Among the patrons of the Hog's Head Inn—many cloaked and hooded, looking rather like outlaws—their odd little group was a breath of fresh air. Aberforth Dumbledore's place was often used to resell banned items, trade in illicit potions, and where certain wizards picked up shady side jobs.
Tsk tsk, the Dumbledore family really had both the light and dark sides of the Hogwarts region covered. Reg thought
"I'm Rubeus Hagrid—wait..." Hagrid gave a bashful chuckle as he looked at Alphard's angular face. His black eyes narrowed, then widened in recognition. "I've seen you before!"
Ah, who at Hogwarts hadn't seen whom?
"Yes, you actually remember me—and I remember you too," Alphard said warmly, a cheerful grin spreading across his face as he reminisced. "Back in the 1940s, I was studying at Hogwarts. You were already living on the edge of the Forbidden Forest then. You must have seen me a few times when I snuck into the Forest for a bit of adventure."
"Er—yeah…" Hagrid said awkwardly, his large hand unconsciously tightening around the pink umbrella beneath his coat. In 1942, he'd been expelled from Hogwarts because of Aragog the Acromantula, the death of his classmate Moaning Myrtle, and other things he still didn't fully understand…
It was a painful chapter of his life that never quite healed. Back then, he'd lived alone on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, full of yearning and envy for the students still attending school—students who, for the most part, avoided him.
If it hadn't been for Albus Dumbledore…
Regulus caught the flicker of discomfort in Hagrid's expression, and his gaze sharpened slightly. He hadn't forgotten—Hagrid had been framed by Tom Riddle, blamed simply because of his giant bloodline. Even his wand had been snapped.
This injustice… would have to be made right.
He took a breath, blinked, and began introducing everyone to each other.
What happened next put Regulus greatly at ease—these people, who might not have interacted under normal circumstances, came together without a trace of awkwardness.
The first to break the ice, unsurprisingly, was the die-hard Quidditch fan and broom enthusiast—James Potter.
"Er, Mr Black, can I call you Uncle Al too—" James's eyes were practically glowing with admiration, filled with pure enthusiasm. He likely felt a sense of kinship due to Alphard's resemblance to Sirius. "Did you really, really go to Sweden to take part in the annual broom race?"
Even before Alphard could nod, James was staring wide-eyed, barely blinking, and holding his breath.
"Uncle Al even won an award," Regulus added quickly, hyping up his uncle from the side.
"That's brilliant!" James gave a small celebratory pump of his fist, his eyes now burning with admiration.
Regulus could see it clearly—this was true admiration—The same kind those girls had for BTS members!
And another kind of true admiration came from Hagrid.
"I heard… er, Regulus told me," Hagrid said, glancing at the boy before looking at Alphard with equal anticipation, "you lot travelled through a Dragon Sanctuary and even got dragon hide?"
"Heh~" Alphard nodded.
Without another word, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue, shovel-shaped object about the size of an adult's palm and set it on the table—
It was a shed scale from a Swedish Short-Snout dragon.
The shimmering silver-blue glow reflected in Hagrid's eyes.
"My Merlin," he whispered, "a Swedish Short-Snout dragon…"
Everyone at the table, along with many curious onlookers nearby (including Aberforth Dumbledore), stared at this solemn, beautiful object, imagining the majestic form of the dragon in its natural habitat.
In that moment, they all understood Hagrid, Charlie, and others' love for dragons—they wanted to raise one too!
Regulus cleared his throat.
"Hagrid mentioned to me earlier that he uses unicorn tail hair to bandage injured creatures—that reminded me of something: the alchemical bandages Uncle Al made!"
Alphard obligingly took a large pack of light yellow bandages from his pocket. He always kept some on hand—alchemy was a high-risk hobby, and he needed these quite often.
"These bandages can not only bind wounds but also accelerate healing—honestly, they're just as effective as anything in the hospital wing. I think they'll be very useful for the creatures in the Forbidden Forest."
