A Web Of Magic - Volume 1 Chapter 94 Hagrid's Hut

Magnus got 60 impact points on the day of Christmas. He deduced it was probably because of his gifts. ‘Looks like they all liked my gifts,’ Magnus thought happily. Free points were always welcome. Magnus spent the day looking at old photos in his house. Time passed as he reminisced about the time he spent with his family. He popped back to the castle for dinner and he was glad he did. The house elves have outdone themselves and made a sumptuous feast. Harry saw him at dinner and gave him a happy nod which Magnus returned.

Magnus read till late that night and before sleeping, he looked at his pocket map out of habit. Surprisingly, he did notice something different. Harry was out of his bed and was poking around in the Restricted section of the library. ‘Wow Harry, that’s bold of you. Only a first year and already so curious,’ Magnus complimented the boy in his head. From what Hermione said, Harry wasn’t a bookworm who craved knowledge so this came as a surprise. Usually, first year students had enough on their plate learning the basics of magic. it’s only in the higher years that you know enough to seek higher level of knowledge.

‘Well, who am I to stop him if he wants to learn? It’s not like there’s anything dangerous lying around in the Restricted section. The darker books have either been long removed or are sealed under charms by the professors. Neither of these are what first years can acquire. There are only some annoying books left,’ Magnus mused as he went to bed.

The next day Magnus came to know from Fred that Harry got an invisibility cloak as a Christmas present. Apparently, it was a family heirloom. Magnus wasn’t surprised as the Potters were once very wealthy. ‘So, that’s what gave him confidence to sneak around at night huh? Well, it is very valuable and not to mention useful, but it is limited in its use. I can simply use a Disillusionment charm to the same effect. Well, the traditional version may not be as effective but the one from Merlin’s book is very good. Besides, it doesn’t look like the invisibility cloak hides him from the map as I clearly saw him yesterday. Unless, he didn’t wear it out. But that would be stupid to do when you are roaming the castle after curfew,’ Magnus thought before he put it all at the back of his head. He had plenty of things to do.

Magnus spent the rest of the vacation with his research, playing around with his friends or simply searching for ingredients in the forest. He limited his visits to the Forbidden forest as it is covered with snow now. It wasn’t very comfortable wading in the snow looking for hidden ingredients. The two weeks of the vacation passed soon and it was time for school once again. Things went back to the usual for Magnus. Earn points in class, help out in the medical wing, play with his friends and experiment as much as possible. The time-turner helped him a lot in this time.

The only thing worth of note in the coming days was the quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff in February. Magnus had to attend as the healer. Surprisingly, the referee for this match turned out to be Prof. Snape. Magnus heard from some of the staff that it was to keep Harry safe and prevent the jinxing incident like last time from happening again. Whatever the reason was, Prof. Snape being the referee put all of the players on their toes. The Gryffindor students weren’t happy with this arrangement as they felt that Prof. Snape would cheat. But their argument didn’t hold as Prof. Snape liked neither of the houses. What will he accomplish by cheating? Not to mention, there was Headmaster Dumbledore watching in the stands this time. The presence of the potion professor sped up the match and Harry caught the golden snitch in a record time thereby ending the match within half an hour. If all the matches ended so early, Magnus would be very happy.

It was time for the Easter holidays soon. Well they say holidays, but the students weren’t allowed to go home as their exams would soon be upon them. Magnus felt himself become very busy during this time as he also began selling some Wit Sharpening potions both in Diagon Alley as well as in the castle. Since the exam season was coming soon, they were very popular among the students giving their O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s. He reduced foraging in the forest for ingredients by himself and decided to take Hagrid’s help once again. Hagrid also hinted to Magnus that he needed some help. This wasn’t anything new to Magnus as Hagrid needed some healing from time to time.

Thus, Magnus made his way down to Hagrid’s hut from the castle one afternoon after classes. On his way he came across a gleeful looking Draco Malfoy and his every present bodyguards, Crabbe and Goyle. The Slytherin trio looked almost too happy for some reason and they almost ran into Magnus

“Out of my way-” Draco was about to say in his usual manner but his words stopped in his mouth when he saw who it was. The senior Slytherin students have warned him early on about not messing with Magnus. Apparently, strange things happen to those who mess with him. Draco scoffed at that at first. Why should he, heir to the most ancient and noble house of Malfoy, give way to some no name wizard? But still, he relented to their words and decided to stay away from Magnus as long as they didn’t cross paths. And they didn’t cross their paths, till now. Now that Draco saw Magnus, there was something in the older boy’s eyes that made him stop talking in his usual arrogant manner.

“Were you saying something?” Magnus looked at Draco with narrowed eyes. That seemed to scare the younger boys as they subconsciously took a step back.

“N-No,” Draco stuttered in reply.

“Good. Watch your step now. It wouldn’t do for you to get hurt now would it? I would have to heal you then. Have a nice day boys,” Magnus said as he continued on his way. These kids were too tender to play with him. He didn’t even use any of his mind spells and the trio got scared. Magnus soon made his way to Hagrid’s hut. He heard some commotion on the inside as he stood outside the door. As he concentrated on the words, he could make out what they were.

“Prof. SnapePhilosopher’s stoneFluffy?”

Magnus opened the door suddenly and asked loudly, “Who is Fluffy and what is he doing with the Philosopher’s stone and Prof. Snape?”

The people inside the hut seemed to have received a shock as they stood rooted at their spots. Magnus saw Harry, Hermione and Ron staring at him not knowing what to do. Hagrid looked guilty for some reason. The first one to break the silence was Hagrid’s dog Fang. Fang ran towards Magnus and slobbered all over his shoes in a show of affection as it tried to get some pats. Magnus indulged the dog a bit as they were pretty familiar by now.

“Alright, hello to you too Fang. Why are you all standing there in shock? Cat got your tongue?” Magnus asked with a smirk. He took out his wand and vanished away Fang’s slobber on his shoes with a practiced motion. Suddenly there was a fire blooming from behind Hagrid. That seemed to break the shocked people from their stupor and they started clamoring trying to extinguish the fire. Only then did Magnus look behind Hagrid.

“Hagrid, why do you have a baby dragon in your house?” he asked in wonder.