Resistant to cold, rolling around in the snow?
Listening to Kai's description, Harry felt an odd sense of familiarity, but he couldn't quite recall who it was.
Just as he was about to ask, someone knocked on the door again.
This time, it still wasn't Dumbledore.
"Hagrid, how are you doing? Everyone in the castle's talking about you... Oh, I see you've put the kettle on, can I have a cup of hot tea?"
Seeing who it was, Harry exclaimed happily, "Professor Black, what are you doing here?"
"I've told you loads of times, Harry, outside the castle you don't need to call me 'Professor'."
Sirius stepped into the hut. "Why else? Because I read the paper, of course. I wanted to ask Professor Dumbledore first, but who knows where he's gone—I couldn't find him."
Hagrid's hut was never big, and now with five people squeezed in, it felt smaller than ever.
Harry and Ron shuffled to the left, making just enough space for Sirius.
But ten minutes later... Conna showed up at the door too, with Cedric, Cho, and the Weasley Brothers.
Now, there was absolutely no room left in the hut, so they could only stand outside.
Conna spotted Kael right away inside the hut, waving hurriedly. "No wonder we couldn't find you anywhere—you got here early!"
"No, I just arrived too," Kael explained. "I went to Diagon Alley with Professor Black earlier; you lot were still asleep."
"Diagon Alley?"
"Yeah, we had to pick up something from Gringotts. We arranged it over the holidays, and today happened to work."
Conna nodded, not asking further since coming to see Hagrid was her main reason for showing up.
Seeing a crowd gathered at his humble hut, Hagrid started to choke up again—this time not because he was upset.
He'd thought that after everyone found out what he was, they'd avoid him; he never expected so many would come to see him.
"Thank you, thank you for daring to come..." Two big, round tears rolled out of Hagrid's eyes and soaked slowly into his beard.
"Hagrid, what are you talking about?" Fred grinned. "Our Care of Magical Creatures professor is a Half-Giant—what could possibly be cooler than that?"
"A Pure-Blood Giant?" George raised his eyebrows.
"Can't argue with that."
The two high-fived in perfect sync.
"See, Hagrid, no one here cares what your background is," Kael said.
"But Dumbledore..."
"I trust the Headmaster isn't going to sack you." Kael patted his arm.
They didn't stay long.
Mainly because it was freezing outside and so many couldn't fit in the hut, so not much later, Hagrid said he wanted some time alone, and shooed them all back to the castle.
Harry and the others hadn't wanted to leave, but Hagrid was determined, practically shoving them out the door.
But as they were leaving, Kael suddenly saw a beetle crawl out from the open doorway.
"Yeah, let's head back."
Once out of the hut, Kael walked beside Conna and casually said, "Good thing the paper only mentioned the Half-Giant bit, didn't notice that other thing or it would've been a nightmare."
"What thing?" Conna asked, puzzled.
"You forgot?" Kael glanced around. "Not safe to talk here. Let's go back and I'll tell you."
Conna was a bit lost, but followed Kael toward the castle anyway.
Not until they reached the entrance hall did she try, "You don't mean Fluffy, do you? But that's ages ago—there's no way that could be found out."
"Yeah, you're right, no one would ever find out about Fluffy."
Kael said, and pulled out a round jar made from a Multi-Flavor Bean, slapping it against his shoulder.
"Dong dong dong..."
A series of clattering noises immediately sounded inside the jar.
"Is that... a beetle?"
"It's a beetle, but not just any beetle."
Kael plugged the mouth of the jar, shook it in his hand, and again came more clattering from inside.
"Am I right, Ms. Rita Skeeter?"
"Rita..." Conna jumped. "You mean, this beetle is that Rita Skeeter?"
"Just a suspicion, but testing it is easy—a little test... follow me."
Kael entered an empty classroom, set the jar down, then opened his Transfiguration Lizard Skin Bag and pulled out a portable camera and a little plant-sprout-like creature.
Conna stood by, curious as Kael opened the jar and handed the beetle to the Bowtruckle.
Bowtruckle thought it was getting an extra snack, absolutely delighted—though it preferred Earth Turtles, it wasn't about to turn down a tasty treat, and opened its mouth to chomp down the beetle.
But the next second, the beetle wriggled violently and started growing bigger.
Conna knew exactly what was happening: the transformation from Animagus back to Wizard.
Soon, the empty classroom had an extra woman in it, with curly hair and horn-rimmed glasses.
The Bowtruckle was terrified; it looked at its hands, then at the sudden new person, and yelped as it dove into Kael's bag.
At the same time...
"Snap!"
Kael pressed the camera shutter.
"What a show. The famous Ms. Rita Skeeter—a completely illegal Animagus." Kael looked up, grinning. "Looks like tomorrow's Daily Prophet front page is already sorted."
"Damn it, give it to me!" Rita Skeeter went wild, lunging to snatch the camera from Kael.
But the next instant, she flew back even faster, crashing over several tables.
"Stealing is wrong, Ms. Skeeter." Kael waved his wand lightly.
Rita Skeeter hadn't even managed to get up when the desks and chairs around her transformed into ropes, tying her up tight from her feet all the way to her neck, making her look exactly like a cocoon.
And her wand, too, was kicked off beside a table leg.
"Yet another illegal Animagus," Conna said with utter disdain. "No wonder you know so many Wizards' secrets—who expects a beetle?"
"It's fine; people always pay for their mistakes eventually." Kael smiled. "Being an illegal Animagus alone is enough to send her off for tea with a Dementor."
"Give it to me!" Rita Skeeter yelled again.
She never imagined that her foolproof trick would get busted by a student like this.
You could picture it: once the photo showing her complete Animagus transformation went public, she'd be absolutely done for.
Those Magic Ministry officials—if they found out she was a beetle Animagus, snooping for stories, she'd be finished, maybe even quietly killed off.
So no matter what, she had to grab that camera back. But deep down, she knew she'd never win against Kael in a fight.
"I know lots of secrets—Fudge's, Dolores Umbridge's, Ludo Bagman's." Rita Skeeter rasped. "I'll trade them; just give me the camera."
"Why would I care? What, bored and looking for trouble?" Kael shrugged. "So I'll just..."
"Then tell me!" Rita Skeeter was getting desperate. "What does it take for you to hand it over? I'll write all kinds of stories singing your praises!"
"I think you've got it wrong. That's not what I want—and I don't need you talking me up in the papers." Kael frowned slightly. "Besides, Hogwarts students never threaten others to do their bidding. That breaks school rules."
Conna pressed her lips together and turned away.
To be fair, that wasn't actually in the rules—more in the realm of Wizard Law.
"But..."
Kael went on, "I'm in a good mood right now, so I'll wait until the next Daily Prophet comes out before deciding whether to release the photo."
"If I'm still in a good mood then, maybe I won't post it... It's all possible."
"But I..."
Rita Skeeter tried to say something else, but Kael cut her off.
"Not your business—just depends on my mood. So good luck..."
Kael waved his wand, untying Rita Skeeter, and then simply grabbed Conna and walked out of the empty classroom.