After dinner, Harry and Ron went directly to find Hagrid.
Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, with a crossbow and a pair of rubber boots by the front door.
Next to the house, there was also a pumpkin patch, full of huge, plump pumpkins.
When Harry knocked on the door, anxious scuffling and a low dog bark came from inside.
Then came Hagrid's voice: "Back, Fang, back."
Hagrid opened the door a crack, revealing his large, bearded face. "Wait a moment."
He pulled his head back in and scolded, "Back! Fang!"
Hagrid opened the door and let them in, holding a massive black hound by the collar.
The small wooden house had only one room.
Hams and pheasants hung in the room, a copper kettle boiled water in the fireplace, and a large bed with a patchwork quilt lay in the corner.
"Make yourselves at home," Hagrid said, releasing Fang only after he had calmed down.
Fang immediately lunged at Ron, furiously licking his ears.
Like Hagrid, Fang was not as fierce as his appearance suggested.
"This is my friend, Ron," Harry told Hagrid.
Hagrid was busy pouring boiling water into a large teapot, while placing rock cakes onto a platter.
"Another Weasley brother, eh?" Hagrid glanced at Ron's freckled face.
"I've spent half my life trying to get your twin brothers out of the Forbidden Forest."
Ron was being tormented by Fang and couldn't reply to Hagrid at all.
Hagrid put down the teapot and looked at Harry with concern, "Didn't Nios come with you?"
When Nios was mentioned, Hagrid clearly felt Harry's mood become a little somber, and his smile faded slightly.
"What's wrong? Did you have a fight with him?"
Faced with Hagrid's question, Harry was momentarily speechless.
He had thought of so much to confide before coming, but seeing Hagrid's worried expression, he suddenly didn't want to involve the kind gamekeeper in Nios's troubles.
"No," Harry quickly shook his head, trying to make his tone sound light, "Nios went to the library with Hermione; Hermione is also our friend."
The simple Hagrid didn't notice Harry's momentary strangeness; he smiled with relief: "It seems you've made many good friends." He was happy for Harry.
Harry was also infected by Hagrid's unreserved warmth, temporarily casting those heavy worries to the back of his mind.
He began to enthusiastically tell Hagrid about his first week at Hogwarts: the interesting classes, the strict Professor McGonagall, Nearly Headless Nick, and the lively common room.
He also recounted Nios's "Alchemy" in Transfiguration Class and the famous scene of him wearing a shower cap at the Sorting Ceremony, which made Hagrid laugh heartily.
Hagrid's rock cakes nearly broke their teeth.
Harry and Ron pretended to enjoy them while struggling to chew.
Fang rested his head on Harry's leg, and his drool soaked a large patch of Harry's robes.
As they chatted, the conversation inevitably turned to less pleasant topics.
Harry complained to Hagrid about Snape's unreasonable Make things difficult and Filch's creepy demeanor.
Hagrid was also displeased with Filch, even unceremoniously calling him an 'old git.'
As for Snape… Hagrid gave a rather fair assessment:
"Harry, don't take it too much to heart. That Snape, he hardly ever liked any student. He's like that with everyone."
But Harry always felt that when Hagrid said this, his eyes flickered, as if he was deliberately avoiding Harry's gaze.
Just as Harry was about to press for more, Hagrid suddenly turned to Ron: "How's your brother Charlie? I really like him, he's got a knack for 'handling' animals, especially the dangerous ones!"
Harry keenly perceived that Hagrid was deliberately changing the subject.
Ron had no choice but to follow the lead and began telling Hagrid amusing stories about Charlie studying Dragons in Romania.
Just then, Harry's gaze inadvertently swept over the fireplace.
A small piece of paper was tucked under the teapot cozy, seemingly used casually to prop something up.
It was clearly a clipped report from The Daily Prophet.
Harry's curiosity was piqued. While Hagrid and Ron were deep in conversation, he quietly leaned over and made out the headline and content:
Gringotts Break-in Latest Report
Investigations into the Gringotts break-in on July thirty-first are still ongoing.
It is widely believed to be the work of an unnamed Dark Wizard.
Gringotts Goblins today reiterated that nothing was stolen.
The vault searched by the intruder had, in fact, been emptied earlier that day.
A Gringotts Goblin spokesperson stated this afternoon: What was stored in the vault is confidential, and it would be best not to interfere with this matter.
Harry's heart gave a sudden leap!
He immediately recalled Ron mentioning on the train that someone had tried to rob Gringotts, though Ron hadn't told him the exact date at the time.
"Hagrid!" Harry blurted out, his voice tight with excitement.
"The Gringotts break-in happened on July thirty-first. That's my birthday! We were probably there when it happened!" He stared intently at Hagrid's face.
Hagrid seemed to have been scalded; his movements instantly froze, and the face beneath his thick beard seemed to flush.
He now dared even less to meet Harry's eyes, only mumbling a vague "Hmm" and distractedly grabbing a rock cake to hand to Harry as if to cover up.
"Try this, it's freshly baked…"
Harry didn't take it; he read the short report again, very carefully.
The bolded sentence echoed in his mind: "The vault searched by the intruder had, in fact, been emptied earlier that day."
If the small cloth bag Hagrid took from that dirty Vault 713 meant "emptied"… then, could the item the intruder was looking for have been that inconspicuous small cloth bag?
Harry's heart was filled with countless questions.
Where was that small bag now?
Did Hagrid know who the intruder was?
Why was he avoiding the topic?
And Snape… did Hagrid's flickering gaze when he mentioned him earlier mean that he also knew something about Snape but was unwilling to tell him?
And most perplexing of all… Nios's shocking proposition, how should he decide?
When Harry and Ron walked back to the Castle for dinner, their pockets were stuffed with the rock cakes Hagrid had forced upon them.
Out of politeness, they really couldn't refuse.
Ron even joked, "Maybe Nios would like them? With his teeth, he might actually be able to chew them."
Harry merely managed a strained smile. After an afternoon tea with Hagrid, not only had he not cleared his mind, but even more questions lingered in his heart.