a/n: long chapter ahead
-
He felt as though the memory of it was eating him from inside. He had been so sure that his parents had been wonderful people that he never had the slightest difficulty in disbelieving Snape's aspersions on his father's character. Hadn't people like Hagrid and Sirius told Harry how wonderful his father had been? (Yeah, well, look what Sirius was like himself, said a nagging voice inside Harry's head. . . . He was as bad, wasn't he?) Yes, he had once overheard Professor McGonagall saying that his father and Sirius had been troublemakers at school, but she had described them as forerunners of the Weasley twins, and Harry could not imagine Fred and George dangling someone upside down for the fun of it . . . not unless they really loathed them . . . Perhaps Malfoy, or somebody who really deserved it . . .
Harry tried to make a case for Snape having deserved what he had suffered at James's hands — but hadn't Lily asked, "What's he done to you?" And hadn't James replied, "It's more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean?"
Hadn't James started it all simply because Sirius said he was bored? Harry remembered Lupin saying back in Grimmauld Place that Dumbledore had made him prefect in the hope that he would be able to exercise some control over James and Sirius. . . . But in the Pensieve, he had sat there and let it all happen. . . .
Harry reminded himself that Lily had intervened; his mother had been decent, yet the memory of the look on her face as she had shouted at James disturbed him quite as much as anything else. She had clearly loathed James and Harry simply could not understand how they could have ended up married. Once or twice he even wondered whether James had forced her into it. . . .
For nearly five years the thought of his father had been a source of comfort, of inspiration. Whenever someone had told him he was like James he had glowed with pride inside. And now . . . now he felt cold and miserable at the thought of him.
The weather grew breezier, brighter, and warmer as the holidays passed, but Harry was stuck with the rest of the fifth and seventh years, who were all trapped inside, traipsing back and forth to the library. Harry pretended that his bad mood had no other cause but the approaching exams, and as his fellow Gryffindors were sick of studying themselves, his excuse went unchallenged.
"Harry, I'm talking to you, can you hear me?"
"Huh?" He looked around. Ginny Weasley, looking very windswept, had joined him at the library table where he had been sitting alone.
It was late on Sunday evening; Hermione had gone back to Gryffindor Tower to review Ancient Runes; Ron had Quidditch practice. "Oh hi," said Harry, pulling his books back toward him. "How come you're not at practice?"
"It's over," said Ginny. "Ron had to take Jack Sloper up to the hospital wing."
"Why?"
"Well, we're not sure, but we think he knocked himself out with his own bat." She sighed heavily. "Anyway . . . a package just arrived, it's only just got through Umbridge's new screening process. . . ."
She hoisted a box wrapped in brown paper onto the table; it had clearly been unwrapped and carelessly rewrapped, and there was a scribbled note across it in red ink, reading inspected and passed by the hogwarts high inquisitor.
"It's Easter eggs from Mum," said Ginny. "There's one for you. . . . There you go. . . ."
She handed him a handsome chocolate egg decorated with small, iced Snitches and, according to the packaging, containing a bag of Fizzing Whizbees. Harry looked at it for a moment, then, to his horror, felt a hard lump rise in his throat.
"Are you okay, Harry?" asked Ginny quietly.
"Yeah, I'm fine," said Harry gruffly. The lump in his throat was painful. He did not understand why an Easter egg should have made him feel like this.
"You seem really down lately," Ginny persisted. "You know, I'm sure if you just talked to Cho . . ."
"It's not Cho I want to talk to," said Harry brusquely.
"Who is it, then?" asked Ginny. "I . . ."
He glanced around to make quite sure that nobody was listening; Madam Pince was several shelves away, stamping out a pile of books for a frantic-looking Hannah Abbott.
"I wish I could talk to Sirius," he muttered. "But I know I can't." More to give himself something to do than because he really wanted any, Harry unwrapped his Easter egg, broke off a large bit, and put it into his mouth.
"Come on," said Harry hopelessly. "With Umbridge policing the fires and reading all our mail?"
"The thing about growing up with Fred and George," said Ginny thoughtfully, "is that you sort of start thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve."
-
It was later the next day when Fred and George approached Eurielle, Hermione, Ron, and Harry. The four were pouring over pamphlets, all headlined with some clever gimmick to peak the fifth year interests.
" 'Are you seeking a challenging career involving travel, adventure, and substantial, danger-related treasure bonuses? Then consider a position with Gringotts Wizarding Bank, who are currently recruiting CurseBreakers for thrilling opportunities abroad. . . .' " read out Ron.
Eurielle set aside a pamphlet for muggle relations and nodded, " Yeah, my Uncle's been to Brazil, Ghana, Sardinia, Beijing, and a bunch of other places,"
Ron frowned, " Says you need Arithmancy... oi! You and Hermione could do it,"
"I don't much fancy banking," said Hermione vaguely, now immersed in have you got what it takes to train security trolls?
"Hey," said a voice in Harry's ear. He looked around; Fred and George had come to join them. "Ginny's had a word with us about you," said Fred, stretching out his legs on the table in front of them and causing several booklets on careers with the Ministry of Magic to slide off onto the floor. "She says you need to talk to Sirius?"
"What?" said Hermione sharply, freezing with her hand halfway toward picking up make a bang at the department of magical accidents and catastrophes.
"Yeah . . ." said Harry, trying to sound casual, "yeah, I thought I'd like —"
"Have you lost your damn mind," said Eurielle, straightening up and looking at him as though she could not believe her eyes before sending an angry look towards a sheepish Fred, "With Umbridge groping around in the fires and frisking all the owls?"
"Well, we think we can find a way around that," said George, stretching and smiling. "It's a simple matter of causing a diversion. Now, you might have noticed that we have been rather quiet on the mayhem front during the Easter holidays?"
