"Hagrid!"
The door of the hunting lodge was knocked loudly again, and the person who knocked on the door shouted loudly, with an aura that he would not give up until the door was opened.
"Hagrid, that's enough! We know you're in there! No one cares that your mother is a giant, Hagrid! I heard, didn't Maka talk to you? Open the door—"
It was Hermione, looking furious, with Harry and Ron standing behind her.
Not long after, the door was opened from the inside. Hermione had just said "You should have-", but suddenly stopped because she realized that the person facing her was not Hagrid, but the headmaster-Albus Dumbledore.
"Good afternoon," he said cheerfully, looking down at them with a smile.
"We - um - we wanted to see Hagrid," Hermione said softly.
"Ah, I've guessed it," said Dumbledore, with a witty glint in his eyes, "Why don't you come in?"
"Oh... um... okay," Hermione said.
She walked into the hut with Ron and Harry. As soon as Harry entered the door, Fang suddenly pounced on him, barked wildly, and wanted to lick his ear.
"Oh - Maka?" Hermione whispered in surprise, causing Harry to quickly break away from his particularly enthusiastic teeth.
At this time, Maka was sitting at the small round table with Hagrid, and there were three large teacups in front of them.
"Are you here too?" Maka nodded towards them and said calmly.
Maka was of course the same as usual, but Hagrid looked very embarrassed at this time.
His face is splotched, his eyes are red and swollen, and he's gone to the other extreme when it comes to his hair: He's no longer trying to keep his hair neat, and they've completely reverted back to the steel-wire balls they used to be—maybe even Worse.
"Hello, Maka, Hagrid," Harry said.
At this time, Hagrid slowly raised his head.
"Okay." He replied in a very hoarse voice.
"Drink some more tea." Dumbledore said, closing the door behind Harry, Ron and Hermione, taking out his wand and fiddling with it, a rotating tea tray and a plate of cakes immediately appeared in the air . Dumbledore used magic to make the tea tray fall on the table and everyone sat down.
After a moment of silence, Dumbledore said: "Hagrid, did you hear what Miss Granger shouted?"
Hermione's face was slightly red, and Dumbledore smiled at her and continued: "Judging from the way they tried to break in just now, it seems that Hermione, Harry and Ron are still willing to make you a friend."
"Of course we are still willing to be friends with you!" Harry looked at Hagrid and said, "Don't you think that Skeeter the cow - I'm sorry, Professor." He said quickly, looking at Dumbledore.
"I was temporarily deaf and didn't hear what you were saying, Harry," said Dumbledore. He twirled his thumbs and stared at the ceiling.
"Um - well," said Harry sheepishly, "I mean - Hagrid, what makes you think we care about what that - woman - writes?"
"Yes! Didn't you, Maka, and us have a good chat that night?" Ron also echoed.
Two round tears flowed from Hagrid's dark eyes and slowly seeped into his tangled beard.
"But now I hold the position of teacher... not everyone..." Hagrid said hoarsely, "not everyone wants me to stay."
"Hagrid, are you trying to complete Helga Hufflepuff's unfinished goal?" Maka patted him and said easily, "Do you want to unify the entire Hogwarts? Or do you want to unify the whole world? "
"What?" Hagrid looked at Maka blankly.
"Everyone has their own ideas. If there are people who support you, there will definitely be people who are against you..." Maka said, "You can't make everyone like you, can you?"
He paused, then pointed directly at Dumbledore who was sitting opposite him and said: "Look, the greatest white wizard today is sitting in front of you! But won't he receive a lot of criticism and accusations? But If you look at him again, he will taste a different sweet every day, and he will never feel uncomfortable because of those accusations."
Dumbledore didn't look at Maka. He just smiled and said, "Then I should lock myself in the study and refuse to talk to anyone? That doesn't make sense, does it?"
"But - you are not a half-giant!" Hagrid said hoarsely.
"Hagrid, look at what kind of relatives I have!" Harry said angrily, "Look at the Dursleys!"
"Excellent point!" said Professor Dumbledore. "My brother Aberforth was prosecuted for bewitching a goat. The matter was widely reported in the newspapers, but Aberforth hid. Did you get up? No, not at all! He raised his head high and continued to do his own thing! Of course, I'm not sure he can read, so maybe he's not very courageous... "
"Your brother is more courageous than the rest of us put together, so don't cover up for him..." Maka said unceremoniously, "He's not like you, he always keeps things in his heart."
