Hello, I have a new announcement. I have decided to release my book Rubeus Hagrid: the grand druid as an audiobook on youtube. Only free chapters will be released. Here is the link for those interested
https://www.youtube.com/@Arcenedruid
If you want to read 4 chapters in advance, you can support me on patreon.
patreon.com/arcanedruid
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2 August 1942
When I arrived at the ice-cream parlour where we were to meet Dumbledore, Dumbledore had not yet arrived.
After sitting at a table, I placed the alchemy books and Radagian's diary I had bought from that damned second-hand shop in my pouch enchanted with the curse of traceless yawning. Just then the waiter came up to me and started talking in a tired voice. The man was probably overtired due to the intensity of school shopping.
'Good afternoon, sir. Can I get you anything?'
'Not at the moment. I'm waiting for someone, maybe I'll order something after they arrive.'
After the waiter nodded, he quickly headed to another table. I started to watch the street in silence. After a while, I quickly turned round at the sound of a voice coming from behind me.
'Mr Hagrid, good to see you, I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long.'
'Professor Dumbledore sir, I'm glad to see you too, I didn't wait long, I was here a short while ago.'
In the meantime, I took the ice cream he handed me. After he sat across from me, I took my seat, trying to avoid eye contact as much as I could. I didn't think the current Dumbledore would try to get into my mind, but it never hurts to take precautions. Besides, I was supposed to be a 13-year-old boy who had lost his father about a month and a half ago. Not making direct eye contact would have been a good role-playing method.
'I don't know what flavour of ice cream you like, so I got chocolate. I hope it's to your taste.'
'Just the way I like it, sir. I wonder why you wanted to see me. Or is there a problem with the school?'
Dumbledore remained silent and watched me for a while and then started to speak.
'There is no problem with the school. I only wanted to see you because of the death of your father. Since I am your head of house, I am officially your guardian unless a suitable guardian is introduced to the school. To be honest, I was quite surprised by your request to change lessons. I didn't realise you were interested in ancient runes and arithmansi.'
I slowly bowed my head and started to speak.
'I'm fine, Professor. My father always told me how happy he was that I was going to Hogwarts. He was worried that I wouldn't be accepted into the school because of my condition and he always talked about what a great chance it was, but after he passed away I thought about it and decided to make the best use of this chance and become a great wizard. I had heard that Arithmansy and Ancient runes were subjects that all great wizards had to learn, so I decided to change my subject choice.'
Frowning and looking angry, Dumbledore continued.
'On your own? Have you no relatives to look after you?'
'You know my mother, Professor, and I have no living relatives on my father's side that I know of. A ministry official said he would come and check on my condition once a month. The last time he came was last week.'
Yes, I am telling the truth, the ministry official came last week to check my situation. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, they had missed Hagrid drowning himself in drink, and I didn't even want to think what would have happened to me if Hagrid hadn't wrecked himself like that. What had happened to me was that I went to sleep at my usual time and when I woke up in the morning it was Hagrid.
'I understand, Mr Hagrid, but your father wouldn't want you to do things that would make you unhappy just because you wanted to make him proud.'
'I know, Professor. That's why I'm taking a course in the care of magical creatures. I really like them.'
Just then Faye, who had been asleep since I took the potion ingredients, poked her head out of my pocket and looked around. I quickly tried to shove her back into my breast pocket, but it was too late. Even though Bowtruckles were only level xx creatures, I didn't know how Dumbledore would react to me feeding a magical creature.
'You don't need to hide it, Hagrid. A close friend of mine has a bowtruckle friend. They're quite intelligent creatures. I am relieved to see that Professor Kettleburn was right about you.'
'Did Professor Kettleburn speak to you about me? I hope I didn't disturb him.'
Dumbledore gave a small laugh and continued to speak quickly to reassure me.
'On the contrary, Professor Kettleburn is extremely pleased with you. Every chance he gets he talks about the Gryffindor student who comes to ask him questions even though he hasn't taken his class yet. Of course, some professors can be quite reproachful at times because you are not more attentive and enthusiastic in their class, but I understand that this will change soon.'
'I will definitely pay more attention to my lessons, sir.'
'I'm glad to hear that. Just remember I'm always just a letter or a visit away if you need help. It's rather late. I'm sure you have things to do at home.'
At this point he looked meaningfully at the flower pot next to me and continued. 'Oh, and maybe you know. At Hogwarts, you need the permission of your head of house to bring animals other than the pets mentioned in the letter.' My heart almost jumped out of my chest here. I had become very close to Faye during this period and I thought she would come to Hogwarts with me.
Sensing my nervousness, Dumbledore continued. 'So I, as Head of Gryffindor House, give you permission to bring your little bowtruckle to school. Good day, Mr Hagrid.'
'Good afternoon, Professor Dumbledore.'
After leaving the ice-cream parlour, with the pot and the greenhouse tree sapling tucked under my arm, I hurried to the bookshop and bought a dictionary that would allow me to translate old English dialects. Then I went to the communal fireplaces on Diagon Alley and returned home using the floo powder I had brought with me. The first thing I did after arriving home was to pack my things to transfer the greenhouse tree sapling to another place.I had already decided where I was going to plant the sapling. I was going to plant it in the garden next to the tree I always meditate next to. Now there were several reasons for this. The pine tree had barely transformed into a suitable wand tree. This meant that it was full of magical energy and that it radiated energy around it. I believed that this energy would help the sapling, but there was a small problem here. If it was too close to the pine tree, the sapling would not get enough nutrients because the tree would absorb all the nutrients in the soil, and the sapling, which was already barely alive, would completely wither.
So I quickly started casting some spells I had learnt from a gardening book I had at home to measure how deep and wide the roots of the tree spread, and I was pleased to see that the roots of the tree spread in a circle with a radius of 2 metres. After thinking for a while I decided to plant the sapling two and a half metres away from the tree, I thought it might be too close, but otherwise it would be too far away to benefit from the magic of the tree. After I took my shovel, I hesitated for a moment and after a glance at the shovel, I put it aside and took out my wand. I was a damn magician. Why would I need a shovel. With a flick of my wand and a levitation spell, some soil from the ground levitated and piled up on the side.
Then I sat down on the ground in front of the pit and slowly took the sapling out of the pot, after gently shaking the old soil from the roots, which was the longest part. I was so gentle and soft for fear of damaging the roots that for a moment it seemed like it would never end. After that, I slowly put it in the hole I dug and again very gently, without damaging any of the roots. I covered it with soil and gave it life water. Then I covered it with thorny bushes that I collected from the nearby forest in case wild animals damaged the sapling.
Satisfied with my work. I entered the house, first took a shower to wash off the dirt and dirt on me, then I went to the kitchen and started preparing dinner. After eating, I quickly went up to my room.