Chapter 9: Mysteries
The entire first week of November Lexie tried to uncover the secret behind Hagrid's meltdown during the spider incident. The boys didn't seem to care and had decided Hagrid was just a very sensitive, gentle giant.
So Lexie continued the investigation alone, which turned out to be less of an investigation and more like a whole lot of eavesdropping that got her nowhere. Deciding she had heard enough pointless conversations, Lexie decided to go visit the Gamekeeper.
During one of her free periods before dinner over two weeks after the incident, Lexie left the boys in the common room assuming their game of Exploding Snap would distract them and made her way across the frosty grounds and towards his hut.
She gently knocked on the door, which was met with several small barks. The door swung open revealing the wiry haired man who had to lower his eyes quite a bit just to see the tiny girl.
"Hi Hagrid," she said smiling, deciding it was probably best to be as friendly as possible if she planned on getting anything out of him.
"Yeh're a firs' year aren' yeh?" he asked wearing a confused expression.
"Um, yeah. My name's Lexie, well Alexandria, but you can call me Lexie because nobody calls me Alexandria. Well except McGonagall when she forgets. I just thought I'd come say hello and all since I'm new and well, uh," Lexie fumbled trying to find a way to ask about the Halloween incident and scolded herself for being overly talkative.
Hagrid just smiled, "Come on in Lexie out o' the cold, don' mind Fang, he's jus' a puppy, he won' hurt yeh."
Lexie was immediately tackled by said "puppy" which reached her waist but she found the grey mound of fur completely adorable and was giggling as Fang tried to lick her face.
"See, he likes yeh. D'yeh want some tea or somethin' to eat?"
"Sure Hagrid, you have a nice house, it's very cozy," said Lexie completely honest with a smile. Living up in the orphanage she found everything cold and wet, but Hagrid's hut was warm with a small fireplace and a massive bed with a colorful patchwork quilt on it.
Hagrid turned pink from the compliment, "It's nothin' much, but it's home," he said bashfully.
"Nonsense Hagrid, I uh, grew up in a place that wasn't so nice and this place is incredibly warm and welcoming," she said genuinely.
Hagrid turned an even deeper pink, "Thanks Lexie, here's some tea an' have a bit o' cake," he said handing her a plate.
Lexie smiled in thanks and let the hot mug warm her fingers before reaching for one of the small cakes, a painful bite later when she felt like she may have cracked a tooth she put the cake back down on the plate and tried to keep from wincing as she chewed.
Deciding she had warmed Hagrid up a little and refusing to eat more cake, Lexie looked up at him timidly, "Uh Hagrid, I hate to uh, bring this up, but I feel like we're kind of friends now and uhm, I noticed you seemed a little upset at Halloween. I thought at a friend I should ask you if you're okay."
Hagrid looked a little shocked at first but quickly overcame it and gave Lexie a kind smile, "Nah, it's nothin' to worry too much about. Jus' had a bit o' a scare is all with spiders poppin' up again. Thought I got 'em all hid away in the forest. Oh, I shouldn' have said tha'."
Lexie was too curious to ignore his slip up though and instead looked at him with her most innocent eyes that she had used on Mrs. Tobias, "What do you mean 'again' and are you saying there are giant spiders in the forest?" she asked in awe.
"Oh uh" Hagrid looked quite flustered and began to busy himself with his tea before looking back up into her imploring eyes.
"Come on Hagrid, I'm just going to come back and pester you until you tell me what you meant. I'm a very curious person," she said smiling.
Hagrid sighed and chuckled to himself, "Alrigh' but what I tell yeh – I'd like it if yeh didn' tell anyone."
Lexie smiled, "I won't tell a soul."
Hagrid nodded, "Well, I suppose the story starts durin' my second year o' Hogwarts. I had acquired an Acromantula egg an' hatched it, named him Aragog. Acromantula are basically large spiders. He was a beauty, I took good care o' him. Well, my third year strange things started happenin', students were bein' attacked. I don' know how anyone found out about Aragog, but a fifth year named Tom somehow knew. He told Dumbledore an' things jus' got worse from there.
