Chapter 626 Lurking

It was a really embarrassing moment.

Harry recalled afterwards that it would have been better if he had knocked on the door slower, even for a second. So that they could slip away quietly, or hide in the pumpkin field and wait for Professor Slughorn to leave. But the fact was that when his mind analyzed the pros and cons, his hand was no longer obedient and slammed heavily on Hagrid's wooden door.

The room suddenly became quiet for a moment.

Then they heard Hagrid rudely shouting, "Who is outside?" Harry looked behind him, and Ron turned his head unnaturally, staring at the string of dried mushrooms dried on the wall of the wooden house in a daze. Hermione's eyes dodged and her feet rubbed against the ground.

There was no way, and in the end Harry could only bite the bullet and say, "It's me, Hagrid. And Ron and Hermione, let's come to see you."

The sound of cup shattering came from the room, accompanied by a scream of "Oh, my goodness!". This made Harry know that Professor Slughorn was as surprised as him. Haeger didn't speak out, seemed to be still angry, and might have simply not thought of a way to deal with it.

"Hagge, we have to talk," Harry said, yelling outside.

Hagrid opened the door, although he was still angry and had no good expression. Ron mentioned the funeral cleverly - Harry was not sure if this was correct, because Hagrid suddenly cried, both for poor Aragork (the eight-eyed giant spider raised by Hagrid) and for none of the three of Harry and the improvement class.

"The little one who has no conscience... I have invited you so many rock crusts... Oh, Aragok..."

Hermione tried hard to comfort Hagrid, who was crying and her eyes were blurred. Harry and Ron couldn't pour it out. They overestimated their ability to help Hagrid up, but they were too impatient to breathe by two thick arms that were wider than their waists. Harry's glasses were tilted to one side, and Ron kept rolling his eyes.

"Professor, do something quickly." Hermione said to Slughorn sternly. The professor seemed to have been in a certain embarrassing situation from the beginning, and wiped the fine sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief several times. Afterwards, Harry thought that when Hagrid scolded them, his words were so rich that he could not think of it alone.

It is not difficult to speculate how many ‘pretty words’ Professor Slughorn provided before they came.

Slughorn stood up at a loss, took out his magic wand and gestured randomly, "Oh, oh, by the way... Yugadimleviosa!" He raised his magic wand and pointed at Hagrid. The pressure on Harry and Ron relaxed. They pushed Hagrid back to the bed, sat on the ground and gasped, rubbing his painful ribs.

Hagrid blew his nose, opened his wet eyes, and stared at Harry, Ron, Hermione.

"I know...you may not have time..." Hager grunted twice, his face flushed a little, "I'll get the rock crust." Harry and Ron, who had just sat down, jumped up immediately and winked at Professor Slughorn. Slughorn fiddled with his handkerchief, cleared his throat and said, "Hag, we'd better go and see Aragork."

"You're right." Hager was stunned and stood up.

They came to the pumpkin field behind the hut, and their teeth were sobbing. Harry saw a guy as big as a carriage from afar. His black hair turned soft gray, his eight sharp blade-like thick legs were strangely twisted, and two terrifying big claws pointed at the sky. It was the eight-eyed giant spider Aragork. Harry had forgotten that Professor Happ had used magic on this eight-eyed giant spider, and suddenly felt a little upset when he saw it.

Hagrid staggered forward and knelt on the ground, but crushed a pumpkin. Ron took a lot of effort to stop laughing, and his whole body trembled. Harry understood Ron's thoughts, and his good friend had no affection for the spider. So Harry stood up by himself, cleared his throat, and thought of chanting a few eulogies or something. As a result, the big claw suddenly twitched, which scared Harry almost jumped up.

"It's not dead?" Harry couldn't help but shout.

"Of course not," Hagrid said hoarsely, glaring at Harry, muttering, "But it's too soon, just a few days... it's not eating anymore." As he said, he couldn't help but cry again, "Thanks to Professor Slughorn, he said he had seen similar funerals, willing, willing to help... Can you come then?" He looked at Harry, Ron and Hermione, and asked with great consciousness.

