Of Wizards, Akuma, and Exorcists
Forty-four: Weasley Is Our King
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!
Recap:
"Grawp?" Lavi called unenthusiastically. "Grawpy? Can you find us? It's us, Lavi and Allen!"
"He's probably asleep," Allen whispered. "Let's go."
And the two walked on, on and on, until the came across a mound in the forest floor. The mound moved up and down in a rhythmic matter, as if it was breathing. In fact, it was breathing - snoring, to be exact - and as the two Exorcists approached, it gave another roaring snort and shifted on its side. Its movements were restricted due to the ropes tying it to the two trees nearby, and Allen and Lavi were glad of it.
"Now what?" Lavi asked.
"Now we wait until Hagrid arrived with Harry and Hermione," Allen said. "Although I wonder why he's telling them. Sure he's in danger of being kicked out of the school, but, surely, the two of us are more free to move around than those two?"
"If it means less time nearly getting killed, I'm not complaining." Lavi grunted and dropped down on a fallen tree. Grawp had uprooted that one during one of their previous visits. "Hallelujah."
Allen sighed and turned back to look at the sleeping giant.
Harry, Hermione, and Hagrid arrived with the sound of snapping twigs and Hagrid muttering.
"Really easy," he said quietly. "Very quiet, now..."
And their three shadows appeared from between the trees. Hermione and Harry didn't notice the two people sitting on a fallen tree beside them, but their eyes were immediately glued on to the moving mound of earth that was actually Hagrid's-
"Sleepin'," Hagrid said softly.
"Hagrid," Hermione said in a terrified, barely audible voice, "who is he? Hagrid, you told us, you told us none of them wanted to come!"
Grawp gave another earth shattering snore and shifted again.
"Well - no - he didn' want ter come," Hagrid said hurriedly. "But I had ter bring him, Hermione, I had ter!"
"But why?" Hermione sounded near tears now. "Why - what - oh, Hagrid!"
"I knew if I jus' got him back," Hagrid said in a gruff tone, "an' - an' taught him a few manners - I'd be able ter take him outside an' show ev'ryone he's harmless!...Ah! Where're Allen an' Lavi - I told them ter go ahead an' wait fer us - they should be around-"
"We're right here, Hagger," Lavi called lazily, half slumped against Allen's shoulder. The darkness of the forest was making him sleepy.
"They knew about him?" Hermione said hysterically. "They knew about - about- oh, Hagrid! Harmless! Harmless, you say?" She pointed, almost accusingly, at Grawp. "He's been hurting you all this time, hasn't he? That's why you've had all these injuries!"
"He don' know his own strength!" Hagrid defended. "An' he's gettin' better, he's not fightin' so much anymore-"
"So this is why if took you two months to get home!" Hermione continued, not listening to Hagrid at all. "Oh, Hagrid, why did you bring him back if he didn't want to come, wouldn't he have been happier with his own people?"
"They were all bullyin' him, Hermione, 'cause he's so small!" Hagrid argued.
"Small?" Hermione repeated. "Small?"
"I would agree with Hagrid," Lavi said only to Allen. "Just... not wholeheartedly. Actually, not at all..."
"You're delirious," Allen told him seriously.
"Hermione, I couldn't leave him," Hagrid cried. "See - he's my brother!"
When Hermione failed to come up with a retort and merely stared open mouthed at Hagrid, Harry finally spoke up, slowly and catiously, keeping his eyes on Grawp's sleeping body.
"Hagrid, when you say 'brother'," he said, "do you mean-?"
"Well - half-brother," Hagrid corrected himself. "Turns out me mother took up with another giant when she left me dad, an' she went an' had Grawp here-"
"Grawp?"
"Yeah... well, tha's what it sounds like when he says his name. He don' speak a lot of English... I've been tryin' ter teach him... Anyway, she don' seem ter have liked him much more'n she liked me..." Hagrid answered sadly. "See, with giantesses, what counts is poducin' good big kids, and he's always been a bit on the runty size fer a giant - on'y sixteen foot-"
"Oh, yes, tiny!" Hermione shrieked, regaining her voice and still sounding quite crazy as she dripped sarcasm from every syllable. "Absolutely miniscule!"
Allen took pity on her at that moment: she looked ready to pull her hair out, and so he gently took her by the shoulders and steered her over to where he and Lavi had stationed themselves. The redheaded Bookman-in-training placed an assuring pat on her back and smiled at her. It didn't seem to help much.
"He was bein' kicked around by all o' them - I jus' couldn't leave him-"
"Did Madam Maxime want to bring him back?" Harry asked.
"She-" Hagrid began.
