Chapter 1,128

In fact, just as Fan Lin thought at the beginning, Harry's super popularity made the selection session last for almost the entire morning. It seemed like half the Gryffindor house was out in force, from the first years (who nervously clutched the school's tattered brooms) to the older seventh years (who were intimidatingly tall and seemed remarkably calm).

Among the latter was a large boy with stiff hair, whom Harry recognized immediately as he had seen him on the Hogwarts Express.

"We met on the train, in old Slug's compartment," he said confidently, stepping out of the crowd to shake Harry's hand. "Cormac McLagan, keeper."

"You didn't try out last year, did you?" Harry asked, noting that McLagan's shoulders were broad enough to block all three goals without moving.

"I was in the hospital when they were doing the selection last year," McLagan said arrogantly. "I lost the bet and ate a pound of vixen eggs."

"Okay," Harry said. "Well...just wait over there..."

He pointed to a corner of the court, where Fanlin and Hermione were sitting. He seemed to see a flash of irritation on McLaggen's face, and Harry wondered if McLaggen thought they would get some special treatment because they were all students that the 'Old Slug' liked.

Harry followed Fanlin's suggestion and started with the most basic test. He divided all the registered people into groups of ten and asked them to fly around the stadium.

Clearly, this was a good idea: the first group were first-years, and it couldn't be more obvious that they'd barely flown before. Only one boy managed to stay in the air for too long until he panicked and crashed into the goal post.

The second group consisted of ten of the silliest girls Harry had ever seen, and after Harry blew the whistle, they just giggled loudly and held on to each other. The girl named Romilda Venn was also among them.

Harry asked them to leave the field, which they happily did, swarming into the stands and laughing at everyone who was left.

The third group crashed into a heap halfway around the court. Most of the people in the fourth group did not bring broomsticks.

The people in group five are all Hufflepuffs.

"If there is anyone here who is not Gryffindor," Harry yelled, and he started to get a little angry, "please leave immediately!" After a moment of silence, several Ravenclaw students ran out quickly. Stadium, while still huffing and laughing.

After two hours of complaining and several tantrums - one of which broke a handful of Comet Zeros and chipped several teeth - Harry finally found three Chasers: Katie. Bell returned to the team after a wonderful trial. Newcomer Demelza Robbins performed particularly well in dodging Bludgers, and Ginny Weasley, who had a lot of success throughout the selection process. They both performed outstandingly and scored 7 goals.

Although Harry was satisfied with his choice, he still shouted at countless protesters until he lost his voice, and now he had to have another similar argument with the eliminated batsmen.

"That's my final decision. If any of you doesn't make way for the selection of the goalkeeper, I will cast a spell on him!" Harry shouted. None of the hitters he selected had the talent of veteran players Fred and George, but he was quite satisfied: Jimmy Pickles, a short but broad-shouldered third grader, hit the Bludger hard. It reached the back of Harry's head, causing a lump the size of an egg to bulge on Harry's head, as well as Richie Coote, who looked skinny but was very good at aiming. They now joined Katie, Demelza and Ginny in the stands watching the selection of the final member of the team.

Harry deliberately left the goalkeeper selection to the end. He hoped that some people on the court would leave and the pressure on them would be less.

Unfortunately, all the losers and some people who had just finished breakfast have joined the audience, so there are more people watching. When each goalkeeper flies towards the goal, they all burst out loudly. laugh at.

Harry glanced at Ron, who was easily nervous; Harry thought that winning the last game last term had cured Ron's problem, but apparently not: Ron's face turned green.

None of the first five players saved more than two goals, and much to Harry's dismay, Cormac McLaggen saved four of the five penalties. But when he saved the last ball, he threw it completely in the wrong direction; the crowd burst into laughter and boos, and McLaggen gritted his teeth and returned to the ground.

Ron seemed to be about to faint when he rode the Sweeping Seven Stars.

"Good luck!" shouted a voice from the crowd in the stands. Harry looked around, hoping it was Fanlin and Hermione, but to his surprise, what Harry saw was Lavender Brown.

Is it possible that what Fanlin said is true?

Among the four of them, he will soon be the only one left...

Harry expelled the terrible thoughts from his head, but in fact, it was of no use. Ron was simply nervous but explosive...

Harry wanted to bury his face in his hands like Lavender and not look, but as a captain, he should be a little tougher, so he turned his head to look at Ron's experiment.

But to Harry's surprise, it seemed like he didn't have to worry at all: Ron saved a ball, two, three, four, five in a row!

