Chapter 197
On the first day of school, something big happened at Hogwarts.
That afternoon, during the Care of Magical Creatures class for the third-grade wizards, which was also Hagrid’s first class as a professor, an accident happened...
The rain last night had stopped long ago, and at one o'clock in the afternoon, the sky was very clear.
The grass under their feet was soft and damp. The little wizards chattered on the grass and walked toward the northeast of the castle, preparing to take their first Care of Magical Creatures lesson.
Harry, Ron and Hermione were all looking forward to this class because they were all friends of Hagrid and were sincerely happy that Hagrid could become a professor at Hogwarts.
However, as they walked on the road, they soon saw three very familiar figures walking in front of them. The thin one in the middle and the strong ones on both sides were Malfoy and his two followers.
Only then did the three of them realize that this lesson on the Protection of Magical Creatures was taught by students from Gryffindor and Slytherin Houses, and their minds couldn't help but feel a little gloomy.
At this time, Malfoy was talking to Crabbe and Goyle with a teasing smile on his face. The two of them were giggling and looking silly.
Harry didn't have to think twice to know what they were laughing at.
Ever since he learned about Harry's "record" of being fainted by the dementors last night, Malfoy had been obsessed with it. He would tell Crabbe and Goyle every few minutes, and would imitate it from time to time. He looked like he was about to faint.
As for the way he was so frightened and trembling when he saw the dementors yesterday, he had instinctively forgotten all about it...
Not far from the Forbidden Forest, Hagrid was standing by the door of his hut, waiting for his students.
He was wearing a moleskin coat, stamping his feet from time to time, holding a textbook in his hand, and the hunting dog Ya Ya was wagging his tail at his feet.
"Come on, little guys, hurry up!" When the students gradually approached, he shouted in a loud voice, "I have something good for you today! A very exciting lesson will come soon!" Is everyone here? Okay, come with me!"
This was Hagrid's first class as a professor. He was very eager to express himself and prove his abilities in front of students. At the same time, he could verify Dumbledore's vision and reduce the complaints of individual parents.
In fact, Hagrid's qualifications were not enough to serve as a professor of Care of Magical Creatures.
As early as his third year, he was expelled from Hogwarts for a crime that did not belong to him, and has dropped out of school ever since. This is exactly what the young Lord Voldemort, Tom Riddle, framed Hagrid for.
A suspect with a crime cannot be a professor at Hogwarts.
More than fifty years ago, Riddle was leading the basilisk to cause trouble in Hogwarts. He misunderstood Salazar Slytherin's wish and wanted to teach those marrow wizards a lesson.
He himself did not expect that the basilisk actually accidentally killed a little witch named Myrtle.
In order to prevent the castle from closing due to the failure to catch the real culprit, Riddle, who did not want to return to the orphanage, blamed the incident on Hagrid, who secretly raised an Acromantula.
Principal Dippet at the time fired Hagrid. If it hadn't been for the strong protection of Dumbledore, who was then the vice-principal, Hagrid would have spent the rest of his life in Azkaban.
From then on, Hagrid became a loyal fan of Dumbledore.
In fact, even if there was no death, the fact that Hagrid raised him privately in Hogwarts Castle was enough to get him expelled. That was the case with Newt back then.
However, after the Basilisk was captured by Dracula, the mystery of the secret room was solved.
Dumbledore teamed up with Newt, the best magical zoologist in the world, and bribed Myrtle, the victim in ghost form, with a secretly made handsome portrait of Dracula. The three of them jointly came forward to vouch for Hagrid. , completely freeing Hagrid of his previous crimes.
After his charges were cleared, Dumbledore officially hired Hagrid as a professor of Care of Magical Creatures at Hogwarts on the grounds that he had been dealing with magical animals for many years and had sufficient knowledge of magical animals.
Since then, Hagrid has completely turned over. As long as there are no big problems in his subsequent teaching, it will not be a big problem to keep his status as a professor!
…
Hagrid led the third-grade wizards to walk along the edge of the forest. Five minutes later, they were outside a paddock-like place, and the wizards looked around curiously.
