Staff of Cybele

Chapter 14: ASK HAGRID

    Dudley didn't leave Harry alone at all on Monday, the first day of classes. He changed, crawled out of the first years' dormitory and somehow found his way into Harry's before Harry himself even had a chance to wake up.

    "Help me get to the Great Hall?" he asked, not sounding at all like he was giving it any effort. "I'm never going to remember all the hidden passageways, hidden walls and all that other stuff!" he screeched, waking up Neville with a start.

    "If you wake me up again tomorrow I'm going to turn you into a female toad and stick you with Prince," said Harry groggily. "And don't think I can't," he added, watching Dudley start to smile.

    As Dudley cringed, Raides crawled out from under Harry's bed and stretched her tail and then made strange faces while she stretched her legs.

    "It's not very comfortable under there," she yawned, "but Neville kept waking up and looking at me... I think he was glad to finally wake up for the last time and get to breakfast. Go on, Neville..."

    "C'mon, Harry," squealed Dudley, "I'm hungry!"

    "Oh shut up," growled Raides, starting to walk down the spiral staircase.

    "Wait, Raides!" Ron called after her. "You're going to scare everyone. Just wait for us."

    "Fine..."

    "Not a morning lion, is she?" Ron whispered to Harry.

    Dudley took a seat on Neville's empty bed and waited impatiently while Harry and Ron changed into their school robes. When they were finished and Harry waved him over to the spiral staircase, for the first time since arriving, Dudley almost looked happy.

    Walking to the Great Hall, most students steered clear of Raides but some of them were particularly brave, mostly Gryffindor students, and said hello to her. Raides didn't mind the attention. Rather, she was happy of it. Being asleep for a few thousand years does tend to make one miss life, Harry supposed.

    While Raides was quietly sipping a bowl of milk and munching on a big plate of meat provided most likely by Hagrid, Professor McGonagall came around with course schedules. Ron looked at his and groaned.

    "Divination first!"

    Harry rolled his eyes.

    "Great," he said, annoyed. "Just what I need. Professor Trelawney telling me on my first day how I'm going to die this year."

    Dudley stared.

    "How you're what?"

    "Divination is all about predicting the future," Hermione explained after she put down her goblet. "Professor Sibyll Trelawney, the Divination teacher, is a skinny old fraud. Just about every class she tells Harry that he's going to die. I dropped that class because I just couldn't stand it. Harry," she said, turning to him, "don't tell me what it is this year. I have half a mind to send Raides up there to eat her --"

    "I don't eat humans," Raides said at once, grinning at Dudley, who recoiled in his seat, "skin isn't right. Too thin. I prefer trolls myself. You people so need to lighten up," she added irritably, noting a few stares from the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables.

    "You should probably go and stay with Hagrid while I'm at class," Harry told Raides, munching on toast. "I don't particularly think my professors, well..."

    "But I want to go with Dudley!" said Raides sarcastically, budging her scarlet tail up against Dudley's shaking arm.

    Dudley, staring uncertainly at the seven foot lion next to him, made an indistinct noise in the back of his throat, much like Neville had been known to do.

    When Harry and Ron dragged Dudley to History of Magic (a fitting first subject for him) with Professor Binns, the only ghost teacher at Hogwarts and ran to North Tower, dropping Hermione off at Arithmancy and ignoring the portait of a very strange knight, Sir Cadogan, telling them that Professor Trelawney was in a particularly bad mood, they were late.

    "Fifteen minutes late," said the bulbous-eyed-through-her-spectacles, insect-skinny Professor Trelawney in her mistiest, most annoying voice yet. She was looking quite mean. Perhaps she had had a bad morning?

    "Please, professor," started Harry, "I had to drop my cousin off at Professor Binn's class --"

    "Ah, that would be Dudley Dursley, wouldn't it?" said Professor Trelawney more kindly though still sounding rather irked.

    "Yes," replied Harry.

    Ron, having stopped dead climbing the ladder that leads into the classroom at Professor Trelawney's voice, now climbed in and sat on a pouf near the window, as far away from her as possible. This was not a normal classroom. There weren't even desks, just round tables with the odd piece of furniture hanging about.

