Chapter 21:Return

The remaining week up to the Quidditch game went by faster than ever, though the game itself was pure torture. Some seemingly intellectually challenged Slytherins had composed a weird song called 'Weasley is our King' with which they made Ron so nervous that he was even worse than during their training, even though they had met various people before the match who wished him luck. Even Luna had been there, wearing a huge lion hat that could roar, trying to encourage Ron. But it hadn't helped. The only good thing was that Harry had been able to catch the snitch pretty soon, so Rons torture hadn't been long.

Though that had been almost too easy, because Malfoy had kept his distance at all times. Which made Harry honestly wonder what in the name of Merlin was his problem, but he couldn't very well walk up to him and ask.

Instead he tried his best to cheer Ron up, because really, the Slytherins might have shot a few goals... and maybe Ron didn't even save one of them... but it would surely get better once he got his nervousness under control. It was always difficult at the beginning.

Thankfully, Hermione came to them that evening, announcing something that took Rons mind off of Quidditch for now: Hagrid was back!

As soon as they heard it, Harry got his Invisibility Cloak and the Marauders Map and together, they hurried out of the castle and down to Hagrids hut. True to Hermiones words, they saw smoke rising out of the chimney and light shone through the window.

Though none of them had expected the way Hagrid was looking. Being a half giant there were only so many things that could seriously hurt him. And obviously, Hagrid had encountered something like that. That really stirred up their curiosity.

ooo

It had needed a bit of persuasion and witty thinking from them to get Hagrid to spill the beans, but in the end, he did, and what he told them... it was crazy. Quite a tale, with him and Madame Maxime trying to convince the giants to help them... though sadly, it held no happy end for them, as the giants ended up being either too afraid to help or under Voldemorts control. Damn.

"That still doesn't explain why you've needed that long... Sirius told me that Madame Maxime had returned ages ago... where have you been?" Harry asked, after a short pause.

"And where did you get all these wounds? Where you attacked?" Ron added after a second.

Hagrid looked uncomfortable, but resolute.

"I haven' bin attacked! An' really, I don' think it's yer business at all...!", he grumbled.

Hermione shook her head. "Look, Hagrid, we're your friends, we worry about you...! It's not that we don't trust you, we just want to know why our friend is looking so beaten up... After all, you are a strong man, how many things can injure you like that...?"

Harry could practically see Hagrids chest swelling with pride as Hermione called him their friend and he wondered briefly if that had been her intention, because after hesitating a bit more, he finally sighed deeply.

"Fine, but don' tell anyone, alrigh'? I... Originally, I had wanted ter bring back me brother..."

"Brother?" Hermiones half-shrieked as the trios eyes went wide.

"Shh!" Hagrid shushed her, looking at his window, slightly nervous as if fearing to be overheard. "Well, me half-brother, really. I wanted ter bring 'im, but Olympe talked me outta it after some time... I really wished ter take 'im in, but he kept wantin' ter go back so she convinced me ter give up..."

He looked sad enough that even Ron, who was currently sitting next to him, noticed and patted him slightly on the arm. Though he proved his natural ability to be horribly insensitive directly afterwards.

"But there are still about two month left, aren't there? That's enough time to go back, what kept you?"

Hagrid still looked nervous. Was there more to come...?

Yes, Harry would immediately hear, there was.

"Well... Olympe needed ter go back ter France an' we split up soon afterwards... I was already on my way back as I saw the poor thing..." He fidgeted slightly. "There was a dragon lyin' near the road, badly hurt... I couldn'ta left it there!"

All three students gasped.

"A dragon!" Hermione hissed, though remembering to keep quiet this time. "Again? Hagrid, you know what happened with Norbert!"

He frowned. "I know, but it was hurt! It coulda died!" Hermione still didn't look convinced, but she didn't say any more. "Anyway... I took 'im with me an' cared fer 'im 'til he was well enough ter walk again... Then we made our way back here. It jus' took some time 'cause we needed ter travel at night, as a dragon is pretty noticeable..."

Harry slowly shook his head. "That was pretty dangerous... Where is he now?" At least he supposed the dragon was male since Hagrid had called it 'him' too.

"...I left 'im in the fores'... He's mostly a nice fella, jus' a bit touchy at times... Hasn' put me on fire even once, but he knows how ter scratch, I tell yeh."

A dragon. In the forbidden forest. Great... Harry was reminded of the first task of the Triwizard Tournament last year... and how many dragon-keepers were needed to keep each dragon occupied...

"Hagrid... you can't keep it... It might put the whole forest aflame! Or worse, it might kill you!" Hermione said, obviously trying to get him to understand. But she had forgotten how stubborn Hagrid could be. He insisted on his earlier statement, that the dragon wasn't dangerous and that was it.

