𝗟𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗡 𝗕𝗢𝗬

ACT TWO, CHAPTER NINE
an actual giant.

THE STORY OF how Fred and George flew to freedom was recounted so frequently over the nest few days that Venus wouldn't be surprised if it ended up in a Hogwarts history book. Within a week, even the ones who had seen the whole thing unfold were half-convinced they had seen the twins dive-bomb Umbridge on their brooms and pelted her with Dungbombs before zooming out of the doors. In the aftermath of their departure, a great wave of student were beginning to talk about copying them, such as Honestly, some days I just feel like jumping on my broom and leaving this place or One more lesson like that and I might just do a Weasley . . .

Fred and George definitely made sure that nobody would forget them very soon. For one, they had not left instructions on how to remove the swamp that now filled the hallway on the fifth floor of the east wing. Umbridge and Filch had been trying to remove it, but there was no success. The area was eventually roped off and a very annoyed Filch was given the task of punting students across it to their classrooms. Venus was almost positive the teachers like McGonagall or Flitwick could've removed the swamp with a simple wave of their wand, but just like the case of Fred and George's Wildfire Whiz-Bangs, they seemed to prefer watching Umbridge struggle.

There were now two large broom-shaped holes in Umbridge's office door as well, which the twins' Cleensweeps had smashed through to rejoin them. Filch had fitted a new door and removed Harry's Firebolt to the dungeons where it was rumored Umbridge had set an armed security troll to guard it. However, the students was giving her more trouble than she could keep up with.

A great number of students were now competing for the newly vacant positions of Hogwarts' troublemakers, obviously inspired by Fred and George. Somebody had even managed to slip a Niffler into Umbridge's office in spite of the new door, and the creature tore the place apart in search for shiny objects. It also leaped straight on Umbridge when she re-entered and tried to bite the rings off of her stubby fingers. Dungbombs and Stinkpellets were dropped so frequently in the corridors that it was now a trend for students to perform Bubble-Head Charms on themselves before leaving lessons. It gave them a supply of fresh clean air, although it made them look like they were wearing upside-down goldfish bowls on their heads.

Filch kept prowling the corridors with a horsewhip ready in his hands (Venus and Elijah always had to stop Charlotte from making some comments about that) in desperation to catch troublemakers, but the problem was there were so many of them that he didn't know where to turn. The Inquisitorial Squad was attempting to help him, but they always ended up with something odd happening to them. Warrington had gone to the hospital wing with a horrible skin condition that made him look like he had been coated in cornflakes and Pansy Parkinson had missed all her lessons the following day because she had sprouted antlers.

Meanwhile, it was becoming evident just how many Skiving Snackboxes the twins had managed to sell before leaving Hogwarts. Umbridge only had to enter her classroom for the students inside to faint, vomit, develop very high fevers, or get an extremely bad nosebleed. Umbridge — while shrieking with rage and frustration — had attempted to trace the mysterious symptoms to their source, but the students had just told her they were suffering from Umbridge-itis. After, and only after, she put four successive classes is detention and failing to discover their secret, Umbridge was forced to allow the sick students to leave her classes in droves.

However, not even the users of the Snackboxes could compete with the true master of Hogwarts. Peeves had apparently taken Fred's parting words on giving Umbridge hell deeply to heart. All with a mad cackle, he soared through the school to upend tables, burst out of blackboards, and topple statues and vases. Twice he had shut Mrs. Norris inside various suits of armor, which a very furious Filch had to rescue her yowling self. Peeves smashed lanterns and extinguished candles, juggled burning torches over the heads of screaming students, caused neatly stacked piles of parchment to topple into fires or out of windows, flooded the second floor by pulling off all the taps in the bathroom, and dropped a bag of tarantulas in the middle of the Great Hall during breakfast. Whenever he needed a break, he just spent hours floating along after Umbridge and blowing very loud raspberries. None of the staff but Filch seemed to be going out of their way to help Umbridge at all.

Just to cap it all off, Montague had still not recovered from his visit in the toilet after Fred and George shoved him into the Vanishing Cabinet. He remained in a confused and disoriented state, and his parents were seen one Tuesday morning striding up the front drive of Hogwarts, looking livid.

"Should we say something?" Hermione asked in a worried voice, her cheek pressed against the window of the Charms classroom so she could see Montague's parents march inside. "About what happened to him? In case it helps Madam Pomfrey cure him?"

"'Course not, he'll recover," Ron answered indifferently.

"Anyway, more trouble for Umbridge, isn't it?" Harry added in a satisfied tone.

Venus shook her head in amusement. She looked back over to Elijah, who was to the right of her. Effortlessly, with a tap of his wand on the china, he charmed a teacup to grow four study little willow-patterned legs. Instantly, it went to go join Venus' own charmed teacup, which was scampering around the desk happily.

"Nice one," she commented.

"Thanks," Elijah replied.

Harry and Ron, however, were not doing as well with the spell as Venus, Hermione, or Elijah. Venus watched as Harry's teacup sprouted four very short legs that would not reach the desk and wriggled pointlessly in midair. Ron's teacup grew four very thin spindly legs that hoisted the cup off the desk with great difficulty, trembled for a couple of seconds, and then folded, causing the cup to crack in two.

"Reparo!" Hermione recited quickly with a wave of her wand, and Ron's cup mended. "That's all very well, but what if Montague's permanently injured?"

"Who cares?" Ron responded irritably, his teacup standing up drunkenly again and trembling violently at the knees. "Montague shouldn't have tried to take all those points from Gryffindor, should he? If you want to worry about anyone, Hermione, worry about me!"

