"I don't understand." A low male voice carried a hint of impatience, like a frozen lake in winter, so cold it sent chills down one's spine.
"Severus, you can't pretend this isn't happening!" Another voice was more urgent, carrying poorly concealed panic, every word seeming to be squeezed from the throat.
"Igor, why are you making such a fuss?" Snape's voice added a touch of mockery, as if ridiculing the other's inability to keep his composure.
"Why? You're actually asking me why?"
Karkaroff's voice suddenly rose sharply, then quickly dropped low, as if afraid of being heard. "For months now, it's been getting clearer and clearer—I'm extremely worried now, I can't deny it—"
"Then flee. Flee—"
In complete contrast to Karkaroff, Snape's voice was cold as ice. "I will make excuses for you, but I still want to remain at Hogwarts."
Hiding behind the rose bushes, Gemma and Cho instantly looked at each other, both their eyes flashing with astonishment.
Being quite clever themselves, they had immediately held their breath and stopped talking when they heard footsteps from behind the bushes.
They hadn't expected to stumble upon such a secretive conversation, much less that the speakers would be Snape and Karkaroff.
One was Slytherin House's perpetually stern-faced Potions professor, the other the headmaster of Durmstrang.
As soon as the words fell, the swishing sound of a wand being waved came from that end of the path.
Snape and Karkaroff had already turned the corner. Snape held his wand, its tip gleaming coldly as he casually flicked it at the obstructing rose bushes.
The overgrown flower branches parted to either side with a rustling sound, revealing several startled student couples behind them.
Snape's face was set like an iron plate, his brow knotted in a scowl, his expression ugly in the extreme.
"Ten points from Ravenclaw, Fawcett!"
A blonde girl ran past him in a panic as Snape said viciously.
The girl stumbled and nearly fell.
Immediately after, a brown-haired boy chased after the girl. Snape's gaze swept over him, his tone still icy. "Ten points from Hufflepuff as well, Stebbins!"
The boy's face instantly flushed red, but he didn't dare argue, only lowering his head and hurrying away.
After dealing with those several student couples, Snape's gaze finally fell on Gemma and Cho standing on the path ahead.
He furrowed his brow, his dark eyes full of scrutiny. "What are you doing here?"
Compared to Snape, seeing Gemma and Cho made Karkaroff appear much more flustered.
He anxiously reached up to touch his goatee, then wound the beard around his finger.
"It's been a while, Professor Snape."
Gemma said with a smile. "We felt it was a bit stuffy in the hall, so we came out for a walk. We didn't expect to run into you here."
She deliberately ignored Karkaroff's unusual behavior and didn't mention the conversation they'd just overheard.
"Miss Farley, since when have you been on such good terms with Miss Chang?"
Snape's gaze moved back and forth between Gemma and Cho with a strange look, as if he found it very odd for these two to be together.
"As far as I know, you haven't even visited the Slytherin prefects since you returned."
"They're not real Slytherins at all," Gemma said bluntly, her voice carrying a hint of disdain. "Just a bunch of idiots clinging to blood purity theory. Being around them would only waste my time."
Cho looked at Gemma in surprise, clearly not expecting her to speak so frankly, especially in front of Snape, the Head of Slytherin House.
What surprised her even more was that Snape didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with Gemma's words. Instead, as if he tacitly agreed, he said coolly, "That's your freedom, Miss Farley. I wish you and your friend a pleasant walk."
With that, he strode past them, his long black robes flowing behind him.
Seeing this, Karkaroff didn't dare linger. He hastily glanced at Gemma and Cho before hurrying after Snape.
His goatee swayed slightly from walking too quickly.
Only after both figures had completely disappeared did Cho breathe a sigh of relief and ask in a low voice, "Why was Professor Karkaroff so anxious? It seemed like he had some urgent matter."
"Not just that."
Gemma spoke slowly, her eyes carrying a hint of contemplation. "Did you notice they were calling each other by their first names? That means they knew each other before, and their relationship is quite good—at least not an ordinary colleague relationship."
