A cup of hot tea can indeed relax people's mood a little. At least Hagrid stopped wiping away tears.
At this moment, a voice suddenly came from the corner of Hagrid's hut, and Harry, Ron and Hermione turned around quickly - that was Buckbeak!
It was lying in the corner of the room, chewing something, causing blood to drip everywhere on the floor.
"...I can't tie it up in the snow with a rope!" Hagrid sniffed, "...and be alone on this wonderful Christmas!"
Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other.
They had never seen this face to face with Hagrid, what Hagrid called a "funny animal" and the others called a "terrible monster".
Buckbeak, on the other hand, really doesn't seem to mean any harm—in fact, by Hagrid's usual standards, he's certainly endearing.
Fang timidly stepped out from under the table and rested his head on Hagrid's lap.
"I haven't been feeling right recently," Hagrid stroked his teeth with one hand and his face with the other hand. "I'm worried about Buckbeak, and no one likes my class..."
"We like it!" Hermione said nonsense seriously.
"Yeah, your class was great!" Ron echoed, "Oh—how are those Flobber caterpillars?"
"Almost died," Hagrid said gloomily, "Maybe they ate too much lettuce, and Maka gave them some digestive medicine..."
"Maka?" Harry asked doubtfully.
"Yeah, Maka seems to like them very much..." Hagrid said a little happily, "He understands them."
"I estimate that Maca is for the mucus secreted by Florob caterpillars - it is a natural thickening agent for potions." Hermione explained quietly behind Harry.
"Also, those dementors also make me upset," Hagrid suddenly changed the subject. "Every time I want to go to the Three Broomsticks for a drink, I have to walk past them. It's like I'm back in Az. It’s like Kaban…”
Having said this, he immediately stopped talking and began to drink tea in large gulps.
Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at him with wide eyes - they had never heard Hagrid mention that he had been in Azkaban before.
"You mean, you've been there?" Ron said in surprise.
"Yes, I went there once." Hagrid said incoherently.
The time he was talking about was naturally the time when Hagrid was taken away by the Ministry of Magic when the Chamber of Secrets was opened last semester.
Because Hagrid was framed by Tom Riddle fifty years ago, he had to stay in Azkaban for several weeks when the Chamber of Secrets incidents occurred last semester. He was not found innocent until the Chamber of Secrets incident ended. Released.
But apart from him and Dumbledore, Maka, who had eavesdropped outside the cabin, knew a little bit about this.
At this moment, Harry and the others thought that Hagrid just went to Azkaban to visit someone!
After a short moment of silence, Hermione asked cautiously, "Is it scary there, Hagrid?"
"Of course, you can't imagine it," Hagrid said calmly, "It's... really scary there."
"The prisoners there don't know who they are after a while. And you don't know what the meaning of living is... Moreover, the dementors themselves are not willing to let anyone leave, and they don't care if you have No crime."
Hagrid was quiet for a while, staring at his tea. Then he said calmly: "I thought about letting Buckbeak go... I wanted him to fly away... But how can you explain to a Hippogriff that it should hide?"
"And—and I'm afraid of breaking the law..." He looked up at them, tears streaming down his face again, "I don't want to go to Azkaban."
Although the trip to Hagrid's hut was far from interesting, it at least gave Harry some distraction.
Although Harry had definitely not forgotten Black, he couldn't keep thinking about revenge if he wanted to help Hagrid win his case against the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures.
The three of them stopped by the library on their way back, and when they returned to the empty common room, their arms were filled with books—books that might help prepare Buckbeak's defense.
The three of them sat in front of a strong fire, slowly turning over the dusty files.
Those were famous cases about protecting magical creatures, and they occasionally exchanged words when they saw related situations. Everyone really wanted to help poor Hagrid.
While Harry and the others were dealing with those old files, Maka was also working hard on some magical creatures.
That's right, after nearly two months of "blind" farming by Aragog, his wife Mosag finally became pregnant again.
And Maka has recently become Mosag's full-time nanny.
He prepared a lot of fetal protection measures for this special pregnant woman, so that she could successfully give birth to the first batch of blood-transformed babies.
