Hagrid?

Rubeus Hagrid?!

That oafish groundskeeper?

Umbridge raised her eyebrows, giving Hagrid a significant once-over.

If she remembered correctly, this fellow hadn't even finished his education at Hogwarts. If it weren't for Dumbledore's insistence and the recent uproar caused by Peter Pettigrew, the Ministry of Magic wouldn't have bothered to re-examine the old case.

As a high-ranking official in the Ministry, Umbridge naturally knew a great deal about Hagrid's history.

Without a doubt, he was another staunch supporter of Dumbledore, even more loyal than Remus Lupin.

If it hadn't been for Dumbledore's protection back then, this dangerous oaf, expelled from Hogwarts and with his wand snapped, would likely have been sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban. He wouldn't have had the chance to be a groundskeeper, let alone return to the school.

Allowing an expelled dropout wizard to return to study was an unprecedented move for Hogwarts in nearly a thousand years.

Even Newt Scamander, a hero of the First Wizarding War, still had "dropout" on his resume.

However...

"I see, Professor Dumbledore intends to have Mr. Hagrid take over as Professor of Care of Magical Creatures?"

Umbridge blinked, regained her composure, and said softly with a smile.

"I understand—the Headmaster doesn't seem to socialize much outside of school, and many excellent wizards aren't aware of the vacancies at Hogwarts. It seems I should pay more attention to the school's difficulties in the future, at least to help the Headmaster have more choices, shouldn't I?"

With this comparison, Umbridge felt even more at ease.

Hire Rubeus Hagrid to replace Professor Burbage as a full-time professor at Hogwarts?

Just a Hogwarts servant who dropped out decades ago, clumsy, and with little magical talent.

In the absence of a second competitor, this might have been possible, but since she knew about it in advance...

Ha—

There were too many wizards in the Ministry of Magic who were more talented than this big oaf. Even the assistants had piles of excellent certificates.

If Dumbledore insisted on hiring Hagrid, he would have to prove that Hagrid was more qualified than other applicants, otherwise she could take this opportunity to let people know how poor Dumbledore's judgment was in selecting professors, unless—

Unless this big oaf could luckily overcome all obstacles and surpass those knowledgeable, experienced, and intelligent Ministry experts.

But was that possible?

The probability of such a thing happening was about the same as Dumbledore being disarmed one-on-one by one of his students at Hogwarts.

Even Xenophilius Lovegood wouldn't dare write that in *The Quibbler*.

Of course, compared to Remus Lupin, this groundskeeper, aside from being a bit dim, didn't have anything intolerable about him.

Umbridge stood by the fence, thoughtfully examining Hagrid.

At least this big guy wasn't half-human, half-beast. She still had to consider Dumbledore's reputation to some extent. As long as he wasn't appointed as a professor, he could still do odd jobs as an assistant, groundskeeper, or keymaster. After all, someone had to do those tedious and unglamorous tasks.

"Ahem, ahem. I heard Professor Burbage say just now—"

Umbridge coughed lightly as usual, and after successfully attracting Hagrid's attention, she said with a smile.

"Mr. Hagrid, have you been assisting Professor Burbage with relevant teaching recently?"

"Uh—yes," Hagrid looked at her with some confusion. "Professor Umbridge, is there... well, is there a problem?"

"Oh, no problem. Just a routine inquiry."

Umbridge said, tapping the clipboard in her arms. "As you can see, as the Hogwarts High Inquisitor, I have an unfortunate but necessary task—to investigate the teaching of other teachers. As the temporary teaching assistant for this course, your performance will naturally be recorded."

"Okay, so what do I need to do? Or answer any questions?"

Hagrid looked at Professor Burbage, who was standing beside him, scratched his head, and asked politely.

Although Dolores Umbridge didn't have a good reputation at Hogwarts, she was, after all, a full professor. Since Dumbledore allowed her to return to school and continue as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Hagrid naturally chose to trust Dumbledore unconditionally.

"Just teach the class as usual, don't be nervous."

Umbridge said with a smile, patting Hagrid's arm.

