The Hagrid's son

Though Tonks had decided to quit working for the Ministry of Magic, she wasn't going to leave right away. She planned to complete her training, receive the Auror certification she had worked hard for over three years and felt she deserved, and then walk out the very same day, even before being assigned to a new team.

After all, having "former Auror" on your resume sounds much better than being a trainee who didn't finish their training.

The way you're treated in many places is completely different.

Even if the Ministry didn't understand why she left in this way or was upset by Tonks' actions, they'd have to swallow that bitter pill in silence. They couldn't force her to work for them.

While she used the remaining time to make peace with this chapter of her life, Barnaby had hurried back to Hogwarts as McGonagall needed help preparing the Quidditch pitch for the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff match.

"Aunt Minerva, are you sure this is a good idea?" Barnaby asked for the third time.

He didn't understand why it was so important to hold this match when the school was on high alert due to the potential threat of Sirius Black.

They could go a year without playing Quidditch! It wasn't as if anyone would die from it.

Poppy would certainly be pleased by the decrease in broken bones, missing teeth, and concussions in the infirmary.

"The students desperately need a distraction," Minerva replied patiently as she meticulously ensured the grass on the entire pitch was uniformly five centimeters high. "Nothing lifts spirits more than a Quidditch match!"

Barnaby refrained from giving his honest opinion, especially since he didn't understand why she was so particular about the grass when everyone would be looking up to watch the game in the sky.

Quidditch fans were something else, he supposed.

"Aunt Minerva, can I bring a friend to watch the match?" he asked, realizing the conversation wasn't going anywhere.

"Is it one of your beasts? As long as it's small, but make sure it doesn't interfere with the game," Minerva trusted Barnaby to manage that.

"I'll handle it, don't worry," Barnaby assured her.

Although he wasn't a fan of Quidditch, Barnaby was among the first to arrive on the day of the match, holding an old-fashioned iron and glass lantern in his right hand.

"You know, this lantern isn't as bad as I expected," Calcifer remarked, looking around. "It gives much better visibility than the fireplace and will keep me out of the rain. But still, what am I doing here?"

Calcifer preferred to stay home on rainy, stormy days like today.

"Avoiding a disaster," Barnaby spoke quietly, even though the stands were still mostly empty and no one was nearby. "People are going to get too excited about the Quidditch match, and…"

"Yeah, those flying rags won't be able to resist an emotional buffet," Calcifer understood. "But why didn't you tell anyone?"

Barnaby's eye twitched.

He had told every professor he could find, but they all thought he was being overly cautious!

He even approached Trelawney as a last resort!

"Dumbledore is here; there won't be any problems," was what they all said.

Well, it seemed like Betty missed that memo when she was attacked!

Sometimes Barnaby felt disgusted by how dependent his peers were on Dumbledore, as if they didn't want to see the bigger picture.

"Well, at least now I understand why you cut your hair," Calcifer commented as he eyed the clean, coiled hair Barnaby had put in his pocket.

As a result, his hair was now a palm's length shorter. It was unnoticeable to those who didn't know him well but obvious to those who interacted with him regularly.

"Did you cut your hair? It looks good," Hannah said as she sat beside him with some friends, taking advantage of the covering charm Barnaby had set up to keep the rain and wind at bay.

An interesting detail was that, despite the size of the Quidditch stadium, there seemed to be a tacit understanding of where each Hogwarts house sat, and they had settled in the Hufflepuff section.

"I burned a bit of my hair and thought I'd trim it to let it grow evenly again," Barnaby casually explained. "By the way, this is Calcifer. If you're looking for someone to fry the best eggs and bacon, he's your guy."

"But I demand the eggshells, and that's non-negotiable!" Calcifer clarified.

"Oh, how cute!"

"Cute?! Cute?!" Calcifer repeated indignantly. "I'm a mighty fire demon!"

"Sure, sure, how did I miss that?" Hannah humored him, smiling so naturally that Calcifer lost interest, realizing he couldn't make her see the truth.

Fortunately for them, the match began soon, and everyone's attention shifted to the broomstick riders.

"Go Cedric!" Hannah cheered, waving a Hufflepuff flag as if she were fighting for France's freedom.

A lightning bolt struck the tail of a Gryffindor player's broomstick, and even the rain couldn't put out the fire, forcing her to switch brooms mid-match as Harry made a move to prevent her from crashing.

Again, why wasn't the ground softened with a cushioning charm?

This sport is insane!

"They've spotted the Snitch!" someone shouted.

Everyone watched as Cedric and Harry left the pitch (was that even allowed?), chasing the tiny golden ball with wings into the upper clouds.

Barnaby stared at the clouds, feeling a bit frustrated.

The one time he comes to watch a match, and the Seekers disappear from view.

"Cedric's been struck by lightning!"

Sure enough, the Hufflepuff Seeker was lit up like a Christmas tree before he began a wobbly descent due to the shock. Curiously, the broom didn't catch fire, but Flitwick had to rescue the poor boy, who was convulsing on the broomstick with comically spiked hair.

"Barnaby, they're here," Calcifer said from inside the lantern.

Everyone's attention was quickly drawn to Harry's free fall from the clouds, with many screams echoing through the stands.

Dumbledore stood up, pointing his hand at the unconscious boy.

"Arresto Momentum!"

Harry's body slowed down and gently landed on the grass.

"That was close, right?" Hannah patted her chest, trying to calm down. "Barnaby?" The Hufflepuff girl didn't notice when Hagrid's son had left and ended up standing in the middle of the Quidditch pitch. "What is he doing?"

But her attention couldn't stay on him when she realized, like everyone else, that Dementors were flying through the sky, closing in on them.

What followed was a chorus of panicked screams as the Quidditch players also descended to avoid running into those creatures, suspending the match.

Barnaby opened the lantern door and, taking his previously prepared cut hair, fed it to Calcifer, who slurped it up like spaghetti. Although it wasn't strictly necessary, the rain would hinder Calcifer if he tried to come out without help, and a demon never works for free.

"You know what to do!" Barnaby said as he used the Patronus Charm to form a barrier around the stadium, preventing the Dementors from escaping.

Calcifer shrank into a black flame for a moment before erupting into a powerful reddish blaze connected to the lantern, growing to a towering forty meters tall, roughly the equivalent of Hogwarts Castle from the ground to the Astronomy Tower.

The students were stunned to see the flaming giant, which soon turned blue, while McGonagall's first thought was whether this was the friend Barnaby had mentioned.

Because if they had to deal with both Dementors and a fire giant, she was worried she couldn't protect all the students from the collateral damage.

She was relieved to see the fiery being puff up its cheeks and unleash a powerful tongue of fire at the Dementors, causing even the clouds in the sky to evaporate while the grass became brittle from the intense heat.

The Dementors hit by the fire began to scream in agony as their robes turned to ashes and their souls were consumed by the demonic flames, providing Calcifer with a rare high-end snack.

Ten seconds after the attack, Calcifer began to shrink and returned to the lantern, looking a bit more bloated than before.

"I think I'll skip dinner tonight; I'm completely stuffed!"

Barnaby nodded and dispelled the Patronus around the area when he noticed there were no stray Dementors, unaware of the spectators' dropped jaws.

"I think we accidentally burned Harry's broom," he suddenly realized. "Eh, he'll understand. According to Dad, it's not like he's short on money to buy a new one."