Chapter 73: Forbidden Forest

It seemed darker near the Forbidden Forest than inside the castle. The entire sky seemed like it was covered by a huge black cloth. No stars or moon could be seen, and there was no light at all.

Cyrus took out his wand and murmured, "Lumos!" and a thin beam of light emitted from the tip of the wand. He could have turned it brighter, even illuminating the entire forest, it would not have been a problem, but in this case, it would have been too eye-catching.

This was just enough time for them to observe whether there were any spiders on the road.

Harry followed suit. Taking his wand and lighting it up.

"Wow, now we'll be able to see in this darkness," Ron said enviously, "I also want my wand to shine, but you know, it will explode if you don't do it right..."

"Don't worry, I think Mr. and Mrs. Weasley will buy you a new one during your summer vacation. Just tell your parents that this wand was broken while looking for a successor." Cyrus comforted.

"What a great idea, Mr. Riddle!" Ron's eyes lit up. He had not told his family about the broken wand yet.

Then Harry tapped them on the shoulder and pointed to the grass. Two lonely spiders were scurrying away from the wand's light and into the shadows of the trees.

"Oh, Merlin! do.. do we seriously need to go?"

"Sure enough, all the spiders have entered the Forbidden Forest. Think about Hermionie."

"Okay," Ron sighed, seemingly resigned to the worst, "I'm ready. Let's go."

So they entered the Forbidden Forest, and Fang scampered around them, sniffing roots and leaves.

By the light of Cyrus and Harry's wands, they followed the spiders that continued to crawl along the path.

They walked for about twenty minutes, and no one said anything.

They only listened carefully for any other sounds besides the snapping of branches and the rustling of leaves. Then, the trees grew thicker and denser, and the stars above were no longer visible.

The wands of the two men shone weakly in the endless darkness, like two weak fireflies.

"They're off the road," Cyrus said softly, stretching out his arms to shine a cold light on the ground.

Harry stopped, trying to see clearly the direction in which the spider was moving, but beyond the range illuminated by that glimmer of light, there was darkness beyond reach. He had never been this far into the Forbidden Forest before.

"The Forbidden Forest is already very dangerous, but at least Hagrid often walks here making a path, and there are also traces of centaurs. But once you deviate from the path in the forest, it is unknown what you will encounter." Cyrus reminded.

His words made Ron even more terrified.

Harry also clearly recalled Hagrid warning him not to stray from the forest path the last time he entered the woods. But Hagrid was miles away at the moment, probably sitting in his cell in Azkaban, and he had said something about 'following the spider'.

"Let's go, I believe Hagrid!" Harry said firmly. In fact, there was no other way but to believe Hagrid now.

"Hagrid is trustworthy, but..." Cyrus pursed his lips and walked forward first.

"What do you think?" Harry asked Ron. He could make out Ron's eyes. The pupils reflected the faint light of the wand. Ron looked hesitant to speak.

"I just want to say that maybe Mr. Riddle is right. It's not that I don't believe Hagrid, but Hagrid may think that the Forbidden Forest is not that dangerous." Ron said timidly, "Well, its a walk in the park for him but it's different for us. He thinks that the fire dragon - You were playing with - wasn't dangerous when it bit him. But do you know how long my hand was swollen after being bitten by Norbert?"

"But Mr. Riddle is with us." Harry said helplessly, "Think of Hermione, we have to save her!"

"Okay!" Ron took a breath, "For Hermione!"

So they followed Cyrus's shadow into the trees.

The path in the Forbidden Forest is not easy to walk. It is inaccessible and full of tree roots and stumps, blocking the road. To make matters worse, the visibility at night is so poor that Harry and Ron can barely see the obstacles on the road.

After a while, they noticed that the ground seemed to be sloping downwards, although the trees were still as thick as before.

"We walked for at least half an hour."

His and Harry's clothes were occasionally caught on low branches and thorns, and they looked a little embarrassed. Only Cyrus walked along as if he were walking on the Quidditch pitch.

But at least they didn't encounter any other dangers along the way.

"These spiders are quite smart, at least they can avoid danger," Ron said while swallowing.

"Or - nothing else dares to come near this place." Cyrus's eyes flashed.

There is no doubt that this small area is already the territory of Acromantula, and there is no magical animal that would think of coming here to become those guys' dinner.

"M-Mr. Riddle! Don't scare me!" Ron said tremblingly.

At this time, Fang suddenly became restless and curled up its tail in fear. It could not make a sound by barking due to Cyrus' spell and could only whine, but it still made a lot of noise, scaring both Harry and Ron out of their bodies.

"What?" Ron asked loudly, grabbing Harry's elbow as he peered into the darkness.

"There's something moving there," Harry gasped. "It sounds... like something big."

They listened carefully.

Some distance to their right, the big thing was cutting its way through the trees, snapping countless branches.

They stood there, waiting in terror, the darkness seeming to oppress their eyes. Cyrus was not afraid at all because he knew what was there.

"Okay, there's nothing there, it's not a monster, it's the car you drove when you missed the train to school."

As soon as Cyrus finished speaking, a dazzling light suddenly lit up on their right, which was dazzling in the darkness.

Harry and Ron both raised their hands to shield their eyes. Fang jumped frantically and tried to escape, but got caught by a thorn and rolled around on the ground.

"Quiet down Fang" Cyrus gave it another spell to calm it down.

The car was coming.

"Car?" Ron's voice was choked with relief. "It's really our car!"

Harry and Ron followed Cyrus, stumbling toward the light, tripping all the way. After a while, they came to a clearing.

Mr. Weasley's car was parked in the middle of a circle of dense trees, with densely intertwined branches and leaves on top. There was no one in the car, and the headlights glowed brightly. When Ron walked toward it with his mouth wide open, the dog slowly moved toward him, like a big turquoise dog greeting its owner.

"It turns out it has always been here!" Ron said happily, walking around the car, "Look at it, the forest has turned it wild..."

"In the Muggle world, this is no different from being scrapped. But this car seems to have undergone some magical modifications. To be honest, it can still be driven." Cyrus was actually very interested.

The existence of magically modified vehicles shows that technology and magic are not completely insulated. Maybe he can modify something else, such as the Gatling Curse?

He shuddered, this was too evil.

The wings of the car were scratched and covered with mud. Fang didn't seem to be interested in it at all; it followed Harry every step of the way, looking cautiously at Cyrus, the terrible wizard who had cast two spells on it!

Harry could feel it trembling.

Now, Harry and Ron's breathing slowly calmed down again.

"We thought it was going to attack us!" Ron said, leaning on the car and patting it, "I never knew where it went!"

But Harry was in no mood to bother with the car right now. He squinted his eyes and continued to look for the shadows of spiders on the ground illuminated by lights, but they all hurriedly avoided the dazzling car lights and ran away without knowing where to go.

"We've lost track." He said, wanting to find a spider more than a car. "Let's go, don't waste time here."

But Ron suddenly stopped talking and didn't move.

His eyes were fixed on the spot ten feet above Harry behind him, his face was livid, and fear was vividly written on his face.

"It looks like we don't have to look for it anymore." Cyrus raised his wand and saw several huge Acromantulas staring at them greedily.

He originally wanted to destroy them directly, but after thinking about it he still didn't take action.

Instead, he watched Harry and Ron being picked up by their waists with their huge jaws and hung in the air. He himself gave up resistance and allowed these monsters to drag them into the dark trees.

And his reasons for going there are not righteous at all...

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