[T/N: 🎊 HAPPY NEW YEAR chaps! 🎊 May this year be Healthy and Productive for you! Enjoy~]
Professor McGonagall's hand, which had been pulling the door, froze.
She turned her head to look at Harry, her mouth slightly open, as if she were organizing her words.
After a brief silence, she said, "Harry, I'm very sorry, but Dumbledore has gone out to deal with some private matters. I'm afraid he won't be able to see you for the time being."
"Private matters?"
Harry frowned and repeated it.
He very quickly connected it to the incident of the Order of the Phoenix being hit hard and entering a silent state.
Dumbledore had probably gone out to deal with that matter.
Thinking so, Harry let out a slightly regretful sigh.
He had been too excited yesterday after hearing the news of Hagrid's return, so much so that he didn't remember until he lay back on the hospital bed that he still hadn't figured out why he would have those kinds of prophetic dreams.
Originally, he had been planning to get his answer the next day, but he hadn't expected Dumbledore's matters to be so urgent.
"Then I'll just wait for him to come back." Harry forced out a slight smile. "Thank you, Professor McGonagall."
"You're my student. Taking care of you is my responsibility."
Professor McGonagall said sternly, and once she finished speaking, she quickly left the ward.
Watching her back as she left, Harry didn't know why, but he kept feeling like she had something she wanted to say but held back.
But before he could think more about it, Hermione and Ron came running into the hospital ward.
"Harry!" *2
The two shouted in unison.
Ron was faster. He rushed to Harry's bedside and pulled out an oil-paper bundle that was still steaming, saying, "How are you feeling now? Madam Pomfrey said you're still not fit to eat anything too greasy, so I brought you some bread and potatoes. Oh! And of course, there's bacon! You can tear off the lean part to eat."
As he spoke, Ron opened the oil-paper bag.
Inside it was piled full of slices of meat, so much that the bread and potatoes were nearly invisible.
Harry squinted, scanning it back and forth three whole times before he finally spotted a piece of bread buried in the very bottom, completely soaked through with meat juice.
Honestly, it was hard to call this anything close to "light."
But the smell wafting over was so fragrant that Harry's stomach, still half asleep because he'd just woken up, started working at full speed.
"Oh! Thanks!"
Harry happily expressed his thanks, immediately reaching out to grab some.
Pa!
A small hand slapped his paw back.
Hermione angrily snatched the oil-paper bag away and said, "I told you to only tear off the lean part! Your body hasn't recovered yet, and you still want to eat something this greasy, do you want to give yourself diarrhea?"
"I was going to tear it off…"
Harry said weakly while rubbing his hand.
Hermione shot him a glare.
"Only a ghost would believe you!"
With that, she dragged a chair over, sat down, and began tearing the lean part off the bacon for Harry.
This wasn't an easy task, especially because after tearing off the lean part, Hermione would even use the Aguamenti-produced clean water to wash off the grease.
After a full five minutes, Harry finally got to eat his first piece of meat, one that Hermione had spent quite a while gathering together.
"How does it taste?"
Ron asked from the side, making exaggerated facial expressions.
Hearing that, Hermione immediately looked over. Only after Harry smiled and nodded did she lower her head again and focus on preparing more bacon.
What Hermione didn't know was that the moment she lowered her head, Harry's expression turned into a bitter face.
Bacon that had been rinsed with cold water was impossible to taste good.
Harry even suspected he was eating some kind of raw, ice-cold animal corpse.
Ron found his expression hilarious. Leaning close, he whispered into Harry's ear, "Doesn't she look like my mum? Hahaha!"
Harry almost burst out laughing, quickly covering his mouth.
Just then, Ron, taking advantage of his bent-over posture, secretly slipped another oil-paper bag into Harry's blankets.
Harry's eyes lit up.
He clearly saw the Honeydukes trademark on the bag.
"Shh!" Ron gestured for silence. "Eat it secretly when you're alone later. Don't let her catch you!"
Harry nodded rapidly. The two exchanged a glance, unable to suppress the smiles on their faces.
Hermione knew nothing about this. After much effort, she once again gathered a handful of shredded meat and stuffed it into Harry's mouth.
