"You should go back to bed."
His tone was very flat.
Honestly.
For Ian, with such a mysterious dragon appearing in the Forbidden Forest, it was impossible for him to ignore it—not because he was worried about disrupting the forest's ecological balance.
Right now, Ian's mind was entirely on various magical potion materials and how he planned to use them. Bringing three people along wouldn't be a problem, but it's hard to say if he could claim all the materials for himself.
Two out of the trio were big mouths.
If Snape finds out.
Ian didn't think a good uncle would let him have it all to himself.
"I'll take you back."
Ian thought about it.
And was about to perform magic.
But Hermione was instantly flustered.
"Ian! This isn't a joke! The book 'Biological Dominators: Giant Dragons' records numerous tragic cases!" she exclaimed, pulling a book out of her bag as she spoke.
The worried girl attempted to show Ian the contents of the book.
"Look, this part describes how powerful dragons' attacks are, their flames can turn a forest to ashes in an instant, their scales are incredibly hard, and ordinary magic hardly affects them."
"In the chapter on Dragon Attack Cases," she continued, "the 1992 report by the Romanian Dragon Tamer Association showed that untrained wizards have only a 17% survival rate in dragon attacks!" Hermione's words flowed rapidly as she hoped to persuade Ian, her voice impassioned with an urgent warning.
Ian remained calm.
She paused, then continued: "We should go back and tell the Head of House, tell the Headmaster, let the adults at the school handle this."
This was actually Hermione's initial thought.
Later, Ron led her astray.
But after witnessing the terror of the giant dragon, her Gryffindor mind had cleared again to some degree.
"Hmm, you're right."
Ian nodded in agreement, and Hermione sighed in relief, thinking he'd changed his mind: "Then let's hurry back to tell Professor McGonagall, or directly find Headmaster Dumbledore!"
Ian nodded again.
"At this time, Dumbledore should still be awake."
He offered his own judgment.
As Hermione began to relax, the next second, Ian drew his magic wand and waved it gently, and the stones on the ground transformed into three blankets in front of them.
"Huh?"
Before the trio could react, the blankets wrapped around them tightly as if they were alive.
"Wait! Ian! You can't—"
Hermione's voice was muffled by the blanket.
"What a joke, this is Hogwarts, and at Hogwarts, I can do anything."
Ian winked at her.
The three blankets rose into the air, like being held by invisible hands, flying swiftly towards the castle.
"Ian! You can't take risks like that!"
This was Hermione, full of worry.
"He should be in Gryffindor!"
Ron expressed his astonished opinion.
"Merlin bless us, Merlin bless us."
Neville closed his eyes tightly, muttering endlessly — as the blankets drifted further away, Hermione's protest, Ron's exclamation, and Neville's whimper were all carried away by the night wind.
Ian watched them until their figures disappeared into the overlapping outlines of the Forbidden Forest. Only then did he turn around, looking back towards the depths of the forest with growing curiosity.
"Alright..."
Ian whispered to himself.
"Now, let's see who put a dragon that shouldn't be in the Forbidden Forest." Ian's boots crunched fallen leaves, emitting a slight crackling noise in the silent forest.
Step by step, he walked towards where the dragon's roar had appeared before.
A clear figure.
Vanished into the dark jungle.