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SEVENTEEN:
HAGRID'S TALE
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Over the last few weeks many unfortunate events had occurred. The first being that the day after they established Dumbledore's army, a notice went up declaring that all societies could not take place without Umbridge's permission. The day after they found out Cho's friend (Mariteete? Marita? She couldn't remember) had rated on them.
"Says a lot about Cho's choice in friends, huh Harry?"
Harry rolled his eyes, "She doesn't choose her friends."
"Uh yeah she does."
About a week before the first defence meeting a letter from Sirius was sent to Harry, requesting to meet at the fireplace in the middle of the night. He mentioned briefly he had not been getting any of the letters that had sent to him.
Sirius' head came into the fire, plastering. "Hi my love."
Aurora replicated his grin. "Hi Sirius."
He sent her a smile, wide and contagious. "We'll talk privately once this lot is gone to bed-"
"HI!" chorused Harry, Ron, and Hermione, all three of them not giving the father and daughter a moment to catch up.
"Hi. How're things?"
"Not that good." Harry answered, "The Ministry's forced through another decree, which means we're not allowed to have Quidditch teams -"
"- or secret Defense Against the Dark Arts groups?"
Aurora blinked. "How do you know about that?"
"Oh, love, who do you think you got your mischievous ways off of?" Sirius grinned, he seemed happy, maybe even proud. "You want to choose your meeting places more carefully. The Hog's Head, I ask you?"
"Well, it was better than the Three Broomsticks! That's always packed with people -"
"-which means you'd have been harder to overhear," Sirius finished. "You've got a lot to learn, Hermione."
"Who overheard us?" Harry demanded.
"Mundungus, of course," said Sirius, and when they all looked puzzled he laughed. "He was the witch under the veil."
"That was Mundungus?" Harry repeated. "What was he doing in the Hog's Head?"
"What do you think he was doing?" Sirius retorted. "Keeping an eye on you, of course."
"I'm still being followed?"
"Yeah, you are, and just as well, isn't it? If the first thing you're going to do on your weekend off is organize an illegal defence group...."
Sirius looked absolutely delighted.
"Why was Dung hiding from us?" Ron asks. "We'd've liked to've seen him."
"He was banned from the Hog's Head twenty years ago, and that barman's got a long memory. We lost Moody's spare Invisibility Cloak when Sturgis was arrested, so Dung's been dressing as a witch a lot lately. Anyway, First of all, Ron - I've sworn to pass on a message from your mother."
Oh yikes.
"She says on no account whatsoever are you to take part in an illegal secret Defense Against the Dark Arts group. She says you'll be expelled for sure and your future will be ruined. She says there will be plenty of time to learn how to defend yourself later and that you are too young to be worrying about that right now. She also" - Sirius's eyes turned to the other two. "advises Harry and Hermione not to proceed with the group."
Ron rolled his eyes.
"So it's fallen to me to be the messenger and make sure you tell her I passed it all on, because I don't think she trusts me to."
"What do you think about it then?" Aurora asks, causing him to turn towards her. "You think it's a bad idea?"
"Me? Certainly not!" Sirius replied, looking surprised that she had even said that. "I think it's an excellent idea! I'm also very proud you've decided to be apart of it."
Could he be any cooler? She thinks, smiling softly.
"You do?" Harry repeated.
"Of course I do. D'you think your father and I would've lain down and taken orders from an old hag like Umbridge?" he glances to her. Your mum would have thrown a fit."
Aurora smiles. She wished her mum was here.
"But last term all you did was tell me to be careful and not take risks -"
"Last year all the evidence was that someone inside Hogwarts was trying to kill you, Harry!" Sirius told him slowly as if talking to a child. "This year we know that there's someone outside Hogwarts who'd like to kill us all, so I think learning to defend yourselves properly is a very good idea."
"And if we do get expelled?" Hermione interrupted.
"Hermione, this whole thing was your idea!"
"I know it was. . . . I just wondered what Sirius thought."
Her father nods in reply. "Well, better expelled and able to defend yourselves than sitting safely in school without a clue."
"Hear, hear-"
"Exactly-"
"Hear-"
"So," Sirius grinned, "how are you organizing this group? Where are you meeting?"
"I came up with the Chamber of Secrets but apparently that's a bad idea." Aurora explained.
