Small smile. Back to work.

Snape seems to find it awfully annoying that he can't actually find anything to criticise in Victor's or Dayo's work, so he doubles down on Neville, making the boy even more nervous, if that's at all possible.

Poor Neville. Victor keeps an eye out for further errors while attending to his own potion.

The rest of class passes without further incident (although Neville needs to be corrected again twice) and then it's lunchtime.

Well, that could've gone much worse.

He - isn't sure how to talk to Dayo about what happened. Nor is he sure that he should. So he just goes to lunch.

Well Dayo seems to be busy doing politics or something and doesn't approach their table at lunch.

Probably a good thing.

"Can I go to Hagrid's with you?" he asks.

"Yes."

"Cool!"

"He's nice."

"Yeah, he looked cool."

Lunch proceeds apace.

Lunch!

And it's soon three PM.

Muninn leads the way to Hagrid's cottage.

It's on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. A crossbow and a pair of galoshes are outside the front door.

When they knock they hear a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks. Then Hagrid's voice rings out, saying, "Back, Fang—back!" Hagrid's big, hairy face appears in the crack as he pulls the door open. "Hang on," he says. "Back, Fang!"

He lets them in, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of an enormous black boarhound. There's only one room inside. Hams and pheasants are hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle's boiling on the open fire, and in the corner stands a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it.

"Make yerselves at home," he says, letting go of Fang, who bounds straight at Ron and starts licking his ears.

Muninn peers curiously around the interior of the cottage from his place on Victor's shoulder.

Victor goes in and finds a chair to sit on.

He peers at Ron. "And who're yeh?"

He manages to push Fang away for long enough to say, "Ron, erm, Weasley, sir."

Hagrid starts pouring some boiling water into a large teapot and putting rock cakes onto a plate.

"Another Weasley, eh?" he says. "I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest."

Victor picks up a rock cake and ventures a question.

"What's in the forest that makes it so dangerous?"

The cakes are shapeless lumps with raisins that almost break their teeth but Ron takes one, too.

"Lotser things," Hagrid says. "Hogwarts lets whatever wants ter live there live there an' sum very nasty things wants ter live there."

He nibbles very patiently at his rock cake.

"Oh," he says. He wants to ask why the very nasty things are allowed near the school full of children, but it seems sort of... impertinent.