Chapter 32 Hagrid's Past Revealed
We spent the rest of the night in the Great Hall.
I saw Ron and Harry eyeing me and I noticed that Draco had joined them. He was also looking at me but he didn't come over and say anything to me. The boys must have told him what happened.
The last dance was a slow dance and I was more than happy to rest my head on Cassius's chest and listen to his heartbeat.
When the dance ended we applauded the Weird Sisters.
"I'm glad this is over. I want to go to bed." I yawned as Cassius put his hand on my back and led me out of the hall.
"You are looking a little sleepy." He chuckled above me.
I rubbed my eyes and grinned sheepishly up at him.
He leaned down and placed another kiss on my lips.
"You are so beautiful." He whispered into my ear.
I grinned up at him.
"You're really handsome by the way. I'm sorry I didn't say so sooner." I told him.
"Don't worry about it. You can tell me I'm handsome tomorrow." He said.
I laughed as he walked me to the stairs.
"Oh, good. Potter." I looked ahead of me and Draco, Ron, and Harry were standing on the staircase.
"Warrington." Harry greeted him.
Draco gave me a nod and pointed to his hair.
"Are you okay?" He asked as we stopped to talk.
"Yeah. It was Christensen again." I sighed.
He rolled his eyes.
"I don't know what she has against you." He said.
"That's okay." I shrugged.
"Potter, have you figured out that egg yet?" Cassius asked Harry.
"Of course he has." Ron snapped at Cassius.
Cassius looked down at me.
"He hasn't. Ron's just feeling threatened that Hermione and I went with people to the ball that weren't Gryffindors." I said bluntly.
Ron flushed at what I said.
"Listen, Potter. I owe you for telling me about the dragons. Just put the egg under the water and listen to it." Cassius said.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Put the egg under water, and listen to it." Cassius repeated himself. "Take it to the Prefect's bath. It's the fourth door to the left of the statue of Boris the Bewildered on the fifth floor. The password is 'pine fresh.' And stick the egg under the water."
Draco looked at me with wide eyes.
"Seriously?"
"Cassius and I haven't talked about Harry. I didn't know he figured out the egg." I told them.
I didn't shrug my shoulders.
Ron glared at Cassius but kept his mouth shut for once.
"Er - thanks, I guess?" Harry looked at Ron and then to Draco.
"Goodnight, Cassie." Cassius turned to me and placed a kiss on my cheek.
"Goodnight, Cassius." I smiled up at him.
He nodded to the boys before turning around and heading towards the Slytherin common room.
"That was weird." Draco spoke up.
"Agreed." I nodded.
"How could you go to the ball with him?" Ron asked me angrily.
"Because he asked me first? And not as a last resort?" I snapped back at him.
Harry put his hand on Ron's shoulder and steered him up the stairs.
Draco looked at me.
"So, you and Warrington, eh?" He raised an eyebrow at me.
"Yup. Didn't even know I could like him until he asked me to the ball." I admitted.
Draco nodded and looked around the entrance hall.
"I better get going. Have a good night, Cassie." Draco said to me.
"Good night, Draco." I waved to him.
I picked up my dress and started to climb up the stairs.
I heard the whispers and felt the stares on me as I went on my way.
I didn't choose to show off my scars, so as soon as I was able to cover up I was going too.
When I entered the common room, it was mostly empty.
George was sitting on the couch with his head in his hands.
"George?" I asked.
He looked up and his eyes were red.
I didn't know if it was because he was tired or because he was crying…
"Hey Cassie." He stretched his arms over his head as he looked at my scar on my shoulder.
"Why are you still up?" I asked cautiously.
"I was waiting for you." He said, leaning back into the couch.
"Why?" I asked.
I sounded rude but I wasn't going to apologize for that.
"I wanted to hear about your night." He said, keeping his voice even.
I paused for a minute. I didn't want to speak harshly to him. I would love to be friends with him again.
"Are you wondering because you're jealous, or because you want to be friends again?" I asked him.
His face had a mix of emotions on them. But he didn't answer.
"Answer honestly." I told him.
He nodded and leaned forward on his knees.
He was really nervous about this.
"I want to be friends again, but I am jealous. I'm working on getting over that because you have tried to give me the space I need but I haven't done the same to you. I've pushed you to the point where you've shouted at me for my actions… I am trying, I just don't know where to start." He finally answered.
I nodded at him.
"How about we don't start with what I did at the ball? How about we start with tomorrow and we just go about our day? We say hello and we start eating breakfast in the same group. And that will extend to Draco as well. He and Harry are now friends. Not good ones but they are working on it." I told him.