Before their squabble could get out of hand Harry cleared his throat, causing both of them to look at him questioningly.

"Look... we can't do much about it now anyway... It's not a baby dragon, is it, Hagrid?" The half giant shook his head, looking happy. "So then we can't just call Charlie again to get it without anyone noticing... Maybe we should let the dragon stay in the forest, though once he starts setting fire to the trees or wants to leave it, we'll still tell Charlie... He'll think about something. Does that sound alright?"

Both Ron and Hermione nodded slowly, though the latter still looked quite put out, as Hagrid grinned happily. "Thanks, yeh three really are true friends."

That made all of them smile, before Hagrid seemingly got another idea.

"Yeh know, we could ask Dumbledore 'bout it, too!"

Suddenly, the three smiles all seemed slightly forced, and even Hagrid, who sometimes happened to miss these sort of things noticed.

"...What's wrong?"

Both Ron and Hermione stared at Harry, who sighed quietly. Of course, it was up to him to explain. Though it probably was only fair, he was the one with the problem after all.

"Actually, I don't think you should ask Dumbledore about these things... He is the headmaster afterall."

Hagrid frowned. "But he has already helped me a lot!"

"I know, but..." He looked seriously at his half-giant friend. "Look, what I'm about to tell you is a big secret, alright? Please don't tell anyone that you know, otherwise I might get into really big trouble..."

Hagrid seemed confused for a second, but then he nodded, looking resolute. "I promise I'll keep yer secrets!"

Harry smiled softly. "Thank you." Then he grew serious again. "I... don't think I can trust Dumbledore anymore. And although I understand why you do, I would like to ask you if you could re-evaluate your opinion with new information I can give you."

He then proceeded to tell Hagrid the same things he had already told his other friends. About how he didn't think Dumbledore was lying - except for that one occasion on Halloween - but still believed the old man manipulated their believes. He concluded with his new-found knowledge, that the headmaster could easily detect lies with his skill at Legilimency and was able to read mind if he chose to do so.

Though judging from Hermiones shocked gasp and Rons surprised face, he had actually forgotten to tell them this part.

"Harry! Do you know how risky telling so many people about these thoughts is if Dumbledore might read them out of their minds?" Hermione asked, but thankfully, Harry had a way to easy her worry.

"Stay calm, it's not that bad... He's just able to do it if you look him in the eyes for a long period of time...! And there is a way to counter Legilimency, called Occlumency... I'm currently trying to learn that, I can tell you what I know if you want." He turned to Hagrid. "You don't need to worry though, I've heard that Legilimency doesn't work on half-giants..." Or any other non-human beings... Professor Pyrites had told him some more information before they had started practising.

That seemed to placate Hermione at least somehow, though he was pretty sure she'd want to learn Occlumency too now, but he'd gladly tell her and Ron what to do. After all, it wasn't anything complicated right now.

He wondered if Hagrid had heard him at all though, he looked very deep in thought, staring at his mug of tea.

"...Hagrid? Are you okay?"

He looked up.

"Huh? Yes, sorry, I've bin distracted... I dunno what ter say abou' all this, lemme think for a while, alrigh'?"

Harry nodded. He could understand that it was very difficult for Hagrid, who practically worshipped Dumbledore, to suddenly believe something else, but he was very glad that Hagrid at least considered it, since he could be very stubborn at times. But he really had wanted to tell him his thoughts, because even though the half-giant had his faults, everyone had, and Hagrid had been the very first person ever who had acknowledged him as a person and had even introduced him into the wizarding world. He would probably feel grateful for him forever, so in Harrys opinion he deserved to know. Also, he actually didn't believe that Hagrid would spill his secrets, because even though he had been surprisingly open with the whole secret of the Philosophers Stone, he had never told anyone another secret afterwards. Harry could actually say he trusted him.

"So... Now that you're back, you will be teaching us again, right?" Ron asked after a moment of silence, changing the topic which lessened the slight awkwardness that had built and brought Hagrid into a talk of making them curious without telling them what exactly they would see. Though it did look as if the would not use professor Grubbly-Planks lesson plans anymore...

Which was actually a pity, because she had been a very good teacher.

Still, the four of them continued to talk about a few other topics, mostly staying on the safe side now, before they bade Hagrid goodbye, sneaking back into the castle to their common room, where Ron and Hermione cornered Harry almost immediately about that Occlumency thing, which he told them after getting Neville, too, just to be fair.

He knew they were slightly disappointed that it turned out to be such a simple thing, but he was sure that at least Hermione would try quite fervently to learn it. She always did.

ooo

Their Care of Magical Creatures class on Tuesday was actually pretty interesting as Hagrid showed them a herd of Thestrals, the only tame one worldwide. Also, it turned out that next to Neville and himself there was only one other student, a Slytherin, who could see them in this class... Which was probably good, as that meant there weren't many people who had seen someone die.

