Into The Light (Golden Trio Era) {2}

What Do You Want Us To Do?

"Nah, well, we weren' goin' in so far then," he replied, "An' anyway, tha' was before Firenze left the forest, wasn' it?" "Why does Firenze leaving make a difference?" Mikayla asked, her eyes now darting in between the trees. " 'Cause the other centaurs are good an' riled at me, tha's why," Hagrid answered, also alert to his surroundings. "They used ter be- well, yeh couldn' call 'em friendly- but we got on all righ'. Kept 'emselves to 'emselves, bu' always turned up if I wanted a word. Not anymore..." he just sighed at this. "Firenze said that they're angry because he went to work for Dumbledore?" Harry said just before catching his foot on a large tree root. Mikayla wanted to laugh, but she was too afraid to just incase something heard her.

"Yeah," he sighed again. "Well, angry doesn' cover it. Ruddy livid. If I hadn' stepped in, I reckon they'd've kicked Firenze ter death-" "They attacked him?" Hermione gasped. "Yep," Hagrid answered in a disgruntled voice. "And you stopped it?" said Harry, both amazed and perplexed by it. "By yourself?" " 'Course I did, couldn't stand by an' watch 'em kill him, could I?" he huffed and bent a tree branch out of his way. "Lucky I was passin', really... an' I'd've thought Firenze mighta remembered tha' before he started sendin' me stupid warnin's!" he added aggressively, but without context or any further elaboration.

The three kids all exchanged questioning looks, wondering if someone else knew what he was talking about. "Anyway," he continued, "since then the other centaurs've bin livid with me an' the trouble is, they've got a lot of influence in the forest... Cleverest creatures in here..." "Is that why we're here, Hagrid?" Hermione thought aloud. "The centaurs?" "Ah no," Hagrid shook his head, once again acting more casual than appropriate for the situation, "no, it's not them... Well, o' course, they could complicate the problem, yeah... But yeh'll see what I mean in a bit...." " 'the problem,'" Mikayla repeated, looking down at her feet as she walked.

The further they traveled into the forest the darker it grew, the path became more overgrown and the trees grew closer together. What surprised Mikayla the most and topped off her uneasy feeling was Hagrid stepping off the carved path into even thicker woods. Knowing nothing good came when you strayed from the path, Mikayla's heart rate increased. He was being extremely ominous and it was truly frightening at this point. "Hagrid?" Harry asked, his voiced bounded between the trees and echoed oddly. Some rustling in the distance made the girls' breaths hitch and Mikayla stopped in her tracks to listen for a second. "Where are we going?" he added. Mikayla forced herself to keep moving. "Bit further," Hagrid answered without looking back. "C'mon... We need ter keep together now..." They had to climb through the woods, over trees, and under brambles. A thorn caught Mikayla's arm and she gasped lightly, it stung for a minute before it began to bleed. Hagrid walked through the weeds as if they weren't there, they merely brushed off his large exterior like he was made of a thick leather.

Their small, tender bodies, however, were covered in small cuts within minutes, each of them becoming red and slightly swollen at the introduction of foreign matter. "Hagrid, would it be all right if we lit our wands?" said Hermione from behind. Mikayla glanced back at her while she walked to see if she was just as uneasy as she was. "Er... all righ'," Hagrid whispered back. "In fact..." He stopped walking abuptly, Mikayla having been looking back, did not notice this and ran right into him. She knocked herself back and lost her footing, though was caught just before hitting the ground. "Maybe we bes' jus' stop fer a momen', so I can... fill yeh in," Hagrid nodded.

"Before we ge' there, like." "Good!" Hermione sounded somewhat relieved, but not all her anxieties were addressed. Harry helped Mikayla back to her feet, she still stumbled a few steps away from Hagrid, hoping to get more buffer room if it were to happen again. They each muttered a "Lumos!" and the tips of their wands illuminated a blue-white light. Their faces lit up, the shadows cast by the highpoints of their faces made the atmosphere just slightly more spooky. In the light of their wands Mikayla could see Hagrid's face again, looking just as nervous as before, and if anything, sad. "Righ," said Hagrid. "Well... see . . . the thing is..." He took a deep breath, this made Harry wonder for a moment how his breaths were compared to someone of his size, but he just ignored his thoughts.

"Well, there's a good chance I'm goin' ter be gettin' the sack any day now," he didn't look at any of them. "But you've lasted this long" Hermione spoke with a certain level of uncertainty. "What makes you think-" "Umbridge reckons it was me that put tha' niffler in her office," Hagrid answered. "And was it?" Harry asked him, the girls whipped their heads around and gave him a look to tell him he wasn't helping. "No, it ruddy well wasn'!" said Hagrid, sounding offended that Harry needed to ask. "On'y anythin' ter do with magical creatures an' she thinks it's got somethin' ter do with me. Yeh know she's bin lookin' fer a chance ter get rid of me ever since I got back. I don' wan' ter go, o' course, but if it wasn' fer... well... the special circumstances I'm abou' ter explain to yeh, I'd leave righ now, before she's go' the chance ter do it in front o' the whole school, like she did with Trelawney."

They all opened their mouths to protest, but at the first sound of any word being formed Hagrid just dismissed them with a wave of his hand. "It's not the end o' the world, I'll be able ter help Dumbledore once I'm outta here, I can be useful ter the Order. An' you lot'll have Grubbly-Plank, yeh'll- yeh'll get through yer exams fine..." His voice cracked and Mikayla could feel her heart break. "Don' worry abou' me," Hermione went to offer him a consoling pat on the arm, he avoided it. "Look, I wouldn' be tellin' yer this at all if I didn' have ter. See, if I go... well, I can' leave withou'... withou' tellin' someone... because I'll- I'll need you three ter help me. An' Ron, if he's willin'." "Of course we'll help you," Harry answered immediately, reading all of their sympathetic minds. "What do you want us to do?" Mikayla asked as Hagrid sniffed and patted Harry on the shoulder, obviously grateful but holding back some of the emotion. Harry, not expecting it, staggered at the force of his hand on him. "I knew yeh'd say yes," Hagrid almost cried into his hankerchief, which by the way, was about the size of a pillow case, "but I won'... never... forget... Well... c'mon... jus' a little bit further through here... Watch yerselves, now, there's nettles..."