Harry, Neville, and the others returned to the dormitory one after another.
Dylan read for a while longer until bedtime, pretending to go to sleep—but before he realized it, he had actually fallen asleep.
Harry and Ron looked at each other and couldn't help but lower their voices as they packed up and climbed into bed.
Finally, in the dead of night, it was Coal that nudged Dylan's chest with its little head.
Dylan woke up with a start.
"Why am I still asleep?"
He checked the time—it was already early morning.
However, after a good night's sleep, he felt much more energetic and didn't even need to shake off any lingering tiredness.
He turned to look at Harry and the others, who were fast asleep, then quietly took out his invisibility cloak and put it on, instantly vanishing from sight.
"Silencio!"
Dylan chanted in his mind, waving his wand as he cast a silencing spell on himself.
Moving carefully, he tiptoed out of bed and slipped quietly from the dormitory.
Hogwarts was unusually silent at night.
Filch was still patrolling the castle, and Dylan could hear his heavy footsteps echoing through two corridors.
"Oh! Maybe Filch should really give Mrs. Norris a good bath. The smell is almost making me nauseous."
It was Dylan's first time sneaking around Hogwarts at night. Even so, he skillfully avoided Filch and exited the castle.
"Maybe I should put on a Slytherin uniform, pretend to get caught by Filch, and let him deduct all the points from Slytherin. That way, Hermione won't have to worry about Professor Snape targeting Gryffindor."
As he reached the Forbidden Forest, he spotted Hagrid from afar, holding a large lantern and patrolling the forest's edge to prevent anyone from sneaking in—or any creature from sneaking out.
At Hagrid's feet was Fang, huddled against his legs, refusing to move too far away.
Dylan didn't approach Hagrid but instead found a spot with sparse grass and slipped straight into the Forbidden Forest.
The moment he stepped inside, the scent of damp earth and decaying leaves filled his nose.
The trees around him stood tall, their thick branches weaving into a dense canopy, blocking out most of the moonlight. Fallen leaves covered the ground like a soft carpet.
Dylan kept the Silencing Spell active, ensuring that even as he moved through the leaves, no sound would betray him.
He remained hidden beneath his invisibility cloak.
Suddenly, a rustling sound came from the nearby bushes.
Dylan turned his head, and with the help of faint moonlight, he spotted a hedgehog-like creature covered in spikes, busy searching for food among the leaves.
"A Stinger?"
Dylan observed it carefully. Although the little creature couldn't see him, it seemed to sense something—it lifted its head, spines bristling, and turned back and forth as if searching for an unseen presence.
"The instincts of living creatures are remarkable."
Dylan didn't disturb the foraging creature. The materials on its body weren't particularly valuable, nor worth the trouble of collecting by hand.
Besides, harvesting materials from these creatures was a hassle—he might as well buy them directly.
A little further ahead, Dylan spotted a small patch of grass emitting a soft blue glow.
Upon closer inspection—
"Glow grass. It's not rare, but since I'm here, I might as well take some. I'll need to make an illumination potion in my next Potions class."
Squatting down, Dylan carefully collected some glow grass and stored it in his system inventory.
As he ventured deeper into the Forbidden Forest, the trees grew taller and denser. Strange, luminescent mushrooms flickered in the darkness.
"Those are poisonous mushrooms. Better not touch them."
The Forbidden Forest was rich with diverse species, home to many magical creatures.
Dylan paused when he noticed a set of hoofprints ahead.
Crouching down, he examined them closely.
"A centaur? Or a unicorn?"
He recalled the descriptions in Treasure House of Magical Creatures.
"To distinguish the owner of hoofprints, the simplest method is to analyze their weight distribution."
Centaurs had much heavier front hooves compared to their hind hooves, making their tracks distinct.
A unicorn—or an ordinary horse—had more balanced prints, with the hind hooves exerting more power while walking.
Dylan studied the tracks and found that they weren't uneven, nor were the front prints significantly deeper than the back ones.
"Judging by this, these might belong to an ordinary horse-like magical creature... But of course, it could also be a unicorn."
However, unicorns were incredibly elusive, and he doubted he'd be lucky enough to stumble upon one on his first venture into the forest.
Continuing forward, Dylan chuckled to himself.
"If I really do find a unicorn, I'd love to collect some unicorn horn powder."
Along the way, he gathered several useful ingredients: poisonous aconite, blackroot (which could counteract spells), and two-eared grass for making Polyjuice Potion.
But after wandering for some time, he realized something was wrong.
"Strange. I planned my route carefully, but as soon as I entered, it felt like I went off course."
He still hadn't found any trace of the Acromantulas.
"Hagrid often comes to the Forbidden Forest, but he doesn't venture into Acromantula territory frequently."
As a result, while Dylan could spot paths cleared by Hagrid, they weren't helpful in locating the Acromantula nests.
"In that case..."
Dylan stopped, then pulled out a packet of tea leaves from his robes and crouched beside a moss-covered boulder.
"Good thing I learned some divination from Professor Trelawney. I might as well use it to find my way."
Among the divination techniques he had studied, tea leaf reading was one he had asked Professor Trelawney to teach him specifically. It was quick, convenient, and closely resembled Eastern fortune-telling.
Dylan took out a cup from his inventory, filled it with water, and heated it with a wave of his wand.
"Calefacio!"
The cold water quickly boiled under the flow of magic.
At the right moment, he added the tea leaves, letting them swirl and expand in the hot water.
Once the tea had cooled slightly, he drank most of it, leaving only the settled leaves behind.
Lifting the cup, he rotated it three times, allowing the tea leaves to settle into patterns.
Closing his eyes, he focused his mind on finding the Acromantula.
When he opened his eyes, the leaves had formed a distinct shape.
At the center of the pattern, a large arrow pointed in a specific direction.
"Hmm?"
Dylan narrowed his eyes.
He had his answer.
(End of Chapter)
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