Hemione looked astounded, obviously taking Eurielle's side on this.
"What was the point, we asked ourselves, of disrupting leisure time?" continued Fred, looking directly at Eurielle as a child would while trying to explain to their mother why they weren't in bed when they were supposed to be, "No point at all, we answered ourselves. And of course, we'd have messed up people's studying too, which would be the very last thing we'd want to do."
"But it's business as usual from tomorrow," Fred continued briskly. "And if we're going to be causing a bit of uproar, why not do it so that Harry can have his chat with Sirius?"
"Yes, but still," said Hermione with an air of explaining something very simple to somebody very obtuse, "even if you do cause a diversion, how is Harry supposed to talk to him?"
"Umbridge's office," said Harry quietly. He had been thinking about it for a fortnight and could think of no alternative; Umbridge herself had told him that the only fire that was not being watched was her own.
"Are — you — insane?" said Hermione in a hushed voice.
Ron had lowered his leaflet on jobs in the cultivated fungus trade and was watching the conversation warily.
"I don't think so," said Harry, shrugging.
"And how are you going to get in there in the first place?"
Harry was ready for this question. "Sirius's knife," he said.
"Excuse me?"
"Christmas before last Sirius gave me a knife that'll open any lock," said Harry. "So even if she's bewitched the door so Alohomora won't work, which I bet she has —"
"What do you think about this?" Hermione demanded of Ron, and Harry was reminded irresistibly of Mrs. Weasley appealing to her husband during Harry's first dinner in Grimmauld Place.
"I dunno," said Ron, looking alarmed at being asked to give an opinion. "If Harry wants to do it, it's up to him, isn't it?"
"Spoken like a true friend and Weasley," said Fred, clapping Ron hard on the back.
"Right, then. We're thinking of doing it tomorrow, just after lessons, because it should cause maximum impact if everybody's in the corridors — Harry, we'll set it off in the east wing somewhere, draw her right away from her own office — I reckon we should be able to guarantee you, what, twenty minutes?" he said, looking at George.
"Easy," said George.
"What sort of diversion is it?" asked Ron.
"You'll see, little bro," said Fred, as he and George got up again. "At least, you will if you trot along to Gregory the Smarmy's corridor round about five o'clock tomorrow."
Eurielle stood with a huff and brushed past Fred who looked at her back with a frown. Before she could leave the hall he had caught up with her. The couple talked in hushed voices, both of their faces ridden with undisguised frustration as the argument grew more heated.
It was a few seconds before Eurielle grabbed his hand and practically dragged him out of the hall.
Ron looked to the group, " What was that about?"
George's once giddy face had grown dark and full of pity, " They've been doing that a lot, get into a petty argument and then go shag, I don't think it's very healthy."
The trio blushed, " B-But why?" asked Ron.
George sighed, " It's only a matter of time before the year comes to a close for us, Ronny,"
-
Harry reached the corridor where Umbridge's office was situated and found it deserted. Dashing behind a large suit of armor whose helmet creaked around to watch him, he pulled open his bag, seized Sirius's knife, and donned the Invisibility Cloak.
He then crept slowly and carefully back out from behind the suit of armor and along the corridor until he reached Umbridge's door. He inserted the blade of the magical knife into the crack around it and moved it gently up and down, then withdrew it. There was a tiny click, and the door swung open.
He ducked inside the office, closed the door quickly behind him, and looked around. It was empty; nothing was moving except the horrible kittens on the plates continuing to frolic on the wall above the confiscated broomsticks.
Harry pulled off his cloak and, striding over to the fireplace, found what he was looking for within seconds: a small box containing glittering Floo powder. He crouched down in front of the empty grate, his hands shaking. He had never done this before, though he thought he knew how it must work. Sticking his head into the fireplace, he took a large pinch of powder and dropped it onto the logs stacked neatly beneath him.
They exploded at once into emerald-green flames. "Number twelve, Grimmauld Place!" Harry said loudly and clearly. It was one of the most curious sensations he had ever experienced; he had traveled by Floo powder before, of course, but then it had been his entire body that had spun around and around in the flames through the network of Wizarding fireplaces that stretched over the country: This time, his knees remained firm upon the cold floor of Umbridge's office, and only his head hurtled through the emerald fire. . . . And then, abruptly as it had begun, the spinning stopped.
Feeling rather sick and as though he was wearing an exceptionally hot muffler around his head, Harry opened his eyes to find that he was looking up out of the kitchen fireplace at the long, wooden table, where a woman sat staring at a single potted plant on the table.
His godmother looked up and gasped, " Roonil!" she said with a wide smile, " Can I help you? Do you need Paddy?"
Assuming Paddy was Sirius he was about to say yes when she sent him a frown, diving into the floor near his head, " You're upset about something, is it James?"
Evelyn had hit the nail on the head much to his surprise, but he was sure if she was talking about his father she thought he was still alive, and though she had been there that day, she wouldn't remember, nor give him the answers he needed, " Er, Can you please get-,"
" Harry!" said a man from the doorway, Lupin who was looking thoroughly shocked. "What are you — what's happened, is everything all right?"
"Yeah," said Harry. "I just wondered — I mean, I just fancied a — a chat with S- er- Paddy."
"I'll call him," said Lupin, still looking perplexed. "He went upstairs to look for Kreacher, he seems to be hiding in the attic again. . . ."
And Harry saw Lupin hurry out of the kitchen. Now he was left with Evelyn who smiled at him, " I saw you in the room, y'know," she mumbled, " In the darkroom with the door,"
Harry's heart seemed to stop but before he could ask her what she meant Lupin returned with Sirius at his heels a second later.
"What is it?" said Sirius urgently, sweeping his long dark hair out of his eyes and dropping to the ground in front of the fire, so that he and Harry were on a level; Lupin knelt down too, looking very concerned. "Are you all right? Do you need help?"