"Everyone, come to this fence!" He suddenly shouted, "Yes, stand like this... stand where you can see. Now, the first thing you have to do is to open the book..."
"How do you open it?" Draco Malfoy said in his cold, drawling voice.
"Huh?" Hagrid was stunned for a moment.
"How are we going to open the book?" Malfoy repeated dryly.
He pulled out his Care of Magical Creatures textbook, The Monster Book of Monsters.
At this point, the book has been tied up with a rope. Others also took out books, some tied their books with string like Malfoy, others put the book in a strong bag or clamped it with a large clamp.
Since the professor of Care of Magical Creatures this year has been replaced by Hagrid, he also wants to change the textbooks for this class to give the students some special experiences.
As a result, "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" written by Newt, which had been used for many years, was honorably retired, and "The Monster Book of Monsters" became the textbook for a new generation.
To a certain extent, this book can be said to be the best in the history of textbooks - the one that least bothers students.
It's a beautiful book with a green cover and a gold title printed on it. But its ferocity is completely different from its beauty.
This kind of book can run back and forth on its own, and likes to bite people with the fangs that come with the book. It is even possible that the two books can work together to tear another book into pieces.
The owner of Flourish and Blotts Bookstore, who has been cooperating with Hogwarts for many years, couldn't stand it anymore. He vowed that if this book is still there next school year, he will not buy it directly, otherwise he will not only bear the risk of being bitten, but also bear the responsibility of two copies. The loss of a torn book...
This is really not something that ordinary bookstores can afford!
"No... no one can open this book?" Hagrid said, looking at the tightly tied books in front of him, looking a little downcast.
Both Gryffindor and Slytherin students shook their heads.
"Actually, just take a look at these books." Hagrid said matter-of-factly, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world, "Look..."
He took Hermione's book and tore off the tape binding it. This book was originally meant to bite people, but Hagrid's index finger slid from top to bottom on the ridge of the book, and the book immediately changed from fierce to trembling, and then he silently opened it.
"Oh, how stupid we are!" Malfoy still said sarcastically, "We should pick up these books! Why didn't we think of that!"
"I...I think these books are very interesting." Hagrid said hesitantly.
"Oh, that's so interesting!" said Malfoy. "How clever to give us books that make us want to tear our hands off!"
"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry said quietly.
He hoped that Hagrid's first lesson would be successful, or at least go smoothly without being disrupted by Malfoy.
"So...then you all have books...oh...now all you need are magical creatures," Hagrid said. He seemed to have lost his mind and was stumbling over his words. "Yes, I'm going to find the magical animals I want to show you. Wait a moment."
He left the students and walked straight into the Forbidden Forest. After a while, no one could be seen.
"Merlin, this place is going to hell," Malfoy said loudly, trying to attract people's attention in a grandiose manner. "This is a fool's teaching. If I tell my father, he won't get angry-"
"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry interrupted again.
"Be careful, Potter, there's a Dementor behind you!" Malfoy shot back not to be outdone.
…
Not long after, Hagrid came back with twelve strange-looking magical animals.
These magical animals have the body, hind legs and tail of a horse, but their front legs, wings and head seem to be those of an eagle. At the same time, they also have steel-colored sharp beaks and bright orange eyes.
The claws on their front legs are half a foot long, extremely sharp and look deadly. Each beast's neck was covered with a thick layer of feathers, and attached to it was a long chain, the ends of which were held in Hagrid's big hand.
Hagrid followed the animals slowly out to the paddock.
"Get over there!" He shook the chain, called the animals to come to the fence where the class was standing, and tied the guys to the fence.
"Hippogriffs!" Hagrid excitedly waved a hand and introduced to the little wizards, "They are beautiful, aren't they?"
Indeed, the first sight of this half-horse, half-bird creature is a shock, but once the shock wears off, it's easy to admire its shiny fur, which smoothly transitions from feathers to fur, each in its own different colours. : Dark gray, bronze, pinkish sand, shiny chestnut, and finally jet black, so beautiful.
