"D'you think he'll like it?" Ron asked as he, Harry, Dawn, and Hermione hiked across the campus to Hagrid's home, each wrapped tightly in winter clothing and Weasley sweaters to ward off the cold.
"I think it's cool," Dawn offered. "Not that I know this guy or anything, but Spike says he likes beer."
"That's for sure," Harry said with a shake of his head, remembering Hagrid's misadventures at the Pub. For Christmas, they bought him a magical ale-brewing kit in Hogsmeade. The package was so big that they had to send Pig, Hedwig, and two school owls to pick it up; he and Ron each gripped an end of it for this part of the trip. After an agonizingly long trek, the groundskeeper's house came into sight.
"I hope he's home," Hermione said, noting the absence of smoke billowing from the chimney.
"Where else would he be on Christmas morning?" Ron asked, drawing a shrug. They balanced the box precariously on the top stone step and Harry knocked. No one answered. He knocked again and the door swung open a bit.
"Guess you guys don't have to lock your doors much here, huh?" Dawn said. Seeing the look passed around by her new friends, she continued, "or maybe you do, and this is not a good thing."
"Come on," Harry said as he hoisted the brewing kit, "let's drop this off and see if we can find him and tell him he …" Walking through the door, he and Ron nearly dropped the package. Hagrid's inert form lay slumped in the chair by the hearth, snoring peacefully. Fang lay next to him, all four paws bound with thick rope. Upon closer inspection, Hagrid's hands and feet were tied tightly to the chair.
Harry rushed over and shook the half-giant awake.
"Huh … wha' … who …" He opened his eyes. "Harry! What are yeh doin' here?"
"We came to drop off your present, Hagrid. Why are you in that chair?" Hagrid's eyes darted around the room.
"Oh, uh, well, uh, yeh see, I was having a nap is all. Nothin' ter be concerned about." He tried to rise and noticed the ropes. "Darn! Little buggers! Umm, can one of yeh…" he canted his head toward the ropes apologetically. Hermione pulled out her wand and freed them both.
"What on Earth did that to you, Hagrid?"
"Nothin' ter worry about, Hermione. Jus' a li'l mishap with some creatures fer class. Bes' be retrievin' 'em, so …" He saw Dawn standing in the doorway, confused. "'Ello. Who might you be?"
"I'm Dawn. I'm a … uh … friend of Willow and Spike."
"Oh," Hagrid boomed, smiling and walking over. "Yer the nibblet tha' Spike's always on about. Rubeus Hagrid's tha name, pleased ter meetcha." He gave Dawn a warm handshake that nearly swallowed her, then turned to the others. Need ta get them out soon's I can, he thought, then get Spike and go after those buggers. He noticed the gift sitting on the floor and inspected it.
"Aww, yeh din't hafta go an' do tha'." Delighted, Hagrid unwrapped the kit and thanked them profusely.
"Hagrid, what is going on?" Hermione adopted her Finals Voice. "What creatures did you order that know how to use ropes?"
He blushed and stared at his feet sheepishly.
"Thought it might be fun ter have yeh tryin' something new, some creatures tha' could talk back an' whatnot." Three pairs of eyes went wide. "Got three insteada two, made things a tad tricky. Not ta worry, though. No harm in 'em, really. I jus' wouldnae let them run abou' the campus is all, an' they got upset. They can get a wee bit testy, imps can."
"IMPS!" Ron and Hermione shouted. Dawn and Harry had no idea what imps were.
"Shouldna tol' yeh that," he muttered.
"Hagrid, please tell me they weren't pink," Hermione said. He looked away. "Oh dear."
"What's an imp?" Dawn asked.
"Mischief demons," Ron said. "D'you know about house-elves?" Dawn nodded. Spike had explained about them when he told her about Dobby's role in Harry's rescue. "Imps are sort of the same, 'cept they like to cause trouble instead of take orders. They look like chubby kids that're about this tall," he gestured three feet off the ground, "with wings and little horns. Different colors have different powers. Fred and George once brought home a gold one. My mum almost threw 'em out of the house permanently after the imps enchanted all of the dishes to sing when they had food on 'em."
"Pink ones are the worst," Hermione added. "They have the most power and the most brains. I read that they like to play, but that they can be really prickly and you mustn't anger them. Are they full grown?" She asked Hagrid. He shook his head.
"Got some half-grown ones. Figured they'd be simpler ter handle."
"How long ago did they get out?"
"Showed up late las' night, an' I let them out to feed 'em this morning," Hagrid said. "Yeh shouldn't worry. I'll have 'em under control soon enough. But…" Hagrid paused, looking guilty, "don't be sayin' anythin' ter Dumbledore jus' yet." They nodded.
"We won't say a word, Hagrid," Harry said. "We'll help you bring them back."
"I don' think yeh…" The three of them gave their best impressions of Willow's resolve face.
"Where should we look first?" Harry asked.
"Do you really think they'll be up here when they weren't anywhere else?" Dawn and Harry had elected to look in the Divination tower last.