"You?" Hermione questioned, catching her own perfectly charmed teacup as it scampered happily away across the desk and replaced it in front of her. "Why should I be worried about you?"

Ron now held his cup up while its frail legs tried feebly to support its weight. "When Mum's next letter finally gets through Umbridge's screening process, I'm going to be in deep trouble. I wouldn't be surprised if she's sent a Howler again."

"But—"

"It'll be my fault Fred and George left, you wait. She'll say I should've stopped them leaving, I should've grabbed the ends of their brooms and hung on or something . . . yeah, it'll be all my fault . . ."

Venus frowned. "That's not very fair, though. You couldn't have done anything to stop them."

Elijah nodded in agreement. "Plus, didn't they say that they have premises in Diagon Alley? That's a clear point that they've been planning this for a while."

"Yeah, but that's another thing, how did they get premises?" Ron inquired, hitting his teacup so hard with his wand that its legs collapsed again and it laid twitching before him on the desk. "It's a bit dodgy, isn't it? They'll need loads of Galleons to afford the rent on a place in Diagon Alley, she'll want to know what they've been up to, to get their hands on that sort of gold . . ."

"Well, yes, that occurred to me too," Hermione admitted, allowing her own teacup to jog in neat little circles around Harry's, whose small stubby legs still couldn't reach the desktop. "I've been wondering whether Mundungus has persuaded them to sell stolen goods or something awful . . ."

"He hasn't," Harry stated curtly.

"How do you know?" Venus, Ron, Hermione, and Elijah chorused.

"Because—" Harry hesitated for a moment, making Venus raise an eyebrow. "Because they got the gold from me. I gave them my Triwizard winnings last June."

Venus paused for a second, her eyes slightly widening. Oh, okay. There was that. A moment of shocked silence filled the group, and then Hermione's teacup jogged right over the edge of the desk and smashed on the floor.

"Oh, Harry, you didn't!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yes, I did," Harry continued. "And I don't regret it either — I didn't need the gold, and they'll be great at a joke shop . . ."

"But this is excellent!" Ron voiced, looking very thrilled. "It's all your fault, Harry — Mum can't blame me at all! Can I tell her?"

"Yeah, I suppose you'd better. 'Specially if she thinks they're receiving stolen cauldrons or something . . ."

Venus nudged Harry with her elbow. "That was really sweet of you, Harry. They won't make you regret it, I'm sure."

Harry smiled at her and quickly kissed her cheek. "Thanks, Star."

Hermione didn't say anything else for the rest of the lesson, but Venus knew she was bound to crack sooner or later. Sure enough, once they had left the castle for a break — Charlotte joining them as well — and were standing underneath the weak May sunshine, she set her gaze on Harry with a beady eye and opened her mouth with a determined air.

"It's no good nagging me, it's done," Harry cut in before Hermione could even speak, his hand resting comfortably in Venus'. "Fred and George have got the gold — spent a good bit of it too, by the sounds of it — and I can't get it back from them and I don't want to. So save your breath, Hermione."

Charlotte, who had just heard about what Harry had done, let out a laugh. "I still can't believe you gave your Twizard winnings to Fred and George. Harry, you're legendary."

"I wasn't going to say anything about Fred and George!" Hermione insisted. Ron snorted in disbelief, and Hermione gave him a very dirty look. "No, I wasn't! As a matter of fact, I was going to ask Harry when he's going to go back to Snape and ask for Occlumency lessons again!"

Venus looked at Harry in concern. Once they had dropped the subject of Fred and George's dramatic departure — which had taken a very long time — her, Ron, and Hermione had wanted to hear what Sirius had to say when Harry used Umbridge's fire to speak to him (they, of course, always filled Charlotte and Elijah in as well about what was going on in Harry's life too.) Harry had ended up telling them that Sirius wanted Harry to resume Occlumency lessons, which Venus could tell he did not want to do. Hermione, on the other hand, would not let the subject drop and kept bringing it up.

"You can't tell me you've stopped having funny dreams, because Ron told Venus and I last night you were muttering in yoursleep again . . ." Hermione revealed.

Harry threw Ron a very furious look.

"You were only muttering a bit," Ron muttered apologetically. "Something about just a bit farther."

"I dreamed I was watching you lot play Quidditch," Harry said. "I was trying to get you to stretch out a bit farther to grab the Quaffle."

Ron's ears went red. Venus, however, wasn't buying it. Just a bit farther? Obviously, it was about the Department of Mysteries dream again. Venus only wished that Harry could stop having these dreams so he could try and get at least some sleep — he was looking more and more tired as the days went on.

"You are trying to block your mind, aren't you?" Hermione asked Harry. "You are keeping going with your Occlumency?"

"Of course I am," Harry answered, but he wouldn't meet her eye.

Charlotte sighed. "You know, Snape might be the worst person on the planet, but he's probably the only person who can help you. It wouldn't hurt to try and talk to him. If you don't want to, maybe Penelope and I could . . ."

Harry nodded to her. "Thanks, Charlie."

"You know, if Montague doesn't recover before Slytherin play Hufflepuff, we might be in with a chance of winning the Cup," Ron announced, his ears still red.

"Yeah, I s'pose so."

"I mean, we've won one, lost one — if Slytherin lose to Hufflepuff next Saturday—"

"Yeah, that's right."

"I don't know, Ravenclaw might have this one in the bag," Elijah mentioned.

Charlotte shook her head and looked to Venus at Hermione. "Sports, am I right?"

Venus chuckled. "Oh yeah, definitely."

