Old Blood at Hogwarts

Aaron was feeling sorry for what happened to Neville, when he suddenly heard Harry next to him shout: "Ouch! Oh...thank you, Hedwig..."

But Harry also had a letter.Because he was distracted by Neville's roaring letter and delayed in answering it, he was pecked by his owl Hedwig.

By this time Harry had torn open the envelope and inside was a note.

Aaron and Ron went over to look at it together, and saw it read;

Dear Harry and Ron:

Would you like to have tea with me tonight around six o'clock?

I will come to the castle to pick you up. Wait for me in the hall. You are not allowed to leave the castle on your own.

Hagrid

"He probably wants to hear something about Black!" said Ron.

"Can I go with you?" Aaron said next to him.As Ron said, Hagrid most likely came to Harry to tell him something about Black.Aaron doesn't want to miss any opportunity to obtain information about Blake.But Hagrid didn't invite him in his letter, so he could only ask Harry and Ron if they could take him along.

"Of course," said Harry, "I think Hagrid would love to meet you."

At six o'clock that evening, Aaron, Harry and Ron left the Gryffindor tower, ran past the dwarf security guards, and headed straight to the front hall.Hagrid was already there waiting for them.

"Hello, Hagrid!" said Ron, "I suppose you want to hear about Saturday night, don't you?"

"I've heard it all," Hagrid said.

"Oh." Ron looked a little downcast.

"Do you mind if I go have tea too, Hagrid?" Aaron asked.Although Harry and Ron had already agreed, Aaron thought it would be better to consult the host of the invitation.

"Of course not," Hagrid said, opening the door and leading them out of the castle.

The first thing they saw when they entered Hagrid's hut was Buckbeak, lying on Hagrid's patched sheets, his huge wings folded tightly at his sides, enjoying a plate of dead ferrets.Aaron, who deliberately avoided looking at the unpleasant sight, saw hanging on Hagrid's wardrobe door an enormously large furry brown suit and a hideously ugly yellow and orange tie.

"What are these things for, Hagrid?" Aaron asked.

"Buckbeak's case before the Dangerous Creatures Committee will be heard this Friday," Hagrid said. "He and I are going to London together. I have booked two berths on the Knight Bus..."

Only then did Aaron realize that Buckbeak's trial date was so close. Many things that had happened during this period had made him completely forget about it.Judging by the looks on Harry and Ron's faces, they'd forgotten too.

Hagrid poured them tea and treated them to a plate of Bath fruit bread.

"I have something to discuss with you." Hagrid sat down between Ron and Harry, looking very serious, which was very different from his usual attitude.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked.

"Hermione," Hagrid said.

"What's the matter with her?" Ron asked.

"She's in normal condition. That's the problem. She's come to see me many times since Christmas, and she keeps saying she's lonely. First you ignored her because of the Firebolt, and now you don't talk to her. Because of her cat-"

"-Eat Scabbers!" Ron interrupted Hagrid angrily.

"Because her cat did what all cats do," Hagrid continued stubbornly. "She cried several times, you know. She's having a hard time now. She bites off more than she can chew, and if you If you ask me, there's so much she wants to do. Still finding time to help me prepare Buckbeak's case, you know... she got me some really useful information, and I think Buckbeak now has a chance Won the case..."

"Hagrid, we were supposed to help you too - sorry -" Harry began to say awkwardly.

"I don't blame you!" Hagrid ignored Harry's apology. "God knows you have a lot of things to do. I saw you training on the Quidditch pitch day and night - but I must tell you You guys, I think you should put your friends before broomsticks and rats. That's what I'm saying."

Harry and Ron looked at each other uncomfortably.

"Blake almost stabbed you, she was worried, Ron." Hagrid continued, "She has a conscience, Hermione does, and you two won't talk to her..."

"I'll talk to her if she gets rid of that cat!" said Ron angrily. "But she still defends it! It's a crazy cat, but she won't hear a bad word said about it!"

"Ah, well, people can be a little silly when it comes to their pets," Hagrid said wisely.Behind him, Buckbeak spat several schnapps bones onto his pillow.