I couldn' let 'em kill Aragog though, I knew he wasn' the one attackin' the students, but it was Tom's word against mine an' well, Tom was always a top student so there was no reason to doubt him. I hid Aragog away in the forest, he's still there an' I can visit him when I like now. I guess Halloween jus' brought up some mad memories, McGonagall says it was probably jus' a prank. I was jus' afraid Dumbledore would've had to can me since last time I ended up expelled. Snapped my wand an' everythin'."
"Dumbledore expelled you?" gasped Lexie.
"Nah, Professor Dippet was Headmaster at time time, Dumbledore didn' do a thing. It's not his fault anyway so don' hold anythin' against him. I don' think Dippet even wanted to but parents were writin' in threatenin' to pull their kids out o' the school. He had to do somethin' to appease the Ministry. I didn' have any parents anymore so he let me stay on the grounds as Gamekeeper, well assistant at the time. I don' blame anyone fer what they did, they all jus' did what they had to an' Dumbledore convinced him to let me stay so I can' resent him fer a thin'."
"What happened to that boy you mentioned, Tom? I mean that wasn't a nice thing to do ratting you out like that without proof. I mean just because you had a giant spider doesn't prove anything."
Hagrid shrugged, "I don' know where Tom went to. Doesn' matter anyhow, he was jus' doin' what he thought was right. He was a prefect jus' tryin' to figure out what was attackin' students."
Lexie regarded Hagrid with shock but also awe. She couldn't imagine what it must have been like on Halloween for all those memories to resurface and she knew he had probably skimmed over a lot of the story.
She reached for his large hands and gave them a squeeze, although it probably didn't feel like much since hers disappeared in them, "I'm sorry you had to relive those memories on Halloween Hagrid, I wouldn't wish that on anyone."
Hagrid smiled at Lexie through watery eyes, "Yeh're a good person Lexie, I can tell. Yeh've got a big heart an' I know yeh'll keep my secret."
"Of course" she said offering him a radiant smile.
"Now let's get yeh back up to the castle before dinner. I'll walk yeh."
As they passed the forest Lexie couldn't help asking, "Hagrid aside from Aragog, what's in the forest?"
"Lots o' creatures, unicorns, centaurs, a lot o' magical creatures. Some dangerous, plenty are completely harmless though, jus' misunderstood. Not tha' I'm encouragin' yeh to go in there so don' even think about it."
Lexie's mouth fell open, "Unicorns? Really?"
Hagrid smiled down at her, "They're beautiful creatures they are. Very shy, but maybe sometime I'll try an' show yeh one. I've a feelin' they'll like yeh. They've got a good sense o' who's got a good heart."
"Wow," Lexie breathed "Hagrid that would be wicked."
They reached the Great Hall and Lexie waved goodbye to Hagrid as he made his way up to the staff table while she joined James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter at the Gryffindor table.
"What were you doing with Hagrid?" asked James when Lexie took a seat next to Sirius across from him.
"Solving the Hagrid mystery of course," said Lexie filling up her plate.
"Oh yeah? Was there even a mystery to begin with?" asked Sirius through a mouthful of chicken.
"Yup" said Lexie not bothering to elaborate.
"What did you find out?" asked Peter timidly.
"Ha, like I'm going to tell you all. You told me it was nothing so I don't think you deserve to know."
Remus looked up from his book frowning, "Wait so you actually found out why he was so upset?"
"Yup" Lexie said again.
"And you're not going to tell us?" Sirius added.
"Nope"
"Well why the hell not?" asked James, "We were part of the prank too."
"Two reasons. One, you all made fun of me for thinking there was a mystery and for eavesdropping. Two, I promised Hagrid I wouldn't say anything and I don't plan on breaking that promise."
"Lex the only reason we made fun of you was because the lengths you went to trying to overhear conversations was getting ridiculous. I mean you actually asked James if you thought anyone would notice if you hid in a suit of armor."
"Well excuse me for being curious. Now I'm not saying anything so you might as well drop it."
"Fine," Sirius huffed "So have you started that potions essay?"
"Finished it two days ago actually," Lexie said nonchalantly.
"What?" they all said at once.
"Lexie you are by far worse than Evans," said James shaking his head in disappointment.
"How did you finish it so fast?" asked Remus, "I'm stuck on why you have to use scarb beetles instead of black beetles."
"I can help you after dinner if you want," offered Lexie.
"Oh, no I couldn't ask for your help. I'm sure I'll figure it out on my own."
