James gazed eagerly down at the last two words Lily had spoken before beaming in delight. If there was one thing that could be done, practically the only thing going on at that castle at this point that could be offered for good news, it was this! He flipped the page with utter enthusiasm, for all anyone could have guessed Harry had just won his game and gone about his life.
Lily had to press her hand to her mouth to stop herself laughing out loud at all the impatient boys looks in here as well when she honestly couldn't blame Hermione.
James couldn't help jerking slightly as a memory tried to agitate his conscience, regarding the three of them and how the cloak had stopped covering them by now so they'd had to get creative. He still hated more than anything those reminders he couldn't erase from his life of someone he wished would just vanish entirely from his past.
"He wouldn't," Sirius snapped at once. "Must be because that stupid thing was still on his mind."
Harry nodded in agreement even as he absently wondered why he had a tiny feeling that song wasn't always such a terrible thing, maybe Nick could be singing it one day for good show...
Harry beamed and started bouncing in place eagerly. He hated that it had taken so long to happen, but finally he was getting his friend back, Hogwarts was finally getting some semblance of normal back!
"Oh I've missed this," Lily beamed
James startled in surprise along with everyone else. Then they all looked to Harry as if in fear of an attack, all logic being thrown out the window that Hagrid had sounded just fine before he opened the door but instead Harry had just stumbled into some wild animal attack going on inside Hagrid's.
Instead what they did see on Harry was a tense, drawn face, his eyes certainly wide with fear, but with no indication it was for himself.
"That does not sound like nothing," Lily said flatly, fighting back the impulse to take the book away because James wasn't reading fast enough for her taste.
"What the bloody hell could do that to Hagrid!?" James demanded when he was done, turning a funny purple color as well of imageining all that to the big guy.
"Very, very few things," Remus whispered as he tried to understand what could have happened to him.
They all simultaniosly remembered why they'd been expecting Hagrid to have been all this time, and their worry managed to increase. If Hagrid had been on the wrong side of a giant, than it was an actual miracle he was even still alive.
"But he's going to be okay, right?" Harry demanded, coming out of his own shock and yet still unable to force himself to relax.
"Yes, yes," Lily promised, "he'll heal of course, none of that sounded fatel, I just, oh the poor dear, how long has he been like that."
James went back uneasily in hopes Hagrid would start some explaining.
It was obvious that he had only just got home: a thick black travelling cloak lay over the back of a chair and a haversack large enough to carry several small children leaned against the wall inside the door.
"He didn't walk all that way did he," Lily couldn't help but groan with further worry, starting to bite at her lip again. "Oh he should have been given some way to communicate with someone, to tell he needed a way back home."
Hagrid himself, twice the size of a normal man, was now limping over to the fire and placing a copper kettle over it.
"What happened to you?" Harry demanded, while Fang danced around them all, trying to lick their faces.
"Told yeh, nuthin," said Hagrid firmly. "Want a cuppa?"
"Come off it," said Ron, "you're in a right state!"
"I'm tellin' yeh, I'm fine," said Hagrid, straightening up and turning to beam at them all, but wincing. "Blimey, it's good ter see yeh three again - had good summers, did yeh?"
"Hagrid, you've been attacked!" said Ron.
"Fer the las' time, it's nuthin'!" said Hagrid firmly.
"Why wouldn't he tell us," Harry groaned, still fidigting uneasily as he remembered watching this happen to his friend.
"You know why Harry, I'm sure you remember he was out on Order busniss," James said grimly, his eyes flickering to Remus and away as he rememberd a fair few times his friend had come back looking just as bad.
Harry huffed, thinking that was not a good enough reason for him to not know what had happened to his friend.
"Would you say it was nothing if one of us turned up with a pound of mince instead of a face?" Ron demanded.
"You ought to go and see Madam Pomfrey, Hagrid," said Hermione anxiously, "some of those cuts look nasty."
"I'm not sure how much good she could actually do him," Lily mumbled mosty to herself, thinking of her own ways she'd have liked to try and help, but Hagrid's giant heritage made a large majority of them inafective on him.
"I'm dealin' with it, all righ?" said Hagrid repressively.
He walked across to the enormous wooden table that stood in the middle of his cabin and twitched aside a tea towel that had been lying on it. Underneath was a raw, bloody, green-tinged steak slightly larger than the average car tyre.
"You're not going to eat that, are you, Hagrid?" said Ron, leaning in for a closer look. "It looks poisonous."
"I'm surprised Ron doesen't recognize dragon meat when he sees it," Remus said absently.
"I presume he gets most of his dragon knowledge from Charlie, and why would he have a reason to show that off," Sirius reminded.
"It's s'posed ter look like that, it's dragon meat," Hagrid said. "An' I didn' get it ter eat."
He picked up the steak and slapped it over the left side of his face. Greenish blood trickled down into his beard as he gave a soft moan of satisfaction.
"Ew," both Harry and Lily crinkled their noses in disgust, giving James a small moment of amusment that Harry hadn't gotten all his features from him.
"That actually is a recognized method of treatment," Remus told the two with an almost amused smile that was still distracted from his worry for what had happened to Hagrid. "Its juices are put into wounds to help ease the pain, but it's a minor solution at best for an aching body, not for the sever amount of injuries I'm hearing. Also it tastes like phesent."
"I was following you until that last part, and I want to hear how you know this considering how bleeding expensive it is," James sadi conversationally, before also tacking on, "and how you two afforded such a thing."
Remus just grinned, considering for a moment keeping such a simple answer above their heads, but James refused to keep going so Remus gave in easy enough just so Harry would quit eyeing the book with worry. "Alright fine, I've never tasted it, just read that fact. I presume Hagrid got it off someone cheap, maybe Mundungus or some such."
James rolled his eyes at Remus trying to mess with him but Harry's impateint little noises convicned them to move on, he clearly wasn't taking pleasure like he susually was in their banter.
"Tha's better. It helps with the stingin', yeh know."
"So, are you going to tell us what's happened to you?" Harry asked.
"Can't, Harry. Top secret. More'n me job's worth ter tell yeh that."
Lily suddenly blanched as she remembered that horrid toad hopping around school, theratining Trelwaney's job. If she had it out for that woman, Hagrid was going to have even more troubles soon than just some injuires.
"Did the giants beat you up, Hagrid?" asked Hermione quietly.
Hagrid's fingers slipped on the dragon steak and it slid squelchily on to his chest.
"Was he really so surprised?" Sirius chuckled. "I think anyone with just a touch of knowledge could figure out where he'd gone."
"I still want to know what happened to Maxime not sending help for him or something," Lily grumbled as she staied on topic for now. Last she'd heard her and Hagrid had gotten sepearted, now she found Hagrid to be injured but either no one in the Order knew about it or the message hadn't been passed along to Harry.
