St. Mungo's

After explaining the situation to Tom, the owner of the Leaky Cauldron, Hagrid clutched Tierra and charged out through the pub doors like a brown bear.

Seeing how worried Hagrid was made Tierra feel a flicker of guilt as he lay in Hagrid's arms.

St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries had been founded in London, United Kingdom, by Mungo Bonham in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century.

It was the Wizarding World's main, perhaps only, large general hospital for magical injuries and illnesses. Its emblem was a bone crossed with a wand.

The hospital entrance was not exposed to the public eye. Like Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, it was hidden behind the red brick wall of an old department store.

Hagrid went up to an ugly mannequin in front of the display window and explained why he was there.

The ugly mannequin waved its hand. Hagrid took a few steps forward, passed through the glass display window, and emerged in a spacious hall.

"Hello, how can I help you?" A plump blonde witch at the reception desk greeted Hagrid. "Oh, my poor little darling, what happened to you?"

The plump blonde witch quickly noticed Tierra curled up in Hagrid's arms.

She reached out and touched Tierra's forehead. It was frighteningly hot.

Then she squeezed his wrist.

"I don't know what happened. I took him shopping, and after we finished, Tierra... this child suddenly clutched his stomach, then his whole body started hurting..." Hagrid said incoherently. "Oh, right, we'd ridden the Gringotts mine carts before that, and eaten Cockroach Clusters and Dragon Sausages, and we'd also gone..."

"Quickly, take him to Doctor Smethwyck on the third floor." The plump witch interrupted Hagrid after casting a spell with her wand. "It's the plague."

"Oh, Merlin's Beard!" Hagrid exclaimed as he strode off. "Poor child, how did you catch the plague?"

Hagrid's strides were enormous. In just a few steps, he crossed several flights of stairs and reached the consulting room of Doctor Smethwyck on the third floor.

Doctor Smethwyck was a middle-aged man with graying hair.

The plump witch from reception had clearly used some method to notify him. As soon as Hagrid carried Tierra inside, Doctor Smethwyck immediately took two bottles of potion down from a tall rack.

"Fortunately, wizards often get bitten by rats... Here, give him one bottle and drink the other yourself," Doctor Smethwyck said. "Once he wakes up, have him wait in the corridor outside for half an hour. If nothing goes wrong, you may leave. Hmm... Shall I charge this directly to Hogwarts?"

"Thank you, Doctor." Hagrid stuffed his own bottle into his pocket, propped Tierra up, and opened the vial filled with pale red potion.

"Gulp, gulp, gulp—"

The faintly sweet potion was poured into Tierra's mouth.

Though Tierra was seriously ill, the Huris Potion had strengthened his mental power, leaving him quite conscious. The red potion therefore went down easily.

Seeing that Tierra's complexion had indeed improved greatly after drinking the potion, Hagrid let out a soft breath of relief. He gently laid Tierra on a soft, comfortable cotton sofa outside the consulting room, took off his leather coat, and covered Tierra with it.

"Gulp—" Seeing that Tierra truly looked much better, Hagrid sat down on the sofa beside him and opened the bottle Doctor Smethwyck had given him.

"Mm..." Tierra murmured softly in his sleep, turning over and tugging lightly at Hagrid's leather coat.

A grimy paper packet fell from Hagrid's coat pocket and rolled around on the floor a few times.

"Merlin's Beard." Hagrid jumped in fright and snatched up the grimy packet with his fan-sized hand, cupping it in his palm.

Hagrid cautiously glanced around. When he realized no one seemed to have noticed, he quietly sighed in relief and tucked the brown paper packet into his shirt pocket.

Tierra recovered even faster than expected.

In less than ten minutes, his fever subsided and his complexion returned to normal.

However, Hagrid did not rush back. He followed the doctor's instructions and waited the full half hour, only leaving St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries after Doctor Smethwyck examined Tierra again and confirmed there was no problem.

"I'm terribly sorry, Hagrid," Tierra said apologetically after waking up, as though he had done something unforgivable. "I'm really terribly sorry."

"No need, little Tierra." Hagrid chuckled. "You're a Hogwarts student. Ensuring every student's safety is my duty as the Keeper of Keys and Grounds."

Hagrid puffed out his chest, immensely proud of being the Keeper of Keys and Grounds.

"It was only the time it took to have a drink or two," Hagrid added. "I hope our little Harry hasn't waited too long."

With that, Hagrid quickened his pace, forcing Tierra to half-walk, half-run just to trail far behind him.

Thus, Hagrid walking ahead failed to notice that as they crossed a square packed with white pigeons, Tierra casually tossed a black worm as thin as a strand of yarn to the pigeons pecking for food on the ground.

The white pigeon took it for ordinary food, but after swallowing the black worm, its entire body suddenly convulsed. Before long, it stiffened and lost its life...

Harry sat among a group of adults with some annoyance, glancing toward the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron from time to time.

After buying his wand at Ollivander's, Harry had wandered around Diagon Alley alone for a while. He bought several candies at the sweet shop that did not look quite so strange, then returned to the Leaky Cauldron as Hagrid had instructed.

Just as Harry had expected, the moment he entered the Leaky Cauldron, he immediately drew everyone's attention. If Hagrid had not specifically warned Tom, the pub owner, Harry would probably have been surrounded again and made to shake hands with everyone as before.

Even so, several wizards sat around Harry, staring at him with burning eyes and making him feel like some tender, delicious piece of fresh meat.

The worst of them was Hogwarts' Defense Against the Dark Arts professor—Professor Quirrell. Harry had the illusion that Quirrell might swallow him whole at any moment.

Yet whenever Harry looked back at him, Quirrell put on a timid but friendly smile.

"Oh, Hagrid! Tierra, is your body all right now?" Harry, who had been staring at the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron, immediately jumped down from the bar stool and ran toward Hagrid as soon as he saw Hagrid's towering figure appear.

"I'm fine now," Tierra said apologetically. "Sorry for making you wait so long... and making Hagrid run back and forth."

"Oh, Tierra, I told you, you don't need to apologize," Hagrid said. "But what happened? Why did you get the plague?"

"Um... I think... I think a rat bit me when I was throwing out the rubbish the day before yesterday," Tierra said. "I didn't pay attention to it then. I never expected to catch the plague."

It was perfectly reasonable for a poor, uneducated child not to know about the plague, Tierra silently told himself.

"Then that's perfect." Hagrid rubbed his hands together and grinned. "This afternoon, you can go to Ollivander's Wand Shop first. Once you've chosen your wand, we'll go to Eeylops Owl Emporium together and buy an owl for you two little ones. You know, owls love eating rats."

"But now..." Hagrid took out his pocket watch and checked it. "Let's eat first. You didn't eat much this morning, so you must be hungry by now."

Harry and Tierra rubbed their flat stomachs.