So a few people didn't like Ron and Hermione's "first kiss."

First off, hey we really don't know what happened when Harry went to bed. Something major must have, if the two of them were said to be overly friendly but formal the next day. Meaning something awkward had to have happened. I just thought this would be something cute.

Second, as a Romione shipper, I really do not think that Deathly Hallows kiss was their first kiss. It was the first kiss that Harry had SEEN them do. I feel like they shared many kisses (among other things) way before that one. They just kept their interactions to themselves. Too many clues are given for me to think otherwise throughout that book, and even a couple near the end of Half Blood Prince.

This isn't completely set in stone, however. Only Queen Rowling really knows what happens with them when they are alone. But it's fun to imagine isn't it?

Anyways, just wanted to clear that up. Especially since the older they get, the more complicated and flirtatious things will get.

But I'll be sure not to take away from that epic kiss. Because let's face it, it's beautiful!

Anyways, back to the fic :)

Chapter 103: Beware The Skeeter

Everybody got up late on Boxing Day. The Gryffindor common room was much quieter than it had been lately, many yawns punctuating the lazy conversations. Hermione's hair was bushy again, just the way I liked it.

I think Hermione and I surprised Harry by the way we were acting. I didn't tell Harry about the kiss, I really didn't know if I was ready, of it it was anything to really tell. Plus, it kinda felt nice to have this little secret between the two of us. We were being quite friendly to each other, though oddly formal. I felt like I really didn't know how to be, since I had realized that I fancied her. Especially since I had no clue how she really felt about anything.

'Mental note: write Bill about it later.' I thought.

Harry and I wasted no time in telling Hermione about the conversation we had overheard between Madame Maxime and Hagrid, but Hermione didn't seem to find the news that Hagrid was a half-giant nearly as shocking as I did.

"Well, I thought he must be," she said, shrugging. "I knew he couldn't be pure giant because they're about twenty feet tall. But honestly, all this hysteria about giants. They can't all be horrible. It's the same sort of prejudice that people have toward werewolves. It's just bigotry, isn't it?"

I didn't really know what to think. True, she had a definite point, but growing up and hearing all the stories, especially from when I was born? It was hard to get over.

But I did realize that Lupin and Hagrid was an exception to the rule.

It was time now to think of the homework we had neglected during the first week of the holidays. Everybody seemed to be feeling rather flat now that Christmas was over, though Harry seemed nervous. He hasn't worked out the clue inside the egg yet. I knew this, but Hermione didn't.

Term had started up again, and the younger ones had returned back to school. Snow was still thick upon the grounds, and the greenhouse windows were covered in condensation so thick that they couldn't see out of them in Herbology. Nobody was looking forward to Care of Magical Creatures much in this weather.

When we arrived at Hagrid's cabin, however, we found an elderly witch with closely cropped gray hair and a very prominent chin standing before his front door.

"Hurry up, now, the bell rang five minutes ago," she barked at us.

"Who're you?" I said, staring at her, confused. "Where's Hagrid?"

"My name is Professor Grubbly-Plank," she said briskly. "I am your temporary Care of Magical Creatures teacher."

"Where's Hagrid?" Harry repeated loudly.

"He is indisposed," said Professor Grubbly-Plank shortly.

Soft and unpleasant laughter came from behind us. I turned to face King Ferret and the rest of his naked mole rat followers, who were joining the class. All of them looked overly happy, and none of them looked surprised to see Professor Grubbly-Plank.

"This way, please," said Professor Grubbly-Plank, and she strode off around the paddock where the Beauxbatons horses were shivering. The three of us followed her, looking back over our shoulders at Hagrid's cabin. All the curtains were closed.

Was Hagrid in there? Was he sick?,Was he hurt?

"What's wrong with Hagrid?" Harry said, hurrying to catch up with Professor Grubbly-Plank.

"Never you mind," she said as though she thought he was being nosy.

"I do mind, though," said Harry hotly. "What's up with him?"

Professor Grubbly-Plank acted as though she couldn't hear him. She led them past the paddock where the huge Beauxbatons horses were standing, huddled against the cold, and toward a tree on the edge of the forest, where a large and beautiful unicorn was tethered.

Many of the girls "ooooohed!" at the sight of the unicorn.

"Oh it's so beautiful!" whispered Lavender. "How did she get it? They're supposed to be really hard to catch!"

