmosphere, very cold and dark. But what was so dangerous about a few black stones, no buildings nothing. A Castle stood definitely here a long time ago, but on first look, nothing remained. He explored the clearing but found nothing, and became a bit frustrated and disappointed. Until he decided to let the AI Chip give it a try, 'AI Chip scan the area for anything, hopefully, you will be able to find anything.'

[Beep! Scanning of the clearing is complete. …

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