Somehow, Harry doesn't end up with detention for the rest of the term after his little stunt with the Yule Ball. He's not entirely sure how he managed to get so lucky, but he's pretty sure that Fleur, Viktor, and Cedric's very public show of support has a lot to do with it. McGonagall is still pretty pissed at him, though. It's probably because it makes the Gryffindors look bad, but he honestly can't bring himself to care about that. Between the champions and their dates, they wound up having representation for every house in Hogwarts anyway. Anything more would've been excessive, in his humble opinion.
"Are you excited?" Cedric asks with a wide grin as they settle down for breakfast in the kitchen. "I know I am!"
The skies are beautifully clear today, and that is very fortunate since tonight is the long-awaited full moon. He and Draco will be able to take the next step in becoming Animagi, and Cedric, Fleur, and Viktor will be starting their month with the mandrake leaf tonight.
"Yeah! We'll have to head pretty deep into the Forbidden Forest to get ahold of dew that hasn't seen sunlight or been touched by human feet for at least a week, but we've got the silver teaspoons for that ready and waiting. And Draco bought the Death's-head Hawk Moth chrysalises ages ago, so we're covered on that front too. I just hope it doesn't take too long for us to get a thunderstorm…"
"And vhere are you planning on storing the mixture until then?" Viktor's eyebrows are furrowed in blatant concern as he mutters, "It is the one step I am vorried about."
"Oh, we're just gonna have Dobby put it down in the Chamber of Secrets," he says dismissively, waving his hand like that isn't absolutely mind-blowing information to casually drop on someone in the middle of a private breakfast. "Now that Draco knows about the Room of Requirement, there's no real reason for us to keep meeting down there. Well, except for breaking down the basilisk, but we've gotten pretty far with that already. She's kept for over a year anyway, so I doubt that we'll run into too much trouble waiting a few more weeks or months."
"... I 'ave so many concerns zat I do not even know where to start," Fleur murmurs with a laugh that borders on hysterical.
Cedric's eyes are wide with disbelief and no small amount of horror. "Wait, you really found the Chamber of Secrets? I thought that was just another wild rumor."
Harry immediately shakes his head with a wry chuckle. "These past few years have been... very strange for me. I wouldn't mind confirming or denying anything that you've heard."
Viktor and Fleur seem utterly enraptured as Cedric rattles off a long list of the rumors he's heard over the years that stuck out to him, which is a scarily long list; Harry's honestly surprised that Hufflepuffs are such gossips, and he nods along and patiently waits until Cedric is done before answering anything.
"Yes, Hermione, Ron, and I did face the troll in our first year. It was dealt with before the professors got there. Ron used the Levitation Charm to drop its club on its head. It was brilliant, really." And the fact that they aren't friends anymore doesn't change that fact. "I also absolutely killed Quirrell, though in my defense, it was in self-defense. And he was being possessed by Voldemort, so..."
Cedric looks like he's not quite sure if he wants to know whether or not the other rumors are true, but after waiting in silence for a few moments and not being asked to stop, Harry just keeps going. "I'm sure you already know the answer to this one, but I didn't try to send that snake after Justin in second year. I was asking it to stop before his panicking got him bit. Slytherin's monster was a basilisk, and everyone just got lucky enough to look into her eyes through reflections instead of directly. I was forced to kill her in second year because she wouldn't listen to me at all. She was being ordered to kill me by another shade of Voldemort. I also wasn't the one to Obliviate Lockheart. Honestly, like I could perform that spell… He wound up accidentally wiping his own memory because he tried to Obliviate me and Ron with Ron's very broken wand."
"You veren't kidding," Viktor grumbles with a disgruntled sigh. "Every single year…"
"Third year was pretty decent, all things considered?" Harry hedges with a wobbly smile.
"On what planet is Sirius Black breaking free of Azkaban and gunning for your life part of a decent year?" Cedric asks incredulously, voice pitching up in sheer disbelief. "I mean, Professor Lupin is definitely the best Defense professor we've had in a while, but even still…"
"I am still stuck on ze fact zat 'e was forced to kill a man at eleven." Fleur's wide-eyed shock is swiftly melting into molten fury that extends the claws at her fingertips into something more like miniature daggers. "Eleven. Merlin and Morganna, 'e was still a baby."
