Percy Jackson and the Triwizard Tournament

152) Hagrid: You're a Unit of Power, Harry Harry: I'm a Watt?

I had been expecting nightmares, but I slept like a rock. Maybe I was in shock, or maybe I was just that exhausted, but I'm not going to complain.

First thing I did when I woke up was IM Chiron. I had intended to do that last night, but had been a little preoccupied with delivering trashy news.

Dumbledore asked that me and Harry not be bothered about the incident that morning. Classes went on as normal. It was surreal. The only difference was the looks I was receiving from the students, and the complete lack of looks from the teachers, save for Snape.

About halfway during first hour, one of my peers, a Gryffindor girl, asked what happened. Everything went silent.

"Professor Dumbledore wishes to further discuss the incident to decide the best pursuit of action," McGonagall said stiffly.

"What's there to discuss?" A Ravenclaw boy asked.

"The incident," I rolled my eyes. "She just said that, dummy."

"But what happened to Cedric?" Hannah asked, her face red and puffy from crying. Most of the other Hufflepuff's had decided against participating in class today, but she, like me, had known that the silence would make it worse.

I frowned, "I can't tell you that right now, but I can promise you, you will find out."

"Why can't you tell us?" Hannah looked as if she were about to start bawling.

"The circumstances in which Cedric died aren't pleasant ones," I said. "It wasn't an accident, and it isn't just a black and white killer. Dumbledore wishes to examine all of the evidence and put important pieces into play before he brings in the rest of the school. But I can tell you it was quick and painless."

The class had been silent before, but now I felt as if I'd gone deaf. Not even a whisper of air broke the room. It seemed as if my words had stopped their breathing.

Neville dropped a pencil, looked up at me apologetically, "Sorry."

"For what?" I raised an eyebrow. "It was too quiet anyways. Cedric wouldn't want some unbecoming silence at the mention of his death."

The noise resumed after that. I still got weird looks from my peers, but none seemed to find the need to bother me. They all trusted Dumbledore's judgement.

***

Once Harry had come back the next day, we went down to Hagrid's during our free DADA period. It was nice, having your teacher turn out to be a homicidal maniac working for the more homicidal maniac that wanted your friend and you so that they could be resurrected from the near dead state they've been enduring.

Fang bounded out the door as soon as we approached it, barking madly as he jumped and tried to lick our ears.

"Who's that?" Hagrid called. He came to the door and a grin flashed across his face. "Harry! Percy!" He strode out to meet us and pulled us into one armed hugs. "Good ter see yeh, mates. Good ter see yeh."

Two bucket sized mugs were sitting on the table when we walked in, and I raised an amused eyebrow, understanding immediately who that other mug belonged to.

"Bin havin' a cup with Olympe," Hagrid explained. "She's jus' left."

"Who?" Ron asked.

"Madame Maxime, o' course!" Hagrid said.

"You two made up, have you?" Ron smiled.

"Dunno what yeh're talkin' about," Hagrid said breezily, grabbing more mugs for us. When he'd made tea and passed around cookies, he leaned back in his chair and studied Harry and me closely. "You all righ'?"

"Feeling groovy like a drive-in movie," I nodded.

"Yeah," Harry said, sending me an amused look.

"No, yeh're not," Hagrid said knowingly, the smiles slipping off of our faces. "'Course yeh're not. But yeh will be." Harry and I didn't — couldn't — say anything. "Knew he was goin' ter come back." Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked up at Hagrid in shock, but I wasn't that surprised. Cedric had known he was going to die. I think I had, too. But we didn't know how, or when, or why. The same went for Voldemort's rebirth. "Known it fer years, boys. Knew he was out there, bidin' his time. It had ter happen. Well, now it has, an' we'll jus' have ter get on with it. We'll fight. Migh' be able ter stop him before he gets a good hold. That's Dumbledore's plan, anyway. Great man, Dumbledore. 'S long as we've got him, I'm not too worried." I frowned. Dumbledore wouldn't always be here. Hagrid raised an eyebrow at my look, and the disbelief on my friends' faces. "No good sittin' worryin' abou' it. What's comin' will come, an' we'll meet it when it does. Dumbledore told me wha' you did, Harry." Harry beamed, and I felt shame wash over me. I hadn't done nothing wrong, but I hadn't done anything brave. I'd frozen up and stood there as Voldemort was reborn. Harry fought him, bravely, and I stood and cheered him on when I should've been working out a plan that didn't consist of escape escape escape. "Yeh did as much as yer father would've done, an' I can' give yeh no higher praise than that.

Harry smiled at Hagrid. It was the first real smile I'd seen from him in days, "What's Dumbledore asked you to do, Hagrid? After Percy left, he sent McGonagall to ask you and Madame Maxime to meet him — that night."

"Got a little job fer me over the summer," Hagrid said proudly. "Secret, though. I'm not s'pposed ter talk abou' it, no, not even ter you lot. Olympe — Madame Maxime ter you — might be comin' with me. I think she will. Think I got her persuaded."

"Is it to do with Voldemort?" I asked.

Hagrid flinched at his name, "Migh' be. Now... who'd like to visit the las' skrewt with me? I was jokin' — jokin'!"

***

Hagrid pulled me aside as we were about to leave.

"I've got a li'l somethin' fer yeh, Percy," he said, walking me around the back of his hut. "Harry's got Hedwig to keep him company this summer, but yeh've got nothin'. I figured you could use a furry friend." We stopped by the large boxes that had been carrying the nifflers. He opened one, revealing several nifflers happily playing with golden coins and trinkets. There was one niffler sitting in the corner, somehow looking extremely bored. Hagrid picked said niffler up and pushed it into my arms. "Tha' one had taken a likin' to yeh, hadn' it? Well, yeh can keep it."

I stared down at Nugget in amazement, just as he stared up at me with the same look in his eyes.

"Hagrid," I whispered. I was going to say that I couldn't possibly take this beautiful creature, or maybe say that I would give him the world for it, but I didn't say any of that. "Thank you."

"No problem, Percy," Hagrid smiled widely, watching as I hugged Nugget. "Now, yeh're Gonna be late for class if yeh don' get a move on."

I nodded, looked up at Hagrid, and repeated, "Thank you."

I'm mad at myself. I forgot Nugget existed. To be fair, I was a bit preoccupied, but he's not featured in any of the 11 chapters I've written for the second book. Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill him like I did the last pet. I'll just write him sniffing something in a corner, and he'll probably be more prominent in this next chapter I'm working on. I'm freaking tired. I just copied down all my answers for freaking Econ to give to my sister because I'm too nice to tell her to do it herself. I suck. Maybe I'll sell the answers to other people. Idk. Oh, also, this book is almost finished. Just one more chapter and the epilogue. Hope it didn't come on too fast.

Anyway, I hope you guys have had a bubbly Sunday, and I'll see you on Tuesday CT. Love ya!