"Oh - Maca, you shouldn't say that -" Harry couldn't help but persuade, "Professor Dumbledore, what happened between you? Hermione said -"
"About this matter -" Maka suddenly interrupted, "About this matter, I made it very clear at the World Cup. I think there is no need for me to repeat it, right?"
When Maka said these words, Dumbledore just lowered his eyelids and said nothing.
When Hagrid also stopped crying because of this incident and raised his head to look at them both worriedly, Dumbledore suddenly stood up.
"In short, I do not accept your resignation report. Hagrid, I hope you will come back to class next Monday." He said, "You will have breakfast with me in the auditorium at half past eight. No excuses are allowed. I wish you all an afternoon good."
Dumbledore walked towards the door, stopping only to bend down and scratch Fang's ears before leaving the hut. From beginning to end, he never even glanced in Maka's direction.
"Maka, I think... you and Dumbledore must have some misunderstanding..." Hagrid wiped his red eyes from crying, but persuaded Maka, "Dumbledore is a great person. ,real… "
"Yes, he is amazing." Maka said, picking up a piece of cake from the plate brought by Dumbledore, and said vaguely while eating, "Don't you have one? There is just one for each person here..."
"Maka..." Harry was about to say something more, but Hermione pulled his sleeve.
"Hagrid, will you come back?" She whispered to Hagrid, "Come back quickly, we all miss you..."
Hagrid rubbed his face and nodded: "Oh, of course... If I do this, my father will definitely blush for me..." Tears flowed out again. He wiped them away hard and said, "I haven't yet." I've shown you my old dad's photo, right? Here it is..."
Hagrid stood up and walked to the wardrobe, opened a drawer, and took out a photo. On it was a short wizard with the same black eyes as Hagrid's, narrowed into a slit. He was sitting on Hagrid's desk. smiled happily on his shoulders.
Judging from a nearby apple tree, Hagrid was seven or eight feet tall, but his face was young, plump, smooth, and beardless—he looked to be eleven years old at most.
"This was taken not long after I entered Hogwarts," Hagrid said hoarsely. "Dad was so happy... He thought I couldn't become a wizard, you know, because my mother... Well, let's not mention it. That's fine. Of course, I've never been very good at magic... But at least he didn't see me being expelled... "
Hagrid rambled on about some past events and said a lot of words until he got out of those memories and then looked at the four teenagers in front of him again.
"You know, Harry?" he said, looking up from the picture of his father, his eyes very bright, "when I first met you, you reminded me of myself. Both your parents were dead and worried You didn't fit in at Hogwarts, remember? You didn't believe you were really capable... But look at you now, Harry! The warrior of the school!"
"And Maka, to be honest, I have never seen a child like you... When I am with you, I often forget your age! No one can be as talented, smart and diligent as you... Hagrid added, "Others may not know it clearly, but I saw it with my own eyes! When you were practicing preparing potions here, you would come here almost every day, over and over again..."
"Of course, Hermione is also great. Her test scores are better than Maka's, and she carries books with her everywhere..."
He paused, and then said very seriously: "I believe that the winner of the Triwizard Cup will definitely be born among you, and whoever gets the Triwizard Cup will be seen by everyone - not only those with pure blood. Only wizards can do it, and there is no need to be ashamed of one's origins."
As he spoke, he seemed to have remembered something, and suddenly said: "By the way, how is your study of the box going?"
"Of course," said Harry, "we already have an idea."
Hermione couldn't bear to ruin the atmosphere and nodded subconsciously.
As for Maka, he didn't need to say anything, because no one would think that he would be stumped by a box.
Lying to Hagrid felt different from lying to someone else.
That evening, when Harry returned to the castle with Ron and Hermione, Harry had an image of the joyful expression on Hagrid's unshaven face when he imagined Harry winning the Tournament. This image lingered in his mind. Don't go.
"Haven't you figured it out yet?" Maka asked strangely.
"I only know that I need to find some way to replace the runes..." Hermione said hesitantly, "I can unlock them, but I don't know how to replace them..."
"You are thinking too complicatedly..." Maka shook her head and said, "This level is just a test of our mobility. Let's search everywhere!"