Harry shook his head and his godmother scooted behind Sirius and began to play with his hair, " No," said Harry, "it's nothing like that. . . . I just wanted to talk . . . about my dad. . . ."
They exchanged a look of great surprise, but Harry did not have time to feel awkward or embarrassed; his knees were becoming sorer by the second, and he guessed that five minutes had already passed from the start of the diversion — George had only guaranteed him twenty. He therefore plunged immediately into the story of what he had seen in the Pensieve, careful to avoid certain names as he looked warily at his godmother who was now leaning against Sirius's shoulder, holding his hand up to her face studying the tattoos, paying him and the others no mind.
When he had finished, neither Sirius nor Lupin spoke for a moment. Then Lupin said quietly, "I wouldn't like you to judge your father on what you saw there, Harry. He was only fifteen —"
"I'm fifteen!" said Harry heatedly.
"Look," said Sirius placatingly, "James and Snape hated each other from the moment they set eyes on each other, it was just one of those things, you can understand that, can't you? I think James was everything Snape wanted to be — he was popular, he was good at Quidditch, good at pretty much everything. And Snape was just this little oddball who was up to his eyes in the Dark Arts and James — whatever else he may have appeared to you, Harry — always hated the Dark Arts." he said allowing Evelyn to interlace her fingers with his and rest her head on his shoulder.
"Yeah," said Harry, "but he just attacked Snape for no good reason, just because — well, just because you said you were bored," he finished with a slightly apologetic note in his voice.
"I'm not proud of it," said Sirius quickly. Lupin looked sideways at Sirius and then said, "Look, what you've got to understand is that your father and Sirius were the best in the school at whatever they did — everyone thought they were the height of cool — if they sometimes got a bit carried away —"
"If we were sometimes arrogant little berks, you mean," said Sirius.
Lupin smiled.
"He kept messing up his hair," said Harry in a pained voice. Sirius and Lupin laughed. "I'd forgotten he used to do that," said Sirius affectionately.
"Was he playing with the Snitch?" said Lupin eagerly.
"Yeah," said Harry, watching uncomprehendingly as Sirius and Lupin beamed reminiscently. "Well . . . I thought he was a bit of an idiot."
"Of course he was a bit of an idiot!" said Sirius bracingly. "We were all idiots! Well — not Moony so much," he said fairly, looking at Lupin, but Lupin shook his head
"Did I ever tell you to lay off Snape?" he said. "Did I ever have the guts to tell you I thought you were out of order?"
"Yeah, well," said Sirius, "you made us feel ashamed of ourselves sometimes. . . . That was something. . . ."
"And," said Harry doggedly, determined to say everything that was on his mind now he was here, "he kept looking over at the girls by the lake, hoping they were watching him!"
This time it was Evelyn who laughed and for a moment Harry saw the woman from twenty years ago staring back at him, " James always acted like an idiot in front of Lily," she hummed, her eyes no longer dull brown but warm russet.
She looked to him and smiled, " Don't judge him for the person he used to be, he grew up, that change should be valued. I'm not saying we should forget the past, we should always remember but let it go, or else you'll never learn and continue to wallow in it. " she said softly.
Harry looked at her with wide eyes and then to Lupin and Sirius who seemed equally, if not more so shocked. Sirius allowed a large grin slip onto his face as he wrapped an arm around Evelyn, " Very well said, love," he murmured before looking back to Harry.
"But how come she married him?" Harry asked miserably, "She hated him!"
"Nah, she didn't," said Sirius.
"She started going out with him in seventh year," said Lupin.
"Once James had deflated his head a bit," said Sirius.
"And stopped hexing people just for the fun of it," said Lupin.
"Even Snape?" said Harry.
"Well," said Lupin slowly, "Snape was a special case. I mean, he never lost an opportunity to curse James, so you couldn't really expect James to take that lying down, could you?"
"And my mum was okay with that?"
"She didn't know too much about it, to tell you the truth," said Sirius. "I mean, James didn't take Snape on dates with her and jinx him in front of her, did he?"
Sirius frowned at Harry, who was still looking unconvinced. "Look," he said, "your father was the best friend I ever had, and he was a good person. A lot of people are idiots at the age of fifteen. Like Ev said, he grew out of it."
"Yeah, okay," said Harry heavily. "I just never thought I'd feel sorry for Snape."
"Now you mention it," said Lupin, a faint crease between his eyebrows, "how did Snape react when he found you'd seen all this?"
"He told me he'd never teach me Occlumency again," said Harry indifferently, "like that's a big disappoint —"
"He WHAT?" shouted Sirius, causing Harry to jump and inhale a mouthful of ashes. Evelyn bolted up and untangled herself out of Sirius grasp.
"Are you serious, Harry?" said Lupin quickly, giving Evelyn a reassuring smile that was obviously forced. "He's stopped giving you lessons?"
"Yeah," said Harry, surprised at what he considered a great overreaction. "But it's okay, I don't care, it's a bit of a relief to tell you the —"
"I'm coming up there to have a word with Snape!" said Sirius forcefully and he actually made to stand up, but Lupin wrenched him back down again.
"If anyone's going to tell Snape it will be me!" he said firmly. "But Harry, first of all, you're to go back to Snape and tell him that on no account is he to stop giving you lessons — when Dumbledore hears —"
"I can't tell him that, he'd kill me!" said Harry, outraged. "You didn't see him when we got out of the Pensieve —"
"Harry, there is nothing so important as you learning Occlumency!" said Lupin sternly. "Do you understand me? Nothing!"
"Okay, okay," said Harry, thoroughly discomposed, not to mention annoyed. "I'll . . . I'll try and say something to him. . . . But it won't be . . ."
Evelyn gasped and the occupants in the room all turned to her, her glazed-over look was back as she stared at the floor with wide eyes, " Someone's coming, Roonil," she whispered urgently.
