Chapter XIV: Thunder of the Giants
The ceiling trembled.
"It is time," Harry growled and stepped back from Ron. He joined Professor McGonagall and Marcus Malfoy at the office desk and huddled in a half-moon circle. Each passed a nodding glance at each other, as if signaling that something was beginning.
"Harry!" Ron squealed. "Harry, no!"
But Harry did not respond. His face fell into a shadow for the candles lighting the room (lined around the ceiling and walls) flickered into darkness. Ron could no longer see where his best friend was, but he did hear a thunder in a distance and a crashing of rain. This was no ordinary lightning storm though- there was no lightning streaking through the midnight sky. Then where was the thunder from which sounded so greatly?
Ron sat in the darkness, unsure of where to turn or what to do. He huddled himself in a rocking position and waited. One minute, one horrendous minute passed by- then another and two more-four twain and Ron stood up. It was no use sitting for what seemed like hours despite it merely minutes or hundreds of seconds.
"Harry!" Ron yelled as he had before. This time though, there was a response.
"Glorious fields of Aurani! Our followers have united with us. Giants from the Eastern Mountains, crossing the plains of the forbidden seas and shallow nile, have heard our cry. Winged horses shall flap their thin-skinned branches and shove their breasts high into the night's crisp air. Dementors? Where are thee?"
This was not the voice of Harry, but it was not unfamiliar to Ron. Paralyzed in fear, Ron stood, eyes unblinking and mouth unmoved at the being he now heard. It could not be, it could not be.
Light pierced through the room, each candle lit once more and shielded the now crowded room in brilliance. Standing on top of the Professor's desk was the most powerful wizard Hogwarts had ever had, and he shouted the words of evil.
Ron mouthed the word, "Dumbledore," but nothing came from out his mouth. Surrounding the great wizard was Lucius Malfoy, tied about his mouth with silver threads and next to him holding up his wand was a figure unknown to Ron. He bore a resemblance to Professor McGonagall, and so Ron knew who had must have been-Theodore McGonagall. The wizard forever held up Lucius Malfoy's wand and it glowed in the most brilliant bluish hue like an Elvin prince's eyes glowing amid the crescent moon.
But Ron noticed something even more peculiar before him. As Dumbledore stood, his arms flailing and voice booming, there was a faint aura around him. Something very thin but still present none-the-less. It was as if a ghostly mist enshrouded him and could only be seen if focused at correctly.
A blow to his head—Ron felt a heavy punch smash into his skull. His eyes immediately disconnected from the world around him, and his vision became white. Soon, it faded into darkness and the booming figures surrounding became whispers and then nothing at all.
***
"Stand back!" Hagrid bellowed.
"Eh no wanna hurte me?" the giant before him asked,
"Ya dan't understand! Ya wit 'em!" Hagrid pointed at the field of giants crossing the grass of Hogwarts. "After I teach'd ya ta speak, ya turn on me!"
"Grawp no turn brother. Eh love Hagrid!"
"No, not if ya are on dar side."
Hagrid's little brother stood, not so little in height actually, towering over Hagrid. Grawp looked down at him and then to the field of his fellow giants. He smiled at Hagrid and grabbed him. His enormous hands squeezed Hagrid's thick frame.
"Grawp, what ya doin'?" Hagrid asked, his voice pitching up and down.
But he did not need to answer. Grawp embraced Hagrid, hugging him so close to his chest so that Hagrid had to gasp for air. Slowly, Hagrid was released and fell back to the ground. Luckily, the other giants did not notice or at least did not care about Grawp's affection toward the enemy.
"Does dis mean yar gonna fight wit me on our side?"
Grawp nodded his head and opened his mouth in a foolish grin. His yellow stained teeth dripping in rotting saliva filled the air with putrid odors. Hagrid coughed at the mere smell of its ghastly presence but was used to such foul smells after staying with the giants the previous year. But Hagrid knew he could not persuade the other giants, many foreigners to him from far away islands and icy hills.
"Grawp, who summoned all of ya here?"
"Da King Wizard."
"King?" Hagrid asked to himself. He stared at the walls of Hogwarts from outside his hut. He squinted, spotting a tower window of bright light glowing fiercely.
"Ya, da King of all Wizards. He come in on swift horse to raging mountains two months pass. He tell of great danger, needin' help. Them listen to da King 'cause he promise."
"Promise what, Grawp?"
But before Grawp could answer, a thunder clasped. It boomed throughout the air and grounds, shaking the very blades of grass they stood on. The blow of wind crashed into Hagrid's face, covering it with mud and dirt. Grawp's back was encased in dirty soil and as he shook it off like a dog, he created a whirlwind of brown fog.
Another clasp. But this time, it was not thunder or the giants-there was a shaking of the Forbidden Forest so enormous that the very ground trembled into cracks creating fissures beneath the raging soil. Streaming light, light yellow and tangerine orange, glistened from the outer rims of the tallest, most ancient trees. And with this light came shadows, hundreds of them, running and soaring from the trees now burning in a brilliant blaze of fire.
