Hagrid's expression froze.
He avoided Harry's eyes, not daring to meet his gaze. After quite a while, he finally said weakly, "N-n-no, nothing like that."
"Dumbledore already told us!" Harry shouted. "He's the one who told us to come find you!"
Ron hurriedly asked as well, "Oh come on, Hagrid! What on earth is going on? What about my parents? They're okay, right?"
Hearing this, Hagrid's breathing gradually became heavier, and a trace of red appeared in his eyes.
"Ron, your parents are fine. They were only doing some logistical work, they didn't participate in any combat missions."
"As for the others…"
At this point, Hagrid lowered his head, and his voice turned hoarse.
"Sirius and the others were injured too, but their lives aren't in danger. They're recovering right now."
"What? Sirius was injured?!" Harry screamed. "Where are they? I want to go see them!"
Hagrid said with some difficulty, "I'm sorry, Harry, but I don't know. We took heavy losses this time and were forced to enter temporary silence. For safety, every one of us is in a separate safe house, and the locations are confidential, only they themselves and Dumbledore know."
As soon as he said this, Harry's mood dropped instantly.
Ron, who had just been overjoyed after hearing his parents were fine, immediately rushed over to comfort him when he saw Harry like that.
Hermione, meanwhile, was frowning deeply, as if she were thinking hard about something.
After a long moment, Hermione raised her eyes again and asked, "I have another question. You haven't been at Hogwarts since the start of this school year, meaning at least since September you've already been fighting the Death Eaters. What exactly are you fighting for?"
"What are you talking about? Of course they're fighting for the peace of the British wizarding world! They're all great heroes!"
Ron protested unhappily.
But the more he spoke, the more excited his expression became, as if the honor belonged to him too.
Though honestly, it made sense.
After all, his parents were also members of the Order of the Phoenix.
Hermione quickly waved her hands, "No, no, I mean, are you fighting to get some specific objective? Otherwise, if you didn't have a goal, you wouldn't have been ambushed."
Hagrid looked at Hermione deeply.
His face was full of surprise.
It seemed he was shocked that Hermione could deduce all this from so little information.
With a sigh, Hagrid said, "Since Dumbledore sent you here, that means he thinks you're allowed to know. So I'll just tell you straight."
Hearing this, the three of them instinctively leaned forward a bit. Hagrid continued, "The battles between us and the Death Eaters did start long ago. And yes, we are fighting to protect peace in the British wizarding world." Hagrid glanced at Ron. "But at the same time, we're also fighting for the Horcruxes."
"Horcruxes?" Harry asked in confusion.
"Yes, Horcruxes. They're a very evil creation of dark magic. I can't explain all the details clearly, but what's certain is that Horcruxes contain pieces of Voldemort's soul. If the Horcruxes aren't destroyed, then even if we defeat Voldemort, he can come back again just like before!"
Hagrid said emotionally, "Remember the cave battle we told you about? We were fighting the Death Eaters for a Horcrux then too."
"Unfortunately, we failed that time."
"And this time, we walked right into their trap."
After saying this, Hagrid wiped away tears with some sadness.
The three looked at each other, and after a long silence Harry gritted his teeth and said, "We want to help too!"
"No! It's too dangerous! This is absolutely not something you can get involved in! And the Order has already gone quiet again, we won't be doing anything for a while!"
Hearing that, Hermione wanted to argue, but Hagrid cut her off, "Unless you can convince Dumbledore to agree to let you help Link."
"Link?" Hermione asked, confused. "What does Link have to do with this? Isn't he also a member of the Order? You just said the Order is silent now."
"No, Link has never been a member of the Order. We tried to persuade him, even the professor he respects most, Snape, spoke to him, but he still refused to join."
"He's crazy, isn't he? You lot are the Order of the Phoenix!" Ron said unhappily.
He dreamed of joining the Order, but his parents never agreed, and even all his older brothers had been refused by them.
But Hagrid's expression became a little strange, "That's probably because Link doesn't think much of the Order. As the sole heir of the Flamel family, he has countless outstanding hunters under his command."
"If you set Dumbledore aside, his side is actually stronger than the Order in pure combat power."
"His relationship with Dumbledore is more like allies against Voldemort, but more complicated."
"Anyway, he's also preparing forces to fight Voldemort. If you want to contribute to the cause, going to him would actually be safer."
Hearing this, the three of them all froze a bit.
Hagrid's words held way too much information.
So much that they couldn't digest it all at once.
Link has been secretly preparing power to fight Voldemort?
Then the D.A. he created, could that be part of that force?
If that were true, hadn't they already been part of the cause all along?
For a moment, Ron, Harry, and Hermione were so excited they were trembling.
Hermione was even quicker.
She directly pulled out her D.A. coin, ready to send out a notice to gather everyone tonight.
Fortunately, when they said goodbye this morning, Harry hadn't been completely distracted by Cho Chang, he had listened to some of Link's instructions.
Seeing her, he snatched the coin away, "Are you mad? Link just told us this morning not to hold meetings too often, it'll expose us!"
"That wasn't what he meant! He only said that because he was worried about my health!"
Hermione said pitifully, but she still obediently dropped the idea of calling a meeting tonight.
Ron came over joking around.
The three of them immediately fell into playful teasing.
Hagrid sat on the edge of the bed, happily watching them.
He just loved moments like this.
Even though these kids sometimes caused him big headaches, most of the time they were adorable.
Just watching them quietly like this always lifted Hagrid's mood.
But his joy was soon interrupted by a series of urgent knocks on the door.
The three froze instantly.
Ron darted to the window, lifted a corner of the curtain, and looked outside.
"Hiss!"
