"As soon as I saw you, I knew it."
In the middle of the dance, right next to a large stone carving of reindeer, a tall fountain splashed with misty sparkles.
There, there were two huge vague figures sitting on a stone bench, looking at the spring water under the moonlight.
After a short period of silence, one of the figures spoke in a strange hoarse voice.
"What do you understand, Hagrid?" Mrs. Maxim asked, her deep voice carrying a whooshing sound.
"I see—I see that you are the same as me! Is it your mother or your father?"
"I-I don't know what you mean, Hagrid..."
"Mine was my mother," Hagrid said softly. "She was one of the few left in Britain. Of course, I don't remember much about her... She left, you know? When I was about three. when."
"To be honest, she doesn't look like a mother. Sigh... They don't have maternal nature in their nature, right? I don't know what happened to her afterwards... As far as I know, she is probably dead... "
Madame Maxime said nothing, she just pursed her lips and looked at the silver fountain in front of her.
"After my mother left, my father was devastated. My father was a little man. When I was six years old, if he annoyed me, I would lift him up and put him on top of the wardrobe, which always made him laugh. Laughing..." Hagrid's deep voice became even more choked up.
Next to her, Madame Maxime listened. She remained motionless, as if she wasn't listening.
"Dad brought me up... but, alas, he died, right after I went to school. From then on, I made my own way. Dumbledore helped me a lot, honestly. He was very good to me. good… "
Hagrid pulled out a polka dot silk bandana and blew his nose loudly.
"That's it... Okay... I'm done with my situation. What about you? Where did you get your inheritance?"
Unexpectedly, Madame Maxime suddenly stood up.
"It's too cold," she said. "I want to go in."
But in fact, no matter how low the temperature is now, it will never be as cold and biting as her current voice.
"Huh?" Hagrid said confused, "No, don't go! I-I've never met another person before!"
"Other people? Make it clear!" Mrs. Maxim said, her tone cold.
"Another hybrid giant, that goes without saying!" Hagrid said.
"How brave you are!" Madame Maxime screamed. "I've never been insulted like this in my life! Half-giant? Me? I'm just-I'm just big-boned!"
Her voice cut through the quiet night sky like a foghorn.
At this time Fleur and Roger jumped out of a rose bush - there was no way, Madame Maxime would bump into them in the rose bush if they didn't come out.
Madame Maxime glanced at them, then stormed away. She angrily pushed through the flowers all the way, causing groups of colorful fairies to fly into the air.
Hagrid was still sitting on the bench, looking at her back, wondering what he was thinking.
"Hagrid, you are asking too directly... You know, not everyone can accept their bloodline with peace of mind."
A voice sounded from the corner not far away, and not long after, two figures walked out from there.
"Maka?" Hagrid looked a little flustered. He stood up hurriedly, "Oh, and Miss Lovegood... how long have you been there?"
"Is there something I shouldn't hear?" Maka shrugged and asked.
Hagrid hesitated for a while, then finally slumped his shoulders and sat back on the stone bench.
"But... you see, you don't care..." His voice sounded frustrated, even a little unwilling.
"Yeah! I don't care," Maka sat down next to him and patted Hagrid's thick arm hard. "But I am very aware of the hostility that other people have towards giants... Even fear.”
"Stop talking about me, you obviously know it very well, don't you?" He continued, "You never mentioned your life experience, let alone why you are so big -"
"Because there's no need—" Hagrid argued.
"Isn't it necessary?" Maka shook her head and said, "Is it really not necessary? When you know that everyone's first impression of you is 'Oh my God! You are so tall!'?"
"I..." Hagrid wanted to find some other reasons, but was discouraged in an instant, "Yes, you are right - I can understand her thoughts... Just like sometimes, I also worry The kids would be frightened by me like that..."
"But to be honest, I won't hide it as deliberately as she does, that's dishonest!"
Hagrid said stubbornly, and he also had his own share of persistence. Maka did not directly deny his persistence, but instead brought up the topic of giants...
"Hagrid, have you seen them?" he asked suddenly. "You know, I mean the giants."
