Hagrid paused for a mont, then said hesitantly: "He got hurt…"
As he spoke, he explained the whole situation.
While he talked, Madam Rosrta brought over his order of ad.
When Lupin finished listening, he let out a deep sigh—he was both proud and worried.
"Harry is so much better than we were at his age. He's even willing to risk his life to save an enemy… Just like Jas and Lily."
"Yeah." Hagrid nodded firmly and took a big gulp of his drink. "I gotta say, if it weren't for Wade and Harry, I might've even lost my job as gakeeper."
Lupin shook his head. "Malfoy doesn't have that much power. If he wants to get rid of you, he'd have to get rid of Dumbledore first."
"True… Professor Dumbledore has always trusted . But I'd ssed things up on my first day, I didn't know how to face him… Luckily, today's lesson went really well—the kids helped a lot."
Hagrid spoke with emotion.
When he was first hired as a professor, he was overjoyed. But once he actually started teaching, he realized that being a professor was completely different from being a gakeeper.
Before, his job had been simple—patrol once or twice a day, make sure students didn't sneak into the Forbidden Forest and get themselves hurt.
In his free ti, he could tend his garden, take care of his pets, or raise livestock. He had little responsibility and few worries.
Judging the Maze gas had been exciting, and over the ti, students had co to trust him more. But so still looked down on him and treated him as nothing more than a hired hand, and that stung.
He thought that becoming a professor would earn him the students' respect and affection. But in reality, being a professor ant carrying heavy responsibilities, dealing with the scrutiny of students and the judgnts of outsiders.
How to prepare lessons? Assign howork? Maintain discipline in a classroom full of unruly students?
There was so much to learn. More than once, he had considered going to Dumbledore and admitting defeat—but he couldn't bring himself to say it. So he gritted his teeth and kept going.
Thankfully, today's lesson had been a success. The students responded well, which helped restore so of Hagrid's confidence and made him feel that all his hard work was worthwhile.
Fueled by ad, Hagrid poured out all the worries that had been weighing on him. Lupin listened attentively, and occasionally offered advice.
"Flobberworms are just too boring—no student will ever like them. Blast-Ended Skrewt are a decent choice, but you still need to be careful with safety."
"Don't make the howork too complicated—just assign one essay per week. Keep it simple at first, just a few inches of parchnt…"
"If you're unsure about sothing, why not ask Professor Kettleburn for advice? He lives in Hogsade, not far from here."
"Professor Kettleburn taught this class for decades—he's seen every possible situation and has a wealth of experience. He also knows exactly what's covered in the OWLs and NEWTs…"
"You're right!" Hagrid agreed enthusiastically. "Tomorrow morning—no, wait, I have class in the morning… I'll go see Professor Kettleburn at noon. He loves Norberta! If I bring him so of Norberta's scales—oh!"
Hagrid suddenly rembered that he had already given all the dragon scales to Wade.
But that wasn't a problem—I can just visit Norberta again. And while I am at it, I can bring Malfoy along to complete our little deal, pick up a few dragon scales, and then head over to Kettleburn's.
Hagrid ntally organized his tasks, and what had originally seed difficult now felt clear and simple, all thanks to Remus's suggestions…
Then, sluggishly, he recalled that Lupin had invited him here for a reason—he had a question to ask.
"Oh, right! Remus, what did you want to ask?" Hagrid finally said.
"It's like this—"
Lupin set down his barely touched pear soda, thought for a mont, and then asked, "I want to know—who was at Hogwarts over the sumr?"
Hagrid put down his mug, furrowing his brows as he thought long and hard before answering,
"There were a lot of people. More than usual."
"Dumbledore, Filch, and I were here the whole ti."
"Then there were Daily Prophet reporters coming for interviews. They took photos of the Chamber of Secrets and the basilisk's shed skin. Professor McGonagall accompanied them…
I think it was because Snape had the basilisk's remains. So people even interviewed Snape—so he was at school those days too."
"Professors from Ilvermorny, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang also ca. Seed like they were discussing sothing important. Most of the Hogwarts professors were around at that ti too."
"Ilvermorny sent people as well?" Lupin asked.
If it were just the other two schools, his first thought would have been the Triwizard Tournant, which had been inactive for centuries. But with Ilvermorny involved, he wasn't so sure.
"Yeah, Ilvermorny too," Hagrid grumbled. "They kept hanging around the maze, and so of them even tried to take our Bowtruckles! I stopped them, of course—bunch of thieves!"
"Then… between July 16th and July 19th, who ca to Hogwarts?" Lupin asked.
Hagrid froze. His mouth hung open as he struggled to recall. After a long mont, he finally asked, "What dates did you say again?"
Lupin: "…"
Patiently, he repeated,
"July 16th to July 19th. That was when the Streaming mirror first went on sale in Diagon Alley—do you rember? And the recording of Harry and the others defeating the ball python in the maze was being broadcast.
People in Hogsade were definitely talking about it. It was just a few days before that—you should rember sothing."
"Ah—so that's why there were so many owls flying in every day for a while! I was wondering—if the students were all gone for the holidays, who were those owls delivering letters to?"
Hagrid suddenly had a mont of realization.
Then, he fell silent and frowned tightly as he thought hard.
Ti ticked by, second by second. After a long while, Hagrid finally shook his head apologetically. "Sorry, Remus. I just can't rember."
"I only recall that during that ti, Aragog wasn't eating well. I was so worried about him that I wasn't paying much attention to anything else."
Aragog was the Acromantula Hagrid had raised since childhood. Back when Lupin and his friends were still at school, they had encountered the giant Acromantula during their nightti adventures in the Forbidden Forest.
From Hagrid's reaction, Lupin had already guessed as much. He sighed and said, "Forget it, then."
He had initially assud that very few people would have had access to the basilisk's shed skin over the sumr, making it easy to narrow down the suspects.
But after hearing Hagrid describe how busy Hogwarts had been during the holidays, Lupin realized it wouldn't be that simple.
Even if Hagrid did rember who had visited, what difference would it make?
Hagrid still had to eat, rest, and patrol. It was entirely possible that whoever had hired Will had entered and left the castle without Hagrid ever seeing them.
The investigation had reached a dead end… but perhaps no news was good news.
Lupin tried to convince himself to think positively, but deep down, he couldn't shake the unease settling in his heart.
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