Gemma and Cho exchanged glances, both their eyes flashing with understanding.
Actually, thinking about it carefully, it wasn't strange for Snape and Karkaroff to know each other.
The magical world wasn't large to begin with. One was a Hogwarts professor, the other the Durmstrang headmaster.
As staff of Europe's three largest magical schools, having had previous interactions or even being on good private terms would be quite reasonable.
"We'll tell Sherlock about this later."
Gemma said softly, her tone carrying certainty. "He always tells me that no seemingly insignificant detail can be overlooked. I think in his view, Snape and Karkaroff's unusual behavior, along with their private relationship, should also count as details worth noting."
As they spoke, the two had already reached the garden's center.
An enormous stone reindeer sculpture stood before them, silver ribbons wound around the reindeer's antlers, gleaming faintly in the moonlight.
Beyond the stone reindeer, they could see the nearby fountain spraying water.
Water droplets sparkled in the moonlight like scattered diamonds, the splashing sound particularly clear in the quiet garden.
"Look there."
Gemma suddenly stopped, saying to Cho in a low voice, her eyes indicating she should look toward the stone bench by the fountain.
Cho followed Gemma's gaze and immediately understood.
On the stone bench sat two vague, enormous figures, side by side watching the moonlit fountain.
Those familiar forms and outlines were unmistakably Hagrid and Madame Maxime.
"The moment I saw you, I knew."
Just then, Hagrid's voice carried over, with a strange hoarseness, as if suppressing some emotion, completely different from his usually booming voice.
The two exchanged glances and immediately saw the burning flames of gossip-hunger in each other's eyes.
They both knew Hagrid liked Madame Maxime.
To be precise, anyone whose attention wasn't too poor should have been able to notice this.
In their view, there was nothing wrong with it.
The two were indeed well-matched.
Almost instantly, both made the same movement.
They pulled each other by the wrists, gently hiding in the deeper shadows behind the stone reindeer, even lightening their breathing.
That's right, they were going to eavesdrop!
After all, from what Hagrid had just said, there was a good chance he would next say something like "The moment I saw you, I knew you were the one I'd been waiting for"—confession words like that.
Such a scene was truly rare and precious.
Besides them, there was also a beetle crawling around on the reindeer's back, though compared to the upcoming conversation, the beetle was clearly not as interesting.
"What did you know, Hagrid?"
Madame Maxime's voice carried over.
She probably also thought Hagrid was about to confess. Her deep voice carried a trace of barely detectable tension, mixed with a slight wheezing sound, as if adjusting her breathing.
However, to the two hidden girls' surprise, Hagrid didn't confess next. Instead, he threw out a completely unexpected question.
"I knew... knew you were the same as me... was it your mother or your father?"
"I—I don't understand what you mean, Hagrid..."
Gemma and Cho exchanged glances. Not only did Madame Maxime not understand, they didn't understand either.
Why wasn't he confessing at this moment? Why bring up parents?
He should seize the opportunity to express his feelings!
Both girls had similar emotional experiences and couldn't help but feel anxious for Hagrid at this moment, their palms secretly clenching tight.
"It was my mother."
Hagrid said softly, "She was one of the few remaining in Britain. Of course, I don't remember her very clearly... She left, you know, when I was about three years old. Honestly, she wasn't much of a mother. Well... they don't have it in their natures, do they? Don't know what happened to her later... died, most probably, as far as I know..."
Gemma and Cho exchanged glances again. The two girls had now realized the atmosphere was somehow wrong.
They saw Madame Maxime gazing at the silvery fountain without saying a word.
"After Mum left, Dad was heartbroken. Compared to her, my dad was a tiny little man. When I was six, if he annoyed me, I'd pick him up and set him on top of the dresser. Always made him laugh..."
Hagrid's low voice grew increasingly choked. "Dad raised me... but then, well, he died when I was in second year. After that, I made my own way. Dumbledore helped me a lot, really, he's been very good to me..."
Hagrid pulled out a large silk handkerchief covered with polka dots and blew his nose loudly.
"So... there it is... that's my story. What about you? Which side did you get it from?"
