Son Of Riddle

Chapter Twenty-Four - Hagrid

  "So how exactly are we going to clear your name using Firenze when we don't even know where he is?" Benjamin asked as they walked through the chamber of secrets.
"We ask Hagrid." James said. "You guys said Hagrid looked worried, right? What if the reason he was worried is because he knew where Firenze was going and he knew the danger level of the place he was going to."
"So if we can get Hagrid to tell us where he went, we could find him, and therefore the other dark lord and stop him." Benjamin encapsulated.
"Clearing my name in the process." James added.
"The only thing is," Adam interjected. "Why would Hagrid tell us? He doesn't know what happened in the forest. As far as he knows, we just went into the forest, injured a bunch of centaurs, and now we're looking for Firenze, possibly to kill him too. Why should he trust us?"
"We just have to hope he'll take our word for it." James said.
"You could reverse the ring of truth on him." Adam suggested.
"There's no way for him to know whether or not he's lying about what they can do." Benjmamin poined out.
The three boys brainstormed for a while about possible ways they could get hagrid to trust them, but the best they could come up with was taming a hyppogriff, and that certainly wasn't going to work. They decided to just tell Hagrid their story and hope he believed them.

The early morning was hazy and grey. The sun hadn't quite started to rise yet, and thick, heavy fog set itself on the rolling grassy hills surrounding the castle, giving it a ghostly appearance.
They walked down to Hagrid's house, located on the edge of the forbidden forest. Walking closer to it, it was more of a hut than a house. The walls were made of planks of thick wood, and the ceiling looked like it had been hastily made out of thatch. They walked up to his door, exchanged nervous glances, and knocked.
After a while, and a lot of banging and other such commotion coming rom inside, Hagrid opened the door. He looked like he had just rolled out of bed...well, more so than usual.
"Hagrid, we need your help." Adam said.
Hagrid blinked in surprise. "Wh...what could yeh want my help fer?"
"It's about the centaurs." James said.
Hagrid nodded. "Well, come inside, it's freezin' out here." He gestured for them to follow him inside.
The three looked at each other nervously, but followed him.
"Fancy a cuppa tea?" He asked as he gestured for them to sit on a couch that looked like it had once been set on fire.
"Yes please." Adam said immediately. It really was cold outside, and not much warmer in there.
Hagrid walked towards his kitchen and put on a kettle that looked like he had made it himself. He returned with three streaming mugs of tea that smelled faintly of pine.
"What happened to your roof?" Benjamin asked, his voice muffled by his scarf that was pulled around his face. He pointed to the roof that had several holes in it, allowing the biting cold air to freely flow inside.
"Oh, that was an accident with an uh.. ashwinder egg. They explode when they hatch." Hagrid said as he sat down opposite them on a large leather recliner.
James sat forward. "An Ashwinder?" He asked. "Where did you find one? Do you still have it?"
Hagrid chuckled. "No," He said sadly. "S' against school policy an I had ter let 'im go, poor little fella."
James hung his head in dissapointment, and Adam laughed.
"Why can't you just use magic and fix it?" He asked.
"I'm not allowed ter use magic." Hagrid admitted. He leaned forwards and winked at the, a mischevious glint in his eye. "But uh... jus' between you an me, I keep a bit o' my old wand in that there umbrella." He pointed to a pink flowery umbrella propped up next to his fireplace.
Adam raised his wand up to the ceiling. "Reparo." He flicked his wand, and the thatch on the celing began to grow in size, each part of it growing to cover the holes, and more layers of thatch grew to make it thicker.
Hagrid nodded at Adam, thankfullly. "Thanks fer that, mister Potter, I bin meanin' ter fix it, just never had the time."
Adam shrugged. "I would have just completely replaced it with one made of wood, but I haven't quite mastered the wand movement."
Hagrid laughed. "Yeh remind me of three old friends of mine, little lads like yerselves, used ter visit me all the time." He pointed to Adam. "I believe you know em."
Adam looked at the ground, his ears pink. "Yes sir, for better or for worse."
Hagrid chuckled as he sipped his tea. James was rather inruiged with the flavor, it was like pine, jasmine, cedar, and mint all mashed into one flavor, and somehow it was quite tasty.
Hagrid set his cup down. "Well, I don' think busy little blokes like yerselves jus' dropped by ter fix my roof, what're yeh here for?"
The three boys looked at each other nervously, then back to Hagrid. "It's about the centaurs..."