"Giants?" said Hagrid, catching the steak before it reached his belt and slapping it back over his face, "who said anythin' abou' giants? Who yeh bin talkin' to? Who's told yeh what I've - who's said I've bin - eh?"
"Such a convincing denial, I must take notes," Sirius smirkd as he pretended to dig for a quill.
"We guessed," said Hermione apologetically.
"Oh, yeh did, did yeh?" said Hagrid, surveying her sternly with the eye that was not hidden by the steak.
"It was kind of . . . obvious," said Ron. Harry nodded.
"I mean, thy're not wrong," James snorted.
"The point was what were they doing guessing about it at all, rather than spending their time doing normal things their age," Lily shrugged, honestly understanding Hagrid's surprise a bit, espcailly if he had no clue how much they knew about the Order.
"He's been their friend since first year," Remus defended, "I'd think it werider if they didn't wonder what happened to him, and they're well connected enough to put this together with or without whatever knowledge the Order could give."
Lily stopped arguing the point, she found it moot no matter what.
Hagrid glared at them, then snorted, threw the steak back on to the table and strode over to the kettle, which was now whistling.
"Never known kids like you three fer knowin' more'n yeh oughta," he muttered,
"I almost want to be offedned by that," Sirius pouted.
"We had plenty of knolwedge to do with the schools populace," James soothed as well as defneded his group.
"Can't say we'd have been involved in half the nonsense Harry as though," Remus snorted, "we were too busy intertaining ourselves to go looking for all this."
"I don't know," Sirius wouldn't let go. "Don't tell me we wouldn't have poked around Fluffy, and figured out a way down to the Stone as well. I agree it never occured to us to put together Myrtle was involved in that Chamber and no one's out to kill us by putting our name in some death tournmanet..." he trailed off before conceding the point, "and we didn't give much of a lick about Voldemort's going ons until our last year of school, so fine, Harry's caused more toruble than us, in that way." He finished with the stank eye on his pup, who batted his eyes not nearly innocentily enough.
splashing boiling water into three of his bucket-shaped mugs. "An' I'm not complimentin' yeh, neither. Nosy, some'd call it. Interferin'."
"Some, surely not him though," Lily chuckled, she could hear the affection Hagrid was holding in his voice even without being there.
But his beard twitched.
"So you have been to look for giants?" said Harry, grinning as he sat down at the table.
Hagrid set tea in front of each of them, sat down, picked up his steak again and slapped it back over his face.
"Yeah, all righ'," he grunted, "I have."
"What happened to, 'more than my job's wroth to tell?'" Remus snickered.
"Apprarently those kids are worth more than his job," Sirius smirked.
"And you found them?" said Hermione in a hushed voice.
"Well, they're not that difficult ter find, ter be honest," said Hagrid. "Pretty big, see."
All five snorted in amusment, though Harry was still watching them curiosly in hopes they'd give a better answer.
Remus gave an amused shrug as he said, "well most people know where to find them, the Ministry does keep tabs on their wearabouts."
"And as Hagrid said, they're not hard to spot," Srius snorted again.
"Where are they?" said Ron.
"Mountains," said Hagrid unhelpfully.
Harry opened his mouth to ask, but James beat him to the punch, "Ural mountais, last I heard, but that could have changed as they do migrate between regions."
Harry still couldn't help gaping at the idea of such a long distance for Hagrid to travel, on foot it seemed. Even if he had been given some kind of magical transportaition there, he didn't seem to have gotten it back since it had taken him so long.
"So why don't Muggles - ?"
"They do," said Hagrid darkly. "On'y their deaths are always put down ter mountaineerin' accidents, aren' they?"
All five of them winced at that acknolwedgement.
He adjusted the steak a little so that it covered the worst of the bruising.
"Come on, Hagrid, tell us what you've been up to!" said Ron. "Tell us about being attacked by the giants and Harry can tell you about being attacked by the Dementors - "
Hagrid choked in his mug and dropped his steak at the same time; a large quantity of spit, tea and dragon blood was sprayed over the table as Hagrid coughed and spluttered and the steak slid, with a soft splat, on to the floor.
"So I'm guessing Hagrid hasn't heard of that," James said mildly.
"Wish I hadn't," Lily grumbled with disgsut of brining that mess up again.
"Whadda yeh mean, attacked by Dementors?" growled Hagrid.
"Didn't you know?" Hermione asked him, wide-eyed.
"I don' know any thin' that's bin happenin' since I left. I was on a secret mission, wasn' I, didn' wan' owls followin' me all over the place - ruddy Dementors! Yeh're not serious?"
"He has been away for awhile if he thought I was Harry," Sirius smirked while Harry snickered beside him.
"Yeah, I am, they turned up in Little Whinging and attacked my cousin and me, and then the Ministry of Magic expelled me - "
"Not the best idea to lead with that part," Remus sighed.
"Don't know what you're talking about, I'm enthralled by his tale, loads of questions about why he's even at school already-"
James had to keep reading loudly over Sirius' sarcasm.
"WHAT?"
" - and I had to go to a hearing and everything, but tell us about the giants first."
"You were expelled!"
"Tell us about your summer and I'll tell you about mine."
"Quite the negoatiaon tactic, don't go giving up that Auror dream in favor of teacing just yet," James chuckled.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Remus smirked, "being a teacher requires much persuasion and tricsk to convince youths to do their homework in any decent fashoin."
The other two exchanged a look before conceeding the point.
Hagrid glared at him through his one open eye. Harry looked right back, an expression of innocent determination on his face.
"Oh, all righ"," Hagrid said in a resigned voice.
"It's no wonder Hagrid has rib damage, he's as easy to crack as an egg," Sirius grinned.
He bent down and tugged the dragon steak out of Fang's mouth.
"Ew," Lily grumbled again before asking Remus, "would that degarad the healing part?"
"Not necessairly, dragon meat's so tough I'd be surprised if Fangs slobber even got past the skin in time to degrade it," Remus said wihtout any concern.
"Oh, Hagrid, don't, it's not hygien-" Hermione began, but Hagrid had already slapped the meat back over his swollen eye.
Lily didn't care what Remus said, she certainly wanted to snatch that away from Hagrid already and get him something sanitary now.
He took another fortifying gulp of tea, then said, "Well, we set off righ' after term ended - "
"Madame Maxime went with you, then?" Hermione interjected.
"Yeah, tha's righ"," said Hagrid, and a softened expression appeared on the few inches of face that were not obscured by beard or green steak. "Yeah, it was jus' the pair of us.
"Please tell me Hagrid keeps this story at a G rating, I get enough of this from Sirius," Remus grumbled at Harry, who firmly hoped so.
