Hello there, friends. And welcome to the next chapter.
Hope you enjoy.
They crept through the portrait hole and covered themselves hastily in the Cloak, with the six of them under it and with Ron having grown so much, they needed to crouch to prevent their feet from showing.
Moving slowly and cautiously, they proceeded down the many staircases, pausing at intervals to check on signs of Filch or Mrs. Morris. They were lucky; they saw nobody but Nearly Headless Nick, who was gliding along absent-mindedly humming something that sounded horribly like 'Weasley is our King'.
They crept across the Entrance Hall and out into the silent, snowy grounds. A little golden squares of light ahead and smoke coiling up from Hagrid's chimney. They set off at a quick march, jostling and bumping along as Claire insisted of whipping their foot prints. They crunched excitedly through the thickening snow until at last they 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.
"Should have known!" a gruff voice said. They beamed at each other under the Cloak; they could tell by Hagrid's voice that he was pleased. "Been home three seconds... out the way, Fang... out the way, ya dozy dog..."
The bolt was drawn back, the door creaked open and Hagrid's head appeared in the gap.
Hermione screamed.
"Right in my ear!" Alex yelled, placing a hand on his left ear, "Mind if you keep it down, Hermione?"
"I'm sorry!" Hermione gasped, as the six of them squeezed past Hagrid into the house and pulled the Cloak off themselves so he could see them, "I just... oh, Hagrid!"
"It's nothing, it's nothing!" Hagrid said hastily, shutting the door behind them and hurrying to close all the curtains, but Hermione continued to gaze up at him in horror.
Hagrid's hair was matted with congealed blood and his left eye had been reduced to a puffy slit amid a mass of purple and black bruising. There were many cuts on his face and hands, some of them still bleeding, and he was moving gingerly, which made Claire suspect broken ribs.
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. Hagrid was now limping over to the fire and placing a copper kettle over it.
"I hear a lot of white noise... I think I might go deaf in my left ear..." Alex yelled, while Fang danced around them all, trying to lick their faces, "Am I yelling!?"
"What happened to you?" Harry demanded, ignoring Alex.
"Told ya, nothing. Blimey, it's good ta see ya six again - had good summers, did ya?" Hagrid said firmly straightening up and turning to beam at them all, but wincing.
"Would you say it was nothing if one of us turned up with a pound of mince instead of a face?" Neville said.
"You ought to go and see Madam Pomfrey, Hagrid." Hermione said anxiously, "Some of those cuts look nasty."
"I'm dealing with it, all right?" Hagrid said repressively.
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 the average car tire.
"Uhm... I suggest you don't eat that." Claire said, "It doesn't look like its edible."
"If even Claire doesn't want to eat it, then you know it's bad." Neville said.
"It's supposed ta look like that, it's dragon meat. And I didn't get it to eat.", Hagrid said, 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.
"So, are you going to tell us what's happened to you?" Harry asked, "Did the giants beat you up, Hagrid?"
"Giants?" Hagrid said, catching the steak before it reached his belt and slapping it back over his face, "Who said anything about giants? Who ya been talking to? Who's told ya what I've..."
"Come on, Hagrid its obvious!" Ron said and the rest nodded in agreement.
Hagrid glared at them, then snorted, threw the steak back on to the table and strode over to the kettle, which was now whistling.
"Never known kids like you six fer knowing more than ya ought to." he muttered, splashing boiling water into six of his bucket-shaped mugs.
"So you have been to look for giants?" Harry said, grinning as Hagrid set tea in front of each of them, sat down, picked up his steak again and slapped it back over his face.
"Yeah, all right, I have." he grunted, "Well, we set off right after term ended. It was just the pair of us, Olympe and me. And I'll tell ya this, she's not afraid of roughing it, ya know, she's a fine, well-dressed woman, and knowing where we was going I wondered how she'd feel about clambering over boulders and sleeping in caves and that, but she never complained once."
"You knew where you were going?" Harry repeated, "You knew where the giants were?"
"They're not that difficult ta find, to be honest, pretty big, see.", Hagrid said, "We tried to convince them to join the cause. But we weren't the only once trying to find them. A bunch of Death Eaters tried to convince them to join, you-know-who."
