The Pureblood Prince

Chapter XXII – A Web Weaved

"Can you get Hagrid for me, please?"

"Hagrid? You mean Rubeus?"

"Yes!" Eileen replied in an extremely irritated manner. It would be pretty noticeable if Hagrid had a half-giant twin brother or sister stomping around the place. The Gryffindor girl frowned at her, clearly taking offence at the Ravenclaw's severe tone, but moved back into the portrait hole regardless – leaving Eileen to roll her eyes and lean against the stonewall and wait.

Five minutes or so later, the very same half-giant emerged from the Gryffindor portrait. He took one long look at the dark figure, masked by her curtain of black hair and gently pressed her: "Leenie?"

But Eileen remained with her eyes fixated upon the ground, she could not even bare to look him in the face. Hagrid seemed to gather as much, he almost knelt upon the ground so that he could look up into the black abyss of her tresses and see her, but she moved head away from him. There had been so much she had wanted to tell him, but now all she wanted to do was run away as fast as she could.

"Have yeh been told-?" he asked innocently.

The charcoal curtain nodded.

"Hagrid, I am so sorry." Eileen whispered. "I should be going back with you on the Hogwarts Express tomorrow…"

"Of course yeh shouldn'!" Hagrid bellowed in protest. "I was the one who brought that egg in in the first place! It was my stupid mistake, not yours! I… Leenie!"

Eileen had sunk to the floor, almost physically bowled over with guilt. How could she even tell him that she had tipped Tom off? He was the only real friend she had; she couldn't throw that away, but nor could she keep living with this terrible aching shame.

"Are yeh alrigh'?" inquired Hagrid distraughtly, he placed one of his mammoth hands around her shoulder – it was like having a warm blanket gently and lovingly wrapped around her. "Look, Leenie…" he continued as she stayed with her head in her hands, unresponsive. "What good what it do if yeh told Dippet that yeh had a hand in this anyway? He'd only expel us both and then we'd both be dropouts fer the rest of our lives! Leenie, yeh a far better witch than I am a wizard – yeh'd suffer a far worse fate than I will if yeh were expelled and lost advanced magic abilities. Yeh know yeh would."

"That doesn't make it right!" she snapped suddenly. "For all anyone knows, you could've been a great wizard! You… you still could be a great wizard…"

"We know that's not true, come on –"

"No we don't! How can you doubt yourself so readily?"

Beetle and obsidian black eyes were now looking straight into each other. Eileen was finding it much more comforting to channel her guilt into rage rather than wallow in it.

A ripple of silence moved between them. A few footsteps were heard further up the corridor coming toward the Gryffindor common room and Hagrid instinctively sat on the floor in front of Eileen, shielding her from sight as four Gryffindor boys jogged up to the portrait. They all took one curious glance at their fellow House member on the floor, who smiled up at them, and were gone as quickly as they appeared.

"I dunno about me," Hagrid continued in reply as he shifted to sit next to his friend in the shadows, "but I don't doubt yeh, Eileen Prince, not fer a second. Never will."

Eileen couldn't hold it in for a second longer.

"Hagrid, I was the one who told Tom about Aragog!" she exclaimed. "He promised he wouldn't tell anyone unless… unless it hurt someone. And-"

"Yeh don't think Aragog killed that poor girl, do yeh?" said Hagrid; apparently he had picked that confession to be most surprised at. "It wasn't him! He would never! The story that Dippet's spinnin' about Myrtle being in some kind of tragic accident is probably more to the truth! But as if they'd listen ter me! Tell me yeh don't believe them? Yeh his daddy!"

Eileen shook her head; truth be told she was actually quite sure that Aragog had done the horrible deed - but she desperately did not want to upset Hagrid any further. "No I don't, but… but you can see how Tom might have thought that he did…"

Hagrid sighed and rest his head against the wall miserably.

"Why did yeh have to tell him?" he asked, sounding like he was about to burst into tears.

'Because I stupidly thought he could learn to love an ugly skeleton like me,' was on the tip of Eileen's tongue, but instead she said, "I liked him."

"Liked him? Ahh…" Hagrid said, nodding. "Yeh like him…"

"Yes. And now that's ruined everything; it's ruined your whole life." Eileen paused before adding: "but I don't like him anymore; I don't like any wizard anymore." She spoke this with typical clear-cut fourteen-year-old defiance; Hagrid, being only slightly older, completely took in this brash sentiment without any doubt. He also appeared extremely downtrodden at it.

"It's not gonna ruin everything," he said soothingly. "I mean – we'll still keep in touch, right? We'll still be friends?"

"Of course."

"N' yeh can tell me all what yeh doing, and perhaps yeh can come see me on the holidays 'n all, or I can maybe come see you!"

Eileen doubted that – if her father did not see any social benefit coming from a friendship, then that friendship was usually short-lived, and the thought of her mother's expression if she ever saw a half-giant at their doorstep was almost comical - but she nodded anyway. "Yeah… listen Hagrid, I… I have to go. There's a Gobstones meeting that I should have been at ten minutes ago. I promise I'll write you as soon as you get home."

"Kay…" Hagrid said sadly. The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw both stood up, but before any goodbye's were uttered he pulled something out of his pocket.

"Dun think I ever want ter see this again," Hagrid sniffed and handed the object to Eileen. "D'yer think yeh could throw it away fer me? Burn it? I couldn't bear doing it myself."

Eileen felt tears start to sting at her eyes after she had looked out and made out the object in the darkness; it was the wand that the Ministry wizard had broken completely stripped into thin parts.

"Wasn' meant to keep it yeh know," Hagrid explained to her. "Johnson, or whatever that Ministry guy was called, gave it ter Professor Dumbledore ter dispose off but he gave it ter me… I guess he thought it would be a nice keepsake – fine man, Professor Dumbledore is. But I can't… it would mean a lot if yeh destroyed it once and for all fer me, Leenie."

"Are you sure?" asked Eileen miserably, letting her eyes continue to adjust upon the mangled pile of wood she held in her shaking hands. So much waste. So much wasted talent. Upon Hagrid's continuing silence she finally said, "okay."

"Thank yeh, Leenie," said Hagrid, marble-sized tears now rolling down his face. "I'm… I'm gonna… I'm gonna miss-"

"I've got to go Hagrid, I'm sorry," interjected Eileen, exceptionally uncomfortable with this very public display of emotion. She quickly snapped her body away but was unexpectedly pulled back.

"Just know that there'll always be one wizard who cares for yeh; that ruddy Tom don't know what he's missin' out on."

"Thank you, Hagrid." Eileen felt simultaneously touched and even guiltier than she had done when she arrived here… she knew by now how Hagrid felt about her, and she knew that he knew that she did not feel the same. "You're a good friend. And I'll miss you. I'll miss you a lot."

Hagrid let go of her the diminutive hand he held in his and nodded in defeat.

"Take care, then."

"Bye…" Eileen backed off down the corridor.

Only five seconds had passed before Hagrid shouted: "Oh, and Leenie?"

Would she never be able to escape? Eileen turned back around to see him waving her down.

"Yes?"

"Take good care of Aragog!"

Eileen's eyes widened to the size of Galleons. "…Come again?"