Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (42 page)

Hermione said, 'Wow!' softly, but Harry and Ron both frowned in puzzlement.

'A branch of -?'

'Everlasting fire,' said Hermione irritably, 'you ought to know that by now. Professor Flitwick's mentioned it at least twice in class!'

'Well, anyway,' said Hagrid quickly, intervening before Ron could answer back, 'Dumbledore'd bewitched this branch to burn fer evermore, which isn' somethin' any wizard could do, an' so I lies it down in the snow by Karkus's feet and says, “A gift to the Gurg of the giants from Albus Dumbledore, who sends his respectful greetings.'”

'And what did Karkus say?' asked Harry eagerly.

'Nothin',' said Hagrid. 'Didn' speak English.'

'You're kidding!'

'Didn' matter,' said Hagrid imperturbably, 'Dumbledore had warned us tha' migh' happen. Karkus knew enough to yell fer a couple o' giants who knew our lingo an' they translated fer us.'

'And did he like the present?' asked Ron.

'Oh yeah, it went down a storm once they understood what it was,' said Hagrid, turning his dragon steak over to press the cooler side to his swollen eye. 'Very pleased. So then I said, “Albus Dumbledore asks the Gurg to speak with his messenger when he returns tomorrow with another gift.”'

Why couldn't you speak to them that day?' asked Hermione.

'Dumbledore wanted us ter take it very slow,' said Hagrid. 'Let 'em see we kept our promises. We'll come back tomorrow with another present, an' then we do come back with another present - gives a good impression, see? An' gives them time ter test out the firs' present an' find out it's a good one, an' get 'em eager fer more. In any case, giants like Karkus - overload 'em with information an'

they'll kill yeh jus' to simplify things. So we bowed outta the way an' went off an' found ourselves a nice little cave ter spend that night in an' the followin' mornin' we went back an' this time we found Karkus sittin' up waitin' fer us lookin' all eager.'

'And you talked to him?'

'Oh yeah. Firs' we presented him with a nice battle helmet -goblin-made an' indestructible, yeh know - an' then we sat down an' we talked.'

'What did he say?'

'Not much,' said Hagrid. 'Listened mostly. Bu' there were good signs. He'd heard o' Dumbledore, heard he'd argued against the killin' o' the last giants in Britain. Karkus seemed ter be quite int'rested in what Dumbledore had ter say. An' a few o' the others, 'specially the ones who had some English, they gathered round an' listened too. We were hopeful when we left that day. Promised ter come back next mornin' with another present…;.•

'Bu' that night it all wen' wrong.' ^:

What d'you mean?' said Ron quickly.

'Well, like I say, they're not meant ter live together, giants,' said Hagrid sadly. 'Not in big groups like that. They can' help themselves, they half kill each other every few weeks. The men fight each other an' the women fight each other; the remnants of the old tribes fight each other, an' that's even without squabbles over food an' the best fires an' sleepin' spots. Yeh'd think, seein' as how their whole race is abou' finished, they'd lay off each other, bu'…'

Hagrid sighed deeply.

That night a fight broke out, we saw it from the mouth of our cave, lookin' down on the valley. Went on fer hours, yeh wouldn' believe the noise. An' when the sun came up the snow was scarlet an' his head was lyin' at the bottom o' the lake.'

'Whose head?' gasped Hermione.

'Karkus's,' said Hagrid heavily. There was a new Gurg, Golgomath.' He sighed deeply. 'Well, we hadn' bargained on a new Gurg two days after we'd made friendly contact with the firs' one, an' we had a funny feelin' Golgomath wouldn' be so keen ter listen to us, bu' we had ter try.'

i

'You went to speak to him?' asked Ron incredulously. 'After you'd watched him rip off another giant's head?'

'Course we did,' said Hagrid, 'we hadn' gone all that way ter give up after two days! We wen' down with the next present we'd meant ter give ter Karkus.

'I knew it was no go before I'd opened me mouth. He was sitting there wearin' Karkus's helmet, leerin' at us as we got nearer. He's massive, one o' the biggest ones there. Black hair an' matchin' teeth an' a necklace o' bones. Human-lookin' bones, some of 'em. Well, I gave it a go - held out a great roll o' dragon skin - an' said, “A gift fer the Gurg of the giants —” Nex' thing I knew, I was hangin' upside-down in the air by me feet, two of his mates had grabbed me.'

Hermione clapped her hands to her mouth.

'How did you get out of that?' asked Harry.