The unicorn was indeed very beautiful. I really couldn't deny that. It was such a bright white, that it made the snow all around look gray. It was pawing the ground nervously with its golden hooves and throwing back its horned head.

"Boys keep back!" barked Professor Grubbly-Plank, throwing out an arm and catching Harry hard in the chest. "They prefer the woman's touch, unicorns. Girls to the front, and approach with care, come on, easy does it."

Well, biased much?

She and the girls walked slowly forward toward the unicorn, leaving us boys standing near the paddock fence, watching. The moment Professor Grubbly-Plank was out of earshot, Harry turned to me.

"What do you reckons wrong with him? You don't think a skrewt -?"

"Oh he hasn't been attacked, Potter, if that's what you're thinking," said Malfoy softly. "No, he's just too ashamed to show his big, ugly face."

"What do you mean, asshole?" said Harry sharply.

Malfoy put his hand inside the pocket of his robes and pulled out a folded page of newsprint.

"There you go," he said. "Hate to break it to you. Potter. Oh wait, no I don't. "

He smirked as Harry snatched the page, unfolded it, and read it, with Seamus, Dean, me, and Neville looking over his shoulder. It was an article topped with a picture of Hagrid looking extremely shifty.

DUMBLEDORE'S GIANT MISTAKE

Albus Dumbledore, eccentric Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has never been afraid to make controversial staff appointments, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. In September of this year, he hired Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, the notoriously jinx-happy ex-Auror, to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, a decision that caused many raised eyebrows at the Ministry of Magic, given Moody's well-known habit of attacking anybody who makes a sudden movement in his presence.

Mad-Eye Moody, however, looks responsible and kindly when set beside the part-human Dumbledore employs to teach Care of Magical Creatures.

Rubeus Hagrid, who admits to being expelled from Hogwarts in his third year, has enjoyed the position of gamekeeper at the school ever since, a job secured for him by Dumbledore.

Last year, however, Hagrid used his mysterious influence over the headmaster to secure the additional post of Care of Magical Creatures teacher, over the heads of many better-qualified candidates.

An alarmingly large and ferocious-looking man, Hagrid has been using his newfound authority to terrify the students in his care with a succession of horrific creatures. While Dumbledore turns a blind eye, Hagrid has maimed several pupils during a series of lessons that many admit to being "very frightening."

'I was attacked by a hippogriff, and my friend Vincent Crabbe got a bad bite off a flobberworm," says Draco Malfoy, a fourth-year student. "We all hate Hagrid, but we're just too scared to say anything."

Hagrid has no intention of ceasing his campaign of intimidation, however. In conversation with a Daily Prophet reporter last month, he admitted breeding creatures he has dubbed "Blast-Ended Skrewts," highly dangerous crosses between manticores and fire-crabs. The creation of new breeds of magical creature is, of course, an activity usually closely observed by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

Hagrid, however, considers himself to be above such petty restrictions.
"I was just having some fun," he says, before hastily changing the subject.

As if this were not enough, the Daily Prophet has now unearthed evidence that Hagrid is not - as he has always pretended - a pure-blood wizard. He is not, in fact, even pure human. His mother, we can exclusively reveal, is none other than the giantess Fridwulfa, whose whereabouts are currently unknown.

Bloodthirsty and brutal, the giants brought themselves to the point of extinction by warring amongst themselves during the last century. The handful that remained joined the ranks of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and were responsible for some of the worst mass Muggle killings of his reign of terror.

While many of the giants who served He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named were killed by Aurors working against the Dark Side, Fridwulfa was not among them. It is possible she escaped to one of the giant communities still existing in foreign mountain ranges. If his antics during Care of Magical Creatures lessons are any guide, however, Frid-wulfa's son appears to have inherited her brutal nature.

In a bizarre twist, Hagrid is reputed to have developed a close friendship with the boy who brought around You-Know-Who's fall from power - thereby driving Hagrid's own mother, like the rest of You-Know-Who's supporters, into hiding. Perhaps Harry Potter is unaware of the unpleasant truth about his large friend - but Albus Dumbledore surely has a duty to ensure that Harry Potter, along with his fellow students, is warned about the dangers of associating with part-giants.

My mouth was gaped open. Harry looked up at me with a horrified expression.

"How did she find out?" I whispered.

But that wasn't what was bothering Harry.