An' I'll tell yen this, she's not afraid of roughin' it, Olympe. Yeh know, she's a fine, well-dressed woman, an' knowin' where we was goin' I wondered 'ow she'd feel abou' clamberin' over boulders an' sleepin' in caves an' tha', bu' she never complained once."
"Maybe not in English, but how much French does Hagrid know?" Sirius chuckled.
"You knew where you were going?" Harry repeated. "You knew where the giants were?"
"Well, Durnbledore knew, an' he told us," said Hagrid.
"Are they hidden?" asked Ron. "Is it a secret, where they are?"
"Not really," said Hagrid, shaking his shaggy head. "It's jus' that mos' wizards aren' bothered where they are, 's'long as it's a good long way away. But where they are's very difficult ter get ter, fer humans anyway, so we needed Dumbledore's instructions. Took us abou' a month ter get there - "
"A month?" said Ron, as though he had never heard of a journey lasting such a ridiculously long time.
Harry felt the strangest urge to laugh, yet their was no humor in the feeling either.
"But - why couldn't you just grab a Portkey or something?"
There was an odd expression in Hagrid's unobscured eye as he surveyed Ron; it was almost pitying.
Harry looked surprised as he'd been wondering the same thing, but James expected Hagrid to explain considering that look.
"We're bein' watched, Ron," he said gruffly.
"What d'you mean?"
"Yeh don' understand," said Hagrid. "The Ministry's keepin' an eye on Dumbledore an' anyone they reckon's in league with 'im, an' - "
"We know about that," said Harry quickly, keen to hear the rest of Hagrid's story, "we know about the Ministry watching Dumbledore - "
"I didn't realize that meant he couldn't use any magic," Harry seemed aghast at the idea.
"Oh I'm sure not entirly," Lily said fondly to all of the boys stunned looks. "Just long enough they got rid of whatever tail was on them."
"So you couldn't use magic to get there?" asked Ron, looking thunderstruck, "you had to act like Muggles all the way?"
"Well, not exactly all the way" said Hagrid cagily. "We jus' had ter be careful, 'cause Olympe an' me, we stick out a bit -"
James couldn't help but pause with that smirk in place promising a smart remark, but Lily flicked him in the ear and he kept going without it even while snickering at what he heard Remus mutter under his breath to Sirius.
Ron made a stifled noise somewhere between a snort and a sniff and hastily took a gulp of tea.
Harry couldn't help laughing doubly hard at his life being paralleled, he missed his friends.
" - so w're not hard ter follow. We was pretendin' we was goin' on holiday together, so we got inter France an' we made like we was headin' fer where Olympe's school is, 'cause we knew we was bein' tailed by someone from the Ministry. We had to go slow, 'cause I'm not really s'posed ter use magic an' we knew the Mimstry'd be lookin'fer a reason ter run us in. But we managed ter give the berk tailin' us the slip round abou' Dee-John - "
"Ooooh, Dijon?" said Hermione excitedly. "I've been there on holiday, did you see - ?"
She fell silent at the look on Ron's face.
"Priorites," Sirius agreed.
"We chanced a bit o' magic after that an' it wasn' a bad journey. Ran inter a couple o' mad trolls on the Polish border an' I had a sligh' disagreement with a vampire in a pub in Minsk, bu' apart from tha' couldn't' a bin smoother.
"Oh, we don't get to hear those stories?" Remus honestly sounded disapointed.
"Maybe Harry will go back and ask for them after we get the good stuff," Sirius soothed.
An then we reached the place, an' we started trekkin' up through the mountains, lookin' fer signs of 'em . . .
We had ter lay off the magic once we got near 'em. Partly 'cause they don' like wizards an' we didn' want ter put their backs up too soon, an' partly 'cause Dumbledore had warned us You-Know-Who was bound ter be after the giants an' all. Said it was odds on he'd sent a messenger off ter them already. Told us ter be verv careful of drawin' attention ter ourselves as we got nearer in case there was Death Eaters around."
Hagrid paused for a long draught of tea.
"Pause for dramatic affect," James couldn't help but snicker as he did the same, leering at his friends for a moment who were watching him impatintly.
"Go on!" said Harry urgently.
"Found 'em," said Hagrid baldly. "Went over a ridge one nigh' an' there they was, spread ou' underneath us. Little fires burnin' below an' huge shadows . . . it was like watchin' bits o' the mountain movin'."
"How big are they?" asked Ron in a hushed voice.
"Bout twenty feet," said Hagrid casually. "Some o' the bigger ones mighta bin twenty-five."
Harry couldn't help his mouth falling open in a bit of surprise. He'd thought the dragons were big, but these actually managed to beat that!
"And how many were there?" asked Harry.
"I reckon abou' seventy or eighty," said Hagrid.
"So many in one place?" Harry said in surprise, picturing moving mountains all trying to camp together boggling his mind. However, he quickly caught sight of the small little pitiful frowns and realized his mistake before Remus corrected, "actually Harry, that's miniscule, not even half as many as a normal healthy population would be at."
Harry's surprise mounted even higher even as he wondered at just what really had happened to kill off almost an entire species.
"Is that all?" said Hermione.
"Yep," said Hagrid sadly, "eighty left, an' there was loads once, musta bin a hundred diff'rent tribes from all over the world. Bu' they've bin dyin' out fer ages. Wizards killed a few, o' course, bu' mostly they killed each other, an' now they're dyin' out faster than ever. They're not made ter live bunched up together like tha'. Dumbledore says it's our fault, it was the wizards who forced 'em to go an' made 'em live a good long way from us an' they had no choice bu' ter stick together fer their own protection."
Harry shifted uncomfortably as he realized this. Even when he was very first told about magic he'd been introduced to it by being shown magic wasn't all good, but he'd never have imagined his own kind being responibsle for the distrcution of another species.
"So," said Harry, "you saw them and then what?"
"Well, we waited till morning, didn' want ter go sneakin' up on 'em in the dark, fer our own safety," said Hagrid. "Bout three in the mornin' they fell asleep jus' where they was sittin'. We didn' dare sleep. Fer one thing, we wanted ter make sure none of 'em woke up an' came up where we were, an' fer another, the snorin' was unbelievable. Caused an avalanche near mornin'.
Sirius did manage a chuckle for that, eyeing Remus and not being very subtle about it, who was just as easily ignoring him.
Anyway once it was light we wen' down ter see 'em."
"Just like that?" said Ron, looking awestruck. "You just walked right into a giant camp?"
"Well, Dumbledore'd told us how ter do it," said Hagrid. "Give the Gurg gifts, show some respect, yeh know."
"Give the what gifts?" asked Harry.
"Oh, the Gurg - means the chief."
"How could you tell which one was the Gurg?" asked Ron.
Hagrid grunted in amusement.
