HP8 (On Hold)

The Visit's

As Mrs Weasley had a list of chores for Ginny to do, none of which Harry could really help with, he decided this would be a good day to make his visits, he decided to go to Hogwart’s to see Hagrid first, Ginny was a bit annoyed that once again they wouldn’t be spending much of the day together, but Harry promised to return for the evening meal.  There was also another couple of bags of post for Harry that he would need to go through, it had taken nearly ten owls to carry it all. 

Mrs Weasley hadn’t been happy about Harry’s proposed visit’s but his argument about the charms at Hogwart’s and how no-one would ever guess he would return to his Uncle’s house had persuaded her. 

Harry apparated from the burrow to Hogsmead, as the powerful charms that protected Hogwart’s School meant you couldn’t apparate straight into the grounds. 

Hogsmead street was quiet, which made Harry pause for a moment, but then when he had normally visited the village before it had been in term time, when there were always plenty of students around. 

Harry made his way to Hogwarts, at the main gates he was forced to stop, the gates were shut and locked.  He tried just pushing them, that didn’t work, he tried the spell Alamora, which opened most locked doors, but they stayed stubbornly shut.  He was wondering if he was going to have to postpone his visit when he remembered he could send a Patronus message, if he could work the spell correctly, he might be able to send a message to Hagrid. 

Normally a Patronus spell was used to repel Dementors, and took a lot of determination and a powerful happy thought to perform.  As there were no Dementors around, Harry could easily produced his Patronus, a bright shining stag, patting it on the neck, he asked it to find Hagrid and ask him to come to the gates.  The patronus lowered its head then galloped off through the gates and across the school grounds. 

Harry sat on a boulder by the gates, he wasn’t sure if his Patronus would work properly, Hagrid might not even be in the grounds.  He reasoned that even if his Patronus didn’t work properly and couldn’t give Hagrid his message, Hagrid would recognise it as his Patronus, as each was unique to the wizard who produced it, so he would know Harry was in the area and would come looking for him.

Harry decided he would wait at the gates for half an hour, if Hagrid or someone else hadn’t arrived by then, he would go to the Dursley’s instead.  He should have sent his owl to Hagrid to say he was coming, but had forgotten he might be stopped from entering the school. 

In fact he had only been sat on the boulder for less than five minutes when he spotted Hagrid striding across the grounds towards him. 

“Harry” he boomed as he got to the gates, “What are you doing here, is everything ok?” 

“Yeah, everything is fine Hagrid, just thought I would come and say hello, but I couldn’t get in through the gates.” 

“Blimey you gave me a scare, didn’t know what to think when your Patronus turned up.  Come on in then.”  And Hagrid gave the gates a push and they opened without any fuss. 

Harry was pleased that his Potronus spell had worked like it should.  He walked with Hagrid to his house in the grounds, Fang, Hagrid’s huge dog bounded forward to slobber all over Harry as soon as the door was opened, “Fang, Down you stupid dog.”  Hagrid called to it, and Fang left Harry and went back to its favourite position in front of the fireplace. 

“Cup of Tea Harry?”  Hagrid offered. 

“Yes please.”  Harry replied, and Hagrid took the massive pot off the hop and poured them two cups of tea.  

Harry spend a very enjoyable morning with Hagrid talking about the school and the repairs that were taking place, most of the damage had now been repaired, most of it had been done very quickly as it was done my magic.  But some of it had required manual work where it had been damaged by a curse, this type of damage could not be repaired by magic, so Hagrid and some wizard workman which had been brought in to help him, had done the work.