Into The Light (Golden Trio Era) {2}

Gifts to The Giants

"So," said Harry trying to keep on topic, "you saw them and then what?" "Well, we waited till morning, didn' want ter go sneakin' up on 'em in the dark, fer our own safety," said Hagrid. " 'Bout three in the mornin' they fell asleep jus' where they was sittin'. We didn' dare sleep. Fer one thing, we wanted ter make sure none of 'em woke up an' came up where we were, an' fer another, the snorin' was unbelievable. Caused an avalanche near mornin'. "Anyway, once it was light we wen' down ter see 'em." "Just like that?" said Ron, looking awestruck. "You just walked right into a giant camp?" "Well, Dumbledore'd told us how ter do it," answered Hagrid. "Give the Gurg gifts, show some respect, yeh know." "Give the what gifts?" asked Harry. "Gurg means the chief." Mikayla informed the boys, "How could you tell which one was the Gurg?" asked Ron. Hagrid gave a snort in amusement. "No problem," Hagrid went on describing the Gurg known as Karkus, that he was about 22/23 feet tall, rhino coloured skin etc.

"And you just walked up to him?" said Hermione, her eyes wide and listening intently. "Well... down ter him, where he was lyin' in the valley. They was in this dip between four pretty high mountains, see, beside a mountain lake, an' Karkus was lyin' by the lake roarin' at the others ter feed him an' his wife. Olympe an' I went down the mountainside-" "But didn't they try and kill you when they saw you?" asked Ron in disbelief. "It was def'nitely on some of their minds," said Hagrid, shrugging it off as if it wasn't a big deal,"but we did what Dumbledore told us ter do, which was ter hold our gift up high an' keep our eyes on the Gurg an' ignore the others. So tha's what we did. An' the rest of 'em went quiet an' watched us passan' we got right up ter Karkus's feet an' we bowed an' put our present down in front o' him." "What do you give a giant?" asked Ron eagerly. "Food?" "Nah, he can get food all righ' fer himself," said Hagrid. "We took him magic. Giants like magic, jus' don't like us usin' it against 'em. Anyway, that firs' day we gave him a branch o' Gubraithian fire." "wow." Mikayla and Hermione said breathlessly, but the boys just looked at Hagrid in confusion. "A branch of- ?" "Everlasting fire," said Hermione irritably, "you ought to know that by now, Professor Flitwick's mentioned it at least twice in class!"

"Well anyway," said Hagrid, knowing Ron was going to start an arguement if he didn't continue. "Dumbledore'd bewitched this branch to burn evermore, which isn' somethin' any wizard could do, an' so I lies it down in the snow by Karkus's feet and says, 'A gift to the Gurg of the giants from Albus Dumbledore, who sends his respectful greetings.' " "And what did Karkus say?" asked Harry eagerly, sitting on the edge of his chair. "Nothin'," said Hagrid. "Didn' speak English." "You're kidding!" Mikayla shouted, thinking after all the trouble it was a waste of time. "Didn' matter," said Hagrid calmly, "Dumbledore had warned us tha' migh' happen. Karkus knew enough to yell fer a couple o' giants who knew our lingo an' they translated fer us." "And did he like the present?" asked Ron. "Oh yeah, it went down a storm once they understood what it was," said Hagrid, blinking continuously as he could now see through his previously swollen shut eye. "Very pleased. So then I said, 'Albus Dumbledore asks the Gurg to speak with his messenger when he returns tomorrow with another gift.'" "Why couldn't you speak to them that day?" asked Hermione. "Dumbledore wanted us ter take it very slow," said Hagrid. "Let'em see we kept our promises. We'll come back tomorrow with another present, an' then we do come back with another present- gives a good impression, see? An' gives them time ter test out the firs' present an' find out it's a good one, an' get 'em eager fer more. In any case, giants like Karkus- overload 'em with information an' they'll kill yeh jus' to simplify things. So we bowed outta the way an' went off an' found ourselves a nice little cave ter spend that night in, an' the followin' mornin' we went back an' this time we found Karkus sittin' up waitin' fer us lookin' all eager." "And you talked to him?" "Oh yeah. Firs' we presented him with a nice battle helmet- goblin-made an' indestructible, yeh know- an' then we sat down an' we talked." "What did he say?" Mikayla asks tending to the gash on the edge of Hagrid's head where the blood had dried in his hair. "Not much," said Hagrid. "Listened mostly. But there were good signs. He'd heard o' Dumbledore, heard he'd argued against the killin' of the last giants in Britain. Karkus seemed ter be quite int'rested in what Dumbledore had ter say. An' a few o' the others, 'specially the ones who had some English, they gathered round an' listened too. We were hopeful when we left that day. Promised ter come back next day with another present. But that night it all wen' wrong."

"What d'you mean?" said Ron quickly. "Well, like I say, they're not meant ter live together, giants," said Hagrid sadly. "Not in big groups like that. They can' help themselves, they half kill each other every few weeks. The men fight each other an' the women fight each other, the remnants of the old tribes fight each other, an' that's even without squabbles over food an' the best fires an' sleepin' spots. Yeh'd think, seein' as how their whole race is abou' finished, they'd lay off each other, but..." Hagrid sighed solemnly. "That night a fight broke out, we saw it from the mouth of our cave, lookin' down on the valley. Went on fer hours, yeh wouldn' believe the noise. An' when the sun came up the snow was scarlet an' his head was lyin' at the bottom o' the lake." "Whose head?" Hermione gasped. "Karkus's," said Hagrid heavily. "There was a new Gurg, Golgomath." He sighed deeply. "Well, we hadn' 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?" asked Ron, still overwhelmed by the story. "After you'd watched him rip off another giant's head?" " 'Course we did," said Hagrid, "we hadn' gone all that way ter give up after two days! We wen' down with the next present we'd meant tergive ter Karkus. I knew it was 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." Mikayla stopped for a second in shock, of Hagrid's situation.

"How did you get out of that?" asked Harry. "Wouldn't a done if Olympe hadn' bin there," answered Hagrid. "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 Conjunctivitus 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 noway we was going ter be able ter march inter camp again." "Blimey, Hagrid," said Ron quietly. Mikayla went back to tending to him. "So how come it's taken you so long to get home if you were only there for three days?" asked Hermione. "We didn' leave after three days!" said Hagrid, outraged. "Dumbledore was relyin' on us!" "But you've just said there was no way you could go back!" "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." "Did he rip off more heads?" asked Hermione, cringing at the thought of it. "No," said Hagrid. "I wish he had."