"Come have a cup of tea," Hagrid greeted enthusiastically.
His black eyes twinkled with the light of wisdom. After coming around to the idea, Hagrid, who had originally worried he wouldn't be able to raise this cute little fellow, had finally set his mind at ease.
As long as it entered the forest, that was his territory. Even if the Ministry of Magic had long arms, they couldn't reach into the Forbidden Forest.
As for whether this little dragon would cause trouble at school... even after reaching adulthood, a dragon only about six meters long was something he could fight five of with one hand. He could grab it by the tail and swing it around for fun. Even a Ridgeback's venom was within the range of his physical immunity.
In the magical world, wild giants were apex predators, just like large dragons. For those fellows with an average height of over six meters, small-to-medium-sized dragons reacted to them as if they'd seen a ghost. If the dragons ran too slowly, they'd end up skewered on a roasting rack. Any dragon capable of arm-wrestling a giant was, without exception, a massive beast with a wingspan of dozens of meters.
Although Hagrid was only a half-giant, his strength didn't lose out much to full giants. In terms of overall physical quality, an average giant might not necessarily beat him in a one-on-one fight.
He could tame a Mountain Storm Dragon standing four or five stories tall and weighing fifty tons; what did this little fellow amount to?
But Lynn's suggestion felt inexplicably familiar to Hagrid, as if something similar had happened in a past life, though he couldn't put his finger on it when he thought about it carefully.
"I need ice-cold lemonade..."
Harley wiped the sweat from her forehead. She had already taken off her cloak and jacket, yet she still couldn't quite handle the heat.
"Perhaps you need the Adaptation Light more."
Pulling out the Adaptation Light and zap-zap-zapping it a few times, the unbearable stifling heat inside the hut vanished instantly.
"I forgot, didn't I? We don't learn the Fire-Protection Spell (Caloris Deflecto) until next year. Even Cho hasn't learned it yet."
"By the way, Hagrid, we came to find you for a reason. It's something very important!"
At this, Harley turned her gaze toward Hagrid. Her serious expression made Hagrid straighten his posture slightly.
"Have you run into some trouble, Harley?"
With the big matter on his mind perfectly resolved, Hagrid was in a very good mood.
"It's about you, Hagrid. I've investigated and cleared up exactly what happened fifty years ago."
"We know you were definitely wrongly accused. Although Acromantulas have terrible venom, the girl who died back then clearly didn't die from poisoning. I asked the ghosts and portraits at Hogwarts, especially Moaning Myrtle—"
"It took me almost a month to convince her." Speaking of this, Harley sighed inwardly. Sometimes being a girl wasn't all that useful. Myrtle didn't like her, not for any complex reason, but simply because she was good-looking; Myrtle just didn't care for her.
"She told me that before she died, she saw a pair of huge yellow eyes. That is obviously not the eyes of an Acromantula, but some other terrible monster."
"We all want to clear your name of the filth thrown at you, Hagrid. You are our best friend, and we want to do something for you, with all our might."
"Even if fifty years have passed, as long as there is a sliver of possibility, we will find the real culprit and prove your innocence!"
Harley's crisp, bright voice sounded firm and powerful in that moment, her emerald green eyes reflecting Hagrid's face, buried in his messy beard.
Hagrid didn't come back to his senses for a long time, mechanically pouring tea into his mouth. His beard-obscured face made it difficult to see his expression. Apart from the crackling of the roaring fire, the hut fell into silence.
"That was fifty years ago..." Hagrid whispered somewhat feebly. "It's been so long, hasn't it?"
Another dead silence followed; Hagrid's lips trembled slightly.
"That girl's death had nothing to do with me... It wasn't me, and it wasn't Aragog..."
He closed his eyes in pain, his fists clenching quietly.
"The bastards at the Ministry of Magic are a bunch of brainless idiots!"
Suddenly, Hagrid slammed his fist onto the wooden table, making the entire stone hut jump in fright. The pitch-black dragon egg resting over the warm fire also hopped up in the flames and rolled into the depths of the bonfire.
"They didn't investigate at all! They just listened to one person's side of the story and said it was me!"
"I spent a week in Azkaban..." Hagrid suddenly shrank back. "If it weren't for Professor Dumbledore, I might have died on that island long ago."
"Can you tell us who framed you back then?" Seeing that things were making progress, Harley probed, pushing the topic forward.
"It was the Slytherin prefect back then," Hagrid grumbled. "Named Tom Riddle. A lying piece of scum."
"But what difference does it make?"
"That Tom was an outstanding student liked by all the professors—except for Professor Dumbledore, everyone believed what he said."
Hagrid grabbed a small keg from a nearby cupboard, crushed the lid, poured nearly half the keg into his mouth, and exhaled a breath of spicy alcohol fumes.
"And I'm a half-giant. You should know, wizards with giant blood are discriminated against out there. They all think I'm as violent and savage as a giant. Only Professor Dumbledore trusted me. He believed I was innocent and defended and vouched for me."
"He even gave me the position of Gamekeeper, so I didn't have to wander the streets, but had a home to live in."
"But fifty years have passed. That bastard Tom is long gone, who knows where. I haven't heard of any famous wizard named Tom, except the landlord of the Leaky Cauldron, and he's a good man."
"Then, about Tom Riddle—did you have any conflict with him before that, Hagrid?" Cho asked softly, feeling somewhat puzzled about this.
"No." Hagrid shook his head straightforwardly. "I hadn't even spoken to him. But the reason isn't hard to guess."
Hagrid downed the remaining half-keg in one go, wiped his mouth, and said, "Hogwarts back then wasn't like it is now. Slytherin was much worse than today. Life wasn't easy for half-blood wizards, let alone a half-giant like me."
"That Tom was of mixed blood too, but he was very manipulative and gathered a large group of followers. Maybe to fit into pure-blood circles and climb the social ladder, he targeted those of mixed heritage even more than others did. Professor Dumbledore must have seen through that guy's true nature back then, which is why he didn't believe his lies. But regrettably, there was only one Professor Dumbledore."
"Professor Sprout was there back then too. Although she didn't stand up for me, she helped me a lot when I became the Gamekeeper. I don't blame her; she had just arrived at Hogwarts not long before and was only an assistant professor. Helping me at all was a risk for her. It wasn't until Professor Dumbledore became Headmaster that people at school stopped pointing fingers at me and calling me a murderer."
"That's all I know. It might not help you much. To be honest, I've already given up myself. Hearing that you want to speak up for me... I'm really touched."
A glimmer of tears shone in Hagrid's eyes. "No matter how things turn out, I want to thank you."
Hagrid pulled a handkerchief the size of a tablecloth from his pocket and blew his nose loudly.
"Actually, you should spend more time on your studies. Don't let my affairs take up too much of your time, really."
"Just knowing you care makes me very happy, children."
Hagrid squeezed out a smile, looking at them tenderly.
"Go enjoy your weekend, go on. I'll take good care of myself. You take care of yourselves too, and don't do anything dangerous."
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