James sensed Rose’s sidelong glance. He slid an eye toward her and shrugged.
“Yeah,” Hagrid went on, warming to the topic. “As yeh know, I’ve had to ship off most of the menagerie’s biggest an’ most dang’rous beasts, jus’ in case any other Muggles come a-wanderin’ onto the grounds. Ridiculous, o’ course, but orders is orders, an’ these ones come straight from th’ Minister o’ Magic ‘imself. So there’s no point in havin’ class in there anyways, least until further notice. Yeah, that’s about right.” He nodded to himself with obvious satisfaction. “An’ that’s why I’ve asked Perfessor Longbottom to let us use the north greenhouse for the rest o’ th’ term, and he was gracious enough t’ say yes. So. Today’s lesson will be on Ambermuggins, a species o’ mimicking penguin indigenous to only a single unplottable cavern in th’ South Pole. Unlike other mimicking birds, such as common parrots, th’ Ambermuggin mimics only swear words and embarrasin’ scatological euphemisms, thus their ban from p’lite society and even th’ mos’ dodgy o’ magical zoos…”
An hour later, with pages of disjointed notes and a list of the Ambermuggin’s favorite vulgarities crammed into their knapsacks, the class filed muttering back out of the greenhouse, heading toward the castle and lunch in the great hall. James and Rose remained just inside the entrance, however, watching Hagrid as he bustled at the potting table again, humming too loudly to himself as he gathered his things.
Finally, with a sweep of his huge coat, he rounded the table and tramped toward the door.
“And what, pray tell,” he asked gruffly, “are yeh both standin’ around for? I know fer a fact that Professor Votary is expectin’ you in Ancient Runes in ‘alf an hour.”
Rose put a hand on her hip. “You’re ‘cleaning the barn’ again, Hagrid? Really?”
“I won’t hear nary a word about it,” the half-giant said impatiently, waving both hands about his head as if to ward off a cloud of doxies. He pushed past James and Rose toward the door. “Jus’ you both mind yer bus’ness an’ stay away from th’ barn. S’dang’rous, it is.”
He pushed out into the cold and damp of the grounds with James and Rose following close behind. To James’ surprise, Ralph was waiting just outside, leaning against the corner of the greenhouse.
“So what’s in the barn, Hagrid?” he asked, pushing upright as Hagrid began to stump across the unbroken snow toward his hut.
“Empty stalls an’ potion fumes,” he called back, “Yeh’ve no idea how hard it is scrubbin’ up decades o’ hippogriff guano. Get yerselves off t’ lunch now, an’ not another word.”
“Actually,” Ralph countered, “I think we know plenty well how hard it is to scrub the barn, considering we just did that very thing with Filch back before the holidays.”
Hagrid scoffed. “Yar, well what Argus Filch calls clean and I calls clean are two very different things.”
James was both annoyed and relieved that Ralph had joined them as they trudged along behind Hagrid. He still hadn’t forgiven Ralph for blabbing to Millie about the breakup, and he was sincerely dismayed about Ralph’s dueling performance against Professor Odin—
Vann, but things just felt wrong when he and Ralph weren’t on the same side. For the moment, he decided to let everything else go.
Trotting to catch up to Hagrid, James said, “Ralph here is Head Boy, you know. He would’ve heard about some big plan to quarantine the barn. Wouldn’t you?” He glanced at Ralph meaningfully.
“Er, yeah,” Ralph nodded. “That’s a need-to-know kind of thing, it is. As Head Boy, I should be keeping curious younger years away from the barn. If it’s as dangerous as you say it is, of course.”
Hagrid only chuckled to himself as he strode through the snow, his boots leaving great, slushy plow-prints. “Wellnow, I appreciate th’ offer, Mr. Head Boy, but believe it or not, I can secure a barn jus’ fine on my own. Already magically sealed th’ place up, top t’ bottom.” He paused and drew out his pink umbrella wand, brandishing it with a twinkle in his eyes. “I’ve come a long ways with my spellwork since yer parents’ day. There’s nary a soul getting’ in nor out o’ that barn until further notice.”
Pointedly, Rose asked, “And just who might be trying to get out of the barn, Hagrid?”
Hagrid’s face snapped shut like a mousetrap. “Not another word,” he said, stabbing a sausage-like index finger into the space between them, and then pointing it at the castle. “Back to th’ school wit’ yeh now.”
Without waiting, he turned around and pushed through the gate, striding into the front garden of his hut.
“This is about that dragon of yours, isn’t it?” Ralph called, following Hagrid into the yard. “About that letter you got from Grawp, talking about how Norberta’s all tetchy because she can smell that male circus dragon on the wind.”
Rose put a hand over her eyes. “Oh, no, no, no…” she said, her suspicions rising, “Hagrid, tell us you didn’t run off and do something ridiculous without us, did you?”
The trio followed Hagrid to his door, where he stopped and turned around again, adopting a beatific expression of innocence. With deliberate calm, he said, “The barn’s bein’ cleaned, that’s all. I can show yeh tomorrow if yeh like. Apart from a few heffalumps and a cage of wooly woozles, that barn’s jus’ as empty as Mother Carter’s larder. If I do that, will it convince yeh that there’s nothin’ t’ be suspicious about?”
James glanced aside at Rose and Ralph, who looked unconvinced. He shrugged and suggested, “Why not show us now, Hagrid?”
Hagrid’s eyes flicked back and forth. “Well, cuz I’m a busy perfessor, I am. An’ yeh lot have classes to get to. An’ like I said, s’not safe at th’ moment. I ain’t kiddin’ about those cleanin’ potions. Right noxious stuff, that is.”
Ralph raised his eyebrows. “In other words, whatever is in there now will be moved by tomorrow.”
“Gor!” Hagrid protested, dropping his fa?ade of calm and turning back to his hut. He unlatched the door and shoved it open.
“Blimey! In all my years I can’t say as I’ve ever met a bunch more doubtful, suspicious, or untrusting as…”
He took a step inside his doorway and then froze in place, halting as if he’d just spied an Acromantula crouched on his dining room table. James, Ralph and Rose peered inside around the huge man, curious to see what had caught his attention. There was no Acromantula. What they saw instead was, if anything, even more surprising.