KEYnote!: Short chapter and I put the section from last chapter here to break up the next monster chapter. My apologies.

Chapter 16 - Albus Learns

Harry and Luna decided to skive off class that evening, and for once, Hermione joined them.

It was the last day before break and no one wanted to go to Umbrige's 'correction class' that had shown up on everyone's schedule for at least one of their free periods during the week.

Hermione was huddled in her coat against the coat but listened to everything he and Luna told her about the herds they had been tending.

They were deep in the forest when they heard it.

Someone was crying in the forest.

Harry, Luna, and Hermione exchanged glances as they moved forward.

The Thestrals didn't seem all that worried but followed them like an honour guard.

The person let out a wailing sob, and finally, Harry recognized the voice.

"Hagrid!" he cried, breaking out into a run.

He came to a halt when he saw the blood in the snow.

It took him a bit longer to identify that it was body parts strewn between the bare tree trunks.

Body parts of several bodies that had been literally torn limb from limb were like a particularly peeved child taking out his emotions on his action figures.

But this wasn't something Harry could clean up like Dudley's playroom, this was why people feared giants.

The thought only shook Harry out of his shock, spurring him to approach Hagrid's massive form slowly.

"Harry, wait," Luna cautioned.

"Hagrid," Harry called, his heart breaking for the man whose shoulders heaved with sobs.

The body he sat beside was much, much larger than the others, and the prone giant was all in one piece despite the bloody scratches.

"Hagrid," Harry called again.

Hagrid heard him this time and turned with a roar.

With impossible speed, Harry found himself being picked up by his collar, Hagrid's other hand wound back in a fist.

Never in his life had Harry ever feared Hagrid.

Never in his life had he ever believed Hagrid would raise a hand against him.

Until now.

Hagrid froze as he registered who he had in his hands.

"Arry?" he asked gruffly.

Luna stepped into Hagrid's line of sight, "Please, Professor, it's just Harry."

Hagrid slowly put Harry down on his feet and he couldn't tell which of them or both of them were shaking.

Hagrid began to apologize.

Harry cut him off mid apology, "Hagrid, what happened?"

Luna gave him a look, silently asking, Didn't this happen last time?

In answer, Harry just shook his head.

Last time Hagrid had had a few cuts and a black eye.

This Hagrid had his clothes torn, dirt and wood splinters in his beard and hair.

Hagrid didn't look like he had been beaten up but he did look like he had been through a war. Which, given the state of this part of the woods, maybe he had. Harry counted at least five bodies.

"Death Eaters," Hagrid spat, clasping back in his chair. There were tears in his eyes from grief and anger.

Harry no longer went to Dumbledore for help with things. But Harry had never seen Hagrid in such a state before.

He hadn't figured out how to get Patronuses to send messages yet, but he knew Dumbledore would recognize the stag.

He pulled his wand, summoning the silver antlered Patronus, "Bring Dumbledore back to Hagrid's hut," Harry said, worrying when Hagrid gave no protest.

"What happened?" Hermione was asking Hagrid again as she, Harry, and Luna took his hands and led their injured friend haltingly out of the forest.

"MacNair," Hagrid growled, looking back at his brother and almost tripping all of them into the gory snow in the process. "Don't know how he found me, must have been patrolling. He tried to kill me on the way back to the Forest. Beat him bloody I did, broke his wand and all but that was before sunset. Fenrir Greyback was with him."

Luna and Harry exchanged a look but it was Luna who said, "It was a full moon last night."

Harry felt the blood run cold in his veins, Luna had been in the forest last night, he hadn't realized the moon had been full.

Hagrid growled, "Fenrir and his pack hunted us."

Which explained why the torn up bodies were naked.

"Us?" Hermione repeated.

"My brother," Hagrid choked on a sob, looking back down at the body. "Grawp. He's a full giant, but small, he had no one but me." He swallowed another teary gasp before continuing, "We made it all the way back to the forest." Here Hagrid's tears turned feral as he bared his bloody teeth. "He took the monster down with him. My brother might be dead but he took that fowl abomination down with him. Grawp snapped that ruddy bastard's neck."

"Remus will be glad to hear it," Harry said, looking toward the crumpled body near Grawp's head.

Hagrid blinked at him, as if he had forgotten he wasn't alone. "Yeah," Hagrid said thickly. "I reckon he will. I reckon he will."

There wasn't much to say after that. When they got back to Hagrid's hut, Hermione opted to run to get Madam Pomfrey, while Luna and Harry remained with Hagrid. It didn't seem like a good idea to leave him alone.

Hagrid tried to grab some liquor, which Harry snatched from him and poured some of it over the scratch on Hagrid's hand, muggle first aid couldn't hurt.

