LUCY:

Five minutes later, we were rushing through the night down to Hagrid's hut. I was shaking with excitement, and I was constantly pushing the pace as a result.

"Lucy, we have the Marauder's Map for a reason!" Hermione hissed when I once again kept walking after Harry stopped.

"The full moon's in a couple nights, I would hear if someone were coming," I hissed back. "Come on, the coast is clear for at least the next two hallways."

"Your word's good enough for me," Harry whispered, tucking the map into his pocket and shoving me to the front of the group.

"What can I say, it has its advantages," I muttered as I led the way through hallway after hallway. Finally, finally, finally, the hut was in sight, and it was light inside. Hagrid was home.

I reached forward and knocked eagerly.

"Hagrid, it's us!" Harry called.

"Shoulda known!" Hagrid said from inside over the sound of the dogs' excited barking. "Bin home three seconds! Out the way, Fang, out the way, yeh dozy dog. Tuck's well-behaved, Lucy, though he surprised me quite a bit..."

The door opened a bit, and Hagrid's face appeared in the crack.

Hermione screamed at the sight. His face was a mess of cuts and bruises. But Merlin, I had never been happier to see him.

"Merlin's beard, keep it down! Under that cloak, are yeh? Well, get in, get in!"

We shuffled in and shed the cloak as soon as Hagrid closed the door behind us.

"I'm sorry, it's just — " Hermione stammered. "Oh, Hagrid!"

"It's nothin', it's nothin'!" he said, glancing worriedly out a window. I scooped Tuck up and draped him over my shoulders so he could lick my face as I darted around the hut closing the curtains.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"Told yeh, nuthin'." Hagrid grabbed a kettle. "Want a cuppa?"

Ron shook his head. "Come off it, you're in a right state!"

"I'm tellin' yeh, I'm fine," he insisted.

"He sounds like you after a full moon," Harry muttered. I swatted his arm in response.

Hagrid smiled at us, wincing as he did so. "Blimey, it's good ter see you four again — had good summers, did yeh?"

I bit my lip. Worst summer of my life, actually. But I wasn't about to say that.

"Hagrid, you've been attacked!" Ron said.

"For the las' time, it's nothin'!"

"Would you say it was nothing if one of us turned up with a pound of mince instead of a face?"

"You ought to go and see Madam Pomfrey, Hagrid, some of those cuts look nasty," Hermione said.

"I'm dealin' with it," he said, reaching for a dragon steak that had been hidden under a tea towel.

Ron cringed. "You're not going to eat that, are you, Hagrid? It looks poisonous."

"It's s'posed ter look like that, it's dragon meat, an' I didn' get it ter eat," he replied as he slapped it over the more injured half of his face. "That's better. It helps with the stingin', yeh know."

"So are you going to tell us what's happened to you?" Harry pressed.

"Can't, Harry. Top secret. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that."

Hermione, though, decided to venture a guess anyway. "Did the giants beat you up, Hagrid?"

Hagrid's reaction said it all. The steak slipped from his fingers, and his eyes were panicked. "Giants? Who said anythin' abou' giants? Who yeh bin talkin' to? Who's told yeh what I've — who's said I've bin — eh?"

"We guessed," Hermione admitted with a shrug.

"Oh, yeh did, did yeh?" he asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"It was... kind of obvious," Ron replied. "Especially after..." He glanced at me, our conversation apparently still on his mind. I was still a ghost, a miracle, a nail in the coffin. He looked back at Hagrid and shrugged. "Lucky guess, I suppose, with everything that's going on."

I inhaled shakily and retreated to the sofa, shifting Tuck to my lap, pretending that I hadn't noticed anything at all.

Hagrid muttered to himself as he poured cups of tea. "Never known kids like you fer knowin' more'n yeh oughta, an' I'm not complimentin' yeh, neither. Nosy, some'd call it. Interferin'." But I could see he was trying not to smile, so I knew he didn't mean it.

I looked down and twisted Tuck's ear around my finger. For the record, I didn't seek out trouble or information or any of that. It found me. I would love nothing more than to be ignorant and free, but I never had that option. The decision was made for me.