But everyone knows that "women" during pregnancy are always a little irritable.
"Mosag, it's time to take nutritional supplements."
"Click click click click..."
"Sorry, I know you're not in a good mood, but—"
"Click click click click..."
"Okay, okay, then let's live for a little while."
"Click click click click..."
"Okay, okay... I'll go out first..."
Maka retreated from Aragog's lair, and he saw Aragog waiting at the entrance of the cave!
"As I said, she has a bad temper recently, and I don't go in very often." It muttered with its eyes closed.
"Maybe that's right, but you have to pay attention to protecting the children in her belly... they have to be healthy, every one of them." Maka spread her hands and said.
"Yes!" Aragog sighed in a very humane manner, "You are right, I will try again later."
Around the nest, thousands of Acromantulas are clinging to each other, trying to get closer - they are also very interested in the new partners that are about to be born.
But due to Aragog's majesty, they could only maintain a certain distance.
"By the way, Aragog," Maka suddenly turned her head and asked, "Do you know what else lives in the woods?"
"There are many! Like a three-headed dog, some thestrals, and unicorns... Of course, there are also several centaur tribes." Aragog said, "Some time ago, there was an iron lump, like a carriage. It's the same thing, but it has four wheels and it runs around in the forest."
Maka immediately guessed that it must be the flying car driven over by Ron and the others last semester.
"... However, if we go deeper, it is on the other side near the mountains. It is a place where no living things live," Aragog continued, "There is a rumor in the woods that there are some people living in the mountains. Dragon!"
It said mysteriously: "Not those little fire-breathing lizards, but a real giant dragon!"
"Giant dragons?" Maka said, "Didn't they become extinct in ancient times?"
What they call dragons is big guys that are over 300 feet long. Although too much time has passed and a lot of information is missing, their existence always appears in the murals left by some ancient wizards.
"I'm not sure," Aragog said. "You know, dragons like to sleep. As long as they don't move, no one knows whether there is anything on the mountain..."
“But just because this rumor continues, the foot of the mountain is very safe—” it added, “so I plan to move the nest. You know, I have been observing the situation there for these years, but nothing has happened. "
"It's best for them not to move for the rest of their lives." Maka shook her head and said, "If they run out now, I guess no one can do anything to them."
Maka was telling the truth this time. He had no interest in those powerful creatures that gave wizards in ancient times a headache. You must know that today's magic world is developing in the direction of life and peace, and the ability to fight is not as good as before.
He thinks there is nothing wrong with this. After all, real battles require death, and peace is the ultimate goal that people pursue...
Overall, Mossag is in good condition, and at least the baby in her belly is normal. After Aragog got the nutrient to Mosag, Maka went back.
That night, everything was peaceful and Maka had a good sleep.
But starting from the next morning, the professors began to dress up the school.
Elsewhere in the castle, the customary splendor of Christmas decorations was done, although there were very few students remaining.
Thick friezes of holly and mistletoe were hung along the corridors, and mysterious lights shone from within each suit of armor.
Twelve Christmas trees were placed in the auditorium as usual, with golden stars shining on the trees. The corridor is filled with the strong and tempting aroma of food.
The scent was so strong that even Scabbers stretched his nose out of the shelter of Ron's pocket and sniffed the scent hopefully.
All signs indicate that Christmas is coming.
But Maka did not slow down the progress of his magic class.
In his eyes, Harry's half-baked Patronus Charm was obviously not enough. He urged them to train every day, and the dementors would be replaced with a new one every day - this could ensure that Harry and his training subjects would be energetic every day!
And this kind of uninterrupted training mode was really effective. On the fourth day, even Ron successfully summoned his patron saint.
"Oh! Look! I did it!" Ron shouted happily.
"A dog?" Harry asked, looking at the Patronus in front of Ron.
Probably because the state of Ron's Patronus is not stable yet, he has to wait until he becomes more proficient before he can tell what kind it is.
But at least it was a dog and it didn't run away.
"The appearance of the patron saint is related to your own personality and experience. You can refer to each other, which can make you more clear about your own heart." Maka explained, "so that you can skillfully use the patron saint spell."