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"Ron, I have to go," she said quickly, running down the steps. "Good luck!" She did not know what Ron did say to that because she was already out of sight and out the castle in a few minutes. She ran to the hut and knocked frantically on the door. There was the sound of heavy footsteps and a gruff voice saying, "Who is it?"

The door then opened, and Deanna was face to face with a bloody and bruised Rubeus Hagrid. Hagrid's eyes widened. "D-Deanna? Is that you?"

"Deanna?" said a voice from behind them. Deanna turned around to see that Harry, Ron and Hermione were there too.

"Oh, Hagrid," gasped Hermione. Deanna opened her mouth to say something when she was lifted off the ground and pulled into a tight hug.

"Oh, Deanna, it was all my fault," said Hagrid, sobbing into Deanna's clothes.

Deanna smiled tearily and hugged him back. "It wasn't your fault, Rubeus. I know you, I know the truth. What's good is I'm back, eh? Now, let's get in before someone sees us." Hagrid sniffed loudly and went into the hut, Deanna still in his arms, while Harry, Ron and Hermione followed.

"I can't believe you're here," said Hagrid, setting her down. "And you're still... you. How?"

"What happened to you first, Rubeus?" she said, holding her hand up to his cheek while looking at him worriedly.

"Nuthin'," said Hagrid quickly.

"What happened to you?" Harry demanded.

"Told yeh, nuthin'," said Hagrid firmly. "Want a cuppa? Tell me what happened, Dee. How'd you come back?"

"Rubeus, I think I should know about your summer first," she said, crossing her arms.

Hagrid grumbled and slapped a piece of dragon meat onto the left side of his face, "Still stubborn even after fifty years."

Deanna merely rolled her eyes at that. "Look, we'll tell you about our summers, and you tell us about yours."

"And what makes yer think I'm agreeing to that?" said Hagrid, raising an eyebrow.

"Did the giants beat you up, Hagrid?" asked Hermione quietly. Hagrid's fingers slipped on the dragon steak, and it slid squelchily onto his chest. Deanna's eyebrows furrowed, now thinking about it. Why hadn't she thought of it sooner? Where were the giants in the Forbidden Forest?

"Giants?" said Hagrid, catching the steak 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, fixing her sternly with the eye that was not hidden by the steak. "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.

"What happened to the giants?" said Deanna in confusion. "Aren't they still here in the villages?"

"They've been banished by wizards, Dee," said Hagrid darkly. "Since the first war." Deanna frowned, still confused, but she knew Hagrid would explain more later.

"Come on, Hagrid, tell us what you've been up to!" said Ron. "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.

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

"Didn't you know?" Hermione asked him, wide-eyed.

"I don' know anything that's been 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?"

"Like I said, Rubeus," said Deanna cheekily. "Tell us about your summer, and we'll all tell you about ours." Hagrid rolled his eyes before finally agreeing. He went first, telling them about their unfortunately failed attempt at gaining the giants as allies and all the blunders they had been through. Harry went next, telling him about the dementor attack. Deanna then told him about her return by finding 12 Grimmauld Place and coming back to Hogwarts.

"That wretched Riddle," growled Hagrid. "Never really liked him, Deanna. Yeh did love him though, but yeh always saw the good in people." There was silence following his words. Harry, Ron and Hermione were looking at Deanna with wide eyes. Hermione was feeling her heart drop suddenly. Was that why Deanna was so angry, talking about him? Did she still love Voldemort?

"Y-You were with V-Voldemort?" said Harry with a tone of disbelief. Deanna was about to answer when there was a sudden rapping on the door. Hermione's mug fell on the floor while there was a shadow of somebody small across the curtain.

"It's her!" Ron whispered.

"Get under here!" Harry said quickly.

Deanna dived beneath the cloak with them and whispered when they were all looking at her with unsure looks. "I'll tell you all about it later." That seemed to relieve the Golden Trio a little.

"Hagrid, hide our mugs!" Harry whispered urgently. Hagrid seized Deanna's, Harry's and Ron's mugs and shoved them under the cushion in Fang's basket.

