"Snape?!"
Harry shouted, so shocked he almost jumped out of bed.
"That's right, your Potions professor," Professor McGonagall said with a hint of admiration. "His mastery of Occlumency is astonishing. He's a genuine Occlumency master!"
Harry couldn't understand the admiration in her voice at all.
Good heavens, Snape already messed with him from time to time in a Potions class with dozens of students. If this really turned into one-on-one private lessons, what kind of nightmare would that be?
Harry felt that Voldemort wouldn't even need to rack his brains trying to kill him anymore.
At a rate of one lesson a week, Snape would probably kill him within a month.
Professor McGonagall naturally knew exactly what Harry was thinking.
Seeing how awful his expression was, she sighed and added, "If you really don't want Snape to teach you, you can also ask Dumbledore to help you switch to a different instructor."
The moment she said that, a spark called hope flared up in Harry's eyes. He stared at her, almost pleading as he asked, "Who?"
"Link Flamel. I once heard Dumbledore mention that he's studied Occlumency with Professor Snape for nearly five years. His level in this area is also quite high now," Professor McGonagall said.
"Of course, you'll need to wait until Dumbledore returns and speak to him yourself. He may have other considerations."
With that, Professor McGonagall didn't bother looking at the tangled mix of joy and despair on Harry's face and left the infirmary directly.
As the door closed, Harry let out a heavy sigh.
What Professor McGonagall had just said didn't really reassure him. Instead, the shadow hanging over his heart grew even darker.
This had nothing to do with the possibility of learning Occlumency from Snape in the future, it was simply worry about Link.
In the visions he'd seen earlier, Link had been fighting Voldemort.
Judging purely from those images, Link actually seemed to have the upper hand, so his life should have been safe.
But the state Link had been in at the time, his whole body shrouded in cold mist and black smoke, gave Harry a feeling that he was even more evil and terrifying than Voldemort.
That filled Harry with a deeply ominous premonition. But out of trust in Link, he didn't tell Professor McGonagall about it, nor did he plan to tell Dumbledore.
At least not before he spoke to Link himself. He wasn't going to tell anyone.
There was just too much involved.
Having made up his mind, Harry flopped heavily back onto the soft bed and rubbed the lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.
His head was full of thoughts, yet there was nothing he could do.
Bang!
A sudden loud noise startled Harry.
He looked up and realized that Ron and Hermione had pushed the door open.
It was obvious they'd run over as fast as they could. Ron's hair, which had grown a bit long from not being trimmed in a while, was plastered to his forehead with sweat, and Hermione was panting as well.
"Harry, how are you feeling now? I brought you a roast chicken…"
As Ron spoke, he pulled out a grease-soaked paper bundle from inside his robes.
Even before the paper was opened, the distinctive aroma of roast chicken instantly filled the room. Harry's stomach responded with a loud growl, he'd only eaten half his breakfast before being dragged into the infirmary, and now it was already afternoon, with not a bite since.
Seeing this, Hermione quickly punched Ron to cut him off.
"Harry can't eat something that greasy!"
Ron shrank his neck at once, while Harry swallowed hard and said, "It's fine. Professor McGonagall said I'm basically okay. She even said I should be leaving the infirmary soon and going back to the dorm to preview my lessons."
Hermione let out a long sigh of relief.
She might doubt what others said, but if Professor McGonagall was already urging Harry to go study, that meant his health really wasn't a problem.
Meanwhile, Ron was already grinning as he opened the paper bundle and handed it over.
Harry's eyes lit up. Without bothering to wash his hands, he tore off a drumstick and started eating.
The Hogwarts house-elves were superb cooks. The roast chicken was wonderfully seasoned, and the drumstick, the best part, burst with rich juices at the first bite, grease flooding his mouth and instantly satisfying his dry, empty stomach.
Seeing how happily Harry was eating, Ron, who had literally just finished lunch, suddenly felt hungry again.
Not daring to grab Harry's big drumstick, Ron carefully tore off a wing and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing as if just to "sample the flavor."
"So," Ron mumbled through the chicken, "that means you're fine now, right?"
Harry couldn't speak with his mouth full, so he just nodded.
Ron went on, "Then are you still going to the Forbidden Forest this afternoon? Today's the day we agreed to meet Hagrid."
Ron's words jogged Harry's memory.
Ever since they'd run into that little giant in the forest, they'd made a weekly appointment with Hagrid to go visit him.
According to Hagrid, this was to help his brother Grawp interact more with people, develop some social skills, and prepare him to eventually live openly among others.
Harry hurriedly swallowed the chicken in his mouth and said, "Of course I'm going. If I don't, Hagrid will complain for ages. I really don't want..."
Before Harry could finish, Hermione cut in sharply, "No! Didn't you hear what Professor McGonagall said earlier? She told you to go study! Preview! Lessons!"
"That's not good news for me at all," Harry replied.
"I haven't even finished my holiday homework, and I haven't fully mastered the old material either. Jumping straight into previewing will just make my head even more confused."
"Then you should go and finish all your homework properly!"
"But I don't want to."
Harry shrugged as he said this, then hurried to add before Hermione completely lost her temper, "Please, Hermione, just let me go! Think about Hagrid. It's so cold, and he lives all alone in that shabby little hut."
"The thing he looks forward to most is us visiting him every week to see his brother. Are you really going to snuff out the last little spark of hope of a poor old man?"
The rage on Hermione's face froze instantly. Her complexion went from red to green, then quickly to pale white. In the end, she gave in.