Harry smiles at her. "I didn't think it was bad. Neither did Ron."
She smiles back at him.
"How about the Shrieking Shack?" suggested Sirius.
"Hey, that's an idea!" Ron grins excitedly, but Hermione made a skeptical noise and all four of them looked at her, Sirius's head turning in the flames.
"Well, Sirius, it's just that there were only four of you meeting in the Shrieking Shack when you were at school, and all of you could transform into animals and I suppose you could all have squeezed under a single Invisibility Cloak if you'd wanted to. But there are thirty-one of us and none of us is an Animagus, so we wouldn't need so much an Invisibility Cloak as an Invisibility Marquee -"
"Fair point," said Sirius, looking slightly crestfallen.
"Well, I'm sure you'll come up with somewhere. If not we'll talk more about it at Christmas-"
"Speaking of Christmas, I have a question." Aurora pipes up. "I...I was wondering if I could bring a friend to Grimmauld. A very close friend, you see."
"Does this friend know about me?"
"Well no, not yet."
"Well, Is this friend a girl?" Sirius asks.
"Why does that matter?"
"Because if always does." he mutters, her then looks up at her. "How long have you known him?"
She sensed something weird in his tone. "A few weeks-"
"Do you realise how dangerous that is? You've only known him for a few weeks, and you want to spent Christmas with him? How much are you with him? You don't know him. Not to mention the fact he could be working for Umbridge-"
"Beckham is not working for Umbridge." she cut him off.
"And you can say with your full heart he isn't?"
She didn't hesitate. "I can."
He sighed. "I just don't want to see you get hurt."
"I'm not the one who usually get hurts." she replied. "He isn't working for Beckham. He's Hagrid's gatekeeper. He's a really good person, compared to some of the people I've been with."
Sirius frowns at this. "Are you happy? Are you in love with him?"
"Well, I no." the words slipped out of her mouth so quickly it surprised everyone, especially herself. Her eyes widened. "I mean - yes - I...I well I don't know. Love is a big word."
A silence took over, and it had been because of her reaction to the question.
She quickly stood up. "I forgot I was suppose to meet with Luke. I should get going. I'll try and see you again soon Sirius."
Sirius mouth opened but she had already gone before he could say anything.
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Hagrid was back.
Aurora alongside the other three rushed down to his Hut. It was Beckham who told them - he sent her a quick owl this morning saying he had returned, and sent Beckham to Hogsmeade to get a few bags of fertiliser.
After the question Sirius asked her it caused her to wonder about her relationship with Beckham.
Harry knocked on the door, so many times that she lost count. "Hagrid it's us!"
"Shoulda known!" they heard him say back. It was silent for a few more seconds before the door opened. Hagrid appeared, grinning broadly at them all. "Well, get in, get in!"
Before a word could be exchanged, Aurora flung herself into his arms. "Hagrid! We thought you weren't coming back! What happened? Who did this?" she asks, whilst he hugged her back.
She was referring to the fact his face was covered in bruises. "It's nuthin', it's nuthin' it's good to see you too!"
"It's not nothing." Harry told him. "What happened?"
"Told yeh, nuthin'," Hagrid replied, firmly. "Want a cuppa?"
"No milk or sugar." Aurora mentions as he pours.
"Blimey, it's good ter see you four again - had good summers, did yeh? Heard you took a liken to my gate keeper Beckham?"
Aurora grins. "He's quite a nice chap."
"Cares a great deal about you. It's a shame that I have to-"
"Hagrid, you've been attacked!" Ron remarks. "We can talk about Aurora's love life any time. What happened to you?"
"Fer the las' time, it's nuthin'!"
"Would you say it was nothing if one of us turned up with a pound of mince instead of a face?" Ron demanded.
"You ought to go and see Madam Pomfrey, Hagrid. Some of those cuts look nasty."
Aurora agreed with Hermione, but Hagrid proceeded to go on about how it was nothing.
Harry grins. "So you have been to look for giants?"
"Yeah." he grunted, "I have."
"And you found them?" Harry questions.
"Well, they're not that difficult ter find, ter be honest."
"Where are they?" Ron asks.
"Mountains." Hagrid answers, unhelpfully.
Her brows furrow. "So why don't the Muggles- ?"
"They do," he replies darkly. "O'ny their deaths are always put down ter mountaineerin' accidents, aren' they?"
