From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 117: Alcoholic Hagrid

"I must be crazy to follow you two around!" Hermione complained indignantly on the way to Hagrid's cabin. "There are less than five weeks left until the exams! And all you two think about is playing!"

"Less than five weeks? I'd rather call it more than a month!" Ron didn't look back, and hurried forward desperately, as if Hermione and the terrible homework would catch up with him if he slowed down.

"No matter how busy we are studying, we can't forget our friends!" Harry advised. "It seems that Hagrid and Professor Dumbledore had to deal with some Ministry of Magic review team before. I wonder what happened?"

"I wonder what's going on?" Hermione stopped in her tracks in surprise. "I thought you guys really cared about Hagrid! The Ministry of Magic is going to work with Hogwarts to set up a huge project on magical creatures. Word of this has spread throughout the castle, and you two didn't even know about it?"

"So, the magical animal display about Hagrid was successful?" Ron paused. "Since I found out that Ivy kept a dragon in the castle, I finally heard some good news."

"The cooperation between the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts was Ivy's original plan, right?" Harry exclaimed. "He's really capable. In order to legally raise dragons in Hogwarts, he actually got the school's professors and Ministry of Magic officials to follow him."

"'A little help from our Slytherin friends', I suppose he would have said that," Ron imitated Ivy's tone, but his funny facial expression made both Harry and Hermione laugh.

"He's a 144-year-old wizard, it's not surprising that he has this ability." Hermione started walking forward again.

"Yeah, he still keeps dragons in the castle. None of us have ever made such a big mistake." Ron looked at Hermione sideways, hoping that she would say a word or two to criticize others for violating school rules as usual.

"Hmph, yeah." Hermione rolled her eyes and snorted, "Ivy is different from you. He has the ability to control his decisions and not endanger others, even if he keeps a dragon in the castle. Not to mention he's a Slytherin! I'm in no position to blame him for his risky actions."

Harry admitted that he was tempted for a moment as long as he could join Slytherin to avoid Hermione's preaching, but when he thought about living with someone like Malfoy day and night, he immediately swept the idea from his mind.

"'A risky move'?" Ron said, unable to believe his ears. "Is that how you describe him keeping a dragon in the castle? How fair!"

"Don't be angry, Ron. You've fed that little dragon before." Harry looked up and saw that Hagrid's cabin was not far away. The dim light shone through the wooden windows, shining on the lawn in the summer evening and blending with the sunlight.

"Hagrid! Here we come!" Harry knocked on the door, and then he heard a clinking sound coming from inside the house, as if a bottle was knocked over.

"Okay, Hagrid, just sit down, I'll go open the door." Harry recognized Ivy's voice. He didn't expect Ivy to be in there too.

Then there were a few more grunts from Hagrid, perhaps meaning agreement.

The door of the cabin was opened immediately, but neither Ivy nor Hagrid was standing in front of the door. A ghostly arm invited them in, the same arm that had opened the door earlier.

As soon as the three entered the room, they saw the mess on the floor. The air was filled with the pungent smell of alcohol, and there were wine bottles lying everywhere. The three of them recognized the labels on the bottles. They were the food rations for Xiaolong Norbeta.

"Thank God, did Ivy bring the little dragon back from the castle?" Ron asked first. It was very important for him to know whether there was a dragon in the castle when he slept, because since he knew that the little dragon stayed in the castle, he delayed his sleep time by five minutes every day, just because he was worried that there would be no place to run if a fire suddenly broke out. "Wow--" Hagrid suddenly roared, and then wiped his tears with his sleeves.

The three of them then saw Hagrid sitting at the table. His wooden wine glass, which looked like a small barrel, was filled with amber wine. Needless to say, it must be the brandy that Xiaolong had left over from drinking earlier.

The three hesitated for a while, and finally sat down at the table amid Hagrid's crying.

When Hagrid's crying subsided, Harry asked under the encouraging gazes of his two friends, "What's wrong with Hagrid? Did the Ministry of Magic's review go wrong? But we all heard that they were going to build a magical creature base in Hogwarts?"

It would have been better if Harry didn't ask, but when he asked, it touched upon Hagrid's sad memory, and he cried even louder.

"Alas..." Ivy sighed, "The Ministry of Magic forbids him from coming into contact with magical creatures."

"What?" the trio were shocked, they all knew how much Hagrid loved magical creatures, especially those that looked particularly dangerous.

But then again, perhaps not allowing Hagrid to come into contact with dangerous magical creatures is a good thing for the teachers and students of Hogwarts. At least the possibility of them accidentally dying at the hands of magical creatures will be greatly reduced.

"What about the little dragon? Is Ivy going to keep it in the castle forever?" Ron showed his ability to bring up irrelevant issues brilliantly.

"Noberta--!" Hagrid let out a painful wail and buried his head heavily into the cup. After a few gulps, the cup, like a wooden barrel, was empty.

"But...how can the Ministry of Magic know if you have been close to magical creatures?" Harry asked tentatively.

Ivy answered the question for Hagrid: "They will send someone to supervise." But what he didn't say was that this was also an investigation, an investigation into the Chamber of Secrets. However, the Ministry of Magic's progress in reopening the Chamber of Secrets investigation did not seem to be going smoothly. More than a week had passed, and apart from an owl that brought a stern letter, Ivy had not seen any Ministry of Magic employees in Hogwarts.

"Ivy! Promise me..." Hagrid murmured with his drunken eyes open, "Promise me to take good care of Norbeta! You must give her a happy childhood! I will never see her in my life--"

"It hasn't come to that yet." Ivy comforted him, "I will find a way to get the Ministry of Magic to revoke this order. Besides, as long as you avoid people's sight, you can still stay with your beloved magical creatures."

Although she had obtained custody of the little dragon from Hagrid, Ivy was not happy at all, especially when you have to face a 3.5-meter-tall, crying giant friend.

There was another knock on the cabin door, this time it was Professor Keltburn, clutching a bottle of wine in his only good hand.

Ivy recognized the brand, Cannon Whiskey.

(End of this chapter)