NOVEL NEXT 010 The Past
"Thanks to the magical invisibility cloak left to me by Harry's father," Hermione said, slipping out of the castle without any hindrance. As she passed by the Great Hall, she glanced at the staff dining table where Ms. Pomfrey was having a hot chat with the Hogwarts librarian, Mrs. Pince. Hermione urged in a low voice, "Hurry up, Harry, Ron. Madam Pomfrey will be back at the school hospital before ten o'clock. I don't want her to find out that I am not lying quietly on the hospital bed!"
"Actually, you don't have to go there yourself, Hermione. We'll tell you everything we hear from Hagrid," Ron said, picking up his pace and looking at the air in front of him, pretending to be nonchalant. Harry nodded in approval.
"Stop being silly, you two," Hermione scolded.
The moment she stepped out of the castle gate, the sudden bright light and the breeze on her face made Hermione feel much better. Her orange cat eyes shone with excitement.
"Before we leave Hagrid's cabin, I'm afraid you'll forget all about what Hagrid said!"
It had been a while since Halloween, as the large patch of pumpkin vines behind the house had been cleared up and covered with snow. Hagrid's cabin looked much neater than usual. When Harry and the others arrived, Hagrid was chopping the Christmas tree used to decorate the auditorium for Christmas into firewood.
This may be physical work for others, but for Hagrid, who was about ten feet tall and had a waist five times the size of an ordinary person, it was the easiest thing to do. He only needed to lift the ax and then gently put it down, and the Christmas trees, as thick as the mouth of a bowl, would be broken into several pieces.
The black hound, which was having fun in the snow, spotted Harry first. It stood on a raised snow slope and howled happily at them.
"Don't bark, Fang, you just ate a whole chicken."
As he looked in the direction where Fang was barking, a smile appeared on Hagrid's face covered by his furry beard. "Hey, Harry, Ron, it's you two!"
Hagrid happily waved his arms to greet Harry, who was struggling in the two feet of snow. "This is really wrong, Harry. You always like to come to me in the middle of the night wearing the Invisibility Cloak!"
"That's because I need lessons during the day, Hagrid!"
Whoops!
Harry, who was supporting Hermione under the Invisibility Cloak, accidentally stepped on thin air and fell to the ground. Hermione, who was accidentally involved, screamed and rolled into a ball with him.
"Don't just watch the excitement, Hagrid. Come and help us!"
"Oh my God!"
Hermione, who suddenly appeared next to Harry and Ron, made Hagrid freeze in his tracks.
"You brought me a cat man?!" Hagrid exclaimed in surprise.
After a while, Hagrid in front of the house exclaimed in surprise.
Hagrid's room was still as messy as ever. In the narrow wooden room, hams and pheasants were hung from the ceiling, and a copper kettle was used to boil water in the brazier. The rag patchwork bedding on the big bed in the corner was dark in color, with no other changes.
"Please, Hagrid, don't ask me why I am the way I am," Hermione, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, looked up and noticed the strong curiosity in Hagrid's eyes. She immediately said angrily, "That was a nightmare. I don't want to bring it up again!"
Ron laughed heartlessly, and even the corners of Harry's mouth raised in concern.
"Alright, alright," Hagrid shrugged regretfully. "I just want to know if it is possible to breed a species of 'cat people' through experiments. Since you don't want to share it, don't show your teeth, Fang. That's Hermione, not a cat. You should be able to smell Hermione."
He took out a few cups, threw some black tea powder into them, and prepared to make a cup of hot tea for the three of them. But the water on the stove still needed a while to boil, so Hagrid enthusiastically prepared some homemade dim sum.
"You don't look very happy, Harry. Would you like some taffy?"
"Thanks, Hagrid. I don't have much appetite," Harry declined politely. He exchanged glances with Ron and Hermione, and after a silent exchange, Harry asked, "Actually, Hagrid, we're here today to ask you about someone we think you've heard of."