He got a disgusted look on his face and started to shake his head.
"You've seen Draco and Neville sitting next to each other! Draco is trying!"
I was too tired for this.
He took a deep breath, held it, and then let it go.
"Fine. But if he says one wrong thing to anyone. I'm done trying to be friendly with Malfoy." He stood up.
"Okay. I'll take what I can get." I nodded to him.
"Goodnight, princess." He said.
"We're not there yet." I pointed a finger at him.
"Sorry, sorry." He sighed and put his hands up.
I went up to bed, just wanting to get out of the dress and go to sleep.
When I got upstairs Hermione was sitting on her bed with her arms folded. Lavender and Parvarti were giggling about their dates.
"Help me out?" I asked Hermione.
She nodded and helped me out my dress. I kept my back turned to the others so that they wouldn't see the scars on my stomach. When I was in my pajamas I kept my hair up. I'll take it out in the morning.
"What happened?" I asked Hermione.
"Ron's angry that I went with Viktor still." She answered as she settled on her bed.
"He's just jealous. He thought that we were going to end up not being asked. I'd just ignore him." I said as I got into my bed.
"How did you two end up being asked out by two of the Champions?" Lavender asked.
"They didn't wait until the last possible minute to ask us." I answered her, laying my head down as Ariel jumped up to share my pillow with me and started to purr.
Parvati made a noise and turned away.
"I'm sorry that Harry wasn't much of a dancer, Parvati. But I'm glad you did end up dancing." I said to her.
She didn't acknowledge what I said, but I hope she wasn't mad about it.
I woke up with Ariel pressed against my back and Hermione was still asleep.
I pulled away from Ariel, who made a nose of annoyance when I moved but I patted her and Ariel laid her head back down. I went and took a shower. Getting my hair out of it's braids and washing my face of the makeup I left on. And just to feel clean after last night.
When I got out of the shower, Hermione was sitting up and rubbing her eyes.
"Good morning sunshine." I greeted her.
I was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a large t-shirt. It was too warm for a long sleeve shirt but I wanted my shoulder scar covered. I couldn't do a lot for my flames. So I didn't bother.
"Good morning. What happened last night? I never got to ask." Hermione said when she went to get ready to shower herself.
"Christensen got me again. She snuck the potion when Cassius wasn't looking." I told her as I sat on my bed.
She nodded and went to take her shower.
When she got out her hair was back to its usual bushy look.
"Do you want to straighten out your hair again?" I asked more out of curiosity.
"No, I don't want to have to keep buying Sleekeazy's Hair Potion." She said when she picked up Crookshanks.
I picked up Ariel and we went downstairs.
Whoever was downstairs in the common room was still bleary eyed, and yawns were part of conversations.
Ron and Harry came downstairs and rather than fight, Ron and Hermione remained friendly with each other. But had oddly formal interactions.
'Bloody hell, Ron.' I sighed to myself.
Harry and Ron wasted no time in finding us and filling us in on what they overheard between Madame Maxime and Hagrid.
I was surprised to hear that Hagrid was half-giant, but Hermione wasn't.
"Well, I thought he must be," Hermione shrugged, "I knew he couldn't be pure giant because they're about twenty feet tall. But honestly, all this hysteria about giants. They can't all be horrible… It's the same sort of prejudice that people have towards werewolves… It's just bigotry, isn't it?"
Ron shook his head at Harry.
"You can't claim an entire species to be bad if there are good ones. We just hear more about the bad ones because they're doing wrong. If we became friendly with the good ones, werewolf or giant, I'm sure things would be different." I answered.
Ron again shook his head at Harry.
I rolled my eyes at Ron.
Ron would take a lot of convincing.
I didn't know if Harry had put the egg in water yet. He wouldn't talk to me about it.
He was upset about something.
I think it had something to do with Cho Chang and Cedric Diggory walking around holding hands. Because when he would see them he would walk in the opposite direction or try to force a different topic of conversation.
I never pressed the issue with him.
When term started, our first class was Care of Magical Creatures.
No one was looking forward to being out in the snow, even if Ron did point out that the skrewts did a good job of keeping us warm.
But instead of Hagrid waiting for us, there was a woman instead.
She had short gray hair and a very prominent chin.
"Hurry up, now, the bell rang five minutes ago!" She barked as we struggled through the snow.
"Who're you? Where's Hagrid?" Ron asked the woman.
"My name is Professor Grubbly-Plank. I am your temporary Care of Magical Creatures teacher." She answered briskly.
"Where's Hagrid?" Harry repeated loudly.
"He is indisposed," Grubbly-Plank kept her answer short.
Soft and unpleasant laughter was behind us.
