Harry Potter and Shafik

Chapter 104 Never thought it would be more than a hundred chapters
"My name is Dolores Umbridge."

She scanned the cabin and twice stared straight into the corner where Harry stood, sandwiched between Ron and Hermione.

"Dolores Umbridge?" Hagrid seemed utterly confused. "I thought you were from the Ministry of Magic—aren't you with Fudge?"

"Yes, I'm the Senior Undersecretary responsible to the Minister," said Umbridge.She started pacing the room, noting every detail, from the knapsack by the wall to the black traveling cloak draped there. "I'm the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher now—"

"You're brave," said Hagrid, "not many people are going to teach that these days—"

"—and Hogwarts Senior Inquisitor." Umbridge seemed not to have heard him.

"What's that?" Hagrid asked, frowning.

"Exactly the question I wanted to ask." Umbridge pointed to the broken china on the floor, which was Hermione's broken teacup.

"Oh," Hagrid said, casting a deadly glance at where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were standing, "oh, that's? Yes? Teeth, it broke the teacup, so I'll have to use this one."

Hagrid pointed to his teacup, one hand still pressing the dragon meat that had been applied to his eyes.Umbridge stood before him, noting every detail of his face.

"I heard voices just now," she whispered.

"I'm talking to Fang," Hagrid answered bravely.

"Does it talk to you too?"

"Huh? Somehow," said Hagrid, looking uncomfortable, "I sometimes say Fang is human-"

"There are four sets of footprints in the snow, leading from the castle gate to your cabin," said Umbridge tactfully.

Hermione gasped, and Harry quickly covered her mouth, but fortunately she didn't seem to hear Fang was sniffing loudly at the hem of Professor Umbridge's robes.

"Oh, I just got back," said Hagrid, waving a big hand at the knapsack. "Maybe someone's been here and I haven't seen it."

"There were no leaving footprints at the door of your hut.

"This? I don't know!" Hagrid tugged at his beard nervously, and glanced towards the corner where the three of Harry were standing as if asking for help, "Huh??"

Umbridge turned and walked from one end of the room to the other, looking carefully.She stooped to look under the bed; she opened Hagrid's cupboard; she walked within two inches of Harry and the others, standing against the wall, Harry holding his belly in his stomach.After carefully examining Hagrid's cooking pot, she turned and asked, "What's the matter with you? What's the matter with these injuries?"

Hagrid hastily removed the dragon meat from his face, which Harry thought was a mistake, showing the bruises around his eyes, not to mention all the blood and clots on his face. "Oh, I had an accident," he said feebly.

"What kind of accident?"

"I-I fell."

"I fell down," she repeated coldly.

"Yes. Tripped by?? by a friend's broom. I can't fly myself. Look at my size, I don't think a broom can carry me. My friend has a rune horse. I don't know if you have seen it. Big animal, Winged ones, I rode once—”

"Where have you been?" Umbridge cut Hagrid's nonsense coldly.

"Where am I going?"

"Yes, it's been more than two months since school started, and your class has been taken by another teacher. My colleagues don't even know where you are going. You didn't leave your address. Where did you go?"

There was a silence, Hagrid staring at her with his new eyes, and Harry could almost hear his brain whirling wildly.

"I'm off to recuperate," he said.

"Convalescence," said Professor Umbridge.He looked at Hagrid's bloody and bruised face, and in silence, dragon's blood dripped slowly onto his leather vest. "I can tell." "Yeah," said Hagrid, "enjoy the—fresh air, you know—"

"Yeah, the gamekeeper must have had a hard time getting fresh air," said Umbridge kindly.The patch of Hagrid's face that wasn't bluish turned red. "Well—for a change of scenery, you know—" "Alpine scenery?" said Umbridge quickly.She knows, Harry thought desperately.

"Mountains?" repeated Hagrid, obviously racking his brains. "No, it's the South of France, the sun and the sea." "Really?" said Umbridge. Huh? Yes? Sensitive skin." Hagrid tried to put on a flattering smile, and Harry noticed that Thistle had lost two teeth.Umbridge looked at him coldly, and his smile couldn't hold back.Then she pulled the purse up her arm and said, "Of course I'll report to the Minister that you're so late." "Yes," said Hagrid, nodding. "You should also know that, as the senior investigative palace, I have the unfortunate but necessary task of investigating the teaching of other teachers. So I dare say we will meet again soon."

She turned abruptly and walked towards the door. "You want to investigate us?" Hagrid asked blankly, looking at her back. "Yes," Umbridge said softly, looking back at him with his hand on the doorknob, "the Minister is determined to weed out unqualified teachers, Hagrid. Good night." She went out, slamming the door behind her.Harry tried to lift the cloak, but Hermione grabbed his wrist.

