Chapter 633: Hagrid's Past
"Hagrid?!
"He’s right … you’re all right. I’ve been stupid … my old dad would have been ashamed of the way I’ve been behaving..." More tears leaked out, but Hagrid wiped them away more forcefully, and said, "By the way, I’ve never shown you a picture of my old dad, have I? Here…"
Hagrid got up, went over to his dresser, opened a drawer, and pulled out a picture of a short wizard with Hagrid’s crinkled black eyes, beaming as he sat on top of Hagrid’s shoulder. Hagrid was a good seven or eight feet tall, judging by the apple tree beside him, but his face was beardless, young, round, and smooth … he looked hardly older than eleven.
Seeing this photo, Evan turned more skeptical of how Hagrid's mother had been pregnant with him.
Hagrid's father was very short, and compared with the giant, the ratio was too big, even bigger than Evan had imagined before!
"That was taken just after I got into Hogwarts,” Hagrid croaked. “Dad was dead chuffed … he thought I might not be a wizard, you see, because my mum … well, anyway. Of course, I never was great shakes at magic, really … but at least he never saw me expelled. He died, you see, in my second year … soon afterwards, I was expelled from school..."
"Dumbledore was the one who stuck up for me after Dad went. He got me the gamekeeper job … he trusts people, he does. He gives them second chances … that’s what sets him apart from other Headmasters, you see. He’ll accept anyone at Hogwarts, as long as they’ve got the talent. He knows people can turn out okay even if their families weren’t … well … all that is respectable. But some don’t understand that. There’s some who’d always hold it against you because of your origin…”
Hagrid was right. Bloodline theory had always been very popular in the wizarding world.
Pure blood wizards were born noble. They occupied the mainstream of the magic society and looked down on mixed blood wizards and Muggle-borns.
The Muggle-born wizards hated this, but they in turn discriminated against wizards such as werewolves, mixed-race giants, and other non-human magic creatures.
Strict laws had been enacted to limit their development and facilitate their exploitation. It was like a pyramid with a strict hierarchy, one layer at a time.
Descent and origin between different wizards and magical species created an insurmountable natural gap.
In a sense, except for a few pure blood wizards, the vast majority of wizards were victims.
But they were also perpetrators, continuing to discriminate against wizards and magical creatures that were humbler than their own lineage and origins.
In the past, this concept completely protected the magical inheritance and saved the wizards from the persecution of Muggles.
But nowadays, this concept of decay and backwardness had limited the rapid development of the wizarding world and should be stopped and abandoned.
"They’ve always been like that. There’s some who’d even pretend they just had big bones rather than stand up and say… I am what I am, and I’m not ashamed. ‘Never be ashamed,’ my old dad used to say, ‘there’s some who’ll hold it against you, but they’re not worth bothering with.’ And he was right. I’ve been an idiot. I’m not bothering with her no more, I promise you that. Big bones … I’ll give her big bones!"
Evan, Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at one another nervously. Because of the excitement, Hagrid continued to talk non-stop.
Even if they were killed, everyone would not admit that they actually knew what he and Madame Maxime talked about. Evan and Hermione were there.
What Hagrid said at first was inspiring, but then it was a little baffling!
It seemed that Hagrid had a deep grudge against Madame Maxime!
Although the results were somewhat different from those expected, this matter was finally solved!
Apart from Slytherin’s students, most people didn’t care if Hagrid was a half-giant.
Everyone was very happy that he was able to go back to school, although it was also because he changed the course content.
Whether Hagrid was trying to make up for the Blast-Ended-Skrewts, or because there were now only two skrewts left, or because he was trying to prove he could do anything that Professor Grubbly-Plank could, they didn’t know, but Hagrid had been continuing her lessons on unicorns ever since he’d returned to work.
It turned out that Hagrid knew quite as much about unicorns as he did about monsters, though it was clear that he found their lack of poisonous fangs disappointing.
The second week, Evan saw two unicorn foals Hagrid had managed to capture and brought to the third year Care of Magical Creatures class.
Unlike full-grown unicorns, they were pure gold and very rare. The girls went into transports of delight at the sight of them.
"These babies turn silver when they’re about two years old," Hagrid told the class. "And they grow horns at around four. They don’t go pure white till they’re full grown, around about seven. Thry’re a bit more trusting when they’re babies … they don’t mind boys so much. Come on, move in a bit, you can pat them if you want and give them a few of these sugar lumps...”
In the classroom, all the students went up and touched the unicorns one by one, and everyone was very excited.
At the same time, everyone's impression of Hagrid had changed greatly.
Life on campus was calm again, and the next thing to consider was to help Ron through the second task.
After Christmas, the date of the task was very close!
Harry and Hermione reminded Ron regularly, but he did not make any substantial progress with the Golden Egg.
Although he studied every day, Ron did not completely focus on it.
In addition to the daily classes, he and Lavender were getting together longer and longer.
The two of them sneaked out in the evenings, dated around the castle and looked for empty classrooms, almost every day.
Ron and Lavender were making rapid progress. They were both very open and relaxed in this respect, which made Evan very envious.
In the evenings, he and Hermione could not be alone together; and they could not be together all day. Forget about an empty classroom like Ron and Lavender; they spent almost all their time in the library.
Only when they returned to the Common Room a late-night snack could they say a few ambiguous words of mutual affection, very plain, but happy and sweet.
That was enough to satisfy Evan, but if it was to go beyond that, he would not object.