Now is probably not a good time to mention that Harry had to wrap his hands around Quirrell's throat and watch him crumble beneath his fingertips as his mother's protection burned the man to ashes. He still hears those screams in his nightmares sometimes. Instead, Harry decides to let them all in on a secret that ought to thoroughly change the subject. Partially because Fleur might just murder Dumbledore if she gets too worked up about this and partially because they're his friends. He doesn't want them to think badly of his godfather, not when he's the only adult that's ever really tried to be there for him. He messes up, who wouldn't after spending so long imprisoned and surrounded by Dementors, but he tries. That's more than Harry can say about pretty much every other adult he knows.
"Sirius is innocent." The only ones that don't fall into dead silence at that bit of news are the house elves, but considering that Dumbledore orchestrated Sirius's escape, it's hardly any surprise that they already know. "He was never a Death Eater. He wasn't my parents' secret keeper, either. That was Peter Pettigrew." A sneer tugs Harry's lips downward as he forces the name out of his mouth. "I still can't believe that no one thought it was weird that the Weasleys had the same pet rat for twelve years. He's been hiding in plain sight all this time…" He heaves out a weary sigh before muttering, "But he got away, so everyone still thinks that Sirius did it. I'll catch that damn rat eventually." He has to. In a way, he blames Pettigrew for his parents' deaths even more than he does Voldemort. Pettigrew was their friend, and he betrayed them. He's the only reason that Voldemort was able to find them in the first place. He as good as killed them himself, and all without the excuse of being on the opposite side of a war. At least not at first.
"That makes sense," Viktor murmurs with a contemplative hum. "Karkaroff always seemed confused that…" Viktor pauses then, paling as he realizes what he's accidentally revealed. "Forget that. Please."
"I already knew, Viktor. It's fine. I don't hold it against you." Viktor slumps with relief as soon as Harry says it, though he's still warily watching Cedric and Fleur from the corner of his eye.
"Your 'eadmaster is not a reflection of you," Fleur declares firmly, as if daring anyone to disagree with her. "'E could be ze most terrible Dark Lord in ze world, and I would not care. You are you. Karkaroff is Karkaroff."
"It's not like Dumbledore is all sunshine and roses either." Harry is thoroughly shocked to hear the words come out of Cedric's mouth. He's relieved, don't get him wrong, but that doesn't make it any less surprising. "I mean, everything that's happened these past few years alone… He's always conveniently out of the picture when things start getting bad. And Harry is always conveniently right in the path of danger. I… I don't like the picture that paints. I don't like that it's happening again. It almost feels like…"
"He's doing it on purpose," Harry whispers when Cedric cannot bring himself to utter the words aloud. "I… I've been thinking that more and more lately. I didn't even know that he was my magical guardian, you know? I didn't know that I was a wizard at all until I was eleven! I'm worried that he might be–"
"You is being careful about what you say in elves' earshot," Winky reprimands sharply, cutting Harry off before he can finish that sentence. She looks more nervous than angry, though. "There is being the Come and Go room for conversations like this. Shoo!"
They don't end up continuing that particular conversation after they're ushered out of the kitchens by several anxious house elves, but the weight of it weighs heavily on them all nonetheless. "Be careful," Fleur murmurs as they part ways. "I've 'eard zat forest can be quite dangerous."
She doesn't need to remind him, but Harry dips his head in a nod anyway. "I will."
It's become routine for him to meet up with Draco in the dungeons and walk through the school beneath the Invisibility Cloak with him by his side, their steps easily matching each other without a beat of hesitation, but that night is the first time following Harry's recent revelation that they have done so. It has his heart pounding in his chest every single time they brush against each other, which is inevitable when they're both crowded beneath the fabric like this, and it makes him feel quite ridiculous. It is nice, though. He feels all warm and fuzzy and just… good. Harry feels embarrassed for even thinking that.
