Chapter 61
Hagrid's Return
Message from J.M. Jackson: I know it's been nearly a month since the last update, and for that I am sorry. Life has been difficult for myself, and so writing and editing has had to take a back seat. I will confess, I have felt bad for not updating at all, because I know there are many of you who enjoy this story. For that, I can only apologise again.
I promise you one thing: No matter how long between updates, I will finish this story. I remember when I was inspired to write this with Mystic Dodo: I had read another story on Fanfiction (Might be on here as well) called Magical Metamorphosis, and I was so engrossed in it. I loved it so much, but the writer stopped after they finished the 4th year, so I had to come up with my own ideas of what happened next, and then this story started building up. I was so disappointed at the way the story just ended, so I won't do the same to all of you.
I am working on the end of year 5 right now, and a part of me has questioned whether the story works, but finally, I'm just going to write it, and go with it. I figure the story will tell me if it's wrong, and I sincerely hope all of you do enjoy the story.
I am also publishing two chapters today, and will publish again on Monday.
Thank you for listening to all of this.
J.M. Jackson
Unwilling to wait to see their friend, Lily, Ron, and Hermione snuck out of the castle under Lily's invisibility cloak, wanting to know where Hagrid had been for so long. As they reached his hut – after Lily and Hermione had gotten a scarf and jacket on because it was cold outside – Lily knocked on the door, which caused Fang to howl.
"Hagrid, it's us," Lily called out.
"Course it is," Hagrid's gruff voice came back through the door. The three of them grinned, although their grins faded as the door opened. Hermione let out a scream of shock, which caused Hagrid to hurry them into the hut, and closing the door.
Lily had never seen Hagrid look so bad. His hair was stuck together with congealed blood, his eyes looked puffy as if they had been struck multiple times, and he was also sporting several scars.
"H… Hagrid, what happened?" Lily managed to ask as they sat down.
"Nuthin, I'm fine," Hagrid replied, moving gingerly. Lily suspected he had broken some of his ribs.
"Fine? You look like you've gone ten rounds with… hell, what is there that can do that to you?" Ron asked.
"Like I said, I'm fine," Hagrid replied, serving all of them tea. "How were your summers?"
"Aside from fighting Dementors?" Lily asked. Hagrid's eyes widened, which caused him some pain.
"What? Yer had to face Dementors?" Hagrid asked. "What happened?"
"You first," Lily replied. Hagrid let out a sigh as he shook his head gently.
"Can't tell yeh," Hagrid replied, getting a slab of what looked like rancid meat.
"Hagrid, you're not going to eat that, are you?" Hermione asked, scrunching up her nose.
"Course not, it's Dragon meat, not meant to be eaten, it helps with th' stinging," Hagrid replied, putting it against his eye.
"Did the giants do that to you?" Hermione asked softly. Hagrid's eyes narrowed as he looked at them.
"Giants? Who said anythin' abou' giants?" Hagrid asked.
"Hagrid, I know you're part giant, and knowing Professor Dumbledore, and the fact that Madam Maxime went with you, means that the only logical place you could have gone to was to try and make peace with the giants," Hermione explained.
"Wait, you knew?" Ron asked, frowning. "You didn't say anything."
"How did you know?" Hermione asked.
"Sirius told us. We didn't say anything because it didn't make a difference," Lily replied.
"You three are th' smartest witches and wizard I have ever met," Hagrid said, looking at them, with a proud smile. "And it means a lot ter me that you still stayed friends with me."
"Giants may be dangerous, but the only danger with you Hagrid is that one of the creatures you teach us about will try to kill us," Lily said, smiling.
"Still not fully forgiven you for that clue with those bloody spiders," Ron admitted.
"I spoke to Aragog 'bout that, told him that he can't hurt anyone. We argued, but he and his kids know you're never t' be harmed," Hagrid said.
"So, what happened with the giants?" Hermione asked, changing the subject before Ron could say anything else on the matter.
"Well, at th' end of last term, Olympe and me, we went to see 'em on behalf of Dumbledore. He wanted us to take gifts to them, to make peace," Hagrid said.
Hagrid's story kept all three of them gripped; on how they first met the giants, how there was almost peace, but when he explained about the takeover, things had gone from bad to worse for the idea of peace talks, thanks to the Death Eaters who had gone to speak on behalf of Voldemort.