The week itself wasn't very exciting though, Quidditch practise had returned to normal after their victory over Slytherin and though their teachers gave them loads of homework it wasn't that unusual and actually not all that hard since he actually started working in the evenings instead of procrastinating.

So it probably wasn't very surprising that he found himself back in the Room of Requirement the next weekend, wanting to try some of the spells Quetzalcoatl had brought him after the last letter had come with a horribly interesting charm to prevent people from overhearing conversations.

Ron had wanted to come with him, but Hermione had dragged him off to some prefect duties - once more Harry was actually thankful not to be one - and Neville was still busy with his Charms homework.

So he practised alone, while Shiva watched from her favourite spot next to the fire, happy to be able to move freely again. Sure, she did too when she went out to hunt, but being otherwise confined to stay under his robes probably wasn't very exciting. She sometimes commented on his style, but was otherwise content to watch.

And he actually wasn't half bad. At least he felt that way, being able to cast the simpler spells pretty soon while he worked out the harder spells after some time. The only real problem he had was the Undetectable Extension Charm that simply didn't want to work, but he had no idea why. It did extend the small bag the room had provided him with, but it was still easy to detect. Maybe his movements were wrong, he would need to research that Charm in detail later.

He was just trying again as suddenly, the door opened. He turned around, wondering if his friends had finished their duties - he hadn't looked at his watch for a while - but didn't expect the blond hair he saw.

"...Luna?" he asked surprised after she had closed the door.

"Hello Harry Potter," she answered dreamily, clutching the newest Quibbler magazine in her hands. "And hello to you too, Miss Snake."

Harry stared at her, almost dropping his wand in surprise, while she waved happily at him and Shiva.

"Wha- How do you know about Shiva?" he asked after collecting himself.

"Oh, I just didn't believe that you had gained that much weight," she answered, as if that explained everything. He just stared a bit more. Was it that obvious? Really? "Don't worry, I don't think other people noticed it," she continued as if she had read his thoughts. He wanted to say something more, but didn't know what, so in the end, he just accepted it as one of Lunas oddities. She did and said some weird stuff sometimes, that much he had gathered from the few times he had met her. Instead, he asked something else.

"But how did you know that it was a female snake?"

Luna smiled at him as she walked over to one of armchairs, plopping down on one of them as if she did it a lot. "I guessed."

He blinked, dumbstruck, before beginning to chuckle. Honestly, Luna was awesome. She might have been slightly weird sometimes, but it was a good kind of weird, it certainly never got boring with her.

"Alright." He sat down next to Shiva, who slithered onto his lap.

"What's happening? Did you tell her about me?" she wondered, confused. Of course she was, she could not have understood what was being told.

"No, but she somehow guessed. Don't worry, she doesn't seem to have a problem with you," he explained, noticing how Luna watched him quite interested.

"Ah... alright. But how did she find this room then? I thought it was a secret one?"

Good questions, actually.

"Say, Luna... How did you find this room?" he asked, switching back to English after a second.

"Well... I found it when I was hiding from an Umgubular Slashkilter."

A... what? He didn't dare to ask, instead simply accepting her words, making sure to remember asking the room that no one that didn't know about Shiva should be allowed to enter.

Harry watched her looking at Shiva for a moment, before he remembered something.

"Say... are you still interested in an interview?"

Her gaze went up to him, slightly surprised. "Do you still want to give it?" she asked back and he nodded.

"Of course, otherwise I wouldn't have suggested it in the first place."

She smiled happily at him and soon they made some preparations for an impromptu interview.

ooo

The weeks afterwards almost flew by without anything surprising. After their talk at the Room of Requirement, Luna had promised him that she would send it to her father who would publish it as soon as possible. Also, he had finally gotten a subscription for the Quibbler, something he had wanted to get for a while know, though Hermione in particular couldn't understand why he wanted to read that magazine. He just smiled at her, telling her he thought it might get really big one day. After all, the Quibbler wasn't being controlled by the Ministry, in difference to the Daily Prophet, and had no special audience to apply to. That meant they could write more independent articles, which was great.

Other than that, the teachers burdened them with mountains of homework and Ron and Hermione often needed to do some of their prefect duties, like supervising the decoration of the castle, meaning Harry either hung out with Neville, doing homework or practising some spellwork together, or went to the Room of Requirement to read, practise his Parseltongue script or his Occlumency or talk with Sirius from time to time.

