Untitled Part 20
Harry sprinted up to the boys' dormitory to fetch theInvisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map from his trunk;he was so quick that he and Ron were ready to leave atleast five minutes before Hermione hurried back down fromthe girls' dormitories, wearing scarf, gloves, and one of herown knobbly elf hats.
"Well, it's cold out there!" she said defensively, as Ronclicked his tongue impatiently.
They crept through the portrait hole and coveredthemselves hastily in the cloak — Ron had grown so muchhe now needed to crouch to prevent his feet showing —then, moving slowly and cautiously, they proceeded downthe many staircases, pausing at intervals to check the mapfor signs of Filch or Mrs. Norris. They were lucky; they sawnobody but Nearly Headless Nick, who was gliding alongabsentmindedly humming something that sounded horriblylike "Weasley Is Our King." They crept across the entrancehall and then out into the silent, snowy grounds. With agreat leap of his heart, Harry saw little golden squares oflight ahead and smoke coiling up from Hagrid's chimney. Heset off at a quick march, the other two jostling and bumpingalong behind him, and they crunched excitedly through thethickening snow until at last they reached the wooden frontdoor; when Harry raised his fist and knocked three times, adog started barking frantically inside.
"Hagrid, it's us!" Harry called through the keyhole.
"Shoulda known!" said a gruff voice.
They beamed at one another under the cloak; they couldtell that Hagrid's voice was pleased. "Bin home threeseconds ... Out the way, Fang ... Out the way, yeh dozy dog..."
The bolt was drawn back, the door creaked open, andHagrid's head appeared in the gap.
Hermione screamed
"Merlin's beard, keep it down!" said Hagrid hastily,staring wildly over their heads. "Under that cloak, are yeh?Well, get in, get in!"
"I'm sorry!" Hermione gasped, as the three of themsqueezed past Hagrid into the house and pulled the cloakoff themselves so he could see them. "I just — oh, Hagrid!"
"It's nuthin', it's nuthin'!" said Hagrid hastily, shutting thedoor behind them and hurrying to close all the curtains, butHermione continued to gaze up at him in horror.
Hagrid's hair was matted with congealed blood, and hisleft eye had been reduced to a puffy slit amid a mass ofpurple-and-black bruises. There were many cuts on his faceand hands, some of them still bleeding, and he was movinggingerly, which made Harry suspect broken ribs. It wasobvious that he had only just got home; a thick blacktraveling cloak lay over the back of a chair and a haversacklarge enough to carry several small children leaned againstthe wall inside the door. Hagrid himself, twice the size of anormal man and three times as broad, was now limpingover to the fire and placing a copper kettle over it.
"What happened to you?" Harry demanded, while Fangdanced around them all, trying to lick their faces.
"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 upand turning to beam at them all, but wincing. "Blimey, it'sgood ter see you three again — had good summers, didyeh?"
"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 witha pound of mince instead of a face?" Ron demanded.
"You ought to go and see Madam Pomfrey, Hagrid," saidHermione anxiously. "Some of those cuts look nasty."
"I'm dealin' with it, all righ'?" said Hagrid repressively.
He walked across to the enormous wooden table thatstood in the middle of his cabin and twitched aside a teatowel that had been lying on it. Underneath was a raw,bloody, green-tinged steak slightly larger than the averagecar 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," Hagridsaid. "An' I didn' get it ter eat."
He picked up the steak and slapped it over the left side ofhis face. Greenish blood trickled down into his beard as hegave 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 tellyeh that."
"Did the giants beat you up, Hagrid?" asked Hermionequietly
Hagrid's fingers slipped on the dragon steak, and it slidsquelchily onto his chest.
"Giants?" said Hagrid, catching the steak before itreached his belt and slapping it back over his face. "Whosaid anythin' abou' giants? Who yeh bin talkin' to? Who'stold yeh what I've — who's said I've bin — eh?"
"We guessed," said Hermione apologetically.
"Oh, yeh did, did yeh?" said Hagrid, fixing her sternly withthe eye that was not hidden by the steak.
"It was kind of ... obvious," said Ron. Harry nodded.
Hagrid glared at them, then snorted, threw the steak ontothe table again and strode back to the kettle, which wasnow whistling.