He fell silent. He could hear distant footsteps.
Harry's heart skipped several beats. "I'd better go!" he said hastily and he pulled his head backward out of Grimmauld Place's fire. For a moment his head seemed to be revolving on his shoulders, and then he found himself kneeling in front of Umbridge's fire with his head firmly back on, watching the emerald flames flicker and die.
-
It was just like the night when Trelawney had been sacked. Students were standing all around the walls in a great ring (some of them, Harry noticed, covered in a substance that looked very like Stinksap); teachers and ghosts were also in the crowd.
Prominent among the onlookers were members of the Inquisitorial Squad, who were all looking exceptionally pleased with themselves, and Peeves, who was bobbing overhead, gazed down upon Fred and George, who stood in the middle of the floor with the unmistakable look of two people who had just been cornered.
"So!" said Umbridge triumphantly, whom Harry realized was standing just a few stairs in front of him, once more looking down upon her prey. "So . . . you think it amusing to turn a school corridor into a swamp, do you?"
"Pretty amusing, yeah," said Fred, looking back up at her without the slightest sign of fear. Filch elbowed his way closer to Umbridge, almost crying with happiness.
"I've got the form, Headmistress," he said hoarsely, waving the piece of parchment Harry had just seen him take from her desk. "I've got the form and I've got the whips waiting. . . . Oh, let me do it now. . . ."
"Very good, Argus," she said.
"You two," she went on, gazing down at Fred and George, "are about to learn what happens to wrongdoers in my school."
"You know what?" said Fred. "I don't think we are."
He turned to his twin. "George," said Fred, "I think we've outgrown full-time education."
"Yeah, I've been feeling that way myself," said George lightly. "Time to test our talents in the real world, d'you reckon?" asked Fred.
"Definitely," said George. And before Umbridge could say a word, they raised their wands and said together, "Accio Brooms!"
Harry spotted Eurielle shoving people out of her way to the front of the crowd. Her face glowed with pride and adoration but her eyes were sad.
Harry heard a loud crash somewhere in the distance. Looking to his left he ducked just in time — Fred and George's broomsticks, one still trailing the heavy chain and iron peg with which Umbridge had fastened them to the wall, were hurtling along the corridor toward their owners. They turned left, streaked down the stairs, and stopped sharply in front of the twins, the chain clattering loudly on the flagged stone floor.
"We won't be seeing you," Fred told Professor Umbridge, taking hold of his broomstick before looking over his shoulder to Eurielle and winking.
She only shook her head and smiled.
"Yeah, don't bother to keep in touch," said George, mounting his own. Fred looked around at the assembled students, and at the silent, watchful crowd. "If anyone fancies buying a Portable Swamp, as demonstrated upstairs, come to number ninety-three, Diagon Alley — Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes," he said in a loud voice. "Our new premises!"
"Special discounts to Hogwarts students who swear they're going to use our products to get rid of this old bat," added George, pointing at Professor Umbridge.
"STOP THEM!" shrieked Umbridge, but it was too late. As the Inquisitorial Squad closed in, Fred and George kicked off from the floor, shooting fifteen feet into the air, the iron peg swinging dangerously below. Fred looked across the hall at the poltergeist bobbing on his level above the crowd.
"Give her hell from us, Peeves!"
And Peeves, whom Harry had never seen take an order from a student before, swept his belled hat from his head and sprang to a salute as Fred and George wheeled about to tumultuous applause from the students below and sped out of the open front doors into the glorious sunset.
-
Upon her boyfriend's and his brother's departure she had been questioned by Umbridge and Filch, as they had accused her of conspiring with them. She was rescued by McGonagall and Flitwick who seemed very pleased with the entire situation.
It was funny really because she knew how to get rid of the swamp that resided on the fifth floor of the east wing as she had helped the twins design it. Though she would never tell anyone how, even if she did she was sure they wouldn't even bother trying to remove it.
Countless people had come up to her, asking about to take down orders for them (which she did so happily) but then following up with asking if she could tell them the story of how it all went down, which she refused to do.
Inspired by Fred and George's example, a great number of students were now vying for the newly vacant positions of Troublemakers-in-Chief. In spite of the new door, somebody managed to slip a hairysnouted niffler into Umbridge's office, which promptly tore the place apart in its search for shiny objects, leapt on Umbridge on her reentrance, and tried to gnaw the rings off her stubby fingers. Dungbombs and Stinkpellets were dropped so frequently in the corridors that it became the new fashion for students to perform Bubble-Head Charms on themselves before leaving lessons, which ensured them a supply of fresh clean air, even though it gave them all the peculiar appearance of wearing upside-down goldfish bowls on their heads.
Filch prowled the corridors with a horsewhip ready in his hands, desperate to catch miscreants, but the problem was that there were now so many of them that he did not know which way to turn. The Inquisitorial Squad were attempting to help him, but odd things kept happening to its members. Warrington of the Slytherin Quidditch team reported to the hospital wing with a horrible skin complaint that made him look as though he had been coated in cornflakes. Pansy Parkinson, to Hermione's delight, missed all her lessons the following day, as she had sprouted antlers.
Meanwhile it became clear just how many Skiving Snackboxes Fred and George had managed to sell before leaving Hogwarts. Umbridge only had to enter her classroom for the students assembled there to faint, vomit, develop dangerous fevers, or else spout blood from both nostrils. Shrieking with rage and frustration she attempted to trace the mysterious symptoms to their source, but the students told her stubbornly they were suffering "Umbridge-itis."
After putting four successive classes in detention and failing to discover their secret she was forced to give up and allow the bleeding, swooning, sweating, and vomiting students to leave her classes in droves. But not even the users of the Snackboxes couldn't compete with that master of chaos, Peeves, who seemed to have taken Fred's parting words deeply to heart.
