Hagrid's Advice

All of them turned slowly and saw, coming towards them at a slow pace, Hagrid. Caly's mind was still reeling, but a part of her was glad to see him, she hadn't seen Hagrid in a while. Last year when Al and Rose went to visit him she had stayed back in the castle with Scor for fear that things would get a little to awkward if he went. That and the fact she had never had any great inclination to go, sure he was nice but she wasn't attached to him like Al and Rose were. But now seeing him she studied her friends reactions and noted that Al and Rose definitely looked relieved. Maybe he'd let them off easier or something. Scor, however, looked even more scared now that they'd been found by a Professor.

"What's going on?" he repeated climbing to the top of the stairs and looking down. "Did you do this?"
"We had to." said Al. Hagrid raised his bushy brow at that
"No seriously Hagrid we did, Bletchley called Caly a… a you know what." Rose faltered at the end of her sentence. His eyebrows went even higher at that.
"And he'd insulted Andromeda before that."
"I see."
"We tried to walk away we really did, but he was goading Scor." Hagrid cast his beetle black eyes onto Scor who shrank away from his gaze.
"Alright off you go."
"What?"
"On second thoughts, go to me hut. I'll meet you there."
"Thanks Hagrid." The four of them turned and scurried off. Two floors down they relaxed their pace.

"Is Hagrid a giant?" asked Scor immediately, glancing round once to check the coast was clear. Rose raised her eyebrows.
"Honestly have ever seen a giant like that?"
"Rose." said Al warningly and Caly had to agree that Scor didn't really look like he was up to arguing with her. The angry flush had died down and he now looked incredibly pale and shaken.
"He's half giant but he's completely harmless."
"Except he does have a penchant for dangerous pets." said Al with a quirked smile. Scor nodded.
"But he's harmless."
"Oh yeah, he even trained his half brother Grawp, who is a proper giant, though rather small, to be completely docile." Scor paled even further.
"There's a giant in Hogwarts?"
"No I think Grawp tends to the animals in the forest and stuff. I don't really know, he lives in a cave somewhere. I think the staff think he'd scare us so they keep him out of the way."
"Oh you don't say." muttered Scor, running a hand through his hair.
"Wait so giants are tame?" said Caly finally breaking into the conversation.
"NO!" said Scor really loudly.
"Woah, okay."
"Sorry. I mean giants are renowned for being vicious, the reason there are none left in Britain is because they either joined, Voldermort or they killed each other off. It's in a giants nature to kill things." Caly's eyebrows shot downwards.
"But I thought you said he was tame." Scor shrugged.
"I've never heard of a tame giant."
"Grawp is tame, or docile at the least. I've met him." Rose said this so casually that Caly blinked several times. Caly looked at Al for confirmation."I haven't, mum didn't want me to go but Aunt Hermione visits a lot."
"Are there many giants around?"
"No, like Scor said there are none in Britain and the ones abroad are becoming extinct. A combination of the two wars, being hunted by aurors and killing each other off hasn't done wonders for their population count."
"Is that a bad thing?" Scor looked at her incredulously.
"You've got to be kidding me? Just about everyone is celebrating the fact that there are less giants. Same way as people would celebrate the fact that there are less vampires or whatever."
"Wait vampires are real? People actually suck each others blood and stuff?" There was an audible sigh from her three wizarding friends.
"Hey this is not my fault." Scor rolled his eyes and shared a look with Rose, both glad that they were steering clear of the topic of mudblood, and then opened his mouth to explain as much as he could about Vampires.

Hagrid's hut was small but all the furniture was huge. The hut contained everything Hagrid needed in one room, a giant bed, a dresser and a kitchen area with a stove, sink and table with chairs. However all of these furnishings were, well, giant sized. For Caly especially it was strange, the whole house was like a computer manipulation or something. Or said a voice in the back of her head; magic. The four of them perched on some of his chairs and waited for Hagrid to come back. They had been greeted at the door by a very excitable puppy. The puppy leapt up at all of them and licked their faces and whilst Al and Rose seemed to be expecting this and greeted the dog cheerfully, Scor pushed the dog away with a look of disgust and wiped his face quickly.

