23 Making Plans

Towards the end of November, while practicing in the room of requirement, I mastered the final spell in my charms book, Standard book of spells volume I. Closing the book shut, I was slightly surprised that I had been able to cast all 20 spells within the book before even half of the year was finished.

Glancing around the room of requirement, I wondered if I should continue to practice mastering the amount of energy I put into spells to control the strength of the spell, or move on to the next book in the series. My true feelings gave me away when I spotted on the table another book titled, Standard book of spells volume II. I guess the room was able to sense my hunger to learn even more magic spells.

The next day, Professor Snape seemed to be in a particularly bad mood. When Roger's potion turned to a gunky green sludge, Professor Snape's black eyes seemed to bore through him. He snapped, "Mr. Davis, do you have the ability to read and follow simple instruction?"

Roger gulped nervously and replied, "Yes, Professor, I do."

Professor Snapp's eyes glittered, and replied dangerously, "Then why did you add the last two ingredients incorrectly, as well as stir in the opposite direction. As more time goes on, I find myself wondering just how incompetent someone can be. Are you doing this on purpose? Or are you just plain stupid?"

Roger wilted at Professor Snape's tone and the pointed questions. After a moment, Snape rolled his eyes and muttered, "Get out of my sight."

After class, when Roger and I were making our way through the halls, he grumbled, "It's not fair, what the hell is his problem anyway."

When class was over, I tried to comfort Roger, "Don't take it too personally; that is just how Professor Snape is around students. He is a brilliant potions master, but he isn't what I would call a great teacher. I think that he is one of those geniuses that are so talented that when he finds other people doing poorly, he just can't understand why they aren't succeeding. So, he has a hard time teaching students who aren't able to succeed on their own; he just throws you into the deep end to see if you sink or swim."

Shooting me a bitter look, Roger grumbled as we made our way through the school, "That doesn't excuse him from being a great big dick."

The rest of the week flew by, and on Saturday, I made my way down to Hagrid's wooden hut. Approaching the enormous door, I could hear Hagrid deep rumbling voice crooning what sounded like a lullaby. As soon as I knocked, all sound from the hut vanished.

After a moment of silence, I could hear objects being hastily moved around inside the hut. Hagrid's voice rang out, "Just a minute."

Eventually, Hagrid opened the door and glanced down at me. Once he saw who I was, he seemed to relax a bit. "Oh it's just you Alex. Why didn't you say so, come on in."

Walking into the hut, the first thing I noticed was Fang, he seemed to have burrowed his way under a thick heavy blanket on the couch. If he was trying to hide, he wasn't doing a good job considering his enormous size.

On the other side of the hut, I noticed a familiar-looking trunk; it looked remarkably similar to the many trunks I had seen my uncle delivering to areas. Deciding to have a bit of fun with Hagrid, I wandered over to the chair next to it and took a seat. Stroking the trunk gently, I playfully remarked. "This is a fine-looking trunk you have here, Hagrid."

Hagrid's eyes shifted and replied nervously, "Oh that old thing, its nothing, just something I have lying about."

As I moved my hand towards the handle, a Chesire cat grin appeared on my face, and I asked innocently, "Would you mind if I took a look inside it?"

"No, don't open it." Hagrid blurted out, and his face scrunched up in worry.

Deciding to end his misery, I said, "I'm just messing with you Hagrid, I already know that my uncle gave you the trunk, it has his mark on it."

Hagrid let out a deep breath, and a relieved expression appeared on his face. "You little brat, you had me worried for a moment."

Curious about what type of magical creature my uncle gave him, I asked, "So what kinda magical creature did you get?"

Hagrid made his way over, with a smile appearing on his face. Opening the trunk, he proudly bragged. "Your uncle got me a pair of baby Garmrs."

As soon as he opened the trunk, Fang let out a fearful whine, and the heavy blanket he had burrowed into began quivering. As Hagrid's enormous hands reached in, he scooped out two big bundles of fur.

At first glance, they looked like baby wolves; then I noticed the eyes. Specifically that they had four of them, and they were glowing blood red. Next, I noticed the teeth, even though they were babies, they were razor-sharp designed for ripping and tearing. Sharp spikes hid inside their dense black fur, and their claws on their paws were designed to shed their prey's skin.

After getting a good look at them, I realized that Fang had the right idea. These little monsters looked terrifying. Unsure of what to say, I interjected. "They look… interesting."

With a wide grin on his face, Hagrid sat and brought the garmr pups to his chest. "Garmrs are amazing creatures. They were created by an ancient Norwegian witch named Hella. They have really interesting magical properties; it is said that none can hide from their eyes, and if they get a taste of someone's blood, they can track them down no matter how far away they are."

While Hagrid was bragging about his new pets, he didn't seem to notice that they were chewing on his fingertips. One of them appeared to be annoyed that they couldn't chew through Hagrid's thick skin and shifted its eyes in my direction.

Not wanting to take a chance on Hagrid's ability to control the little monster, I put my right hand behind my back and extended my wand from its concealed holster. Just in case the little monster decided he wanted a taste of wizard blood.

