"... So, what does the 'Oscule One' in the prophecy refer to?"
Last night, when Harry asked this question, the door to the Gryffindor common room suddenly opened, and a solemn and unquestionable voice interrupted his question.
"It's bedtime, why are you all gathering in the lounge? Go back to your dormitory and get moving, right now!"
There were still bloodshot eyes in Professor McGonagall's eyes, but her condition seemed to have completely stabilized, and she had returned to the usual Hogwarts vice-principal who was strict with others and even stricter with herself.
Oh no! Now, she is already the interim acting principal.
Under Professor McGonagall's firm urging, the little lions stood up one after another and left the common room hurriedly, squeezing and shouting.
Harry and the others naturally joined the crowd and walked towards the stairs leading to the dormitory.
To be honest, not many students could really sleep well that night. Even Ron, who was usually careless, rarely fell asleep very late and did not sleep soundly.
In such a solemn day, only nature, which strictly abides by the rules, remains calm. Even the death of Dumbledore, the great wizard who attracted worldwide attention, is nothing more than the loss of a life that can be seen everywhere in this world.
The haze from last night still didn't turn into cold raindrops, but dispersed quietly the next morning.
The clouds in the blue sky are floating leisurely, adding a little golden glow under the depiction of the first ray of rising sun.
Although the weather has been getting colder recently, everyone got up very early today.
Almost everyone will walk out of the castle gate when passing by the foyer. While being shivered by the cold wind outside, they stand on tiptoe and look at the lawn under the astronomical tower.
But there, apart from the slightly overpowered withered grass, there was nothing else that mattered.
If we hadn't gone to the auditorium to have breakfast and realized that we could no longer see the kind figure sitting in the center of the faculty bench, we would not have had a corresponding sense of the old man's passing.
All of this seems to tell everyone that the boundary between life and death actually only exists in everyone's cognition. If everyone can no longer feel the presence of that person, that is the meaning of death.
At the corner of the long Gryffindor table, Harry and Ron sat together, eating the bread on their plates in silence. The jam was on their hands, but none of them were in the mood to spread it on the bread.
Wouldn’t it be enough to let your belly be exposed to the hunger alarm? You know, no matter how rich the meal in front of you is, as long as a person dies, he will never be able to eat it again!
"Harry." Ron called weakly.
"What?"
Harry chewed the bread in his mouth, feeling that he couldn't even get the flavor of wheat that it should have.
"What I just thought of-" Ron took a sip of milk and slid the contents of his mouth down his throat, "We should have more respect for 'Nearly Headless Nick' and the others in the future."
"Ah—" Harry came back to his senses and nodded, "You're right."
"You said, Dumbledore..." When the name was mentioned, Ron paused hesitantly, "...will he become a ghost?"
"Who knows?" Harry shook his head, "How ghosts are formed, even they themselves don't know... It is said that if you die with strong regret, you may become a ghost, but that doesn't seem to be the case."
After Harry said this, the two of them found that they had no topic again. After they stared at each other for a few times, they simply immersed themselves in the difficult task of eating bread again.
At this moment, a figure blew up from the auditorium door like a gust of wind and came quickly behind them.
"Have you finished eating? Hurry up, we have to cheer up!"
Harry and Ron turned around in astonishment and immediately saw Hermione's disheveled brown hair and her nose that was slightly dilated due to her breathing.
"what happens?"
"Probably a good thing - Hagrid is back!" Hermione replied quickly.
"Really?" Ron asked suspiciously, "Didn't you say in the common room just now that you wanted to go to the library first? How did you know?"
Before he finished speaking, a figure who was a few steps slower than Hermione also chased after her, panting slightly.
Hermione was obviously a little uncomfortable, but she still grabbed the man's sleeve and explained, "It was Miss Lovegood who told me."
"... I was walking out front and saw a 'big-guy'."
Luna was pulled by Hermione's sleeves and staggered a few steps, but she spoke indifferently and even opened her arms to gesture.
"So big!" she explained in a daze.
Hagrid is indeed big, but isn't this already common knowledge at Hogwarts? Luna only entered school one year later than them, so she should have been used to it by now, right
Ron looked at the girl with long pale blond hair with some doubts, and felt that she was indeed as strange as the rumors said.