Hagrid, who was fiddling with the coals with his fingers, chuckled. He looked at Harry through the handle of the copper pot and said in a teasing tone, "What do you three want to know, Harry? Let me remind you first, there is no Sorcerer's Stone hidden in the castle this year!"
'Yes, it is true that there is no Philosopher's Stone, but there are more secret rooms!'
Harry cursed in his heart, and his mood didn't improve much because of Hagrid's joke.
"Bryan Watson, Hagrid. Have you heard of this man?" Hermione asked directly, as her time was limited.
"Bryan Watson?" Hagrid blinked in surprise. "Why do you mention him?"
"So you do know him?" Hermione asked eagerly. "Tell us, Hagrid, what do you know?"
Hagrid didn't answer the question immediately; instead, he looked at Ron suspiciously.
"You don't have any recollection of Bryan Watson either, Ron?"
"I must have heard the name somewhere, but it doesn't seem like I heard it from Dad. Hagrid, why do you think I know him?"
Ron furrowed his brow, desperately trying to remember.
"You must have heard, Ron," Hagrid laughed. He took the hot kettle off the stove and made a cup of tea for all three of them. "He is a Slytherin student, in the same class as your brother Bill, and he graduated over three years ago. Well, anyway, I haven't heard much about him in the past few years. But it's not surprising. He was very introverted when he was in school and didn't like to draw attention to himself."
"So perhaps Bill mentioned him to me?" Ron still couldn't retrieve that lost memory.
"Introverted?" Hermione's tone also reflected confusion. She tried her best to recall the details of the brief encounter from the previous night. If she were to comment, Mr. Watson was a little too friendly, and he didn't seem like a person from Slytherin at all. But if you called him introverted, it wasn't easy to see.
"Well, you can't really call him introverted. Let's just say he doesn't like to interact with people. At least, that's how it was back then," Hagrid explained, as there were now three more people in the room, and he had to stand and talk.
"I hardly interacted with him, and the information I know is just hearsay. It's said that Bryan Watson was an orphan and spent his childhood in an orphanage. You know, in Slytherin House, children born from orphans are unlikely to be welcomed. So, when he first stepped into Hogwarts, he received a lot of stares. If it weren't for Professor Snape's protection, his situation might have been even more difficult."
Hagrid didn't have many memories of Bryan Watson in his mind, so he spoke slowly. But no one in the room urged him on, and even Ron gave up on trying to remember, staring intently at Hagrid.
"I've heard from the professors that Watson was a very diligent young wizard. He was polite when asking questions, and his grades were excellent. Of course, they couldn't compare to Bill, Percy, or you at that time," Hagrid said, looking at Hermione.
"But you just couldn't get close to him. It was as if he was trying to keep his distance from everyone. Considering he was a Muggle-born orphan, it's easy for the professors to understand why he appeared withdrawn."
"He sounds like a pretty ordinary person," Ron frowned.
"And he belongs to Slytherin. So why did I hear his name from Bill or maybe Charlie?"
"That brings us to the duel that happened in the Forbidden Forest when Watson was in fifth year!" Hagrid exclaimed, drinking from his washbasin-sized water tank in one gulp. His copper-bell-like eyes shone with shock. "Although it has been several years since that duel, when I think about it now, I still can't believe it!"
Author's Note:
In the Second book/movie, Hermione and her friends Harry Potter and Ron Weasley are trying to uncover the identity of Slytherin's Heir, who is believed to be responsible for opening the Chamber of Secrets. They suspect Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin student, so Hermione concocts Polyjuice Potion to transform themselves into Slytherins and interrogate him.
However, Hermione's usage of Polyjuice Potion doesn't go exactly as planned. She accidentally adds a cat hair to the potion instead of the intended human hair. As a result, when she drinks the potion, she partially transforms into a cat-human hybrid, with cat-like features and characteristics. She grows a furry face, whiskers, and a tail.This transformation causes Hermione great discomfort and limits her ability to communicate effectively. Later in the story, Madam Pomfrey, provides an antidote to reverse the effects of the Polyjuice Potion, restoring Hermione back to her original form.