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Chapter 630: Rita Skeeter's New Report
🕑 Added 2019-10-31 19:29:24 +0000 UTCHermione believed that the unfair treatment of the half-giants and the werewolves was a prejudice and should be stopped!
Just like the attitude of the wizards towards the house-elves, this concept was fundamentally wrong.
Ron shook his head disbelievingly at Hermione’s idea, and Evan thought she was right. If every wizard had Hermione's consciousness, there would be no need to worry about many things.
But in fact it was not the case at all, and things were far worse than expected.
The day after the Ball, there was panic in the castle.
Various gossip and rumors about Hagrid were spreading fast in the old castle, and many people knew that he was a half-giant.
There were many students in the bushes near the fountain that day, and Hagrid’s voice was loud.
This could not be concealed at all, especially Madame Maxime's last excited shouts, which could be clearly heard even far away.
She said aloud that she only had big bones. While claiming innocence for herself, she also spread the news that Hagrid was a half-giant.
As Evan predicted, many people knew about it and rumors were flying.
Some people believed and some others expressed doubts!
But when the special Christmas issue of the Daily Prophet was brought in by Owl mail, all the rumors were proven to be true.
The return of Rita Skeeter and the Daily Prophet was simply amazing. The front page that was supposed to be about the Christmas event was replaced by a huge picture of Hagrid, with a furtive look on his face.
Below, a row of big characters clearly read: “DUMBLEDORE’S GIANT MISTAKE!”
Albus Dumbledore, eccentric Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has never been afraid to make controversial staff appointments, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. In September of this year, he hired Alastor “Mad-eye” Moody, the notoriously jinx-happy ex-Auror, to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, a decision that raised many eyebrows at the Ministry of Magic, given Moody’s well-known habit of attacking anybody who makes a sudden movement in his presence.
Mad-eye Moody, however, looks responsible and kindly when set beside the part-human and part-demon Dumbledore employs. It’s well-known that he has hired infamous werewolves, vampires and even leprechauns to become professors and caused a great disturbance.
But these are not as shocking as the true face hidden in the shadows of the current Professor of Care of Magical Creatures.
Rubeus Hagrid, who admits to being expelled from Hogwarts in his third year, has enjoyed the position of gamekeeper at the school ever since, a job secured for him by Dumbledore.
Last year, however, Hagrid used his mysterious influence over the headmaster to secure the additional post of Care of Magical Creatures teacher, over the heads of many better-qualified candidates.
An alarmingly large and ferocious-looking man, Hagrid has been using his newfound authority to terrify the students in his care with a succession of horrific creatures. While Dumbledore turns a blind eye, Hagrid has maimed several pupils during a series of lessons that many admit to being “very frightening”.
“I was attacked by a hippogriff, and my friend Vincent Crabbe got a bad bite off a Flobberworm,” says Draco Malfoy, a fourth-year student. “We all hate Hagrid, but we’re just too scared to say anything."
Hagrid has no intention of ceasing his campaign of intimidation, however, but rather enjoys it. In conversation with a Daily Prophet reporter last month, he admitted breeding creatures he has dubbed “Blast-Ended Skrewts,” highly dangerous crosses between Manticores and fire-crabs. The creation of new breeds of magical creature is, of course, an activity usually closely observed by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Hagrid, however, considers himself to be above such petty restrictions.
"I was just having some fun,” he says, before hastily changing the subject.
The Daily Prophet has now unearthed evidence that Hagrid is not, as he has always pretended, a pure-blood wizard. He is not, in fact, even pure human. His mother, we can exclusively reveal, is none other than the giantess Fridwulfa, whose whereabouts are currently unknown.
Bloodthirsty and brutal, the giants brought themselves to the point of extinction by warring amongst themselves during the last century.
The handful that remained joined the ranks of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and were responsible for some of the worst mass Muggle killings of his reign of terror.
While many of the giants who served He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named were killed by Aurors working against the Dark Side, Fridwulfa was not among them.
As the most ferocious female giant in history, it is possible she escaped to one of the giant communities still existing in foreign mountain ranges.
If his antics during Care of Magical Creatures lessons are any guide, however, Fridwulfa’s son appears to have inherited her brutal nature.
In a bizarre twist, Hagrid is reputed to have developed a close friendship with the boy who brought around You-Know-Who’s fall from power, thereby driving Hagrid’s own mother, like the rest of You-Know-Who’s supporters, into hiding.
Perhaps Harry Potter is unaware of the unpleasant truth about his large friend; but Albus Dumbledore surely has a duty to ensure that Harry Potter, along with his fellow students, is warned about the dangers of associating with part-giants.
Our reporter will continue to follow up on the matter and on behalf of all parents, appeal to Hogwarts to take action as soon as possible.”
…………..
"I can't believe it!" After reading the newspaper, Harry looked up at everyone and said angrily. "I have to teach Malfoy a lesson. What does he mean ‘we all hate Hagrid’? What does he mean ‘I was attacked by a hippogriff’? Buckbeak saved his life last year. How can he say that?"
Over the past year, Malfoy had an unexpectedly good attitude towards Buckbeak, bringing him food from time to time.
But it was clear that his attitude towards Hagrid was still bad, and he was no longer aiming his anger at the hippogriff.
"What’s this rubbish ‘Crabbe got a bad bite off a Flobberworm’? They haven’t even got teeth!”
Hermione didn't care about it. She cared about how Rita Skeeter knew this.
"How did that horrible Skeeter woman find out?"
"What's so strange about this? She was so mad Hagrid wouldn’t give her loads of horrible stuff about us, and searched everywhere for his situation and retaliated against him," said Harry, "and then she got the news and made it up!"
"After last night, almost half of the people in the castle knew about it!" said Evan.
"Yeah, it’s not surprising Skeeter knew about it. Even you heard it when you were hiding in the bushes!" Ron said disapprovingly. "Hagrid is good enough. That stupid prat talked so much about his giantess mother where anyone could have heard him!”
