Chap 31: Lupa
"Hagrid, where on earth are we going?" Harry asked. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Cho were trekking deep into the Forbidden Forest together with Hagrid, looking for something that Hagrid wanted to show them.
"We are reaching," Hagrid replied, still not revealing the secret.
They continued to travel deeper and deeper into the forest, with it getting almost too dark to see anything. Lighting up their wands, they soon found themselves face to face with what Harry could only describe as terrifying.
"This is Grawp," Hagrid introduced the sleeping half-giant to them, "he is my brother."
"Your - Your brother?" Harry asked confusedly.
"My mum had a child with another giant after she left us," Hagrid shrugged, "she then had Grawp with him."
"Why did you bring him back!" Hermione squealed, clearly terrified of the giant.
"He had no one back there, they bullied him for being too small," Hagrid protested.
"Too small?" Ron shouted back, "Blimey Hagrid, he could crush all of us now!"
"He is a gentle giant."
"He is the one who caused you all the injuries didn't he?" Hermione asked.
"Well- yes, but he didn't know his own strength!"
"That's not a better excuse!" Ron retorted.
Harry turned to Cho who hadn't said a word, clutching her hand tighter. To his surprise, however, Cho did not exactly look afraid, more uncertain than anything.
"Urm Hagrid," she suddenly asked, "why did you bring us here to introduce him to us?"
"I wanted to introduce him to some friends," Hagrid admitted.
"You want us to meet with him frequently?" Hermione asked in shock.
"Well yes," Hagrid said, "I wanted him to learn English and communicate better!"
"You want us to teach him?" Ron shouted in confusion, "Hagrid you are bloody insane!"
"Grawp won't hurt any of you," Hagrid protested. Harry felt a mixture of emotions, on one hand, he wholeheartedly agreed with Ron, and Hagrid was bloody insane thinking that they would survive being around Grawp. On the other, Harry feels pity for Hagrid, he does truly care for his half-brother.
"Hagrid," Harry finally asked, "does Dumbledore at least know about this?"
Judging by Hagrid's darkening expressions, Harry knew the answer.
"Hagrid, I reckon Dumbledore himself probably knows that he is here, he always knows," Harry said, "but I think we should at least inform him about this, having a Giant in the forest is dangerous."
"But where else can he go?" Hagrid protested.
"Dumbledore would find a place," Harry reassured Hagrid, "we can teach him how to better communicate and all and help him learn to be more gentle and caring, but having those lessons in the middle of the forest is not wise, having Grawp around all these creatures is also dangerous, you should know about that Hagrid."
Looking at Hagrid's expressions once again, Harry knew that he won the battle. Hagrid cared a lot about his brother, but he cared about his creatures as much as him.
"Alright Harry, I will tell Dumbledore later," Hagrid replied, "but let me wake Grawp up now to introduce you to him."
The entire group tried to violently protest this action but it was too late, Grawp was awake and looked as volatile as ever. Hagrid did his best to calm the half-giant down but it looked to be failing. The half-giant suddenly swung its arm, pulling the anchor that the ropes were tied to out of the ground and sending it flying. When it finally landed, Harry heard a loud howl in the forest.
"What was that?" Harry asked Hagrid worriedly who finally tied Grawp back down after Hermione and Cho helped him magically.
"No idea," Hagrid replied worriedly, "sounded like a wolf."
"There are no werewolves in the forest is there?" Hermione asked worriedly.
"There isn't," Hagrid answered confidently, "besides, its not even night so they werewolves won't be howling right now."
Harry however was far ahead of them, approaching the anchor. Beneath it, lay a beautiful white wolf cub which was whimpering in pain. Its face turned even more panicky and worried when it saw Harry, hopelessly trying to get away.
"Hey hey, it's alright, I won't hurt you," Harry said softly to it. To his surprise, the wolf seemingly shook its head vigorously, as if it understood him.
"I won't hurt you, I promise," Harry said once more. The wolf however howled and shook its head again.
