The Rune Mage Starting at Hogwarts

At this point, after keeping its tail between its legs for more than half an hour, Ya Ya finally started to move.

It seemed to have suddenly regained its dignity as a hunting dog, leaping out from behind Hagrid and barking twice at the tree hole in a bluffing manner. Then it even seemed to be scratching at the edge of the tree hole a couple of times.

It wasn't until Hagrid kicked it in the rear end in annoyance that it wagged its tail and returned to Hagrid's side contentedly.

As Hagrid knelt down beside the tree hollow and dug through the snow, Ryze could hear subtle sounds coming from inside.

Ryze cast a subtle illumination spell on the inside of the tree hollow, and a silvery shadow flickered briefly before disappearing.

It's obvious that the other party has entered stealth mode.

"Oh, poor little guy, don't be nervous, I'm here to save you."

Hagrid gently comforted the other, then carefully explored the tree hollow, ignoring the other's grasping at his hands several times, and finally pulled out the invisible beast that was in stealth mode.

Perhaps realizing he had been captured, or perhaps realizing that Hagrid meant no harm, the captured Invisible Beast listlessly canceled his invisibility, revealing his true form.

Ryze finally saw the invisible beast clearly.

Its appearance was no different from what he had seen in the book. Long silver fur covered its entire body, except for the hair on its face, which was thinner, allowing one to see its eyes, which were filled with vigilance and melancholy.

However, what was even more noticeable was the obvious scar on the other person's right leg.

Although the bleeding has temporarily stopped, it will take at least another week to fully recover.

“It must be a trap the centaurs used to stop intruders. This poor little guy accidentally ran into it. Luckily, it’s small. The trap was probably designed for big creatures like trolls, which is why it was able to escape,” Hagrid made the judgment after only a brief examination of the wound.

With a pained expression, he took out healing potions and bandages from his pocket and began treating the invisible beast's wounds.

Ryze also helped out, successfully cleaning the wound, applying potion, and bandaging it.

Although the cloaked beast struggled for a moment when its wound was being treated, it quickly realized that Hagrid was indeed there to help it and immediately became docile.

After its wound was bandaged, the way it looked at Raz and Hagrid was filled with gratitude.

“The environment here is not suitable for you to recover. If any accidents happen again, your wounds will continue to reopen. So I’m going to take you back now. Don’t worry, once your wounds have healed, I will release you back into the Forbidden Forest.”

Hagrid took off his coat, wrapped the cloaked beast in it, and then prepared to leave the Forbidden Forest and return to his cabin.

However, just as they stood up to leave, a slow and rhythmic thud of hooves came from the other side of the dense forest.

Hagrid pulled Ryze behind him and warned, "They're centaurs, Ryze, come behind me and let me deal with them."

Chapter 92: The Centaur's Invitation

The sound of hooves grew louder as they approached, and soon, several centaurs appeared before Rizz and Hagrid.

They were tall and upright, with a strong human upper body and a powerful horse lower body.

The leader, a man with a brown-red horse, red beard and hair, put down his bow and arrow upon seeing Hagrid.

The black-horseman with a full beard, who was following behind him and wielding a spear, snorted softly when he saw Hagrid.

Hagrid breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing who it was.

He knew a centaur.

“Ronan, Bane, good afternoon. It’s been a while. How are things in your tribe lately?” He stepped forward first and shook hands with Ronan, who was standing in front of him. “If there isn’t enough food for the foals in the tribe during the winter, just let me know.”

Before Ronan could speak, Bane interrupted Hagrid somewhat abruptly.

"The tribe of the centaurs does not need charity from others; we only need to follow the laws of nature to ensure the tribe's survival."

Hagrid waved his hand helplessly: "Fine, I was just asking casually. I know your personalities."

He sighed, then changed the subject to the traps around the centaur tribe: "Also, while I know we should strengthen the defenses around the tribe in winter, aren't you being a little too cautious this year? Look at this poor little guy. It wouldn't have posed a threat to your tribe, but it still got hurt by your traps."