    "I should then tell you, my dear, why I'm feeling as such." Harry looked at her as if she was mad and Professor Trelawney, so thick that she mistook it for a look of question, said, "This year, Potter, will be your best yet... and your worst yet..."

    "Really," said Harry, completely unfascinated.

    "While it will become to much to bear at some point," she went on, capturing the complete attention of Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, her two biggest -- and only -- fans, "after some later point, you will not have to experience any more until after an even later point in time when it will become far worse before it all ends, changing your life completely."

    "Really," Harry repeated, still completely unfascinated.

    "You should not look at this so lightly, my dear," said Professor Trelawney, peering at him from over the top of her spectacles, unnaturally engorging her eyes even more.

    "Yeah," said Harry, turning towards Ron and sitting on a pouf next to him, "and I'll be framed for killing Professor Dumbledore."

    She stared even more at him after this remark.

    He opened up a window, letting the air blow onto his face. Harry always felt Professor Trelawney was mad for keeping the fire in her classroom burning even during the months of May and June... especially June. She said it was for the clairvoyance. Harry said it was for making him fall asleep. Ron just had no opinion. They were both sure that Hermione would say it helped keep Professor Trelawney insane.

    "This year, my dears, we will consider the clouds, rune stones, haruspicy -- which I shall explain at a later date -- and incense. We may dabble in other forms of Divination if time permits."

    "I hope time doesn't permit," Ron whispered to Harry. "I don't like the sound of haruspicy."

    Harry nodded in agreement.

    "We will start this year by looking to the clouds," said Professor Trelawney. "Please take out A Clear Future With Clouds by Claire Pordent?"

    Taking out his books, Ron's ears went pink.

    "Harry, I promise we'll pay you back," he said in an undertone.

    So did Harry's.

    "Don't worry about it, Ron," Harry told him. "Really."

    "I think dad's going to go for that promotion his boss said he was up for."

    "Why didn't he ever go for it before?"

    "I don't know. I guess he just likes it where he is."

    "Potter! Weasley! Will you pay attention!" barked Professor Trelawney, very out of touch with her usual airy self.

    "Sorry, professor," said Harry and Ron at the same time.

    "Two points from Gryffindor."

    Lavender and Parvati turned around to glare at Harry and Ron before looking back up at Professor Trelawney.

    Cloud Scrying, as Professor Trelawney called it, wasn't like anything they had ever done before -- it was a much bigger waste of time, Harry thought.

    "Please turn to page three of your text book for cloud interpretations," Professor Trelawney told the class, "and gaze outside this window."

    All the Gryffindor seventh years gathered around the two windows in the classroom and started looking for clouds. A wide and thin one caught Harry's eye.

    "This is so stupid," Ron said, staring blankly at one particular cloud that was gray among all the white ones. "Look, it's gray and the rest are white. That means I will be helping a friend in need."

    "You will, you know," said Harry, "because the one I'm staring at looks like a camel. Lets see, that means -- page four -- page five -- where is it, then -- oh, here... 'This sign represents finding your inner strength and having the endurance to overcome difficult times as you journey through life.' What a load of crap."

    "Wait, no," said Ron suddenly, "it's changing into a feather."

    "'Feathers represent the connection between heaven and earth,'" Harry droned while reading, "'Maybe the feather is telling you that the difficulties you face need to be looked at as being as light as a feather.'"

    "Ugh."

    "The one I'm looking at isn't moving," Neville muttered.

    "Oh, that just means you're going to get rained on," Dean told him.

    "I bet it rains only on Neville when we go out to Herbology later," said Seamus.

    "Oh leave him alone," snapped Parvati.

    "What? It's cloudy out... Why do you think Professor Trelawney wanted to start Cloud Scrying today?"

    Parvati sighed loudly at the back of Ron's head while he went to look for another cloud.

    "Look," he said, "that one looks like a feather, too."

    "No it doesn't," said Harry, "that's a leopard."

    "Courage, fearlessness and control," said a misty voice right behind Harry, making him jump. "Yes, my dears," said Professor Trelawney mysteriously.

    Neville hadn't gotten rained on the entire day and over the next few days, Harry had noticed something very strange: Dudley had made friends with a few Slytherins from his year, one particular one being fat and chubby that reminded Harry of Crabbe and Goyle, Draco Malfoy's heavyset bodyguards who were just as stupid as they were mean.

