Melanie Rosen: Year 4 (A Harry Potter Fanfic)

Chapter 17 Giant Problems

Chapter 17

Giant Problems

Apparently after Morgan and I left the ball Ron and Hermione got in a fight about her going out with Viktor Krum. I don't know how it got so blown up. I recalled Ron made a comment to me about going with Morgan Brody, but didn't hold it against me. I suppose Hermione really struck a nerve with him.

Thankfully, by the time I walked down to the main Gryffindor Common room, I found the two had made up. They seemed to have moved on to a different topic.

The moment Ron's eyes met mine, they widened and said, "Melanie, you're not going to believe what we found out at the ball!"

I sat down on the chair across from him, next to the fireplace and asked, "What is it?"

"Hagrid's a giant!"

"Half-giant," Hermione clarified.

"Oh," was all I said at first, not feeling startled. "Well, I guess that explains why he's really tall, right?" Studying Ron's face, I figured there was more to this I did not know. "Is that a bad thing?"

Ron stuttered at first but said, "It's just that... giants are known for being quite... dangerous."

"We've known Hagrid for years, now," Harry pointed out, sounding slightly angry. "He wouldn't harm anyone. That's a fact."

"Right," I nodded in agreement. "I mean, it's Hagrid. Nothing's changed, right?"

Apparently the news of Hagrid's giant-hood spread like wildfire, thanks to Skeeter. When we went down for Care of Magical Creatures, we found Hagrid was not there. Instead, Professor Grubbly Plank taught. I found her lessons to be rather dull in comparison. We studied these bugs that fed off plants. After Plank's lecture, we walked around with our quills and parchment to take notes. I scribbled down a few quick facts before lowering my quill.

Harry found that Draco and his friends had a copy of the article revealing Hagrid's true nature.

"What's the matter, Melanie? Are you missing your monster friend?" Pansy sneered from behind me.

"He's not a monster!" I raged, clenching my fist. "You and Draco are just too cowardly to handle this class."

"Oh please," Pansy retorted, rolling her eyes, "Everyone knows we never learn anything that's actually useful here."

"Maybe that's because your brain's too stupid to actually process anything," I shot back, feeling a little pride from that one.

Pansy just snorted, muttering something about 'blood traitor,' and stormed off back to her friends.

"This school is what's stupid."

I turned to my left and saw Lenora slapping her parchment pad against her thigh. She had only written what looked like two lines before quitting.

"It's actually pretty cool that we had a giant for a professor but of course this school can't handle it," Lenora went on.

I glanced back and forth between Skeeter's main sources and gritted, "It's people like Draco and Pansy that are the reason people like Hagrid don't have a place here."

She merely sighed, making no sign of disagreement with me.

xXx

Over two weeks passed and Hagrid still refused to teach class. The four of us decided to go down to his hut in person and we were accompanied by Professor Dumbledore as well. To no one's surprise, Hagrid still did not want to talk to anyone, but he still reluctantly let us in. Dumbledore told him the reason the chose Hagrid to teach this particular class.

"It's definitely interesting," Ron added. "I mean... I actually kind of liked those blast-end shrewts, I guess..."

He tried to sound convincing, but I remembered how much Ron complained about that particular lesson.

"The class is boring now," I stated flatly. "All the creatures we've learned about these past couple weeks literally have no purpose."

"The'll 'ate me nah," Hagrid said, gruffly.

"Actually I believe there are many others that feel the same way these four expressed," Dumbledore pointed out, promptly.

Ron huffed and added, "Yeah, it's really just those rotten Slytherins."

"Not even all of them," I muttered, thinking of Lenora's comment earlier.

"It don' matter," Hagrid claimed in despair. "It still don' change 'ere I came from. I 'ave a giant for a father. A GIANT!"

"So?" Harry chimed in. "That doesn't matter to us. Look at what I've got for relatives. The Dursleys! I'd take giants for family any day over them."

"Yeah, that's pretty bad," I agreed, "but I think I can top that with Voldemort."

Ron smacked his hand on his head. "Really, Mel? Do you have to say his name?"

I only shrugged while Hermione eyed both me and Hagrid and wondered aloud, "I still want to know exactly how Skeeter dug up both of your family secrets."

Most of us merely sighed. No one was able to provide an answer to that.