THE CHOSEN ONE'S CHOSEN GIRL - BOOK 1 ~ HARRY POTTER

nine.

"Come on, Lupin, you didn't really believe that oaf."

"Well, he was right, wasn't he? And you shouldn't call a teacher an oaf." I stated firmly. "Excuse me."

I felt his shocked stare on me as I walked off, my eyes fixated on the hut on the edge of the forest. I knew I should hate the Malfoy boy. He wasn't a nice person, and I knew he'd change his attitude towards me if he ever found out what I was. Even I knew that the Malfoy family thought they were above everyone else because they didn't have one drop of Muggle blood in their family tree. Not to mention that they thought werewolves deserved fewer rights than house-elves. So I had to be careful. I couldn't get too close to Draco Malfoy, even if a small part of me wanted to.

"Hagrid?" I called, knocking on his front door when I reached the house, and heard his boarhound barking loudly. "Please open the door. I know you're in there."

I stopped knocking when I heard his heavy footsteps and his voice telling his dog to back off, looking up with a kind smile when the door swung open to reveal the very person I needed to see. I wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Hullo, Odessa," he grunted, trying to avoid looking at the scars. "What're yeh doin' here?"

"I thought we could have lunch together, so I brought sandwiches from the Great Hall."

He stared at me for a few seconds before he released a soft smile, mumbling about putting the kettle on, and I sighed with a grin as I gazed around his house when I entered. It was so cool! Though small, every part of it told me more and more about the person I was visiting, and I couldn't stop smiling. This just made me love Hagrid even more, and I knew that I needed to be his friend.

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MY smile hadn't left my lips since I made Hagrid realise that I didn't think what happened was his fault. It'd taken a few tries, a lot of tears from him when he told me that the school governors weren't impressed at him for starting so big, but I'd repeatedly said to him that no-one blamed him for what happened. If anyone had to blame Hagrid for what happened, it was Dad, and Dad had already written Hagrid a note to say he didn't blame him at all and went to visit him so he could reiterate this in person. Hearing the same from me helped him. I knew it did. His shoulders sagged in relief, and he allowed a big smile to grace his features. That, in return, lifted a weight from my chest. Rubeus Hagrid was a good person. Only a fool would doubt that.

I was sat with Neville, in front of Harry and Ron, as the four of us quietly talked about Dad, waiting for him to come in. The boys were asking me all about him, and I took every opportunity to boast about how amazing he was. I didn't know what Dad had planned for today's lesson, but I just knew it was going to be incredible. He was unusually excited about this lesson, and Fred and George couldn't stop talking about their lesson with him when they visited me in his living quarters a few days ago. I couldn't wait to see what he had in store for us.