Terra gazed steadily at him, smiling: "Of course, the most famous, the most powerful one."
Peeves blinked and softly repeated: "The most powerful one?"
"Of course." Terra said, "That's what makes it interesting, doesn't it?"
"Oh... Peeves understands, Peeves certainly understands!"
The ghost's mouth cracked open, the corners almost extending down to the ears.
He said happily: "The most powerful one, yes, it has to be the most powerful one! No problem! Absolutely no problem!"
"He's currently staying at a very secret place, known only to Peeves!"
"But Peeves can take you there!"
"Care to join, lady from the Ministry of Magic?"
He bent down, extending his hand in an inviting gesture.
—So easily?
Looking at that semi-transparent hand, although this was indeed the result Terra wanted, she hesitated instead.
Perhaps it's the setbacks she encountered on Percy's side that were a bit too much, enough to make her temporarily skeptical about stumbling upon a windfall.
"Coming?" Peeves urged: "This must be one of Peeves's most outstanding pranks ever! You are the only invited audience!"
Terra made up her mind, saying: "Alright... Where are we going?"
"To the Forbidden Forest!" Peeves said joyfully: "He's in the Forbidden Forest!"
...
The Peregrine Falcon spread its wings and flew to another larger oak tree, after which the figure underwent a huge transformation—
Feathers contracted, wings expanded and transfigured, suddenly turning into two arms, with the dark brown form stretching and twisting... In the blink of an eye, a black-haired youth stood on a sturdy branch.
Vid tapped the Communication Pea, saying: "Hagrid? What does he want with me?"
On the other end came Hagrid's heavy breathing, he panted: "Vid? Is that you, Vid?"
"It's me." Vid leaned against the trunk, his gaze passing through layers of leaves, seeing distant trees soaring up then flung away, he calmly asked: "What's wrong?"
"I... I..." Hagrid stammered: "That woman from the Ministry of Magic, called... Stephen Evans, she... she wanted to enter the Forbidden Forest earlier... I couldn't stop her, she has papers from the Ministry, I... I couldn't do anything..."
"Hmm, and then?" Vid asked.
Hagrid took another breath, nervously saying: "Glopp... my brother Glopp... he's in the Forbidden Forest. I wanted to introduce you, but he's... he's not very well-behaved, not very polite, so I..."
"You have a brother?" Harry asked in surprise, followed by asking: "How's he in the Forbidden Forest?"
Vid didn't speak.
He saw Marina stumbling in the woods, the Giant behind her let out a deafening roar.
Glopp stamped flat the remains of the Acromantula nest, crashing into a giant pine tree, angrily punching the tree, breaking the thick tree in half.
On the other end, Hagrid heard no sounds, he swallowed and said:
"I was doing business for Dumbledore, went to the Giant's tribe, discovered him there... Glopp, he's the son of my mother and another Giant. But he's too short, they've always been abusing him, my mom didn't really like him either..."
Crack, crack, crack.
Trees in the Forbidden Forest were broken one after another, like snapping matchsticks.
Marina accidentally fell, she glanced back, only seeing a huge silhouette swaying between the shadows of the trees.
Numerous birds flapped furiously, flying to the sky, letting out frightened calls, forest animals howled and ran wildly.
Marina whimpered, dared not pause at all, climbed back up, running while the blood marks on her face were stung by the cold wind like needles.
In the Communication Pea, Vid could faintly hear Harry asking in confusion:
"Your brother's a Giant? He's really short?"
"Yes," Hagrid said sympathetically, "he's only sixteen feet."
Harry screamed: "Sixteen feet?"
After a pause, he groaned in a "you're crazy" tone: "... You call that short?"
"Too short among Giants, I really can't leave him..."
Hagrid said uneasily: "I hid him in the Forbidden Forest, Dumbledore knows too, he understands how important this is to me... He knows the kid looks scary but isn't bad, he... he's my brother..."
"I made a nest for him deep in the Forbidden Forest, told him not to come out... I told him not to come out... he's always very obedient, as long as there's food..."
"But today, that woman from the Ministry insisted on entering the Forbidden Forest this year, I'm worried she'll discover Glopp... If others know he's there, if the Ministry knows..."
Hagrid couldn't help but let out a huge sob, he wiped his tears and said intermittently:
"When settling Glopp there, Dumbledore told me to let you know, Vid... He said if something happens and I can't contact him, I could ask you what to do..."
"I can't get through to Dumbledore now, Vid... What should... What should I do?"
A few gray rabbits dashed out from the bushes, fleeing madly in all directions, one crashed headlong into a trunk, making a bang and knocking itself out.
Marina's cloak was almost torn into strips by the shrubs and brambles in the woods, that rumbling footstep approached repeatedly, at this moment she had no courage to look back, just kept running desperately forward.
—Just a little longer… Just return to Hogwarts… She would be completely safe!
But actually, Glopp had seen the lights of the castle from afar and hesitated to stop his steps.