Chapter 499: Alder and Bowtruckle

The weather became a little chilly, tearing the branches of the trees in the Forbidden Forest, making bursts of wailing. Ron kept mumbling, and his dissatisfaction with Madam Pince burst out like a string of cannonballs. Harry responded absent-mindedly, his mind had already drifted to Hagrid's hut.

Harry had not seen Hagrid since the start of the school year. Even at the Sorting Ceremony, his familiar bearded face did not appear.

He had asked Professor Lupin, but the answer he got was only an ambiguous hint: Hagrid was busy with a vital mission.

As for the specific content of the mission, Lupin kept his mouth shut and did not reveal a word to him. This made Harry feel an inexplicable loss, feeling that he was intentionally or unintentionally isolated from the action plan by the Order of the Phoenix.

All students liked Professor Grubbly-Plank's Care of Magical Creatures class. Although Harry was Hagrid's good friend, he also admitted that her course was well organized.

There was neither the disgusting horror of the blasting skrewt nor the abrupt surprise of the hippogriff. All the teaching content was steady and solid, and she taught the students the knowledge about magical creatures in detail.

However, this steady teaching style made Harry miss the thrill and excitement in Hagrid's class even more.

He always brought some unique creatures that made people excited. If Hagrid was still a professor, perhaps he would be able to see the mysterious black creatures pulling carts outside the train station this year.

Professor Grubbly-Plank's voice broke Harry's reverie. Her voice was rough and powerful. She said to the students sitting around: "Okay, students, let's start the class. Who can tell me what the names of these creatures are?"

She pointed to a pile of thin branches in front of her, and Hermione was the first to raise her hand without any surprise. Her arm moved so quickly that it brought out a refreshing breeze and blew the broken hair on her forehead.

The branches on the table moved at this moment, and they suddenly jumped into the air, revealing their original appearance. These small creatures, seemingly made of twigs, have brown, tangled legs and arms.

Each of their hands has only two slender fingers, which look even more fragile than the legs of a dragonfly. On that flat, bark-like rough face, there are two round brown eyes sparkling.

Many students exclaimed, full of curiosity and surprise at this strange magical creature. The praises around him made Harry more and more irritated that he couldn't contact Hagrid.

He admitted that Professor Grubbly-Plank's teaching was indeed excellent, but he firmly believed that if Hagrid had not been deprived of his professorship by the school board, he could also bring everyone the same amazing magical creatures.

"Girls, please keep quiet!" Professor Grubbly-Plank's voice was a little serious, and she casually sprinkled a handful of what looked like brown rice for the little creatures on the table to enjoy. "Okay, Miss Granger."

She ignored Hermione's raised hand several times, hoping that other students would answer the question. Otherwise, her magical animal class would become Miss Granger's personal show.

"Bowtruckles." Hermione's voice was clear and confident. "They are tree guardians and usually live on wand trees."

"Five points for Gryffindor." Grubbly-Plank announced lifelessly, as if the cold weather had taken away all the enthusiasm in her heart. "Hermione is right. Bowtruckles usually live on trees that can be used to make wands. So, does anyone know what they feed on?"

"Bowtruckles." Hermione's answer was quick and accurate, and the voice echoed in the professor's ears.

Grubbly-Plank looked around, as if Hermione was the only student in her class, and the others were either deaf or dumb.

She complained softly, with a hint of disappointment in her tone: "I hope you can prepare in advance next time. Hermione, another 5 points."

"If you want to collect leaves or branches from the trees where the Bowtruckles live, you need to prepare some ground beetles as gifts to attract their attention."

"Professor, they look so fragile..." Draco walked out of the crowd. He stretched out his hand to try to grab a Bowtruckle on the table. He looked confident and reckless. "It's not dangerous."

Professor Grubbly raised her wand quickly to block Draco's hand. Her voice was filled with warning: "Hehe, if you don't want to lose your eyeball and install a fake eye, you can try to provoke them." After that, she retracted her wand and stared at Malfoy coldly.

Draco froze in place awkwardly. He looked at the sharp fingers of the Bowtruckle, curled his lips, and reluctantly retreated.

