All I Have Left

Chapter Seventy Five

TRIGGER WARNING: Alcohol use, partying, and inappropriate language (no smut, though).

Hagrid had come back to Hogwarts, all beat up and ragged looking. 

Apparently, Hermione, Ronald, and Harry went to go visit him the night he had gotten back, since they saw him from the Gryffindor common room. 

Hagrid had told them how he went to the mountains to seek out giants with Madam Maxine, which was a very dangerous mission, and they found out that the giants were working for Voldemort. He refused to tell the trio how he got all of those injuries, and kept shrugging it off. They also had said that Professor Umbridge came right away to check up on him, and I was glad I wasn't there.

So, today was the first Care for Magical Creatures lesson with Hagrid back, and I trudged down to his Hut with my bag slung around my shoulder, robes dragging along below me. I was walking with Daphne and Blaise, whose fingers were intertwined, Malfoy, Astoria, Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy in front of us. 

I refused to walk with Malfoy anymore, Daphne knowing this, so she told Astoria to keep him away from me at all times. It wasn't like it was a hard task; Malfoy seemed scared of me, walking past me warily in the corridors and staring at me fearfully in Divination.

We all approached the edge of the forest, where Hagrid stood, beaming.

"We're workin' in here today!" Hagrid announces excitedly. "Bit more sheltered! Anyway, they prefer the dark..."

"What prefers the dark?" Malfoy asks his posse worriedly. "What did he say prefers the dark- did you hear?"

I rolled my eyes and continued walking, annoyed. Daphne and Blaise followed me towards Ronald, who had grown to be okay around them, not glower at the pair, and he came to the realization that they weren't bad people.

"Ready?" Hagrid asks happily. "Right, well, I've bin savin' a trip inter the forest fer yer fifth year. Thought we'd go an' see these creatures in their natural habitat. Now, what we're studying today is pretty rare, I reckon I'm probably the on'y person in Britain who's managed to train 'em-"

"And you're sure they're trained, are you?" Malfoy asks, panicked, and I scoffed. "Only it wouldn't be the first time you'd brought wild stuff to class, would it?"

Some Slytherins murmured in agreement, Blaise opening his mouth, but Daphne elbowing him sharply, giving Ronald a careful look.

"'Course they're trained." Hagrid insists, scowling, looking offended. 

"So what happened to your face then?" Malfoy asks persistently. 

"Mind yer own business!" Hagrid demands. "Now if yeh've finished askin' stupid questions, follow me!" 

We all followed behind Hagrid, walking throughout the forest and listening to Malfoy's snide comments about the class, and I inhaled sharply to help prevent myself from hexing his head off his body. 

Eventually, we found ourselves deep into the Forbidden Forest, Hagrid beaming happily.

"Gather 'round, gather 'round." Hagrid orders encouragingly. "Now, they'll ne attracted by the smell o' the meat but I'm going ter give 'em a call anyway, 'cause they'll like ter know it's me..."

He turned away and ran a hand through his messy and dirty hair, looking through the forest before letting out a loud animal cry, almost sounding like he was shrieking, and every student in the class jumped back. 

He repeated his actions once more, and after waiting a few more minutes, he let out the animal cry again, and we all stood there, watching the trees rustle.