"Never known kids like you three fer knowin' more'n yehoughta," he muttered, splashing boiling water into three ofhis 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.
Hagrid set tea in front of each of them, sat down, pickedup his steak again, and slapped it back over his face.
"Yeah, all righ'," he grunted, "I have."
"And you found them?" said Hermione in a hushed voice.
"Well, they're not that difficult ter find, ter be honest,"said Hagrid. "Pretty big, see."
"Where are they?" said Ron.
"Mountains," said Hagrid unhelpfully.
"So why don't Muggles — ?"
"They do," said Hagrid darkly. "O'ny their deaths arealways put down ter mountaineerin' accidents, aren' they?"
He adjusted the steak a little so that it covered the worstof the bruising.
"Come on, Hagrid, tell us what you've been up to!" saidRon. "Tell us about being attacked by the giants and Harrycan tell you about being attacked by the dementors —"
Hagrid choked in his mug and dropped his steak at thesame time; a large quantity of spit, tea, and dragon bloodwas sprayed over the table as Hagrid coughed andspluttered and the steak slid, with a soft splat, onto thefloor.
"Whadda yeh mean, attacked by dementors?" growledHagrid.
"Didn't you know?" Hermione asked him, wide-eyed.
"I don' know anything that's been happenin' since I left. Iwas on a secret mission, wasn' I, didn' wan' owls followin'me all over the place — ruddy dementors! Yeh're notserious?"
"Yeah, I am, they turned up in Little Whinging andattacked my cousin and me, and then the Ministry of Magicexpelled me —"
"WHAT?"
"— and I had to go to a hearing and everything, but tell usabout the giants first."
"You were expelled?"
"Tell us about your summer and I'll tell you about mine."
Hagrid glared at him through his one open eye. Harrylooked right back, an expression of innocent determinationon his face.
"Oh, all righ'," Hagrid said in a resigned voice.
He bent down and tugged the dragon steak out of Fang'smouth.
"Oh, Hagrid, don't, it's not hygien —" Hermione began,but Hagrid had already slapped the meat back over hisswollen eye. He took another fortifying gulp of tea and thensaid, "Well, we set off righ' after term ended —"
Madame Maxime went with you, then?" Hermioneinterjected.
"Yeah, tha's right," said Hagrid, and a softenedexpression appeared on the few inches of face that werenot obscured by beard or green steak. "Yeah, it was jus' thepair of us. An' I'll tell yeh this, she's not afraid of roughin' it,Olympe. Yeh know, she's a fine, well-dressed woman, an'knowin' where we was goin' I wondered 'ow she'd feelabou' clamberin' over boulders an' sleepin' in caves an'tha', bu' she never complained once."
"You knew where you were going?" Harry asked. "Youknew where the giants were?"
"Well, Dumbledore knew, an' he told us," said Hagrid.
"Are they hidden?" asked Ron. "Is it a secret, where theyare?"
"Not really," said Hagrid, shaking his shaggy head. "It'sjus' that mos' wizards aren' bothered where they are, s'long as it's a good long way away. But where they are's verydifficult ter get ter, fer humans anyway, so we neededDumbledore's instructions. Took us abou' a month ter getthere —"
"A month?" said Ron, as though he had never heard of ajourney lasting such a ridiculously long time. "But — whycouldn't you just grab a Portkey or something?"
There was an odd expression in Hagrid's unobscured eyeas he squinted at Ron; it was almost pitying.
"We're bein' watched, Ron," he said gruffly.
"What d'you mean?"
"Yeh don' understand," said Hagrid. "The Ministry'skeepin' an eye on Dumbledore an' anyone they reckon's inleague with him, an' —"
"We know about that," said Harry quickly, keen to hearthe rest of Hagrid's story. "We know about the Ministrywatching Dumbledore —"
"So you couldn't use magic to get there?" asked Ron,looking thunderstruck. "You had to act like Muggles all theway?"
"Well, not exactly all the way," said Hagrid cagily. "We jus'had ter be careful, 'cause Olympe an' me, we stick out a bit—"
Ron made a stifled noise somewhere between a snort anda sniff and hastily took a gulp of tea.
