"As soon as I saw you, I understood in my heart."

Halfway through the ball, next to a large stone reindeer, a tall fountain splashes and glows misty.

There, two large, vague figures sat on a stone bench, looking at the moonlit spring.

After a brief pause, one of the figures spoke in a strangely hoarse voice.

"What do you understand, Hagrid?" Madame Maxim asked, a ho-ho in her deep voice.

"I see—I understand that you're just like me! Is it your mother or father? ”

"I-I don't know what you mean, Hagrid......"

"Mine is my mother," Hagrid said softly, "and she is one of the few remaining in England." Of course, I don't remember her very well...... She's gone, you know? It was probably when I was three years old. ”

"To be honest, she doesn't quite look like a mother. Alas...... There's no motherhood in their nature, is there? I don't know what happened to her...... As far as I know, probably dead......"

Madame Maxim didn't say a word, she just pursed her lips and looked at the silver fountain in front of her.

"When my mother left, my father was very sad. My dad was a little guy. When I was six years old, if he annoyed me, I lifted him up and put him on top of the closet, always making him laugh......" Hagrid's deep voice choked even more.

Beside her, Madame Maxim listened, and she remained motionless, as if she were not listening.

"Daddy brought me up...... But, alas, he died, just after I went to school. Since then, I've been on my own. Dumbledore helped me a lot, honestly. He was very nice to me......"

Hagrid pulled out a silk handkerchief with polka dots on it and blew his nose loudly.

"That's it...... Come on...... That's all I have to say. What about you? Where did you get your genetics from? ”

Unexpectedly, Madame Maxim suddenly stood up.

"It's too cold." She said, "I want to go in." ”

But in fact, no matter how low the temperature is now, it will not be as cold as her voice now.

"Huh?" Hagrid said confusedly, "No, don't go!" I- I've never met anyone else before! ”

"Someone else? You make it clear! Madame Maxim said, her tone cold.

"Another half-blood giant, that's needless to say!" Hagrid said.

"You're so daring!" Madame Maxim screamed. "I've never been insulted like this in my life! Half-blood giants? I? I'm just- I'm just big bones! ”

Her voice pierced the quiet night sky like a fog horn (1).

Fleur and Roger burst out of a rose bush - no way, Madame Maxim would bump into them in the bush if they didn't come out.

Madame Maxim glanced at them, then walked away in a huff. She angrily flicked the flowers all the way, startling groups of colorful little fairies to fly into the air.

Hagrid was still sitting on the bench, looking at her back, not knowing what to think.

"Hagrid, you're still too direct to ask...... You know, not everyone can accept their own blood with peace of mind. ”

A voice rang out from a corner not far away, and it wasn't long before two figures walked out of it.

"Maca?" Hagrid looked a little flustered, and he hurriedly stood up, "Oh, and Miss Lovegood...... How long have you been there? ”

"Is there anything I shouldn't have heard?" Maca shrugged her shoulders and asked rhetorically.

Hagrid hesitated for a moment, then finally sat back on the stone bench with his shoulders slumped.

"But...... You see, you won't care......" His voice sounded frustrated, even a little unwilling.

"Yes! I don't care," Maka said, sitting down beside him, patting Hagrid's thick arm vigorously, "but I'm well aware of the hostility of the others towards the giants...... and even fear. ”

"Don't talk about me, you obviously know it yourself, don't you?" He continued, "You never mentioned your background, let alone why you were so big—"

"Because it's not necessary—" Hagrid argued.

"Not necessary?" Maca shook her head and said, "Is it really unnecessary?" When you know that everyone's first impression of you is 'Oh my God!' You're so tall! 'Case? ”

"I ......" Hagrid tried to find some other reason, but was deflated in a blink of an eye, "yes, you're right—I can understand her thoughts...... Like sometimes, I'm worried that the kids will be scared of me......"

"But seriously, I wouldn't hide it like she did, that would be dishonest!"

Hagrid said stubbornly, and he had his own insistence. Instead of directly repudiating his insistence, Maca took it upon herself to talk about giants......

"Hagrid, have you seen them?" He suddenly asked, "You know, I mean the giants. ”

Hagrid nodded, then shook again.