"No problem," he said. "He was the biggest, the ugliest and the laziest. Sittin' there waitin' ter be brought food by the others. Dead goats an' such like. Name o' Karkus. I'd put him at twenty-two, twenty-three feet an' the weight o' a couple o' bull elephants. Skin like rhino hide an' all."
Harry was having trouble picturing it. Even having seen a dragon, that was still a beast. Hagrid was the largest person he'd ever met, and he couldn't imagine the human features on something even larger, yet he was still getting this odd feeling he'd be experincing something like it in person soon enough.
"And you just walked up to him?" said Hermione breathlessly.
"Well . . . down ter him, where he was lyin' in the valley. They was in this dip between four pretty high mountains, see, beside a mountain lake, an' Karkus was lyin' by the lake roarin' at the others ter feed him an his wife. Olympe an' I went down the mountainside -"
"But didn't they try and kill you when they saw you?" asked Ron incredulously.
"It was def'nitely on some o' their minds," said Hagrid, shrugging,
"Yes, simple murder on the mind, I'm surprise he wasn't dancing in excitment," Lily couldn't help but shift anxiously, even knowing it was Hagrid telling this story she couldn't help but keep pictuirng hte state he was in while doing so, and she was still on edge waiting for the part of hearing how her friend got hurt.
"but we did what Dumbledore told us ter do, which was ter hold our gift up high an' keep our eyes on the Gurg an' ignore the others. So tha's what we did. An' the rest of 'em went quiet an' watched us pass an' we got right up ter Karkuss feet an we bowed an' put our present down in front o' him."
"What do you give a giant?" asked Ron eagerly.
Remus coudln't help but smile at seeing such enthusiasm in Ron, at the eager way Harry was watching all this. It made him realize for the millionth time how interesting History of Magic could be for even someone with the vaguest interest in the subject.
"Food?"
"Nah, he can get food all righ' fer himself," said Hagrid. "We took him magic. Giants like magic, jus' don' like us usin' it against 'em. Anyway, that firs' day we gave 'im a branch o' Gubraithian fire."
Hermione said, "Wow!" softly, but Harry and Ron both frowned in puzzlement.
"A branch of - ?"
"Everlasting fire," said Hermione irritably, "you ought to know that by now. Professor Flitwick's mentioned it at least twice in class!"
"Yes, and that automatically means, what again?" Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Well, anyway," said Hagrid quickly, intervening before Ron could answer back,
"Smart man, or that could go on into it's own book," James chuckled.
"Dumbledore'd bewitched this branch to burn fer evermore, which isn' somethin' any wizard could do, an' so I lies it down in the snow by Karkuss feet and says, "A gift to the Gurg of the giants from Albus Dumbledore, who sends his respectful greetings.""
"And what did Karkus say?" asked Harry eagerly.
"Nothin'," said Hagrid. "Didn' speak English."
"You're kidding!"
"Why are you surprised?" Lily asked. "You must already know not everything speaks the same language we do."
"I was thinking they were like Hagrid, but bigger, and it surprised me," Harry defended.
"I guess Hagrid didn't put this bluntly enough, but they're actually nothing like him. Much more, err, uncultured," James tried to think of an unofisnvie way to put that and was sure he still failed, but Harry let the matter go.
"Didn' matter," said Hagrid imperturbably, "Dumbledore had warned us tha' migh' happen. Karkus knew enough to yell fer a couple o' giants who knew our lingo an' they translated fer us."
"How did some know and others didn't?" Harry couldn't help the question bursting out.
"All these giants aren't from the same place, remember Hagrid already said they had to band together for survivl. Some of them more than likely could have migrated from somehwere where they had learned the common dialect," Remus happily explained.
"And did he like the present?" asked Ron.
"Oh yeah, it went down a storm once they understood what it was," said Hagrid, turning his dragon steak over to press the cooler side to his swollen eye. "Very pleased. So then I said, "Albus Dumbledore asks the Gurg to speak with his messenger when he returns tomorrow with another gift." "
"Why couldn't you speak to them that day?" asked Hermione.
"Dumbledore wanted us ter take it very slow," said Hagrid. "Let 'em see we kept our promises. We'll come back tomorrow with another present, an' then we do come back with another present - gives a good impression, see? An' gives them time ter test out the firs' present an' find out it's a good one, an' get 'em eager ier more. In any case, giants like Karkus - overload 'em with information an' they'll kill yeh jus' to simplify things.
"I can't decide which is my favorite reason," Remus chuckled.
"I can," Sirius grinned.
So we bowed outta the way an' went off an' found ourselves a nice little cave ter spend that night in an' the followin' mornin' we went back an' this time we found Karkus sittin' up waitin' fer us lookin' all eager."
"And you talked to him?"
"Oh yeah. Firs' we presented him with a nice battle helmet - 'goblin-made an' indestructible, yeh know - an' then we sat down an' we talked."
"What did he say?"
"Not much," said Hagrid. "Listened mostly. Bu; there were good signs. He'd heard o' Dumbledore, heard he'd argued against the killin' o' the last giants in Britain. Karkus seemed ter be quite int'rested in what Dumbledore had ter say. An' a few o' the others, 'specially the ones who had some English, they gathered round an' listened too. We were hopeful when we left that day. Promised ter come back next mornin' with another present.
Everyone was grinning happily as well, thinking this was going much better than it had been this time around, and it was truly a great sign for their side.
Bu' that night it all wen' wrong."
James cursed in frustraition as Lily scooted closer to him with worry again. They actually couldn't go one second anymore thinking something good.
"What d'you mean?" said Ron quickly.
"Well, like I say, they're not meant ter live together, giants," said Hagrid sadly. "Not in big groups like that. They can' help themselves, they half kill each other every few weeks. The men fight each other an' the women fight each other; the remnants of the old tribes fight each other, an' that's even without squabbles over food an' the best fires an' sleepin' spots. Yeh'd think, seein' as how their whole race is abou' finished, they'd lay off each other, bu'. . ."
Remus couldn't help twitching uneasily, brusing at his ribs as he knew all to well of a beasts nature. Sirius noticed and gave him a nudge in those same ribs.
Hagrid sighed deeply.
"That night a fight broke out, we saw it from the mouth of our cave, lookin' down on the valley. Went on fer hours, yeh wouldn' believe the noise. An' when the sun came up the snow was scarlet an' his head was lyin' at the bottom o' the lake."
"Whose head?" gasped Hermione.
"Karkus's," said Hagrid heavily. "There was a new Gurg, Golgomath." He sighed deeply. "Well, we hadn' bargained on a new Gurg two days after we'd made friendly contact with the firs' one, an' we had a funny feelin' Golgomath wouldn' be so keen ter listen to us, bu' we had ter try."
"You went to speak to him?" asked Ron incredulously. "After you'd watched him rip off another giant's head?"