Hagrid nodded, then shook his head.
"I only met my mother, and I was so young at the time that I can't remember... "
"As far as I know, the average height of modern giants is close to 30 feet... But did you know? In ancient times, the ancestors of giants were much taller and stronger than today." Maka said calmly, " I think you should understand what that means to ordinary people..."
"How high?" Hagrid asked curiously, "How high?"
"I'm not sure about this. In ancient times, there were several types of giants... Anyway, as far as I know, the shortest one was more than twice as tall as the current giants..." Maka said, taking another photo. He patted Hagrid on the arm and said, "The largest one existed only in legends even in ancient times - as huge as a mountain."
"This sounds like the fairy tales my father told me when I was a child." Hagrid subconsciously looked at the towering mountain deep in the Forbidden Forest, and then laughed.
"Is it really that big? I really want to see it with my own eyes..." On the other side of Maka, Luna, who had been sitting there quietly, said in a daze.
She was also looking at the mountain peak with a vague longing.
"Maybe there is one sleeping somewhere in the world!" Maka said, "But we'd better not see it. If such a big guy really wakes up, just standing up will cause a big earthquake. …”
"...Well, let him continue to sleep." Luna said seriously.
Looking at her appearance, it seemed as if she had really thought about where to look for the legendary "giant as big as a mountain" just now.
"Thank you, Maka..." After a long time, Hagrid suddenly said, "At least you made me understand that a true friend won't care if I have a giant hybrid..."
"Then you have a few people to thank." Maka spread her hands and turned around and shouted, "Harry, Ron, stop hiding there!"
Not long after, there was a rustling sound, and two boys with embarrassed faces walked out from behind the reindeer stone sculpture.
"Sorry, Hagrid. We didn't plan to-" Harry was interrupted by Maka before he could finish.
"Come and sit for a while, no one here will blame you - right, Hagrid?"
"Oh - of course, but..." Hagrid said hesitantly, "Where did you start listening?"
"From 'I knew it as soon as I saw you.'..." Harry confessed with an apologetic look, "Actually, we just happened to pass by..."
"Isn't that the beginning?" Hagrid slapped his forehead hard, "Oh, the children are watching... I really hope I didn't say anything weird."
"We are not children anymore -" Ron shouted, "Don't worry Hagrid, we won't be afraid of you!"
Maka looked at Ron strangely—when did he become so active? The wizard family should know a lot about giants, and most wizards are very hostile to the giants.
In the minds of wizards, giants are always cruel and murderous, and can even eat humans—of course, this is because related cases have indeed occurred in history.
To be honest, Maka has had a good relationship with Hagrid from the beginning. In addition to because Hagrid is worth getting to know, she also naturally has the idea of contacting the giant family through Hagrid.
He is indeed very curious about such a magical race. If he has the chance, he would like to see what the giants are like - of course, that is definitely not now!
After a few people chatted by the fountain for a while, Hagrid went back to the hut first - he couldn't see Mrs. Maxim today, so he might as well go back and spend time with Yaya!
Harry, Ron and Maka returned to the auditorium.
The dance was still going on, and Parvati and Padma were sitting at a table in the distance with a large group of Beauxbatons boys. Hermione didn't know where she went, and they hadn't seen her since just now.
They sat down at a table away from the dance floor.
For the rest of the ball, Harry and Ron sat in a corner talking about giants, neither of them in the mood to dance. Harry restrained himself from looking at Cho Chang and Cedric, which would give him a strong urge to kick things.
Maka was chatting with Luna casually, and occasionally answered a few questions when Harry and the others asked them questions.
Soon, at midnight, the Weird Sisters stopped playing and the leisurely time was over. Everyone gave the Weird Sisters one last round of applause and started walking toward the foyer.
At this time, in a girl's dormitory in Gryffindor Tower, Hermione was staring at the opened gift box.
In the flat gift box, a delicate white dress was still folded, and under the light, it faintly reflected the brilliance of stars.
"Ron is right. Even if I can't disturb Maka now, I shouldn't have agreed to Wick...Krum's invitation..."