He should definitely start learning healing spells for humans.

Luna made them tea.

oOo

Albus startled when he saw the stag.

For a moment, he thought it was Severus's doe, but then he registered the antlers.

The patronous did not speak and Albus made a note to himself to teach Harry to send messages this way. As it was, the silver stag lingered by the door.

Rising to his feet, the stag darted from the room, leaving Albus to hurry after.

It was impatient, leading him out of the castle towards Hagrid's. He ran into Poppy and Ms. Hermione Granger along the way.

"What happened?" he asked them both as the stag trotted ahead of them.

"Hagrid," Hermione said. "He was attacked in the forest."

Albus began to run down the hill then, and they all arrived at the hut rather out of breath.

Albus was expecting it to be bad, and indeed, the tears trailing down his friend's face were not a good indication, but he wasn't expecting Luna and Harry to be there, one treating Hagrid's wounds the muggle way and the other preparing scones for tea.

"What happened?" Albus asked as Poppy shewed Harry away. She tsked at the muggle treatment, though Albus could tell she was not displeased at Harry's efforts.

Albus accepted the large cup of tea Harry gave him and asked, "How is your brother, Hagrid?"

Fresh tears welled in Hagrid's dark eyes, spilling over as he said, "Grawp is dead. We were ambushed by Death Eaters in the forest. I injured MacNair but he and the others ran like the cowards they are. But the werewolves pursued us after sunset.

"Grawp and I took them all but Grawp died killing Fenrir," Hagrid finished tearily.

Albus let out a long breath, which was far better news than he expected, though he grieved for his friend's loss.

"Can you catch lycanthropy?" Hermione asked.

Hagrid waved her remark away, "I wasn't bitten, just some scratches."

"Just some large, could die from blood loss or infection, scratches," Harry said with tangible disapproval.

"What were you three even doing in the forest?" Hagrid countered.

"Said the man who sent Harry and Ron out into the forest to speak to some giant man eating spiders," Hermione defended.

Albus was pleased that their friendship seemed to recover from the hurdles of this year. Less pleased about his students' escapades into the Forbidden Forest. Albus had not approved of Harry and Draco's first trip to the Forest in their first year. As much as he loved Hagrid, he sometimes forgot the half-giant had a different view of safety when it came to magical creatures.

"When was this?" Albus asked.

"Second year," Harry explained. "Hagrid said to follow the spiders because they were afraid of the Basilisk."

Yes, the Basilisk, sometimes Albus wondered if it was he or Harry who had the worst luck.

It wasn't as if, after all, the Basilisk had remained dormant for a thousand years, then for decades after Tom had graduated.

No, every year had to be a life-threatening adventure.

Poppy cut in sharply, "The question remains, what were you doing in the forest?"

"We were showing Hermione the Thestral foals. One of the mares had triplets," Harry said.

"Triplets?" Hagrid asked, the astonishment clear in his voice. "And survived?"

"Luna and I delivered the foals," Harry said with a smile.

Poppy paused, "As in you…?"

"Harry reached in to help flip them and pulled them out," Luna said, pleased.

"Yeah, but only because Luna could direct me. She was the one who knew we needed to feed her more protein leading up to the birth. She even calculated—"

"Guessed," she interrupted.

Harry rolled his eyes but continued, "Sure, 'guessed' the early delivery date."

Hagrid's face was alight as he exclaimed, "You saved her, and the foals, lives!"

Albus had to cut in, "How much time have you been spending in the Forbidden Forest?"

"Most nights," Harry said casually. He tapped his temple, "I don't sleep well."

Albus was horrified, "Harry, the forest is not warded. Without an adult—"
"I'm sorry," Harry interrupted. "When have adults ever been trustworthy? I've stayed on Hogwarts grounds and nearly died multiple times each year. Besides, the Thestral and hippogryph herds are more than enough defence."

Pen, Harry's bow-truckle, peaked out of his breast pocket to chitter at them.

"And Pen," Harry added fondly.

"I was in the forest last night," Luna said. "I didn't hear the attack on Hagrid and his brother, but it explains why the herds stayed so close to me and directed me into a clearing a few kilometres off."

"Kilometers?" Poppy spluttered, "Multiple kilometres? You went that deep?"

"Where else were we supposed to practice elemental magic?" Luna asked.

Albus stared at the young blonde haired Ravenclaw. He knew that she was dating Harry, or rather that the two loved each other in a way that was rare for its purity and depth, but he hadn't realized she was sharing in Harry's studies.

Which, was an oversight of his, given who Luna's mother had been.

If Lily Evans had been the cleverest witch of her age.

Then Pandora Lupin might have been considered the most powerful in her generation, though she had been overshadowed by Bellatrix Black a few years later.