'Wouldn'ta done if Olympe hadn' bin there,' said Hagrid. 'She pulled out her wand an' did some o' the fastes' spellwork I've ever seen. Ruddy marvellous. Hit the two holdin' me right in the eyes with Conjunctivitus Curses an' they dropped me straightaway -bu' we were in trouble then, 'cause we'd used magic against 'em, an' that's what giants hate abou' wizards. We had ter leg it an' we knew there was no way we was going ter be able ter march inter the camp again.'

'Blimey, Hagrid,' said Ron quietly.

'So, how come it's taken you so long to get home if you were only there for three days?' asked Hermione.

We didn' leave after three days!' said Hagrid, looking outraged. 'Dumbledore was relyin' on us!'

'But you've just said there was no way you could go back!'

'Not by daylight we couldn', no. We just had ter rethink a bit. Spent a couple o' days lyin' low up in the cave an' watchin'. An' wha' we saw wasn' good.'

'Did he rip off more heads?' asked Hermione, sounding squeamish.

'No,' said Hagrid, 'I wish he had.'

'What d'you mean?'

'I mean we soon found out he didn' object ter all wizards - just us.'

'Death Eaters?' said Harry quickly.

'Yep,' said Hagrid darkly. 'Couple of 'em were visitin' him ev'ry day, bringin' gifts ter the Gurg, an' he wasn' dangling them upside-down.'

'How d'you know they were Death Eaters?' said Ron.

'Because I recognised one of 'em,' Hagrid growled. 'Macnair, remember him? Bloke they sent ter kill Buckbeak? Maniac, he is. Likes killin' as much as Golgomath; no wonder they were gettin' on so well.'

'So Macnairs persuaded the giants to join You-Know-Who?' said Hermione desperately.

'Hold yer Hippogriffs, I haven' finished me story yet!' said Hagrid indignantly, who, considering he had not wanted to tell them anything in the first place, now seemed to be rather enjoying himself. 'Me an' Olympe talked it over an' we agreed, jus'

'cause the Gurg looked like favourin' You-Know-Who didn' mean all of 'em would. We had ter try an' persuade some o' the others, the ones who hadn' wanted Golgomath as Gurg.'

'How could you tell which ones they were?' asked Ron.

'Well, they were the ones bein' beaten to a pulp, weren' they?' said Hagrid patiently. The ones with any sense were keepin' outta Golgomath's way, hidin' out in caves roun' the gully jus' like we were. So we decided we'd go pokin' round the caves by night an' see if we couldn' persuade a few o' them.'

'You went poking around dark caves looking for giants?' said Ron, with awed respect in his voice.

'Well, it wasn' the giants who worried us most,' said Hagrid. We were more concerned abou' the Death Eaters. Dumbledore had told us before we wen' not ter tangle with 'em if we could avoid it, an' the trouble was they knew we was around — 'spect Golgomath told 'em abou' us. At night, when the giants were sleepin' an' we wanted ter be creepin' inter the caves, Macnair an' the other one were sneakin' round the mountains lookin' fer us. I was hard put to stop Olympe jumpin' out at 'em,' said Hagrid, the corners of his mouth lifting his wild beard, 'she was rarin' ter attack 'em… she's somethin' when she's roused, Olympe… fiery, yeh know… 'spect it's the French in her…'

Hagrid gazed misty-eyed into the fire. Harry allowed him thirty seconds of reminiscence before clearing his throat loudly.

'So, what happened? Did you ever get near any of the other giants?'

'What? Oh… oh, yeah, we did. Yeah, on the third night after Karkus was killed we crept outta the cave we'd bin hidin' in an' headed back down inter the gully, keepin' our eyes skinned fer the Death Eaters. Got inside a few o' the caves, no go - then, in abou' the sixth one, we found three giants hidin'.'

'Cave must've been cramped,' said Ron.

'Wasn' room ter swing a Kneazle,' said Hagrid.

'Didn't they attack you when they saw you?' asked Hermione.

'Probably woulda done if they'd bin in any condition,' said Hagrid, 'but they was badly hurt, all three o' them; Golgomath's lot had beaten 'em unconscious; they'd woken up an' crawled inter the nearest shelter they could find. Anyway, one o' them had a bit of English an'

'e translated fer the others, an' what we had ter say didn' seem ter go down too badly. So we kep' goin' back, visitin' the wounded… I reckon we had abou' six or seven o' them convinced at one poin'.'

'Six or seven?' said Ron eagerly. 'Well that's not bad - are they going to come over here and start fighting You-Know-Who with us?'

But Hermione said, 'What do you mean “at one point”, Hagrid?'

Hagrid looked at her sadly.

'Golgomath's lot raided the caves. The ones tha' survived didn' wan' no more ter to do with us after that.'

'So… so there aren't any giants coming?' said Ron, looking disappointed.

