Chapter Eighteen
Harry had been worried that Hagrid would be annoyed at them not been able to fit Care of Magical Creatures into their classes this year. There had certainly been moments of running into one another in the halls or grounds where Hagrid had seemed rather chilly towards them. However after they had arrived Harry wasn't worried any more.
Hagrid welcomed them into his cosy hut and made a large pot of tea.
"We just wanted to say how disappointed we were that we couldn't fit Care of Magical Creatures into our timetables this year." Harry said carefully, a little worried of even bringing the subject up.
"It's no worry 'Arry!" Hagrid had sighed, "I understand, you' so busy."
"We are really sorry Hagrid." Draco assured him.
"Have you been keeping busy?" Daphne asked, pouring herself a mug of tea.
Hagrid nodded and munched through a scone, Hermione and Daphne had had the foresight to bring with them a large basket of goodies from the school kitchens, "Aye, classes are a little down this year." he shrugged, " 'ut Dumbledore's be'n givin' me a few extra jobs ta be gettin' on with."
"Like what?" Harry asked.
Hargid glared at him, "Ca't tell yea that 'Arry! You should know that by now!"
Harry sighed and forced a smile, "You know me, I had to try. Well, make sure you stay safe anyway."
"You too. 'Nd make sure yea stay oot o' the forbidden forest." Hagrid said seriously.
"Why?" Pansy asked, "Not that it was really high on our list of places to go anyway." she hadn't really gotten over the last time she went into the forest alone and had to be rescued by William, although the evidence pointed to Bellatrix being responsible for that one rather than just the forest.
"It's dangerous." Hagrid said, scratching the back of his head.
"Hagrid the forest has always been dangerous." Harry said quickly, "That's never had you giving us special warnings before. In fact, you took us in there for detention once!"
Hagrid sighed, "Creatures are unhappy. Centaurs especially. They're gettin' real annoyed at wizardin' folk. More laws comin' into force and such. Got caugh' in one o' their traps other day, hit me head righ' bad as I went down."
"They let you go though? How badly were you hurt?" Daphne asked, getting up and walking round to behind Hagrid to see if she could see anything through his mane of hair.
"They did. After yellin' at me 'bout bein' where I ought not te be." Hagrid shrugged, "But they know me, I don't think they'd 'ave been so nice to anyone who they didn' know well."
"We'll stay away, we promise." Draco assured him, "We're so busy this year I don't think we'd have time for trips into the forest."
Hagrid visibly relaxed and gave them a smile, "Good on yeah all. You're all good kids."
"What were you doing in the forest anyway?" Daphne asked.
Hagrid burst into tears.
Harry, Draco, Daphne and Pansy all looked on shocked at the sudden change in Hagrid's manner. They didn't know what to do. After a few shocked seconds Pansy jumped to her feet and threw her arms around Hagrid's shoulders, as far as she could reach, to try and give him a comforting hug.
"What on earth has happened?" Harry asked.
"Sorry kids." Hagrid sniffed, wiping his nose on an already grubby sleeve, "Never mean' ta dump this on yea."
"You haven't actually told us what 'this' is." Daphne pointed out, "You can tell us."
She handed him her neat lace handkerchief to dab his eyes with and he gave her a grateful smile.
"It's Aragog." Hagrid sniffed, "He's so sick."
"Aragog?" Harry frowned, "As in the giant spider?"
Hagrid smiled sadly, "I knew you'd remember 'im."
He was hard to forget Harry thought to himself. He'd only had the 'pleasure' of meeting Aragog once and he had barely survived it. He could tell that Pansy and Draco were thinking the same thing.
"Do you know what's wrong with him?" Daphne asked.
Hagrid let out another loud sniff, "He's jus' old I think. He's gone blind and strugglin' ta eat…"
"At least he has his family around him…" Draco said, trying to keep any sarcasm or bitterness out of his voice and failing.
Hagrid frowned, "Startin' ta think I was wrong 'bout them. They seem like they don' really care. Jus' tryin' to fight over who will get to be boss when… when he's… g… g… gone."
"How terrible." Neville said, shaking his head.
"Hagrid… I mean… when we went to see him, I know it was a few years ago but still, they weren't too friendly. Aragog was… wasn't as bad but the others seemed more…" Harry struggled to find the right word.
"Feral." Draco put in helpfully.