Once he and Draco are closer to the Forbidden Forest than the castle, they slip out from underneath the cloak, holding their crystal phials up to the sky as the moonlight illuminates them. Refractions of light dance on the grass beneath their feet, and a single glance is all they need to exchange before silently undoing the Sticking Charm and spitting their mandrake leaves out into their phials. They quickly put their stoppers on them, Harry's has a red dot on it and Draco's has a green one to ensure that they don't accidentally mix them up, and slide the vials into their pockets, unwilling to risk any sort of contamination before they gather their most difficult ingredient. Other than the mandrake leaf, the ingredients all need to be added in quick succession, so everything else has to wait until they gather the dew they need.
"Ready, Harry?"
He immediately dips his head in a nod, a small, satisfied smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Yeah, let's go."
It's almost nostalgic for the two of them to be walking through the Forbidden Forest like this. Only this time, they're relying on the light of Draco's Patronus, his own would draw far too much attention, instead of guttering lanterns, and they're entering willingly instead of being all but dragged into it for detention. "If I didn't know better, Draco, I'd say you were scared," he teases lightly.
Draco scrunches his eyebrows in confusion for a few seconds, but he snorts once he realizes what Harry's talking about. "I'm not scared, Harry." His voice doesn't shake when he says it this time. "I won't run away."
They follow the gentle glow of Draco's Patronus deeper and deeper into the forest. Harry isn't sure if the lamb is warding off everything in the forest that might want to hurt them or if they're just getting tremendously lucky, but either way, they're making good progress. Towering trees stretch above their heads, and interlocking foliage blankets the earth below them in darkness. He can hear the residents of this forest moving around in the distance, but they never stray too close. "You reckon we've gone far enough?"
"Probably," Draco agrees with a quiet hum "But it's better to be safe than sorry. The last thing we need is to get caught in some sort of half-transformed state because our dew wasn't up to par." They keep walking. It isn't until they spot a small cavern off to the left that they pause, looking at each other with an eager glint in their eyes.
"A cave should add extra protection from the moonlight, and it doesn't look big enough for a person to even fit into. The forest is still really dense out here too…"
"It's perfect…!" Draco whispers with a brilliant smile. Harry swallows harshly. Merlin, can he please stop noticing how pretty his friend is for five seconds? "Come on, Harry!"
They walk just close enough to confirm that dew clings to the walls of the cave before pausing, using the Levitation Charm to float just enough dewdrops to fill their silver teaspoons with. They then carefully pour said teaspoon into their phials, and they quickly add both a single one of their hairs and the Death's-head Hawk Moth chrysalis after that. A giddy rush of excitement washes over Harry as he stoppers his phial shut, and it's contagious if the pleased laughter tumbling from Draco's lips is any indication.
"Dobby!"
"Congratulations!" Dobby cheers as soon as he pops into existence in front of them, accepting both of their phials with a wide grin. "Dobby will be putting these in the Chamber of Secrets now! Don't be wandering in the forest for too long." They don't even get the chance to say a word before Dobby pops away again, but given how vital it is that their mixtures remain undisturbed, Harry has to appreciate it this time.
"He's always been such a whirlwind," Draco mutters under his breath with an amused grin. "Come on, then. Let's get out of this forest before something really does try to eat us."
If there's anything that Harry is grateful to the Dursleys for come morning, then it's them always forcing him to get up at the crack of dawn. It makes the next part of the transformation process far easier for him to manage in secret. He rests his wand just above his heart as he murmurs, "Amato Animo Animato Animagus." This will be part of his new routine, every sunrise and every sunset, until the next thunderstorm. Waking up early enough for the chant will be easy, but he'll have to be very careful to avoid any detentions if he wants to do so every sunset as well. He knows that he can do it in front of one of his professors and just explain why he's becoming an Animagus if he really has to, but he doesn't want to reveal that particular secret unless he has no other choice.
Classes will be starting back up soon, and as Harry makes his way into the common room and sees the Creevey brothers still attempting to dismantle the charm on the 'Support Cedric Diggory' badges, an idea hits him. He quickly turns back around, grabs the badges Draco gifted him for Christmas, and places the box down in front of them. The most they've been able to do with the original badges is make them read 'Potter Really Stinks' instead of 'Potter Stinks', Draco is infuriatingly good with Charms like that, and they look like they're about to cry with relief when they peer into the box and see the new badges that he's presented them with.
