Chapter Eleven: Research Methods
"I'm going down to Hagrid's tonight," I declared to Harry and Ron. They looked guiltily up at me.
"Should we come with you?" Ron asked, although he looked at Harry. Harry looked at me.
"We have kind of forgotten him lately," he murmured.
"It would be nice to have some company," I hinted. Hagrid may be so overjoyed at the sight of his favourite students that my request may not seem so strange.
"Right then, let's go," Harry said as he jumped up, leaving his homework behind. Ron followed suit.
It wasn't the coldest of evenings at Hogwarts but winter was definitely on its way. I hurried to get to Hagrid's where I knew a large fire would be roaring. Soon enough we reached the cabin door; I knocked impatiently.
With no reply after a few seconds, Harry knocked again louder. With no answer again, Ron opened the door and we let ourselves in.
Hagrid was snoring loudly on his bed that seemed just a bit too small for his gigantic body. The three of us made as much noise as possible upon our entry but Hagrid seemed to be in a drunken slumber – a bottle or two (or four) were on the ground beside his meaty hand.
"Come on, we should go," Ron said loudly, perhaps in an effort to wake Hagrid up, but to no avail. Harry was nodding. "Come on, Hermione."
But I didn't want to leave. I came here on a mission, and damn it I was going to do it. I had a deadline to meet.
"Hang on," I said. I started rummaging through Hagrid's cupboards. "I need something that he has."
"Hermione," Ron hissed. "Are you seriously going to steal from Hagrid?"
"No," I snapped. "Just... borrow something and pray his doesn't notice I took it."
Silence. "Need any help looking?" Harry offered after a moment's hesitation. Ron gaped.
"Hagrid's our friend," he moaned, but I knew he was willing to help.
"I'm looking for Aragog's venom," I informed them. They stared at me.
"Sorry, I'm out," Ron said immediately, looking a bit green. Harry opened his mouth.
"Harry, please don't ask questions right now, just help me look," I begged. He nodded slowly.
"What does it look like?"
I could have kissed him. "It's purple swirly stuff. Very thick. There shouldn't be very much either..."
Ron sat heavily down on a wooden chair, which made Hagrid snort and roll over a bit. We froze, but he didn't wake. "You know, out of all of the things we've ever done," Ron said conversationally, "This is by far the worst."
"I know," I said guiltily. But Fred and George need this. "It's for extra credit on my O.W.L's."
"Hermione, like you need it," Ron grumbled. "They're going to have to invent a special level just for you. Way above Outstanding. How about H for Hermione Granger?"
"Too plain," Harry disagreed. "Z, for Zealous."
"E for Extravagant."
"E is for Exceeds Expectations, Ron."
"Oh, right."
"Hermione, is this it?" Harry asked suddenly, holding a giant bottle. It was dark purple and it hurt to look at. I nodded and pulled out a smaller vial from my cloak, one that would suffice for Fred and George. This venom was deadly, after all.
"Brilliant, thank you!" I took the jar and uncorked it, poured some into my vial, and corked them both again.
"Hagrid will notice some of it is gone," Ron pointed out. "And you can't refill it because it will lose its magical properties."
"How did you know that?" Harry asked.
"Do you think it will matter? I mean, what will Hagrid use this for anyway?" I interrupted. I needed to get out of this hut right now. I couldn't think straight.
"Shrink the bottle?" Ron suggested. That was brilliant, flawless, so I did just that. When putting the now slightly but unnoticeably smaller jar back in the cupboard, I noticed about thirty other vials filled with webs.
I knew what this was. It was acromantula web, almost as valuable as the venom. It was over a centimetre thick and silver. Fred and George would love this. I took two of those vials.
"Alright, let's go," I murmured, and we left Hagrid's hut. When we shut the door, I could've sworn I heard Hagrid fall off his bed and start muttering.
"Hermione, you're absolutely mental," Ron stated as we walked back to the castle. "Are you ever going to tell him that you stole some of the most valuable ingredients he owns?"
"I think its best he never found out," I hinted. Ron shook his head.
"You're unbelievable," he groaned.
We walked in silence until we reached the castle. "I've never really noticed how much stuff Hagrid actually has," Harry admitted. "I mean, almost everything I touched was an ingredient or creature of some sort."
"I know, right?" I agreed. "I could have sworn I saw a unicorn horn and dragon's blood."
"And I definitely noticed Cornish pixie dust and fairy wings."
"Lacewing string, flobberworm faeces, devil's snare. I could set up a store from his window," I joked.
Ron snorted. "I noticed Fang wasn't there," he said seriously. "Guess we got lucky tonight, because Fang would have woken Hagrid up."
"I was planning on asking Hagrid for this stuff anyway," I said quietly. "This was the back-up plan!"
"Not the worst plan you've ever come up with," Harry laughed. Which was true, of course.
"So how did you know it would lose its magical properties, Ron?" Harry asked. Ron shrugged.
"Why do you think it's rare, Harry? If people could just refill their collections all the time…"
"Oh, right."
I said what had to be over a thousand thank-you's to Harry and Ron and hugged each of them, reassuring them that they were the best friend's a girl could ever have, before departing and heading for the library. I knew exactly what book I needed for the research Fred and George had asked me to complete.