"Hey! Don't go messing with him!" Hagrid's booming voice cut through the air.
Fang followed at his side, though the big black dog looked much fatter than before.
Hagrid's attitude was sour, and he grumbled about the three of them not choosing his class.
Then he marched into the hut and slammed the door hard.
Hermione looked miserable.
"Don't worry," Harry said grimly.
He walked up to the hut and pounded on the door.
"Hagrid! Open up, we want to talk to you!"
He shouted loudly, but there was no response inside.
Seeing this, Harry snapped, "If you don't open the door, we'll blow it open!"
And he actually drew his wand.
"Harry!" Hermione said in horror. "You can't do that!"
"Why not?" Harry shot back, leaving no room for argument. "Stand back."
The door suddenly flew open. Hagrid glared at Harry, full of anger, his beard trembling with the force of it.
"You can't do that—I'm a Professor!" Hagrid's roar was deafening. "Potter! How dare you threaten to blow my door off!"
"Sorry, sir," Harry said, putting extra emphasis on "sir."
Hagrid stared at him, taken aback.
"Since when did you start calling me 'sir'?"
"Since when did you start calling me 'Potter'?" Harry shot back.
The question left Hagrid momentarily speechless.
"Sharp, aren't you," Hagrid growled. "Got me twisted around… Fine, get in here, you ungrateful lot!"
He kept grumbling angrily, but he didn't close the door.
The trio followed him inside and sat down at the big wooden table.
Fang ran into a corner, grabbed a metal bowl in his mouth, and padded over to Hagrid, pawing insistently at the huge sack of dog food beneath the table.
"You greedy thing, that's supposed to last a year!" Hagrid grumbled, but he still opened the bag and filled the bowl to the brim.
Fang happily dug in, while Hagrid noticed the three pairs of eyes fixed on him.
"What? Think I'm pitiful? Think I'm lonely or something?" Hagrid said.
"It's not that," Harry denied immediately. "We just wanted to come check on you."
Hermione added softly, "We really missed you."
"Missed me, did you?" Hagrid snorted through his nose, the sound dripping with sarcasm—almost like he'd suddenly been possessed by Malfoy. "Heh. Yeah, right."
Even so, he still brought out a batch of his rock cakes to serve them.
"Hagrid, we really did want to continue Care of Magical Creatures," Hermione hurried to explain. "Honestly. But our schedules just couldn't fit everything."
"Yeah, sure," Hagrid said in a mocking tone. "All of you couldn't manage it. Every single one of you. Except John!"
By the end, Hagrid's voice had risen so much it made their ears hurt.
"He signed up for thirteen classes," Ron blurted. "He's barely making it through any of them!"
"He came to my class. Every single time!" Hagrid said, chopping potatoes so aggressively that he sliced off a huge chunk at once.
"That's different…" Harry tried to argue.
Like how John had special privileges regarding class attendance—but just as Harry began to say it, he was startled by the sudden appearance of a giant white slug-like creature.
Slimy, pale, wriggling like a massive maggot—disgusting to look at.
Ron was even more horrified, momentarily forgetting all about losing the Keeper position.
"This is a giant grub," Hagrid muttered. "I'm raising them to feed Aragog."
Hagrid tried to keep a stern face, but it didn't last—he suddenly burst into tears.
"Hagrid?" Hermione asked, startled.
"Aragog… I think he's dying. Ever since his colony disappeared, his health's been getting worse."
Hagrid was heartbroken.
The trio stared blankly for a moment before finally remembering the colony John had burned to ash.
Thinking of that enormous spider, Ron shuddered violently.
They truly couldn't understand Hagrid's definition of "cute."
"Is there—um—is there anything we can do?" Hermione asked. She didn't like spiders at all, but she still ignored Ron's frantic eye signals telling her not to ask.
"There's nothing to be done. I already asked John," Hagrid said, wiping his tears. "Without his colony, I can only move him somewhere else."
The trio absolutely did not want to know where that "somewhere else" was.
"He's living near Grawp now. Oh—by the way, you'll never believe this, but Grawp can tie his shoes now."
The atmosphere finally loosened a little as Hagrid brought up his giant half-brother.
Ron mouthed silently to the other two, See? I told you.
Harry frowned. "How does a giant tie shoes? Why would he even wear shoes?"
"John's been teaching him," Hagrid said, sounding far less sorrowful as he shifted topics. "He even made toys and shoes for Grawp."