"It must feel a bit strange to be back on campus, but I'm very happy to see that you're adapting quite well in this regard. With a student assistant like you helping out in the Care of Magical Creatures class, I think the professors will feel a lot more relaxed."

Student... assistant?

Elina, who was eavesdropping nearby, raised an eyebrow. So Umbridge planned to start from this point?

This was a bit tricky, since Hogwarts had no precedent of current students serving as professors. If Umbridge intended to focus on this point, then old carrot might not have a good solution—after all, Hagrid's re-enrollment was already setting a precedent.

However, these weren't the pressing issues for her right now.

Gilding the lily was never as useful as offering charcoal in the snow. Instead of proactively offering advice to Dumbledore, it was better to wait for Umbridge to launch an attack and then descend like a little angel to help him solve his problems after the spicy carrot was in a mess.

In fact, Umbridge's as-yet-undeveloped plan reminded Elina.

Although there were quite a few employees of Tianming Group in Hogwarts now, most of them were under Dumbledore's attention.

Considering the potential conflicts and alignments in the future, perhaps...

Elina glanced thoughtfully at the pink toad. The Ministry of Magic's Auror Office and the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures' expansion plans should also be in the works. Maybe she could hitch a ride on the Ministry's wave?

"Uh, Professor Umbridge, the students are here. Can I start the class?"

At the same time, Professor Kettleburn looked up and counted the students, interrupting Umbridge's subsequent questions.

In addition to the third-year students, there were now nine lower-year witches at the long table.

The Hogwarts course selection results were updated every morning. Therefore, although the "Magical Pet Notice" was posted outside the Great Hall at noon, only Ginny, Elina, and a group of girls with inside information who had chosen their courses in the morning could attend today.

However, this result was in line with Professor Kettleburn's previous estimate—compared to girls who liked animals, boys were more playful.

Anyway, the first batch of "lower-year elective slots" for the Care of Magical Creatures class had only twelve places in total.

Compared to active and naughty boys, Professor Kettleburn naturally preferred quiet and obedient girls. If he hadn't promised Dumbledore to keep the elective course registration open, he would have announced the end of course selection now. After all, who knew if some troublemakers would sneak in later.

"Today's lesson is Knarls? It looks like we need to prepare some grass first. Alright, everyone, come with me."

Just then, Hagrid grinned and said, very skillfully beckoning the students to walk to the other side.

"Professor Umbridge, if there are no problems, I'll take the students to pick some fresh grass first. We'll need it when we feed and study the Knarls later—hey, you know, these shy little fellas will bite if they don't have anything to eat."

As a teaching assistant for the Care of Magical Creatures class, Hagrid's main job was to take care of the feeding and logistics-related preparations.

After all, compared to the strong and healthy groundskeeper, Professor Kettleburn's body couldn't support him doing strenuous exercises.

"Of course, please begin." Umbridge said, starting to write on the clipboard.

…………

Umbridge adopted a different approach in this class compared to before.

She walked among the students, asking them about their knowledge of magical creatures.

Most of the students could answer well, and in the process, Miss "Calculating Machine" regained her confidence.

Although this was her first time in this class, she still answered all the questions accurately—whether it was Professor Kettleburn's questions or the impromptu questions that Umbridge added in the meantime—even Cedric was impressed.

"...The Knarl is a creature that is often mistaken for a hedgehog. The difference lies in the fact that if you leave milk out for a hedgehog it will be grateful and the food is gone by the morning. If, however, you do the same for a Knarl, it will wreck the garden of the person who left it out there."

Hermione answered without hesitation, her voice clear and confident. In front of her were some strange animals with horse faces.

They were covered with coarse, soft reddish-brown fur, and had a lot of thick manes on their heads, and their noses were strangely large. Although they had horse faces, they were cloven-hoofed animals that walked on two legs. Adult Knarls were about two feet tall, with small arms and four short, stubby fingers at the end.

"Knarls are shy by nature and their purpose is to guard horses. They often huddle in the dry corners of stables or hide in the herds they protect. Knarls don't trust humans and will instinctively hide when someone approaches, which is why we must be extra careful when approaching them and not walk too fast so as not to startle them—"

"Perfect, I can't find any mistakes—five points to Gryffindor!"

