"Today's assignment is to briefly explain the basic principles and scope of the Transfiguration Charm. If any of you are more interested, you can also try experimenting with it. Okay, that's all for today's class. Class dismissed."
Professor McGonagall's words came from the podium, signaling the end of the lesson.
"Hermione, shall we go to Hagrid's hut later?" Harry reached out from the desk behind, nudging Hermione's chair as he tentatively asked. Hermione was currently tidying up the books on her desk, preparing for the afternoon's class.
As a Stupefy cast by a third-year student, Hermione's spell power wasn't strong. Moreover, it wasn't a lethal spell. After a short period of careful recuperation, she had resumed attending classes as usual.
"Hagrid is back?" Hermione asked in surprise.
"I don't know either," Ron shook his head.
"But Professor Dumbledore said so yesterday, telling us to go."
"Okay, but you guys wait for me. I still have a question to ask Professor McGonagall," Hermione said happily, then hurriedly ran to the podium.
Harry and Ron could only exchange helpless glances in their seats. They were never enthusiastic about such things.
"Miss Granger, I don't think today's lesson presents any difficulties for you," Professor McGonagall said with a straight face, scrutinizing the student before her. She had just been preparing to get up, pack her teaching materials, and leave when she noticed a figure in front of her, blocking her path.
"Professor McGonagall, I..." Hermione's face flushed slightly, and she opened her mouth with some difficulty, but was interrupted by Professor McGonagall.
"I think I know what you want to ask," Professor McGonagall's face remained cold, and her tone was stern. "Unfortunately, even if you have fully recovered now, that object cannot be returned to you."
"Why?" Hermione's face was filled with disappointment.
"The Ministry of Magic doesn't allow wizards of your age to use such dangerous items anymore," Professor McGonagall shook her head. "Actually, I don't quite agree with it either. Although you like to study, which is a good thing, a person's energy is always limited."
Professor McGonagall paused, gently stroking Hermione's face and slightly curly hair with her wrinkled, withered tree-like hand, a hint of gentleness suddenly appearing on her face.
"Child, don't force yourself. I will talk to the other teachers, and you don't have to be so tired. And as I see it, some classes are simply unnecessary." At this point, Professor McGonagall's tone worsened, obviously thinking of a teacher she didn't like.
"I've only been to Professor Trelawney's Divination class once," Hermione said weakly, then she saw Professor McGonagall reveal a rare look of joy, then tighten her face again, trying to appear as not so happy.
"That's it then. When you have time, come to my office and take back that Invisibility Cloak. I really don't know why that cloak appeared at the scene," Professor McGonagall nodded, then left the classroom.
Watching Professor McGonagall's back, Hermione felt a little lost, but at the same time, she felt a sense of relief. After adjusting her mood, she walked to Harry and Ron's seats and said with a smile, "Let's go."
So the three of them left the classroom, went downstairs, crossed the Quidditch pitch, and walked towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid's hut was next to the Forbidden Forest.
At this moment, it was noon, and the bright sunlight shone through the gaps between the leaves onto the path. It had rained last night, and the grass on both sides of the road was now emitting a mixture of earth and grass. The pumpkins in the field were growing vigorously, yellow and orange, and had not been managed for a long time, allowing them to grow wildly. Now they could be picked at any time.
"Look, Hagrid is at the door!" When they were still some distance from the hut, Ron raised his voice to remind his two companions. Hermione and Harry also smiled when they saw Hagrid's signature huge physique and hurriedly quickened their pace.
"Hagrid, where have you been these days?"
"We missed you so much."
"I thought you were expelled and sent to prison. I don't know how much I regret the stupid things I did!"
The few of them chattered at the door, Hagrid's big face hidden under his beard turning red, wanting to speak but unable to interject.
"Alright, children, you can come in and talk. The sun outside is very strong right now," a somewhat old and deep voice came from behind Hagrid.
"Professor Dumbledore!" The three exclaimed at the same time.
Dumbledore walked out from behind Hagrid, wearing a silver-white wizard's robe embroidered with moon and star-like patterns, smiling at them.
Although his figure was tall compared to ordinary people, he was still no match for Hagrid, so being blocked was understandable.
Then Dumbledore gently pushed open the door of Hagrid's hut, and the five of them crossed the threshold and entered the house.
"Achoo!" Ron sneezed as soon as he entered the house, then his nose turned red, as if stimulated by something.