Cackling madly, he soared through the school, upending tables, bursting out of blackboards, and toppling statues and vases. Twice he shut Mrs. Norris inside suits of armor, from which she was rescued, yowling loudly, by the furious caretaker. He smashed lanterns and snuffed out candles, juggled burning torches over the heads of screaming students, caused neatly stacked piles of parchment to topple into fires or out of windows, flooded the second floor when he pulled off all the taps in the bathrooms, dropped a bag of tarantulas in the middle of the Great Hall during breakfast and, whenever he fancied a break, spent hours at a time floating along after Umbridge and blowing loud raspberries every time she spoke.
He would often salute Eurielle in passing, much to her amusement, it seemed by dating one of the Weasley twins earned some small token of respect from the poltergeist.
She had written to her grandmother but then tossed it in the fire, knowing well enough that Umbridge would ball up the parchment and throw it in a rubbish bin.
To cap matters, Montague had still not recovered from his sojourn in the toilet. He remained confused and disorientated and his parents were to be observed one Tuesday morning striding up the front drive, looking extremely angry.
Eurielle missed Fred terribly and she spent a lot of her time with Lee, trying to replace that dosage of laughter she missed. And it seemed Umbridge canned all his letters to her as she had got a piece of parchment one morning telling her she had received five letters from F.W but they had been looked over and considered inappropriate.
"Should we say something?" said Hermione in a worried voice, pressing her cheek against the Charms window so that she could see Mr. and Mrs. Montague marching inside.
"About what happened to him? In case it helps Madam Pomfrey cure him?"
" 'Course not, he'll recover," said Ron indifferently.
"Anyway, more trouble for Umbridge, isn't it?" said Harry in a satisfied voice. He and Ron both tapped the teacups they were supposed to be charming with their wands. Harry's spouted four very short legs that would not reach the desk and wriggled pointlessly in midair. Ron's grew four very thin spindly legs that hoisted the cup off the desk with great difficulty, trembled for a few seconds, then folded, causing the cup to crack into two.
"Reparo!" said Hermione quickly, mending Ron's cup with a wave of her wand. "That's all very well, but what if Montague's permanently injured?"
"Who cares?" said Ron irritably, while his teacup stood drunkenly again, trembling violently at the knees. "Montague shouldn't have tried to take all those points from Gryffindor, should he? If you want to worry about anyone, Hermione, worry about me!"
"You?" she said, catching her teacup as it scampered happily away across the desk on four sturdy little willow-patterned legs and replacing it in front of her. "Why should I be worried about you?"
"When Mum's next letter finally gets through Umbridge's screening process," said Ron bitterly, now holding his cup up while its frail legs tried feebly to support its weight, "I'm going to be in deep trouble. I wouldn't be surprised if she's sent a Howler again."
"But —"
"It'll be my fault Fred and George left, you wait," said Ron darkly. "She'll say I should've stopped them leaving, I should've grabbed the ends of their brooms and hung on or something. . . . Yeah, it'll be all my fault. . . ."
"Well, if she does say that it'll be very unfair, you couldn't have done anything," said Eurielle gloomily as she watched her teacup walk around the table.
Hermione sent her friend a sympathetic look before saying," I'm sure she won't, I mean, if it's really true they've got premises in Diagon Alley now, they must have been planning this for ages. . . ."
"Yeah, but that's another thing, how did they get premises?" said Ron, hitting his teacup so hard with his wand that its legs collapsed again and it lay twitching before him. "It's a bit dodgy, isn't it? They'll need loads of Galleons to afford the rent on a place in Diagon Alley, she'll want to know what they've been up to, to get their hands on that sort of gold. . . ."
"Well, yes, that occurred to me too," said Hermione, allowing her teacup to jog in neat little circles around Harry's, whose stubby little legs were still unable to touch the desktop.
"I've been wondering whether Mundungus has persuaded them to sell stolen goods or something awful. . . ."
Eurielle shook her head, " They're idiots, but they're not stupid," she said fondly as her teacup raced Hermione's
"Yeah and he hasn't," said Harry curtly.
"How do you know?" said the three together.
"Because —" Harry hesitated, but the moment to confess finally seemed to have come. There was no good to be gained in keeping silent if it meant anyone suspected that Fred and George were criminals. "Because they got the gold from me. I gave them my Triwizard winnings last June."
There was a shocked silence, then Hermione's teacup jogged right over the edge of the desk and smashed on the floor. "Oh, Harry, you didn't!" she said.
"Yes, I did," said Harry mutinously. "And I don't regret it either — I didn't need the gold, and they'll be great at a joke shop. . . ."
"But this is excellent!" said Ron, looking thrilled. "It's all your fault, Harry — Mum can't blame me at all! Can I tell her?"
"Yeah, I suppose you'd better," said Harry dully. " 'Specially if she thinks they're receiving stolen cauldrons or something. . . ."
Eurielle smiled slightly at Harry, " That was very nice of you," she said simply before pulling out a book, not speaking the rest of class.
-
It was Gryffindor against Ravenclaw and Eurielle found herself over by the Gryffindors, feeling more loyalty toward that team than her own. She received confused and sometimes ever nasty look, but she honestly couldn't care less.
Suddenly Hagrid turned up and ushered her, Hermione, and Harry out of the stands and towards the forbidden forest.
"We're goin' in here," he said, jerking his shaggy head behind him. "Into the forest?" said Hermione, perplexed.
"Yeah," said Hagrid. "C'mon now, quick, before we're spotted!"
Three looked at each other, then ducked into the cover of the trees behind Hagrid, who was already striding away from them into the green gloom, his crossbow over his arm.
"Hagrid, why are you armed?" said Harry.
"Jus' a precaution," said Hagrid, shrugging his massive shoulders.
