Chapter Thirty One

It was very late boxing day morning that Harry dragged himself out of bed. Well technically it was early afternoon. He hadn't slept well, strange nightmares had filled his head and left him tossing and turning all night.

He and Draco wandered down for lunch and met up with the girls. They were both dressed in simple winter dresses, Harry remarked that Daphne looked as elegant as she had last night, just more day wear than evening.

They, like most of the students, were feeling very flat now Christmas was over. There was an ever growing pile of homework waiting for them that nearly all of the students had ignored for the first week of the holidays.

Millicent was looking rather glum and shooting nasty looks at Rodolphus whenever she could.

"I almost feel sorry for her." Daphne said, shaking her head.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

Pansy leaned in a little closer, "Rodolphus barely paid her any attention at all the other night, and then she found him trying to get one of the Beauxbatons girls to snog him. He didn't get any though."

Harry shook his head, although really he was hardly surprised. Rodolphus, this morning however, also looked very alone not surrounded by his sister or followers.

It wasn't long before they were back though. Gemini, as pale as ever despite making a fuss over the amount of sun they had in France, prowled the corridors, seemingly very pleased to be back at school.

"Of course it was lovely, we stayed in the most gorgeous little hotel, right by the beach. It was too cold for swimming of course but the view was lovely." Gemini boasted to her little gang of Slytherins first morning of the new term, "And we had lovely fresh baked bread every morning, far better than what we have here; more like at home."

"Really?" Draco smirked, "Mother said she enjoyed a lovely visit from Aunt Bellatrix just after Christmas."

Gemini glared at him, "Yes. It was just Corvus and I, and the staff of course, who went away. Our parents wanted a Christmas to themselves. They rarely get them, being dragged away by your parents to the hideous little dance they throw every year."

Draco clenched his fists and forced himself to smile nicely rather than curse her smug little face like he wanted to.

Harry was glad to be back at classes really; it stopped him from being desperately trying to work out the egg every waking second. Herbology was bad, cold and damp in the greenhouses and none of the plants seemed to be enjoying the weather either. Professor Sprout had them dressing the plant pots in scarves and hats to keep them warm.

Harry groaned inwardly as the lesson ended though, and he was forced to pack up his bag and make his way to Care of Magical Creatures. Harry had seen very little of Hagrid since the ball but he didn't want to see him, shivering in the snow and having to try and pretend that he was interested in Blast-Ended Skrewts.

He was shocked however to see when he made it to Hagrid's hut, the door was firmly shut and a short woman with short, closely cropped grey hair.

"Who are you?" Draco asked.

"Let's wait until the rest of the class is here shall we?" the woman said, in a rather sharp tone.

Harry and Draco waited, shivering and blowing on their fingers to try and keep them for snapping off with cold.

"Where have you been?" the woman snapped, as the Gryffindors walked over from the castle, "The bell went five minutes ago."

"Who are you?" Hermione asked, echoing the boys.

"I am Professor Grubbly-Plank." She said, "This way please."

She started walking quickly across the grounds, the students hurrying after her.

"Where is Hagrid?" Harry asked.

"Never you mind, I'm taking his class for now." Professor Grubbly-Plank said, strictly.

"I do mind though." Harry said, "Professor Hagrid is my friend."

Professor Grubbly-Plank ignored him and they rounded a corner near to the trees.

"Oh! It's so beautiful." whispered Lavender Brown.

Harry couldn't disagree there, at the sight of a shinning white unicorn, tethered to a post near the edge of the forest.

"How did she catch it? They're meant to be really difficult to find." Lavender whispered again.

Harry had only seen a unicorn once before, and that one had been covered in blood. This one was clean and pure, it was so white it made the snow around it look grey and dull.

"They prefer girls." Draco sighed, hanging back as several students started moving forward.

"Stay back boy." Professor Grubbly-Plank said, slamming her arm out and across Ron's chest, "They prefer a women's touch. Girls go forward."

Harry waited until Professor Grubbly-Plank was out of ear shot before turning to Draco.

"Do you think Hagrid is OK?" Harry whispered.

Draco shrugged, "I honestly don't know."

They found out though, sitting at dinner. Hagrid was absent for the teachers table and Harry felt very put off from his steak pie.

"I'm going to go and see Hagrid later." Harry said, "I want to make sure he's not been eaten by a Skrewt or something."

"Oh he hasn't." Corvus said.

Harry turned to him, "Why? What's happened?"

Corvus flinched as he felt Gemini's hand pinch his ear.

"What do you think you're doing?" She hissed.

Corvus shifted slightly in his seat, "Of come off it Gem, he's going to find out sooner rather than later anyway."

Gemini's dark eyes flared at her brother. She grabbed her bag and stormed from the Hall. Harry didn't want to interrupt, what was probably the first time Corvus had stood up to his sister but he also wanted to know what happened to Hagrid.

"Umm, Hagrid?" Harry said, after a few moments.

Corvus snapped back to reality, "Yeah," he dug around in his school bag and pulled out a page from the Daily Prophet, passing it to Harry, "He's probably just embarrassed to show himself at the moment. Anyway I should go start on my homework."

