"You're talking about Scabbers? If you have to say it, it indeed can be counted as a magical creature. After all, I've never seen a rat that can live over ten years."
Ron said with some doubt, "But it has gone missing since last night."
"Gone missing!?" Link suddenly raised his voice and said.
Hearing that, Ron angrily glared at Hermione and said, "I guess it must have been eaten by some greedy ugly cat!"
"Crookshanks wouldn't eat your rat! And he's not ugly either!" Hermione retorted, then turned her tone to Link and said, "Oh right! Crookshanks is a cat I'm raising."
"Anyway, you have to take responsibility to help me get Scabbers back! He's stayed in my family for over ten years, he's already part of my family!"
"I said that rat wasn't eaten by Crookshanks!"
"It's you!"
Hermione and Ron's argument gradually became heated, and taking advantage of this, Link fell into deep thought.
Ron's rat Scabbers was a very important character. Originally, Link's plan was to strike first and either kill him or control him. This way, although the following storyline might spiral out of control, at least some trouble would be avoided.
Unfortunately, the other party was now missing.
Clicking his tongue, Link began to think about possible places the rat Scabbers might go.
But at this moment, Harry's voice rang out. "Link, why did you suddenly bring this up?"
Link snapped out of it and saw that Hermione and Ron, who were originally still arguing, had at some point quieted down and were also looking at him.
He grinned and immediately tugged at his collar and said, "You guys should know, right? I'm raising a pet, so I'm a bit worried it might hurt your Scabbers."
Just as Link's voice fell, Arkam slowly crawled out from within his collar and said discontentedly, "Hiss hiss hiss!~" (I don't eat rats. That stuff barely has any meat!)
"Okay okay, I underestimated you. Here, take this as a gift of apology."
Link smiled as he pulled out a piece of Fizzing Whizzbee from his pocket and stuffed it into Arkam's mouth.
Arkam wasn't lying. It really didn't eat rats anymore.
Because Link and Madam Flamel had spoiled its appetite, now it only ate cooked food and sweets, living a pampered life.
"Hiss hiss hiss!~" (That's more like it. I forgive you.)
Arkam munched happily, and only then did Harry react and greet it using Parseltongue.
Hearing this, Arkam didn't even lift its head and said, "Hiss hiss!" (You too, Harry Potter!)
Harry's expression twisted a little, and seeing that, Link couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Arkam's way of calling Harry had completely become unchangeable after being influenced by Tom Riddle's soul remnant and Draco.
As for Hermione and Ron on the side, their faces turned pale as they backed away several meters.
There was no helping it, the way the two people and one snake were talking, both tone and look, was simply too creepy.
Moreover, Link actually kept a snake that looked obviously poisonous directly on his body.
Even if he could speak Parseltongue and wasn't afraid of snakes, this was just too outrageous.
For a time, everyone completely forgot the topic of the rat Scabbers.
Moments later, having gotten nothing from Ron, Link ended the conversation and came to the Black Lake.
Although it wasn't yet class time, there were already many students gathered here.
Even Hagrid himself had already arrived early and was currently standing dumbly at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
He was holding a sunflower alarm clock in his hand, glancing at it from time to time, looking extremely nervous.
It's worth mentioning that this time John didn't rush over to Link the moment he arrived like usual.
Instead, he was sitting alone on the grass, fully focused on reading a book.
Link walked up and took a look, and to his surprise, found that John wasn't reading any Quidditch guide, but a book titled Psychology of Love, Teach You How to Succeed in Ten Days.
This made Link stare at John a little longer, and seeing how seriously he was reading and didn't even notice Link approaching, Link couldn't help but tease, "Oh ho! So you've got someone on your mind, huh?"
"Ah!"
John was startled and instinctively stuffed the book into his arms like it was a treasure.
This made Link burst out laughing, and John, whose face flushed red, came up and put a wrestling headlock on Link.
The two of them horsed around for a while until class time finally arrived and they quieted down.
At the same time, Hagrid, who had been standing like a sentry at the forest's edge, also put the alarm clock back into his pocket, clenched his teeth, and stiffly stepped into the crowd.
"Class time has come! Students, please come over here!" Hagrid's voice was as loud as a thunderclap, instantly making everyone painfully cover their ears.
"Let me introduce myself, uh, I'm your third year Care of Magical Creatures professor. My name is Rubeus Hagrid, uh, I used to be Hogwarts' gamekeeper..."
Hagrid kept talking endlessly in his introduction, but his tone sounded like he was reading an essay emotionlessly, and stumbling through it, too.
In fact, Hagrid really was reading. Others might not see it, but from Link's point of view, it was clear that Hagrid's big hands were covered with densely written words, he was reading line by line.
And once he finished reading the entire introduction, he controlled the muscles on his face and squeezed out a smile uglier than crying.
This whole awkward routine made some nearby students unable to help but laugh out loud.
Luckily, Hagrid didn't seem to mind the sparse laughter, or perhaps, he was in such a state of extreme nervousness that he didn't even notice them.
Only to see Hagrid go "uh" a few times in place before clapping his hands hard and saying,
"Oh right! Now that introductions are done, you should open your textbooks!"
"Textbook? Do you mean this thing?"
Not far away, a Gryffindor boy raised The Monster Book of Monsters that was chained with iron chains with a disgusted look on his face.
"Professor Hagrid! Why don't you show us yourself how to open this book?"
"That's easy. You just need to gently stroke it like this!"
Hagrid obviously didn't catch the sarcasm in the other's tone, and with a big smile, he gently stroked the book's spine with his index finger.
Immediately, the Monster Book that had been savagely gnawing its chain suddenly shivered contentedly and calmed down.
"See!"
Hagrid smiled as he handed the book back, but that Gryffindor boy's expression turned even uglier.
"Such a simple method, why didn't you say it earlier? And also, why did you choose this book as the textbook? The content is pretty much the same as in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Supplement 3.1!"
"Uh, I thought it'd be more... fun." Hagrid said with some unease.
Hearing this, the Gryffindor boy got even angrier, raising his clearly red and swollen arm and said, "Fun? Do you know that because of your fun, I got bitten three times by this book? Merlin above, I swear this thing is poisonous! Even after applying fresh essence oil, it didn't help at all!"
As soon as the boy said this, the crowd instantly burst into an uproar.
Obviously, he wasn't the only one who had that experience.
Under everyone's scolding, Hagrid instantly broke into a cold sweat. He flailed his arms around in panic, seemingly trying to explain.
But with his terrible speaking skills, he only made the situation worse and worse.
Seeing this, Link sighed and finally stepped out of the crowd.
Link felt that if he didn't step in now, Hagrid really was going to cry.
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