"I'm so sorry," I say to the twins, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Harry as I sit down in front of them in the Gryffindor common room. "I always think he's over this until. Well until he proves he isn't. I'm sorry." 

  "Its not your fault," George says as he sits the ice on his hand.

  "I know. But I can't help but feeling to blame. Regardless is he's wrong. He's so wrong. You guys are the best family I've ever seen," I say to them as I take one of Ginny's hands. "I love you guys. You're my family."

  "And were glad you're here with us," Ginny says, "right?" Various murmurs of agreement go around.

"I can't believe that hag banned you from playing. And Fred too. What the hell?" I say, "and not one of mine were."

"Montauge was laughing about it at dinner," Ginny says.

"Of course that bloody prick was laughing," Fred huffs, "maybe we should slip something into his pumpkin juice."

"Maybe you should," I say, "maybe I can help." Fred and George smirk evilly at each other and nod.

"What do we have to lose," George says.

"Y/n you're a prefect you need to be above this," Hermione says.

"Actually I don't," I say to her, "I'm just playing the game like they are."

"She has a point Hermione," Harry says, "its fair-"

"She'll lose her position," Hermione protests.

"I don't think she cares," Ron says.

"I don't," I admit, "if I lose the position then I lose it. I just can't let them do this."

"We're with you," Harry says.

"Its getting late," Fred says, "I th ink George and I are off to bed."

"Me too," Ginny says.

"Do you need the cloak?" Harry asks. I sigh.

"Nah I'll just brave it out," I say to them "goodnight."

"Good night," Hermione says.

"Night," Harry and Ron say quickly. As I walk through the hallway I see Ernie doing his rounds. I wave to him before ducking out down the stairs to the dungeons.

*****

"Come on!" Hermione says dragging me along the path to Hagrid's hut harshly as the two boys attempt to keep the cloak over the three of us.

"Mione you're going to pull from arm from its socket," I say attempting to free my arm from her grasp. Once we reach the hut we could hear Fangs barking loudly. Harry knocks three times causing the dog to bark louder.

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

"Shoulda known!" Hagrid says, "Bin home three seconds... Out the way, Fang... Out the way, yeh dozy dog..." Hermione screams loudly as the door opens.

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

"I'm sorry!" Hermione gasps, as we squeeze past Hagrid into the house and pulled the cloak off  so he could see us. "I just—oh, Hagrid!"

"It's nuthin', it's nuthin'!" Hagrid says hastily, shutting the door behind us and hurrying to close all the curtains. Hermione's eyes still on him in horror. I follow her gaze to examine Hagrid's features. His hair was matted with old blood and his left eye was swollen and bruised. He was covered in small cuts and moved so gingerly you could assume broken ribs.

"What happened to you?" Harry demanda, while Fang dances around us, trying to lick our faces. I bend down petting the dog while trying to listen to Hagrid.

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

"Come off it," Ron says, "you're in a right state!"

"I'm tellin' yeh, I'm fine," Hagrid says slightly wincing. "Blimey, it's good ter see you three again—had good summers, did yeh?"

"Hagrid, you've been attacked!" Ron exclaims.

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

"Its not nothing!" I exclaim, "are you okay?"

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

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

"I'm dealin' with it, all righ'?" Hagrid says repressively. He walks across and grabs a slab of dragon meat off the table.

"You're not going to eat that, are you, Hagrid?" Ron asks leaning in for a closer look. "It looks poisonous."

"Ronald," I hiss.

"It's s'posed ter look like that, it's dragon meat," Hagrid says, "An' I didn' get it ter eat." He places it onto the left side of his face sighing in relief.  "Tha's better. It helps with the stingin', yeh know."

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

"Can', Harry. Top secret. More'n me job's worth ter tell yeh that." Hagrid says.

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

"Giants?" Hagrid asks catching the 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?"

"They guessed," I tell him with a shrug.

"Oh, yeh did, did yeh?" Hagrid says fixing her sternly with the eye that was not hidden by the steak.