The house had been unoccupied for too long. The pheasant hanging from the ceiling, the large bed in the corner, and of course the floor, all visible objects were covered with a thin layer of dust.
"Uh, I just got back too, and I haven't had time to clean up," Hagrid looked at the house in front of him, scratched his messy hair, and said somewhat embarrassedly to them.
"Scourgify!"
"Scourgify."
Hermione and Dumbledore cast the spell, the former only cleaning the surrounding area, while the latter seemed to have given the entire house a thorough cleaning, immediately making it bright and clean.
"Looks like this place is still missing a few stools," Dumbledore twirled his beard and said.
"No need, Professor," Harry said, then the few of them tacitly walked to the large bed and sat down. The bedding pieced together from scraps of cloth was laid out nicely and was very soft.
The people in front were fine, but when Hagrid sat down, the entire bed shook a few times, making people suspect that it would break at any moment.
"Where have you been these days, Hagrid?" Harry asked.
"My dad said he saw you at the Ministry of Magic, is that true?" Ron followed closely.
"Harry, listen to me," Hagrid hesitated, as if making up his mind, before saying, "I'm leaving Hogwarts."
"What?" The three of them stood up together.
"No, that's impossible," Hermione looked at Hagrid in disbelief. She couldn't imagine that her friend had come back this time to say goodbye to them.
"Hagrid, is it Malfoy's father who's making things difficult for you? I'll go find him right now," Ron clenched his fists and was about to rush out the door.
"Professor Dumbledore, you can help Hagrid, right?" Harry could only turn his gaze to Dumbledore at this time, hoping to get some comfort.
"No, no, no," Hagrid hurriedly shook his head, his body causing the entire bed to shake even more violently. With one hand, he grabbed Ron, who was about to stand up, and pressed him back onto the bed.
"Speaking about other people's fathers behind their backs is not a good habit, Mr. Weasley," a cold voice suddenly came from outside the door, and then the small wooden door was pushed open.
"Mr. Hagrid, the time left for you to reminisce is not much, please hurry up," Malfoy said casually, leaning against the wall somewhat impatiently.
"Okay, I'll hurry," Hagrid nodded.
Hermione looked anxiously at the indifferent Dumbledore, the only person she could count on still showing an inscrutable smile, just watching the few of them.
Hermione didn't know what to do. She felt she owed him a favor. Regardless of his intentions, Lupin and Sirius were saved because of him.
Regardless of his motives, that was the truth. He might not care, but she couldn't pretend nothing had happened. As for Ron and Harry saying they were even, she didn't accept that.
So now, in front of Malfoy, she felt naturally inferior.
The words of questioning she could have spoken without hesitation were now stuck in her throat.
"Actually, I still hope my students can get along peacefully and amicably," Dumbledore said, as Hermione was struggling internally.
"How amicably? Professor, I really can't do it," Ron said angrily. He saw that Hagrid's eyes were already red. Hagrid, who had just cleared his name with great difficulty, was he going to lose his freedom again because of this?
"I'm sorry, I also have some responsibility for this matter," Dumbledore's blue eyes under his half-moon spectacles flashed with a sharp light.
As soon as he finished speaking, the three of them looked at Dumbledore in surprise, appearing incredulous.
"Listen to me!" Hagrid's loud voice suddenly rang through the whole room, making their ears ring a little. Their eyes turned to Hagrid, who had made the sound.
"Ahem." Hagrid coughed heavily a few times, a little embarrassed, before taking out a gray-black notebook from his jacket pocket and handing it to Harry and the others.
Hermione forced herself to calm down, then opened the notebook and read it subconsciously: "Rubeus Hagrid, Special Expert of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, British Ministry of Magic."
A huge sense of absurdity arose in the hearts of the three at the same time. Only then did Hermione seem to notice something, staring at Hagrid's clothes. She hadn't noticed it before, but now she found a subtle sense of incongruity.
The large standard uniform was put on Hagrid's body, very similar to the clothes worn by the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic before, but slightly different. Because of Hagrid's image, the clothes looked very ordinary after being enlarged. After all, when such a big man stood in front of people, people would always subconsciously focus on him, not the clothes.
The three of them looked up at Hagrid at the same time, only to see Hagrid looking around a little embarrassedly, rubbing his messy beard with his large palms.