Harry nodded in agreement. Hagrid hung his head and sniffed.
"Yea, you're right. None of them ever were a good as Aragog. I just don't know wha' ta do." Hagrid said, tears welling up in his eyes again, "Raised 'im since he was just a baby."
"You were saying he's struggling to eat, maybe look at bringing him something nice?" Neville suggested.
Hagrid nodded, "Already got that covered." he gestured to a large tub filled with huge wriggling grubs.
Harry forced a smile, trying to hide his revulsion at the fleshy lumps, "I'm sure he'll love them."
"Used te feed 'em to 'im when he was a little 'en." Hagrid said, with a fond smile.
"Can't imagine your dorm mates were overly thrilled." Neville laughed.
Hagrid let out a booming laugh, "Nah, not really! But I moved 'em to the cupboard in the end. They like the dark anyways." he let out a loud sigh, "I'm not sure I'll be able te get to 'im for much longer. Rest o' 'em are gettin' very restrictive."
"Hagrid…" Pansy wasn't sure how to say what she needed to without really upsetting him, "Just be careful. We don't want you getting hurt."
Hagrid beamed down at her, "Thanks Pansy, means a lot that you lot are thinkin' 'bout me."
"Always!" Harry assured him, slightly offended that there was even a question about them caring about Hagrid.
Harry felt a wave of guilt passing over him. Hagrid was big, people viewed him as dangerous, he'd been kicked out of school and even gone to prison but he'd never acted nastily towards Harry and he was a huge part of Harry's childhood; just like Aragog was for Hagrid.
Harry stood up and gave Hagrid a huge hug, holding him as tightly as he could, "I'm really sorry that Aragog isn't well. I know he means a lot to you."
Hagrid looked confused at Harry for a moment before smiling and nodding, patting Harry's hand.
"Thanks Harry." Hagrid said honestly, "Means a lot."
"Does Dumbledore have any ideas? For helping him?" Hermione suggested.
Harry felt himself prickle at the idea of Dumbledore helping anyone and quickly shook it off, he was being silly now. Yes, Dumbledore had made some mistakes last year but there was a huge difference between making a mistake and crossing the line to hurting the innocent and Dumbledore hadn't crossed that line.
"I haven't asked." Hagrid said sheepishly, "I knew he's been so busy, 'nd the like. Besides his hand..."
"Do you know what caused that?" Draco asked quickly, "It seems bad."
Hagrid shook his shaggy head, "Fraid not. Not that I could tell yea even if I did. Jus' know it happened over the holidays."
"I've not seen any improvement though." Neville pointed out, "Is it weird that it's not gotten any better?"
Hagrid's eyes flashed to Harry's forehead for a second. Harry thoughtlessly reached up and ran his finger over the thin scar.
"Not if it was a magical wound. Like my scar." Harry said quietly.
Hagrid gave a quick nod, "Aye. I'd think that it must be something magical to still be so bad."
It was another worrying thought. Dumbledore surely knew better than to be messing around with anything dangerous.
"Was he hurt at the Ministry?" Hermione suggested, trying to think back.
Harry shook his head, he couldn't remember Dumbledore being hit although there had certainly been a lot going on.
"No." Hagrid sighed, finishing off the pot of tea, "I saw 'im a few times durin' the summer and 'e was fine until one day 'e wasn't."
"There were a lot of attacks during the summer." Daphne said firmly, "The important thing is that Dumbledore is all right. Lots of people learn to live without two hands."
Harry nodded and forced a smile. He couldn't explain why he thought Dumbledore wasn't all right, the thought hit him like a ton of bricks that Dumbledore this year had seemed like he was giving one long, theatrical goodbye.
"Harry? Are you all right you've gone very pale." Draco asked.
Harry nodded, "Yeah I'm fine. Just need another cake!" he said, helping himself to another fairy cake.
It was coming up for dinner time when Hagrid pulled on his heavy overcoat and walked them up to the castle, all of them feeling better for the visit.
Slughorn was waiting in the entrance hall, handing out invitations, once again wrapped in a violet ribbon.
"What's the odds of us all managing to slip by?" Daphne sniggered.
"Harry!" Slughorn boomed, "And friends, I was just looking out for you. I do hope you'll be able to make it."
Harry quickly looked over the invitation and saw it was for dinner that night, therefore leaving them with no possible excuse for not attending.