"It was kind of... obvious," Ron says.

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

"So you have been to look for giants?" Harry asks grinning as he sat down at the table. Hagrid sets tea in front of each of us then sits down, picking up his steak again, and slapping it back over his face.

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

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

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

"Where are they?" Ron says.

"Mountains," Hagrid says unhelpfully.

"So why don't Muggles—?"

"They do," Hagrid says darkly. "O'ny their deaths are always put down ter mountaineerin' accidents, aren' they?"

"They are," I tell them, "you can't exactly explain giants to muggles."

"Come on, Hagrid, tell us what you've been up to!" Ron says, "Tell us about being attacked by the giants and Harry can tell you about being attacked by the dementors—" Hagrid chokes on his tea and drops his steak. 

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

"Didn't you know?" Hermione asks 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?" Hagrid says.

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

"WHAT?"

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

"You were expelled?"

"Yeah it was a whole big thing," I explain to him, "the people in the order were-"

"Tell us about your summer and I'll tell you about mine," Harry says interrupting me.

"Oh, all righ'," Hagrid sighs. He bends down and tugs the dragon steak out of Fang's mouth.

"Oh, Hagrid, don't, it's not hygien—" Hermione begins, but Hagrid had already slapped the meat back over his swollen eye.

"Well, we set off righ' after term ended—"

"Madame Maxime went with you, then?" Hermione interjects.

"Yeah, tha's right," Hagrid says,  "Yeah, it was jus' the pair of us. An' I'll tell yeh this, she's not afraid of roughin' it, Olympe. Yeh know, she's a fine, well-dressed woman, an' knowin' where we was goin' I wondered 'ow she'd feel abou' clamberin' over boulders an' sleepin' in caves an' tha', bu' she never complained once."

"You knew where you were going?" Harry asks, "You knew where the giants were?"

"Well, Dumbledore knew, an' he told us," Hagrid says.

"Are they hidden?" asked Ron. "Is it a secret, where they are?"

"Not really," Hagrid says, shaking his shaggy head. "It's jus' that mos' wizards aren' bothered where they are, s' long as it's a good long way away. But where they are's very difficult ter get ter, fer humans anyway, so we needed Dumbledore's instructions. Took us abou' a month ter get there—"

"A month?" Ron says, "But—why couldn't you just grab a Portkey or something?"

"We're bein' watched, Ron," Hagrid says gruffly.

"What d'you mean?"

"Yeh don' understand," Hagrid says, "The Ministry's keepin' an eye on Dumbledore an' anyone they reckon's in league with him, an'—"

"We know about that," Harry says quickly, "We know about the Ministry watching Dumbledore—"

"So you couldn't use magic to get there?" Ron asks looking thunderstruck.

"The ministry would of known they were going up there and intercepted them," I explain to Ron.

  "You had to act like Muggles all the way?" Ron asks.

"Well, not exactly all the way," Ron says, "We jus' had ter be careful, 'cause Olympe an' me, we stick out a bit——so we're not hard ter follow. We was pretendin' we was goin' on holiday together, so we got inter France an' we made like we was headin' fer where Olympe's school is, 'cause we knew we was bein' tailed by someone from the Ministry. We had to go slow, 'cause I'm not really s'posed ter use magic an' we knew the Ministry'd be lookin' fer a reason ter run us in. But we managed ter give the berk tailin' us the slip round abou' Dee-John—"

"Ooooh, Dijon?" Hermione says excitedly. "I've been there on holiday, did you see—?"

"Hermione not the time," I say looking at her like she was stupid.

"We chanced a bit o' magic after that, and it wasn' a bad journey. Ran inter a couple o' mad trolls on the Polish border, an' I had a sligh' disagreement with a vampire in a pub in Minsk, but apart from tha', couldn't'a bin smoother," Hagrid continues, "An' then we reached the place, an' we started trekkin' up through the mountains, lookin' fer signs of 'em... We had ter lay off the magic once we got near 'em. Partly 'cause they don' like wizards an' we didn' want ter put their backs up too soon, and partly 'cause Dumbledore had warned us You-Know-Who was bound ter be after the giants an' all. Said it was odds on he'd sent a messenger off ter them already. Told us ter be very careful of drawin' attention ter ourselves as we got nearer in case there was Death Eaters around."