"The giant chief we found, listened mostly. But there were good signs. He'd heard of Dumbledore, heard he'd argued against the killing of the last giants in Britain."
"He seemed to be quite interested in what Dumbledore had to say. An' a few o' the others, 'specially the ones who had some English, they gathered round an' listened too. We were hopeful when we left that day. Promised to come back next morning with another present."
"Let me guess, that night everything went down the crapper?" Claire said.
"Indeed. That night a fight broke out, we saw it from the mouth of our cave, looking down on the valley. Went on for hours, ya wouldn't believe the noise. And when the sun came up the snow was scarlet and his head was lying at the bottom o' the lake.", Hagrid continued to explain.
"Whose head?" Hermione gasped.
"Karkus's.", Hagrid said heavily, "There was a new chief, Golgomath. Well, we hadn't bargained on a new chief two days after we'd made friendly contact with the first one, and we had a funny feeling Golgomath wouldn't be so keen to listen to us, but we had ta try."
"You... Went to speak to him?..." Neville said in disbelieve, "After you watched him rip off another giant's head?"
"Course we did." Hagrid said, "We hadn't gone all that way ta give up after two days! We went down with the next present we'd meant to give to Karkus. I knew it was no go before I'd opened me mouth. He was sitting there wearing Karkus's helmet, leering at us as we got nearer. He's massive, one o' the biggest ones there. Black hair and matching teeth and a necklace of bones. Human looking bones, some of 'em. Well, I gave it a go, held out a great roll of dragon skin, and next thing I knew, I was hanging upside-down in the air by me feet, two of his mates had grabbed me."
Hermione clapped a hand to her mouth and, in a panic, grabs Alex's hand. He had been nursing his ear, but when he felt the smaller, softer hand on his own, he proceeds to give her a amused grin, raising his eyebrows and she shoots him a glance that says 'Don't you say a word'.
"Did you survive?" Ron said with wide eyes, his friends shooting him a look.
"No... We are obviously talking to Hagrid's ghost." Claire said dryly, rolling her eyes, "But seriously though, how did you escape?"
"Wouldn't have done if Olympe hadn't been there." Hagrid said, "She pulled out her wand and did some of the fastest spellwork I've ever seen. Ruddy marvelous. Hit the two holding me right in the eyes with Conjunctivitus Curses an' they dropped me straight away... 'but we were in trouble then, 'cause we'd used magic against 'em, an' that's what giants hate about wizards. We had to leg it and we knew there was no way we was going to be able to march inter the camp again."
"Blimey, Hagrid." Ron said quietly.
"But how come it's taken you so long to get home if you were only there for three days?" Claire asked.
"We didn't leave after three days, we waited and watch for a few days and we soon found out he didn't object to all wizards... just us."
"Death Eaters?" Harry said quickly.
"Ayep." Hagrid said darkly, "A couple of them were visiting him every day, bringing gifts to the chief, and he wasn't dangling them upside."
"How do you know they were Death Eaters?", Neville asked.
"Because I recognized one of 'em." Hagrid growled, "Macnair, maniac, he is. Likes killing as much as Golgomath; no wonder they were getting on so well."
"So Macnair's persuaded the giants to join Voldemort?" Alex yelled.
"Me and Olympe talked it over and we agreed, just because the Chief looked like favoring You-Know-Who didn't mean all of 'em would. We had to try an' persuade some of the others, the ones who hadn't wanted Golgomath as chief." Hagrid said, who, considering he had not wanted to tell them anything in the first place, now seemed to be rather enjoying himself.
"We did what we meant ta do, we gave them Dumbledore's message and some of them heard it and I suspect some of them'll remember it. Just maybe, them that don't want ta stay around Golgomath move outta the mountains, and there's gotta be a chance they'll remember Dumbledore's friendly to 'em... could be they'll come."
Snow was filling up the window now. Harry became aware that the knees of his robes were soaked through: Fang was drooling with his head in Harry's lap.
