enchanted • draco malfoy

Year 5: Hagrid's Back

 Felicity's POV

Mrs. Weasley invited Neville and me, along with Mione and Harry, over to Grimmauld Place for Christmas Eve dinner. Nev, unfortunately, was already going to Seamus', but told me to bid everyone a Happy Christmas for him. Mione slept over the night before and we used Floo powder to get to the headquarters.

We stepped out of the fireplace and almost instantly, a flying Santa Claus figure on a broomstick flew into the side of my head. "Ow!" I gasped, rubbing my temple. I looked up to see the twins, George with his eyes wide and Fred holding back laughter. I gave them a look before Fred burst out laughing at the same time George blurted, "We're sorry, Fel!" I glared at Fred. "Nice to know one of you cares," I muttered. Mione coughed behind me, presumably to choke back laughter, and I rolled my eyes. "Let's go," I said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her to Ron's room.

We opened the door, only to find them both asleep. Hermione and I exchanged looks and sighed in unison. "Boys!" Mione yelled loudly, "Wake up!" I walked over and ripped the covers off of Ron, who shot straight up, and Harry, who fell on the floor. "It's two in the goddamn afternoon, get your arses out of bed," I told them sternly. They both sat up, groaning, and I almost felt bad for Harry. He had dark circles under his eyes.

I remember what he'd told me and Mione a week ago: he'd had a dream, and in that dream Arthur Weasley was gravely injured by a huge serpent. None of the Weasley's were at school the next day.

Today was Arthur's first day back home. At 5 o'clock, we all gathered in the dining room, whose table was bedecked with at least a dozen different foods. We sat down and made small talk, waiting for Mr. Weasley. 5 minutes later, with a loud crack, Arthur and Molly apparated at the head of the table. We all jumped, before Molly said cheerfully, "Daddy's back!"

Everyone, which included all the Weasley's, Alana, Mione, Harry, and myself cheered.

As soon as everyone was seated, Molly suggested we open presents. I was about to turn to Harry, only to find him absent. Before I could wonder where he was, Hermione passed a wrapped box to me. She, and everyone else, for a matter of fact, had a matching one. I already knew what it was and grinned. I tore open the paper to reveal my very own sweater, embroidered with an 'F'. "Thank you, Molly," I laughed, tugging it on over my shirt.

Ron looked absolutely mortified as he pulled his out, his cheeks turning the color of his hair. He cast a glance over to Mione, who was hiding her smile behind her hand. I averted my gaze over to the doorway, where Harry emerged, eyes cast downwards.

"Oh, Harry!" Mrs. Weasley engulfed Harry in one of her famous hugs as he smiled politely. Arthur lifted his glass up, and everyone followed suit. I noticed Sirius Black leaning up against the door frame behind Harry, lifting up his own drink. "A Christmas toast. To Mr. Harry Potter... without whom I would not be here," Arthur toasted. "Harry," we all echoed, clinking glasses. "Harry," Sirius chimed in afterwards.

Dinner was superb. Almost better than the Hogwarts feasts, Molly had truly gone all out. I ate until I felt like I was gonna explode while discussing attractive Quidditch players with Ginny, Alana, and Mione. Afterwards, Ron, Harry, Mione, and I decided to venture up to our adjoined rooms.

"I can't understand why you don't want to wear it, Ronald," Hermione stated with a smile, gesturing to the 'R' jumper balled up in his hands. "I look like a bloody idiot, that's why," he grumbled. "No more than usual, Ron," I said, patting him on the back. He shook off my hand with a frown as Mione laughed.

~*~

The next week, we went back to Hogwarts. I'd been wanting to see Draco all break, but there'd been no opportunity, and with the Ministry intercepting nearly all the owls nowadays, there was no way to even contact him. I was opening the window to send a letter out to Draco when the dorm door flew open and Mione came rushing in. "Ron and I were walking and- You'll never believe who- We need to go-"

I stood up, eyes wide as Hermione took a deep breath. "Hagrid's back," she clarified. I was still for a moment before we catapulted down the stairs and into the Common Room, where Ron was waiting impatiently for us. "About time," he muttered. I pinched his arm and we began running through the halls, searching for Harry. We finally spotted him with Cho.

"Harry!" I yelled, grabbing his attention. I tugged on his arm and whispered, "Hagrid's back." He whirled around to Cho, saying a quick, "I'm sorry," before we joined Ron and Mione and sprinted down to Hagrid's hut.

We were all breathing heavily by the time we arrived, and I was about to shout for our favorite half-giant when Ron suddenly pulled my away from the door and to the window. He shook his head rapidly and cocked his ear towards the door. I listened, and could hear faint voices from within.

"I'm ordering you to tell me where you've been," an all too familiar voice sounded from inside the hut. "I told you," Hagrid replied, sounding a little exasperated and a little nervous at the same time, "I've been away for me health." The response was skeptical. "Your health?" Umbridge questioned. Hagrid answered stiffly. "Yeah. Bit of fresh air, you know."

Umbridge was like a bloodhound catching a scent. "Oh, yes," she said sarcastically and in that despicable sickly sweet voice of her, "As gamekeeper, fresh air must be difficult to come by." I could tell by the scraping of wood on wood that she scooted a chair out from the table. "If I were you, I wouldn't get too used to being back." She paused, before adding, "In fact, I mightn't bother unpacking at all." Her steps neared the spot where we were hiding and we all shrunk back into the shadows at the corner of the house.

Umbridge spritzed perfume from, unsurprisingly, a little pink bottle, and strolled away, leaving a trail of sugar and superiority in her wake. I crinkled my nose in disgust before we all hurried into the hut. Hagrid looked completely unsurprised. He also looked completely beat up. I gasped. "Hagrid, what-" He waved his hands in the air, as if waving away the question. "I'll explain," he promised. He pulled a huge hunk of meat from the freezer and sat down at the table, dwarfing it in comparison.

"This is top-secret, right?" he started, looking each one of us in the eye. We all nodded eagerly and settled down in the remaining seats of the table. With a lowered, almost inaudible voice, Hagrid said, "Dumbledore sent me to parley with the giants." Next to me, Mione's jaw dropped as she said, "Giants?" We all shushed her, but she wasn't fazed. "You found them?" she asked. "Well," Hagrid sighed, "they're not that hard to find, to be perfectly honest. They're so big, see? I tried to convince them to join the cause. But I wasn't the only one that was trying to win them over."

"Death Eaters?" I whispered. Hagrid confirmed my guess with a grim nod. "Yes," he revealed, "Trying to persuade them to join You-Know-Who." Harry asked the question on the tip of my tongue. "Did they?"

Hagrid only shrugged. "I gave them Dumbledore's message. Suppose some of them remember he was friendly to them." Ron pointed to Hagrid's face, saying, "And they did this to you?" Hagrid looked uncomfortable now. No, not uncomfortable... scared. "Not exactly, no," he muttered. Next to him, Fang barked, eyeing the meat Hagrid had been pressing to a nasty cut on his forehead. "Oh, go on, you have it, then, you dozy dog," Hagrid said, tossing the chunk to Fang.

The only sound was Fang gobbling up the meat before Hagrid said, "It's changing out there. Just like last time." He turned his gaze to The Boy Who Lived. "There's a storm coming, Harry. We'd all best be ready when she does."

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guys i'm so sorry this is such a short and shitty chapter i've just been absolutely overloaded with homework and projects and extracurriculars and family

hopefully i'll be able to update again next weekend but idk

if you guys celebrate thanksgiving, how was it for you ?

~alex