The next day, the Gryffindor versus Slytherin Quidditch match was scheduled. The first one of the year. After all the training sessions where Angelina had pushed them to their limits, Harry felt completely prepared for the match. However, Ron looked lost, having barely eaten a couple of crumbs for breakfast. At that moment, Harry desperately hoped that the upcoming match would not go smoothly and would end as quickly as possible. Ron was going to play as the goalkeeper for the first time today. If he made any mistakes or if the match dragged on, Ron would be upset about it. In the changing room, he approached Fred and George and nodded towards Ron. Fred raised his hand with his thumb up, and Harry smiled with satisfaction.

The match went disappointingly bad. Despite the relatively good weather - the sky was covered in thick layers of gray clouds, and the sun wasn't blinding their eyes - there was one unpleasant factor working against the Gryffindor team. The entire Slytherin stand chanted the song "Ronald Weasley, our king" outrageously loudly. The team managed to quickly win the match with great difficulty - Ron missed all the balls due to the chant, and the Slytherin players, who had decided to play the role of extra Bludgers in this match, kept hitting and pushing the Gryffindor chasers off their brooms. The situation was saved by the Snitch. Harry immediately chased after it as soon as he spotted it on the horizon, surpassed Malfoy, and grabbed it just above the ground at the last moment. He gracefully somersaulted over to the right and held the golden ball, desperately trying to escape, above his head. The score difference was only ten points.

The Weasley twins didn't stay quiet for long in the common room after the match. First, they expressed their anger towards the Slytherins out loud, and then George had a thought. He froze for a second, raised his index finger, and then the twins exchanged sly glances and rushed into the bedroom, laughing.

"Merlin knows what they've come up with, but I'm glad nobody got hurt," Ron grumbled.

"And that's a good thing!" Hermione exclaimed with joy. "We don't need any more trouble because of those idiots, risking house points."

As Hermione turned around in the Gryffindor common room, she suddenly screamed.

"Look! Hagrid! He's back!"

There was a light coming from Hagrid's small hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Four friends rushed headlong to the forester's house, hiding under an invisibility cloak. They pounded on his door with a flurry of knocks, and it swung open. Hagrid stood on the threshold, clutching a sizable steak to his bruised face.

Their conversation immediately touched on the most pressing issues – the dementor attacks on Harry and Dudley in the summer, the mass transformation of muggles into wizards, and Voldemort's evil deeds. They also mentioned Ambridge, who had completely toned down her activities and now dared not interfere with Harry and Dumbledore under Fudge's orders.

Hagrid told his friends about his adventures. Together with Madam Maxime, he went to the giants to recruit them to Dumbledore's side. It didn't go as smoothly as they had hoped; there was a rebellion among the giants, and the leader they had placed their hopes in was brutally killed in one night. The Death Eaters also went to another giant with gifts and at the same time were searching for Dumbledore's messengers. Hagrid enthusiastically recounted how Madam Maxime was eager to fight them.

"But you never explained, Hagrid, what happened to your face," Ron pointed at his battered face. "And why didn't you come back for so long?" Harry added. "Sirius says Madam Maxime returned a hundred years ago." "Who attacked you?" Ron asked.

"No one attacked me!" Hagrid exclaimed passionately. "I found my brother on my mother's side. I couldn't leave him there, I couldn't... They would've killed him there, he's still so little."

Hermione looked at Hagrid with wide eyes. "You brought a giant into the Forbidden Forest?" she gasped. "What if Ambridge finds out?"

"You better not say anything," Hagrid snapped back. "No need for her to know such secrets. These Ministry folks have too much brains... They came up with killing them. Think carefully about who you tell."

Hagrid unconsciously slammed his fist on the table and stood up from his chair.

- Let's go, I'll show you.

He led them for a long time, deep into the impenetrable forest. The path they were walking on kept narrowing until it completely disappeared. In this area, there was no sound of rustling leaves, animal voices, or birdsong. Silence and darkness.

- Can we light some sticks? - Hermione asked.

- Go ahead.

Amidst uprooted trees lay a completely smooth mound.

- It's asleep, - commented Hagrid.

The children didn't immediately understand what was happening. Only when this mound began to move and rise from the ground, taking on the recognizable features of a sixteen-foot tall person, did all the mysteries dissipate.

- His name is Grawp. He's a splendid lad and he's learning a lot, but it would be better if you help him...

Grawp bent thick oak trees like ordinary sticks and effortlessly lifted half-ton boulders.

- Hagrid, how did you bring him here? - Harry asked him, simultaneously with admiration and fear.

- He didn't want to come here in the first place.

In an instant, Grawp took Hermione by the hand and brought her closer to his face to get a better look at her.

- Grawp! Put me down! - Hermione unexpectedly ordered him boldly, as Jeanne was preparing to turn her magical wand into a sword.

The giant surprisingly listened to Hermione, and after doing as she asked, guiltily looked at her.

"Well, you two have made peace," Hagrid concluded.

"He's crazy!" exclaimed Ron later in the living room.

"No, you're wrong!" Harry countered. "He's our Hagrid, and nothing will change that."

"Well, only Hagrid could call a cute little dragon or a giant spider," Ron remarked.

"Without that, Hagrid wouldn't be Hagrid," Harry smiled. "So, shall we go to him and teach him some social skills?"

"That's better than spiders. But I don't really fancy being handed out..."

"For that, we have Jeanne," Harry interrupted.

"For that, I'll send you both far away and see how you handle him without me," Jeanne commented snidely.

"And that's what makes Jeanne Jeanne," Hermione noted.

She opened her mouth to say something in response, but then just shrugged.

"See you tomorrow!" she muttered under her breath and hurried off to the girls' dormitory.

"It seems we forgot something," Hermione remarked, looking at the clock.

"What?" Harry didn't understand.

"It's already night."

Whatever Voldemort planned to do, the evening had already passed.