"You were just supposed to be studying the theory," Albus informed the teens.

Harry shrugged, "Luna figured it out. I'm still struggling."

Luna sat in the same chair as Harry, making them look like siblings sharing a bench when the seating was full. She patted his head as if he were a bird, "Harry doesn't know how to breathe."

Albus took off his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"Where did you think we were?" Harry asked.

"The Room of Requirement," Albus answered without looking up.

"No, we are just using that for the Defense Club," Harry said. "Otherwise, we've been outside. It feels freer out here."

"You were meant to be practising this with Sirius and me not running off in the forest unsupervised," Albus said.

"But I only get to see Sirius on the holidays," Harry argued. "And you're never around."

Guilt swam through Albus. He had been avoiding Harry because of his connection to Tom, but clearly, that aspect had already been exploited. Realising he wasn't going to win an argument by simply stating something was dangerous and that they would need to know why exactly it was unsafe, Albus tried to explain, "Elemental magic can be extremely draining and leave you defenceless. The forest is not the ideal place for that."

"You could have told us that," Harry said.

"I wasn't tired," Luna said, ever her mother's child.

Pandora Lovegood had been nothing short of a genius. She hadn't been a healer, but she had been specialising in medical and defensive magic.

A branch of magic that was somewhat like curse-breaking, only more as a first responder than a researcher.

"You were the one to give me the invisibility cloak," Harry remarked.

Albus replaced his glasses on his nose, "That was an heirloom. And in this case alone, I will not take responsibility for. It was in your father's will to be given to you during your first year at Hogwarts."

Harry's expression faltered and he asked, "Was Sirius the only person in my parents' will?"

Albus sighed, "No. Your godmother was Alice Longbottom, she was very close to your mother when they served in the Order together. For obvious reasons, that was not possible. And though I am certain Lady Longbottom would have been a more suitable guardian, and Neville a more welcoming relative, Neville's grandmother wanted nothing to do with the Potters."

Harry's face fell further and Albus realised too late that Harry would be able to read between the lines of his words.

"She blames me for the attack on her family, for what happened to Neville's parents," he stated.

Luna wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder in silent comfort.

Hermione looked lost but remained attentive.

"It was not your doing," Albus assured. "Nor was it your parents doing. Voldemort's greatest ability during, and after the war, is to twist people's emotions and have us blame each other where blame belongs solely to him and those who acted in his interests."

Poppy finished up on Hagrid and straightened to her full height, commanding the attention of the space. She looked between the two junior magizoologists. "You have been endangering yourselves where nobody can reach you when nobody knows where you are."

Harry snorted, "I'm never safe. What difference does it make?"

"And if it's Voldemort himself?" Albus asked.

Harry shrugged, "He's in my head. He got to me last year. He's going to get me eventually, and I would rather enjoy my life than live forever afraid of him."

"A worthy setimentiment," Albus said. "But the forest poses it's own issues."

"We handled the war against the Centaurs just fine," Luna said.

Albus gaped at her, as did Hermione, Poppy, and Hagrid.

"It was more of a skirmish," Harry added.

"What?" Hermione squeeked.

"You know that staff I keep in my dorm?" Harry asked. "The one I had an arrow stuck out of when we road in on a hippogryff?"

"Yeah?" she questioned cautiously.

"That was a Centaur arrow," Harry explained, unconcerned.

"You could have died!" Hermione yelled.

Luna waved it away, "We only would have gotten hurt if we had backed down. They knew we weren't there to take their territory, they just didn't want to share space with the thestrals. Who they know listen to us because we have been taking care of the mares and foals."

"We've been training them too," Harry added. "Them and the hippogryphs."

"And unicorns," Luna said. "They've even let Harry near them."

Harry's smile would have been infectious had Albus's mind not been reeling. "It's been a real honour."

Albus shook his head. Here he thought he was doing his best to keep his student safe when he hadn't even realised he had had students out in the forest.

Hermione dropped her head in her hands in despair.

"Honestly, Professors," Luna said. "We befriended almost everyone in the forest. Even the Centaurs and the spiders are our allies now."

Those words brought more comfort than they should have. But then, Tom was already in Harry's mind, and as Hagrid had proved, the forest wasn't hospitable to Death Eaters.

"I will need to inform your fathers about this," Albus said dryly.

Harry grinned, wide and sudden, "I love that you can say that."

Albus felt himself soften, "As do I, Harry, as do I."

Though, he wondered at what point James would be overwhelmed by all the chaos he attracted.

Despite Harry's lack of malicious intent, he and his friends always seemed to out do the marauders by accident.

oOo

AN: Thoughts, water buffalo, or feedback, pretty please?