This is also the origin of the name Black Forest.

And it's not just at night, it's very dark here even during the day.

However, that night, a rustling sound suddenly came from the silent black forest, as if someone was stepping on thick fallen leaves and then breaking dead branches.

The sudden noise disturbed some birds and small animals that roamed at night, and they came out from their hiding places and ran to other hiding places where they felt safe... The silent black forest suddenly became a little lively for a short time.

"It's so hard to walk here." Kyle pulled his feet out of the soft pile of fallen leaves and couldn't help complaining.

"It's always been like this. Once you get used to it, you won't fall into it again." Newt's voice came from the side.

He seemed to know the Black Forest very well. He was able to walk on clean and solid ground every time and move flexibly among the trees.

Unlike Kyle, not only did his feet sink into the fallen leaves every two steps, but he almost bumped into trees several times.

"I don't like it here!" Kyle sighed.

“Most wizards don’t like it,” Newt said. “The trees here are dense, which will have a great impact on the accuracy of the spell. The threat of the spell is weakened to the minimum, and it will be useless even if more people come. But it is precisely because of this that this place has become the favorite base camp of some dark creatures.”

"So, there are really werewolves here?" Kyle asked.

"Not only are there, but there are a lot of them," Newt said. "Because it is safe enough, unless wizards are willing to spend a lot of effort to plow all these trees, no one can catch up with the werewolves here. Gradually, the Black Forest has become the base camp of the werewolves."

As he spoke, Newt seemed to step on something. He slowly squatted down and picked up a bone of an unknown animal from the half-covered leaves.

The bones were not big and seemed to belong to a hare or some kind of bird.

Newt wiped off the dirt on the outside, revealing the bite marks on the inside.

“Oh, look at this, those are werewolf tooth marks,” Newt said.

Kyle also came over.

But it was too dark around, and Newt didn't allow him to use an illumination spell, so he could only barely see that there were indeed bite marks on it, and that was all.

"Are you sure it's a werewolf?" Kyle asked, "Could it be some other animal?"

“No.” Newt shook his head. “These are the teeth marks left by a werewolf before it transformed. They are completely different from those left by animals. It looks like we have entered their hunting range.”

Newt dropped the bone in his hand, raised his head cautiously, and looked around.

Kyle immediately became excited.

It has been almost a week since we came to the Black Forest, and now we have finally gained something.

It all started half a month ago.

About two weeks after Kyle returned to Grimmauld Place, they received news that Lupin was rushed to St. Mungo's because of serious injuries.

The instigator was the werewolf.

Everyone knew that there were werewolves among the Death Eaters. Ever since Fenrir Greyback was captured in a car accident at Hogwarts, there had been several major disagreements in the werewolf group.

Later, some werewolves chose to leave and withdraw from the war under Lupin's persistent lobbying, while the more radical and brutal ones united, seriously injured Lupin and fled, completely defecting to Voldemort.

Recently, they appear on every full moon night, either in villages where wizards live or on Muggle streets. These werewolves will indiscriminately attack everyone they see.

Their strong bodies and thick fur allow them to ignore most magic, and sometimes a dozen wizards would be caught or bitten by them in one night.

If they were Muggles, there would be even more.

Moreover, these werewolves are very cunning. They only act on full-moon nights, and their locations are completely random. The Order of the Phoenix's attempts to ambush them in advance have failed.

Perhaps in revenge, half a month ago, these werewolves planned a sneak attack on Lupin, whom they considered a werewolf traitor.

If Tonks hadn't noticed something was wrong and rushed there with people in time, Lupin might not even have had the chance to be sent to St. Mungo's.

Kyle still remembered what Lupin looked like when he saw him at St. Mungo's...his body was wrapped in bandages, and there was even a noticeable dent on his shoulder, which was obviously caused by a bite.

Sirius was furious and yelled that he would seek revenge on the werewolf, but was stopped by everyone.

Because Sirius was alone, even though his Animagus form was not afraid of werewolves' scratches and bites, he could not withstand their large numbers.

Not to mention that the Animagus form cannot use magic. Even Lupin, a real werewolf, cannot do that. It is basically wishful thinking for a dog to deal with them.

However, just as everyone was arguing and discussing how to avenge Lupin, to everyone's surprise, Newt suddenly showed up.

