Chapter 148: Chap.145 - Hagrid's Hut

At five minutes to three, the boys were already heading towards Hagrid's hut. Jack was perched on Rigel's shoulder, curious about the big guy they had seen last time.

As soon as Harry knocked on the door, a frantic rush of activity mixed with barking dogs was heard.

"Back off, Fang!" They heard Hagrid's booming voice. Neville had already cowered and looked ready to run at any moment, but Rigel thought that if he really had to run, Neville would end up tripping on the first step.

The door slowly opened, and through a crack, Hagrid's bearded face became visible, though only one eye surrounded by hair.

"Wait a minute." Hagrid said, before turning around. "Back off, Fang!"

He let them in, holding Fang by the collar. The dog struggled to move forward into the group, but Rigel realized that he didn't seem to want to bite, but rather to play.

Hagrid probably held him back so he wouldn't run out of the house and knock one of them over, covering them in saliva.

Rigel was grateful for that, although he could have knocked the dog down with a punch, he didn't want to hurt this little guy who just wanted to play.

While Hagrid was calming Fang down, Rigel looked around, Hagrid's hut was just as he remembered it.

There was only one room in the house, it seemed tiny for a big guy like Hagrid, even more so because it was crammed with all sorts of random stuff.

Hams and pheasants hung from the ceiling, a copper kettle boiled on the stove, and in one corner there was a massive bed covered with a patchwork quilt.

All types of hunting equipment, branches, horns, etc...

The house resembled more of a shed with a large bed squeezed into one corner.

"Make yourselves at home." Hagrid finally calmed Fang down enough, but even so, when he let him go, he jumped on Ron and started licking his ear. It became evident that Hagrid's effort had been fruitless.

Ron yelled and tried to shoo the dog away, but that only made Fang more excited.

Hagrid gave a hearty laugh. "Don't worry, he doesn't bite."

"It's not the bite I'm worried about!" Ron shouted, trying to brush the dog's tongue away from his face.

Harry was already trying to help him, holding back laughter, even Neville chuckled a little.

The group finally calmed down when Fang finally tired of Ron and jumped on Neville. Rigel didn't help the boy this time, it was just a few licks.

After Neville, Fang finally seemed to tire, he only sniffed Harry and Rigel before collapsing onto the patchwork quilt thrown on the floor, breathing through his mouth, tongue hanging out, drooling everywhere.

Ron and Neville were already covered in dog saliva, Ron clearly trying to clean himself up while Neville doubted his life.

Rigel finally raised his wand and helped them clean themselves up.

At that moment, Jack jumped on top of Fang, startling the dog. Jack had already hidden as soon as he entered, preparing to play a trick on the dog. Hagrid was surprised as Fang howled as if he had been bitten by a wolf. Jack shouted excitedly, 'riding' the dog and bumping into Hagrid's things. The two turned Hagrid's small hut into chaos.

Rigel rolled his eyes, using Levicorpus on them, and the two finally calmed down.

Jack, who had been having fun with the twins in recent days, seemed to have remembered something.

Rigel looked at him with a blank stare.

Jack gave a 'sad' smile.

"Kreacher." Rigel finally spoke, to Jack's shock, who began trying to escape but had no support in the air.

The next moment, before their astonished eyes, a tiny figure appeared in Hagrid's hut.

Kreacher was happy that Rigel had called him, even more so when Rigel handed him the monkey and told him to keep it there until Monday.

Jack fought frantically, but in the end, he was dragged away by an animated Kreacher.

The group finally recovered.

"What on earth was that?" Harry asked, shocked. He was the only one who didn't know about house-elves.

"He's my house-elf, I asked him to help with Jack's training." Rigel shrugged.

"Well, don't be too hard on the little lad, he was just teasing Fang." Hagrid said, completely unconcerned about the event.

Fang stared at Hagrid, stunned. Rigel could almost imagine what the dog was thinking: 'Are you my owner? Or are you the owner of that pest? I almost had a heart attack, okay?!'

With everything calm, they were soon able to sit down.

"These are Neville, Rigel, and Ron." Harry introduced them once they had calmed down. Hagrid was pouring hot water into a teapot and getting biscuits.

Hagrid looked at the group, focusing directly on Ron. "Another Weasley, eh? I've spent half my life chasing your brothers out of the Forbidden Forest."

Ron gave a weak smile, he didn't know what to say.

They took the biscuits, but as soon as they took a bite of them, they almost broke their teeth. Neville, who still had one loose tooth, lost it instantly, letting out a cry of pain.

Rigel, on the other hand, bit into the biscuit easily, they were good, although he thought they had probably been made by Hagrid, who tailored all his food to his strong physique.

"A little too sweet, some nuts would make it tastier." Rigel commented.

The group stared at him in astonishment, Harry and Ron unable to believe he had managed to eat that, and Hagrid looked genuinely thoughtful, while Neville was still spitting blood into a bucket Hagrid had given him.

"Well, nuts, huh? Not a bad idea." Hagrid nodded, he wasn't worried about Neville. To him, it was just a tooth, and so what if he lost it? A new one would grow quickly.

Neville's bleeding soon stopped, but he refused to eat anything else in that place.

Harry spoke to Hagrid about the lesson, how Snape had focused on him, clearly the man hated him.

"Nonsense, the man doesn't like any Gryffindor, he's not really focused on you." Hagrid said. Rigel realized the man knew the reason, but didn't want to tell Harry.

Harry wasn't convinced, but Hagrid changed the subject, speaking to Ron. "How's your brother, Charlie?"

Harry wondered if Hagrid had changed the subject on purpose. While Ron was recounting all about Charlie's work with dragons, Harry picked up a piece of paper that was on the table under the tea hood. It was a newspaper clipping from the Daily Prophet.

//[THE GRINGOTES CASE]

Investigations continue into the Gringotts break-in, which occurred on July 31st and is believed to have been the work of unknown Dark wizards.

The goblins at Gringotts insisted today that nothing had been stolen.

The safe that had been opened had actually been emptied earlier that day.

"But we're not going to say what was inside, so that nobody gets involved, if they have any sense." A spokesperson said this afternoon.//

"Good heavens, Hagrid! Wasn't that the vault we were in that day?" Harry exclaimed as soon as he read the news.

Hagrid froze for a moment, this time it was clearly apparent that he didn't want to talk about it. He looked away, pretending not to have heard, and offered them more biscuits.

Rigel was the only one to accept, although he found the event interesting, he didn't interfere.

They had to leave shortly afterwards, Hagrid having conveniently remembered that he had a patrol to do in the forest, giving them more biscuits, which all ended up in Rigel's pockets.

As they returned, Rigel noticed that Harry seemed clearly oblivious to his surroundings, he pulled Neville into the library, ready to use the last few hours to read before dinner.

Events continued to unfold, but Rigel wasn't too concerned about it, he quickly realized that achievements were much harder to come by in this world than in the Adventure world, which was a shame.

He visited many places, but had not yet received another award.

Perhaps the Room of Requirement?

Well, he would test it on another occasion, he still had the Black Lake to visit before then.