Harry nodded his thanks and turned his attention to the page in front of him. Daphne, Draco and Pansy also crowded around to read it.

"Dear Loyal readers,

Once again Hogwarts has come under fire as shocking news of one of the teachers has come to light.

The Care of Magical Creatures teacher Rubeus Hagrid has been outed- as a half giant! It all suddenly makes so much sense, the incident last year involving the poor Weasley child and one of his creatures, a Hippogriff which had to be removed after the vicious attack. Mr. Hagrid even admitted to "inventing" a new breed of animal, something he called a Blast Ended Skrewt which have grown in incredible size and strength. In our short interview, Mr. Hagrid explained that the Skrewts ate each other, and shot fire out of their tails.

My sources tell me that his mother was a giant and his father a human. I also discovered that his mother was so ashamed of the both of them that she left him when he was young, and his father dying tragically when he started Hogwarts at the age of 11. Despite his sad background, Mr. Hagrid is still a danger to all of us. It's in his biology. At any moment, Mr. Hagrid could become violent in anger and strike out at the children. Who knows what could happen if, more likely when, that happens. How many people will be hurt?

How could Dumbledore, a well respected wizard, allow such a teacher in his school and near our children?! Even if he wasn't a monster, a half giant, he's inventing dangerous animals, and then giving them to our children to raise while he blunders on with no idea how to even do it himself! Mr. Hagrid has been given a job he is clearly not qualified for, and is allowed near our children even though he is a monster! I have so many questions, one of which is why does Dumbledore insist on hiring teachers that put our children in danger just by being! First, a teacher who turned out to have a plot to kill Mr. Harry Potter, then the fraud Gilderoy Lockhart, then a Werewolf!

This year, Defence Against The Dark Arts doesn't have the phoney teacher, Care Of Magical Creatures does! Why does Dumbledore seem to think it's a good idea to hire questionable teachers for our young ones? This year especially, with the Triwizard Tournament going on, does it not make more sense to try and keep everyone safe since there are two more schools attending Hogwarts at this moment? Has the once great Dumbledore lost what little sanity he had left?

What about the other teachers, are they hiding things as well? What about McGonagall? Sprout? Flitwick? Of course we all know about Snape's past, but is he really the only one with a questionable past? It also leads to questions such as what the future holds? Who else will Dumbledore hire to teach the children of the future? A known killer? A goblin maybe? Someone else who is just as likely to snap and harm our children as to teach them?

If we don't want another incident like what happened last year with the Hippogriff, we need to make our comments and worries known! We need to tell Dumbledore that letting our children walk into a classroom full of danger is not right!

More updates on the Triwizard Tournament will be coming shortly, but other matters must be dealt with as well!

Until next time my faithful readers!

Rita Skeeter."

Harry looked up from the paper furiously, "I can't believe this!"

"How did she find out?" Draco said, "I know Hagrid gave her that interview but I can't see him talking about his mother."

Pansy looked at the paper in disgust, "I can't believe that nonsense about Ron and Buckbeak came up again."

Harry nodded, "Mum checks in on him all the time, they haven't had a single issue with Buckbeak at the zoo, it was just stupid Weasley."

Harry put the paper down and grabbed his bag, leaving his food uneaten on its plate, "Come on, let's go and see him."

They trudged through the snow and rapped on Hagrid's door, they knew he was in there but, for the first time, there was no answer.

Harry felt flat and defeated by the time he trudged back to his dorm to get some dry socks on. He saw the large pile of homework waiting for him on his bedside table and the golden egg, still sitting under his bed and felt a huge urge to just run, to leave, wait until he was seventeen and no longer traceable by the ministry and live his life like a normal person.

He shook his head, angry at himself for even thinking about that. He grabbed his homework and his writing things. Draco, Daphne and Pansy were already sitting at their favourite seats in the common room working on their Transfiguration work.

Harry joined them, but rather than working on his homework he wrote a letter to his mother,

Hi Mum,

I hope you and Danica are doing well, I can't wait to see you both at Easter. Had a brilliant time at the Ball, with Daphne's help (OK, she was totally the one leading) I even managed to dance pretty well.

I'm writing to you because I'm sure you've seen what Rita Skeeter wrote about Hagrid in the paper and I think it's hit him pretty hard. He's not taking us for lessons at the moment and he wont even open the door to talk to us.

I know you're busy but I think he would benefit from seeing you or hearing from you at least, someone else to tell him that we still like him.

I'm working really hard at school and I've nearly sussed out the clue for the next challenge so there is no need to worry. Looking forward to next year finally being a normal year.

Lots of love

Harry

He sealed it with a splodge of wax and a tap of his wand, he would post it later.

"Is that true?" Draco asked, "You've nearly worked out the egg?"

Harry rolled his eyes at his friend, "You know a gentlemen doesn't read over people's shoulders."

"Answer the question Harry." Daphne told him, not looking up from her essay.

Harry smirked, "No. Not at all, I just don't want Mum to worry. You wont tell her, will you?"

His three friends shook their head.

"Of course not." Pansy said, but Harry could tell that she, along with all his other friends were worried about the next challenge.