"What do you mean, 'we all hate Hagrid'?" Harry spat at Malfoy. "What's this rubbish about him" - he pointed at Crabbe - "getting a bad bite off a flobberworm? They haven't even got teeth!"

Crabbe was laughing like a dumbass, apparently very pleased with himself.

"Well, I think this should put an end to the oaf's teaching career," said Malfoy, eyes twinkling with delight. "Half-giant. And there was me thinking he'd just swallowed a bottle of Skele-Gro when he was young. How his dad fucked her is beyond me. None of the mummies and daddies are going to like this at all. They'll be worried he'll eat their kids, ha, ha..."

"You son of a -"

"Are you paying attention over there?"

Professor Grubbly-Plank's voice carried over to us boys. The girls were all clustered around the unicorn now, stroking it. Harry was so angry that the Daily Prophet article shook in his hands as he at the unicorn, as if the poor beast had offended him in some way.

"I hope she stays, that woman!" said Parvati, when the lesson had ended and we were all heading back to the castle for lunch. "That's more what I thought Care of Magical Creatures would be like. Proper creatures like unicorns, not monsters.."

"What about Hagrid?" Harry said angrily as we went up the steps.

"What about him?" said Parvati in a cold voice. "He can still be gamekeeper, can't he?"

Parvati had been very cool toward Harry since the ball., which in a way, I couldn't blame her. Harry was a very messed up date, as was I towards Padma. The both seemed to have had a good time all the same. She was certainly telling anybody who would listen that she had made arrangements to meet the boy from Beauxbatons in Hogsmeade on the next weekend trip.

"That was a really good lesson," said Hermione as we entered the Great Hall. "I didn't know half the things Professor Grubbly-Plank told us about uni -"

"Look at this!" Harry snarled, and he shoved the Daily Prophet article under Hermione's nose.

Hermione's mouth fell open as she read. Her reaction was exactly the same as mine.

"How did that horrible Skeeter woman find out? You don't think Hagrid told her?"

"No," said Harry, leading the way over to the Gryffindor table and throwing himself into a chair, furious. "He never even told us, did he? I reckon she was so mad he wouldn't give her loads of horrible stuff about me, she went ferreting around to get him back."

"Maybe she heard him telling Madame Maxime at the ball," said Hermione quietly.

"We'd have seen her in the garden, wouldn't we've?" I said. "Anyway, she's not supposed to come into school anymore, Hagrid said Dumbledore banned her."

"Maybe she's got an Invisibility Cloak." said Harry. "Sort of thing she'd do, isn't it? Hide in bushes listening to people."

"Like you and Ron did, you mean," said Hermione.

"Hey, ma'am, we weren't trying to hear him!" I said defensively. "We didn't have any choice! The stupid prat, talking about his giantess mother where anyone could have heard him!"

"We've got to go and see him," said Harry. "This evening, after Divination. Tell him we want him back...you do want him back, don't you Hermione?"

Hermione looked put on the spot, a circumstance that if she didn't do it herself, she hated. "I - well, I'm not going to pretend it didn't make a nice change, having a proper Care of Magical Creatures lesson for once (Harry gasped as if he were offended) - but I do want Hagrid back, of course I do!" Hermione quickly said.

So that evening after dinner, the three of us left the castle once more and went down through the frozen grounds to Hagrid's cabin. We knocked, and Fang's booming barks answered.

"Hagrid, it's us!" Harry shouted, pounding on the door. "Open up!"

Hagrid didn't answer. We could hear Fang scratching at the door, whining, but it didn't open. We hammered on it for ten more minutes. I even went and banged on one of the windows, but there was no response.

"What's he avoiding us for?" Hermione said when we had finally given up and were walking back to the school. "He surely doesn't think we'd care about him being half-giant?"

But it seemed that Hagrid did care. We didn't see a sign of him all week. He didn't appear at the staff table at mealtimes, we didn't see him going about his gamekeeper duties on the grounds, and Professor Grubbly-Plank continued to take the Care of Magical Creatures classes. Malfoy was gloating at every possible opportunity.

"Missing your half-breed pal?" he kept whispering to us whenever there was a teacher around, so that he was safe from any of our retaliation. "Missing the elephant-man?"

There was a Hogsmeade visit halfway through January. Hermione was very surprised that Harry was going to go.

