Magical Studies at Hogwarts...

Chapter 220 Exploitable Weaknesses

"That's enough!"

While Hagrid and Harry were racking their brains trying to figure out how to get Gromp to stop, Hermione shouted, and a blinding golden light suddenly emanated from her hand, seemingly formed from countless golden threads, which remained obediently held in her hand without being released.

Giants aren't stupid; at least their instincts are very sharp when it comes to sensing danger. Staring blankly at the golden light emanating from the little figure in his hand, Gropp naturally stopped.

He didn't let go of Hermione; it was simply because he sensed a tremendous threat from the golden light. He had a feeling, deep down, that thing could kill him.

"Now! Put me down! Slowly!" Hermione said coldly, and seeing that Grop had not reacted, she controlled the golden thread in her hand to wrap around his huge arm.

"what!"

Groop shouted, then quickly stopped, because the woman seemed even more dangerous to him. He obediently and gently put Hermione back on the ground, released his grip, and then, like a wounded animal seeking its mother's comfort, took large strides and hid behind Hagrid, ignoring the fact that Hagrid could not possibly block his massive body.

"It's alright, it's alright, Groop..." Hagrid comforted Groop, patting his thigh. "She won't hurt you. I found her to take care of you. She's a friend..."

Hermione waved her right hand, and the wand that had just fallen to the ground returned to her hand. With a timely squeeze of her left hand, she extinguished the golden light.

"You scared him, Hermione." Groop curled up into a giant ball and turned his back, and Hagrid tried to comfort him for a long time but couldn't get him to turn around. Seeing this, his tone couldn't help but carry a hint of reproach.

This time, even Harry felt that Hagrid's actions were somewhat inappropriate, but considering that he always treated dangerous magical creatures this way, he didn't take it to heart.

"Hagrid, we'll be taking care of him from now on, right?" Hermione said. "So, let me talk to him..."

"Don't worry, as long as he stops having me under his thumb, I definitely won't hurt him."

Hagrid ultimately trusted Hermione, and upon hearing this, he patted Gromp's thigh again, instructing, "Don't be afraid, Hermione wants to talk to you..."

Hermione walked straight up to Gromp, nudged the arm that was hiding his face, and waited until Gromp revealed his face before saying, "Don't pick people up like that. You're very strong and you'll hurt them. That will cause a lot of trouble, and it's not good for either you or Hagrid."

Groop stared wide-eyed at Hermione, gave a muffled reply, and then put the ropes Hagrid had used to bind him back on himself. He sat down on the ground, causing it to tremble again.

Hagrid was very pleased to see Gropp suddenly become so well-behaved.

"That's it, Gropp, good boy! That's it!"

Harry stared in shock at what he was seeing, then walked over to Hermione and whispered, "How did you do that? I mean, how did you get him... so obedient?"

"You really should read more books, Harry," Hermione rolled her eyes. "There are only two ways to get a giant to obey: give him something or make him afraid."

"Is that so..." Harry was still a little confused, but he didn't say anything more. He just glanced thoughtfully at Hermione's left hand. The magic just now reminded him of someone.

After Hagrid finished speaking with Gromp and gave them a few more instructions, he called Harry and Hermione to leave. Perhaps Gromp had made too much noise, because they were surrounded by centaurs on their way back.

Just as Hagrid said, he was not popular in the Forbidden Forest. The centaurs spoke ill of him, but ultimately did not lay a hand on him.

Having escaped the Forbidden Forest without incident, Harry and Hermione bid farewell to Hagrid and quickly ran towards the Quidditch pitch. The match had just ended, and they naturally blended into the departing crowd.

As Harry predicted, Gryffindor lost the match, but Ravenclaw also failed to win the championship, as their point differential was insufficient, placing them 20 points behind Slytherin.

If there's anything more painful for the lion cubs than losing the Quidditch championship, it's watching Slytherin win it.

Ron was very upset. His performance had been terrible since he joined the Quidditch team, and today's performance was as stable as usual. But after the game, he couldn't find Harry and Hermione anywhere, which made him even more upset.

"Where did you go?" Ron's eyes were red; he had just secretly cried.

"Hagrid wants to see us..." Harry told Ron what had just happened. He knew exactly how to cheer Ron up. Sure enough, after learning that he would be taking care of a giant with the two of them, Ron immediately became excited. He even enthusiastically discussed with Harry how to take care of Grawp and thought about going to the library to see if there was any relevant information.

"If you want to go to the library, I think you'd be better off looking at our textbooks or my notes," Hermione suddenly said. "The OWLs exam is in a week, are you all really that confident?"

This was absolutely devastating! Harry and Ron were doused with cold water; their excitement vanished, replaced by worry.

Yes, the OWLs exam, they almost forgot about it.

"Hagrid only said he'd look after Gromp after he left, but Hagrid's still here!" Hermione pulled out a thick stack of books and her class notes, pushed them in front of Harry and Ron, and said, "Hurry up, don't you want to get your Os?"

"An O? An A is pretty good..." Ron muttered, but immediately shut up when he saw Hermione's serious expression. He reached for a notebook and started reading.

Seeing the two of them obediently reading, Hermione secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She casually picked up a book and opened it, but her mind was not on it at all; her hand unconsciously fell on the necklace in front of her chest.

She gently stroked it, but there was no response. She shook her head slightly, composed herself, and forced herself to focus her attention back on the book in front of her.

"No feedback, is that inconvenient...?"

Hermione thought it made sense; Ike was sitting in his spot in the basement, listening to Voldemort explain his plans…

"...Clearly, there's some old villager with one foot in the grave trying to cause us some trouble," Old Fu said. "But he's mistaken! We already know the location of the prophecy, how can he possibly stop us?"

"You did a great job, Ike."

"Lukewood also deserves credit; without him, I wouldn't have been able to find the prophecy," Ike nodded slightly in reply.

"Of course, Lukwood, I will not forget your contribution." Old Volt gave Lukwood a satisfied look, which made the latter stand up in awe and was about to kneel down.

"Oh, stop, no need for that..." Old Fu waved his hand, and Lukewood stopped in time, sitting back in his chair with a face full of excitement.

Ignoring the excited Lukwood, Old Voldemort tapped the table and slowly said, "You know what? In the past six months, I've made a new discovery. For some reason, a little thief has been secretly trying to spy on my brain..."

"Who is it! Master, I'm ordered to kill him!" Bella exclaimed, standing up abruptly and even drawing her wand.

"No, Bella, put your wand away and let me finish..." Old Voldemort looked at Bella with affection, and after she sat down, he continued, "That was just a presumptuous little thief; he'll get his just desserts sooner or later. But before that, we can obtain the prophecy through him..."

"Master, could it be...?"

"Yes, Harry Potter, hehehe..." Old Voldemort chuckled, "The boy who defeated the Dark Lord, I must say, he has quite the guts."

Old Fu laughed heartily, which made everyone else laugh as well. After a while, Old Fu raised his hand to signal everyone to quiet down.

He looked at Lucius, who was attacking Ike, and said, "Lucius, do you remember that house-elf from the Black family?"

“Yes, Master,” Lucius replied, “but it has returned to the Black family; it was your command…”

"Yes, that was indeed my order. Relax, Lucius, I didn't mean to blame you..." Old Voldemort chuckled. "Remember that funny thing it mentioned before?"

"Sirius and Harry Potter..."

"We can make use of this..."

(End of this chapter)