"So you have been to look for giants?" I could hear the smile in Harry's voice as he asked the question.

Hagrid sighed as he set a tray of tea on the table and pressed the steak back to his face with a squelching sound. "Yeah, alright, I have."

"And you found them?" Hermione asked.

"Well, they're not that difficult ter find, ter be honest. Pretty big, see."

The conversation was making my head spin. I was glad I was on the sofa with Tuck in my lap. He was grounding me. It would have been too easy to let myself get swept up again into the residual horrors of the summer. I didn't want to go there again. Not that night. So I let Tuck snuggle up closer to me, and tangled my fingers in his fur, and concentrated as best I could on the basics of the conversation at hand and nothing more.

Ron. "Where are they?"

Hagrid. "Mountains."

Ron. "So why don't Muggles...?"

Hagrid. "They do. Only their deaths are always put down ter mountaineerin' accidents, aren' they?"

I nodded. Nobody was looking at me, but I nodded anyway. That was what Dad always said.

No. Don't think about Dad. Thinking about Dad makes you think of...

No. Don't think about Mum either. Because then you'll think of...

Ron again. "Come on, Hagrid, tell us what you've been up to! Tell us about being attacked by the giants and Harry can tell you about being attacked by the dementors — "

Hagrid. His voice was angry and shocked. "What'd yeh mean, attacked by dementors?"

Hermione. "Didn't you know?"

Hagrid. "I don' know anything that's been happenin' since I left. I was on a secret mission, wasn' I, didn' want owls followin' me all over the ruddy place — ruddy dementors! Yer not serious?"

Harry. "Yeah, I am, they turned up in Little Whinging and attacked my cousin and me, and then the Ministry of Magic expelled me — "

Hagrid. "WHAT?"

Harry again. " — and I had to go to a hearing and everything, but tell us about the giants first."

Hagrid. "You were expelled?"

I froze. Hagrid had been expelled, for something he hadn't done. There was no hearing for Hagrid. No chance to plead his case.

No Dumbledore to the rescue.

Why hadn't Dumbledore come to the rescue?

Harry. "Tell us about your summer and I'll tell you about mine."

A pause. I didn't lift my eyes from Tuck, whose eyes were drooping shut. I hadn't been with him at night in a long time. Too long. The thought, that thought of all thoughts, brought tears to my eyes. I blinked to clear the moisture, still not looking away from the dog half-asleep in my lap. I had never been a monster to Tuck. I was just Lucy, the one who had saved him.

Hagrid. "Oh, alright, alright. Well, we set off righ' after term ended."

Hermione. "Madame Maxime went with you, then?"

Hagrid. "Yeah, it was jus' the pair of us. An' I'll tell yeh this, she's not afraid of roughin' it, Olympe. Yeh know, she's a fine, well-dressed woman, an' knowin' where we were goin' I wondered how she'd feel abou' clamberin' over boulders an' sleepin' in caves an' tha', bu' she never complained once."

Caves.

Sleeping in caves.

A flicker of anxiety.

I tried to stamp it down, but it persisted.

A flicker, just a flicker. But a persistent flicker. Like the candles Dad had once put on my birthday cake. The prank candles that didn't stop burning no matter how hard I tried to blow. Like the candles in the picture that Mum had taken that Cedric had given to me to use as a bookmark in the book of spells that saved my life after I had been sleeping in caves.

My hands stilled on Tuck's head, and his eyes blinked open. I cocked my head at him in silent question, and he cocked his head right back at me. After a second, I remembered that I was supposed to be petting him, and my hand started stroking his back again. His eyes slipped all the way shut after a couple of minutes, and I tuned back into Hagrid's story. I'll admit the other three kids in the room were far more interested than I was. I was interested, of course I was interested, and I was concerned for Hagrid, but the idea of the giants being pulled back and forth like a pathetic game of tug-of-war didn't sit quite right with me. Obviously I hoped they wouldn't join Voldemort, but part of me wondered why they couldn't just let the giants be. Part of me wondered why they couldn't just let me be.

Who "they" were... I wasn't quite sure.

"So there aren't any giants coming?" Ron asked at what sounded like the end of the story.

