"I'm so sorry, Professor Oren."

Kyle stood still, "Freshmen are not allowed to go to the Forbidden Forest. I think we should go back to the castle."

"It's good to follow the rules, but sometimes you don't have to follow them too much, Kyle." Professor Oren said with a smile, "You will miss a lot of interesting things."

"That won't do." Kyle shook his head and said, "If Professor McGonagall finds out, we will be expelled."

"It's not that serious. Minerva is just trying to scare you. Besides, I'm still here."

Professor Oren put one hand on his waist and stretched out the other hand towards the Forbidden Forest and said, "Come on, as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts, I allow you to go with me to the Forbidden Forest today to broaden your horizons."

...Okay, no need to guess, Kyle felt that he already knew who the person with the curled-winged demon was.

Come to think of it, if I didn't have some hidden identity, how would I have the nerve to come to Hogwarts to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?

It's not that Kyle didn't doubt Oren. In other words, when he read about this incident in the newspaper a few months ago, he began to doubt the old professor.

But he asked Professor McGonagall indirectly and learned that Oren had taken office in July, while the group smuggling magical creatures only entered the country at the end of August.

There was a gap of nearly two months between the events, so Professor Oren could be said to have a perfect alibi.

How on earth did he do it...

Kyle complained in his heart, but this time, he didn't say anything to refuse.

Because Professor Oren's hand on his waist was on his wand, he could pull it out with just a move of his fingers.

It was this action that made Kyle certain that he was the "mysterious man".

This is already a blatant threat.

"Okay." Kyle shrugged and said, "Since the professor allows it, then there's no problem."

"A wise choice." Professor Oren raised his eyebrows.

Kyle took two steps forward, then suddenly seemed to remember something. He turned to Kanna and said, "Oh, I just remembered that I forgot to bring the jerky I prepared for Lu Wei. Could you please bring it over? It's on the table in the common room. You can see it as soon as you enter the door."

"Um...okay."

Although Kanna felt that Kyle's words were a little strange, she didn't think too much about it and turned around and walked towards the castle.

Professor Oren didn't say anything else, as if his target from the beginning to the end was Kyle alone.

Seeing this, Kyle breathed a sigh of relief. After all, at least Kanna was safe...

Just then, an accident happened.

The mouse named Pochi suddenly jumped out of Kanna's pocket and started running quickly towards the forbidden forest.

"Pochi... come back!"

Kanna screamed and chased after him without thinking.

Because the incident happened suddenly, Kyle didn't have time to stop it, and Kanna had already chased Pochi into the Forbidden Forest.

"I……!"

Kyle's eyes twitched, but there was no point in saying anything now. In order to prevent Kanna from getting into any accidents in the Forbidden Forest, he could only chase after her.

The Forbidden Forest is full of trees, and it is impossible for a person to catch a mouse here.

Soon, Pochi disappeared from their sight.

Kyle caught up with Connor and grabbed her, stopping her from going any further.

"You go back first!"

"But Pochi..."

"We don't have time to worry about the rat now. Go back to the castle first!" Kyle grabbed Kanna's arm and was about to drag her back by force when he turned around and saw Professor Oren standing behind him.

"I have to criticize you, Kyle. You can't be so rude to the little witch. It's very ungentlemanly."

Kyle frowned, and just as he was about to speak, Professor Oren came over, bent down, and said with a smile, "Don't waste any more time. That's a magical mouse. It would be a pity if it got lost."

From Kyle's perspective, he could clearly see that the tip of his wand was pointed at Kanna.

"You're right." Kyle took a deep breath and laughed dryly, "I'll listen to you."

"Good boy."

Led by Professor Oren, the three began to walk deeper into the forbidden forest.

On the way, Professor Oren seemed to really want to find the mouse and kept looking left and right at the surrounding environment.

When he encounters some aggressive magical animals or spiders, he will also diligently drive them away.

The three of them walked for an unknown amount of time before Professor Oren suddenly asked, "Kyle, I heard from Minerva that you have excellent Transfiguration skills. Have you ever considered studying Animagus?"

"No, Professor." Kyle's expression remained unchanged: "Animagus is a very advanced Transfiguration technique. Not only does it require a lot of basic and advanced knowledge, it also requires extremely precise control of magic power. I am still far from that."

"oh?"

Professor Oren used his wand to move a dead tree trunk that was blocking the road and teased, "It seems that you know Animagus very well."

"Professor McGonagall demonstrated it once in the first class." Kyle said, "I thought it was amazing, so I looked up some relevant information in the library."

"Yes... the spell that can turn people into animals is indeed magical. Many wizards walking on the edge of light dream of learning it." Professor Oren whispered: "Animagus can make it very convenient for them to do certain things.

Because no one would suspect a cat, an insect, or a... mouse.

This is also the reason why the Ministry of Magic requires every Animagus to register with real name, but few people are willing to do so.

Of course, that's right.

If you learn Animagus in the future, I don't recommend you to register."

At this moment, Professor Oren was imparting some advice of experience to Kyle in a gentle tone, just like he was in class.

"Professor, it's too early for you to tell me this now."

Kyle narrowed his eyes and said, "I'm just getting started with Transfiguration. I probably won't be eligible to learn Animagus until after fifth grade."

"No, I think you can do it next year."

Professor Oren glanced at Kyle and said, "A person's talent and ability cannot be hidden, especially for a young wizard like you who has little experience.

Although your performance in my class is very ordinary, I noticed that your control over magic power is very precise, and the spells you cast are also very stable.

In other words, if the spells of other witches are regarded as a piece of cotton thread, then you are a piece of iron wire.

Even if you intentionally reduce the output of magic power, it will only make the wire thinner, but the essence will not change.

Cotton thread and iron wire are two different things. Anyone with a little knowledge can tell the difference at a glance."

"You probably haven't realized it yet."

Professor Oren suddenly laughed and said, "We professors have mentioned you more than once in private conversations and shared with each other your poor performance in class.

By the way, we also made a bet to guess how long you can hide.

Except for Aurora who did not participate, Minerva and Filius both thought it was the third year, Pomona thought it was the fifth year, and Severus... well, what he said was a bit vague, so let's just say it was the seventh year."

Kyle was struck by lightning, and a strong sense of shame suddenly surged up.

Damn, he always thought he hid it well.

………

(End of this chapter)