Chapter 425 Drunk After the Funeral

( ) "... Aragog, the king of spiders in the Forbidden Forest, you are a competent father and a friend worth remembering. Although you are sleeping peacefully now, you will always exist in our hearts."

"In today's world, it is the time when malice is raging and fighting each other. Light and darkness are fighting for survival and death. Innocent lives are being pulled endlessly by the storm of blood. You are also one of them who fell asleep because of this."

"Of course you have blemishes, omissions, and even sin, but it's not your fault. As a king of acromantulas full of wisdom, you are still dignified amidst omissions, and outstanding amidst blemishes." Yes, there is still a final repentance in sin."

"Although you have ended your life journey of more than fifty years at this time, you cannot witness the end of that unnecessary evil with your own eyes. However, when all this returns to peace in the near future, you will see the solemn and unwilling face. , I'm afraid it will inevitably show a slightly relaxed smile..."

Behind the hunting lodge on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, next to the not-so-large pumpkin field, Maca stood beside the big pit with a serious face.

Next to Maca was Hagrid.

This half-grown, but surprisingly soft-hearted giant half-breed knelt down in front of the pit. The tears in his eyes flowed desperately like he didn't want money, and wet his beard and front.

Behind them, Harry, Hermione, and Luna just stood there quietly. Not to mention Luna who can be in a daze anywhere, at least the expressions of Harry and Hermione are quite complicated.

At this moment, Maca's surprisingly solemn eulogy echoed continuously on the open flat land, mixed in the wind accompanied by snowflakes and drifted into the distance.

"...My friend, Aragog—may that day come soon! My friend, Aragog—may your spirit watch over your descendants in that peaceful forest home!"

"My friend, Aragog - those who know you will never forget your friendship! May you find comfort and rest in the sorrow of your best friend, Rubeus Hagrid!"

"That's right... so, so good... it's really good..."

After Maca's libretto came to an end, Hagrid let out a howl of "Wow", and he fell heavily on the edge of the big pit, his tears becoming more violent.

"Hagrid, make way—" Maca patted him on the back and said, "It's time to cover Aragog with a blanket. It's so cold, you'll freeze him!"

"I don't think 'he' can feel the cold anymore." Harry muttered in a very small voice.

"Shut up!"

Hermione immediately turned her head and glared at him, but Harry noticed that Hermione's eye sockets seemed to be a little red.

"you shut up!"

Harry opened his mouth, but Hermione blocked the words back with even more ferocious eyes.

Under Maca's persuasion, Hagrid finally supported his body with his palms covered in gravel, and stood back, sniffling vigorously.

"...Yes, you are right... Aragog will feel cold."

After he got out of the way, Maca picked up his staff and waved it, and the huge pile of soil dug out earlier immediately floated up, pressing the giant spider's body to the bottom of the deep pit.

After compacting and rounding the mound, Maca tapped his staff lightly, a long stone pillar rose from the ground, and a striking rune character appeared on it.

In ancient runes, acromantula was used to refer to the number "8". It is obviously appropriate to engrave this character on the tomb of Aragog.

"Okay," Maca patted Hagrid's arm again, "I don't think Aragog would like to see you shed too many tears for him, let's go back! Have a good rest, I still have a little Three Broomsticks' mead, Madame Rosmerta made the year before—"

Under Maca's call, Harry and him helped Hagrid, who was full of grief and reluctant to part, into the hut.

When Hagrid shoved his butt into the chair with a "creak", Fang, who had been terrified by Aragog's body before, finally crawled out of the basket, walked to Hagrid as usual and lifted its big His head rested on Hagrid's lap.

Then Maca took out three small oak wine barrels from his waist, and placed them on the round table in front of Hagrid one by one.

"Oh—how many things are in that fanny pack of yours?" Harry asked curiously.

"Well, I've superimposed the Untraceable Stretching Curse several times so far," Maca shrugged while continuing to take out the cup, "I've already used it smoothly, and no matter how large the space is, it will be filled , so I will expand it every once in a while—if the mouth of this bag doesn’t fit my shoulders, I can let you go in for a walk.”

"Walking?" Harry couldn't help but twitch his mouth when he heard that.