Immediately afterwards, Hagrid began to teach the students how to show respect to the Hippogriff and gain their trust.
Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had not attended the class. They were quite dissatisfied with Dumbledore for making Hagrid, a big man who was very close to the Harry trio, a professor, and they were always trying to find ways to sabotage the class.
But after Harry successfully gained trust, rode a hippogriff, and was carried by it for a week around Hogwarts Castle, Malfoy finally couldn't hold back his mood.
In fact, he was not the only one who couldn't hold back his excitement. The other little wizards also got encouragement from Harry and walked into the paddock cautiously one by one.
Hagrid untied the chains one by one, and soon there were nervous bows everywhere in the paddock.
Neville fled from his chosen hippogriff several times, as the animal seemed unwilling to bend its knees; Ron and Hermione each bowed to a maroon hippogriff. , Harry, who had already experienced it all, watched from the side.
Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle chose Buckbeak, whom Harry had ridden, as their practice subject.
Buckbeak was a hippogriff with a pretty good character. He was the first to bow to Malfoy, trying to gain his respect.
However, Malfoy only saw the result of Harry riding Buckbeak, but not the process of him gaining respect.
The three little wizards Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle didn't listen at all. Malfoy patted Buckbeak's beak very arrogantly, with a look of disgust, completely violating the hippogriff's taboo.
"It's easy," Malfoy drawled, unaware of the danger, loud enough for Harry to hear, "If Potter could do it, I know it would be extremely easy... I bet you a little bit. It’s not dangerous either. Is it?”
He looked at Buckbeak mockingly and said, "Aren't you in danger, you big ugly beast?"
A dangerous light flashed in Buckbeak's eyes, and his steel-gray claws swung out violently.
Malfoy suddenly let out a shrill scream. Seeing that the situation was not good, Hagrid immediately put Buckbeak, who was still struggling to pounce on Malfoy, back into his collar.
Malfoy, who had narrowly escaped death, huddled up in a ball on the grass, with blood stains on his robes.
"I'm going to die!" Malfoy shouted in panic, which made all the little wizards panic. "I'm dying, look...it's killing me!"
His words were actually quite funny, but combined with the blood on the ground, they looked quite scary.
"You're not going to die!" Hagrid said, his face extremely pale. "Someone help me... I have to carry him from here to the school infirmary!"
Hermione ran to open the door and Hagrid easily lifted Malfoy's slim body.
As they passed, Harry saw a deep, long gash on Malfoy's arm, with blood flowing onto the grass.
Hagrid held him up with one hand and hurried up the slope towards the castle.
The students in Care of Magical Creatures were shocked and followed behind. The students at Slytherin Hall shouted bad things about Hagrid.
"They should fire him immediately!" Pansy Parkinson shouted, with tears streaming down her face.
She had always considered herself Draco Malfoy's pure-blood girlfriend, and she began to feel distressed when she saw Malfoy being hurt.
"But this is clearly Malfoy's fault!" Gryffindor's Dean Thomas retorted sharply.
The two big men, Crabbe and Goyle, flexed their muscles threateningly and faced off against the little wizards of Gryffindor.
Harry, Ron and Hermione had no time to pay attention to the nonsense of the students of Slytherin House, got rid of them and returned to Gryffindor Tower. They were extremely worried about Hagrid, but didn't know what to do to help him.
"You think he'll be okay?" Hermione asked nervously.
"Of course it'll be fine. Madam Pomfrey can sew up the wound in about a second," Harry said.
As a frequent visitor to the school infirmary, Harry had seen the head nurse miraculously heal him from much more serious wounds.
"But it's too bad that something like this happened in Hagrid's first lesson, isn't it?" Ron said, looking worried, "Malfoy will definitely make a mess..."
…
As expected, Malfoy was unwilling to be injured like this, so he wrote a letter and sent it home the same day he was in the school infirmary.
During the school board meeting over the weekend, Lucius Malfoy stormed into the Hogwarts school board meeting room aggressively...
…
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