Infinite Magic (Male Reader x Harry Potter)

The Truth About Hagrid

Everybody got up late on Boxing Day.  The Gryffindor common room was much quieter than it had been lately, many yawns punctuating the lazy conversations.  Hermione's hair was bushy again.  She confessed that she had used liberal amounts of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion on it for the ball, but it was "way too much bother to do every day".  Ron and Hermione seemed to have reached an unspoken agreement not to discuss their argument they'd had the night before.  They were being quite friendly to each other, though oddly formal.  Ron and Harry wasted no time in telling us about the conversation they had overheard between Madame Maxime and Hagrid.

YN: No shit he's half giant!  He's like twelve feet tall!

Ava: Honestly, all this hysteria about giants... they can't all be horrible, right?

Hermione: It's probably the same sort of prejudice that people have toward werewolves.  It's just bigotry.

Ron looked as though he would have liked to reply scathingly, but perhaps he didn't want another row, because he contented himself with shaking his head disbelievingly while Hermione wasn't looking.  It was time now to think of the homework we had neglected during the first week of the holidays.  Everybody seemed to be feeling rather flat now that Christmas was over.  When classes started up again, snow was still thick upon the grounds, and the greenhouse windows were covered in condensation so thick that we couldn't see out of them in Herbology.  Nobody was looking forward to Care of Magical Creatures much in this weather, though as Ron said, the skrewts would probably warm us up nicely, either by chasing us, or blasting off so forcefully that Hagrid's cabin would catch fire.  When we arrived at Hagrid's cabin, however, we found an elderly witch with closely cropped gray hair and a very prominent chin standing before his front door.

???: Hurry up, now, the bell rang five minutes ago!

Ron: Who're you?  Where's Hagrid?

Grubbly-Plank: My name is Professor Grubbly-Plank.  I am your temporary Care of Magical Creatures teacher.

Harry: Where's Hagrid?

Grubbly-Plank: He is indisposed.

Soft and unpleasant laughter reached our ears.  Draco Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins were joining the class.  All of them looked gleeful, and none of them looked surprised to see Professor Grubbly-Plank.

Grubbly-Plank: This way, please.

She strode off around the paddock where the Beauxbatons horses were shivering.  We followed her, looking back over our shoulders at Hagrid's cabin.  All the curtains were closed.  Was Hagrid in there, alone and ill?

Ava: What's wrong with Hagrid?

Grubbly-Plank: Never you mind.

Harry: I do mind, though.  What's up with him?

Professor Grubbly-Plank acted as though she couldn't hear him.  She led us past the paddock where the huge Beauxbatons horses were standing, huddled against the cold, and toward a tree on the edge of the forest, where a large unicorn was tethered.  Many of the girls gasped at the sight of the unicorn.

Lavender: Oh it's so beautiful!  How did she get it?  They're supposed to be really hard to catch!

The unicorn was so brightly white it made the snow all around look gray.  It was pawing the ground nervously with its golden hooves and throwing back its horned head.

Grubbly-Plank: Boys keep back!  They prefer the woman's touch, unicorns.  Girls to the front, and approach with care, come on, easy does it.

She and the girls, minus Ava who stayed right next to me, walked slowly forward toward the unicorn, leaving the boys standing near the paddock fence, watching.  The moment Professor Grubbly-Plank was out of earshot, Harry turned to us.