"Hey Colin, Dennis! Would you two mind passing these out for me? I'll seem pretty full of myself if I do it, and everyone knows you've been messing around with the other badges so…"
"Of course, Harry!" Colin cries out, pulling out a badge and immediately affixing it to his robes. Dennis does the same. After a moment of consideration, Harry grabs one as well, switching it to say 'Strength in Unity' before pinning it to his robe, right next to the original badge that he has no intention of giving up any time soon. "I can't believe we didn't think of making new ones from scratch…"
"Don't worry about it," Harry reassures them with a chuckle. "I couldn't figure out how to make them myself if I tried. Someone else did it for me." Even if no one else can know that Draco made them, Harry has no intention of taking credit for it. There's a much more obvious conclusion for others to leap to anyway.
"One of the other champions?" Dennis asks with wide, curious eyes. Harry neither confirms nor denies that guess, but the excitable first year takes his amused smile as a yes anyway. "That's so cool! I'm really glad that they're all being nice."
"Me too, Dennis," he murmurs with a fond chuckle. "Me too. Make sure they get badges too, okay? I know they'll want them."
"Okay!"
"Oh, hey!" Colin calls out before he can make his way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. "The twins were looking for you. They seemed pretty excited about it, so maybe keep an eye out? You can never really be sure what those two are up to..."
Harry can't help snorting at Colin's worried expression. "Will do!" he promises with a laugh. "They've been helping me research for the tasks, so it probably won't end in me getting pranked. Probably..." That's just a gamble that one takes when working with the twins, but honestly, Harry wouldn't have it any other way.
He intends to search for Fred and George after getting something into his stomach, but they find him before he manages to set a single foot into the Great Hall. "Mermish!" Fred cries out from down the hall, looking quite frazzled. His hair is lightly singed around the edges, and he's got this wild look in his eyes that practically screams of a recent experiment either going disastrously wrong or being even more successful than he expected it to be. It can be pretty hard to tell which outcome is which with the twins, honestly. "We can't be completely sure but–"
"We're pretty sure that it's not screaming at all, just Mermish."
"Mermish sounds like screeching whenever it's heard above water–"
"And we've got merpeople in the Black Lake, so it makes sense, really–"
"Anyway, you should try opening the egg underwater, see if it does anything."
"It's another possibility to rule out, if nothing else," George finishes with a shrug. "Sorry Harry, we really can't be staying long. We've gotta take advantage of not having classes while we still can, but we wanted to tell you as soon as we realized."
"It's no problem!" Harry shouts as the twins dart off, blatantly ignoring the rule against running through the halls just like they do with every other rule in Hogwarts, really. "Thank you guys!"
He tells the other champions as soon as he joins them for breakfast. The Hufflepuffs sitting around them only speak louder, exchanging conspiratory smiles as they covered up their blatant cooperation from any professors' listening ears. "The twins seem pretty sure that the egg is speaking Mermish," Harry explains when the champions notice his wide grin. A quiet, thoughtful hum comes from Viktor as they all mull that thought over. "Said we should try listening to it underwater."
"Now I vish my yearmates really had thrown me overboard," Viktor mutters as he shakes his head with a chuckle. "Ve might have figured this out sooner."
"I have access to the Prefect's bathroom. I could bring my egg with me and try listening to it in the bath? It's absolutely freezing outside, and I don't want you guys getting sick by jumping into the Black Lake."
"Zat sounds like a wonderful idea, Cedric," Fleur agrees with a smile. "Zank you." She pauses, seeming to realize something before her face sets firmly into a scowl. "I almost hope zey are wrong. Swimming in February would be…" She visibly shudders. Fleur is already forced to bundle up any time she sets foot outside, and even Harry dreads the idea of jumping into a frigid lake in the winter.
That's when he realizes yet another problem that he'll be faced with if the second task truly is in the Black Lake. "Shit," Harry whispers as his heart starts pounding. "I don't know how to swim."
