"Merlin's beard, don't even mention that thing to me!"
Theo reacted like he'd just heard something terrifying and quickly lunged forward to cover Rock's mouth.
Rock dodged to the side, raising a hand to stop Theo from trying again.
"Relax, I'm just explaining why Adam is so scared of ghosts."
Adam blinked. He had no idea what a Dementor was, but from Theo's reaction and Rock's explanation, he was starting to get the picture.
"Alright, alright, I get it."
Theo waved his hand, signaling Rock to drop the topic.
With that conversation over, they headed out of the castle.
"Wow—fresh air!" Theo stretched his arms out, inhaling deeply like he'd been suffocating indoors.
"By the way, don't we have gym class?" Adam looked around curiously.
"Gym class?" Theo looked confused again.
"There actually is an outdoor class—Flying." Rock explained.
Rock couldn't help feeling speechless. The magical world really didn't seem to care much about physical education.
Out of all seven years at Hogwarts, only first-years even had Flying lessons. Every other class took place indoors.
Yet Newt and Theseus had both told him that physical fitness was crucial for wizards.
Thinking about it, that made sense. Newt was a magical zoologist who worked closely with magical creatures and often had to handle them directly.
Most magical creatures were resistant to spells—or rather, the spells cast from a wand usually weren't enough to truly harm them, except for some extremely powerful attack charms.
And Theseus, as a former head of the Auror Office, naturally needed a strong and capable body.
"Flying class, huh?" Adam couldn't help imagining what it might be like. Just the name sounded cool.
"Heh, I'm really looking forward to it. I wanted to ride one when I was little, but my mom never let me." Theo's eyes were sparkling; anything fun caught his interest, and flying broomsticks were definitely on that list.
Rock shrugged. The whole 'flying on a broomstick' thing still felt strange to him.
He'd much rather ride a magical creature—or maybe one day figure out a spell that would let him fly on his own.
As they chatted, they wandered around the castle grounds again and eventually approached Hagrid's cabin.
"Hey Rock, look, there's a house over there!" Adam pointed excitedly at Hagrid's hut.
After wandering so long, finally stumbling on a building that wasn't part of the castle felt refreshing.
"That's the home of Hagrid, the school's Keeper of Keys and Grounds." Rock said, spotting a large figure stepping out of the cabin.
"Let's go say hi."
Earlier that morning they'd been busy with running and didn't want to bother him—plus, showing up at dawn felt rude.
But now was perfect.
Also, if he remembered correctly, during first year Hagrid kept a dragon in his hut.
Rock had seen plenty of magical animals, but dragons were rare.
As Grandpa Newt always said, the Ministry of Magic protected dragons more seriously than anything else—after all, every part of a dragon was valuable.
The boys sped up. Hagrid was watering the pumpkins and turned when he heard them.
Seeing a group of Ravenclaw first-years, he raised his brows in surprise. "Oh? What brings you little wizards out here?"
"Hi, I'm Rock. We were wandering around and saw a cabin, so we came over." Rock greeted him politely.
Hagrid was massive. Even though he'd led them to the school last night, seeing him now in daylight made his size feel even more overwhelming.
"Hahaha! Welcome! Come inside and have some tea, how about it?"
Hagrid boomed with laughter. He didn't dislike kids—he simply knew his appearance intimidated them.
To avoid scaring students, he typically avoided going inside the castle during the day and only visited Dumbledore in the evenings.
"We'd love to."
Rock accepted immediately. Might as well get acquainted now—maybe he'd get a chance to see the dragon later.
Hagrid's grin widened with pure joy.
"Come on in—and move back, Fang, we've got guests!"
He shouted into the hut while gently pushing the door open.
"Rock… are we really going in?" Adam hesitated. Hagrid's sheer size had him nervous.
"Relax. Didn't you see how friendly he is?" Rock waved it off and followed Hagrid inside.
The moment he stepped in, a giant creature—practically the size of a small hill—lunged straight at him.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
Without hesitation, Rock flicked his wrist, calling his wand into his palm, and cast a perfect Levitation Charm, suspending the enormous beast midair.
"Whoa!" Adam and Theo yelled in shock behind him.
They hadn't even had time to react.
"Brilliant Levitation Charm, Rock!" Hagrid clapped his huge hands like giant fans. "Don't worry, that's Fang. He just wanted to say hello."
Rock stared at Fang, who was now floating helplessly, and couldn't help twitching a corner of his mouth.
Sure, the dog's beetle-black eyes did look friendly and excited—but that wet tongue and all that drool? No thank you.
He ended the spell, and Hagrid grabbed Fang's collar, pulling him aside.
Then he motioned for the boys to sit and poured them each an enormous mug of steaming milk tea.
Rock took a sniff—the aroma was thick and sweet. "Thanks."
"Try my rock cakes—best thing you'll ever taste!"
A chunk of rock cake fell onto the table with a loud thud. Without a word, Rock nudged the plate toward Theo and Adam.
Then he started chatting with Hagrid about magical creatures, and even Theo and Adam were drawn in.
"Goodness, Rock—you're the most knowledgeable young wizard I've ever met when it comes to magical creatures!" Hagrid was astonished.
"Thanks. My grandpa's an expert in this field." Rock smiled and mentioned Newt.
"Your grandpa?" Hagrid's eyes widened with curiosity.
"The author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."
Rock said it casually.
Hagrid shot to his feet so fast he shoved the table forward a few inches. "What?! Him?! He's my absolute favorite author!"