"Well they'd have gone all that way for nothing if they'd just left after two days," Lily grimly said, though honestly half wishing Hagrid had left, she wasn't going to get her hopes up a second time this had turned out well.
"Course we did," said Hagrid, "we hadn' gone all that way ter give up after two days! We wen' down with the next present we'd meant ter give ter Karkus. I knew it was no go before I'd opened me mouth. He was sitting there wearin' Karkus's helmet, leerin' at us as we got nearer. He's massive, one o' the biggest ones there. Black hair an' matchin' teeth an' a necklace o' bones. Human-lookin' bones, some of 'em. Well, I gave it a go - held out a great roll o' dragon skin - an' said, "A gift fer the Gurg of the giants - " Nex' thing I knew, I was hangin' upside-down in the air by me feet, two of his mates had grabbed me."
Lily gasped and tried to lean around James in concern, but he hardly noticed as he kept going with worry. He'd never thought he'd have to be scared for Hagrid's well being before, but if anything could hurt him, it would be those brutes.
Hermione clapped her hands to her mouth.
"How did you get out of that!" asked Harry.
"Wouldn'ta done if Olympe hadn' bin there," said Hagrid. "She pulled out her wand an' did some o' the fastes' spellwork I've ever seen. Ruddy marvellous. Hit the two holdin' me right in the eyes with Conjunctivitus Curses an' they dropped me straightaway - 'bu' we were in trouble then, 'cause we'd used magic against 'em, an' that's what giants hate abou' wizards. We had ter leg it an' we knew there was no way we was going ter be able ter march inter the camp again."
They all sighed with disapointment such a promising start had been tossed in the bin like that, the lot of them would always feel sorrow that no interspecies connection ever seemed to be possible.
"Blimey, Hagrid," said Ron quietly.
"So, how come it's taken you so long to get home if you were only there for three days?" asked Hermione.
"We didn' leave after three days!" said Hagrid, looking outraged. "Dumbledore was relyin' on us!"
"But you've just said there was no way you could go back!"
"Not by daylight we couldn', no. We just had ter rethink a bit. Spent a couple o' days lyin' low up in the cave an' watchin'. An' wha' we saw wasn' good."
"When is it ever," James grumped.
"Did he rip off more heads?" asked Hermione, sounding squeamish.
"No," said Hagrid, "I wish he had."
Siris couldn't help snorting in surprise even as he looked on in surprise for something so violent coming from him.
"What d'you mean?"
"I mean we soon found out he didn' object ter all wizards - 'just us."
"Oh no," Remus groaned in fear of what that meant.
"He couldn't, I mean they wouldn't really listen to Death Eaters," Harry quickly understood.
"Can't even be surprised anymore, just more annoyed," Sirius grumbled.
"Death Eaters?" said Harry quickly.
"Yep," said Hagrid darkly. "Couple ol 'em were visitin' him ev'ry day, bringin' gifts ter the Gurg, an' he wasn' dangling them upside -"
"Can't even be bothered to do something useful while ruining our offerings of help," James scoffed.
"How d'you know they were Death Eaters?" said Ron.
"Because I recognised one of 'em," Hagrid growled. "Macnair, remember him? Bloke they sent ter kill Buckbeak?
Sirius' face in particular darkened for that reminder, he was too fond of the Hippogriff not to want that one dead on pricniple for this fact alone.
Maniac, he is. Enjoys killin' as much as Golgomath; no wonder they were gettin' on so well."
"So Macnair's persuaded the giants to join You-Know-Who?" said Hermione desperately.
"Hold yer Hippogriffs, I haven' finished me story yet!" said Hagrid indignantly, who, considering he had not wanted to tell them anything in the first place, now seemed to be rather enjoying himself.
That at least made them all smile again even for a breif moment. Trust Hagrid to manage this in the face of such a gruesome tail.
"Me an' Olympe talked it over an' we agreed, jus' 'cause the Gurg looked like favourin' You-Know-Who didn' mean all of 'em would. We had ter try an' persuade some o' the others, the ones who hadn' wanted Golgomath as Gurg."
"How could you tell which ones they were?" asked Ron.
"Well, they were the ones bein' beaten to a pulp, weren' they?" said Hagrid patiently.
"At least he's kind while explaining about their hirarchy." Harry thought Sirius sounded too sarcastic for the kind tone he was going for.
"The ones with any sense were keepin' outta Golgomath's way, hidin' out in caves roun' the gully jus' like we were. So we decided we'd go pokin' round the caves by night an' see if we couldn' persuade a few o' them."
"And they went spelunking! Why couldn't I have been invited on this trip!" Sirius couldn't help bursting in protest for something he'd been thinking on since he'd found out where Hagrid had been.
The others watched him pitifully, no one was going to tell him otherwise what a bad idea that could have been, so instead Remus corrected, "I'm pretty sure those caves aren't deep enough to really be explorable enough to be called spelunking."
Sirius rolled his eyes at him but otherwise let it go.
"You went poking around dark caves looking for giants?" said Ron, with awed respect in his voice.
"Well when he puts it like that it sounds rediculous," James chuckled.
"Well, it wasn' the giants who worried us most," said Hagrid. "We were more concerned abou' the Death Eaters. Dumbledore had told us before we wen' not ter tangle with 'em if we could avoid it, an' the trouble was they knew we was around - 'spect Golgomath told 'em abou' us. At night, when the giants were sleepin' an' we wanted ter be creepin' inter the caves, Macnair an' the other one were sneakin' round the mountains lookin' fer us.
Lily was still inching closer to James as much as she could with worry. She hadn't completly ruled out the giants as the msot likely cause for Hagrid being so injured, but now the Death Eaters seemed a more likely suspect though a bit more hard pressed to manage such damage to Hagrid.
I was hard put to stop Olympe jumpin' out at 'em," said Hagrid, the corners of his mouth lifting his wild beard, "she was rarin' ter attack 'em . . . she's somethin' when she's roused, Olympe . . . fiery, yeh know . . . 'spect it's the French in her . . ."
Harry was fascinated when James read that with the exact same tone as Hagrid had mangaed, before James' eyes flickered to Lily with a fond smile and he told her, "got any French in you love?"
She smiled up at him and just tisked before waving him on. James did keep going with ease, well aware that for every twitch his wife had in concern for someone else, her next spell would be just as dangerous for the person who had caused it.
Hagrid gazed misty-eyed into the fire. Harry allowed him thirty seconds of reminiscence before clearing his throat loudly.
"Only thirty seconds? I'd have given him a least a minute," Sirius couldn't help but snicker.
"So, what happened? Did you ever get near any of the other giants?"
"What? Oh . . . oh, yeah, we did. Yeah, on the third night after Karkus was killed we crept outta the cave we'd bin hidin' in an' headed back down inter the gully, keepin' our eyes skinned fer the Death Eaters. Got inside a few o' the caves, no go - then, in abou' the sixth one, we found three giants hidin."