The other garmr pup seemed content to chew on Hagrid's hands like they were chew-toys. Worried about Hagrid's ability to control them, I asked, "What will you do if they attack students."

A wounded expression appeared on Hagrid's face, and he brought them to his chest protectively and defended, "They wouldn't hurt nobody; they are only misunderstood creatures, Look at them there just adorable babies."

Sighing at Hagrid's ability to pretend that dangerous monsters are harmless little creatures, I decided to let it go for now and move on to what I had come down to ask.

Hesitant, I asked, 'You've been in the Forbidden Forest, right?"

Nodding, he bragged, "Sure loads of times."

Wanting to get as much information as I could I asked, "Is it really as dangerous as they say,"

Scoffing, Hagrid replied, "It ain't so bad in there, I go in there all the time. As long as you don't bother the creatures in there, they mostly leave you alone. Just don't piss off the centaurs, and you'll be fine."

Wanting more information, I asked, "Just how many creatures live in the forest."

Hagrid eyes lit up and began passionately speaking, "The forest is enormous, and has a large population of magical creatures due to the enhancements on Hogwarts that protects the area from muggles, a place where they can be free."

Curious, I asked, "What stops all the creature from coming onto the grounds."

Waving his hand reassuringly, Hagrid replied, "Oh there are wards and enchantments that prevent the creatures from coming onto the grounds uninvited."

Relieved that the castle grounds were protected, I decided to get to the heart of the matter, "So, I was wondering, if you could draw me a map of the forest, you know places to avoid if someone found their way inside forest."

"I don't know," Hagrid hesitantly replied, "I mean students aren't really allowed to go into the forest"

Knowing that Hagrid would do anything for magical creatures, I quickly replied, "Its not for me, it's for Athena, she has been cooped up on the grounds, and I can tell she needs to get out and about more."

A worried look appeared on Hagrid's face, which made me feel slightly guilty for manipulating his love of creatures. Knowing he needed a final push, I continued, "Imagine if your baby garmr were trapped in the hut consistently, they would be miserable, sometimes magical creatures need to be able to run free."

Sighing heavily, Hagrid nodded his acceptance, and I tried to contain my glee. The first step to recovering my ring had been accomplished. Hagrid put the garmr pups back in the trunk and wandered over a chest in the corner. As he rubbished through the chest, he mumbled, "I know it in here somewhere."

Knowing that this could take some time, I sat on the couch next to Fang and tried to coax him out. After 10 minutes of searching Hargid said victoriously. "Ah ha! Found it, I knew it was in here somewhere." Wandering over, he set a sturdy leather tube down on the coffee table in front of the couch said "Here you go, one map of the forest, as requested"

The rest of the evening passed quickly, and by the time I made back to my room back in the Ravenclaw tower, I was brimming with excitement. The tube holding the map seemed to imply that the map inside was valuable. Visions of a magical map filled my head; already I imagined a map similar to the marauders' map that Harry had in the books.

Grinning at finding Athena sprawled out on my bed as she owned it. Waving the tube around, I bragged, "This magical map is going to help me find my ring in the forest."

Not wanting to wait a moment longer, I removed the lid of the tube and slid the map out. Unrolling the thick parchment I was stunned into silence after seeing the content. The map wasn't like the Marauders map at all. It looked it had been drawn by a five-year-old. Where was my magical map, I want a refund.

As my left eye started twitching in annoyance, I glared at the offending map, half tempted to throw it in the trash. As my eyes roamed over the map I noticed that there were crudely drawn creatures all over the place, and in a section, I spotted what looked like a smiling dancing spider. Trying to find a silver lining, I thought bitterly. Well, at least I know how to avoid the giant murderous acromantula.

Curious about what I was looking at Athena hopped up and took a look at the contents. After seeing the map for herself she shot a look at me that seemed to question my intelligence and went and laid back down.

Wanting to defend myself, I defended, "What? Its better than nothing." Athena closed her eyes, deciding to ignore my attempt to defend the map.

I spent the next week carefully going over the map, trying to puzzle out what all the drawn creatures and symbols were. Some were easily like the Acromantula and the Centaurs. Others were less recognizable. Fortunately, I was able to find books in the room of requirement , which helped me identify all of the creatures drawn.

After I had completely deciphered the map, I let out a sigh of relief in the room of requirement. I was ready to take the next step, transportation. No way I was walking into a forest full of dangerous magical creatures on foot. I'm gonna need a broom, as soon as the thought popped into my head, several options appeared on the table.

Looking around the room, I still find myself flabbergasted at the complexity of the rooms enchantments. Out of all the spells laid down on the castle, this room's enchantment is the best and most mysterious, I had already tried asking the room for the book with the spell in it. Unfortunately, the room was unable to provide one, which made me think that this room's enchantment was a custom enchantment created by Rowena, but was never recorded. Making a promise to myself, I thought, One day, I am going to learn how to create new spells and I will recreate this lost enchantment.

After testing the broomstick, I selected the fasted one and snuck it back to my room. This was it, tomorrow, I would venture into the forbidden forest for the first time.