Chapter Ninety-One: Grawp

Fred and George's departure, aside from becoming legendary immediately, seemed to have caused a civil war within Hogwarts.

Umbridge and Filch had been entirely unable to remove the swamp, so it remained in place, and Filch had to make sure the students managed to get across it to get to their classrooms.

A niffler had been floated into Umbridge's office through a window, and it had all but destroyed it looking for shiny things.

Members of the Inquisitorial Squad found themselves suffering from the strangest accidents, yet no one ever seemed to have any idea how that could have happened.

The teachers, still forbidden from mentioning anything aside from their subjects by Educational Decree Number Twenty-six, did not investigate the claims the members of the Inquisitorial Squad made. Snape made an attempt if it happened to be Malfoy doing the complaining, but even Harry and Ron could see he wasn't really trying to do much.

Fred and George's Skiving Snackboxes had been sold in such large numbers that most of Umbridge's classes now all began to spontaneously vomit, faint, or develop fevers or nosebleeds the moment she entered the classrooms. Though Umbridge had placed at least four successive classes in detention, she hadn't managed to find the cause of the mysterious symptoms and had no choice but to let the students, who claimed to be suffering from Umbridge-itis, leave the classroom en masse.

In retaliation, she allowed the members of the Inquisitorial Squad to do as they pleased, meaning that soon it had become almost common for duels to break out in the hallways.

Daphne was glad she'd become so good at it, because being from the House with by far the most Inquisitorial Squad members meant that, at least in the first few days of open conflict, she was accosted quite often, as were the other members of S.I.N., and, of course, Harry.

It didn't take very long, however, for Harry to make it clear that he wasn't the best duelist in the Order of the Lightning Bolt for nothing, and he effortlessly won every fight he got caught up in. Following the advice of Daphne and Hermione, he always fought back with the weakest spells possible, so as not to get in further trouble, but even then, he didn't face any serious problems. It was mostly just difficult for him not to hex the people attacking him into sea slugs.

In any case, even Malfoy had soon decided that fighting Harry might not be the smartest thing for him to do, and he quickly reverted to just making sneering remarks and docking points, which lost its effectiveness rather quickly when Gryffindor's hourglass had emptied completely. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were likewise nearly drained. Only Slytherin remained decently filled.

The constant patrols of Filch, the Inquisitorial Squad, and Umbridge herself, however, meant that it had become almost impossible to have Order meetings anymore. Getting everyone to and from the Room of Requirement without being detected was proving to be a real pain.

Daphne suggested using the frequent duels in the hallways for practice: Harry would simply write the name of a spell on his fake Galleon, and people would practice them if they happened to get caught up in a fight. Hermione wasn't too fond of the method, but it definitely seemed to work: the Order members won far more duels than they lost.

Daphne's birthday took place among all of this chaos, though there wasn't much in the way of presents; all mail into the school was heavily screened, and it was impossible to get in more than just some candy.

The final Quidditch match of the season took place a short while after Daphne's birthday. Gryffindor was in the lead, but with Fred and George gone, they had needed to find new Beaters, neither of whom were very good.

Harry, however, would still play. It was something of a miracle that Umbridge hadn't banned him from this last match, but perhaps she was simply afraid that there would be another inquiry, which would likely harm her reputation outside of Hogwarts too much for her to risk it. Consequently, Daphne was pretty sure that Gryffindor would, once again, win the Quidditch Cup.

Still, she didn't want to miss it, and on the day of the match she took her place in the stands with Ginny and Hermione to cheer for the Gryffindors. The game had only barely begun, however, when Hagrid turned up.

"Listen," he whispered, "can yeh come with me? Now? While ev'ryone's watchin' the match?"

"Er, can't it wait until the match is over?" Ginny asked.

"No," Hagrid said. "It's gotta be now…while ev'ryone's lookin' the other way…Please?"

Hagrid looked like he'd been in a fairly heavy fight himself. His nose was bleeding and he had two black eyes. Daphne wondered what could possibly have done that to him, as she doubted the Inquisitorial Squad would've gone after him.

She exchanged a glance with Ginny and Hermione, neither of whom seemed all that willing to come along. Remembering the skrewts from the year before, neither was Daphne, but she wasn't about to leave Hagrid hanging, and Harry would win the Quidditch match anyway.