╞════════ ༺ ༻ ════════╡

THE FINAL MATCH of the Quidditch season was to take place on the last weekend of May. It was Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw — and although Slytherin was narrowly defeated by Hufflepuff in their last match, Gryffindor wasn't very hopeful about a victory due to Ron's dreadful goalkeeping record (nobody actually said that to him, of course.) Ron, however, had seemed to find a new optimism.

"I mean, I can't get any worse, can I?" Ron questioned grimly over breakfast on the morning of the match, right before Penelope came over to wish him luck. "Nothing to lose now, is there?"

"You know, I think Ron might do better without Fred and George around," Hermione admitted as her, Venus, Harry, Elijah, Charlotte, Penelope, and Penelope's friends, Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass, all walked down to the pitch together a little later in the midst of a very excited crowd. "They never exactlygave him a lot of confidence . . ."

Luna Lovegood then overtook them with what seemed to be a live eagle perched on top of her head and flapping its wings. The girl, still not having a care in the world, walked calmly past a group of cackling and pointing Slytherins.

"Quite the character, she is," Elijah commented, all decked out in his Ravenclaw gear — evidently, he would be the lone blue and bronze in a sea of red and gold.

The group found seats in the topmost row of the Gryffindor stands. It was a beautiful and clear day — perfect conditions for Quidditch. Lee Jordan was commentating the match as usual, even though he had been very dispirited since Fred and George had left. He named the players with less enthusiasm than normal as the teams zoomed out onto the pitch.

". . . Bradley . . . Davies . . . Chang," Lee listed. "And they're off! And Davies takes the Quaffle immediately, Ravenclaw Captain Davies with the Quaffle, he dodges Johnson, he dodges Bell, he dodges Spinnet as well. . . . He's going straight for goal! He's going to shoot — and — and—" Lee swore very loudly. "And he's scored."

Venus, Harry, Hermione, the rest of the Gryffindors, Penelope and her friends, and Charlotte all groaned. The only one who cheered was Elijah — duh, because his House just scored. As if on cue, the Slytherins in their section of the stands began to sing their stupid song.

Weasley cannot save a thing,
He cannot block a single ring . . .

"Harry," a hoarse voice suddenly announced from behind. "Hermione . . . Venus . . . Charlotte . . . Elijah . . ."

Venus turned. Hagrid's enormous bearded face was sticking between the seats. Apparently, he had squeezed his way all along the row behind since the first and second years he had just passed a sort of ruffled and flattened look about them. For some odd reason, Hagrid was bent down like he was anxious to be seen. If he wanted to hide, it wasn't working. He was still about four feet taller than everyone else.

"Oh hey, Hagrid," Charlotte greeted brightly.

"Listen, can yeh come with me?" Hagrid inquired. "Now? While ev'ryone's watchin' the match?"

"Er . . . can't it wait, Hagrid?" Harry replied. "Till the match is over?"

"No. No, Harry, it's gotta be now . . . while ev'ryone's lookin' the other way . . . please?"

Hagrid's nose was gently dripping blood, and his eyes were both blackened. A pang of concern hit Venus' heart. What was happening to him? Ever since he came back to school, he had looked so miserable all the time. The group of five shared a look.

"'Course, 'course we'll come . . ." Harry decided at once.

Venus, Harry, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah edged back along their row of seats, causing a of grumbling among the students who had to stand up for them. The ones in Hagrid's row were not complaining and instead were attempting to make themselves as small as possible

"I 'ppreciate this, you five, I really do," Hagrid told them once they reached the stairs. He kept glancing around nervously as they descended towards the lawn below them. "I jus' hope she doesn' notice us goin' . . ."

"If you're talking about Umbridge, I doubt it," Elijah responded. "She has all the members of the Inquisitorial Squad sitting with her. Probably expecting some sort of trouble at the match."

"Yeah, well, a bit o' trouble wouldn' hurt." Hagrid paused to peer around the edge of the stands to check if the stretch of lawn between there and his cabin was deserted "Give us more time . . ."

"Hagrid, what's going on?" Venus asked worryingly, her hand slipping into Harry's like normal as they hurried across the lawn towards the edge of the forest.

"Yeh — yeh'll see in a mo'," Hagrid answered, glancing over his shoulder as a great roar rose from the stands behind them. "Hey — did someone jus' score?"

"It'll be Ravenclaw," Harry revealed heavily.

"Good . . . good . . ." Hagrid trailed off distractedly. "Tha's good . . ."

Charlotte nudged Elijah with her elbow. "Good for you, Eli."

Elijah shrugged. "I don't care for Quidditch much, but it would be nice to have the Quidditch Cup for a chance."

All of them had to jog to keep up with Hagrid as he strode across the lawn, looking around with every other step he took. When they reached his cabin, Hermione turned automatically left towards the front door. Apparently that was not Hagrid's destination. He, instead, walked straight past his cabin into the shade of the streets on the outermost edge of the Forbidden Forest. Venus blinked in surprise when he picked up a crossbow that was leaning against a tree.

Hagrid turned when they were no longer following him. "We're goin' in here."

Charlotte raised an eyebrow. "You're taking us into the Forbidden Forest?"

"Yeah. C'mon now, quick, before we're spotted!"

Venus, Harry, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah all shared a very confused look before ducking into the cover of the trees. Hagrid was already striding away from them into the green gloom, his crossbow resting over his arm. The five of them ran to catch up with him.

"Hagrid, why are you armed?" Harry questioned.

"Jus' a precaution," Hagrid stated, shrugging his massive shoulders.

"You didn't bring your crossbow the day you showed us the Thestrals," Hermione reminded him timidly.

