News spread quickly among the young wizards. With the Ministry of Magic's order to investigate Hagrid, word that he would be suspended pending an investigation soon reached the entire school.
Everyone also learned what Percy had done.
Opinions on Hagrid were indeed polarized. Some students believed his teaching methods had serious problems and were inferior to Professor Grubbly-Plank's, and that his enthusiasm for fantastic beasts was also "stranger" than hers.
Others believed Hagrid's teaching was excellent and that they could learn many things from him that were not in their textbooks.
However, most people still thought Percy's actions were inappropriate—it felt all too much like the Pink Toad Umbridge all over again.
Umbridge had certainly left no good impression on the students. Quite a few privately remarked that Percy acted exactly like her. No wonder they were both Senior Inspectors.
Several professors had also been giving Percy cold looks over the past few days—after all, nobody wanted to be stabbed in the back by a colleague, and Hagrid had always been friendly toward Percy.
Ron and the others were all speaking up for Hagrid, while George and Fred were considering how to pull off a massive prank. They might have been Percy's younger brothers, but they had no intention of letting him off.
The two had even found a cabinet containing a Boggart. They apparently planned a series of interconnected pranks to make Percy suffer.
None of this seemed to have anything to do with Will. He had been busy constructing the magical structure of the Happiness Elixir.
Outside Hogwarts, in Will's laboratory.
"Aaaaargh—" The scream cut off abruptly. The half-dead test subjects in the cells all shuddered, as though they foresaw something.
Even Bellatrix opened her eyes. After so many days in captivity, she had come to understand that