days at Hogwarts

Chapter 550 Hagrid's Traces
Ben Nevis mountainside.

Loren stretched and crawled out of the tent. They had stayed up all night the night before and set up camp and went to bed as soon as the moon rose. Hermione was also a little tired, so she slept soundly - in his arms.

I just woke up earlier than him and got up early.

Outside the tent, hot milk, bread and fried bacon were placed on the deformed stone dining table. It was not a rich breakfast, but considering that this was camping in the wild, it was good to be able to eat steaming food.

Hermione was standing in the open space next to her, wearing a denim jacket and jeans. The fitting fabric outlined her graceful curves. In front of her was a ball of clear water summoned by [Clear Water Like a Spring], which she simply wiped with a wet towel.

When he slowly sauntered over to her side and reached out to hug her waist, Hermione conveniently stuffed the wrung-out towel into his hand:
"You have your own toothpaste and toothbrush. Hurry up and wash up. After breakfast we will set out to catch up with Hagrid."

"Oh."

Loren squeezed the wet towel and grinned.

You know, she woke up earlier than me before, and would wait silently for me to wake up before getting up together.

Since leaving Number 12 Grimmauld Place, they had been forced to have close contact for several nights in a row due to various special circumstances. Before, the little witch did not react because she was thinking about the affairs of the giant tribe and Hagrid's safety. But as she had a basic understanding of the affairs of the giant tribe and the Death Eaters were also put into jars by them, Hermione seemed a little shy.

Being shy is good. Shy little girls are the most interesting.

Her face is red, and she will panic and look away when someone accidentally looks at her.

He loved seeing Hermione being shy...

While Loren was washing and brushing his teeth, he talked to Hermione: "Um... this morning in the tent, I seemed to see you writing something in your notebook..."

"Record the situation of the giant tribe. I think the situation of the house elves and the giants is similar."

"Minister Granger is wise."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him: "You've obviously woken up a long time ago, why are you still lying in bed in the tent?"

"Don't stay in bed late? How can you eat the breakfast made by Minister Granger if you don't stay in bed late?" Loren put away the toothpaste and toothbrush, unfolded the towel in his hand, and wiped his face happily.

"..."

Hermione's eyelids twitched a few times, her cheeks flushed, and she turned her head away without looking.

A few minutes later, the two sat on the stone table and chairs to enjoy breakfast.

The milk and bread were both ready-made in the pendant. The bacon was slightly burnt. Loren didn't know what Hermione used to fry it. He didn't want to find out. It was good enough to eat it. He praised while eating:

"This milk is really nice, it's neither too cold nor too hot... This bread is also nice, it tastes like bread... This bacon is also nice, I like it a little burnt."

"Shut up."

"Oh."

Loren was silent for a few seconds, until he swallowed the bread in his mouth and the previous conversation, and then he spoke again: "Remind me to feed the hamster in the jar after breakfast. If the two Death Eaters did not die in the duel, but starved to death in the glass bottle, they will definitely become ghosts and come back to haunt us."

"When did I become a hamster?" Hermione caught the blind spot.

"Yesterday afternoon, I thought the ferrets were too big, so I turned them into hamsters."

Hermione nodded. "How much food should I feed, a hamster's food or an adult's food?"

"Just throw in a few crumbs of bread. Peter Pettigrew has lived as a mouse for so many years. If he eats the amount of food an adult eats every day, Mrs. Weasley would have noticed something was wrong long ago."

"..."

Hermione glanced at him.

I suspect you are saying something bad about Mrs. Weasley, but I have no proof.

After breakfast, the two people threw some bread to the hamsters in the jar, and put them into the storage scales without carefully checking whether they ate it or not.

Half an hour later, the two men ran through the dense woods in the direction Hagrid left.

Loren's speed was not slow. The levitation spell covered his body, and he explored while floating.

It was easy to find the direction of Hagrid and Grawp. After all, there were rarely footprints larger than a human in the woods, and they stretched all the way with almost no interruption.

This is already on the mountainside, the temperature is much higher than on the top of the mountain, the soil and climate are very suitable for plant growth, the trees in the forest are lush, and there are many signs of various animal activities, the most conspicuous of which are the giant's footprints.

It was difficult to find them in the previous territory of the giant tribe, because the giants had almost trampled down the surrounding land, and there were occasionally a few huge footprints that could not be told which giant left them. But they had now walked several hills to the west, far away from the depression and the giants' activity range, and the only footprints showed them the way.

