Hogwarts: Bourne Returns from Warhammer

After hearing Hagrid's explanation, Bourne thought for a while and asked doubtfully: "Those guys who eat and drink secretly are not necessarily color-changing ghouls?"

In fact, there are many things that have both motivation (demand for flesh and blood) and ability (grabbing food from the mouths of the Forbidden Forest Thestrals).

For example, hidden monsters, rune snakes, chimeras, manticores...

Moreover, these are just magical animals. If you include some magical plants and magical creatures classified into other categories, the scope may be much wider.

"Well, I've actually thought about this issue you mentioned. But I still want to trust Professor Kettleburn's judgment."

Hagrid scratched his beard. This big man, who was more than three meters tall and looked like a "one of his own" to Bourne, said with confidence.

"No one...well, maybe excluding those two Weasley rascals, knows the edge of the Forbidden Forest better than I do.

Those somewhat dangerous little cuties actually all live in the deepest part of the Forbidden Forest, and there are other things around their habitats... In short, they can't escape here.

Moreover, there is a group of centaurs living outside the Forbidden Forest. They have a contract with Hogwarts, and they are also responsible for cleaning up creatures and other elements that may pose a threat to the little wizards in the school.

I have communicated with a friend among the centaurs before. Although they found some problems when stargazing, overall the recent hunting and life of their tribe are actually pretty good.

Furthermore, if I really encounter a problem that cannot be solved with vinegar ointment, I still have this thing.

look……"

After saying that, he reached into the pocket of his hunting suit, which was at least 10XL in size, and took out two pastries he baked himself.

"...Um, I picked it up by mistake. This is rock cake."

Hagrid smiled sheepishly, and then immediately took out a slingshot about the size of a tennis racket and some stone balls about the size of a tennis ball from another pocket.

When Bourne saw the "snacks" Hagrid was carrying, he suddenly thought of something and asked, "Hagrid, can I try what you made?"

Hagrid had a look of surprise on his face.

In addition to taking care of those "cuties", Hagrid's biggest hobby is baking.

Not long ago, he developed this new product using baguette-making techniques.

However, apart from him, the only other fan of rock biscuits is his big dog named "Ya Ya", but he only likes to use them to grind his teeth.

He quickly took out a piece of rock cake. In order to make it easier for the little wizard to taste, Hagrid specially broke it into two pieces and stuffed it into Bourne's hand.

Bourne looked at the rock cake: this kind of pastry is made of flour, and butter and nuts are added when kneading the dough. However, he doesn’t know what household magic Hagrid used to bake the rock cake. Its surface looks... It's very rough and full of cracks. Combined with its shape and color, this rock cake looks really similar——

"Isn't this just a large walnut cake?"

After taking a curious look at this "famous" food, he finally understood why the rock cake looked familiar to him.

He put the rock cake into his mouth, took a bite, and found that it was not unpleasant to eat.

"It's much more delicious than amino acid oatmeal, which means it doesn't add ceramite powder, so it can't supplement what Astartes' body needs."

And just when Byrne wanted to ask about the recipe and production method of Hagrid's Rock Biscuit - he thought it could be used to upgrade the "Calcium Supplement Biscuits" to 2.0 - Professor Kettleburn, who was walking at the front, suddenly Stopped.

"We're here!" he said.

They had arrived at a clearing in the Forbidden Forest.

This land has obviously been man-made. Except for a few beech trees that are very old and have extremely dense horizontal branches, there are no other trees growing, and some alfalfa and plantains are also planted on the ground.

Byrne saw about a dozen Thestrals walking on the grass in the drizzle. They had heads that resembled fire dragons, seemingly skinny but actually very strong bodies, and a pair of huge hooves that fit on their backs. Bat wings.

"Can you see the Thestral?" Hagrid asked in surprise, noticing where Burn was looking.

However, this forest farm guard, who has an extremely soft heart that is completely opposite to his tough guy appearance, seems to feel that he said something wrong. For a moment, he became a little embarrassed and didn't know what to say to make up for the wrong thing he just said.

It was Professor Kettleburn who came to the rescue.

This old man, who would inevitably seem a little unreliable when we first met him, once again showed the wisdom that a professor should have.

"Birth, old age, sickness and death are all human nature," he came over and patted Hagrid's somewhat helpless hand, and then looked at Bourne again.

“Although the Thestral can only be seen by those who have witnessed death with their own eyes, this is not entirely a bad thing, because only by seeing it with their own eyes rather than reading about it in books can people better understand the magnificence of this magical animal.

Some wizards believe that these creatures are very unlucky and will bring all kinds of terrible disasters to those who see them.

But this is superstitious.