"Don't be silly Remus, we're friends and friends help each other with homework. Plus, I need some help with that refiling charm and you seemed to pick it up right away so you can help me in return."
Remus offered her a hesitant smile in thanks before sheepishly retuning to his book. Lexie shook her head, one way or another she was determined to pry Remus out of the bookworm shell he had embedded himself in.
"So what's everyone doing for Christmas?" asked James.
Lexie looked up panicked, she had forgotten all about the holidays seeing as she rarely celebrated them and was definitely not looking forward to being kicked out of Hogwarts for them.
"Don't remind me," said Sirius sullenly.
Lexie found comfort in the fact that she wasn't the only one not looking forward to the break in school.
Remus and Peter just mumbled some incoherent words.
"What is wrong with you all! Come on, it's going to be Christmas! No school, no rules, presents, come on where's your holiday cheer?" exclaimed James.
"You try spending the holidays at Grimmauld with my parents who probably can't wait to start lecturing me about how I should be upholding the traditions of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black and how disappointed they are with me. Yeah, sounds like a blast," muttered Sirius bitterly while he stabbed at his potatoes.
James didn't seem to have a reply to that and looked at Sirius as sympathy filled his eyes, "Okay, well um, what about you Remus?"
Remus shrugged, "Going home with my dad. Nothing special or anything."
"Peter?" James asked willing for him to show at least a little excitement.
Peter shifted uneasily, "Christmas with my aunt who doesn't believe in celebrating Christmas because she thinks it's just a way to get everyone to spend money on things they don't need."
"Lexie please tell me you at least full of Christmas cheer this holiday!" pleaded James trying to instill some happiness back into the group.
Lexie couldn't help but snort at the thought of the damp orphanage where the kid's that did know what Christmas was spent the day disappointed and the kid's that had never had a real Christmas spent the day bitter and depressed. "Yeah, sorry James."
"Are you even going home or are you staying here?" he asked.
"Wait, we can stay here?" she brightened immediately.
James frowned, "Well yeah, but why would you want to spend the entire break alone in a castle when you can go home?"
"Are you kidding, this is great! You mean they don't kick us out at Christmas?"
"Well no, but-" James looked at her suddenly cheerful face, "Lexie this really was not the response I was looking for."
"Mhm," she said distractedly looking up at the staff table for Dumbledore, when she didn't see him she decided to pay a visit to his office immediately to discuss her plans, "Gotta go, see you later boys," she said jumping up and skipping out of the Great Hall.
"You are the least spirited group of people I have ever met," said James in disbelief. "I can't believe she's actually happy about spending Christmas at Hogwarts. Alone!"
Sirius scoffed, "If I could stay here, I would be skipping too."
"Sirius are your parents really going to be that awful?" James asked.
"Worse probably. Don't worry about them though James, just do me a favor and enjoy your Christmas to make up for our non-holidays."
"Hey, what if we all got together over the holidays for a couple days at my place!" said James thinking out loud.
"Can't mate, my parents were very clear about me going home and staying home the entire break. Apparently, I need to convince my relatives I uphold their ideals or something. Don't know why they bother when I clearly don't"
"What about you Remus? Pete"
Remus looked incredibly embarrassed and avoided eye contact, "Can't I'm uh, busy with my dad since he hasn't seen me in so long."
"My aunt would never let me, she still thinks I'm six," shrugged Peter.
James sighed. He just wasn't going to win this one. "Well maybe next Christmas will be better. Maybe Sirius' parents will be less, err, strict and hey Remus, at least you can try to get over that cold you've had all term since you've been sick like every month. And well, Pete maybe your aunt will suddenly let you have some freedom or something eh?"
Remus suddenly looked incredibly uncomfortable but the other boys were too busy with their own problems to notice.
James returned to his dinner halfheartedly, he wished there was something he could do to make his friends happier around the holidays but was too afraid of upsetting them even more. He felt incredibly guilty for looking forward to a having what was sure to be a good Christmas.
Suddenly he wished that he would also be having an awful Christmas just so he could sympathize with his friends more. He sighed again and looked at their troubled expressions helplessly, at least Lexie sounded like her holidays would be good now that she knew she could stay at Hogwarts.
Yet another mystery that needed solving since she never even talked about home.