"She put up with it for a while, he told us," Lavi said airily. "But I guess she-"
"She could see it was right importan' ter me," Hagrid cut in. "Bu' - bu' she got tired of him after a while, I must admit... so we split up on the journey home... She promised not ter tell anyone though.."
"How on earth did you get him back without anyone noticing?" Harry questioned.
"We asked him that too," Allen sighed. "Apparently-"
"Well, tha's why it took so long, see," Hagrid answered. "Could on'y travel by nigh' an' through wild country an' stuff. 'Course, he covers the ground pretty well when he wants ter, see, but he kep' wanting' ter go back..."
"Oh, Hagrid, why on earth didn't you let him!" Hermione shrieked, and fell down onto the log behind her where she covered her face with her hands in deperation. Allen sat down beside her and tried to comfort her. Hermione, however, ignored him and attacked Hagrid with sharp words. "What do you think you're going to do with a violent giant who doesn't even want to be here!"
"Well, now - 'violent' - tha's a bit harsh," Hagrid stuttered, wringing his hands anxiously. "I'll admit he mighta taken a couple of swings at me when he's bin in a bad mood, but he's gettin' better, loads better, settlin' down well..."
"What are those ropes for, then?" Harry interrupted with an unconvinced tone.
"You have to keep him tied up?" Hermione added.
"Well... yeah... See - it's like I say - he doesn' really know his strength-"
"So what is it you want Harry and Ron and me to do?" Hermione interrupted now, having calmed down and accepted that Grawp was staying where Hagrid wanted him to stay.
"Us too," Lavi whispered to her, but he was then hit by an airborne boot. When he looked down, Allen was missing one of his shoes and messaging with a glare for Lavi to close his trap and let Hagrid sort everything out. Not wanting to get hit by Allen's other shoe, Lavi went quiet.
Hagrid looked like he'd swallowed something nasty, then tears welled up in his eyes again and he said in a cracking voice, "Look after him. After I'm gone."
Afer exchanging crestfallen looks with Harry, Hermione asked, "What - what does that involve, exactly?"
"Not food or anythin'!" Hagrid told her hastily. "He can get his own food, no problem. Birds an' deer an' stuff... No, it's company he needs. If I jus' knew someone was carryin' on tryin' ter help him a bit... teachin' him, yeh know."
Harry didn't answer to Hagrid's request immediately. Allen and Lavi both watched him as the black haired boy turned his gaze to the still-sleeping Grawp, who, unlike his older brother, did not look so human. His unproportionally large head was covered with short, closely curled hair, and it sat upon his wide shoulders with almost no neck in between. His back was extremely broad and covered with a top made from various animal skin. That in itself was okay, Allen thought, is his skin hadn't looked so strange. It was more like elephant skin, he thought, remembering the large animals he'd seen s year ago (or in some cases, a century and a year ago) during his travels with Master Cross, when he had been staying in India.
"You want us to teach him," Harry finally said in an empty tone.
"Yeah - even if yeh jus' talk ter him a bit..." Hagrid said. "'Cause I reckon, if he can talk ter people, he'll understand more that we all like him really, an' want him ter stay..."
"Teaching Grawp English is like trying to teach Akuma not to kill," Lavi muttered, but regretted it deeply when he was promptly assaulted by Allen's other boot. "Ow!"
"Kind of makes you wish we had Norbert back, doesn't it?" Harry asked Hermione, and Hermione gave a humorless laugh.
"Yeh'll do it, then?" Hagrid asked them hopefully.
"We'll... We'll try, Hagrid..."
"I knew I could count on yeh, Harry," Hagrid nodded and smiled gratefully. "'Course, Allen and Lavi said they'll help out, too, but - well, they're mission's about to get them busy, they say..." He trailed off for a bit after that, but added, "An' I don' wan' yeh ter put yerself out too much, like... I know yeh've go exams... If yeh could jus' nip down here in yer Invisibility Cloak maybe once a week an' have a little chat with him... I'll wake him up, then - introduce you-"
"Oh shoot," Lavi said, but Allen had no more shoes to throw.
"Wha- no!" Hermione gasped, leaping to her feet. "Hagrid, no, don't wake him, really, we don't need-"
A shuddering roar broke the silence as Hagrid, apparently not hearing Hermione's pleas, took a long branch and poked Grawp's back with it. The giant woke and sat up on the ground, towering over them all and peering at them with his sleepy and ugly face.
"All righ', Grawpy?" Hagrid called, backing up and raising his stick to poke Grawp again. "Had a nice sleep, eh?"
"They're scared out of their wits," Lavi said as Hermione disappeared from between him and Allen and backed up from Grawp with Harry, their eyes glued to the giant. "Harry's faced the most frightening wizard more than just a couple times, and yet he's scared of a smaller-than-average giant."