"Hagrid? Did you... Was there any sign of... Did you hear anything about your... your mother while you were there?" Hermione said quietly after a while, Hagrids unobscured eye rested upon her and Hermione looked rather scared, "I'm sorry... I... forget it."
"Dead." Hagrid grunted, "Died years ago. They told me."
"Oh... I'm... I'm really sorry." Hermione said in a very small voice.
Hagrid shrugged his massive shoulders, "No need, can't remember her much. Wasn't a great mother." he said shortly.
They were silent again. Hermione glanced nervously at Harry, Claire, Alex, Ron and Neville plainly wanting them to speak.
"But you still haven't explained how you got in this state, Hagrid." Ron said, gesturing towards Hagrid's bloodstained face.
"Or why you're back so late." Harry said, "Sirius said Madame Maxime got back ages ago..."
"That's not important right now." Claire said, "Hagrid, what are you going to tell Umbitch?", making Hagrid look over in confusion.
"Who?"
"Dolores Umbridge, also known as Umbitch, the so called High Inquisitor of Hogwarts. She works for the Ministry, she can get any new laws passed in her quest to have complete control over the school." Alex yelled, "She is sick, twisted and very dangerous, Hagrid. She is currently checking each and every teacher to make sure they are 'up to Ministry standards' and if you don't measure up, she will find a way to run you out of here. Your going to need a solid alibi to explain where you have been and why you got back so late in the state you are in."
"Oh, I will be fine." Hagrid said, trying to make Alex not worry, "I will just say I have been away for me health or some..."
"Your... health?" Claire said slowly, "You leave Hogwarts as healthy as a horse and come back looking like you lost a fight against a mountain troll... Only an idiot like Neville would fall for something as stupid as that!"
"I take offence to that!" Neville protested, "Ron would be more likely to fall for something like that!"
"Your both bloody arseholes!" Ron said, and a round of laughter went through the cabin.
After the laughter died down, Hagrid continued to speak, "Speaking of trolls, I did run into a couple of them on the Polish border." Hagrid said, obviously thinking a little, "Must have had to... Wait to heal enough to move and all."
"Better..." Claire said, crossing her arms, "Now, what were you doing around Poland?"
"There... I have a friend over there..." Hagrid said, "Could say he, er, needed a bit of help with some bigger creature or something..."
"Abraxan horses! The same ones that pulled the Beauxbatons carriage last year." Claire said, "There are a bunch of breeders of them in Poland. Jeager is friends with a Wiedzmin, Geralt or something like that, over in Poland, you can say he helped you out after the trolls, Jeager would be sure to back you up."
"Yeah, yeah." Hagrid said, "Heading to Poland, helped a friend with some Abraxan horses, ran into some mad trolls on me way back, got help from the Wiedzmin, had to heal a bit, made me way on foot from there."
"Great! Just memorize that..." Harry said, he was cut off by a sudden outbreak of rapping on the door. Hermione gasped; her mug slipped through her fingers and smashed on the floor; Fang yelped. All six of them stared at the window beside the doorway.
The shadow of somebody small and squat rippled across the thin curtain.
"Its the toad!" Ron whispered.
"Get under here!" Harry said quickly, seizing the Invisibility Cloak, he whirled it over himself and Claire, Alex, Ron, Neville and Hermione while tore around the table and dived under the Cloak as well.
Huddled together, they backed away into a corner. Fang was barking madly and leaping up at the door; Hagrid pushed him out of the way with his foot and pulled it open.
"The mugs!" Hermione whispered.
Reacting quickly, Claire pulled out her wand, pointing it at the mugs, whispering, "Inobservatus.", and they disappeared without a trace, just in time as Umbridge was standing in the doorway wearing her green tweed cloak and a matching hat with earflaps. Lips pursed, she leaned back so as to see Hagrid's face; she barely reached his navel.
"So." she said slowly and loudly, as though speaking to somebody deaf, "You are Hagrid, are you?"
Without waiting for an answer she strolled into the room, her bulging eyes rolling in every direction. "Get away." she snapped, waving her handbag at Fang, who had bounded up to her and was attempting to lick her face.
"Er... I don't want to be rude." Hagrid said, staring at her, "But who the ruddy hell are you?"