"Fine. But only this once! And when we get back, you must promise to finish all your homework before next week!"
"Of course. School starts next week. I don't want to get detention from Professor McGonagall for unfinished homework." Harry agreed without hesitation.
As soon as he finished speaking, he and Ron exchanged mischievous winks.
It had to be said, sometimes using George and Fred's methods really worked.
Half an hour later, the three of them, wrapped in the Invisibility Cloak, braved the wind and snow and arrived at the grounds.
Hagrid was already waiting outside his hut, fully bundled up.
From the thick layer of snow on him and his nearly whitened beard, it was clear he'd been standing there for quite some time.
Watching him repeatedly glance toward Hogwarts Castle, Hermione's nose suddenly stung. She lifted the Invisibility Cloak at once.
"Hagrid! We're here! Why didn't you wait inside the hut?"
"Ha! You finally made it," Hagrid laughed happily. As he moved, the snow on his head shook loose, finally revealing his face.
"It's fine, I'm not cold at all. But you lot, why are you dressed so lightly? That won't do. At the very least, you should be wearing scarves. Stay right there, don't move. I'll be right back!"
With that, Hagrid ducked straight into the hut.
Harry and Ron had been glaring angrily at Hermione, they'd planned to sneak up and scare Hagrid.
But after hearing what he said, both of their eyes turned a little red.
It wasn't long before Hagrid came back out.
He was holding three scarves and, without a word, wrapped them around Harry, Ron, and Hermione's necks.
Since Hagrid had made them himself, the scarves naturally carried his trademark rough style.
They were certainly warm, but the strange yellowish, whitish color had nothing to do with aesthetics, and the untreated wool was terribly scratchy on the neck.
Most importantly, they were huge.
Harry felt like he'd wrapped an entire wool blanket around his head. It was incredibly inconvenient.
Yet despite all these flaws, none of the three made any move to take them off. Instead, they smiled sweetly at Hagrid.
Seeing this, Hagrid's smile grew even wider.
He clapped his hands loudly and then led the three of them into the Forbidden Forest.
Just as their figures disappeared completely into the dense woods, a snowbank deep in the grounds suddenly shifted.
As large chunks of snow collapsed away, a boy in tight-fitting clothes emerged.
Despite having hidden in the snow all morning, he seemed completely unaware of what cold was.
He casually brushed the snow off his head and face, then took a two-way mirror from a small pouch at his waist and began wiping it.
Once, twice, three times…
As the condensation faded from the mirror, Umbridge's pink-wrapped figure appeared.
"What is it?" she said, not even looking at the mirror as she trimmed her nails.
"Professor, Hagrid's gone into the Forbidden Forest again," the boy said, licking his dry lips.
"This time Harry Potter and his two hangers-on went in with him."
Umbridge's hand paused. She narrowed her eyes at the mirror.
"Follow them. We'll be there shortly."
"Yes! Understood!"
The boy bowed respectfully, put the mirror away, and headed toward the Forbidden Forest.
As his pace quickened, his figure gradually became hazy.
In the end, he vanished completely, leaving only a line of footprints stretching rapidly into the distance across the snow.
———
[On a path inside the Forbidden Forest.]
Completely unaware of all this, Harry and the others followed behind Hagrid, heading deeper toward Grawp's area.
With Hagrid clearing the way through brambles and obstacles, they moved much faster this time, and the journey was far more comfortable.
"…Grawp's been a lot less energetic lately. I think he's getting used to the forest and becoming calmer, like when I first met him."
"Hey! You'll never guess, Grawp's made a friend. It's just a little goblin, but it's a good sign! I reckon one day Grawp will definitely be able to live peacefully with others."
"When that day comes, I'll ask Dumbledore to give him a job, he'll agree for sure! Haha…" Hagrid spoke cheerfully, while behind him the trio wore complicated expressions.
All along the way, Hagrid was so excited he could barely contain himself. He hardly stopped talking.
At first, Harry and the others would respond now and then, but as time went on, they had nothing left to say.
Hagrid, as he was now, was simply hard to understand.
Anyone with a normal level of intelligence knew Dumbledore would never allow a giant to live in the Forbidden Forest, let alone give one a job, even if that giant was Hagrid's half-brother.
This was a matter of principle.
Even if Dumbledore were willing to do it for Hagrid's sake, Umbridge and the students' parents would definitely find a way to ruin it.
At the same time, Harry didn't believe Hagrid could raise Grawp into someone who could live normally among ordinary people.
Giants' pitiful brain capacity doomed them to deal with most things in life in blunt, direct ways, ways that normal people simply couldn't tolerate.
Personal hygiene was the most obvious example.
With their tough bodies and primitive sense of aesthetics, giants had no concept of bathing at all.
So, in truth, giants smelled no better than trolls.
These lifestyle differences, rooted in intellectual limitations, were nearly impossible to change even in a genius giant, let alone someone as dim as Grawp.
As for Hagrid's claim that Grawp was gradually "getting better," Harry found it completely absurd.
Hagrid's way of training Grawp was no different from how animals were trained in a circus.
He'd just guide Grawp to perform some action, like "shake hands," then reward him with a piece of meat. By repeatedly reinforcing this through rewards, Grawp would eventually remember the action.
But that had nothing to do with "getting better." Grawp just wanted meat.
As for the goblin that had supposedly become friends with Grawp, Harry could only pray that it was still alive by the time they arrived.
Because according to Hagrid, it had already been with Grawp for nearly a full day and night.