days at Hogwarts

Chapter 571: Clues Revealed

The weather was gloomy and cold, with biting winds. Gloomy leaden clouds gathered overhead, but there was no heavy rain brewing, because fine, hemp-like raindrops often fall in the dim morning light.

The summer heat seemed to be left far behind when the express train passed through the fields. The autumn at Hogwarts quickly replaced the traces of summer. The lawn was still lush green. Water droplets bent the grass leaves and soaked the edges of the little wizards' robes. As they walked down the grass slope and towards the cabin at the edge of the forbidden forest, the cool water vapor caressed their cheeks, feeling cool.

Loren found this kind of weather very comfortable, and his steps unconsciously became lighter. Hermione, who had her Transfiguration thesis and Charms homework in her mind, let him pull her hand and shake it up and down.

Harry and Ron huddled together and whispered. After two days of observation at the beginning of school, they had already discovered that something was wrong with Hagrid, and they were filled with curiosity.

Walking through the grounds, you can see from afar the fourth-year Ravenclaw and Gryffindor students gathering at the entrance of the greenhouse. Luna and Ginny are having their Herbology class... After walking a little further past the greenhouse, you can see from afar Professor Hagrid standing ten meters away from the door of the cabin. This professor of Care of Magical Creatures, a burly half-giant, is still waiting for the arrival of the little wizards with a smile on his face, just like in previous years.

"Long time no see, dear children!"

"Long time no see, Professor Hagrid!"

The young wizards responded to the greetings in long drawls, and thanks to Professor Umbridge's strict requirements, this time the shouting was neat and orderly, and the words were clearly pronounced.

"Is everyone here?"

Hagrid grinned even more warmly, "Then let us begin... This is an especially important year for you..."

Even Hagrid, who was always carefree, spent fifteen minutes emphasizing the importance of the OWLs exam, just like other professors, before officially starting teaching.

"Can anyone tell me what these things are called?"

Hagrid pointed to the trestle table in front of him, on which were many twigs. The twigs on the table suddenly jumped into the air, revealing their true appearance. They looked like little elves made of wood, each with brown, knotty legs and arms, two twig-like fingers on each hand, and two round brown eyes shining on each flat, bark-like funny face.

"Bowtruckle!"

"Good boy, five points for Gryffindor. Yes, these animals are Bowtruckles. They usually live on trees whose branches can be used to make wands. They usually feed on pests, and their favorite foods are ground beetles and fairy eggs..."

Yaya squatted not far away and stretched his head, looking at the little guys jumping around on the table. He wanted to rush up and bite them. Hounds are like this. When they see small animals, they want to tease them. Sometimes they are birds on the trees, sometimes they are butterflies in the flowers, and sometimes they are mice in the firewood pile. The Bowtruckle, which is only the size of a palm and can't fly, is the most suitable dog toy.

But the densely packed and constantly wriggling maggots made Yaya stay away from them. Maggots are the most troublesome. They will disappear into the dog's hair, and they will also burrow into the skin and flesh, making the dog itchy and painful. But the dog can't bite or catch them. After all this trouble, any dog ​​will go crazy.

Loren and his friends were not unfamiliar with this thing. After all, Rolf carried a few with him and would always take them out to play with them when he was in class with Hufflepuff. They had also seen wild ones and some on the Whomping Willow. Harry and Ron had close contact with the Whomping Willow several times when they were seriously injured by it. They could be considered old friends.

After Hagrid announced the time for free movement and asked the students to observe the Bowtruckle carefully, the others gathered around the partition table. However, Loren and the others avoided the crowd and quietly went around to Hagrid's side.

"hiss……"

Hagrid, who had been teaching for half a class in one breath, rubbed his cheekbones hidden by his beard to soothe the swollen wound where the blood had not yet dispersed. He felt a slight pain and soreness. Although Grawp had learned some common sense, he had not completely changed the habits he had acquired over a long period of time in the Giant Tribe. Sometimes when he scolded him in a harsh tone, Grawp still couldn't control his strength.

However, compared to a week ago, Grawp's progress is obvious.