When he slowly pushed open the door of number twelve Grimmauld Place, everyone in the room was startled. Fortunately, Mrs. Weasley had met Newt at King's Cross Station last year, so there was no joke.

The famous Newt Scamander, everyone was curious about why this legendary wizard who had disappeared for a long time suddenly came here.

Until Newt revealed his purpose... to bring someone to solve the werewolf problem.

Before he could finish, Sirius was the first to jump out and wanted to go along, but his request was politely rejected by Newt.

It was really tactful. As a socially anxious person, Newt had very little experience in rejecting others and could only stammer and say that he was not suitable.

Sirius was naturally unconvinced at first. He believed that his Animagus was fully capable of playing the role and that he was the most suitable person present.

Fortunately, the others knew the truth and came forward to persuade Sirius, saying that he should stay in St. Mungo's to take care of Lupin.

Anyone with a little bit of common sense knows who Newt is looking for... After all, except for Kyle, no one in the Order of the Phoenix is ​​familiar with Newt, and no one has even seen him before.

And it is true, Newt came to find Kyle.

In his words, when Chris graduated, he started running around to deal with the threat of werewolves. Now that Kyle has also graduated, this job naturally falls on him.

To some extent, this can be considered a family inheritance.

So Kyle followed Newt to the Black Forest and looked for traces of werewolves.

I have to say, this process is really boring.

"Should we continue looking?"

Kyle raised his head and looked around. "How about we make some noise to attract the werewolves? I have cows and sheep in my box. The werewolves should like them. As long as we stay by their side..."

"There have never been cows in the Black Forest, Kyle."

Newt shook his head and said, "Werewolves are still wizards at heart. They are not so stupid as to not be able to recognize such a basic trap."

"What about rabbits?" Kyle continued, "Before I graduated, I specially got many different kinds of animals from the Forbidden Forest, including rabbits."

"The rabbits here and those in the Forbidden Forest are two completely different species."

Newt continued to shake his head. "Kyle, you have to be more patient. Because of their living environment and instinct, werewolves are more alert than ordinary wizards. Once they notice anything unusual, our previous efforts will be in vain, so we must not be impatient.

"Your father is much better than you in this regard. We stayed in the Cambria Mountains for three whole months in order to find a group of vampires who had surrendered to a mysterious person. During this period, he was very patient."

"Okay, okay, I get it." Kyle sighed. "I don't like it here, not at all."

The trees in the Black Forest are so dense that when you look down from a high place you can only see the leaves and nothing else.

Otherwise, he could just ride Norbert up there. With the speed of a fire dragon, he would probably be able to find the werewolf within a day.

Kyle sighed again, trying to calm himself down, and continued to follow Newt.

…

A few more days passed.

As Newt said, it was a job that required patience, and apart from a few other bones, they found nothing, not even a single wolf hair.

Kyle began to wonder if there was something wrong with Newt's intelligence. He wanted to speak up several times, but he held back in the end.

At the same time, Newt also noticed Kyle's change in mood, but he said nothing.

Kyle has very few shortcomings, but if I have to point them out, his lack of patience is definitely one of them.

It’s not that Kyle has an impatient personality. On the contrary, Kyle is actually very patient in some things, such as guiding Fudge and making him believe that Voldemort has returned.

Whether Fudge really believed it or for some other reason, the Ministry of Magic did release the news before Voldemort became stronger, allowing everyone to prepare in advance.

Read more of the latest popular novels at 6.9*shuba!

What Newt considered "impatience" refers to things other than specific actions, such as what he is doing now, looking for traces of the enemy.

Perhaps it was because of his different experiences, or maybe it was a bad habit he learned from Dumbledore, but Kyle preferred to face his opponents head-on.

He would rather spend his time on strategies against his enemies than aimlessly searching for targets.

But in a real war, not all enemies will stand there stupidly. Most of them will hide in the dark like werewolves, and only come out to cause trouble at critical moments.

This is also the biggest headache for Aurors and the Order of the Phoenix, so finding them is also a very important task.

A big part of the reason why Newt brought Kyle out this time was that he wanted to take this opportunity to improve his shortcomings in this area.

It was for this reason that Newt was not in a hurry at all. After all, there was still some time before the next full moon night, so they could take their time looking for it.