"Cave must've been cramped," said Ron.
Harry was feeling claustorphoibc just thinking about it, and his sorrow for these giants only continued to grow as he heard what pitiful states they were living in. Who'd have thought a cubpoard would ever feel like a luxury when compared to this.
"Wasn' room ter swing a Kneazle," said Hagrid.
"Didn't they attack you when they saw you?" asked Hermione.
"Probably woulda done if they'd bin in any condition," said Hagrid, "but they was badly hurt, all three o' them; Golgomath's lot had beaten 'em unconscious; they'd woken up an' crawled inter the nearest shelter they could find. Anyway, one o' them had a bit of English an' 'e translated fer the others, an' what we had ter say didn' seem ter go down too badly. So we kep' goin' back, visitin' the wounded . . . I reckon we had abou' six or seven o' them convinced at one poin'."
Lily was getting worried that there was no wishful delight back in James' voice, like he was already expecting this to somehow turn out to be bad news as well. Where was that optomist who'd plagued her for six years at school, bouncing back and hoping this time it would turn around? Was this future truly making him so miserable he couldn't even clinge to one of the things she couldn't help but be fondly exasperated of no matter how many times it annoyed her.
"Six or seven?" said Ron eagerly. "Well that's not bad - are they going to come over here and start fighting You-Know-Who with us?"
But Hermione said, "What do you mean 'at one point', Hagrid?"
Then all four of them sighed as they realized what they'd missed but James hadn't.
Hagrid looked at her sadly.
"Golgomath's lot raided the caves. The ones tha' survived didn' wan' no more ter to do with us after that."
"Damn," Sirius couldn't help the curse, gnashing his teeth in frustraion as he was feeling the same way as James, like nothing was working out any better the second time than it was this time around.
"So . . . so there aren't any giants coming?" said Ron, looking disappointed.
"Nope," said Hagrid, heaving a deep sigh as he turned over his steak and applied the cooler side to his face,
"Exactly how long is that thing useful?" Lily demanded.
All of the boys startled in surprise at her sharp tone, and it took Remus a minute to understand the question, "ah, several hours actually before the juices dry up and it's not longer helpful." Yet not why she still looked so angry. She couldn't explain though, wouldn't put into words just now of how watching this news affect her boys was just as stunning a blow as the news itself. The Marauders were usually such a lively bunch that seeing them so upset for so long was wearing on her three times as bad.
"but we did wha' we meant ter do, we gave 'em Dumbledore's message an' some o' them heard it an' I spect some o' them'll remember it. Jus' maybe, them that don' want ter stay around Golgomath'll move outta the mountains, an' there's gotta be a chance they'll remember Dumbledore's friendly to 'em . . . could be they'll come."
Still, Lily managed a smile for that, she'd have given Hagrid a kiss on the cheek if he'd been here just for making sure some of the good news still persisted.
Snow was filling up the window now. Harry became aware that the knees of his robes were soaked through: Fang was drooling with his head in Harry's lap.
"Hagrid?" said Hermione quietly after a while.
"Mmm?"
"Did you . . . was there any sign of . . . did you hear anything about your . . . your . . . mother while you were there?"
Sirius couldn't help a snort of amusment while priainsg Hermione, "no sense of personal questions for her eh?"
Harry chose not to defend that one even while James pouted at him and scolded someone who wasn't even here, "Hagrid didn't even finish his story though. Apparenlty it wasn't giants or Death Eaters that got him so messed up, there's clearly more to the story."
Harry opened, then closed his mouth as he had no answer for that, but as always the sneaking suspecion he would find out.
Hagrids unobscured eye rested upon her and Hermione looked rather scared.
"I'm sorry . . . I . . . forget it - "
"Forgot what exactly?" Remus couldn't help but laugh at her trying to backtrack. "She's already blurted the question, the apology after the fact dosen't do much good."
"Dead," Hagrid grunted. "Died years ago. They told me."
They all sighed with pity for Hagrid. That whole trip would have been worth it if Hagrid had managed a reconection and an explination for why he'd been abandoned other than 'that's just how giants are.'
"Oh . . . I'm . . . I'm really sorry," said Hermione in a very small voice. Hagrid shrugged his massive shoulders.
"No need," he said shortly. "Can't remember her much. Wasn' a great mother."
They were silent again. Hermione glanced nervously at Harry and Ron, plainly wanting them to speak.
"But you still haven't explained how you got in this state, Hagrid," Ron said, gesturing towards Hagrid's bloodstained face.
"I'm fairly confident that's not what Hermione was wanting him to say," Lily waggled her finger at Harry, who put his hands up sheepishly, wishing his friend were around more and mroe latley just so he'd stop getting the fall out for their doings.
"Or why you're back so late," said Harry. "Sirius says Madame Maxime got back ages ago - "
"Who attacked you?" said Ron.
"I haven' bin attacked!" said Hagrid emphatically. "I - "
But the rest of his words were drowned in a sudden outbreak of rapping on the door.
"Who would be there so late?" James demanded in far more anger than was called for. He was more frustrated than anything at yet another answer being cut off like that, again!
"Probably Dumbledore," Remus decided. "He'd know someone came back onto the school grounds and put together easily enugh Hagrid was back, he'd want a field report as soon as possible."
Hermione gasped; her mug slipped through her fingers and smashed on the floor; Fang yelped. All four of them stared at the window beside the doorway. The shadow of somebody small and squat rippled across the thin curtain.
"That's not Dumbledore," Sirius' lip curled in disgust.
"Thank you for your candor," Lily snipped at him, shifting anxiously in place as well and wondering what that wench was doing around there so late.
"It's her!" Ron whispered.
"Get under here!" Harry said quickly, seizing the Invisibility Cloak, he whirled it over himself and Hermione while Ron tore around the table and dived under the Cloak as well. Huddled together, they backed away into a corner. Fang was barking madly at the door. Hagrid looked thoroughly confused.
"Don't worry, that'll turn into murderous here in a few moments," James said with honest relish. While in no way looking forward to how Umbridge was going to treat Hagrid, if Trelawney had been any indication, he was throughly going to enjoy when Hagrid ripped this toad limb from limb.
"Hagrid, hide our mugs!"
Remus couldn't help smiling for whoever that was paying attention to details.
Hagrid seized Harry and Ron's mugs and shoved them under the cushion in Fang's basket. Fang was now leaping up at the door; Hagrid pushed him out of the way with his foot and pulled it open.
Professor Umbridge was standing in the doorway wearing her green tweed cloak and a matching hat with earflaps. Lips pursed, she leaned back so as to see Hagrid's face; she barely reached his navel.
