Hagrid's Hut = Galleons

Inside a little wooden hut not far from the Castle.

Three young wizards sat around a wooden table, talking and gesturing to a giant who stood over three meters tall.

Su Er was the fourth young wizard.

He was examining the little hut. Never mind how ramshackle it looked on the outside; the inside... uh... was just as ramshackle.

That wasn't important.

The point was, judging by the "experience" Su Er had gained in his two months at school, Hagrid's little hut was worth far more than a fortune.

That pile of silvery stuff in the corner, tied together with coarse rope-wasn't that unicorn hair?

The rug beneath his feet was remarkably similar in color to the hair in the corner. Su Er couldn't resist bending down to touch it, and his mouth twitched. Sure enough, it was made of unicorn hair too. One hundred percent pure unicorn hair, with no other hair mixed in.

Then there was the pile of multicolored feathers in a cage by the wall. Even with Su Er's limited knowledge, he could identify at least some Fwooper feathers and Occamy feathers...

Besides those, several horns of various shapes hung on the wall, along with a great heap of hay. Though "hay" deserved a question mark-perhaps it was another medicinal herb Su Er didn't recognize?

By a rough estimate, if all of this were sold... Su Er's eyes had already turned into Galleons. Looking at that pile of "materials," he no longer saw feathers or horns. Those were plainly piles upon piles of Galleons.

Never mind anything else-unicorn hair was sold by the strand, and Hagrid had a whole bundle here! A whole bundle!!!

Would Hagrid give him some if he asked?

Don't get the wrong idea. He didn't want to sell it for money. He wanted to make a scarf for Angel, far away in London. If there was enough material, perhaps he could make a hat as well.

Ah, of course, he couldn't forget Hermione either.

Mrs. Ellison and his future mother-in-law? He couldn't forget them, either.

Su Er was already calculating how much unicorn hair he would need to make all those things...

"Enough!" Hagrid's booming voice pulled Su Er out of his thoughts. "Stop asking."

"That's top secret!"

Secret? What secret? Su Er looked blankly at the others.

Oh, right. The Philosopher's Stone...

"Then why did Snape try to kill Harry?" Hermione demanded.

Another round of arguing began. Su Er, who already knew how it would all turn out, wasn't particularly interested in what they were arguing about. They would find out where they'd gone wrong in the end anyway.

Harry's final remark brought the conversation to an end.

"Aha... so someone called Nicolas Flamel is involved in this too?"

That sent Hagrid into a rage, and he threw the three young wizards out.

Why only three? Because while they were arguing, Su Er had quietly slipped over to the corner to stare at that bundle of Galleons-no, unicorn hair.

Fuming, Hagrid slammed the door after ushering Harry and the others out, then grabbed the teapot and poured its contents straight into his mouth.

"Why are you still here?!" Hagrid set down the teapot and noticed Su Er in the corner.

"Uh..." Su Er, who had been considering whether to sneak a little unicorn hair, stood up like a thief caught by the owner. Faced with Hagrid's imposing bulk, he gave an awkward smile. "Hello, Mr. Hagrid."

"Oh, I know you. Harry introduced you to me. You're from the Bones family?"

"Ah, yes." Su Er nodded obediently.

"Old Bones was a fine lad. Nearly everyone in the Bones family was in Hufflepuff. You're no exception, are you? I still remember him," Hagrid said wistfully. "He helped me out a lot when he was at Hogwarts."

Su Er knew nothing about his biological parents, so he simply kept nodding obediently.

"If Harry brought you here, you two must get along well. Could you help me persuade him to stop looking into what the Three-Headed Dog is guarding?" Hagrid said ruefully.

"I will, Mr. Hagrid."

Su Er's good behavior seemed to improve Hagrid's mood a little.

"Want some Rock Cakes I made? They're pretty good. Harry and the others took a whole pile last time." Hagrid picked up a thick, round, ginger-yellow "biscuit" beside the stove.

"No, thank you, Mr. Hagrid." Su Er smiled stiffly. Hagrid might bite into them without the slightest difficulty, but he was a half-giant!

What ordinary person would eat a "biscuit" hard enough to crack walnuts with?

"I have a request, Mr. Hagrid." Su Er cautiously looked up at the big man munching on a biscuit and washing it down with tea.

"Hmm?" Hagrid gave Su Er a puzzled look, then his expression changed. "Aha! You want to ask about the Three-Headed Dog too?"

Su Er shook his head like a rattle. "No, no, no, Mr. Hagrid. I'm not interested in any of that..."

"I was wondering... could you... give me a little of that..." Su Er pointed at the bundle of silvery hair in the corner.

"Unicorn hair?" Hagrid followed Su Er's finger with his gaze. "Oh, of course. But I'm curious-what do you want it for?"

"Well, Christmas is coming soon, isn't it? I wanted to use it to make some scarves. Uh... just some of it would be enough. For my little sister, my adoptive mother, Hermione, and her mother."

Hagrid's expression immediately turned a little odd. This involved the little girl who had been arguing with him too?

Su Er promptly explained, "Hermione lives next door to me. Mrs. Granger looked after me quite a bit when I was little..."

"Oh, I forgot old Bones had..." Hagrid's eyes suddenly reddened. "So you were raised by your Muggle adoptive parents?"

"Yes, Mr. Hagrid." Su Er nodded.

"Sounds like your adoptive parents treat you very well." As he spoke, Hagrid rose, walked to the corner, picked up the bundle of silvery unicorn hair, and set it down in front of Su Er. "Your situation's the exact opposite of Harry's. Ah, that aunt and uncle of his treat him so badly, it's bloody hard to..."

Hagrid stopped halfway through. He realized he shouldn't swear in front of a young wizard.

So he changed tack.

"Take as much as you want."

"I find heaps of this stuff every time I go into the Forbidden Forest!" Hagrid swept his huge hand through the air with a rather heroic air.

At least, that was how Su Er saw it.

"You're such a good person, Mr. Hagrid."

Hagrid answered him with hearty laughter.

Su Er carefully drew a few silvery hairs from the bundle. Hagrid was generous, but Su Er couldn't take advantage of that.

"Go on, take some more. This stuff isn't worth anything," Hagrid reminded him kindly, growing fonder of the young wizard by the moment. "All right, let me get it for you."

Hagrid was truly far too generous. He reached out and grabbed a great handful for Su Er, then thoughtfully tied it together with a small tuft of unicorn hair.

"Thank you, Mr. Hagrid." Holding his little bundle of unicorn hair, Su Er gratefully bid Hagrid farewell.

Now, besides hats and scarves, he might even have enough left over to make some gloves.

But Hagrid merely waved a hand dismissively. "If that's not enough, come and get more!"

"As long as you don't come asking me about what's in that corridor on the fourth floor of the Castle."

"Of course!" Su Er beamed. "Goodbye, Mr. Hagrid."