for mrs firefly
Teaching is more exhausting than he expected.
"It's in the water!" he shouted, exasperated. The boy jumped, lips thin, and looked again.
Eventually, the boy shook his head. Hagrid sighed and moved to help, but the class ended there and the boy booked it back to the castle.
Hagrid sighed again.
"That looked rough," someone said. Hagrid turned, surprised to see Harry approaching, hands in the pockets of his jeans. He was alone.
"Harry," Hagrid greeted, nodding to his hut. "What brings ye by?"
That got him a shrug. "Ron is off with Lavender, I think, and Hermione is in class. I figured I'd say hi."
There's more to it, Hagrid could tell, but he let it go. "Well, com'on in," he said.
Harry followed silently, taking a seat on the couch. Even at sixteen years old, the couch made him look like he was eleven. He sank into it awkwardly but he didn't seem to care; he just stared at the wall.
Hagrid made him tea, feeling the weight of Harry's strange emotion heavy on his shoulders.
He knew what Dumbledore was making the boy do. He knew Harry had a lot going on. He wasn't sure if Harry came to him for advice or for an ear to listen or something else entirely, but he vowed to himself he'd do his best to make Harry feel comfortable. They haven't spoken in any real capacity for some time; last year was a mess and this year wasn't turning out much better.
Harry took the tea with a soft murmur of thanks. Hagrid sat across from him, sighing again. It didn't seem like Harry was going to talk, so Hagrid began telling him about the last few class periods. It was a fairly boring topic. They were at the point of the year where most things were just a steady stream of assignments to prep for the mid-year exams. After several minutes, Hagrid noticed a spark return to Harry's eyes. He took a sip of the tea, looking more attentive.
It was only midday so Hagrid quickly ran out of things to say. He trailed off, feeling awkward, and cast around for another topic. He needn't have bothered.
"I didn't want you to find out from the rumor mill," Harry began, putting the tea aside. Hagrid didn't like the sound of that. He nodded, encouraging. "I started dating Ginny. Ron's sister."
He knew who Ginny was, but he figured Harry said that for emphasis. "That's great!" he said, smiling. Harry wasn't smiling. He allowed his to fall, leaning forward. "What's goin' on?" he asked.
Harry's eyes flitted to the side. He started to pick at his jeans, messing with the seam on the side. "Thought Ron was going to kill me," Harry said, and while there was a hint of wry humor in his tone, his eyes told a drastically different story. Hagrid could tell this fact bothered him a lot.
"He's protective," Hagrid said. It wasn't enough, but he wasn't good at this. This was a teenager's problem, and he hasn't been a teenager in a very long time.
Harry just nodded though, like he knew what Hagrid couldn't say. "I just…" Harry muttered, and Hagrid could see him grinding his teeth, his anxiety rushing to the surface. Hagrid couldn't figure out why.
"He was like this fourth year, too," Harry eventually got out.
Understanding came to him. "He'll get over it," Hagrid assured. "This won' last as long. 'm sure he'll be fine."
"Right," Harry said. He looked out the window. Hagrid felt a bit helpless. Harry wasn't open by nature and this was uncharted territory for the both of them. It was awkward. Hagrid found himself wishing that Harry hadn't brought this up.
"How's Ginny?" he eventually asked, just to break the silence.
Harry looked over. There was a soft smile on his face, one Hagrid hadn't seen before. He recognized it, of course; James had looked the same. Harry always looked like James, but this was different. How had he missed the fact that Harry had grown up?
"Great," Harry said. "She's great."
"'m glad," Hagrid said. "She looked a' ye for a while, ya know."
Harry looked embarrassed as soon as he said that, flushing. "Yeah, I know."
"'m sure she'll straighten Ron out," Hagrid mentioned. Harry laughed, and some tension bled from his shoulders.
"Probably," he agreed.
"Otherwise, everythin' goin' okay?"
He had to check. There was still a haunted look to Harry that he didn't care for. The darkness rose for a brief second after he asked before Harry apparently pushed it away. Harry shrugged and said, "Probably just the most dramatic year yet. And it's normal dramatic. Not life-threatening dramatic."
Hagrid chuckled, shaking his head.
"It's a nice change," Harry said, and he leaned back into the couch.
The sun reached its zenith and the light poured in through the window. It was pleasantly warm, but Hagrid could still see clouds on the horizon. It felt ominous.
Harry began talking about Ron and Lavender and Hermione, how the three of them were driving him crazy. He mentioned complaints about some of his classes and shared some suspicions about Malfoy.
It was nice to catch up. Hagrid had a sinking feeling this would be the last time for a while.