Chapter 321 Hagrid's Invitation

Anthony left Umbridge's office confused, even a little angry with himself for the confusion. He felt that he should have known what Umbridge was talking about, but in fact he had only spent half an hour in that office and still did not understand the meaning of those meaningful words and smiling threats. What's the meaning. To alleviate this dissatisfaction, he opened his drawers and decided to spend more time with those amiable parchments.

A few days later, Umbridge had a round of talks with all the professors.

Antony hears that she almost fired Professor Trelawney. The two of them had a big fuss on a certain staircase until Fawkes suddenly appeared on the scene with a flash of fire and dropped a letter from Dumbledore. After reading the letter, Umbridge left with an ugly face ("Not that she didn't look ugly sometimes," Professor Bubbaji said harshly), leaving only a hysterical Professor Trelawney. , Professor McGonagall who tried to comfort her, and Professor Flitwick who hurried over.

Professor Kettleburn eagerly awaited his pink slip, but received nothing. Accordingly, it seems that Lockhart was almost fired by Umbridge, or so was the rumor among professors. Either the letter that protected Trelawney also protected him, or he used his grace and - perhaps - superb defense against the dark arts to make Umbridge put aside her past discord. But of course no one would be ignorant to ask him.

And this is what Anthony heard from his colleagues afterwards. When all this was happening, he was immersed in the research materials on flesh and blood magic, concentrating on his studies.

If the note from Hagrid hadn't disrupted his study plans, perhaps he would have learned how to make Professor Kettleburn's prosthetics behave like real ones before Umbridge found a way to fire people again. Of. The note read:

The zoo is about to be built. There's something I want to show you. You can come over tonight if you want.

Hagrid

This suddenly woke Anthony up from his peaceful study rhythm. He did not wait until night, but rushed to Hagrid's cabin in the afternoon, almost without paying attention to the tall grass, yellow or purple wildflowers, or the squirrels that quickly escaped from the rustling grass.

"Hagrid?" He knocked on the door. "Hagrid, are you home?"

He heard a dog barking from behind the door, but it soon became quiet again. Heavy footsteps. The door creaked open.

"Oh, Henry!" Hagrid looked a little surprised, "Why are you here?"

"Didn't you ask me to come here?" Anthony asked, "That note? You told me that the zoo was about to be completed -"

"Hush!" Hagrid said fiercely, looking left and right, "Come in, come in...it's still a secret, Henry..."

Anthony had no choice but to follow in: "What do you want me to see, Hagrid?"

The room looked almost exactly as he remembered it. The warm warm wind blew through the half-opened window, causing the dried hams and the like to slowly sway. A slightly deformed wooden chair was placed next to the stove, water was boiling in a large iron teapot, and a ball of slightly yellowed dough was placed on the counter.

Hagrid was wearing an apron and was covered in flour. Yaya happily came over and sniffed Anthony's open palm with his wet nose while wagging his tail. Hagrid grabbed its collar and pulled it away. He motioned for Anthony to sit on a chair, then walked to the edge of the sink and washed his hands.

"You need to wait for me for a moment - I'm baking rock cakes!" He proudly announced as he placed a cup of tea in front of Anthony. "You can eat as much as you want later!"

"Oh... that's great," Anthony said, determined to leave before the rock pie was baked.

Hagrid hummed and worked for a while, and finally put all the cake dough into the oven. He took off his apron, put his big hands under the faucet, and asked loudly amidst the sound of running water: "So, you want to see the zoo, Henry?"

"No, I came here because your note asked me to come here." Anthony also raised his voice, "You said you had something you wanted to show me."

"Oh, that!" Hagrid said suddenly, "But, didn't I tell you to come back at night? They are more interesting at night..."

"Who?" Anthony asked.

Hagrid turned off the faucet and suddenly looked a little uneasy.

"You know, the zoo is about to be built..." He rubbed his big hands, "They agreed to let Lu Wei see the back door, but this way, the gate will lack a guard..."

Anthony said: "A name, Hagrid, tell me its - or their - name. What will our lovely zoo gatekeeper be?"

"I haven't had time to name them yet," Hagrid said, "but I asked you to come here so you could pick one."

"What?"

"Pick one as a gift, if you like it..." Hagrid said a little shyly, "I think you will like it. It can be kept in the zoo with its companions. You just have to come and see it from time to time. It won’t cost you too much energy.”