Harry and Ron exchanged bewildered looks.
"I knew you'd have trouble fitting my class into your schedules," Hagrid grumbled. "Even with a Time-Turner."
"We can't use one. When we were at the Ministry, we smashed all the Time-Turners they had in storage," Hermione said.
"Well then, which of you wants to come see Grawp with me?" Hagrid checked the time and decided it was the perfect moment to show off Grawp's progress.
The three looked reluctant, but Hagrid didn't seem to notice at all.
He enthusiastically beckoned them along.
As they entered the Forbidden Forest, Harry remembered the last time they'd come here and whispered, "Hermione, do you remember that big creature?"
"It was probably a magical beast native to the forest," Hermione whispered back.
Ron looked annoyed. What secret were the two of them whispering about now?
"Oh, look—it's the Zouwu! Still full of energy!" Hagrid shouted excitedly.
A huge cat was barreling through the forest, and a giant furball came bouncing down from above.
The trio were so startled they almost drew their wands. Just before the furball could crash into them, the Zouwu suddenly appeared and batted it away.
Harry could've sworn he'd seen the Zouwu far off in the distance just a moment ago—yet here it was, right beside them.
"It's him!" Hermione exclaimed.
Harry also recognized the Zouwu—the huge cat they'd encountered in the Forbidden Forest last year.
Its peony-like tail swayed as the Zouwu noticed the three small figures Hagrid had brought along. It tilted its head, clearly intrigued.
"Zouwus are very friendly, don't be scared," Hagrid explained.
But the trio didn't hear a word of it; the Zouwu's massive head came close, and Hagrid had to wave his arms to shoo it back.
At that moment, a sound echoed across the forest canopy.
A fluffy ball streaked across the sky, and the Zouwu's pupils widened instantly before it shot off in pursuit.
Hagrid led the still-shaken trio toward a cave.
When they arrived, the cave looked completely different.
Grawp stood there holding a thick wooden club—combined with his size, it made the trio hesitate at the entrance.
Hagrid, as if blind to the danger, called out happily, "Grawp! I've brought visitors!"
Grawp turned around, and Harry noticed he really was wearing shoes.
Though, unsurprisingly, there were no complicated laces.
Grawp spotted Hermione and opened his mouth, mumbling, "Her—mi—one."
Hermione froze. Grawp then looked at Harry, stuck out a thick, stubby finger, and said, just as muddled, "Ha-rry—Pot-ter—"
"Oh my gosh, he said our names!" Hermione exclaimed, amazed.
Harry was just as shocked. Honestly, none of them had ever expected a giant to pronounce their names at all.
Grawp then pointed a finger at Ron… and grunted for quite a while, unable to get a word out.
Ron, who had been hoping for his name to be said too, deflated instantly when he turned out to be the only one Grawp couldn't pronounce.
Hagrid looked absolutely proud. "Grawp's been learning from John—he's getting smarter and smarter."
Noticing the big wooden club, Hagrid asked, "And what are you doing with that stick?"
The trio didn't expect a coherent answer—but the response shocked them.
Grawp scratched his head and mumbled thickly. It was hard to make out, but still understandable.
"Hit… ball…"
Then he demonstrated.
He grabbed the fluffy ball that had rolled beside him, tossed it up with his left hand, and swung the club with his right. The force of the swing kicked up a gust so strong it nearly knocked them off balance.
The ball shot upward like a cannonball, streaking into the sky above the Forbidden Forest.
Harry stared. That was the same furball the Zouwu had been chasing earlier.
Wait… Grawp can play ball now?
The three of them stared, speechless. John hadn't just taught Grawp how to tie his shoes—he'd actually taught him how to play ball.
Everything they'd seen today had completely overturned their understanding of the world.
Hermione also noticed a campfire and a blackboard inside the cave.
According to Hagrid, John was planning to teach Grawp how to read.
That left the three of them completely numb.
In the end, still in that numb daze, they returned to the castle.
On their way to the Great Hall, Ron's expression darkened at once.
Cormac McLaggen was loudly bragging about how easily he'd secured the Keeper position.
Malfoy spotted Harry and walked over, sneering, "I hear Gryffindor's got a new Keeper? Potter, you've finally done something right for once, haven't you?"
Harry didn't hesitate—he lunged at Malfoy and started grappling with him.
And then, an old, long-unseen nightmare appeared before him.
Snape.
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