HP: I AM SHERLOCK HOLMES

Sherlock followed Hagrid, continuously walking deeper into the Forbidden Forest.

Hagrid held Fang with one hand while constantly scanning the surroundings with his eyes, introducing the Forbidden Forest to Sherlock:

”Don’t let this Forbidden Forest’s mystery fool you—there are countless magical creatures inside, but I’m friends with all of them.

Take Aragog, for instance. Although he’s frighteningly large and his bite could numb you for half a day, he’s actually a little cutie I adopted when I was in school.

If today’s timing weren’t inappropriate, I’d definitely take you to meet this old friend.

Those sacred and beautiful unicorns—they’re snow-white all over, with horns that shine like silver. They usually love to quietly graze and wander by the springs in the forest, with the gentlest temperaments.

But now—sigh, they’ve met with this terrible misfortune.

The centaurs have also settled here. They’re very clever, understanding astronomy and geography better than we do, though their tempers are a bit unpredictable.

But if you accidentally encounter them, as long as you make your intentions clear, there’s usually no big problem.

Going deeper, there are also two-horned beasts, spotted earth-dwellers, thestrals, bowtruckles, grindylows, puffballs—oh, and werewolves.

Though they’re not commonly seen in normal times, during specific periods, like full moon nights, you still need to be on guard.

In short, the Forbidden Forest is far more dangerous than you imagine. You must stay close to me—”

Before he could finish speaking, Hagrid suddenly pulled Sherlock behind a tall oak tree.

At the same time, he quickly drew an arrow and loaded it into his crossbow, aiming at the original path.

”Damn, something’s coming!”

Sherlock had noticed the anomaly even earlier than Hagrid.

He keenly heard what sounded like a cloak dragging something across the ground, but it was covered by Hagrid’s loud voice—even though he had already lowered his voice.

However, Hagrid’s reaction wasn’t slow either. Just as Sherlock was about to speak up as a reminder, Hagrid had already taken countermeasures.

Sherlock even felt that Hagrid’s aura at this moment was different from before.

”Who’s there? Come out!”

Hagrid stared alertly at the side path and shouted:

”Come out quickly—I’m armed!”

Seeing Hagrid being so tough, Fang immediately began running back and forth at Hagrid’s and Sherlock’s feet.

Not only that, he also bared his teeth toward the direction the sound came from. Combined with his fierce appearance, he really looked like he was putting on airs.

The creature lurking in the darkness didn’t keep Sherlock and Hagrid waiting long.

Soon, a strange creature walked into their line of sight.

This creature’s upper body was human-like, with red hair and beard.

But from the waist down, including the lower body, was a shining chestnut-colored horse body, with a long red tail trailing behind.

Its tail was swishing back and forth, showing some irritation.

With such obvious characteristics, Sherlock recognized them immediately.

Centaurs, or rather, half-horse beings.

In the sky, they were represented by the constellations Centaurus and Sagittarius, originally existing only in Greek mythological legends.

But as the doors of the magical world officially opened to Sherlock, he learned that such magical creatures really existed in this world.

It’s worth noting that centaurs themselves were a species, not hybrids of half-human and half-beast—some terrible literary works described them this way.

”Oh, it’s you, Ronan.”

Hagrid obviously recognized the centaur who suddenly appeared. He breathed a long sigh of relief and greeted him: ”How are you?”

”Not well, Hagrid.”

However, the centaur called Ronan didn’t seem very happy. His voice was low and sorrowful:

”You were going to shoot me?”

”Hey, don’t be like that!”

Hagrid ignored Ronan’s emotional change, stepped forward and forcibly shook hands with him. ”Had to be on guard, Ronan!”

As if to strengthen his persuasiveness, he even patted his quiver: ”Look, there’s a bad guy roaming around in this forest.”

After saying this, he introduced Sherlock and Ronan to each other.

The centaur named Ronan wasn’t interested in Sherlock. After a simple greeting, he raised his head and said:

”Mars is bright tonight.”

Hagrid looked up at the sky, then agreed:

”Yes, indeed very bright—by the way, Ronan, a unicorn in the Forbidden Forest has been injured. Have you seen anything?”

Even though Sherlock wasn’t interested in astronomy, he could be certain that Hagrid hadn’t found Mars in the sky.

Ronan didn’t answer but continued to stare unblinkingly at the sky. After a long while, he sighed.

”Always the innocent are the first to suffer. It has been so for centuries, and it is so now.”

”Yes, yes,” Hagrid was already somewhat perfunctory at this point. ”I mean—have you noticed anything unusual recently?”

”Mars is bright tonight.”

Ronan repeated this sentence again.

Hagrid: (一一)

”I know, it is indeed unusually bright—but what I mean is, in the area near us, have there been any abnormal situations?

