Black American Comics: Start with a Snap

Chapter 147 Hagrid’s Hut
Professor McGonagall at the entrance of the headmaster's office had already left. After walking down the last step, Su Ze immediately saw the house-elf that Dumbledore mentioned waiting here.

House-elves are a very lowly race in the wizarding world. In the wars of ancient times, the elves were conquered by wizards. Apart from those who were slaughtered, the rest had to undergo slave training.

This also means that house-elves have to serve their "masters" from generation to generation. After countless years of changes, slavery has been deeply engraved in the genes of house-elves, making them an appendage of wizard families in today's world.

Basically, any well-known and large family in the wizarding world will train some house-elves to use as tools. Hogwarts is no exception. In this ancient castle, there live countless house-elves, and their job is to clean and serve the little wizards.

It was the first time that Su Ze saw this magical race in real life. After a slight pause, he walked towards them.

Noticing Su Ze's actions, the house-elf standing in the corner suddenly became nervous. His body kept shaking slightly, and his hands were tightly clutching the corners of his clothes.

"What the hell is this thing?" Rocket Raccoon looked curiously at the little guy who was almost as tall as him.

"House-elf, you can think of it as a kind of 'pet' kept by wizards, or a slave."

Su Ze explained casually, then turned his gaze to the other person and spoke in a friendly manner.

"Dumbledore asked you to wait for us here, right? What's your name?"

"Mr. Dumbledore asked Shell to entertain the two guests. Shell will take the guests to a place to rest. Shell is the name of the shell."

The house-elf who called himself Shell had trembling legs and seemed likely to fall to the ground at any moment. He lowered his head, not daring to make eye contact with Suze and Rocket.

Su Ze didn't know why the little guy was so afraid of himself and Rocket. He could only guess that Rocket's 'smile' was a little too scary.

"Nice to meet you, Shell. Lead the way."

"It is Shell's honor to make you happy. Please, please follow me."

Beike's breathing was a little rapid, and he forced a smile, but soon returned to fear, his chest heaving constantly.

After Weiwei made a 'please' gesture to Su Ze and Rocket, he started walking towards the corridor on the other side.

It was already late at night at Hogwarts. The castle was silent. No students could be seen in the corridors, not even a ghost. Even the portraits were dormant.

Beike led the way quietly in front, occasionally raising his head to quickly glance at the surrounding situation, then using the corner of his eye to see if Su Ze was catching up, and then quickly lowered his head and continued to move forward.

Su Ze didn't expect that he would be able to experience the custom of night tours on his first day at Hogwarts, but Shell's actions always made him feel like a thief.

"Shell, you don't actually need to be so cautious. The students should have rested by now. As for the professor on patrol, he's already seen Rocket and I."

"No, you can't. Mr. Dumbledore has told us that we must be careful not to let others notice our presence, so Shell must be extra careful."

Beike bit his lip. He really wanted Su Ze to stop talking, but he didn't dare to make any request, which made him anxious and nervous.

Su Ze also noticed that something was wrong with the little guy, so he fell silent and quickened his pace. As long as he could get Beike to take him to the place quickly, the little guy would be free.

In fact, Su Ze didn't have any special feelings about the house-elves and their situation. It's not that Su Ze was cold-blooded, but he felt that there was no need for him to empathize with the elves.

The history of house-elves can even be traced back to before the founding of Hogwarts. These thousand years have solidified the thinking of wizards and elves. Both sides have become accustomed to this kind of life and there is no need to force change.

This is like Chen Duo, who is second only to one person. We can understand her, but there is no need to intervene forcefully. After all, both parties have different values ​​and world views.

Following Shell all the way out of the castle, Shell seemed to have become a lot braver, at least he was not as cautious anymore.

Su Ze originally thought that Dumbledore would prepare a room for himself and Rocket in the castle, but judging from the movement route of the leading shell, Dumbledore might prefer to stay away from the students.

After walking for a long way, just when Su Ze was curious about where Dumbledore was going to let the shell take him, an isolated cottage appeared in Su Ze's sight in the distance.

It was a house surrounded by tall trees and leaning against a primeval forest. It was located in the corner of Hogwarts, as if guarding it.

The walls of the hut were made of some rough rocks and the roof was covered with thick straw. It looked extremely peaceful in the darkness. There was a small path in front of the house and on both sides of the path were farmlands with many crops planted there, emitting bursts of fragrance.

After seeing this cottage, Su Ze finally realized where this place was. At the same time, he also knew where the room Dumbledore had prepared for him was.

"I should have thought of it earlier. Dumbledore doesn't trust many people, and this big guy is definitely one of them."