"Wait," she whispered, "she might not be gone yet." Hagrid seemed to think so too, striding to the window and drawing the curtains a crack. "She's gone back to the castle," he whispered. "Evil door? She wants to investigate others?"

"Yeah," said Harry, tearing off the Invisibility Cloak, "Trelawney's been kept for inspection!" "Well, Hagrid, what are you going to have us do in class?" Hermione asked. "Oh, don't worry, I've prepared a bunch of content," Hagrid said enthusiastically, and took the dragon meat from the table and applied it to his eyes. "I've reserved some creatures for your oWLs year. Wait." Well, they're very special." "Well, what's so special?" Hermione asked tentatively. "Can't say," Hagrid replied cheerfully, "I want to surprise you." "Oh, Hagrid," said Hermione anxiously, without bothering to hide it, "Professor Umbridge would find fault if You use dangerous ones in your class—" "Dangerous?" Hagrid seemed amused, "Stop being silly, I won't give you dangerous stuff! I mean, they can take care of themselves—"

"Hagrid, you have to pass Umbridge's inspection, so it would really be much better if she saw you teach us how to find Ponlock, how to distinguish a hedgehog from a hedgehog, etc!" Hermione eagerly say.

"But that's not very interesting, Hermione," said Hagrid. "I've got far more amazing stuff. I've kept them for years. I think I'm the only domesticated one in the whole of England—"

"Hagrid? Please?" Hermione's voice was a little desperate. "Umbridge is looking for an excuse to get rid of the teacher she thinks is too close to Dumbledore. Please, teach me something ordinary, 0 .w.Ls something that's sure to be on the exam?"

But Hagrid just let out a big yawn, and cast a longing glance with one eye at the big bed in the corner of the room.

"Okay, I'm tired enough today, and it's getting late." He patted Hermione's shoulder lightly, and her knees softened, and she plopped to the ground. "Oh—I'm sorry—" He pulled her up by the collar of his robes, "Don't worry about me, I promise I have something very good for your Care of Magical Creatures class?? Now you'd better go back to the castle , don’t forget to wipe off the footprints!"

"I don't know if he understood you," Ron said later on the road.Looking around for safety, they walked back to the castle through the gradually thickening snow without leaving any traces, because Hermione used the erasing spell.

"Hey, why have you been in a daze since just now?" Daphne said while shaking Hilbert's head.

"Ah? Me? Me! It's okay. Maybe I didn't sleep well last night."

Hagrid came out of his hut.

Hagrid looked ugly, with yellow-green scars hanging across his face, some of which seemed to be bleeding.Had Hagrid been attacked by some monster whose venom prevented wounds from healing - as if to complete the ominous picture, Hagrid was still carrying half a dead cow on his shoulders.

They fell to the bottom of the line and made their way through the Forbidden Forest with difficulty. "It's so strange. My dad said Umbridge is troublesome. There are many supporters in the ministry. I'm afraid she won't be able to make any changes in a short time." Draco whispered to Hilbert.Maybe he couldn't fulfill what he said before, he gave Hilbert a flattering smile.

Hagrid reappeared at the staff table at breakfast the next day, and not all the students responded enthusiastically.Fred, George, Lee and the others cheered enthusiastically, rushing down the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, and took Hagrid's huge hand and shook it again and again.Others, like Parvati and Lavender, exchanged gloomy glances and shook their heads.Harry knew that many of them preferred Professor Graplan's class.Worst of all, there was a small sliver of justice in his heart that knew they had a reason: the interesting lessons in Graplan's concept weren't the kind where someone might get their head ripped off.

"We have class here today!" said Hagrid cheerfully to the students, throwing his head towards the dark woods behind him. "The woods are a bit dense! But they like the dark??"

"What likes the dark?" Harry heard Malfoy ask Crabbe and Goyle sharply, with a tinge of fear in his voice, "What does he say likes the dark—did you hear that?"

When I came to a place with dense forests and as dark as dusk, there was not a single snow on the ground.Hagrid dropped the half cow to the ground with a groan, took two steps back, and turned to face the whole class.Many people used tree trunks as cover, looked around nervously, and approached him cautiously, as if they were prepared to be attacked at any time.

"Come closer, come closer," said Hagrid encouragingly. "Now, they'll be attracted by the meat, but I still call 'em because they like to hear it's me—"

He turned, shook his head to shake the hair from his face, and uttered a strange, high-pitched cry that echoed in the dark woods like the cry of a giant bird.No one laughed, and most of them seemed too scared to make a sound.