Hagrid sniffed (despite nothing being in his nose) and pulled a rolled-up, crumpled piece of paper from his pocket—smooth, soft, silvery-white hair protruded from one end. He clearly wasn't very skilled at packaging delicate things.
"I'd be willing to trade these with you," Hagrid said shyly. The main reason he had agreed to accompany Regulus to Hogsmeade today was for the alchemical bandages and dragons.
Also, Regulus's way of persuading him had been quite… unique—
Hagrid, I know you're worried, but I really have to go to Hogsmeade...
So why don't you come with me? It'll be safer that way, right?
...No, I can't tell anyone else. If my mum finds out I went to see my uncle, she'll definitely ground me…
The final reason was—he genuinely liked Regulus.
It turned out to be a bundle of unicorn hair—looked like it came from the tail? The alchemist Alphard immediately recognised it. He hadn't expected… there would be so many strands?
Seeing Hagrid push the paper roll containing the precious unicorn tail hair across the table, Alphard felt somewhat overwhelmed by his "sincerity." The alchemical bandages he had prepared were nowhere near this valuable… Was this what they called Gryffindor generosity?
Under the envious gazes of the Little Wizards around the table, Alphard pushed everything in front of him—bandages, dragon scale, and all—towards Hagrid.
"All right then, thank you—in return, these are all yours."
"Ah, really?" Hagrid clutched the dragon scale in disbelief. "Are you sure?"
"Heh~ I've got more at home. I can always head back to Sweden again next year," Alphard said casually.
The direction of the gathering soon shifted, becoming more like a "fan meet" for Uncle Al.
James, full of admiration, could barely wait to ask Alphard about every detail of his flying competitions. Meanwhile, Hagrid dove into an in-depth conversation about dragon traits and magical creatures.
"I've always wanted to try using the blue flames of the Short-Snout for alchemical experiments," said Uncle Al. "But I can't get close enough to them."
"Oh!" Hagrid's eyes shone.
"Maybe Hagrid can," Regulus interjected smoothly. After all, the half-giant did have a natural gift when it came to magical beasts.
…
5 min later~
...
"Ahem, there's another matter I wanted to discuss during this meeting with Uncle Alphard—" Regulus had to cut into the enthusiastic chatter. When everyone turned to look at him, he continued:
"Most of you here already know—I want to start an alchemy group within the school, to learn how to craft magical items."
"I hope to invite Uncle Al and Hagrid to be our mentors and guardians. If you agree, then this will be our group's first official meeting."
"That's brilliant! Remus and I are in for sure," James said enthusiastically, slinging an arm around Lupin's shoulder. "Right, Remus?"
"Me? Uh, an alchemy group?" Hagrid looked genuinely startled, as if he wasn't sure he'd heard correctly. He'd never imagined he'd be involved in alchemy—wasn't that the kind of thing only wizards like Dumbledore did?
"Of course," Regulus nodded earnestly. "Alchemy covers a lot, and a large part of it is connected to magical creatures. Hagrid's knowledge of magical creatures—well, whatever else aside—it's definitely enough to teach us Care of Magical Creatures."
"I-I could never compare to Professor Kettleburn," Hagrid mumbled, blushing and smiling at the same time.
"Besides, we'll also need adult wizards to supervise us on school grounds!"
Regulus added inwardly — We would need access to the Forbidden Forest, and Hagrid's half-giant nature was a valuable resource in itself!
And more importantly, he wanted Uncle Al to meet more friends.
As a member of the Black family, Alphard's name came from a star in the Hydra constellation—Alphard, the "solitary one" in Arabic.
"I want to gather like-minded wizards to research together. I've already submitted a puzzle-based advert—a GG—to the Daily Prophet. Those who solve the puzzle will be able to contact me."
Regulus had even joked that he wished he could just send a letter directly to Mr Weasley's Burrow.
This time, he wanted to prevent Uncle Alphard's early death!