(Y/N)'s POV

I knocked on her door three times, she opened it and pursed her lips "I was expecting you earlier" I rubbed the back of my neck, "Sorry, I had a...thing" she sighed and we set about to complete the final phase of my transformation.

As we headed off into the grounds outside the castle, she cast some spell on us that meant the rain dispersed before it hit us, which I appreciated, then she led me down to the Whomping Willow, it was at this point I realised what the plan was.

As it was illuminated by the lightning, I realised something I had forgotten about. "Errr, Professor. What about my hand?" she squinted for a second and then nodded in understanding, "Don't fret, I will make the necessary changes to my spell once we see your form" I nodded, trusting her to do just that.

We made our way into the shrieking shack and she double checked everything "You are absolutely sure that you have recited the incantation 'Amato Animo Animato Animagus' at every sunrise and sunset since you entered this phase"

I nodded "Got the dark circles under my eyes to prove it" she sighed through her nose as if she was debating even doing this. "Now, I must warn you that if you are wrong or there are any other inconsistencies in the process the ramifications could be disastrous."

"I will ask you to confirm that this is something you want to do before we continue." At that very moment thunder boomed in the distance and the rain started to pelt the shack "How fitting" I thought.

"YES!" I screamed over the noise of the storm outside, she cast another spell and suddenly all the sound of rain hitting the walls stopped, it was a shame, I found it oddly comforting. She handed me the undisturbed vial.

"Are you ready?" She asked, "No, but I'm doing it anyway, but if I turn into a poodle or a giraffe, I'm afraid I'm going to have to Obliviate you Professor, so you don't tell anyone" she smirked "I assure you (L/N), I doubt that will be necessary."

I smiled at her " Well then... Bottoms up" I raised the vial to her and spoke one final time "Amato Animo Animato Animagus." And put the vial to my lips. The potion did not taste nice, though to be fair it was essentially fermented leaf juice and spit, so I don't know what I was expecting.

I choked it down and looked to McGonagall who mimed what to do next to help me. I closed my eyes from disgust of what I just drank, and suddenly an image was rattling around my head, something stalked towards me from the distance.

It was a cat, at first I thought it was Bones, which would have been very odd, but not unexpected. But as it got closer, I realised why I was confused the cat had golden eyes, same as she did, except this cat was a hell of a lot bigger, it was a panther.

When I opened my eyes they were much lower to the ground and a lot sharper, my whole body felt like pins and needles, it was an odd buzzing sensation, like when you fall asleep on your arm.

"Ok, not what I expected, but I'm not complaining, this is bad ass" I tried to say, what came out was a sequence of growls. "See, neither a giraffe, nor a poodle. Well done (L/N)" McGonagall congratulated me.

The moment was unfortunately was ruined by me tumbling over onto my cat face. McGonagall leaned down and tapped my right front paw, leaving a replica of a panther's paw behind that was the same metallic substance as my human hand.

After a surprisingly simple transformation back to my regular self, I spoke again. "To be honest Professor, I was expecting a housecat, like my patronus" she nodded, "As was I, but Animagi often keep traits of their human form when they change" .

I nodded, "Like your cute little cat specs" she seemed to blush. "Yes. It seems you have managed to keep a defining trait of your own" I grinned happily, "My height. Always typecast" I joked, "I was hoping for something a little more inconspicuous, but I'm just happy it worked"

"(L/N) you continue to impress me, well done" I beamed at her and she smiled and dismissed me. "I have a sudden urge to catch a mouse" I smirked as we made our way back to the grounds. She sighed, "That will pass" she said with a smirk of her own.

I was just about to give the Fat Lady the password when I heard a very distinctive "Hem, hem" I wheeled round and my fear became reality, the pink cardigan wearing demon had found me. "And what, my dear, are you doing out of bed at this hour?"

I had to come up with something "I was..." I racked my brain as she waited patiently "Meeting a girl..." she squeaked "And, who pray tell, is this girl" I racked my brain harder "Moaning Myrtle" she frowned at me slightly.

"Who is the girl?" she asked again insistently. "Pansy Parkinson" I said the first name I could think of, I always remembered hers because she was horrible, and her name was alliteration.

"What are you doing out of bed? Shouldn't you be having your beauty sleep?" I said, trying to slowly make my way to the portrait "Because you need it" I thought. "What I do with my nights are not your concern."

