Okay so apparently someone is leaving reviews that I'm apparently dead...I assure you I'll alive and very well. Otherwise I would not be able to post. So whoever got that ish mixed up needs to chill. I hope nobody is buying this ish. Cuz I would hate for someone to be like oh no somebody is trying to pretend to be WeasleyIsMyKing540 and get me shut down.

Just letting you guys know and if you don't believe me, my Tumblr is my penname and my Facebook is Mystique540 and you can see me on there. Also I'm on Instagram mystique540

I've deleted the reviews. I do not want people actually believing that ish.

Also, this chapter is heavy with the tale about the giants. To me, it isn't fully important, so I won't be posting the full conversation. I want to get in more of my own writing, more of Ron's thoughts, and a Romione prefects duty moment in, so I hope you don't mind.

Chapter 138: The Return Of Hagrid

Harry took off to the boys' dorm to fetch the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map from his trunk and was back before Hermione made it back down from her dorm, wearing scarf, gloves and one of her own knobbly elf hats.

"Well, it's cold out there!" she said defensively, as I clicked my tongue impatiently.

We crept through the portrait hole and covered themselves hastily in the Cloak(I had grown so much I now needed to crouch to prevent my feet showing) then, moving slowly and cautiously, we proceeded down the many staircases, pausing at intervals to check on the map for signs of Filch or Mrs. Morris. We were lucky; we saw nobody but Nearly Headless Nick, who was gliding along absent-mindedly humming something that sounded horribly like "Weasley is our King".

We crept across the Entrance Hall and out into the silent, snowy grounds. I couldn't help but feel a bit excited to see the smoke coming from Hagrid's chimney. We sped up and made our way through thickening snow until at last we reached the wooden front door. When Harry raised his fist and knocked three times, a dog started barking frantically inside.

"Hagrid, it's us!" Harry called through the keyhole.

"Shoulda known!" said a gruff voice.

We beamed at each other under the Cloak; we could tell by Hagrid's voice that he was pleased. "Bin home three seconds ... out the way, Fang ... out the way, yeh dozy dog ..."

The bolt was drawn back, the door creaked open and Hagrid's head appeared in the gap.

Hermione screamed for some barmy reason.

"Merlin's beard, keep it down!" said Hagrid hastily, staring wildly over our heads. "Under that Cloak, are yeh? Well, get in, get in!"

"I'm sorry!" Hermione gasped, as the three of us squeezed past Hagrid into the house and pulled the Cloak off ourselves so he could see us. "I just-oh, Hagrid!"

"It's nuthin', it's nuthin'!" said Hagrid hastily, shutting the door behind us and hurrying to close all the curtains. However, I could now see why Hermione was so horrorstruck.

Hagrid looked as if someone had beaten the fuck out of him. His hair was matted with what looked like dried blood and he could hardly open his left eye, which was purple and black. There were many cuts on his face and hands, some of them still bleeding, and he was moving as if he had s couple broken ribs (Charlie had quite a few practicing Quidditch in the summer growing up, so I knew what it looked like). It was obvious that he had only just got home: a thick black travelling cloak lay over the back of a chair and a haversack large enough to carry several small children leaned against the wall inside the door.

"What in the bloody hell happened to you?" Harry demanded, while Fang tried to be friendly and lick us all.

"Told yeh, nuthin'," said Hagrid firmly. "Want a cuppa?"

"Bullshit," I said, not caring that I. just cussed at an adult, "you're in a right state!"

"I'm tellin' yeh, I'm fine," said Hagrid, straightening up and turning to beam at them all, but wincing. "Blimey, it's good ter see yeh three again-had good summers, did yeh?"

"Hang all that Hagrid, you've been attacked!" I yelled, getting angry that he was glossing over whatever happened to him.

"Fer the las' time, it's nuthin'!" said Hagrid firmly.

"Would you say it was nothing if one of us turned up with a pound of mince instead of a face?" I demanded.

