Disclaimer : Nothing is mine….do I really have to go thru this?
Chapter 4 : Hagrid
Ron spoke up, "Bugger off, Susan. The first years sit over there." He pointed her in the direction of the end of the table.
Stiffly, she gave Harry a smile, glared menacingly at her cousin and stalked off.
"That wasn't very nice, Ron," Hermione concluded. Hermione, defender of the weak and helpless.
"She'll get over it. You did not want her here. She's a smart aleck and talks more than you, Hermione," Ron informed them.
Hermione scowled at her friend. True, Hermione did talk quite a bit. She had a lot to say, and it wasn't a surprise, with all the books she read. She liked being smart and conversational. She was proud of all she had achieved. She wished her friends didn't tease her so about her intellect. She didn't try to show off, it was simply her nature.
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After the feast, Hermione and Dean led the new Gryffindors to the common room. Upon arriving at the fat lady's portrait, they warned the first years not to forget the password. Under no circumstances, would they be let in without it.
"Twinkle toes," Dean told the fat lady. The portrait nodded, much to the surprise of the new Muggle-born students, and opened. Once they entered, the newcomers were in awe of the room. It was quite magnificent upon first glance. The plump, feather, gold and red couches spread about the room gave the impression that snuggling into them would be absolute felicity. The common room pictures murmured their hellos, further astonishing the Muggle-born. The fireplace was dark and bare of its comforting crackle, but it gave the room a homey touch anyway.
After directing the students to the appropriate staircases, Hermione and Dean went to find their friends. Harry and Ron came stumbling in with laughter lighting their faces. Tapping her foot on the carpet, Hermione demanded, "What did you do now?"
Taking a breath from his laughing, Ron managed to sputter, "Y-you shoulda seen it, Hermione. Malfoy just got told off, b-by a-a FIRST YEAR HUFFLEPUFF!!"
"And not only that, she took his wand and put the leg-locking curse on him, and since no one would help him, he had to jump all the way down the hall like a rabbit to fetch his wand where she'd thrown it," Harry told her, still smiling wildly. (A/N ok I know that's really not funny when you read it, but think, Draco Malfoy, hair always perfect, jumping down the hall with the whole school laughing…….anyway.)
"By the time he got the counter-curse, the little genius had escaped to her common room. It was brilliant!" Ron exclaimed.
Hermione had to grin. Too bad she had missed it.
After a while, the fifth-year Gryffindors settled down onto the snuggle-worthy couches in front of the fireplace and talked. Having not seen each other for a whole summer, they had a lot of catching up to do. At first, the chatter of ten or so teenagers was constant, but as time wore on, it slowly dwindled to two or three talking at once. Finally, when all was quiet, Hermione spoke up. She posed the question that was on everyone's mind.
"So who's the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher?"
"Don't I wish I knew," Parvati Patil breathed, "Are we ever going to get a decent one?"
"Professor Lupin was decent!" Harry stood up for his father's best friend.
"But his robes were so shabby. AND, he was a werewolf, Harry," Lavender Brown pointed out.
Harry seethed. How dare she hold such a thing against him?
"SO? He never hurt anybody! It wasn't his fault that he was bitten! How would you like it if it had been you? Wouldn't you be hurt if we held that against you? Merlin, Lavender, you can be so prejudice." Hermione was apparently feeling exactly the same as Harry.
Lavender gasped at being spoken to so harshly. Looking around the room, she saw that most of the other fifth years wore similar expressions of disgust at her comment of Remus Lupin. He had been a favourite among them, and despite their strong desire for the werewolf to stay, Lupin ad thought it best that he leave. After all, whose parents would want such a beast teaching their children?
Harry stood up and stalked from the room, Hermione and Ron in close pursuit. The rest of them were left in uncomfortable silence. Then, one by one, they all left without a word to their rooms. Lavender was left sitting in front of the dead fire. She stayed there for a long time that night.
"What have we got first?" Harry asked reaching for his schedule.
"Care of Magical Creatures, with the Slytherins," Hermione informed him.
"Well that's not so bad. At least it's with a good teacher," Ron put in.
The trio sat in the common room reviewing the parchments that had been handed out at breakfast.
"I suppose we had better hurry up then," Harry said getting up and retrieving his bag from beside the fireplace. Hermione and Ron followed suit and the three friends set out to their first class of the year.