Professor Umbridge was standing in the doorway and she leaned back to see Hagrid's face. "So," she said slowly and loudly, as though speaking to somebody deaf. "You're 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.

"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 stared into the corner where they were pressed against the wall, and the four students pressed themselves into the wall even more.

"Dolores Umbridge? I thought you were one o' them Ministry — don' you work with Fudge?"

"I was Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, yes, I am now the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher —"

"Tha's brave of yeh, there's not many'd take tha' job anymore —"

"— 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 glance toward the corner where they 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, one hand still clamped over the dragon steak pressed to his eye.

Umbridge stood facing him now, taking in every detail of his appearance instead of the cabin's. "I heard voices," she said quietly.

"I was talkin' ter Fang."

"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 four sets of footprints in the snow leading from the castle doors to your cabin," said Umbridge sleekly. Hermione gasped; Deanna put her finger to Hermione's lips and the Granger blushed as she stared at Deanna, who was watching Umbridge warily. Harry and Ron shared amused glances at how the Brightest Witch was acting in the presence of the Dumbledore. Fang was sniffing loudly at the time so Umbridge didn't hear.

"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."

"Well I... I don' know why that'd be... Erm..."

Umbridge looked at the cabin carefully, inspecting every corner of it. After looking inside the enormous cauldron, she wheeled around again and said, "What has happened to you? How did you sustain those injuries?"

"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, yeh know, I've had a bit of a ride on one o' them an' it was —"

"Where have you been?" asked Umbridge, cutting him off.

"Where've I... ?"

"Been, yes," she said. "Term started more than 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?" There was a pause in which Hagrid stared at her with his newly uncovered eye.

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

"For your health," said Umbridge. Her eyes traveled over Hagrid's discolored and swollen face; dragon blood dripped gently onto his waistcoat in the silence. "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 sweetly.

"Well — change o' scene, yeh know —"

"Mountain scenery?" said Umbridge swiftly. Deanna's eyes widened. How could she know?

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

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

"Yeah... well... sensitive skin," said Hagrid, attempting an ingratiating smile, two of his teeth knocked out. 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."

"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 turned sharply and marched back to the door.

"You're inspectin' us?" Hagrid echoed blankly, looking after her.

"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. Good night." She left, closing the door behind her with a snap. Harry made to pull off the Invisibility Cloak but Hermione seized his wrist.

"Not yet. She might not be gone yet."

Hagrid seemed to be thinking the same way; he stumped across the room and pulled back the curtain an inch or so. "She's goin' back ter the castle," he said in a low voice. "Blimey... inspectin' people, is she?"

"Rubeus," said Deanna. "You'll have to be careful with her. She's a nasty, foul – " she said something that made Hermione gasp and hit her shoulder while the three boys laughed.

"Yeah," said Harry. "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 O.W.L. year, you wait, they're somethin' really special."

"I'll be looking forward to them," said Deanna cheerfully. "You've finally done it, Rubeus. I'm proud of you."

"Thank yeh, Dee," said Hagrid softly. "I'm really glad you're back here to see it." Deanna blinked back her tears. Another person who was grateful for her return, but it meant everything to Deanna.

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

"Dangerous?" said Hagrid, looking genially bemused. "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 earnestly.

"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, a note of real desperation in her voice. "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 O.W.L..."

"Lis'en, it's bin a long day an' it's late," he yawned, 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... Come here soon, Dee, we have to talk sometime. 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," said Ron as they walked up to the castle with Hermione performing the Obliteration Charm.

"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 taking Hagrid!"

"It's Rubeus though," said Deanna. "What's the worst thing that he could possibly bring? Aragog?" Harry, Ron and Hermione stopped and looked at her in surprise.

"You know Aragog?" said Ron with mixed terror and awe.

"He did try scaring me once with his sons and daughters, but Rubeus told him off for me. Is he still alive?" The Golden Trio exchanged looks. He was very much alive, even threatening to offer Harry and Ron as food to his children. Then, they all stopped as they reached the entrance, remembering what happened in the cabin. Deanna looked at them in confusion before she realized what they were thinking of.