"I might have had some of 'em on side, but now… I dunno, they went through a lot, and giants don't usually trust outsiders," Hagrid said. "When we had no other choice, Olympe an I left. Needed her help, and I'm glad she came. I wish we'd have had some success, but after the ones who might have helped were killed, we knew we had ter leave, quickly. I wish I'd had a chance to kill McNair, for what he tried to do t' Beaky."
"That's another for the list. We're certain that White, the Minister for Magic, is a Death Eater," Lily said. Hagrid nodded.
"Aye, Dumbledore reckons so an all," Hagrid confirmed. As Lily looked shocked, Hagrid sighed. "I should not have told ya that," he muttered, reminding Lily of her first year.
"We need to know, we're all on the same side, remember?" Lily asked.
"Dumbledore doesn't want any of yeh harmed, and he's doing his best to protect everyone," Hagrid pointed out. "Now, what's that about Dementors?"
"During the Summer, we were coming back from a day trip, Ginny, myself, Uncle Sirius, and Uncle Remus, when we came across Dementors," Lily replied, before telling him the whole story. "I managed to fight them off, and stopped them from hurting some muggles, but we don't know who sent them. Wouldn't be surprised if the Minister had sent them."
"Bloody hell Lily, what were yeh thinking of, running off like that towards danger? Yeh know You-Know-Who's back, you can't be running off like that," Hagrid admonished.
"Says the man who went off to find Giants," Lily retorted.
"I'm not a kid at Hogwarts. I know yer strong Lily, but you need to be careful," Hagrid exclaimed, as he went to clear the now empty teacups, but frowned. "Hide, someone's coming," Hagrid said.
"Clear the cups away," Lily exclaimed quickly, as she, Hermione, and Ron went to a corner and quickly got under the invisibility cloak, crouching down as they did, just as there was a knock at Hagrid's door.
As Hagrid opened the door, Lily saw Umbridge standing there, wearing her green tweed cloak and a matching hat. She looked at Hagrid, leaning back slightly to see his face.
"So," she exclaimed loudly, as though talking to a child or a deaf person. "You're Hagrid?"
She didn't even wait to be given entrance; she walked past Hagrid, and began to look around his cabin, scrunching her nose up.
"Not ter be rude, but who the ruddy hell are you?" Hagrid asked, as Fang tried to lick at Umbridge. Lily almost grimaced at the sight, before Umbridge pushed Fang away by waving her handbag at him.
"I'm Dolores Umbridge, the Defence Against the Dark Art's teacher," Umbridge began.
"Brave of yeh," Hagrid commented dryly.
"And Hogwarts High Inquisitor," Umbridge finished.
"Wha's that then?" Hagrid sounded confused, and Lily didn't blame him.
"It is my job to ensure that all teachers at Hogwarts are not only following the curriculum that the Ministry of Magic has approved, but that they are also worthy of teaching at this fine institution," Umbridge said, a sickly smile still on her face. "Have you been back long?"
"Just got back 'bout an hour ago, give or take," Hagrid replied. "Why d'ya ask?"
"There were three sets of footprints leading to your… cabin, but none leading away," Umbridge commented.
"Can't comment on what I don't know about, can I?" Hagrid asked, shrugging.
"What happened to cause your injuries? And where have you been so long?" Umbridge demanded.
"Went t' France, bit o' time with my partner, Olympe," Hagrid replied. Lily felt her heart swell; she had wanted something to happen for Hagrid that was good, and Madam Maxime was a good woman.
"And yet you return with injuries," Umbridge commented.
"Yeh, well, sometimes I can be a bit clumsy, and travelling back wasn' easy, had to be careful not to be seen by too many muggles, secrecy law an' all that," Hagrid said. Lily could practically hear the gears whirring in Umbridge's head. "Woulda been back sooner, but had ter take the long way round, and as you can see, I was injured, so Olympe helped nurse me before I came back, and was helping teach me a little magic, now I have a wand again."
Lily could practically feel a new wave of confidence coming from Hagrid; it felt like his relationship with Madam Maxime was helping to make him a new man. Lily was also glad that Hagrid was learning magic.
"Indeed. I shall, of course, be informing the Minister of your late return," Umbridge replied, clearly unable to come up with anything else bad to say. "I will also be inspecting your class, as I have done with your fellow teachers, so I daresay we shall meet again soon."
"I'm sure we will," Hagrid replied, with a nod. "D'ya want to see my lesson plans? I have them right here," he added, showing a stack of papers.
