The three of them followed the sticky flesh and found a small altar made of common stones.
Xing Ze remembered that he had seen the same altar underground in the Colosseum, which was larger and more exquisite than this one.
He frowned and carefully checked around the altar. But he didn't find anything strange, and he didn't find what he wanted.
As Edwin said, the fragment is not here, but it was indeed in the Forbidden Forest, and left behind serious and horrific contamination.
The animals around the altar turned into puddles of flesh and blood, and the plants became twisted and weird.
Xing Ze saw vines as thick as an adult's arm wrapped around a beech tree. The ground was also covered with some dark-colored flowers. The weeds were wilting, and some even had sharp saw teeth.
"Don't touch that thing, Hagrid." Ellie stopped her.
Hagrid retracted his hand sarcastically, but his vision did not leave the thing that looked like a blood clot attached to the stone.
He exclaimed with some horror: "For Merlin's sake, what happened to this place? How could it be like this?"
"Get out." Xing Ze said after checking to no avail, "This place is polluted by black magic. It will do us no good to stay here."
Ellie glanced at Xing Ze with some uncertainty. As a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts and the director of this course at a young age, Ellie still had some confidence in her acumen of black magic.
When she walked into this weird, twisted and smelly place, she found no trace of black magic, even though the surrounding situation was very likely to be caused by black magic.
She trusted her intuition and didn't even need to use a wand to detect it. The reason why Dumbledore sent her to the Forbidden Forest to track down the dark wizard was because of her unparalleled acumen and talent in dark magic.
However, she did not criticize Xing Ze, but walked out of the woods obediently. Although she still had many doubts in her heart, the longer she stayed there, the more uncomfortable she felt.
This strange feeling cannot be expressed in words, but it is real, as if you are wrapped in invisible water and are about to suffocate to death.
After walking out of the woods, Hagrid breathed heavily, "What the hell." He cursed, "How could this happen? What should we do?"
Anyone who comes into contact with the dream will be affected to a greater or lesser extent, and Hagrid and Ellie are no exception. Xing Ze was glad that he did not stay in it for too long. The next thing was to wait for the Ministry of Magic to send someone, and then there was nothing.
Endless testing and inspection.
…
This was Xing Ze's third day in the hospital. During this period, many people came to see him - the commissioner of the Ministry of Magic, the principal of Hogwarts, and Mr. Maxim, the administrator of the Gringotts estate.
Although there were all kinds of people coming and going, they only asked about one thing - what Xing Ze saw and heard in the Forbidden Forest.
"Merlin, I'm just investigating the cause of the unicorn's death." Xing Ze told this to the special commissioner of the Ministry of Magic and Mr. Maxim.
After they looked suspicious, he would add: For Merlin's sake, why don't you ask Hagrid and Ellie? They can vouch for me.
Neither the Ministry of Magic nor the astute Maxim can do anything about him. The only things they can trace are the corpses of the wizards and the three train passengers who suddenly appeared.
Among them, Mr. Werewolf was the one that Xing Ze was most concerned about. He once asked Dumbledore for relevant information.
However, the Ministry of Magic has strictly sealed the matter, and Kingsley's status is not too high. It will probably take some time for Dumbledore to know the progress of the matter.
Xing Ze got up and stretched out. He was restricted from going out, and he was not allowed to have more than five visitors per day.
The therapist responsible for treating the scratch on his back was an old acquaintance, Weber. This therapist with little hair was quite friendly to Xing Ze.
He is currently preparing a potion that can cure the werewolf virus. "If you ask me, you come to St. Mungo's too frequently."
"Yeah?"
"Except for those lunatics from the Magic Research Society, few people have had as many disasters as you. First it was a shooting, then it was mental pollution, and now it's a werewolf. How long has it passed?"
The old therapist smoothed the few hairs on his head so that they could protect the exposed scalp as much as possible. "Is the occupational risk of a Hogwarts teacher that high now?"
Xing Ze smiled and said, "Dr. Weber, is there a high chance of infection? I am a shy and introverted person. If I were asked to run naked on a full moon night, I would be willing to die."
"The chance is not high." Weber came over with the potion, "Well, it should be said that no werewolf virus was detected in you."
"This is a good thing, right?" Xing Ze found that there was no joy on Weber's face.
"Normally, this is a good thing." Weber whispered, "But...but whether it was on the wound or in the blood, I didn't detect the virus, which is really incredible.
"If you hadn't said it yourself, I would be more willing to believe that the injury on your back was scratched by a bobcat."
Xing Ze's hand holding the potion stopped in mid-air: "So what potions have you given me these days?"
"Ah, that's sugar water." Weber said without changing his face, "They need a reason to tell the outside world."
"I can understand." Xing Ze finished the potion with a complicated expression, "Since you told me this, does it mean that Ackerman plans to let me go?"
"Yes, although Ackerman wants to keep you for a few more days, the dean does not agree. He plans to let you leave the hospital tomorrow."
"Ackerman..." Xing Ze thought of the therapist who wore a monocle and always looked tired. The gloomy and sneaky aura about him reminded Xing Ze of those perverted murderers.
"He is very interested in me?" Xing Ze finished the second half of the sentence.
"He is very interested in anything weird." Weber said frankly, "Even in the previous Magic Research Institute, he was considered a weirdo."
"I thought he had always worked at St. Mungo's."
While packing up his things, Weber whispered: "No, he was transferred here from the Magic Research Institute. I heard that there was a problem with Ackerman's research there, so..."
Weber did not finish what he said, because anyone with any sense should understand what he meant, not to mention that the young man in front of him was smart.
"This is quite interesting." Xing Ze muttered, regardless of whether Weber's words were true or false, whether it was due to malicious exclusion among colleagues, or whether Ackerman was really abnormal.
At least this is information whose use is unknown at the moment, but maybe it will come in handy at some point in the future, or maybe it will be buried in memory forever.
But Xing Ze's intuition told him that this piece of information would be useful, just like the sentence Weber added before leaving.
"Oh, by the way, his previous name was not Ackerman, but Herbert West. Since there were problems with his research, his real name is rarely used."