"So," she said slowly and loudly, as though speaking to somebody deaf.
"How does she continue to manage to be so insluting from the very start," Lily began without a trace of disbelife, but utter disgust.
"You're Hagrid, are you?"
Without waiting for an answer she strolled into the room, her bulging eyes rolling in every direction.
"Get away," she snapped, waving her handbag at Fang, who had bounded up to her and was attempting to lick her face.
"And here I thought Fang would try using her as a chew toy," Sirius said with honest disapoitment.
"Er - I don' want ter be rude," said Hagrid, staring at her,
"That won't last long," Remus proimsed.
"but who the ruddy hell are you?"
"My name is Dolores Umbridge."
Her eyes were sweeping the cabin. Twice they stared directly into the corner where Harry stood, sandwiched between Ron and Hermione.
"It's a small space, I'm not surprised while she's looking for whatever she thinks she is, but there's no way she know's you're there," James scoffed.
"Dolores Umbridge?" Hagrid said, sounding thoroughly confused. "I thought you were one o' them Ministry - don' you work with Fudge?"
"I was Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, yes," said Umbridge, now pacing around the cabin, taking in every tiny detail within, from the haversack against the wall to the abandoned travelling cloak. "I am now the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher - "
"Tha's brave of yeh," said Hagrid,
"I've called that woman many thigns, that wasn't one of them," Harry said in disgust. He of course admired Hagrid for his automatic frinedlniess with anyone, he just wished he'd had the time to warn Hagrid it wasn't necessary here.
"there's not many'd take tha' job any more."
" - and Hogwarts High Inquisitor," said Umbridge, giving no sign that she had heard him.
"Wha's that?" said Hagrid, frowning.
"Precisely what I was going to ask," said Umbridge, pointing at the broken shards of china on the floor that had been Hermione's mug.
"I'm not surprised she dosen't understand broken objects, considering that's what ever mirror she looks into is," Sirius sneered.
"Oh," said Hagrid, with a most unhelpful glance towards the corner where Harry, Ron and Hermione stood hidden,
James wished he had been there for Hagrid to help with this, though even he couldn't come up with an idea of how to communicate while invisble and not attracting unwanted attention. He just didn't like being left out of things.
"oh, tha' was . . . was Fang. He broke a mug. So I had ter use this one instead."
Hagrid pointed to the mug from which he had been drinking, one hand still clamped over the dragon steak pressed to his eye. Umbridge stood facing him now, taking in every detail of his appearance instead of the cabins.
"I heard voices," she said quietly.
"I was talkin' ter Fang," said Hagrid stoutly.
"And was he talking back to you?"
"Well . . . in a manner o' speakin"," said Hagrid, looking uncomfortable. "I sometimes say Fang's near enough human - "
Sirius couldn't help the crackle of laughter coming up his throat even as they all stayed tense and uneasy in place. Umbridge had kicked Harry off the Quidditch team because he'd gotten into a fight, what would she do if she found Harry out after curfew? It truly only seemed one moment away from his being expelled.
There are three sets of footprints in the snow leading from the castle doors to your cabin," said Umbridge sleekly.
Hermione gasped;
"Hermione is offically off the Auror job," Remus groaned, wishing he could slap his hand over her mouth like he'd done countless time to Sirius, except this for a much more important reason. Smart as she was, stealth clearly wasn't her thing.
Harry clapped a hand over her mouth. Luckily, Fang was sniffing loudly around the hem of Professor Umbridge"s robes and she did not appear to have heard.
"Well, I on'y jus' got back," said Hagrid, waving an enormous hand at the haversack. "Maybe someone came ter call earlier an' I missed 'em."
"There are no footsteps leading away from your cabin door."
"They flew away, guess you haven't managed to take away all happiness in that place yet," James snarked.
"Well, I . . . I don' know why that'd be . . ." said Hagrid, tugging nervously at his beard and again glancing towards the corner where Harry, Ron and Hermione stood, as though asking for help. "Erm . . ."
Umbridge wheeled round and strode the length of the cabin, looking around carefully. She bent and peered under the bed. She opened Hagrid's cupboards.
Lily spluttered with indignity. This woman marched into Hagrid's house, was interogating him, and now going through his things! She'd long since had the notion to curse this woman into a puddle, and she still managed to find new ways to infuriate her.
She passed within two inches of where Harry, Ron and Hermione stood pressed against the wall; Harry actually pulled in his stomach as she walked by. After looking carefully inside the enormous cauldron Hagrid used for cooking, she wheeled round again and said, "What has happened to you? How did you sustain those injuries?"
"Your mere presence on the grounds has tainted his features, it'll be a full blown epidemic soon," Remus scowled.
Hagrid hastily removed the dragon steak from his face, which in Harry's opinion was a mistake, because the black and purple bruising all around his eye was now clearly visible, not to mention the large amount of fresh and congealed blood on his face. "Oh, I . . . had a bit of an accident," he said lamely.
"What sort of accident?"
"I - I tripped."
"You tripped," she repeated coolly.
"Clearly a fall wouldn't concern her, she's so close to the ground her falling is the same as her squatting down," James snarled.
"Yeah, tha's right. Over . . . over a friends broomstick. I don' fly, meself. Well, look at the size o' me, I don' reckon there's a broomstick that'd hold me. Friend o' mine breeds Abraxan horses, I dunno if you've ever seen em, big beasts, winged, yeh know, I've had a bit of a ride on one o' them an' it was - "
"Where have you been?" asked Umbridge, cutting coolly through Hagrid's babbling.
"I can't belive Hagrid's still politly talking to her, I'd have chucked her head first into the snow by now," Sirius grumbled.
"Where've I - ?"
"Been, yes," she said.
"And that is her busniss, because?" Lily demanded coolly.
She's clearly given herself the impression every person exists for her busniss," James said bitterly.
"Term started two months ago. Another teacher has had to cover your classes. None of your colleagues has been able to give me any information as to your whereabouts. You left no address. Where have you been?"
"The Bermuda Triangle, you should try it, it's lovely this time of year," Sirius snapped.
There was a pause in which Hagrid stared at her with his newly uncovered eye. Harry could almost hear his brain working furiously.
"I - I've been away for me health," he said.
Remus face palmed.
"For your health," repeated Professor Umbridge. Her eyes travelled over Hagrid's discoloured and swollen face; dragon blood dripped gently and silently on to his waistcoat. "I see."
"Yeah," said Hagrid, "bit o' - o' fresh air, yeh know - "
"Yes, as gamekeeper fresh air must be so difficult to come by" said Umbridge sweetly.
Sirius point blank refused to admit that he'd been thinking something similar, and instead barked, "perhaps he just wanted a change of scenery, or he wanted to go ice fishing, but wait, it's still not her busniss!"