"Go on!" Harry says urgently as Hagrid sips his tea.

"Found 'em," Hagrid starts again, "Went over a ridge one nigh' an' there they was, spread ou' underneath us. Little fires burnin' below an' huge shadows... It was like watchin' bits o' the mountain movin'."

"How big are they?" asks Ron in a hushed voice.

"'Bout twenty feet," Hagrid says casually. "Some o' the bigger ones mighta bin twenty-five."

"And how many were there?" Harry asks.

"I reckon abou' seventy or eighty," Hagrid answers.

"Is that all?" Hermione says.

"Yep," Hagrid says sadly, "eighty left, an' there was loads once, musta bin a hundred diff'rent tribes from all over the world. But they've bin dyin' out fer ages. Wizards killed a few, o' course, but mostly they killed each other, an' now they're dyin' out faster than ever. They're not made ter live bunched up together like tha'. Dumbledore says it's our fault, it was the wizards who forced 'em to go an' made 'em live a good long way from us an' they had no choice but ter stick together fer their own protection."

"So," Harry says, "you saw them and then what?"

"Well, we waited till morning, didn' want ter go sneakin' up on 'em in the dark, fer our own safety," Hagrid says, "'Bout three in the mornin' they fell asleep jus' where they was sittin'. We didn' dare sleep. Fer one thing, we wanted ter make sure none of 'em woke up an' came up where we were, an' fer another, the snorin' was unbelievable. Caused an avalanche near mornin'. Anyway, once it was light we wen' down ter see 'em."

"Just like that?" Ron says, looking awestruck. "You just walked right into a giant camp?"

"Well, Dumbledore'd told us how ter do it," said Hagrid. "Give the Gurg gifts, show some respect, yeh know."

"Give the what gifts?" Harry asks.

"The Gurg means chief," I explain for Hagrid. 

"How could you tell which one was the Gurg?" Ron asks.

"No problem," Hagrid chuckles,  "He was the biggest, the ugliest, an' the laziest. Sittin' there waitin' ter be brought food by the others. Dead goats an' such like. Name o' Karkus. I'd put him at twenty-two, twenty-three feet, an' the weight of a couple o' bull elephants. Skin like rhino hide an' all."

"And you just walked up to him?" said Hermione breathlessly.

"Well... down ter him, where he was lyin' in the valley. They was in this dip between four pretty high mountains, see, beside a mountain lake, an' Karkus was lyin' by the lake roarin' at the others ter feed him an' his wife. Olympe an' I went down the mountainside—"

"But didn't they try and kill you when they saw you?" asks Ron incredulously.

"It was def'nitely on some of their minds," Hagrid, shrugging, "but we did what Dumbledore told us ter do, which was ter hold our gift up high an' keep our eyes on the Gurg an' ignore the others. So tha's what we did. An' the rest of 'em went quiet an' watched us pass an' we got right up ter Karkus's feet an' we bowed an' put our present down in front o' him."

"What do you give a giant?" asksRon eagerly. "Food?"

"Nah, he can get food all righ' fer himself," Hagrid says. "We took him magic. Giants like magic, jus' don't like us usin' it against 'em. Anyway, that firs' day we gave him a branch o' Gubraithian fire."

"Wow," Hermione and I say.

"A branch of—?"

"You ought to know that by now, Professor Flitwick's mentioned it at least twice in class!" Hermione says. They look to me and I chuckle.

'Everylasting fire," I explain to them, "its a extremely hard spell."

"Well anyway," Hagrid says quickly, intervening before Ron could answer back, "Dumbledore'd bewitched this branch to burn evermore, which isn' somethin' any wizard could do, an' so I lies it down in the snow by Karkus's feet and says, 'A gift to the Gurg of the giants from Albus Dumbledore, who sends his respectful greetings.'"

