"It means no worries." -Hakuna Matata
"Hi, Hagrid," Neville said as he, Ginny and I approached the small hut at the edge of the forest the next night for our detention. Hagrid was standing outside with four large buckets at his feet. Each bucket contained something different. From the looks of it, it was some sort of food, but nothing that a human would eat.
"Hello, Neville. Ginny, Luna." He nodded to me and Ginny and I smiled.
"How are the thestrals, Hagrid?" I asked.
"They're doing just fine," Hagrid answered. "I think they miss you, though."
I beamed. "That's sweet. I've really missed visiting them, but things aren't the same around here anymore."
"You can say that again," Hagrid muttered. "I'm surprised Snape even let you three serve detention with me and not the Carrows."
"It was Dumbledore's idea," Ginny said. "Well, Dumbledore's portrait."
"I heard what you did," Hagrid said, picking up the buckets and leading us towards the forest. "Stealing the sword? What were you three thinking?"
"We wanted to somehow get it to Harry," Neville said. "It doesn't belong in that office. I mean it just sits there, first of all. Harry might be able to use it for something. Secondly, why should Snape have it? It was one thing when Dumbledore was headmaster, but now that Snape is…"
"Snape's headmaster whether you like it or not. Stealing the sword isn't going to change anything," Hagrid said.
"So what do you want us to do?" Neville asked. "Just let the Carrows and Snape torture everyone? You want us to practice the Cruciatus Curse on first years and people in detention? I'm sorry, Hagrid, but I don't think I could do that if I tried."
"All I'm saying is that it's going to take a lot to stop them."
"We're up for it," Ginny insisted.
Hagrid didn't answer. Instead, he stopped at the edge of the forest and turned to look at us.
"What exactly are we going to be doing?" I asked.
"Well, it probably won't be pleasant," Hagrid said. "A lot of students don't like going into the forest, see. It scares them."
"We're not scared," I said, shaking my head.
"Maybe you aren't," Neville said, swallowing as some creature howled from somewhere in the forest.
"This isn't going to be a visit to the thestrals," Hagrid warned.
"Oh, I know," I answered. "I didn't think it would be. That would hardly be considered a detention, would it? I was hoping to at least get to see them for a second, though. You know, just to see if they're okay."
"They're fine," Hagrid assured me, "as I said earlier. We won't be seeing them at all, though. We're not going through that part of the forest. We're starting here and going in pretty far."
"To do what, exactly?" Neville asked.
"Well, there are a few things we need to do, actually," Hagrid said. He looked down at us a little nervously. "Firstly, we need to repair some of the destroyed trees. Using your wands should help. Then, well, we're going to have to feed him, which is what these buckets are for-,"
"Feed who?" Ginny asked. "And what happened to the trees? How are they getting destroyed?"
"Well, Harry, Ron and Hermione knew about him, but they're not here anymore and I thought he could use some new friends. And I could really use some help with him. Improving his English and all that. He's improved a lot over the past few years, but he's still not that great…"
"Who?" Ginny asked impatiently.
"Grawp," Hagrid said.
"Grawp," Neville repeated. "Why does that sound familiar?"
"Harry, Ron and Hermione told us about him!" I said suddenly. "Remember? A little over a year ago right before we went to the Ministry. He's your half brother, isn't he, Hagrid?"
"That's right," Hagrid answered. "I hope you three don't mind. I don't usually like asking for help with him, but like I said, Harry, Ron and Hermione are gone and I need the help. At least, just for tonight."
"We don't mind," I said quickly.
"He's not dangerous is he, Hagrid?" Ginny asked.
"Oh, no, he's really improved with his manners and everything."
"How much of an improvement?" Neville asked as we started walking through the trees.
"Grawpy won't hurt you," Hagrid chuckled. "Honestly, it's as if you three don't trust me."
I smiled and shared glances with Neville and Ginny. It was typical of Hagrid to think certain creatures were harmless when in reality they were considered dangerous by a lot of people. There were plenty of times, though, where he was right, like with hippogriffs and the thestrals. They really were harmless and wouldn't hurt anyone as long as you didn't provoke them, which was a silly thing to do in the first place.
"How tall is Grawp now?" I asked, mainly out of curiosity.
"He must be close to twenty feet. Nearly fully grown now," Hagrid answered with a proud smile.
"That's wonderful," I said.
"Wonderful," Neville replied, nodding his head as if he was trying to convince himself that it really was wonderful.
"How far in do we have to go?" Ginny complained nearly half an hour later. She swatted a low hanging branch out of her way. It swung back and I dragged my fingers through the cool leaves.
"Oh, not too much further," Hagrid said. "Just a few more minutes. See, look, some of these trees here are damaged."
It was true. There were a few trees that were half pulled out of the ground. Roots stuck up all over the place and the trees were falling into other trees.
"Are you sure we can fix these trees?" Neville asked, looking up at Hagrid. "I mean, I'm not sure if we can fix them when the roots are taken out of the ground."
"Well…" Hagrid began, looking as if this was quite the dilemma.
"If Neville doesn't know how to do it, then we certainly don't," Ginny said. "There might not even be an answer at all."
"I'm sure there is," Neville said, blushing. "I just don't know it."
"Well, that's okay," I said. "We can't all know absolutely everything there is to know in the world."