"I vill teach you," Viktor promises without a beat of hesitation. "I am quite good. Up in the air and in the vater are vhere I'm at my best."
Cedric takes a hard look at his housemates, who are doing their level best to pretend they're not listening to any of them even though they definitely are, and says, "If the twins are right, I'll tell you two the password and show you where the Prefect's bathroom is. Just don't get caught."
Harry salutes him with a cheeky grin. "That's what I'm best at." Stifled laughter echoes down the table, extending far beyond the champions as the Hufflepuffs give up pretending that they aren't just as invested in this conversation as the other are. There's a reason that they have any private conversations in the kitchens, but... it doesn't matter. Hufflepuffs are considered the house of loyalty and hard work for a reason. Even those who don't like Harry, personally, won't say a word, not when it would mean getting Cedric into a world of trouble too.
The next morning, Cedric slaps down a piece of parchment in front of them with a satisfied grin. They're dining in the kitchens today, mostly because the other Hufflepuffs will be upset if they know too much about the next task before they're supposed to, so it's only him, Fleur, and Viktor craning forward to read what it says.
Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching, ponder this:
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we've took,
But past an hour– the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.
"The twins were right," Cedric says, though he doesn't really need to. "It was Mermish. I honestly didn't expect such a huge hint, but I guess they want to give us a chance to actually prepare this time." He pauses for a moment before chuckling. "Not that it stopped us last time, but still."
"Ve vill definitely have to swim." Fleur grimaces at Viktor's muttered words, and Harry is right there with her. "Though I vonder what they will take…"
"The professors have to be the one taking our stuff, right? I don't see how the merpeople would get ahold of it directly." He might have to ask Draco to watch over a few things for him. The Invisibility Cloak, the Marauder's Map, and the photo album with pictures of his parents… Those are things that he would be utterly devastated by losing forever, and no one would think to look for them with Draco. It's the perfect solution, really.
"I imagine so." Fleur narrows her eyes in thought. "But Viktor's right. What can zey take from us? It's not like I brought much from 'ome…"
"Our wands, maybe?" He hates to even suggest it, but it's a possibility. "Any witch or wizard would really miss that, right? And considering that they threw dragons at us right off the bat… I wouldn't put it above them to take our wands away when we get time to prepare in exchange."
Cedric looks vaguely queasy as he considers that particular line of thought. "Oh. Oh, I didn't even think about that, Merlin. It's probably best not to focus too much on spells then, at least not exclusively. I'll do some research on any potions that might be helpful. I think there might be some sort of plant we could use as well…"
"I vill need that password if ve are going to teach Harry how to swim," Viktor reminds him, and Cedric snaps back to the present with a sheepish smile.
"Right, right... It's pine fresh right now. I'll let you know whenever it changes."
"An Invigoration Draught could 'elp us keep our energy out in ze cold…" Fleur muses with a contemplative hum. "It isn't a difficult brew. I may borrow ze Room of Requirement from time to time so I can make it."
They spend more of their breakfast planning than eating, much to the house elves' dismay, but Harry feels a lot better for doing so. As much as he loathes that he's been dragged into this competition, at least he isn't being forced to go it alone. He's not sure that he would've survived that. He's relieved that he'll never have to find out.
Something feels strange about the atmosphere of the first Care of Magical Creatures class they have after the break. Harry doesn't realize what's causing it until he joins the rest of his classmates, doing a double take when he sees an elderly witch with cropped, silver hair standing in Hagrid's place. "Um, who are you?" he asks with no small amount of trepidation.
"Professor Grubbly-Plank, your temporary Care of Magical Creatures teacher."
"But– Where's Hagrid?" Harry asks, worry churning in his gut like magma in a volcano.
"He is indisposed." Grubbly-Plank doesn't seem to have any patience for his questions, and Harry's anxiety only grows stronger by the second. What could possibly hurt Hagridenough that he couldn't come to class? He's never seen him be injured by anything before. Hell, he's pretty sure that he's never even seen him catch a cold.