Harry was delighted, and he restrained himself with difficulty from joining the cheering crowd. Harry wanted to turn around and tell McLaggen that, unfortunately, Ron had defeated him, but found McLaggen's flushed face inches away from him, and Harry quickly took a few steps back.

"His sister doesn't take her batting seriously at all," McLaggen said viciously, the veins swollen in his temples like the ones Harry had often seen on Uncle Vernon's face. "Every ball she gave him was easy to save."

"Nonsense," Harry said coldly.

"He almost missed it." McLaggen took another step closer, and this time Harry didn't back away. "Let me try again."

"No," said Harry. "You've already tried it once. You saved four. Ron saved five. Ron is the goalkeeper, and he's earned his spot fair and square. Get out of the way." He briefly thought McLaggen would use He punched him, but he just twisted his face into an ugly look and walked away with a roar, sounding like he was angry with the air. Harry turned to see his new team members looking at him slightly.

"Well done," he croaked. "You guys are flying really well -"

"You did great, Ron!"

Fan Lin and Hermione also came over at this time. Although Fan Lin's expression was a little strange, in fact, Harry was also immersed in the joy of being able to add Ron to the team again.

Ron looked extremely pleased with himself, grinning widely at everyone and seeming taller than usual. After agreeing to hold the first team training next Thursday, Harry, Ron, Fanlin and Hermione said goodbye to the rest of the team and walked to Hagrid's hut.

The light rain finally stopped, and the wet sun struggled to squeeze out from behind the clouds. Harry was starving; he wished Hagrid had something to eat.

"I think I almost missed the fourth one," Ron said happily. "Delmelza's one was tricky, did you see that, with a little spin--"

"Yeah, yeah...well, very bangbang!"

"But this sounds weird..." Ron was a little confused...

"Well, maybe it's my accent..."

"Oh, congratulations, Ron." Hermione said with a smile, and then squeezed Fan Lin behind.

"I'm still better than that McLaggen anyway," Ron said with great satisfaction. "Did you see him move awkwardly in the wrong direction on the fifth ball? It was like he was under a confusion spell..."

"Uh...yes, yes..." Fan Lin shook his head and pulled Hermione away.

…

"That kid is so arrogant!" Hermione said dissatisfied.

"You don't like it? Oh, that's good..."

Then Fanlin pointed his finger...

"That'll be fine."

…

There was a tall gray hippogriff tied in front of Hagrid's hut. When Buckbeak saw the four of them coming, he smacked its sharp beak and turned its huge head.

"Oh my god," Hermione said nervously. "It's still a little scary, isn't it?"

"Come on, you've ridden it, haven't you?" said Ron. Harry stepped forward and bowed to the Hippogriff, staring at it without blinking. Seconds later, Buckbeak bowed as well.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked quietly, stroking its feathered head.

"Ouch!" Buckbeak shouted loudly. The hippogriff was still very friendly to his human friends, and this also reminded Hagrid.

Hagrid strode around the corner of the hut, wearing a huge floral apron and carrying a bag of potatoes. His big hunting dog Yaya followed; Yaya barked and jumped forward.

"Stay away from it! It'll bite your fingers off - oh. It's you guys."

Fang jumped up between Hermione and Fanlin and tried to lick their ears.

Hagrid glanced at them, turned around, strode into the hut, and slammed the door shut.

"Oh my God!" Hermione looked shocked.

"Don't worry," Fan Lin said helplessly. Apparently, Hagrid was a little tempered and he didn't really want to see them.

Fanlin walked over and knocked loudly on the door. "Hagrid! Open the door, we want to talk to you!"

There was no sound inside.

"If you don't open the door, we'll blow it up!" Fan Lin took out his wand.

"Fan Lin, what are you doing!" Hermione sounded shocked. "There is no way you can—"

"Of course I can!" Fan Lin said. "This is not the first time. Moreover, if some people continue, I think this will not be the last time. Now, stand back -"

But before Fanlin could recite the spell, the door opened again.

Hagrid stood there glaring at everyone, looking absolutely terrifying despite his floral apron.

"I'm a teacher!" he yelled at Harry. "A teacher, Al! How dare you threaten to blow me up..."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hagrid," Fan Lin put his wand away in his robe and deliberately pronounced the last word very loudly. Hagrid looked shocked.

"Since when did you start calling me 'sir'?"

"Since when did you start calling me 'El'? Or do you think you can just keep hiding like this, Hagrid?"

"Oh, that's clever," Hagrid muttered gruffly. "Very funny. I was fooled by you guys, right? Well, come on in, you ungrateful little..."

