Hogwarts: Don't call me Wandmaker

Chapter 378 Mysterious Creatures in the Black Lake
The mane of the Kelpie can actually be used to make cane cores; this was done by someone in the Ollivander family more than a century ago.

However, people later discovered that the wands made from the mane of the kola mongoose were far too biased, favoring wizards with the talent for transfiguration while ignoring others.

This limitation also caused the Horse Monster Wand to quickly disappear from the shelves of Ollivander Wand Shop.

However, these were all things that Xilun had heard from his grandfather, and he would only know whether they were true or false by making them himself.

"Okay, come over here."

Upon hearing Hagrid's voice, Celen walked toward the Kelpie and stopped in front of it.

“I’ll ask you one more time,” Hagrid said with a serious expression. “It’s not an easy task to put a bridle on the Kelpie. You can still back out now; we can think of another way.”

"Will my life be in danger?" Siren asked.

“For some special reason, you shouldn’t be in any danger?” Hagrid thought for a moment, shook his head, and said, but quickly added, “But that doesn’t mean you can rest easy.”

“It’s alright, that’s enough,” Xiren said with a smile. “I’m fine.”

"Alright then, I hope you won't regret it." Hagrid glanced at Siren and patted him on the shoulder.

"In that case, hurry up and get on. Maybe you can go back and get some sleep before dawn."

With Hagrid's help, Celen successfully sat on the back of the horse-shaped water monster.

In just a moment, he felt the restlessness and anger of the big guy beneath him.

The once smooth skin suddenly turned into a trap covered in glue. Xiren only had time to cast a Bubble Head Spell on himself before he was firmly stuck to it and unable to move.

“Oh, I don’t think it’s necessary…” Hagrid muttered something, but Siron didn’t hear him at all.

It wasn't because of the head-bubbling curse, but because the horse-shaped water monster had already jumped into the black lake.

Once in the water, its hooves quickly transformed into fins, and its seaweed-like mane floated behind it like ribbons, moving at an astonishing speed.

The high-speed flowing water hit Xilun like knives, and in the blink of an eye, the bubbles he had conjured with magic were burst.

Xilun felt the lake water rushing towards him from all directions. Before he could even react, he lost consciousness uncontrollably.

In the last moment before his vision blurred, he seemed to see an enormous tentacle slowly reaching out.

When Xiren woke up again, he was lying on the clearing by the Black Lake. Hagrid sat beside him and lit a campfire to help ward off the cold.

"You're awake. How are you feeling?" he asked, his tone flat, as if he had known this would happen all along.

"Am I okay?"

“If something had happened to you, I wouldn’t have brought you here…” Hagrid said, handing over a grilled sausage. “Eat something, you accidentally threw up your dinner when you were spitting out the lake water.”

As if to echo his words, Xilun's stomach rumbled.

He instinctively took the sausage and took a bite.

The rich aroma and the still-hot temperature finally brought him back to his senses.

"What was that?" Siren asked. "I think I saw something very big when I was in the lake. Did it save me?"

“I knew you’d ask that,” Hagrid said. “It’s a giant squid from the Black Lake, which most people also call a giant squid. I’m not really sure what it is, because nobody has ever seen its full form.”

"It lives in the Black Lake and saves every student who accidentally falls into the water; it has been doing this for hundreds of years."

“A giant squid?” Xiren paused for a moment, then thought about it carefully. The thing he had seen earlier did indeed seem to be a huge tentacle with suckers.

“But Hagrid,” he said, “many students have seen giant squid sunbathing on the lake.”

“No, those are just a few of its tentacles.” As the two were talking, Celen had already finished the sausage Hagrid had offered him.

Having more food in his stomach made him feel much more comfortable.

"Would you like some more potatoes?" Hagrid handed over another dark, roasted potato.

"No, thank you." Xilun shook his head. "I'll throw up again soon anyway, so let's just skip it."

He did not give up because of what had just happened.

Although the experience in the lake was really unpleasant, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

There are giant squid in the Black Lake, so he doesn't need to worry about safety at all and can try to tame the horse-shaped lake monster to his heart's content.

“But you passed out as soon as you entered the water,” Hagrid said from the side. “When the tentacles rescued you, I hadn’t even started a fire yet.”

“That’s because I wasn’t prepared,” Xiren explained earnestly. “I had no idea the horse-shaped water monster was so fast in the lake, so I was knocked unconscious by the current.”

"you sure?"

"of course."

"Alright then, since that's what you think..." Hagrid didn't say anything more, and went over to wake up the horse-shaped water monster on the other side.

When the tentacles rescued Xilun, they also pulled up the horse-shaped water monster that was clinging to him.

Unlike Siren, the horse-shaped water monster was stunned by its tentacles because it didn't want to let Siren down. The giant squid got a little impatient and simply strangled it.

After losing consciousness, the "glue" on its back turned back into water droplets, which allowed Hagrid to successfully move Siren to the fire.

After the horse-shaped water monster woke up, before it could figure out what had just happened, Xilun rolled over and sat on its back again.

This is outrageous! How can we tolerate this?

The horse-shaped lake monster immediately became angry and instinctively jumped into the black lake.

……

Three minutes later, ripples began to spread across the lake, and a giant tentacle emerged from it, carrying the unconscious man and horse back to shore.

Hagrid skillfully moved the person over, then used magic to make the unconscious Siron vomit the water from his stomach.

"Should we continue?" Xiren asked after he regained consciousness.

“Of course,” Xilun replied without hesitation.

Hagrid nodded, then skillfully ran to wake up the horse-shaped water monster on the other side.

Then the scene repeated itself, with the horse-shaped water monster carrying Siron into the lake again.

After an unknown amount of time, the edge of the originally dark sky gradually turned a pale white.

Its daybreak.

At the same time, the giant tentacles threw Siron and the horse-shaped water monster out of the lake for the fifth time.

This time, Hagrid didn't even need to move; upon landing, the two separated. Due to inertia, the massive, horse-like water monster remained in place, while the lighter Siren continued to roll forward for a distance, finally coming to a stop right next to the campfire.

……

(End of this chapter)