Chapter 289: Buckbeak and the New Plan

Ivan and Hermione went to the fireplace and listened to Ron trying to comfort Harry.

"You're going to be fine!" said Ron. "You've got a firebolt!"

"Yes!" Harry nodded his head, as his stomach twisted. "I have a firebolt, but Malfoy..."

Harry didn't look very confident. Before Ivan and Hermione could say anything, Wood suddenly stood up and shouted, "Team! Get to bed!"

It seemed to be a signal that came as a relief to everyone.

Suddenly, the entire common room was empty. In order not to disturb the rest of the players, the other students also returned early to their respective rooms.

Ivan saw Hermione returning to her room. He sat alone in the unoccupied common room for a while, his thoughts drifting from the upcoming Quidditch final to the Acromantulas.

Just as he was thinking about it, the common room door opened.

Colin came panting in from outside, holding a thick stack of books in his hand.

"What's in your hand?" asked Ivan curiously.

"About next year's electives, you know, the third year needs to add some lessons." Colin pulled out a form and handed it to Ivan. "I just got back from Professor McGonagall's office. I was originally planning on coming to announce it. But considering tomorrow is the Quidditch final, she had me bring the forms and promotional material first."

He went over to stick a large note on the bulletin board by the fireplace, and Ivan saw that the first thing on it was an introduction to the Divination class.

After giving information about Professor Trelawney and the Divination class, the notice showed a huge black dog standing in the mist, like Sirius' Animagus form, representing the ominous sign of misfortune and calamity.

If he could, Ivan simply didn't want to waste his time in this class.

But thinking about those unpleasant prophecies, he had to change his mind and decided to approach Professor Trelawney as closely as he had planned, so that he could follow the clues and deal with the vague future that had been changed by his own hands.

"What courses are you going to choose?" said Colin. "I only looked at it briefly. There are plenty of options to choose from. Professor McGonagall suggested we consider it carefully."

"I haven't thought about it yet, but I have to take the Divination class." Ivan grabbed the quill from the table and made a mark in front of the Divination class.

"You've chosen Divination class!" said Colin in amazement. "I thought you, like Hermione, always thought Professor Trelawney was a liar."

"Most of the time, but it's undeniable that in rare cases, she does make true prophecies, which turn out to be extremely important. That's why I chose this class." Ivan explained, "And I have to admit that in this class it's very easy to get good grades. Whether you really see the future or not, just keep predicting that you're going to meet with misfortune. Professor Trelawney likes to see this."

"I had no idea, but I know Harry has also chosen Divination. Since they've both chosen it, it shouldn't be bad." Colin also scratched a line on his own form and asked uncertainly, "By the way, what else did Harry choose?"

Looking at him, it looked like he planned to choose the same classes as Harry. Although they were very familiar with each other, Colin was still Harry's biggest follower among all the young wizards at Hogwarts, and in some ways even more enthusiastic and persistent than Ginny.

"Care of magical creatures, Hagrid is the teacher of this class. He's always loyal to bringing bizarre and magical creatures to class," Ivan said.

"Yes, I remember!" Colin raised his voice a little and said suddenly, "Hagrid and his monstrous friend, the Hippogriff named Buckbeak. I read the articles you and Hermione wrote, and at the beginning of the semester, he taught Malfoy a good lesson and did what I always wanted to do."

"The Hippogriff!" There was a flash of light in Ivan's brain.

"Buckbeak is good, but I hope Hagrid doesn't bring him to class. He looks scary." Colin continued, "I've seen in books that ancient wizards used this flying monster to travel, and in medieval Europe there was a legend that someone was riding..."

Colin began to tell Ivan about a legend he had heard as a child about monsters like the Hippogriffs circulating in the Muggle world.

Ivan was sure that Colin was absolutely confusing the Hypogriff with the Griffin, because the creatures in these legends were all Griffins, creatures with lion bodies and sharp claws, eagle heads and wings.

It was generally believed that the Griffin was the result of a dangerous experiment in magic by ancient wizards, and that it was far more dangerous than the Hippogriff.

In recent years, through the research of magical biologists, another new saying had emerged, i.e., the Griffin is only a hybrid descendant of eagles and lions, while the Hypogryphs are Hybrids of Griffins and horses.

However, the credibility of this statement is very low. It appears from the historical documents handed down that the Griffin had always despised horses, so their mating would be unusual.

There was even a saying in the medieval magical world: Don't try to pair a griffin and a horse, for when someone tries to pair two people who were incompatible.

Therefore, as the offspring of the combination of the two, the existence of the Hippogriff itself is also a symbol of miracles or love.

These are all purely academic conjectures. For there is no living Griffin in the wizarding world to prove it. This magical beast, a very famous magical creature in history had become extinct long ago and is known only in the great myths and legends.

Ivan didn't have to talk to Colin about this. They were not doing academic research. But Colin reminded him of Buckbeak, and that he could use his help to fly to Aragog's lair.

There were many flaws in using a broomstick, such as the fact that it was a hassle to carry around, the unstable performance caused by its poor ride, the inability to get out safely after killing Aragog, etc. There was no problem riding Buckbeak.

The Hippogriff had a high degree of intelligence, and could understand the wizard's language and expressions. He could take Ivan to the Acromantulas' territory, wait upstairs, and then descend to take him away once he was finished.

In addition, Buckbeak had a certain level of attack power, and could help Ivan. In the battle against the Acromantulas, Ivan would not have to worry about the Hippogriff while fighting.

The more Ivan thought about substituting the broomstick for the Hippogriff, Buckbeak, the more feasible the idea became.

If it wasn't too late, he would have wanted to try it now.