Hagrid's Fright

Drip, drip—

At some point, the sun had risen high in the sky, its steady warmth making the snow-covered earth gleam brightly.

The sunlight reflecting into the room had brightened the gloomy little wooden hut. Meltwater from the thick icicles beneath the eaves gathered on the ground, forming a clear little puddle.

"When I returned to the castle the next day, heard about it, and saw that stretch of the Forbidden Forest with my own eyes, you three can probably imagine how shocked I was!"

The blazing stove had boiled the kettle dry. Hagrid hurried to his feet, grabbed the scalding handle, and pushed the door open. Crunching sounds immediately came from outside. Before long, he returned carrying the kettle full of crushed ice. When he saw that the three of them still had stiff expressions and slightly open mouths, Hagrid could not help laughing.

"Looks like you really like this story, eh?"

"Like it?"

Ron sprang up with a whoosh, his ears bright red. He shouted excitedly at Harry, "Why did no one at home ever tell me about this? Well, maybe Bill and Charlie did, but I forgot! Don't look at me like that, Hermione. I was only six then; you wouldn't remember either. Anyway—"

Ron looked at Harry again and shouted breathlessly,

"Can you believe it, Harry? He was only in his fifth year then, about Percy's age now. If someone told me Percy could trade blows with Headmaster Dumbledore, I'd probably laugh at him until graduation!"

Harry grinned. He understood what Ron meant.

"Has anyone ever done that, Hagrid?"

Harry's voice was a little too high-pitched. He felt as though the blood in his body were boiling, as if he himself had fought Dumbledore, though he knew he would never stand against that respected headmaster.

"Don't even think about it, Harry!"

Hagrid burst out laughing.

"No young wizard could do that in their fifth year. Maybe there was someone who could have, but they never did. Anyway, forget underage students—even in the entire British wizarding world, you'd be hard-pressed to find a few people who could exchange even one move with the greatest headmaster Hogwarts had ever seen!"

Hagrid's voice was full of pride, but one had to admit that he was telling the truth.

"Quiet, you two!"

Equally stirred up, Hermione loudly stopped the overexcited Harry and Ron. Of course, she had to admit that she was excited too. She had never imagined that the handsome, refined young wizard she had met in the Hospital Wing last night had once achieved such a brilliant "record"!

"What happened afterward, Hagrid? You haven't finished the story!"

Hermione clutched Harry's Invisibility Cloak tightly and glared at Hagrid with her amber catlike eyes. "How did they deal with him? I mean, Mr. Amosta Breen?"

Harry and Ron immediately fell silent as well, waiting eagerly for Hagrid to clear up their doubts.

"Afterward... let me think."

Hagrid used his sausage-like fingers to comb through his thick beard.

"They seemed to have given him detention for an entire term and deducted two hundred points from Slytherin House. But Headmaster Dumbledore gave him another four hundred points not long after that, which practically secured the House Cup for Slytherin that year ahead of time."

"Four hundred points!"

Harry cried out. Last year, they had protected the Philosopher's Stone from Quirrell and Voldemort, which was nearly the greatest honor he had earned since entering the school. Yet Dumbledore had only given them one hundred and seventy points, and Harry himself had received a mere sixty!

"What was Headmaster Dumbledore thinking?"

Though there was nothing to compare, Harry still felt a little slighted.

"Isn't it obvious, Harry?"

Hermione raised her brows, a confident smile on her lips, as though she had seen through everything.

"They gave him a term of detention and deducted points because Mr. Breen had broken school rules, sneaked into the Forbidden Forest at night, and attacked his fellow students with extremely powerful magic. Oh, even though he had his reasons. But they gave him four hundred points because he saved the Gryffindor Quidditch team and Bill."

"Saved them?"

The confusion on Ron's face was rather strange. "Didn't Breen knock them all down?"

"Don't be silly, Ron."

Ron's slowness did not surprise Hermione. She explained impatiently, "Think about it, Ron. If Mr. Breen hadn't gone into the Forbidden Forest that night, who would have encountered that mysterious Dark Wizard?"

