Unlike the gloomy atmosphere in Gryffindor after both losing the match and getting suspended—Slytherin was having quite the lively time!!
With a wave of John's wand, the clutter in the Slytherin common room shifted toward the walls, clearing out a large space.
Another wave, and tables appeared out of nowhere.
On the plates atop them, all sorts of delicious food from the Hogwarts kitchens materialized.
They were celebrating their victory.
Montague took a sip of hot mulled wine, still shaken. "I really thought for a second there that Harry Potter had caught the Golden Snitch."
"Pfft, tactics—tactics, ever heard of them?" Draco Malfoy boasted, full of swagger. "I did it on purpose, just to mess with Potter."
Montague: "…" If I weren't the captain, I might've actually believed that.
He didn't recall setting any such tactic.
Malfoy continued bragging about his prowess.
Against Gryffindor, as long as Harry was held back, they basically had a guaranteed win.
To be fair, Malfoy's bragging wasn't entirely unfounded.
After all, he had kept Harry busy the whole time, and even used the Wronski Feint to fool him.
The success of the Trident tactic was only viable within the school.
Montague's strategy was crude at best, relying heavily on gear superiority.
If they were up against a professional Quidditch club, where everyone used Firebolts, the Trident tactic simply wouldn't work.
Then there was Ron Weasley. The boy who lived's best friend—The boy who lacked confidence.
Once he lost that confidence, even having the proper skills wouldn't help him.
It seemed Dumbledore's efforts to build up Ron's self-esteem hadn't worked—he still shrank back the same way.
Tonight's victory rightfully belonged to the Quidditch team, but after conjuring the food, John quietly left the common room.
On the way, he stopped by the kitchens. Seeing the house-elves resting after their cooking, he thanked them sincerely.
The house-elves were all deeply moved—none more so than Dobby.
After leaving the kitchens, he spotted Tom running around outside.
Of course, Tom had gotten smarter now.
The moment she caught a whiff of that disgusting smell, she would avoid it instead of stupidly running into it.
Since he had Tom with him, John figured it was a good time to visit the Zouwu. So he headed toward Hagrid's hut.
On the way, he ran into Filch catching students.
Filch was sitting at the stairway like a door guardian.
John greeted him, and Filch forced a smile onto his sour face in response.
Hearing some movement, Filch stood up and, with the air of an expert, casually wiped his shoes.
"Hmm? Aren't you going after them?" John asked, hearing the footsteps running upstairs.
With his hands behind his back, Filch replied coolly, "Ah, Mr. Wick! Let the student run for a bit!"
Ten seconds later, Filch sprang into action. Not ten more seconds passed before shouting and a panicked student's voice echoed from above.
Giving Mrs. Norris a pat, John left behind a stick of cat treats and some dried fish before stepping out of the castle.
He saw signs that someone had returned to Hagrid's hut.
...
Harry and Ron's mood only lifted after Hermione told them Hagrid was back.
The moment Hagrid was mentioned, they frantically grabbed the Invisibility Cloak and rushed out.
But when they reached Hagrid's hut, they saw him looking completely disheveled, his hair matted with clumps of dried blood.
His left eye was swollen into a slit, dark purple and bruised. His face and hands were covered in cuts and scrapes—some of them still bleeding.
The three kids were stunned, staring wide-eyed at Hagrid, who looked like he had been beaten up by a troll.
The travel cloak that could double as a blanket was draped over the back of the chair—clearly, Hagrid had only just gotten back.
Limping, he made his way to the hearth and set a kettle over the fire.
Harry observed him carefully and noticed that there was now an extra-large suit of armor in the room.
"What happened to you, Hagrid?" It looked like the armor was tailor-made for him. "What's that?"
"Oh, nothing, nothing!" Hagrid said quickly, though coming from a face like that, the words weren't exactly convincing.
"This," Hagrid said, walking over to the armor and picking up a letter from the table to glance at, "this is a gift from John." He added in amazement, "It's goblin craftsmanship!"
"Hagrid, were you attacked?" Ron asked, looking at his battered appearance, but Hagrid insisted he was fine.
Hermione suggested he go see Madam Pomfrey, but Hagrid refused.
It was obvious he was hiding something. He pulled out a piece of dragon meat and pressed it to his face.
Dragon meat had a numbing effect, and though Hagrid didn't want to say anything—
Hermione still guessed, "Was it giants who beat you?"