"You didn't bring your crossbow the day you showed us the thestrals," said Hermione timidly.
"Nah, well, we weren' goin' in so far then," said Hagrid. "An' anyway, tha' was before Firenze left the forest, wasn' it?"
"Why does Firenze leaving make a difference?" asked Eurielle curiously.
" 'Cause the other centaurs are good an' riled at me, tha's why," said Hagrid quietly, glancing around. "They used ter be — well, yeh couldn' call 'em friendly — but we got on all righ'. Kept 'emselves to 'emselves, bu' always turned up if I wanted a word. Not anymore . . ." He sighed deeply.
"Firenze said that they're angry because he went to work for Dumbledore?" Harry asked, tripping on a protruding root because he was busy watching Hagrid's profile.
"Yeah," said Hagrid heavily. "Well, angry doesn' cover it. Ruddy livid. If I hadn' stepped in, I reckon they'd've kicked Firenze ter death —"
"They attacked him?" said Hermione, sounding shocked.
"Yep," said Hagrid gruffly, forcing his way through several low hanging branches. "He had half the herd onto him —"
"And you stopped it?" said Harry, amazed and impressed. "By yourself?"
" 'Course I did, couldn't stand by an' watch 'em kill him, could I?" said Hagrid. "Lucky I was passin', really . . . an' I'd've thought Firenze mighta remembered tha' before he started sendin' me stupid warnin's!" he added hotly and unexpectedly.
The teens looked at each other, startled, but Hagrid, scowling, did not elaborate. "Anyway," he said, breathing a little more heavily than usual, "since then the other centaurs've bin livid with me an' the trouble is, they've got a lot of influence in the forest. . . . Cleverest creatures in here . . ."
"Is that why we're here, Hagrid?" asked Hermione. "The centaurs?"
"Ah no," said Hagrid, shaking his head dismissively, "no, it's not them. . . . Well, o' course, they could complicate the problem, yeah. . . . But yeh'll see what I mean in a bit. . . ."
Eurielle fought the urge to groan, Oh God.
It was a great struggle to keep up with Hagrid, what with branches and thickets of thorn through which Hagrid marched as easily as though they were cobwebs, but which snagged her and the other's robes, frequently entangling them so severely that they had to stop for minutes at a time to free themselves.
Eurielle had pulled up her hair whining each time so much as a leaf touched it.
They were so deep in the forest now that sometimes all Eurielle could see of Hagrid in the gloom was a massive dark shape ahead of her. Any sound seemed threatening in the muffled silence. The breaking of a twig echoed loudly and the tiniest rustle of movement, though it might have been made by an innocent sparrow, caused her to peer through the gloom for a culprit.
"Hagrid, would it be all right if we lit our wands?" said Hermione quietly.
"Er . . . all righ'," Hagrid whispered back. "In fact . . ." He stopped suddenly and turned around; Hermione walked right into him and was knocked over backward. Harry caught her just before she hit the forest floor.
"Maybe we bes' jus' stop fer a momen', so I can . . . fill yeh in," said Hagrid. "Before we ge' there, like."
"Good!" said Hermione, as Harry set her back on her feet.
The two murmured the incantation while Eurielle simply flicked her wand, the feat going unnoticed by the two.
Their wand tips ignited. Hagrid's face swam through the gloom by the light of the three wavering beams and Harry saw that he looked nervous and sad again. "Righ," said Hagrid. "Well . . . see . . . the thing is . . ." He took a great breath. "Well, there's a good chance I'm goin' ter be gettin' the sack any day now," he said.
"But you've lasted this long —" Hermione said tentatively. "What makes you think —"
"Umbridge reckons it was me that put tha' niffler in her office."
"And was it?" said Harry.
"No, it ruddy well wasn'!" said Hagrid indignantly. "On'y anythin' ter do with magical creatures an' she thinks it's got somethin' ter do with me. Yeh know she's bin lookin' fer a chance ter get rid of me ever since I got back. I don' wan' ter go, o' course, but if it wasn' fer . . . well . . . the special circumstances I'm abou' ter explain to yeh, I'd leave righ now, before she's go' the chance ter do it in front o' the whole school, like she did with Trelawney."
Eurielle felt a wave of anger rush through her, she despised that woman, "It's not the end o' the world, I'll be able ter help Dumbledore once I'm outta here, I can be useful ter the Order. An' you lot'll have Grubbly-Plank, yeh'll — yeh'll get through yer exams fine. . . ." His voice trembled and broke.
"Don' worry abou' me," he said hastily, as Hermione made to pat his arm. He pulled his enormous spotted handkerchief from the pocket of his waistcoat and mopped his eyes with it. "Look, I wouldn' be tellin' yer this at all if I didn' have ter. See, if I go . . . well, I can' leave withou' . . . withou' tellin' someone . . . because I'll — I'll need you lot ter help me. An' Ron, if he's willin'."
Eurielle wasn't as close to Hagrid as the three were but she nodded, " Of course, what is it you need?" she asked softly.
Hagrid beamed at her, "I knew yeh'd say yes," said Hagrid into his handkerchief, "but I won' . . . never . . . forget . . . Well . . . c'mon . . . jus' a little bit further through here . . . Watch yerselves, now, there's nettles. . . ."
Fifteen minutes of walking and they had arrived,"Really easy," he said softly. "Very quiet, now . . ."
They crept forward and Eurielle saw that they were facing a large, smooth mound of earth nearly as tall as Hagrid that she thought, with a jolt of dread, was sure to be the lair of some enormous animal. Trees had been ripped up at the roots all around the mound, so that it stood on a bare patch of ground surrounded by heaps of trunks and boughs that formed a kind of fence or barricade, behind which Harry, Eurielle, Hermione, and Hagrid now stood.
"Sleepin'," breathed Hagrid.
A fucking giant.