"And what did Karkus say?" asks Harry eagerly.

"Nothin'," Hagrid says, "Didn' speak English."

"You're kidding!"

"Didn' matter," Hagrid says imperturbably, "Dumbledore had warned us tha' migh' happen. Karkus knew enough to yell fer a couple o' giants who knew our lingo an' they translated fer us."

"And did he like the present?" asks Ron.

"Oh yeah, it went down a storm once they understood what it was,"  Hagrid says ,now turning his dragon steak over to press the cooler side to his swollen eye. "Very pleased. So then I said, 'Albus Dumbledore asks the Gurg to speak with his messenger when he returns tomorrow with another gift.'"

"Why couldn't you speak to them that day?" Hermione asks.

"Dumbledore wanted us ter take it very slow," Hagrid says, "Let 'em see we kept our promises. We'll come back tomorrow with another present, an' then we do come back with another present—gives a good impression, see? An' gives them time ter test out the firs' present an' find out it's a good one, an' get 'em eager fer more. In any case, giants like Karkus—overload 'em with information an' they'll kill yeh jus' to simplify things. So we bowed outta the way an' went off an' found ourselves a nice little cave ter spend that night in, an' the followin' mornin' we went back an' this time we found Karkus sittin' up waitin' fer us lookin' all eager."

"And you talked to him?"

"Oh yeah. Firs' we presented him with a nice battle helmet—goblin-made an' indestructible, yeh know—an' then we sat down an' we talked."

"What did he say?"

"Not much," Hagrid says, "Listened mostly. But there were good signs. He'd heard o' Dumbledore, heard he'd argued against the killin' of the last giants in Britain. Karkus seemed ter be quite int'rested in what Dumbledore had ter 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 ter come back next day with another present.

"But that night it all wen' wrong."

"What d'you mean?" asks Ron quickly.

"Well, like I say, they're not meant ter live together, giants," Hagrid says sadly. "Not in big groups like that. They can' help themselves, they half kill each other every few weeks. The men fight each other an' the women fight each other, the remnants of the old tribes fight each other, an' that's even without squabbles over food an' the best fires an' sleepin' spots. Yeh'd think, seein' as how their whole race is abou' finished, they'd lay off each other, but...That night a fight broke out, we saw it from the mouth of our cave, lookin' down on the valley. Went on fer hours, yeh wouldn' believe the noise. An' when the sun came up the snow was scarlet an' his head was lyin' at the bottom o' the lake."

"Whose head?" Hermione gasps.

"A head are you kidding me," I say in shook.

"Karkus's," Hagrid says, "There was a new Gurg, Golgomath."

"Oh salazar," I say, "what happened?"

 "Well, we hadn' bargained on a new Gurg two days after we'd made friendly contact with the firs' one, an' we had a funny feelin' Golgomath wouldn' be so keen ter listen to us, but we had ter try."

"You went to speak to him?"Ron asks incredulously. "After you'd watched him rip off another giant's head?"

"'Course we did," Hagrid says, "we hadn' gone all that way ter give up after two days! We wen' down with the next present we'd meant ter give ter Karkus. I knew it was no go before I'd opened me mouth. He was sitting there wearin' Karkus's helmet, leerin' at us as we got nearer. He's massive, one o' the biggest ones there. Black hair an' matchin' teeth an' a necklace o' bones. Human-lookin' bones, some of 'em. Well, I gave it a go—held out a great roll o' dragon skin—an' said A gift fer the Gurg of the giants—' Nex' thing I knew, I was hangin' upside down in the air by me feet, two of his mates had grabbed me."

"How did you get out of that?" asks Harry.

