0280 The Half-Giant’s Hauler

Hagrid’s expression was already unpleasant, and if he were to tell Hagrid that they were there because of a rat that had escaped, he might just unleash his wild side. So, even though Harry was angry, he didn’t say anything. 

“Go back to the castle, right now. We’ll talk about the secret passage and Hogsmeade tomorrow!”

Hagrid said angrily, pointing to the direction of the Hogwarts grounds. He didn’t wait for their reply, and turned to the other side.

“I have to bring Malfoy back now. This foolish boy, sneaking into the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night with a broomstick, he probably doesn’t know what happened to the last bunch of kids who did that!”

Hagrid rushed into the house, and Hermione pleaded with Harry in a low voice,

“Go back, Harry. Think about what happened in Professor Watson’s office last time. Besides, we’re not even sure if that was really Black.”

“But–”

This series of events confused Ron a bit, and he pointed to the Forbidden Forest, saying in a daze,

“Scabbers and Malfoy.”

“You want Harry to risk exposing himself to Black for Scabbers?”

Hermione snapped, her voice sharp and impatient.

At this point, Hagrid, holding a crossbow and with the pink tattered umbrella tucked under his arm, saw that Harry and the others were still standing there motionless, and he rarely displayed his professorial authority and shouted,

“Go back, Harry, and you two as well, don’t force me to put the three of you in detention!”

Harry turned around slowly and walked back, and Hermione and Ron looked surprised. They thought Harry wouldn’t give in. They knew how much Harry hated Black, and how much he wanted to confront him.

And Hagrid, seeing this, didn’t think much, and nodded in satisfaction. He was relieved that Harry had finally come to his senses, and that he had chosen to obey him. 

He immediately turned to run towards the Forbidden Forest, hoping to catch up with Malfoy and the dog before it was too late. But after running only a few steps, he suddenly stopped because he realized a serious problem.

He didn’t know what that kid from Slytherin, who always acted like a troublemaker in class, was up to. But Hagrid saw that Malfoy had a broomstick, and the dog chasing after him didn’t seem slow either. How was he going to catch up with them?

He knew that the forest was full of dangers, especially at night.

If he relied on his two legs alone, by the time he found Malfoy, that kid might already be torn to pieces!

‘Why wasn’t there a flying broomstick for giants to ride on?’ Hagrid thought indignantly.

It wasn’t that there was no tool to speed up his pace, but he had sworn never to use it again. But now, a student’s life might be in danger, and Hagrid had no other choice.

He walked quickly to the east side of the house and fumbled around under the wall. After a few moments, he lifted the dusty and weed-covered wooden cover. Looking at the now snow-white motorcycle, Hagrid’s breathing quickened.

“I hope you can still move–”

Hagrid muttered to himself as he grabbed one of the motorcycle’s handles and lifted the barely visible motorcycle like a little chick. A hint of deep blue electric light emerged from the tip of the pink tattered umbrella, and the dust on the motorcycle was immediately swept away.

Hagrid threw the umbrella and crossbow into his bag, then turned his attention to the jumble of buttons that controlled the motorcycle. It had been years since he had last operated this thing, and he couldn’t quite remember how to make it work.

Fortunately, luck was on Hagrid’s side. He pressed a certain switch, and immediately, the motorcycle’s exhaust pipe emitted thick smoke and made a roaring sound like a panting beast. But when Hagrid twisted the handle, the motorcycle’s engine suddenly roared loudly, like a roaring dragon!

“Where did you get this thing?” Harry asked in amazement. 

“I got it from Black,” Hagrid said happily. “You probably don’t remember, Harry, but you rode on it before. Twelve years ago, when I was ordered by Professor Dumbledore to take you from Godric’s Hollow to your Muggle relatives’ house, I used this thing. You were just a little thing back then, I could hold you with one hand!”

“Cool!”

Another voice, filled with admiration, said, “My dad’s modified Muggle car is far worse than this.”

“Haha, Arthur–”

Hagrid adjusted the rearview mirror of the motorcycle and smiled. However, when he saw the three little ones standing behind him in the mirror, his smile froze on his face.

“I seem to have some vague memories of this.”

Harry had a pensive expression on his face as he climbed onto the sidecar, absentmindedly squeezing next to Hagrid. Given Hagrid’s size, there was only enough space for one person on the motorcycle, so he had to leave room for either Ron or Hermione.

After a moment of eye contact, Hermione threw the Invisibility Cloak to Harry, and she clumsily climbed onto the sidecar, sitting closely next to Harry, holding Hagrid’s umbrella and crossbow in her arms.

Ron, with an excited expression, grabbed the wrinkles on Hagrid’s coat and sat in the seat.

“You three!” Hagrid finally roared in anger, “You’ve decided to ignore my words, haven’t you!”

Facing Hagrid’s towering anger, Harry didn’t back down. He stared defiantly into Hagrid’s eyes, with a stubborn and determined look on his face.

“We just want to help you find Malfoy, Hagrid.”

“Oh, come on, Harry! Don’t give me that rubbish!” Hagrid snorted, seeing through Harry’s pretense. He leaned closer to Harry, his bushy beard almost touching Harry’s nose, and said in a low voice, “You already know about those things, so you just want to go after Black for revenge. Let me tell you, you’re just being delusional. I’ve never heard of that traitor being Animagus. If that were the case, Remus would know, and he wouldn’t hide it from Professor Dumbledore!!”