Hagrid sighed heavily. "Nope, but we did wha' we meant ter do, we gave 'em Dumbledore's message an' some o' them heard it an' I 'spect some o' them'll remember it. Jus' maybe, those that don' want ter stay around Golgomath will move outta the mountains, an' there's gotta be a chance they'll remember Dumbledore's friendly to 'em. Could be they'll come..."

It was silent for a moment before someone spoke again.

Hermione cleared her throat uncertainly. "Hagrid?"

"Mhm?"

"Did you... was there any sign of... did you hear anything about your mother while you were there?"

Hagrid shifted the steak on his face. "Dead. Died years ago. They told me."

"Oh... I'm... I'm really sorry," she stammered, turning slightly in her chair. I glanced up at the sound, and surely enough, she was looking at me.

I bit my lip and looked determinedly back down at Tuck, not wanting to talk about anyone's dead mothers, mine least of all.

"No need. Can' remember her much. Wasn' a great mother," Hagrid said in response.

After a long moment, Ron broke the silence. "But you still haven't explained how you got in this state, Hagrid."

"Or why you're back so late. Sirius says Madame Maxime got back ages ago," Harry added.

"Who attacked you?" Ron asked.

"I haven't been attacked! I — "

Hagrid was interrupted by a knock.

Chaos erupted.

Tuck jumped out of my lap and ran to the door, barking madly along with Fang. Hermione gasped and dropped her teacup on the ground. Harry yanked the cloak free, rushed over, grabbed me by the hand, and dragged me over to a corner where Hermione and Ron joined us a second later. Ron pulled the cloak over the four of us. Hagrid shoved the extra mugs under the cushion in Fang's basket.

With one more glance over his shoulder to make sure we were hidden, Hagrid opened the door. Dolores Umbridge was there. Harry stiffened to my right. I probably stiffened, too.

"So! You're Hagrid, are you?" she asked loudly, as if she were speaking to a toddler. She stepped around Hagrid and looked around at his hut, shoving Tuck out of the way with her foot as she did so.

Another flicker. This one of anger I didn't bother trying to stamp this one down.

Harry laid a reassuring hand on my arm. Tuck was fine.

But I was still angry.

Hagrid turned slowly and closed the door part of the way. "Er, I don' want ter be rude, but who the ruddy hell are you?"

"My name is Dolores Umbridge."

"Dolores Umbridge? I thought you were one o' them Ministry — don' you work with Fudge?"

She wandered around the hut as she talked, looking at everything. "I was Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, yes. I am now the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher — "

What an invasion of privacy.

"Tha's brave of yeh, there's not many'd take that job anymore — "

" — and Hogwarts High Inquisitor."

"What's that?"

She pointed at Hermione's broken mug. "Precisely what I was going to ask."

"Oh, tha' was... Fang. Fang broke a mug." He pointed to the one from which he had been drinking. "I've been using that one instead."

Apparently satisfied, she turned to study Hagrid's face. She narrowed her eyes. "I heard voices."

"I was talkin' ter Fang and Tuck."

"And were they talking back to you?"

Hagrid froze. "Well... in a manner o' speaking. I've always said Fang's near enough human, and Tuck seems ter be chatty too."

"There are four sets of footprints in the snow leading from the castle doors to your cabin."

"Well, I on'y jus' got back. Maybe someone came ter call earlier an' I missed 'em."

"There are no footsteps leading away from your cabin door."

Hagrid froze again. "Well, I... I don' know why that'd be."

Umbridge began carefully inspecting the hut. She passed twice within inches of us. I held my breath each time she passed.

I hated hiding. I hated hiding. I hated the feeling of having to hide, I hated hiding —

Harry's hand on my arm tightened. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye.

"Breathe," he said under his breath, in a whisper he knew only I could hear.

I complied, shakily, silently. He nodded, and we looked back out into the cabin.

His hand remained on my arm, just below my elbow.

"What has happened to you? How did you sustain those injuries?" Umbridge asked.

Hagrid lowered the steak from his face. "Oh, I... had a bit of an accident."

"What sort of accident?"

"I... I tripped."