"Nah, well, we weren' goin' in so far then. An' anyway, tha' was before Firenze left the forest, wasn' it?"

"Why does Firenze leaving make a difference?"

"'Cause the other Centaurs are good an' riled at me, tha's why," Hagrid explained quietly while glancing around. "They used ter be — well, yeh couldn' call 'em friendly — but we got on all righ'. Kept 'emselves to 'emselves, bu' always turned up if I wanted a word. Not anymore . . ." He let out a deep sigh.

"Firenze said that they're angry because he went to work for Dumbledore?" Harry inquired, and Venus tightened her grip on his hand and pulled him to straighten up as he tripped on a protruding root — and with a slight laugh from her, he gave her a playful glare.

"Yeah, Well, angry doesn' cover it. Ruddy livid. If I hadn' stepped in, I reckon they'd've kicked Firenze ter death—"

Elijah's eyes widened in shock. "The other Centaurs attacked him?"

"Yep," Hagrid replied as he forced his way through several low-hanging branches. "He had half the herd onto him—"

"And you stopped it?" Harry continued, sounding both amazed an impressed. "By yourself?"

"'Course I did, couldn't stand by an' watch 'em kill him, could I? Lucky I was passin', really . . . an' I'd've thought Firenze mighta remembered tha' before he started sendin' me stupid warnin's!" The group of five looked at each other, utterly startled — what was that supposed to mean? Nevertheless, Hagrid went on with his story with a scowl and breathing a little more heavily than normal. "Anyway, since then the other Centaurs've bin livid with me an' the trouble is, they've got a lot of influence in the forest . . . cleverest creatures in here . . ."

"Is that why we're here, Hagrid?" Hermione asked. "The Centaurs?"

Hagrid shook his head dismissively. "Ah no, no, it's not them . . . well, o' course, they could complicate the problem, yeah . . . but yeh'll see what I mean in a bit . . ."

He left it at that incomprehensible note and fell silent. Hagrid forged ahead, taking one stride for every three of theirs, making them have trouble keeping up with him. The path was becoming more overgrown and the trees grew so closely together the farther they walked into the forest that Venus could've believed it was dusk outside. They had long passed the clearing where Hagrid had shown them the Thestrals, but Venus only started getting really uneasy when Hagrid stepped off the path and started to weave his way in and out of trees towards the dark heart of the forest.

"Um, hey, Hagrid?" Charlotte began, grumbling slightly as she pushed away a branch. "Where exactly are we going?"

"Bit further," Hagrid responded over his shoulder, which didn't really answer her question. "C'mon, Charlie . . . we need ter keep together now . . ."

It was really hard to keep up with Hagrid, since he marched easily though the branches and thickets of thorn. However, Venus, Harry, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah kept getting caught in them, so they had to stop for minutes at a time to free themselves. Venus' arms and legs stung with small cuts and scratches as well. Not to mention, they were so deep in the forest now that Hagrid was only visible as a massive dark shape ahead of them. Any sound seemed very threatening in the muffled silence. A twig breaking echoed loudly and the tiniest rustle of movement set Venus on edge. Now that she thought about it, everything was making her on edge. Surely she would have met some sort of creature by now after traveling so far in the forest . . .

"Hagrid, can we light our wands?" Elijah questioned through the silence. "It's really dark."

"Wow, really?" Charlotte voiced sarcastically. "Didn't notice."

"Lottie, shut up."

"Er . . . all righ'," Hagrid whispered. "In fact . . ."

He stopped so suddenly and turned around so fast that Venus barely had time to reach. She gasped as her body hit Hagrid's huge one and fell backwards. Arms wrapped around her waist to pull her back up. She found herself face-to-face with someone, and even though it was hard to see, she knew it was Harry.

Venus felt her face get hot. "Uh . . . thanks."

"Guess you can say you fell for me," Harry stated.

"Are you really flirting with me right now?"

"Right, sorry."

"Maybe we bes' jus' stop fer a momen', so I can . . . fill yeh in," Hagrid suggested. "Before we ge' there, like."

"Good!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Lumos!" all five of them recited.

Their five wand tips ignited. Hagrid's face swam through the gloom by the light of the five wavering beams, and it was revealed that Hagrid was looking both nervous and sad again.

"Righ," Hagrid said. "Well . . . see . . . the thing is . . ." He took a great breath. "Well, there's a good chance I'm goin' ter be gettin' the sack any day now."

Venus, Harry, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah looked at each other and then back to Hagrid.

"Hagrid, why do you say that?" Charlotte inquired. "You've already lasted this long. She would've sacked you the first day if she had the chance . . . uh, no offense."

"Umbridge reckons it was me that put tha' Niffler in her office," Hagrid revealed.

"And was it?" Harry asked.

"No, it ruddy well wasn'! On'y anythin' ter do with magical creatures an' she thinks it's got somethin' ter dowith me. Yeh know she's bin lookin' fer a chance ter get rid of me ever since I got back. I don' wan' ter go, o' course, but if it wasn' fer . . .well . . . the special circumstances I'm abou' ter explain to yeh, I'd leave righ now, before she's go' the chance ter do it in front o' thewhole school, like she did with Trelawney." They all made noises of protest, but Hagrid waved them off. "It's not the end o' the world, I'll be able ter help Dumbledore once I'm outta here, I can be useful ter the Order. An' you lot'll have Grubbly-Plank, yeh'll — yeh'll get through yer exams fine . . ." His voice trembled and broke, making Venus frown. Hermione went to pat his arm, but Hagrid pulled an enormous spotted handkerchief from the pocket of his waistcoat and mopped his eyes with it. "Don' worry abou' me. Look, I wouldn' be tellin' yer this at all if I didn' have ter. See, if I go . . . well, I can' leave withou' . . . withou' tellin' someone . . . because I'll — I'll need you five ter help me. An' Ron, if he's willin'."