The Slytherins, he notices, don't seem particularly surprised to see their new professor. That almost worries Harry as much as the concerned expression that flits across Draco's face before he forcefully schools it back into neutrality. He's definitely missing something here.
Their class follows Grubbly-Plank to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where a single, blindingly white unicorn is tethered to a tree. He vaguely wonders how on earth their professor managed to catch one. Hagrid had told him that not even werewolves are fast enough to do that, and Grubbly-Plank isn't exactly in her prime…
"Ooh!" several of the girls coo, eyes sparkling with delight.
"Oh, it's so beautiful!" Lavender gasps with a brilliant smile. It's almost enough for him to understand why the Gryffindor boys, both in his year and the year below, trip over themselves for the chance to talk to her. Almost. "I never thought I'd get to see one up close!"
The unicorn is so bright that it makes all the snow around them look dull and gray in comparison. It paws at the ground nervously with its gleaming, golden hooves, throwing its head back in warning when Lavender steps closer. Its horn looks very sharp, but there's something in its eyes, something in its gaze that hasn't left Harry for a second, that draws him in regardless. He takes a step forward before he can really think any better of it.
"Boys, keep back!" Grubbly-Plank barks sharply, throwing her arm out and catching him hard across the chest. Harry flinches back violently at the blow, heart thundering in his chest as his mind buzzes with panic, but she just keeps talking as if nothing happened at all. "They prefer a woman's touch, unicorns. Girls to the front, and approach with care… Come on now, easy does it."
But the unicorn seems quite cross when Grubbly-Plank leads the first girl toward it, whinnying as it rears up. When those golden hooves strike the ground beneath them, they send a plume of snow into the air, obscuring their vision for a scant few seconds. That's all the time it takes for the unicorn to snap the rope tying it to the tree.
It doesn't run off, though. Grubbly-Plank looks quite nervous when it takes a few slow steps toward their group, but since it seems calmer now, steps purposeful and not the slightest bit frantic, she doesn't attempt to stop it either. Their professor gapes outright when the unicorn walks straight past the group of girls gathered up front and stops in front of him.
Harry's eyes are wide with shock and awe as the stunning creature dips its head, gently resting its horn against his chest as it pulses with warm, soothing magic. He can feel the dull ache from Grubbly-Plank's blow melt away, the pain fading into nonexistence before it ever has the chance to form a bruise. It likely would have, otherwise. "Thank you," he whispers as the unicorn lifts its head. "Can I…?" He lifts a single hand in question, waiting for the unicorn to tell him that it's okay.
The unicorn presses its nose into the palm of his hand within the blink of an eye, nickering softly. Harry huffs a quiet laugh of disbelief. "Aren't you gorgeous?" he coos as his smile stretches from ear to ear. He doesn't care how much the other boys might tease him for it; this is one of the coolest things ever.
"Well, I'll be…" Grubbly-Plank murmurs softly. "In all my years, I've never… I've only seen this sort of trust in foals."
The unicorn does allow the other girls to approach it eventually, but any time Grubbly-Plank gets close, she receives a horn firmly pointed in her direction. Their temporary professor stops trying after her third attempt yielded the same results.
"I am so jealous," Draco admits to him in secret later. They don't really have to meet up anymore, not when Draco can cast the Patronus charm as easy as breathing now, but neither of them even bothers to pretend that they don't want to anyway. "I can't believe that you got to pet a unicorn. Like, it tolerated the girls, but that thing adored you."
"I bet Grubbly-Plank feels pretty dumb now," he mutters under his breath with a wry snort, and Draco's answering laugh makes him feel just as warm and fuzzy as the unicorn's healing magic did. "I just have a way with creatures, I guess…"
"I'd say. First that hippogriff, and now–" Draco's voice dies in his throat quite suddenly, and he looks like he regrets saying anything at all. The reason why hits Harry just a few moments later.
"Buckbeak is fine, don't worry! We helped him escape. Subtly, of course. The Ministry just didn't want to admit it and lose face, so they lied about it."
"I– Huh… That's… good to hear, actually. I felt like a right awful prick after all of that. I was just…" They both know that Draco was only playing up that injury to get his team out of playing Quidditch during that terrible storm. "I didn't want him to die."
