Chapter 21:
The great grey hippogriff, Buckbeak, was tethered in front of Hagrid's cabin when the four arrived. He clicked his razor-sharp beak at their approach and turned his huge head toward them.
"Oh dear," said Hermione nervously. "He's still a bit scary, isn't he?"
"Come off it, you've ridden him, haven't you?" said Ron.
Harry stepped forward and bowed low to the hippogriff without breaking eye contact or blinking. After a few seconds, Buckbeak sank into a bow too.
Alicia was quick to follow before the twins approached him.
"How are you?" Harry asked him in a low voice, moving forward to stroke the feathery head. "Missing him? But you're okay here with Hagrid, aren't you?" The two shared a look, Alicia frowning slightly.
"Oi!" said a loud voice.
Hagrid had come striding around the corner of his cabin wearing a large flowery apron and carrying a sack of potatoes. His enormous boarhound, Fang, was at his heels; Fang gave a booming bark and bounded forward.
"Git away from him! He'll have yer fingers — oh. It's yeh lot."
Fang was jumping up at Hermione and Ron, attempting to lick their ears. Hagrid stood and looked at them all for a split second, then turned and strode into his cabin, slamming the door behind him.
"Oh dear!" said Hermione, looking stricken.
Alicia looked very frustrated very quickly.
"Oh it's gonna be like that!" she snapped
"Don't worry about it," said Harry grimly. But he walked over to the door and knocked loudly.
"Hagrid! Open up, we want to talk to you!"
There was no sound from within.
"If you don't open the door, we'll blast it open!" Harry said, pulling out his wand.
"Harry!" said Hermione, sounding shocked. "You can't possibly —"
"If he's going to be childish than watch us!" Alicia decided agreeing.
"Yeah, I can!" said Harry. "Stand back —"
But before he could say anything else, the door flew open again as even Alicia assumed it would, and there stood Hagrid, glowering down at Harry and looking, despite the flowery apron, positively alarming.
"I'm a teacher!" he roared at Harry. "A teacher, Potter! How dare yeh threaten ter break down my door!"
"I'm sorry, sir," said Harry, emphasising the last word as he stowed his wand inside his robes.
Hagrid looked stunned. "Since when have yeh called me 'sir'?"
"Since when have you called me 'Potter'?"
"Oh, very clever," growled Hagrid. "Very amusin'. That's me outsmarted, innit? All righ', come in then, yeh ungrateful little…"
"Reminds me of our father and Sirius." Alicia admitted.
Mumbling darkly, Hagrid stood back to let them pass. Alicia moved through the door first, grinning slightly at Harry. Hermione scurried in after Harry, looking rather frightened.
"Well?" said Hagrid grumpily, as Harry, Alicia, Ron, and Hermione sat down around his enormous wooden table, Fang laying his head immediately upon Harry's knee and drooling all over his robes. "What's this? Feelin' sorry for me? Reckon I'm lonely or summat?"
"No," said Harry at once. "We wanted to see you."
"We've missed you!" said Hermione tremulously.
"Missed me, have yeh?" snorted Hagrid. "Yeah. Righ'."
"Oh great, we can't even be his friends now." Alicia said turning to the other three. "Clearly we have to be in his class for that."
Hagrid said nothing as he stomped around, brewing up tea in his enormous copper kettle, muttering all the while. Finally he slammed down four bucket-sized mugs of mahogany-brown tea in front of them and a plate of his rock cakes. Harry was hungry enough even for Hagrid's cooking, and took one at once. Alicia rose an eyebrow at him but said nothing.
"Hagrid," said Hermione timidly, when he joined them at the table and started peeling his potatoes with a brutality that suggested that each tuber had done him a great personal wrong, "we really wanted to carry on with Care of Magical Creatures, you know."
Hagrid gave another great snort. Harry rather thought some bogeys landed on the potatoes, and was inwardly thankful that they were not staying for dinner.
"We did!" said Hermione. "But none of us could fit it into our schedules!"
"Yeah. Righ'," said Hagrid again.
Alicia's eyes was narrowing as she got angrier and angrier at him. They picked subjects for their future and he's angry none of that included magical creatures? Sorry it wasn't the most important subject compared to Transfiguration or Charms!
Harry patted her back to try and calm her down as he felt her frustration build.
There was a funny squelching sound and they all looked around: Hermione let out a tiny shriek, and Ron leapt out of his seat and hurried around the table away from the large barrel standing in the corner that they had only just noticed. It was full of what looked like foot-long maggots, slimy, white, and writhing.
Alicia's frustration was gone as she stared at them.
"What are they, Hagrid?" asked Harry, trying to sound interested rather than revolted, but putting down his rock cake all the same.
"Jus' giant grubs," said Hagrid.
"And they grow into…?" said Ron, looking apprehensive.