"It is too cold," Madame Maxime suddenly stood up. "I think I will go in now."
She said the weather was too cold, but in Gemma and Cho's view, her voice was truly ice-cold and piercing, without a trace of warmth, even carrying a hint of anger.
"Eh?"
But Hagrid didn't notice where the problem was at all. He said somewhat confusedly, "No, don't go! I—I've never met another one before!"
"Another one? Make yourself clear!"
Madame Maxime's voice suddenly rose sharply, carrying suppressed fury.
The wisest thing to do at this point would undoubtedly be to stop there, but Hagrid said in the most rational tone, "Another half-giant, of course! What else would I mean?"
Gemma and Cho exchanged glances once more, both seeing in the other's eyes that this was the end.
They could almost predict what would happen next.
"How dare you!"
Sure enough, Madame Maxime shrieked.
She looked at Hagrid, her whole body trembling. "I have never been more insulted in my life! Half-giant? Me? I have—I have big bones!"
At that moment, several nearby pairs of male and female students burst out from the rose bushes.
Madame Maxime stormed away, angrily pushing through the flower bushes, startling groups of colorful little fairies into the air.
Hagrid remained sitting on the bench, watching her retreating figure.
It was too dark to see the expression on his face.
After about another minute, he stood up and strode away.
However, unlike Madame Maxime, he didn't return to the castle but walked toward his hut, heading out into the dark grounds.
Only after Hagrid's figure had completely disappeared did Gemma and Cho emerge from the shadows behind the stone reindeer.
The other nearby students had originally been looking at them with ambiguous and curious gazes, but when they saw clearly that hiding behind were two girls, the ambiguity on their faces instantly turned to shock.
Gemma and Cho paid no attention to these looks. As they walked back toward the castle, they conversed in low voices.
"Did you know before that Hagrid was a half-giant?" Gemma spoke first.
"I knew." Cho nodded.
"I didn't know... We were all speculating that he accidentally got hit with some vicious Engorgement Charm as a child or something..."
"It wasn't him who said it, it was Harry who told me," Cho explained.
"Later I specifically told him not to mention it to anyone else. You know, though Harry is a pure-blood wizard, he grew up in a Muggle family. So he doesn't understand many of the magical world's common knowledge points, nor does he know how sensitive the identity of giant is in wizarding society."
"Yes... In Harry's view, giants are probably just humans with larger bodies."
"That's exactly what he thinks... However, Madame Maxime is rather self-deceiving, saying she has big bones..."
The two exchanged glances again. The rest of the words would be rather impolite.
What kind of big bones was that?
Probably only dinosaurs had bigger bones than her.
When the two returned to the Great Hall, the ball's music was still melodious.
Ginny was standing with Harry at the edge of the dance floor. Seeing Cho return, she immediately walked forward with gratitude and returned Harry to Cho.
She had already danced two numbers with Harry, which for her was an unexpected delight.
Though Harry had never danced before, after Cho's recent tutelage, his performance was very good.
In fact, even if Harry had stepped on her several times like Neville, her heart would still be sweet.
When it came to feelings, they were never reasonable.
When you liked someone, even their little clumsiness seemed adorable.
This time, Sherlock didn't return to the dance floor.
Tonight he had quite a harvest—he hadn't missed any of the three female leads.
"Sherlock, there's something you might be interested in."
Seeing that Sherlock and Hermione weren't planning to return to the dance floor for now, Gemma recounted everything she and Cho had encountered in the garden in full detail.
Including overhearing Snape and Karkaroff's conversation, seeing their unusual behavior, as well as the argument between Hagrid and Madame Maxime, and the fact that Hagrid was a half-giant.
Hermione and Luna were also listening quietly nearby.
Luna still held a biscuit in her hand. When she heard about Hagrid's situation, she stopped chewing, her eyes full of sympathy.
Hermione was frowning, clearly thinking about the deeper meaning in Snape and Karkaroff's conversation.
And so, one young man and three young women sat together, forming a somewhat peculiar yet quite harmonious picture.
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