Renewed Beginnings

RB5

Once they were both seated and had begun to eat, Hagrid knew he could no longer avoid the inevitable. He sighed, and began. "Well, you've been honest with me. Now it's my turn. I told yeh most of the stuff about the mission itself. I s'pose it's time I told yeh the rest o' the story, the part about Olympe - tha's Madame Maxime's firs' name - an' me."

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"I told yeh the part about how I met Olympe when she came ter Hogwarts fer the Triwizard Tournament. What I didn' tell yeh was that I was a bit taken with her the moment I saw her. I could tell righ' away tha' she was half giant, too, yeh see, an' I thought, havin' tha' in common, we oughta get on well together."

Hagrid's eyes took on a faraway look as he talked, as if he were traveling back in his mind to that time. "Well, I did ever'thin' I could think of to try to win her over. I even tried wearing some o' tha' fancy cologne an' slicking down me hair." He chuckled, and patted his hair self-consciously at the memory. "In short, I made a ruddy fool o' meself. Thin's seemed ter be goin' alrigh' 'til the night o' the Yule Ball."

Hagrid sighed, and a sad look came over his face. "Tha' was the nigh' I decided ter ask her abou' her giant blood. Tha' turned out ter be a mistake. She got real upset. 'I don't know what you are talking about,' she says ter me. 'I don't 'ave giant blood. I just 'ave beeg bones!' she says, an' then she went off in a right state. Well, she wouldn' even talk ter me fer a while after tha', I tell ya.

"After the Triwizard Tournament was over, after You-Know-Who 'ad come back, Professor Dumbledore called Olympe an' me both inter his office ter ask us ter go on tha' mission ter try ter recruit the giants fer the figh' agains' You-Know-Who. Naturally, this was more importan' than any differ'nces between us, so we both agreed.

"We 'ad a long journey up inter the Highlands ahead of us, an' yer jest can' carry on a journey like tha' in complete silence fer too long. We started talkin', an' Olympe fin'ly confided in me. I 'ad s'prised her when I asked her 'bout her giant blood straigh' out like tha'. Her folks marriage wasn' fer love like mine, see. Turns out, she was half-giant, but her dad 'ad kidnapped her mum, and taken her as pris'nor, of sorts. Her mum 'ad bin rescued by her family before Olympe was born, but she never let her forget how the giants 'ad treated her. So Olympe grew up feeling shame fer her giant blood, an' tried to always keep it hidden.

"After tha' was cleared up, well, the res' o' the journey was a good bit more relaxed, at leas' as far as the talkin an' stuff. Turned out, we 'ad a lot in common, me an' Olympe did. She loves magical creatures 'bout as much as I do. She took a lot o' teasin' comin' up, cause o' her giant blood, too, jest like me. She's the Headmistress over at tha' fancy French school, has bin fer years, but she still gets owls all the time from parents questionin' her 'bout her blood, 'cause o' her size an' all. Thin's were lookin' better again, an' I started thinkin' it migh' work out, after all. Then we got ter where the giants were." Hagrid's face darkened, and he got up to fix himself a drink before continuing.

"I told yeh abou' this part o' it. Abou' how we went ter the Gurg (yeh remember? The chief?) with the gif's Dumbledore 'ad sent, and how it seemed ter be goin' alrigh' 'til tha' other one killed him an' took over. An' abou' how he was frien'ly with the Death Eaters, an' we was almos' captured an' killed ourselves. I told yeh, too, abou' us havin' ter hide out in the caves, an' tryin' ter recruit as many as we could of the ones tha' didn' agree with this new Gurg, Golgamath.

"Well, while we was searchin' the caves, we came across this one giant, Grawp, they said his name was. With the help o' one o' the giants that 'ad some English ter him, we found out that Grawp was me very own half brother! Can yeh imagine? After all this time, I fin'ly had some fam'ly again! We also found out tha', being on'y sixteen feet tall, he was always bein' picked on an' beaten up. We 'ad already found out my mum had died years an' years ago, so he 'ad nobody ter protect him. Well, I couldn' jest leave him there!

"When we got ready ter leave, I went back ter where Grawp was hiding, an' tried ter make him understan' what I was gonna do, but, as he didn' know any English, an' I didn' know how ter speak Giant, that was pretty useless. I fin'ly jest gave up explainin', an' tied a rope ter him, an' started tryin' ter lead him outta the caves. He wasn' none too happy 'bout tha', I can tell ya! He didn' wanna leave the on'y place he knew as home.

"Olympe wasn' real happy when she saw I was bringin' Grawp with me, either, but she didn' say anythin' at firs'. She complained, o' course, 'bout his constant struggle ter go back ter his home slowin' us down, an' 'bout him always fightin' me when I got near him. I tried ter make her understan' tha' he'd settle down once he got used ter me an' all. I don' think she b'lieved me, though.

"We'd made it prob'ly 'bout halfway back when it 'appened. Olympe fin'ly lost all patience with Grawp, an' with me, I guess. She told me tha' if I wanted ter keep travelin' with her, I'd have ter set Grawp loose an' let him go back. I couldn' b'lieve what I was hearin'. This was my fam'ly, an' she wanted me ter jest let him loose on his own ter go back an' prob'ly be killed! I told her tha' there was no way I was gonna do tha', an' we wen' our separate ways from there.

"I haven' heard anythin' from her since I got back, an' I don' 'spect I will. I guess we were more diff'ren' than I though'. I couldn' have someone who couldn' accept me an' my fam'ly jest the way we are."

"So, there yeh have it. Tha's the whole story. I s'pose, if Olympe hadn't reacted like tha' ter my bringin' Grawp back with us, we mighta started ter try ter build a deeper relationship, but after tha', well, I jest couldn', yeh understan'?"

When Hagrid finished speaking, he got up once more and placed a fresh pot of tea over the fire. Anxious to hear Catherine's reaction, he tried to busy himself as she contemplated all that he had said. He turned to look at her as she spoke.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I just needed to know if she still meant anything to you. I have my answer now." Catherine smiled again, then got up and walked over to where he stood. She took him by surprise when she wrapped her arms around him, or at least, as best she could, and rested her head against him. Being just over five feet tall, her head barely reached above his navel. "So, when do I get to meet Grawp?" she asked.

Hagrid stood there for a moment, completely caught off guard, then wrapped his arms around her, a huge grin on his face.