"— so we're not hard ter follow. We was pretendin' wewas goin' on holiday together, so we got inter France an' wemade like we was headin' fer where Olympe's school is,'cause we knew we was bein' tailed by someone from theMinistry. We had to go slow, 'cause I'm not really s'posed teruse magic an' we knew the Ministry'd be lookin' fer areason ter run us in. But we managed ter give the berktailin' us the slip round abou' Dee-John —"
"Ooooh, Dijon?" said Hermione excitedly. "I've been thereon holiday, did you see — ?"
She fell silent at the look on Ron's face.
"We chanced a bit o' magic after that, and it wasn' a badjourney. Ran inter a couple o' mad trolls on the Polishborder, an' I had a sligh' disagreement with a vampire in apub in Minsk, but apart from tha', couldn't'a bin smoother.
"An' then we reached the place, an' we started trekkin' upthrough the mountains, lookin' fer signs of 'em ...
"We had ter lay off the magic once we got near 'em. Partly'cause they don' like wizards an' we didn' want ter put theirbacks up too soon, and partly 'cause Dumbledore hadwarned us You-Know-Who was bound ter be after the giantsan' all. Said it was odds on he'd sent a messenger off terthem already. Told us ter be very careful of drawin'attention ter ourselves as we got nearer in case there wasDeath Eaters around."
Hagrid paused for a long draft of tea.
"Go on!" said Harry urgently.
"Found 'em," said Hagrid baldly. "Went over a ridge onenigh' an' there they was, spread ou' underneath us. Littlefires burnin' below an' huge shadows ... It was like watchin'bits o' the mountain movin'."
"How big are they?" asked Ron in a hushed voice.
" 'Bout twenty feet," said Hagrid casually. "Some o' thebigger ones mighta bin twenty-five."
"And how many were there?" asked Harry.
"I reckon abou' seventy or eighty," said Hagrid.
"Is that all?" said Hermione.
"Yep," said Hagrid sadly, "eighty left, an' there was loadsonce, musta bin a hundred diff'rent tribes from all over theworld. But they've bin dyin' out fer ages. Wizards killed afew, o' course, but mostly they killed each other, an' nowthey're dyin' out faster than ever. They're not made ter livebunched up together like tha'. Dumbledore says it's ourfault, it was the wizards who forced 'em to go an' made 'emlive a good long way from us an' they had no choice but terstick together fer their own protection."
"So," said Harry, "you saw them and then what?"
"Well, we waited till morning, didn' want ter go sneakin'up on 'em in the dark, fer our own safety," said Hagrid. "'Bout three in the mornin' they fell asleep jus' where theywas sittin'. We didn' dare sleep. Fer one thing, we wantedter make sure none of 'em woke up an' came up where wewere, an' fer another, the snorin' was unbelievable. Causedan avalanche near mornin'.
"Anyway, once it was light we wen' down ter see 'em."
"Just like that?" said Ron, looking awestruck. "You justwalked right into a giant camp?"
"Well, Dumbledore'd told us how ter do it," said Hagrid."Give the Gurg gifts, show some respect, yeh know."
"Give the what gifts?" asked Harry.
"Oh, the Gurg — means the chief."
"How could you tell which one was the Gurg?" asked Ron.
Hagrid grunted in amusement.
"No problem," he said. "He was the biggest, the ugliest,an' the laziest. Sittin' there waitin' ter be brought food bythe others. Dead goats an' such like. Name o' Karkus. I'dput him at twenty-two, twenty-three feet, an' the weight ofa couple o' bull elephants. Skin like rhino hide an' all."
"And you just walked up to him?" said Hermionebreathlessly.
"Well ... down ter him, where he was lyin' in the valley.They was in this dip between four pretty high mountains,see, beside a mountain lake, an' Karkus was lyin' by thelake roarin' at the others ter feed him an' his wife. Olympean' I went down the mountainside —"
"But didn't they try and kill you when they saw you?"asked Ron incredulously.
