"You won't have any split personality issues." Harry said with a smile and a shake of his head, "So, what do you plan to do now?"
"Haven't thought of it yet." Ron admitted honestly, "Hermione definitely won't play on the phone with me. You know how she is—if possible, she'd prefer to spend her entire life in a state of learning."
"That's true." Harry mused, realizing Ron was spot-on in describing Hermione—she really is that kind of person.
Suddenly, he thought of Hagrid and suggested, "How about we go see Hagrid together? We haven't seen him in ages, what do you say?"
"Great idea." Ron eagerly nodded.
When they walked out of the dorm, they noticed Hermione in the common room talking seriously to another girl.
As they passed by, the girl took advantage of Hermione's distraction, made a face, and ran off.
"Hey! Stop!"
Hermione angrily called out for the girl to stop, but she had already vanished.
"You two." She turned around with a displeased expression, but softened when she saw Ron: "Ron, happy birthday."
"Same to you, same to you." Ron grinned cheekily, "We're planning to visit Hagrid on my birthday, what do you think? Want to join us?"
"Of course I want to go." Hermione said with a smile, "But..." She hesitated, "Seeing Hagrid now... won't it be awkward?"
"What's there to be awkward about?" Harry asked, puzzled.
"You see." Hermione explained, "The three of us didn't choose the Magical Creatures Protection Class, and Hagrid is the assistant in that class..."
"Oh, that doesn't matter." Harry shrugged, "No worries, we're going together."
They called up Seamus and Neville, and the five of them headed toward Hagrid's little house.
However, when they knocked on the door, they realized Hagrid wasn't inside.
Left with no choice, Harry ran over to Newt's tent, interrupting Newt as he was feeding a small creature, "Newt, have you seen Hagrid?"
"He's in the forest." Newt said without looking up, his attention fully on the little beast in his arms, "Seems like there's some problem with Argo. I was planning to go too, but Hagrid said those Eight-eyed Giant Spiders aren't very welcoming to strangers, so I didn't follow."
"You should call him." Tina suggested, "I'm sure it's not a big deal anyway."
"Alright." Harry nodded, dialing Hagrid's number.
When the call connected, Hagrid's rough voice came through.
"Hello? Oh, it's Harry, is there something you need?"
"It's Ron's birthday today," Harry said, "We planned to hang out at your hut... but I guess since you're busy, we'll leave it."
"It's nothing too urgent." Hagrid replied quickly, "You guys wait at the door. I'll be back soon—don't worry!"
Harry hung up the phone, said goodbye to the Newts, and returned to the entrance of the little house.
"How did it go?" Ron asked eagerly, "Is Hagrid with Professor Scamander?"
"He's in the forest and will be back soon." Harry reassured Ron with a pat on the shoulder, "Let's just wait at the door for a bit."
After waiting for over ten minutes until Hermione felt her feet getting cold, Hagrid finally arrived leisurely.
Today he wore a bear fur coat, already naturally tall and strong, making him look even more like an upright brown bear.
"I went to the forest as soon as I got up!" He said breathlessly, "Argo's condition worsened, I read things to it—but it's nothing urgent. It can hold on for quite a while... Anyway, Ron, happy birthday."
While speaking, he pulled out a strange object from his coat and handed it to Ron.
"Take it." He said, "I picked it up in the Forbidden Forest, don't know what it does, consider it your second birthday gift."
"Thank you, Hagrid." Ron sincerely expressed—not just for the second gift, but also because Hagrid had given him a unicorn hair handkerchief.
This thing... is incredibly rare!
"We plan to throw a party here." Ron suggested and asked, "But is Argo okay?"
"Just natural aging, don't worry, Ron." Hagrid said brightly, "It's lived for decades, after all. Aging is a slow process."
With that, Hagrid stepped forward and opened the little house's door.
They walked into the little house and sat down on the sofa.
Hagrid eagerly brought out rock cakes, but everyone simultaneously suggested Hagrid boil some water before they ate them.
The cakes were indeed tasty, but way too hard.
For Hagrid with the jaw strength of a half-blood giant, they were just right, but for these youngsters, it was a bit too much.
Even for adults, biting into a rock cake wouldn't be easy.
Think about it, why are they called "rock" cakes?
Once the water boiled, they all pulled out bowls and began slicing the rock cakes with magic spells, and sometimes sparks flew from Harry's enchanted rock cakes.
"How are you doing that?" Ron asked in astonishment.
"Oh, I added a little special effect." Harry grinned, "You could try it too."
They placed the sliced rock cakes into the bowls for a little while, then they gobbled them up once softened.
Soaked until soft, they indeed tasted great, with a hint of milky flavor, sort of like soufflé.
Gotta say, Hagrid's cooking was quite good.
"Has Mrs. Maxim contacted you recently?" Harry curiously asked Hagrid.
"Oh, she has." Hagrid's face suddenly reddened, "Olim recently asked me if I had any thoughts of marrying. I feel... it's probably time to get married."
"It is time to marry." Harry said, "Look, Little Sirius is already married..."
"Yeah, he married that girl more than ten years younger than him." Upon mentioning this, Hagrid spat angrily: "Pah, how shameless!"
Hearing Hagrid's words, everyone burst into laughter.
Old cow eating young grass indeed...
There's really nothing wrong with that. He's the Minister of Magic, why can't he fancy some young grass?
And it's the youngest grass of Slytherin's 87th class.
"Oh, by the way." Hagrid pulled out the first-generation Magic Stone tablet, which in his huge hands was about the size of a phone in Harry's, "Let's add each other's contact—on the latest chat app; what's it called—known as Wizzchat, a tongue-twisting name."
"But it's indeed very convenient." Ron chuckled, "Way more convenient than back then; we can connect anytime, and even send all kinds of pictures and stickers..."
That was true; it even had various news and games. Steve was indeed a genius, stuffing everything inside, surprisingly without it being bloated.
Just then, Harry's phone finally rang.
It was Imelda, she said in the group chat: "Sorry, Harry, I just learned how to use this thing—previously I had to ask the staff to set up the chat group for me..."
"Getting old, can't keep up with the times." She added.
Harry understood; it seemed the other classmates in the group were probably the same, not ignoring messages but rather not seeing them, or like Imelda, still not knowing how to use these trendy devices.
Even young wizards need some time to learn about new things, let alone the older wizards.
What Harry didn't expect was the sudden entry of someone unexpected into the group chat.
[The Forever Young Garrick has entered the chat]