"Wouldn'ta done if Olympe hadn' bin there," Hagrid says, "She pulled out her wand an' did some o' the fastes' spellwork I've ever seen. Ruddy marvelous. Hit the two holdin' me right in the eyes with Conjunctivitus Curses an' they dropped me straightaway—bu' we were in trouble then, 'cause we'd used magic against 'em, an' that's what giants hate abou' wizards. We had ter leg it an' we knew there was no way we was going ter be able ter march inter camp again."

"Blimey, Hagrid," Ron says.

"So how come it's taken you so long to get home if you were only there for three days?" asks Hermione.

"We didn' leave after three days!" Hagrid says looking outraged. "Dumbledore was relyin' on us!"

"But you've just said there was no way you could go back!"

"Not by daylight, we couldn', no. We just had ter rethink a bit. Spent a couple o' days lyin' low up in the cave an' watchin'. An' wha' we saw wasn' good."

"Did he rip off more heads?" asks Hermione.

"No," said Hagrid. "I wish he had."

"What d'you mean?"

"I mean we soon found out he didn' object ter all wizards—just us."

"Death Eaters?" Harry says quickly.

"Yep," Hagrid says darkly. I stand up from the table and walk back to the window. Death Eater back again. Always fucking Death Eaters man. "Couple of 'em were visitin' him ev'ry day, bringin' gifts ter the Gurg, an' he wasn' dangling them upside down."

"How d'you know they were Death Eaters?" Ron says.

"Because I recognized one of 'em," Hagrid growls. "Macnair, remember him? Bloke they sent ter kill Buckbeak? Maniac, he is. Likes killin' as much as Golgomath, no wonder they were gettin' on so well."

"So Macnair's persuaded the giants to join Voldemort?" I ask slight wincing from Hermione, Ron, and Hagrid at the name.

"Hold yer hippogriffs, I haven' finished me story yet!" Hagrid says, "Me an' Olympe talked it over an' we agreed, jus' 'cause the Gurg looked like favorin' You-Know-Who didn' mean all of 'em would. We had ter try an' persuade some o' the others, the ones who hadn' wanted Golgomath as Gurg."

"How could you tell which ones they were?" asks Ron.

"Well, they were the ones bein' beaten to a pulp, weren' they?" Hagrid says patiently. "The ones with any sense were keepin' outta Golgomath's way, hidin' out in caves roun' the gully jus' like we were. So we decided we'd go pokin' round the caves by night an' see if we couldn' persuade a few o' them."

"You went poking around dark caves looking for giants?" Ron says with awed respect in his voice.

"Well, it wasn' the giants who worried us most," Hagrid says. "We were more concerned abou' the Death Eaters. Dumbledore had told us before we wen' not ter tangle with 'em if we could avoid it, an' the trouble was they knew we was around—'spect Golgomath told him abou' us. At night when the giants were sleepin' an' we wanted ter be creepin' inter the caves, Macnair an' the other one were sneakin' round the mountains lookin' fer us. I was hard put to stop Olympe jumpin' out at them, She was rarin' ter attack 'em... she's somethin' when she's roused, Olympe... Fiery, yeh know...'spect it's the French in her..."

"Thats a stereotype thats gonna offend people," I sigh.

"So what happened? Did you ever get near any of the other giants?"

"What? Oh... oh yeah, we did. Yeah, on the third night after Karkus was killed, we crept outta the cave we'd bin hidin' in and headed back down inter the gully, keepin' our eyes skinned fer the Death Eaters. Got inside a few o' the caves, no go—then, in abou' the sixth one, we found three giants hidin'."

"Cave must've been cramped," Ron says.

"Wasn' room ter swing a kneazle," Hagrid says.

"Didn't they attack you when they saw you?" asks Hermione.

"Probably woulda done if they'd bin in any condition," Hagrid says, "but they was badly hurt, all three o' them. Golgomath's lot had beaten 'em unconscious; they'd woken up an' crawled inter the nearest shelter they could find. Anyway, one o' them had a bit of English an' 'e translated fer the others, an' what we had ter say didn' seem ter go down  too badly. So we kep' goin' back, visitin' the wounded... I reckon we had abou' six or seven o' them convinced at one poin'."