Hagrid yelled again, and a minute had passed, and the students had been peering around nervously, not knowing what to expect.As Hagrid shook his hair back a third time, expanding his broad chest, Hilbert saw a thestral poking its head out of the shadows between two rough yew trees.A pair of bright white eyes grew larger there, followed by a dragon-like face, neck, and skeletonized body, and a huge, winged black horse emerged from the darkness.It looked at the students for a few seconds, flicked its long black tail, then lowered its head and started tearing at the dead cow with its fangs.

"Oh, there's another one!" Hagrid said proudly, and a second black horse appeared from the forest, folded its leathery wings, lowered its head and greedily ate raw meat, "Now—who saw that, hold up hand."

"Um -," he said gravely, "Neville - and - Hilbert, Nott - Hermione?"

Hagrid answered by pointing to the dead cow on the ground.The class stared at it for a few seconds, some gasped, and Parvati screamed.Hilbert knew why: pieces of flesh peeled off the bones and disappeared into the air. It must have looked very strange.

The students were so frightened that several girls even hugged the tree trunk and shivered.

"Don't be afraid, it won't hurt you," said Hagrid patiently. "Now, can anyone tell me why some people can see it and others can't?"

Daphne raised her hand. "Say it," said Hagrid, smiling at her.

"Thestrals are only seen by those who have seen death," she said.

"By the way," said Hagrid gravely, "Slytheringa ten. Thestrals—"

"Cough, cough."

Here comes Professor Umbridge.She was standing a few feet away from Harry, still in her green hat and cloak, holding a clipboard.

"Cough, cough."

"Oh, hello!" Hagrid smiled, discovering the source of the strange noise.

"Did you get the note I sent to your cabin this morning?" Umbridge continued as she had spoken to Hagrid last time, speaking slowly and loudly, as if the other party was a foreigner and mentally retarded, "said I want to come to your class."

"Oh, see," said Hagrid brightly. "Glad you found the place! Look - I don't know - can you see? We're talking Thestrals today -"

"I'm sorry," Professor Umbridge said loudly, cupping his hands to his ears, frowning, "what did you say?"

Hagrid looked a little puzzled.

"Er—thestrals!" he said loudly, "mass—er—winged, you know!"

He eagerly slapped his thick arms twice.Professor Umbridge raised an eyebrow at him, writing on the clipboard and reading, "By - clumsy - gestures -"

"Okay—" said Hagrid, turning to the students, looking a bit flustered, "er—where did I go?"

"Looks like - memory - bad -" said Umbridge, loud enough for everyone to hear.Draco Malfoy looked like Christmas had come a month early.Hermione blushed with anger.

"Oh," Hagrid glanced uneasily at Umbridge's clipboard, but continued bravely. "Yeah, I was about to tell you how this herd came to be. This one, started out with just one stallion and five mares. This one's called Wuwu," he patted the first one, "my favorite Yes, the first born in this wood—”

"Did you know," interrupted Umbridge loudly, "that the Ministry of Magic has listed thestrals as 'dangerous animals'?"

Hagrid just smiled.

"Thestrals are not dangerous! Of course, if you get really upset, they might bite you—"

"To - brutal - show - pleasure -" Umbridge wrote again in his notebook.

"No—no!" said Hagrid, getting a little anxious. "I mean, dogs do bite, don't they—thestrals just have a bad reputation for being associated with dead people—people used to think it was bad luck, Right? Just ignorance, right?"

Umbridge didn't answer.She made the last note, looked up at Hagrid, and said, still slowly and loudly, "Please continue the lecture as usual, I'm going to be among the students—"

"Oh—anyway," Hagrid tried to go on, "this—Thestrals, yes, they've got a lot of good stuff—"

"Do you think you can understand Professor Hagrid's speech?" Professor Umbridge asked Pansy Parkinson crisply.Like Hermione, Pansy had tears in her eyes, but those tears came from laughter, and she tried to hold back a laugh, giving broken answers.

"Can't—because—sounds—a lot of times—like purring—" Umbridge was scribbling on his clipboard.The few patches of unbruised skin on Hagrid's face turned red, but he tried not to listen. I've got enough information—you will be within ten days"—she stretched out her stubby ten fingers, "received"—she made a gesture of picking something from the sky, "your investigation results"—— She pointed to the clipboard.Then, smiling even more smugly, looking more like a toad than ever under the cuckold, she hurried out from among the students.

(End of this chapter)