Chapter 33

In mid-October, the flu that had plagued Hogwarts, instead of subsiding, had intensified, and even several professors had the misfortune of getting caught.

Luckily, Felix had the foresight to get two bottles of tonic from Madam Pomfrey in advance and took a sip before class to avoid being infected by the untrustworthy little wizard.

On Wednesday, Felix had a rare day off from class, so he walked out of the castle and followed a path through the greenhouse and past the Whomping Willow to the forbidden forest warden’s hut.

Just as he approached, a large dog barked, and Felix waited quietly.

A man shouted twice at the big dog, “Fang, shut up!” Then turned his head to look at him, a measure with its gaze.

“Professor Hap? You want something?”

To his eyes, the professor dressed in fine, well-made clothes, with neatly groomed hair and a clean-shaven beard, is a completely different person from him.

“As a new professor, I suddenly realized that I hadn’t visited you yet, which, I must say, is very rude …”

“Is it?” Hagrid muttered, blocking the doorway, clearly not too interested.

“I learned from Dumbledore that you are an excellent warden of the Forbidden Forest and are very good with magical creatures, and it just so happens that I am also very interested in these cute little guys.”

“Really? Ahem… I mean …”

Felix tapped his wand on the ring on his left index finger, and a thick book appeared in his hand with a silhouette of a group of animals on the cover.

“This is my gift.”

Hagrid’s eyes fell on the group of animal silhouettes in various forms, and he stammered a little, “Ah, this, you’re too kind. I mean … you don’t really have to …”

Hagrid stood frozen in place and waved his thick arm, “Come in, come in.”

Felix entered Hagrid’s Hut without difficulty, a standard bachelor room as far as he could see, it looked disorganized, but everything is in its rightful place.

It’s only when Hagrid handed him a mug that he realized what a mistake he had made, this mug hadn’t been washed in days? It looked dirty!

After chatting with Hagrid for a few words and noticing that he kept his eyes on the book, he naturally changed the subject to it.

“Hagrid, I made this book myself, with a lot of thought, and I hope you’ll like it.”

Hagrid picked up the book and opened it, with his large hand and flipped through the first page which showed a little animal with a single tiger’s stripe in the head, relying on its two hind limbs for support, its body standing upright and its two forearms hanging down over its chest in a wary manner.

The next picture shows a scene in which this little fellow is fighting a lion. The little fellow is quite brave, not only showing no fear in the face of an opponent more than ten times its size but attacking again and again.

“What is this little fellow?” Hagrid’s eyes lit up at once.

Felix glanced at the picture, “It’s a species of honey badger that is found in Africa, they are very brave and very intelligent.”

On the next page, there was a scene of a honey badger sparring with a different animal, and Hagrid was so fascinated that he kept flipping forwards.

One novel creature after another appeared before his eyes, and it was as if a new world had opened up to him.

Halfway through, he looked up, a little puzzled, “Professor Hap, I haven’t seen many of these animals, they don’t seem to be magical creatures.”

“That’s right, you’re an expert on magical animals, you’ve seen more than me in this area. It’s a good thing I worked in the Muggle world for two years and saw a lot of interesting creatures that may not have magical traits, but still have fascinating characteristics by virtue of their unique physiology and habitat …”

“I have compiled some of these from various Muggle books, films, and videos to complete this magic book.”

Hagrid, obviously aware of the effort that had been put into this gift, muttered in a small voice, “This is too expensive, too expensive.”

Felix smiled, “Hagrid, you’re welcome, I have a similar gift for each of the professors. And-”

“I do have a small favour to ask you.”

“What is it?” Hagrid asked cautiously.

“I need some unicorn hair, not too much …” Felix looked a little embarrassed.

“Oh, that’s it, it’s easy.” Hagrid relaxed as he leaned forward and tugged a furry, dirty mat over from the side.

“Here, I’ve got plenty of this stuff if you don’t have enough, the little unicorns change their fur several times before they grow up, and I help tidy it all up.”

Felix froze a little as he took the floppy mats, which looked like they were suffering under Hagrid’s bum, no less.

Hagrid added, “Unicorn hairs, although they contain magic, not every one of them has the kind of magnitude to make a wand, they were picked up by that old man Ollivander, you know, he has a partnership with Hogwarts and will give discounts to new students …”

The two then engaged in a conversation about magical creatures, and Hagrid discovered, to his surprise, that the professor wasn’t telling lies, not like a certain self-absorbed professor at all.

Professor Hap knew a lot about some magical creatures, one could even say that he knew many things that he himself is unaware of.

For example, the Sphinx can be put into a state of confusion or reflection by saying just three riddles before it meets you.

For example, when encountering a Nogtail, he can use his magic to transfigure a stone into a white dog, as they are particularly afraid of dogs with pure white fur.

For example, trolls are afraid of bright lights …

Halfway through, Felix also provided butterbeer and special cakes, and the two had a good time.

It’s already a little dark when Felix walked out of Hagrid’s hut.

He saw a small red-haired witch by the path, who seemed to be an in bewildered state of mind, and is shooed back to the castle by him.

The next day, Felix traded a few branches of Whomping Willow and a small pot of Devil’s Snare from Sprout, the Professor of Herbology Class.

The former is a highly valued material, often used to make wands and very vital in the boiling process of a range of potions, but thanks to Harry and Ron – who had driven their car into a whomping willow at the beginning of the school year – it’s currently quite abundant.

Office.

Felix looked at the materials on his workbench: a dirty mat, a few black branches seven or eight metres long, a small pot of shrunken plants.

He is pretty much very satisfied in his mind.

Felix is ready to complete a magical artefact.

The method of making it came from a rather old and isolated magic book, which he had recently found in the library. Originally he hadn’t cared much about it, seeing as the name of the book, Applications of Alchemy, is no different from many books he had seen before.

But he soon realized the difference; the book’s cover had been added later, and the pages inside were significantly older; if it hadn’t been protected by magic, Felix had no doubt it would have decayed to ashes immediately.

Within the slim booklet were the notes of more than ten people, some messy, some neat, with a mixture of additions and corrections to those who had preceded them, as well as arrogance and condescending overlooks of those who had followed.

———-

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