Walking on the path toward the Forbidden Forest, Evans occasionally turned back to look at the seventh-year students following behind him.
He could see that several of these young wizards were overly nervous.
Seventh-year Care of Magical Creatures classes were different from other grades. Due to O.W.L. exam restrictions, not many young wizards could still take this class in their sixth and seventh years. There were fewer than twenty students in the entire grade.
This number of students didn't need to be divided into two classes by house like the lower grades. After merging into one class, the duration of each lesson could also be increased.
However, by seventh year, these young wizards' academic pressure would increase exponentially.
Especially now, with only two months left until the N.E.W.T. exams.
You could tell from the young wizards' nervous appearances that they cared deeply about the upcoming exams.
After all, this was the most important exam related to their future. Any decent position in the wizarding world required N.E.W.T. certification, and positions like Auror required at least five N.E.W.T. subjects with "Outstanding" or "Exceeds Expectations" grades.
But this kind of emotion needed guidance. If the pressure was too great, they might explode before the exam even arrived.
Of course, the nervousness of those few Slytherin students was directed at him personally. That couldn't be alleviated.
Sigh. Why did these Slytherin students all have such prejudice against him?
He admitted that he had indeed made quite a commotion back then, but it wasn't aimed at these young wizards, was it?
Where did this baseless prejudice come from?
Shaking his head, Evans stopped walking. Several semi-transparent feathers appeared behind him as he used a gentle voice to soothe the young wizards' emotions.
"Relax. I can't guarantee other subjects, but at least in the Care of Magical Creatures exam, you'll all receive grades of Exceeds Expectations or above."
This year's seventh-year students were of good quality. Or rather, any young wizard who could persist until seventh year under Professor Kettleburn without giving up this class was an excellent protector of magical creatures.
For them, getting good grades wasn't too difficult, especially with his careful instruction.
An invisible ripple spread outward with Evans's words. Under the ripple's coverage, the students' nervous expressions clearly improved, and even the trembling of those few Slytherin students lessened considerably.
Hmm, a good start!
After comforting those few obviously over-nervous young wizards, Evans continued leading them deeper into the Forbidden Forest.
Although seventh-year students had generally violated more than one school rule, they still held considerable fear of the Forbidden Forest.
However, being nearly adults and having a professor leading them, they weren't too frightened.
But not being frightened was premised on their destination not being too sinister.
Continuing forward, feeling the surrounding environment becoming increasingly eerie, the young wizards couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts.
This was a very dense forest. The ancient leaves completely blocked the sunlight, leaving only faint ghostly light to illuminate the treacherous path ahead, but this small amount of light made the place seem even more sinister and foreboding.
The forest floor was carpeted with fallen leaves, under which you could constantly see small spiders crawling around in chaotic patterns. Wisps of pale spider webs spread around them like ghostly decorations, and the deeper they ventured, the denser the webs became, along with the light growing progressively dimmer.
Even in the vast Forbidden Forest, such places were rare and looked incredibly dangerous.
Where was Professor Kahn taking them?
After walking a bit more through the spider-infested terrain, Professor Kahn at the front stopped and spoke softly.
"Alright, this will do perfectly."
"Wait here for a moment."
Having said that, he plunged confidently into the nearby thorny bushes, heading toward the increasingly sinister woodland depths.
Watching Professor Kahn's figure about to disappear into the shadows, a nervous Ravenclaw girl couldn't help but call out. "Where are you going, Professor?"
"Me?" Without turning back, Evans completely merged into the dense bushes, leaving only his confident voice echoing through the dark forest.
"I'm going to catch you a fish."
In the dim woodland depths, a wild rabbit was carefully making its way through the web-covered forest floor.
It was extremely alert, occasionally lifting its twitching head to look around nervously. Obviously, this dark woodland was putting considerable psychological pressure on the small creature.
But as a wild rabbit, if it left its burrow and was targeted by a powerful predator, it basically had no chance of escape whatsoever.
Moreover, what wanted to prey on it wasn't some ordinary carnivorous animal.
A huge black shadow flashed by with lightning speed. The rabbit didn't even have time to react before its head was crushed by two massive pincers and swallowed whole.
Maloney was very happy today.
As a strong Acromantula, it was always happy. After all, every day it only needed to go out for a leisurely walk to find enough food to sustain a day's consumption.
But today, it was especially happy.
Because when it had just swallowed that tender rabbit, it suddenly smelled an extremely enticing aroma wafting through the air.
That scent was so absolutely delicious that just catching a whiff of it made the entire spider involuntarily sink into pure bliss.
It felt that this ultimate fragrance was constantly eroding its rationality and had even penetrated deep into its soul.
It couldn't imagine how ecstatically happy a little spider it would be if it could obtain such incredible deliciousness!
Standing in place to distinguish the scent for a moment, Maloney began groping eagerly toward the source of the intoxicating fragrance.
A few minutes later, the crawling Maloney's multiple eyes suddenly lit up with predatory excitement.
Oh! Look what it had found!
A human who seemed lost and was walking directly toward it!
And that heart-stirring fragrance was emanating from this human!
Although Aragog had strictly said not to eat humans, this human was really too delicious to resist!
Faced with such incredible deliciousness, even if it would be severely punished by Aragog later, it absolutely couldn't give up this opportunity!
Emotion instantly overcame reason. Maloney no longer suppressed the overwhelming craving in its soul. Its eight thick, long legs moved with deadly precision as it became a black shadow, charging straight toward the human still dozens of meters away.
The distance of dozens of meters passed in an instant. Maloney watched the human show a panicked expression and watched him frantically place his hand on his wand handle.
But it was useless. At this distance, no one could defeat a powerful Acromantula!
Even if that human was a wizard, he couldn't escape its lightning-fast hunt!
Because it was an Acromantula, a mighty Acromantula!
It raised two front legs menacingly, revealing two giant pincers, making a clearly audible clicking sound that echoed through the forest.
It was so excited because it was about to obtain a very delicious prey.
But just as Maloney revealed its large pincers with triumphant anticipation, the panicked expression on the wizard's face instantly disappeared, replaced by a kind of inexplicable excitement.
Maloney didn't know why this prey would show such an expression, but it suddenly discovered that a shimmering, semi-transparent barrier stood before it, completely blocking its massive body.
The next second, the surrounding trees instantly transformed into thick magical ropes, wrapping around its body and binding it up like a large crab.
All this happened so fast, so cleanly, that even though Maloney was already lying helplessly on the ground, it still hadn't figured out what had happened.
It only heard the human's triumphant words echoing through the forest.
"Hooked!"
(TL NOTE: Unfortunately, my LOTR: Playing Minecraft in Middle-earth book was mistakenly flagged as spam on Webnovel and removed. I'll re-upload it under a different title by today at the latest. Thank you for your patience!)