Hogwarts Wasteland: The Witch from the Borderlands

"These are Aragog's children. They won't hurt anyone. Oh, Aragog is the eight-eyed giant spider I raised from a cub," Hagrid explained.

"My injury requires the help of these little cuties, and I can't leave here for a while." He pointed helplessly to his right hand.

It was then that Hermione noticed that numerous small spiders were moving back and forth on Hagrid's bandaged right arm, spitting a milky white, eerie-looking slime near the wound.

"Don't let Hagrid's fierce appearance fool you, he's actually a good person. He even brought me a birthday cake when he came to my house before," Harry said to Hermione.

"Are you also a member of the Order of the Phoenix?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Who doesn't work for Dumbledore?" Hagrid laughed heartily. "If it weren't for Dumbledore, I'd probably be dead in a nuclear explosion by now."

"I've been at school for so long and I've never even seen our headmaster. He only sent his pet to the opening ceremony." Hermione thought of the large, fiery red bird and turned to Harry and Ron, asking, "Have you seen Dumbledore?"

The two hesitated for a moment, then shook their heads simultaneously.

Harry: "My mom and dad were always nagging me, but Dumbledore was too busy. But I heard he held me when I was little!"

Hagrid added, "Not only Dumbledore, but I've held you too. You were so tiny then, in the back of my flying motorcycle, so adorable."

Ron, wary of the ever-present spiders, said tremblingly, "I have too many children in my family; I'm afraid even Dumbledore wouldn't remember my name."

Hermione narrowed her eyes. She keenly sensed that something was wrong. As the leader of an organization, no matter how busy she was, it was impossible for her not to have met any of the members' children.

Harry pulled a card from his pocket: "Look, this is Dumbledore."

Hermione recognized it as a card that came with the Chocolate Doll, a snack that, like the Flavored Beans, would still be produced even if the world were destroyed.

The card depicts Dumbledore with a long white beard, blue eyes, and crescent-shaped glasses, winking and smiling at her. The back lists his many contributions, including discovering twelve uses for dragon's blood with Nicolas Flamel.

"Don't worry about that. Dumbledore has his reasons. Well, I can't say too much, but in short, he's always been trying to save the world." Hagrid hesitated, but his thoughts were written all over his face, and Hermione could easily tell that he was hiding something.

However, Hermione didn't delve into it, knowing the importance of boundaries: "You're badly injured, were you hurt by a dark wizard?" She changed the subject.

"No, it's a kind of mutant beast, very dangerous. Dumbledore asked me to move them away from the vicinity of the Muggle settlement," Hagrid said enthusiastically, as if his injury was not a big deal.

"God knows how a XXX-level magical creature like the Swamp Digger could produce such a terrifying offspring after hybridizing with a mutated crocodile," he recalled. "I just wanted to ask them for a friendly favor and move some deeper into the swamp so that the Muggles could find food on the edge of the swamp."

"But they wouldn't listen to reason, so I had to go into the swamp myself and take their eggs away, which angered them!" He blinked, seemingly proud of his cleverness.

"They are very strong, with sharp teeth and deadly venom. But they didn't do it on purpose. I was just careless and got bitten, so I have to stay here to recover."

Hagrid laughed and said, "Goodness, that's really potent, even more so than Aragog's venom."

[A normal person probably wouldn't have the chance to live to experience the difference in power between the two venoms.]

Hermione thought this, but she could sense that Hagrid's words weren't entirely true; they were more like a fabricated story he skillfully used to cover up the truth.

"Tell me about Aragog, the eight-eyed giant spider. Is it very big?" She gestured a large circle with her hand.

"Much bigger than that!" Hagrid laughed. "He's not here right now, otherwise I could introduce you two."

He looked around the cave: "Hmm, it should be about half the size of this cave. But when he hatched from the cupboard, he was only the size of a palm. I fed him breadcrumbs, and he was very obedient and never hurt anyone. He usually hides unless I call him."