"You ought to go and see Madam Pomfrey, Hagrid," said Hermione anxiously, "some of those cuts look nasty."

"I'm dealin' with it, all righ?" said Hagrid.

He walked across to the enormous wooden table that stood in the middle of his cabin and twitched aside a tea towel that had been lying on it. Underneath was a raw, bloody, green-tinged steak slightly larger than a medium sized dog .

"You're not going to eat that, are you, Hagrid?" I said disgustedly, as I leaned in for a closer look. "It looks poisonous."

"It's s'posed ter look like that, it's dragon meat," Hagrid said. "An' I didn' get it ter eat."

He picked up the steak and slapped it over the left side of his face. Greenish blood trickled down into his beard as he gave a soft moan of satisfaction. It took everything in me not to throw up.

"Tha's better. It helps with the stingin', yeh know."

"So, are you going to tell us what's happened to you?" Harry asked.

"Can't, Harry. Top secret. More'n me job's worth ter tell yeh that."

"Did the giants beat you up, Hagrid?" asked Hermione quietly.

"Giants?' said Hagrid, catching the slipping steak before it reached his belt and slapping it back over his face, "who said anythin' abou' giants? Who yeh bin talkin' to? Who's told yeh what I've-who's said I've bin-eh?"

"We guessed," said Hermione apologetically.

"Oh, yeh did, did yeh?" said Hagrid.

"It was kind of ... obvious," I said. Harry nodded.

Hagrid glared at us, then snorted, threw the steak back onto the table and strode over to the kettle, which was now whistling.

"Never known kids like you three fer knowin' more'n yeh oughta," he muttered, splashing boiling water into three of his bucket-shaped mugs. "An' I'm not complimentin' yeh, neither. Nosy, some'd call it. Interferin'."

But his beard twitched as he made a small smile, indicating that he found it slightly amusing

"So you have been to look for giants?" said Harry, grinning as he sat down at the table.

Hagrid set tea in front of each of us, sat down, picked up his steak again and slapped it back over his face.

"Yeah, all righ'," he grunted, "I have."

"And you found them?" said Hermione in a hushed voice.

"Well, they're not that difficult ter find, ter be honest, said Hagrid. 'Pretty big, see."

"Where are they?" I said.

"Mountains," said Hagrid, vaguely.

"So why don't Muggles-?"

"They do," said Hagrid darkly. "On'y their deaths are always put down ter mountaineerin' accidents, aren' they?"

"Come on, Hagrid, tell us what you've been up to!" I begged. "Tell us about being attacked by the giants and Harry can tell you about being attacked by the dementors-"

Hagrid choked in his mug and dropped his steak at the same time; a large quantity of spit, tea and dragon blood was sprayed over the table as Hagrid coughed and spluttered and the steak slid, with a soft splat, on to the floor.

"Whadda yeh mean, attacked by dementors?" growled Hagrid.

"Didn't you know?" Hermione asked him.

"I don' know any thin' that's bin happenin' since I left. I was on a secret mission, wasn' I, didn' wan' owls followin' me all over the place-ruddy dementors! Yeh're not serious?"

"Yeah, I am, they turned up in Little Whinging and attacked my cousin and me, and then the Ministry of Magic expelled me-"

"WHAT?"roared Hagrid.

"-and I had to go to a hearing and everything, but tell us about the giants first."

"You were expelled!"

"Tell us about your summer and I'll tell you about mine." said Harry with a smug grin.

Hagrid glared at him through his one open eye. Harry looked right back, an expression of innocence on his face.

"Oh, all righ'," Hagrid said, defeated.

So Hagrid went into the long tale of how he and Madam Maxime had found the giants in the mountains, how they tried to communicate and effectively deliver Dumbledore's message about them joining our ranks, however, there were Death Eaters doing the same. He made the tale sound not quite easy as pie, but a lot easier than his face and body looked.