Ron sucked in a breath and retreated faster than he'd gone forward.
"It's Malfoy! That damn brat brought Umbridge with him!" Ron whispered in terror.
Everyone inside was shocked.
Harry didn't hesitate at all, he yanked out the Invisibility Cloak hidden in his robes and threw it over the three of them.
At the same time, he whispered to Hagrid, "Hagrid! Quick, hide our cups!"
Harry didn't know why he said that.
He did have permission from Dumbledore to be here.
But he really didn't want to run into Umbridge, that disgusting big toad. His whole body rejected the idea on instinct.
Luckily Hagrid was quick.
He hurriedly grabbed their teacups and stuffed them into Fang's dog bed, then kicked Fang aside as the dog jumped and scratched at the door. Only then did he open it.
Umbridge stood in the doorway.
She was wearing a green tweed cloak this time, with a matching ear-covering hat, puckering her mouth and leaning back a little so she could get a good look at Hagrid's face, she wasn't even as tall as his belly button.
"So," she said in an arrogant tone, slow and unhurried, "you are Hagrid?"
Without waiting for him to answer, she marched straight into the hut and looked around with obvious distaste.
Draco and his two cronies didn't follow her in.
Fang had them completely tangled up.
"Uh, I don't want to be rude," Hagrid said, using his huge body to block the invisible trio, "but who exactly are you?"
"My name is Dolores Umbridge!"
As she spoke, her eyes narrowed slightly; she clearly felt insulted that Hagrid didn't recognize her. "I am the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic himself! And right now, I'm also the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."
"You're brave," Hagrid nodded with genuine admiration. "That job's rumored to be cursed. Not many people want to teach it anymore."
Umbridge's face darkened further, "I am also the Hogwarts High Inquisitor!"
"What's that?"
"That's exactly what I want to ask you." Umbridge seemed to have no interest in wasting words anymore.
She said directly, "The entire first half of this term your lessons were covered by someone else, and no one knew where you were. You didn't leave any address. Where did you go?"
The room went quiet instantly.
Hagrid stared at her with his small eyes. Harry felt like he could hear Hagrid's brain spinning desperately.
"I... went to recuperate."
Hagrid finally found an excuse.
But that only made things worse.
Umbridge stared at his bruised, swollen face for a long moment before mocking, "Fine results of your recuperation. I'd love to know what kind of healing place treats you like that."
"France, and Poland, and Minsk." This time Hagrid didn't even have to think.
"We ran into two crazy giants on the way. Luckily we met a vampire in a bar. You should know this as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, right? They're all very troublesome dark creatures."
Umbridge wasn't listening at all.
While Hagrid talked, she rummaged nonstop through the hut, from under the bed all the way to the fireplace.
Harry was extremely grateful Hagrid had thrown their cups into Fang's dog bed.
That was easily the dirtiest place in the entire hut.
Umbridge didn't even want to look at it.
After searching and finding nothing, she straightened and said, "I'll be reporting your late return to the Minister."
Hagrid nodded.
"You should also know that as High Inquisitor, I have an unfortunate but necessary duty to inspect the teaching of other professors. So I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again soon."
With that, Umbridge turned and left the hut.
As she passed Draco and his crew, she smacked Fang with her handbag, freeing the boys.
Hagrid's face grew dark.
He watched the group disappear completely before closing the door and speaking to the reappearing trio, "What's going on? She's going to inspect us?"
"Yes. She's already inspected almost every professor these past weeks, even Snape," Harry said. "Professor Trelawney is already on probation…"
"And Professor Binns!" Ron added. "I heard Umbridge wants to replace him too."
Hearing this, Hermione seemed to remember something and quickly asked, "Right, Hagrid, when are you planning to come back to teach?"
"Probably after Christmas break," Hagrid said, touching the wounds on his face and wincing. "Depends on how the healing goes, but it shouldn't be too far off."
"So… what are you planning to have us do in class?"
Hagrid beamed, "Don't worry! I prepared loads of creatures just for your O.W.L. year. You'll definitely enjoy them!"
Hermione's face froze for a second, then she cautiously asked, "Uh… what's special about them?"
"Can't tell you that," Hagrid said. "It's supposed to be a surprise."
"Oh Hagrid!" Hermione said anxiously. "Didn't you hear what happened to Trelawney? You have to pass Umbridge's inspection! If she thinks your lessons are dangerous, she'll kick you out of Hogwarts too!"
Hagrid shivered a little at that, but quickly puffed up again, "I don't believe Dumbledore will let her do that. This is Hogwarts, not her Ministry."
"But..."
"No buts," Hagrid said, standing up. "You lot should head back. Can't you see how pale Harry looks? Take him to Madam Pomfrey for some medicine. I've got to rest too."
As he spoke, he pulled a large piece of dragon meat wrapped in oily paper from his bag, unwrapped it, and slapped it onto his face.
Watching the dragon blood spreading down Hagrid's cheeks made all three of them recoil in disgust.
"Then… then we'll come check on you tomorrow." Harry said weakly.
Hagrid answered him with a smile.
Harry smiled back before Ron and Hermione helped him out the door.
Before they left, Hagrid draped his filthy coat over their shoulders and reminded them to stay warm.
But what they didn't know was, as soon as they left, Hagrid let out a huge sigh of relief.
He whistled for Fang, grabbed the umbrella from the corner, and with dragon meat in hand, he and the dog headed off toward the depths of the Forbidden Forest…
[🥳 New novel guys—"Online Game: SSS-Tier Skills From Scratching Tickets". It is from the same author who wrote "Awoke As a God After Auto-Battling For 100000 Years". Do give it a try and hope you all had a great year.]