Down at Hagrid's hut, the students from both Slytherin and Gryffindor gathered a few feet from the door. When they drew nearer, Harry saw that Hagrid wasn't there yet and the students were whispering to each other. Suddenly, a soft moan was emitted from inside the cabin. Hermione looked at Harry who nodded to Ron. They went up to the door, and gave a loud knock.
"Hagrid! It's us! Open the door!" Hermione shouted.
There were a few moments of hesitation, and then, the door slowly opened a crack wide enough for the three to slip in. Once inside, they realized something was definitely wrong. Hagrid's hut, though not usually sparkling clean, was in complete disarray. Books were thrown from the shelves, teacups smashed on the floor, picture frames cracked and clothes strewn everywhere. Hagrid sat on the only chair that hadn't been upturned. His was wringing his hands in a desperate manner that made him look vulnerable, even at his size.
Hermione glanced at Harry and Ron whose faces were in complete shock. Straightening up, she walked over to the half-giant, pulled up a stool and sat with him. His eyes were red from crying. His hair was wild from being pulled. Hermione placed one hand on his to stop their incessant wringing. He froze.
"Hagrid?" she asked softly, "What's wrong? What's happened?"
Hagrid didn't say anything for a moment. His eyes stared out as if seeing beyond the wall. Twice, he opened his mouth and nothing came out. Finally he tore his gaze from the wall and turned to look at Hermione. He gave her an adoring smile.
"Bless yeh. Bless yeh, Lily," his voice was soft and airy, completely unfitting to him.
Sensing something was wrong that was beyond her power, she stood up and took the two boys who still wore puzzled expressions on their faces and led them out the door. She doubted that Hagrid realized they had left. His eyes had been so strange when he looked at her; a mixture of powerful emotions; hunger, love, sadness, betrayal. With such sensations all at one moment, she knew how overwhelmed he must be. This had to be taken to Dumbledore.
"Hagrid says there's no class today," Hermione announced to the crowd of students. The Gryffindor's looked slightly worried at this statement, while the Slytherins found it reason to mock the 'stupid oaf.'
Hermione, wanting to get to the Headmaster as soon as possible, bottled her rage at the Slytherin's nasty comments, and hurried her friends along.
"Hermione," Harry began, "Y-you don't think he meant……my mother, do you?"
She looked up at his expectant face and told him the truth, "I have no idea what is going on in his mind, Harry. I'm sorry."
Harry's expression faded into one of worry. The three friends walked the grounds towards the front of the castle. Inside, they walked along the corridors and stairs to the headmaster's office. Luckily, Professor Flitwick was passing by.
Ron stopped the tiny man and explained the situation and their need for the password.
"Ooh dear!" Flitwick squealed, "Hagrid's in trouble? Yes, yes of course. The password is Bouncing Bellyflots."
Ron thanked him and the trio quickly ascended the spiralling staircase. At the top, they saw Professor Dumbledore sorting through a stack of parchment. When they entered, he looked up at them with a face that suggested he had been expecting them. Dumbledore's famous, yet eerie intuition. Summoning a few chairs, he motioned for them to sit.
"Shouldn't you be in class?" he asked.
"Well, you see Professor, that's why we're here," Hermione began.
"Oh?" the headmaster raised a fluffy, white eyebrow.
"There's something wrong with Hagrid," Harry said quickly.
Dumbledore frowned.
"Still?"
"Still? What do you mean, still," Ron demanded.
"I had thought that he would be over it by now. He did say that he was fine, but I suppose I ought to have known. It's not something someone gets over in a few days."
"Known what? Over what? Professor?" Hermione prodded. She was getting impatient. Although Hagrid hadn't been in any serious trouble, forcing them to hurry, she was still very anxious to find out what was wrong with their friend.
"Oh dear. He didn't tell you?" the headmaster seemed shocked that Hagrid hadn't told his three favourite students his trouble.
"TELL US WHAT???" Ron shouted.
Dumbledore looked over at him. Realizing that it was now his duty to inform the three of Hagrid's predicament, he spoke.
princess55 : *beams at the idea of being on someone's favourite author list. Thanks princess, and sorry this chapter took a long time. The webpage decided not to show up for the last few hours before I left for my cottage and did not get home until tonight. And I also had to come up with the next bit so that I didn't totally screw up the story and have to change everything…