"It was def'nitely on some of their minds," said Hagrid,shrugging, "but we did what Dumbledore told us ter do,which was ter hold our gift up high an' keep our eyes on theGurg an' ignore the others. So tha's what we did. An' therest of 'em went quiet an' watched us pass an' we got rightup ter Karkus's feet an' we bowed an' put our present downin front o' him."
"What do you give a giant?" asked Ron eagerly. "Food?"
"Nah, he can get food all righ' fer himself," said Hagrid."We took him magic. Giants like magic, jus' don't like ususin' it against 'em. Anyway, that firs' day we gave him abranch o' Gubraithian fire."
Hermione said "wow" softly, but Harry and Ron bothfrowned in puzzlement.
"A branch of — ?"
"Everlasting fire," said Hermione irritably, "you ought toknow that by now, Professor Flitwick's mentioned it at leasttwice in class!"
"Well anyway," said Hagrid quickly, intervening beforeRon could answer back, "Dumbledore'd bewitched thisbranch to burn evermore, which isn' somethin' any wizardcould do, an' so I lies it down in the snow by Karkus's feetand says, 'A gift to the Gurg of the giants from AlbusDumbledore, who sends his respectful greetings.' "
"And what did Karkus say?" asked Harry eagerly.
"Nothin'," said Hagrid. "Didn' speak English."
"You're kidding!"
"Didn' matter," said Hagrid imperturbably, "Dumbledorehad warned us tha' migh' happen. Karkus knew enough toyell fer a couple o' giants who knew our lingo an' theytranslated fer us."
"And did he like the present?" asked Ron.
"Oh yeah, it went down a storm once they understoodwhat it was," said Hagrid, turning his dragon steak over topress the cooler side to his swollen eye. "Very pleased. Sothen I said, 'Albus Dumbledore asks the Gurg to speak withhis messenger when he returns tomorrow with anothergift.' "
"Why couldn't you speak to them that day?" askedHermione.
"Dumbledore wanted us ter take it very slow," saidHagrid. "Let 'em see we kept our promises. We'll come backtomorrow with another present, an' then we do come backwith another present — gives a good impression, see? An'gives them time ter test out the firs' present an' find out it'sa good one, an' get 'em eager fer more. In any case, giantslike Karkus — overload 'em with information an' they'll killyeh jus' to simplify things. So we bowed outta the way an'went off an' found ourselves a nice little cave ter spend thatnight in, an' the followin' mornin' we went back an' thistime we found Karkus sittin' up waitin' fer us lookin' alleager."
"And you talked to him?"
"Oh yeah. Firs' we presented him with a nice battlehelmet — goblin-made an' indestructible, yeh know — an'then we sat down an' we talked."
"What did he say?"
"Not much," said Hagrid. "Listened mostly. But therewere good signs. He'd heard o' Dumbledore, heard he'dargued against the killin' of the last giants in Britain.Karkus seemed ter be quite int'rested in what Dumbledorehad ter say. An' a few o' the others, 'specially the ones whohad some English, they gathered round an' listened too. Wewere hopeful when we left that day. Promised ter comeback next day with another present.
"But that night it all wen' wrong."
"What d'you mean?" said Ron quickly.
"Well, like I say, they're not meant ter live together,giants," said Hagrid sadly. "Not in big groups like that. Theycan' help themselves, they half kill each other every fewweeks. The men fight each other an' the women fight eachother, the remnants of the old tribes fight each other, an'that's even without squabbles over food an' the best firesan' sleepin' spots. Yeh'd think, seein' as how their wholerace is abou' finished, they'd lay off each other, but ..."
Hagrid sighed deeply"That night a fight broke out, we saw it from the mouth ofour cave, lookin' down on the valley. Went on fer hours, yehwouldn' believe the noise. An' when the sun came up thesnow was scarlet an' his head was lyin' at the bottom o' thelake."
"Whose head?" gasped Hermione.
"Karkus's," said Hagrid heavily. "There was a new Gurg,Golgomath." He sighed deeply. "Well, we hadn' bargainedon a new Gurg two days after we'd made friendly contactwith the firs' one, an' we had a funny feelin' Golgomathwouldn' be so keen ter listen to us, but we had ter try."
"You went to speak to him?" asked Ron incredulously."After you'd watched him rip off another giant's head?"