"I just thought you'd want to take advantage of the common room being quiet," she said. "Really get to work on that egg."

"Oh I - I reckon I've got a pretty good idea what it's about now," Harry said. I rolled my eyes. I knew he was lying.

"Have you really?" said Hermione, looking impressed. "Well done!"

So Harry, Hermione, and I left the castle together on Saturday and set off through the cold, wet grounds toward the gates. As we passed the Durmstrang ship moored in the lake, we saw stupid Viktor Krum emerge onto the deck, dressed in nothing but swimming trunks. He was a bony little shit. More bony than I realized. But apparently a lot tougher than he looked, because he climbed up onto the side of the ship, stretched out his arms, and swan dived, right into the lake.

"He's mad!" said Harry. "It must be freezing, it's January!"

"It's a lot colder where he comes from," said Hermione. "I suppose it feels quite warm to him."

"Yeah, but there's still the giant squid," I said, hoping that the squid wouldn't let me down and decide to eat him.

Hermione must have read my mind, because she frowned.

"He's really nice, you know," she said. "He's not at all like you'd think, coming from Durmstrang. He likes it much better here, he told me."

I said nothing. Fuck Viktor Krum. I didn't even know why I had been such a fan anyways, Harry was a much better flyer than he was, and he wasn't a bitch. I really didn't want shit to do with him. The little figurine I had of him's Quidditch days was over. I had snapped the arm off of him in anger when I saw him on my dresser Christmas night and flung it somewhere.

Thinking about that wanker made me reflect on the kiss with Hermione. She never brought it up again, and I didn't want to. I didn't want to say the wrong thing. I left it up to just one of those spontaneous things. It didn't change how I felt about her however, but I wasn't about to let her know a thing.

Harry suggested a visit to the Three Broomsticks once we got there. While I wanted to pop into Honeydukes first, I didn't say anything, and followed after he and Hermione.

The pub was as crowded as ever. We went up to the bar, ordered three butterbeers from the lovely Madam Rosmerta, and sat down, with Harry suddenly looking gloomy.

"Doesn't he ever go into the office?" Hermione whispered suddenly. "Look!"

She pointed into the mirror behind the bar Ludo Bagman was reflected there, sitting in a shadowy corner with a bunch of goblins. Bagman was talking very fast in a low voice to the goblins, all of whom had their arms crossed and were looking as if they didn't care for his conversation.

It was indeed odd. There was no Triwizard event, and therefore no judging to be done. We watched Bagman in the mirror. He was looking stressed out, almost identical to as he had that night in the forest before the Dark Mark had appeared. But just then Bagman glanced over at the bar, saw Harry, and stood up.

"In a moment, in a moment!" we heard him say quickly to the goblins, and Bagman hurried through the pub toward Harry, his boyish grin back in place.

"Harry!" he said. "How are you? Been hoping to run into you! Everything going alright?"

"Fine, thanks," said Harry.

"Wonder if I could have a quick, private word, Harry?" said Bagman eagerly. "You couldn't give us a moment, you two, could you?"

"Er - okay," I said, going off with Hermione to find a table.

We found one in the corner of the pub and sat down next to each other. For some reason, I felt almost nervous.

"I wonder what Bagman wants with Harry." said Hermione, draining her neck to be nosy.

"Probably something to do with the next task maybe." I said, taking a nervous gulp out of my butterbeer. "You know, maybe a rule has changed."

"You're probably right." she said, focusing on her butterbeer.

"I'm always right." I joked.

Hermione playfully scoffed. "You? Always right? That's laughable."

"But it's true."

"Oh yeah? Prove it."

I gave it some thought for a few seconds. "Well, I was right about Lockhart being a fraud." I said smugly.

Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but quickly shut it again. "Okay, fine. That's one." she said, smirking.

"I was right about ice cream, and how you would like it."

Okay, two."

"I was right about you and sugar quills." I said. "You act like you're addicted."

Hermione gave my arm a gentle push. "Shut up, it's not that bad...Three."

"Let's see, I was right about something being wrong with you all third year. Which by the way we still haven't really discussed." I said, wiggling my finger at her.

Hermione groaned. "I don't even want to think about that. I just wanted to do all that I could."

"You're only one person. One person that needs to relax." I said, taking another gulp of butterbeer."

"I'll relax when I'm dead." said Hermione, giving me a look of seriousness that I know she didn't mean.

