Chapter 4: Hagrid's Roosters
After they finished stuffing themselves in the Great Hall, Albus and Scorpius made their way across the grounds to Hagrid's. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Scorpius slowed down a bit as they neared the hut, clearly anxious about having tea with a half-giant.
Albus knocked on the door and heard the scraping of a chair across the floor before Hagrid opened the door. "Albus!" In the doorway stood a giant of a man, who had a wild, shaggy mane of graying hair that almost completely covered his face. Scorpius whimpered slightly from behind Albus. "Great ter see ya, come in, come in."
"Hi, Hagrid," Albus said cheerfully as he stepped into the house.
"And I see you brought a friend." Hagrid clapped Scorpius on the shoulder. Hagrid did not seem to notice Scorpius briefly fall to his knees because of the force of the giant's hand. "Rose arrived just a few minutes ago."
Hagrid's hut only had one room. In a corner was a gigantic bed with a patchwork quilt over it. A copper kettle was hanging over an open fire. Sitting at the tall table, in a chair that made her looked like a dwarf, was Rose.
Albus sat on one side of Rose, and Scorpius sat on the other. Hagrid took the kettle from the fire and poured the boiling water into a very large teapot. "So, who exactly might you be?" Hagrid asked, speaking to Scorpius.
"Scorpius, Professor," the blond boy said timidly.
"Call me Hagrid," Hagrid said, getting mugs nearly the size of Albus' head from a cupboard. "Scorpius, eh? That's an interesting name." Hagrid turned and examined him. "Ya know, you look familiar. Yer father come to 'ogwarts?"
"Ye-yeah," Scorpius stuttered. "His name's Draco Malfoy."
Hagrid dropped the mug he was holding, which shattered into dozens of pieces across the floor. Scorpius fell off his chair, his blue-grey eye widening in fear. "Malfoy? You're related to that—." Hagrid stopped himself from saying whatever he thought about Draco. He got out a broom and dustpan and began sweeping up the broken glass. "Then you're Alea Malfoy's son, right?" Hagrid said, his face softening. Scorpius nodded as he scrambled back up onto the chair, his face very pale. "She's a nice girl. Very secretive, though - I didn't know she had a son. Didn't even know she had a daughter until I met Aries when she got detention late last year."
"Do you—do you know my mum well?" Scorpius asked hesitantly.
Hagrid shrugged as he pulled out a cake covered in chocolate frosting. "Well enough for her to help me make this. It's her own secret recipe! Anyone want a slice?" He paused as the three all said, "Yes, please," and then continued as he began cutting four huge slices. "Yeah, I suppose I know her. But no one really knows Alea 'cept Neville Longbottom. Those two are close friends - no idea why, they have nothing in common."
Albus and Rose exchanged a glance. They were probably thinking the same thing - Neville had never mentioned Alea before.
"She's never mentioned him," Scorpius said quietly.
Hagrid gave a grunt that was apparently a short laugh. Scorpius nearly fell off his enormous seat again. "Very secretive, as I said. She comes down often to help me feed the thestrals." Hagrid shook her head. "Been down there dozens of times with her and still don't know if she can see them. Very reserved, your mother."
There was suddenly a sharp knock at the door. Scorpius jumped and dropped his fork full of cake and he turned red. "Who's there?" Hagrid said, walking to the door in two strides.
"The Dark Lady!" a voice called jovially.
"Alea," Hagrid chuckled as he reached to open the door. The three students exchanged a glance. "Well, speak of the devil…" Hagrid muttered, opening the door.
"The devil? I hope you aren't talking about me," Alea Malfoy said, stepping up into the hut. "Oh, hello!" she said as she saw the trio at the table. She walked over to them, putting a hand on Scorpius' shoulder and flashing a bright smile at them. "How are some of my favorite potions students?" She did not wait for an answer before turning back to Hagrid. "I'm sorry, Hagrid, I didn't realize you had guests."
"That's all right, Alea. Have a seat." Hagrid motioned to a large armchair by the fire. "We were enjoying that cake of yer's and were just about ter have some tea. Would you like a cup?"
"No, but thank you, Hagrid," Alea said as she sat down, looking suddenly like a child in the giant chair. "I shouldn't stay long. I only wanted to ask if you were going to need help with those hippogriffs you're having for your Magical Creatures class."
"I may need a bit 'o help when they arrive," Hagrid said. "They should be arriving next weekend, after lunch Saturday."
Alea Malfoy smiled and nodded. "I'll come down here then." She stood. "I'll leave you to the cake. Hope you all enjoy it. And I'll see you three in class next week," Malfoy said, flashing another bright smile.
Hagrid walked her to the door (Malfoy had to take three steps per each of Hagrid's) and Professor Malfoy left after waving to the three. Her sleeve partially fell down her arm, once again revealing the strange tattoo of flames around her wrist. The door closed behind her with a bang, shaking the hut.
