Near the Forbidden Forest, Allen, who had escaped from the Quidditch Stadium by going to the toilet, stood under a tree after saying goodbye to his elder brother. He leaned against the tree trunk and looked at the blue sky. He was waiting for Penello to come out so that she could deliver the spider's body to Hagrid. However, to his surprise, he saw two witches coming from afar. Penello walked behind them angrily, and the blonde witch in front of her skipped over to him.
Penello stood in front of Allen with her arms crossed. She raised her eyebrows, but her lips were curled downwards to suppress her anger. "Professor McGonagall was chasing her away. The crazy girl saw me and asked me for help … I had no choice but to bring her here."
"Professor McGonagall seemed very angry with my question, so I told her that maybe I should change the question to the girls. If their father or lover fell into the river, who would she save first? But as soon as I said that, she got even angrier and started chasing me away … She didn't want me to touch the microphone anymore."
"Fortunately, Father didn't come … Where are Emily and the rest?"
"Sister and the others have their own celebration in the academy, so Mrs. Harris and the rest went back by themselves … Professor Snape didn't expect to win the Quidditch Cup again this year, so he seems to have allowed them to use the common room freely."
The three of them walked along the path to Hagrid's gamekeeper's cabin. In front of a messy, leaf-strewn field of carrots and artichokes, Penelope bent down to examine the nearly heart-shaped footprints that had been strolling in the dirt.
"Why is the vegetable field trampled into a mess? What kind of animal broke in?"
"The footprints of a goat," Penello said as she stood up. She had finished judging the footprints.
"I didn't know there were goats in the Forbidden Forest." Allen looked at the huge carrot pieces scattered on the ground. "Hagrid is not only good at animals, but also at vegetables. Maybe he did well in his herbal medicine class?"
They walked a few more steps to Hagrid's cabin at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. The three of them walked to the door. There was a stone bow and a pair of rubber shoes in front of the door. On the left side of the door, there was a tall shelf with a sheepskin hanging upside down. Under the shelf was a goat's head. There were scattered wool and dried blood on the ground. It seemed that the culprit had paid for his crime.
Penello took two steps forward, bypassed them, and knocked on the door.
Yaye immediately. "Who is it?" Hagrid's rough voice. "Is it Harry?"
The wooden door was pulled open with a creak.
"Miss Krivat?!" Hagrid, whose hands were covered in blood, looked at Penello in surprise. He recognized the former student of Ravenclaw and now the famous female Aura of the Ministry of Magic.
Hagrid's heart skipped a beat. He looked at his bleeding hands and quickly put them behind his back. He seemed to realize that this would make it easier for others to misunderstand his dry explanation that it was a goat's. He then carefully stared at the female Aura.
At this time, Allen and Luna came out from behind Penello. They greeted Hagrid, and Hagrid relaxed his tense body.
"Hagrid, there's something I want to tell you, but let's not talk at the door." Allen's tone was a little playful. "Don't tell me you didn't kill a goat?"
"Ah, of course not! Come in quickly. "Hagrid, who was a little stunned, heard Allen's words and realized that he was still blocking the guests outside the door. He quickly opened the door and let Allen and the rest in.
Allen and the other two stepped over the threshold. In the corner of the room, there was a huge bed with a quilt made of rags. On the other side, a fire was crackling happily. In front of the fire, there was an equally huge wooden table and chairs. Above the fire, there were a lot of salted hams and dead birds hanging from the ceiling. In modern times, the Hogwarts of the Hunting Ground had not been used by the little wizards except for himself.
On the floor, there was a huge wooden basin filled with slaughtered mutton. On the huge wooden table, there was a wooden board with the skeleton of a goat that had not been dismantled.
Hagrid found a large cloth and wiped the table vigorously. He then put a big teapot on the table, made tea for them, and brought them stoat sandwiches.
"Did you just come back from the Quidditch stadium? I heard the enthusiastic cheers … "Hagrid moved the big wooden board on the table away." This goat made me unable to watch the game. It broke into the vegetable garden and was caught by me. I have to deal with it … Hey, Yaya, go away. This is not for you to eat … Uh, who won the game? "
"Sorry, Hagrid. I just ate a lot on the field, so I'm not hungry …" Allen politely declined Hagrid's sandwich and said, "Emily caught the Golden Snitch, and Slytherin won the game."
"Did you come to me this time to teach some magical creature?" Hagrid sat on the chair and spread his big hands. "Many students have returned the Flaubert Worm to me, but more of them came to apologize to me. They said that they killed the worm that they were given … I didn't know that the students cared so much about it …"
Luna's light silver eyes swept past the window. Suddenly, she was startled. Just now, there was a flash of black hair in the distance outside the window. Penello noticed Luna's expression. He stood up quickly and walked to the window, but found nothing.