"Sure, I'll come," she said.

"Me too," Hermione said, though she sounded a bit resigned.

Ginny smiled wryly at Daphne. "Well, I did want to get involved in your adventures…I'll come, too…if that's okay, Hagrid?"

Hagrid nodded. "O' course…I really 'ppreciate it, all of yeh…I jus' hope she doesn' notice us goin'…"

"Who, Umbridge?" Daphne asked. "She won't. She's got the Inquisitorial Squad here, probably to curb Gryffindor's victory celebrations…"

They snuck out of the pitch and walked past Hagrid's cabin, in the direction of the forest.

"We're going into the Forest?" Ginny asked.

Hagrid nodded. "Yeah. C'mon now, quick, before someone spots us…" He picked up a crossbow that was leaning against a tree and led the way into the gloom.

"Why the crossbow?" Daphne asked. "Last time you carried that thing with you, it was because Voldemort was in there."

Hagrid jumped when he heard the name. "Don' say that name! An' anyway, it's not him. The, er, the centaurs aren' too happy with me right now because of Firenze, see."

"You helped him after they banished him?" Daphne asked.

Hagrid scoffed. "Banished? Nearly killed, more like. If I hadn' stepped in I reckon they'd've kicked Firenze ter death…He had half the herd onto him…"

"And you stopped it by yourself?" Ginny asked.

"'Course I did, couldn' stand by an' watch 'em kill him, could I?" Hagrid said. "But they weren' too pleased with me before that, anyway…c'mon, yeh'll see in a bit…"

Hagrid fell quiet, and Daphne, Ginny, and Hermione followed him deeper and deeper into the Forest. This was a different route entirely than they'd taken the time they'd gone to visit the centaurs, so Daphne silently hoped they wouldn't run into them. While she didn't have any trouble with them, it wouldn't surprise her if Bane had decided that the centaurs had trouble with her, because she'd been in the Forbidden Forest asking them for help before.

It went darker, the deeper they went into the forest, and the path was so overgrown that Daphne soon had small cuts and scratches all over her arms and legs.

"Hagrid, would it be alright if we lit our wands?" Hermione asked quietly.

"Er…all righ'," Hagrid said. "In fact…"

He stopped walking, and Hermione walked into him. Ginny, who was right behind her, caught her before she fell.

"Maybe we bes' jus' stop fer a momen', so I can…fill yeh in," Hagrid said.

"Good," Hermione said, and she, Daphne, and Ginny lit up their wands.

"Righ'," Hagrid said. "Well…see…the thing is…I'm pretty sure Umbridge is goin' ter banish me soon. Getting' me sacked wasn' enough fer her, an' with Dumbledore gone…I don' think I'll be aroun' here, much longer. It ain't the end of the world…I'll be able ter help the Order a lot more then…But if I go…I'll need some help. From you, an' Harry an' Ron, if they're willin'."

"Of course I'll help," Daphne said, quickly followed by Ginny and Hermione. Hagrid had been looking so shaky and uncertain that she'd probably have said that even if he'd asked them to take care of a skrewt. Well, if it was something like that, she could always run away screaming when the time came for her to actually do anything, though she already knew she wouldn't.

"I knew yeh'd say yes," Hagrid said emotionally, "But I won'…never…forget…Well…c'mon…jus' a little bit further through here…Watch yerselves, now, there's nettles…"

They walked on again for a good fifteen minutes, until Hagrid stopped them at the edge of a small clearing…in which lay something gigantic. For a short moment, Daphne thought it was a mound of earth, but then she noticed that it was breathing.

"Oh…Hagrid…is that…?" she asked.

"A giant, yes. My brother, actually," Hagrid said.

"Brother?" Ginny asked, sounding about as surprised as Daphne felt.

"Well…half-brother," Hagrid amended. "I couldn' leave him there…he was getting' bullied 'cause he's so small…"

"Small? Hermione said. "Small?"

