The formal dignity of a headmistress quietly melted from her face.
In its place came a sincere smile.
She lowered her head, looking at Hagrid, who was only a little shorter than she was.
"Professor Hagrid."
She praised him, her voice low and resonant.
"This truly is... a remarkable innovation. So full of vitality."
Hagrid felt as though a bolt of happiness had struck him, leaving him so delighted he could barely find his tongue.
The bell rang for the end of class.
Hagrid insisted that everyone stay where they were while he personally counted every Blast-Ended Skrewt and egg in every breeding box, one by one.
Some students had previously tried to take these immature delicacies out of the greenhouses.
And he noticed the way those French girls looked at the Blast-Ended Skrewts.
Their initial curiosity had already turned into something... like the look of someone appraising a priceless treasure at a top auction house.
Pheobe looked at the Blast-Ended Skrewts with their shimmering shells and murmured something in French to the companions beside her.
"Barbaric, but... undeniably tempting."
The crowd dispersed.
Madame Maxime walked up to Hagrid, her towering figure looking particularly well matched beside him.
She looked at him, a rare, sincere smile without a trace of polite formality appearing on her face.
"Professor Hagrid," she said, "you... are just as full of unexpected surprises as your animals."
With that, she turned and elegantly boarded the carriage with her students.
Hagrid stood rooted to the spot.
He felt petrified.
Utterly petrified by an immense, burning emotion called happiness.
In Douglas's office.
Sirius had his legs propped on the desk and the cigar that could never be lit between his lips, his expression one of utter disbelief.
"Well, I'll be damned."
He tossed a sheet of parchment onto