Su Ze murmured something and laughed in silence.

Then, under Rocket Raccoon's puzzled gaze, Su Ze took two steps forward, looked up and knocked on the door.

The door of the house was a bit shabby, and some dust fell after Su Ze knocked twice. Soon, a series of clanging noises came from inside the door.

Not long after, the door of the house was opened, and then a huge figure instantly occupied the entire vision of Su Ze and Rocket.

He was an eleven-foot-tall man with a very burly build, giving the impression of an enlarged Viking warrior.

The man's hair and beard looked like they had not been well-groomed for a long time and were even tangled together. He was wearing an oversized moleskin coat and thick gloves on his hands.

However, what impressed Su Ze the most was the stench that hit him when the other party first appeared. Actually, it is not accurate to call it a 'smell'. It feels like the smell of sweat, the smell of not having taken a shower for a long time, and the smell of some animals. It smells very strange, not too stinky, but not very good either.

"Sorry, sorry. I just received a message from Dumbledore and was just thinking about preparing something to eat for you."

The giant in front of him showed a simple smile, then he took off his gloves and stretched out his hand towards Su Ze.

"You must be the guest Dumbledore mentioned. My name is Rubeus Hagrid. You can just call me Hagrid. Don't be surprised by my size. I'm a half-giant."

"Okay, okay Hagrid, I'm Suze."

Su Ze stretched out his hand and shook hands with Hagrid. It was called a handshake, but in fact, Hagrid unilaterally held Su Ze's hand.

Su Ze responded dryly, the smile on his face a little stiff. Feeling the sticky touch on his hands, he felt that his mysophobia was about to be cured.

"Since Beike has already sent the guests to the destination, Beike will leave first." Seeing that the two parties had already known each other, Beike muttered softly.

Judging from his expression, he really wants to leave here as soon as possible.

"Go, go, you are not needed here anymore."

Hagrid waved his hand as if to drive him away, then he smiled and stepped aside to look at Suze.

"Please come in. This is the first time I see an Eastern wizard. Well, I mean, besides the students who go to school at Hogwarts, there are also their parents and those who have visited Hogwarts before."

"I know what you mean, Hagrid. Let's go inside and talk." Su Ze actually wanted to ask, isn't Hagrid hot wearing such thick clothes in this hot summer?

After arriving inside Hagrid's hut, Su Ze began to take a good look at the environment inside. At the same time, Hagrid also noticed Rocket Raccoon who had been following behind Su Ze.

"Oh, little raccoon, Sue, do wizards over there usually keep this kind of pet? Wizards in our Hogwarts usually keep small animals like owls or toads."

"Hagrid, Rocket is not a pet, he's my friend. Strictly speaking, Rocket is also my teacher." Su Ze took the water cup handed over by Hagrid, looked at the strange liquid in it, swallowed his saliva and didn't drink it.

"Friend? Teacher?" Hagrid blinked, as if he didn't understand what Suze meant. He bent down and carefully observed Rocket Raccoon, who looked like a human in front of him.

Rocket Raccoon noticed Hagrid's somewhat aggressive gaze, which made him, who already had a hot temper, a little unhappy.

"Big guy, what are you looking at?"

"You can talk!?"

Hagrid was so frightened that he jumped up from his bent position and took several steps back. Su Ze could even feel the ground shaking slightly.

"Is it strange that you can talk? I thought you wizards were well-informed guys." Rocket Raccoon glanced at Hagrid and smiled.

But Hagrid ignored Rocket's words. He suddenly turned his head to look at Suze, pointed at Rocket and couldn't help but asked loudly.

"Is this guy an Animagus?"

"Anima, no, you misunderstood Hagrid. Rocket is just a raccoon. It's just that due to some accidents... Wait, didn't Dumbledore tell you about our identities?"

Su Ze frowned, looking a little strange.

"No, Dumbledore just told me to treat you well and try not to let the students know of your presence." Hagrid answered truthfully.

"That's it."

Su Ze nodded thoughtfully, then suddenly thought of something and looked up at Hagrid.

Noticing the change in Su Ze's eyes, Hagrid felt uneasy for no reason. Although he didn't know what the guy in front of him wanted to do, he always had a bad feeling.

Thinking of this, Hagrid quickly took two steps back again.

"Well, I'll go get you something to eat."

"There's no rush to eat."

Suze grabbed Hagrid's clothes and gave a gentle smile.

Feeling Su Ze's extraordinary strength, Hagrid just felt that Su Ze's smile was a little weird.

At this time, Su Ze continued to speak.

"Hagrid, I want to ask you, has anything strange happened in Hogwarts recently?"

(End of this chapter)