"Well look at you 'Arry!" Hagrid beamed, "Don't that sound like fun!"
Harry grinned at Hagrid's rather contagious enthusiasm, "I'd be delighted to attend, thank you Professor."
Slughorn smiled so widely Harry thought he looked a little deranged, "Brilliant! I'll see you all up there then."
Pansy rolled her eyes, "Strange I know, but sometimes it really does feel as though you are the favoured one."
They said goodbye to Hagrid and instead of going to the Slytherin table, made their way to Slughorn's office. It was decorated exactly how Harry expected it to have been, very similar to the house he had been hiding out in when Harry first met him.
In the centre of the room was large, round table, each chair made of matching, highly polished wood with a large bow on the back.
Slughorn was sitting happily at the head of the table and welcomed them in. Harry spotted his little name tag, in intricately curled script and ivy leaves in the corners. He was seated between Melinda and, unsurprisingly, Slughorn.
Melinda had little interest in being there it seemed; she picked at her food and smiled when spoken too.
It was a perfectly nice dinner, roasted chicken breasts with fresh vegetables and mash potatoes. There was even large servings of pavlova to finish which Harry enjoyed thoroughly.
Slughorn seemed to have a deep interest in the students, which Harry had expected, but it certainly seemed to take several of the others by surprise.
"Well, well, well…" Slughorn beamed, looking at his clock, "Look at the time! You should all be getting off. I do hope that I haven't kept you from our studies."
"Not at all." Harry said cheerfully.
It seemed that Harry could of danced naked on the desks and Slughorn wouldn't of liked him any less which made Harry's task of getting closer to him even more difficult if anything, it would be a challenge to get a deeper connection than the superficial one they currently had.
"You go ahead, I'll catch up." Harry said to his friends, starting to gather up the plates and leaving Harry and Slughorn alone.
"No need for that Harry, the house elves will get to it." Slughorn chuckled.
Harry smiled, "I'm so used to home. Mum always insists we help out."
Slughorn beamed down at him, "Ah your dear mother. She was so one of my favourites."
"She seemed very fond of you as well." Harry assured him, possibly stretching the truth a little, "You have your pictures set up." he said, looking at the side board where they sat proudly
"Of course!" Slughorn said, looking fondly over them, "They come everywhere with me. Feel free to look over them. I really must show you the little fish your mother gave me at some point…"
Harry smiled down at the picture of his mother, she looked so young. The draw beneath the centre pictures was slightly cracked open and Harry saw the edge of a leather book.
"I'll be back in just a moment Harry!" Slughorn said, moving into the more private room.
Harry quickly let his curiosity get the better of him and pulled open the draw, just enough so he could open the book. It was old, and small; only A5 sized. It was also slightly ratty around the edges, like it had been moved and looked through often. On every page was another picture of Slughorn and a student or two, their names carefully listed.
Harry flicked through, Nott's father was there, as were several others including Bellatrix Lestrange, looking just as haughty as ever, even at age fifteen, she looked very like Gemini.
The next page made Harry take a deep breath, there, in a group of boys who's pictures weren't up on the side board either was a smiling Tom Riddle.
The smile was cold, even back then he looked angry at the world and it strongly seemed like he felt he had better things to do than pose for photographs.
Harry knew that it was connected to why Dumbledore wanted him to be 'collected' by Slughorn, it was something to do with Voldemort, he knew it.
Harry could hear footsteps behind him and put the book back, quickly shutting the draw.
"I had a copy of it made for you." Slughorn beamed, handing Harry a picture of Lily and Severus smiling and waving either side of Slughorn.
"Thank you Professor." Harry said, running his fingers over the edge of the picture, "Thank you."
"No worries my boy! I thought it would be nice for you to have a picture of them together, it's for your little sister as well, Danica wasn't it?" Slughorn said.
Harry nodded.
"Two of my brightest students there. I look forward to seeing how brilliant your little Danica is." Slughorn said cheerfully.
Harry was about to bring up the photo album but thought better of it. He would keep this as a tension free moment. It was really very nice of Slughorn to have made him the photo.
"Now, you should be getting off! Plenty of homework to do I'm sure." Slughorn beamed, patting him on the back.
Harry thanked him again before heading off to bed, with plenty to think about but feeling very happy.