"Down Fang!" said Hagrid when he entered the hut. "Sorry 'bout 'im. He's lot like Fang." Caly frowned along with Scor.
"I thought he was Fang."
"Nah, that's Fang III. Fang was a crazy ol' dog but Fang II, right little placid beast." Caly arched an eyebrow at that statement. The words 'placid' and 'beast' didn't go together at all, besides it was a boarhound.
"Okay." said Scor who seemed to be thinking along the same lines as her.

"Right then." said Hagrid seriously, looking at all four of them. "I wanna hear what happened. I want the full story. I want it from you." Caly blinked. Why did Hagrid want her to tell the story?
"Well we just left Defence Against the Dark Arts when we heard Bletchley call Scor's name."
"First name or last name?" Caly blinked, did this matter?"Err, last name. He called out 'Malfoy', so we all stopped and turned around and there was him, Vaisy, Nott, Pucey and Zabini."
"Ok so it was pretty much even." What? She thought to herself but kept going.
"Erm, yeah, right. Then he said, Bletchley, said he'd heard that Scor had moved out of Malfoy Manor and in with 'the blood traitor Black', I don't know what that means, but Scor pulled out his wand and they all laughed." Hagrid nodded."Then Vaisy said Scorpius should calm down, no keep calm."
"So she said his first name."
"Yeah and then she said that she 'didn't want any jinxes to go amiss'. Al put his hand on Scor's arm and was trying to get him to lower the wand." she breathed. "Then he, Scor, sort of won self control. He lowered his wand." Hagrid raised his eyebrows at that but made no comment. "And then said if they were going to insult his family he was going to leave. And then, then it all kind of got weird. Nott said that they hadn't just asked him there to insult his family and that they wanted to know if we knew everything about him." Scor was losing colour again. "He, Scor, didn't say anything. So then Zabini said that they'd take that as a no and started giggling and Scor said he'd seen the error of his ways which was more than could be said for them." she quoted her best friend hesitantly, she kept glancing his way, he had his head in his hands now, his figure was slumped, the picture of a defeated person. "Then Pucey said, she said, um, that he wouldn't want it getting out because it would ruin the hero image that he had going on. She said it looked good on him, or something. Then I said let's go, I said they weren't worth it and I tried to bundle him down the stairs, I got him to turn around but then Bletchley said that they were worth a lot more than me because I was a 'mudblood' and I should be a muggle from what they've heard of my magical ability." she swallowed, glancing at her friends again. "Then they just, I don't know, all of them like snapped and they pulled out there wands and hexed all five of them. It was pretty impressive actually. Then finally Scor stepped on Bletchley's fingers and told him never to call me a 'mudblood' again and then you turned up but I don't understand." she finished in one breath. Hagrid held up a hand to stem her flow of questions.

"What do you have next?"
"History of Magic." said Rose.
"Alright, I think I'll talk to you all now then but for gods sake don't tell your parents and such that I'm letting you miss class." He put the kettle on and bustled around bringing out cakes. Caly glanced at Rose and Al who nodded and mouthed.

'Don't worry, it's edible. Just.' Scor still had his head buried in his hands however and didn't look up to eat their replacement lunch. Hagrid frowned.

"Now I don't know what's going on but I suggest that you drink the tea. It's extra strong. Good for your nerves." Scor peeked up and took a swig. He seemed to like whatever he tasted because he took another longer one. Hagrid smiled.
"Now then, let's sort this out. Caly this might be quite hard for you." Caly frowned at Hagrid.
"What are you talking about?"
"Because blood traitor, mudblood and the context in which the word muggle is used are all old pure blood sayings.""I'm sorry I'm so lost." Hagrid ran a hand through his hair. Then he glanced at all four of them and a smile cracked his lips.