" 'Course we did," said Hagrid, "we hadn' gone all thatway ter give up after two days! We wen' down with the nextpresent we'd meant ter give ter Karkus.
"I knew it was no go before I'd opened me mouth. He wassitting there wearin' Karkus's helmet, leerin' at us as wegot nearer. He's massive, one o' the biggest ones there.Black hair an' matchin' teeth an' a necklace o' bones.Human-lookin' bones, some of 'em. Well, I gave it a go —held out a great roll o' dragon skin — an' said A gift fer theGurg of the giants —' Nex' thing I knew, I was hangin'upside down in the air by me feet, two of his mates hadgrabbed me."
Hermione clapped her hands to her mouth.
"How did you get out of that?" asked Harry.
"Wouldn'ta done if Olympe hadn' bin there," said Hagrid."She pulled out her wand an' did some o' the fastes'spellwork I've ever seen. Ruddy marvelous. Hit the twoholdin' me right in the eyes with Conjunctivitus Curses an'they dropped me straightaway — bu' we were in troublethen, 'cause we'd used magic against 'em, an' that's whatgiants hate abou' wizards. We had ter leg it an' we knewthere was no way we was going ter be able ter march intercamp again."
"Blimey, Hagrid," said Ron quietly
"So how come it's taken you so long to get home if youwere only there for three days?" asked Hermione."We didn' leave after three days!" said Hagrid, lookingoutraged. "Dumbledore was relyin' on us!"
"But you've just said there was no way you could goback!""Not by daylight, we couldn', no. We just had ter rethink abit. Spent a couple o' days lyin' low up in the cave an'watchin'. An' wha' we saw wasn' good."
"Did he rip off more heads?" asked Hermione, soundingsqueamish.
"No," said Hagrid. "I wish he had."
"What d'you mean?"
"I mean we soon found out he didn' object ter all wizards— just us."
"Death Eaters?" said Harry quickly.
"Yep," said Hagrid darkly. "Couple of 'em were visitin' himev'ry day, bringin' gifts ter the Gurg, an' he wasn' danglingthem upside down."
"How d'you know they were Death Eaters?" said Ron.
"Because I recognized one of 'em," Hagrid growled."Macnair, remember him? Bloke they sent ter killBuckbeak? Maniac, he is. Likes killin' as much asGolgomath, no wonder they were gettin' on so well."
"So Macnair's persuaded the giants to join You-KnowWho?" said Hermione desperately.
"Hold yer hippogriffs, I haven' finished me story yet!" saidHagrid indignantly, who, considering he had not wanted totell them anything in the first place, now seemed to berather enjoying himself. "Me an' Olympe talked it over an'we agreed, jus' 'cause the Gurg looked like favorin' YouKnow-Who didn' mean all of 'em would. We had ter try an'persuade some o' the others, the ones who hadn' wantedGolgomath as Gurg."
"How could you tell which ones they were?" asked Ron.
"Well, they were the ones bein' beaten to a pulp, weren'they?" said Hagrid patiently. "The ones with any sense werekeepin' outta Golgomath's way, hidin' out in caves roun' thegully jus' like we were. So we decided we'd go pokin' roundthe caves by night an' see if we couldn' persuade a few o'them."
"You went poking around dark caves looking for giants?"said Ron with awed respect in his voice.
"Well, it wasn' the giants who worried us most," saidHagrid. "We were more concerned abou' the Death Eaters.Dumbledore had told us before we wen' not ter tangle with'em if we could avoid it, an' the trouble was they knew wewas around — 'spect Golgomath told him abou' us. At nightwhen the giants were sleepin' an' we wanted ter becreepin' inter the caves, Macnair an' the other one weresneakin' round the mountains lookin' fer us. I was hard putto stop Olympe jumpin' out at them," said Hagrid, thecorners of his mouth lifting his wild beard. "She was rarin'ter attack 'em. ... she's somethin' when she's roused,Olympe. ... Fiery, yeh know ... 'spect it's the French in her..."
Hagrid gazed misty-eyed into the fire. Harry allowed himthirty seconds' reminiscence before clearing his throatloudly.
"So what happened? Did you ever get near any of theother giants?"