"You tripped?"

"Yeah, tha's right. Over... over a friend's broomstick. I don' fly, meself. Well, look at the size o' me, I don' reckon there's a broomstick that'd hold me. Friend o' mine breeds Abraxan horses, I dunno if you've ever seen 'em, big beasts, winged, yeh know, I've had a bit of a ride on one o' them an' it was — "

"Where have you been?"

"Where've I...?"

"Been, yes. Term started more than two months ago. Another teacher has had to cover your classes. None of your colleagues has been able to give me any information as to your whereabouts. You left no address. Where have you been?"

"I — I've been away for me health."

"For your health. I see."

"Yeah, er, bit o' fresh air, yeh know?"

"Yes, as gamekeeper, fresh air must be so difficult to come by."

"Well, er, change of scene, yeh know — "

"Mountain scenery?"

I gasped inaudibly. She knows. Oh Merlin, she knows.

Hagrid, fortunately, was quick on his feet. This was an answer he must have had prepared already. "Mountains? Nope, South of France fer me. Bit o' sun and sea."

"Really? You don't have much of a tan."

"Yeah, well, sensitive skin," he replied, with a smile that revealed he had a couple of missing teeth.

Hagrid, what happened to you?

Umbridge, finally, started to head toward the door. "I shall, of course, be informing the Minister of your late return."

"Right."

"You ought to know too that as High Inquisitor it is my unfortunate but necessary duty to inspect my fellow teachers. So I daresay we shall meet again soon enough."

Hagrid blinked. "You're inspectin' us?"

"Oh yes. The Ministry is determined to weed out unsatisfactory teachers, Hagrid. Good night."

With that, she left.

"Good riddance," Ron muttered.

Harry started to pull the cloak off, but Hermione yanked it back down. "Wait," she whispered. "Hagrid, is she actually leaving?"

"She's heading back to the castle," he confirmed.

Harry pulled the cloak off with an angry flourish, and the other three took a couple of steps forward.

"Inspectin' people, is she?" Hagrid asked.

"Yeah, she is, Professor Trelawney is on probation already," Ron reported.

Hermione crossed her arms and one leg over the other nervously. "Erm... what sort of thing are you planning to do with us in class, Hagrid?"

Hagrid grinned as he placed the dragon meat over his eye again. "Oh, don' you worry abou' that, I've got a great load o' lessons planned. I've been keepin' a couple of creatures saved fer yer O.W.L. year, you wait, they're somethin' really special."

"Er... special in what way?"

"I'm not sayin'! I don' want ter spoil the surprise!"

Hermione uncrossed her legs but kept her arms crossed sternly. "Look, Hagrid, Professor Umbridge won't be at all happy if you bring anything to class that's too dangerous — "

"Dangerous? Don' be silly, I wouldn' give yeh anythin' dangerous! I mean, alrigh', they can look after themselves — "

"Hagrid, you've got to pass Umbridge's inspection, and to do that it would really be better if she saw you teaching us how to look after porlocks, how to tell the difference between knarls and hedgehogs, stuff like that!"

"But tha's not very interestin', Hermione," he replied. Hagrid looked to me for support, but the eye that wasn't hidden by the steak widened considerably. "Lucy! Yeh alrigh'?"

Harry whirled around. He crossed over to me in a single stride and rested a hand on my shoulder, his eyes intense as he searched mine.

"Lucy? What is it?" Hermione asked, her voice high-pitched and anxious from where she stood rooted to the floor a couple paces away. I glanced at her, then Ron over her shoulder, then back at her, then down at the ground, then at the window, then at Tuck.

"I..." My mind was racing so fast my individual thoughts were a blur. I didn't know what was wrong, why I was panicking, why the world was ending.

Harry's hand tightened a bit. "Lu? Was it the cave talk?"

"Cave talk," I repeated, my voice sounding hollow, my chest feeling hollow.

I blinked. Cave talk.

My thoughts didn't slow. But I started sprinting to keep up with them.

Caves. And monsters. And tug-of-war. And Umbridge.

"If..." I tried to force my thoughts into a coherent sentence. "If Umbridge... knows something... about Hagrid..."