Deanna sighed. "Come on, I'll tell you in the kitchens." The four of them went to the kitchens silently, and the house-elves greeted Deanna with enthusiasm before looking at the three Gryffindors with apprehension. Deanna led them to her corner of the kitchen and stared at them. "So... I guess I should explain, huh?"

"You don't have to, Deanna," said Hermione gently. The two boys nodded with her, not wanting to make their friend uncomfortable.

"No, Hermione," said Deanna firmly. "You three are my friends, and you have the right to know. Especially you, Harry." She took in a deep breath and started. "As you all know, Voldemort wasn't Voldemort at the start. He was a charming and kind boy named Tom Marvolo Riddle. Well, for the kind part, he was working on it. It was in my second year when we first crossed paths. I knew him. Everybody knew him. He was intelligent, handsome, but he always kept to himself." Harry, Ron and Hermione were actually surprised. They had never heard someone talk about Voldemort as if he weren't a murderer, but then again, he wasn't always Voldemort.

"During my second year, I was failing History of Magic," Hermione looked horrified while Harry and Ron smiled slightly at the fact that Deanna was like them, "and Professor Binns assigned him to be my tutor. It was not quite love at first sight, but I was attracted to him. At first, I was wary of him because his Slytherin friends were bullies, the whole lot of them, thinking we badgers are pushovers. Then, we became friends when he defended me from Black and Malfoy-"

"You knew a Malfoy?" said Harry.

"Indeed," said Deanna, smirking. "Ignatius, Thaddeus and I were always in war against them. I just learned today that he has a grandson here, Draco Malfoy. Is he..."

"A git?" said Ron darkly. "He is... He's got it out for us three. Having a go at my family, making stories about Harry and calling Hermione a mudblood."

"He's quite like his grandfather then," said Deanna, frowning. She didn't know why but she had hope that the Slytherin was different. "So, there it was. I soon came into my third year, and I started falling for him. Of course, I didn't tell anyone yet. I knew all my friends didn't like him because of his friends, but there was just something different about him, and one day, he asked me out, and Helga, I was happy," she said smiling at the memory.

"So, after a few dates, we got together. And then fourth year came. I started seeing how Tom was... well, let's just say he was turning into Voldemort by then. I did try stopping it, telling him that we were all equal and the like, but it wasn't enough..." She paused, clenching her fists. "Then, the incident with Myrtle happened, and here we are now." They were all silent for a few moments. The trio felt guilty for how they had looked at Deanna a while ago, as if she had done something wrong when all she had done was loving the wrong person.

"Do you still love him?" Harry and Hermione glared at Ron, who looked at Deanna apologetically. The words had come out of his mouth unexpectedly. Deanna stared at the three of them. It was this question again, she may have told her father she had the courage to let go, but she wasn't sure if she had already done it. When she met Hermione's eyes though, Deanna felt as if she found an answer to this question that was haunting her.

"I will love him forever," said Deanna. Hermione felt a pang in her chest. Of course, she would. Maybe, she didn't even like girls in the first place. She felt Harry and Ron's apologetic looks, but Hermione merely looked down, not meeting any of their gazes. Deanna, who was staring at the window, smiled softly. "Tom Riddle was my first love, and he will always have a place in my heart... But I'm not in love with him anymore."

Hermione's head snapped up as she looked at Deanna, whose face was glowing with the light of the fire. She was staring at Hermione with the same soft smile on her face that made Hermione's heart do somersaults. Harry and Ron were looking at Deanna and Hermione with grins on their faces. It looked like it wasn't only Hermione who had an attraction.

"S-So, you don't like anyone as of the moment?" asked Hermione, trying to sound disinterested.

"I'm not sure," said Deanna, resting her chin on her hand. "But if I do, I'll tell you all right away." Hermione smiled happily, her mood lighter than it had been a while ago. She had a chance with Deanna Dumbledore, and in time, she was going to take her opportunity. Deanna, on the other hand, smiled softly at how happy the Gryffindor witch looked. It was just like how she looked whenever she was eating hotdogs or wearing her purple socks, but she didn't know that at that moment she had the same look on her face. Deanna didn't know what made Hermione smile like that, but she was sure of one thing. She wanted to be the cause. 

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