Chapter 381 Exclusive news, you are not ready yet, are you?
In early January, the Wizards who had gone home for Christmas returned to Hogwarts.
The first class of the new semester was Care of Magical Creatures. Gryffindor and Slytherin went to Hagrid's hut with their respective books.
But this time there were no Blast-Ended Skrewts on the grounds, and their substitute teacher had changed. It was an elderly Witch with short, grey-white hair and a very prominent chin.
"Where has Hagrid gone?" Harry asked.
"He... is a bit unwell," the Witch said, frowning slightly. "Dumbledore has arranged for me to substitute temporarily. You can call me Professor Grubbly-Plank."
Professor Grubbly-Plank led the students to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where a beautiful Unicorn was tethered under a tree.
"Wow!"
"She's so beautiful."
"How did she do it? Unicorns are very hard to catch."
The students exclaimed in admiration, and many of them felt a greater sense of approval for this temporary Professor. This is what Care of Magical Creatures should be!
They didn't deny Hagrid's knowledge of magical creatures, but Blast-Ended Skrewts were simply no match for Unicorns.
"Boys, step back!" Professor Grubbly-Plank snapped. "Unicorns prefer a female touch. Girls can approach it carefully, making sure to relax."
The girls, led by the Professor, enthusiastically approached one by one, while the boys were left by the stables, where the Beauxbatons' winged horses huddled together against the bitter cold.
"What do you think happened to Hagrid?" Harry asked Ron. "It couldn't be an accident with the Blast-Ended Skrewts, could it?"
"Definitely not," Aaron said. "Hagrid is a professional when it comes to raising magical creatures. Cerberus and Acromantula couldn't do anything to him.
Blast-Ended Skrewts aren't even as tall as him. To harm him, they'd need the ability!"
"I actually know a little bit about that," Draco said gleefully.
"You didn't really get Lucius to find a way to replace the Care of Magical Creatures Professor, did you?!" Harry looked at him coldly. "What's the reason this time?"
"Don't get me wrong, while I'd love for him to be fired, this really has nothing to do with me this time." Draco pulled out a copy of The Daily Prophet from his pocket. "Look at this, and you'll understand."
Aaron took the newspaper, and after only two lines, the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily. "So she got her hands on him. No wonder we have a different Professor."
"Who got her hands on him?" Ron asked curiously.
"Rita Skeeter, the most unscrupulous and unethical reporter," Aaron shrugged, then handed the newspaper to Ron.
Dumbledore's Major Blunder... Mad-Eye Moody as Defense Against the Dark Arts Class teacher... but compared to the Care of Magical Creatures Professor, he's considered amiable... Rubeus Hagrid, expelled from Hogwarts in his third year, managed to secure the Care of Magical Creatures position for himself among many qualified contenders... The newspaper then mentioned Draco being injured by a Hippogriff, Crabbe being bitten by a caterpillar, and the dangerous Blast-Ended Skrewts, but what was most shocking was Hagrid's background, a half-Giant.
"This is just too... disgusting!" Ron said with a strange expression. "Half-truths are one thing, but exaggerating that little bit of truth countless times."
"I have to admit, Skeeter does have some skill," Aaron sighed. "She even dug up Hagrid's mother's name.
Fridwulfa, I bet Hagrid never told you that name."
"Of course not, why would he tell us his mother's name for no reason?"
"That's not important. What's important is that half-Giants don't have a good reputation in the magic world, plus dangerous magical creatures like Blast-Ended Skrewts... I think that idiot's teaching career is over," Draco said with a smug laugh.
"You're probably overthinking it," Aaron said dismissively. "Don't forget, this newspaper will at most make Hagriduncomfortable for a while. Once the fuss dies down, he'll naturally resume teaching."
"No way, right?" Draco frowned in dissatisfaction. "The Daily Prophet has slandered him like this, and he can still continue teaching?"
"Why not?" Harry said eagerly.
"I wasn't asking you, Potter."
"The Daily Prophet has slandered Fudge, and he's still the Minister for Magic. It slandered Dumbledore, and he's still the Principal of Hogwarts. It slandered Arthur Weasley, and he's still employed at the Ministry of Magic. It also slandered Harry Potter, and he's still doing just fine.
Don't forget, Dumbledore is the Principal, and his relationship with Hagrid is not ordinary. Do you think he would fire Hagrid because of an unrealistic newspaper report?
And Hagrid has been the gamekeeper for decades. It can be said that nearly all Hogwarts students in recent decades know him inside and out, and they can all vouch for Hagrid."
"This..." Draco opened his mouth, feeling speechless.
Harry and Ron exchanged glances, giving Draco a defiant look.
