"Ahem," Hagrid practiced under his breath as he walked up the precarious path to Hogwarts. "Ahem," he repeated.
The half-giant made his way up many staircases and down many hallways, until he reached the pungent-smelling area where he knew Dobby lived.
He began to hum 'Hoggy, Hoggy, Hogwarts' as he walked down the hall so Dobby would know he was coming.
Sure enough, Hagrid saw a pair of oversized, droopy ears perk up from inside a filthy little bundle of rags.
"Welcome to my nest, sir..." Dobby said, bowing low at Hagrid's feet. When he had finished bowing, he stared at Hagrid balefully.
"So, er, Dobby." Hagrid clutched the flobberworm in his pocket, ready to thrust it at the elf as a reciprocal gift for Dobby's past efforts in locating a flobberworm for him.
"Do yeh like flobberworms much?"
"Dobby is deathly allergic to flobberworms," Dobby stated, holding out spindly, hastily bandaged bloody fingers.
Hagrid shoved the flobberworm, which was writhing noticeably in his massive pocket, to the bottom of the pocket.
"Ar, it's no problem, Dobby." Hagrid coughed nervously and shuffled on his feet. "C'mere. I want ter show yeh something."
He offered a dustbin-sized hand to the elf, who took it hesitantly, and Hagrid felt a zip of satisfaction at the little elf's touch.
The two walked, hand-in-hand, down to the Forbidden Forest, although Dobby kept slipping out of Hagrid's sweaty grasp and plummeting, body erect and flying headfirst through the air, down the steep path, where he would be halted unceremoniously by his long nose getting stuck in something. Whether it be a tree, the ground, a rock, or an unsuspecting student's hand, Dobby's nose stopped his body from falling any further.
Hagrid laughed in delight every time this happened, and Dobby always pranced back up, a sheepish look on his face. Hagrid was overjoyed at the fact that Dobby seemed to be enjoying his company again.
Once they reached the clearing before his cabin, Hagrid halted, sending Dobby flying into a tree, where his nose wedged.
"Dobby, I want ter know. Why did yeh get mad at me?" Hagrid sat on the cold, hardened ground, picking up one of the drunken photographs of him.
"Because Dobby could not bear to-"
"HIPPOGRIFF RIDE!" Hagrid bellowed, liquid sloshing down his front.
"Dobby would enjoy that," the elf stated plainly.
Hagrid grasped a Hippogriff from inside his house, sloshed another drink in his mouth, then put the elf on his head. "Grapb on tigh'" the half-giant snorted.
What will occur next....?
🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩.