"My name is Dolores Umbridge." Her eyes were sweeping the cabin. Twice they stared directly into the corner where the Gryffindor Six stood.
"Dolores Umbridge?" Hagrid said, "You were one of them Ministry... Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, yes?"
Umbridge gave a nod, now pacing around the cabin, taking in every tiny detail within, from the haversack against the wall to the abandoned travelling cloak. "I am also now the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher..."
"That's mighty brave of ya." Hagrid said, "There's not many who would take that job any more."
"And Hogwarts High Inquisitor." Umbridge said, giving no sign that she had heard him, "What's that?", pointing at the broken shards of china on the floor that had been Hermione's mug.
"Oh, that was... Was Fang. He broke a mug. So I had to use this one instead." Hagrid said, pointing to the mug from which he had been drinking, one hand still clamped over the dragon steak pressed to his eye.
Umbridge wheeled round and strode the length of the cabin, looking around carefully. She bent and peered under the bed. She opened Hagrid's cupboards. She passed within two inches of where Harry, Claire, Alex, Ron, Neville and Hermione stood pressed against the wall.
After looking carefully inside the enormous cauldron Hagrid used for cooking, she wheeled round and said, "What has happened to you? How did you sustain those injuries?"
"Oh, I... had a bit of an accident. Had a run-in, ya see, with some mad trolls in Poland," Hagrid said, seeming to relax a bit more now that he was on more familiar territory.
"Poland?" Umbridge asked "What were you doing there?"
"Helping a friend," Hagrid said. "He needed help with some Abraxan horses he got his hands on. Ran into a bunch of trolls on the way back, ya see, got help from a mutual friend of me and Charles, Geralt, he's a Wiedzmin, lay low at his place until I could move well enough to get back on foot. Can't Apparate, or fly, look at the size of me, I don't recon there's a broomstick that can hold me."
Umbridge looked at him coldly; his smile faltered, 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."
"Right, of course." Hagrid said, 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 turned sharply and marched back to the door. She left, closing the door behind her with a snap. Harry made to pull off the Invisibility Cloak but Claire seized his wrist.
"No, she might be lingering." she breathed into his ear, sending a slight shiver down his spine.
Hagrid seemed to be thinking the same way; he stumped across the room and pulled back the curtain an inch or so.
"She's going back to the castle." he said in a low voice, "Blimey... inspecting people..."
"Yeah." Harry said, pulling off the Cloak, "Trelawney's on probation already..."
"Um... What sort of thing are you planning to do with us in class, Hagrid?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, don't you worry about that, I've got a great load of lessons planned." Hagrid said enthusiastically, "I have been keeping a couple of creatures saved for ya OWL year; you wait, they're something really special."
"Special in what way?" Hermione asked tentatively.
"I'm not saying." Hagrid said happily, "I don't want to spoil the surprise."
"Look, Hagrid, I give it to you straight." Alex yelled, cutting right to the case, "Umbitch won't be at all happy if you bring anything to class that's too dangerous. If you wish to pass Umbridge's inspection, you can better teach us something like how to look after Porlocks or how to tell the difference between Knarls and hedgehogs."
"But that's not very interesting and rather boring, Alex." Hagrid said.
"Boring but practical." Claire said, trying to reason with him, "Even if it isn't very interesting, it would allow you to keep your job. Umbitch is looking for any excuse to get rid of teachers she thinks are too close to Dumbledore."
But Hagrid merely yawned widely and cast a one-eyed look of longing towards the vast bed in the corner, "Listen, it's been a long day and it's late. Don't you go worrying about me, I promise ya I've got really good stuff planned for ya lessons now I'm back... now you lot had better get back up to the castle."
"I dunno if you got through to him.", Ron said a short while later when, having checked that the coast was clear, they walked back up to the castle through the thickening snow.
"You don't say!?" Alex yelled.
"Why are you yelling?" Hermione said.
"I might have gone deaf, Hermione!" Alex yelled, "Thanks to you screaming into my ear!"
That's it, chapter over. Hope you enjoyed.
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Mischief Managed.