Eurielle felt an almost manic laugh try to leave her throat, a fucking giant. She sent the two an incredulous look. Hermione looked utterly horrified while Harry just seemed confused.
" A giant?" she deadpanned to Hagrid, " You want us to look after a giant,"
"Hagrid, you told us," said Hermione, her wand now shaking in her hand, "you told us none of them wanted to come!"
"But I had ter bring him, Hermione, I had ter!" "But why?" asked Hermione, who sounded as though she wanted to cry.
"Why — what — oh, Hagrid!"
"I knew if I jus' got him back," said Hagrid, sounding close to tears himself, "an' — an' taught him a few manners — I'd be able ter take him outside an' show ev'ryone he's harmless!"
"Harmless!" said Hermione shrilly, and Hagrid made frantic hushing noises with his hands as the enormous creature before them grunted loudly and shifted in its sleep. "He's been hurting you all this time, hasn't he? That's why you've had all these injuries!"
She looked to Harry and let out a long sigh as Hermione and Hagrid went back and forth, only snorting when he revealed to them that the giant was in fact his half brother who was apparently a runt.
" Jesus Christ, I blame you, Potter," groaned Eurielle, rubbing her temple.
Harry's jaw dropped, " Me!" he said indignantly, " What have I done?"
She looked up and glared, " My life was someone normal until I started being your friend," she said gesturing wildly to the giant, " Does my nana occasionally get drunk and sing Jolene on the coffee table? Yes."
" Did Dora once bring a skunk into her flat thinking it was a stray cat? Yes,"
" But never once have I had to help a convict escape death, stun a death eater, or take care of a giant!"
Eurielle buried her face into her hands and let out a huff of laughter before turning to Hagrid, " So how are we suppose to help exactly?"
"Not food or anythin'!" said Hagrid eagerly. "He can get his own food, no problem. Birds an' deer an' stuff . . . No, it's company he needs. If I jus' knew someone was carryin' on tryin' ter help him a bit . . . teachin' him, yeh know . . .
"You want us to teach him," Harry said in a hollow voice.
"Yeah — even if yeh jus' talk ter him a bit," said Hagrid hopefully," 'Cause I reckon, if he can talk ter people, he'll understand more that we all like him really, an' want him to stay. . . ."
"Kind of makes you wish we had Norbert back, doesn't it?" he said and Hermione gave a very shaky laugh.
"Yeh'll do it, then?" said Hagrid.
"We'll . . ." said Harry, "We'll try, Hagrid. . . ."
Eurielle stared emotionless at the large mound, " Good Lord," she muttered.
"I knew I could count on yeh, Harry," Hagrid said, beaming in a very watery way and dabbing at his face with his handkerchief again. "An' I don' wan' yeh ter put yerself out too much, like. . . . I know yeh've got exams. . . . If yeh could jus' nip down here in yer Invisibility Cloak maybe once a week an' have a little chat with him . . . I'll wake him up, then — introduce you —"
"Wha — no!" said Hermione, jumping up, "Hagrid, no, don't wake him, really, we don't need —" But Hagrid had already stepped over the great trunk in front of them and was proceeding toward Grawp.
When he was around ten feet away, he lifted a long, broken bough from the ground and then poked Grawp hard in the middle of the back with the end of the bough.
The giant gave a roar that echoed around the silent forest. Birds in the treetops overhead rose twittering from their perches and soared away. In front of Harry and Hermione, meanwhile, the gigantic Grawp was rising from the ground, which shuddered as he placed an enormous hand upon it to push himself onto his knees and turned his head to see who and what had disturbed him.
"All righ', Grawpy?" said Hagrid in a would-be cheery voice, backing away with the long bough raised, ready to poke Grawp again. "Had a nice sleep, eh?"
Eurielle and the others had retreated as far back as they could have without losing sight of the giant.
He was, as Hagrid had said, at least sixteen feet tall. Gazing blearily around, he reached out a hand the size of a beach umbrella, seized a bird's nest from the upper branches of a towering pine and turned it upside down with a roar of apparent displeasure that there was no bird in it — eggs fell like grenades toward the ground and Hagrid threw his arms over his head to protect himself.
"Anyway, Grawpy," shouted Hagrid, looking up apprehensively in case of further falling eggs, "I've brought some friends ter meet yeh. Remember, I told yeh I might? Remember, when I said I might have ter go on a little trip an' leave them ter look after yeh fer a bit? Remember that, Grawpy?"
"I got company fer yeh!" Hagrid shouted. "Company, see! Look down, yeh big buffoon, I brought yeh some friends!"
Eurielle wanted to be as far from here as possible, good God she was over this.
"This," said Hagrid, hastening over to where the teens stood, "is Harry, Grawp! Harry Potter! He migh' be comin' ter visit yeh if I have ter go away, understand?"
"An' this is Hermione, see? Her —" Hagrid hesitated. Turning to Hermione he said, "Would yeh mind if he called yeh Hermy, Hermione? On'y it's a difficult name fer him ter remember. . . same for you Eurielle, will Euri do?"
Eurielle nodded as she watched the giant attempt to pull up a pine tree.
"This is Hermy and Euri, Grawp! An' they'll gonna be comin' an' all! Is'n tha' nice? Eh? three friends fer yeh ter — GRAWPY, NO!" Grawp's hand had shot out of nowhere toward Hermione — Harry seized her and pulled her backward behind the tree, so that Grawp's fist scraped the trunk but closed on thin air.
Eurielle jumped back and watched a Hagrid was hit with a pine tree limb. Grawp, apparently losing interest, had straightened up again and was again engaged in pulling back the pine as far as it would go.
There was a thick silence unitl-"Well, I reckon tha's enough fer one day," said Hagrid. "We'll — er — we'll go back now, shall we?"