"Well, that's kind of like you," Allen said, "with Bookman-"
"Oh, yeah?" Lavi retorted suddenly. "How about you? You'll eat anything, and yet you freak at the sight of alcohol!"
Meanwhile, Hagrid was trying to protect himself from a shower of falling bird eggs as Grawp shook a nest in search of birds to eat.
"Anyway, Grawpy," Hagrid shouted at his sixteen-foot-tall brother, "I've brought some friends ter meet yeh. Remember, I told yeh I might? Remember, when I said I might have to go on a little trip an' leave them ter look after yeh fer a bit? Remember that, Grawpy? Now, Grawpy, don' do that! Tha's how you ended up pullin' up the others-"
Hagrid might as well save his breath, the Exorcists thought as they watched the tree Grawp was pulling give in to the giant's strength: the earth around the tree's roots was beginning to move. Hagrid's halfhearted scolding did nothing to stop him.
"I've got company for yeh!" Hagrid said persistently. "Company, see! Look down, yer big buffoon, I brought yeh some friends!"
"I have a feeling they don't really need him to look down and notice them," Lavi said, motioning to a faint looking Hermione and a frozen Harry. Allen only grimaced.
Grawp finally gave Hagrid his attention, letting go of the pine tree so suddenly that it sprang back and swayed dangerously before uprighting itself. He looked down at Hagrid, who waved his arm in Harry and Hermione's direction.
"This is Harry, Grawp!" Hagrid introduced enthusiastically. "Harry Potter! He migh' be comin' ter visit yeh if I have ter go away, understand? An' this is Hermione, see? Her - ...Would yeh mind if he called yeh Hermy, Hermione? On'y it's a difficult name fer him ter remember..."
"No, not at all," was the barely audible reply.
"This is Hermy, Grawp! An' she's gonna be comin' an' all! Is'n tha' nice? Eh? Two friends fer yeh ter- GRAWPY, NO!"
Allen reacted immediately when he saw Grawp stretch his hand toward the girl, who clung fearfully to Harry as he backed away behind a tree with her. Allen smacked Grawp's hand so that it changed course and brushed the tree trunk instead of catching Hermione.
"BAD BOY, GRAWPY!" Hagrid bellowed. "VERY BAD BOY! YEH DON' GRAB - OUCH!"
"Ooh, Hagrid, that must've hurt," Lavi winced as Hagrid picked himself off the ground and pinched his bleeding nose.
"Righ'," Hagrid grunted. "Well... here yeh are... Yeh've met him an' - an' he'll know yeh when ye come back. Yeah... well.." He glanced at Grawp, who had resumed pulling on the pines. 'Well, I reckon tha's enough fer one day. We'll - er - we'll go back now, shall we?"
Nodding, Harry and Hermione silently followed Hagrid into the dark forest again, Allen and Lavi trailing behind. For the next few minutes, nobody spoke other than for Lavi's teasing toward Hermione ("I think you've just gotten yourself a new admirer... which reminds me, whatever happened to you and Yu?") which promptly earned him a whack in the head from Allen, who hissed at him to be quiet and leave Hermione alone ("I am perfectly capable of walking through this forest without shoes... so don't make me throw them at you again!") at which he finally fell silent and sulked.
"Hold it," Hagrid suddenly said, and all of them came to an abrupt halt, Allen and Lavi stepping up protectively behind Hermione and Harry, their narrowed eyes flickering side to side in caution.
"Oh blimey," they heard Hagrid sigh.
"I though we told you, Hagrid, that yo uare no longer welcome here?" a deep voice questioned, calm yet hostile, as a man's naked torso floated toward them from the darkness-
No, it was not floating. It was connected to the body of a chestnut colored horse. Allen remembered hearing myths about such creatures during the rare lazy days he spent talking to Bookman in the Order's library. They sometimes appeared in old Greek legends... centaurs, that's what they were called. Hagrid had mentioned them too, when Firenze the new Divination teacher was appointed: the centuars generally did not think highly of humans, and Firenze's willingly being employed by wizards had angered them more than anything - and Hagrid had been the one to save Firenze from his herd's attack, and Hagrid was now an enemy too...
"How are yeh, Magorian?"
Several more centaurs walked up beside the first one, and a black bodied one said to the one known as Magorian:
"So. We agreed, I think, what we would do if this human showed his face in the forest again?"
"'This human' now, am I?" Hagrid asked with an edge to his voice. "Jus' fer stoppin' all of yeh commitin' murder?"
"You ought not to have meddled, Hagrid," Magorian told him. "Our ways are not yours, nor are our laws. Firenze has betrayed and dishonored us."