I nodded "Took the words right out of my mouth, goodnight" I said, edging towards the Fat Lady, who was enjoying this immensely. "Hem, hem, I think not Mr. (L/N), we must discuss your punishment. Personally, I feel detention will do nicely" she grinned sounding more pleased with herself than usual.

"I disagree! I didn't do anything!" She raised a finger "Ah, I think you will find you have, you were caught out of bed after hours" I tried to protest. "But I was two steps out the door, that's hardly-" "up-up-up, enough of that Mr. (L/N). I will see you in my office after classes tomorrow"

The next day, as I was massaging my now very sore hand, Harry barged into the common room, Neville hot on his heels, "Neville's found it!" he said excitedly. I turned to Hermione who shrugged, he led us down to a hallway in the middle of the castle.

"Harry, doing lessons in the middle of a big bugger off hallway might attract some attention" I said as he felt around on the walls. Neville gestured vaguely to a nearby wall and said "It was there" Harry paced along the wall, feeling the brick as he went, "wait"

He said, "Oh I get it, Harry are you hearing snakes again?" "Shut up!" he snapped. Then out of nowhere appeared a door, it looked surprisingly ornate and as though it had always been there, it seemed to grow out of the wall.

"What's the elvish word for friend?" I smirked, they gave me an odd look, "What? Don't you read?" Harry looked very pleased with himself and dragged us inside. I was stunned into silence, which for me, was quite the feat.

The walls were lined with wooden bookcases, and instead of chairs there were large silk cushions on the floor. A set of shelves at the far end of the room carried a range of instruments such as Sneakoscopes, Secrecy Sensors, and a large, cracked Foe-Glass.

"These will be good when we're practising Stunning," said Ron enthusiastically, prodding one of the cushions with his foot. "And just look at these books!" said Hermione excitedly, running a finger along the spines of the large leather-bound tomes.

"A Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Actions . . . The Dark Arts Outsmarted . . . Self-Defensive Spellwork . . . wow . . ." She looked around at me, her face glowing, and beamed at me, of course presence of hundreds of books had finally convinced Hermione that what we were doing was right.

"Harry, this is wonderful, there's everything we need here!" And without further ado she slid Jinxes for the Jinxed from its shelf, sank onto the nearest cushion, and began to read. "This is brilliant, almost too good to be true...you sure this is safe? Because I don't want to be stuck in here with Ron for longer then I need to be."

He nodded, "It's perfect, it's like Hogwarts wants us to fight back" He said excitedly. A short while later there was a gentle knock on the door. Ginny, Lavender, Parvati, and Dean had arrived. "Whoa," said Dean, staring around, impressed. "What is this place?" Harry explained.

By the time eight o'clock arrived, every cushion was occupied. "Well," said Harry, slightly nervously. "This is the place we've found for practices, and you've — er — obviously found it okay —"

"It's fantastic!" said Cho, and several people murmured their agreement. After Harry spoke for a while Hermione cleared her throat "What, Hermione?" "I think we ought to elect a leader," "Harry's leader," said Cho at once.

"Yes, but I think we ought to vote on it properly," said Hermione, unperturbed. "It makes it formal and it gives him authority. So — everyone who thinks Harry ought to be our leader?" "Well personally I thought I should-" I began before Hermione glared at me, "...kidding."

Everybody put up their hands, even Zacharias Smith "Er — right, thanks," said Harry "And — what, Hermione?" "I also think we ought to have a name," she said brightly, her hand still in the air.

"It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?" "Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League?" said Angelina hopefully. ' "Or the Ministry of Magic Are Morons Group?" suggested Fred.

"Well, I was thinking (L/N)'s Brigade, but I suppose that can work too" "Or maybe the Umbridge is an assh-" "I was thinking," said Hermione, cutting me off and frowning, "more of a name that didn't tell everyone what we were up to, so we can refer to it safely outside meetings."

"The Defence Association?" said Cho. "The D.A. for short, so nobody knows what we're talking about?" "Yeah, the D.A.'s good," said Ginny. "Only let's make it stand for Dumbledore's Army because that's the Ministry's worst fear, isn't it?"

There was a good deal of appreciative murmuring and laughter at this. "All in favour of the D.A.?" said Hermione bossily, kneeling up on her cushion to count. "That's a majority — motion passed!"