The small patch of Hagrid's face that was not black or purple, flushed.
"Well - change o' scene, yeh know - "
"Mountain scenery?" said Umbridge swiftly.
She knows, Harry thought desperately.
"I can't even say I'm surprised," Remus sighed. "The Ministry does have an idea of what Dumbledore was planning to do, but of course rather than help him they're going to impede him like the blithering morons they are."
"Mountains?" Hagrid repeated, clearly thinking fast. "Nope, South o' France fer me. Bit o' sun an' . . . an' sea."
"Really?" said Umbridge. "You don't have much of a tan."
"Yeah . . . well . . . sensitive skin," said Hagrid, attempting an ingratiating smile. Harry noticed that two of his teeth had been knocked out. Umbridge looked at him coldly; his smile faltered. Then she hoisted her handbag a little higher into the crook of her arm and said, "I shall, of course, be informing the Minister of your late return."
"You can also inform the Minister of how much I care," Lily hissed.
"Righ," said Hagrid, nodding.
"You ought to know, too, that as High Inquisitor it is my unfortunate but necessary duty to inspect my fellow teachers. So I daresay we shall meet again soon enough."
She turned sharply and marched back to the door.
"You're inspectin' us?" Hagrid repeated blankly, looking after her.
"Oh, yes," said Umbridge softly, looking back at him with her hand on the door handle. "The Ministry is determined to weed out unsatisfactory teachers, Hagrid. Goodnight."
They all flincehd with unease, even as white hot anger prodded them to keep furthering insults at that walking wart. Hagrid was an infinitly better person than Umbrdige would ever be.
She left, closing the door behind her with a snap. Harry made to pull off the Invisibility Cloak but Hermione seized his wrist.
"Not yet," she breathed in his ear. "She might not be gone yet."
Hagrid seemed to be thinking the same way; he stumped across the room and pulled back the curtain an inch or so.
"She's goin' back ter the castle," he said in a low voice. "Blimey . . . inspectin' people, is she?"
"And that's still the least of her peresonal issues," Lily said darkly, still looking repeatedly to the mark on the bakc of Harry's hand ever now and again and the anger never fading.
"Yeah," said Harry, pulling off the Cloak. "Trelawney's on probation already . . ."
"Um . . . what sort of thing are you planning to do with us in class, Hagrid?" asked Hermione.
"Oh, don' you worry abou' that, I've got a great load o' lessons planned," said Hagrid enthusiastically, scooping up his dragon steak from the table and slapping it over his eye again. "I've bin keepin' a couple o' creatures saved fer yer OWL year; you wait, they're somethin" really special."
"And yet, I'm worried," Remus couldn't help but fidgit uneasily, already imageining decking that woman for treating Hagrid the same way she did Trelawney.
"Erm . . . special in what way?" asked Hermione tentatively.
"I'm not sayin'," said Hagrid happily. "I don' want ter spoil the surprise."
"And now I'm terrified," Sirius agreed.
"Look, Hagrid," said Hermione urgently, dropping all pretence, "Professor Umbridge won't be at all happy if you bring anything to class that's too dangerous."
"Dangerous?" said Hagrid, looking genially bemused. "Don' be silly, I wouldn' give yeh anythin' dangerous! I mean, all righ', they can look after themselves - "
"This is getting less encouraging by the second," James groaned.
"Hagrid, you've got to pass Umbridge's inspection,
"That was a lost cause before it started," Lily groaned, knowing Hermione was well aware of this. At some point hope turned into ignorince if not.
and to do that it would really be better if she saw you teaching us how to look after Porlocks, how to tell the difference between Knarls and hedgehogs, stuff like that!" said Hermione earnestly.
"But tha's not very interestin, Hermione," said Hagrid. "The stuff I've got's much more impressive.
"I mean, I can see his point," Remus said fairly with an almost bemused smile, even Kettlburn had hurried through such lessons but had lingered on some of the more exotic creatures.
"You're not helping," Sirius grumbled.
I've bin bringin' 'em on fer years, I reckon I've got the on'y domestic herd in Britain."
"How does he manage to do that," Lily demanded, looking ready to pull her hair out of her head in frustraition for Hagrid making this worse every second.
"Give Hagrid some credit, if he says they're domesticated they most certainly are," Sirus defended.
Lily hardly agreed, but she wasn't going to argue the point either. She did of course agree, Hagrid was the most competant man she woudl ask for help with a creature aside from Remus, but that didn't make her feel any less anxious about what Umbridge was going to have to say about it.
"Hagrid . . . please . . ." said Hermione, a note of real desperation in her voice. "Umbridge is looking for any excuse to get rid of teachers she thinks are too close to Dumbledore.
James' face twitched with agitation, wishing that was the only problem Umbrdige could feasibly have with Hagrid instead of the one he'd gladly behead her for. Beign part toad, he found it extreamly hypocritcal of her.
Please, Hagrid, teach us something dull that's bound to come up in our OWL."
But Hagrid merely yawned widely and cast a one-eyed look of longing towards the vast bed in the corner.
"An honest luxury to someone who's been away from one for months," Remus agreed sadly.
"Lis'en, it's bin a long day an' it's late," he said, patting Hermione gently on the shoulder, so that her knees gave way and hit the floor with a thud.
"Hagrid's clearly been away too long if he's so forgotten his strength," Sirius grinned.
"Oh - sorry - " He pulled her back up by the neck of her robes. "Look, don' you go worryin' abou' me, I promise yeh I've got really good stuff planned fer yer lessons now I'm back . . . now you lot had better get back up to the castle, an' don'- forget ter wipe yer tootprints out behind yeh!"
"I dunno if you got through to him," said Ron a short while later when, having checked that the coast was clear, they walked back up to the castle through the thickening snow, leaving no trace behind them due to the Obliteration Charm Hermione was performing as they went.
"Then I'll go back again tomorrow," said Hermione determinedly. "I'll plan his lessons for him if I have to.
"I honestly belive she could do that," Harry chuckled, he'd already been surprised Hermione had been suggesting some to him.
I don't care if she throws out Trelawney but she's not getting rid of Hagrid!"
"Damn straight!" Sirius agreed victorisly even as Harry felt a pit of unease welling up in him for that forboding statment.
James was trying to nodd in agreement even as he worried for how that could very well happen. If Harry could be booted from the Gryffindor team, he'd belive anything could go wrong at that school now.
I really wish Maxime had made another appearnce in series. She's only mentioned at the end of the next book at Dumbleodre's funeral, and never does get another part to paly which I find disapointing. She's a fully trained wizard as well as the Headmisstress at a prestine school all while being half giant. That's a pretty unique story in itself. I suppose she dosen't show up for the final battle becuase word didn't get to her in time, yet Charlie makes an appearnce, so I'm just a little sad she didn't as well.