Anthony asked with worry: "Isn't it a fire dragon egg?"

"What? No." Hagrid said, "I'm not the kind of guy who would send dragon eggs everywhere, but I guess I didn't send you many things. Well, it did cause you a lot of trouble." He laughed ("You're welcome." Anthony also laughed), "Anyway, I'll show you first... Professor Kettleburn and Professor Flitwick both think this is a good idea... "

He bent down, looked into the oven, took another half piece of ham for Yaya, and then led Anthony out of the door.

They walked straight towards the Forbidden Forest - Anthony made sure there was no trace of Umbridge nearby - passing through lush lawns and muddy paths. The surrounding trees became more and more dense and their shapes became more and more weird. It's getting colder all around. A few bird calls lingered faintly in the dense forest. Anthony followed Hagrid step by step, regretting not informing Professor McGonagall in advance.

"Did you keep them next to the Acromantula?" Anthony couldn't help but ask as he emerged from a thorny bush.

"No, next to the Chimera." Hagrid said naturally. "Aragog said he was allergic to these things, and that they eat small spiders."

They walked for a while. The sound of leaves and branches beneath their feet only made the woods seem even more silent. The sunlight could not penetrate the layers of leaves above their heads, so it was extremely dark in the forest. Hagrid's lantern shook and creaked, casting dark shadows around them.

Suddenly, Hagrid stopped.

"Here we are," he said, holding the lantern high. "Look, that hut belongs to the Chimera, and Professor Kettleburn said they'd better stay here for the time being... Leave them alone... Here, here It’s something I want to show you.”

In the light of the lantern, Anthony saw that the enclosure before him was crowded with some strange, magical creature. They were furry, big and round, up to five or six feet tall, like some kind of giant fur balls. Besides that, they were barking.

A fur ball stuck its nose out from the bottom of the fence and sniffed in the direction of their shoes. Its nose is pointed and long, covered with thick, stubby hair. Suddenly, a long tongue stretched out, vigorously dug into the soil, got into the mud, quickly picked up bugs and other things, and then put it back into its mouth. Furball hummed a few times with satisfaction and barked again.

"What do you think of the name 'hairy-nosed dog'?" said Hagrid. "Or 'furball dog'? 'worm-eating ball'? 'velvet-tongued dog'?"

"Both are good." Anthony said, watching a ball of fur rolling over another ball with difficulty and moving to the other end of the fence.

Hagrid said happily: "They are very good, aren't they? It took me a lot of effort to cultivate them..."

"You bred them, Hagrid?" Anthony said, "Awesome! How could you even think of bred these -" He didn't know how to point out that this kind of creature slightly did not meet Hagrid's usual aesthetic standards, so he could only vaguely say He stretched out his hand and gestured towards the fence.

"Oh, they're cute, aren't they? I knew you'd love them!" Hagrid said proudly.

"Really, they are really good." Anthony agreed, "By the way, is it legal to privately breed magical animals?"

"Of course, they are not dangerous. These guys," Hagrid patted the fur ball closest to him, "have a very good temper..."

All the hair on the fur ball he photographed suddenly stood up, and it seemed twice as big for a moment. Then, the light-colored hair suddenly tightened again, clinging tightly to its body, outlining the shape of a cone. Shape-shaped head and slender body. The next moment, accompanied by the sound of retching, a large mouthful of dark purple mucus spurted out from the fur ball's mouth, corroding the fence until it made a sizzling sound, and black smoke came out one after another.

Anthony stepped back slightly to avoid challenging the pool of slime that was still slowly spreading with his shoes. Only then did he realize that the ground was glowing with an abnormal purple color, almost showing a metallic luster under the dim light of the portable lamp. There was not a blade of grass nearby, and Anthony now thought that this might not be due to some magic that built the fence.

"If it were at night, they would be more worth seeing." Hagrid said with a little regret. "When you feel the moon coming out, their mucus will turn silvery white, and it will corrode faster, and their teeth will also Get sharper...pick one, Henry!"

"No, thank you, Hagrid," said Anthony politely, "Let's get going. I think they'd make suitable gatekeepers." If they were really legal.

Hagrid said happily: "Do you really think so? I think so too!"