    "You don't really think we messed up the Sorting Hat, do you?" asked Hermione cautiously over breakfast one lazy Friday, two weeks into September. Dudley was now talking to Malfoy like they were best friends. This scared Harry. "What do you think, Raides?"

    Raides tore off the meat sticking out her mouth with her sharp claws and said, "No, of course not," very quickly and very not fooling anyone: she wasn't exactly sure either.

    "So then he should have been in Slytherin,," said Ron, glancing up at Harry and then Hermione before sticking his fork in his mouth.

    "Of course!" shouted Hermione, making a few heads turn in her direction. "I mean, look at him," she then said more quietly. "He's the only Gryffindor who has ever made friends with a Slytherin!"

    "You do realize, Hermione, that Dudley only needed to stay friendly with Harry long enough to meet other people. And then if he was really Slytherin, he would make friends with Harry's enemies and stop pretending to be friends."

    "But how could anyone be so mean!" said a very disgusted Hermione.

    "Hey," said Harry simply, holding a forkfull of eggs halfway between his plate and his mouth, "this is Dudley we're talking about," and then, without thinking twice about Dudley's actions, he stuffed it into his mouth and ate meaningfully.

    "He's right you know," said Raides, trying to take the blame off herself.

    "D'you think we should tell anyone?" said Hermione, "Like Professor Dumbledore?"

    "Are you mad?" said Ron hotly. "That would be great. 'Oh, Professor Dumbledore, I think we messed up the Sorting Hat when it went to sort Harry's cousin. Can you change him to Slytherin?' Just leave him. What can possibly go wrong? And besides, who cares. Dumbledore still hasn't said what Hogwarts is doing this year!"

    "Speaking of which, I overheard Professor Vector talking to Professor McGonagall about it when I went to report a few first year Slytherins for sneaking out at night."

    She had Ron hanging over her every word, his mouth hanging open. After a few seconds --

    "And?" he said eagerly, waving her on.

    Grinning, Hermione changed to a frown and added, "And I still have absolutely no idea what it is and Dumbledore isn't announcing it for a while. Professor McGonagall didn't exactly say when but she did say something about it being worth the one twenty galleons you'll have to pay..."

    That last bit of news seemed to darken Ron's mood and it was probably the reason Ron's parents didn't tell him any more than that something big was going to happen. Harry and Hermone silently agreed they shouldn't have said anything. It didn't look like Ron could ever afford to go.

    "Bloody hell!" Ron screeched. "Twenty galleons?" Harry knew he was upset because he'd never be able to go on account of not being able to afford twenty galleons... "Thank's Hermione. That's everything I wanted to know," he said angrily.

    "Come on," said Harry, "we'll be late for Double Potions."

    "What a crime that would be."

    "Feeling so very sarcastic this morning, aren't you?"

    "Don't know what you're talking about..."

    Harry, Ron and the rest of the Gryffindor seventh years and the Slytherin seventh years slowly leaked out of the Great Hall into the vast entrance hall and descended a stone staircase leading into the dark dungeons for Potions. Potions hadn't been so horrible now that Snape was no longer teaching and Professor Arabella was.

    "Today is a new type of potion," she was saying, "one you haven't made before. I must warn you to take extra caution. While there were cures for the other potions, this one can hurt quite a bit. Now, don't ask me why but the Ministry of Magic wishes Potions classes to cover exploding potions."

    Several faces lit up. Malfoy turned to Harry to give him his usual cold sneer.

    "I'd sooner teach plant-growth potions but strangely enough, you learn those in Herbology. I should probably also let you know that we're going to be working with some pretty grotesque ingredients in a very short time so for those of you with weak stomachs, prepare now," said Professor Arabella, grinning pointedly at Malfoy.

    She wrote up the ingredients on the blackboard, making sure to write BOIL FOR NO MORE THAN TWO MINUTES in nice, big letters, warning that the resulting potion would explode when someone tried to pour it in a bottle. They were only supposed to explode when said bottle breaks.