"Yeah…See, me mother took up with another giant when she left me dad, an' she went an' had Grawp here — that's what it sounds like when he says his name — but she don' seem ter have like him much more'n she liked me…See, with giantesses, what counts is producin' good big kids, and he's always been on the runty side fer a giant…on'y sixteen foot…"

"Oh yes, tiny!" Hermione said, slightly hysterical. "Absolutely miniscule!"

"You must've had a job getting him back here…is that why it took you so long?" Daphne asked.

Hagrid nodded. "Could on'y travel by nigh' an' through wild country an' stuff…an' he kept wantin' ter go back, so it took even longer…"

"Oh Hagrid, why on earth didn't you let him? What do you think you're going to do with a violent giant who doesn't even want to be here?" Hermione asked.

"Well, now…'violent'…tha's a bit much," Hagrid muttered, twisting his hands in agitation. "I'll admit he's taken a couple a swings at me when he's bin in a bad mood, but he's gettin' better, loads better, settlin' down well…"

"Hagrid, you do realize that if he takes a swing at one of us, we're done for, right?" Daphne asked. "He might be small for a giant, but he's still much bigger and stronger than we are."

"He won' do that…" Hagrid said, though he didn't sound entirely convinced himself. "Anyway, all I wan' yeh ter do is to just come here an'…talk ter him fer a bit, when I'm gone. Like once a week, under Harry's Invisibility Cloak so yeh won' get in trouble…"

Daphne sighed. "I'll help you," she said. "But if I get killed, I swear I'll haunt you for the rest of your life. You mean the world to me, Hagrid, you really do, but this sort of thing…I don't think you fully realize just how fragile humans are compared to you. And I don't know if you've looked in a mirror, lately, but Grawp seems to have done a number on you."

"Aah, yeh'll be fine, I'm sure of it," Hagrid said. "Here, I'll wake him up to introduce yeh…"

"No, really, you don't have to–" Hermione began, but Hagrid had already walked over to Grawp, grabbed a long bough, and poked him with it to wake him up.

Grawp roared, clearly displeased at having been woken up, and Daphne could understand him completely. If someone had woken her up by poking her with a stick, she'd have cursed them into next week.

"All righ', Grawpy?" Hagrid said in a would-be cheery voice. "Had a nice sleep, eh?"

Grawp rubbed his eyes and then stood up surprisingly quickly, straining the ropes with which he'd been restrained.

Hagrid attempted to talk to him, but Grawp was more interested in food, snatching a bird's nest out of a tree and roaring when he discovered it didn't contain a bird. Grawp then decided to simply uproot the tree in its entirety, while Hagrid attempted to talk him out of it.

Then, at last, he managed to get Grawp's attention long enough to introduce Daphne, Ginny, and Hermione to him, though he introduced Hermione as 'Hermy' to make it easier for Grawp, who'd then attempted to grab her, much to Hagrid's consternation.

Hagrid, clearly now realizing that enough was enough, decided that it was time to head back to the Quidditch pitch, and soon they were walking back in silence.

Daphne had no idea what she'd be able to do for Grawp if Hagrid did get banished from Hogwarts. Even going near him seemed suicidal, let alone talking to him.

"Hold it!" Hagrid said. He loaded his crossbow, and Daphne and the others raised their wands.

"I thought that we told you, Hagrid, that you are no longer welcome here?" a deep voice said. A centaur with long, black hair, armed with a bow, emerged from the trees.

"How are yeh, Magorian?" Hagrid asked warily.

More centaurs emerged behind Magorian, Bane among them.

"So," Bane said with a nasty inflection. "We agreed, I think, what we would do if this human showed his face in the forest again?"

"'This human' now, am I?" Hagrid said testily. "Just fer stoppin' all of yeh committin' murder?"

"You ought not to have meddled, Hagrid. Our ways are not yours, nor are our laws. Firenze has betrayed and dishonored us," Magorian said.

"Has he?" Daphne asked. "Because he told me that he felt he had to come. What if he read a sign meant only for him?"

"Our readings are not so hasty, girl," Magorian said. "Whatever Firenze may have seen, he has not taken his time to verify it. He has entered human servitude, sharing our secrets with humans, and there is no recovery from such a disgrace."

"But what if he was right?" Daphne pressed. "What if you read the same sign he has, and it turns out the future does say that he was supposed to help us? You don't set yourself against the heavens, you told me that before.