"I can get you to help heal your leg, I've been hurt many times before, look at this," Harry said, pulling his sleeve to reveal the deep scar on his bicep, a noticeable dent on his biceps, the same one that Fawkes healed, "a Phoenix saved my life that day after a Basilisk bit me, without it, I would be dead, let me help you like that Phoenix helped me that day."
Harry slowly stretched out his hand, showing that he really did want to help. The wolf amazingly seemed to understand everything that he said, looking at his hand hesitantly. Out of a sudden, it stretched its paws slowly and placed it into Harry's hand, Harry taking it as approval.
"I'm going to use my wand to lift this up alright?" Harry asked the wolf which nodded.
Using a simple Levitation Charm, Harry lifted the anchor as the wolf winced and threw it to one side. Under it, the wolf's leg looked smashed and bloodied.
"I'm going to lift you up and bring you to the Hospital Wing, over there, Madam Pomfrey will tend to you alright? She is a brilliant witch, she fixed many of my injuries," Harry said softly to the wolf. It looked into Harry's eyes worriedly, before nodding its head once again. Harry carefully carried it, ensuring that he did not injure it even more. Behind him, Hermione, Ron, Cho and Hagrid watched in amazement, unsure of what to even say.
Not sparing a second, Harry sprinted as fast as possible out of the Forbidden Forest with all 4 of them behind him. He dashed straight into Hospital Wing where Madam Pomfrey scowled at him.
"It's not even the end of the year Mr Potter, what now?" Madam Pomfrey asked with feint annoyance.
"It's not me this time Madam Pomfrey, it's this wolf," Harry said, laying the wolf down onto the bed.
"Merlin's Beard," Madam Pomfrey said, looking at it for a short while before dashing to get the necessary potions to help it heal.
When tried to feed it, the wolf howled back, attempting to move away from her.
"It's alright," Harry comforted the wolf, "the potion might sting a little and hurt, but it will heal you up, trust me alright?"
The wolf once again looked at Harry hesitantly, before nodding and allowing Madam Pomfrey to feed it the potions. The wolf soon fell asleep from the drowsiness of the potions, looking as peaceful and beautiful as it always did.
"Merlin's Beard Potter, where did you find this beauty?" Madam Pomfrey asked him, admiring the wolf.
"It was in the Forbidden Forest, it got pretty badly injured so I brought it to you, you would heal it back to health right?"
"I always do Mr Potter," Madam Pomfrey answered, "you of all people should know."
"Indeed," Harry replied with a smile, "it is not a normal wolf though, it understands me perfectly."
"It does," Madam Pomfrey agreed, "it seemingly trusts and likes you too."
"I have a way with humans and animals I guess," Harry smiled, "I would stay beside it for now, it would probably feel better if it woke up and I was beside it."
"You care too much," Madam Pomfrey smirked, "I would leave you 2 then, stay out of my hospital for as long as possible."
"I will be back soon enough," Harry replied with a smirk, "the end of the year is coming."
"I look forward to whatever nightmarish condition you would arrive in next year," Madam Pomfrey replied before leaving.
To Harry's pleasant surprise, the wolf soon recovered and woke up later that day. Its leg had fully recovered and it was back to walking around. It however, decided to lie in Harry's lap, all cuddled up and comfortable.
"Ah Harry, looks like you found yourself a new pet," the old soothing and familiar voice of Dumbledore said. Harry turned to see Dumbledore walk in alongside an elderly Harry did not recognise.
"Ah yes, let me introduce my friend here, Newt Scamander," Dumbledore introduced.
"Newt Scamander as in the author of the Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them book Newt Scamander?" Harry asked in amazement.
"Yes," Mr Scamander replied shyly and awkwardly, "that is me, it's a pleasure to meet you Mr Potter."
"Call me Harry sir," Harry replied, "it's amazing to meet you, I've read up (Hermione told him) about your contributions to magical creatures in your lifetime."
"Just doing my best for these wonderful creatures," he replied, bending down to look at the wolf.
"I called Newt here after Hagrid told me about the fascinating tale about the wolf and his brother," Dumbledore said with a smile, "fret not, I've handled both of them quite well, providing the latter with a place to stay while I brought Newt here to explain this wolf to us."
