Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures-Chapter 1286: Grawp’s New Home

There was a tense, heart-wrenching silence in the Great Hall when Dumbledore spoke again; because he mentioned Voldemort. This was the second time he had proactively brought up Voldemort in such an occasion.

All the students stopped talking and focused their attention on Dumbledore, listening to him attentively.

“As everybody in this Hall knows, Lord Voldemort and his followers are causing trouble again and gaining in strength. I cannot emphasize strongly enough how dangerous the present situation is, and how much care each of us at Hogwarts must take to ensure that we remain safe.”

He spoke slowly, making sure every student in the Great Hall could hear him clearly.

“The castle’s magical fortifications have been strengthened over the summer, we are protected in new and more powerful ways, but we must still guard scrupulously against carelessness on the part of any student or member of staff. I urge you, therefore, to abide by any security restrictions that your teachers might impose upon you, however irksome you might find them — in particular, the rule that you are not to be out of bed after hours. I implore you, should you notice anything strange or suspicious within or outside the castle, to report it to a member of staff immediately. I trust you to conduct yourselves, always, with the utmost regard for your own and others’ safety.”

Dumbledore’s blue eyes swept over the students before he smiled once more.

“But now, your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish, and I know that your top priority is to be well-rested for your lessons tomorrow. Let us therefore say good night. Pip pip!”

With the usual deafening scraping noise, the benches were moved back and the hundreds of students began to file out of the Great Hall toward their dormitories.

Evan was not in a hurry to leave. He wanted to talk to Dumbledore about the cat.

There was no time to delay this matter, the cat had to be found and dealt with before he’d become as bloodsucking as Elaine.

Seeing Evan walking towards the staff table, Harry hesitated for a moment and decided to stay and wait for him. He didn’t want to leave with the gawping crowd, nor to get near enough to Malfoy to allow him to retell the story of the nose stamping.

Hermione had darted ahead with Elaine to fulfill their prefects’ duty of shepherding the first years.

Ron didn’t go, nor did he follow Lavender. He chose to stay with Harry. Now, the two of them were at the end of the Gryffindor table, watching Evan and Dumbledore talking from a distance. Professor McGonagall, Snape, and Professor Slughorn also gathered around.

“Strange, what does Evan want to say to Dumbledore?” Ron asked. “The school has just started.”

“I don’t know. Maybe he discovered something? He always seems to notice things that we don’t.”

Harry tried to process the events again, but the only thing that came to his mind was the image of Malfoy crushing his nose.

“What really happened to your nose?” asked Ron, once they were at the very back of the throng pressing out of the Hall, and out of earshot of anyone else.

Harry told him what had happened, and Ron looked quite angry.

“No wonder, I saw Malfoy miming something to do with a nose,” he said darkly.

“Yeah, well, never mind that,” said Harry bitterly, somewhat comforted by Ron’s reaction. “Listen to what he was saying before he found out I was there. …”

This was the first time Harry had discussed this with anyone. Because Tonks was there, he didn’t tell all the information. He had expected Ron to be stunned by Malfoy’s boasts. With what Harry considered pure pigheadedness, however, Ron was unimpressed.

Hadn’t he already suspected Malfoy? Hadn’t he even wanted to take his clothes off to check for the Dark Mark?

Now, he changed his mind faster than turning the pages of a book.

“Come on, Harry, after entering the school, I thought about it carefully and somewhat agreed with Hermione’s idea. The security here is very strict now. I mean, Malfoy wouldn’t do anything for You-Know-Who inside the school; he doesn’t have that ability. Besides you, there’s nothing here he wants. Can Malfoy take you out? Just like that lunatic Crouch and his father did before? I don’t think that’s possible.”

“But he said…” ƒгeewebnovёl_com

“We all know how it is. He was just showing off for Parkinson. … What kind of mission would You-Know-Who have given him?”

“Any mission is possible.” Harry argued, although he felt that Voldemort’s target might still be him. As Ron said, it would be too embarrassing for him to be taken out of school by Malfoy, so he changed his words, “Well, how do you know Voldemort doesn’t need someone at Hogwarts? It wouldn’t be the first —”

“I wish yeh’d stop sayin’ tha’ name, Harry,” said a reproachful voice behind them. Harry looked over his shoulder to see Hagrid shaking his head.

“Dumbledore uses that name,” said Harry stubbornly. “So do Evan and Hermione.”

“Yeah, well, tha’s Dumbledore, innit? I hope you two can persuade Evan and Hermione not to say tha’ name too,” said Hagrid, turning his head to look at Evan somewhat uneasily.

At this time,Snape took out his wand and tapped it on Evan.

This action alone was worrying. Although Dumbledore was nearby, who knew what Snape would do?

“So how come yeh were late, Harry? I was worried.” said Hagrid, turning his head back.

“Got held up on the train. Evan came to find me and we missed the carriages,” said Harry. “Why were you late?”

“Ah, I was with Grawp,” said Hagrid happily. “We were havin’ a good time. Los’ track o’ the time. Did I tell yeh before? He moved out of tha’ cave. Though it was quite spacious, giants aren’t suited to livin’ undergroun’. We returned the cave to old Aragog; he hopes to go back to live there. Grawp’s got a new home up in the mountains now, Dumbledore fixed it — nice big cave. He’s much happier than he was in the Forbidden Forest. We were havin’ a good chat, so…”

When they met a few days ago, he just told them that he went to the Giant Territory again this summer.

At Grawp’s request, Hagrid hoped to find him a female giant, but was unsuccessful.

He didn’t mention the moving part; what kind of communication could there be? Could there really be a normal conversation with a giant?

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