"Haha..." Michael laughed and said, "Vid is really good at this spell, and he even got permission from the Ministry of Magic."
"I'm so envious... I want to learn..." Astoria asked eagerly, "Will the Magic Spell Study Group teach it in the future?"
"If there's an opportunity," Vid said, "So... shall we start working?"
At the other end of the room, Hagrid held his beard in a panic, "Wait, wait! This beard has been growing since I was eighteen... at least leave me a bit!"
Daphne said ruthlessly, "What's the point in keeping it? Raising lizards?"
"No..." Hagrid said weakly, "Don't you think my beard looks nice? Dumbledore has a beard too!"
"White beards look clean," Daphne raised the scissors and said, "Your beard... I always suspect the soup splattered in it might go moldy."
"How could there be soup?" Hagrid argued, "I wash it every day."
Daphne looked him up and down, questioning, "Really?"
"At least every three days... occasionally five days... I do clean it..." Hagrid stammered.
Daphne's hair almost stood on end, and she swung the magic wand without saying a word, the scissors swiftly sweeping across in front of Hagrid's chin.
"Oh—" Hagrid let out a miserable cry, as if he himself had been cut.
Vid waved his magic wand, and all the barely functional junk in the room flew out — chairs with broken legs, cracked bowls, brooms tied together with straw and vines, fur coats full of moth-eaten holes, and messy animal specimens.
Hagrid stuffed anything he thought might be useful and would be useful in the future into his little house. He's also a forgetful person, often forgetting where he put things, and doesn't clean very often.
In fact, Vid suspected some of the dirt in certain places might have accumulated for over fifty years, enough to raise several nests of Doxies.
Everyone else pitched in to help, and the Scouring Charm was no stranger to everyone there, even the youngest, Astoria, could use it skillfully.
For those particularly tricky spots, one needed the cleaning agent. This magical potion could also make animal fur smoother and sleeker, and after a round of tidying up, everything looked brand new.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Hagrid occasionally let out yelps under Daphne's hands—
"My hair!"
"No, put the knife down... wait, does my eyebrow have to be trimmed too?"
"This is my new coat, Miss Gringotts!"
"This is my special hair oil, not shoe polish... It's really useful, please spare it..."
While others were scrubbing tea sets, organizing the wardrobe, and repairing tables and chairs, Vid stroked his chin, looking around the now roomier house after most of the clutter was disposed of.
With Hagrid plus their group, as well as Fang gnawing on a bone in the doghouse, they almost filled up all the space, and people frequently bumped into each other while moving around.
If Hagrid invited Madam Maxime over as a guest...
Imagining the scene of two big figures sitting by the hearth, the air in the room seemed to become crowded.
Recalling the various materials Hagrid generously gave him in the past, Vid waved his magic wand and cast several The Undetectable Extention Charms on the cabin.
Hermione picked up a tray, with clean teapots and teacups on it, intending to place them in the cupboard.
When she turned around, she instinctively gathered her arms, only to find that everyone was at least two feet away from her.
"Huh?"
The girl felt a bit strange, but when Astoria raised her hat to put it on the rack, Hermione forgot about the strange feeling earlier and put down the tray to help.
Harry and the others were even more oblivious, and when they discovered that the space seemed to have become more spacious, their hearts were immediately filled with a sense of achievement.
"Wow, just tidying up a bit, it's like the house has gotten bigger."
Ron turned back and said loudly to Hagrid, "Hagrid, don't bring back so much junk again! Of course, if you see unicorn tail hairs, you mustn't miss even one."
He carefully cleaned a bunch of unicorn tail hairs and hung them beside the window, the light coming in from outside seemed to become more radiant.
"Ow..." Hagrid looked painfully at his hair and beard all over the ground and said to Ron, "If you like them, you can have them, I'll go collect more later."
"Really?"
Ron was thrilled, but when he reached out, he only counted a few strands of tail hair, and then gave each person one, keeping one in his own hand as well.
"Consider this our payment for today," Ron said with a cheeky grin, "The rest, you can sell and buy a Christmas gift for Madam Maxime."
Vid glanced at him in surprise and suddenly realized that in the places he couldn't see, the Ron who often felt inferior in the original storyline had grown up.
Perhaps Fred and George provided this little brother some financial assistance, so that he no longer worried about poverty?
In any case, now Ron's magic wand was new, his robe no longer appeared washed out, and his smile seemed much more laid-back.
"Christmas gift..."
Hagrid furrowed his bushy eyebrows, deep in thought, and didn't even notice when Daphne threw the cut hair and beard into the fireplace to burn.
The room was immediately filled with the smell of kerosene burning, and Michael hurriedly opened the window, while Vid whipped up a gust of wind, sending the strange smell away.
...
Two hours later.
Hagrid stood in what seemed like a brand-new room, awkwardly patting his hair and then his chin.
"Feels like I'm not wearing clothes..."
He muttered uneasily.
The long hair hanging over his shoulders was cut to just an inch in length, and Daphne even had Vid increase the temperature of the Warm Wind Spell to curl those hairs.
His beard was almost entirely trimmed off, leaving only a small amount to accentuate his face shape. Harry exclaimed, "Hagrid, it's the first time I realized you look like this!"
"Who would have thought?" Michael said, rubbing his chin, "You look like you've turned back thirty years!"
"Really?"
Hagrid put down his hand, delightedly picked up a mirror and looked at it, then his face, and finally his neck that could finally see daylight.
Without the unkempt hair, Hagrid's facial contours appeared softer and younger, the rough muscle lines quite distinct, and his beetle-black eyes were very bright, with a certain pure innocence.
"Honestly, you look fantastic like this!" Hermione said, "Before, you looked a bit like... like..."
She waved her arms embarrassedly, unsure how to describe it.
"—Like a wild man?"
Hagrid asked, not really caring, as he knew some students called him that privately.
"No, I meant more like a pine cone," Hermione said with a laugh.
Everyone recalled Hagrid's previous appearance, with his messy hair just lining up with his shoulders and arms. In winter, when he wore a heavy fur coat, his belly stuck out, and his arms couldn't be placed close to his body due to the blockage of the clothes, indeed resembling a chubby pine cone.
Everyone laughed, even Hagrid couldn't help but show a smile no longer hidden by his beard.
Daphne then picked out a deep blue suit, a white linen shirt, along with a tie, short boots, a belt, etc., from the wardrobe, and urged Hagrid to go to the bedroom to change into them.
"I guarantee, you'll surprise Madam Maxime," Daphne said, "If not for your height, she might have thought the school had replaced the gamekeeper!"
This time, Hagrid accepted the clothes, no longer resisting everyone's disdain for his aesthetics, and changed into them cheerfully.
When he awkwardly tugged at the tie and walked out, Daphne breathed a sigh of relief, as if some kind of pressure weighing on her heart was finally released.
"I should have done this long ago," she muttered quietly to her sister, "You know? Every time I took Care of Magical Creatures Lessons and saw Professor Hagrid's outfit, I felt as if an ant was crawling on my foot."
Astoria, hearing this, sat beside her and giggled.
Afterwards, it was reported — merely reported — that when Madam Maxime went to tend to her Divine Talisman Horse, she also saw the transformed Hagrid, and she unconsciously wrapped the reins in her hand another two times.
A few days later, everyone noticed that the two of them started walking by the Black Lake.