The four quickly began walking away from the runt of a giant. "Hold it," said Hagrid abruptly, just as Eurielle and Hermione were struggling through a patch of thick knotgrass behind him. He pulled an arrow out of the quiver over his shoulder and fitted it into the crossbow. The three raised their wands; now that they had stopped walking, they too could hear movement close by.
" Oh blimey," said Hagrid quietly.
"I thought that we told you, Hagrid," said a deep male voice, "that you are no longer welcome here?"
A man's naked torso seemed for an instant to be floating toward them through the dappled green half-light. Then they saw that his waist joined smoothly with a horse's chestnut body.
This centaur had a proud, high-cheekboned face and long black hair. Like Hagrid, he was armed: A quiverful of arrows and a long bow were slung over his shoulders. If he hadn't been half-horse Eurielle would have wanted to hit that.
"How are yeh, Magorian?" said Hagrid warily. The trees behind the centaur rustled and four or five more emerged behind him.
"So," he one said, with a nasty inflection in his voice, before turning immediately to Magorian.
"We agreed, I think, what we would do if this human showed his face in the forest again?"
" 'This human' now, am I?" said Hagrid testily. "Jus' fer stoppin' all of yeh committin' murder?"
"You ought not to have meddled, Hagrid," said Magorian. "Our ways are not yours, nor are our laws. Firenze has betrayed and dishonored us."
"I dunno how yeh work that out," said Hagrid impatiently. "He's done nothin' except help Albus Dumbledore —"
"Firenze has entered into servitude to humans," said a gray centaur with a hard, deeply lined face.
"Servitude!" said Hagrid scathingly. "He's doin' Dumbledore a favor is all —"
"He is peddling our knowledge and secrets among humans," said Magorian quietly,"There can be no return from such disgrace."
"If yeh say so," said Hagrid, shrugging, "but personally I think yeh're makin' a big mistake —"
"As are you, human," said another, "coming back into our forest when we warned you —"
"Now, you listen ter me," said Hagrid angrily. "I'll have less of the 'our' forest, if it's all the same ter you. It's not up ter you who comes an' goes in here —"
"No more is it up to you, Hagrid," said Magorian smoothly. "I shall let you pass today because you are accompanied by your young —"
"They're not his!" interrupted the more aggressive one contemptuously. "Students, Magorian, from up at the school! They have probably already profited from the traitor Firenze's teachings. . . ."
"Nevertheless," said Magorian calmly, "the slaughter of foals is a terrible crime. . . . We do not touch the innocent. Today, Hagrid, you pass. Henceforth, stay away from this place. You forfeited the friendship of the centaurs when you helped the traitor Firenze escape us."
"I won' be kept outta the fores' by a bunch of mules like you!" said Hagrid loudly.
"Hagrid," said Hermione in a high-pitched and terrified voice, as both Bane and the gray centaur pawed at the ground, "let's go, please lets go!"
Eurielle wanted to slam her head against a tree, she should have expected something as insane as this when she stepped into this godforsaken place.
"I don't believe him," said Hermione in a very unsteady voice, the moment they were out of earshot of Hagrid. "I don't believe him. I really don't believe him. . . ."
"Calm down," said Harry.
"Calm down!" she said feverishly. "A giant! A giant in the forest! And we're supposed to give him English lessons! Always assuming, of course, we can get past the herd of murderous centaurs on the way in and out! I — don't — believe — him!"
Eurielle followed beside the two, " Yeah . . . you two have fun with that-,"
" Oh no!" said Hermione now rounding on Eurielle, " You're the one who signed us up when you said 'of course' !"
Eurielle scoffed, " How was I supposed to know we'd be taking care of a damn giant!"
"He's not asking us to do anything unless he gets chucked out and that might not even happen —" said Harry.
"Oh come off it, Harry!" said Hermione angrily, stopping dead in her tracks so that the people behind her had to swerve to avoid her. "Of course he's going to be chucked out and to be perfectly honest, after what we've just seen, who can blame Umbridge?"
There was a pause in which Harry glared at her and Eurielle gave her a surprised look, and her eyes filled slowly with tears.
"You didn't mean that," said Harry quietly. "No . . . well . . . all right . . . I didn't," she said, wiping her eyes angrily. "But why does he have to make life so difficult for himself — for us?"
"I dunno —"
Weasley is our King, Weasley is our King, He didn't let the Quaffle in, Weasley is our King . . .
"And I wish they'd stop singing that stupid song," said Hermione miserably, "haven't they gloated enough?"
A great tide of students was moving up the sloping lawns from the pitch. "Oh, let's get in before we have to meet the Slytherins," said Hermione.
Weasley can save anything, He never leaves a single ring That's why Gryffindors all sing: Weasley is our King.
Eurielle grabbed the back of the Gryffindor's robes, " Listen," she said with a wide grin.
The song was growing louder, but it was issuing not from a crowd of green-and-silver-clad Slytherins, but from a mass of red and gold moving slowly toward the castle, which was bearing a solitary figure upon its many shoulders. . . .
Weasley is our King, Weasley is our King, He didn't let the Quaffle in, Weasley is our King . .
"No!" said Hermione in a hushed voice. "YES!" said Harry loudly. "HARRY! HERMIONE! BLACK!" yelled Ron, waving the silver Quidditch Cup in the air and looking quite beside himself. "WE DID IT! WE WON!"
They beamed up at him as he passed; there was a scrum at the door of the castle and Ron's head got rather badly bumped on the lintel, but nobody seemed to want to put him down. Still singing, the crowd squeezed itself into the entrance hall and out of sight. Harry and Hermione watched them go, beaming, until the last echoing strains of "Weasley Is Our King" died away.
Then they turned to each other, their smiles fading, " Well that leaves the whole giant thing till tomorrow," said Eurielle.
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a/n: kinda reminded me of evelyn, not mine.