"Hagrid?" asked Al. "Hagrid, what is it?"
"Nothin' I'm just rememberin' when your dad Scorpius called Rosie's mum a mudblood in their second year." Scor groaned and hid his head in his hands. Whereas Rose just frowned.
"This is a happy memory because?"
"'Cause your dad tried to curse him, I mean it backfired, his wand was broken and he ended up coughing up slugs so Harry and Hermione brought him but I remember that those two didn't know what it meant. And Ron, between coughing up slugs, explained. 'S a foul a thing to call someone, Caly. Mudblood is a really awful name for some one whose muggle born." Caly remembered Mr Malfoy's sneering face on the platform. "Means dirty blood, 'cause there are some wizards who think they're better because they're pure blood, all magic, like Scorpius."
"But Scorpius doesn't think that."
"I know. Now most people know it's codswallop, most people are half blood or less, like Rose and Al but some people they just don't learn and they'll always give you a hard time."
"Because they think muggles are inferior, because they can't do magic."
"Exactly."
"And blood traitor is that someone who is pure blood that associates with muggles."
"Pretty much, or muggle borns, I think. Most of this blood purity nonsense died out after the second war but the remnants of the old families cling to what they had." Caly nodded and tried to push down the bad memories. She was tough. She could cope with this.

"Hagrid why are we here?"
"Well because if what you say is true, and I don't doubt you for a second, then they got what they deserved."
"Really?" asked Caly.
"'S a stupid, hateful prejudice, however you aren't allowed to hex people so you get detention with me."
"In History of Magic?"
"Well now, you were in History of Magic." Al, Rose and Caly smiled at that but Scor still remained pale and worried looking. He could see Caly, Rose and Al turning to look at him and knew exactly what they were going to ask.

"I don't want to talk about it." he blurted out. They all looked at him.
"Why?"
"I just don't. I can't." his hands were shaking.
"You ain't your father."
"I know."
"You proved that again today. You stood up for someone who was called mudblood. Your dad wouldn't've done that.""Yes that was proved by your reminiscing."
"Is it really that bad?"
"Worse than you can imagine." Hagrid surveyed Scorpius with the kind of look that you can only get from someone who is old. The look was laden with wisdom, that was hidden amongst the understanding, sympathy and kindness.
"You a murderer?" the accusation was so blunt, so callous and yet said in such a light tone that it startled everyone.
"What?"
"You a murderer?" Scor didn't reply. Hagrid's great bushy eyebrows went up just a fraction. "Look kid I don't know what you've done but I don't think you're a bad person. Bad people don't sacrifice themselves for others. Remorse is the hardest thing that any human can attempt but I reckon you've done it. Now you turned your backs on those Slytherins. Whether you were like them once, don't mean you're like them now. You changed and there aren't many people that can do that. You were strong enough to realise that you yourself were wrong, not the people around were, you were." Scor blinked at him. His grey eyes huge. "Don't bring yourself down about this. Whatever you've done you've felt remorse and you're seeking redemption. That is impressive, that is truly a feat beyond anything. 'S more impressive than you sacrificing your life at the end of last year. You're on the right road."
"You don't know what I did."
"I know, but I will because one day you'll be ready and you'll tell us. You'll tell your family and you're friends and I can promise you this. Though there will be some who'll hold it against you, they're not worth bothering with."
"But if they have reason to-"
"Your true friends won't desert you." Scor gazed at him, his mouth wide, trying and failing to find a reason why he shouldn't without spilling his deepest darkest secret at Hagrid's kitchen table.
"Can I go?" Hagrid contemplated for half a minute.
"'Course." Scor got to his feet and made his way swiftly out of the cabin and back up towards the castle. Hagrid stared at the closed door with a pensive expression until Al asked.