I turned around and Draco was hurrying towards us. The rest of the Slytherins were following with Parkinson in the lead.
"This way, please," Grubbly-Plank, turned sharply and led us around Hagrid's cabin.
"What's going on?" I asked Draco when he joined us.
Harry ran ahead to ask Grubbly-Plank about Hagrid some more.
"There's an article about him in the prophet. He's a half-giant!" Draco hissed.
"Yeah, Ron and Harry overheard him at the Ball." I whispered back.
He blinked at me.
"You're not disgusted?" He asked.
"When has Hagrid ever been harsh with us? He is the kindest and most considerate person I know!" I retorted.
Past the paddock with the Beauxbatons horses staying. And a little away, was a unicorn tethered to a tree.
I stumbled in my steps, but quickly regained my balance.
Hermione turned towards me, "is that…?"
"No, it's not Celeste. I thought it was for a second." I told her.
"How did she get it? They're supposed to be really hard to catch!" Lavender whispered behind us.
I turned back to Draco but before we could continue our conversation Grubbly-Plank barked again.
"Boys keep back! They prefer the woman's touch, unicorns. Girls to the front, and approach with care, come on, easy does it…"
I stayed back with Harry, Ron, and Draco.
"What d'you reckon's wrong with him? You don't think a skrewt -?" Harry asked Ron.
"He wasn't attacked, if that's what you're thinking." Draco said softly.
Gregory joined us, looking like he ate something foul.
"Then what is it?" Ron asked.
Draco reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.
"Here, see for yourselves." Draco.
I read it out loud since all of the boys from Gryffindor were listening.
" 'Dumbledore's Giant Mistake
Albus Dumbledore, eccentric headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has never been afraid to make controversial staff appointments, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. In September of this year, he hired Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody, the notoriously jinx-happy ex-Auror, to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, a decision that caused many raised eyebrows at the Ministry of Magic, given Moody's well-known habit of attacking anybody who makes a sudden movement in his presence. Mad-Eye Moody, however, looks responsible and kindly when set beside the part-human Dumbledore employs to teach Care of Magical Creatures.
Rubeus Hagrid, who admits to being expelled from Hogwarts in his third year, has enjoyed the position of gamekeeper at the school ever since, a job secured for him by Dumbledore. Last year, however, Hagrid used his mysterious influence over the headmaster to secure the additional post of Care of Magical Creatures teacher, over the heads of many better-qualified candidates.
An alarmingly large and ferocious-looking man, Hagrid has been using his newfound authority to terrify the students in his care with a succession of horrific creatures. While Dumbeldore turns a blind eye, Hagrid has maimed several pupils during a series of lessons that many admit to being 'very frightening.'
"My friend was attacked by a hippogriff, and my boyfriend, Vincent Crabbe got a bad bite off a flobberworm," says Pansy Parkinsen, a fourth year-student. Her friend wished to remain anonymous. "We hate Hagrid, but we're too scared to say anything."
Hagrid has no intention of ceasing his campaign of intimidation, however. In conversation with a Daily Prophet reporter last month, he admitted breeding creatures he has dubbed 'Blast-Ended Skrewts,' highly dangerous crosses between manticores and fire-crabs. The creation of new breeds of magical creatures is, of course, an activity usually closely observed by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Hagrid, however, considers himself to be above such petty restrictions.
"I was just having some fun," he says before hastily changing the subject.
As if this were not enough, the Daily Prophet has now unearthed evidence that Hagrid is not - as he has always pretended - a pure-blood wizard. He is not, in fact, pure human. His mother, we can exclusively reveal, is none other than the giantess Fridwulfa, whose whereabouts are currently unknown.
Bloodthirsty and brutal, the giants brought themselves to the point of extinction by warring amongst themselves during the last century. The handful that remained joined the ranks of He-Who-Must-Be-Named, and were responsible for some of the worst mass Muggle killings of his reign of terror.
While many of the giants who served He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named were killed by Aurors working against the Dark Side, Fridwulfa was not among them. It is possible she escaped to one of the giant communities still existing in foreign mountain ranges. If his antics during Care of Magical Creatures lessons are any guide, however, Fridwulfa's son appears to have inherited her brutal nature.
In a bizarre twist, Hagrid is reputed to have developed a close friendship with the boy who brought around You-Know-Who's fall from power - thereby driving Hagrid's own mother, like the rest of You-Know-Who's supporters, into hiding. Perhaps Harry Potter is unaware of the unpleasant truth about his large friend - but Albus Dumbledore surely has a duty to ensure that Harry Potter, along with his fellow students, is warned about the dangers of association with part-giants."
