Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (70 page)

'… Bradley… Davies… Chang,' he said, and Harry felt his stomach perform, less of a back flip, more a feeble lurch as Cho walked out on to the pitch, her shiny black hair rippling in the slight breeze. He was not sure what he wanted to happen any more, except that he could not stand any more rows. Even the sight of her chatting animatedly to Roger Davies as they prepared to mount their brooms caused him only a slight twinge of jealousy.

'And they're off!' said Lee. 'And Davies takes the Quaffle immediately, Ravenclaw Captain Davies with the Quaffle, he dodges Johnson, he dodges Bell, he dodges Spinnet as well… he's going straight for goal! He's going to shoot - and - and -' Lee swore very loudly. 'And he's scored.'

Harry and Hermione groaned with the rest of the Gryffindors. Predictably, horribly, the Slytherins on the other side of the stands began to sing:

"Weasley cannot save a thing He cannot block a single ring…'

'Harry' said a hoarse voice in Harrys ear. 'Hermione…'

Harry looked round and saw Hagrid's enormous bearded face sticking between the seats. Apparently, he had squeezed his way all along the row behind, for the first- and second-years he had just passed had a ruffled, flattened look about them. For some reason, Hagrid was bent double as though anxious not to be seen, though he was still at least four feet taller than everybody else.

'Listen,' he whispered, 'can yeh come with me? Now? While ev'ryone's watchin' the match?'

'Er… can't it wait, Hagrid?' asked Harry. Till the match is over?'

'No,' said Hagrid. 'No, Harry, it's gotta be now… while ev'ryone's lookin' the other way… please?'

Hagrid's nose was gently dripping blood. His eyes were both blackened. Harry had not seen him this close-up since his return to the school; he looked utterly woebegone.

'Course,' said Harry at once, 'course we'll come.'

He and Hermione edged back along their row of seats, causing much grumbling among the students who had to stand up for them. The people in Hagrid's row were not complaining, merely attempting to make themselves as small as possible.

'I 'ppreciate this, you two, I really do,' said Hagrid as they reached the stairs. He kept looking around nervously as they descended towards the lawn below. 'I jus' hope she doesn' notice us goin'.'

'You mean Umbridge?' said Harry. 'She won't, she's got her whole Inquisitorial Squad sitting with her, didn't you see? She must be expecting trouble at the match.'

'Yeah, well, a bit o' trouble wouldn' hurt,' said Hagrid, pausing to peer around the edge of the stands to make sure the stretch of lawn between there and his cabin was deserted. 'Give us more time.'

'What is it, Hagrid?' said Hermione, looking up at him with a concerned expression on her face as they hurried across the grass towards the edge of the Forest.

'Yeh - yeh'll see in a mo',' said Hagrid, looking over his shoulder as a great roar rose from the stands behind them. 'Hey - did someone jus' score?'

'It'll be Ravenclaw,' said Harry heavily.

'Good… good…' said Hagrid distractedly. Tha's good…'

They had to jog to keep up with him as he strode across the lawn, looking around with every other step. When they reached his cabin, Hermione turned automatically left towards the front door. Hagrid, however, walked straight past it into the shade of the trees on the outermost edge of the Forest, where he picked up a crossbow that was leaning against a tree. When he realised they were no longer with him, he turned.

'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!'

Harry and Hermione 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. Harry and Hermione ran to catch up with him.

'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 Hermione 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 any more.'

He sighed deeply.

'Firenze said they're angry because he went to work for Dumbledore,' Harry said, 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 on to him.'

'And you stopped it?' said Harry, amazed and impressed. 'By yourself?'

'Course I did, couldn't stand by an' watch 'em kill 'im, 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.

Harry and Hermione 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.'

On this incomprehensible note he fell silent and forged a little ahead, taking one stride for every three of theirs, so that they had great trouble keeping up with him.

The path was becoming increasingly overgrown and the trees grew so closely together as they walked further and further into the Forest that it was as dark as dusk. They were soon a long way past the clearing where Hagrid had shown them the Thestrals, but Harry felt no sense of unease until Hagrid stepped unexpectedly off the path and began wending his way in and out of trees towards the dark heart of the Forest.

'Hagrid!' said Harry, fighting his way through thickly knotted brambles, over which Hagrid had stepped with ease, and remembering very vividly what had happened to him on the other occasion he had stepped off the Forest path. 'Where are we going?'

