Inside the slightly messy hut, Hagrid was slumped on a 'small stool' as large as a grandmaster's chair, crying, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting around him, looking at him with worried faces.
"What is going on?"
Link, who pushed open the door and entered, asked doubtfully.
Hearing this, the eyes of Harry and the other two lit up.
"Link, you're finally here! Something happened during our class this afternoon!"
"Hagrid let us interact with a Hippogriff during class. Everything was going well at first, Harry even successfully rode the Hippogriff in a flight!"
"But Malfoy deliberately provoked the Hippogriff and ended up getting his arm scratched hard!"
"This absolutely wasn't Hagrid's fault! Hagrid had already repeatedly warned Malfoy to be respectful toward the Hippogriff, but he just wouldn't listen!"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione each took turns explaining roughly what had happened.
Hearing this, Link also suddenly understood. In the original book, there was indeed such a plot. It's just that because it wasn't deeply connected to the main storyline, he didn't pay much attention to it, so he didn't remind Hagrid either.
Frowning and thinking for a moment, Link opened his mouth to speak.
But before he could say anything, Hagrid beside him began crying even more sadly.
"This time it's all over! It's only the first day of the school year and I've already caused such a big problem! Lucius Malfoy is a school governor!" Hagrid cried.
"If he complains to the Board of Governors, I'll definitely lose my teaching position! Maybe... maybe I might even be sent back to Azkaban!"
At the mention of Azkaban, this nearly five-meter-tall giant of a man looked like he'd remembered something extremely terrifying, and he even forgot to cry, only trembling nonstop there.
At the same time, also reacting strongly to Azkaban was Harry, because that person named Black, the Death Eater who was coming to kill him, had come out from Azkaban.
Harry, at present, was very curious about that person.
He suddenly stood up and, eyes glowing, looked at Hagrid and asked, "Azkaban! That's right! Hagrid, you've been to Azkaban! Can you tell me what kind of place it is?"
As soon as these words came out, everyone else's eyes all gathered on Harry, while Hagrid, who had been asked, just trembled and shook his head, unwilling to say anything.
Seeing this, Harry's expression dimmed, and he also realized he had said something wrong, quickly apologizing.
Link naturally understood what Harry was thinking. He shook his head and spoke,
"Azkaban is the most heavily guarded wizard prison in all of Europe's magical world. I believe you all already know this much. But about just how secure and terrifying it is, you probably don't have a concrete sense. Then let me tell you."
Harry and the others nodded.
"Azkaban is located on a small island in the North Sea that's not even marked on maps. The waters around it, due to magic, are completely unreachable by Muggle ships."
"At the same time, it's protected with a large number of defensive spells like anti-Apparition enchantments. Additionally, the prison itself is entirely built from a type of anti-magic stone; usually, wizards can't even break a single handrail on it."
"But all of this is actually just secondary. The most terrifying part of Azkaban is that all of the guards inside are Dementors!"
"These monsters don't need to sleep and can patrol the cells 24 hours a day. Of course, 'patrolling the cells' is just the official term."
"In reality, they are hunting for food! Every moment, they drift between the cells, devouring every trace of positive emotion in the prisoners!"
"A normal person would go insane after staying in Azkaban for one month. After two months, they'd start trying to commit suicide. After six months, they'd fall into despair and die."
"As for escaping from there, it's basically impossible, because under the watch of the Dementors, those prisoners are always in the deepest levels of despair. About this, I think you all should have some understanding."
After Link finished explaining, he casually took a bottle of butterbeer from the crate of Hagrid's hidden stash and drank it.
His description of Azkaban didn't have the slightest bit of exaggeration, if anything, he was understating it.
Azkaban really is such a terrifying place.
Back then, when the Ministry of Magic tried the Death Eaters of Voldemort's former ranks, they didn't execute a single one, not because of bribes letting them go, then they were thrown into Azkaban. This was something all wizards in Europe knew.
But to this day, everyone's main complaints about the Ministry of Magic were still about how they took bribes to release people. As for the Ministry not executing anyone, no one had any objections.
That was naturally because everyone clearly understood, being locked in Azkaban was truly a fate worse than death.
Inside the hut, everyone fell into a strange silence.
Hagrid himself had already been shaken into a dazed state, while Harry's heart was frozen.
He now had a clear understanding of just how secure Azkaban really was.
After all, he had personally experienced the terror of Dementors.
Then, what kind of terrifying person must Black be, to escape from such a prison?
Harry didn't even dare to keep thinking down that path.
Ron and Hermione were still relatively okay. After the latter calmed her emotions, she quietly moved closer to Link's side and whispered, "Link, don't mention Azkaban anymore. Instead, regarding Hagrid's situation, do you have any ideas?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the other two in the hut besides Hagrid also came back to their senses.
They had gathered here today to help Hagrid solve the problem.
Link, hearing this, chuckled lightly and said, "Don't worry, Hagrid will be fine. What Draco Malfoy relies on is just his school governor dad, right? My mom also became a school governor this year. I'll just talk to her about it later."
"Eh!"
Harry and Ron exclaimed in unison, "Really? How come you never mentioned it before?"
Link spread his hands and shrugged, "I'm not Malfoy, so of course I wouldn't go around talking about this all day."
Upon hearing this, Harry and the other two dumbly nodded. Thinking carefully, it did seem to make sense.
Unlike some people, Link really didn't like to show off his pure-blood noble status.
Harry and the others only knew that Link's family was pure-blood and had some money.
Thinking this through, the three of them immediately became overjoyed.
Because this meant that Hagrid had a high chance of safely getting through this situation.
While watching the three of them laugh, Link helplessly shook his head.
To be honest, Link didn't think Hagrid needed him to step in and help at all.
Because this matter was just too minor.
It's just that in recent years, Dumbledore had pampered the students too much.
One must know that the previous headmasters had all adopted military-style management, iron-blooded teaching methods.
Back then, not to mention getting injured, even students dying in various teaching accidents wasn't uncommon.
In Draco's case, at most you'd be given one day of medical leave, and the next day you'd be dragged out to continue class.
And besides, Hagrid was also a die-hard supporter of Dumbledore. Link really didn't believe that Dumbledore would sit by and let the Malfoy family bully Hagrid.
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