There was a moment of awkward silence. "She practically ignored you!" Rose exclaimed. Scorpius looked a bit bewildered.
"See? What'd I tell ya?" Hagrid said. "Strange, isn't it?" But then Hagrid began talking about the hippogriffs Malfoy had come to ask him about, and said no more on Professor Alea's tendency to keep everything to herself. Albus found that he could not help wondering why she was reluctant to say anything special to her own son. The fact that she had never mentioned him, or Aries, to Hagrid, who seemed to be a friend of hers, seemed very odd.
"What am I talking for?" Hagrid said loudly, bursting into Albus' thoughts. "I want to hear all about your first week!"
Albus and Rose chattered excitedly about their lessons. Scorpius mostly listened, sometimes interjecting a small point that Albus left out, until the trio told Hagrid about their first Transfiguration lesson.
"She docked points from me for cheating! I wasn't cheating!" Scorpius said adamantly. "And if I was, Rose was, too."
"Are you sure you weren't doin' anything wrong?" Hagrid asked.
Rose and Scorpius both vigorously shook their heads. "If he was cheating, so was I, and I didn't lose any points," Rose said. "I traded matches voluntarily."
"I don't think she likes me," Scorpius said.
"You don't think anyone likes you," Rose replied, suddenly reminiscent of Aries. Scorpius gave her a look that kept her from going on.
"She didn't take any points when that Finnigan set the classroom on fire." Albus said to prove their point. Hagrid looked a bit defeated.
"Well, not to speak ill of Professor Clearwater, she doesn't exactly…well, you see…" Hagrid said, trying to find the right words.
"She hates Slytherins' guts," Albus said bluntly.
Hagrid shook his head. "No, no…well, yes she does," he admitted. "But don't you go around saying that, you'll only get into trouble."
A shrill shriek came from outside. At first, everyone in the hut just looked at each other, unsure they had actually heard anything. Then Hagrid strode quickly out of the hut as the three first years jumped off their chairs to follow him.
Two third-year girls from Ravenclaw were staring disgustedly at something in the pumpkin patch outside Hagrid's hut. "Ruddy birds. Shoo, shoo!" Hagrid said, waving his arms. A few crows flew into the sky, and the two girls ran off towards the castle.
"Hagrid, what is it?" Albus said, running up behind him.
Hagrid was shaking his head. "This don't make sense," he said quietly.
"What's wrong, Hagrid?" Rose said before she caught up and gasped.
The bloody remains of two roosters lay at Hagrid's feet. Albus grimaced.
"Did the crows kill them?" Scorpius said, looking at the corpses intently.
"No, crows are scavengers, aren't they, Hagrid?" Rose answered, looking up at him.
A shadow passed over Hagrid's face. "I'd better report this to Headmaster Darcy." Rose groaned, making a disgusted face as Hagrid picked up the rooster carcasses. "I'll need permission to put some spells around here to keep away - whatever killed these. Go on and finish the tea and cake. I'll be back soon," he said with a small smile. Albus felt that Hagrid's smile was especially fake, as though attempting to cover how worried he was.
Hagrid headed up to the castle with the roosters, attracting strange looks from the students he passed. The trio headed back into the hut and sat down. Rose struggled to pour the tea from the large teapot before Albus and Scorpius took it from her and cooperated to pour the tea into the giant mugs, spilling more than a little bit on the table. There was silence for a while as they sipped their tea. Albus thought over what had happened outside and had the distinct impression that Hagrid was hiding something from them.
"Well…that was pleasant, wasn't it?" Scorpius said sarcastically, taking another sip of tea.
Rose shook her head. "That was dreadful." Rose looked at her cousin. "Albus? You all right?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Albus took another bite of the chocolate cake.
Hagrid came back a few minutes later. "Got my permission!" he said, his voice more enthusiastic than his eyes. "Those foxes or whatever got in won't be coming back." The three watched Hagrid sit in his armchair in silence. "You three all right?" Albus nodded quickly. The dark shadow that had passed over Hagrid's face when he saw the roosters suddenly returned. "You know, maybe you ought to head back up to the school."
"We don't have classes this afternoon, Hagrid, we can stay," said Rose. "Anyway, we haven't finished telling you about our week!"
"No, no, you probably have homework, anyway," Hagrid said.
"Are you tired of us, Hagrid?" Rose asked sadly.
Hagrid shook his head violently. "Don't get the wrong idea, Rose, I just thought maybe you all had something to do." Albus knew Hagrid was very worried about something, but he was wary to ask. "All right then, never mind. Anyone want another slice of cake?"
Soon the three were finishing telling Hagrid about their week, and Albus quickly forgot the shadow that had loomed over Hagrid.