His lessons with Professor Pyrites had been divided into physical and mental exercises now, starting with his dodging skills - the teacher didn't want to teach him new spells yet since he would mostly learn them in classes anyway or somewhere else, opting to teach skills you couldn't learn by yourself very well - for half an hour until Harry couldn't move a muscle anymore because he had been hit with one stinging spell too much. It was really a great motivation to dodge, being hit with these spells hurt, but didn't leave any kind of lasting damage. Afterwards there was another half an hour mental reserved for his Occlumency where Professor Pyrites checked how long Harry was able to empty his mind and sometimes gave him a few suggestions or just meditated himself.

It led to Harry being completely exhausted afterwards, but thankfully Potions was in the late afternoon which gave him enough time - and a meal in between - to gather his wits back together to brew. And somehow angering Snape who couldn't find reasons to take points from Harry anymore as he still sat between Slytherins while making his potions. They didn't even try to sabotage his potion, which actually made him pretty suspicious, but he certainly didn't want to encourage them so he kept quiet.

ooo

But because of all these things to keep him occupied Harry was pretty surprised as they actually needed to pack for the Christmas holidays. The Weasleys had invited him to stay at the Burrow - they had returned there sometime during the term - but he had politely declined, opting to stay with Sirius and Remus at Grimmauld Place instead, though he had promised to visit for Christmas celebrations. Hermione wouldn't be there though as she had made plans to go skiing with her parents.

The Hogwarts Express ride was uneventful too, not even Malfoy made his usual visit and so Harry, Neville and the Weasleys apart from Ron - he and Hermione had to patrol the train again - used their peaceful time to play a few rounds of Exploding Snap together before each minded their own business until the prefects came back, which resulted in some talking, but nothing all too interesting.

They all said their goodbyes once they had reached Kings Cross station, Hermione needed to hurry because she would leave the next day and still needed to do her packing while the Weasleys went to floo home after they had a quick talk with Harrys escort. Which consisted of the same elderly woman that had sent them off in summer, meaning it was Tonks in disguise, accompanied by Remus and his favourite dog. Of course, the latter once more got a scolding look from Mrs. Weasley, but she just hugged Harry, telling him he needed to eat regularly and to stay safe, before she invited him once more to come over at Christmas.

He reassured her that he would definitely be there, before he waved them goodbye and started walking with his small escort.

"So, how has school been?" Remus asked once they had emerged from the wall between Platforms Nine and Ten.

Harry shrugged. "Alright, I guess. The last month was mostly working, since our teachers collectively decided to give us a bunch of homework, even Professor Pyrites makes us write essays about spells even though his lessons still mostly consist of catching up on our spellwork." But at least their teacher had announced, that after the holidays they would soon start with warding which was good, because though practise was great and Neville was doing better than ever, he himself knew most spells already and was mostly teaching other students instead of learning something new. But at least he was never bored, though there were some students that avoided his help, like most of Slytherin.

Remus chuckled. "Yes, I remember doing something similar two years ago. Do you have a lot homework to do during the holidays?"

"Nah, I've already finished most of it." As he got two surprised looks he rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Hermione finally had success and transformed me into some kind of model student. Or something like that..." The two laughed while Sirius let loose a happy bark, breaking the slight awkwardness that had surrounded them.

"So... Do you have other plans for the holidays?" Tonks asked curiously, but friendly. "Want to go somewhere?"

Somehow it sounded as if she knew he would, which made him look at Remus for an explanation. After all, as far as he knew Sirius tried to keep the fact, that he was regularly visiting muggle London these days quiet, as most other Order members would disapprove, just like Mrs. Weasley had. The man just smiled.

"Don't worry, Tonks is a fine person. She actually covered for us a few times, you can trust her," he explained and Harry nodded.

He did not know the young auror very well but she had seemed nice, if a bit clumsy, and he at least trusted Remus' words.

"In that case... yes, I actually want to go somewhere. Potter manor, to be exact. I'll tell you the details later." He had added the last part after looking at stunned expressions, obviously the fact that he was the head of the potter family had not made it to them. And judging from the amused bark Sirius gave off next to him, he could imagine why, since he had actually told Sirius about it.

But he had no problems with informing them about being a legal adult in the wizarding world now. And maybe they could even visit the manor together...?

He was certainly looking forward to the next few weeks!

Hey there, this chapter was somehow easier to write than the last... maybe because even the story knows that we will meet the one we are all waiting for soon? I just hope it keeps working that well~

The two characters I mentioned last chapter were Hagrid and Luna by the way, just in case you wondered. I hope Hagrids accent turned out alright, I found a really awesome page that offered tips to get it right, so I hope I did manage to make his speech convincing. :3
Next chapter will have a lot of Christmas holidays! Tonks, Remus, Sirius and Harry alone at Grimmauld Place? Who knows what might happen? ;)

Thanks a lot for all those awesome people who reviewed! Already more than 500 reviews, I love all of you!

Harry Potter doesn't belong to me, sadly...

Regards, Violet-san