Chapter 631 Harry Furious
Hagrid was nowhere to be seen the following week.
He did not appear at the teachers' table during mealtimes; he was not seen busy with his ranger tasks on the grounds. Harry went to look for him several times, but he refused to show himself, hiding in the cabin with all the curtains closed.
After the start of the new term, Professor Grubbly-Plank replaced him to teach the Care of Magical Creatures class.
Professor Grubbly-Plank was an elderly witch with short gray hair and a very prominent chin.
To be fair, compared to Hagrid, her teaching level was indeed much better, and she knew how to choose the appropriate magical creatures.
On the first day of the new semester, she showed a unicorn to the third and fourth-year students, which was much better received than the beetles.
Professor Grubbly-Plank told the students a lot about the unicorn, and there were even some knowledge that Evan was unaware of.
And there were the girls, who could each take turns touching the unicorn and were very excited.
In summary, Professor Grubbly-Plank's outstanding performance left a deep impression on all the young wizards.
She made everyone realize how interesting it was to protect magical creatures. They no longer needed to be discredited by Malfoy and the Slytherins. The sympathy for Hagrid was quickly fading, and it was expected that Professor Grubbly-Plank would stay.
"This is more than I thought Care of Magical Creatures would be... proper creatures like unicorns, not monsters," Lavender said at dinner, "I hope she stays..."
"And Hagrid?" asked Harry angrily. Lavender had just praised Professor Grubbly-Plank, which angered him greatly.
"He could still be the ranger, right?" Lavender replied.
Noticing Harry's expression, Ron pulled Lavender's robes and gestured for her to stop talking.
After the dance, the relationship between Ron and Lavender did not end as expected by Evan, Harry, and Hermione, but it was getting better and better.
Ron even tried to integrate Lavender into his small circle, but given the current situation, it was very challenging!
They were not alike at all. There was a significant difference in their personalities and views.
Whether it was Evan, Harry, Hermione, Colin, Ginny, or Gabrielle, they couldn't connect with Lavender.
"No, we have to find Hagrid," Harry said, putting down his utensils. "Let's go right now and tell him we want him to come back... do you all want him back?"
He looked at Hermione, who had just praised Professor Grubbly-Plank and thought her class was very good.
"I... well, I'm not going to pretend it wasn't nice to have a proper Care of Magical Creatures lesson for once... but I want Hagrid to come back, of course!" Hermione quickly said, cowering under Harry's furious gaze.
Harry nodded. "Then it's settled. Let's all make sure he comes out to see us..."
"I'm not going!" Lavender interjected, not noticing Harry's expression. "I really don't understand why we should ask Hagrid to come back. Compared to Professor Grubbly-Plank, he's not as qualified to be the Care of Magical Creatures teacher."
Harry immediately walked away without refuting Lavender, but he was certainly furious!
Evan and Hermione hurried after him. Ron hesitated and stayed to comfort Lavender.
She looked offended, believing she had said nothing wrong.
In fact, she was merely stating the truth, without considering Hagrid's feelings, but it seemed she had no friendship with him.
The ground was still covered with thick snow and ice. After leaving the castle, Harry walked with long strides, almost jogging to Hagrid's cabin. Evan and Hermione struggled to catch up with him.
The last time Harry was this angry was when he faced Peter Pettigrew and discovered the truth about his parents' death.
Hagrid had always held a very special place in his heart.
Lavender's words and Ron's failure to follow suit in this incident had him greatly agitated.
He was not listening to Evan and Hermione at all now. He just wanted to see Hagrid!
He wanted to tell him personally that he didn't care that he was half-giant!
Five minutes later, they arrived at Hagrid's cabin, and the curtains were still closed.
Evan knocked on the door, able to hear Fang's loud barks from inside.
"Hagrid, it's us!" Harry shouted, banging on the door. "Open up!"
Hagrid didn't reply. They could hear Fang scratching at the door, whimpering, but it remained closed. They knocked for another ten minutes, but there was no response.
Evan peered inside through the gap in the curtain outside the window, and Hagrid was definitely in there.
It was like the last time they had come; he didn't want to see them.
But Harry wasn't going to give up. He shouted for a while and saw Ron running from the castle, panting.
As soon as he had soothed Lavender, he ran over here, looking at Harry apologetically, apologizing and explaining what Lavender had just said.
Ron managed to approach, which made Harry feel a little better, and his agitation wasn't as pronounced as before.
As for what Lavender had said, he didn't even consider it at first!
Harry kept knocking on the door, and Ron banged on one of the windows, but still, there was no response.
"Why is he avoiding us?" Hermione said. "Does he think we would care that he's half-giant?"
"Obviously, it matters to him!"
"Hagrid, enough is enough! We know you're in there," Harry shouted, brandishing his wand. "Come out. Nobody cares if your mother was a giant, Hagrid! You can't let that vile woman Skeeter do this to you!"
A red light shone at the tip of his wand and a loud bang. Hagrid's cabin door swung open!
Hagrid was taken aback to see the group burst in. He sat by the now extinguished fire, with two bottles in front of him.
There were more empty wine bottles on the floor, and the air was heavy with the pungent smell of alcohol.
Hagrid looked truly disheveled. His face was flushed, his eyes red and puffy, and his hair had gone to the opposite extreme; far from trying to tame it, now it looked like a tangled wire wig.
He was still wearing the hairy brown suit from the Yule Ball and hadn't changed out of it.
"Hello, Hagrid!" said Harry, stepping inside.
"Hi there!" Hagrid looked up and croaked.