"I've only seen my mother, and I was so young I can't remember ......"

"As far as I know, the average height of a modern giant is close to 30 feet...... But you know what? In antiquity, the ancestors of giants were much taller and stronger than they are today. Maca said calmly, "I think you should understand what that means to ordinary people......"

"Higher?" Hagrid asked curiously, "How tall?" ”

"I don't know much about this, in ancient times, there were several kinds of giants...... Anyway, as far as I know, the shortest ones are more than twice as tall as the giants of today......" Maka said, patting Hagrid's arm again, "and the largest ones existed only in legends even in ancient times—as huge as a mountain. ”

"It sounds, like the fairy tales my father told me when I was a kid." Hagrid subconsciously looked at the towering mountain in the depths of the Forbidden Forest, and then laughed.

"Is it really that big? I'd love to see it with my own eyes......" On the other side of Maca, Luna, who had been sitting there quietly, said in a trance.

She was also looking at the peak, vaguely yearning.

"Maybe there's one sleeping somewhere in the world!" "But let's not see it, if one of those big guys really wakes up, it's going to cause a big earthquake just to stand up......"

“…… Well, let's let him go back to sleep. Luna said earnestly.

Look at her appearance, as if she had really thought about where to find the legendary "giant as big as a mountain".

"Thank you, Maca......" Hagrid suddenly spoke, "at least you made me understand that true friends don't care if I have a giant half-blood......

"Then you have a few more people to thank." Maca spread her hands and turned around and shouted, "Harry, Ron, don't hide there!" ”

Not long after, with the sound of a sooth, two embarrassed-looking boys stepped out from behind the reindeer stone carving.

"I'm sorry, Hagrid. We weren't-" Harry was interrupted by Maca before he could finish.

"Come and sit down for a while, no one here is going to blame you—huh, Hagrid?"

"Oh—of course, but......" Hagrid hesitated, "where did you start listening?" ”

"From 'As soon as I saw you, my heart understood.'" ...... there," Harry confessed apologetically, "Actually, we just happened to be passing by......"

"Wasn't that the beginning!" Hagrid slapped his forehead vigorously, "Oh, the kids are watching...... I wish I hadn't said anything strange. ”

"We're not kids anymore—" Ron exclaimed, "don't worry, Hagrid, we're not going to be afraid of you!" ”

Maca looked at Ron strangely - when did he become so positive? It should be said that the wizarding family knows a lot about giants, and most wizards are very hostile to the giants.

Wizards have the impression that giants are cruel and murderous, and even eat people - of course, because there have been cases in history.

To be honest, Maca had a good relationship with Hagrid from the beginning, in addition to the fact that Hagrid himself was worth befriending, and naturally had the idea of personally contacting the giants through Hagrid.

He was indeed very curious about such a magical race, and if he had the chance, he would love to see what the giants were like - of course, it was not now!

After a few more conversations at the fountain, Hagrid went back to the hut first—he couldn't go to see Madame Maxim to-day, so he might as well go back and stay with Yaya!

Harry, Ron, and Maca returned to the Great Hall.

The ball was still going on, and Parvati and Padma sat at a table in the distance with a large group of Beauxbatons boys. Hermione didn't know where she had gone, they hadn't seen her since then.

They sat down at a table away from the dance floor.

For the rest of the ball, Harry and Ron sat in the corner talking about giants, and neither had the heart to dance. Harry restrained himself from looking at Cho Chang and Cedric, which would give him a strong urge to kick things.

Maca, on the other hand, casually conversed with Luna, occasionally answering Harry's questions casually.

Soon, at twelve o'clock in the night, the Weird Sisters stopped playing, and the leisurely time was over. Everyone gave one last round of applause to the Weird Sisters, and then began to walk towards the foyer.

At this moment, in one of the girls' dormitories in the Gryffindor Tower, Hermione was staring at the gift box that had been opened.

In that flat gift box, a delicate white dress was still folded, faintly reflecting the brilliance of the stars under the illumination of the light.

"Ron is right, even if I can't disturb Maca now, I shouldn't have promised Wick...... ...... of Krum's Invitation"