"Of course." Harry swears.

"Very good……"

When he returned to the castle from Haegel's hut, Slughorn walked in front with his big belly, and he turned around several times, as if he wanted to say something. As they stood in the foyer about to part, Slughorn finally turned his head.

"Ahem, kids," he mumbled on the last button of his vest and said hesitantly: "I think I owe you an explanation... I shouldn't say bad things behind your back, but... Hagrid is really sad, I thought, since you are not here..."

"Forget it," said Harry. "We should have visited Hagrid long ago, and I have never written to you."

Slughorn looked a little embarrassed and waved his hand.

"That's all jokes... but it's enough to say misunderstandings, right?" he said with ease: "I've recently planned to hold a small party, only invite some potential students, including Malfoy, the Greengrass sisters, McLagan, Shabini, Bones, Longbottom, and the charming Melinda Pobin-I don't know if you know her, she runs a large chain of pharmacies at home - and, of course, I really hope you three can enjoy the glory."

"Uh, I'm not sure if I have time..." Harry racked his brains to think of excuses. Perhaps it would be a good choice to arrange the team's training to that day. He didn't want to eat a lot of sweets and listen to the messy celebrity stories all night.

"Don't try to shirk it off," Slughorn pretended to be stern, "I'll just point you. If the three youngest Merlin winners were let go, what kind of ridicule would I be laughed at!" Then he played with the walrus' beard and said with a smile: "Don't worry, I also invited Severus. He taught you for five years? I've read the papers he published in recent years, which are very valuable..."

Harry listened expressionlessly, and he didn't want to go.

"... And Felix, the cunning little guy, he wanted to refuse like you, but I told him that according to his time, he would have no way to refuse..." Slughorn said, patting Harry on the shoulder, and said earnestly: "I understand, talented people are more proud. But, how do you say it?" He played with his two thumbs, "It's okay to make more excellent friends, maybe one day I'll help you... I'm sure."

He hummed and disappeared into the downstairs of the foyer.

"What should I do?" Harry asked softly after staring at the shiny bald head, disappearing.

Hermione didn't say anything, but instead thought for a moment, "He also invited Susan and Neville?"

"A aunt with the Minister of Magic, and the son of a war hero," Ron said with his fingers. "It's not difficult to understand, right?" He saw Harry's expression still entangled and advised: "You can just hide from Snape at that time. No matter how bad it is, it will not be worse than the ghost's birthday party and the upcoming funeral of the Eight-Eyed Spider."

They returned to their dormitory and took out their schoolbags to do their homework.

Harry and Ron had to accept their fate in Hermione's nagging, borrowed a complete set of reference books (and of course Hermione's papers) from her, and began to write ancient magical homework. "First fifteen inches." Ron whispered, several papers were placed in front of him at the same time, his eyes rolling.

He suddenly thought of the 'skills' that Luna mentioned to her in the morning, and couldn't wait to share with Harry and Hermione. Harry was confused when he heard it. Hermione frowned and pointed out sharply, "This method may only be suitable for her."

"Then what do you think I'm writing this idea into the paper?" Ron asked with interest, "I feel like I can get a lot of words."

Harry was also moved. He looked at Hermione, but Hermione hid herself behind the book with a stern face and stopped talking.

After a while, she said dullly: "I think Luna just wants to express the concepts of 'love' and 'focus'. If you can't do it like her, you can only study hard and practice hard, and work hard on practice making perfect."

“…it’s the same as not saying it.”

...

The next morning, Rita Skit proudly knocked on the door of the Minister of Magic’s office, and the two women looked at each other through the desk.

"Sit, Skit," said Ms. Borns, wearing monocles, raised her head from thick stacks of papers.

"Hello, Minister Bones." Rita Skit said with a smile. Bones looked at her in scrutiny, and then his eyes moved away from the little roll that exploded on Skit's head. She spoke coldly: "Someone recommended you to me and said you have some energy in the Muggle newspaper."