"What? Oh ... oh yeah, we did. Yeah, on the third nightafter Karkus was killed, we crept outta the cave we'd binhidin' in and headed back down inter the gully, keepin' oureyes skinned fer the Death Eaters. Got inside a few o' thecaves, no go — then, in abou' the sixth one, we found threegiants hidin'."
"Cave must've been cramped," said Ron.
"Wasn' room ter swing a kneazle," said Hagrid.
"Didn't they attack you when they saw you?" askedHermione.
"Probably woulda done if they'd bin in any condition," saidHagrid, "but they was badly hurt, all three o' them.Golgomath's lot had beaten 'em unconscious; they'd wokenup an' crawled inter the nearest shelter they could find.Anyway, one o' them had a bit of English an' 'e translatedfer the others, an' what we had ter say didn' seem ter godown too badly. So we kep' goin' back, visitin' the wounded.... I reckon we had abou' six or seven o' them convinced atone poin'."
"Six or seven?" said Ron eagerly. "Well that's not bad —are they going to come over here and start fighting YouKnow-Who with us?"
But Hermione said, "What do you mean 'at one point,'Hagrid?"
Hagrid looked at her sadly.
"Golgomath's lot raided the caves. The ones tha' surviveddidn' wan' no more ter to do with us after that."
"So ... so there aren't any giants coming?" said Ron,looking disappointed.
"Nope," said Hagrid, heaving a deep sigh as he turnedover his steak again and applied the cooler side to his face,"but we did wha' we meant ter do, we gave 'emDumbledore's message an' some o' them heard it an' I'spect some o' them'll remember it. Jus' maybe, them thatdon' want ter stay around Golgomath'll move outta themountains, an' there's gotta be a chance they'll rememberDumbledore's friendly to 'em. ... Could be they'll come ..."
Snow was filling up the window now. Harry became awarethat the knees of his robes were soaked through; Fang wasdrooling with his head in Harry's lap.
"Hagrid?" said Hermione quietly after a while.
"Mmm?"
"Did you ... was there any sign of ... did you hear anythingabout your ... your ... mother while you were there?"
Hagrid's unobscured eye rested upon her, and Hermionelooked rather scared.
"I'm sorry ... I ... forget it —"
"Dead," Hagrid grunted. "Died years ago. They told me."
"Oh ... I'm ... I'm really sorry," said Hermione in a verysmall voice.
Hagrid shrugged his massive shoulders. "No need," hesaid shortly. "Can' remember her much. Wasn' a greatmother."
They were silent again. Hermione glanced nervously atHarry and Ron, plainly wanting them to speak.
"But you still haven't explained how you got in this state,Hagrid," Ron said, gesturing toward Hagrid's bloodstainedface.
"Or why you're back so late," said Harry. "Sirius saysMadame Maxime got back ages ago —"
"Who attacked you?" said Ron.
"I haven' bin attacked!" said Hagrid emphatically. "I —"
But the rest of his words were drowned in a suddenoutbreak of rapping on the door. Hermione gasped; hermug slipped through her fingers and smashed on the floor;Fang yelped. All four of them stared at the window besidethe doorway. The shadow of somebody small and squatrippled across the thin curtain.
"It's her!" Ron whispered.
"Get under here!" Harry said quickly; seizing theInvisibility Cloak he whirled it over himself and Hermionewhile Ron tore around the table and dived beneath thecloak as well. Huddled together they backed away into acorner. Fang was barking madly at the door. Hagrid lookedthoroughly confused.
"Hagrid, hide our mugs!"
Hagrid seized Harry's and Ron's mugs and shoved themunder the cushion in Fang's basket. Fang was now leapingup at the door; Hagrid pushed him out of the way with hisfoot and pulled it open.
Professor Umbridge was standing in the doorway wearingher green tweed cloak and a matching hat with earflaps.Lips pursed, she leaned back so as to see Hagrid's face; shebarely reached his navel.
"So," she said slowly and loudly, as though speaking tosomebody deaf. "You're Hagrid, are you?"
Without waiting for an answer she strolled into the room,her bulging eyes rolling in every direction.
"Get away," she snapped, waving her handbag at Fang,who had bounded up to her and was attempting to lick herface.
