In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter

Chapter 364: Rescue the Centaurs

"Firenze told me that three years ago seven Centaurs from their tribe, led by a Centaur called Bane, made one last attempt to break out of the Forbidden Forest. But they only half succeeded, the place they chose was a more flat terrain, but after they had charged out of the Forbidden Forest, the Aurors blocked right in front of them as if they knew their arrival, and none of the Centaurs led by Bane escaped, most died under the Aurors' spell for resisting, and some were captured."

Hagrid's eyes reddened a little as he listened to Jon's account.

"I knew Bane, he was a bit grumpy, but I watched him grow up, and his parents invited me to see a feast held within their tribe when he was born. He was a brave Centaur."

They could all understand Hagrid's feelings, and all of them, except for Jon, had experienced the loss of comrades and loved one's countless times.

But none of them had come here today to wallow in their grief.

Kingsley stared at the map that Jon had drawn by hand and after a moment of reflection, he said.

"The terrain complexity is simple since the Centaurs can't come out, we can just go in, the range of Anti-Apparition Charm coverage within Hogwarts is not that exaggerated, the fringes of the Forbidden Forest near Hogsmeade are certainly not covered, we just have to be careful around the area near Hogwarts, the British Ministry of Magic will be more strict in monitoring the magic around here. But since we managed to get here safely, it's only natural that there's a way to go around it safely as well."

"The only problem is the unknown kind of magic surveillance that you said covers the area around the edge of the Forbidden Forest, we need to look closely at what kind of magic is being placed there first."

Kingsley, a typical practical man, immediately found the difficulty in getting the Centaurs out and without any half-hearted attempt to delay, he didn't rest long in the Hog's Head Inn and in the afternoon, together with Jon, Hagrid, quietly made his way to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, avoiding the eyes of everyone else in the village.

Hagrid had been a gamekeeper for almost fifty years and was naturally familiar with every location in these woods.

"This place used to be one of the territories occupied by the Aragog and his descendants; none of the other creatures of the Forbidden Forest would come here, and there were signs of people starting to appear further out from here. There was a time when some wizard poachers sneaked into the Forbidden Forest from this place, trying to hunt some of the endangered magical creatures in the Forbidden Forest, and it was from that time that Dumbledore also placed some magic in this place to guard against those people, and by the way, at that time I remember that the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures of the Ministry of Magic was also involved."

About the death of those eight-eyed giant spiders(Acromantula), Jon hadn't had the time to give Hagrid the news yet, so he wasn't overly grieved by the incident for the time being.

As they listened to Hagrid's explanation, Kingsley had come to the edge of the steep hill.

He and Jon didn't rush straight to the top of the hill but pointed their wands at the sparsely patched grass.

With a clear target in mind, it wasn't long before Kingsley made some discoveries, frowning and cupping his chin as he said.

"There are indeed obvious traces of magic here, a kind of warning spell, not a very difficult thing to disable, but it has a very clever touch, and this spell will provide a kind of warning even if it is disabled."

Following Kingsley's guidance, Jon soon spotted the warning spells that had been placed on the outskirts of the forbidden forest as well.

It was true, as he had said, it was not difficult to dispel these spells, but because of their nature, even if the spell itself was dispelled, the caster would be able to detect it, so it would be no different if it was dispelled or not, which caused the difficulty to become a bit higher.

Before they could even enter the Forbidden Forest, they were having difficulties outside, which made things unpleasant from the start.

Jon naturally didn't have a good idea of how to deal with such magic, the second gem on the ring was able to absorb magic from magical items, but these warning spells that were being placed around were purely ongoing magic and weren't attached to anything.

And even if the ring could absorb it, the problem was the same; at the same time that the magic was no longer working, the Aurors who had set up such a warning spell would naturally be able to detect it.

They certainly could not pick a fight with the British Ministry of Magic during the duration of the Triwizard Tournament, it was in the blood pact that both Dumbledore and Voldemort had made, and no one would break it.

Just as they were worried about entering the Forbidden Forest, Jon suddenly thought of something, and he turned his head to Kingsley.

"If I could get you something that would allow you to enter the Forbidden Forest without alerting anyone by bringing it with you, is there any way you could make use of it by deciphering it in reverse?"

Kingsley nodded affirmatively.

"I can't give you an absolute promise, but the odds of success are high, as long as the enchantments on that thing aren't so high that I have no way of understanding them, it is possible."

"That shouldn't be the case, and even I think the magic on that thing could be called completely crude, an ancient relic with extremely short range."

Jon turned on his heel and left in the direction of Hogwarts after waving his hand widely, he thought of the way Cedric had entered the Forbidden Forest earlier, using an arrowhead that the Centaur had given him.

There was obviously no trace of advanced magic on it, but rather some kind of magic unique to the race of Centaur, but even if Kingsley couldn't imitate the magic of the Centaur, it wouldn't matter, it wasn't like the Centaur in the Forbidden Forest was the only Centaur in the whole of Europe, they could find another Centaur tribe somewhere else to try and imitate this arrowhead.

However, Jon hadn't even taken a few steps before he turned back around.

He scratched his head a little embarrassed in the face of Kingsley's and their puzzled stares.

"Well uh, the advanced Transfiguration skill won't be taught until the seventh year and I don't know it yet, can you help turn me into a bird, so I can fly back first?"

Kingsley: "."

There were times when Jon did things that made them subconsciously ignore his age, and it was only at a time like this that they could remember that Jon was actually only in his fourth year.

It was close to an evening when Jon infiltrated Hogwarts Castle.

With the first task over, the defences around the castle hadn't relaxed much because of it, but relying on the cloak of invisibility and the Marauder's map, he had managed to get into the enemy's main camp with ease.

As agreed when he had separated from Cedric in the forbidden forest, he drew an obscure mark in the corridor on the ground floor of the castle and proceeded to wait in a secret passage behind a mirror on the fourth floor.

He was not made to wait too long, and probably after the half-blood students' dinner, he saw from the Marauder's map that Cedric's name was coming up in the direction of the fourth floor.

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