Auror's Son | Book 4 Harry Potter x OC

Chapter 16: Mermaid's Lament

"Yeh-yeh're not half-giant!" Hagrid said croakily.

"Hagrid, look what I've got for relatives!" Harry said furiously, Look at the Dursley's!"

"An excellent point." Dumbledore said. "My own brother, Aberforth, was prosecuted for practicing inappropriate charms on a goat. It was all over the papers, but did Aberforth hide? No, he did not! He held his head high and went about his business as usual! Of course, I'm not entirely sure he can read, so that may not have been bravery..."

"Come back and teach, Hagrid." Hermione said. "Please come back, we really miss you."

"I refuse to accept your resignation, Hagrid." Dumbledore said, leaving. "I expect you back at work on Monday. You will join me for breakfast at eight-thirty in the Great Hall. No excuses. Good evening to you all."

Dumbledore left the cabin, and Hagrid began to sob into his hands. Hermione kept patting his arm, and Hagrid looked up and said, "Great man, Dumbledore...great man..."

"Yeah, he is." Ron said. "Can I have one of these cakes, Hagrid?"

"Help yourself." Hagrid said, wiping his eyes. "Ar, he's right, of course-you're all right...I've been stupid...my old dad would've been ashamed of the way I've been behaving. Never shown you a picture of my old dad, Have I? Here..."

Hagrid got up, went over to his dresser, opened a drawer, and pulled out a picture of his dad, who sat on the top of Hagrid's shoulder. "That was taken just after I got into Hogwarts." Hagrid said. "Dad was dead chuffed...thought I might not be a wizard, see, cause of me mum...well, anyway. 'Course, I never was great shakes at magic, really...but at least he never saw me expelled. Died, see, in me second year.

"Dumbledore was the one who stuck up for me after Dad went. Got me the gamekeeper job...trusts people, he does. Gives them second chances...that's what sets him apart from other Heads, see. He'll accept anyone at Hogwarts, as long as they've got the talent. Knows people can turn out okay even if their families weren't...well...all that respectable."

That's what worries me. Raven thought, thinking about how easily Dumbledore let both Snape and Karkaroff into Hogwarts.

"But some don't understand that." Hagrid continued. "There's some who'd always hold it against you...there's some who'd even pretend they just had big bones rather than stand up and say-I am what I am, and I'm not ashamed. 'Never be ashamed,' my old dad used to say. 'there's some who'll hold it against you, but they're not worth bothering with.' And he was right. I've been an idiot. I'm not bothering with her no more, I promise you that. Big bones...I'll give her big bones."

Only Harry, Ron, and Hermione knew what he was talking about. Raven and Daphne were thinking he meant Rita Skeeter, but he was talking about Madam Maxime. Harry and Ron had overheard him and her talk the night of the Yule Ball and told Hermione the next morning in the Gryffindor common room.

"You now what, Harry, Raven." Hagrid said, looking at them. "I'd love for you both to win, or at least one of you. Really show them all. You don't have to be of age and know everything, you both can beat those that are older than you. How are you two doing with the egg?"

"Great." Harry said. "Really great."

"Yep, we've almost cracked it." Raven said, and Hagrid's face broke into a wide smile.

"I knew you two could do it!" Hagrid beamed. "You'll show them."

"Please tell me you have a way for us to breath underwater, Raven?" Harry asked, as the five of them made their way back up to the castle.

"Possibly." Raven replied. "But I need to understand it first before I can help you get it down as well, so try and see if you can manage to find another way for the moment."