"Er — I don' want ter be rude," said Hagrid, staring ather, "but who the ruddy hell are you?"
"My name is Dolores Umbridge."
Her eyes were sweeping the cabin. Twice they stareddirectly into the corner where Harry stood, sandwichedbetween Ron and Hermione.
"Dolores Umbridge?" Hagrid said, sounding thoroughlyconfused. "I thought you were one o' them Ministry — don'you work with Fudge?"
"I was Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, yes," saidUmbridge, now pacing around the cabin, taking in everytiny detail within, from the haversack against the wall to theabandoned traveling cloak. "I am now the Defense Againstthe Dark Arts teacher —"
"Tha's brave of yeh," said Hagrid, "there's not many'dtake tha' job anymore —"
"— and Hogwarts High Inquisitor," said Umbridge, givingno sign that she had heard him.
"Wha's that?" said Hagrid, frowning.
"Precisely what I was going to ask," said Umbridge,pointing at the broken shards of china on the floor that hadbeen Hermione's mug.
"Oh," said Hagrid, with a most unhelpful glance towardthe corner where Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood hidden,"oh, tha' was ... was Fang. He broke a mug. So I had ter usethis one instead."
Hagrid pointed to the mug from which he had beendrinking, one hand still clamped over the dragon steakpressed to his eye. Umbridge stood facing him now, takingin every detail of his appearance instead of the cabin's.
"I heard voices," she said quietly.
"I was talkin' ter Fang," said Hagrid stoutly.
"And was he talking back to you?"
"Well ... in a manner o' speakin'," said Hagrid, lookinguncomfortable. "I sometimes say Fang's near enoughhuman —"
"There are three sets of footprints in the snow leadingfrom the castle doors to your cabin," said Umbridge sleekly.
Hermione gasped; Harry clapped a hand over her mouth.Luckily, Fang was sniffing loudly around the hem ofProfessor Umbridge's robes, and she did not appear to haveheard.
"Well, I on'y jus' got back," said Hagrid, waving anenormous hand at the haversack. "Maybe someone cameter call earlier an' I missed em.
"There are no footsteps leading away from your cabindoor."
"Well I ... I don' know why that'd be. ..." said Hagrid,tugging nervously at his beard and again glancing towardthe corner where Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood, asthough asking for help. "Erm ..."
Umbridge wheeled around and strode the length of thecabin, looking around carefully. She bent and peered underthe bed. She opened Hagrid's cupboards. She passedwithin two inches of where Harry, Ron, and Hermione stoodpressed against the wall; Harry actually pulled in hisstomach as she walked by. After looking carefully inside theenormous cauldron Hagrid used for cooking she wheeledaround again and said, "What has happened to you? Howdid you sustain those injuries?"
Hagrid hastily removed the dragon steak from his face,which in Harry's opinion was a mistake, because the blackand-purple bruising all around his eye was now clearlyvisible, not to mention the large amount of fresh andcongealed blood on his face. "Oh, I ... had a bit of anaccident," he said lamely.
"What sort of accident?"
"I-I tripped."
"You tripped," she repeated coolly.
"Yeah, tha's right. Over ... over a friends broomstick. Idon' fly, meself. Well, look at the size o' me, I don' reckonthere's a broomstick that'd hold me. Friend o' mine breedsAbraxan 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?" asked Umbridge, cutting coollythrough Hagrid's babbling.
"Where've I ... ?"
"Been, yes," she said. "Term started more than twomonths ago. Another teacher has had to cover your classes.None of your colleagues has been able to give me anyinformation as to your whereabouts. You left no address.Where have you been?"
There was a pause in which Hagrid stared at her with hisnewly uncovered eye. Harry could almost hear his brainworking furiously.
"I — I've been away for me health," he said.
"For your health," said Umbridge. Her eyes traveled overHagrid's discolored and swollen face; dragon blood drippedgently onto his waistcoat in the silence. "I see."
"Yeah," said Hagrid, "bit o' — o' fresh air, yeh know —"
"Yes, as gamekeeper fresh air must be so difficult to comeby," said Umbridge sweetly. The small patch of Hagrid's facethat was not black or purple flushed.
