"Sorry, Aunt Petunia."

Chapter 19: New Year Resolutions

Ever since his third year - and consequent expulsion - Hagrid preferred to spend New Year’s Eve at the Hog’s Head.

Even when he hadn’t been allowed to drink, it had always been a good place to contemplate how his life had gone wrong, while somehow ending up exactly right.

He’d never finished his education - the education he wouldn’t have gotten had his father not lied, and what food for thought that was - and yet he’d ended up a groundskeeper at Hogwarts.

The most prestigious school in Britain - on the account of it being the only one - with some of the most exquisite magical creatures in the entire world. They had the only remaining herds of Unicorns and Thestrals in Europe, the Asian Acromantulas he raised himself could only be found in three other countries, and their Giant Squid was truly one of a kind.

Hagrid couldn’t have found a more ideal place to dwell if he’d tried.

It meant he did owe Dumbledore, but still. He’d paid off most of that debt in the First Wizarding War, anyway, as far as he was concerned.

Dumbledore hadn’t wasted any time in having him talk with the other giants who rather disliked him for the opposite reason that the wizarding world did, as they were the ones who had been courted by Riddle, to be exact; and what a prick that one had grown up to be.

Not that he hadn’t been a prick from the start - he had been two years older than Hagrid himself, technically a prefect, but god forbid he actually helped anyone. He had been good at looking perfect for the teachers and other important students, but that was about all he’d excelled at.

Except for schoolwork, of course, the arse wouldn’t get less than an O grade on anything. Hagrid, along with half the school, had suspected that he’d been cheating, at least in some subjects, but no one had ever managed to prove it.

And now he was dead, and had been for a decade already. Only, Dumbledore never acted like he was. And now, with poor Harry in his first year, Dumbledore was starting to play dangerous games, and Hagrid didn't like that one bit.

The kids hadn't gotten hurt by Fluffy - he would've been ordered to do something unpleasant with the Cerberus otherwise. Last he’d heard they’d been given a few weeks of detentions, so they couldn't have messed up too badly.

Still, the fact that the Cerberus - and the Devil's Snare, and the Troll, and whatever else Dumbledore had come up with - was inside the school in the first place was worrying.

It wasn't a healthy habitat! Well, and children could get hurt, of course, but the doors were meant to be locked.

Why they hadn't been when Harry and his merry bunch had stumbled through was a mystery with "A.P.W.B.D." etched onto it.

Hagrid raised his mug of mead, taking a long sip. He was instantly glad of it too, as the table then wobbled violently, knocked into by a clearly already-drunk stranger.

Their hood was up and they had extra-deep shadows that had been applied with magic on their face, to make certain that no one could recognize them. There was no surer way to spot a semi-competent newbie to the less sightly activities.

"Wanna play cards?" the stranger slurred, taking a big gulp of whatever was in their cup.

With how they panted afterwards, Hagrid was willing to bet that it was Firewhiskey.

"Sure." He shrugged. This person would likely fall over any minute now, no reason not to indulge them.

Taking a tarot deck out of their robes, the stranger managed to spill half of them on the floor. They bent over to gather them up, spilling half of their drink all over themself, but it didn't seem to matter.