Bane coldly looked down at the injured invisible beast that Hagrid had revealed, his tone devoid of any pity: "That's to guard against the approaching shadows. Since this summer, we've already felt the haze above Hogwarts, and those shadows could enter our woodlands at any time. This is to ensure that we centaurs are not affected by those guys."

"As for the creatures that accidentally wander in, that is their own fate."

Hagrid reluctantly took back his coat, his voice rising considerably: "This is just a harmless little creature. As the forest ranger of Hogwarts, I will not let it die here, no matter what its fate may be!"

Ryze, who was behind Hagrid, listened to Hagrid's conversation with the centaur, and his eyelids twitched involuntarily.

Hagrid also said that centaurs are not to be trifled with, but he himself gets easily agitated when it comes to things related to magical creatures.

Fortunately, there was Ronan, whose temperament was more stable, between the two.

“Alright, Hagrid, we came here in the first place to find this injured cloaked beast. Since you found it first, you can take care of it,” Ronan said gently, raising his hand to interrupt their argument.

Hagrid glared at Bane before looking away. "Then let's leave the Forbidden Forest now. Ryze, follow me."

He spoke to Ryze behind him, and Ronan and Bane's gazes swept past Hagrid's tall figure and landed on Ryze behind him.

In that instant, Ryze instinctively felt a sense of being spied on.

This does not refer to mere eye probing, but rather a deeper level of probing, originating from the mother's own accord.

Ryze followed this feeling and looked at Bane; their eyes met in mid-air.

The next moment, sensing something, Aery emerged from Ryze's chest and glared at Bane with some hostility.

Upon seeing Ari appear, Bane subconsciously took a step back, but quickly regained his balance and stared intently at Ari on Ryze's shoulder with his deep eyes, as if he had seen something incredible.

“Bane,” Ronan frowned as he looked at his people, “we made a promise with Dumbledore that we would not harm the pony.”

“I’m not going to make a move against him, Ronan, but as you can see, this little coyote has secrets that even we can’t see through. He might be the one who makes the future chaotic, and we must be wary of him,” Bane looked at Ryze again, but this time his eyes were filled with caution.

Ronan's gentle expression vanished, and Hagrid blocked Ryze's path, looking at the centaur with agitation: "Bane, what do you intend to do to Ryze!"

Ryze couldn't help but frown.

What did these centaurs see in the starry sky? How did their vision of the future change because of them?

Ronan looked at Hagrid: "Sorry Hagrid, let me discuss this with Bane first, but rest assured, we swore to Dumbledore under the witness of the stars that we would not lay a hand on the pony, and we will never break that promise."

The two centaurs whispered to each other for a while before Ronan returned to Hagrid's side.

"Young pony, please forgive Bain's recklessness, but he was only doing it for the future of us centaurs."

Ronan's gaze drifted to the sky above the dense forest: "One night last year, the celestial phenomena underwent an unprecedented upheaval. The previously certain future was shrouded in a thick fog, and despite countless observations of the stars over the past year, we have been unable to find the source of all this."

He bent down slightly and continued speaking to Ryze, "Don't mind what Bane just said. He only said that because he sensed the faint, indistinct mist around you and the pure, almost primal magical creature on your shoulder."

"However, neither I nor any other centaurs believe that a single person or thing can have such a great impact on the world. There has never been such an existence in history for at least thousands of years."

He paused for a moment, then extended an invitation to Riz: "Moreover, you possess a divination talent that we can only envy. It is a gift from heaven, but I personally hope that you can use this power more wisely. Compared to the trivialities of personal life, death, victory, and defeat, you should use this power to see the true nature of the world. This is the right path of divination, and it is also the wisdom that we centaurs have inherited for thousands of years."

"I know this may be hard for you to understand now, but if you are interested in this in the future, I would love to welcome you to visit the Maren tribe."