'Bit further,' said Hagrid over his shoulder. 'C'mon, Harry… we need ter keep together now.'

It was a great struggle to keep up with Hagrid, what with branches and thickets of thorn through which Hagrid marched as easily as if they were cobwebs, but which snagged Harry and Hermione's robes, frequently entangling them so severely that they had to stop for minutes at a time to free themselves. Harry's arms and legs were soon covered in small cuts and scratches. They were so deep in the Forest now that sometimes all Harry could see of Hagrid in the gloom was a massive dark shape ahead of him. Any sound seemed threatening in the muffled silence. The breaking of a twig echoed loudly and the tiniest rustle of movement, even though it might have been made by an innocent sparrow, caused Harry to peer through the gloom for a culprit. It occurred to him that he had never managed to get this far into the Forest without meeting some kind of creature; their absence struck him as rather ominous.

'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 backwards. 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. They both murmured 'Lumos!' and their wand-tips ignited. Hagrid's face swam through the gloom by the light of the two wavering beams and Harry saw again that he looked nervous and sad.

'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.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other, then back at him.

'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, before he could stop himself.

'No, it ruddy well wasn'!' said Hagrid indignantly. 'On'y any-thin' 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.'

Harry and Hermione both made noises of protest, but Hagrid overrode them with a wave of one of his enormous hands.

'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 yeh two ter help me. An' Ron, if he's willin'.'

'Of course we'll help you,' said Harry at once. 'What do you want us to do?'

Hagrid gave a great sniff and patted Harry wordlessly on the shoulder with such force Harry was knocked sideways into a tree.

'1 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…'

They walked on in silence for another fifteen minutes; Harry had opened his mouth to ask how much further they had to go when Hagrid threw out his right arm to signal that they should stop.

'Really easy' he said softly. 'Very quiet, now…'

They crept forwards and Harry saw that they were facing a large, smooth mound of earth nearly as tall as Hagrid that he 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, Hermione and Hagrid now stood.

'Sleepin',' breathed Hagrid.

Sure enough, Harry could hear a distant, rhythmic rumbling that sounded like a pair of enormous lungs at work. He glanced sideways at Hermione, who was gazing at the mound with her mouth slightly open. She looked utterly terrified.

'Hagrid,' she said in a whisper barely audible over the sound of the sleeping creature, 'who is he?'

Harry found this an odd question… 'What is it?' was the one he had been planning on asking.

'Hagrid, you told us -' said Hermione, her wand now shaking in her hand, 'you told us none of them wanted to come!'

Harry looked from her to Hagrid and then, as realisation hit him, he looked back at the mound with a small gasp of horror.

The great mound of earth, on which he, Hermione and Hagrid could easily have stood, was moving slowly up and down in time with the deep, grunting breathing. It was not a mound at all. It was the curved back of what was clearly —

'Well - no - he didn' want ter come,' said Hagrid, sounding desperate. '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, Hagridr

'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!'

'He don' know his own strength!' said Hagrid earnestly. 'An' he's gettin' better, he's not fightin' so much any more —'

'So, this is why it took you two months to get home!' said Hermione distractedly. 'Oh, Hagrid, why did you bring him back if he didn't want to come? Wouldn't he have been happier with his own people?'

They were all bullyin' him, Hermione, 'cause he's so small!' said Hagrid.

'Small?' said Hermione. 'Small?'

'Hermione, I couldn' leave him,' said Hagrid, tears now trickling down his bruised face into his beard. 'See - he's my brother!'

Hermione simply stared at him, her mouth open.

'Hagrid, when you say “brother”,' said Harry slowly, 'do you mean —?'

'Well - half-brother,' amended Hagrid. Turns put me mother took up with another giant when she left me dad, an' she went an' had Grawp here -'

'Grawp?' said Harry.

'Yeah… well, tha's what it sounds like when he says his name,' said Hagrid anxiously. 'He don' speak a lot of English… I've bin tryin' ter teach him… anyway, she don' seem ter have liked him much more'n she liked me. See, with giantesses, what counts is producin' good big kids, and he's always been a bit on the runty side fer a giant - on'y sixteen foot -'

'Oh, yes, tiny!' said Hermione, with a kind of hysterical sarcasm. 'Absolutely minuscule!'

'He was bein' kicked aroun' by all o' them - I jus' couldn' leave him -'

'Did Madame Maxime want to bring him back?' asked Harry.