Chapter 633: Hagrid's Past
"Hagrid?!
"He’s right … you’re all right. I’ve been stupid … my old dad would have been ashamed of the way I’ve been behaving..." More tears leaked out, but Hagrid wiped them away more forcefully, and said, "By the way, I’ve never shown you a picture of my old dad, have I? Here…"
Hagrid got up, went over to his dresser, opened a drawer, and pulled out a picture of a short wizard with Hagrid’s crinkled black eyes, beaming as he sat on top of Hagrid’s shoulder. Hagrid was a good seven or eight feet tall, judging by the apple tree beside him, but his face was beardless, young, round, and smooth … he looked hardly older than eleven.
Seeing this photo, Evan turned more skeptical of how Hagrid's mother had been pregnant with him.
Hagrid's father was very short, and compared with the giant, the ratio was too big, even bigger than Evan had imagined before!
"That was taken just after I got into Hogwarts,” Hagrid croaked. “Dad was dead chuffed … he thought I might not be a wizard, you see, because my mum … well, anyway. Of course, I never was great shakes at magic, really … but at least he never saw me expelled. He died, you see, in my second year … soon afterwards, I was expelled from school..."
"Dumbledore was the one who stuck up for me after Dad went. He got me the gamekeeper job … he trusts people, he does. He gives them second chances … that’s what sets him apart from other Headmasters, you see. He’ll accept anyone at Hogwarts, as long as they’ve got the talent. He knows people can turn out okay even if their families weren’t … well … all that is respectable. But some don’t understand that. There’s some who’d always hold it against you because of your origin…”
Hagrid was right. Bloodline theory had always been very popular in the wizarding world.
Pure blood wizards were born noble. They occupied the mainstream of the magic society and looked down on mixed blood wizards and Muggle-borns.
The Muggle-born wizards hated this, but they in turn discriminated against wizards such as werewolves, mixed-race giants, and other non-human magic creatures.
Strict laws had been enacted to limit their development and facilitate their exploitation. It was like a pyramid with a strict hierarchy, one layer at a time.
Descent and origin between different wizards and magical species created an insurmountable natural gap.
In a sense, except for a few pure blood wizards, the vast majority of wizards were victims.
But they were also perpetrators, continuing to discriminate against wizards and magical creatures that were humbler than their own lineage and origins.
In the past, this concept completely protected the magical inheritance and saved the wizards from the persecution of Muggles.
But nowadays, this concept of decay and backwardness had limited the rapid development of the wizarding world and should be stopped and abandoned.
"They’ve always been like that. There’s some who’d even pretend they just had big bones rather than stand up and say… I am what I am, and I’m not ashamed. ‘Never be ashamed,’ my old dad used to say, ‘there’s some who’ll hold it against you, but they’re not worth bothering with.’ And he was right. I’ve been an idiot. I’m not bothering with her no more, I promise you that. Big bones … I’ll give her big bones!"
Evan, Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at one another nervously. Because of the excitement, Hagrid continued to talk non-stop.
Even if they were killed, everyone would not admit that they actually knew what he and Madame Maxime talked about. Evan and Hermione were there.
What Hagrid said at first was inspiring, but then it was a little baffling!
It seemed that Hagrid had a deep grudge against Madame Maxime!
Although the results were somewhat different from those expected, this matter was finally solved!
Apart from Slytherin’s students, most people didn’t care if Hagrid was a half-giant.
Everyone was very happy that he was able to go back to school, although it was also because he changed the course content.
Whether Hagrid was trying to make up for the Blast-Ended-Skrewts, or because there were now only two skrewts left, or because he was trying to prove he could do anything that Professor Grubbly-Plank could, they didn’t know, but Hagrid had been continuing her lessons on unicorns ever since he’d returned to work.
It turned out that Hagrid knew quite as much about unicorns as he did about monsters, though it was clear that he found their lack of poisonous fangs disappointing.
The second week, Evan saw two unicorn foals Hagrid had managed to capture and brought to the third year Care of Magical Creatures class.
Unlike full-grown unicorns, they were pure gold and very rare. The girls went into transports of delight at the sight of them.
"These babies turn silver when they’re about two years old," Hagrid told the class. "And they grow horns at around four. They don’t go pure white till they’re full grown, around about seven. Thry’re a bit more trusting when they’re babies … they don’t mind boys so much. Come on, move in a bit, you can pat them if you want and give them a few of these sugar lumps...”
In the classroom, all the students went up and touched the unicorns one by one, and everyone was very excited.
At the same time, everyone's impression of Hagrid had changed greatly.
Life on campus was calm again, and the next thing to consider was to help Ron through the second task.
After Christmas, the date of the task was very close!
Harry and Hermione reminded Ron regularly, but he did not make any substantial progress with the Golden Egg.
Although he studied every day, Ron did not completely focus on it.
In addition to the daily classes, he and Lavender were getting together longer and longer.
The two of them sneaked out in the evenings, dated around the castle and looked for empty classrooms, almost every day.
Ron and Lavender were making rapid progress. They were both very open and relaxed in this respect, which made Evan very envious.
In the evenings, he and Hermione could not be alone together; and they could not be together all day. Forget about an empty classroom like Ron and Lavender; they spent almost all their time in the library.
Only when they returned to the Common Room a late-night snack could they say a few ambiguous words of mutual affection, very plain, but happy and sweet.
That was enough to satisfy Evan, but if it was to go beyond that, he would not object.
