The Not So Perfect Potter

26 ~ The Egg

Isabelle woke up the following morning much more tired than she expected. She dreaded attending lessons that day and contemplated faking a sickness although quickly dismissing it at the though of spending the day with Madame Maxime, who remained annoyed with her and Max. Isabelle and Clementine were wandering out of the carriage towards the castle when Isabelle spotted Hagrid and Dumbledore standing on the edge of the grounds. Their expressions were one of disappointment and sadness, Isabelle slowly made her way towards the two professors, trying to seem inconspicuous. She bolted behind the hut and closer her eyes, trying to listen in to the conversation. 

"Hagrid, you don't have to go. We can help you get through this, just because of the article doesn't mean you have to abandon your home." Dumbledore said calmly, pointing towards Hagrid Hut. Isabelle could hear the panic whirling through his mind as he spoke. "You're very kind Dumbledore, but I can't ask that of you. Soon parents will be calling in and requesting a new teacher anyway. I left two years ago for a while, so I may as well do it again." Hagrid said shrugging his shoulders, though Isabelle could hear the sadness in his voice. The thoughts in his mind made her heart break, she wandered out from behind the hut and approached the two. "Where's the article?" She demanded storming up to them and stopping with her arms crossed. Dumbledore smirked as he looked at the girl, "Good morning, Isabelle." The girl rolled her eyes and glared at the man, she knew she was being rude, but she simply wanted answers. Dumbledore reluctantly drew his wand and conjured up a newspaper. Isabelle caught it and began scanning through it:

Albus Dumbledore, eccentric Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has never been afraid to make controversial staff appointments, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. In September of this year, he hired Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, the notoriously jinx-happy ex-Auror, to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, a decision that caused many raised eyebrows at the Ministry of Magic, given Moody's well-known habit of attacking anybody who makes a sudden movement in his presence. Mad-Eye Moody, however, looks responsible and kindly when set beside the part-human Dumbledore employs to teach Care of Magical Creatures. 

Rubeus Hagrid, who admits to being expelled from Hogwarts in his third year, has enjoyed the position of Gamekeeper at the school ever since, a job secured for him by Dumbledore. Last year, however, Hagrid used his mysterious influence over the headmaster to secure the additional post of Care of Magical Creatures teacher, over the heads of many better-qualified candidates. An alarming large and ferocious-looking man, Hagrid has been using his new-found authority to terrify the students in his care with a succession of horrific creatures. While Dumbledore turns a blind eye, Hagrid has maimed several pupils during a series of lessons that many admit to being "very frightening." "I was attacked by a hippogriff, and my friend Vincent Crabbe got a bad bite off a flobberworm," says Draco Malfoy, a fourth year student. 

"We all hate Hagrid, but we're just too scared to say anything." Hagrid has no intention of ceasing his campaign of intimidation, however. In conversation with a Daily Prophet reporter last month, he admitted breeding creatures he has dubbed "Blast-Ended Skrewts," highly dangerous crosses between manticores and fire crabs. The creation of new breeds of magical creature is, of course, an activity usually closely observed by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Hagrid, however, considers himself to be above such petty restrictions. "I was just having some fun," he says, before hastily changing the subject. 

As if this were not enough, the Daily Prophet has now unearthed evidence that Hagrid is not --- as he has always pretended --- a pure-blood wizard. He is not, in fact, even pure human. His mother, we can exclusively reveal, is none other than the giantess Fridwulfa, whose whereabouts are currently unknown. Bloodthirsty and brutal, the giants brought themselves to the point of extinction by warring amongst themselves during the last century. The handful that remained joined the ranks of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and were responsible for some of the worst mass Muggle killings of his reign of terror. While many of the giants who served He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named were killed by Aurors working against the Dark Side, Fridwulfa was not among them.