'I dunno ho yeh work that out. He's done nothin' except help Albus Dumbledore-"
"Firenze has entered into servitude to humans," a third, gray bodied centaur stated.
"Servitude!" Hagrid exclaimed angrily. "He's doin' Dumbledore a favor is all-"
"He is peddling our knowledge and secrets among humans," Magorian cut in. "There can be no return from such disgrace."
"If yeh say so, but I personally think yeh're makin' a big mistake-"
"As you are human," the black bodied one interrupted, "coming back into our forest when we warned you-"
"Now, you listen ter me. I'll have no less of the 'our' forest, if it's all the same ter you. It's not up ter you who comes an' goes in here-"
"No more is it up to you, Hagrid," Magorian forced. "I shall let you pass today because you are accompanied by your young-"
His eyes flickered over Hermione's frightened face, Harry's incredulous expression, and the guarded glares of Lavi and Allen.
"They're not his!" the black bodied one pointed out furously. "Students, Magorian, from up at the school! They have probably already profited from the traitor Firenze's teachings... and those two there, they have been coming and going to the forest lately, associating with-"
"Hey hey," Lavi called, "Grawp may be a bit on the violent and destructive side to you, but once you've seen Komu's robots you'll think otherwise - NO, ALLEN, DON'T YOU DARE THROW THAT BOOT AT ME!"
"Nevertheless," Magorian ignored Lavi, "the slaughter of foals is a terrible crime... We do not touch the innocent. Today, Hagrid, ou pass. Henceforth, stay away from this place. You forfeited the friendship of the centaurs when you helped the traitor escape us."
"I won't be kept ourra the fores' by a bunch of mules like you!" Hagrid yelled.
"Hagrid," Hermione squeaked weakly, "let's go, please let's go!" She glanced, terrified, at the centaurs as they pawed the ground with scowls on their faces.
"We know what you are keeping in the forest, Hagrid!" Magorian called as the group moved forward. "And our tolerance is waning!"
Hagrid turned and made to go back, but Harry and Hermione began to push him, and he instead settled to bellowing. "You'll tolerate him as long as he's here, it's a much his forest as yours!" He looked down, put on a surprised look, and turned back around and resumed leading the way. "Calm down, you two," he said. "Ruddy old nags though, eh?"
"Hagrid," Hermione gasped, "if centaurs don't want humans in the forest, it doesn't really look as though Harry and I will be able-"
"Ah, you heard what they said," Hagrid shrugged her off. "They wouldn't hurt foals - I mean, kids. Anyway, we can't let ourselves be pushed around by that lot..."
"Nice try," Harry said to her.
The five of them broke through the last of the trees and into the light. In the distance, they could hear the definite sounds of cheering coming fom the Qudditch stadium.
"Was that another goal? Or d'you reckon the match is over?" Hagrid asked.
"I don't know," Hermione mumbled.
"You two look terrible," Lavi commented suddenly. Allen glanced at Hermione and Harry, who were covered in twigs and scratches all over themselves. Allen knew he and Lavi looked slightly better, for they were now quite used to going through the forest.
"I reckon it's over, yeh know! Look - there's people comin' out already - if you two hurry yeh'll be able ter blend in with the crowd an' no one'll know you weren't there!"
"What about us?" Lavi demanded incredulously.
"We don't need to blend in with any crowd, since we're basically allowed to go anywhere, Lavi," Allen explained. "Come on, I see Lenalee up there!"
As the four of them made their way toward the stadium, Hermione spoke in a hysterical hiss of disbelief to Harry, who tried his best to calm her down. Allen and Lavi listened absentmindedly to it for a while until singing reached their ears...
Weasley is our King,
Weasley is our King,
He didn't let the Quaffle in,
Weasley is our King...
"And I with they'd stop singing that stupid song, haven't they gloated enough?" Hermione snapped. "Oh, let's get in before we have to meet the Slytherins."
Weasley can save anything,
He never leaves a single ring,
That's why Gryffindors all sing:
Weasley is our King.
"My God," Allen breathed, doubting his ears.
"No way," Lavi hissed.
"Hermione..." Harry began.
The singing grew louder as a sea of red and gold erupted from the stadium, bearing upon its shoulders the figure of a single, red headed teenager...
Weasley is our King,
Weasey is our King,
He didn't let the Quaffle in,
Weasley is our King...
"No!" Hermione said in a hushed voice.
"YES!" exclaimed the others, punching the air in victory.
"HARRY! HERMIONE!" Ron yelled from his perch atop his classmates. "WE DID IT! WE WON!" He triumphantly waved the gleaming Quidditch Cup in the air, smiling as widely as he'd never done before.