"Okay, that's morbid."

Harry had made it back to the table, a sour expression was on his face.

"What did he want?" I said, the moment Harry had sat down.

"He offered to help me with the golden egg," said Harry.

"He shouldn't be doing that!" said Hermione, looking very shocked. "He's one of the judges! And anyway, you've already worked it out, haven't you?"

"Yeah, haven't you?" I asked, giving him a smug look because I know he hadn't.

"Er...nearly," said Harry, giving me a side eye that told me to stuff it.

"Well, I don't think Dumbledore would like it if he knew Bagman was trying to persuade you to cheat!" said Hermione, in a firm voice. "I hope he's trying to help Cedric as much!"

"He's not, I asked," said Harry.

"Who cares if Diggory's getting help?" I said, drinking the rest of my butterbeer.

"Insufferable. Anyways, those goblins didn't look very friendly," said Hermione, sipping her butterbeer. "What were they doing here?"

"Looking for Crouch, according to Bagman," said Harry. "He's still ill. Hasn't been into work."

"Maybe Percy's poisoning him," I shrugged as I let the last drops fall into my mouth. "Probably thinks if Crouch snuffs it he'll be made head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation."

Hermione gave me a don't-joke-about-things-like-that look, and said, "Funny, goblins looking for Mr. Crouch. They'd normally deal with the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."

"Crouch can speak loads of different languages, though," said Harry. "Maybe they need an interpreter."

"Worrying about poor 'ickle goblins, now, are you?" I teased Hermione. "Thinking of starting up S.P.U.G. or something? Society for the Protection of Ugly Goblins?"

"Ha, ha, ha," said Hermione sarcastically. "Goblins don't need protection. Haven't you been listening to what Professor Binns has been telling us about goblin rebellions?"

"No," said Harry and I together.

"Well, they're quite capable of dealing with wizards," said Hermione, taking another sip of butterbeer. "They're very clever. They're not like house-elves, who never stick up for themselves."

I looked over at the door, and happened to see Miss Poison Quill herself. "Uh-oh," i said, nodding towards the door.

Rita Skeeter had just entered. She looked like a huge banana with long pink nails. She had her Dudley sized photographer with her as well. She bought drinks, and she and the photographer made their way through the crowds to a table nearby. We glared at her as she approached. She was talking fast and looking very satisfied about something.

"...didn't seem very keen to talk to us, did he, Bozo? Now, why would that be, do you think? And what's he doing with a pack of goblins in tow anyway? Showing them the sights...what nonsense...he was always a bad liar. Reckon something's up? Think we should do a bit of digging? 'Disgraced Ex-Head of Magical Games and Sports, Ludo Bagman...' Snappy start to a sentence, Bozo - we just need to find a story to fit it -"

"Trying to ruin someone else's life?" said Harry loudly.

"Dammit Harry!" I whispered.

A few people looked around. Rita Skeeter's eyes widened behind her glasses as she looked at Harry.

"Harry!" she said, beaming. "How lovely! Why don't you come and join-?"

"I wouldn't come near you with a ten-foot broomstick," said Harry furiously. "What did you do that to Hagrid for, eh?"

Rita Skeeter raised her heavily penciled eyebrows.

"Our readers have a right to the truth, Harry. I am merely doing my-"

"Who cares if he's half-giant?" Harry shouted. "There's nothing wrong with him!"

"Mate...chill out..." I said under my breath.

The whole pub was watching attentively. Madam Rosmerta was staring over from behind the bar, apparently oblivious to the fact that the flagon she was filling with mead was overflowing.

Rita Skeeter's smile flickered very slightly, but she recovered and widened it more; she snapped open her crocodile-skin handbag, pulled out her Quick-Quotes Quill, and said, "How about giving me an interview about the Hagrid you know. Harry? The man behind the muscles? Your unlikely friendship and the reasons behind it. Would you call him a father substitute?"

Hermione stood up very abruptly, her butterbeer clutched in her hand as though it were a grenade.

"Shit Mione, no!" I said, grabbing her other arm.

"You horrible woman," she said, through gritted teeth, "you don't care, do you, anything for a story, and anyone will do, won't they? Even Ludo Bagman -"

"Sit down, you silly little girl, and don't talk about things you don't understand," said Rita Skeeter coldly, her eyes hardening as they fell on Hermione. "I know things about Ludo Bagman that would make your hair curl. Not that it needs it -" she added, eyeing Hermione's bushy hair.

