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They walked silently through the dense, pitch-black forest toward Hagrid's hut. Moonlight occasionally filtered through gaps in the branches above, casting small patches of faint light on the dead leaves and twigs.
"Who would let a Basilisk into the school?" Anthony asked.
"Must be a Slytherin," Hagrid answered without hesitation. "Only they like snakes."
Anthony looked at him in surprise. "I thought you liked all fierce large monsters?"
"What? Of course not!" Hagrid said, startled. "I like cute little babies and loyal good friends. Do you think Aragog is a fierce monster?"
"Ah..." Anthony hesitated, then changed the subject. "Do you think the Basilisk is still in the castle?"
"I don't know." Hagrid frowned deeply. "Merlin, I actually let Aragog stay near a Basilisk for so long—no wonder he always wanted to leave. What kind of companion am I! What kind of friend!" He pounded his head in self-reproach.
Anthony quickly stopped him. "Don't do that, Hagrid. Nobody thought of it. If it weren't for Ms. Grubbly-Plank—"
"You're right. I'll thank her properly when I get back. She's wonderful," Hagrid said, distracted. "And you, Henry—you really didn't have to do all this. I've mostly stopped caring. I mean, I'm already the gamekeeper, and Dumbledore kept me here..."
His words were interrupted by rustling in the forest. Sounds of branches and leaves came from the dark woods, as if something large was approaching them.
Anthony immediately turned to look.
Hagrid pulled him behind himself, raising one hand and calling out, "It's me, Hagrid. I mean no harm. Who are you?"
The branches beside them were pushed aside, and with light hoofbeats, a centaur emerged.
Anthony stared at him in awe from behind Hagrid. His platinum hair and the body of a palomino horse flowed with silvery-white luster, nearly rivaling the crescent moon in the night sky within the pitch-black Forbidden Forest.
"Now it really is like a fairy tale," Anthony muttered.
"Ah, Firenze, how are you?" Hagrid lowered his hand and exchanged pleasantries.
Firenze's blue eyes swept over both of them. "Good evening, Hagrid. Good evening, stranger."
"Good evening. We came to visit Aragog," Hagrid said. "What brings you here?"
"When needed, I answer the call of the planets," Firenze said.
Hagrid nodded. "Is there something you want to tell me?"
Anthony would bet he understood as little as Anthony himself.
The centaur gazed at the starry sky. "I have seen Pluto."
"Brilliant," Hagrid said. "If you don't mind, we'll just—"
Another rustling came from the forest. Under Hagrid and Anthony's wary gaze, a second centaur emerged.
"You should not be here," this centaur said sorrowfully. "We observe only the heavens, Firenze. We do not influence them. You have gone too far, attempting to move the stars."
Hagrid said, "Good evening, Ronan. Are you here to tell me something too?"
The centaur nodded politely to Hagrid but didn't answer. He looked past Anthony, focusing intently on Firenze, tapping the ground lightly with his front hoof.
Firenze said calmly, "I cannot move the stars, Ronan. I can only see what they show me. If they tell me to walk into the swamp, I will walk into it. Have you not seen the same thing?"
Ronan sighed and gazed unblinkingly at the sky for a moment.
"Tell me, Ronan," Firenze said, pawing at the earth beneath his hooves. "Have you become so blind of heart and eye that you cannot see the stars?"
Ronan said in his sad, deep voice, "Pluto has come out."
"Yes," Firenze said.
They looked up at the sky together for a while, then both turned to Hagrid and Anthony, as if waiting for them to say something.
Anthony thought for a moment, then praised cautiously, "You have very good eyesight...?"
"Centaurs are always like that," Hagrid said on the way back. "Something about Jupiter and Saturn aligning today, something about Mercury being particularly dim today... They never speak straightforwardly. Wonder what they were trying to say this time."
Anthony pondered. "Do you think they might be talking about the Basilisk?"
"Not likely," Hagrid said irritably. "Centaurs believe in all that star business, think stellar prophecy is the most important thing in the world. I doubt they'd bother warning us about a Basilisk."
"Maybe it's a very, very large Basilisk," Anthony said.
Hagrid finally laughed. He'd been sullen ever since Aragog fled in panic.
"Another drink or two, Henry?" Hagrid asked. "You don't have class tomorrow, right?"
His little hut finally came into view. The warm yellow light of the fire flickered in the window, and they could hear Fang excitedly throwing himself against the door, making the poor wooden door creak under the strain.
"Sure, but no rock cakes," Anthony said with a laugh. "I really can't eat them."
When Anthony woke up, he didn't know where he was for a moment.
Everything was pitch black before his eyes, something seemed to be pressing on him, and beneath him was a hard wooden board. He could sense corpses and bones all around.
His body was unusually relaxed, but no... alarm bells rang deep in his consciousness. No.
How am I in a coffin again? he thought.
So he struggled to raise his hand—strange, his hand had suddenly become so heavy, as if unaccustomed to obeying his commands—and slapped it against the wooden board. His magic exploded wildly.
"What? Ow!" Along with the sound of splintering wood, a thunderous voice said, "Merlin, Henry, how did you get in there!"
Suddenly there was light before Anthony's eyes.
He saw Hagrid sit up from the floor rubbing his eyes, while broken cabinet boards lay scattered around him. Fang wagged his tail excitedly, wolfing down the jerky and bones all over the floor, drool soon dripping everywhere.
"Careful, above your head—" Before Anthony could finish, Hagrid banged hard into the table as he stood up, falling back with a thud.
Anthony pressed his forehead. He remembered now.
Last night, half-drunk, Hagrid had taken him to the Forbidden Forest to visit the Acromantula, then they'd encountered centaurs—was that part real? Or just a strange dream from his drunkenness?—and after returning they'd continued drinking until Hagrid passed out under the table.
He'd wanted to return to the castle but found he couldn't walk steadily, so he decided to spend the night in Hagrid's hut. In his daze, he'd found what he thought was the most comfortable, most familiar place... Fang's snack cabinet.
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