"Well — change o' scene, yeh know —"
"Mountain scenery?" said Umbridge swiftly.
She knows, Harry thought desperately.
"Mountains?" Hagrid repeated, clearly thinking fast."Nope, South of France fer me. Bit o' sun an' ... an' sea."
"Really?" said Umbridge. "You don't have much of a tan."
"Yeah ... well ... sensitive skin," said Hagrid, attemptingan ingratiating smile. Harry noticed that two of his teethhad been knocked out. Umbridge looked at him coldly; hissmile faltered. Then she hoisted her handbag a little higherinto the crook of her arm and said, "I shall, of course, beinforming the Minister of your late return."
"Righ'," said Hagrid, nodding.
"You ought to know too that as High Inquisitor it is myunfortunate but necessary duty to inspect my fellowteachers. So I daresay we shall meet again soon enough."
She turned sharply and marched back to the door.
"You're inspectin' us?" Hagrid echoed blankly, lookingafter her.
"Oh yes," said Umbridge softly, looking back at him withher hand on the door handle. "The Ministry is determinedto weed out unsatisfactory teachers, Hagrid. Good night."
She left, closing the door behind her with a snap. Harrymade to pull off the Invisibility Cloak but Hermione seizedhis wrist.
"Not yet," she breathed in his ear. "She might not be goneyet."
Hagrid seemed to be thinking the same way; he stumpedacross the room and pulled back the curtain an inch or so.
"She's goin' back ter the castle," he said in a low voice."Blimey ... inspectin' people, is she?"
"Yeah," said Harry, pulling the cloak off. "Trelawney's onprobation already. ..."
"Um ... what sort of thing are you planning to do with usin class, Hagrid?" asked Hermione.
"Oh, don' you worry abou' that, I've got a great load o'lessons planned," said Hagrid enthusiastically, scooping uphis dragon steak from the table and slapping it over his eyeagain. "I've bin keepin' a couple o' creatures saved fer yerO.W.L. year, you wait, they're somethin' really special."
"Erm ... special in what way?" asked Hermionetentatively.
"I'm not sayin'," said Hagrid happily. "I don' want ter spoilthe surprise."
"Look, Hagrid," said Hermione urgently, dropping allpretense, "Professor Umbridge won't be at all happy if youbring anything to class that's too dangerous —"
"Dangerous?" said Hagrid, looking genially bemused."Don' be silly, I wouldn' give yeh anythin' dangerous! Imean, all righ', they can look after themselves —"
"Hagrid, you've got to pass Umbridge's inspection, and todo that it would really be better if she saw you teaching ushow to look after porlocks, how to tell the differencebetween knarls and hedgehogs, stuff like that!" saidHermione earnestly.
"But tha's not very interestin', Hermione," said Hagrid."The stuff I've got's much more impressive, I've bin bringin''em on fer years, I reckon I've got the on'y domestic herd inBritain —"
"Hagrid ... please ..." said Hermione, a note of realdesperation in her voice. "Umbridge is looking for anyexcuse to get rid of teachers she thinks are too close toDumbledore. Please, Hagrid, teach us something dull that'sbound to come up in our O.W.L. ..."
But Hagrid merely yawned widely and cast a one-eyedlook of longing toward the vast bed in the corner.
"Lis'en, it's bin a long day an' it's late," he said, pattingHermione gently on the shoulder, so that her knees gaveway and hit the floor with a thud. "Oh — sorry —" He pulledher back up by the neck of her robes. "Look, don' you goworryin' abou' me, I promise yeh I've got really good stuffplanned fer yer lessons now I'm back. ... Now you lot hadbetter get back up to the castle, an' don' forget ter wipe yerfootprints out behind yeh!"
"I dunno if you got through to him," said Ron a shortwhile later when, having checked that the coast was clear,they walked back up to the castle through the thickeningsnow, leaving no trace behind them due to the ObliterationCharm Hermione was performing as they went.
"Then I'll go back again tomorrow," said Hermionedeterminedly. "I'll plan his lessons for him if I have to. Idon't care if she throws out Trelawney but she's not takingHagrid!"
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: ZingTruyen.Xyz