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There are many dangerous places in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the grounds of Hogwarts being one of them. While Hogwarts is supposed to be one of the safest places in the Wizarding World (alongside Gringotts Bank), it’s still in proximity to the Forbidden Forest.
Also known as the Dark Forest, Harry Potter and his classmates are warned by Headmaster Albus Dumbledore in the first year of Hogwarts that it’s forbidden for any student to enter the forest. That is unless they’re supervised by an adult for punishment. Still, it makes people wonder what’s going on in the forest for Dumbledore to make it off-limits.
Dangerous Creatures That Reside in the Forbidden Forest
The Forbidden Forest is massive and easy to get lost in. Throughout Hogwarts’ history, some students disappeared into the forest and never returned. These disappearances may account for the dangerous creatures that reside in it. Some magical creatures that students wouldn’t rather cross in the forest are acromantulas (one of which is known as Aragog to Hagrid), centaurs, hippogriffs, wolves, giants, blood-sucking bugbears and the three-headed dog Fluffy.
While there are many creatures that would cause harm, there are others that won’t. There have been rare sightings of unicorns in the forest, one of which Professor Quirrell killed in The Sorcerer’s Stone. It’s said to be a great tragedy to kill a unicorn, which means the creatures aren’t violent toward humans. Some of the dangerous beings aren’t necessarily dangerous by nature either; species such as centaurs, hippogriffs and giants will only harm humans when provoked — like the centaurs did to Professor Umbridge when she insulted them. The reality is, though, most students at Hogwarts probably wouldn’t have treated these creatures with respect and more like animals enclosed in a zoo. Dumbledore probably suspected this and upheld the ban in case the students had any funny ideas.
Harry Potter’s Detention and Classes Raise Ethical Concerns
The creatures of the Forbidden Forest aren’t to be messed with, but it doesn’t mean Dumbledore didn’t allow visits to the forest from time to time. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco visited the forest at night when they were first-years, with Hagrid supervising them in detention. Hagrid even let Harry and Draco go off on their own with only a dog to protect them. Further, lessons for Care of Magical Creatures were occasionally held there, one of which led to Draco getting injured by a hippogriff because the young Slytherin gravely startled it.
The supervised trips to the Forbidden Forest definitely raise some questions about ethics at Hogwarts. Parents and guardians entrusted the school to take care of their children for almost an entire year, only for the school’s staff to foolishly put the students’ lives at risk in the most notoriously dangerous part of school property. Granted, this is also the same school that shows clear favoritism for Gryffindor, endangered students at the Triwizard Tournament, and allows a lot of prejudice to go unnoticed. The Forbidden Forest is just another problem added to the miles-long list on Hogwarts.