Hogwarts: Becoming the White Lord from Breathing

Chapter 188 Hagrid's First Lesson: The Unreliable One

When I left the castle in the afternoon, the rain from yesterday had stopped.

The sky was clear and light gray, and the grass underfoot was soft and damp. Damon was going to his first class on protecting magical creatures at this time, feeling peaceful.

Although he knew that Hagrid would soon cause some trouble in the next class.

Ron and Hermione were still arguing about what happened at lunch. Harry walked beside them, and the three of them walked silently behind Damon.

This class is taken together by Gryffindors and Slytherins.

Malfoy wore a frivolous smile, and although he didn't say anything, Harry and the others sensed the mockery and anger—even though they themselves didn't think highly of Hagrid's class.

Hagrid waited for his students by the door of the cabin.

He was wearing a mole-skin coat, and his hunting dog, Ya Ya, was at his feet, seemingly eager to set off.

"Come on, hurry up! We have something good to treat you to today! We're about to have a wonderful lesson!"
Is everyone here? Okay, follow me!

Hagrid led the students along the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and five minutes later they found themselves outside an enclosure-like area—where there was nothing at all.

"Everyone, come to this fence!" Hagrid shouted. "That's right—stand where you can see, and the first thing you need to do now is open your books—"

Damon took out the extremely docile "The Monster Book of Monsters" from his hands and looked at the others with great interest—some of them had the book tied with rope, some had it in a sturdy bag, and Neville had used an exaggeratedly large green clip to hold the whole book in place, making it look like a man-eating plant had swallowed the book whole but couldn't swallow it.

Damon easily opened his book, which cheered Hagrid—but then the other students' gritted teeth as they tried to open their books made him very discouraged.

"Besides Damon, none of you can open this book?"

Upon hearing Hagrid's words, Malfoy's face turned bright red, and he frantically tried to pry open the uncooperative book in his hand.

"Wow!"

The next moment, the book suddenly 'opened' its teeth and bit down hard on his ten fingers—if it had actually bitten them down, Malfoy would have been crying his way to the infirmary.

Damon quietly blew a breath into the air—this magical breath flowed through the monster book in Malfoy's hand, causing it to sneeze suddenly, thus stopping its attack.

Hagrid didn't notice the dangerous scene; he took Hermione's book and tore off the tape binding it.

The book seemed to want to bite, but Hagrid slid his index finger down the spine, and the book trembled, then opened and lay quietly in his hand.

"These books need to be reviewed."

Hagrid spoke as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.

Malfoy did as he was told, successfully opening the book in his hands, but his expression wasn't very pleasant. He couldn't help but complain:

"If this is so simple, why didn't you teach us immediately? Are you laughing at us?"

“I think these books are ridiculous.”

Hagrid ignored Malfoy and hesitantly spoke to Hermione as if explaining why he wanted everyone to bring the book to class.

"Oh, how utterly ridiculous!" Malfoy exclaimed indignantly. "How clever of us to give us the book that's trying to tear our hands off!"

Harry frowned, about to tell him to shut up, when he heard Damon chuckle and say:

"I think it's quite interesting."

The voice was very soft, barely audible to those present. If you weren't paying attention, you might even miss it due to Malfoy's voice. But all the students present heard it.

"Is...really? You really think so?"

Now it was Hagrid's turn to turn bright red.

When Damon nodded, everyone fell silent. Even Ron Hermione looked at him as if he were a freak.

Hagrid's thoughts seemed to suddenly become clear, and he slapped his forehead, saying:

"Now that you all have the books, all you need are the magical creatures. I'll go find them now, wait a minute!"

He abandoned his students and ran urgently into the forbidden forest.

"Couldn't he have prepared in advance?" Malfoy suppressed his dissatisfaction and couldn't help but shake his head.

But soon, some students shouted excitedly, pointing to the opposite side of the enclosure.

Hagrid was leading twelve strange creatures toward them at a brisk pace—they had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but their forelegs, wings, and heads seemed to be those of eagles. They had steel-colored beaks and bright orange eyes, and their forelegs had claws that were half a foot long.

Each beast had a thick feathered collar around its neck, with a long chain attached to it. The ends of these chains were held in Hagrid's large hand as he followed the animals slowly into the enclosure.

Hippogriff, a winged creature with the head of a hippopotamus, is rated as dangerous by the Ministry of Magic at difficulty level XXX.

Damon sized up the one with the most imposing expression and waved to it—the other's haughty expression seemed somewhat taken aback, then it looked at Damon's figure with suspicion and uncertainty, and finally, hesitantly flapped its wings at Damon.

"Aren't they beautiful?"

Hagrid tied them to the fence and proudly shared them with the students—although everyone except Damon instinctively took a step back.

"Did you see its claws? I feel like if it scratched my stomach, it could pull my intestines out with it."

Ron stood next to Harry, whispering among themselves.

"You're right, Hagrid is taking a bit of a risk."

"Just a few? I really don't understand what he's thinking. What if a teaching accident happens on the very first day of class?"

Hermione, disregarding her unpleasantness with Ron, joined the conversation.

"But it is indeed beautiful, isn't it?"

Damon admired the hippogriffs in their entirety—their gleaming fur was remarkably distinctive, extending smoothly from the fur to every part of their bodies in various colors: dark gray, bronze, pinkish-brown (red and white), gleaming chestnut, and finally, jet black.

“I’m glad you appreciate its charm, Damon—you can come closer if you’d like.”

"Uh--"

Amidst the instinctive gasps of fear from some, Damon walked up to the hippogriff he had just chosen and quietly gazed at it.

“Very good! The first thing you must know about hippogriffs is that they are proud.” Hagrid’s explanation came late. “It’s easy to offend them without even realizing it—never insult a hippogriff, because it might be the last thing you do in your life.”

Shouldn't something this important be mentioned immediately?
Harry, Harry, and his friends were secretly relieved that it was Damon who set the first example.

(End of this chapter)