Harry didn't know if it was psychological, but it did feel slightly less terrible this time.
He perfunctorily chewed twice and swallowed the meat, then said, as if he just remembered, "Right, how's Hagrid doing?"
"I'm not too sure. I was busy writing the Christmas gift order forms this morning," Ron shrugged, sounding a bit proud. "So Hermione went by herself."
As soon as he finished speaking, Hermione's hands froze. She said angrily, "Don't bring it up! When I got there, he wasn't even home. I knocked on his door for at least three hours, all the way until noon, and he still hadn't come out of the Forbidden Forest!"
Harry and Ron were both shocked.
Only now did they notice Hermione's slightly pale complexion, clearly from the cold.
Harry felt his scalp go numb.
The Forbidden Forest was full of creatures Umbridge would love to use as an excuse to fire Hagrid.
If Hagrid had actually brought any of those things into a lesson…
"Don't worry, Harry. I'll go look for Hagrid again this afternoon. Actually, we saw him in the Great Hall at noon. Everyone was really happy he was back. He acted normal too. The only problem was he seemed to have even more injuries."
Ron comforted softly. "And you, Hermione. Don't come with me this afternoon. Since we're already in the hospital wing, maybe you should ask Madam Pomfrey for some ginger tea."
"You don't need to worry about that. I've already made myself a Pepperup Potion to drink." Hermione waved her hand, then frowned.
"Actually, I've been thinking about what Hagrid told Umbridge yesterday. Do you remember? He said he behaved very decisively and naturally in France and Poland. I suspect he really went to those places."
Ron shook his head.
"So what? He said they were fighting Death Eaters."
"That's true!" Hermione widened her eyes. "But those places are documented giant settlements! And Hagrid has half-giant blood!"
Ron inhaled sharply, stunned.
"You mean…"
"Yes. I suspect the 'surprise' he mentioned is a giant!" Hermione raised her voice. "He very likely brought a giant back!"
Ron and Harry were so shocked they couldn't even speak.
Hermione held her head anxiously.
"If Hagrid really brought a giant into the Forbidden Forest, and even plans to use it to teach us… then the trouble he's going to face won't be as simple as being fired!"
Harry's face turned pale.
He knew Hermione wasn't worrying too much.
Hagrid was absolutely capable of doing something like that.
And giants were classified by the Ministry of Magic as extremely powerful magical creatures, their danger level was nearly equal to Dementors.
If Umbridge, who was already trying to cause trouble for Dumbledore, found out…
The result…
"Hagrid will be thrown into Azkaban!"
Harry screamed uncontrollably. "No! We have to stop him!"
As soon as the words fell, he had already flipped off the bed and grabbed his Invisibility Cloak.
"Harry! Calm down!"
"You're still a patient, Harry!"
Ron and Hermione anxiously tried to stop him.
But Harry had already spread open the cloak, signaling for them to get inside as he said, "Hagrid is my friend. I can't just stand by and watch him be framed and thrown into Azkaban! I'll do whatever it takes to stop that from happening!"
Ron and Hermione both froze.
Ron seemed convinced by Harry's words. With a loud "Oho!" he climbed in.
Seeing that, Hermione gritted her teeth, punched both boys once, and then pulled the cloak over herself too.
———
Half an hour later, the three, covered under the cloak, arrived at Hagrid's hut.
Even though no one in their right mind would wander through the hunting grounds in the snow during the Christmas holidays, the trio still didn't take off the cloak.
They pressed together awkwardly, standing on tiptoe and peeking through the window.
As expected, there was no one inside.
Ron frowned and whispered, "That's strange! I saw him in the Great Hall just an hour ago. He even carried a huge pile of food away, but he didn't come home?"
"No, this actually proves he really is feeding some creature with a massive appetite in the Forbidden Forest. Something like, a giant! Alright, let's go check the woods!"
Hermione whispered sharply.
Then she dragged the cloak toward the Forbidden Forest.
Harry and Ron were dragged along with her.
Their expressions were all strange.
