O, CURSED CHILD. ﹙ harry potter ﹚

XLV ; how it all ever ends

            "no, yeh're not," said hagrid. " 'course yeh're not. but yeh will be."

            they said nothing.

            "knew he was goin' ter come back," said hagrid, and harry, ron, elara, and hermione looked up at him, shocked. "known it fer years, harry. 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."

            hagrid raised his bushy eyebrows at the disbelieving expressions on their faces.

            "no good sittin' worryin' abou' it," he said. "what's comin' will come, an' we'll meet it when it does. dumbledore told me wha' you did, harry."

            hagrid's chest swelled as he looked at harry.

            "yeh did as much as yer father would've done, an' i can' give yeh no higher praise than that."

            harry smiled back at him. elara noticed it was the first time he'd smiled in days. she smiled. "what's dumbledore asked you to do, hagrid?" harry asked. "he sent professor mcgonagall to ask you and madame maxime to meet him — that night."

            "got a little job fer me over the summer," said hagrid. "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?" said elara.

            hagrid flinched at the sound of the name.

            "migh' be," he said evasively. "now . . . who'd like ter come an' visit the las' skrewt with me? i was jokin' — jokin'!" he added hastily, seeing the looks on their faces.

            it was with a heavy heart that elara packed her trunk up in the dormitory on the night before her return to aunt meda's. as soon as elara step foot outside hogwarts, life would become about surviving, not living. she was dreading the leaving feast, which was usually a cause for celebra- tion, when the winner of the inter-house championship would be announced. she had avoided being in the great hall when it was full ever since she had left the hospital wing, preferring to eat when it was nearly empty to avoid the stares of her fellow students.

            when she, harry, ron, and hermione entered the hall, they saw at once that the usual decorations were missing. the great hall was normally decorated with the winning house's colors for the leaving feast. tonight, however, there were black drapes on the wall behind the teachers' table. elara knew instantly that they were there as a mark of respect to Cedric.

            the real mad-eye moody was at the staff table now, his wooden leg and his magical eye back in place. he was extremely twitchy, jumping every time someone spoke to him. elara couldn't blame him; moody's fear of attack was bound to have been increased by his ten-month imprisonment in his own trunk. professor karkaroff's chair was empty. elara wondered, as she sat down with the other gryffindors, where karkaroff was now, and whether voldemort had caught up with him.

            madame maxime was still there. she was sitting next to hagrid. they were talking quietly together. further along the table, sitting next to professor mcgonagall, was snape. elara hoped snape knew that she'd be bugging him for the sleeping potion throughout her next three years at hogwarts.

             professor dumbledore had stood up at the staff table. the great hall, which in any case had been less noisy than it usually was at the leaving feast, became very quiet.