"Hagrid," Aaron said now, "what can you tell us about Black?"

"Black? Why do you want to know about him?" Hagrid asked.

"You see, Blake has entered the castle twice without alerting anyone," Aaron said. "Who knows if he will come a third time. If we can know more about him, , maybe we can know how he entered the school?"

"Okay." Hagrid said, "I remember his situation at Hogwarts. He and Potter... uh..." At this point, Hagrid suddenly stopped and looked at Harry in a panic.

Harry sighed, "I already know he and my dad used to be good friends, Hagrid."

"How do you know?" Hagrid was a little surprised. "Well, since you already know, I'll tell you straight away. Yes, he and Potter were good friends in school. Both of them are very smart. He was also a troublemaker. I think only Fred and George could compete with them in that regard. If you had told me back then that he would be like this, I would have told you that you drank too much. Of all the people who have fallen into villainy, Sirius Black is the one I least expected to do so..."

Afterwards, Hagrid told some trivia about Black's school days, mostly about how Sirius Black and Harry's father, James Potter, got into trouble.These things didn't help much in how to find Blake, but they gave Aaron a rough idea of ​​what kind of person Blake was when he was a student.

After hearing what Hagrid had to say, Aaron came to understand why he was so surprised that Sirius Black had turned evil.Because judging from Blake's behavior as a student, he really doesn't look like a bad person.Although he likes to cause trouble, he is sincere, brave, and kind, somewhat like a mixture of the twin brothers Harry and Weasley.However, people always change.Maybe Blake was indeed a good person when he was a student, but when he grew up, he obviously changed something.

In the following time, they discussed the possibility of Gryffindor winning the Quidditch Cup.At nine o'clock, Hagrid sent Aaron, Harry and Ron back to the castle.They returned to the common room and found a large crowd gathered in front of the notice board.They quickly craned their necks and looked at the bulletin board.

"Hogsmeade, next weekend!" Aaron read the new notice and said to Harry and Ron beside him.

"What are you going to do?" Ron asked Harry calmly as they sat down.

"Well, Filch didn't do anything with the road to Honeydukes, did he?" Harry's answer was calmer.

"Harry!" Suddenly they heard someone whispering to the right.

The three of them were startled and looked around, seeing it was Hermione.She was sitting at a table behind them, clearing the stack of books that covered her.

"Harry, if you go to Hogsmeade again...I will tell Professor McGonagall about the map!" Hermione said.

"Did you hear anyone talking, Harry?" Ron growled without looking at Hermione.

"Ron, how could you let him go with you?" Hermione continued, "Not long after Sirius Black almost turned against you! I mean what I say, and I'm telling..."

"Okay, then you want Harry to be expelled!" Ron said angrily, "Haven't you caused enough trouble this year?"

Hermione opened her mouth to reply, but Crookshanks gave a low cry and jumped into her lap.Hermione glanced at Ron in fear, picked up Crookshanks, and hurried back to the girls' dormitory.

"So, how about that?" Ron said to Harry, as if no one had ever interrupted them. "Come on, there were a lot of things you didn't see last time we were there. You didn't I’ve been inside Zuko’s store!”

Harry looked around to make sure no one could hear what they were saying.

"Okay," he said, "but this time I'm going to bring the invisibility cloak."

"Can I go too?" Aaron also asked at this time.Aaron wanted to go to Hogsmeade. On the one hand, he thought Black might be hiding there, and on the other hand, he was really curious about Hogsmeade.

"You know," Ron said, "Students under third year can't go to Hogsmeade."

"Oh, I never knew you were such rule-abiding people." Aaron teased.

Harry and Ron were immediately speechless.Speaking of which, it was against the rules for Harry to go to Hogsmeade.Harry and Ron were obviously incapable of asking others to comply with the rules when they themselves had broken them.

Harry and Ron looked at each other and said, "Okay. Then you can hide under the cloak with me."

"That's not necessary." Aaron said, "I have a way to hide myself."