31 Saturday

It had been almost a week since Noelle had told her friends about her magical mind-reading abilities. She'd been surprised that, not even that had seemed to alter their behavior towards her. If anything, they were only curious about what she could do. Kade had even asked her in potions class to read Slughorn's mind and help him with their polyjuice potion quiz; however, she had declined.

This was also her first week without lessons from Queenie. She wondered if the headmaster or McGonagall planned to quiz her on what she learned or if she would never hear another word of it. With a power like hers, she would have expected at least a little curiosity, but she'd not seen either one except for transfiguration class.

The day before, at class, Noelle had finally gotten around to asking Hagrid if she could still help him out after classes. He'd initially started on about how it was more of a detention type deal, but after seeing her enthusiasm, he agreed that she could help him on the weekends so long as she focused on school during the week.

Now, she followed Hagrid, carrying a large heavy bucket made of metal, with meat and blood sloshing around inside of it. Hagrid carried four more buckets like it full of varying types of feed, and not for the first time, Noelle wondered how strong the half-giant was.

"So Hagrid, what made you decide to start taking care of magical creatures in the first place anyhow?" Noelle looked sideways at him as they walked.

"Well, Dumbledore put me in charge of groundskeeping awhile back when I was accused of openin-" He stopped and frowned. "I shouldn't have said that… Anyhow, I've always loved creatures, so when the position to teach and care for 'em opened up, I jumped on it."

She nodded. Everyone knew that several years prior, there'd been debate about the Chamber of Secrets and Hagrid's possible involvement in it. Clearly, however, he was referring to an earlier event. Feeling only slightly bad about it, Noelle slipped into his mind.

"Lass doesn't need to hear about my being accused of opening the Chamber of Secrets, killing a fellow student, and being expelled. That's all in the past and weren't true."

Noelle tried not to let surprise show on her face at this. So he'd originally been accused instead of Tom Riddle. There'd been all sorts of rumors, but without hearing it from the source, Noelle had chosen not to make any judgements of her own.

The two reached the lake and Noelle lowered her bucket to the ground gratefully. "The kelpie first Hagrid?" He nodded and set his own buckets down, taking hers from her. Stepping forwards, he tossed the bucket's contents into the water and set it back down. The meat and blood sat on the surface for a moment before it began sinking, turning the water red. The kelpie, slow to come the first time he'd introduced it to the class, now quickly came to the surface, grabbing meat and gobbling it down ferociously. Noelle cringed. Even with a bridle, she wasn't sure she'd want to be in the water with that creature.

After watching the beast for a few minutes, the two picked up their respective buckets once more and continued on, heading for the spiders. Noelle felt more confident going there with Hagrid by her side. Not only for his size and undisputable strength, but also because the spiders had said previously that they respected the man they considered to be their family.

Once there, during hours where the sun was still shining, Noelle could better see the hollow. Again, the spiders seemed less scary than they had at night, with only Azraeyn to keep her company. In fact, most of the spiders were up in the webbed trees, only a few here or there lazily sitting and watching the two, their eyes following them. Aragog, the largest acromantula, sat at the far end, watching them as well.

"Hagrid…" His voice drawled. "Is it that time already..?"

Hagrid sniffed and dumped out two of his buckets. "Yep. Now you make sure you eat yeh hear?" He sniffed again.

Noelle looked at him curiously. Was Hagrid crying? The large man waved her back and they both retreated from the hollow. As she was staring, he wiped the back of his hand across his eyes.

"Hagrid, are you okay?" She asked, concerned now.

"Aragog… He got sick over the summer and I worry he's not getting better." He sniffed once more.

Noelle looked back down the slope and frowned. "I'm sorry Hagrid. I'm sure you're taking the best care of him that you can."

Hagrid nodded. "Still. I'm not sure it'll be enough."

She hated seeing him like this and hoped for his sake that he was wrong and his beloved pet would get healthier soon.

Noelle sat under a tree in the courtyard, the sun having set, and the torches nearby casting a soft glow all around her. Thoth had just dropped off a response from Robert and she was scared to find out what it said. Would he be mad at her?

Salem sat in her lap purring, and Thoth turned his head curiously, unsure why she wouldn't just open her mail. While she couldn't blame him for wondering, she wished he'd at least appear a little less judgemental about it.

"I'm going, I'm going…" She sighed and slipped her finger under the wax seal, opening the letter. She pulled out the parchment and unfolding it, hoping this would be the last time she'd be so anxious about mail for awhile.

"Noelle,

As sad as it makes me that our relationship will be ending, I only want for you what will make you happy. If that's focusing on your studies at your private school, and being on your own awhile, then I think that's what you should do. I agree with you that I would like to continue being your friend and pen pal as it were, and I would like to keep hearing about your classes if you would keep me up to date. I'm sorry our relationship got as bad as it did.

Sincerely,

Robert."

Noelle sucked in a breath of relief, sagging against the tree. For all the things he wasn't, at least Robert was understanding. Still, she knew she couldn't tell him about her possible feelings for Azraeyn, or the real things that went down in class. As far as he knew, she was just at some posh school far away that taught the same subjects he was learning. But, he had been kind enough to let her off the hook, and so she should at least pay him back by heeding his request to write often.

Pulling parchment from her bag, she wrote a response. This week had been one for relieving anxiety and getting things off her chest. Hopefully, the rest of the year would go smoothly and everything could be how it once was.