TRUST, harry potter¹

ch. 15 - care too much

'And the stars blinked as they watched her carefully;

Jealous of the way she shone'

– Atticus

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"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."

His raven hair ruffled in the breeze as it passed through the long, wooden bridge. He stared into space, not truly looking, the cloud obscured sky contrasting rather drastically to the darkly green trees, a storm developing in the distance.

Dumbledore was gone. He vanished, likely going into hiding for the time being. Umbridge had discovered Dumbledore's Army after a certain girl with a charming Scottish accent spilled the secret like knocking over a cup of tea. The Headmaster had shifted all blame onto himself, lying that considering it titles his name, he was the creator.

Ever since he left, the toad dressed in pink was appointed Headmistress, and held many hours of detention for those involved in the so-called 'army'. The students had been giving Cho Chang the cold shoulder, already looking sickly pale from their usual healthy tones, given the amount of blood-loss from the dreaded quills—it didn't make it any better that Adeline had already collapsed twice.

The first time everything just somewhat faded to black and she couldn't hear the scribbling of quills anymore, nor the clinking of a teacup resounding from that of the 'Headmistress'. Abruptly she was on the stone floor along with her chair, confusion bubbling, with Harry kneeling beside her instantaneously, threats for him to get back to his seat deriving from the said teacup addict. He ignored them all, attention fixated to her and her only.

The second time was evidently worse. She had been moved from the desk right beside Harry's at the front to the very back, so this time, he wasn't there. A migraine introduced itself to her head as an old friend, nausea kicking in at the very same moment. Blood leaking from her engraved hand at a dangerous rate, pooling faintly on the table, a dark smoke crawled from her feet beneath the desk. Her breath caught beneath the clutches of her throat after noticing; and however slowly it creeped, her vocal cords continued to itch to a point where not making a sound was no longer an option. Fortunately, she ran unconscious due to a lack of oxygen before the smoke could envelop her enough to transform, promptly disappearing as soon as the chair, and herself, smacked against the floor.

Harry, of course, believed he held the culpability for all that happened. For Dumbledore leaving the school into hiding, for Umbridge as the new Headmistress, for poor Adeline's continuous loss of consciousness. Hermione proceeded to bring the blame in on herself, as she was the one that suggested the group in the very first place, but he quickly shut it down, glasses mirroring the unblemished scenery before the quartet.

Adeline hesitated. It was difficult to decipher whether she should comfort the guilt-brimmed boy or just leave him alone; his back was to her after all, so really, it was a blurry window. As she stepped forward to help, their heads snapped to the left as a whispered 'psst' reached their ears.

Hagrid stood, seemingly shielding himself behind a post (as much as a half-giant can hide) from the gaze of any possible onlookers, even if they were the only ones on the bridge. He had returned a few days previously and was questioned by Umbridge of his whereabouts—all while the quartet hunched below one of his hut's open windows, listening to the interrogation.

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"Hagrid? Hagrid, what's going on? Where are you taking us?" Hermione pushed for an answer, her voice trembling the deeper he lead them into the ominous, Forbidden Forest.

Twigs and dried leaves crunched beneath their feet, a thin fog hanging over the grand trees so tall you couldn't see the top, bases wide enough to fit an entire room within them. Occasionally they stepped over large logs—most likely fallen branches, tripping over profuse roots wrinkled like an elderly vein as they hurried to keep up with Hagrid's long strides, streams of light soon disappearing the further in they went. He only spoke once they reached a clearing.

"I'm sorry to be so mysterious, you four, but with Dumbledore gone..." He clears his throat. "I'll likely be getting the sack any day now. And I just couldn't leave without telling someone about him."

Her brow creased at his words, blood tingling as it rushed through her legs. The name in which then he called out went unbeknown to Addie, as her senses seemed to malfunction after laying her eyes on the towering giant with its back to them, the pink fading from her cheeks. It stepped clumsily as it turned around and saw them, a goofy, dazed look painting its face, the four stumbling backwards to avoid being stepped on as it toddled, shaking the ground.

Its large eyes met Adeline's, and the silly look on its face faded, turning to that of familiarity with an anguish stare. None of them could realise, but Grawp knew of her extent. Her connection to the Death Eaters that hurt his colony, forcing the Giants to join their side. Her connection to the one that started it all. To him, it's her fault. All of it.

This is what led to him thumping towards her, extending his arm out as revenge, as payback for what 'she' did to him, for what 'she' did to his friends. Adeline tripped backwards over one of the fallen branches after frantically moving backwards, and even as Grawp was pulled back by a rope tied to him, she continued to crawl away, small cuts tracing the skin of her palms. Hermione kneeled beside the startled girl as she halted, the two boys standing in front of them like natural barriers.

"Grawp! That's not polite! You do not try and grab, do you?" The half-giant scolded Grawp, whose harsh gaze softened.

After her breathing finally slowed back to normal, she stood, taking cautious steps to stand beside Harry and Ron, closer to the giant. Seeing as, really, she was so far causing no harm to himself, he smiled a little, turning back around and sitting himself down. After rummaging through seemingly collected things, he faced her once more, handing over the handlebar of an old bicycle.

She shared his smile, holding it rather awkwardly, though turned her head a little ways to Hermione, as she clearly had no idea what it was. The bushy-haired girl laughed lightly, reaching over and ringing the small bell attached, causing the giant to burst out in a cheery grin, giddily taking it back as gently as he could, ringing it over and over for his own amusement.

"He gets his own food and all. It's company he'll be needing when I'm gone. You will look after him, won't you? I'm the only family he's got." Hagrid sheepishly explained.

Harry looked over to Adeline, half expecting her to frown and politely decline, though he inwardly kicked himself for so much as thinking she would do something like that with her following words.

"Of course we will."

a/n:

okay soo

for the next chapter, it'll be the twins pranking w all the fireworks and the battle of the Department of Mysteries.

it may be a much longer chapter than usual, so would you guys prefer I have it all in one, action-filled, long chapter, or two shorter than normal chapters?

thank you all sooo much for reading!

-G