Hermione had been lecturing them nonstop in the hospital wing about not being reckless, but now that they were actually here, she was acting even more impatient than they were.
This was really…
The three entered the Forbidden Forest together.
Contrary to what many lower-year students imagined, the Forbidden Forest was not as dangerous as Filch and the others described.
As the gamekeeper, Hagrid patrolled the forest nearly every day. Over time, he had opened a narrow path through the woods, though "narrow" was only from Hagrid's perspective. For Harry and the others, the path was quite wide already.
They followed the path for almost ten minutes before the road ahead became overgrown.
The trees around them were dense, and the lighting was dim like dusk.
Just as Ron was about to take off the cloak to clear the way, Hermione yanked him back.
"Don't go any farther," Hermione said, pointing to the side. "Hagrid must have left the path and gone that way."
Harry and Ron followed her pointing finger and indeed saw a barely noticeable path.
It was clearly freshly made, branches and weeds were scattered everywhere, and some freshly-cut stems were still oozing sap.
Harry and Ron exchanged looks, but Hermione once again dragged them along that path.
It wasn't a pleasant experience.
This path was far harder to walk than the earlier one. Branches and thorny shrubs were everywhere. Hagrid could bulldoze through them with his size, like pushing through a spiderweb, but for the trio, they were a huge problem.
They kept snagging Harry, Ron, and Hermione's robes, and sometimes even scratched their skin, forcing them to stop.
Soon, their robes were torn in multiple places, and their arms and legs were covered in wounds and scratches.
They weren't deep, but they hurt.
Yet none of them had the attention to spare.
Because they had finally entered the deepest part of the Forbidden Forest.
In the dim light, the massive trees looked like gigantic shadows.
The forest was silent. Every sound echoed sharply. A snapping twig sent chills down the spine, and even the faint noise of an innocent sparrow made them look around nervously in the darkness.
"Maybe we should light our wands!"
Ron whispered. He was so scared he was practically curling into Harry's arms.
Harry helplessly turned away and said, "Uh… alright, actually..."
"Shh!" Hermione suddenly cut him off. "Listen! What is that sound?"
Hermione stopped abruptly, and Harry and Ron nearly bumped into her.
But they didn't care.
Hearing Hermione say that, Harry and Ron's hearts practically leapt up into their throats. Right now they were holding their breath, listening on high alert.
In the dim Forbidden Forest, everything was silent. Aside from the rustling of the treetops blown by the wind and snow, and their own violently pounding hearts, Harry could hardly hear any other sound.
But just as he cast a confused look toward Hermione, a faint, strange noise suddenly drilled into his ears.
That rhythmic rumbling sounded like a very enormous pair of lungs breathing.
Harry widened his eyes and looked at Hermione again, only to find she was staring straight toward their other side, her expression even more shocked, or rather, terrified, than his.
Harry quickly turned his head to look.
What entered his vision was a huge mound of earth.
The mound was so large that even if all three of them, he, Hermione, and Ron, stood on top of it, there would still be plenty of room.
But the key thing was, along with that strange breathing sound, the mound of earth was slowly rising and falling.
"Merlin…"
Ron couldn't help but let out a startled cry.
He very quickly realized his voice was too loud and hurriedly covered his mouth.
Unfortunately, it was already too late.
The originally steady breathing, after being startled, suddenly stopped. And then, that mound slowly sat up.
Only then did the three finally see the true face of that "mound."
It was actually a giant, one whose height surpassed Hagrid by more than half a body.
The giant's expression looked somewhat confused.
He blinked his pair of tiny eyes and looked around, as if searching for the culprit who had woken him up.
But he was never able to find Harry and the others, who were protected under the Invisibility Cloak. With a somewhat silly look, he scratched his head.
Harry and the other two were already nearly scared stupid.
They were covering each other's mouths, standing there stiff and tangled, not daring to move even a little.
Even though books had many descriptions about how dangerous giants were, those monotonous words simply couldn't make them feel any real sense of it.
They had still preferred to use Hagrid as a template when imagining what a giant's size and strength were like.
But when a living, breathing giant truly appeared in front of them.
Only then did they suddenly realize just how outrageously wrong they had been.
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