September 6, 1991—Friday, 3 p.m.
This was a little cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
Out back, a patch of land grew pumpkins and pole beans.
By the front door sat a crossbow and a pair of rubber galoshes.
Inside lived Hogwarts' secret millionaire, the master of magical creature crossbreeding, the half-giant wizard Hagrid—and his big, cowardly dog, Fang.
Harry knocked on the door.
He and Ron leaned in curiously, listening to the barking inside and Hagrid's voice.
Hermione stuck close to Basil's side, eyeing the Forbidden Forest nearby with interest.
Basil zoned out, his mind drifting back to the three-headed dog he'd tried to turn into a summon card not long ago.
The 5,000-gem price tag had scared him off.
He only had 16,865.477 gems right now.
Activating the echoes from Harry, Ron, Draco, Hagrid, and Neville would cost another 5,000.
Not to mention, jumping worlds to snag those missing components? 30,000 gems.
From the looks of it—dying in another world only cost a 100-gem cross-realm fee—this wasn't a one-way ticket. It might even be a permanent portal.
But he wasn't exactly rolling in cash at the moment.
Creak—the door swung open.
Hagrid cracked it just a sliver, showing his bushy-bearded face.
"Hang on," he said. "Back up, Fang."
Seeing there were four of them, he stepped way back and flung the door wide.
He scooped up a black boarhound—half as big as Ron, tail wagging like crazy—into his arms.
The cabin was just one room.
Hams and pheasants dangled from the ceiling. A copper kettle bubbled over the fire. A pink floral-patterned umbrella leaned against the wall.
In the corner sat a big bed, covered in a patchwork quilt.
It didn't look fancy at all—hardly fitting for Hagrid's hidden-wealth vibe.
But that was just at first glance.
Basil's closer look revealed a mattress peeking out from under the quilt, made from some unknown creature's hide.
And the stitching threads gleamed silver, pearly white.
That was clearly unicorn tail hair.
10 Galleons a strand!
That's 50 pounds—back in '91, with the exchange rate, about 400 bucks!
And the average wage in China back then was only 195 yuan!
"Is that unicorn tail hair?" Basil pointed it out without holding back.
Hagrid, busy pouring boiling water into a big teapot and piling rock cakes onto a plate, looked up.
"Oh, yeah, unicorn hair," he said casually. "Pulled it off a tail—got snagged on branches in the woods..."
"Great galloping gorgons!" Ron's head jerked around like it was stuck in slow motion.
His hand, fending off Fang's ear-licking assault, shot forward in a dramatic pose.
"Hag-rid—you know how much that's worth?!"
One unicorn tail hair could stretch four or five feet, and a wand only needed one strand.
Ron, fingering his hand-me-down wand from his brother Charlie (with its unicorn hair core), felt a whirlwind of emotions.
"When animals get hurt, I use it for bandages," Hagrid shrugged. "Works like a charm... super tough. Great for stitching too, see?"
"Can I take some?" Basil cleared his throat. "I wanna practice my knitting—make some gloves. Should turn out real lightweight."
Hagrid nodded offhandedly, shoving aside the hanging hams and pheasants. A long bundle of smooth, shiny white hair appeared.
He yanked off a handful and passed it to Basil.
"This enough?"
"Plenty, plenty." Basil gently stroked the meat-scented hair, like caressing a lover's skin.
This was money!
Women's cash was the easiest to earn, no matter where you were.
And the key ingredient for beauty potions? Unicorn tail hair.
The potion shops sold it—10 Galleons a bag.
But that was mane hair—less potent than tail hair, and the whole bag might not even add up to one tail strand's length.
Except for Ron's occasional envious glances at the white hair wrapped around Basil's wrist.
The rest played out pretty much like in the movies.
Hagrid kicked things off by griping about Filch and his cat.
Harry and Ron jumped in, complaining about Snape.
Harry said Snape hated him.
Hagrid dodged Harry's eyes and the topic, calling his guess nonsense.
But Hermione—who'd been all starry-eyed watching Basil—chimed in.
"I know why."
"Professor Snape said some weird stuff in the waiting room after sorting. I got curious and looked into it later."
Hagrid wiped away a bead of cold sweat. "Kids, let's talk about somethin' else."
Harry: "Keep going—I wanna know why he hates me so much!"
Ron: "Me too."
Basil put a hand on Hagrid's shoulder. "Can't hide it forever. If Hermione figured it out, how can you guarantee Harry won't? At least here, you've got us."
Seeing Hagrid calm down, Hermione shot Basil an admiring look before continuing: "I heard from the portraits that Snape and Harry's mom used to be a thing. Harry's dad and his three buddies ganged up on him because of it. Then, for some reason, Snape and Harry's mom had a fallout. Harry's dad swooped in."
"Three? My dad was like Dudley?" Harry looked dazed. "Hagrid, you said I look just like my dad, right?"
He suddenly pictured Snape as himself.
A Dudley-lookalike dad, with friends resembling Piers, Malcolm, and Gordon.
"What was their group called? The James Gang? (Dudley's little crew was the Dudley Gang.)"
Hagrid jumped in to explain: "The Marauders. And nah, James wasn't like that! They just liked pullin' pranks!"
"Like Fred and George?" A spark of hope flickered in Harry's eyes.
Hagrid started hemming and hawing. "A lot worse. But school was different back then! You-Know-Who was rampagin' outside, Slytherin kids were basically Death Eater recruits. Student fights were brutal! Everyone loved James and 'em! Saw 'em as heroes. 'Cause most of their pranks hit Slytherins or folks cozy with 'em."
"So Snape was one of those, huh." Harry's tone lightened up.
Hagrid's eyes darted away.
"Your dad and 'em thought so. But from what I saw, Snape just grew up in the Muggle world—didn't know the wizarding scene. Picked Slytherin by mistake. And for years after, he stayed friends with Lily, who was Muggle-born. He wasn't a bad guy, really."
He hunted for nicer words, but none fit Snape.
"And Lily—kind-hearted, top student, all the teachers loved her. To your dad and 'em, Snape was like a stain on her. Plus, Snape rubbed 'em the wrong way from the train ride on. So that's why—"
Knowing Snape had been Dumbledore's spy all along, he skipped mentioning Snape's close ties with Avery and Mulciber—future Death Eaters who pulled twisted dark magic "jokes."
Avery and Mulciber had even tried something on Lily's friend Mary once.
And thinking Sirius was the traitor, he blamed the ongoing mess between Snape and James on that sneaky bastard Sirius.
But he couldn't say any of that to Harry.
It was too harsh.
(From the books: ["...thought we were supposed to be friends?" Snape was saying. "Best friends?"
"We are, Sev, but I don't like some of the people you're hanging round with! I'm sorry, but I detest Avery and Mulciber! Mulciber! What do you see in him, Sev? He's creepy! D'you know what he tried to do to Mary Macdonald the other day?"
Lily had reached a pillar and was leaning against it, looking up into the thin, sallow face.
"That was nothing," said Snape. "It was a laugh, that's all—"
"It was Dark Magic, and if you think that's funny—"
"How could she marry him?" Harry said miserably. "She hated him!"
"Nah, she didn't," said Sirius.
"She started going out with him in seventh year," said Lupin.
"Once James had deflated his head a bit," said Sirius.
"And stopped hexing people just for the fun of it," said Lupin.
"Even Snape?" said Harry.
"Well," said Lupin slowly, "Snape was a special case. I mean, he never lost an opportunity to curse James so you couldn't really expect James to take that lying down, could you?"])
Not my fanfic invention.