O, CURSED CHILD. ﹙ harry potter ﹚

LVII ; hagrid's tale

            "what happened to you?" harry demanded, while fang danced around them all, trying to lick their faces.

            elara avoided eye contact with harry, ron, or hermione.

            "told yeh, nuthin'," said hagrid firmly. "want a cuppa?"

            "come off it," said ron, "you're in a right state!"

            "i'm tellin' yeh, i'm fine," said hagrid, straightening up and turning to beam at them all, but wincing. "blimey, it's good ter see you three again — had good summers, did yeh?"

            "hagrid, you've been attacked!" said ron.

            "fer the las' time, it's nuthin'!" said hagrid firmly.

            "would you say it was nothing if one of us turned up with a pound of mince instead of a face?" ron demanded.

            "you really should go and see madam pomfrey, hagrid," said elara knowingly. "those cuts look nasty."

            "i'm dealin' with it, all righ'?" said hagrid repressively.

            he walked across to the enormous wooden table that stood in the middle of his cabin and twitched aside a tea towel that had been lying on it. underneath was a raw, bloody, green-tinged steak slightly larger than the average car tire.

            "you're not going to eat that, are you, hagrid?" said ron, leaning in for a closer look. "it looks poisonous."

            "it's s'posed ter look like that, it's dragon meat," hagrid said. "an' i didn' get it ter eat."

            he picked up the steak and slapped it over the left side of his face. greenish blood trickled down into his beard as he gave a soft moan of satisfaction.

            "tha's better. it helps with the stingin', yeh know."

            "so are you going to tell us what's happened to you?" harry asked. 

            "can', harry. top secret. more'n me job's worth ter tell yeh that." 

            "did the giants beat you up, Hagrid?" asked hermione quietly. 

            hagrid's fingers slipped on the dragon steak, and it slid squelchily onto his chest.

            "giants?" said hagrid, catching the steak before it reached his belt and slapping it back over his face. "who said anythin' abou' giants? who yeh bin talkin' to? who's told yeh what i've — who's said i've bin — eh?"

            "i might have hinted at it," said elara apologetically.

            "oh, yeh did, did yeh?" said hagrid, fixing her sternly with the eye that was not hidden by the steak.

            "to be fair, we were being really annoying about it," said ron. harry nodded.

            hagrid glared at them, then snorted, threw the steak onto the table again and strode back to the kettle, which was now whistling.

            "never known kids like you four fer knowin' more'n yeh oughta," he muttered, splashing boiling water into three of his bucket-shaped mugs. "an' i'm not complimentin' yeh, neither. nosy, some'd call it. interferin'."

            but his beard twitched.

            "so you have been to look for giants?" said harry, grinning as he sat down at the table.