"They won' grow inter nuthin'," said Hagrid. "I got 'em ter feed ter Aragog."
"What?" Alicia asked at once, surprised "What for? What's wrong?"
Without warning, he burst into tears.
"Hagrid!" cried Hermione, leaping up, hurrying around the table the long way to avoid the barrel of maggots, and putting an arm around his shaking shoulders. "What is it?"
"It's… him…" gulped Hagrid, his beetle-black eyes streaming as he mopped his face with his apron. "It's… Aragog… I think he's dyin'… He got ill over the summer an' he's not gettin' better… I don' know what I'll do if he… if he… We've bin tergether so long…"
Hermione patted Hagrid's shoulder, looking at a complete loss for anything to say. It wasn't hard to know how she felt. The four of them had known Hagrid to present a vicious baby dragon with a teddy bear, seen him croon over giant scorpions with suckers and stingers, attempt to reason with his brutal giant of a half-brother, but this was perhaps the most incomprehensible of all his monster fancies: the gigantic talking spider, Aragog, who dwelled deep in the Forbidden Forest and which Harry, Alicia and Ron had only narrowly escaped four years previously.
Alicia however took a different angle. Ignoring the fact that the was a giant Acromantula, he also happened to be Hagrid's oldest friend. Monster or not and she moved around to Hagrid as well, ignoring the maggots, to comfort Hagrid too.
"It'll be alright Hagrid." she said
"How can you say that?" Hagrid questioned and she paused before letting out a long breath as though she'd been holding it.
"Because the ones we love never truly leave us." Ron, Harry and Hermione looked at her surprised, whether it was because she said Hagrid loved a giant talking venomous spider or because she was making a reference to Sirius, she wasn't sure.
Hagrid however looked up at her as though remembering what she'd lost and she smiled at him.
"Is there — is there anything we can do?" Hermione asked, ignoring Ron's frantic grimaces and head-shakings.
"I don' think there is, Hermione," choked Hagrid, attempting to stem the flood of his tears. "See, the rest o' the tribe… Aragog's family… they're gettin' a bit funny now he's ill… bit restive…"
"Yeah, I think we saw a bit of that side of them," said Ron in an undertone.
"…I don' reckon it'd be safe fer anyone but me ter go near the colony at the mo'," Hagrid finished, blowing his nose hard on his apron and looking up. "But thanks fer offerin', Hermione… It means a lot…"
After that, the atmosphere lightened considerably, for although neither Harry nor Ron had shown any inclination to go and feed giant grubs to a murderous, gargantuan spider, Hagrid seemed to take it for granted that they would have liked to have done and became his usual self once more.
"Ar, I always knew yeh'd find it hard ter squeeze me inter yer timetables," he said gruffly, pouring them more tea. "Even if yeh applied fer Time-Turners —"
"We couldn't have done," said Hermione. "We smashed the entire stock of Ministry Time-Turners when we were there last summer. It was in the Daily Prophet."
"Ar, well then," said Hagrid. "There's no way yeh could've done it… I'm sorry I've bin — yeh know — I've jus' bin worried abou' Aragog… an' I did wonder whether, if Professor Grubbly-Plank had bin teachin' yeh —"
At which three of them stated categorically and untruthfully that Professor Grubbly-Plank, who had substituted for Hagrid a few times, was a dreadful teacher. Alicia hadn't said much, she probably wouldn't have done the subject even if it was Grubbly-Plank who took it. But she did state that the women was not nearly as fun as Hagrid, which the other three agreed with instantly. The end result was that by the time Hagrid waved them off the premises at dusk, he looked quite cheerful.
As they came into the castle they spotted Cormac McLaggen entering the Great Hall. It took him two attempts to get through the doors; he ricocheted off the frame on the first attempt. Ron merely guffawed gloatingly and strode off into the Hall after him, Alicia was also sniggering and she asked Hermione for a high-five, who at first look confused before she blushed, and followed Ron, but Harry caught Hermione's arm and held her back.
"Where have they gone?" Ron asked
"Oh they're just talking." she shrugged and Ron looked suspicious and went back.
"What are you two doing?" demanded Ron
"Nothing," said Harry and Hermione together, and they hurried after Ron.
Alicia was looking forward to the assortments of roasts awaiting her but they had not gone two steps towards the Gryffindor table when Professor Slughorn appeared in front of them, blocking their path.
"Harry, Alicia, just the twins I was hoping to see!" he boomed genially, twiddling the ends of his walrus moustache and puffing out his enormous belly. "I was hoping to catch you before dinner! What do you say to a spot of supper tonight in my room instead? We're having a little party, just a few rising stars, I've got McLaggen coming and Zabini, the charming Melinda Bobbin — I don't know whether you know her? Her family owns a large chain of apothecaries — and, of course, I hope very much that Miss Granger will favour me by coming too."