"Well, he didn't, so you can stop fretting about it," Harry teases fondly, chuckling at Draco's exaggerated huff of displeasure.
"Is there no trouble that you won't stick your nose into?" Draco teases right back. "Though I suppose it was a good thing, just this once…"
"I'll have you know that I only ever get into trouble for good reasons," he protests with a playful scoff. "Seriously, I pretty much only get involved if someone will die if I don't. It's not like the professors do anything if I bring it to them, so it's not worth wasting my time trying to get them to handle it."
Draco concedes his point with a faint grimace. "Fair enough… Hey, you wanted to know what's going on with Hagrid, right?"
"Yes!" Harry cries out immediately, lurching up with desperation written all over his face. "Is he okay? Do you know what's going on?"
Draco passes over a copy of the Daily Prophet with a vaguely uncomfortable expression. "Read this."
Dumbledore's Giant Mistake
By Rita Skeeter
Albus Dumbledore, eccentric headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has never been afraid to make controversial staff appointments. In September of this year, he hired Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, the notoriously jinx-happy ex-Auror, to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. This is a decision that caused many raised eyebrows within the Ministry of Magic, given Moody's habit of attacking anyone who makes a sudden move in his presence. Mad-Eye Moody, however, looks responsible and kindly when set beside the part-human Dumbledore employs to teach Care of Magical Creatures.
Rubeus Hagrid, who admits to being expelled from Hogwarts in his third year, has enjoyed the position of gamekeeper ever since, a job secured for him by Dumbledore. Last year, however, Hagrid used his mysterious influence over the headmaster to secure the additional post of the Care of Magical Creatures professor, over the heads of several better-qualified candidates.
An alarmingly large and ferocious-looking man, Hagrid has been using his newfound authority to terrorize the students in his care with a succession of horrific creatures. While Dumbledore turns a blind eye, Hagrid has maimed several pupils during a series of lessons that many admit to be "very frightening."
"Malfoy got attacked by a hippogriff last year, and now the Blast-Ended Skrewts this year… I'm seriously considering dropping this class before I end up losing a limb," says Zacharias Smith, a fourth year Hufflepuff. "We all hate him. We're just too afraid to say anything."
Hagrid has no intention of ceasing his campaign of intimidation, however. In a previous conversation between myself and Hagrid, he admitted to breeding these "Blast-Ended Skrewts": highly dangerous hybrids of manticores and fire crabs. The creation of new breeds of magical creatures is, of course, an activity usually closely observed by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Hagrid, however, considers himself to be above such petty restrictions.
"I was just having some fun," he says, before hastily changing the subject.
As if this wasn't enough, the Daily Prophet has now unearthed evidence is not, as he has always pretended, a pure-blood wizard. He is not, in fact, even pure human. His mother, we can exclusively reveal, is none other than the giantess Fridwulfa, whose whereabouts are currently unknown.
Bloodthirsty and brutal, the giants brought themselves to the point of extinction by warring amongst themselves in the last century. The handful that remained joined the ranks of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and they were responsible for some of the worst mass muggle killings during his reign of terror.
While many of the giants who served He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named were killed by Aurors working against the Dark side, Fridwulfa was not among them. It is possible that she escaped to one of the giant communities that still exist in foreign mountain ranges. If his antics during Care of Magical Creatures is any indication, Fridwulfa's son appears to have inherited her brutal nature.
In a bizarre twist, Hagrid is reported to have a close friendship with the Boy-Who-Lived, the very one responsible for sending those who supported He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's supporters, his own mother included, into hiding. Perhaps Harry Potter is unaware of the unpleasant truth about his large friend, but Albus Dumbledore surely has a responsibility to ensure that Harry, alongside his fellow students, is warned of the dangers of associating with part-giants.
The newspaper promptly catches fire. "Delacour is turning you into a bit of a pyromaniac, you know?" Draco mutters with a wary glance in his direction. A whispered spell puts out the flames, preventing them from singing Harry's hands as the paper crumbles to ashes and stains his hands black.
"I'm going to kill her."