Or, haven’t you noticed any strange movements?”

Hagrid had obviously lost his patience.

However, Ronan still didn’t answer.

Just then, there was more movement in the bushes behind Ronan. Hagrid had just raised his crossbow when a second centaur appeared.

This one had black hair and beard and looked wilder than Ronan.

”Hello, Bane.”

Hagrid obviously knew this one too. After greeting him, he began asking:

”I was just asking Ronan—a unicorn has been injured. Have you discovered anything unusual recently?”

”Good evening, Hagrid.”

Bane walked over and stood beside Ronan, looking up at the sky.

After a moment, he spoke:

”Mars is bright tonight.”

Hagrid: (十益))☆#

”We’ve already heard that.”

Hagrid was already very irritated at this point. ”If either of you has seen anything, please come tell me, okay?”

However, Ronan and Bane continued to look up at the sky, completely ignoring him.

After a moment, both centaurs spoke simultaneously: ”Mars is bright tonight.”

Hagrid: ( )

”Let’s go.”

When he realized he could only rage helplessly, Hagrid ultimately chose to give up.

Leaving the two centaurs there, Hagrid led Sherlock around them and continued toward the depths of the Forbidden Forest.

”I knew it—there’s no point expecting to get clues from them—I mean, you can never get straight answers from centaurs.”

Hagrid complained as he walked, and you could hear from his tone that he still hadn’t recovered from his earlier anger.

”They always like to look up at the stars, it’s really annoying—except for things around the moon, they’re not interested in anything, and they never speak plainly about anything.”

Sherlock had already figured this out without Hagrid saying so.

”Yes, they don’t speak human language properly.”

Understandable.

After all, centaurs aren’t human.

Hearing Sherlock’s comment, Hagrid nodded repeatedly.

Yes, yes, they just don’t speak human language properly.

”Sherlock, you really know how to put it!”

Sherlock couldn’t help but find it amusing—this was the first time he’d received such an evaluation.

Just then, the two reached a fork in the path.

Silver light glittered on the ground—it was the unicorn blood Hagrid had pointed out to Sherlock earlier.

Sherlock bent down to observe for a moment and quickly reached a conclusion:

”The blood is very fresh, proving it left here not long ago.

If we’re fast enough, we should still be in time to put him out of his misery—I mean, that poor unicorn.”

Hagrid didn’t notice the difference between ”him” and ”it,” but just looked at the two forked paths in front of him with difficulty.

”Sherlock, can you tell which way it went?”

”Unfortunately, I cannot.”

Sherlock shook his head. ”My suggestion is that we split up.”

”What? That won’t work!”

Hagrid immediately shook his head vigorously.

The Forbidden Forest was so dangerous—how could he let Sherlock act alone?

Before saying this, Sherlock had already guessed Hagrid would say this, so he had already thought of a reason:

”Don’t worry, Hagrid. If I really encounter anything, I’ll use my wand to release flames, like this.”

Sherlock waved his wand as he spoke, and purple fireworks burst from the tip of his wand.

It was exactly the magic Dumbledore had used on the night the troll appeared.

He had also used it when reminding Hermione at the Quidditch pitch.

Hagrid was still somewhat hesitant.

He deeply loved the Forbidden Forest—and the magical creatures within it—and couldn’t bear to see the sacred and pure unicorns suffer harm.

But on the other hand, he was also worried that Sherlock would encounter danger if he left his side.

Sherlock saw his struggle and simply added fuel to the fire:

”Hagrid, you don’t want to see another unicorn die because help came too late, do you?”

Hagrid: (OD°O)

”Alright, then I’ll let Fang go with you.”

This sentence finally made Hagrid make up his mind.

”But I have to tell you in advance—he’s a coward, but he’s alert enough and can warn you of danger in advance.

Remember, no matter what happens, you must signal immediately!”

Sherlock knew that if he didn’t accept, Hagrid wouldn’t feel at ease.

He smiled and took Fang, then added:

”Hagrid, you don’t have much time left.”

Hagrid: =ε=ε=(°°;)

After Hagrid left along the other path, a voice sounded in Sherlock’s ear: ”Sherlock, what do we do now?”

”Put on the Invisibility Cloak and keep following me.”

Sherlock said without turning his head.

Fang also discovered Harry at this moment.

Faced with an invisible person, he immediately became nervous.

But when Sherlock patted his head and said the invisible person wasn’t an enemy, he calmed down again.

Next, Sherlock led Fang and the still-invisible Harry deeper into the forest.

After walking for nearly half an hour, Sherlock suddenly said: ”It seems we’re in luck.”

”What’s wrong?”

Harry couldn’t help but ask.

”The truth has come to light.”

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