He muttered vaguely, stepping back to let them in. Hermione walked in right behind Fanlin, looking terrified.

"So?" Hagrid said irritably. Harry, Ron, Fanlin and Hermione sat down around his huge wooden table. Yaya immediately put his head on Harry's lap, drool dripping all over his robe.

"What is this? Saying sorry to me? Thinking I'm lonely or something?"

"No," Harry said immediately. "We wanted to come see you."

"We missed you!" Hermione said shakily.

"Missed me, didn't you?" Hagrid snorted. "Yeah. Okay." He trudged around the house, making tea in his huge copper teapot, mumbling all the while. Finally, he threw four bucket-sized cups and a plate of rock cakes in front of them. The cups were filled with brown-red tea.

Harry was hungry enough to endure Hagrid's cooking, and he immediately picked up a piece.

"Hagrid," Hermione said timidly, as Hagrid joined them at the table and peeled the potatoes with great savagery, as if every potato had a grudge against him. "You see, we really want to get on with Care of Magical Creatures."

Hagrid snorted loudly again.

Fanlin felt even more lucky that they were just potatoes, and at the same time he was secretly glad that they didn't stay for dinner. Hagrid's cooking skills... you can't expect a giant's taste buds to be as moderate as normal people.

"We really want to!" said Hermione. “But none of us can fit it into our curriculum!”

"Yeah. Okay." Hagrid said again.

Suddenly there was a strange crunching sound, and they all looked around: Hermione screamed, Ron jumped up from his chair, and hurriedly walked around the table to avoid a large bucket in the corner. Just noticed it.

Inside was a full bucket of what looked like giant maggots a foot long; slimy and white, writhing and writhing inside.

"What are those? Hagrid?" Harry tried to sound more interested than disgusted, but he put down the rock pie anyway.

"Just giant maggots," Hagrid said.

"Will they grow into...?" Ron looked worried. The experience of the Blast-Ended Skrewt seemed like just yesterday...

"Nothing will grow," said Hagrid. "I'm going to use them to feed Aragog."

Without any warning, he burst into tears. "Hagrid!" Hermione shouted, walking around the table (to avoid the bucket of maggots) to Hagrid's side and gently patted Hagrid's trembling shoulder.

"What's wrong?"

"It's...it..." Hagrid whimpered, wiping his face with his skirt, and his eyes as black as beetles were filled with tears. "It's... Aragog... I think he's dying... he's been sick all summer and I don't think he's going to get better... I don't know what to do if it... if it... we're together We’ve been together for such a long time…”

Hermione patted Hagrid on the shoulder, looking like she didn't know what to say. Harry knew how she felt. He still remembered that Hagrid gave a teddy bear to his ferocious little dragon, saw him taking care of a group of giant scorpions with suckers and stings, and saw him trying to communicate with his ferocious giant brother, but maybe this was The most incomprehensible of his hobby is the giant talking spider Aragog, which lives deep in the Forbidden Forest and from which they escaped four years ago after a narrow escape.

"Is there...is there anything we can do to help?" Hermione asked, ignoring Fanlin's crazy winks and shaking his head. That big spider, in fact, if it wasn't for Hagrid, that guy would have died for his research...

"I think not, Hermione," Hagrid choked, struggling to hold back tears. "Look, the rest of the clan... Aragog's family... they all acted a little strange... a little restless... after he became ill..."

"Yeah, I think we've seen them like that too," Ron whispered.

"...I don't think it's safe for anyone to go there at this time except me." After Hagrid finished speaking, he blew his nose vigorously with his apron and then raised his head. "But thank you for your concern, Hermione... it's very important..."

Afterwards, the atmosphere in the room became much more relaxed. Although no one showed any interest in meeting a ferocious giant spider and feeding it giant maggots, Hagrid still took it for granted that they would be willing to do it. So he regained himself.

"Ah, actually I already knew it would be difficult for you to squeeze me into your class schedule," he said gruffly, offering them more tea. "Even if you apply for a time turner—"

"In fact, we can't use it." Fan Lin said, "In the Ministry of Magic, the battle took place in the Hall of Time. You should know that that battle directly destroyed two departments..."

"Ah, well then," said Hagrid. "You can't do it... I'm sorry that I - you know - I'm worried about Aragog... and I was thinking that maybe if it was Professor Grubblan who taught you -"

The four of them told Hagrid clearly and unconscionably that Professor Graplan, who had taught him several times, was terrible, so when they bid farewell to Hagrid's hut in the dusk, he looked quite happy. (To be continued)