"Yes, those damn horse people," Professor Keitelborn complained loudly:

"About two months ago, they frequently left the territory assigned to them by Professor Grindelwald... frequently invaded the Forbidden Forest belonging to Hogwarts... This is a crime!"

"My father always thought," Draco Malfoy suddenly interrupted, "those horses should have been hanged. In that war fifty years ago, they were on the side of the black wizard..."

"Yes!" Professor Kettleborn agreed, and he nodded vigorously, "If it weren't for Professor Grindelwald's kindness... they had completely forgotten all the past things! This is unforgivable!"

Professor Kettleborn seemed to be very scheming with Professor Malfoy, and soon started chatting about the horseman's affairs as soon as possible.

The group began to officially enter the Forbidden Forest.

...

The originally narrow path in the Forbidden Forest has been completely covered by heavy snow.

Fortunately, the soil was frozen hard, and as long as you don’t step into the bushes, it seems that there is no difference wherever you go.

As Professor Kettleborn said, in the forbidden forest, the thickness of snow on the ground is much thinner than outside the forbidden forest, and it is not as difficult to walk outside.

"Where should we go!" Theodore Note looked around in fear and asked.

Obviously, this child seems to have a little psychological shadow on the Forbidden Forest.

"No need to worry," Professor Kettleborn said calmly, "Let's go find a guide first and follow me..."

Matthew suddenly remembered the clever "cat croaker" he encountered a year ago when he first stepped into the forbidden forest with Professor Kettleborn... Its name seems to be "Tom"...

Perhaps the "guidance" that Professor Kettleborn refers to is it? Or a creature of the same kind!

The heavy snow pressed down the branches of the trees in the forbidden forest very low, and from time to time a large pile of snow would fall off their heads... Krab was very unlucky, and a large mass of snow hit his head, almost making his eyes appear.

So much so that Professor Kettleborn had to stop, help him up, and used a recovery spell on him.

After some time wasted, they continued to move forward.

Since it was the cold winter, I didn’t encounter any animals along the way... Most animals, or magical animals, seem to have fallen into hibernation.

"The forbidden forests in winter are actually very safe. No 'dangerous' animals will come out to move out at this time..." Professor Kettleborn explained.

Then, Professor Keitelborn began to whistle in a frivolous tone.

I have to say that the sound is particularly harsh!

They had to cover their ears...

...

About ten minutes later—

"Strange!" Professor Kettleborn suddenly stopped and looked around with some suspicion.

"What's wrong, professor?" Matthew frowned and asked quickly.

"Nothing, maybe it's because the weather has been too cold recently, and my guide has also hibernated..." Professor Kettleborn explained, "Let's keep going!"

Matthew sighed and formed a cloud of water mist in front of him... At the same time, he quietly pulled out his magic wand from his waist.

"Professor Kettleborn!" Gole suddenly stopped, squatted on the ground and observed something for a while, then pointed at it and shouted, "Look at this side, professor..."

"What's wrong, child?" Professor Kettleborn came over with curiosity.

"Look at this... it looks like a horse's hoof..." Gal said excitedly.

What Gregory Goll refers to is a big stone; the snow on the stone presents a horse's hoof-like mark—

The mark is very blurry, and it can be seen that it has been a while; and the stone is just under a tall British oak, so the mark on it has been preserved... The marks in other places may have been covered with fresh snow.

"Yes, that's the evidence!" Professor Kettleborn looked very excited, "Good job!"

He quickly took out a glass frame from his backpack behind him, then waved his wand with his prosthesis, and his only normal hand to assist him, transferring the horseshoe marks on the snow into the glass frame... as if the Muggles were making specimens.

Professor Keitelborn was very skillful in his movements and did not destroy the integrity of the "specimen" at all... After completing it, he also cast a spell on the "specimen" to prevent the ice and snow inside from melting!

"This is evidence!" he said with satisfaction. "When Christmas day, I will present it to Professor Grindelwald and Professor Rozier... I believe they will be angry at the recent bad behavior of the horse people!"

