"I knew you would agree," Hagrid said, covering his face with a handkerchief, "I will always ...... None of ...... Forget the ...... of jì All right...... Come on...... A little more walk from here...... Now, watch your feet, there are nettles here. ”

They walked silently for ten minutes, and Lockhart was about to open his mouth to ask how far they had to go, when Hagrid held out his right arm and motioned for them to stop.

"Take your time," he whispered, "now, come quietly." ”

They tiptoed around and saw a huge, smooth mound on the opposite side, almost as tall as Hagrid. This must be the giant's den. The children shivered and the trees around the mound were uprooted, so that the mound sat in a clearing, surrounded by a circle of trunks and branches, as if it were a fence. They are standing outside this fence now.

Lockhart wasn't nervous, a single giant was too easy to deal with, not to mention that he had teamed up with the other Aurors not long ago to deal with a Death Eater giant who was almost nine meters tall.

"Sleep," Hagrid said silently.

Indeed, they could reach a distant, rhythmic rumble, as if a pair of huge lungs were at work. Lockhart turned her head to look at Hermione next to her, who was glaring at the mound, her mouth slightly open, looking completely frightened.

"Hagrid," her voice barely heard above the animal's snoring, "who is he?"

Harry asked, "What's that?" and that was the question he wanted to ask.

"Hagrid, you sued us--" Hermione said, wand trembling in her hand, "you sue us and no one wants to come!"

Lockhart patted Hermione on the shoulder comfortingly, and Harry and Ron understood, and they turned back to look at the mound, gasping in horror.

The huge mound, large enough for the five of them to stand on with ease, was slowly moving up and down with low, snoring breathing. It wasn't a mound at all, it was a curved back, no doubt of that—

"Well--no--he doesn't really want to come," Hagrid said, sounding desperate, "but I've got to bring him back, Hermione, I've got to!"

"But why?" asked Hermione, sounding like she was about to cry, "why-what-oh, Hagrid!"

"I know if I bring him back," said Hagrid, sounding like he was about to cry, "and then—and then teach him politeness—I can take him outside and tell everyone that he is safe!"

"Giants are murderous creatures, I'm sorry, Hagrid. There is no intention to target you. Lockhart looked at Hagrid apologetically, "I went to France not long ago to see the giants. ”

"Look Professor Lockhart said so!" Hermione screamed, "No wonder you're always hurt!"

"He just doesn't understand how hard he is!" Hagrid said seriously, "and he's getting better and better, he doesn't fight so much anymore--"

"So, that's why it took you two months to get home!" said Hermione absentmindedly, "Oh, Hagrid, why did you bring him back if he didn't want to come?

"They're bullying him, Hermione, because he's so small!" Hagrid said.

"Little?" said Hermione, "Little?"

"Hermione, I can't leave him behind," Hagrid said, tears rolling down his scarred face and into his beard, "Look—he's my brother!"

The three children stared at him stupidly with their mouths open.

"Hagrid, you said 'brother,'" Harry said slowly, "you mean--"

"Well, half-brother," Hagrid explained, "after my mom left my dad, she befriended another giant, and together they had Gollum--"

"Gollum?" said Harry.

"yes...... Well, that's the sound he makes when he pronounces my name," Hagrid said eagerly, "and he doesn't speak much English, and I've been teaching him...... In short, she doesn't seem to like him more than she does for me. You know, it's very important for a giantess to give birth to a big child, but she's always a little shorter than the other giants - only five and a half meters tall."

"Oh, yes, it's so small!" said Hermione, sarcastically dissatisfied, "what a small one!"

"Hagrid, you are so inexplicably sympathetic......" Lockhart said helplessly.

"He's always being kicked around by all of them - how could I throw him in a place like that --"

"Well, that's why it took us so long, you see," said Hagrid, "that we could only travel at night, picking up woods and moors and all that. Of course, he could go as fast as he wanted, but unfortunately he always wanted to go back. ”

"So, what do you want us to do?" asked Hermione, uneasy.

"Take care of him," Hagrid said hoarsely, "take care of him after I'm gone." ”

Hermione glanced at Lockhart's face, as if seeking comfort, or possibly expecting Lockhart to have some good ideas.

"What's the care?" Lockhart asked.

"No need to bring him food or anything!" said Hagrid eagerly, "he can find his own food, no problem at all." He can catch birds, deer, or whatever, don't worry. What he needs is someone to keep him company, and I just want someone to continue to help him, to continue to teach him, you know. ”

No one responded to Hagrid, everyone just turned their heads to look at the huge body lying on the ground in front of them. He's not like Hagrid, who looks like he's just a very large human, with a weird shape. To the left of the mound, a large mossy stone is now recognizable as Gollum's head. The head was much larger than the proportions of a human's head to body, and was almost as round as a ball, covered in thin, bracken-colored curly hair. A large, fleshy ear can be seen overhead, and his back is broad, and he is dressed in a dirty brown garment that appears to have been crudely sewn together by several animal skins. As he breathed in his sleep, the rough seams of his clothes tightened. His legs were shrunk under his body, and his huge, dirty, bare feet, like two large sleds, overlapped on top of each other in the forest land.

"You want us to teach him...... Harry said, his voice a little hollow, then turned to look at Lockhart, "Professor, I guess you can teach him, don't you?" ”

Lockhart sweats profusely and teaches a giant to speak English...... He thinks he doesn't have this ability, even if he does, what's the point, this giant can't become the fighting power of the Order of the Phoenix. With this time, he might as well make more friends with the Aurors.

"Gildero—you can just talk to him," Hagrid said, looking hopefully at Lockhart, "because I think if he could talk to people, he would know better that we all liked him and wanted him to stay here." ”

"Chat with a giant......," Ron said dumbfoundedly, "I'd rather talk to Lavender!"

"So, you're going to do it, right?" Hagrid said, seemingly unaware of what Ron was saying.

"Professor......" Harry said hesitantly looking at Lockhart, "we should help Hagrid, at least try, can't we?" ”

"Harry, I knew I could count on you," Hagrid said, smiling with tears in his eyes, and went back to wipe his face with his handkerchief, "I don't want to waste too much of your time, that ...... I know you have exams...... As long as you can come here once a week with your Cloak of Invisibility and talk to him. Then I'll wake him up -- I'll introduce you -- "

"What--don't!" Hermione jumped up and said, "Hagrid, don't, don't wake him up, really, we don't need to--"

"Don't be afraid, Hermione, I'm here. Lockhart reassured her.

Hagrid had stepped over the massive trunk of the tree in front of them and walked towards Gollum. He walked about three meters away, picked up a long branch from the ground, turned his head to look at them, smiled comfortingly, and then poked Goobo's back hard with the end of the branch.

The little giant let out a loud roar that echoed through the silent woods, and above their heads, the birds perched on the treetops flapped their wings and flew away. At the same time, the huge grunt in front of Harry and Hermione crawled up, and the ground trembled under his hands as he pushed his hands to his knees, and he turned his head to see who had woken him up.

"How are you?" said Hagrid, in a pretending pleasant voice, hugging the long branch and pushing back a few steps, ready to poke him again, "Sleep well?"