Chapter 29 The Story of Our Ancestors
September 6, 1991, Friday, 3 PM.
This was a small cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
Pumpkins and lentils grew in a field behind the cabin.
A stone bow and a pair of rubber overshoes stood before the door.
Inside lived Hagrid, the reclusive millionaire of Hogwarts, the master of magical creature hybrids, the half-giant wizard, and his cowardly dog, Toothpick.
Harry knocked on the door.
He and Ron listened curiously to the barking of the dog and Hagrid's voice.
Hermione followed closely beside Basil, observing the Forbidden Forest with great interest.
Basil's mind wandered back to the three-headed dog he had recently tried to use to create a summoning card.
The price of 5,000 gems made him hesitate.
He only had 16,865.477 gems.
The echoes for Harry, Ron, Draco, Hagrid, and Neville, which he hadn't yet created, would cost 5,000.
Not to mention, recycling components across worlds would cost 30,000.
Although the 100-gem fee for dying in another world suggests this isn't a one-way ticket, but rather a permanent passage, they're
not exactly rolling in money right now .
With a creak, the door opened.
Hagrid cracked it open ajar, revealing his bearded face.
"Wait a minute," he said. "Step back, Toothpick."
Seeing four people inside, he took a large step back, opening the door completely.
He cradled a black hound, half the size of Ron, wagging its tail.
The cabin had only one room.
Hams and pheasants hung from the ceiling, a copper kettle boiled water in a brazier, and a pink floral umbrella leaned against the wall.
A large bed sat in the corner, its bedding patchwork of scraps.
It didn't look luxurious, completely unbecoming of Hagrid's hidden wealth.
But that was only at first glance.
Basil's subsequent observation revealed a mattress made of the fur of an unknown creature beneath the bedding.
Moreover, the threads connecting the fur shimmered with a silvery light, white as pearls.
That's clearly a unicorn's tail hair.
10 Galleons apiece!
That's 50 pounds, or about 400 yuan according to the 1991 exchange rate!
And the average salary in China at that time was only 195 yuan!
"That's a unicorn's tail hair!" Basil pointed out without hesitation.
Hagrid, who was busy pouring boiling water into a large teapot and placing rock cakes on his plate, looked up.
"Oh, it's unicorn hair," he said casually, "plucked from its tail, caught on a branch in the forest…"
"Gorgon, you running wild!" Ron turned his head, as if his neck were stuck.
The hand that had been desperately trying to stop Yaya from licking his ear also reached forward, becoming Er Kang's hand.
"Hagrid—you—know how much that's worth!"
A unicorn tail hair is four or five feet long, and it only takes one tail hair to make a wand.
Ron, touching his unicorn tail hair wand that came from his brother Charlie, had very mixed feelings.
"I use it to bandage injured animals," Hagrid said, shrugging. "It works really well…it's really strong, and it's also perfect for stitching, you see."
"Can I take some?" Basil coughed. "I want to practice my weaving skills and make a glove out of it; it should be quite lightweight."
Hagrid nodded casually, parting the ham and pheasant hanging from the ceiling to reveal a long, smooth, glossy white tuft of fur.
He plucked it off and handed it to Basil.
"Is this enough?"
"Enough, enough." Basil gently stroked the fleshy-smelling tail fur, like caressing a lover's skin.
This was all money!
Women's money was always the easiest to earn, no matter where you were.
And the main ingredient in the Beauty Potion was unicorn tail fur.
It was also sold in potion shops for 10 Galleons a bag.
But what they were selling was the mane, which was inherently less effective than the tail hair, and the combined length might not even be as long as the tail hair.
Aside from Ron's occasional envious glances at the white hair wrapped around Basil's wrist,
the rest of the story seemed to unfold much like in the movies.
Hagrid led the discussion by complaining about Filch and his cat.
Harry and Ron then brought up Snape.
Harry said Snape hated him.
Hagrid avoided Harry's gaze and the topic, dismissing Harry's guess as false.
However, Hermione, who had been staring blankly at Basil, finally spoke up.
"I know why."
"Professor Snape said something strange in the Sorting Room, and I found out about it out of curiosity."
Hagrid wiped away his cold sweat. "Kid, let's talk about something else."
Harry said, "Go on, I want to know why he hates me so much!"
Ron said, "Me too."
Basil put his hand on Hagrid's shoulder. "This can't be kept secret. Hermione knows, so how can you guarantee Harry doesn't? At least you're here."
Seeing Hagrid calm down, Hermione looked at Basil with admiration and continued, "I learned from the portrait that Snape and Harry's mother used to be a couple. Harry's father often targeted him with three friends because of this. Later, for some reason, Snape and Harry's mother fell out. Harry's father took advantage of the situation."
"Three? My father is like Dudley?" Harry was dazed. "Hagrid, I remember you said I look exactly like my father."
He suddenly saw Snape as himself.
The father who looked like Dudley, and the friends of the fathers who looked like Pierre, Morgan, and Gordon—
"What's their group called? The Legion of James (Dudley's four-man gang was called the Legion of James)?"
Hagrid quickly explained, "The Robbers. And James isn't like that! They just like to joke around!"
"Like Fred and George?" A glimmer of hope flashed in Harry's eyes.
Hagrid began to stammer, "Much worse. But the school environment wasn't like that back then! The Voidman was rampaging outside, and Slytherin students were almost all Death Eater trainees. Conflicts between students were much more brutal! Everyone liked James and his friends! They saw them as heroes. Because most of the people they joked about were Slytherin students or those close to them."
"Snape was like that, huh?" Harry's tone became much lighter.
Hagrid's eyes darted around.
"Your father and his people think so, right? But as far as I'm concerned, Snape was just a Muggle who didn't understand the situation in the wizarding world at the time. He made the mistake of choosing Slytherin. And in the years that followed, he maintained a friendship with Lily, who was Muggle-born. He wasn't really a bad person."
He tried to find some positive words, but none of them applied to Snape.
"And Lily, kind-hearted, academically excellent, and loved by all the teachers. In your father and his people's eyes, Snape was undoubtedly a stain on your mother's reputation. Plus, Snape seemed to have clashed with them on the train, so—"
He assumed Snape had always been Dumbledore's spy, failing to mention that Snape was also close to Avery and Moorselberh, who later joined the Death Eaters and frequently used dark magic to make horrifying jokes.
Avery and Moorselberh had even tried to harm Lily's friend Mary.
Mistaking Sirius for a traitor, he believed that Snape and James had always acted this way because of that despicable Sirius.
But he couldn't say these things to Harry.
This is too cruel.
The original text reads: "...Thought we were friends?" Snape spoke. "Best friends?"
"Yes, Severus, but I don't like the guys you hang out with! I'm sorry, but I hate Avery and Moorselber! What's so good about him, Severus? Sneaky! Do you know what he was trying to do to Mary MacDonald the other day?"
Lily walked to a pillar and leaned against it, looking up at the thin, ashen face.
"That's nothing," said Snape. "Just kidding, nothing—"
"That's Dark Magic, if you think it's funny—"
"How could she marry him?" Harry said sadly. "She hates him!"
"No, she doesn't hate James," said Sirius.
"She started hanging out with James in seventh year," said Lupin.
"Because James isn't so arrogant anymore," said Sirius.
"And because he doesn't cast spells on people for fun anymore," said Lupin.
"Even Snape?" said Harry.
"Hmm," Lupin said slowly, "Snape is a special case. I mean,
he never misses an opportunity to curse Jaime, so you really can't expect Jaime not to fight back, right?"
(This is not a fictional setting I made up
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( End of Chapter)