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In early January, the Warlock who had spent Christmas at home returned to Hogwarts.

The first class of the new semester was the Care of Magical Creatures, and Gryffindor and Slytherin took their books to Hagrid's Hut.

There were no Blast-Ended Skrewt on the field this time, and their substitute teacher had also changed. She was an elderly witch with short, gray hair and a very prominent chin.

"Where did Hagrid go?" Harry asked.

"He...is not feeling well." The witch frowned slightly. "Dumbledore has arranged for me to teach in the coming world. You can call me Professor Grubbly-Plank."

Professor Grubbly-Plank led the students to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where a beautiful Unicorn was tethered to a tree.

Wow!

"It's so beautiful."

"How did she do it? Unicorn are notoriously difficult to catch."

The students exclaimed in admiration, and many of them gained a better understanding of this temporary professor. This is what Care of Magical Creatures should be like!

They don't deny Hagrid's knowledge of Fantastic Beasts, but things like the Blast-Ended Skrewt are nothing compared to Unicorn.

"Boys, all of you step back!" Professor Grubbly-Plank said sternly. "Unicorn like to be touched by women. Girls, you can approach them cautiously, but try to relax."

Led by the professor, the girls approached one by one with great interest, while the boys were left behind by the stables, where Beauxbatons ' Pegasus huddled together to ward off the cold.

"What do you think happened to Hagrid?" Harry asked Ron. "Could something have happened to the Blast-Ended Skrewt?"

"Definitely not," Aaron said. "Hagrid is a professional when it comes to raising Fantastic Beasts. Neither Three-headed Dog Acromantula could do anything to him."

The Blast-Ended Skrewt isn't even as tall as him; it would need the strength to hurt him!

"I do know a little bit about that," Draco said with a smug look on his face.

"You didn't actually get Lucius to find a way to change the professor for Care of Magical Creatures, did you?" Harry looked at him coldly. "And what's the excuse this time?"

"Don't get me wrong, although I'd love for him to get fired, this really has nothing to do with me." Draco pulled a copy of the Daily Prophet from his pocket. "Take a look at this and you'll understand."

Aaron took the newspaper, and after reading only two lines, his lips twitched involuntarily. "So it fell into her hands. No wonder we changed professors."

"Who has he fallen into?" Ron asked curiously.

"Rita Skeeter, the most shameless and unscrupulous reporter." Aaron shrugged and then handed the newspaper to Ron.

Dumbledore's major blunder... Mad-Eye Moody becomes the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor... Compared to the professor of Care of Magical Creatures, he's relatively kind...

Rubeus Hagrid, expelled from Hogwarts in his third year, schemed his way into a position in the Care of Magical Creatures from among many qualified competitors...

The newspaper then mentioned that Draco was injured by Hippogriff, Crabbe was bitten by a slug, and there was also the dangerous creature, the Blast-Ended Skrewt. What was most shocking was Hagrid's background—a Half-Giant.

"This is just too... disgusting!" Ron said with a strange expression. "It's one thing to be half true and half false, but to exaggerate that little bit of truth by a million times is another."

"I have to admit, Skeeter does have some skills," Aaron remarked. "He even managed to dig up Hagrid's mother's name."

"Fridwulfa, I bet Hagrid didn't even tell you that name."

"Of course not, why would he tell us his mother's name for no reason?"

"That's not important. What's important is that the reputation of the Half-Giant in the Magic World isn't great, and on top of that, there's the incredibly dangerous Fantastic Beasts, the Blast-Ended Skrewt... I think that idiot's teaching career is over." Draco grinned smugly.

"You're overthinking it," Aaron said dismissively. "Don't forget, this newspaper will only make Hagrid uncomfortable for a while. Once the storm passes, he'll naturally go back to teaching."

"Surely it's not that bad?" Draco frowned in displeasure. "The Daily Prophet has portrayed him like this, how can he still continue teaching?"

"Why not?" Harry asked eagerly.

"I didn't ask you, Potter."

"The Daily Prophet criticized Fudge, yet he was still Minister for Magic; it criticized Dumbledore, yet he was still Headmaster of Hogwarts; it criticized Arthur Weasley, yet he still held a position in the Ministry of Magic; it even criticized Harry Potter, yet he still did just fine."

Don't forget, Dumbledore the headmaster, and his relationship with Hagrid is quite special. Do you think he would expel Hagrid because of an unrealistic newspaper article?

Furthermore, Hagrid had been the forest ranger for decades, and it's fair to say that the Hogwarts students of recent decades knew him inside and out; they could all testify to Hagrid's innocence.

"This..." Draco opened his mouth, but was speechless.

Harry and Ron exchanged a glance, then gave Draco a defiant look.

"Someone's idea may not be realized."