Goer raised his head proudly.

"Good job, kid!" Professor Kettleborn patted his shoulder, "We continue to look for... there must be evidence!"

"Do you want to look for it separately?" Vincent Crab suggested.

Obviously, Crab felt a little dissatisfied with Gole's "prosperity".

"Good idea!" Professor Kettleborn agreed, "Take your wand out and practice... If anyone finds useful traces or encounters trouble, fire a red spark and we will come to you..."

"...Okay, please be careful...Don't get too far, let's go!"

...

Crab and Goll looked excited and quickly dispersed.

Matthew was obviously unwilling to be dispersed with the large army because he always felt that there seemed to be some "crisis" hidden in this seemingly calm forbidden forest...

Malfoy and Norte are the same... Malfoy may have the same idea as Matthew. As for Norte, he is obviously still afraid of the Forbidden Forest.

The sun had risen, and the white snow was slightly dazzling... At the same time, there was silence in the forbidden forest, except for the sounds made by them, the "intruders".

Matthew searched on the ground aimlessly, but it was of no nature.

In fact, he felt that it was actually very difficult to find traces of horse people's activities after the heavy snow a few days ago... Goer just now was just lucky!

Nott was not far from Matthew, he always turned his head nervously and looked at him. He looked very uncomfortable, as if someone was watching him.

"Matthew, look! Red Sparks!" Suddenly, Nott shouted loudly, almost shocking Matthew.

But this also made Matthew see the red spark soon... He nodded, "Let's go, let's go!"

The two walked through the snow-covered bushes; they met Draco Malfoy before they walked far.

Obviously, like them, Malfoy was attracted by the red spark...

The three of them continued to move forward together.

Five minutes later, when they arrived at a frozen stream, they met Crab there.

Obviously, the red light was emitted by him.

"What's going on?" Malfoy asked loudly.

Vincent Crab was sitting on the ground, with a little fear in his voice!

"Look...you guys see..."

Looking in the direction Crab pointed, they saw a very cruel scene—

Above the frozen stream, a withered branch stretched out in a very disharmonious manner.

There was a rope tied to the branch, and a black thing hung on the rope...

"That's...a cat?" Malfoy asked tremblingly.

To be precise, it is not a cat... Its body size is a little bigger than that of an ordinary cat, its ears are particularly large, and its teeth are sharper at the same time... Its neck is hung on the rope, its body is completely frozen, and its eyes are wide open, looking at them straight.

Matthew stood there motionlessly, for several seconds.

"Is it dead... this cat..." Noth behind him asked tremblingly.

"It seems yes..." Matthew said with a serious expression, "But this is not a cat...but a cat civet..."

...

"Children, have you found anything?" Professor Kettleborn ran over quickly, and he shouted, "I saw your spark..."

His voice was very excited.

"Look at that, professor..." Crab trembled and pointed at the cat raccoon hanging from a tree. "Can that be considered evidence?"

"What is that..." Professor Kettleborn came over-

Professor Keitelborn's voice stopped and he was left there.

Soon, a painful expression appeared on his face:

"No...Tom..."

Professor Kettleborn ran over quickly and got the hanging cat raccoon...

But obviously it was too late... the cat was stiff like a hardwood board, and it had been dead for a long time.

Except for Matthew, the other Slytherin students looked at each other in a little.

"What's wrong...what's wrong here..." Goer was the last one to come over, and he asked breathlessly.

"This is a warning!" Professor Kettleborn suddenly spoke.

"Warning?" Several students were stunned.

"Those horse people..." Professor Kettleborn said while putting the dead cat crocodile into his backpack.

His voice calmed down, and at the same time it seemed a little scary: "So unbridled killing my guide... This is not an ordinary restlessness... This is a riot!"

There was silence, and the students were so scared that no one dared to speak again.

Matthew looked around and could only hear the sound of the dead leaves of winter rustling in the wind.
To be continued...