Magical Studies at Hogwarts...

Chapter 198 Hagrid's Warning

Five minutes later, Harry and Ron appeared in the common room on time. Ron had changed his clothes, and Harry had his Invisibility Cloak and Marauder's Map ready.

They were fast, but Hermione was even faster; she simply went back to her dorm, put on a jacket, and came out again.

"Wearing so little?" Harry asked. "It's very cold outside."

Hermione waved her wand and laughed, "It's alright, I can use a warm-up charm!"

Hearing this, Harry shrugged and beckoned the two of them to slip into the Invisibility Cloak, climb out of the portrait hole, and carefully avoid Filch and Mrs. Norris, as well as the ghosts wandering around the castle. When he saw the not-so-bright light from Hagrid's Hut, his heart pounded.

Stepping through the thick snow, Harry ran quickly to the door and banged on it, followed by a series of barks.

"Hagrid, it's us!"

"Wait a minute, wait a minute." Hagrid's gruff voice rang out, and the next second the door creaked open, revealing Hagrid's enormous figure right in front of Harry.

"Ah!" Hermione suddenly screamed, startling everyone. Hagrid quickly stepped aside to let Harry and the others in, then hurriedly closed the door and drew the curtains.

"Keep your voice down!" Hagrid said cautiously. "Don't attract those pesky guys."

"I'm sorry, I just..." Hermione said softly, her eyes still fixed on Hagrid's face, and asked worriedly, "What... happened to you?"

At that moment, Harry, who had just put away his Invisibility Cloak, also noticed Hagrid's appalling appearance. His hair was a mess, with blood clots on it. His left eye was swollen into a slit, and his right eye socket was bruised. His face and hands were covered with all sorts of wounds, some scabbed over, some not yet.

"It's nothing, it's alright," Hagrid said, quickly picking up the kettle from the stove and pouring a cup of hot tea for each of the three, trying to change the subject, "It's so nice to see you all..."

"Hagrid, are you really alright?" Ron asked.

"It's nothing!" Hagrid insisted.

"You should go see Madam Pomfrey," Harry said, his face full of concern.

"No need, I'll take care of it myself." As she spoke, she took out a piece of greenish-yellow meat, still covered in blood.

"What is this? Are you going to eat it?"

"No, this is dragon meat. It has analgesic properties." Hagrid said, slapping the meat onto his left cheek and grunting with satisfaction.

"Can you tell us what happened to you?" Harry asked.

"No, that's top secret, I absolutely cannot tell you," Hagrid firmly refused. "Don't ask around, I won't tell you."

At that moment, Hermione, who had been staring at Hagrid's face, suddenly asked, "Was it a giant who did it?"

"A giant?" Hagrid exclaimed in surprise, the dragon flesh on his face falling off. He quickly caught it and put it back on. "Who said that? Who told you that?"

"We know quite a lot about many people," Harry said with a smile.

"Knowing too much isn't a good thing..." Hagrid muttered vaguely, looking somewhat reluctant. Seeing this, Harry's smile widened.

"You went to find the giants?"

"I've looked for it."

"Found it?"

"Found it."

"Where?"

"In the mountains." Hagrid was a little embarrassed by the question. He couldn't get angry at the three people in front of him, and he wasn't a person who was easy to get angry with anyway.

He took the dragon meat down and put it aside, wiped his face with a towel, picked up his cup, took a big gulp, and said, "Alright, stop asking. Tell me about you guys, how was your holiday? How's it been these past few days?"

"This is terrible!" Harry replied. "I was attacked by Dementors during the holidays..."

"Wait, a Dementor!" Hagrid exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes, Dementors." Harry nodded and told Hagrid about the holiday: the Dementors, the trial, and the Order of the Phoenix—he told him everything.

"...So, like I said, everything is terrible." Harry sighed, and suddenly, his previously somewhat disappointed expression changed instantly. He asked expectantly, "Tell me your story. I've told you everything."

Hagrid paused for a moment, then shook his head helplessly.

"Wait for me here... alright, but don't let this get out..." Hagrid began to slowly recount his experiences over the past few days, from receiving Dumbledore's orders to meeting up with Maxim and setting off, including evading potential trackers, until finding the giants and encountering Ike...

"Wait!" Harry suddenly interrupted Hagrid, his face full of surprise. "You just said... Ike? He's there too?"

"Yes..." Hagrid glanced cautiously at Hermione, and seeing that she looked normal, he continued, "It was Ike and McNeil, a Death Eater. They're the ones who caused our plan to recruit giants to fail."

"We could have won over a few giants who were dissatisfied with the Tall Horse Tangugo. We had already reached an agreement, and they had agreed, but Ike ruined everything," Hagrid sighed. "He and McNeil, along with the Tall Horse and his men, blocked our way, and we even fought. If Orim hadn't used a very powerful spell to disrupt the Tall Horse and those giants, and knocked McNeil away, we probably wouldn't have been able to escape at all."

"But you escaped, didn't you?" Harry interjected.

Hagrid's face suddenly turned grim, and he stammered for a while before finally saying, "Strictly speaking, we didn't actually escape that time..."

"That time?" Hermione keenly noticed the key point.

"Yes, we thought we had escaped that time, but we didn't succeed," Hagrid sighed. "Ike caught up with us..."

"Ike?"

"That's right..." Hagrid said after taking a sip of water, "He's outstanding, beyond imagination..."

"No one could do anything about Orim's magic except for Ike, who completely blocked it with his Ironclad Charm. Orim's tornado couldn't hurt him at all."

"We apparitioned away while they were in chaos, but as soon as we landed, he caught up with us, following the path we'd taken..." Hagrid's face darkened. "Can you imagine, he's capable of this!"

"Apparition...?" Hermione murmured. "And then? You fought again?"

"Yes, we played again." Hagrid paused, thought for a moment, and then said, "But we lost..."

"We lost!" the three exclaimed in unison, their faces filled with surprise.

Hagrid nodded, looking somewhat troubled: "I lost. I was able to deal with him when he was split in two during Apparition, but I couldn't even get close..."

"Later, Orim defeated McNeil, and she disrupted him with a series of spells, which allowed her to escape with me."

"Even so, I almost died at his hands..."

"What?"

Hagrid instinctively touched his left leg and said with a wry smile, "A very dangerous dark spell struck me while I was Apparating; I almost died..."

Suddenly, his face turned serious, and his tone became much heavier.

"Listen, you guys need to be careful. That kid's changed. He's hanging out with those guys, it's very dangerous!" Hagrid said. "Olim later said he could catch up with us again, by which time his injuries had healed. If you can do it once, you can do it twice..."

“We are no match for him,” Orim said. “If it weren’t for McNeil’s interference, we would have been captured long ago!” As he spoke, a look of fear suddenly appeared on his face. “You can’t imagine, it’s just the Ironclad Charm, but Orim’s magic can’t break through it at all.”

"It's even better than before..." Harry exclaimed, and Ron next to him nodded repeatedly.

Hagrid's serious expression remained unchanged, and he even leaned forward slightly.

"I hope you understand the seriousness of this matter. He is no longer your friend; he is dangerous!"

"Very dangerous..." he said, his gaze falling directly on Hermione.

Hermione nodded, very calmly.

"Okay, I understand..."

(End of this chapter)