"Hagrid, what are you doing?"

Harry suddenly poked his head out and looked at his face suspiciously.

"hiss……"

Hagrid's hand trembled and he pressed hard on the swollen injured area, squeezing his cheekbone and palm at the same time. The blood clot under the skin dispersed immediately and completely. He grimaced in pain, tears welled up in his eyes, and his nose was crooked.

"Hagrid, are you hurt? What happened? Who did it?" Harry became nervous in an instant and reached out to pry open his hand to see the wound.

“Don’t…it ​​hurts…it hurts…”

"Where does it hurt? Let me see!"

"hiss……"

After a lot of trouble, Hagrid took a long time to explain it clearly. Finally, he sat down against the stone under the fence, looking ahead with unfocused eyes and a dazed expression. His wounds were throbbing and he was exhausted both physically and mentally.

How does the saying go? The more you care about someone, the more painful it is for them to hurt you.

As expected, the damage done by Grawp and Harry was painful…

"Your brother Grawp is going too far!" Harry frowned and said in a deep voice, "Is it really okay for you to confine him in the Forbidden Forest like this? I see that you still have a lot of scars on your face, especially your cheekbones, which are all black and blue..."

Hagrid waved his hand and said in a muffled voice, "He has become well behaved. He also knows some of our manners and is slowly learning human language."

"Is that so?" Harry's face was full of worry and he was obviously uneasy.

"..."

Hagrid's eyes passed Harry and looked at the two people behind him. He said tiredly, "Come to my place on Saturday and I'll take you to see him. Loren, Hermione, you must come. Grawp misses you too."

Loren and Hermione suppressed their laughter and nodded with difficulty.

The rain in September was intermittent, and no one knew when it would stop. The edge of the forbidden forest was filled with the unique smell after the rain, the strong smell of soil, the fresh smell of grass and trees. In such an environment, the entire lungs and chest became refreshed. "Children, before the next class, I hope everyone can complete a sketch and mark each part of the Bowtruckle's body."

Hagrid listened to the homework assigned in one breath, packed up the Bowtruckle, and walked back dejectedly with Fang, taking one deep step and one shallow step, leaving only the faint sound of gasping for air.

Harry watched the man and the dog walk away and sighed sadly: "Grawp is such an ignorant brother, what do you think?"

"..."

Loren tried to suppress his smile and nodded solemnly: "That's right!"

The next class for the fifth-year Gryffindors was Herbology. When they arrived at the greenhouse door, they just happened to catch Ginny and Luna finishing their get out of class. The two girls simply said hello and left in a hurry. After all, no girl wanted to chat with others while smelling like dragon manure.

As everyone expected, Professor Sprout started the class by preaching to everyone the importance of exams. The little wizards sighed. Sometimes they hoped that all teachers would stop talking about this matter. When they thought about so much homework, they felt tight and anxious. This anxiety turned into fatigue after a class of fertilizer.

After the Herbology class, the young wizards left the greenhouse one after another and walked towards the castle hall.

"Merlin's stinky boots!" Ron sniffed the smell of fermented organic fertilizer on his body and retched in disgust. "Our first-year Herbology class was composting, and our second-year Herbology class was composting... Even in the fifth year, we are still composting!"

Neville smiled and said, "Actually, I quite like the Herbology class. After smelling the smell of fertilizer for a long time, I no longer find it smelly. Sometimes I can even smell the fragrance of plants."

"Loren and Hermione said that excrement smells good even when diluted. Do you think I believe it?"

The little wizards around started laughing.

The cool and fine rain fell again, and the fresh air washed the numbed nose and made the hanging heart fall. The fifth year in Hogwarts began with such anxious laughter.

……

Saturday, cold and wet morning.

Coming out of the post office on the central avenue of Hogsmeade and turning into a side road, there is a small bar at the intersection. A tattered wooden sign hangs on a rusty bracket on the door. There is a chopped-off pig's head painted on it, and blood has seeped through the white cloth wrapped around it.

Like most wizard-run bars, it was shabby, dirty, and full of customers in strange costumes, including some who wore cloaks and hoods with their faces covered tightly.