Hagrid's hand loosened in shock. He stared at Hermione in disbelief, unable to figure out how she knew.
"Who said anything about giants? Who've you been talking to? Who told you that?" Hagrid asked, flustered.
"We guessed," Hermione said.
Harry and Ron nodded—after all, who else could beat up Hagrid besides giants and trolls, plus Hagrid was a half-giant, so it was a fair guess.
"Did you go to find the giants, Hagrid?" Harry asked.
Soon enough, Hagrid—who had grown up practically on Veritaserum—spilled everything.
He had indeed gone to find the giants, and what's more, he had negotiated with them.
Dumbledore had sent him to win over the giants, and he'd brought gifts with him.
He and Madam Maxime had crossed mountains and rivers, spending a whole month searching for the giants.
"Why didn't you use a Portkey?" Ron asked, confused.
"We had to be careful not to be tracked, Ron," said Hagrid. "The Death Eaters are also looking for the giants."
The whole journey, he and Madam Maxime didn't use any magic.
They told everyone they were headed to Beauxbatons.
Then from France, they made their way to the giants' habitat.
But after they found them, things got complicated.
The first giant chief they met didn't last long—he was killed by another giant, who then took over as chief, and the new one was anything but friendly.
Hagrid had even been picked up and nearly crushed—if Madam Maxime hadn't been there, things might've ended badly.
Later, they discovered that the new giant chief had been in contact with Death Eaters, forcing Hagrid to hide out in a cave for several days.
In the end, he failed to win them over and had no choice but to leave.
It was quite the story, but the trio still had questions.
If Hagrid hadn't fought with the giants, then why was he so battered?
Hagrid kept insisting he hadn't been attacked—so how exactly did he get those injuries?
Just as the trio finished their conversation, there was a knock on the door.
They quickly scrambled to hide—and in walked Umbridge.
…
John saw Umbridge step out of the hut. He cast a Disillusionment Charm and vanished into the snowy landscape.
Tom's eyes went wide. After spinning in place a few times, she simply dug a hole and buried himself in it.
Umbridge passed by without noticing a thing.
John approached Hagrid's hut and overheard his casual voice from inside.
"Dangerous?"
"Don't be ridiculous, I wouldn't give you something dangerous. What I mean is—they can take care of themselves."
"Hagrid, you have to pass Umbridge's inspection. If she saw you teaching us how to track porlocks, or how to tell the difference between a hedgehog and a knarl—anything like that would be so much better!" came Hermione's anxious voice.
"That's not very fun, Hermione," Hagrid replied. "What I've got planned is much more magical. I've been raising them for years—well, and John's helped me with quite a few lately too."
"I'm begging you, Hagrid," Hermione sounded almost desperate.
John, listening in, quickly figured out that Hagrid was probably once again planning to bring some dangerous magical creatures to class.
After all, Hagrid's idea of "adorable" didn't exactly align with everyone else's.
Thinking for a moment, John knocked on the door.
Knock~ knock~!
Inside, everything went dead silent. After a short pause, Hagrid came to open the door, looking wary.
But the moment he saw John slowly becoming visible, he broke into a smile.
"John! I saw the gift you gave me."
Hearing it was John, the trio hiding under the Invisibility Cloak finally let out a sigh of relief.
Hermione was about to reveal herself, but Harry stopped her with a hand, silently signaling her not to make a sound.
Hermione looked puzzled at Harry.
He wanted to hear what John and Hagrid would say.
Call it payback for that time in the pub—when John had eavesdropped on them.
They watched as John's expression collapsed the moment he saw Hagrid.
It looked like he was furious.
"You were attacked?" John's voice rang out, colder than the wind and snow outside.
Ron shivered, feeling the temperature drop several degrees.
Hagrid immediately panicked. "No—no! I'm fine, really!"
John stepped into the hut without a word. When he noticed the trio weren't in sight, he immediately understood they were under the Invisibility Cloak.
He didn't care about that. His eyes flicked to Fang, who was about to sneak a bite of the dragon meat, and his face darkened further.
Hagrid started explaining how he had gone to find the giants.
In his opinion, since Harry and the others already knew, it was fine to tell John as well.
But after he finished, John's expression only grew worse.
His tone carried a dangerous edge.
"You're telling me… Dumbledore just sent you to find giants—like that?"
________
Read 12 Chapters ahead: Patreon/Dragonel