"What in the name of—" Hagrid muttered out loud as he gawked the field of scurrying creatures. Centaurs, the hooted beast with horse nostrils and tail but the cranium of a man, galloped in herds but they did not run toward the giants. Instead, they stopped short near the outer edge of Hogwarts behind Hagrid's hut. They huddled together in mass and whispered amongst themselves.
"Lucifer, be it not now that we defend our home."
"Always we have defended it and for what? For some great evil to yet again take what we hold very sacred—I will not stand grounded for such barbarism. I will fight. Will you?"
"I will follow you, Uncle, to redness of Hell or follies of Heaven, be it whichever we end up at when all of this is over," a young Centaur responded.
"What is this about death? You youth think it all about bravery and dying in honor. We may die today. But I guarantee you this. If we do not fight, we will die sooner than later. Our homes will be burned to ashes and those ashes will be scattered across the littered fields of our flesh and bones. Your sisters and mothers will not weep for us because their bodies will lie lifeless just as ours will burning in this blaze of war!"
Lucifer's words hit the very hearts of his kin. They did not realize how very perilous it was to fight those that plagued their home. If they did not defend Hogwarts now, they would surely die but not just them-their families, friends and the earth which once protected and shielded them from what they held dearest.
Hagrid watched in amazement as the group of centaurs let out a cheer of battle cry and swarmed toward the darkened Quidditch field, which now held the massive Eastern Giants. As they came toward Hagrid and Grawp, Hagrid suddenly realized his brother could be mistaken for one of the others. The centaurs might remember him from before, when Grawp was tied in the forest. But other creatures may not remember Grawp so well and if one of them were to mistaken Grawp for the enemy… Hagrid had to hide him.
"Grawp, I don't want ya getting hurt," Hagrid tried to explain. "Dat is why ya must get inside Hogwarts, to the Dining Hall. Da roof is just all enough for ya to fit. Go around da school and find a small pile of red bricks. Knock down dat wall and you'll be in da hallway near da Hall."
"But then Eh cannot fight wit ya, and Eh promise ta help Hagrid."
"I know, but I can't loose you-not like dis anyway."
"No," Grawp said firmly.
"No? What der ya mean, no? Grawp, get!"
"No!"
"Get!"
"No!" Grawp bellowed a howl that could unearth every dead soul buried. His legs darted forward as he turned around and pounded his feet into the ground. He began now to run toward the Quidditch field, joining the brave Centaurs.
"Grawp! Get back here! Grawp!" Hagrid shouted after him, but his brother was so defiant that he did not even look back.
"Oh, Lord almighty, shield this world from ever harm and let its kind beauty be its strength," a female's voice sweetened the air.
Hagrid turned about to see a longhaired being floated above the ground. Her dark hair enveloped her, covering her back and most of her back legs. Her pale skin was tinted a metallic silver, and her eyes echoed like a lost sea of wonder. Hagrid smiled and beheld a splendor so magnificent that it was almost unreal.
"Ya are a fine sight ta see. What brings ya ta such a mess?"
But the strange female did not respond in words. Instead, she caressed Hagrid's cheek, and a melody of enchanting music filled Hagrid's ears. A voice so calm and soothing that nothing surrounding Hagrid seemed important. It did not matter where his brother was or if Hogwarts was destroyed or not. All that mattered was the sweet, nectar-like voice swarming into his gentle mind.
A thunderous clasp in the air made Hagrid's eyes dart to the side. No longer did he see the beauty but the fields of giants in the distance and a hundred centaurs raging toward them. No longer did he hear the sweet sounds of heaven, but heard the battle cries of dying creatures, screaming in bloody pain and torture.
Hagrid turned his eyes back to where the beauty was. However, he no longer saw the dark haired, fair skinned woman that did enchant him so. A scaled creature, hair thick and knotted and floating about her head, snarled at him with her teeth oozing in brown saliva. And as she eyed him with empty sockets, Hagrid felt the knots of nauseous stab his stomach.
"You're a siren!" Hagrid shouted at the creature, a wicked beauty that lured men to their deaths. But her true exquisiteness was clear to him, a hideous mold of evil.
"You're dead," her voice whispered in a raspy, cold manner. She floated forward, her ten-inch black nail clawing at Hagrid's beard. Clumps of grayish wire fell to the ground in seconds along with trickles of blood from his cut chin and neck.
"Get off my brother!" Grawp screamed.
The giant plowed against the Siren, shoving her body into the ground. His meter length feet crushed the corpse into the soil, letting it sink in deep. Thick clomps of blood dripped from the beneath his foot as Grawp lifted it off the ground. A tangled torso of hair, blood and bone protruded from the ground once pure and untouched of such vileness. And as Grawp and Hagrid ogled in both gratitude and revulsion, a thunderous wave of fierce battle roars pierced the air. Centaurs and Giants, opposite in mind and body, flung themselves at one another, their bodies their paramount weapon. As they stabbed into their enemies' hand, another force entered the field, one whose power stopped the very breaths panting from out each Giant's mouth.