Chapter 63 Yeqi
"Hey, Hagrid, is there anything I can do here?" Looking at Hagrid who was bending over and busying himself with something in front of the stone house, Della shouted as she ran towards him, her wizard robe rising in a light arc as she moved.
"Oh hey, Della," Hagrid put down the bucket in his hand and greeted Della, not caring at all that the blood in the bucket splashed on his dirty robes, "Why are you here? Have you finished your work with Professor Snape?"
"I think Professor Snape's work will never be done," Della shrugged as she walked up to Hagrid. "It was Headmaster Dumbledore who rescued me. He said that a kid like me might need to come to your place to get some fresh air."
"This job may not be suitable for you," Hagrid looked at the large piece of raw meat stained with blood in the bucket, with a bit of embarrassment on his face. He picked up the bucket again, "but you can go for a walk with me."
"Okay, Hagrid," Della followed Hagrid towards the Forbidden Forest. She looked at the raw meat in the bucket that was constantly swaying and splashing blood. She took out her wand, waved it lightly, and a piece of raw meat floated from the bucket to above the bucket. Then she followed Hagrid forward steadily.
"If you need to feed something, I can help."
"Oh! You're good, Della! You can do silent magic in the second grade?" Hagrid looked at Della in amazement.
"For now, I can only learn non-advanced spells like the Levitation Charm. I can be considered an excellent student." Della grinned at Hagrid.
"Come to think of it, all the Riddles I've met were top students," Hagrid's face flashed with complexity for a moment, and he seemed to sigh softly, but in front of him was the fence of the forest farm, and Hagrid's depression was swept away at this moment, "Della, we're here."
Della swallowed the question on her lips. She looked at the big man Hagrid, and then at the forest full of black creatures. These were creatures she had never seen in books. "What are those black horses that look like skeletons, Hagrid?"
"Can you see?" Hagrid looked very surprised, his eyes widened and his mouth opened a little.
"Isn't this strange, Hagrid? Don't they exist?" Della also widened her eyes slightly and turned to look at Hagrid.
"The Thestrals can only be seen by those who have witnessed death," Hagrid's voice lowered, and he seemed to want to quietly observe the expression on Della's face, but the caution on his face made his intention more obvious, and before Della could digest his words, Hagrid spoke quickly.
"Anyway, it's a big help that you can see them. There are so many of them that I have to go back and forth to feed them all many times!"
After a brief silence, Della looked up at Hagrid. She smiled softly, "It's okay, Hagrid. That may be something that I don't remember before the age of five. Now, I'm glad to help you."
"That's great - ah no..." Hagrid covered his mouth and pretended to cough awkwardly. After hearing Della's clear laughter, he scratched his head and pulled the corner of his mouth. When he saw Wuwu in the forest raising his paw towards him, he returned to his normal state.
"With you here, I think I can relax a little today," said Hagrid, calming down, as he scooped up a piece of meat from the bucket. He waved to Della, motioning her to follow him. "We have to feed them all now so that they will be happy to pull carts for the students in the evening."
"That's indeed a big project." Della narrowed her eyes and looked at the forest farm where the Yeqi were raised from far to near. Well, there were estimated to be hundreds of them.
"It's today. They can usually eat grass. If they are to work, they have to eat something good."
Hagrid threw a piece of meat over and opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something. He rolled his eyes and swallowed the cry to Fangya on the tip of his tongue. He looked at Della and said, "Just throw the meat over and make sure they don't fight over it. They're very well behaved and there's no danger."
Seeing the Thestrals walking slowly towards the meat, Della nodded, then waved her wand and hung a piece of meat in the bucket into the forest, leading the Thestrals that were approaching to the side. She looked up at Hagrid, "Is this okay?"
"Very good, you did a great job, Della!" Hagrid nodded, turned around and walked back, saying as he walked, "Then I'll leave this to you first, I'll be back soon!"
Della responded and continued to cast a levitation spell on the piece of meat. She put the piece of meat down when she felt that the evacuation was almost complete. Then she immediately floated up another piece of meat in the forest. She calculated the time it would take for this trip and carefully controlled the speed of the piece of meat.
By the time Hagrid came back with two buckets of meat, Della had just gotten the last piece.
"Well done, Della," Hagrid put the two full buckets of meat next to Della. He picked up the empty buckets and looked up at the dark crowd in the field. "I think we can finish feeding them in two hours this time. We can also have some rock-baked biscuits as a snack before we hitch the carriage."
"If it's Hagrid's biscuits, then I'll probably need a bowl of piping hot strong tea." Della blinked.
This was absolutely true. When she returned to the cabin in the evening, she softened the biscuits with strong tea before eating them. The consistency of the biscuits was beyond imagination. Della felt full after eating half a piece of the biscuit.
When the sunset glowed brightly, Della followed Hagrid, who was greeting the Thestrals, step by step towards the place where the carriages were stored. Hagrid took out his little red umbrella and waved it twice at the stacked carriages. The dust that was just floating in front of his eyes disappeared immediately.
"Is that your wand, Hagrid?" Della, holding the wand, tilted her head.
"Uh, no, it's not, you didn't see anything, Della," Hagrid paused, looking a little flustered, and soon spoke loudly again, "Now let's harness the carriage, they don't like being harnessed by magic."
"Um..." Della was silent for a moment, then smiled, "Okay, Hagrid."
After harnessing the carriages, they drove a long team of Thestrals towards the gates of Hogwarts.
Watching the Thestral stretching its bat-like wings from time to time, Della suddenly remembered the brief description of him in the book - unlucky and a bringer of disaster.
Because it was so brief, Della didn't remember the name immediately when she heard it.
If they hadn't seen that they were subject to restrictions, most students would still have panicked if they knew that the one pulling the cart was a Thestral.
As far as Della knew, the seniors generally believed that the carriage was automatic.
It is clearly a magical world, but being able to hear and see some unusual things is not a good thing, just like in the Muggle world.
Della's eyebrows moved, and she placed her hand on the bony skeleton of the Thermus beside her, stroking it gently, interacting cordially with the black Pegasus as she walked.
It doesn’t matter. As Dumbledore said, being different doesn’t mean you don’t have choices.