She pinned the piece of paper with all of their names on it on the wall and wrote 'DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY' across the top in large letters. "Right," said Harry, when she had sat down again, "shall we get practising then?"

"I was thinking, the first thing we should do is Expelliarmus, you know, the Disarming Charm. I know it's pretty basic but I've found it really useful-" "Oh please," said Zacharias Smith, rolling his eyes and folding his arms.

"I don't think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?" "I've used it against him," said Harry quietly. "It saved my life last June." Smith opened his mouth stupidly. I laughed and Hermione slapped my arm.

"But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave," Harry said. Smith did not move. Nor did anybody else. "Okay," said Harry, his mouth slightly drier than usual with all those eyes upon him.

"I reckon we should all divide into pairs and practice." Everybody got to their feet at once and divided up. Predictably, Neville was left partnerless. Normally I would have happily helped him, but I was too busy making eyes at Hermione.

"You can practice with me," Harry told him. "Right — on the count of three, then — one, two, three —" The room was suddenly full of shouts of "Expelliarmus!" Wands flew in all directions, after I picked mine up and Hermione grinned at me triumphantly.

I looked over at the others. Neville was having some trouble; his wand went spinning out of his hand. "Neville mate, how do you disarm yourself with your disarming spell?" he seemed very frustrated, I realised that was a bit insensitive, even for a joke.

"Don't worry you'll get it, I nearly broke mine in half the first time I tried this spell." He shrugged "Not to mention my wand went flying and almost blinded Flitwick, he can show you the scar if you ask him." He let out a little smirk, I pat him on the shoulder.

After a bit more practice, "Okay, stop!" Harry shouted. "Stop! STOP!" Everyone lowered their wands. "That wasn't bad," said Harry, "but there's definite room for improvement." "Let's try again. . . ."

He moved off around the room again, stopping here and there to make suggestions. I got bored of getting my wand handed to me by Hermione so eventually, we just settled down and watched him work.

"Working hard is important, but there's something that matters even more, believing in yourself. Think of it this way, every great wizard or witch in history, has started out as nothing more then what we are now. Students. If they can do it, why not us?" I had the sudden urge to slow clap.

Slowly the general performance improved, everyone seemed to get the hang of disarming, though Neville was still struggling a bit. I chuckled as I noticed that he avoided going near Cho and her friend for a while.

I pointed this out to Hermione and we had a nice laugh, but after walking twice around every other pair in the room he could not ignore them anymore, as Hermione disarmed me again, I scooped up my wand and gave him a shove into Cho's direction.

After a while of watching them awkwardly flirt, Hermione tapped me on the shoulder, we had to hurry, we were past curfew already, "Alright you guys, what were you expecting? Butterbeer? That's your lot, bugger off" I announced.

There were a few groans, Harry nodded, checking his watch "We've overrun, we'd better leave it here. Same time, same place next week?" "Sooner!" said Dean Thomas eagerly and many people nodded in agreement.

Angelina, however, said quickly, "The Quidditch season's about to start, we need team practices too!" "Let's say next Wednesday night, then," said Harry, "and we can decide on additional meetings then. . . . Come on, we'd better get going. . . ."

I clapped him on the back "That was awesome mate, well done" "I didn't do too much, nothing happened" he shrugged, Hermione cut in "What about Cho and you?" "What d'you mean?" said Harry quickly.

"Well," said Hermione, smiling slightly, "she just couldn't keep her eyes off you, could she?" I ruffled his hair as he smiled like a madman, "You sly bugger." I nudged Hermione, we watched as Harry basically skipped away "Ok 'Mione, I take it back, he's a great teacher."

Harry's POV

Being part of DA was brilliant. I felt like for once I was actually doing something, and with Sirius's support I felt confident we were doing the right thing, even if it could get us into a lot of trouble.

Fooling Umbridge was one of the best parts, the D.A. were resisting her under her very nose, doing the very thing that she and the Ministry most feared, and It was probably the only thing that got me through her lessons.

Remembering how Neville had successfully disarmed Hermione, how Colin Creevey had mastered the Impediment Jinx after three meetings' hard effort, how Parvati Patil had produced such a good Reductor Curse that she had reduced the table carrying all the Sneakoscopes to dust.