Hermione estimated the distance.

Hagrid left a few days earlier than them. The travel speed of a half-giant and a giant was not much fast, not to mention that they were chasing him with the levitation spell. They should be able to catch up with Hagrid by tomorrow at the latest.

It was getting dark and the journey was a little longer than they thought, so they entered the forest.

The setting sun sank into the mountains in the west. Golden clouds piled up layer by layer like soft silk. Straight tree trunks pointed to the sky, and fallen leaves covered the woods.

Loren pushed aside the intertwined bushes and grass and confirmed that Hagrid had stopped to rest in the open space ahead. Huge footprints covered the open space, which was a little messy. There was also a pile of burnt firewood in the middle, which was pitch black. It should be that a lot of wet firewood was burned with the fire spell, and there were some irregular fragments in the ashes.

"This is not good, Professor Hagrid. He has been guarding the Forbidden Forest for more than ten years. How can he still make such a mistake? He uses wet firewood and doesn't he mind the smoke being too thick..." Loren lowered his head to check and raised his eyebrows and said teasingly, "There is still oil in it. He must be grilling meat here."

"Experienced Mr. Morgan, I wonder if you have noticed that this pile of ashes is still hot."

Miss Granger was evidently more observant.

Loren squatted down and stretched out his hand to feel it, then looked up in the direction where the footprints extended: "They shouldn't have gone far. Let's catch up."

……

The front end of the branch just broken from the tree was cut into a smooth roasting skewer, which ruthlessly pierced the two gutted rabbits and roasted quietly over the fire. The protein changed under the high temperature, and the rabbit skin coated with marinade and honey gradually turned into an attractive golden color.

The wet wood could not burn fully, and choking white smoke rose. But the two brothers waiting by the campfire were reluctant to move their noses away, watching the flames licking the rabbit meat, the fat melted by the high temperature, soaked in spices, and exuding the unique and charming aroma of barbecue.

Hagrid brushed oil on the rabbit skin, then applied a layer of brown sauce, and turned the rabbit to make it more evenly cooked. "What a pity, we can only find rabbits in the forest. They are too small, and there is not much meat except for the bones. There is not much oil in the meat, so it is dry after roasting. It is gone in two bites. When we get to Hogwarts, Grawp, I will roast a whole lamb for you. No, I will ask Loren to roast a lamb for you. The taste... sizzle..."

Grawp glared at Hagrid. What was wrong with this guy? He was just grilling meat and talking, but why was he grilling meat and talking at the same time? He even almost drooled on the roasted rabbit meat.

"When you get to Hogwarts, you'll meet a lot of new friends, such as the kind and brave Harry, the silly Ron, the always serious Hermione, and the Loren I just mentioned. He makes the best barbecue!" Hagrid saw the giant staring at the rabbit on the fire, obviously not understanding what he was saying. He chuckled and said, "You'll understand later. It's a good place. No one will chase you out of the cave when you're sleeping, and no one will throw sand at you when you're eating..."

"Barbecue! Barbecue!"

Grawp, unable to understand his mumbling, shouted the only words he had learned.

"Greedy Grawp, he just had lunch half an hour ago, why does he still look hungry..."

"Barbecue! Barbecue!"

"Don't rush me, it's baking now and will be ready soon."

Hagrid estimated that the time was about right, and lowered his head to look at the two skewers of rabbit meat in the flames. Some parts were burnt black, while others still had streaks of bright red blood. It was obvious that he had not controlled the heat well when turning them, resulting in uneven cooking.

If Loren were here, he would probably lament that the two poor rabbits died in vain, or perhaps accuse himself of wasting the marinade he carefully prepared... but it was a great improvement compared to the previous two days.

Hagrid glanced at his brother next to him and silently handed over the roasted rabbit.

Grawp threw it into his mouth impatiently, along with the barbecue wood, and crushed it into a paste with a crunch. He swallowed it down with a satisfied look on his face. After finishing, he licked his lips as if savoring the taste and shouted again: "Barbecue! Barbecue!"

"No more, both rabbits are given to you."

"!!"

Grawp's expression was solemn, his eyebrows, which were thicker than tree trunks, were twisted together. He looked at the smoking fire, then at the tiny Hagrid in front of him, and then suddenly with amazing agility, he got up from the ground and ran towards the depths of the forest, trampling on the bushes.