It is said that the tavern owner was once prosecuted for abusing magic on goats, but he ignored the Ministry of Magic and kept his head held high, continuing to do as he pleased... Customers had two different opinions on this. Some believed that the tavern owner was disrespectful to the Ministry of Magic and looked down on those guys, while others believed that the tavern owner was illiterate and therefore did not know he was being prosecuted.

If the young wizards of Hogwarts study the chapter on the goblin rebellion carefully, they will find that this was once the goblin's command post. Now, this is a place where intelligence is gathered and well-informed, a place where good and bad people mix and hide transactions, and the boss and the few guests maintain a tacit understanding and abide by the unspoken rules - do not disrupt the order of the tavern and do not implicate other guests.

For quite a number of people, the wine here is stronger, the smell is more pungent, the insults are more intense, and the topics of conversation are more explosive, making it far more relaxing and enjoyable than Three Broomsticks.

Two cloaked and hooded men entered the alley next to the tavern. One of them exhaled and whispered, "This is it, Avery. We've asked everywhere else in Hogsmeade, but no one has seen the man in the photo. The only place left is the Hog's Head. The owner here is an old man. Maybe he knows something."

The mysterious wizard known as Avery did not reply immediately, but thought for a moment: "Would it be too suspicious for us to go into the bar in the morning, Alex?"

"Don't worry about it. What could be more suspicious than dressing like this?" Alex straightened the collar of his cloak. "It's because that crazy woman is pushing us too hard. We can only speed up the process. It is said that Knockturn Alley, which Lucius is responsible for, has been checked almost completely..."

"Did he check that? Jin Galleon checked that!"

"What can we do? We can't spend money like Lucius, nor can we show our faces in public..."

"It's all Bellatrix's fault..."

As Death Eaters who escaped trial, they lived a good life before Voldemort's resurrection, although not rich. Avery enjoyed his life with his family, and Alex joined the Ministry of Magic. Now...

The two men looked at each other, sighed, tightened their hoods, and hunched over as they walked into the tavern.

The bar was a small, dark, and very dirty room, which smelled strongly of sheep. The only clean part was the bar. There was thick dirt on the window sills, and the light from outside could hardly get through. There were some burnt candles on the rough wooden table. At first glance, I thought the floor was compacted mud, but when I stepped on it, I found it was sticky. The stone floor had accumulated dirt for centuries.

Unlike what one would imagine, the bar was deserted and empty. There were still a few customers in it. Apart from a short, fat wizard who was also wearing a cloak and a hood and drinking at the bar, the others were chatting in groups of three or four. Their faces could not be seen clearly. What was inconvenient was that the environment was relatively quiet and there was a high possibility that their conversations would be overheard.

Avery and Alex ignored some of the scrutinizing looks and walked straight to the bar, knocked on the table and ordered two glasses of whiskey, then handed a gold Galleon to the bartender, indicating that he didn't need the change.

The bartender who worked here to earn money for drinks looked at the two of them in confusion: "This is..."

"We want to ask you about someone." Alex secretly glanced at the short and fat wizard in the corner of the bar, and carefully took out a parchment portrait from his arms. Just when he was about to continue questioning, he suddenly heard a sweet and artificial voice.

"Ahem... Can you show me? Maybe I know him." The short and fat wizard lifted his hood, revealing a toad-like face, and his girlish voice gave people a creepy feeling in the dimly lit tavern.

The other guests in the bar put down their glasses at the same time, and some of them even took out their wands.

Alex, an employee of the Ministry of Magic, narrowed his eyes and immediately recognized the impressive Senior Deputy Minister and the members of the Auror Team. He pulled Avery and wanted to leave: "Let's go..."

"Why are you in such a hurry? Maybe we can help you find someone." Umbridge grinned, revealing her sharp teeth. "I think one of you has a familiar voice. We know each other, right?"

In an instant, colorful magical lights burst out in the dim tavern, spells collided with each other, magic power surged, and huge explosions made the ears buzz.

(End of this chapter)