"Of course we'll help you. What do you want us to do?"

Hagrid let out a great sniff and patted Harry wordlessly on the shoulder. However, it was with such force that Harry was knocked sideways into a tree. Venus pulled him back to her with their interlocked hands again.

"I knew yeh'd say yes, but I won' . . . never . . . forget . . ." Hagrid voiced into his handkerchief. "Well . . . c'mon . . . jus' a little bit further through here . . . watch yerselves, now, there's nettles . . ."

They continued on in silence for about another fifteen minutes. Hagrid then suddenly threw his right arm out to signal they should stop.

"Really easy," Hagrid instructed softly. "Very quiet, now . . ."

All of them crept forwards. However, what Venus saw instantly made her stop in her tracks and gasp in horror. It seemed to be a mound of Earth, but it wasn't. It was a curved back, and from it was coming a distant, rythmic rumbling that sounded like a pair of enormous lungs at work. All around it was heaps of trunks and boughs that formed a sort of barricade, behind which their group was standing. Everything started to make sense now.

"Star?" Harry questioned in concern, pulling her in even closer to him so that her shoulder was resting against his. "What's wrong?"

Venus said nothing. All she did was shake her head and point at the creature with her wand to illuminate it further.

"Sleepin'," Hagrid announced.

"Hagrid, who is he?" Hermione whispered, her mouth slightly open and looking utterly terrified. Her wand started to shake in her hand "Hagrid you told us, you told us none of them wanted to come!"

"Well — no — he didn' want ter come," Hagrid replied, sounding very desperate. "But I had ter bring him, Hermione, I had ter!"

"Hagrid, please don't tell me that this is what I think it is," Charlotte pleaded. "Venus, Harry, Hermione, and Ron told Eli and I about your mission . . . but Hagrid if this is — if this is one of them, why?"

He sounded close to tears now. "I knew if I jus' got him back, an' — an' taught him a few manners — I'd be able ter take him outside an' show ev'ryone he's harmless!"

"Harmless!" Hermione repeated shrilly, and Hagrid made frantic hushing noises with his hands as the enormous creature before them grunted loudly and shifted in its sleep. "He's been hurting you all thistime, hasn't he? That's why you've had all these injuries!"

"He don' know his own strength!" Hagrid insisted. "An' he's gettin' better, he's not fightin' so much anymore—"

"So this is why it took you two months to get home! Oh Hagrid, why did you bring him back if he didn't want to come, wouldn't he have been happier with his own people?"

"They were all bullyin' him, Hermione, 'cause he's so small!"

"Small?" Elijah repeated incredulously, also looking horrified. "That is small?"

"Hermione, I couldn' leave him," Hagrid protested. "See — he's my brother!"

There was a sort of shocked silence in the forest. Venus blinked. Well, she certainly wasn't expecting that.

"Hagrid, when you say brother, do you mean—?" Harry began slowly.

"Well — half-brother," Hagrid corrected. "Turns out me mother took up with another Giant when she left me dad, an' she went an' had Grawp here—"

"Grawp?"

"Yeah . . . well, tha's what it sounds like when he says his name. He don' speak a lot of English . . . I've bin tryin' ter teach him . . . anyway, she don' seem ter have liked him much more'n she liked me . . . see, with Giantesses, what counts is producin' good big kids, and he's always been a bit on the runty side fer a Giant — on'y sixteen foot—"

"Oh, yes, tiny!" Hermione cut in sarcastically. "Absolutely minuscule!"

"He was bein' kicked around by all o' them — I jus' couldn' leave him—"

"Did Madame Maxime want to bring him back?" Harry inquired.

"She — well, she could see it was right importan' ter me," Hagrid responded, twisting his enormous hands together. "Bu' — bu' she got a bit tired of him after a while, I must admit . . . so we split up on the journey home . . . she promised not ter tell anyone though . . ."

"How on Earth did you get him back without anyone noticing?"

"Well, tha's why it took so long, see. Could on'y travel by nigh an' through wild country an' stuff. 'Course, he covers the ground pretty well when he wants ter, but he kep' wantin' ter go back . . ."

Charlotte let out a breath like she was trying to ground herself. "Hagrid, this is me asking very politely, what the hell were you thinking? You should've let him go back when he wanted to, and now you're stuck with a violent Giant who doesn't even want to be here."

"Well, now — violent — tha's a bit harsh," Hagrid told her, still twisting his hands together agitatedly. "I'll admit he mighta taken a couple o' swings at me when he's bin in a bad mood, but he's gettin' better, loads better, settlin' down well . . ."

Venus then pointed to the material that was as thick as saplings that stretched from around the trunks of the largest nearby trees towards the place where Grawp was laying curled on the ground with his back to them. "Then why do you have ropes here?"

"Don't tell me you have to keep him tied up," Elijah pleaded.

Hagrid looked anxious. "Well . . . yeah . . . see — it's like I say — he doesn' really know his strength—"

Venus now understood why she hadn't encountered any other creatures in the forest on the way here.

"So what is it you want Harry, Ron, Venus, Charlie, Eli, and me to do?" Hermione asked apprehensively.

"Look after him," Hagrid croaked. "After I'm gone."

They all exchanged miserable looks. Harry had already promised Hagrid that they would do whatever Hagrid asked . . . there was really no backing out of this one.