"I suppose you're right," Hagrid said. "It's alright." He smiled down at Neville. "You've always had a real knack for Herbology."
Neville grinned. "I'd love to teach Herbology here, actually, if we ever get out of this mess."
"You be sure to do just that, then," Hagrid said seriously. "It'll be good to have you here."
I smiled and took Neville's hand. "That's what you decided on?" The last time we had discussed careers, he hadn't been completely sure.
He looked down at me and shrugged. "I still haven't totally decided on anything. I'm still thinking. There are a lot of things that my decision depends on."
"We're here," Hagrid said suddenly. "Look, he's already sleeping."
"Where is he?" Ginny asked.
"He's right there." I pointed at a large, brownish-grey mound lying on the ground in front of us. The only way I could tell it wasn't a rock was because it was moving up and down slightly. I wasn't aware of any rocks that could breathe, but maybe nobody had discovered them yet.
"I guess we can leave the trees the way they are for now," Hagrid sighed, looking around at the destroyed trees. There were a lot more of them around this area than we had seen before. "I'll just wake Grawpy up now and we can feed him. He'll be glad to have company."
Neville took a few steps back as Hagrid approached the sleeping giant. Ginny stayed where she was, but I took a tiny step forward. I had never meet a real giant before. I was actually quite fascinated.
"Wake up, Grawpy, I've brought you some food and also some new friends for you to meet," Hagrid said, poking at Grawp with a stick. He glanced over his shoulder at us. "This is the only way he'll wake up. Using anything else isn't strong enough to wake him."
With a series of nearly deafening crashes, Grawp clambered to his feet, rubbing his eyes. "Food," he muttered in a booming voice, noticing the large buckets.
"Ah, you'll get that in a minute, Grawp. First, I want you to meet Neville, Ginny and Luna. They're your new friends!"
Grawp turned his large eyes on us. I took another step forward and held out my hand. "Hello," I said politely.
"Luna, are you crazy?" Neville yelped. "His hand's bigger than your entire body!"
Grawp grinned down at me and began reaching down with a hand that was, as Neville said, bigger than I was. Instead of shaking my hand, though, he grabbed me and brought me up to eye level. I heard scream from Ginny and then a crash from behind me. When I looked down from nearly twenty feet in the air, I saw a miniature Neville lying on his stomach. He had clearly tried to pull me out of the way, but had been too late.
"Grawp!" Hagrid said sternly. "We've discussed this! You do not grab! That is your friend, Luna!"
"Make him put her down, Hagrid," Neville said, standing up.
"It's quite alright," I yelled down to them. "It's wonderful up here. Everything looks really different from this point of view. Besides, he's not hurting me."
"Will you say that when he eats you?" Neville asked.
"Grawp won't eat her," Hagrid said. "He knows better. That I'm sure of. I think this is just his way of making friends."
"Well, it looks as if they're real buddies now, so can you get him to put her down?" Neville asked.
I turned to look the giant in the face. "Thank you for showing me the forest from this height, but would you mind putting me down now?"
Grawp just looked at me.
"Yes, now," I said a little more sternly.
"Grawp, why don't you put Luna down and eat the food we've brought?" Hagrid suggested.
Grawp instantly turned back towards Hagrid and instantly brightened at the mention of food.
"Look at that," Hagrid chuckled. "He must be hungry."
"Get Luna out of his hand first," Neville insisted.
"Neville, he won't eat her," Hagrid said.
Instead of placing me down like I had expected, Grawp dropped me then. I actually let out a startled gasp. I hadn't been expecting it.
"I've got her!" Neville cried, running around on the ground below me, his arms outstretched.
"Or we can just do this," Ginny said calmly. She aimed her wand at me and slowed my fall until I was hovering just above the ground.
"Oh," Neville said, his cheeks turning pink. "I panicked. Didn't think. Sorry."
"It's quite alright," I said, getting to my feet and brushing myself off. "I appreciate your attempt to save me. It was very gallant of you."
Neville blushed again and examined my face, using his index finger to turn my head from side to side as if searching for injuries. "Are you okay?"
"Never better," I answered.
"You're sure?"
"Quite sure," I replied. "Grawp was actually very gentle. He didn't hurt me at all."
We turned to stare at the giant, who was catching bits of the food Hagrid was tossing to him and consuming it as if he hadn't seen such a thing before.
"Jump in at any time," Hagrid said. "These are all Grawp's favorites."
"Just what are they?" Ginny asked.
"Don't answer that, Hagrid," Neville said. "We don't really want to know."
I rolled up my sleeves and approached one of the buckets. I picked up one of whatever was in there, some kind of dead animal from the looks of it, and tossed it at Grawp, who caught it and instantly stuck it in his mouth.
"You two are making this look easy," Ginny said, gingerly sticking her hand in another bucket.
"It is easy," I said, laughing as Grawp sniffed something Hagrid had just tossed him. "Besides, this is way better than cleaning out toilets or practicing the Cruciatus Curse."
"Right," Neville agreed. "As long as I keep reminding myself of what we could be doing, I'll be okay."
"That's right, Neville," I agreed, grinning at him. "You'll also appreciate real food more. You could be eating this, after all."
Neville actually laughed. "You're very right. Very right, indeed."