Chapter 244 Poor Hagrid, being manipulated

Fred was the first to take out a piece of parchment from his pocket, with the words "Fred Weiss - Hogwarts" written on it.

He walked confidently to the edge of the age line and stood there, tiptoeing like a diver preparing to jump from a fifty-foot platform.

Then, with every eye in the hall watching, he took a deep breath and crossed the line in one fell swoop.

For a moment, everyone present thought Fred had succeeded——

George obviously thought so too, so he shouted triumphantly and jumped forward into the age line with Fred.

However, both of them rejoiced too soon.

There was a hissing sound like electricity passing through, and the twins were immediately thrown out of the golden circle, falling painfully on the cold stone ground ten feet away.

And it wasn't just physical pain, they were also mentally humiliated.

With a loud popping sound, identical long white beards appeared on the chins of the two people, just like the beard on Dumbledore's chin, which looked particularly funny on the two young faces.

The little wizards in the foyer roared with laughter. Even Fred and George couldn't help laughing when they saw each other's white beards.

"I warned you." said an amused voice.

Everyone turned their heads and saw Dumbledore walking out of the auditorium, Dracula walking side by side with him, both of them with expressions of laughter on their faces.

"I understand, this age line must have been drawn by Professor Dracula!" After Fred and George saw Dracula, they suddenly said, "The only way to make us grow beards is so disgusting. He can do it!"

The smile on Dracula's face immediately dropped, the corners of his mouth twitched, and then he glanced at Dumbledore beside him.

"So this is how I look in your eyes?" He said with a serious face.

"Isn't it?" George said wittily, "Didn't we ask you a few days ago if there was any way to bypass the stipulated age? In the end, you asked us two to think about it. You probably wanted to see us make a fool of ourselves at that time. !”

Fred nodded in approval, "Sure enough, Professor Dracula just wanted to satisfy his own evil taste, so he didn't tell us how to crack it."

Dracula's face turned completely dark.

"You two think you are very smart, right?" He sneered, "But have you ever considered...if I want to make you look bad, I still have to wait until today?"

Dracula snapped his fingers.

The white beards on Fred and George's chins that originally hung down to their chests suddenly grew again, extending from their chests to the soles of their feet, then wrapped around their backs and around their calves, wrapping the two people into two knots. Solid white mummy.

"Professor, we were wrong!" Fred's grunting voice came from his white beard that looked like a big cocoon.

"We know we were wrong, Professor!" George also shouted depressedly, "Let us out quickly, we are going to be out of breath..."

However, Dracula made it clear that he wanted to give the two people some punishment and had no intention of paying attention to them. He turned around and left the foyer, returning to the auditorium.

After Dracula left, Dumbledore coughed twice and waved his wand.

A hole opened in the huge discolored cocoon that enveloped Fred and George, revealing their faces.

The twins held their breath for a long time, and finally got a chance to breathe again, breathing heavily.

"Mr. Weiss, to tell you the truth, you really guessed wrong this time." Dumbledore looked at the two of them with a smile and said happily, "This age line was indeed arranged by me. Professor Gula has nothing to do with it.”

Fred and George stared at Dumbledore dumbfounded, completely unaware that the respected old headmaster had such a wicked side.

"Why do powerful professors have so many weird interests?" Fred whispered.

"Is it true that only people with unusual interests can possess powerful magical power? Then I will have to find some unusual interests to cultivate in the future..." George also muttered.

Dumbledore actually heard the whispers between the twins, and his expression became a bit dumbfounded.

"Don't think too much. Growing a gray beard is just a small punishment for trying to cross the age line." He said, "If you try to use an age-increasing agent to cross the age line, the age line will automatically reduce the effect of the age-increasing agent. It’s magnified dozens of times on your body.”

"Of course, it won't really make you older, it will only make some changes in your appearance."

He looked at Fred and George and winked at them, "As for now, I suggest you both go to Madam Pomfrey's."