"What — what does that involve, exactly?" Hermione questioned.

"Not food or anythin'!" Hagrid voiced. "He can get his own food, no problem. Birds an' deer an' stuff . . . no, it's company he needs. If I jus' knew someone was carryin' on tryin' ter help him a bit . . . teachin' him, yeh know . . ."

Venus glanced back to the gigantic form asleep on the ground in front of them. Grawp had his back to them, and unlike Hagrid — who just looked like an oversized human — Grawp looked strangely misshapen. His head was a lot larger in proportion to the body than a human head. It was almost perfectly round and covered with tightly curling, close-growing hair a shade of green. The rim of a single large, fleshy ear was visible on top of his head and sat directly upon the shoulders with little neck in between. The back — covered by a dirty brownish smock made of animal skins sewn roughly together — was very broad. As Grawp slept, it seemed to strain a little at the rough seams of the skins Grawp's legs were curled up under the body, and the soles of enormous, filthy, bare feet rested on top of each other on the Earthy forest floor. Venus moved even closer to Harry — if that was possible.

"You want us to teach him," Harry said in a very hollow voice.

"Yeah — even if yeh jus' talk ter him a bit," Hagrid replied hopefully. "'Cause I reckon, if he can talk ter people, he'll understand more that we all like him really, an' want him to stay . . ."

Harry looked over to their group. "Kind of makes you wish we had Norbert back, doesn't it?"

The dragon, Venus thought to herself. First year. Yep, got it.

Charlotte gave out a shaky little sigh. "The good old days."

"Yeh'll do it, then?" Hagrid inquired, who apparently didn't catch what either of them had said.

"We'll . . ." Harry trailed off. "We'll try, Hagrid . . ."

Hagrid beamed in a watery way and dabbed at his face with his handkerchief again. "I knew I could count on yeh, Harry. An' I don' wan' yeh ter put yerself out too much, like . . . I know yeh've got exams . . . if yeh could jus' nip down here in yer Invisibility Cloak maybe once a week an' have a little chat with him . . . I'll wake him up, then — introduce you—"

Venus' eyes widened. "Oh my God, no. Hagrid, that's really not necessary, you don't have to wake him—"

However, Hagrid had already stepped over the great trunk in front of them and was walking towards Grawp. When he was about ten feet away, he lifted a long, broken bough from the ground, smiled reassuringly over his shoulder at the five of them who had moved closer to each other instinctively, and then poked Grawp hard in the middle of the back with the end of the bough.

The Giant let out a roar that echoed around the silent forest. Venus jumped in surprise, and Harry sort of pushed her behind his back. Birds in the treetops overhead rose twittering from their perches and soared away. Meanwhile, the gigantic Grawp was rising from the ground. The ground shuddered as Grawp placed an enormous hand upon it to push himself onto his knees and turned his head to see what had disturbed him.

"All righ', Grawpy?" Hagrid asked in a would-be cheery voice, backing away with the long bough raised, ready to poke Grawp again if need be. "Had a nice sleep, eh?"

Venus, Harry, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah all retreated as far as they could while still keeping the Giant in their sights. Grawp knelt between two trees that he had not yet uprooted. The group of five looked up into his startlingly huge face, which resembled that of a gray full moon swimming in the gloom of the clearing. It was almost as if the features of Grawp had been carved onto a stone ball. His nose was stubby and shapeless, his mouth was lopsided and full of misshapen yellow teeth the size of half-bricks, and his small eyes were a muddy sort of greenish brown and were half gummed together with sleep. Grawp lifted up his dirty knuckles to his eyes, rubbed vigorously, and then pushed himself to his feet with surprising speed and agility without warning.

"Oh my . . ." Hermione squealed in terror from within the group.

The trees at the other ends of the ropes that were holding Grawp's wrists and ankles creaked ominously. Grawp was — like Hgrid said — about sixteen feet tall. He gazed blearily around, reached out an enormous hands, and seized a bird's nest from the upper branches of a towering pine. Grwap then turned it upside down along with a roar of apparent displeasure that there was no bird in it. Eggs fell to the ground and Hagrid threw his arms over his head to protect himself.

"Anyway, Grawpy, I've brought some friends ter meet yeh," Hagrid shouted, looking up apprehensively. "Remember, I told yeh I might? Remember, when I said I might have ter go on a little trip an' leave them ter look after yeh fer a bit? Remember that, Grawpy?"

Grawp merely gave another low roar. It was hard to tell if he was listening to Hagrid or whether he even recognized the sounds Hagrid was making as speech. He now seized the top of the pine tree and was pulling it towards him, obviously for the simple pleasure of seeing how far it would spring back when he let go.

"Now, Grawpy, don' do that!" Hagrid yelled. "Tha's how you ended up pullin' up the others—" Sure enough, the Earth around the tree's roots were beginning to crack. "I got company fer yeh! Company, see! Lookdown, yeh big buffoon, I brought yeh some friends!"

"Oh Hagrid, don't," Hermione stated, but Hagrid had already raised the bough again and gave Grawp's knee a sharp poke.

The Giant let go of the top of the pine tree — which swayed menacingly, and pine needles rained down upon Hagrid — and looked down.

Hagrid gestured over to where the group of five stood. "This is Harry, Grawp! Harry Potter! He migh' be comin' ter visit yeh if I have ter go away, understand?"

Grawp had apparently only just realized that Venus, Harry, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah were there. They all watched in great fear as he lowered his huge boulder of a head to peer blearily at them.

