Hagrid's Little Brother
"Well," Hagrid began, bringing the group's attention back to him, something Hermione desperately needed before she died of embarrassment from the looks her friends were giving her right now. "The thing is..." He took a deep breath. "Well, there's a good chance I could get fired at any moment, just like they did with Professor Trelawney," Hagrid said, looking somewhat depressed.
"But you've been doing pretty well so far," Hermione added the next moment.
"Yeah, well, but the problem is Umbridge seems to be looking for an excuse to get rid of me at any moment. You know, because of the trouble some of the little hippogriffs caused her in the castle. Whenever it comes to magical creatures, she thinks everything is my fault. Besides..." Hagrid stopped for a moment, looking more nervous and, at the same time, more depressed than ever.
"What's wrong, Hagrid?" Harry asked, seeing the half-giant's state.
"Besides, if it's true and Dumbledore is the one who... you know, signs those dismissals. If they fired me, it'd be different, very different. After all, my job at Hogwarts is in exchange for..." Hagrid stopped and seemed unable to say it, but he looked afraid. "Well, never mind that. The thing is, if they fire me, they'll probably even throw me out of the castle. And I can't leave without telling someone about this because... because I need you to help me."
"Of course we'll help you," Harry said calmly, giving Hagrid a few pats as the half-giant seemed more and more nervous about telling them whatever it was he was about to reveal, something that clearly seemed very important to him. And if he'd called them, it was because he trusted them quite a lot with it.
"Thank you," Hagrid said with a smile as a few tears fell down his face, though he quickly wiped them away. "I knew I could count on you," he added affectionately.
"Well, come on. We're almost there," he added, wiping away his tears one last time before continuing on their way.
Now the group was even more interested than before in finding out what Hagrid had hidden there in the forest.
They continued in silence for another five minutes until Hagrid raised his large hand to stop them and gestured for them to follow him, but this time more quietly and carefully.
Then the group noticed what looked like a huge mound rising in front of them, surrounded by uprooted trees and a rough barricade made from logs and branches.
"He's sleeping," Hagrid said quietly.
The rhythmic sound of enormous lungs could be heard coming from the mound, along with snores that seemed to shake the leaves of the nearby trees.
Harry stared at the mound with his mouth slightly open, just like Draco, Daphne, and Hermione, although the latter looked terrified.
"Hagrid, what is that?" Hermione asked in a whisper as she listened to the sleeping beast.
"I think the right question would be: who is that?" Harry said as he stared at the mound and scratched his cheek, recovering from his surprise, because, to be exact, he'd been expecting something like this for quite some time.
Draco also recovered from his initial surprise and, just like Harry, already had a vague idea that something like this might have happened.
Daphne, for her part, still looked surprised and, at the same time, somewhat excited.
"Wow, I've never seen one up close before," she said, even seeming tempted to get closer, but Hermione quickly grabbed her by the arm to stop her.
"I really didn't want to believe it, but... you actually brought one here, Hagrid," Hermione said in a rather serious tone.
"Well, actually, he didn't want to come, but I couldn't leave him there. He's my half-brother, and they bullied him a lot back there for being a runt," Hagrid said as his tears began falling again.
"A giant at least five meters tall being called a runt," Harry said in an amused tone as he looked at the mound, which shifted slightly in its sleep, revealing its true appearance to everyone when it rolled onto its back and continued snoring.
A giant around five meters tall, with a head disproportionate to his own body, large ears, and seemingly no neck between his torso and head. Disheveled, he lay there comfortably enjoying his nap.
"I'll just need you to look after him. He already knows how to feed himself, but it'd be good for him to have some friends so he can learn to speak our language. I've tried teaching him a few words, but he's a little slow," Hagrid explained while the group, without saying a single word, continued staring at the giant lying on the ground.
"You're the best students at Hogwarts, so I'm sure you could help him learn more words than I can, seeing as I couldn't even finish my studies. And that way, once he can talk to people, he'll understand that we all care about him and that we want him to stay here," Hagrid said hopefully.
Hermione had covered her face with one hand, trying to convince herself that the creature in front of her was just a dream and not another one of Hagrid's crazy ideas, but no matter what she did, that sleeping giant wasn't going to disappear.
"Well, I think we knew this was going to happen, and it's not that surprising when you're already expecting it," Draco said.
"If we count Norbert or Fluffy, maybe this isn't that bad. Even Red technically causes more trouble," Daphne added, nodding calmly.