"Hagrid, what was that about?"
"Scorpius did something long ago, something those Slytherins know about. Something that, if I'm not mistaken, ended in someone's death." All three of their mouths hung open. They gaped at Hagrid.
"He killed someone?"
"No, no he didn't do that. I'm not sure what he did but I think someone died. He'll tell you eventually."
"You think?"
"That's a huge burden he's carrying around with him and now the Slytherins are threatening him with blackmail… You need to stand by him though. You're his friends and no matter what he's done it doesn't change who he is." As he said this Caly could have sworn that Hagrid's eyes lingered longer on her than the other two. She looked at Al and Rose who both looked severely spooked out.

"Now Caly you won't listen to Slytherins."
"What?"
"You belong at Hogwarts, you aren't a muggle." Caly shrugged and sank a bit further into her chair.
"Yeah."
"It shouldn't be too bad the bullying, just walk away and tell Neville, I mean Professor Longbottom about it."
"Will he care?" the question had slipped out before she could stop it. Hagrid and looked at her concerned.
"What do you mean, of course he'll care. One of his students is being bullied for being muggle born. It'll matter a great deal to him I 'spect." Caly nodded but couldn't keep the frown off her face. "Why?"
"Oh nothing."

"Freak!" The chant echoed across the playground. "Freak!" the hard impact on the asphalt playing court. Her bag is roughly snatched away.
"Hey give that back!"
"Freak!" and an explosion of taunting laughter and giggles. A sea of faces, all the same age and older.
"I got her pencil case!" it's tossed above the crowd to the other side. She jumps but she can't reach.
"Stop it! That's mine!"
"I heard you were ditched at the children's home. I bet that's why they didn't want you because you were such a freak!" there's more laughter and jeering and she's trying so hard to fight the tears now. She's only seven and some of them are eleven. It's so unfair. She's given a push. There's a hiss of freak as she's shoved around. Pushed to the ground and she's sick and tired of it. She's not a freak, she's just different. That doesn't mean she should be bullied. She's shouting but the teachers on duty won't notice, they only pay attention to the little kids that skim their knees. Worse she can feel the anger. Then there's that rush, there's that other feeling. That one she can't explain and she knows something bad is going to happen.

"I'M NOT A FREAK!" she roars at the top of her voice and then there's an explosion. Or rather lot's of explosions, all the water pipes have blown up and she knows, she just knows it's her fault.

"Who is responsible?" the headmistress doesn't often congregate the entire school on the upper playing courts but desperate times call for desperate measures, the school is… well the upper floor is okay but the rest is best not to say. She paces up and down in front the neatly assembled rows of students, all of them stare up at their good humoured head in nothing short of terror. Then a hand goes up. It's immediate that this person was not the perpetrator, it would be preposterous. Also their demeanour; they're not shaking, they're not scared, they're not even resigned or resolute. They just look normal.

"Yes Miss Yates, you have something to say."
"Yes I do miss, I know who did it."
"Well spit it out." most people are looking around curiously but one person can feel dread rising inside her.
"It was Catalina Hautly, miss." dead silence and then lots of nods. She's shaking now. Head to toe. She's never been so scared as when her headmistress turned her steely gaze on her.

The interrogation takes place in an empty classroom. It's pretty nasty wading through the water to get up there but that's what happens. In all honesty the head teacher isn't surprised it's Caly, she's had a lot of complaints about her. She loses her temper and lashes out at people, not to mention the strange things that happen around her.

