Title: Half and Half

Part I of the Poor Hagrid Series

Word Count: 1505

Pairing: Hagrid + Tom Riddle

Summary: Rubeus Hagrid finally makes a new friend at Hogwarts. He doesn't realise who that friend will grow up to become.

Notes: For LuxLouise. unbeta'd. Written for the Fairest of the Rare Love Fest 2020.

This was supposed to be crack, but now I'm so sad for poor Rubey.

Rubeus Hagrid's mother had been staunchly against him attending Hogwarts. "Bit load of nonsense," she had muttered, her massive arms folded over her chest as she glowered at father and son. "You'll have no need for magic, Rubey! Yer a giant!"

"Half-giant," his father had said, his deep human voice sounding like a squeak next to the stentorian voice of his mother. "He'll need magic, Olga. He's a tiny bit next to the other giants. Having a little knack with magic'll stand him in good stead. You'll see."

Hogwarts, at that point, had been expanding its attendance. The Board of Governors was an easygoing group of young wizards who wanted to "shake up" the old place, and had enacted the "Half-and-Half" rule, which essentially was how Rubeus Hagrid had been able to set foot through the door.

Despite his eagerness after receiving the letter and seeing the treasure trove that was Diagon Alley, he wasn't used to being around normal-sized humans all day. His father was already taller than average, being well over two metres tall.

"I never liked small women, and that's a fact," he'd once confided in his son one night after a barrel of rum. "They're so weak and fragile. Give me a real woman to hold on to at night, that's what I say!"

Rubeus was a full metre taller than his father and he understood the sentiment well; among the giants, bigger and taller was always better. He was the runt of the litter, and if he hadn't been the son of the daughter of the chieftain, he'd have long since been smothered in his sleep.

At Hogwarts, however, Rubeus soon came to realise that bigger didn't mean better. For the first time in his life, better meant better, and it was a shocking blow to his preconceived notions. He wasn't ruling as a king here even though he was the largest by far, taller and wider than even the Headmaster. He was laughed at and disdained because he was so large he had to lumber carefully through the hallways.

It'd have been easy to knock a few heads together to show them his might, but his father had expressly warned him against doing so. "You're there to learn about magic, Rubeus. It's the most wunnerful thing in the world. If I'd wanted you to learn to pummel in a face or two, I'd leave you here in this range."

For all that he adored his protective mother, Rubeus worshipped his father, who, from an early age, could distract him with shows of ephemeral fireworks and dancing birds made out of paper. He liked it best when his father turned his favourite rocks and sticks into animals. They were able to interact with him then, instead of growling at him to "get away or be stepped on!"

Used to listening to his mother and father, Rubeus tried to keep as unobtrusive as possible while at school. It wasn't easy.

During mealtimes, nobody wanted to sit next to him, and there were a few incidents when the entire table flipped over, end over end, because Harris sat down too heavily after an exhausting day of classes. In classes, he had to have his own table, and he had a hard time finding a lab partner. It was especially difficult when his Charms professor told him that he might never would magic as easily as a real wizard. The giant blood in him, the professor had said, narrowly peering at him over his bifocals, was an impediment to magic.

He padded out of the castle that day to sit next to the lake. It was cold, with the first of the snow drifting down in small white dots. To him, it felt like spring in the mountains where he came from. Everyone had returned to the castle after two hours in the cold, but the cold never bothered him.

The lake was a placid plane of mirror-like navy. As Hagrid watched, something broke the surface, and the water flowed off its sides, like a smooth flow of silky fabric. A deep orange-pink flashed through the spray of water before the colour of the animal changed and turned into the same shade as the surface of the water.

The Giant Squid.

Rubeus stared, motionless, as a bright, glossy eye looked over across the water. For a moment, it was as though they were locked in synchrony. The next, the Squid had disappeared from view.

He huffed out a breath of disappointment. Having been sorted into Hufflepuff, he hadn't been placed in the dungeons, where he would have been sure to get views of the Black Lake. It had been the first sighting of the Squid since the school started. It felt as though the unofficial school mascot was coming out to greet him, to tell him that yes, Rubeus Hagrid belonged here also.

See? the Squid seemed to say. I'm bigger than all the other creatures in this lake, and I don't let it bother me.

There was only an imperceptible shift in his periphery before Rubeus realised someone was standing a little aways from him. Another student. He had never been snuck on before. His vision might not have been the best, but he was very sharp of hearing.

Before he could decide whether to greet the other boy or simply nod and duck away, his schoolmate spoke up. "You're Rubeus Hagrid, aren't you?" the boy said, his voice soft and melodious and very pleasant to the ears.

Rubeus blinked in surprise at the other boy, who was a third of his size. At the start of the year, a few of the older students had wanted to ask him various things in order to recruit them into their clubs. That was before they realised how clumsy he was. Broomsticks had not been made with half-giants in mind. Even his father had grumbled about the "dastardly evil twigs."

"That I am," he finally recovered to say. "And—and yourself?"

"I'm Riddle," the other boy said, and he smiled at Rubeus. "Tom Riddle. I'm in the same year as you."

"Riddle," he repeated. "How d'ye do, Riddle?" He couldn't keep from blinking at the other boy, who was the first student to smile so winsomely at him. "Ain't—ain't you cold, Riddle?"

Tom Riddle smiled again and turned his face up into the falling snow. "Of course not. We've magic, haven't we?"

That was when Rubeus looked down and saw the circle around Riddle's feet that was comprised of melted snow. "A warming spell," Tom said, eyeing him. "Do you know it?"

He was almost ashamed to admit that he didn't. He didn't want to confess to anything that would lose him his new friend.

"I expect you don't need it, do you," said his new friend, eyeing his great big build speculatively. "Not as large as you are. Tell me, is it true? Are you—immune to certain magic?"

"I—well, I've no idea," Rubeus stammered. All at once, he felt stupid and incompetent again. He was blushing despite the cold.

Moving with a speed that seemed to him like a blur of movement, the small boy took out his wand and sent a spell flying through the air. Rubeus was too slow to dodge it, and he smacked his cheek an instant after it landed. He looked down at his hand. There was nothing. His cheek tickled, like a bee had run into him at full force and wiggled its tiny wings against his skin.

"Impressive," the boy whispered.

"Wha—what was that?" Rubeus said, taking two steps away.

Riddle smiled at him, a sweet, friendly smile. Rubeus thought he looked so nice and charming, the sort of boy that could make friends with anyone in school and someone everyone wanted to befriend. "It was a very strong stinging hex. It should have left a very nasty welt on your skin that would have taken a week to recover from. But it didn't affect you at all, did it?"

"Er, no, I can't say I felt anything," Rubeus said awkwardly. He smiled hesitantly and shifted on his feet.

"I'm sure we'll be good friends, Hagrid," Riddle said decisively. Rubeus immediately nodded in agreement. Something about the boy was naturally authoritative, and he was eager to obey. "Only, it's probably not a good idea to speak in the school itself. I like to study there. But out here, we'll be able to speak freely, yes?"

Rubeus found himself nodding dumbly. A secret friendship. He had read about such things before. It was even more special than one acknowledged in front of everyone, wasn't it?

Friends, Rubeus thought dreamily as Riddle waved and walked back to the school alone, that ring of melted snow expanding around his feet as he walked away, almost as if the small boy were floating instead of stomping through the sea of white.

Friends. It sounded like the most magical word he had heard since arriving in Hogwarts.