The others have been a huge help, (Y/N) has been helping by teaching the others about stunning spells, as well as personally tutoring any of them that needed a little extra push, he was really getting into this, every day he came to me with new ideas for useful spells to teach or new ways to teach them and his enthusiasm was contagious.

"Stunning is a witch or wizards' bread and butter really" I said, giving a demonstration soon after, (Y/N) took over. "Now, I have been stunned a lot in my time. I'm starting to think that's how people say hello to me..."

"Anyway, that means, I know how effective it can be. It buys you breathing room, it can incapacitate and above all-" he quickly stunned an unexpecting Zacharius Smith, who landed harshly on his back with a groan.

"It's quick" he smirked, "Now pair up you lot, take turns knocking the spit out of each other." Hermione soon devised a very clever method of communicating the time and date of the next meeting to all the members in case they needed to change it at short notice.

She gave each of the members of the D.A. a fake Galleon "You see the numerals around the edge of the coins?" Hermione said, holding one up for examination at the end of their fourth meeting. She explained proudly

"On real Galleons that's just a serial number referring to the goblin who cast the coin. On these fake coins, though, the number will change to reflect the time and date of the next meeting. The coins will grow hot when the date changes, so if you're carrying them in a pocket, you'll be able to feel them."

"We take one each, and when Harry sets the date of the next meeting, he'll change the numbers on his coin, and because I've put a Protean Charm on them, they'll all change to mimic his." A blank silence greeted Hermione's words.

She looked around at all the faces upturned to her, rather disconcerted. "Well — I thought it was a good idea," she said uncertainly, "I mean, even if Umbridge asked us to turn out our pockets, there's nothing fishy about carrying a Galleon, is there?"

"But . . . well, if you don't want to use them . . ." "You can do a Protean Charm?" said Terry Boot. "Yes," said Hermione. "But that's . . . that's N.E.W.T. standard, that is," he said weakly. "Oh," said Hermione, trying to look modest.

"Oh . . . well . . . yes, I suppose it is. . . ." "How come you're not in Ravenclaw?" he demanded, staring at Hermione with something close to wonder. "With brains like yours?" "Well, the Sorting Hat did seriously consider putting me in Ravenclaw during my Sorting," said Hermione brightly, "but it decided on Gryffindor in the end."

"Yeah Terry, she's mi-" "...ours, you can't have her" (Y/N) held her possessively like a child hogging a toy and stuck his tongue out even more childishly. "So does that mean we're using the Galleons?"

There was a murmur of assent and everybody moved forward to collect one from the basket. Harry looked sideways at Hermione. "You know what these remind me of?" "No, what's that?"

"The Death Eaters' scars. Voldemort touches one of them, and all their scars burn, and they know they've got to join him." "Well . . . yes," said Hermione quietly "That's where I got the idea" she looked a little put off.

(Y/N) chipped in "Well, tattoos hurt, these don't, plus you can't buy things with tattoos and I think they would stand out a bit, so coins it is!" Fred nodded "I suppose the only danger with these is that we might accidentally spend them."

"Fat chance," said Ron, who was examining his own fake Galleon with a slightly mournful air. "I haven't got any real Galleons to confuse it with." (Y/N) laughed so hard at that he nearly lost his in the process.

As the first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, drew nearer, their D.A. meetings were put on hold because Angelina insisted on almost daily practices.

"We'll be there in a bit," I assured her as she went don't to the pitch. "Ron's just got to have some breakfast." It became clear after ten minutes, however, that Ron was not capable of eating anything more and its probably best to get him down to the changing rooms.

As we rose from the table, Hermione got up too, she pulled me to one side. "Don't let Ron see what's on those Slytherins' badges, (Y/N)'s been trying to get rid of them but..." I looked questioningly at her, but she shook her head warningly; Ron had just ambled over to us, looking lost and desperate.

"Good luck, Ron," said Hermione with a warm smile. "And you, Harry" then we looked over at (Y/N), only to find him precariously holding several badges while trying to wrestle one out of the hands of a very persistent Slytherin fourth year.

"Give it here you little MUG!" was all I could hear over the laughter. Hermione sighed heavily and dashed off to break it up "Excuse me! Prefect coming through!" she darted between the crowd.

Hermione's POV

After I broke up the argument (Y/N) was having, I had to basically drag him to the Quidditch pitch, he was sulking, "I can't believe you just did that!" I sighed "It's the rules" I defended, "But Hermione I'm you're..." he trailed off, probably thinking of the right term.

