"Hagrid, has anything weird been going on in the Forbidden Forest lately?"
Alice's face was dead serious.
Whoever that cloaked figure had been, she was 100% sure they weren't here to sell chocolate frog cards.
Hagrid scratched his hairy head. He'd spotted Theodore tearing after Alice a minute earlier and had come running, worried she was in trouble. Instead he found her looking like someone had stolen her favorite cauldron.
Weird stuff in the forest? He was the gamekeeper; if something was off, he'd know.
Hagrid shook his head.
That only made Alice look grimmer. The mystery guy had moved through the forest like he owned the place; definitely not his first visit. Yet Hagrid hadn't noticed a thing.
She told Hagrid everything she'd seen.
Hagrid's eyes practically popped out. "A stranger in my forest and I didn't know?! Nope, that's it; I'm marching you two straight back to the castle right now!"
No argument from Alice; she'd already gotten what she came for (a nice long look at the thestrals, thank you very much). Theodore, meanwhile, couldn't wait to put as much distance as possible between himself and both the forest and Hagrid.
Alice caught the look on Theo's face. Yeah… those two had definitely not hit it off.
Sure enough, once they reached the hut and Theodore was out of earshot, Hagrid pulled Alice aside and muttered, "Listen, Alice… could you maybe not bring that Theodore kid around anymore? There's somethin' off about him." He tapped his temple meaningfully.
Alice blinked. "Wait, what happened?"
Hagrid glanced toward the door like Theodore might hear through solid wood and whispered, "After you walked off to look at the thestrals, I asked if he had any questions; said I'd be happy to show him whatever he wanted. You know what that little snot said?"
Alice leaned in, dying to know.
"He said, and I quote, 'Let's see if you can guess what I don't understand.' Who even says that?! The kid's not right in the head!"
Alice lost it. She doubled over laughing so hard she had to grab the table to stay upright. She honestly hadn't meant to throw Theodore under the bus that badly.
Wiping tears from her eyes, she gasped, "Hagrid, his brain's just… fried from too many potion fumes, okay? Totally harmless, I swear."
Hagrid grunted, clearly not convinced, but let it drop.
When Alice stepped outside, Theodore was standing there with the most murderous look she'd ever seen on him.
She cracked up again.
His face went from stormy to volcanic. "You could've at least try to badmouth me a little quieter," he hissed, glaring past her at Hagrid.
"I was quiet!" Hagrid bellowed indignantly from inside.
Alice had to physically drag Theodore away before actual hexes started flying.
By the time they were halfway back to the castle, Theo had cooled off enough to find the whole thing kind of hilarious himself. He still had zero clue how he was supposed to talk to Hagrid without sounding like a complete weirdo.
"So," he asked, "did you get what you needed from the forest?"
Alice nodded, then gave him a sly sideways smile. "From now on, if you ever run into trouble you can't handle, feel free to go a little more… aggressive. I've got your back now; at least a bit."
Theo's eyebrows shot up. That confident, huh? What the heck had she found in there; Merlin himself?
"How much is 'a bit'?"
"Three or four grown wizards, tops."
Got it. So pretty much every student at Hogwarts was safe. The professors? Unless he and Alice both lost their minds at the same time, they weren't picking those fights. (He wasn't a reckless Gryffindor, after all.)
"By the way," he added Theo, "back at the hut; why'd you shut me down when I tried asking more about that mystery guy?"
Alice glanced at him, decided there was no point hiding it, and shrugged. "A while back I saw Hagrid sneaking back to his hut super late, clutching some big round thing like it was the most precious thing in the world."
"Hagrid's not automatically trustworthy just because he's big and cuddly. We barely know him. Most of what I know comes from Dumbledore or Hermione and the trio, and they're all pretty biased in his favor."
Theo nodded slowly. Different circles, different loyalties. Hagrid was firmly Team Dumbledore/Harry/Hermione/Ron. He and Alice… weren't.
He let it go, but one thing still bugged him. "Why'd you even follow the guy in the first place? That was insanely reckless; total Gryffindor move."
Alice checked that nobody was around, then dropped her voice to almost nothing. "The way that person walked… it looked exactly like our Head of House."
Theodore's eyes went huge. He mouthed soundlessly, "The Head of House? Severus Snape?"
Alice gave a tiny nod.
Theo suddenly felt like the ground had tilted. Everyone had secrets, apparently; even the professor he respected most in the world was out here looking super suspicious.
"Do we… do something?" he asked.
Alice shot him a look. "This feels way above our pay grade and probably involves people we can't fight yet. So no, we stay out of it."
"But he definitely knows you followed him. What if he comes after you?"
Alice just grinned. "Speaking of things way above our pay grade… how's Trista doing with those ancient runes?"
"Pretty good, actually. She says she'll have the whole text fully translated in about three days."
"And get this; from what she's cracked so far, it's definitely going to help with the flying-sword project. We're looking at a really good result."
Perfect.
Alice nodded, satisfied. Bringing Trista onto the team was already paying off.
"Anything I can do to help speed it up?"
"Yeah, actually. She needs mithril and dragon horn. The runes mention both materials, and she figures it can't hurt to have them ready."
Alice cracked her knuckles. "Money's no object. Get the materials through your channels; fastest delivery possible."
"We've been talking about this flying sword for months and we're still at square one. Time to take it seriously."
"I've got a feeling this thing is gonna be our ace in the hole."
Theodore nodded, dead serious. Message received; full throttle from here on out.