Draco snorts before muttering, "I'll pretend to be very shocked and concerned when Skeeter disappears."
"Seriously, she can't just–! It's not right, Draco!"
There's that vaguely uncomfortable expression again. "Guess there really is a bit of Gryffindor in you after all."
"What do you mean?" he whispers with a slight tilt of his head. "You don't… agree with her, do you?"
"Not… exactly," Draco murmurs hesitantly. "I do agree that his lessons are too dangerous for our year level, but–"
"I could say the same about Moody. And Snape, for that matter. It's not fair to single Hagrid out for it."
"You won't hear me arguing about Moody," Draco deadpans, and considering the ferret incident earlier this year, Harry isn't surprised in the slightest by that. "But Professor Snape has the lowest injury rate of any Potions teacher in Hogwarts' history."
"I feel like that's not really saying much, considering what goes on around here," he mutters under his breath. "My point is that this is an issue with Hogwarts in general, Draco, not that it doesn't happen at all. Skeeter is just using Hagrid as a scapegoat because it's easier than going after Dumbledore for it. And the fact that she's doing it through a blatant veil of bigotry and hatred really, really pisses me off. Hagrid doesn't deserve this. He's a good person."
"I didn't say that he wasn't," Draco murmurs, averting his eyes as something like guilt flashes through them. "Just that I can understand why she wrote it. This is more about the Board of Governors trying to have a bigger hand in the professors working at Hogwarts than it is about Hagrid himself."
"That doesn't stop it from ruining his life." Harry clenches his fist as burning indignation rages through him. Hagrid is… He owes Hagrid everything. If someone like Snape had shown up at the Dursleys' door, he quite imagines that they would've accepted their refusal and let Harry spend the rest of his life in abject misery. Well, maybe not, but only because he's the "Boy-Who-Lived". If he was just an ordinary boy… Harry doesn't think Hagrid would've cared. He thinks Hagrid still would've made sure he had the chance to go to Hogwarts, regardless of who he is. He refuses to let Skeeter get away with this, especially since the one she really wants is… Hm. Now there's an idea.
"... I suppose it doesn't." Draco worries at his lip, heaving out a sigh after several long, painful moments of silence. His eyes narrow as soon as he glances up and sees the expression on Harry's face. "What are you about to do? That's your plotting look."
"You'll have to excuse me!" he throws over his shoulder. "I need to go write a letter!"
"I'm not going to cover for you if you actually kill her, Harry!"
Harry barks out a laugh at that. "Oh, I won't. I'm planning something even better than that."
There's a Hogsmeade weekend in mid-January that perfectly suits his purposes. A letter is written, a deal is struck, and Harry begins to plan. There's no way to retract the information about Hagrid now that it's out there, but the best way to make people forget all about Hagrid is to give them an even bigger scandal to focus on.
And if that means airing out his own dirty laundry, then so be it. Harry is angry enough, at Skeeter; at Dumbledore; and at all the injustices in the world, to do it anyway.
"Ah, Harry, there you are!" Skeeter croons in a sickly sweet tone once the day of their meeting finally arrives. "I knew you'd come around eventually."
"Let me make one thing perfectly clear to you," Harry murmurs as Madam Rosmerta leads them into a private room, warding it so that no one can overhear them. The privacy Madam Rosmerta offers her customers is exactly why Harry chose this place to meet with Skeeter in the first place. "I am offering you the story of a lifetime. All the drama, heartache, and scandal that you can imagine. Your sales will be through the roof, and you'll forever be known as the one who sought justice for the Boy-Who-Lived." Skeeter is practically salivating at the mere thought of it. "But in exchange, you will tell this story exactly how I want you to. Feel free to add your own flair, but you will tell the truth and you will run the final story by me first. I will sue you into oblivion if you breach these terms, and you'll be lucky if you ever get the chance to write for Witch Weeklyafter I'm done with you. Are we clear?"
"Crystal," Skeeter purrs, looking for all the world like the cat that caught the canary. "Do go on."
Harry takes a deep breath, gathers his thoughts together, and begins to tell his story. "I know that many of you have wondered about my life before Hogwarts…"