"This barrel of Acromantula venom is my payment for your help…" With that, Victor unsealed the oak barrel filled with venom. A faint, fishy smell immediately wafted into the air. Snape sniffed, and he knew instantly that the barrel in front of him contained genuine Acromantula venom, and it was fresh.
To be honest, since he started studying potions, the amount of Acromantula venom he had seen and used combined probably didn't amount to as much as what was in this single barrel.
After a moment of silence, Snape suddenly waved his robes, then, holding the crystal vial that was faintly glowing with a blue-green light, he turned and walked further into his office. He went to the bookshelf next to his desk, pulled out a few specific books, and then held his wand, saying some unknown spell to the empty space on the shelf. There was a sudden snap, and a hidden mechanism in the bookshelf opened.
Snape took a bottle of a silver potion from inside, then turned back and threw the potion directly to Victor, saying coldly, "I will report the matter of the Swooping Evil to Headmaster Dumbledore truthfully."
"Now, get out of my office!" With that, he turned and went back to his desk…
Walking out of Snape's office, Victor's face was filled with unconcealed joy as he looked at the silver potion in his hand. He hadn't expected to get such an unexpected reward for personally delivering a Christmas present.
The potion in front of him was one of the pinnacles of potion-making: Felix Felicis, a potion that could make a person extremely lucky for twelve hours.
To be honest, the value of the Felix Felicis was far greater than the gift Victor had given, and for him, it was practically a no-cost business. After all, there were countless Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest; if he ran out of venom, he could just go back and get more. And since Helena was his pet, he didn't have to worry about the supply of her venom at all.
But seriously, are all Slytherins like this, so tsundere?! Victor recalled the slightly awkward and surprised look on Snape's face when he received the gift. He must not have received a Christmas present in years.
After giving Snape his gift, Victor then went to Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He had also prepared a Christmas present for Hagrid and planned to take the opportunity to ask about Helena and the secret of Aragog being able to speak.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Hagrid, are you there?" Victor knocked on the door of Hagrid's hut and shouted inside.
"Who is it? Is it Harry?"
Hagrid's voice came from behind the door, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps. The door opened with a groan, and the slightly smoky Hagrid poked his head out.
"Merry Christmas, Hagrid!" Victor said with a smile.
"Oh! Victor, it's you! Come on in!" When Hagrid saw that it was Victor, his face immediately filled with pleasant surprise, and he quickly invited Victor inside.
"Thanks!" Victor said, thanking him, then stepped inside. He looked around and saw that many charcoal pieces had suddenly appeared in the corner of the room.
Victor raised an eyebrow, suddenly remembering something, then saw a round object wrapped in a burlap sack on a nearby table.
Hagrid, who had just closed the door, turned around and, seeing that Victor was staring at the treasure he had just won, his face immediately became a little nervous. He quickly walked over and stood in front of Victor, saying awkwardly, "Uh, um, Victor, Merry Christmas!"
"Same to you, Hagrid!" Victor responded with a smile, then leaned to the side to look behind Hagrid. "You don't have to be so nervous. I know that's a dragon egg. I saw it!"
"Oh! How did you know?" Hagrid was instantly flustered. He picked up the dragon egg from the table and said in a pleading tone, "Victor, don't tell anyone. I just…"
"Don't worry, I'm not like you!" Victor replied cryptically, then took out the gift he had prepared and handed it over. "Your present. See if it fits."
"Oh, my goodness!" Hagrid exclaimed, quickly putting down the dragon egg, wiping the soot from his hands, and carefully taking the brand-new wool coat Victor handed him.
"I saw that you wear this coat all the time and that it has a lot of patches on it, so I thought I'd get you a new one for Christmas this year."
"Thank you, thank you so much!" Hagrid said, emotionally wiping a tear from his eye. He then took off his old moleskin coat and put on the new one Victor had given him. A moment later, he happily spread his arms in front of Victor and asked, "Does it fit?"
"It's great, it fits perfectly!" Victor nodded in praise, and then, while Hagrid was in high spirits, he brought up the other purpose of his visit.
"Hagrid, I saw Aragog last night!" Victor said bluntly.
"Aragog is… Aragog?!!!" Hagrid didn't react at first, but two seconds later, his eyes widened instantly. He looked at Victor with an incredulous expression and shook his head, saying, "No… that's impossible. It promised me it wouldn't leave the Forbidden Forest. It… how did you see it?"
"I just went into the depths of the Forbidden Forest last night and ran into a group of Acromantulas. I followed them, and then I saw it," Victor answered truthfully.
"You went to the Forbidden Forest?! You went to the Acromantula lair?!" Hagrid's shock was indescribable. He looked over Victor from head to toe. He knew that besides himself and Dumbledore, no one could come out of the Acromantula lair alive.
"It's fine. Aragog and its children were very polite to me last night!" Victor said with a relaxed wave of his hand. "I was just a little curious. How did you manage to teach Aragog to speak like a person?"
"Oh… you're asking about that!" Hagrid finally snapped out of his shock. He rubbed his large belly, and a look of reminiscence began to appear in his eyes. "To be honest, I'm not really sure why Aragog could speak. If you're asking what method I used, it all started when I found Aragog…"
It turned out that forty-eight years ago, Hagrid was a third-year student at Hogwarts. One day, he accidentally found an Acromantula egg on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. And so, with his innate fondness for magical creatures, he secretly took the egg back to Hogwarts to hatch it.
The Acromantula species, from hatching to adulthood, goes through ten larval stages, each lasting about six to eight months. And during these six to eight months, the food an Acromantula eats and the environment it lives in can have a huge impact on it.
"I remember when Aragog first hatched, it was so cute. But to avoid attracting attention, I usually kept it in a wooden box and fed it things like aphids and stable flies." Hagrid gradually started to recall the events of that time.
"But what does that have to do with Aragog being able to talk?" Victor asked, confused.
"Maybe it has something to do with it, and maybe not," Hagrid said, shaking his head with a little regret. "To be honest, I was just a student back then. Although I was very interested in magical creatures, I didn't have much research on them. It wasn't until I became the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts and had more contact with the magical creatures in the Forbidden Forest, along with some knowledge from books, that I slowly began to realize… Aragog might be a very special existence among the Acromantula species. To be honest, I've tried to raise another Acromantula using the same method I used with Aragog, but I've never succeeded."
"In other words, you just got lucky!" Victor said with a sigh of disappointment. Hagrid's words shattered his idea of teaching Helena how to speak, because even if he found the "password" for Aragog's ability to speak, it would only apply to the Acromantula species.
"Hmm? Victor, what's wrong?" Hagrid asked curiously when he saw Victor suddenly looking crestfallen.
"I'm fine…" Victor looked up and perked up, then started talking about something else. "Oh, right, Hagrid, I have another question. Can you take a look at my pet and tell me what you think?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Helena flew out from Victor's chest. After flying around the room, she landed on Victor's head.
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