"Come on, Hagrid, tell us what you've been up to!" said Ron. "Tell us about being attacked by the giants and Harry can tell you about being attacked by the dementors -"
"Whadda yeh mean, attacked by dementors?"
"Have you not heard? Or read the newspaper?" Aurora asked him, "His face has been on the Prophet for months now. Luckily they used a really nice photo-"
"I don' know anything that's been happenin' since I left!" Hagrid cut her off. "I was on a secret mission, wasn' I, didn' wan' owls followin' me all over the place. Yeh're not serious?"
"Yeah, I am," Harry replied, dully. "They turned up in Little Whinging and attacked my cousin and me, and then the Ministry of Magic expelled me -"
Hagrid blinked. "What?"
"-and I had to go to a hearing and everything, but tell us about the giants first."
"You were expelled?"
"Tell us about your summer and I'll tell you about mine."
Hagrid didn't appear impressed by Harry's daring expression, but sighed and started to explain where he'd been all these months.
Hagrid started to explain how Dumbledore sent him (with the company of Lady Maxine) to find the Giants, he knew where they were. He said it took him almost a month to get there, which led to her question as to why they didn't just take a Portkey. He further explained that since the Ministry was watching anyone who had ties to Dumbledore, they couldn't risk it.
Aurora couldn't believe it - they had found about seventy or eighty giants.
His story about how they befriended and formed an alliance with the giants, was cut off when a loud knock came on the door.
Ron got up, and glances through the keyhole.
"It's her!" Ron whispered, sprinting away from the door. It didn't take her even a moment to have to think about who he meant.
"Get under here!"
Harry quickly pulled out his Invisibility Cloak, and threw it over Hermione and herself whilst Ron almost fell across the table in a hurry. The four of them huddled underneath the cloak. They slowly walked back into the corner of the room.
"Evanesco." Aurora pointed her wand towards the four cups on the table, which disappeared.
"Smart." Hermione whispers.
Hagrid opened the door, and was greeted for the first time by Umbridge.
Aurora could only imagine his horrified expression.
"So," she began loudly, as though speaking to somebody who couldn't hear. "You're Hagrid, are you?"
"Er - I don' want ter be rude," Hagrid's eyes widen when she entered his home, looking around as if it was a swamp. "but who the ruddy hell are you?"
"My name is Dolores Umbridge."
"Dolores Umbridge?" Hagrid repeated. "I thought you were one o' them Ministry - don' you work with Fudge?"
"I was Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, yes." she says proudly. What was there to be proud of? "I am now the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher -"
"Tha's brave of yeh, there's not many'd take tha' job anymore -"
"- and Hogwarts High Inquisitor."
"Wha's that?" Hagrid asked, frowning.
"I heard voices." Umbridge rose an eyebrow in question.
"I was talkin' ter Fang." Hagrid lied.
"And was he talking back to you?"
"Well, in a manner o' speakin'." Hagrid sat up, and Fangs continued to growl at the woman. "I sometimes say Fang's near enough human -"
"There are three sets of footprints in the snow leading from the castle doors to your cabin."
"Well, I on'y jus' got back. Maybe someone came ter call earlier an' I missed em.
"There are no footsteps leading away from your cabin door."
"Well I . . . I don' know why that'd be. . . ." Hagrid says nervously. "Erm . . ."
She started to walk around the room and almost hit Harry with how closely she walked to him. The four of them stood pressed closely against the wall. She lifted up some of his things and looked under them.
"What has happened to you? How did you sustain those injuries?"
"Oh, had a bit of an accident." he said, sounding as though he did not care if she believed him or not.
"What sort of accident?"
"I-I tripped."
"You tripped?"
"Yeah, tha's right. Over, over a friends broomstick. I don' fly, meself. Well, look at the size o' me, I don' reckon there's a broomstick that'd hold me." Hagrid began to ramble. "Friend o' mine breeds Abraxan horses, I dunno if you've ever seen 'em, big beasts, winged, yeh know, I've had a bit of a ride on one o' them an' it was -"
"Where have you been?" Umbridge cut him off.
"Where've I . . . ?"
"Been, yes," she said. "Term started more than two months ago. Another teacher has had to cover your classes. None of your colleagues has been able to give me any information as to your whereabouts. You left no address. Where have you been?"