Slughorn made Hermione a little bow as he finished speaking. It was as though Ron was not present; Slughorn did not so much as look at him.
"I can't come, Professor," said Harry at once. "I've got a detention with Professor Snape."
"Oh dear!" said Slughorn, his face falling comically. "Dear, dear, I was counting on you, Harry! Well, now, I'll just have to have a word with Severus and explain the situation. I'm sure I'll be able to persuade him to postpone your detention. Yes, I'll see you three later!"
He bustled away out of the Hall.
Alicia chuckled.
"He's got no chance of persuading Snape," said Harry, the moment Slughorn was out of earshot. "This detention's already been postponed once; Snape did it for Dumbledore, but he won't do it for anyone else."
"Oh I don't know…" Alicia chuckled "I feel like Slughorn's got his ways."
"Oh, I wish you could come!" said Hermione anxiously; Harry knew that she was thinking about McLaggen.
"Don't worry Hermione, I'll protect you from McLaggen." Alicia assured grinning
"Yeah and Ginny'll probably be invited too," snapped Ron, who did not seem to have taken kindly to being ignored by Slughorn.
After dinner they made their way back to Gryffindor Tower. The common room was very crowded, as most people had finished dinner by now, but they managed to find a free table and sat down; Ron, who had been in a bad mood ever since the encounter with Slughorn, folded his arms and frowned at the ceiling. Hermione reached out for a copy of the Evening Prophet, which somebody had left abandoned on a chair.
"Anything new?" said Harry.
"Not really…" Hermione had opened the newspaper and was scanning the inside pages. "Oh, look, your dad's in here, Ron — he's all right!" she added quickly, for Ron had looked around in alarm. "It just says he's been to visit the Malfoys' house. 'This second search of the Death Eater's residence does not seem to have yielded any results. Arthur Weasley of the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects said that his team had been acting upon a confidential tip-off.' "
Alicia turned to scowl at Harry.
"Harry!" she snapped
"What?" Hermione questioned
"He tipped them off." Alicia nodded her head to her brother.
"I told him at King's Cross about Malfoy and that thing he was trying to get Borgin to fix! Well, if it's not at their house, he must have brought whatever it is to Hogwarts with him —"
"But how can he have done, Harry?" said Hermione, putting down the newspaper with a surprised look. "We were all searched when we arrived, weren't we?"
"Were you?" said Harry, taken aback as Alicia said "What?" they shared a look. "We weren't!"
"Oh no, of course you weren't, I forgot you were late… Well, Filch ran over all of us with Secrecy Sensors when we got into the entrance hall. Any Dark object would have been found, I know for a fact Crabbe had a shrunken head confiscated. So you see, Malfoy can't have brought in anything dangerous!"
Momentarily stymied, Harry watched Ginny Weasley playing with Arnold the Pygmy Puff for a while before seeing a way around this objection.
"Someone's sent it to him by owl, then," he said. "His mother or someone."
"All the owls are being checked too," said Hermione. "Filch told us so when he was jabbing those Secrecy Sensors everywhere he could reach."
"He also doesn't want his mother to know." Alicia said and she was thinking as Harry looked at her eagerly, hoping she'd come up with something. "Look Malfoy said he needed to fix something and that it had to stay where it was, Borgin made it sound difficult…" she frowned look unsure "If that's the case how could he have done it in the short time till we came to Hogwarts?… He also said he'd look silly carrying it so it mustn't be easily hidden…" she shook her head. "It couldn't be something that's… already here, could it?" Hermione looked surprised as Harry looked at her "Either that or it's not considered a Dark object."
"How could it already be here?" Hermione questioned
"He's been here for five years now Hermione," she shrugged "I'm just throwing things to the wind. Because he was going and after something, regardless."
"Well if that's not the case, then can you think of any way Malfoy — ?"
"Oh, drop it, Harry," said Ron.
"Listen, it's not my fault Slughorn invited Hermione, Alicia and me to his stupid party, neither of us wanted to go, you know!" said Harry, firing up.
"Well, as I'm not invited to any parties," said Ron, getting to his feet again, "I think I'll go to bed."
He stomped off toward the door to the boys' dormitories, leaving Harry and Hermione staring after him.
"Harry?" said a Gryffindor girl named, Demelza Robins who'd applied for Gryffindor chaser, appearing suddenly at his shoulder. "I've got a message for you."
"From Professor Slughorn?" asked Harry, sitting up hopefully.
"No… from Professor Snape," said Demelza. "He says you're to come to his office at half past eight tonight to do your detention — er — no matter how many party invitations you've received. And he wanted you to know you'll be sorting out rotten flobberworms from good ones, to use in Potions and — and he says there's no need to bring protective gloves."
"Right," said Harry grimly. "Thanks a lot, Demelza."