"Hey look, I'm not mentioned at all. I would have thought that she would have thrown in something about Black and his daughter." I said when I stopped reading.
"How did she find out?" Ron whispered.
"What d'you mean, 'we all hate Hagrid'?" Harry spat. "What's this rubbish about him" - he pointed at Crabbe who was shuffling on his feet.
I noticed that without a set leader, they didn't know what to do with themselves.
"- getting a bad bite off a flobberworm? They haven't even got teeth!"
"Parkinson clearly thought she could put an end to his teaching career." Malfoy sighed. "Half-giant… half the Slytherin's thought he had swallowed a bottle of Skele-gro when he was young." Draco shook his head.
I was watching the rest of the Slytherin boys. Blaise Zabini and I hadn't had a conversation since our first year, but he was watching me carefully.
"What do you think, Blaise?" I asked him.
He shook his head.
"I want no part of something like." He answered.
"Is that because you don't have your own opinion, or you're letting others dictate your opinion for you?" I asked.
Draco slapped his hand on my shoulder but I stood my ground.
Blaise's nostrils flared at what I said, but before he could retort Grubbly-Plank shouted again.
"Are you paying attention over there?"
I turned around and away from Blaise. Either he would hate me for that comment, or it would start a reaction.
"I hope she stays, that woman!" Parvati said loudly as we all headed to the castle to warm up and for lunch. "That's more what I thought Care of Magical Creatures would be like… proper creatures like unicorns, not monsters…"
"What about Hagrid?" Harry asked angrily
"What about him? He can still be gamekeeper, can't he?" Her voice was hard.
She had a point, but I knew she was being mean because Harry didn't treat her the best at the ball.
She wouldn't shut up about how she and that boy from Beauxbatons made arrangements to meet in Hogsmeade.
That was a really good lesson," Hermione said when we entered the Great Hall.
Cassius waved at me from where he was sitting.
Parkenson and Christensen were sitting next to each other, and I couldn't make out any distinguishing features on the students around them. Just their hair colors.
"I didn't know half the things Professor Grubbly-Plank told us about uni -" Hermione was saying.
"Look at this!" Harry snarled and shoved the Daily Prophet article to her.
Draco walked with us as we went to sit down. Gregory had joined us, and surprisingly, Blaise had started to join us but he must have changed his mind.
"How did that horrible Skeeter woman find out? You don't think Hagrid told her?"
"No," Harry threw himself into a chair furiously. "He never even told us, did he? I reckon she was so mad he wouldn't give her loads of horrible stuff about me, she went ferreting around to get him back."
"Maybe she heard him telling Madame Maxime in the ball," Hermione said quietly.
We both looked at each other at that.
"We'd have seen her in the garden!" Ron exclaimed. "Anyway, she's not supposed to come into school anymore, Hagrid said Dumbledore banned her…"
"Maybe she's got an Invisibility Cloak," Harry said to Ron.
I shook my head. They didn't see but Hermione did.
"Do you know how Skeeter is getting in?" Draco asked, keeping his voice low as Ron and Harry talked.
"No. But I can try and find out." I told him.
He nodded.
Ron and Harry had forgotten that I could try to find out. I think it was because I refused to do it with Neville.
"You do want him back?"
Harry had poked me in the shoulder at that.
"Of course I do!" I answered promptly.
"I - well, I'm not going to pretend it didn't make a nice change, having a proper Care of Magical Creatures lesson for once - " Hermione started.
"Oh come on." I rolled my eyes. "For Hagrid, hippogriffs and those skrewts are proper lessons!"
Draco flushed at the mention of the hippogriffs but didn't say anything.
"I liked the hippogriffs." Gregory said.
We all blinked at him but he ignored us.
"Of course I want Hagrid back." Hermione finally said when Harry turned to glare at her.
Back to our usual posting! Still sorry about last week!
Shout out to Aurayafee for adding 'The Treasured Philosopher's Stone' to your favorites list, and for adding me to your favorite list too!
Shout out to LunaChaseFoster, Awritingbookworm, Pamela Hutchins, for leaving a review!
LunaChaseFoster: I'm glad it was worth the wait!
Awritingbookworm: I am sorry to hear that, and I hope that doesn't deter you from reading the rest of the story! It does get better, don't worry!
Pamela Hutchins: I'm actually working on that backstory of Christensen! It won't be put into this story though. And I agree, Cassie is just a little too hung up on her scars, but we've also got to remember; she's being forced to show her true self. She doesn't want Harry to feel bad for what happened because she got them trying to help him in his adventures. I would have a fit too! Unless you're talking about Christensen, then that'll be revealed on a later date lol.