Umbridge looked at the papers and shook her head. "No, I shall see your lessons myself when I inspect you. It wouldn't be an accurate inspection if I didn't see your lessons in action. The Ministry is determined to weed out unsatisfactory teachers, so I'll let you know when I'll be inspecting your lesson," Umbridge said, before leaving.
Lily waited for a minute, with Hagrid confirming that she had gone back to the castle, and even then, Hermione quickly waved her wand, muttering something, before they accepted it was safe to talk.
"Blimey, she's on some kinda hunt," Hagrid commented.
"I don't know what you have planned Hagrid, but please, be careful. We know that Professor Trelawny has been put on probation," Hermione replied.
"I'll be fine, don' you worry," Hagrid replied, waving his hand dismissively.
"Hagrid, she's dangerous," Lily tried to make Hagrid understand but he simply shook his head.
"Like I said, don' worry about me, I got things under control. Now, you three should head back to the castle, and brush away your footprints as you go," Hagrid said.
As the group sat in the common room, Lily shook her head. "She's the one who made it difficult for Uncle Remus to get a job, and now she's going to try and get rid of Hagrid too, I just know it."
"We'll find a way to help him, don't worry," Hermione promised. "I know his lessons haven't always been… well, safe, but he's an excellent teacher, and he knows what he's talking about."
"I know I like Professor Grubbly-Plank's classes, but I don't want anything bad to happen to Hagrid," Parvati agreed, having joined the group in the common room. "He's always looked out for us."
"How can things be going this badly for all of us?" Lily asked softly. "He's not even been back a year, and everything feels like its falling apart."
"Hey, no giving up," Ginny said firmly, taking hold of Lily's hand. "Things are bad now, but things will get better, I promise."
"How? Umbridge is getting her claws into everyone and everything. I want to write to Uncle Sirius, but I know him, and he'll get himself into trouble, and I can't let that happen," Lily said.
"Then focus on what we can do. Maybe we should start using Fred and George's creations, those skiving snackboxes," Hermione suggested. Everyone turned their heads, staring at her with their mouths agape. "What?" Hermione asked, confused.
"Okay, that's something we expect from Ron, never from you," Ginny replied. "I… are you really Hermione?"
Hermione couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, so maybe Fleur is rubbing off on me," Hermione showed them Fleur's latest letter. "She's amazing, and she's helping the Order so much. Thanks to Bill Weasley, she's now working at Gringotts, and she's been staying with Sirius and Remus to help them with whatever they're doing for the Order."
"I wish you'd gotten a girlfriend sooner then, Hermione," Ron said, chuckling softly. "I mean, you wanting to break the rules, that's incredible."
"And just for that miracle," Fred's voice came from the entrance to the boy's dorm.
"We'll give you a couple of snackboxes for free, Hermione," George added, as they came into the common room, carrying a small bag of items. "In fact, this one time, you can all have samples. Hermione, you helped us finish them."
"I did?" Hermione frowned, confused.
"Well, we needed something to help with one of the important ones, one that has the user come out in boils, but we struggled to find an antidote," Fred began.
"That is, until you shared the essence of Murtlap with us, you are brilliant," George added. Hermione blushed.
"Well, I'm glad I could help," Hermione said, as Fred and George began to hand out some of the snackboxes.
"What about your NEWTS?" Lavender asked.
"We're not fussed about them. We're close to being able to open our own shop on Diagon Alley, we've been talking to a few people. No offence Hermione, but they don't mean as much to us as they would to you," Fred explained.
"No offence taken. You really do have a lot of skills, even if your studies don't show it. But I learnt in my first year that there's more to life than book smarts and exams. Lily taught me there's bravery, friendship, kindness, and never giving up. You've both always been so good at jokes and tricks, so you should absolutely follow what you're good at," Hermione told them. This caused the group to stare at her again.
"Fleur really is rubbing off on you. Hermione, I like this side of you," Lily said, grinning.
"Well, it's also being friends with all of you. I just… I don't even want to imagine how I'd be if I wasn't friends with you, with Ron, Lavender, Parvati, Padma, Ginny… all of you. You've all changed my life," Hermione said. "That's why I know we'll beat Umbridge, whatever that old hag throws at us."
Lily felt a warm feeling race through her, thankful that Hermione was her friend… no, she was her sister, and that was something Lily had always wanted. She smiled, first at Hermione, and then at the others.
"She's right; no matter what, as long as we stick together, we'll get through this," Lily agreed, smiling broadly. And for the first time in ages, she believed it.
