As Friday arrived, Harry found his life at Hogwarts becoming increasingly fulfilling.
At first, he had worried about falling behind his classmates. After all, he knew nothing about magic before meeting Adrian.
But after attending classes, he discovered this wasn't the case. Even students from wizarding families had received little formal magical education before starting school. This was especially true for children like him who came from the Muggle world.
In fact, he was even ahead in some courses. However, he didn't become too proud of this.
He noticed that even students encountering magic for the first time could outperform him. For instance, that girl named Hermione Granger whom he'd met on the train had successfully cast the Levitation Charm in their first Charms class.
Her movements and incantation seemed more practiced than his. Harry had spent nearly half a day practicing before he managed to make a feather wobble off the table, and that was with guidance from other wizards.
And it wasn't just Charms class—there was also Herbology, Transfiguration...
Goodness, she was truly brilliant.
Besides these observations, Harry had thought he might excel in Potions class, considering Adrian had taught him more about potions than anything else.
But that Potions professor called Snape...
While Harry was lost in thought, he finally reached Hagrid's hut.
The reason he was here was because Hagrid had invited him for tea. He'd also brought Ron along.
Harry raised his hand and gently knocked on the door.
Heavy footsteps immediately sounded from inside, and then the door was yanked open to reveal Hagrid's enormous figure.
"Come in, Harry!" Hagrid grinned, his thick beard quivering slightly as his gaze shifted to Ron beside Harry. "And another Weasley child, is it?"
Hagrid's hut consisted of only one room. Though not large, it felt cozy.
In the corner stood a large bed, beside which was a set of oversized wooden table and chairs. The table was covered with teacups and a large plate of oddly-shaped biscuits.
Well, at least they looked like biscuits, rather than something else.
Surprisingly, there was already another person in Hagrid's hut.
"Professor!" Harry exclaimed, startled to see Adrian sitting in a chair.
Adrian was staring down at a rock cake in his hand, struggling to grind its surface with his teeth.
However, the thing was like a stone enchanted with strengthening spells. After chewing for ages, he had only managed to wear off a bit of powder.
Hearing Harry's voice, Adrian looked up, revealing a somewhat stiff smile.
His jaw was tired from all the biting.
"Oh, Harry, you're here," Adrian's tone sounded relieved, "and Mr. Weasley as well."
"Um... hello, Professor," Ron greeted quietly, his gaze involuntarily darting to the biscuit in Adrian's hand.
Seeing this, Adrian casually handed the untouched piece to Ron, and while Hagrid was busy pouring tea, he slipped the bitten piece under the table into Fang's mouth.
Soon after, Hagrid approached with a teapot, enthusiastically saying, "Quick, sit down! I've just brewed a fresh pot of tea with leaves Professor Westeros brought! There are biscuits on the table too—don't be shy, help yourselves!"
As he spoke, he poured tea for everyone.
Since Adrian occupied the chair, Harry and Ron chose to sit on the edge of Hagrid's large bed.
As for the biscuits, everyone unanimously chose to ignore them.
"Professor, why are you here?" Harry asked curiously.
Adrian picked up his teacup, blew on it gently, and casually replied, "Hagrid invited me over. He's eager to know how Torch has been doing lately."
"Who wouldn't love Torch? Ah, that little darling..." Hagrid said with an envious expression.
In fact, during the summer holiday, Hagrid had written to Adrian almost every few days, always inquiring about Torch's condition.
Ron, hearing this name, furrowed his brow slightly and nudged Harry with his elbow, whispering, "Torch? What's that?"
Harry lowered his voice equally and answered, "It's a baby dragon."
Ron's mouth fell open so wide he could have almost fit an entire rock cake inside.
Seeing Ron's shocked expression, Harry couldn't help but smile, continuing, "Professor Westeros keeps a dragon at home. I can take you to see it during the holidays."
Ron's expression immediately became complex.
Why... did Harry mention raising a dragon as casually as keeping a dog?
Was his understanding of dragons somehow flawed?
Adrian took a sip of tea and said leisurely, "Torch is growing quickly. Remus has been taking care of him. Of course, he still can't fly, let alone breathe fire, but his scales have become quite solid, and his appetite has increased."
Hagrid listened with shining eyes: "That's wonderful! He must be an extraordinary dragon!"
Beyond the dragon, they discussed many other topics.
Like why the new Professor Quirrell smelled of garlic, how Adrian's first lesson had gone, why the caretaker Filch was always catching students...
Finally, Harry brought up his Potions class.
"Hagrid," Harry called out while Hagrid was laughing heartily at Adrian's cold joke, "about Potions class..."
"What's wrong?" Hagrid immediately turned his head, seeming somewhat nervous. "Did you do something in Potions class?"
Harry frowned, pondered for a moment, then said perplexedly, "I feel like Professor Snape particularly dislikes me. During class, he asked me many questions. I actually answered most of them correctly, but not only did he not award me points, he found various reasons to deduct them."
Hagrid's expression changed somewhat awkwardly. He stroked his beard and said vaguely, "Er... Snape is like that. He's strict with all students."
Ron immediately pursed his lips and muttered, "But he's not strict at all with the Slytherin students."
"What did he ask you?" Adrian suddenly perked up—after all, Harry was his student, and it would be terrible if he couldn't answer even simple questions.
Harry thought for a moment and said, "First, what would you get if you added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
"The Draught of Living Death, Harry," Adrian immediately said. "I taught you that."
"Then he asked where to find a bezoar, and what's the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane." After finishing, Harry added, "I answered them all, and even provided additional information about different types of aconite. However, Snape still deducted a point from me."
Adrian fell silent for a moment, suddenly very curious about Snape's expression at that time.
It must have been quite spectacular.
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