Magic? || Years 5-7

Umbridge and Hagrid: Year 5

"There was a new Gurg, Golgomath," Hagrid sighed, rubbing his face. "Well, we hadn't bargained on a new Gurg two days after we'd made friendly contact with the firs' one, an' we had a funny feelin' Golgomath wouldn' be so keen ter listen to us, but we had ter try,"

"You went to speak to him?" Ron asked, astonished and horrified. "After you'd watched him rip off another giant's head?"

"'Course we did, we hadn't gone all that way ter give up after two days! We wen' down with the next present we'd meant ter give ter Karkus," Hagrid replied. "I knew it was a no go before I'd opened me mouth. He was sitting there wearin' Karkus's helmet, leerin' at us as we got nearer. He's massive, one o' the biggest ones there. Black hair an' matchin' teeth an' a necklace o' bones. Human-lookin' bones, some of 'em. Well, I gave it a go -- held out a great roll o' dragon skin -- an' said 'A gift fer the Gurg of the giants -- ' Nex' thing I knew, I was hangin' upside down in the air by me feet, two of his mates had grabbed me."

Hermione gasped.

"How did you get out of that?" Harry exclaimed.

"Wouldn'ta done if Olympe hadn' bin there. She pulled out her wand an' did some o' the fastes' spellwork I've ever seen. Ruddy marvelous. Hit the two holdin' me right in the eyes with Conjunctivitis Curses an' they dropped me straightaway -- bu' we were in trouble then, 'cause we'd used magic against 'em, an' that's what giants hate abou' wizards. We had ter leg it an' we knew there was no way we was going ter be able ter match inter camp again," Hagrid replied.

"Blimey, Hagrid," Ron whispered.

"So how come it's taken you so long to get home if you were only there for three days?" Hermione asked.

"We didn' leave after three days!" Hagrid protested, sounding slightly offended. "Dumbledore was relyin' on us!"

"Didn't you just say you couldn't go back?" Amisty pointed out.

"Not by daylight, we couldn', no. We just had ter rethink a bit. Spent a couple o' days lyin' low up in the cave an' watchin'. An' wha' we saw wasn' good," He shook his head, eyes darkening.

Hermione shifted a little in her seat, "Did he rip off more heads?"

"No. I wish he had."

"What d'you mean?"

"I mean we soon found out he didn' object ter all wizards -- just us," Hagrid replied darkly.

"Death Eaters?" Harry asked softly.

"Yep. Couple of 'em were visitin' him ev'ry day, bringin' gifts ter the Gurg, an' he wasn' dangling them upside down," Hagrid's expression had turned shadowed.

"How d'you know they were Death Eaters?" Ron asked.

"Because I recognized one of 'em," Hagrid growled lowly. "Macnair, remember him? Bloke they sent ter kill Buckbeak? Maniac, he is. LIkes killin' as much as Golgomath, no wonder they were gettin' on so well."

"So Macnair's persuaded the giants to join You-Know-Who?" Hermione whimpered.

"Hold yer hippogriffs, I haven' finished me story yet!" Hagrid scolded. "Me an' Olympe talked it over an' we agreed, jus' 'cause the Gurg looked like favorin' You-Know-Who didn' mean all of 'em would. We had ter try an' persuade some o' the others, the ones who hadn' wanted Golgomath as Gurg."

"How could you tell which ones they were?" Ron asked.

"Well, they were the ones bein' beaten to a pulp, weren' they? The ones with any sense were keepin' outta Golgomath's way, hidin' out in caves roun' the gully jus' like we were. So we decided we'd go pokin' round the caves by night an' see if we couldn' persuade a few o' them," Hagrid explained.