"Someone's plans might not come true."
"You two can just secretly rejoice!" Draco said with a look of disdain. "At least you don't have to face those disgusting Blast-Ended Skrewts anymore."
The two looked at each other and lowered their heads awkwardly.
Although they didn't want to admit it, what Draco said was true. Between a Unicorn and a Blast-Ended Skrewt, anyone with a sound mind would choose the former... Hagrid was greatly affected by the newspaper report and locked himself in his house for over half a month without seeing anyone.
It wasn't until the end of January that he decided to resume teaching after Dumbledore's repeated persuasion and comfort.
After Hagrid returned, he no longer made the students feed the Blast-Ended Skrewts. Instead, he continued teaching about Unicorns, following Professor Grubbly-Plank's lesson.
As the gamekeeper, his understanding of Unicorns was no less than anyone else's.
When two pure golden young Unicorns were brought before everyone, almost all the students could not hide their excitement and joy.
"Ahem! Foals are easier to spot than adult Unicorns. They turn silver around two years old, start growing horns at four, and only turn pure white after reaching adulthood.
Also, foals have no defensive instincts and won't dislike boys.
If you'd like, you can come over and pat them or feed them a sugar cube."
For a moment, everyone gathered around the foals, looking at them with great interest. The girls were excited, and the boys were also deeply attracted by their adorable appearance.
Abe snorted softly and turned his face away in dissatisfaction.
Aaron patted his head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, understanding that Abe was displeased at being overshadowed by two Unicorn foals.
"You are a Saint Dragon. If you spread your wings, you would definitely crush them, but it's not time for you to reveal yourself yet."
Hearing this, Abe slowly nodded, glanced disdainfully at the two Unicorns, and decided not to bother with them.
Time passed day by day, and soon it was mid-February.
Harry's progress, however, was not smooth. He, Ron, and Hermione searched the library whenever they had free time, looking for a way to allow him to breathe underwater for an hour.
But they searched all the magic books related to water and found nothing.
Hermione even got a pass from Professor McGonagall for the Restricted Section, but even those ancient spells didn't cover underwater breathing.
"There must be a way, there must be," Hermione kept encouraging herself. The magic books beside her were stacked over a meter high, but she continued to flip through them.
"We weren't even this serious when we were looking for Nicolas Flamel," Ron yawned, rubbing his sleepy eyes. "Hermione, as much as I don't want to say this, books don't necessarily have the answers to all problems."
"But the answer to the second task must be found in books," Hermione said very seriously. "They can't design a competition that's impossible to pass.
You've seen Krum practicing diving these days; there must be some magic that can help him."
"He's a Durmstrang student!" Ron said, exasperated. "Karkaroff is practically unconditionally biased towards him. Maybe he taught him advanced Durmstrang magic, you never know.
Fleur is the same; Madame Maxime must have taught her special Beauxbatons magic."
"What about Cedric?" Hermione retorted. "Dumbledorecertainly didn't teach him, did he!"
"But his father is the Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures at the Ministry of Magic. He knows quite a few spells."
"Indeed, compared to them, I have almost no advantage," Harry said with a bitter expression.
"You can ask someone for help!" Ron said meaningfully. "Didn't Professor Moody give you an idea once before?"
"I can't!" Harry shook his head. "I asked Professor McGonagall. She said that in the Triwizard Tournament, you can't ask others for help; everything depends on the Champion themselves.
I don't know if Professor Moody would help me a second time, but I know he definitely can't cast a spell on me before the competition."
"Actually, there are other ways," Ron hesitated, pointing to Aaron, who was writing and drawing in the corner.
"This... isn't quite appropriate, is it?" Hermione said with a troubled expression. "We still have time; it's not a desperate situation yet."
"How much time? Two days?" Ron said, exasperated. "At this point, besides him, only Cedric might be able to help Harrybreathe underwater."
"Don't mention Cedric to me," Harry said coldly.
"You understand the situation. We have no other choice. We can't just watch Harry drown in the lake, can we?"
Hermione was still hesitant, and Ron continued, "We're not asking him to directly help Harry, just to ask him for the method. We can handle the rest ourselves, right?!"
"I'll go ask," Harry sighed, then walked cautiously towards Aaron.
"Um... this... " Harry stammered, unsure how to begin. After all, he always asked Aaron for help whenever something came up. Once or twice was fine, but too many times, and the debt of gratitude would be hard to repay.
Aaron raised an eyebrow as he looked at Harry Potter, who couldn't even speak properly. He then shifted his gaze to Hermione and Ron, and seeing the tall stacks of books beside them, he seemed to understand why Harry was looking for him.
"Oh! Don't tell me you haven't prepared for the second task yet."