"Glop! Grawp!"

Hagrid took a few steps with his short legs, but he could not keep up with the two long legs that were swinging so fast, so he could only follow the footprints on the ground and walk inside.

Fortunately, Grawp came back not long after, bringing with him two fat wild boars. They died in a very miserable way, with their backs covered with chaotic fist marks, bruises, ruptured internal organs, and blood oozing from all their orifices.

Bang!
The two wild boars piled together were larger and taller than the half-giant.

"This……"

Hagrid was stunned for a moment and fell silent.

"Barbecue! Barbecue big meat!"

Grawp pushed Hagrid and said nothing more, and walked to collect firewood nearby. After a few days of observation, he had discovered that meat roasted with dry wood was more fragrant and delicious, while meat roasted with wet wood had an unpleasant smell.

Hagrid sighed as he looked at the wild boar in front of him, then took out his wand and began to process the pork, bleeding, skinning, gutting, and smearing the surface of the wild boar with Loren's remaining marinade mixed with water...

After being busy until late at night, Grawp ate the half-cooked barbecue with satisfaction and fell into a deep sleep on the open space.

Just then, the sound of rustling footsteps gradually approached on the grass.

……

Loren and Hermione followed the footprints all the way, and when the moon shone brightly, they heard a dull and loud snoring coming from behind the bushes in front of them. The two looked at each other, slowed down their pace and gradually approached.

Swish!
Loren pushed aside the dense brush.

Hagrid turned around, and the three of them were stunned when they looked at each other.

There was a bloody mess in front of him. A tired half-blood giant was sitting on the ground, with internal organs, intestines and bones scattered around him. It looked like a murder and dismemberment crime scene.

"This……"

Loren stared at Hagrid opposite him with a complicated expression, and was silent for a while: "Hagrid, even if you don't like that half brother, you can't do this..."

Without giving the panicked Hagrid a chance to explain, Loren said a series of inexplicable words: "Cruel, I think it's cruel, you can wait a little longer for this kind of thing, even if it costs a few Galleons, a little..."

"?"

Hermione looked at him expressionlessly, not bothering to pay attention, and crawled out of the bushes and walked forward. She used [Whirlwind Sweep] to roll up the mess of organs and buried them with mud.

Hagrid's eyes widened, he stood up, looked at the two of them, and asked curiously, "Hermione, Loren, why are you here? Did you know I was here? Do you know about Grawp's matter..."

"Dumbledore received your letter for help. The other members of the Order of the Phoenix couldn't spare the time, so they asked us to come and pick you up."

"Dumbledore... Order of the Phoenix... you guys..." Hagrid was confused, but he never dwelled on these things. He believed in Dumbledore's arrangements unconditionally. "That's great! It's really Merlin's blessing to meet you guys!"

"Tsk tsk... Hagrid, you still need to practice your barbecue skills. The internal organs are delicious when they are properly processed..." Loren also realized that those organs were the remaining parts of some prey. He walked forward with his head shaking and looked at the slowly undulating "hill" behind him. "This is your half-brother, the pure-blooded giant Grawp. Did he injure you on your face?"

Hermione glanced at the bruises on his face, then turned to look at the "hill". The giant's snoring became clearer as he got closer. It was a rhythmic rumbling sound, and just by listening to the sound one could imagine how huge the lungs were that were breathing.

It was fine when she saw the Orr brothers and sisters and others in the cave in the Giant's Hollow, but when she thought of Hagrid bringing this giant back to Hogwarts, she gasped: "Hagrid, have you really thought it through? This is more dangerous than Norbert..."

Hagrid murmured guiltily, "He'll learn his lesson slowly. I mean, Grawp. He's much better behaved now than when he left the giant tribe."

Loren looked at the purple circles around his eyes and said in a faint voice: "Touch your wound. Does it hurt when you say this?"

"Uh……"

It would have been better if he hadn't mentioned it. After hearing what Loren said, Hagrid remembered that he hadn't applied medicine today. The wounds on his body suddenly felt dull and painful, and his eyes were slightly sour. "Oh, yes, he doesn't want to leave, but I have to take him back, Loren, Hermione, I can't abandon him! You don't know, the giants are bullying him, just because he is too small, he doesn't have enough food, he can't beat them in a fight, and he is always dragged out of the cave when he sleeps at night, and even thrown into the lake..."

(End of this chapter)