The two of them walked through the vast dark forest from day to night and from night to day. The sunlight shone through the gaps between the leaves and shone into the forest, leaving behind bright beams of light that looked mysterious and beautiful.

Unfortunately, no one appreciated this scene. Kyle, who was gradually becoming irritable, formed a sharp contrast with the calm Newt next to him. He kicked the fallen leaves habitually, and when he was about to say something, a small creature that looked like a praying mantis suddenly jumped down from the tree next to him and jumped onto his shoulder.

It was a Bowtruckle.

The Black Forest, like the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts, is a place frequented by magical creatures, so it is not surprising that there are Bowtruckles.

The little guy leaned close to Kyle's ear, opened and closed his mouth, and seemed to be saying something. But its voice was so quiet that Newt didn't even hear it, so he subconsciously turned his eyes to Kyle.

Kyle was stunned at first, and then his expression became serious.

"In a cave, footprints... wizards... firelight at night... are you sure?"

Bowtruckle said something else, and Kyle suddenly became excited.

"Where is it? Take me there!"

Then he looked back at Newt.

"We found the werewolf, follow him."

After saying that, the Bowtruckle jumped onto a tree on their left with its short legs, and Kyle quickly followed.

To be honest, Newt is still a little confused.

It is not difficult to judge from Kyle's words just now that the werewolf's hiding place seems to have been found.

But can the Bowtruckle be used in this way? Newt always felt that it was a little unreal, and he followed with doubt.

The two of them were moving through the bushes, during which they encountered more Bowtruckles. The little guys seemed to be waiting for them, and when they saw Kyle, they followed him.

The Black Forest was very large, and when they finally stopped, it was already half a day later.

From a distance, Kyle smelled a very strange smell, like something was burnt.

In front of them was a well-hidden cave. Not only was the mountain covered with lush trees, but even the entrance to the cave was covered with vines. If you didn't look carefully, you would probably find it difficult to notice it even if you passed by.

Newt tiptoed to Kyle's side. With just a glance, he was 100% sure that there were signs of human habitation here.

As for whether they were werewolves... Newt felt that apart from them, no one else would be bored enough to camp in a place like this.

"How did you do it?" He subconsciously looked at Kyle and asked in disbelief.

“Through the Bowtruckles,” Kyle lowered his voice. “This is their territory.”

“I mean, when did you find so many Bowtruckles?” Newt turned his head and looked behind him.

There were at least a hundred Bowtruckles perched on a branch. From a distance, it looked like a piece of moss covering the branch. They had all followed us all the way.

Newt felt that he was still very alert and slept very lightly. It was impossible for Kyle to have developed so many spies without telling him.

"Oh, it was when I was on night watch a few days ago." Kyle said casually, "I was bored at the time, so I wondered if I could find some more helpers to hunt werewolves together."

“Did you find these back then?” Newt asked, pointing to a row of Bowtruckles on the branches behind.

"What the hell?" Kyle subconsciously turned his head to take a look and was shocked.

“No.” He shook his head repeatedly. “There was only one in front of me at that time. I saw that it was very brave and not very shy, so I talked to it for a few more words... As for why there are so many now.”

Kell paused for a moment before continuing, "Maybe it came here to help."

In fact, not only Newt, but even Kyle himself felt it was a little unbelievable. He really just said it casually at the time, but he didn't expect that the Bowtruckle actually helped him find the werewolf's trace, and it was so far away.

But Newt obviously didn't think so.

He stared at Kyle and suddenly smacked his lips. “Sometimes, I really envy your amazing talent.”

Asking the Bowtruckle to help is equivalent to directly expanding the team of two people to several hundred people. More importantly, these spies are highly concealed.

Especially in a place like the Black Forest... who would doubt a Bowtruckle that can be seen everywhere, not even Newt himself.

It was only natural that such magical animals would appear in the forest, and it would be strange not to see them.

However, this method only works for Kyle, who can communicate freely with magical creatures. No one else can understand what these little guys say, including himself.

He could only roughly guess what the Bowtruckles meant based on their movements.

Subconsciously, Newt thought of Chris again.

If Chris had sought out Bowtruckles to help them like Kyle had done when they were looking for vampires in the Cumbrian Mountains more than a decade ago, they wouldn't have had to stay there for several months.

Chris is such an idiot for not using this convenient ability.

Why did he accept such a stupid student in the first place?

(End of this chapter)