Professor Kettleburn nodded with satisfaction. He finally experienced the power of the legendary second-year academic.

He often heard other professors in the faculty seat say that there were two particularly powerful girls in the second year, who were simply score-harvesting machines.

Hermione Granger of Gryffindor was nicknamed "Miss Know-It-All". It was said that she could answer almost anything that had appeared in the textbooks word for word. The only one who could compete with her in class was Miss Caslana.

However, compared to Hermione Granger, the other professors didn't seem to want to talk too much about Elina.

And what puzzled Professor Kettleburn even more was that Newt's advice to him was: try not to give Elina the opportunity to ask questions.

Try... not to give Miss Caslana the opportunity to ask questions?

Professor Kettleburn frowned, looking at the little witch who was obediently feeding the Knarls with grass.

As a curious and enthusiastic professor, the more Newt said this, the more he found it difficult to suppress his curiosity.

"Ahem, Miss Caslana, do you have any questions about today's lesson?"

After hesitating for half a second, Professor Burbage quickly made up his mind, coughed lightly, and asked gently, pretending to be casual.

After all, this was the first time that lower-year students had participated in elective courses, and he had to ask more questions in order to adjust the subsequent course arrangements.

"Eh? Any questions about the class?"

Elina, who was closely observing the "Scottish Upright Short-Handed Horse", was stunned.

Since wreaking havoc in a few classes last semester, she hadn't heard such a question in a long time.

You see, after she asked some questions about grafting, chromosomes... these basic biological knowledge in Herbology class, even Professor Sprout, who was recognized as the most tolerant and amiable at Hogwarts, began to ban her "free questioning rights" in class—this wasn't to punish her, but mainly because Elina's questions were usually endless, and if she wasn't careful, they would quickly go beyond the original basic content.

The most crucial point was that she could often provide simple explanations for some of the advanced content, which sometimes made the professors a little embarrassed.

"Well, there are some questions..."

Elina blinked, pondered the wording, and asked cautiously.

"The existence of Knarls is to protect herds of horses, but on the other hand, they are afraid of humans—so if humans intend to harm the herd, and they hide in advance as the textbooks say, unable to protect the herd, wouldn't that form a strange paradox?"

"Oh, that's obviously an interesting question. Although there is no standard answer in the textbooks, I happen to have done some research on this."

Professor Kettleburn wagged his fingers, proudly puffing out his chest, and said with great pleasure.

"That's right, Knarls are afraid of humans, but that doesn't mean they will allow humans to harm the herd. In fact, they are quite intelligent guardians. When Knarls determine that they cannot directly scare away the enemy, they will hide in the herd and wait for an opportunity to strike. Therefore, we must be especially careful when looking for Knarls, because when they disappear from sight, it is often when they are most dangerous."

"Any other questions? Miss Caslana?"

"Well, there are a few..."

Elina glanced at the old professor, who seemed to be in a particularly good mood, relaxed, and asked with some curiosity.

"Knarls eat grass, which happens to overlap with the diet of most herds of horses—if there is a shortage of food, is it possible that they will turn from protectors to perpetrators? As an independent population, to what extent is their symbiotic relationship with herds of horses? In the book *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them*, centaurs also have some of the characteristics of herds of horses to a certain extent, so what about the relationship between Knarls and centaurs..."

"Ah, this..."

Accompanied by Elina's series of progressive, machine gun-like questions.

Professor Kettleburn's smile gradually stiffened.

If the first few questions were okay, at least many of them were within the scope that he could answer, or could find a way to give an answer later. At worst, he could ask Newt Scamander or some old friends for help, but—

"Are Knarls poisonous?"

"How many Knarls are born in a litter?"

"Can the growth cycle of Knarls be accelerated?"

"How to deal with the corpses after the accidental death of the Knarl population?"

……

Faced with Elina's pure and inquisitive eyes, Professor Kettleburn suddenly understood why Newt had given him such advice before—and the most important thing was that she could also effectively arouse the curiosity of the surrounding young wizards...

————

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Yay!