"Hey, coward." Ron seized the opportunity and couldn't help but taunt, which immediately attracted Malfoy's attention.

Both of them were prefects, and Ron was not afraid of retaliation from the other party.

Malfoy stared at him, snorted coldly, and said provocatively: "Weasley, isn't Gryffindor famous for courage? If you can catch it, I will admit that I am a coward."

"Gentlemen, stop fooling around!" Grubbly-Plank wrinkled his nose, a trace of displeasure flashed in his eyes, and then shouted loudly: "If you two don't know how to listen carefully, then leave my class!"

Under the professor's stern gaze, Weasley and Malfoy had to restrain their behavior. They looked at each other, their eyes full of hostility and disdain for each other.

"Okay, you guys come closer, get some country turtles, and lead a Bowtruckle." Graplan pointed to the table and assigned tasks to everyone, "The Bowtruckle here is enough for three people to share one, so you can learn more about it." Look at them carefully. I hope that by the end of the get out of class everyone will have completed a sketch of the parts of the Bowtruckle's body."

Roger already knew something about these cute little guys from Newt. Bowtruckles are not only protectors of wand trees, they are also great at jailbreaking and lockpicking.

In the forest, they can be said to be the most ideal scouts. Even a giant dragon might not notice a tree branch that's so close.

"Should we capture it and observe it?" Daphne pointed to the Bowtruckle they were assigned, looking a little at a loss.

"Get to know it first with food." Rogge asked Theodore to hand the turtle to him, and then stretched out his right hand to signal the Bowtruckle to climb up.

The Bowtruckle raised its little head and looked warily at the three big heads in front of it. Although it was hesitant, it finally mustered up the courage to climb onto Roger's hand for the sake of food.

"Wow, it really listens to you." Daphne's eyes flashed with excitement. She quickly picked up the pen and began to draw the Bowtruckle's body seriously.

While Theodore was drawing its head, he couldn't help but complain: "This thing looks really ugly, and the food it eats is pretty disgusting."

Roger smiled and continued his taming experiment. The Bowtruckle's thinking is very simple and has no complex ideas. Through feeding again and again, it began to understand the intentions of the wizard in front of it.

As long as you show the corresponding body parts as required, you can get food. After a few minutes, it had fully adapted to the role of model and stood there to be painted by Roger, Daphne and Theodore.

"Look at this, how does it look?" Rogge showed it the bowtruckle he drew.

The Bowtruckle in the painting has two legs and three legs, and two small leaves on its head. Its slender fingers were slightly raised upwards, especially the huge mouth, which was almost exactly the same as its real appearance.

When the Bowtruckle saw his own portrait, he waved his fingers excitedly, his two little eyes showing human satisfaction. Like a bold inspector, it jumped in front of Daphne and Theodore again to check the sketches they had made for themselves.

"No! I will never change it!" Theodore stared at the little one, ignoring its stomping in protest.

He reached for his class assignment, but Bowtruckle clung to the other side of the sketch. So, he could only pull up the sketch and the bowtruckle hanging on it.

"What did you draw like?" Roger and Daphne looked at Theodore curiously.

"I just drew it according to the normal appearance." Theodore scratched his head and said while showing the sketch to them.

Daphne looked at the dark, messy ink stains on the sketch and couldn't help laughing: "Haha... No wonder it doesn't agree."

"Obviously it's because of its ugly appearance, not because of my bad drawing. Look at its fish eyes, which are bulging out like a toad." Theodore insisted, arguing with the Bowtruckle until the end of get out of class. Finally, I gave it to the professor along with the sketch.

When it was Roger's turn to hand in his homework, Professor Graplan asked softly: "I noticed an alder tree on the hillside opposite the Black Lake. I heard Professor Snape say you planted it?"

"Well, it was planted before the first grade summer vacation. It has been several years." Rogge looked at her curiously, "Professor, is there anything wrong with that tree?"

"No, it is very healthy." Graplan praised, "When I was preparing these little guys, I found that there was a Bowtruckle on that tree."

"The school must tell everyone about this, so that students who don't know the truth will not be hurt by the Bowtruckle."

"You mean, its trunk can be used as a wand?" Rogge asked in surprise.