“Well, if that’s the case—”

Harry quickly interrupted, trying to sound confident,

“Then what are you worried about? If Black can’t turn into an animal, then he can’t get past the Dementors. He’s probably long gone by now.”

“Hah, what am I worried about?”

Hagrid repeated as he was frustrated with Harry’s stubbornness. His black beetle-like eyes were fiery, and his bushy beard bristled. Just as he was about to say something, Hermione cut in crisply, with a sensible tone,

“Malfoy might be in danger, Hagrid. You should hurry and find him. He could be hurt, or worse. He shouldn’t have gone into the Forbidden Forest alone, especially at night. Who knows what creatures lurk in there?”

Hagrid finally realized it. His attempt to display his professorial authority had no effect on these three kids. They were too curious and reckless for their own good. And as Hermione said, the most urgent matter was to rescue Malfoy, who had trespassed into the Forbidden Forest. As for the dog, Hagrid still believed it was just a magical creature with extraordinary abilities.

“Alright!”

Hagrid glanced at the Invisibility Cloak Harry was holding and said with a huff,

“Don’t think this is over, you three. Once I find Malfoy, you four can spend some quality time in detention together! And don’t you dare tell anyone about the dog?”

Although being in detention with Malfoy was nauseating, at least Hagrid agreed to take them into the Forbidden Forest. This was the second time Harry had encountered such an opportunity since entering Hogwarts. The first time was in his first year, when he, Ron, Hermione, and Neville had followed a trail of blood into the forest and encountered Voldemort, who was having midnight snack in the forest.

“There’s no way we’ll run into him tonight–”

Harry muttered quietly, hoping to reassure himself, but his voice was drowned out by the roaring sound of the motorcycle’s exhaust. 

Hagrid had mounted his enchanted motorbike, which he had borrowed from Sirius Black years ago, and was ready to take off. With a burst of brilliant blue and white flames shooting out of the motorcycle’s exhaust pipe, the motorcycle suddenly leaped thirty feet into the air and swiftly flew into the Forbidden Forest, leaving a trail of sparks behind.

Not long after they disappeared, a person hurriedly ran towards the direction of the castle. He carefully examined a piece of parchment in his hand, but found nothing. Then, he looked around and immediately spotted Fang, Hagrid’s loyal boarhound, who was gazing in a certain direction at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

“Did they go in?”

He asked Fang, hoping for an answer. Fang recognized the newcomer and stopped his threatening growl. He nodded his head, wagging his tail slightly. After getting confirmation, the person did not hesitate and dashed towards the forest, hoping to catch up with them.

Crash! Rustle!

There was a sudden rustling sound from the treetops at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, as if caused by a flying bird. A dark cloud, taking advantage of the cover of night, swiftly entered the Forbidden Forest.

“Almost there, just a little longer—”

In the howling wind, a suppressed and trembling voice came from a small hill in the vegetable garden. 

Late January brought a hint of spring to the Hogwarts campus, but the Forbidden Forest at night was an entirely different concept from the campus. The air here was thick with cold and dampness, and the path they were following was covered by strange, ethereal white mist that appeared at regular intervals. The mist was a result of the magic that permeated the forest, and it had a strange effect on the senses. Every time they passed through a mist, Hermione would let out a startled “cluck” like exclamation, as if she had seen something frightening or surprising.

“Brr, I should have brought a scarf!” Ron complained, shivering. He was wearing his usual maroon sweater, which was not enough to keep him warm in the forest. 

Ten minutes after entering the Forbidden Forest, the excitement of sneaking into the forest at night to track down a possible Sirius Black and, incidentally, send Malfoy to detention had worn off. Now, they were faced with a gloomy and eerie primeval forest, occasionally accompanied by spine-chilling howls. 

Ron was shivering from the cold, and his hair and eyebrows were frozen. He could only rely on the fur on Hagrid’s mole-skin coat to keep warm.

The sight of twisted vines and scarred tree stumps, which looked like grotesque faces, growing on the soft bed of fallen leaves, made Hermione tense. She tightly grasped Harry’s sleeve, and the sweat in her palms had already formed noticeable wet marks on Harry’s sleeve. 

The darkness enveloping the Forbidden Forest seemed to devour any light, whether it was the moonlight and starlight above the sky or the light emitted by the motorcycle’s headlight. The visibility was poor, and Hagrid had to squint his eyes and concentrate on observing the footprints on the soft pile of fallen leaves. 

“I was just thinking, Hagrid!”

Harry shouted loudly, his voice overpowering the roar of the exhaust pipe. 

“The day before school started, when I was test-flying the Firebolt on the Quidditch pitch, I ran into Black. He didn’t attack, probably because he was afraid of being exposed and couldn’t escape the Dementors. It’s also possible that he didn’t find an opportunity to sneak into the castle this past week. But why did he go after Malfoy tonight?”

“I don’t know, Harry!”

Tracking footprints that were already blurry was already exhausting enough for Hagrid. He didn’t have time to answer Harry’s question.

“I’ve heard rumors that Malfoy’s father used to be a Death Eater, but after Voldemort fell, he pretended to have no connection with him. Do you think this might have angered Black, who is fiercely loyal to Voldemort? Is he trying to get rid of Draco as revenge?”

Ron suggested, trying to make sense of the situation. 

“Shouldn’t we slow down, at least until Malfoy is done for—” Ron shivered as he spoke, half-jokingly, half-seriously.

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