"So." said Miss Ryans. "You decided to blow up the water pipes." she shook her head. Her hands were twisting in her lap, there's fear in her eyes.
"No."
"Really so Miss Yates was lying was she? Why would she do that?" her hands twist even faster in her lap.
"Because her and the rest bully me." there was a raised eyebrow.
"Really?" the disbelief was heavy in her voice.
"Yes because I do things I can't explain." she met her head teachers eyes and for once they understood each other. Caly was strange and she caused odd things to happen. She had no friends and she often ended up in her office. However Felicity Yates was one of there top students, she was a member of the choir, captain of the netball, rounders and swimming teams and she ran the 'guardian angels', the year sixes that looked after the receptions up to year twos. She was a model pupil. She would never bully anyone, it was something that was impossible to contemplate.
"I don't believe you." her eyes seemed to burn, there was a strange intensity to her.
"You have to. Look!" she raised her leg to show the hole in her tight. "They pushed me around."
"You could have fallen."
"Why would I lie?"
"Because you just blew up the school's water system, and she just told on you." there were tears brimming in the bottom of her eyes. They were building up and she was waiting for them to fall.
"You have to help me." she was whispering now. "I'm scared, when I get angry I can't control it. It was an accident." and that was all Miss Ryans needed to hear. She'd done it and she'd try to pass the blame onto Felicity. She shook her head.
"I'm very disappointed in you Miss Hautly." then the waterworks did come. She wasn't being believed. No one cared.

"Caly?" she wrenched herself from the invading memories, pushing them back inside her mind. "Caly you alright?"
"I'm fine."
"Had it rough when you were in the muggle world." she looked up at Hagrid. "You won't be the first and you won't be the last. People get scared, scared of what they can't explain I suspect. And when they're scared they'll lash out."
"Are you defending them?"
"No but they just didn't understand."
"Can I go?" Hagrid blinked.
"Err 'course." she got up and left.

Breathing deeply she marched up towards the grass towards Hogwarts. He was just trying to explain, she told herself. He's just giving you some advice, some stuff you already knew, granted but he didn't know. Growling she rubbed her forehead, it was just so… so… hurtful to hear someone defend the people who had tormented her, just like everyone else had. Just like every bloody one, because all her bullies could do no wrong.

She felt angry tears build up and wondered what the hell was wrong with her. If she started crying now this would be twice in two days she would be crying over nothing. She used to never cry or get upset or anything. Sighing she flopped down onto the grass by the lake and stared moodily across it's sparkling surface.

"Caly?" she looked up and there was Scor. At first she was surprised and then realised that if he had gone back to History of Magic people would have noticed they were missing. He looked tired, like he'd aged years in a couple of minutes. His cloak was drawn right up to his pointed chin, though it wasn't that cold, it was more like he was comforting himself. He wasn't meeting her eyes but gazing down at the slightly damp grass, his hands twisting compulsively. In many ways he reminded her of her whenever she'd done magic accidentally, the fear and the expectation of the worst, the defeat.

"Yes?"

"Can I sit there?" Caly looked at him, raising one eyebrow delicately she stared him down. "What do you think?" he didn't smile. His eyes continued to project an incredible sadness onto her. She sighed and waved at the grass. "Sit." he sat down cross legged and they both turned back to stare at the lake, Scor plucking at the grass stems before him.

"Did you know." he said after five minutes where they sat in silence. "That there are over 500 different types of magical plant in the lake?" she shook her head and he nodded. "It's true and the greenhouses of Hogwarts is the largest indoor collection of magical plants in Britain."

"Why are you telling me this?" he shrugged and continued to pick at the grass.

"Don't know, thought you might be interested." she nodded and returned her gaze back to the lake her mind now on Scor and his rather erratic behaviour. "The largest collection of indoor plants is in The Blauvelt Magical Institute in the USA and even they don't have a Catalina flower, you're really rare." Caly looked up and back at that. She had a feeling this was going somewhere, somewhere huge. His forehead and lips puckered as he frowned. "You know last year when you found that stuff out and you thought it was personal so you wouldn't tell." Caly nodded the wheels in her mind spinning. "And you know that you listen and you figure things out and you get people." he looked at her properly for the first time. His face creased with worry, his eyes frantic. "Would you do that for me, even if it was bad? Even if I asked you to keep it from Al and Rose?" Caly didn't hesitate. She didn't have to think. She reached out and took one of his hands and nodded. He exhaled a shaky breath. "Promise?"
"I promise." he nodded, closed his flickering eyelids, breathed in, raised his gaze to meet hers and opened his mouth.