Twenty-Six: Hagrid's Return
Disclaimers: I do not own any D. Gray-Man or Harry Potter characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Hoshino (D. Gray-Man) and Ms. Rowling (Harry Potter). Also, some conversations between the Harry Potter characters are direct quotes from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and that also does not belong to me!
The morning of the Quidditch match dawned bright and cold. When Lavi woke up, he saw Harry and Allen almost dragging a pale Ron out of the dormitories. He followed them to the Great Hall where he sat down between Allen and Lenalee, who were both trying their best to encourage Ron to eat some breakfast.
"I must've been mental to do this," Ron croaked. "Mental."
"Don't be thick," Harry told him firmly, passing him some cereal. "You're going to be fine. It's normal to be nervous."
"I'm rubbish," Ron said. "I'm lousy. I can't play to save my life. What was I thinking?"
"Get a grip," Harry said back. "Look at that save you made with your foot the other day, even Fred and George said it was brilliant-"
Lenalee made a soft "uh-oh" sound and Ron gave Harry a tortured look. "That was an accident," he said miserably. "I didn't mean to do it- I slipped off my broom when none of you were looking and I kicked the Quaffle by accident."
"Well," Harry said quickly, "a few more accidents like that and the game's in the bag, isn't it?"
"How're you feeling?" Ginny asked Ron as she sat down beside Allen. Hermione sat next to her.
"He's just nervous," Harry answered for his friend, who was staring at his cereal bowl like it was his last meal.
"Well, that's a good sign," Hermione said encouragingly, "I never feel you perform as well in exams if you're not a bit nervous."
"Hello," greeted a dreamy voice from behind them. Allen and Lavi squawked in surprise and almost fell off the benches while Lenalee stared in shock at the top of Luna Lovegood's head. There sat a hat that looked like the life sized head of a lion.
"I'm supporting Gryffindor," she said, unnecessarily, pointing at her hat. "Look what it does..."
She tapped the hat with the tip of her wand, and the two Exorcist boys gasped in awe as the lion stretched open its mouth and gave an extremely realistic roar that made everyone in the Great Hall jump.
"It's good, isn't it?" Luna asked happily. "I wanted to have it chewing up a serpent to represent Slytherin, you know, but there wasn't time. Anyway...good luck, Ronald."
Luna drifted away, and, as if she had been waiting in line, Angelina hurried towards them with Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet. "When you're ready," the team captain said, "we're going to go straight down to the pitch, check out conditions and change."
"We'll be there in a bit," Harry assured her. "Ron's just got to have some breakfast."
He and Lenalee tried for ten more minutes for Ron to stuff something into his mouth, but it was to no avail. Eventually, they gave up and Harry and Ron stood up from the benches. Hermione grabbed the former's arm and pulled him to one side as Lenalee gave Ron some last minute encouragement.
"Don't let Ron see what's on those Slytherin's badges," Lavi heard Hermione whisper urgently, and Harry sent her a questioning look before the girl turned to Ron. "Good luck, Ron," she said, craning her neck and standing on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek. "And you, Harry-"
"Why were you so worked up about Ron?" Allen asked Lenalee innocently when she sat back down.
"I feel like I'm his coach because I helped him practice so much," she answered nochalantly. Suddenly, her eyes darkened and she said, "But the badges-"
"What badges?" Lavi asked.
"Look," Allen pointed at the robes of a passing Slytherin, and Lavi immediately understood. There was a shining silver badge on the Slytherin's chest, and etched in it were the words, Weasley is our King.
"That can't mean anything good, can it?" Lavi asked his comrades, who sent him dark looks.
Of course it didn't.
The Quidditch match started with a shrill whistle, and the Exorcists all sat together with the Gryffindors, wearing borrowed clothes in the colors, red and gold. They were all taken in by the broom-riding players, all of whom flew in and out of sight at the speed of sound. They'd never seen any sports competition back home, but they didn't think they would ever see anything like this anywhere in their world.
"And it's Johnson, Johnson with the Quaffle, what a player that girl is," Lee Jordan's voice rang throughout the pitch, his commentary still easy to hear over the cheering and booing from the students, "I've been saying it for years but she still won't go out with me-"
"JORDAN!" McGonagall yelled.
"Just a fun fact, Professor, adds a bit of interest- and she's ducked Warrington, she's passed Montague, she's- ouch- been hit from behind by a Bludger from Crabbe...Montague catches the Quaffle, Montague heading back up the pitch and- nice Bludger there from George Weasley, that's a Bludger to the head for Montague, he drops the the Quaffle, caught by Katie Bell, Katie Bell of Gryffindor reverse passes to Alicia Spinnet and Spinnet's away-"
"GO HARRY!" Hermione and Ginny cheered. "RON!"
"dodges Warrington, avoids a Bludger- close call, Alicia- and the crowd are loving this, just listen to them, what's that they're singing?"
Lee paused in his commentary, and the faint singing from the crowd of green on the other side of the pitch suddenly gre loud and clear:
Weasley cannot save a thing,
He canot block a single ring,
That's why Slytherins all sing:
Weasley is our King.