"Mrs. Pomfrey is already nursing Miss Fawcett of Ravenclaw and Mr. Summers of Hufflepuff, who are also determined to grow a little older. But I must say, he Their beards are far less beautiful than yours."

Fred and George set off for the school infirmary, and Lee Jordan accompanied his two roommates, laughing all the way.

Not seeing the excitement, the other little wizards also walked into the auditorium to have breakfast while giggling.

As the morning before Halloween, the decoration of the auditorium has changed again.

A large group of distinctively dressed bats were flying around the enchanted ceiling. It looked like they were summoned by Professor Dracula. At the same time, there were hundreds of little figures made of withered pumpkins, squinting at everyone from every corner of the auditorium.

Harry, Ron and Hermione walked towards Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan, both fourth-year Gryffindor students. The two of them were discussing those Harrys over the age of seventeen who might participate in the Tournament. Classmate Gwartz.

"Someone said Warrington got up early in the morning and put his name in," Dean told Harry. "It's that big guy from Slytherin who looks like a sloth."

Harry once played Quidditch against Warrington. The big guy could commit fouls better than Fred and George, and he was much more violent.

After hearing what Dean said, he shook his head in disgust, "We can't let a Slytherin become a Hogwarts warrior!"

"Everyone in Hufflepuff is talking about Digory," Seamus said beside him, "but in my opinion, a guy with a handsome face like Digory definitely has nothing worthy of praise for his strength. "

"Cedric is still very good, at least he plays Quidditch well..." Harry wanted to say a few more words, but found that Ron had covered Seamus' mouth with a look of horror on his face.

"How dare you say this!" Ron lowered his voice and said, "Didn't you realize that Professor Dracula is also what you described? And Fred and George once told me that Cedric was Professor Dracula's favorite. s student."

Dean and Seamus immediately closed their mouths, not daring to breathe out.

They cautiously glanced at the professor's seat and were slightly relieved when they found that Professor Dracula had not noticed.

"Listen!" Hermione said suddenly.

Loud cheers suddenly came from the foyer outside the auditorium.

Everyone turned around in their seats and saw Angelina Johnson walking into the auditorium, grinning a little sheepishly.

Angelina is a very good chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team and has a good relationship with Harry, Fred and George.

She walked straight to Harry, sat down and said, "I was so nervous that I mustered up the courage to put my name in!"

"Are you kidding me!" Ron looked very surprised.

"So, are you seventeen?" Harry asked.

"It goes without saying that you didn't see a beard, right?" Ron said gloatingly, "Although I don't know if girls will grow beards if they use age-enhancing drugs..."

…

After breakfast, Harry, Ron and Hermione prepared to visit Hagrid together.

When they walked out of the auditorium door, they met the Beauxbatons students head-on.

These guests from France were coming in through the front door from the entrance courtyard, and among them was the girl who looked like a Veela. The young wizards who were still crowding around the Goblet of Fire stepped back to let them pass and watched eagerly.

"Look, Ron, the Veela you've been thinking about forever." Harry tugged on Ron's arm.

Ron immediately looked over eagerly, and Hermione next to him took two steps away from him in disgust.

Madame Maxime followed her students into the hall and ordered them to line up. One by one, Bushbottom's students crossed the age line and threw their parchments into the blue-white flames.

As each name was thrown into the flames, the flames quickly turned red and sparked.

"Tell me, what will happen to those who are not chosen?" When the girl who looked like a Veela threw her note into the Goblet of Fire, Ron asked Harry in a low voice, "They return to themselves. School, or stay here to watch the game?”

"I don't know," Harry said, "I guess she'll stay... Madam Maxime will still be a referee here, won't she?"

"So... where are they sleeping?" Ron said, taking a few steps towards the front door and looking at their backs, "Maybe they will want to borrow the Gryffindor common room..."

The mystery of where the Beauxbatons students slept was soon revealed.

When they approached Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the huge pink-blue carriage Beauxbatons arrived in had stopped about five hundred feet away from the main entrance of Hagrid's hut. Beauxbatons The students are getting into the carriage one by one.

