Drarry Soulmates AU

Slugs, Slugs and... More Slugs

As they get within twenty feet of Hagrid's hut when the front door opens and Gilderoy Lockhart walks out, mauve wearing robes today "Quick, behind here." Harry hisses dragging the others behind a nearby bush. "It's a simple matter if you know what you're doing! If you need help, you know where I am! I'll let you have a copy of my book. I'm surprised you haven't already got one, I'll sign one tonight and send it over. Well, good-bye!" Lockhart says loudly before walking off. Harry waits until Lockhart is out of sight before pulling Ron out of the bush and up to Hagrid's front door, knocking urgently. Hagrid appears at once looking grumpy, but his brightening up when he sees the group of four "Bin wonderin' when you'd come ter see me. Come in, come in, thought you mighta bin Professor Lockhart back again." he tells them. Harry and Draco support Ron into the hut, Harry explaining what happened as they sit Ron down "Better out than in. Get 'em all up, Ron." Hagrid tells Ron, putting a large bucket in front of Ron. "I don't think there's anything to do except wait for it to stop. That's a difficult curse to work at the best of times, but with a broken wand..." Hermione trails off. "Need to throw that wand away Ron, especially now you have a new one." Draco tells his friend. Ron nods, cringing when more slugs come pouring out his mouth.

Fang walks over to Harry and plops his head on his lap "What did Lockhart want with you, Hagrid?" Harry asks, scratching Fang's ears. "Givin' me advice on gettin' kelpies out of a well. Like I don' know. An' bangin' on about some banshee he banished. If one word of it was true, I'll eat my kettle." Hagrid responds, surprising the four children as he'd never criticised a teacher before. "I think you're being a bit unfair. He wouldn't have got the job if he wasn't qualified." Hermione says. "He was the on' man for the job. An' I mean the on' one. Gettin' very difficult ter find anyone fer the Dark Arts job. People aren't too keen ter take it on, see. They're startin' ter think it's jinxed. No one's lasted long fer a while now. So tell me, who was he tryin' ter curse?" Hagrid asks, motioning to Ron. "Nott called Hermione something, it must've been really bad because everyone went wild." Harry tells him. "It was bad, Nott called her 'Mudblood,' Hagrid." Ron says, diving back out of sight as a wave of slugs hit him again. Hagrid looks outraged "He didn'!" he exclaims. "He did, but I don't know what it means. I could tell it was really rude, of course." Hermione says. "It's about the most insulting thing he could think of. Mudblood's a really foul name for someone who is Muggle-born...you know, non-magic parents. There are some wizards, like Nott's family, who think they're better than everyone else because they're what people call pure-blood. I mean, the rest of us know it doesn't make any difference at all. Look at Neville Longbottom, he's pure-blood and he can hardly stand a cauldron the right way up." Draco explains. "An' they haven't invented a spell our Hermione can' do." Hagrid adds making Hermione blush, as Hagrid puts a plate of treacle fudge on the table.

"It's a disgusting thing to call someone. Dirty blood, see. Common blood. It's ridiculous. Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway. If we hadn't married Muggles we'd've died out." Ron says, retching and ducking out of sight again. "Well, I don' blame yeh fer tryin' ter curse him, Ron. Bu' maybe it was a good thing yer wand backfired. 'Spect Francis Nott would've come marchin' up ter school if yeh'd cursed his son. Least yer not in trouble." Hagrid tells him, Harry goes to speak but feels his teeth stuck together by Hagrid's treacle fudge. Ron groans as another mouthful of slugs pours out "Harry. Gotta bone ter pick with yeh. I've heard you've bin givin' out signed photos. How come I haven't got one?" Hagrid asks. Harry wrenches his teeth apart "I have not been giving out signed photos! If Lockhart's still spreading that around-" he starts but stops as Hagrid laughs. "I'm on'y jokin', I knew yeh hadn't really. I told Lockhart yeh didn' need teh. Yer more famous than him without tryin'." Hagrid tells him, patting his shoulder. "Bet he didn't like that." Harry responds. "Don' think he did. An' then I told him I'd never read one o' his books an' he decided ter go. Treacle fudge, Ron?" Hagrid asks. "No thanks. Better not risk it." Ron tells him weakly. Hagrid nods before smiling 9Come an' see what I've bin growin'." he tells them. They all stand up and follow Hagrid out to his vegetable patch finding a dozen of the largest pumpkins they had ever seen, each the size of a large boulder "Gettin' on well, aren't they? Fer the Halloween feast...should be big enough by then." Hagrid smiles. "What've you been feeding them?" Harry asks. Hagrid looks over his shoulder to make sure that they're alone "Well, I've bin givin' them...you know...a bit o' help..." Hagrid explains, motioning to his pink umbrella. "An Engorgement Charm, I suppose? Well, you've done a good job on them." Hermione says, half was between amusement and disapproval. "That's what yer little sister said. Met her jus' yesterday." Hagrid tells Ron.

The group of four head back up to the castle just before lunch, Harry having not eaten one piece of treacle fudge since since dawn. Ron finally stops vomiting slugs, only hiccuping a few small ones up every few minutes "There you are, Harry, Ron. You will both do your detentions this evening." Lily tells them as they walk into the entrance way. "What're we doing?" Ron asks, trying to hold back slugs. "You will be polishing the silver in the trophy room with Mr. Filch. And no magic, Ron, elbow grease. And you, Harry, will be helping Professor Lockhart answer his fan mail. Sorry sweetie, I'm not the one who chose the detentions." Lily tells them. "Oh no, mum, can't I go and do the trophy room, too?" Harry asks her desperately. "Professor Lockhart requested you particularly. Eight o'clock sharp, both of you." Lily responds. Ron puts a hand over his mouth, trying to hold back some more slugs "Are you alright Ron?" Lily asks him in concern. "He tried to curse Nott, using his old wand by accident and it back fired." Harry explains. "Why on earth was he trying to curse Mr Nott?" Lily asks. "He called Hermione a Mudblood." Draco responds. "He what?! I'll make sure he gets punished for that Hermione. Honestly, you'd have thought that prejudices like that would have died out by now." Lily says, shaking her head with an annoyed look on her face.

James walks out the great hall and over to the group "What's wrong?" he asks. "A curse backfired on Ron because he forgot to take his broken wand out his pocket." Lily explains. "Ooo, you alright Ron?" James asks. Ron nods "Not as bad anymore." he responds. "He was trying to curse Mr Nott for calling Hermione a Mudblood." Lily tells James. James gets a look on his face that the children can't quite decipher "Don't you dare listen to him Hermione." he tells her, making her nod. "Okay, you four get to lunch. We'll talk to Severus about Mr Nott's punishment." Lily tells them. The four nod and head into the great hall "Filch'll have me there all night. No magic! There must be about a hundred cups in that room. I'm no good at Muggle cleaning." Ron complains. "I'd swap anytime, I've had loads of practice with the Dursleys. Answering Lockhart's fan mail...he'll be a nightmare." Harry groans. "You'll be alright Bambi, just think about coming back to the common room once it's over." Draco smiles, taking his hand. Harry smiles and leans on Draco's shoulder "I'll try Dragon." he responds. "Good." Draco nods.