Chapter 175: Centaurs and Divination

Ivan returned to the Forbidden Forest, and walked along the path for a while.

He was looking for a place where he could ambush Peter Pettigrew, but stopped immediately when he heard something trampling the fallen leaves.

Ivan hurriedly hid behind a large tree and listened intently. He left his Animagus form and drew his wand. The sound was like a galloping on the ground, getting closer and closer.

Could it be an Acromantula?

Suddenly, an arrow flew through the air and he heard it hit the tree, right above his head. That was creepy, extremely creepy.

Ivan's curse almost flew instantly as well. Through the light of the spell, he saw something appear in the open space in front of him. It looked like a man, with black hair and a beard. But from the waist down, it was a shiny brown-black horse with a long black tail behind it.

It was a centaur. He dodged Ivan's spell with agility and drew his bow to aim at Ivan.

"Who are you, human?" The centaur's face was full of rage, and he said rudely, "You come into our woods and want to attack me with magic?"

"I'm sorry, this is a misunderstanding! I thought you were an Acromantula. You know, I was just attacked by them." There was a faint light on the tip of Ivan's wand, "I introduce myself, my name is Ivan Mason, from Hogwarts."

In his mind, Ivan tried to remember what information he had related to centaurs. In most of the wizarding books he read, the introduction of these humanoid creatures was full of contempt.

For example, in Article 7 of the "Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures," the definition of the Centaur is: "A being with a human head, torso, and arms attached to the body of a horse and a magical animal with near-human intelligence." It is worth noting their use of words, saying that they have almost human intelligence. Such demeaning vocabulary represents the absolute opinions of magicians about all humanoid creatures.

But that was not the case at all. The centaur is a very proud creature.

In general, they distrust both wizards and Muggles and, in fact, seem to make little differentiation between them. Centaurs are reputed to be well versed in healing magic, divination, archery and astronomy.

They often live together in herds forming colonies.

The Centaur colony in the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts is currently the largest known ethnic tribe of Centaurs, and has existed for over a thousand years. Before the Founding Four established Hogwarts School of Magic, the ancestors of the Centaurs lived in this magical forest that was later called the Forbidden Forest.

Ivan was no fool to treat a centaur according to the contents of what he read in the book, unless he wanted to enrage him and die faster. He tried to think of him as an equal, and tried not to look away from his eyes to his lower limbs, though they were indeed different and strange.

"I'm avoiding Acromantulas...," Ivan said.

"Acromantulas!!!" Anger became even more evident on the centaur's face. He said angrily. "I don't know when the number of these ferocious and hateful creatures started to increase in the forest. They are arbitrarily attacking other creatures, and have occupied much of the territory that belonged to us."

Ivan was astonished. No wonder Acromantulas had been classified as one of the most dangerous magical creatures by the Ministry of Magic, and the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures had clearly classified them as Class A Non-Tradable Commodities.

Yes, perhaps their attack capability is a bit weaker. But the fierce personality, super high intelligence and strong ability to multiply give Acromantulas a strong ability to invade other species, causing great damage to the ecological system. It can be seen from the tone of this centaur that Aragog and his descendants must have been giving the centaurs a lot of trouble in the Forbidden forest.

There was a sudden movement in the bush, and Ivan quickly raised his wand.

He thought it was an Acromantula. But it turned out it was only a second Centaur, with red hair, a shiny brown body, slimmer than the first.

"Good evening, Ivan Mason!" The second Centaur's personality was much softer. He said in a melancholy voice, "My name is Ronan, this is Bane, I hope we didn't scare you! Are you a foal of the castle? Do you learn much at school?"

"Yes, I can learn a little..." said Ivan modestly, deliberately ignoring his other words. To the Centaurs, a colt is probably how they describe any child.

"A little bit, Well, that's something!" Ronan sighed. "Although you humans waste most of your lives on useless things due to ethnic restrictions, I have to admit that you have still achieved some remarkable magical accomplishments."

This sentence sounded like a compliment, but Ivan didn't know how to respond.

Ronan didn't seem to expect Ivan to respond. He threw his head back and looked up at the sky. He said in a very melancholy tone, "Mars is shining tonight."

He seemed to have forgotten about Ivan and the Acromantulas. His eyes stared and seemed to see something in it.

Ivan also looked up and saw that Mars was really bright.

He didn't know what that meant. In his opinion, that was just one of the natural phenomena of the workings of the stars. But for the Centaurs, it was obviously not. For centuries, they had been persistently observing and recording the workings of various celestial bodies, trying to find the symbols that showed the waves of great evil or transformation there.

"What does this mean?" asked Ivan in a low voice.

Considering that the key to the Secret Treasure of Gryffindor was being preserved among the Centaur colony, Ivan felt it was necessary to have a good relationship with them.

Perhaps, he could also ask them to help him catch Peter Pettigrew. With so many Acromantulas, it was impossible for one person to win.

"War is about to break out, and always the innocent are the first victims." Ronan sighed a few more times. "That's how it's been for centuries, that's how it is now."

"Yes." Ivan slurred his voice, he didn't know what the other had seen, he said, "Tonight I'm going to the Forbidden Forest to catch an evil wizard and not let him run away. Otherwise, it will have a very negative effect on the future, and you will also be involved. Presumably, you have also noticed this abnormality..."

"Mars is shining tonight." Ronan repeated it again, adding to the tone, "Unusually bright!"

"I know, as you just said, I hope you can help me with the evil dark wizard." He turned his head and looked at Bane. The latter didn't seem to be looking at him.

He walked over to stand next to Ronan. He looked up at the sky for a long time. "Mars is bright tonight," he said simply.

Again, Ivan sighed. He found that it was very difficult to communicate with the centaurs.

They probably knew a lot of things, but they never said it directly. They kept their mouths shut about what they observed.

Like Professor Trelawney, they always like to tell others about the divinations they observe, the warnings from the sky, but they often turn a blind eye to what is going on around them.

Ivan realized that it was harder than ever to enlist the help of the centaurs to catch Pettigrew.