"Theoretically, this is the case, but the wand maker needs to personally inspect it." Professor Graplan continued, "From my experience, the wood quality of that alder tree is extraordinary."

This sentence aroused a ripple in Rogge's heart. It had been many years since he had buried Quirrell's wand, and he had not paid attention to the sapling emerging from the small grave.

The clouds in the sky were floating here and there, as if they were unsure about whether it would rain. Rogge's eyes crossed the black lake and landed on the hillside on the other side. He decided to visit the "old friend" tree after the herbal medicine class.

As expected, Professor Sprout started the class by emphasizing the importance of next year's exams. After listening to the same words over and over for a day, everyone felt like their ears had grown calluses.

After finally getting the dragon dung into close contact with the herbs step by step, Professor Sprout immediately assigned a new paper assignment. The students let out a cry, helplessly accepting the cruel reality of fifth grade.

The time they spent on playing in previous years must be fully or even doubled this year. Once you fail the exam next year, you will lose the qualification to continue studying at Hogwarts.

After the one-and-a-half-hour class ended, Roger did not go directly to the auditorium for dinner like other students, but turned in the direction of the alder tree.

After not seeing it for several years, it has grown into a big tree of about 10 meters. The obovate leaves are stacked in layers. Perhaps autumn is coming, and some of the leaf veins are dyed with a light yellow halo.

As if to welcome the arrival of old friends, the leaves swayed gently in the breeze, making a rustling sound, like a piece of welcoming music.

Rogge searched the tree trunks for a long time, but still failed to find the Bowtruckle mentioned by Professor Grubblan. There were too many creatures living on this big tree, and they inadvertently obscured the existence of the Bowtruckle.

He stepped back two steps and placed some earthworms next to the roots. Almost in an instant, an ordinary branch suddenly came to life. Its sharp fingertips pierced the rough bark and swiftly rushed towards the food.

Compared to the Bowtruckle in the classroom, the little guy in front of him was taller. The leaves on his head were inverted egg shape, just like the alder tree.

Rogge squatted down and said to it in a gentle tone: "I need a branch to make a handle for the wand."

The Bowtruckle immediately showed its defensive instinct and warned the wizard in front of it with its claws and teeth. Its sharp claws waved in front of Rogge's eyes, as if to tell him not to try to break the branch.

"Listen, little guy, I am the owner of this tree." Roger pointed at the alder tree, with unquestionable authority in his tone, "It was a magic wand that lost its owner. I gave it a new life with the blood of a unicorn. Now, it has grown and needs to be pruned to make it stronger."

"Don't mistake my kindness for weakness!" Roger's tone suddenly became heavier, and the firm voice instantly froze the tree-guarding Bowtruckle's intimidation.

It turned its head and stared at the alder it was guarding, as if it was struggling fiercely in its heart. In the end, it gave up the food at its feet and quickly climbed back to its own trunk.

Then, a series of "bang bang bang" sounds suddenly rang in his ears.

The tree-guarding Bowtruckle stood on a branch and jumped hard, as if telling Roger: "Use this one."

"God's Edge Without Shadow!" Roger waved his wand, and a beam of light shot out from it, accurately cutting off the branch selected by the tree-guarding Bowtruckle.

This branch was thinner than the wrist, straight and even. Which boy could refuse a long, straight branch?

Roger held the branch without leaves, and the corners of his mouth could not help but curl up. He waved to the Bowtruckle on the tree and promised to bring more food in return next time.

He carefully examined the entire branch and put his wand aside for comparison. Compared with the long years that the red sandalwood tree takes hundreds of years to grow, the growth speed of the alder tree is almost in an instant, enough to ignore the passage of time.

He weighed it casually, and he could clearly feel the difference in their density just by feeling. The extraordinary features of the alder tree mentioned by Professor Grubbly-Plank may be more reflected in magic.

Quirrell's unusual death injected a strange brilliance into his wand. Combined with the power of unicorn blood, the alder tree that was born undoubtedly contained mysteries beyond Roger's imagination.

However, Roger knew very little about the profound art of wand making, and could not see the exquisiteness and extraordinaryness of it. He measured the size of his palm, cut a section from the end of a branch, and began to make his own wand handle.