Weasley was born in a bin,
He always lets the Quaffle in,
Weasley will make sure we win,
Weasley is out King.
"-and Alicia passes back to Angelina!" Lee shouted, resuming his commentary. Lavi thought he heard Allen swear colorfully from beside him, and he saw that Lenalee's cheeks were flushed with anger. "Come on now, Angelina- looks like she's got just the Keeper to beat!- SHE SHOOTS- SHE- aaaah..."
The Slytherin Keeper caught the Quaffle and threw it at a Chaser, who sped off towards the Gryffindor goals, zigzagging in between Alicia and Katie, and the singing from the crowds grew louder with every foot that the Chaser eliminated between him and Ron-
Weasley is our King,
Weasley is our King,
He always let's the Quaffle in,
Weasley is our King.
"-and it's Warrington with the Quaffle, Warrington heading for the goal, he's out of Bludger range with just the Keeper ahead-"
"Let's go, Lavi," Allen said angrily, pulling the Bookman away by the arm. "Down, by the changing rooms. Something's bound to happen at the end of the match, and it's probably going to be down on the ground."
"What- but-"
"Come on! There's no way I'm going to listen to this singing anymore!"
Lavi agreed and the two of them clambered down the stairs, away from the rest of the crowd, to the ground floor. They sneaked through the shadows to avoid anyone nearby peeked out from under an arch to watch the match from below. There was an immense cheering from above, and a red clad figure slammed down onto the ground with such force that Lavi swore there would be a dent in the ground. But Allen's eyes were round with shock, and following the boy's gaze, Lavi saw that the person on the ground had messy, black hair...
"It's Harry, he just got hit by a Bludger."
Said boy disappeared behind the bright robes of his teammates, and in the distance, one of the teachers was yelling at a Slytherin Beater. The group around Harry spread out as Draco Malfoy approached them and opened his mouth. He spoke for a minute, and suddenly the Weasley twins lunged at him, just to be held back by the rest of their team. Malfoy seemed taken aback at first, but seeing that he was still safe, conitnued to talk with a truimphant sneer on his thin face. And then-
"Oh God," Lavi and Allen said, too stunned to move, as Harry let go of George and the two of them were on Malfoy at once, punching the boy. The Gryffindor players were screaming at them to stop, but the boys did so only when Madam Hooch yelled, "Impedimenta!" and knocked them off of Malfoy. The teacher yelled at Harry and George then, and when the two boys stomped off of the pitch, Allen and Lavi scurried after them, keeping a distance.
McGonagall marched up to Harry and George inside the castle and led them to her office. Allen and Lavi, knowing that she would not welcome them in, stood by the doors to listen, although they couldn't hear a thing. They had to leave, though, when they spotted Dolores Umbridge practically dance up to the door.
"We had better scram," Lavi whispered to Allen, and the two of them reluctantly retreated back outside onto the grounds and across the grounds where snow was slowly starting to fall. November had come with an abrupt change in the wather, bringing with it crisp cold winds and the constant threat of a storm. It was cold.
The two Exorcists walked around for about an hour, maybe three times did they pass the small hut by the forest, and it was on their fourth time around that they saw an abnormally large man stumble up to the door of the hut and open it. They recognized him at once as the escort on the first day of their mission-
"Hagrid!" Allen called, just enough for the man to hear. Hagrid turned to look at them, his face oddly dark, and he waved them over, saying,
"Get outta the cold, both of ye, get in, serve ye a cup o' tea."
"What happened to you?" Lavi asked the moment they were close enough to see the man's face. It was bruised, swollen, and bleeding. "Did you get mugged?"
"Sort o'," Hagrid gruffly.
"By who?"
"Giants."
"There are humans bigger than you?"
"No!" Hagrid said, looking shocked. "Giants! Not giant people- giants!"
Allen half sighed and half laughed at Lavi. He accepted the big mug of tea Hagrid handed them with a polite thanks, and watched with large eyes as Hagrid grabbed an oozing, greenish piece of meat and slapped it over the worst of his bruising. "You were on a mission of your own, Hagrid?" the boy asked.
"Ye could say so," Hagrid answered, "although I don't know why I'm telling students about this-"
"We got expelled on the First Friday," Lavi said.
"Blimey! Well, you're still Dumbledore's guests o' honor," Hagrid replied. "Should be able to trust yer lot."
"Hmm..."
Suddenly, there was a loud knocking at the door, and the big dog right by Allen's feet began to bark loudly. Hagrid jumped in alarm and stood up, almost pushing the two Exorcists into a corner.
"I'll bet that's-"
"Hagrid, it's us!" Harry's voice called from outside the door.
"Shoula known!" Hagrid called back, and tried to get around his dog. "Bin home three seconds...Out the way, Fang...Out the way, ye dozy dog..."
Hagrid opened the door, and from their location near the back of the hut, Allen and Lavi couldn't seen anything at all-
And then, Hermione screamed.
Hello readers,
This chapter was a bit shorter than the usual. I think it's about the same length as the first one...oh, well. Had to end it here. Anyways, I've decided to start another D. Gray-Man fanfiction. Hope I finish both of them.