Harry, who was sitting side by side with Ron, looked away slightly uncomfortably after seeing Luna. He seemed to still be worried about what had hurt Luna, and he didn't dare to look at the girl.
"Good morning?" Luna tilted her head and looked at them with slightly hazy eyes as she greeted them.
"Ah... um, good morning."
Harry looked into the air next to Luna and nodded.
"Stop saying 'good morning' and finish your meal quickly. We have to be back before the first class starts!" Hermione urged them with her hands on her hips, pointing at them.
The two hurriedly stuffed the bread into their mouths, and then choked and poured milk into their mouths. After a while of being busy, the four of them quickly left the auditorium together and rushed to the hunting lodge on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
"Oh—if I had known I should have put on a thick sweater today, it's so cold!"
Walking quickly along the path in the vestibule, Ron hunched his shoulders and huddled his neck, folded his arms, and breathed out from the cold.
"…Better wear your scarf again!" Harry added duly.
This time, Hermione was uncharacteristically not scolding the two boys for their nagging. Because she didn't wear much today, her thin robe was fluttering in the wind, completely unable to block the cold wind that came one after another.
Hogwarts Castle is very large, and the front courtyard is naturally quite open. Once the wind blows, it will blow as hard as if it were free of charge.
Luna, on the other hand, still had a leisurely look on her face - her home was located on an unusually wide hillside, and she was already accustomed to the howling wind.
And the most important thing is that she has not been afraid of the cold since she was a child.
Just when the three of them looked at her neck exposed to the cold wind and her long hair swaying in the strong wind, they felt even colder!
Fortunately, Hagrid's hut was not far away, and soon they could clearly see what the hut looked like. Under the faint sunshine that hides in the clouds from time to time, some old hunting cabins seem to be full of life.
From the roof chimney, which had been silent for quite some time, smoke was now rising, being blown further away by the strong wind in the air.
When the three of them saw each other, they all subconsciously accelerated their pace, and Luna followed slowly. They came to the wooden door excitedly, and Harry raised his hand and knocked several times.
Suddenly, a nostalgic and noisy dog barking sounded from behind the wooden door.
"Hagrid, we-it's us!" Harry shouted against the crack of the door.
"Oh - yes, yes, you're here so soon?" A slightly rough voice came out, "I thought you would be a little later! The water hasn't boiled yet -"
Immediately, there was a sound of footsteps in the room, which was a little heavy, but reassuring.
"To be honest, I miss you a little bit - get out of the way! Yaya, get out of the way! You Florber dog, lie down a little inside -"
Hagrid's voice seemed quite happy, which made both Harry and Ron look at Hermione.
"You... haven't told Hagrid yet, have you?" Harry said seriously.
"Well, no..." Hermione shook her head, "I haven't been here yet... Miss Lovegood just told me, and I ran to call you."
As they were talking, the wooden door next to them creaked open, and the next moment, Hagrid's big head stuck out from the crack in the door.
Hermione turned her head subconsciously and screamed immediately.
"Oh, keep your voice down!" Hagrid said quickly, "Come in, come in! Miss Lovegood said she wanted to inform you, but I really didn't expect you to act so quickly -"
"Hagrid, where's the 'big-guy'?"
Luna didn't seem to care about their performance at all. She stretched out her hand to gesture again, showing a slightly curious look.
"Oh! Didn't I agree with you? Don't mention that thing again..." Hagrid waved his hands repeatedly, then pushed several children and squeezed in through the door frame.
Then, with a "bang" sound, the wooden door closed tightly again.
"Sorry, Hagrid... I just..." Hermione stood by the door, looking at Hagrid in surprise, "Oh... how did you do this?"
Hagrid's hair was almost all tangled, and there seemed to be some dark red, solidified blood clots in it. The left eye was swollen, and the eye was narrowed into a thin slit, showing a bright blue-purple color.
There are various scars on every inch of skin that everyone can see, and in some places the bleeding has not stopped.
Perhaps one or two ribs were broken, which made him move a little cautiously. From time to time, he would grin his lips and gasp for breath.
"It's okay, it's okay!" Hagrid pretended to be relaxed, "Would you like a cup of tea? It's very cold outside today..."