"No idea, but Hagrid said they like high places where they can see everything." They had already investigated the roofs and the higher floors without finding the imps. Harry offered to let Dawn go back and stay with the Scoobies, but she insisted that this would be more fun.
"Besides," she had said outside of Hagrid's, "tracking monsters is totally the hobby of choice for Sunnydale teenagers. I'm down with it."
Harry almost wished she had decided to leave. From the moment they met, her presence had unsettled him, and here at Hogwarts the effect was no different. Besides her good looks, Dawn was friendly and far more approachable than Cho had been, which somehow made her equally formidable. He had not quite reached the crush stage, though she discomfited him enough that he found himself rehearsing every sentence in his head before he spoke.
They climbed into the tower and looked around.
"Weird," Dawn said, taking in all of the divination equipment. "We have some of this stuff at the Magic Box, but Tara says…" she trailed off, not wanting to insult one of Harry's professors.
"Tara says what?"
"Most of this stuff doesn't really work," she said hurriedly. Harry laughed uproariously. "What?"
"I'm not surprised," he said when he got himself under control. "Professor Trelawney is … different. She thinks it does, but I bet Tara knows better." He explained about her death predictions, and soon Dawn was laughing as loudly as he had been. "Does Tara know a lot about divination?"
"She knows, like, tarot cards and stuff. I don't really know how much else. We never got into it too much. On the Hellmouth, it's better not to know sometimes." Harry nodded. "Where to next?"
"I'm not sure. I think…" The shattering glass cut him off abruptly as an imp burst through the window. He tackled Dawn to the ground, shielding her from the shards.
"Oopsy," said a childlike voice. "Me sorry. Me not finding Moe or Larry, so me be trying here." Harry rolled off of Dawn and looked up at the speaker. As promised, the imp looked like a short child with pink skin and leathery wings. Nub-like horns protruded from its forehead, and it seemed to be wearing a white diaper.
"Moe or Larry?" Harry asked. The imp nodded.
"Yep. Me come with Moe and Larry. Me Curly."
"You've got to be kidding," Dawn said. "Who named you?"
"Moe be naming me. He be watching muggle teevee," the imp stretched the syllables out, "and be liking the names." Dawn groaned.
"I don't get it," Harry said.
"You don't know the Three Stooges?" Dawn said.
"No."
"Ooh, Stooges fun. Not as fun as me, Moe, and Larry though. We fun." Dawn's eyes widened.
"Does … does Moe like to have fun like the Three Stooges?" Dawn asked the imp with fear in her voice. All they needed would be mischief demons who appreciated physical comedy. Thankfully, the imp shook his head.
"Curly, can you … can you tell us what happened earlier? At Hagrid's house?"
"Ooh, mean giant. He not fun. Me not like him." The imp gave them an eerily appraising eye, and Dawn realized that, despite his childish voice and appearance, the demon had intelligence. "You be friends of his, yes? Trying to find Moe, Larry, and Curly?" Cautiously, Harry nodded.
The imp's visage turned angry, and he waved his hands to manipulate his magic.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Dawn said, frantically waving her own hands. "No need for that. Really. Just, like, chill with the mojo. We're not going to cage you or attack you or tie you up or anything. We promise." His expression softened and his hands halted. "You're looking for your friends, right?"
"Me looking." The imp's face fell, and she thought he might cry. "They no wanting me to find them, though."
"Why not?" Harry asked.
"They … they not liking me …" The imp sobbed, clutching his face in his hands. The other two raised their eyebrows.
"I thought that they were your friends?" The imp cried harder. Harry felt terrible. "I didn't mean to upset you."
"They send Curly away. Say me not fun enough because me no like to hurt peoples. But m-me have nowhere else to go, so me go with them when they be applying for new home."
"Applying?"
"People need imps for friends. Moe and Larry be wanting to cause bad things, and be applying to go away," he wailed, as if it explained everything. "Me come along uninvited, because me be having no other friends. Now they be leaving me to get away and have mean fun on peoples."
"He got ditched," Dawn said quietly to Harry, "and then tried to follow and they ditched him again. That sucks."
"Moe and Larry sound bad," he agreed. Raising his voice, he spoke to Curly. "So they're here to have mean fun, right?" Curly removed his hands from his tear-stained face and nodded. "Do you want to stop them?"
"Me not wanting anyone to get hurt. They liking the hurt very much."
"You can come with us, if you want," Dawn said, picking up Harry's thought. "We need to find them before they have too much mean fun."
"Then me be having no friends at all," he moaned, breaking down again.
Dawn rose and approached him. "We'll be your friends. I'm Dawn, and this is Harry," she said, pointing to the wizard. She touched a cool and slightly slimy shoulder; he flinched but didn't pull away. "We have other friends here, too. I think Moe and Larry will be having fun on them. If you help us stop them, our friends will like you a lot."
"Really?" His eyes, solid white orbs, widened at her words. Dawn found them extremely creepy but controlled her reaction to avoid scaring him off. "Me be liking that very much. Curly be helping his new friends right now!"
He grabbed each of their hands and leapt out the window, dragging the screaming pair into the empty sky.