"Let's go," said Hermione, "c'mon. Harry - Ron..."

We left quickly; many people were staring at us as we went. Harry glanced back as they reached the door. Rita Skeeter's Quick-Quotes Quill was out; it was zooming backward and forward over a piece of parchment on the table.

"She'll be after you next, Hermione," I said in a low and worried voice as we walked quickly back up the street.

"Let her try!" said Hermione defiantly; she was shaking with rage. "I'll show her! Silly little girl, am I? Oh, I'll get her back for this. First Harry, then Hagrid."

"Come on Hermione, you don't want to go upsetting Rita Skeeter" I reiterated nervously. "I'm serious, Hermione, she'll dig up something on you!"

"My parents don't read the Daily Prophet. She can't scare me into hiding!" said Hermione, now walking so fast that Harry and I was almost skipping to keep up with her. She was deeply pissed. The last time we had seen Hermione in a rage like this, she had slapped Ferret Boy in the face.

"And Hagrid isn't hiding anymore!" added Hermione. "He should never have let that excuse for a human being upset him! Come on!"

Harry and I shrugged as we chased after her. She led us all the way back up the road, through the gates, and up through the grounds to Hagrid's cabin.

The curtains were still drawn, and we could hear Fang barking as we approached.

"Hagrid!" Hermione shouted, pounding on his front door. "Hagrid, that's enough! We know you're in there! Nobody cares if your mum was a giantess, Hagrid! You can't let that foul Skeeter woman do this to you! Hagrid, get out here, you're just being -"

The door opened. Hermione said, "About it-!" and then stopped, very suddenly, because she had found herself face-to-face, not with Hagrid, but with Albus Dumbledore.

"Good afternoon," he said pleasantly, smiling down at us.

"We-er-we wanted to see Hagrid," said Hermione, all toughness gone in her voice.

"Yes, I surmised as much," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. "Why don't you come in?"

"Oh...um...okay," said Hermione.

We went into the cabin. Fang launched himself upon Harry the moment he entered, barking madly and trying to lick his ears. Harry fended off Fang and looked around.

Hagrid was sitting at his table, where there were two large mugs of tea. He looked a right mess. His face was tear streaked, his eyes swollen, and his hair was all over the place, as if he hadn't touched a comb in months.

"Hi, Hagrid," said Harry.

Hagrid looked up.

"'Lo," he said in a very hoarse voice.

"More tea, I think," said Dumbledore, closing the door behind us, drawing out his wand, and twiddling it; a revolving tea tray appeared in midair along with a plate of cakes. Dumbledore magicked the tray onto the table, and everybody sat down. There was a slight pause, and then Dumbledore said, "Did you by any chance hear what Miss Granger was shouting, Hagrid?"

Hermione went slightly pink, but Dumbledore smiled at her and continued, "Hermione, Harry, and Ron still seem to want to know you, judging by the way they were attempting to break down the door."

"Of course we still want to know you!" Harry said sincerely, staring at Hagrid. "You don't think anything that Skeeter cow - sorry, Professor," he added quickly, looking at Dumbledore.

"I have gone temporarily deaf and haven't any idea what you said. Harry," said Dumbledore, twiddling his thumbs and staring at the ceiling.

I wondered if I could get away with calling her an empty headed bitch.

"Er-right," said Harry sheepishly. "I just meant-Hagrid, how could you think we'd care what that-woman-wrote about you?"

Two fat tears leaked out of Hagrid's eyes and fell slowly into his tangled beard.

"Living proof of what I've been telling you, Hagrid," said Dumbledore, still looking carefully up at the ceiling. "I have shown you the letters from the countless parents who remember you from their own days here, telling me in no uncertain terms that if I sacked you, they would have something to say about it -"

"Not all of 'em," said Hagrid hoarsely. "Not all of 'em wan me ter stay."

"Really, Hagrid, if you are holding out for universal popularity, I'm afraid you will be in this cabin for a very long time," said Dumbledore, now peering sternly over his half-moon spectacles. "Not a week has passed since I became headmaster of this school when I haven't had at least one owl complaining about the way I run it. But what should I do? Barricade myself in my study and refuse to talk to anybody?"

"Yeh - yeh're not half-giant!" said Hagrid croakily.