The elephant-sized Pegasus pulling the carriage were grazing in a makeshift paddock next to the carriage.

Harry knocked on Hagrid's door, and the deep barking of the hound's teeth was immediately heard in the room.

"Finally here!" Hagrid opened the door and said, "I thought you little guys had forgotten where I live!"

"We are too busy, Ha-" Hermione was halfway through her sentence when she suddenly paused and looked up at Hagrid, speechless in surprise.

Hagrid was wearing his best, but also not very good-looking, shaggy brown suit, paired with a yellow and orange plaid tie.

That's not the worst of it, though: He'd apparently tried to straighten his hair out, using a lot of machine grease and stuff like that.

Now Hagrid's hair was combed back smoothly - maybe he originally planned to let his long hair hang loosely on his back like Dracula, but found that he had too much hair, so he tangled it a little, and it became tangled. Got a broom...

This look obviously didn't suit Hagrid.

Hermione stared at him blankly for a moment, then decided not to comment so as not to hurt Hagrid's pride.

"Hmm...I heard that you successfully cultivated a few blast-ended snails?" she asked.

At the same time, Hermione glared at Ron in time to stop him from speaking... Ron kept staring at Hagrid's weird hairstyle and was about to open his mouth to make a comment.

…

Harry and the other three little wizards stayed in Hagrid's shack until evening.

At about half past five, it was getting dark, and they felt it was time to return to the castle to attend the Halloween banquet, and more importantly, to attend the announcement ceremony of the warrior candidates of each magic school.

"I'll go with you." Hagrid stood up and put aside the half-eaten rock biscuit in his hand. "Wait for me for a while."

He walked to the chest of drawers next to the bed and started looking for something in it.

Harry and the others didn't pay much attention at first, but they didn't realize the seriousness of the matter until a particularly unpleasant smell penetrated their nostrils.

"Hagrid, what does that smell like?" Ron asked, coughing violently.

"Huh?" Hagrid turned around, holding a big bottle in his hand, "Don't you like it?"

"Like it?" Harry choked, "I thought it was a low-quality essence prepared by Neville in Potions class."

"Is it the moisturizing perfume you put on after shaving?" Hermione guessed a little closer and asked in a strangled voice.

"Well...actually this is cologne," Hagrid muttered, his face turning red. "I probably spilled it too much. I'll wash it off and wait..."

He walked out of the hut with heavy steps, and Harry and the others saw him washing his face desperately in the bucket outside the window.

"Cologne?" Hermione looked at Harry and Ron in surprise, "Is he really Hagrid, not Malfoy?"

"And what's going on with the hair and suit?" Harry asked in a lower voice.

"Look!" Ron said suddenly pointing out the window.

Hagrid straightened up and turned around, his face as red as a big apple.

Harry and Hermione looked through the window and saw Madame Maxime and the Beauxbatons students just getting out of the carriage, apparently preparing to attend the banquet.

They couldn't hear what Hagrid was saying, but his expression was entranced and his eyes were misty as he talked to Madame Maxime. He had never had such an expression before.

"It turns out Hagrid is going to the castle with Madame Maxime!" Hermione said angrily, "He just said he would come with us!"

Hagrid didn't even look back at his cabin before he walked across the grounds with Madame Maxime with heavy steps.

The Beauxbatons students followed, jogging to keep up with their long strides.

"He's in love with her!" Ron said in disbelief. "Ah, if they have children in the future, they will definitely set a world record - I dare say each of their children weighs a ton!"

Hagrid left them behind, and the three of them had no choice but to leave the shack by themselves and help Hagrid close the door.

Just as he was walking up the slope leading to the castle, Harry suddenly saw a familiar figure appearing next to him, looking with interest in the direction in which Hagrid and Madam Maxime were leaving.

"Tsk, tsk, poor Hagrid, being played by Maxim." The figure chuckled.

…

…