"Boyfriend, you're my boyfriend (Y/N)" I said happily. He beamed at me and started giggling, he muttered "Awesome" under his breath. I don't know if I was supposed to hear that but I'm happy I did.

"Well, you shouldn't give your boyfriend a detention!" he frowned. "I'm a prefect it's my job" he huffed, "well, there it goes" he said oddly, "What?" I asked him curiously, "My plan from first year" I looked at him, befuddled.

He sighed "My 'find the smartest girl I could and make her fall for me so when she's prefect I can get away with stuff' plan. Obviously." I hit his shoulder playfully. "Prat" "Borrowed the idea from my brother, blame him, there was a flaw in my plan though"

"What was it?" I said, "Ended up falling for her first" he smiled, tapping me on the nose. I took his hand, "I think it work out very well, flawed or not, you got lucky." As we climbed the stands he smirked and whispered

"Well, I suppose it must just be luck that you also happen to be the most beautiful woman I've ever met" into my ear, I got tingles on the back of my neck "Even if you give me the odd detention it would be worth it."

"I'll make it up to you" I smiled, he raised an eyebrow "You say that a lot, yet I still have seen no change" The whistle for the game started and everyone cheered, looking to the action. I took this opportunity to kiss him. He smiled harder.

The Quidditch match took a while, the Slytherins were playing dirty, no surprise there, every time there was a foul the crowd booed, and I had to stop (Y/N) from rushing the field to 'batter' Crabbe a few times.

The Slytherins had devised a song aimed specifically at Ron to put him off, "Weasley is our king" or some rubbish and something about a bin. I'm not a Quidditch expert, but I could tell it was getting to him, a few times it looked like he wasn't even paying attention to the game.

It all came to a head when after the match, which Gryffindor won, Harry and Malfoy exchanged words which led to a fight, which one of the twins was involved in as well, (Y/N) was insistent on going down there to help Harry, taking Neville as back up, until I stopped him, not wanting to get Harry, or Gryffindor, into more trouble.

(Y/N)'s POV

After we made our way back to the common room, we chattered about what would happen, Ron was nowhere to be found, eventually Harry came in, still clutching the snitch he caught. He spent the next few minutes explaining Umbridge's punishment in detail, looking more upset with every word.

She had banned him for life from playing Quidditch, and he wasn't the only one, Fred and George too, "That's bang out of order!" I shouted in frustration "How can she even do that?" Hermione asked, Harry then explained about her new powers from the ministry.

Eventually, after trying to console Harry, Ron came in looking frozen, a gaunt look on his face "What did I miss?" he said slowly "Hermione gave me a detention!" I said quickly, she tutted, "Not now (Y/N)" she said, "Where have you been?" she pulled him inside.

"Walking," Ron mumbled. He was still wearing his Quidditch things. "You look frozen," said Hermione. "Sit down you idiot" I added, Ron walked to the fireside and sank into the chair farthest from Harry's, not looking at him.

I used a hot air charm to thaw him out a bit. The stolen Snitch zoomed over our heads. "I'm sorry," Ron mumbled, looking at his feet. "What for?" said Harry. "For thinking I can play Quidditch," said Ron.

"I'm going to resign first thing tomorrow." "If you resign," said Harry testily, "there'll only be three players left on the team." And when Ron looked puzzled, he said, "I've been given a lifetime ban."

"So've Fred and George." "What?" Ron yelped. Hermione told him the full story. When she had finished, Ron looked more anguished than ever. "This is all my fault —" "You didn't make me punch Malfoy," said Harry angrily.

"— if I wasn't so lousy at Quidditch —" "— it's got nothing to do with that —" "— it was that song that wound me up —" "— it would've wound anyone up —" Hermione got up and walked to the window, away from the argument, watching the snow swirling down against the pane

I tried to stop Bones from swallowing the snitch she had finally caught. As I listened to Ron mope I laughed, feeling very nostalgic, I had heard this exact argument about fifty million times, eventually I burst into giggles.

"WHAT!" Ron shouted, looking very offended, I explained, he just said "Huh?" "My brother said the same thing before every match, and you know something?" I paused for dramatic effect. "He only lost two Quidditch matches in his life."