"Merlin, please don't let me see him. How can there be such a huge spider?" Ron's face turned pale, and he hugged Tooth tightly in his arms.

Hermione perked up again. She was fascinated by these strange creatures. She could rattle off all sorts of names: hairy creatures are weak to fire, large creatures are weak to doors, heavily armored creatures are weak to lightning, fat creatures are weak to chrysanthemums, fleshy creatures use swords, and creatures with shells use hammers.

"That sounds like a tough opponent. Spiders are very powerful predators. The fact that you managed to train him to be so obedient means you must have a lot of knowledge about magical creatures."

"I even got expelled from Hogwarts because of this guy!" Hagrid chuckled, a headache in his eyes. "But I really like these little cuties. When you start your Mutant Beasts class in your third year, I can prepare a lot of interesting creatures for you."

"That's fantastic! But I almost angered Lucius to the point of using the Killing Curse on me, and I wasn't expelled. What did you do back then?" Hermione asked curiously, picking up another piece of rock crust.

"Fifty years ago, the Chamber of Secrets was opened, and a student was murdered, but the Ministry of Magic all believe Aragog was responsible," Hagrid said angrily.

"But Aragog is still so young and never leaves the closet, how could he have done it!" Seeing Hermione eating so heartily, he also felt a little hungry, so he grabbed a piece and started crunching on it. "Luckily, Dumbledore took me in, made me the gamekeeper, and even secretly repaired my wand." He patted the pink umbrella beside him.

"Back then, Hogwarts was still in the Scottish Highlands, right?" Harry asked.

"I envy you. There's the Black Lake and the Forbidden Forest outside the castle, and you can even go to Hogsmeade Village." These were things Professor Quirrell mentioned in his history class. When their ancestors, like the Potters, enrolled, the castle was already in full swing.

"It's nice to travel around like this, isn't it? You can see different scenery," Ron interjected.

"The Chamber of Secrets? You and Dumbledore didn't investigate it further afterward?" Hermione asked.

"Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets! I know it. Legend has it that it was left by Slytherin, one of the four great wizards, to his successor. It contains his weapons that will help his successor kill all non-pure-blood wizards." Ron took the opportunity to put down the rock bread; his cheeks were already aching.

Hagrid scratched his head with his good hand: "The ghosts of the murdered students couldn't get anything out of them, and since no more students died afterward, the matter was left unresolved."

"A ghost!?" Hermione asked, while Harry and Ron looked equally bewildered.

"Oh damn it!" Hagrid slammed his fist on the head.

"Are there ghosts at Hogwarts? The kind I think of, the ghosts that people become after they die?" Hermione asked with great interest.

"Why haven't I seen a single one since the start of the semester? Have you seen them?" she asked Harry and Ron.

"If we encountered ghosts while out at night, we'd be scared to death," Harry said, a frightened expression on his face.

"No, my brothers have never mentioned ghosts either," Ron shook his head.

"Stop asking, kids, I've already said enough," Hagrid said, annoyed.

He grabbed a handful of rock cakes, stuffed them into a bag, and shoved them into Hermione's arms. "It's getting late. You should go back to sleep. If it gets any later, Harry, your mother will be coming to bring me my medicine!"

Forced by Professor Potter's intimidating presence, the three had no choice but to bid farewell to Hagrid and return the way they came.

Hermione, with starlight shining down her head and carrying enough rock cakes to last for several days, walked between the two.

"Are there really ghosts at Hogwarts? I've only ever seen werewolves and vampires," Harry continued, still discussing with great interest.

"There's a ghoul in my backyard, and Fred and George bully him all the time. I wonder what about ghosts? Do they suddenly appear like in storybooks?"

A spider with radiation inside its body, a giant hiding in a secret passage, a headmaster who never shows his face, and a vanished ghost...

What secrets does this castle hold?

Hermione discovers that her student life doesn't seem too boring.