Chapter 63 The Death of Rupert

On the penultimate day of the Christmas vacation, the weather outside was very bad. The strong winds rolled up the white snow, and it was so cold that people shivered.

Just as Wright walked out of the dormitory and went to the long table in the auditorium to eat breakfast as usual, he suddenly received a letter from Hagrid.

The crumpled parchment letter was covered with messy scrawls, and there were clusters of dark ink stains on the paper, making the contents of the letter even more difficult to decipher.

Dear Wright:

Rupert died last night. Wright, when you gave me that little dragon egg, I thought that Rupert would stay with me for the rest of my life like a tooth... You know what Rupert means to me. . It would mean a lot to me if you could come to the funeral today at noon, his favorite time of day. I didn't want to ask this, but I couldn't face it alone.

Hagrid

Wright put down the spoon in his hand, rolled the parchment letter into a roll and stuffed it into the Mock bag. Instead of going to the Room of Requirement on the eighth floor like before, he planned to go to Hagrid's cabin to comfort this big man who was rough on the outside but fragile on the inside.

Wright still remembered that he and Rupert had met several times at Hagrid's last month. Although Rupert showed a loss of appetite and shaky appearance at that time, he did not expect that it would not be long after the New Year. , it died directly.

Wright braved the snow and walked quickly towards Hagrid's cabin.

…

"Light, you're here." Hagrid walked to the door and opened it, saying in a hoarse voice.

"Hagrid is sorry to hear this news." Wright, who was outside the door, took a step forward and hugged Hagrid's belly.

Hagrid sobbed loudly. He looked disheveled and his eyes were red and swollen from crying.

"Where have you placed Rupert's body now? And where are you going to bury it later?" Wright asked, his voice coming from Hagrid's belly, sounding a little muffled. .

"I'm going to bury it next to my hut." Hagrid gently pushed Wright away, and then wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with his sleeve. "We can't bury it in the forest. Some animals will kill its body there." Dig it up and eat it; you can't bury it by the lake, Rupert never liked it there..."

As he spoke, Hagrid's voice became lower and lower, and then he began to sob again.

Wright patted his forearm and said, "Hagrid, let's dig a hole for it to bury now."

"I have already dug its grave, but I think we should wait for noon to arrive," Hagrid choked, "Wright, please come in and sit for a while."

Hagrid's voice was interrupted, and he led Wright into the wooden house while blowing his nose with a large handkerchief.

When Wright walked in, he discovered that two people were already sitting in the wooden house, Harry and Ron. The two of them were sitting around the big table in the room. Rupert's body was placed on a piece of rough white linen on the table. The flame on its tail that would never go out was now It was gone, just lying motionless on the table coldly.

The expression on Ron's face was similar to Hagrid's. Among the many students who knew Hagrid well, Ron and Rupert had the deepest relationship. Ever since he discovered that Hagrid had this little Charmander from Japan, Ron would always run towards Hagrid's cabin to visit Rupert every now and then.

Harry also had a sad expression, but compared to Ron, the relationship between him and Rupert was much weaker.

The four people sat in silence in the wooden house for a long time.

until

"Let's get started..." Hagrid said in a slightly trembling voice.

Wright walked out of the cabin first, followed closely by Harry. Hagrid picked up the piece of linen with Rupert on the table, and Ron helped him outside. The four of them braved the snow and walked into the yard behind the wooden house, where the grave Hagrid dug for Rupert was. In less than a morning, the cave was already half full due to heavy snowfall.

Wright's wand slipped from his hand and cast a blaze of flames at the hole. After a while, all the snow in the cave melted away. Then Wright cast another magic to dry all the wet soil in the hole.

"Thank you, Wright." Hagrid said intermittently, and the beard on his face was already covered with a lot of snowflakes.

Wright said nothing, but patted Hagrid's arm comfortingly.

Hagrid knelt down and gently placed Rupert's body on the ground. After carefully wrapping it in white linen, Hagrid gently pushed the linen cloth, and the linen cloth immediately carried Rupert with him. They fell to the bottom of the pit together.

Hagrid let out another sob.

Wright waved his wand, and the soil that had been piled aside immediately rose up, and slowly poured into the pit as he moved. Wright didn't stop until a smooth mound formed.

Then Wright conjured up a smooth stone slab and erected it on the mound.

"Okay, Hagrid," Wright turned the wand back into a bracelet, and then said to Hagrid, "Let's go in now!"

Wright supported Hagrid, and Harry supported Ron. The four of them returned to the table in the wooden house and sat down together. Yaya, who had been hiding in the corner of the room during the funeral, quietly came over and curled up at Wright's feet.

"Wright, what should we do now?" Harry asked Wright with his mouth. Now Ron and Hagrid were more depressed than the other, and they would probably cry after a while.

"Wait a moment," Wright responded softly.

Wright stood up and scanned around the room. After a while, he found the place where Hagrid usually kept his wine. Wright waved to the wine barrel, and the barrel quickly and silently floated this way.

When he opened the lid and smelled it, a strong smell of butterbeer hit Wright's nose.

Wright poured the wine from the barrel into Hagrid's bucket-sized cup, "Hagrid, drink some wine to warm yourself up first!"

After conjuring up a small wooden wine glass and pouring some wine into it, Wright handed the wooden glass over to Ron: "Ron, you can have some too."

Hagrid picked up the wine glass and poured it directly into his mouth, while Ron sipped it in small sips.

After the drinks in their glasses were all empty, Wright cast a refilling spell on the two glasses, and the glasses were immediately full.

Hagrid muttered something inaudible, then picked up the cup again and drank it all in one gulp. This time, Ron imitated Hagrid and drank all the butterbeer in the cup. After finishing the last drop of wine in the cup, a strange flush appeared on Ron's face. After a burp full of alcohol, Ron fell down on the table.

Hagrid drank glass after glass while Light refilled it again and again. It wasn't until two hours later that Hagrid put down his glass of wine, put his head on the table, and started snoring loudly.

Wright waved to Harry, and the two quietly opened the door together with Ron, who was still sleeping. After coming from the warm wooden house to the cold outdoors, the comatose Ron suddenly woke up with a startle, and then he struggled to break free from Harry's support.

At this time, the blizzard outside had stopped. When the three of them returned to the castle, they found that many students had returned to school early today.

For example, Hermione and Chang Chu were sitting at the long table in Ravenclaw, smiling and looking towards the three of them.