"An' this is Hermione, see? Her—" Hagrid hesitated before turning towards Hermione. "Would yeh mind if he called yeh Hermy, Hermione? On'y it's a difficult name fer him ter remember . . ."

"No, not at all," Hermione squeaked.

"This is Hermy, Grawp! An' she's gonna be comin' an' all! Is'n tha' nice? Eh? An' this is Venus, Charlie, and Eli — GRAWPY, NO!"

Venus gasped in horror. Grawp's hand had suddenly shot out of nowhere towards Hermione. Elijah wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her backwards behind the tree — all of them following as well — so that Grawp's fist scraped the trunk but closed on thin air. Harry had also let go of Venus' hand and had his arms around her now, holding her close. Venus' now free hand was holding Charlotte's.

"BAD BOY, GRAWPY!" Hagrid scolded, and Venus glanced over to see Hermione clinging to Elijah, shaking and whimpering. "VERY BAD BOY! YEH DON' GRAB — OUCH!"

Venus, against her better judgement, peered around the tree. Hagrid was laying on his back on the forest floor with his hand over his nose. Grawp, obviously losing interest, had straightened up once more and was again engaged in pulling the pine back as far as it would go.

"Righ'," Hagrid voiced thickly, pushing himself up with one hand pinching his bleeding nose and the other grasping onto his crossbow. "Well . . . there yeh are . . . yeh've met him an' — an' now he'll know yeh when yeh come back. Yeah . . . well . . ." He then looked up at Grawp, who was now pulling the pine back with an expression of detached pleasure on his face, the roots creaking as he ripped them out of the ground. "Well, I reckon tha's enough fer one day. We'll — er — we'll go back now, shall we?"

The group of five instantly nodded. Hagrid shouldered his crossbow again again and led the way back through the trees, still pinching his nose. None of them spoke for a while, not even when they heard the distant crash that meant Grawp had finally pulled over the pine tree. Venus, her hand tightly interlocked with Harry's again, thought for a moment. What would happen if somebody found out that Hagrid had hidden an actual Giant in the forest? And Harry had promised that he, Venus, Ron, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah would continue Hagrid's pointless attempts to civilize the Giant. How was Hagrid able to fool himself that Grawp would ever be fit to mix with humans, even with his capacity to see fanged monsters were lovably harmless?"

"Hold it," Hagrid ordered, just as the five of them were struggling to get through a patch of thick knotgrass behind him. He pulled an arrow out of the quiver over his shoulder and nocked it into the crossbow. Venus and her friends raised their wands, now hearing movement close by since they had stopped walking. "Oh blimey."

"I thought that we told you, Hagrid, that you are no longer welcome here?" a deep male voice announced.

The naked torso of a man seemed just for a moment to be floating towards them through the dappled green half-light. Then they saw that his waist was smoothly joined with a horse's chestnut body. It was another Centaur, this one having a proud, high-cheekboned face and long black hair. He was armed, like Hagrid, with arrows in a quiver and a long bow slung over his shoulders.

"How are yeh, Magorian?" Hagrid questioned warily.

The trees behind the Centaur rustled and four or five more emerged behind him.

"So," a Centaur with a black body and a beard began with a nasty inflection in his voice, turning immediately to Magorian. "We agreed, I think, what we would do if this human showed his face in the forest again?"

"This human now, am I?" Hagrid repeated testily. "Jus' fer stoppin' all of yeh committin' murder?"

"You ought not to have meddled, Hagrid," Magorian told him. "Our ways are not yours, nor are our laws. Firenze has betrayed and dishonored us."

"I dunno how yeh work that out. He's done nothin' except help Albus Dumbledore—"

"Firenze has entered into servitude to humans," a gray Centaur with a hard, deeply lined face cut in.

"Servitude!" Hagrid echoed scathingly. "He's doin' Dumbledore a favor is all—"

"He is peddling our knowledge and secrets among humans," Magorian said quietly. "There can be no return from such disgrace."

Hagrid shrugged. "If yeh say so, but personally I think yeh're makin' a big mistake—"

"As are you, human, coming back into our forest when we warned you—" the Centaur with the black body began.

"Now, you listen ter me. I'll have less of the our forest, if it's all the same ter you. It's not up ter you who comes an' goes in here—"

"No more is it up to you, Hagrid," Magorian interrupted smoothly. "I shall let you pass today because you are accompanied by your young—"

"They're not his!" the Centaur with the black body exclaimed scornfully. "Students, Magorian, from up at the school! They have probably already profited from the traitor Firenze's teachings . . ."

"Nevertheless, the slaughter of foals is a terrible crime . . . we do not touch the innocent. Today, Hagrid, you pass. Henceforth, stay away from this place. You forfeited the friendship of the Centaurs when you helped the traitor Firenze escape us."

"I won' be kept outta the fores' by a bunch of mules like you!" Hagrid yelled loudly.

"Hagrid," Charlotte interjected calmly, her eyes anxiously glancing to see the black-bodied and Gray Centaur paw at the ground. "Just . . . take us back to the school. Please."

Charlotte's words seemed to hit him. Hagrid moved forwards, although his crossbow was still raised and his eyes were still staring at Magorian threateningly.

"We know what you are keeping in the forest, Hagrid!" Magorian called after them as the Centaurs slipped out of sight. "And our tolerance is waning!"

Hagrid turned, looking like he wanted to walk straight back to Magorian again. "You'll tolerate him as long as he's here, it's as much his forest as yours!"

Meanwhile, Venus, Harry, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah were all pushing their body weights onto Hagrid's moleskin waistcoat in attempt to keep him moving forwards. With a scowl, he looked down — his expression changed to mild surprise at the sight of the five of them pushing him. He seemed not to have felt it at all.

