After more than four months, Tver finally returned to the peaceful, tranquil Hogwarts once again.
After all the running around he had done during this time, he suddenly realized that even the mischievous students at school were actually pretty lovable. At the very least, they were far more lovable than Giants and Voldemort running around causing destruction everywhere.
Only this time, with an aggrieved Grawp beside him, he could not afford to be too conspicuous. So under cover of night, he slipped quietly into the school.
He carried Grawp along the whole way, levitating him so that he floated toward Hagrid's hut like a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Although Hagrid had not joined Tver's operations directly, during this period he had been searching for traces of the Giants around Britain with Madam Maxime, coordinating with Tver from the outside in.
If he had not received the message and hurried back, then by now, in his anxious desperation, he probably would have fumbled his way to the other side of the Channel.
Knock knock knock.
"Hagrid, it's me, Tver. I wanted to tell you in advance..."
Creak.
"Professor!"
Tver stared in surprise at the three little ones crowded in the doorway, Harry, Hermione, and Ron, all with delighted smiles on their faces.
"Professor, where have you been? Defence Against the Dark Arts is so boring now!" Ron was the first to complain loudly, his voice echoing through the quiet night.
That instantly earned Harry's and Hermione's wholehearted agreement.
"There are still two Defence Against the Dark Arts professors this year. One is Umbridge from the Ministry, and the other is the original Durmstrang headmaster, Karkaroff!"
Hermione suppressed the dissatisfaction in her heart and explained things to Tver as calmly as she could.
"Professor Karkaroff's lessons are a bit dull, and he teaches more jinxes than Defence Against the Dark Arts, but at least he still teaches normally."
"But Umbridge, she's just... um..."
She suddenly realized that if she tried to use mild words, she could not begin to describe even a fraction of how hateful that old hag Umbridge was.
"That pink toad only lets us read in class. Just read. And she even used evil magic to punish Harry!"
As though Tver's appearance had suddenly given him courage, Ron indignantly grabbed Harry's hand and lifted it up, spraying spit everywhere as he denounced Umbridge's crimes.
But before long, Hagrid appeared behind them.
"All right, you lot." After so much traveling, he looked somewhat worn out. "Let Tver come in, he's... Grawp?"
Hagrid raised a hand in surprise and pointed, slightly trembling, at the little Giant still floating in the air behind Tver.
"Oh, I nearly forgot."
Only then did Tver belatedly lower Grawp to the ground, allowing Hagrid to reunite with his only remaining relative.
But the moment Grawp saw Hagrid, all his pent-up grievance burst out.
Originally, he had not felt much toward this brother of his. After all, Giants were rather indifferent to blood ties and did not care much about family affection.
But first he had been abducted by the terrifying Vampires led by Voldemort. Along the way, he had watched strong Giant companions either get drained dry by the Vampires or be killed outright by Voldemort.
If not for his being too small and getting tossed aside as a useless Giant, he probably would have died long ago.
And even after being let go, his life had not improved much. The area where he ended up was desolate. Never mind animals big enough to fill his stomach, after those dust clouds appeared, even the insects had mostly disappeared.
It would have been bad enough to spend a whole day finding nothing to eat, but then he ran into the vicious Marvolio.
If Tver had not ordered Marvolio to figure out who he was before making a move, what he would have gotten would not have been the Cruciatus Curse, but the Killing Curse.
Even so, the experience of the Cruciatus Curse still left him deeply shaken.
So the moment he landed, Grawp clung to Hagrid, who was a whole size smaller than he was, and whimpered while trembling in sobs.
"This...?"
Hagrid was somewhat delighted by his brother's sudden closeness, but even more puzzled by the change in him.
"Er... there was a little accident, but it's fine. He hasn't suffered any lasting harm. He's, well, very healthy!"
Seeing the certainty in Tver's tone, and finding no sign of injury on Grawp, Hagrid finally relaxed.
"Professor, what's this about?"
Looking at the strange scene before him, Harry asked cautiously. Ron looked just as confused, while Hermione was already studying Grawp thoughtfully.
"This is Hagrid's half-brother. As for the specifics, let Hagrid explain that to you later." Tver turned to the three of them. "The problem right now is, if I remember correctly, students aren't allowed outside the castle at night, are they?"
Faced with the suddenly stern Tver, the three of them immediately felt fear overwhelm their curiosity.
"We... we... came out under the Invisibility Cloak..."
After holding it in for a long while, Ron finally stammered out a weak excuse. As for how effective it was, Harry's and Hermione's helpless facepalms said it all.
"...Count yourselves lucky. I'm technically on leave right now. Otherwise, I'd be giving you half a year of detention."
Tver irritably rubbed each of them on the head in turn. Fortunately, he was tall enough. Otherwise, with them already in fifth year, patting their heads would not have been so easy anymore.
Feeling the atmosphere return to its usual friendliness, Hermione ignored her now-ruffled hair, pouted, and muttered, "I'd rather you came back to teach and gave us detention..."
Harry and Ron immediately nodded in vigorous agreement.
"Yeah, Professor, when are you coming back to teach?"
"Hiss..." Tver suddenly found himself in a difficult spot, afraid of jinxing things again.
"Probably a few more months. It depends on how much information Grawp can provide."
And on how much Voldemort decided to meddle...
"Grawp? What does Grawp have to do with it?" By then, Hagrid had walked over with Grawp.
Only Grawp now seemed to have developed some psychological shadow. Trembling, he hid behind Hagrid, sticking his huge head out to look at everyone.
"It's like this. We found that Grawp's memory had been wiped..."
Now that it was down to business, Tver's expression grew serious as well.
"Grawp must have seen something important. Or rather, Voldemort didn't want the Giants to know what he was planning."
"So Voldemort personally erased the Giants' memories, but he still made one mistake. He underestimated the Giants' strong magical resistance."
"Although the memories were indeed erased, that doesn't mean Grawp's memory can't be restored."
"So I want you, and all of you..." Tver lowered his gaze toward Harry and Ron, who clearly did not fully understand but felt it sounded impressive, and Hermione, who was already thinking.
"To help remove the effects of the Memory Charm on Grawp and get as much information as possible out of him about Voldemort."
Of course, it would have been more efficient for Tver to handle this himself.
But he still needed to lead the team in dealing with the Giants outside.
There were more of those Giants, so naturally he had to devote more of his energy to removing the effects of the Memory Charm from as many of them as possible.
As for Grawp, this was simply a task he was leaving behind for Hagrid and the three of them.