**Chapter 72: Sneaking into the Forbidden Forest, Tea Leaf Divination**

Harry and Neville returned to the dormitory one after another.

Dylan continued reading for a while until bedtime. He pretended to go to sleep—and then actually fell asleep.

Harry and Ron exchanged glances, lowered their voices, tidied up their things, and climbed into their beds.

Finally, in the dead of night, it was Coal who nudged Dylan's chest with his little head, waking him up.

"How did I even fall asleep?"

Dylan checked the time; it was almost midnight.

However, the nap had left him feeling refreshed, so much so that he didn't even need to cast a spell to shake off his drowsiness.

He turned to look at Harry and the others, who were already sound asleep, then quietly grabbed his Invisibility Cloak and draped it over himself, instantly disappearing from sight.

"*Silencio* (Silencing Charm)!"

Dylan silently cast the spell in his mind, waving his wand to envelop himself in a layer of silence.

He tiptoed out of bed and sneaked out of the dormitory.

Hogwarts at night was eerily quiet.

Filch was still patrolling the castle, and Dylan could hear the man's heavy footsteps from two corridors away.

"Ugh, maybe Filch should really give Mrs. Norris a good bath. The smell is almost enough to make me throw up yesterday's dinner."

This was Dylan's first time sneaking around Hogwarts at night, but despite it being his first attempt, he skillfully avoided Filch and made his way out of the castle.

"Maybe I should put on a Slytherin uniform, pretend to get caught by Filch, and have all of Slytherin's points deducted. That way, Hermione wouldn't have to worry about Snape favoring Slytherin over Gryffindor."

When he reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest, he spotted Hagrid in the distance, carrying a large lantern as he patrolled, making sure no one tried to sneak into the forest or any creatures escaped from it.

At Hagrid's feet was a dog—Fang, who clung to Hagrid's leg, too scared to wander off.

Dylan didn't approach Hagrid. Instead, he found a spot with less underbrush and slipped into the forest.

The night was deep, and as soon as Dylan stepped into the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the damp, earthy scent mixed with the smell of decaying leaves hit him.

The trees around him were tall, their branches intertwined, and the ground was covered with thick layers of fallen leaves.

Dylan maintained the Silencing Charm on himself, which meant that even though each step he took made a faint rustling sound, the spell canceled it out.

He kept the Invisibility Cloak on, staying hidden.

Suddenly, a rustling sound came from a nearby bush.

Dylan turned to look and, in the faint light, saw a spiky, hedgehog-like creature rummaging through the leaf litter for food.

"A Knarl?"

Dylan observed carefully. Although the little creature couldn't see him, it seemed to sense something and lifted its head, its spines bristling as it looked around.

"Animal intuition, huh?"

Dylan didn't disturb the little creature as it foraged. The materials from a Knarl weren't particularly valuable to him, and it wasn't worth the effort to collect them.

Besides, processing the Knarl's materials was too much trouble. He might as well just buy what he needed.

Not far ahead, Dylan noticed a patch of grass glowing with a soft blue light.

He moved closer to inspect it.

"Glowgrass. Not particularly rare, but since I'm here, I might as well take some. It'll come in handy for the next Potions class when we brew the Lumos Potion."

He crouched down, collected a few strands, and stored them in his system inventory.

As he ventured deeper into the forest, the trees grew taller and denser, and Dylan occasionally spotted mushrooms emitting an eerie glow.

"Those are all highly toxic mushrooms. Better not touch them."

The Forbidden Forest was rich in biodiversity, home to many magical creatures.

Dylan paused when he noticed hoofprints ahead.

He bent down to examine them.

"Are these from a centaur or a unicorn?"

Dylan recalled what he had read in *The Magical Creatures Compendium*.

"The easiest way to identify the owner of the hoofprints is to check the weight distribution."

A centaur's front hooves were much heavier than its hind hooves, and this difference would be quite noticeable.

On the other hand, ordinary horses or unicorns exerted more force with their hind legs, but when walking normally, their weight distribution would be more balanced.

After studying the prints, Dylan noticed that they weren't uneven or deeper at the front. This suggested that they might belong to an ordinary horse-like magical creature.

Dylan straightened up. "Of course, it could also be a unicorn."

But unicorns were notoriously elusive, and he didn't think he'd be lucky enough to stumble upon one so soon.

As he continued walking, Dylan chuckled to himself. "If I do run into a unicorn, I'd love to grind some of its horn into powder."

Along the way, he had already gathered quite a few materials.

Monkshood, which was highly toxic, Blackroot that could negate spells, and Two-Leaf Grass, which was used in Polyjuice Potion.

But after searching for a while, he realized he might have lost his way.

"Strange, I had a clear route planned out, but now it seems like I've gone off course..."

He still hadn't found any traces of the Acromantulas.

"Hagrid's presence in the forest is pretty noticeable, but it doesn't seem like he ventures into the Acromantulas' territory often."

This meant that while there were signs of Hagrid's usual paths, Dylan couldn't use them to locate the Acromantulas.

"Well then..."

Dylan stopped, then pulled out a tea leaf from his pocket and crouched beside a moss-covered boulder.

"Good thing I've been learning divination from Professor Trelawney. This should come in handy for finding my way."

Tea leaf reading, in particular, was something he had specifically asked Professor Trelawney to teach him. It was quick, convenient, and aligned well with Eastern divination practices.

Dylan held the tea leaf in his hand and retrieved a cup of water from his inventory.

Since the inventory system didn't impose restrictions on what he could store, Dylan had packed it with various items for situations like this.

He raised his wand and gave it a gentle wave.

"*Calefacio* (Heating Charm)!"

A stream of magic flowed from his wand into the cup, rapidly heating the water until it boiled.

Dylan dropped the tea leaf into the water, letting it swirl and unfurl as it steeped.

Once the tea had cooled slightly, he drank most of it, leaving the leaves at the bottom. He then swirled the cup three times, allowing the leaves to settle.

Dylan stared at the tea leaves, silently focusing on the direction of the Acromantulas. As the leaves settled, they seemed to form peculiar patterns.

In the center of the leaf's vein, Dylan spotted a large arrow pointing directly at him.

"Huh?"

(End of Chapter)