Days at Hogwarts

Chapter 721 The Eight-Eyed Giant Spider is Not a Heartless Being

"Look closely at Hagrid's cabin. Doesn't the layout resemble a prize display room?"

"It doesn't look like it."

Do you know how big the prize showroom is?

"I don't know, and I don't want to know."

"The prize showroom was originally smaller than Hagrid's cabin. Later, they found that there wasn't enough space, so they knocked down the partition walls and combined several rooms to create the prize showroom we have now. Do you know why we expanded the showroom?"

"..."

"It's there to display the Quidditch Championship Cup. Over the past few centuries, hundreds of cups have remained at Hogwarts; they are all testaments to our honor."

Ron's eyebrows practically popped out of his head with smugness. He turned to Harry and Ginny, winking as he continued, "Remember Professor McGonagall's student photos? Remember Harry's father's trophy? Our trophy will also remain in the trophy room. Many years later, when our children go to Hogwarts, they'll see our team members' names when they're in detention cleaning the trophy room and wiping it down."

Harry suddenly remembered a crucial question: "Why are you so sure our child will be put in solitary confinement?"

Ron paused, seemingly deep in thought about the answer, before finally asking, "Why not?"

"hiss."

Harry gasped, and surprisingly, he realized there was some truth to what he said.

"Do you know what this means?"

Ron took a sip of water to moisten his throat and answered himself, "I'm the captain, I'm first in line!"

"..."

Ginny sat beside them, expressionless, her eyes filled with a complex and subtle emotion. If Hagrid hadn't forbade her help, she certainly wouldn't have sat there listening to these two idiots' rambling conversation. She sighed silently, the feeling in her voice beyond the comprehension of even Legilimency.

Why aren't Hermione and Loren here yet?

……

As the sun dipped below the horizon, its afterglow spilled onto the path leading to the forbidden forest, the fiery red color conveying a sense of tranquility and peace.

Hermione walked side by side with Loren, her eyes sparkling in the sunset, her rosy lips pressed together, her mind lost in the boundless, romantic clouds.

Exams are over, but summer homework hasn't been assigned yet. It seems the professors have conspired to let students relax. More free time means more time for dates and alone time, and the dates are all carefully chosen locations: cool mountain forests, spacious tower rooftops...

Ensure it is far from crowds and quiet where no one will disturb you.

This is both an advantage and a disadvantage. When couples are alone on a date, kissing is a very normal thing. At first, it's just a light, fleeting kiss, waiting for the ripples to spread in your heart. Looking back on that time, the memory still feels beautiful. It's just that as you spend more time together, it's inevitable to want to be more intimate.

Hermione could sense the change within herself.

As she mentioned in the letter she wrote to her mother when the relationship first started, she did not reject the feeling. Usually, she could control the boundaries between the two of them with reason, but as the love grew stronger, it inevitably overflowed, and her clear will was sinking. Now she was not sure how long this restraint could last.

If it's Loren...

Hermione had received her mother's education on teenage romance, and she had heard many stories about what happened every year in ordinary high schools. Some clueless girls would call the dentist when they were at a loss. Needless to say, in the wizarding world, she was already an adult according to wizarding customs.

Fortunately, they were both rational people. Even when she couldn't make the right judgment for the time being, Loren was able to stop at just the right time, although it was by snatching the squirrel's nuts, and he seemed to really want to taste the squirrel's nuts.

"I heard Hagrid didn't invite Grop to the dinner party this time."

"Glopp was invited to visit the centaur tribe. They were repairing their caves recently, and Gropp helped them move stones, which saved them a lot of time."

"I wonder how much food the centaur tribe has prepared, and whether it's enough for Grop to eat."

"Speaking of which, I don't mean any discrimination. Since there are hybrid giants, do you think there are hybrid centaurs? Can giants and centaurs interbreed? Can giants and fairies interbreed?"

"..."

Hermione walked beside the man, listening to him ramble on about nonsensical things and occasionally ask her silly questions. The path leading to the Forbidden Forest was as ordinary as ever. Compared to the thousands of sunsets she had experienced in the past and the countless sunsets she would experience in the future, today's sunset was not special, but she was certain that she would remember this evening glow for many years to come.

……

As they approached the forbidden forest along the path, before even seeing the cabin, the cheerful barking of the hounds filled the air. The enthusiastic hounds, their short legs flailing, frolicked around the couple's trouser legs. Ginny, who had followed behind, was even more delighted, a look of relief spreading across her face.

"Hermione! Loren! Thank you, Merlin, you've finally come."

"Weren't classes already suspended? Ginny, why do you look like you've been tortured by Professor Binns?"

"Believe me, these two guys are more annoying than Professor Binns."

"Were they practicing Legilimency by gazing deeply into your eyes?"

"I'd rather they just look at each other affectionately, as long as it shuts them up. At least Legilimency won't cramm some awful conversation into my head!"

"..."

Listening to the two girls' loud whispers, Loren glanced at the two who were still talking about the trophy in the display case, shook his head, and walked towards Hagrid, who was preparing dinner. Fortunately, he never said those stupid things in front of girls.

Good evening, Hagrid!

"Hey, Loren!"

Hagrid greeted him with a smile. He was sitting on a tree stump, his half-giant hands flapping around a pile of pumpkins, looking left and right before finally choosing one.

Loren, watching from the side, suddenly remembered something related to the pumpkin patch and couldn't help but ask, "Hagrid, I remember Aragog is buried under the pumpkin patch, right?"

Hagrid paused for a moment, then lowered his voice and whispered, "Don't worry, Loren, the reason these pumpkins are growing so fast and well isn't because of that. I switched to a new variety, which I traded with a drunken traveler at the Pig's Head Bar."

"Where did you plant it?"

Hagrid paused for a moment: "Beside Aragog's grave."

"I see..."

Loren nodded, his expression complex.

It's natural that the soil near cemeteries is always more fertile, so there's no need to worry about it too much, especially in protected forests that respect nature. Large animals eat each other, and most animals are initially decomposed by their digestive systems and then turned into nutrients. It's already very fortunate that they can die of old age and be buried in the soil to be decomposed by microorganisms.

The thought that Aragog was once a spider with only a head and a face, capable of speaking human language, inevitably evokes a somewhat peculiar feeling.

The pumpkins are especially sweet tonight.