"This is not an ordinary wolf," Mr Scamander said, "this is the result of 2 werewolves mating during the full moon, when that happens, they give birth to highly intelligent wolf cubs who can understand humans and the world around them, this has only happened twice in history and one group of their descendants were rumoured the reside in the Forbidden Forest, well, rumoured until today at least."
"These wolves are not only highly intelligent but often exhibit unique abilities, like being able to transform itself physically, super-speed, super-hearing and many more," Mr Scamander said, "if you treat it well, it would make for a great pet."
"I'm not its owner," Harry quickly rebutted, the wolf oddly nudged Harry rather hardly, howling disapprovingly.
"You actually are Harry," Mr Scamander replied, "Wolfs are very loyal creatures who often operate alone till they find an owner they love or find their own family, by saving him, this specific wolf gave you its trust which you did not break, you saved it and helped it heal, adding to the fact that it is a female which is even more loyal, it is loyal to you now if you choose to keep it of course."
Harry took in every bit of information from Mr Scamander before looking down at the wolf. The wolf looked intently into his eyes, with an almost pleading look on its face.
"I will keep it then," Harry said firmly, resulting in the wolf jumping out of his lap, landing on his shoulders and giving him a peck on his cheeks, running around his body before settling back on his lap.
"Fantastic Harry," Mr Scamander said, "I'm sure that you would take of it well, just a few things to note, diet-wise, it eats largely meat only, it can eat some vegetables from time to time but only in small amounts, as you would know, it is highly intelligent meaning that it would be easy to tame and communicate with, I have to warn you though, while it is friendly, it can also be very deadly to its enemies, able to kill within seconds even when its a cub, it is a loyal creature thus it would follow your orders and commands so be careful with what you tell it, should it get sick or anything, normal human medicines work on it just right."
"I can keep it in Hogwarts can't I Professor?"
"You can Harry, wolves like that are highly loyal and tamable, I would even allow it to follow you around the castle and in lessons should it insist to, as long as it does not affect other students of course," Dumbledore replied.
"Thank you Professor, and you too Mr Scamander."
"No need to thank me Harry, you saved a brilliant creature today and showed it your kindness, that is hard to find in people sometimes," he replied, giving Harry a smile.
"Well you should head for dinner now Harry," Dumbledore said, "you have some more time, for your pet wolf here, we can provide it its meal during mealtimes as well but you would have to pay for it, would you be open to me taking some galleons from your bank to fund this?"
"No problem."
"In that case, head down then."
Harry ran down the steps with his pet wolf following him excitedly. When he finally entered the Great Hall, Harry told it to jump onto his shoulders which it did. Walking to his table, Harry ignored the many bewildered looks from the other students.
"Guys, meet my new pet wolf," Harry introduced to his group of friends, all of whom looked at him confusedly.
"Dumbledore let you keep it?" Cho asked him curiously.
"Yeah, it's a different type of wolf, highly loyal and intelligent, it will not pose a threat to other students," Harry replied, at the same moment, a plate of raw meat appeared in front of him, something his wolf jumped in and feasted on.
"What are you going to call it?" Cho asked.
"No idea, any suggestions? It is female by the way."
"How about Lupa?" Luna asked, "It is a powerful wolf in Roman Mythology which raised the people who created Rome."
"Lupa?" Harry thought out loud, his wolf however, looked at him excitedly, nodding its head in agreement.
"It is set then, welcome to my family Lupa."
Author's note
2 shorter chapters this week. Honestly, they are both kinda filler chapters with chapter 30 mainly just tying up lose ends with Skeeter (I really wanted her to be in jail) and the 2nd about a random wolf cub which I learnt about when I was watching a Harry Potter video, these wolf cubs actually are canon in the lore (I'm 90% sure) and I honestly just always loved wolf pets in fantasy because they are cool af, Lupa will be a smaller side character and will make some appearance here and there. She isn't that important (at least at the moment of me writing) but she would make some contributions to the story in the future.