"Perhaps Firenze really is a traitor. I don't know. But if he's following what has been foretold, if there's even a small chance he's doing the right thing…should you really execute him? Should you set yourselves against the will of the heavens? Because if Firenze has seen something that requires him to help humans, it means it has something to do with the war. Isn't that what the stars speak of? Isn't that what I saw last year?"

"Do not pretend to know the will of the heavens better than we do, human," Bane spat.

"Know? I don't know anything. That's why I came to you last year. But by your own admission, you mustn't be too hasty to assign meaning to signs. From what little I understand of your laws, Firenze's only real, confirmed transgression is being hasty with his interpretations of signs. Whether or not he is a traitor will depend on the way you interpret the sign Firenze says he saw," Daphne said.

Truthfully, she had no idea if saying any of this was smart. For all she knew, the centaurs would be heavily insulted that she even attempted to reason with them. Still, she felt she had to try. Some of the centaurs looked a bit uneasy, though, which Daphne felt had to be positive.

"We shall…reserve our judgment of Firenze until later," Bane said unwillingly. "But Hagrid has brought something into this forest that shouldn't be here."

"He's got as much right ter be here as any of yeh!" Hagrid said angrily.

"Don't you live on the other side of the forest, anyway?" Daphne asked.

"The entire forest is our home," Bane said.

"It's also home to a lot of other creatures, though, isn't it? Or do the Thestrals and unicorns and everything else bother you as well? I get that Grawp's a bit…destructive, but he's Hagrid's brother. I don't know how strong family ties are among centaurs, but surely you can understand why this is important to Hagrid, right? And you must've seen how he cares for the other creatures of the forest. If avoiding one single clearing is the price of that, is that really so much to ask? And don't tell me something like 'everything belongs to us'. You're not humans, so please don't act like them in that particular respect."

Bane bristled at being compared to a human, but it did seem to have the desired effect of preventing him from giving the answer he must've wanted to give.

"Leave this forest, humans. We don't want you here," he said eventually. Then he turned around and walked away, followed by the other centaurs.

Daphne sighed. "Hagrid, they really don't want us here, and given how destructive Grawp is, I can't really blame them. We'll still help you, of course, but please, please try to make him a bit less aggressive before we need to visit him…" she said.

"It'll be fine," Hagrid said dismissively. "But I'm amazed at yeh, Daphne. I didn' think yeh'd be able ter make that lot back down when they were so riled up."

"I wasn't sure if it would work," Daphne said. "But you told me they're very proud, and from what I've seen of them they have great respect for their own customs, so I hoped I'd be able to use that to reason with them…"

The rest of the way back out of the forest was, mercifully, quiet. As they approached the Quidditch pitch they could already hear the singing from the audience, who were leaving the stadium already.

"Who d'you think won?" Hermione asked. "I mean, I can hear that stupid song…"

Daphne could hear it as well, but she couldn't believe that Gryffindor had lost, not with Harry there… They said goodbye to Hagrid and hurried to rejoin the crowd. As they got closer, the singing got clearer, but Daphne could hear that the lyrics were different.

Weasley is our King,
Weasley is our King,
He didn't let the Quaffle in,
Weasley is our King

Weasley can save anything,
He never leaves a single ring,
That's why Gryffindors all sing:
Weasley is our King

The mass of people was carrying one person on their shoulders.

"No," Hermione said in a hushed voice.

"YES!" Ginny and Daphne shouted at the same time.

"HERMIONE! DAPHNE! GINNY!" Ron shouted from atop the mass of people, waving the silver Quidditch Cup in the air and looking beside himself. "WE DID IT! WE WON!"

Daphne exchanged a look with Ginny and Hermione. "We'll tell them tomorrow, then?" she asked.

Both of them nodded.

"Good. Then let's go join the party!"

The lessons to learn from this chapter for me: don't predict that a chapter will feature more plot-relevant things rather than just more setup, and don't try to write a chapter while at the same time watching the LoL Worlds finals preshow. Well, whatever. Next up, it's the O.W.L.s, and shit will hit the fan shortly thereafter. This year will probably only have four or five more chapters or something.