"You certainly all know that Hagrid likes magical creatures very much, and he is also very talented in communicating with magical creatures," Dumbledore said, looking at Harry and the others.
They nodded in unison. They all remembered how obedient those strange and ferocious creatures seemed to be in Hagrid's hands, such as the Hippogriff, the Acromantula, and so on.
"Well, you should also have heard about the Dementor rebellion that happened not long ago," Dumbledore continued, then glanced almost imperceptibly at Malfoy at the door.
"Professor, I don't see what the connection is between the two," Harry shook his head confusedly.
"It means that Azkaban doesn't have enough manpower. At that time, many Aurors who were out catching criminals were urgently transferred to barely maintain the order at that time," Dumbledore said patiently.
"Do you mean, let the magical creatures Hagrid raises guard the prisoners?" Hermione was the first to react. By now, Dumbledore's hints were already very obvious.
"Very good guess, Miss Granger," Dumbledore smiled happily again, his eyes narrowed into a slit.
"I really can't believe it," Ron shook his head in disbelief, his eyes wide open.
"But why didn't he tell us before?" Harry still voiced the doubts in his heart.
"Fudge didn't want to admit that he had fallen to the point where he had to rely on a gamekeeper to maintain his position, so he asked Hagrid to sign a confidentiality agreement," Dumbledore explained calmly.
"When I went to the Ministry of Magic, I really thought I was going to face a trial, and the execution of Buckbeak," Hagrid said, covering his chest with his large hand, still with lingering fear.
Then Hagrid began to talk about some interesting things about his days working at the Ministry of Magic.
"Hagrid, didn't you sign a confidentiality agreement? How can you tell us this!" Hermione quickly reminded him, although it was already too late.
"Fudge has already begun preparing for the handover with the next Minister of Magic, and this regulation no longer binds Hagrid," Dumbledore explained.
"Then Hagrid, according to this, you can completely not leave the school," Ron reacted and said quickly.
"This is my own decision," Hagrid said, looking at Harry and the others with some reluctance, before explaining the reason.
"I actually figured it out now, I'm not suitable to be a teacher," Hagrid waved his hand, then continued dejectedly: "Although you all seem very curious about this class, I know you're doing it for my sake. Some students call me a big oaf behind my back, but I can still see it."
As Hagrid spoke, he wiped away the tears that were about to overflow from his eyes.
"No, Hagrid," Hermione quickly opened her mouth, but Hagrid continued.
"But it's different there, I feel much more comfortable, and there are so many cute "children" for me to take care of. Do you know, I even saw many endangered magical creatures," Hagrid mentioned his favorite things, like opening a chatterbox, talking endlessly, his eyebrows dancing, making them also feel a little happy.
But thinking that Hagrid was about to leave, their mood dropped again.
"I can't bear to leave you, Hagrid," Harry said reluctantly.
"We too," Hermione and Ron said quickly.
"Me too, but I can't help it," Hagrid took a heavy breath, patted his head, as if thinking of something, and suddenly showed a mysterious smile.
"We'll meet again soon, Harry, Ron, and Hermione," he said.
"I don't want to hear any internal secrets being leaked, and it's time. If you really want to stay here, then I don't object," Malfoy's cold voice came, interrupting the sentimental scene in front of him.
What followed was only Harry and Ron's angry stares. They were extremely annoyed by the person who broke the atmosphere.
And the old grudges, they all thought of those seven Firebolts at the same time, letting them hand over the trophy they had already held halfway.
"Oh, Hagrid's new job was also suggested to the Ministry of Magic by Draco through his father, and then I acted as a go-between to complete it. The reason why I wasn't at school a few days ago was also partly due to this. I also needed some time to cooperate with Hagrid in taming those creatures that weren't very obedient at first," Dumbledore said thoughtfully, feeling the tense atmosphere.
As soon as he finished speaking, the atmosphere suddenly fell into a strange awkwardness again.
Harry and Ron were as if they had been hit by a Petrification Charm, standing frozen on the spot.
And Hermione looked at Malfoy at the door with even more complicated eyes.
"Professor Dumbledore, quoting out of context is not a good habit. It makes me seem like a helpful student, which is not in line with Slytherin's personality," Malfoy shrugged indifferently.
"Being able to help others while gaining benefits is equally worthy of praise," Dumbledore looked at Malfoy, his eyes flashing, saying meaningfully.
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