"But you still haven't explained how you got in this state, Hagrid," I said, gesturing towards Hagrid's bloodstained face.

"Or why you're back so late," said Harry. "Sirius says Madame Maxime got back ages ago-"

"Who attacked you?" I demanded, knowing that Hagrid was hiding something.

'I haven' bin attacked!" said Hagrid emphatically. "I-"

But the rest of his words were drowned in a sudden outbreak of rapping on the door. Hermione gasped; her mug slipped through her fingers and smashed on the floor; Fang yelped. All four of us stared at the window beside the doorway. The shadow of somebody small and squat shown through the thin curtain, and I immediately knew who it was.

"It's her!" I whispered.

"Get under here!" Harry said quickly, seizing the Invisibility Cloak, he whirled it over himself and Hermione while I tore around the table and dived under the Cloak as well. Huddled together, we backed up into a corner. Fang was barking madly at the door. Hagrid looked thoroughly confused.

"Hagrid, hide our mugs!" I hissed.

Hagrid grabbed our mugs and shoved them under the cushion in Fang's basket. Fang was now leaping up at the door; Hagrid pushed him out of the way with his foot and pulled it open.

Toadbitch was standing in the doorway, and for once, she wasn't wearing pink. She gave a look of impatience as she leaned back to see Hagrid's face; she barely reached his navel.

'So," she said slowly and loudly, as though she felt Hagrid was too tall to hear her properly. "You're Hagrid, are you?"

Without waiting for an answer she practically barged her way into Hagrid's home, her nosy eyes scanning the entirety of his home.

"Get away," she snapped at Fang, waving her handbag at him. Poor dog was actually trying to be affectionate with the cow.

"Er-I don' want ter be rude," said Hagrid, staring at her, "but who the ruddy hell are you?"

"My name is Dolores Umbridge." she said proudly

Her eyes were sweeping the cabin. Twice they stared directly into the corner where the three of UA was scrunched together, reminding me of the time back in second year, when Dumbledore knew Harry and I was in here under the cloak.

"No way," I mouthed.

"Dolores Umbridge?" Hagrid said, sounding thoroughly confused. "I thought you were one o' them Ministry-don' you work with Fudge?"

"I was Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, yes," said Umbridge, now pacing around the cabin looking prideful. "I am now the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher-"

"Tha's brave of yeh," said Hagrid, nonchalantly. "There's not many'd take tha' job any more."

"-and Hogwarts High Inquisitor," said Umbridge, giving no sign that she had heard him.

"Wha's that?" said Hagrid, frowning.

"Precisely what I was going to ask," said Umbridge, pointing at the broken shards of china on the floor that had been Hermione's mug.

"Oh," said Hagrid, with a most unhelpful glance towards the corner where we stood hidden, "oh, tha' was ... was Fang. He broke a mug. So I had ter use this one instead."

Hagrid pointed to the mug from which he had been drinking. Umbridge looked as if she wasn't buying any of it.

"I heard voices," she said quietly.

"I was talkin' ter Fang," said Hagrid. I held back a laugh, the poor bloke.

"And was he talking back to you?"

"Well ... in a manner o' speakin'," said Hagrid, looking uncomfortable. "I sometimes say Fang's near enough human-"

"There are three sets of footprints in the snow leading from the castle doors to your cabin," said Umbridge knowingly.

Hermione gasped; Harry clapped a hand over her mouth, a gesture that made me feel weird despite knowing why he did it. Luckily, Fang was sniffing loudly around the hem of Professor Umbridge's robes and she did not appear to have heard.

"Well, I on'y jus' got back," said Hagrid, waving an enormous hand at the haversack. "Maybe someone came ter call earlier an' I missed 'em."

"There are no footsteps leading away from your cabin door." probed Umbridge.

"Well, I ... I don' know why that'd be ..." said Hagrid, tugging nervously at his beard and again glancing towards the corner where we stood, as though asking for help. "Erm ..."