"You should all be secretly happy!" Draco said with a look of disdain. "At least you don't have to face those disgusting Blast-Ended Skrewt anymore."

The two looked at each other, then lowered their heads in embarrassment.

Although I don't want to admit it, Draco is telling the truth: if you had to choose between Unicorn and Blast-Ended Skrewt, anyone with a brain would choose the former.

Hagrid was deeply affected by the newspaper and locked himself in his room for more than half a month without seeing anyone.

It wasn't until the end of January, after repeated persuasion and reassurance from Dumbledore, that he decided to return to teaching.

After Hagrid returned, he did not have the students feed the Blast-Ended Skrewt again, but instead continued Professor Grubbly-Plank's lecture on Unicorn.

As a forest ranger, he knows as much about Unicorn as anyone else.

When the two pure golden baby Unicorn were brought before the crowd, almost all the students could not hide their excitement and joy.

"Ahem! The cubs are easier to spot than the full-year Unicorn. They turn silvery-white around the age of two, start growing horns at the age of four, and only turn pure silvery-white after they reach full-year age."

In addition, cubs have no defensiveness and do not dislike boys.

If you'd like, you can come over and pat them or just order a sugar cube.

For a moment, everyone gathered around the cubs, watching them with great interest. The girls were thrilled, and the boys were deeply attracted by their adorable appearance.

Abei snorted and turned her face away in dissatisfaction.

Aaron patted its head, both amused and exasperated, knowing it was upset that it had been outdone by two Unicorn cubs.

"You are Holy Dragon, you can easily defeat them with your wings spread, but now is not the time for you to reveal yourself."

Upon hearing this, Abei nodded slowly, glanced at the two Unicorn with disdain, and decided not to lower himself to their level.

Time passed day by day, and soon it was mid-February.

Harry's progress, however, was not going well. He, Ron, and Hermione spent all their free time in the library searching for a way to allow him to breathe underwater for an hour.

But they searched through all the magic books related to water, and found nothing.

Hermione also asked Professor McGonagall for the Restricted Section permit, but even those ancient spells didn't involve underwater breathing.

"There must be a way, there must be." Hermione kept encouraging herself. The spellbooks beside her were stacked more than a meter high, but she kept flipping through them.

"We weren't this serious when we were looking for Nicolas Flamel." Ron yawned and rubbed his sleepy eyes. "Hermione, I hate to say this, but the answers to all questions aren't necessarily in the books."

"But the answer to the Second Task can definitely be found in the book," Hermione said very seriously. "They couldn't possibly design a competition that's impossible to pass."

You've all seen Krum practicing diving these past few days; there must be some kind of magic helping him."

"He's Durmstrang's student!" Ron said speechlessly. "Karkaroff is unconditionally biased towards him, and might even have taught him Durmstrang's advanced magic."

The same goes for Phoebe; Maxime must have taught her Beauxbatons ' special magic.

"What about Cedric?" Hermione countered. "Dumbledore didn't teach him, did he?"

"But his father is the Director of the Department of Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures of Ministry of Magic, and he knows quite a few spells."

"Indeed, I have almost no advantage over them," Harry said with a bitter expression.

"You can ask someone for help!" Ron said meaningfully. "Didn't Professor Moody give you an idea once?"

"No!" Harry shook his head. "I asked Professor McGonagall, and she said that in the Triwizard Tournament, you can't ask anyone else for help; you have to rely on the Champion themselves."

I don't know if Professor Moody will help me a second time, but I know he definitely can't cast a spell on me before the match.

"Actually, there are other ways." Ron hesitated and pointed to Aaron was leaning against the corner writing and drawing.

"This... isn't that a bit inappropriate!" Hermione said with a troubled expression. "We still have time; we're not at our wits' end yet."

"How much time? Two days?" Ron said speechlessly. "At this point, besides him, the only other person who might be able to help Harry breathe underwater Cedric."

"Don't mention Cedric to me," Harry said coldly.

"You know the situation. We have no other choice. We can't just watch Harry fall into the lake and drown!"

Hermione was still a little hesitant, but Ron continued, "We're not asking him to help Harry directly, we're just asking him for advice. We'll handle the rest ourselves!"

"I'll go ask!" Harry sighed, then walked awkwardly to Aaron.

"Um... this..." Harry stammered, unsure how to begin. After all, everyone asked him for help whenever they needed it. He could repay the favor once or twice, but if it happened too often, he would never be able to repay the debt of gratitude.

Aaron raised an eyebrow as he looked at Harry Potter, who was struggling to speak. He then turned his gaze to Hermione and Ron, and seeing the tall stacks of books beside them, he wondered why Harry had come to him.

"Hey! Don't tell me you haven't prepared for the second competition event yet."