That day, after returning from the Forbidden Forest, Sagres found time to report what had happened to Dumbledore. The Headmaster took it very seriously and ordered Hagrid not to enter the Forbidden Forest for the time being.
However, Hogwarts was facing a problem—the school had always cooperated with Ollivander's wand shop. Hogwarts provided materials to Ollivander, and in return, he offered discounts to newly enrolled young wizards when purchasing their wands.
This year, for various reasons, Hagrid had not yet collected enough Unicorn tail hair.
As a result, the task of entering the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid to collect materials fell to Sagres. Although he was extremely reluctant, he had no reason to refuse.
"The more capable you are, the more work you get." He kept consoling himself in his mind, almost casting a Confundo on himself.
While collecting materials with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest, he also searched for traces of Lord Voldemort but found nothing. The Forbidden Forest was too vast, and Voldemort, likely injured by Veiliss last time, had surely hidden deeper within.
The final exams had ended, but the young wizards still needed to stay at Hogwarts for another week to wait for their results.
This waiting period was pure torture for some students, especially Harry and Ron. Their grades had always been mediocre, and although Hermione had dragged them to revise before the exams, there was simply too much to memorize and recall. By the end, they had nearly given up.
"Ah, this is great—finally no more textbooks weighing me down," Ron sighed as he lay on the grass, his nose tipped with marigold pollen. "This weather is perfect for napping."
The three of them hid in the shade of a tree, dappled sunlight scattered across the ground, making them drowsy. Suddenly, Harry shot up from the ground—some chaotic fragments were wildly churning in his mind.
"Hagrid!" Harry suddenly spun around, the hem of his wizard robe sweeping across the other two's faces. "We need to go see him immediately!"
Hermione quickly stood up, bracing herself on her knees. "Are you crazy, Harry? We just finished lunch—"
"Didn't you notice?" Harry's breathing was quick and shallow, as if he was frightened. "Hagrid wanted a dragon, and just so happened to get a dragon. But why would that stranger be wandering around with a dragon egg?"
He spoke while running, "How many people have you ever seen casually carrying a dragon egg in their pocket? That's a violation of the Statute of Secrecy! What's more…"
He suddenly fell silent, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed hard. "What's more… it's not exactly hard to get information out of Hagrid! We know that better than anyone, don't we?"
Ron's grin froze at the corners of his mouth.
He glanced at the goosebumps standing up on Harry's neck and suddenly realized this was no impulsive guess—this was serious.
Sagres had just returned to Hagrid's hut with him when the trio came rushing over.
"Hello there!" Hagrid greeted them warmly. "Did the exams go well?"
"Well? Nothing could be worse…" Ron had just opened his mouth before catching sight of Sagres. He immediately straightened and greeted, "G-Good afternoon, Professor Greengrass."
"Hello, Mr. Weasley."
The other two young students also quickly followed suit and greeted him.
"Hagrid, we've got something urgent to talk about…" Harry glanced uneasily at Sagres.
"Please, don't mind me," Sagres said calmly, sipping his tea as he watched Hagrid carefully comb through the unicorn tail hair.
"Do you remember the night you won Norbert, Hagrid?" Harry tried to suppress the urgency in his heart, forcing his voice to stay steady. "The man who gave you Norbert… do you know who he was?"
Hagrid held the unicorn tail hair in his hands, not looking up as he replied, "I never saw his face. The fellow wouldn't take off his cloak, no matter what."
The trio almost simultaneously straightened, their eyes locking onto Hagrid's face like arrows.
"Don't look at me like that, it's normal…" Hagrid scratched at his messy hair. "There's always shady types in the Hog's Head. Merlin knows what he actually looks like."
"We were playing Exploding Snap. Honestly, his luck was good at first, so I drank quite a bit. But I won the last round, and Norbert was mine…"
"At the time, he seemed a bit reluctant, said I probably couldn't handle a dragon. I told him I wasn't afraid of werewolves or giants, and even Fluffy listens to me…"
"Was he…" Harry swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing, "particularly interested in Fluffy?"
"Oh, yeah…" Hagrid said without thinking. "Well, it's a Cerberus. Not many people have seen one, let alone raised one. It's only natural he was curious."
"And… did you tell him anything else?" Harry pressed.
"Well… I just told him not to worry. I'm great with magical creatures. Told him, for example, with Fluffy… all you have to do is play him a bit of music and he'll fall right asleep, like a kitten…"
At this, Sagres let out a sigh, while the three young wizards looked horrified.
"Should… should I not have said that?" Hagrid finally realized, looking uneasy.
But the three had already turned and dashed for the door.
"Goodbye, Professor Greengrass… Goodbye, Hagrid!"
The three young wizards shouted without looking back.
"Don't run, stop—"
Hagrid's giant palm slapped the oak door, making dust fall from the walls. "Music? What cursed music? I didn't say anything…"
"Hagrid, you…" Sagres paused, struggling to find the right words to express his feelings.
"What's wrong, Professor?"
"Ha… nothing." In truth, what he wanted to ask was: Were you raised on Veritaserum?
But it didn't matter. Not long ago, Sagres had asked Dumbledore about the situation, and the Headmaster had assured him that the Philosopher's Stone was very safe.
Moreover, Dumbledore had been stationed at Hogwarts this entire time, and Quirrell—his minion—was clearly ineffective. The man spent every day secretly hoping someone would notice his abnormality and rescue him from Voldemort's control... probably.
As for Voldemort himself, he didn't dare to recklessly enter Hogwarts. So for now, the Philosopher's Stone was indeed safe.
But Sagres knew he needed to seize the opportunity to conduct a thorough search of the Forbidden Forest. With any luck, he might still find traces of the Dark Lord.
However, that very afternoon, Sagres was summoned to Dumbledore's office. The Headmaster informed him that he needed to go to the Ministry of Magic and instructed Sagres to temporarily suspend his plan to search the Forbidden Forest.
Sagres had no objections to this. Upon returning to his office, he readily picked up the De Vermis Mysteriis manuscript to study; after all, he had nothing else to do.
The De Vermis Mysteriis manuscript originated from the underground of a monastery in 12th-century Venice, whose name has long since been erased from history. Its author, "Edmund the Blind Monk," was actually a notorious inquisitor in the Muggle world.
During one of his witch-burning campaigns, he accidentally discovered a piece of human skin covered in strange writing. Edmund then spent thirty-nine years in the monastery's underground laboratory before finally completing this manuscript.
Sagres had previously seen a fragmented rubbing of this manuscript during his travels around the world, but at that time, he had only read the first half.
Although the manuscript's text carried a degree of mental corruption, it wasn't entirely filled with worthless Dark Arts. His Flesh Stripping spell had been developed after studying this manuscript, and its effects extended far beyond simple pain and torment.
Sagres had even gleaned fragments of the mysteries of flesh magic and soul magic from it. If he could fully comprehend it, he might be able to create an entirely new branch of soul magic in a short time.
(De Vermis Mysteriis manuscript)