"Not 'some,' Minister," Skit said, his green nails poking into the crocodile leather handbag and took out a work permit. "I am a special correspondent of the Sun, with a unique status. There is a separate office of mine. Although I can't go once a month," she paused, "that office will only be reserved for me."

Ms. Bones snorted softly, "In view of your past illegal records, I have reason to worry that your actions will have an adverse impact on the Confidentiality Act."

"Oh." Rita Skit was stunned for a moment, her long nails fiddling with the zipper of the crocodile leather bag, and she said contemptuously: "There is no evidence-"

"It has not been discovered yet," Ms. Bones corrected.

"The most important responsibility of the Ministry of Magic is to hide everything about magic. Now there is such a person who appears openly in the Muggle society, surrounded by a group of colleagues with a keen sense of smell and good at catching wind and shadows. Yes, I have heard of the Sun, and you have found a field of expertise."

Skit opened his mouth. "Not to mention," Ms. Bones continued, "This person has a weak legal awareness and has too many criminal records to count, which means no one will follow her. Otherwise, I believe many people will hope to see her unlucky."

Skit's body shrank back.

"Now, tell me, Skit," Ms. Bones stared at her face and asked lightly: "Will such a person suddenly become law-abiding when he arrives in Muggle society?"

Rita Skit's expression was stiff, she took a few deep breaths tremblingly, and said, "I thought you came to me today because-"

"The Ministry of Magic asks you?" Ms. Bones asked coldly.

"No, of course not," Skitter gave a flattering smile. "I just heard there was a chance to make extra money, if I could serve the Ministry of Magic," she gritted her teeth. "I can do nothing with Gallon."

"The Ministry of Magic is not short of your reward." Ms. Borns said, pushing over a confidentiality agreement.

Rita Skit, with a gloomy face, pulled his glasses down, and read the terms above repeatedly. Behind her jewel-clad glasses, her eyes widened a little. She raised her head suddenly and met Ms. Bones's serious and steady face, and said in dismay: "You let me stay in Muggle society for a whole year?"

"You can come back on the weekend," Ms. Bones said calmly.

The words stopped when the words were rejected. Skit bit his nails and thought for a long time. She gritted her teeth and said, "When the matter can be made public, I will publish this experience. You can't use any excuse to stop me."

"I agree." Ms. Bones nodded.

So Skitter signed her name on the confidentiality agreement, and the expression on her face softened. No matter what, she seemed to have booked a bestseller in advance. She stood up and walked to the door, looking at Ms. Bones.

"Forgot to ask, how much do I need to do?"

Ms. Bones said with a stern face: "You don't need to use magic, your identity is the best channel of information. What you should care most about is how to avoid being discovered in the next year."

"Don't worry," Skitter's smile jumped slightly, which made her expression full of provocation, "Has Mr. Happ also signed a confidentiality agreement?"

"This was initiated by him, and he recommended you," Ms. Bones raised her eyebrows, "so you can understand that, on the one hand, he trusts you very much, although I don't know where this trust comes from? On the other hand... he doesn't want 'any' mistakes."

Rita Skitter glared at her in annoyance, turned around and strode away.

"You don't need to remind me."

In the office, Ms. Bones rubbed her forehead. She understood why Fudge was desperately trying to draw a line with Dumbledore. She, a minister of magic, had to rely on the reputation of a professor in the school to warn Rita Skit that if someone was a little scheming, she would definitely feel dissatisfied.

But the fact is that once she leaves the UK, her fame may not necessarily be louder than 'Felix Happ'.

There was a knock outside the door.

Kingsley Shackle pushed the door and handed Ms. Bones a document.

"Minister, Carlotta Pinkerson is released from prison next week," he said in a deep voice.

Ms. Bones felt her head hurt even more, "That troublemaker?" She undoubtedly was a woman who was more difficult than Rita Skit. She thought for a while and said, "Send an Auror to stare at her."

"Secretly stalking, or--" Kingsley asked hesitantly.
Chapter completed!