'Nope,' said Hagrid, heaving a deep sigh as he turned over his steak and applied the cooler side to his face, 'but we did wha' we meant ter do, we gave 'em Dumbledore's message an' some o' them heard it an' I spect some o' them'll remember it. Jus' maybe, them that don' want ter stay around Golgomath'll move outta the mountains, an' there's gotta be a chance they'll remember Dumbledore's friendly to 'em… could be they'll come.'

Snow was filling up the window now. Harry became aware that the knees of his robes were soaked through: Fang was drooling with his head in Harry's lap.

'Hagrid?' said Hermione quietly after a while.

'Mmm?'

'Did you… was there any sign of… did you hear anything about your… your… mother while you were there?'

Hagrid's unobscured eye rested upon her and Hermione looked rather scared.

'I'm sorry… I… forget it -'

'Dead,' Hagrid grunted. 'Died years ago. They told me.'

'Oh… I'm… I'm really sorry' said Hermione in a very small voice. Hagrid shrugged his massive shoulders.

'No need,' he said shortly. 'Can't remember her much. Wasn' a great mother.'

They were silent again. Hermione glanced nervously at Harry and Ron, plainly wanting them to speak.

'But you still haven't explained how you got in this state, Hagrid,' Ron said, gesturing towards Hagrid's bloodstained face.

'Or why you're back so late,' said Harry. 'Sirius says Madame Maxime got back ages ago -'

'Who attacked you?' said Ron.

'I haven' bin attacked!' said Hagrid emphatically. 'I -'

But the rest of his words were drowned in a sudden outbreak of rapping on the door. Hermione gasped; her mug slipped through her fingers and smashed on the floor; Fang yelped. All four of them stared at the window beside the doorway. The shadow of somebody small and squat rippled across the thin curtain.

'It's her!' Ron whispered.

'Get under here!' Harry said quickly; seizing the Invisibility Cloak, he whirled it over himself and Hermione while Ron tore around the table and dived under the Cloak as well. Huddled together, they backed away into a corner. Fang was barking madly at the door. Hagrid looked thoroughly confused.

'Hagrid, hide our mugs!'

Hagrid seized Harry and Ron's mugs and shoved them under the cushion in Fang's basket. Fang was now leaping up at the door; Hagrid pushed him out of the way with his foot and pulled it open.

Professor Umbridge was standing in the doorway wearing her green tweed cloak and a matching hat with earflaps. Lips pursed, she leaned back so as to see Hagrid's face; she barely reached his navel.

'So,' she said slowly and loudly, as though speaking to somebody deaf. 'You're Hagrid, are you?'

Without waiting for an answer she strolled into the room, her bulging eyes rolling in every direction.

'Get away,' she snapped, waving her handbag at Fang, who had bounded up to her and was attempting to lick her face.

'Er - I don' want ter be rude,' said Hagrid, staring at her, 'but who the ruddy hell are you?'

'My name is Dolores Umbridge.'

Her eyes were sweeping the cabin. Twice they stared directly into the corner where Harry stood, sandwiched between Ron and Hermione.

'Dolores Umbridge?' Hagrid said, sounding thoroughly confused. 'I thought you were one o' them Ministry - don' you work with Fudge?'

'I was Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, yes,' said Umbridge, now pacing around the cabin, taking in every tiny detail within, from the haversack against the wall to the abandoned travelling cloak. 'I am now the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher -'

Tha's brave of yeh,' said Hagrid, 'there's not many'd take tha' job any more.'

'- and Hogwarts High Inquisitor,' said Umbridge, giving no sign that she had heard him.

'Wha's that?' said Hagrid, frowning.

'Precisely what I was going to ask,' said Umbridge, pointing at the broken shards of china on the floor that had been Hermione's mug.

'Oh,' said Hagrid, with a most unhelpful glance towards the corner where Harry, Ron and Hermione stood hidden, 'oh, tha' was… was Fang. He broke a mug. So I had ter use this one instead.'

Hagrid pointed to the mug from which he had been drinking, one hand still clamped over the dragon steak pressed to his eye. Umbridge stood facing him now, taking in every detail of his appearance instead of the cabin's.

'I heard voices,' she said quietly.

'I was talkin' ter Fang,' said Hagrid stoutly.

'And was he talking back to you?'

'Well… in a manner o' speakin',' said Hagrid, looking uncomfortable. 'I sometimes say Fang's near enough human -'

There are three sets of footprints in the snow leading from the castle doors to your cabin,' said Umbridge sleekly.

Hermione gasped; Harry clapped a hand over her mouth. Luckily, Fang was sniffing loudly around the hem of Professor Umbridge's robes and she did not appear to have heard.