"Well, we'd already agreed before, so it's not like we can refuse now," Harry added.
The three of them seemed much calmer than they should have been around an actual giant.
Only Hermione seemed to be the sane one and have quite a few objections right now.
Hearing Harry's words, Hagrid smiled.
"Then I'll wake him up so I can introduce you," he said eagerly.
"No!" Hermione said, flinching. "There's really no need, Hagrid. No," she added with a bit of desperation, but Hagrid had already approached the giant and picked up a huge nearby branch, which he used to give him a whack.
Leaving everyone speechless, especially Hermione, who looked terrified.
"Groooow!" the giant roared, rising furiously and causing the animals hiding in the trees or nearby to run or fly away from the area.
Meanwhile, Harry and his group took a step back, watching as the giant got up, causing a tremor when his palm struck the ground. He pushed himself upright with an annoyed expression, his eyes scanning the surroundings to see who had bothered him.
Until he found Hagrid, who had a huge smile on his face.
"You all right, Grawp?" Hagrid greeted him affectionately, although he seemed to be keeping the enormous branch ready to give his "little brother" another whack if necessary.
Grawp rubbed his eyes before suddenly standing all the way up, revealing his full height, which was truly imposing. Even Hermione couldn't help hiding behind Draco as she let out:
"Oh my..." with some fear, peeking her head out from behind Draco's back.
Draco glanced over his shoulder for a moment when he realized he was being used as a shield, but he didn't seem to mind and even let out a small amused smile.
"Awesome," Daphne let out as she raised her head to look at Grawp with genuine interest.
Meanwhile, Harry simply stared at Grawp with mild interest, but nothing more.
"Look, Grawp, I brought you some friends. Look down," Hagrid urged, trying to get the giant's attention, who was looking around and had started playing with a nearby pine tree, shaking it from side to side without paying any attention to the fact that he seemed to be ripping it out of the ground by the roots.
But Hagrid, seeing that he couldn't get his attention, gave him a whack with his branch.
This made Hermione, still behind Draco, murmur:
"It's okay, Hagrid, you really don't need to introduce us, please," while even gripping Draco's robes tightly.
"Look, Grawp, this is Harry. He's a great friend. They're Daphne, Draco, and Hermione," Hagrid introduced them, although judging by the giant's sleepy and somewhat dumb expression, it didn't seem possible that he'd remember all their names.
Even so, Grawp bent down slightly, bringing his face closer to them. His eyes settled on each of them with interest, as if he'd found something interesting.
His gaze passed over Harry first, although some instinct seemed to tell him it was better not to get too close to him. Then he looked at Daphne, who seemed to be staring at him as if he were a giant toy, and Draco, who barely seemed impressed.
Finally, his eyes stopped on Hermione.
She was definitely afraid of him.
Grawp raised his enormous hand and tried to grab her from behind Draco so he could play with her.
"No, Grawp!" Hagrid shouted seriously, but his brother didn't even seem to listen to him.
When his hand got close, Hermione saw it and clung even tighter to Draco in fear, making Draco unable to stop his smile from growing a little more.
But before the giant could grab both of them or crush them, Draco calmly raised his hand.
Then a shield of solid gold formed out of the ground, with small spikes around its edges.
When the giant closed his hand around the shield, he felt the sharp pricks and immediately opened it again, taking a step back as he shook his hand. Although it seemed to be only a small pain, since the spikes hadn't pierced his tough skin.
"Bad, Grawp! Very bad! You don't do that...!" Hagrid shouted before his brother smacked him aside with one hand, sending him flying several meters across the ground.
Meanwhile, Grawp stood back up and went right back to playing with another pine tree, shaking it around happily.
Hagrid got back up a moment later while holding his nose, which wouldn't stop bleeding, and walked toward them.
"So that's why he was covered in bruises," Harry murmured as he watched Hagrid approach them with fresh injuries.
"Well, now I've introduced you. Whenever you have some free time, you can come visit him, I'd really appreciate it. I think that should be everything for today. We can come a couple more times so he gets used to you, all right?" Hagrid said with a smile as he picked up his crossbow again and slung it over his back.
"Sure," Harry and the others said easily, except for Hermione, who was still holding onto Draco and shaking her head.
But Hagrid didn't even seem to notice her before he started leading them back toward the exit, happy that he'd found some friends for his little brother.