Gasp!

Ron immediately sucked in a breath, his eyes widening as he understood.

"Charlie, and everyone on the Gryffindor Quidditch team back then!"

Hermione nodded and said with satisfaction, "I'm glad you finally understand, Ron. Including Bill, that means he saved eight lives. Hmm, fifty points each!"

"So, Hagrid, that means Dumbledore confirmed that a Dark Wizard really did sneak into Hogwarts. Did he catch him?"

Harry was more alert than Ron and Hermione. The thought suddenly occurred to him.

"Yes, he confirmed it."

At the mention of this, Hagrid's smile faded and his expression turned solemn.

"That night, Bill woke up, and the misunderstanding was quickly cleared up. He told Dumbledore that it had not been Amosta who cast the Killing Curse, but the Dark Wizard hiding in the shadows. Dumbledore personally checked every spell Breen's wand had cast that night and confirmed it.

"Later, Headmaster Dumbledore carefully examined the battlefield. You know, Harry, at Dumbledore's level, he could practically reconstruct the entire battle. But unfortunately, he investigated for a long time and never found that brazen Dark Wizard. Because of that, I hardly slept in my bed for almost two months. I patrolled the Forbidden Forest every night."

Hagrid blinked and said to the three, who had realized the seriousness of the matter,

"This caused a huge uproar at the time. The Ministry of Magic even sent elite Aurors into the Forbidden Forest to search, but that came to nothing as well. To prevent panic from spreading, Dumbledore and Fudge decided to suppress news of the attack as much as possible. That's why most people barely heard about it afterward."

The atmosphere became solemn. Harry and Ron exchanged a glance, both wondering whether that Dark Wizard might have been another of Voldemort's lackeys, like Quirrell.

"That's why I said, Ron, you must have heard of him—"

Hagrid said with a smile,

"Professor Snape let Amosta Breen out during the Quidditch finals in his second year. Before that, he had to serve detention in Snape's office every night and every weekend. Charlie's Gryffindor Quidditch team was extremely strong and had a chance to retain the championship, but when Snape brought Amosta Breen onto the pitch—oh, ho ho—you can imagine how Prian and Philoya reacted. Honestly, the fact that the two of them didn't mount their brooms and flee on the spot was already worthy of Gryffindor's name."

"Looks like Slytherin occasionally produces someone impressive too—"

Ron muttered quietly.

"There are plenty of famous Slytherin wizards, Ron."

Hagrid laughed. He glanced at the sun outside and realized that it was already getting late, time to start preparing lunch.

"The story's over, you three. Want to have some lunch here?"

"Oh!"

Hermione suddenly came back to her senses and cried out in alarm.

"Damn it, Madam Pomfrey! I completely forgot the time!"

She threw the Invisibility Cloak over herself, leaving only her head exposed.

"Next time, Hagrid. I have to stay in the Hospital Wing lately!"

With that, she hurried outside. Harry and Ron clearly preferred the food at school as well, and they quickly got up to follow Hermione.

"Oh, right."

A somewhat disappointed Hagrid suddenly remembered something. He called after Harry's rapidly retreating back,

"You three still haven't told me why you were asking about Breen!"

"Mr. Breen has returned to the school!"

Harry did not turn around, merely waving a hand over his head. "He's now the Investigator for the Chamber of Secrets attack!"

Crash! Rumble!

The frightened Hagrid abruptly leaned against the hut's door. The impact made the whole house shake violently, sending the melted snow on the roof cascading down and burying Fang beneath it.

"Investigator for the Chamber of Secrets incident... from the Ministry of Magic?"

Hagrid's face went pale in an instant. Leaning against the doorframe, he muttered softly,

"That's impossible... Dumbledore... Oh, no, I have to get to the bottom of this!"

After a while, Hagrid slammed the door shut with a bang and charged toward the castle without looking back, while Fang barked frantically behind him.