Centaur

They walked silently through the dense, dark woods toward Hagrid's hut. From time to time, the moonlight shines through the gaps between the branches above, illuminating a small patch of faint light on the dead branches and leaves.

"Who would let a basilisk into school?" Anthony asked.

"Must be a Slytherin," Hagrid replied without hesitation, "Only they like snakes."

Anthony looked at him in surprise: "I thought you liked all the big ferocious monsters?"

"Why, of course not!" Hagrid said in surprise, "What I like are cute babies and loyal good friends. Do you think Aragog is a ferocious monster?"

"Ah..." Anthony hesitated and then changed the subject, "Do you think the basilisk is still in the castle?"

"I don't know." Hagrid frowned tightly, "Merlin, I actually let Aragog stay with the Basilisk for so long. No wonder he always wants to leave. Who am I as a partner! Who am I as a friend!" He hammered his head in remorse.

Anthony quickly stopped him: "There's no need for this, Hagrid, no one would have thought of it. If it weren't for Ms. Grubbly -"

"You're right. I have to thank her properly when I get back. She's so nice." Hagrid's attention was diverted. "And you, Henry - you don't actually have to do so much. I don't care about it anymore." I mean, I'm already a gamekeeper, Dumbledore left me here..."

His words were interrupted by a noise in the woods. There was the sound of rustling branches and leaves in the dark forest, as if something big was approaching them.

Anthony immediately turned his head and looked over.

Hagrid pulled him behind him, raised one hand, and shouted: "It's me, Hagrid, and I mean no harm. Who are you?"

The branches beside them were pushed aside, and with a gentle sound of horse hooves, a centaur came out.

Anthony stared in awe from behind Hagrid. His white-blond hair and silver-maned horse's body were flowing with silver-white luster, almost like the crescent moon in the night sky in the dark forbidden forest.

"It's really starting to look like a fairy tale now," Anthony muttered.

"Ah, Firenze, how are you?" Hagrid put down his hand and greeted.

Firenze's blue eyes swept over the two of them: "Good evening, Hagrid. Good evening, stranger."

"Good evening, we are here to visit Aragog." Hagrid said, "Why are you here?"

"I will answer the call of the planet when needed," Firenze said.

Hagrid nodded: "Are you trying to tell me something?"

Anthony bet he didn't get it as much as he did.

The centaur looked at the starry sky: "I saw Pluto."

"Excellent," said Hagrid. "If you don't mind, let's just—"

At this time there was another noise in the woods. Under the watchful gazes of Hagrid and Anthony, the second centaur came out.

"You shouldn't be here," the centaur said sadly. "We only observe the stars, Firenze, and we don't affect them. You have gone too far and tried to shake the stars."

Hagrid said: "Good evening, Ronan. Are you here to tell me something too?"

The centaur nodded politely to Hagrid but made no reply. He passed Anthony and looked at Firenze intently, tapping the ground lightly with his front hooves.

Firenze said calmly: "I can't shake the star, Ronan, I can only see what it shows me. If it told me to go into the swamp, I would go into it. Don't you see the same thing ?"

Ronan sighed and stared unblinkingly at the sky for a moment.

"Tell me, Ronan," Firenze said, digging the dirt under his hooves, "Are you so blind that you can't see the stars?"

Ronan said in his sad, low voice, "Pluto is out."

"Yes," Firenze said.

They looked up at the sky for a while, then looked at Hagrid and Anthony, as if waiting for them to say something.

Anthony thought for a while and cautiously praised: "You guys have really good eyesight...?"

…

"Centaurs are always like this." Hagrid said on the way back. "Why Jupiter and Saturn are conjunct today, and why Mercury is particularly dim today... Alas, they never speak directly. I don't know what they want to say this time. What."

Anthony mused: "Do you think they might be talking about the basilisk?"

"Unlikely," Hagrid said irritably. "The centaurs believe in the stars and think their predictions are the most important thing in the world. I doubt they would bother the gods to warn us about a basilisk."

"Maybe it was a big, big basilisk," Anthony said.

Hagrid was finally amused. He had been depressed since Aragog's panicked escape.

"Two more drinks, Henry?" Hagrid asked, "You don't have class tomorrow?"

His cabin finally came into view. The warm yellow light of the fire flickered on the window, and they could hear Fang throwing himself on the door excitedly, causing the poor wooden door to make an overwhelmed creaking sound.

"Okay, but no more rock biscuits." Anthony smiled, "I really can't eat any more."

…

When Anthony woke up he didn't know where he was for a moment.

It was dark before his eyes, and something seemed to be pressing on him, and there was a hard wooden board underneath him. He could feel bodies and bones surrounding him.

His body rarely relaxed, but no...an alarm bell rang deep in his mind. no.

Why am I in the coffin again? he thought.

So he raised his hand with difficulty - it was strange, his hand suddenly became so heavy, as if he was not used to listening to his command - and slapped it on the wooden board. His magic exploded with fury.

"What? Ouch!" Following the sound of the board breaking, a thunderous voice said, "Merlin, Henry, how did you get in here!"

Anthony's eyes suddenly brightened.

He saw Hagrid sitting up from the ground rubbing his eyes, with broken cabinet boards scattered around him. Fang was wagging his tail excitedly, devouring the dried meat and bones all over the floor, and his saliva quickly flowed all over the floor.

"Be careful, your head -" Before Anthony could finish his words, Hagrid hit the table hard when he stood up and fell back with a thud.

Anthony pressed his forehead and remembered.

Last night Hagrid, half drunk, took him to the Forbidden Forest and visited the Acromantula, and then they met centaurs - is this true? Or was it just a strange dream he had when he was drunk? ——After returning, he continued drinking until Hagrid passed out drunkenly under the table.

He wanted to go back to the castle, but found that he couldn't walk very well, so he decided to spend the night in Hagrid's cabin. In a daze, he found the place where he felt most comfortable and familiar... Fang's snack cabinet.