Chapter 1261 Don't meddle in our family affairs, Potter

Harry couldn't sleep that night.

Whenever he closes his eyes, a figure that grows thinner and thinner always appears in his mind.

He had to go, even if it was just to say a word, even if he was ridiculed or rejected. He couldn't just stand by and watch the tragedy happen like everyone else.

This decision caused Harry both pain and relief.

He knew it was reckless, very un-Gryffindor, or rather, too much of a Gryffindor.

Monday, Potions class.

Harry deliberately waited until everyone left, and until Snape gave him a long-awaited glare, but he still showed no intention of leaving the classroom.

Draco finished packing his textbooks, and Draco reluctantly followed him.

"Malfoy".

Draco's body visibly stiffened, but he didn't immediately retort as he usually did.

He turned around slowly, his voice flat and weary: "What is it, Potter?"

Harry took a deep breath and lowered his voice as much as possible to make sure only the two of them could hear him: "I know where he is. He's at your house, right?"

Draco's pupils contracted sharply, as if he had been pricked by a needle.

He neither admitted nor denied it, but simply pursed his lips tightly.

“Listen,” Harry stepped forward and pulled him aside, “this is an opportunity for your father… or you, to step forward and tell everyone the truth, to tell the Ministry he’s back, to tell them that the live broadcast was real, that he was badly injured and hiding at Malfoy Manor, the only way to get rid of—”

"Get rid of him?" Draco interrupted him abruptly, his voice very soft. "You know nothing, Potter."

Draco looked into the depths of the dungeon, his tone mocking, but not at Harry, but at himself. "You think this is some children's game, where you can just stand up and say 'I'm sorry, I was wrong' and start all over again?"

Harry stepped forward again, meeting Draco's evasive gaze directly. "Look at yourself now. I know you don't want to be controlled by him for the rest of your life!"

These words seemed to strike a nerve. Draco's gaze sharpened, his eyes devoid of anger or arrogance, only filled with unfathomable weariness and fear.

His body was trembling slightly. "My father... our family... there's no turning back now."

He took a step back, distancing himself from Harry. "Don't concern yourself with our family matters, Potter."

There was no threat in his tone; instead, it sounded like a weary plea: "Just pretend... just pretend you didn't see anything, stay away from me. It's better for you and for me."

After saying that, Draco gave Harry no further chance to speak, abruptly turned around, and quickly disappeared around the corner.

Harry stood there, the chill of the dungeon seemingly seeping into his school robes.

He discovered for the first time that verbal abuse was not difficult to deal with; what was truly difficult to deal with was this silent, fear-filled rejection.

They were like a thick, dark mass, leaving him feeling powerless.

A few days later, Hagrid returned.

Harry and Ron ran to the cabin in the Forbidden Forest as soon as get out of class was over, and they couldn't help but exclaim when they saw Hagrid.

His hair was a mess, covered with blood clots, his left eye was swollen into a slit, and it was blue and purple. His face and hands were covered with wounds, some of which were still bleeding.

Hagrid's movements were so careful that it was hard not to suspect he might have broken a rib.

He had clearly just arrived home; a thick black travel cloak was draped over the back of his chair, and a large backpack that could fit several children was leaning against the wall.

Harry gently pushed away the enthusiastic beagle, Fangtooth. "Hagrid, what exactly happened to you?"

Hagrid limped toward the fireplace, placed a copper kettle on it, and said, "I'm fine. Would you like some tea?"

Ron scoffed. "Nothing? Do you look like you're okay?"

“Of course.” Hagrid straightened up, smiled at them, but then immediately winced in pain. “Ah, it’s so nice to see you two. Did you have a good summer vacation?”

After what happened with Draco, Harry became much more sensitive than before.

Hagrid was missing for several months, from summer vacation until after Halloween, and returned covered in injuries...

"Is it a giant?"

Hagrid straightened up instantly, gasping in pain. "Giants? What giants? Who told you it was a giant?"

Harry was right. "You've been looking for giants these past few months?"

Hagrid looked at Harry with his beetle-like eyes, then at Ron.

He snorted, which was taken as an admission.

"The water's boiling," he muttered, getting up and going to the stove to pick up the copper kettle.

Seeing that Hagrid was unwilling to say more, Harry accepted the cup that looked like a teacup from him and remained silent.

He looked at Hagrid's feigned ease, at the undisguised pain on that massive body, but what came to mind was Draco's trembling words to him in the dungeon: "Don't meddle in our family's affairs."

He knew that everyone had secrets they didn't want to tell.

But Ron didn't seem to share that idea, and curiously asked Hagrid all sorts of questions.

Are giants particularly hard to find?

"To be honest, they're not that hard to find, they're big."

"Where are they?"

"In the mountains."

"How come the Muggles didn't notice them?"

"It's not that they didn't die, it's just that their deaths are always attributed to mountaineering accidents, right?"

Hagrid grew impatient with the questions. He walked to the huge wooden table in the middle of the cabin, lifted a tea towel off the table to reveal a piece of raw, bloody flesh, greenish-blue, slightly larger than an ordinary car tire.

"What's this?" Ron leaned closer. "It looks poisonous. You're not going to eat it, are you?"

“I wasn’t planning on eating it.” Hagrid picked up the dragon meat and applied it to his left cheek. Green blood dripped onto his beard. He hummed with satisfaction. “This is actually dragon meat. It has analgesic effects.”

Ron hurriedly retreated.

Undiluted dragon blood does have a strong analgesic effect, but it is certainly not something a wizard's constitution can withstand.

Just then, Harry clenched his fist.

They all need dragon meat to soothe their pain, so Hagrid's search for the giants must be fraught with danger.

Harry's lips moved, but his reason told him not to meddle. Even if he knew, what could he do? Just experience that feeling of helplessness again?

Ron noticed his odd behavior and leaned closer in quietly, "What's wrong? Still thinking about Malfoy?"

Harry nodded and then shook his head. "I'm fine. It has nothing to do with Malfoy, really."

"Malfoy?" Hagrid said sternly. "Harry, has that brat been bullying you again?"

Ron's eyes widened. "Hagrid, you don't know anything about the Malfoys?"

Hagrid removed the dragon meat from his face. "I don't know what happened after I left. I have a secret mission and don't want owls following me everywhere."

Harry looked pained after hearing the words "secret mission".

Even if he doesn't ask, Hagrid will inadvertently reveal most of the details.

……

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