The domesticated Thestrals are very loyal, and they are very strong and can be used to pull carts. Moreover, the Thestral is the fastest magical animal known to fly.

Did you know that because some places cannot be reached using 'Apparition', and using portkeys generally requires registration and application at the Ministry of Magic, even our Principal Dumbledore chooses to ride the Thestral when he occasionally goes abroad? .

Well, little guys, having said all that, let’s get to work! "

Perhaps because he realized that he had talked too much, Professor Kettleburn quickly changed the subject and asked Burne and the others to start working together.

Then, the old professor first took out an oil paper bag, which contained several pieces of meat with bloodshot eyes and yellow fat.

"Get bigger quickly!"

He cast a spell on the pieces of meat he placed on the lawn. In the eyes of everyone, these "pieces of meat" turned into piles of peeled goat ribs in a blink of an eye.

"Our Thestrals at Hogwarts have two new little guys this year. Their teeth haven't grown yet, so they can't eat much fibrous beef, and fresh goat meat is just right."

He explained it to several people, but the most important thing was to talk to Hagrid, because he usually came to the Forbidden Forest to feed the Thestrals.

"I have already made an agreement with Aberforth. Hagrid, just go to the Pig's Head Bar and find the old man. He will provide you with fresh goat meat."

After saying that, after looking at the group of thestrals that were gradually approaching, the old professor moved Cedric and Bourne behind him.

"Don't be afraid, don't be nervous, and don't irritate these little guys." He whispered to the two students, as if giving them an extra lesson on the protection of magical creatures.

Bourne saw the Thestrals coming over and first touching the mountain of goat ribs with their noses. Then they bowed their knees slightly, nodded and expressed their gratitude to the group, and finally began to eat.

The adult Thestrals opened their mouths wide and gnawed at the ribs with their sharp teeth. They chewed the bones together and then ate them into their stomachs.

They all have a tacit understanding, and while eating, they also "leak": deliberately dropping some fine pieces of meat with large pieces of fat on the ground, and the two newborn Thestrals, who are about a few months old, will be happy Picking up food on the grass.

The two little guys ate happily.

However, because the pieces of meat fell into the grass, they would inevitably eat some grass and alfalfa as they ate.

"It turns out that it's not just humans who find ways to compete with picky children." Byrne watched with gusto. He found this scene extremely interesting.

However, the Hufflepuff senior who came with him did not have such an interesting experience.

In Cedric's eyes, the pile of goat ribs piled up in a hill was just being quickly devoured by invisible large mouths. Apart from the splattering of blood and minced meat, only the "crunching" goat bones were left. The terrible sound of breaking.

"Don't be afraid," Professor Kettleburn seemed to feel something and patted Cedric's arm to indicate that he shouldn't be nervous.

Seeing that the Thestrals were almost finished eating, he and Hagrid stepped forward and touched the skinny bodies of the little cuties.

"You guys should try it too," he called Bourne and Cedric over. "By accepting the gift, it means that the Thestrals have recognized us as a group of people. As long as you don't take the initiative to harm these little guys, they won't attack you." .”

Playing with a thestral is not a cat, and it is rare to have such an opportunity. So upon hearing this, Bourne immediately ran over happily. Although Cedric hesitated a little, he followed.

Because he could see the Thestral, Bourne could accurately touch the neck and belly of this creature. Following Professor Kettleburn's instructions, he gently rubbed the Thestral's tight muscles with his hands to help him finish eating. They promote digestion of food.

"Elulu——"

Just when Bourne was raising and lowering his hands on several adult thestrals, a rhythmic neighing suddenly sounded around him.

The two Thestral cubs seemed to be very interested in him, a two-legged beast who was also a cub. They came to him and chirped, while holding the sleeves of his clothes in their mouths and pulling them here and there.

Unceremoniously, Bourne gave these two little guys a "head-touching". They also seemed to like Bourne stroking the mane on their necks, so they all lowered their necks and let Bourne continue to groom their hair.

What's even more interesting is that the two little Thestrals seemed to smell something. They lowered their heads and quietly put their heads into Bourne's pocket. The Thestral cub, who was extremely curious, took out two uneaten rock cakes from Bourne's pocket.

"Professor," upon seeing this, Bourne hurriedly asked, "Can these Thestral cubs eat sweets?"

Kettleburn, who was communicating with a thestral with gestures that he had known for a long time, responded smoothly when he heard the question: "It's okay, they can eat those things, as long as they don't feed them too much."

However, he did not look back and did not see: the two Thestral cubs had clearly "stole" the snacks, but they only took a small bite and immediately put them back into Bourne's pocket obediently.

Not only that, they also wandered around for a while, found some leftover mutton and placed it at Bourne's feet.

As if to say: You're welcome, we're treating you.