Harry POV
After all the excitement of the Gryffindor-Slytherin match (which the former won thanks to Harry's quick and incredible snatching of the Snitch), Harry was glad that things seemed to settle down for a bit, and things settled back into a routine.
Visiting Hagrid was one such tradition he was more than happy to continue, now that the weather permitted it. As such, he smiled merrily as he and his group of friends walked down to the edge of the Forbidden Forest one sunny Saturday afternoon towards the hut the Groundskeeper lived in.
"Afternoon, Hagrid!" Harry said happily as he knocked on the door.
"Oh, Harry, what are you doing down here?" Hagrid asked as he opened the door. But, curiously, didn't offer to let them in.
"Just wanted to chat a bit," the Boy-Who-Lived said. "Is that okay?"
"Err, sure, I suppose," Hagrid said nervously, allowing the group of six students to enter. "There's not much, though."
"That's fine," Harry assured him.
Kinda hot in here," Hannah muttered, tugging at the collar of her robe. "Do you have to keep that fire blazing?"
"Got t' chase away the damp and chill nights," Hagrid stammered.
"Lotta firewood in here, too," Susan commented, awkwardly sitting down on a pile of logs.
"Getting ready for winter early. Smart," Hermione said, nodding in approval. Harry and the rest shot the bushy-haired girl an incredulous look. It was the start of spring, that was a bit too early to begin prepping for winter!
"Err, yeah, winter. That's right," Hagrid said nervously.
'Well, that's a lie,' Harry thought, and he wasn't the only one doubting his words. If there was one thing the group of students had learned from their meetings with Hagrid, it was that he was very bad at keeping secrets.
"So, I saw your match the other day. Mighty fine flying y'did, Harry me boy," Hagrid said, changing the subject abruptly and slapping the Boy-Who-Lived fondly on the back.
"Yeah, about that," Harry said slowly.
"We think Snape was trying to hurt Harry!" Ron blurted out. Beside him, Hermione and Susan slapped their foreheads in annoyance.
"What? Tha's nonsense!" the Groundskeeper scoffed.
"Is it? We saw him staring and mumbling at Harry, and the broom stopped misbehaving after he stopped looking," Hermione replied. "And I read that some spells can be cast wandlessly!"
"It's an old broom. They get a little cranky when they get older," Hagrid protested. "Professor Snape is a good man. Dumbledore trusts him, and that's that."
"Trusts him, huh? Is that anything like whatever is up between Nicholas Flamel and Dumbledore?" Ron snarked, causing Hagrid to stammer and splutter.
"Yeah, I've got to say, Mr. Hagrid, but Snape is a pretty nasty man," Hannah said. "He shows exceptional favoritism towards Slytherin House, doesn't bother to teach us during class, and well, he's really mean to Neville."
"Well, that may be, but if Snape were to make a problem, Dumbledore would take care of it. He's a great man!"
Before Harry could respond to that, a loud noise suddenly rang out from the fireplace, and it sounded like something heavy was rattling around in a pot. Fang whimpered and stepped back from the fireplace.
"What's that?" Hermione asked, always the curious one.
"Well, it's getting late, I think you better head on back before Filch catches you!" Hagrid said, hastily ushering the group out. "Here's some snacks for the road!"
"But it's only two pm," Harry protested, even as a bunch of rock-like scones were shoved into his hands.
But Hagrid would have none of it, and they were quickly pushed out of the hut.
"Well, that was weird," Neville muttered.
"Right? He's definitely hiding something," Ron agreed. "What do you think, Harry?"
"About the thing in his fireplace, or the fact he's clearly putting way too much faith in one man?" Harry asked.
"What do you mean? Are you saying don't like Dumbledore?" Hermione asked, surprised.
"Gotta be honest, but I'm don't particularly trust Dumbledore," Harry admitted to his friends. "He may be a great wizard and all, but he's… well, he's made a lot of mistakes recently. Mistakes that have directly affected me."
"Mmm. My aunt often says she wishes he would just step down from one of his many positions. She has no idea how he manages to spend so much time doing three full-time jobs, but she's pretty sure he's abusing Time Turners," Susan said.
"Time Turners?" Hermione asked, intrigued.
"Oh, they're this enchanted devices that let you go back in time up to twenty-four hours," Susan said.
"Wait, what?!" Hermione gasped, and even Harry couldn't help but stare at the brunette Hufflepuff in disbelief. "You have functional time travel?!"
To her and Harry's shock, none of the people who'd grown up in the wizarding world seemed all that impressed or surprised.
"Well, yeah. It's not that impressive," Neville replied with a shrug, Ron nodding in agreement.
"I-I don't… huh?!" Hermione spluttered. Hannah patted her on the shoulder sympathetically.
"Yeah, I feel the same way sometimes," the Hufflepuff assured her. "To clarify, Time Turners are not that impressive. You can't change the past using a Time Turner. All it's good for is giving you extra hours in the day."
"How do you know you can't change the past?" Harry asked.
"Well, if somebody could, wouldn't they have already tried?" Hannah replied, which was fair enough.
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