“Hagrid, take him with you. If you stay here, the snowstorm will get even worse soon,” Ronan said, straightening up and disappearing into the woods with Bane, who had been watching Ryze from behind.

Only after the other party had completely disappeared did Hagrid turn to look at Ryze: "Ryze, don't take what those weirdos are saying to heart."

"They're always like this, only concerned with random celestial phenomena like Mars and Mercury. They keep saying they don't care about personal life or death, but in all these years, I haven't seen a single one of them intentionally die. Let's hurry back. Before we set off, I cooked a pot of beef soup, and it should be ready when we get back."

Chapter 93: The Legendary Professor of Magical Animals

Rizzo doesn't think Ronan is being mysterious.

One night a year ago, a dramatic change occurred in the celestial phenomena; the future was framed by a thick fog.

He did indeed acquire the rune system a year ago. Could the celestial anomaly the centaur was referring to be this?

After all, he and his system are variables from outside the world, which will inevitably have a significant impact on the original future of this world.

Since the centaurs noticed this change, what about other wizards with divination powers, such as Ravenclaw from a thousand years ago? Did she also see all of this...?

Ryze shook his head, realizing he really needed to make time to visit the centaur tribe and learn about their ancient astrological divination.

However, that is obviously not the case now.

Back at Hagrid's cabin, Hagrid rummaged through the pile of junk behind his own cabin and found a small cabin.

According to Hagrid, the cabin was originally prepared for Lou Williams last year, but the "little guy" grew too fast. In just two or three months, he was already bigger than the cabin, and by the time he was fully developed in the first half of this year, he was almost as tall as Hagrid.

“During that time, Lu Wei kept trying to run deeper into the Forbidden Forest. He even ran all the way to Aragog and almost got into a fight with them,” Hagrid said nostalgically, recalling what happened more than half a year ago.

Rizz had already heard about Aragog from Hagrid, and once, after Hagrid had a few drinks, he even cried to Rizz about how he was expelled from Hogwarts half a century ago for taming Aragog.

It was because Dumbledore always believed in Hagrid and went to great lengths to keep him at Hogwarts as the gamekeeper that Hagrid remained so loyal to Dumbledore.

Ryze helped Hagrid clean the cabin, then put some warm blankets inside, and finally placed the invisible beast inside.

“You rest here, I’ll get you something to eat later,” Hagrid said gently to the invisible beast, then patted Ryze on the shoulder. “I really owe you a lot this time, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to find it before the centaurs.”

"Although the centaurs have decent healing magic, their supplies aren't as complete as mine. And I reckon that as soon as this little guy's injuries improve even a little, those centaurs will just throw him out."

In response to Hagrid's thanks, Ryze made a few modest remarks, and then took the opportunity to mention that during this trip to the Forbidden Forest, he had developed some interest in the magical creatures that Hagrid had mentioned earlier, and that he wanted to observe and learn about the Invisible Beasts and other magical creatures up close in the next few days.

Hagrid has always been someone who can't stop talking about magical creatures, so when he saw that Ryze also wanted to learn more about magical creatures, he naturally didn't refuse and was even very happy.

"That's easy. I'm very close to Professor Katelburn, the professor of Magical Animals Protection. He... well, anyway, for some reasons, I usually help him with the magical animals that he can't handle on a regular basis. I'll take you to see the magical animals Professor Katelburn keeps in a couple of days. I guarantee you'll be amazed. Let me tell you, quite a few of those magical animals were bred by Katelburn and me together. They're rare creatures that you might not even see in class!"

Having been in school for almost three months, Reese, who loved to wander around, had naturally heard of Professor Katelburn's illustrious reputation.

His love for magical creatures was no less than Hagrid's, only his physique wasn't as robust.

During his decades as a professor of magical animal protection, he underwent at least sixty-two probationary periods and had already lost a hand and a leg before Dumbledore became principal.

Even so, his love for magical creatures kept him in this position with only one hand and half a leg until two years later when he chose to retire and hand over the reins to Hagrid.