Umbridge began to make her way around his cabin, looking around carefully. She bent and peered under the bed. She opened Hagrid's cupboards. She passed within two inches of where we stood pressed against the wall. She almost resembled a hunting dog.

After looking carefully inside the enormous cauldron Hagrid used for cooking, she wheeled round again and said, "What has happened to you? How did you sustain those injuries?"

Hagrid removed the dragon steak from his face, which was rather stupid of him because the black and purple bruising all around his eye was now clearly visible, not to mention the large amount of fresh and congealed blood on his face.

"Oh, I ... had a bit of an accident," he said lamely.

"What sort of accident?"

"I-I tripped."

"You tripped," she repeated coolly.

"Yeah, tha's right. Over ... over a friends broomstick. I don' fly, meself. Well, look at the size o' me, I don' reckon there's a broomstick that'd hold me. Friend o' mine breeds Abraxan horses, I dunno if you ve ever seen em, big beasts, winged, yer know, I've had a bit of a ride on one o' them an' it was-"

"Where have you been?" asked Umbridge, the nosy ass bitch.

"Where've I-?"

"Been, yes," she said. "Term started two months ago. Another teacher has had to cover your classes. None of your colleagues has been able to give me any information as to your whereabouts. You left no address. Where have you been?"

Hagrid looked as if the wheels in his head were violently turning, trying to find some sort of answer to give the woman. I felt as if he was going to crack under the pressure.

"I-I've been away for me health," he said.

"For your health," repeated Professor Umbridge. Her eyes travelled over Hagrid's discoloured and swollen face; dragon blood dripped gently and silently on to his waistcoat. "I see."

"Yeah," said Hagrid, "bit o'-o' fresh air, yeh know-"

"Yes, as gamekeeper fresh air must be so difficult to come by" said Umbridge in fake sweetness.

"Well-change o' scene, yeh know-"

"Mountain scenery?" said Umbridge swiftly.

Fuck, she knew!

"Mountains?" Hagrid repeated. "Nope, South o' France fer me. Bit o' sun an' ... an' sea."

He thought pretty quickly. I was mildly impressed.

"Really?" said Umbridge. "You don't have much of a tan."

"Yeah ... well ... sensitive skin," said Hagrid, attempting a smile, which revealed two holes where teeth should have been. Umbridge's smile faded and a cold look replaced it. Then she hoisted her handbag a little higher into the crook of her arm and said, "I shall, of course, be informing the Minister of your late return."

"Righ'," said Hagrid, nodding.

"You ought to know, too, that as High Inquisitor it is my unfortunate but necessary duty to inspect my fellow teachers. So I daresay we shall meet again soon enough." she said pompously, nose turned up. She turned sharply and marched back to the door.

"You're inspectin' us?" Hagrid repeated.

"Oh, yes," said Umbridge softly, looking back at him with her hand on the door handle. "The Ministry is determined to weed out unsatisfactory teachers, Hagrid. Goodnight."

She left, closing the door behind her with a snap. Harry made to pull off the Invisibility Cloak but Hermione seized his wrist, stopping him. More than likely waiting until she was fully gone.

"She's goin' back ter the castle," Hagrid said, peeking out the window. "Blimey ... inspectin' people, is she?"

"Yeah," said Harry, pulling off the Cloak. "Trelawney's on probation already."

"Um ... what sort of thing are you planning to do with us in class, Hagrid?" asked Hermione.

"Oh, don' you worry abou' that, I've got a great load o' lessons planned," said Hagrid enthusiastically, scooping up his dragon steak from the table and slapping it over his eye again. "I've bin keepin' a couple o' creatures saved fer yer OWL year; you wait, they're somethin' really special."

"Erm ... special in what way?" asked Hermione suspiciously.

"I'm not sayin'," said Hagrid happily. "I don' want ter spoil the surprise."

"Look, Hagrid," said Hermione, "Professor Umbridge won't be at all happy if you bring anything to class that's too dangerous."