"Do you want some too?" Maca suddenly took out another bottle of butter beer, looked at them and asked, "If you want, I can warm it up for you."

"Hmm...can't I try that too?" Harry glanced at the small wine barrel on the table.

"No, I don't think so—" Maca shook her head and said, "The mead is a bit strong, don't we have activities in a while?"

Under Harry's regretful gaze, Maca reached out and tapped lightly on the wall of the wine bottle, and a trace of fire immediately swirled around it.

Not long after, he poured warm butter beer into the wine glasses, and a rich and mellow buttery aroma permeated the cabin.

But at this time, Hagrid had already finished two glasses of mead alone in tears.

"Then, come!" Maca raised his cup and said loudly, "For Aragog!"

"Aragok!" Harry, Hermione, Luna, and Hagrid echoed in unison.

After this slightly special funeral, everyone sat around the hunting lodge warmed by the fireplace and toasted each other.

At first, Hagrid was still immersed in sadness and couldn't extricate himself, but after a while, drunkenness finally invaded his brain, which diluted a lot of Aragog's departure.

Under such circumstances, although the butter beer did not contain alcohol, Harry felt as if he was about to be drunk by the gradually relaxing atmosphere.

"...he was just an egg when I met him!" said Hagrid sadly. "How small he was when he first hatched! Only the size of a fingernail..."

"Oh——" Luna sipped the hot drink in the cup, and the rich foam stained her upper lip, but she didn't notice it at all, "He's so cute."

"...Later, it didn't take long, and he grew up in the blink of an eye." Hagrid continued, "I hid him in a locker at school, and it was almost too crowded in just a few months."

"Yes!" Maca said with deep emotion, "Acromantus grows really fast, basically it doesn't take long from juvenile to semi-mature."

"That's right, it's like this..." Hagrid shook his dizzy head, agreeing, "If he hadn't grown so fast, he wouldn't have been discovered... But it's not his fault, it's not his fault !"

"Actually, you can use the Shrinking Curse, it's very useful—" Maca said casually, "If you get smaller, even if others notice it, they will just take it as a little spider that can be seen all the time."

"Oh—you have to know that the spell has never worked so well when it came to me." Hagrid said with drooping eyelids, "The Shrinking Curse is too difficult for me...too difficult..."

"Maka, you also have that kind of scary giant spider—oh, I mean...acantara?" Hermione looked at Maca in surprise, and Harry's eyes widened in that direction.

"Yes, those little guys are still staying in the United States, protecting Sirius for me!" Maca nodded, "Oh, there is another group of poor children."

"What happened to Sirius?" Harry asked casually, "The note he asked Hedwig to send scared us all!"

"Hmm..." Maca thought about it for a while, but then shook his head again, "Leave the things over there for now, and then you have to practice Defense Against the Dark Arts well, and then let's talk about other things! "

"But--"

Harry was naturally not very happy, after all, Sirius was his godfather. Apart from the Dursleys, Sirius was the only family he had left.

Although Sirius had no real blood relationship with him, he felt that Sirius was obviously more suitable for his family than the Dursleys.

"No need," Hermione tugged at him, "Isn't it enough to know that Sirius is fine? We really should focus on the future training first, otherwise even if we know the most detailed situation, But if you can't help, you can only worry in vain, can't you?"

"As much power as there is power," Luna added in a trance, "Mr. Fusco once said that."

"Mr. Fusco?" Harry asked suspiciously, "Who is that?"

Maca has long been used to Luna's sudden famous epigrams. But Harry and Hermione haven't been with her for so long, so they are naturally curious about the witty words that come out of her mouth.

"...Probably 'Dexter Fusco'! One of the previous Headmasters of Hogwarts," Hermione blinked and said, "But, did he say that? I Why don't you have an impression?"

"It's not Fusco from Hogwarts..." Luna tilted her head and said, "It's Fusco from Diagon Alley, the owner of the ice cream shop."

"What? An ice cream shop?" Harry and Hermione were suddenly depressed.

Just when both of them were speechless because the owner of the ice cream shop would say such wise words, Hagrid, who was lying on the table in a daze, suddenly raised his head and howled in his loud voice——

"Ice cream! Ah - ice cream! Poor little Aragog can't eat it - he gets diarrhea!"