"Hagrid, look what I've got for relatives!" Harry said furiously. "Look at the Dursleys!"

"Exactly. They could be distant giants, that Vernon." I said, in an attempt to make Hagrid laugh.

"An excellent point," said Professor Dumbledore. "My own brother, Aberforth, was prosecuted for practicing inappropriate charms on a goat. It was all over the papers, but did Aberforth hide? No, he did not! He held his head high and went about his business as usual! Of course, I'm not entirely sure he can read, so that may not have been bravery."

That made me feel uneasy. What the bloody hell charm word be inappropriate on a goat?

I shook the thought out of my head. I didn't think I wanted to know.

"Come back and teach, Hagrid." said Hermione quietly."Please come back, we really miss you."

Hagrid gulped. More tears leaked out down his cheeks and into his tangled beard.

Dumbledore stood up. "I refuse to accept your resignation, Hagrid, and I expect you back at work on Monday," he said. "You will join me for breakfast at eight-thirty in the Great Hall. No excuses. Good afternoon to you all."

Dumbledore left the cabin, pausing only to scratch Fangs ears. When the door had shut behind him, Hagrid began to sob into his massive sized hands. Hermione kept patting his arm, and at last, Hagrid looked up, his eyes very red indeed, and said, "Great man, Dumbledore...great man..."

"Yeah, he is," I said, eyes elsewhere. "Can I have one of these cakes, Hagrid?"

"Help yerself," said Hagrid, wiping his eyes on the back of his hand.

"Brilliant." I said, taking one of the small cakes and popping it into my mouth.

"Ar, he's righ', o' course - yeh're all righ'...I bin stupid...my ol' dad woulda bin ashamed o' the way I've bin behavin'..." More tears leaked out, but he wiped them away more forcefully, and said, "Never shown you a picture of my old dad, have I? Here..."

Hagrid got up, went over to his dresser, opened a drawer, and pulled out a picture of a short wizard with Hagrid's crinkled black eyes, beaming as he sat on top of Hagrid's shoulder. Hagrid was a good seven or eight feet tall, judging by the apple tree beside him, but his face was beardless, young, round, and smooth - he looked hardly older than eleven.

"Tha was taken jus' after I got inter Hogwarts," Hagrid croaked. "Dad was dead chuffed...thought I migh' not be a wizard, see, 'cos me mum...well, anyway. 'Course, I never was great shakes at magic, really...but at least he never saw me expelled. Died, see, in me second year..."

"Dumbledore was the one who stuck up for me after Dad went. Got me the gamekeeper job...trusts people, he does. Gives 'em second chances...tha's what sets him apar' from other heads, see. He'll accept anyone at Hogwarts, s'long as they've got the talent. Knows people can turn out okay even if their families weren'...well...all tha' respectable. But some don understand that. There's some who'd always hold it against yeh...there's some who'd even pretend they just had big bones rather than stand up an' say - I am what I am, an' I'm not ashamed. 'Never be ashamed,' my ol' dad used ter say, 'there's some who'll hold it against you, but they're not worth botherin' with.' An' he was right. I've bin an idiot. I'm not botherin' with her no more, I promise yeh that. Big bones...I'll give her big bones."

We looked at one another nervously, wondering if Harry and I should tell him that we overheard, but Hagrid was still talking, apparently unaware that he had said anything odd.

"Yeh know wha, Harry?" he said, looking up from the photograph of his father, his eyes very bright, "when I firs' met you, you reminded me o' me a bit. Mum an' Dad gone, an' you was feelin' like yeh wouldn' fit in at Hogwarts, remember? Not sure yeh were really up to it...an' now look at yeh, Harry! School champion!"

Harry gave Hagrid an appreciative smile. Hagrid looked at Harry for a moment and then said, very seriously, "Yeh know what I'd love. Harry? I'd love yeh ter win, I really would. It'd show 'em all...yeh don' have ter be pureblood ter do it. Yeh don have ter be ashamed of what yeh are. It'd show 'em Dumbledore's the one who's got it righ', lettin' anyone in as long as they can do magic. How you doin' with that egg, Harry?"

"Great," said Harry. "Really great."

Hermione and I glares at him. Hagrid's miserable face broke into a wide, watery smile.

"Tha's my boy...you show 'em, Harry, you show 'em. Beat 'em all."