Hagrid froze. Umbridge noticed this.
"I - I've been away for me health," he said.
"For your health," her eyes traveled over Hagrid's discolored and swollen face: dragon blood dripped gently onto his waistcoat in the silence. "I see."
"Yeah," Hagrid nods. "bit o' - o' fresh air."
"Yes, as gamekeeper fresh air must be so difficult to come by."
"Well - change o' scene, yeh know -"
"Mountain scenery?" Umbridge finished.
How could she have known? No, she couldn't have possibly known. Her eyes widened softly and she exchanged a worrisome look with Ron.
"Mountains?" Hagrid repeated, thinking fast. "Nope, South of France fer me. Bit o' sun an' sea."
"Really?" Umbridge smiles. You don't have much of a tan."
"Yeah . . . well . . . sensitive skin."
The second those words left his lips, both Harry and Aurora had to look away to not laugh.
She made her way to the door. "You ought to know too that as High Inquisitor it is my unfortunate but necessary duty to inspect my fellow teachers. So I daresay we shall meet again soon enough."
"You're inspectin' us?" Hagrid echoed blankly.
"Oh yes," Umbridge smiles sickly, looking back at him with her hand on the door handle. "The Ministry is determined to weed out unsatisfactory teachers, Hagrid. Goodnight."
She left without waiting for a reply, and the four of them waited a few moments before pulling the cloak off them.
"Merlin. I wonder how many people you could fit under that." Aurora mentions, flattening out her skirt.
"Blimey, inspectin' people, is she?" Hagrid says in shock.
"Yeah," Harry nods, pulling the small bit of the cloak off her shoulder. "Trelawney's on probation already."
Hermione made a face. "Um . . . what sort of thing are you planning to do with us in class, Hagrid?"
"Oh, don' you worry abou' that, I've got a great load o' lessons planned," Hagrid tells them enthusiastically, "I've bin keepin' a couple o' creatures saved fer yer O.W.L. year, you wait, they're some- thin' really special."
"Erm . . . special in what way?"
"I'm not sayin'," said Hagrid happily. "I don' want ter spoil the surprise."
"A surprise?" Aurora asks. "Is it a dragon? I've always loved dragons-"
"Look, Hagrid," said Hermione urgently, dropping all pretence, "Professor Umbridge won't be at all happy if you bring anything to class that's too dangerous -"
"Dangerous?" he repeats, looking bemused. "Don' be silly, I wouldn' give yeh anythin' dangerous! I mean, all righ', they can look after themselves -"
Hermione threw her hands up. "Hagrid, you've got to pass Umbridge's inspection, and to do that it would really be better if she saw you teaching us how to look after porlocks, how to tell the difference between knarls and hedgehogs, stuff like that!"
"But tha's not very interestin', Hermione. The stuff I've got's much more impressive, I've bin bringin' 'em on fer years, I reckon I've got the only domestic herd in Britain -"
"Hagrid, please." Hermione begged, not trying to hide the disappointment in her voice. "Please, Hagrid, teach us something dull that's bound to come up in our O.W.L. . . ."
Aurora rolled her eyes. There was much more going on at the moment rather than exams. Although maybe she just thought that because she didn't care much about them anyway.
"Lis'en, it's bin a long day an' it's late." Hagrid faked a yawn, extending his large arms so that he almost hit her in the face. She moved to the side, sitting closer to Hermione. "Look, don' you go worryin' abou' me, I promise yeh I've got really good stuff planned fer yer lessons now I'm back. Now you lot had better get back up to the castle."
None of the four of them had a chance to reply as he stomped his way over to the door and opened it. The four of them walked out of the Hut and he closed the door.
Aurora threw her hands up. "Well I don't know about you three but I hope he has a dragon."
"He doesn't have a dragon, Rora."
"He could."
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Sorry for the lack of updates/ editing, I've been very busy lately with
Also a lot of people are commenting on book 2 asking if they missed something/ and are confused about what happened. So basically if you missed the author note at the start etc, I'll explain now: this book is going under editing, and it's mostly only Order Of Phoenix as I rushed it whilst writing it the first time!!!
Once I'm finished this act the next act will be published fully up!!! The book is completed and there is a second book but I'm focusing on getting this one edited first :)
Please consider leaving some comments if you enjoy :)