"Six or seven?" Ron says, "Well that's not bad—are they going to come over here and start fighting You-Know-Who with us?"

"What do you mean 'at one point,' Hagrid?" Hermione asks.

"Golgomath killed them didn't he?" I ask. Hagrid nods sadly.

"The ones tha' survived didn' wan' no more ter to do with us after that."

"So... so there aren't any giants coming?" Ron asks looking disappointed.

"Nope," Hagrid sighs, "but we did wha' we meant ter do, we gave 'em Dumbledore's message an' some o' them heard it an' I 'spect some o' them'll remember it. Jus' maybe, them that don' want ter stay around Golgomath'll move outta the mountains, an' there's gotta be a chance they'll remember Dumbledore's friendly to 'em... Could be they'll come..."

"I'll have to send that back to Sirus and Lupin," I sigh, "but I suspect most likely. We won't have any giants in this fight."

"Mmm?"

"Did you... was there any sign of... did you hear anything about your... your... mother while you were there? I'm sorry... I... forget it—"

"Dead," Hagrid grunts. "Died years ago. They told me."

"Oh... I'm... I'm really sorry," Hermione says.

"No need," he says shortly. "Can' remember her much. Wasn' a great mother."

"But you still haven't explained how you got in this state, Hagrid," Ron says, gesturing toward Hagrid's bloodstained face.

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

"Who attacked you?" Ron asks.

"I haven' bin attacked!" says Hagrid emphatically. "I—" We look into the door way as Fangs yelps to see a tiny figure. Umbridge.

"Shit," I whisper.

"It's her!" Ron whispers.

"Get under here!" Harry says quickly; seizing the Invisibility cloak and pulling me towards him as we all dive under it.

"Hagrid, hide our mugs!" I instruct. He hides them as we disappear and the door opens to reveal Umbridge.

"So," She says slowly and loudly, as though speaking to somebody deaf. "You're Hagrid, are you?" She looks around at him as Fang try to lick her face. "Get away," she snaps, waving her handbag at Fang.

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

"My name is Dolores Umbridge." She says as she scans the hut.

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

"I was Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, yes," Umbridge says now pacing around the cabin, taking in every tiny detail. "I am now the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher—"

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

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

"Wha's that?" Hagrid asks frowning.

"Precisely what I was going to ask," Umbridge says, pointing at the broken shards of china on the floor.

"Oh," Hagrid says glancing over at us, "oh, tha' was... was Fang. He broke a mug. So I had ter use this one instead."

"I heard voices," she says quietly.

"I was talkin' ter Fang," Hagrid says stoutly.

"And was he talking back to you?"

"Well... in a manner o' speakin',"  Hagrid says 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," Umbridge says sleekly. Hermione gasps and I move quickly to cover her mouth. Thankfully Fang's whimpering covered her noise.

"Well, I on'y jus' got back," Hagrid says 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..." Hagrid says, tugging nervously at his beard and again glancing toward the corner where we hid as though asking for help. "Erm..." Umbridge starts to pull open cabinets and look into the cauldreon. Passing us multiple times leading the four of us to be huddled closer than before in panic. "What has happened to you? How did you sustain those injuries?"

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

"What sort of accident?"

"I-I tripped."

"You tripped," she repeats 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 coolly through Hagrid's babbling.

"Where've I...?"

"Been, yes," she says. "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?"

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

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

"Yeah," Hagrid says, "bit o'—o' fresh air, yeh know—"

"Yes, as gamekeeper fresh air must be so difficult to come by," Umbridge says sweetly. 

"Well—change o' scene, yeh know—"

"Mountain scenery?"Umbridge asks swiftly. I move my hand to my wand. Trying to calculate a plan to get her or us out.

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

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

"Yeah... well... sensitive skin," Hagrid says, 

"I shall, of course, be informing the Minister of your late return."

"Righ'," Hagrid says 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."

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

"Oh yes,"  Umbridge says 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 marches highly out the door. Her parting words to threatening for comfort.