Chapter 1002 (1/2)

”What's the matter with him?” Harry felt something was wrong. There was something wrong with Gloop Gully?

”Well, now - the Centaurs -” violent ”- are a little harsh,” Hagrid said - still holding Harry's hand excitedly. ”Now he may shake me a little when he's in a bad mood, but he's become better, much better, and stays here very well.”

”What are those ropes for?” Harry asked. He had just noticed that there was a rope almost as thick as a young tree tied to some of the thickest trees nearby, with Gloop curled up in the middle with his back to them. Before, when van Lin was still there, glop was more free.

”You have to tie him up, don't you?” Ron said weakly, for Ron, Gloop is absolutely the kind of monster that can only be seen from afar.

”Well, yes,” Hagrid said, looking worried. ”You understand - as I said - he didn't really understand how strong he was.”

Harry now understands why the rest of the animals in this part of the forest are strangely disappearing, and why centaurs choose to attack him --

”so, what do you want Ron to do with me?” Harry asked, worried.

”Take care of him,” Hagrid roared, ”after I left.”

Harry and Ron exchanged a bitter look, and Harry was painfully aware that he had promised Hagrid that he would do whatever Hagrid asked.

”This - what does this include, exactly?” Ron asked.

”Not food or anything else!” Hagrid said eagerly, ”he can find his own food, no problem. Birds, deer and other things. No, he just needs someone to accompany him, if I know someone can help him. Teach him, you know

Harry said nothing but turned to look at the huge body lying on the ground in front of them.

Unlike Hagrid - he just looks like a bigger man, Gloop looks a little deformed. A huge mossy stone on a mound - which he had always believed - was now Gloop's head.

It's a much larger proportion of the body than a normal person's head, and it's almost perfectly spherical - covered with curly fern hair. On a single brain pocket, the flesh colored ears on top of your head - it looks like sitting - like Uncle Vernon's head, which has almost no neck connection between his shoulders.

The back under his head looked like a brown blouse roughly sewn with animal fur, and it was very wide. When Gloop went to sleep, it was as if the rough fur seams were being pulled tight. With his legs curled under his body, Harry could see the bare, huge, dirty soles of his feet - the size of a sledge, overlapping on the ground.

”You let us teach him,” Harry said, with a hollow look in his eyes. He now knew what Ferrer's warning meant.

Hagrid's efforts didn't work, so he'd better give it up. Of course, other creatures in the forest must have heard of Hagrid's pointless attempt to teach Gloop English.

”Yes, even if you just talk to him,” Hagrid said hopefully, ”I guess if he could talk to humans, he would know better that we like him and want him to stay.”

Harry looked at Ron, who was retreating with some refusal.

”You kind of want us to get norbo back, don't you?” He said, and Ron just laughed weakly.

If nob comes back and sees this guy on his turf, he's a good tempered guy if he doesn't burn Gloop to carbon.

”So, you agreed?” Hagrid said he didn't seem to understand what Harry was saying.

”Well,” said Harry, who was ready to keep his word, ”we'll try, Hagrid.”

”I knew I could trust you, Harry,” Hagrid said cheerfully, wiping his face again with his handkerchief. ”But I don't want to come too often. I know you're going to have an exam. All you have to do is come here once a week with your invisibility cloak and have a chat with him. I'm going to wake him up and introduce you. Although he has met you once, he has only left the impression of van Lin, and he needs to get familiar with other people. ”

”What -- no!” Ron jumped up as if his butt had been ignited and said, ”Hagrid, no! Don't wake him up, really, we don't need to - ”

but Hagrid has already stepped over the huge tree trunk in front of them and headed for Gloop. When it was only ten feet away, Hagrid picked up a broken, long, thick branch from the ground, turned his head over his shoulder, gave Harry and Ron a reassuring smile, and then poked the head of the branch into Gloop's back of the head.

Harry was almost conditioned to run, but he had promised Hagrid.

He swore that when Gloop first arrived here, nothing was worse than now, but even van Lin was not willing to have a second contact with glop. But for Hagrid's request, Harry almost forgot that Hagrid had a giant brother and took him to the forbidden forest.The giant let out a roar, echoing in the silent forest. The birds on the top of the trees were startled and disappeared in a flash. In the meantime, in front of Harry and Ron, the giant Gloop rose from the ground and stood unsteadily on his hands. He turned his head to see who had woken him up.

”All right, Gloop?” Said Hagrid in a pleasant voice, lifting up the thick branch again, ready to poke at Gloop again. ”Did you sleep well?”

Harry and Ron kept retreating as far as they could, but kept the giant in their sight. Gloop knelt between two trees that had not yet been uprooted. They looked up in surprise at his huge face - as if it were a full gray moon through the shadow of the open space.

His face seemed to have been chiseled into a huge stone ball - his almost shapeless nose was thick and short; his crooked mouth was grotesque yellow teeth as big as a brick; and his eyes, small, were muddy greenish brown, and they were now almost glued together, as they had just woken up.

Gloop raised his dirty Knuckles - each the size of a cricket ball - and put it on his eyes and rubbed it vigorously. Then, without any warning, he walked up with amazing agility.

”Oh, my God!” Harry heard Ron yelling in horror. The tree at the other end of the rope that was tied to Gloop's wrists and ankles creaked ominously.

He was - as Hagrid said - at least sixteen feet tall. Looking around dimly, Gloop held out a hand as big as an umbrella, seized a bird's nest on a branch of a towering pine tree, turned it upside down, and let out a roar. He was obviously not very dissatisfied with any bird in it.

The eggs fell to the ground like a grenade, and Hagrid held his stone bow over his head to protect himself.

”Anyway, little Gloop,” Hagrid called, looking up worried in case any more eggs fall, ”I've brought some friends to see you. Remember? They have come to see you. Remember, I said I might take a trip and let them take care of you? Do you still remember? Little Gloop? ”

But Gloop just gave another low growl; it's hard to say if he was listening to Hagrid or even if he heard Hagrid's voice.

He was now grabbing the tip of the pine tree and pulling it towards him. Obviously, he likes to let go of the tree to see how far it can bounce.

”Now, little Gloop, don't do that!” Hagrid called out, ”that's how you stop pulling out the rest -”