The rest of the stuff happened really quickly. And unexpectedly, the rest of the classes for the day were cancelled without any news of them continuing the next day. Auden was slightly disappointed, not only because he wanted to take the Potions classes, but also because he had never expected this in his plans.
'I need to remember the fact that I am not some mastermind like Aizen who plans every instance and accomplishes it easily. I need to be aware that the plans I make will have consequences. If I had thought a bit more, I would have known the classes would be cancelled and would not have gotten that excited yesterday.
Damn second-hand embarrassment,' Auden cursed in his own mind as he felt like digging a hole.
"It's alright, it will pass." Auden suddenly felt someone patting his back and realised that Luna was able to see through his poker face. He sighed once again and promised himself to make plans thoroughly and to be prepared for unexpected situations.
'No wonder the other two reincarnators insisted on the fact that the world I am going to was real in the letters they sent me. Got to make sure I remember that well enough,' he thought, and then turned towards Luna.
"Come on, since there are no classes today, we can go and see the creatures in the forest," Auden said, directly ignoring Dumbledore's warning not to go to the Forbidden Forest in the morning.
Luna nodded and went off with him. Since most of the students were reading and talking about the incident of Malfoy Sr. trying to give a Dark Arts book to Ginny, Luna and Auden were able to easily escape into the forest.
From then on, Auden had to take a backseat as he was in the forest for the first time in his life. Reading Harry Potter books had not prepared him enough to face the creatures of the forest, as the knowledge only told him about the creatures Harry and the others encountered. There were still countless other creatures present within the forest.
Auden wished he had seen the Fantastic Beasts movie, as he had never gotten the chance to watch the entire thing and had only seen a few scenes from reels. He knew about the numerous pieces of information on magical creatures in that movie that he had missed.
'Looks like I need to study all those books I am recording,' Auden thought as he began following Luna, who was able to face the forest like it was her own backyard.
Auden was able to see why she said she had many friends in the forest. He watched her interact with every creature she met in the forest very easily. Looking closer, he could see that she was walking carefully so as not to step on any small creature on the ground.
She then began introducing each and every animal she came across.
"See those beauties? They are the most misunderstood creatures of the wizarding world," Luna said as she finally reached a creature Auden recognised.
"Thestral," Auden said out loud as he saw Luna go near one.
He had expected that his own death would make him join the group that could see these creatures, and he was right.
As he got closer to the Thestral, he felt a slight shiver from his wand. And as he came even closer, the Thestral turned towards him and let out a small wail.
It sounded almost like the noise created when you drag an iron nail across a chalkboard to most people, but to Auden's enhanced ears—which could translate any sound-based communication with life—it appeared as a sort of message he could easily perceive.
'It thinks I am a kin of its kind.' Auden now realised that dying once had made him part of the creatures in the world who had connections with death. No wonder his wand had a Thestral hair.
"This one seems to like you a bit more," Luna said as she noticed the way the Thestral was looking at him.
"Well, maybe I am special that way," Auden muttered as he gently touched the creature's head with his hand.
They then spent the day meeting many other creatures in the forest, and Luna introduced him to each one they came across. Auden was able to hear the sounds created by those creatures and understand what they were trying to convey.
"So Professor Lockhart is a fraud?" Luna asked.
"Yes. He might be an excellent storyteller, but his works clearly show that he has no idea about what he is talking about. Fighting a werewolf—whose average strength is naturally many times that of an average person—with his bare hands, and the claim that he was able to calm down a banshee by singing poetry… How the hell can he sing when the wails of a banshee suppress every other kind of sound? Plus, ordinary silencing charms do not work on them."
"But my father told me that there were reports of him saving people, and there were clear reports of him defeating creatures mentioned in those stories as well," Luna said as Auden revealed why he was annoyed by Lockhart.
"That's true, but have you ever wondered why he never reported these things right after he had done them? It was only after a few months, and some only after a few years. Plus, there are no witnesses to the entire thing he described in his books.
He just published books about the supposed adventure he had, the Ministry investigates and finds out that the creatures or enemies he had described in his books have already been killed, and there was no one coming forward to claim that Lockhart was lying and that someone else had been the one to have done the deed."
"But then how are you sure that he is a fraud?"
"Remember what I said about the inaccuracies of his work," Auden said with a smile.
A/N – Hope you like it.