Echo | Harry Potter - George Weasley

Chapter 67: Out With a Bang

"You did everything you could," Ron assured Harry and Shaye. "No one could win against that old hag."

The group of friends were walking along the bridge that connected the castle to the path that led to Hagrid's hut. The weather was overcast and foggy, perfectly matching the overall mood of Hogwarts. 

"Even Dumbledore didn't see this coming," Hermione agreed. "If it's anyone's fault, it's ours."

Ron nodded. "Yeah, we talked you into it."

"Yeah, but I agreed," Harry said as he slowed to a stop near the end of the bridge. "I tried so hard to help, and all it's done is make things worse. Anyway, that doesn't matter anymore. Because I don't want to play anymore. All it does is make you care too much. And the more you care, the more you have to lose. So maybe it's just better to ..."

"To what?" Shaye furrowed her brows, seriously hoping Harry wasn't about to suggest giving up. 

"To go it alone," Harry answered. 

"Psst." A voice came from the end of the bridge, interrupting the conversation. Turning her head toward the voice, Shaye spotted Hagrid peeking out from behind one of the bridge pillars, beckoning them over.

Without another word, Shaye and the others walked over to Hagrid, who simply said he had something to show them and instructed them to follow.  Confused, the group did as Hagrid requested, as he had never steered them astray before—however, things did start to feel a little worrisome when he led them into the Forbidden Forest. 

"Any idea where he's taking us?" Ron asked. 

Harry shrugged. "Hagrid, why can't you just tell us?"

Hagrid remained silent, although he did stop to let a herd of centaurs rush past. The creatures were sprinting and shouting, clearly running toward or away from something. 

"I've never seen the centaurs so riled," Hagrid finally spoke. "And they're dangerous at the best of times. The Ministry restricts their territory much more, they're gonna have a full uprising on their hands."

"Hagrid, what's going on?" Hermione tried once more to get some information out of the large man. 

Hagrid sighed. "I'm sorry to be so mysterious, you four. I wouldn't be bothering you at all with it, but with Dumbledore gone ... I'll likely be getting the sack any day now. I just couldn't leave without telling someone about him."

Just then, a young-looking giant emerged from behind the thick tree trunks of the forest. "Grawpy," Hagrid called to the giant. "Down here, you great buffoon." 

Clumsily turning around, the giant, Grawpy, lunged forward and clapped his hands around a bird that had been flying past. Shaye jumped backward at the sudden movement and loud noise, her heartbeat thundering in her chest. 

"Grawpy." Hagrid shook his head disapprovingly, as one would do with a naughty toddler. "Brought you some company."

Grawpy looked down at the four students for approximately three seconds before rushing toward them, either extremely annoyed or extremely overjoyed by their arrival; it was unclear which was true and Shaye didn't exactly want to find out the hard way. 

Shaye, Harry, Hermione, and Ron started running in the opposite direction, hoping to put more and more distance between them and the quickly approaching giant. Just before Grawpy got within arm's reach, he came to a sudden halt. It was then Shaye noticed the rope tied around his waist, the other end tied to a nearby tree. 

"I couldn't just leave him, because ... because he's my brother," Hagrid explained. 

"Blimey." Ron swallowed hard.