"Dangerous?" said Hagrid with a laugh. "Don' be silly, I wouldn' give yeh anythin' dangerous! I mean, all righ', they can look after themselves-"

"Hagrid, you've got to pass Umbridge's inspection, and to do that it would really be better if she saw you teaching us how to look after Porlocks, how to tell the difference between Knarls and hedgehogs, stuff like that!" said Hermione desperately. But Hagrid wasn't listening.

"But tha's not very interestin', Hermione," said Hagrid. "The stuff I've got's much more impressive. I've bin bringin' 'em on fer years, I reckon I've got the on'y domestic herd in Britain."

"Hagrid ... please ..." said Hermione, now begging. "Umbridge is looking for any excuse to get rid of teachers she thinks are too close to Dumbledore. Please, Hagrid, teach us something dull that's bound to come up in our OWL."

But Hagrid merely yawned widely and cast a one-eyed look of longing towards the vast bed in the corner.

"Lis'en, it's bin a long day an' it's late," he said, patting Hermione gently on the shoulder, so that her knees gave way and hit the floor with a thud. "Oh-sorry-"He pulled her back up by the neck of her robes.

"Look, don' you go worryin' abou' me, I promise yeh I've got really good stuff planned fer yer lessons now I'm back ... now you lot had better get back up to the castle, an' don' forget ter wipe yer footprints out behind yeh!"

"I dunno if you got through to him," I said as we walked back up to the castle through the thickening snow, leaving no trace behind us due to the Obliteration Charm Hermione was performing as we went.

"Then I'll go back again tomorrow," said Hermione determinedly. "I'll plan his lessons for him if I have to. I don't care if she throws out Trelawney but she's not getting rid of Hagrid!"

"That's the spirit," joked Harry, patting Hermione on the head as she scowled at him. "Hey, don't you two have patrols?"

"Oh no, I totally forgot!" said Hermione, looking frantic. "Come on Ron!"

As tired as I was, I really didn't feel like patrolling. Especially since I was still dressed like I had just stepped onto the quidditch pitch. However, I didn't feel like hearing her bitch about me not taking my dirties seriously, so I left with her to the fourth floor, where we were to be patrolling.

For awhile, we didn't say anything. The quiet was not comforting. It only made me think of the game, and that was the last thing I wanted on my mind at that moment.

"I really hope Hagrid takes this seriously," mumbled Hermione. "I would hate for him to get sacked over something that could have very well been avoided."

"Don't worry, he isn't going to get sacked." I said, trying to calm her down.

"And how, may I ask, do you know?"

"Because Hagrid knows his creatures, even the dangerous ones," I forced out.

"Oh Ron, you know that's not gonna be enough," said Hermione, peeking into a classroom that she thought she heard a noise come out of. "She will want any excuse to sack him, especially since she already knows what Hagrid has been up to. Didn't you hear her when she said mountains?"

"Of course I heard her, Hermione. Look, Hagrid's alright. Dumbledore will see to it that he is, okay?"

The mention of Dumbledore seemed to mellow her out some. "You're...you're right," said Hermione, sighing. "Dumbledore will make sure nothing happens."

"Finally, I'm right about something." I said, quidditch starting to creep back into my mind.

"Ron, I can tell you're still beating yourself up about the match. You really shouldn't be so hard on yourself. There were many factors that worked against you, like that idiotic song. I'm going to look up if that's legal or not."

"Don't bother," I said, although I felt grateful that she cared enough to see if they could be penalized. "I just need to not focus on them I guess."

"Ron, you're a great keeper, you just need to have some confidence in yourself. Have the same confidence in yourself in Quidditch that you do in chess."

I smirked. "But I'm brilliant at chess."

"You'll be brilliant at Quidditch too," she said, blushing.

I felt myself blush too. "You really think so?"

"I do. You can be brilliant at anything to set your mind to."

"Thanks, Hermione. I really needed that.

"You're welcome."