Thinking about the professor and Hagrid's legendary lives, Ritz felt that he would definitely have to do a good job of protecting them.

After drinking a few sips of hot soup and feeding the invisible beast, while casually plucking a couple of tufts of fur from it, and finally checking on the growth of the magical rice before leaving, Ryze left Hagrid's hut with a satisfied heart.

Hagrid was indeed very efficient. Within two days, he sent Rhett a note, in which he generously offered to let Rhett's friends come along if they were interested in magical creatures.

The note even contained Professor Katelburne's signature, allowing several people to temporarily leave the castle at night.

Ryze showed the note to her roommate, and after thinking about it, she also sent a note to the studious Hermione.

Finally, on this cold night, under Felch's scrutinizing gaze, several young wizards who felt like they were about to freeze to death as soon as they stepped out of the castle began to complain.

"Merlin's Beard, why did I go out in this cold weather to learn about magical creatures ahead of time? Ryze, give me a Warming Charm too, my Warming Charm is much less effective than yours," Michael pleaded with Ryze, shivering slightly.

He originally intended to have a pleasant chat with the little witches of Ravenclaw in the lounge before sharing some gossip with his roommates, but Anthony and Terry were clearly more interested in magical creatures, so Michael followed along, thinking that these things might increase the topics he had to talk about with the little witches.

Ron secretly agreed with this. He didn't think there was anything wrong at first, but he started to regret it after stepping out of the lounge late at night and being exposed to the cold wind.

But there's no going back now.

Ryze quickly cast a warming spell in front of the group.

The group of people, who had been shivering from the cold, suddenly felt a warm current rise from their spines and quickly spread to their limbs and bones.

With his magical prowess, the warming spell he cast was extremely effective.

“Phew...that’s much better now,” Ron said, feeling as if he had come back to life. He praised Rhett, “If I could master the Warmth Charm to this level, I wouldn’t have to worry about winter.”

Hermione didn't speak, but silently sensed the difference between her Warming Charm and Ryze's Warming Charm.

This spell doesn't require much magic power; what's more important is control.

Maintaining a stable temperature for a spell that feels comfortable to the touch is not easy.

Previously, she only thought about keeping warm, so the temperature control of the warming spell she cast was obviously not as precise as Ryze's.

Hermione, having found another gap in her knowledge, silently noted it down, intending to catch up on it herself when she got back.

Chapter 94: The Invisible Beast's Mischief

Protected by the Warming Charm, the group trudged through the thick snow to the outside of the castle, where they could see Hagrid's Hut in the distance, its lights casting a dim yellow glow.

However, just a dozen meters away from the cabin, Michael, who was walking beside Ritz, suddenly let out a scream.

"Oh, Merlin's pants... something's caught on my pant leg!"

He lunged forward suddenly, but Ryze reacted quickly and grabbed him, preventing him from falling into the snowdrift.

"What's wrong?" Anthony quickly drew his wand, holding it tightly to his chest with a tense expression, his eyes scanning the empty snowfield warily.

This is one of the benefits of practicing dueling magic; one's reaction time is indeed much faster than that of a typical junior wizard.

“I don’t know, but I’m sure there’s something there!” Michael rubbed his ankle and bent down to grab his trouser leg, but there was nothing there.

Before everyone could recover, Ron suddenly let out an even sharper scream: "Where are my freckles? My freckles are gone!"

He frantically rummaged in his pocket, then looked around to see who had taken Banban from his pocket.

Ryze raised an eyebrow. He didn't need to use divination; he could determine who was causing trouble simply by looking at the footprints in the snow.

“Don’t panic, everyone,” Rizz extended a hand in a reassuring gesture, “one of our little friends is playing a prank on us here.”

As he spoke, he waved his wand at the spot where the trail of feet had stopped: "Show yourself now."

As the spell took effect, a primate creature with large eyes, covered in silver fur, gradually appeared in the spot where the tip of Rizz's staff pointed.