The Fool in Hogwarts

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"This house is already quite decent." Vade surveyed the room. "It may be small, but it has everything one needs."

"I mean no offence, but can this really be called a house?"

"Why not? A house doesn’t have to be a luxurious manor." Vade spoke with complete seriousness, but his gaze happened to fall upon a sack filled with silvery hair.

A thought immediately occurred to him. Hagrid lived beside the Forbidden Forest, which was home to countless magical creatures. Their fur, roots, branches, leaves, and even venom could all fetch excellent prices in Diagon Alley.

Perhaps Hagrid secretly possessed more wealth than anyone else at Hogwarts.

"Forgive me for asking, but is that unicorn tail hair?"

"Yes. It’s extremely strong, so I use it to tie bandages around injured animals."

"Bandages?" Daphne’s eyes widened in confusion. "You use unicorn tail hair as bandages?"

"Is there a problem?"

"No. No problem."

Daphne could not understand it, but she was deeply impressed.

A small bag of unicorn tail hair could sell for ten Galleons. The sack Hagrid possessed must have been worth well over a hundred.

In other words, he was not poor at all. Why, then, did he live in such a cramped wooden hut? Was this some peculiar habit of wealthy people?

"All right, let’s get to the point.

"I’m busy. What exactly did you come to see me about?"

Daphne looked at Vade. Vade shrugged and opened the pouch under Hagrid’s puzzled gaze.

A ball of fur squeezed out of the palm-sized pouch and grew into an imposing griffin.

Griffin was now the size of a calf. After emerging, it flapped its gold-and-white wings, shook its neck, and stretched its body.

"Gallopin’ Gorgons!" Hagrid swallowed involuntarily, his eyes fixed firmly on Griffin. "I’ve never seen this breed of griffin before."

"His name is Griffin."

"He’s adorable." Daphne stared at his golden fur, her eyes practically sparkling. "Can I stroke him?"

"Of course." Vade gave Griffin a meaningful look.

The young griffin reluctantly walked over to Daphne and allowed her to stroke its fur.

"It feels lovely, but my hand is starting to tingle."

"Griffin," Vade said irritably. "Daphne is a good friend of mine. Besides, you should be polite to girls."

"Oh? My hand isn’t tingling any more." Daphne looked surprised. "Did he just do something?"

"He was protesting, but he’s stopped now."

Hagrid could no longer restrain himself. He stood, walked over to Griffin, and extended his enormous hand.

"Don’t."

Vade hurriedly tried to warn him, but he was already too late.

Crackle!

Blue arcs of electricity flashed across Griffin’s body. The moment Hagrid touched him, his entire body convulsed from the shock, and he staggered several steps backwards before regaining his balance.

"What was that? I’ve never heard of a griffin using lightning." Hagrid spoke through chattering teeth, but he quickly realised the answer. His eyes gleamed. "Is he a mutated griffin?"

"More or less." Vade neither confirmed nor denied it. "Besides being a griffin, Griffin has an unusually strong affinity with lightning and can control it to some extent."

"That’s extraordinary." Hagrid became even more interested. "Where did you find him?"

"Yes, where did you find him?" Daphne asked as the question occurred to her as well. "Don’t tell me you bought him. Mutated magical creatures are extremely valuable. No one would willingly sell one."

"When I bought him, he was still an egg," Vade explained with an awkward smile. "The seller was completely wrapped in robes, so I couldn’t see what he looked like.

"He seemed eager to get rid of it. I performed a divination to confirm that there was nothing wrong with the egg, then bought it for one hundred Galleons."

He had made the story detailed enough that no one should be able to find a flaw in it.

"What? You too?" Hagrid blurted out.

The next moment, he covered his mouth, but both Vade and Daphne had already turned to stare at him.

"Too?" The corner of Vade’s mouth twitched. He felt as though he had walked straight into a trap. "Did you also buy a magical creature’s egg for one hundred Galleons?"

"Was the seller also completely wrapped in robes?" Daphne asked meaningfully.

Hagrid nodded, then shook his head. "The seller was in a hurry to get rid of it, and he was completely wrapped up, but I didn’t pay for it."

"That’s unfair."

"There’s nothing unfair about it. He lost it to me in a game of cards."

"I never expected Hogwarts to gain two new magical creatures this year." Daphne suddenly felt exhausted. "Griffin may be classified as an XXXX magical creature, but he listens to Vade and won’t casually hurt anyone.

"But if your egg contains something so dangerous that you might not be able to control it, then you..."

"I can control it. I can," Hagrid said incoherently.

"At least tell us what kind of egg it is."

Hagrid’s gaze lingered on Griffin for several seconds. He was about to answer when Vade interrupted him.

"Wait. It’s probably better if you don’t tell us." Vade explained to Daphne, "Sometimes, knowing too much only causes trouble.

"We should pretend we know nothing. Then, even if something goes wrong in the future, it won’t have anything to do with us."

Daphne blinked playfully. "What do you mean, pretend we know nothing? We genuinely know nothing."

"Exactly. That’s right."

Hagrid quietly sighed in relief. He was confident that he could tame the young of any magical creature, but that did not mean anyone else would share his confidence.

His was a dragon egg, and dragons were classified as XXXXX creatures by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Their destructive power was far beyond anything a griffin could match.

"Hagrid, you’ve seen Griffin.

"I’ve only raised him for a few weeks, but he’s already grown this large, and he’s eating more every day.

"If I delay any longer, I genuinely won’t be able to keep him hidden. That’s why I want to leave him in your care for the time being."

"No problem. No problem at all," Hagrid agreed readily.

As someone who loved magical creatures, he did not consider this a burden in the slightest. In fact, he could hardly have asked for anything better.

He had raised Hippogriffs before, but never a griffin. The former were classified as XXX, while griffins were XXXX. This one was even a mutated specimen with an affinity for lightning. How could he possibly refuse?

"Thank you, but I should make a few things clear first.

"Griffin likes meat. Until he can hunt independently, you must not let him go hungry.

"Also, you can’t keep him inside all the time. He needs to run and fly freely."

"Don’t worry." Hagrid thumped his chest confidently. "I’m an expert when it comes to raising magical creatures. Even Scamander has praised me."

"You mean Newt Scamander? Is he still alive?"

"Of course. He occasionally visits the Forbidden Forest to see some old friends."

"Really?" Vade raised an eyebrow. "The next time that great magizoologist visits, please make certain you tell me. I’d like him to examine Griffin.

"You understand. After all, he isn’t an ordinary griffin."

(To be continued.)