    "These are very, very weak forms of the ones that have any practical uses," she went on. "Such uses include taking down buildings and killing certain beasts that don't respond to magic. And mind you, it takes quite a bit of punch to hurt a dragon. Come on now, two at a cauldron. Miss Granger, please pair up with Longbottom."

    After fourty minutes, Malfoy, who thought he could make his a bit stronger by adding more brimstone, went paler than usual when he was met in the face with an explosion, singing his eyebrows, when he went to pour his and Crabbe's into a goblet.

    "Ten points from Slytherin, Mr. Malfoy," said the professor, performing a charm to restore Malfoy's face to it's former (horrible) glory.

    "Maybe Hagrid would tell us," Ron suggested later that night in the common room, late at night when everyone but them had cleared. Ron had been going on about Dumbledore's announcement for a long time. "I'm just dying to know. I mean, how much money does something have to be for Hogwarts to almost not be able to afford it?"

    "He's not going to," Hermione insisted.

    "Hermione, if I'm going to scrape up twenty galleons for something, I need to start as soon as possible," he said angrily, staring down Hermione who exchanged a nervous glance with Harry. "And I need to know if it's even worth it."

    Hermione looked at Harry, who shrugged.

    "All right," she said, giving in. "But you should let me go ask him. There's a bigger chance he'll tell me alone."

    "Can we come under the Invisibility Cloak?" Ron asked, knowing Hermione's answer was going to be --

    "No. Are you that impatient?"

    Rolling his eyes, Harry said, "What's the harm?"

    Hermione sighed and thought about it for few seconds. Harry could see the thinking gears going on in her head while she formed a conclusion, Ron waiting with bated breath. Harry couldn't see why Ron wanted to know so much but tried to sympathize. If for any reason Ron couldn't find twenty galleons (Harry doubted that he ever would), Harry would be more than happy to pay for him.

    "Fine, but if you make one sound he's going to know you're there and that I'm lying to him and then for that, so God help me I will have your neck. Got it?" Hermione said very quickly.

    Ron nodded.

    "So, when?" he asked.

    Hermione took a deep breath.

    "I'm supposed to go see him every Friday after dinner, so --"

    "Hermione," Ron said gruffly, "you kept telling us you were in the library and when we went to the library to look for you, you said that you were in the commons." Hermione's horribly guilty face smiled weakly. "What for?"

    "Professor McGonagall asked me to help him plan his lessons with third years and up. We'll go ask him next Friday."

    Ron was very impatient over the next week, not caring much when he almost blew his hand up with his exploding potion. The class was testing them during a Care of Magical Creatures class when Hagrid brought in salamanders.

    "Blimey Ron, if yeh value yer limbs," said Hagrid, a very serious look on his face, "don' throw yer goblet up in the air an' catch it. Yeh're lucky you an' Harry didn't make yer potion correctly."

    Hermione threw hers at a salamander, causing a great big explosion. The fire-loving lizard, on the other hand, didn't care. Neither did Ron. He was impatiently waiting for the Friday of that week and eventually, it did come.

    "Can we go now?" Ron asked for the hundredth time.

    "I'm not leaving while I'm still hungry, Ron. You can wait," Hermione told him again. "And besides, I have to wait for him to go back to his hut."

    "Go where?" asked Ginny as she came over, sneaking up behind Hermione.

    "Oh -- er -- nowhere," said Ron quickly.

    "If it's nowhere then how come you're in such a rush to get there?" Ginny said, now sitting down beside her brother.

    Ron looked at Hermione, giving her a very distressed looked. They couldn't talk about it with Ginny listening in.

    "It's nothing, Ginny. It's just that Ron wanted me to show him something," Hermioned lied. She grudingly stuffed the last bit of food from her plate into her mouth and looked up at Hagrid, who was still happily eating, engaged in conversation with Professor McGonagall. "We'll go soon, Ron," she said sharply. "Keep your shirt on."

    Ron stared at Hagrid without noticing it up until Hagrid left. He passed by Ron, asking him if there was any food on his beard ("I told you he noticed you staring at him," said Harry). When Ron said no, Hagrid gave him a weird look, nodded to Hermione and shuffled out of the Great Hall.

