"Almost ready! Have you used up your energy yet?"
In the dim washroom, Arkam spoke unclearly with a thick iron rod clenched sideways in his mouth.
Hearing this, Link, who was sitting on Arkam's neck, wiped the sweat from his forehead and continued to push the saddle down onto Arkam with all his strength.
There were two buckles on the side of this saddle, and if he wanted to fasten it securely onto Arkam's body, he needed to clasp them together.
This was originally a very easy task, after all, this set of riding equipment was precisely made by someone according to Arkam's body measurements, as requested by Link.
Unfortunately, Link had forgotten the nature of serpentine creatures to store large amounts of food in their stomachs, and Arkam had indeed been eating a bit too much lately. This made the process of fitting the riding equipment onto Arkam particularly difficult.
Clack!
Only after half an hour did a crisp sound finally ring out, the riding gear was finally installed.
"Done!"
Link excitedly waved his arm, he was nearly exhausted just from putting that thing on.
"Used up energy? Then let's set off!"
Arkam was also quite excited, as shown by its tail wagging back and forth.
"Wait a moment!"
Link hurriedly stopped the impatient Arkam, then took out a fantasy-style motorcycle helmet from his pocket and fastened it onto his head. Only then did he slap Arkam's head with effort, signaling that it could now go.
Receiving the signal, Arkam shot into the pipeline like an arrow.
"Woohoo! Taking off!"
Feeling the wind whistling past at lightning speed, Link couldn't help but shout.
Arkam was really fast, so fast that Link's vision had already become blurred.
To be honest, at first, this feeling of adrenaline rushing was pretty nice, but after a while, Link couldn't take it anymore.
The pipeline system of Hogwarts was simply too twisty. Even with the protection of the riding gear allowing Link to sit stably on Arkam for the time being, the continuous sharp turns and the strange smell in the drainage system, something even the special helmet couldn't block, still made Link feel like vomiting.
Fortunately, it seemed like the basilisk didn't find just speeding in the pipeline thrilling enough, so after a while, it rushed out of Hogwarts altogether.
"Hu hu hu!~"
Outside, a gale many times fiercer than inside the pipeline slapped against Link, but breathing the fresher air and feeling the relatively steadier riding experience made him feel much better.
Taking a deep breath, Link couldn't help but lift his head.
In his line of sight, a bright crescent moon hung high in the sky, surrounded by wispy clouds like fine gauze, occasionally drifting across it.
And under the moonlight, the gray castle behind them slowly faded into the distance.
This scene lifted Link's mood a lot, but once he turned his head back around, his beautiful mood completely disappeared.
Because at this very moment, Arkam was carrying him at high speed toward a large, dark, eerie shadow.
"...That's the Forbidden Forest? Wait! Arkam! You're not thinking of..." Link shouted anxiously.
Rushing into the Forbidden Forest itself wasn't a huge deal. After all, as far as he knew, the plot hadn't yet reached the stage where Voldemort entered the forest to hunt unicorns. As for other dangers, compared to the basilisk Arkam, they were nothing.
It's just... At such a high speed rushing into the forest, wouldn't they crash into the trees?
Whoosh!
Before Link could finish speaking, Arkam accelerated and shot into the Forbidden Forest.
Gotta admit, it had excellent skills, even in a forest so densely packed with trees, it could still steer agilely without hitting a single one. But its body was simply too large, so inevitably, it brushed against surrounding branches, weeds, and shrubs.
As a result, Link suffered.
Just upon entering the Forbidden Forest, a branch as thick as a finger whipped hard across his face, fortunately he had a helmet, or his face might have been ruined.
But this was only the beginning. Next, countless branches and shrubs assaulted him, hitting Link so hard he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.
With no other choice, Link had to press as tightly as possible against Arkam's body while wildly pulling on the reins in his hands.
"Stop! Arkam! I can't take it anymore!"
As if hearing Link's plea, Arkam gradually slowed down and finally stopped on a clearing overgrown with weeds.
Link, struggling, unfastened the protective straps on his body, flipped off the snake, and collapsed onto the grass exhausted.
At this moment, Link's entire body was wracked with intense pain, especially his chest, where a branch had struck him so hard he suspected he might have broken a rib.
Reaching out to feel and rub it, after confirming there was no obvious depression on his chest, Link finally sighed in relief, then complained, "Arkam! You were going way too fast! I almost got smashed to death!"
Normally, Arkam would take Link's complaints as praise and proudly say it could go even faster.
But this time, Arkam didn't speak.
This surprised Link a little. He forced himself to lift his head, only to see Arkam staring motionlessly in one direction, its golden eyes narrowed into a slit!
Seeing this, Link also became alert. He slowly looked in the direction Arkam was staring.
The trees in the Forbidden Forest grew thick and heavy, so even though the moonlight outside was bright, the inside remained pitch black.
And in this darkness, Link spotted a shadow struggling forward through waist-high grass. Link instinctively held his breath.
It was winter now, and even mischievous types like the Weasley twins wouldn't sneak into the Forbidden Forest at this time.
So the only person likely to appear here was Hogwarts' gamekeeper, Hagrid. However, Hagrid was a giant man over three meters tall, and the shadow before him had a very normal body size.
Then who could it be?
Link's heartbeat began to quicken. He already had a faint suspicion in his heart, but he didn't want to admit it.
And just then, the dark figure seemed to trip over something and suddenly fell into the grass.
"Ugh!"
A slightly muffled exclamation came from the shadow, but immediately after, a completely different voice rose from the same body, "You really are a useless piece of trash!"
The voice had a strange tone, hoarse and rough like sandpaper scraping stone, but if you listened closely, it carried the disgusting, slippery sensation of a venomous snake slithering across your face.
Link's scalp almost exploded.
Because even though they hadn't officially met yet, at that moment, he was utterly certain, that shadow before him… was Voldemort.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.
https://discord.gg/bYAfGyp98y