"Calm down, you five," Hagrid said, turning back around to walk while they panted along behind him. "Ruddy old nags though, eh?"

"Hagrid, if the centaurs don't want humans in the forest, it doesn't really look as though we will be able—" Hermione replied breathlessly, skirting around the patch of nettles.

"Ah, you heard what they said," Hagrid voiced dismissively. "They wouldn't hurt foals — I mean, kids. Anyway, we can' let ourselves be pushed around by that lot . . ."

Venus let out a small sigh and looked to Hermione, whose expression was crestfallen. "You tried."

Finally, they rejoined the path. After another ten minutes, the trees began to thin and patches of clear blue sky were visible again. In the distance, the sounds of cheering and shouting were coming from the grounds of Hogwarts.

"Was that another goal?" Hagrid inquired, pausing in the shelter of the trees as the Quidditch pitch came into view. "Or d'you reckon the match is over?"

"Not sure," Elijah answered.

His tone seemed miserable. Venus looked over at him to see scratches on his face and arms with his robes ripped in several places. She then turned to Hermione and Charlotte, who both had twigs and leaves in their hair. Venus reached up, and sure enough, twigs and leaves were caught in her curly hair. She sighed again. That would be a pain to deal with, even with magic.

Hagrid squinted towards the stadium. "I reckon it's over, yeh know! Look — there's people comin' out already — if you five hurry yeh'll be able ter blend in with the crowd an' no one'll know you weren't there!"

"Good idea," Harry responded. "Well . . . see you later, then, Hagrid . . ."

"I don't believe him," Hermione declared in an unsteady voice the moment they were out of earshot of Hagrid. "I don't believe him. I really don't believe him . . ."

"Calm down."

"Calm down! A Giant! A Giant in the forest! And we're supposed to give him English lessons! Always assuming, of course, we can get past the herd of murderous Centaurs on the way in and out! I — don't — believe — him!"

Charlotte shook her head. "You know, I love Hagrid, but that dude's out of his mind." She then looked down at her dirty robes. "Ugh. I'm gonna go back down to the dungeons and take a shower for probably an hour."

Elijah nodded in agreement. "I should be getting back to Ravenclaw Tower, too — you know, to either celebrate or comfort my fellow House mates. See you guys later."

Charlotte and Elijah then left Venus, Harry, and Hermione behind to go back to their common rooms. The three Gryffindors joined a stream of rapidly talking Hufflepuffs that were heading back towards the castle.

"We haven't got do do anything yet!" Harry tried to reassure Hermione in a quiet voice. "He's not asking us to do anything unless he gets chucked out and that might not even happen—"

"Oh come off it, Harry!" Hermione said angrily, stopping dead in her tracks so that the people behind her had to swerve to avoid collision. "Of course he's going to be chucked out and to be perfectly honest, after what we've just seen, who can blame Umbridge?"

Venus froze. Who can blame Umbridge? Umbridge was wrong about literally everything at school. How was Hermione agreeing with her? Venus watched as Hermione's eyes slowly filled with tears as she stared at her.

"You didn't mean that," Harry stated quietly.

Hermione wiped her eyes angrily. "No . . . well . . . all right . . . I didn't. But why does he have to make life so difficult for himself — for us?"

"Not sure—" Venus started to say.

Weasley is our King,
Weasley is our King,
He didn't let the Quaffle in,
Weasley is our King . . .

"And I wish they'd stop singing that stupid song, haven't they gloated enough?" Hermione asked miserably.

A great tide of students was moving up from the sloping lawns of the pitch. Venus shook her head. Ron was going to be devestated.

"Oh, let's get in before we have to meet the Slytherins," Hermione offered.

Weasley can save anything,
He never leaves a single ring
That's why Gryffindors all sing:
Weasley is our King.

That's when Venus noticed the lyrics were different.

"Um, guys . . ." Venus trailed off slowly.

The song was growing louder. However, it wasn't coming from a crowd of emerald and silver Slytherins, but from a mass of red and gold. They were moving towards the castle, bearing a solitary figure upon its many shoulders.

Weasley is our King,
Weasley is our King,
He didn't let the Quaffle in,
Weasley is our King . . .

"No!" Hermione exclaimed in a hushed voice.

"YES!" Harry countered loudly, kissing Venus' cheek in celebration, making her laugh.

"HARRY!" Ron yelled, waving the silver Quidditch Cup in the air, his other hand clasped in Penelope's, who looked insanely proud. "HERMIONE! VENUS! WE DID IT! WE WON!"

The three of them beamed up at him as he passed. There was a crowd at the door of the castle and Ron's head hit the lintel hard, but nobody seemed to want to put him down. Still singing their song, the crowd squeezed itself into the entrance hall and moved out of sight. Venus, Harry, and Hermione watched them go while beaming until the last echoing verses of Weasley Is Our King faded out. Then they turned to look at each other, their smiles slipping off of their faces.

"We'll save our news till tomorrow, shall we?" Harry suggested.

"Yes, all right," Hermione agreed wearily. "I'm not in any hurry . . ."

Venus nodded. "Let's let him bask in his glory for a while."

The three of them climbed the steps together. Once they reached the front doors, they both instinctively looked back at the Forbidden Forest. Venus could've sworn she saw a small cloud of birds erupt into the air over the treetops in the distance, almost as if the tree they had been nesting on had just been pulled up by their roots.

She shook her head. What was she getting herself into?

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hey 🕺🏼 I have to take two exams later 💃🏼 do me a favor and kill me ‼️