    Ron beamed at her and a minute later, Hermione was leading Harry and Ron, covered by the Invisibility Cloak down to Hagrid's ("If you two get stuck inside, I'm leaving you on your own!" Hermione hissed up in Harry's dormitory, speeding past Dudley). It was quite a small hut, made up entirely of wood, sitting next to the forbidden forest. There was, however, a large bed covered with a patchwork quilt and armchairs so large that Harry's feet dangled off the edge.

    Hermione knocked and Hagrid's boarhound, Fang, answered with barks and scrapings on the front door.

    "Down, Fang!" Hagrid ordered. "Yer food's tha' way! Hello, Hermione!"

    And before Hagrid had a chance to close the door, Ron dragged Harry in and they sat down in a corner, out of sniff of Fang, who was eating something happily in the opposite corner.

    "So --" started Hagrid...

    "Before we get started," Hermione cut in, "I just wanted to know, do you know what Hogwarts is doing that's supposed to be so secret?"

    Hagrid's smile immediately dissolved behind his tangled beard. "Er -- I'm not supposed ter tell yeh that, you know that. Nope, nothin' doin', Hermione. Maybe next -- er, well, let's get on with th' lesson, plans?"

    Ron cursed under his breath, causing Harry to hit his forearm to shut him up. Hermione swiveled her head around the room, knowing she couldn't see them if she wanted to anyway.

    And so Harry and Ron sat there, huddled in a corner, making no noise for a long time while Hagrid and Hermione talked about lesson plans concerning baby trolls, unicorns, puffskeins, baby dragons, flobberworms and becoming so stiff that if Harry even tried to move his leg, it wouldn't obey. Halfway through, Ron complained that his leg cramped up, making a very difficult situation when he had to stretch it out long enough to get rid of the cramps. And when Hagrid opened the door, Hermione stepped aside, letting Ron drag Harry back towards the castle. It was a complete waste of two hours.

    Back in the commons when everyone had left, Harry didn't think Ron would ever stop asking Hermione --

    "Why didn't you at least try to push him on it! C'mon Hermione!" he said desperately.

    "Look, Ron," said Harry firmly, turning to him, "if you can't afford -- yes I said the 'A' word -- I'll pay for the both of us."

    "No, Harry. You already paid for my books and we haven't even paid you back for that."

    "If it's as good as your parents are saying it is, don't you want to go?" Harry asked, wondering why outloud about "why wouldn't you want to go? Or d'you want to sit here and rot, missing out on a once in a lifetime opportunity?"

    "Fine," Ron muttered.

    "What's that? Didn't catch it," Harry said, grinning.

    "I said fine," said Ron loudly, spinning around and feeling uneasy about Harry paying for him -- again.

    "He just wants you to go," Hermione assured Ron.

    "Don't you get on my case now, too," Ron snapped.

    "Well I have homework to do, and so do you two," Hermione said matter-of-factly, turning on her heal and walking towards the spiral staircase.

    "What's her problem?" Ron said, looking uncertainly after her.

    "You know, I think she likes you," Harry said, staring uncertainly after Hermione as well, and then turning his eyes to look sideways at Ron.

    "What? Of course she does," said Ron at once, sitting on an armchair by the fire, "otherwise we wouldn't be friends."

    "No, no. I don't mean just like friends." Harry had the sudden feeling the feeling was mutual when Ron went as red as the phoenix feather quill Harry was holding. "She would never have lied in front of Hagrid. Why do you think she didn't push him on answering? She only went for you and then felt guilty when Hagrid said no. It's so obvious."

    Ron pulled a Hermione and stormed up the spiral staircase to the top of Gryffindor tower towards the seventh years dormitory. After a good minute of asking himself if he should have mentioned that, Harry went up, too.

    "Don't talk to him," said Raides as Harry entered. "I asked him why he was looking so sour and he told me it was because he ate a sour pill, coupled with a cup of sour milk and some spiders. Kid's not making any sense..."

    "He's becoming sarcastic in his old age," said Harry, laughing, putting down his jewelry on his bedside table, changing into pajamas and climbing into his four-poster.

    The thought of Ron and Hermione getting together forced a memory of Cho to Harry. It was Hermione's doing that got them together in the first place. If she hadn't practically forced him to spend a night in Hogsmeade with her...