"What did you two see?"
"Perhaps some daring little Magus broke into the forbidden forest again."
"Since Sirius and the others, there have been more and more people who like to break into the Forbidden Forest …"
"It's said to be the Forbidden Forest, but it seems that no one has really treated it as a forbidden area … Forget it, Hagrid, let's talk about something serious … About Aragoc …" Allen had just mentioned Aragoc when he was surprised to find that the big guy in front of him was frightened.
Hagrid's face was pale, and his whole body was trembling. He wiped his forehead with his sleeve and said, "Just take me away. Don't cause trouble for Dumbledore. He doesn't know about this at all."
Allen and Aura were confused for a moment by the hybrid giant's appearance. Allen quickly focused on the hybrid giant.
Hagrid rubbed his big hands together and said in a dull voice, "You must have known that I broke the law. Those eight-eyed giant spiders that appeared during the battle at the Mysterious Affairs Department of the Ministry of Magic were brought back by the Ministry of Magic."
"The eggs of the eight-eyed giant spiders are clearly listed as a Class A non-trade commodity by the Department of Magical Creatures Management and Control. This does mean that importing or selling the eggs of the eight-eyed giant spiders will be severely punished, let alone raising an adult." Penello recited the regulations of the Ministry of Magic and then said sarcastically, "But if someone wants to catch you, it will be Josephine …"
Big drops of tears fell into his messy beard. Hagrid sobbed and interrupted Penello's sarcasm and said to himself, "I broke the law! I shouldn't have secretly raised Aragoc! And I shouldn't have put it in the Forbidden Forest! "
Allen already knew what Hagrid was worried about and tried to persuade him helplessly, "Hagrid … We didn't …"
"I found some bones in their nest … But it wasn't done by Aragoc. He didn't kill anyone! He promised me that he wouldn't hurt humans … "Hagrid emphasized a few words and then began to wail," It's just that his descendants aren't bound by this promise … The bones and remnants seem to indicate that they are Muggle's … "
Hearing Hagrid's confession and surrender, Allen didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He put his hand on Penello and comforted the female Aura who was about to jump up and attack.
"In fact, according to the wizard law, if you let it go and it doesn't kill anyone, you have no responsibility …" Seeing how guilty Hagrid was, Allen didn't intend to arrest Hagrid. He could only find a reason to comfort Hagrid against his will. "It's just like in the natural world where the strong prey on the weak. This is the law of nature … This is the deep forest for Muggle, and the Eight-eyed Giant Spiders won't hunt outside their territory … The Muggle who can come here are mostly adventurers who like to explore and survive in the wild … They must have some understanding of the possibility of encountering a beast …"
"They didn't tell me …" Penello realized that Allen didn't want to investigate further, so she turned her anger to the Eight-eyed Giant Spiders under her management. She planned to go back and investigate.
"But … you're not here to catch me?" Hagrid opened his palms a little, revealing a little of his buried face. Then, he began to cry again. "I killed someone! Merlin, what have I done! "
"… So you have to be more careful when choosing a pet in the future. Some things can't hurt you or cause fatal harm to you, but for the little wizard and the Muggle … Well, that's why the others in the Umbrella Corporation have been trying to teach you these concepts. You've been a lot better recently …" Allen patted Hagrid's thick arms and comforted him. "Don't worry, Hagrid. We're not here to arrest you … We're here to tell you that Hagrid has died of old age … Uh, I mean died of old age … We'll bring his body back to you. I think you'll be happy to bury him. After all, as an Eight-eyed Giant Spider, Penello and I are sure that he did resist his nature and fulfilled his promise to you … Although he was a little indulgent with his offspring …"
Hagrid's intermittent sobbing suddenly stopped. The obituary and Aragog's promise made the hybrid giant let out an almost beast-like howl, murmuring Aragog's name.
"I'm hungry." Luna's light voice suddenly sounded, making the noisy scene quiet.
Everyone followed her gaze and saw that it was the pot of mutton that Hagrid had dismantled.
"I saw a recipe for mutton stew in the magazine from Cho Zhang's hometown."
Penello's eyes swept over Luna. She rolled her eyes unhappily and was about to criticize Luna's behavior when she heard Allen say in a somewhat embarrassed tone, "Hagrid, I have to get some mutton from you."
Author's Note: Today is the winter solstice. Many days ago, I wanted to include a mutton eating scene in this chapter. As a result, I found that I had included an extra chapter. I couldn't bear to delete the whole chapter, so the mutton eating scene became the beginning of the mutton cooking … But anyway, it's mentioned in this chapter.
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