It had to be said, this was a successful Care of Magical Creatures class. Hagrid had made thorough preparations and designed interesting learning and experience activities. As the young wizards got along well with the hippogriffs, he shared various habits of these majestic creatures.
It was refreshing and educational, earning unanimous praise from the students.
The sincere recognition from the young wizards made the big man Hagrid burst into tears with a loud wail. This left Harry, Ron, and even Draco comforting him for quite a while—it was clear Hagrid really valued this lesson.
"Hagrid, don't cry! You saw it yourself—we all love the class you prepared. You should be happy about it!" Hermione stood on her tiptoes, patting the big man's back to comfort him.
"I... I'm just... just so happy..." Hagrid sobbed. "I never thought there'd be a day when so many people would recognize me, like me."
Hermione fell silent, just gently patting the big man's back, joining the other young wizards in silently comforting Hagrid.
Fifty years ago, Hagrid had been sent to Azkaban due to Voldemort's frame-up and was forbidden from using a wand. Later, when his sentence was up, he returned to Hogwarts as Keeper of the Forbidden Forest. Until now, he'd endured countless cold stares and disdain, contempt and lack of recognition. Even those who knew him well understood he could never do such things, but they were powerless to clear his name.
Today, after the truth about the Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk case came to light, he'd gained a professor's position and earned the students' respect. The joy in his heart, along with fifty years of grievance, erupted together. Hagrid's tears and sobs couldn't stop for a long time...
.....................................
Since the young wizards still had Charms class next, Hagrid struggled to suppress the surging emotions in his heart and urged everyone to hurry back to Hogwarts Castle. Everyone had no choice but to leave.
According to Professor Flitwick, the first Charms class of the new term would be changed to a spell review class—having the young wizards cast all the spells they'd learned before as revision. It seemed Hogwarts was also beginning to emphasize the practical application of spells.
However, if that was the case, this class wasn't particularly necessary for Glenn and Hermione. So the two asked Professor Flitwick for leave, and Hermione helped Glenn continue working on installing surveillance in the remaining unmonitored areas of Hogwarts Castle.
The two had a clear division of labor: Glenn handled installation while Hermione handled debugging and checking for blind spots. Their perfect coordination greatly accelerated the efficiency of surveillance installation and coverage.
Hermione's index finger moved across the surveillance display screen, checking the newly installed cameras, viewing the feeds, remotely controlling left and right movement. After confirming basic full coverage, she closed the display.
"It's truly amazing. I looked up information during the summer holidays—the known surveillance cameras in the world can't match the level of the cameras you've made. Is this also due to your secret?"
Hermione no longer intended to suppress her curiosity about Glenn. Glenn had said he'd tell her, so she could ask freely.
"Uh, just answer yes or no. I want you to keep some suspense until we have a long free time, then I'll ask you in detail. I think your secret probably can't be explained in a short while."
Hearing this, Glenn didn't stop his hand movements and nodded: "Yes."
Then he continued: "So you set a time. When that time comes, I'll tell you everything about me and let you ask any questions."
"That sounds very tempting... How about Friday night? We'll go to the Room of Requirement—that way we can prevent walls having ears and your secret leaking out."
"The next day is the weekend, so I don't need to get up early. I'll have a whole night to listen to your story."
"You're not going back to your dormitory at night?"
"Uh, not going back once should be fine... right?" Hermione guiltily looked away.
"Fine, I'm okay with anything. It's settled then." Glenn nodded. Since the girl had no problem with it, they'd do that.
"Ah~ I'm so looking forward to it! It's been so long since we had a night chat~"
"And I feel like I'll learn some very shocking things then. Just thinking about it makes me excited~"
"It's nothing special. My secrets aren't important." Glenn shook his head. In his perception, it really was like this.
It was just some memories from his hollow former self—not completely worthless, but compared to his current life, it was hardly worth mentioning.
"How can you say they're not important? Those things are probably all about yourself, right? If that's the case, then they're important things." Hermione unhappily refuted this. This guy Glenn really was something—he always didn't value himself much. It was both helpless and a bit annoying.
Pinch.
Hermione puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction, reached out to grab Glenn's lower back, and gave it a light twist as punishment.
"I was wrong." Glenn apologized expressionlessly.
"Not sincere at all. Do it over." Hermione expressionlessly rejected Glenn's apology.
"Really wrong."
"Pfft... Fine, I'll let you off this time. Remember for next time." Only after Glenn readjusted his mindset, searched his memory for how others apologized—their expressions, tone, and body language—and apologized again, did Hermione finally break at Glenn's strange expression and tone. Laughing, she took Glenn's hand and continued toward the next location.
"Remember, things about you are all important things. Your indifference toward yourself, your lack of self-care, actually hurts the hearts of those who care about you."
"Like me, like Mom and Dad, Neville and the others might too."
"So your answer is?"
Glenn nodded. "I understand."
Is my thinking still not normal enough? Haven't I fully integrated into my current life?
Though he still couldn't quite figure it out, hearing Hermione's words, Glenn only felt warmth in his heart.
Is this what it feels like to have someone care about and be concerned for you?
Glenn thought of Hagrid, who couldn't stop crying not long ago, and seemed to understand something in his heart.
Maybe the reason Hagrid kept crying was also because when he was crying, so many people cared about him and were concerned for him.
This viewpoint was quite interesting.
He'd keep it in mind and think about it more.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
The story isn't over...
🤔 Want to know what happens next to the characters?
🤫 Eager to explore the untold secrets of this world?
✍️ Ready to read more of my wildest stories?
✨patreon.com/DarkGolds