"The first was his first match at Hogwarts when he got hit by both bludgers at once and fractured four ribs and cracked his sternum, his team was too worried to carry on, and the other one was when he fell."

Ron seemed more put off then ever until I added "It was the second one that killed him, so as far as I'm concerned, you've still got two more losses before I let you give up, I'm sure you can give it another go"

He looked down, so I put my hand on his shoulder "If the next two go that badly, I'll chuck you off your broom myself." "What position did he play?" said Ron, "Odd question" I shrugged "Dunno, I was eight, he could have been the ref for all I know, s'all a bit of a blur."

"Too many crayon drawings that day" Of course I did know what position he played, but I don't think telling Ron now would inspire confidence. "Look, drop it, will you!" Harry burst out, looking at me with the same look Hermione gives when I'm not being helpful.

"It's bad enough without you blaming yourself for everything!" Ron said nothing but sat gazing miserably at the damp hem of his robes. After a while he said in a dull voice, "This is the worst I've ever felt in my life."

"Join the club," said Harry bitterly. "Well," said Hermione, her voice trembling slightly. "I can think of one thing that might cheer you both up." "Oh yeah?" said Harry sceptically. "Yeah," said Hermione, turning away from the pitch-black, snowflecked window, a broad smile spreading across her face. "Hagrid's back."

As we made it to the door, Fang started barking frantically inside. "Hagrid, it's us!" Harry called through the keyhole. "Shoulda known!" said a gruff voice. "Bin home three seconds . . . Out the way, Fang . . . Out the way, yeh dozy dog . . ." The bolt was drawn back, the door creaked open, and Hagrid's head appeared in the gap. Hermione screamed.

"Merlin's beard, keep it down!" said Hagrid hastily, staring wildly over their heads. "Under that cloak, are yeh? Well, get in, get in!" "I'm sorry!" Hermione gasped, we squeezed past Hagrid into the house and pulled the cloak off so he could see us.

"I just — oh, Hagrid !" "It's nuthin', it's nuthin'!" said Hagrid hastily, shutting the door and hurrying to close all the curtains, but Hermione continued to gaze up at him in horror. Hagrid's hair was matted with congealed blood, and his left eye had been reduced to a puffy slit amid a mass of purple-and-black bruises.

There were many cuts on his face and hands, some of them still bleeding, and he was moving gingerly, patting a green steak on his eye that was swollen shut.

"Here Hagrid, let me help!" I said, getting out my wand and trying my best to repair his wounds "Cheers" he said quickly with a little relief in his voice, "What happened to you?" Harry demanded, while Fang danced around us all, trying to lick our faces. "Told yeh, nuthin'," said Hagrid firmly. "Want a cuppa?" "Come off it," said Ron, "you're in a right state!"

"I'm tellin' yeh, I'm fine," said Hagrid, "Hagrid mate, if you were fine, I wouldn't be doing this" he winced and quickly changed the subject. "Blimey, it's good ter see you again — had good summers, did yeh?" "Hagrid, you've been attacked!" said Ron. "Fer the las' time, it's nuthin'!" said Hagrid firmly.

"Would you say it was nothing if one of us turned up with a pound of mince instead of a face?" Ron demanded. "You ought to go and see Madam Pomfrey, Hagrid," said Hermione anxiously. "Some of those cuts look nasty." "Yeah, I can only do so much" I added, equally concerned.

"So are you going to tell us what's happened to you?" Harry asked. "Can', Harry. Top secret. More'n me job's worth ter tell yeh that." "Did the giants beat you up, Hagrid?" asked Hermione quietly. Hagrid stuttered like he always did when he lied.

"Giants?" he bellowed. "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," said Hermione apologetically. "Oh, yeh did, did yeh?" "It was kind of . . . obvious," said Ron. Harry nodded, As did I, as I treated his ribs "We're smarter then we look Hagrid."

Hagrid glared at us, then snorted, threw the steak onto the table again and strode back to the kettle, which was now whistling. "Never known kids like you four fer knowin' more'n yeh oughta," he muttered. "An' I'm not complimentin' yeh, neither. Nosy, some'd call it. Interferin'." "Yep, bunch o' nuisances since day one" I smiled.

His beard twitched. "So you have been to look for giants?" said Harry, grinning as he sat down at the table. Hagrid set tea in front of each of us. "Yeah, all righ'," he grunted, "I have." "And you found them?" said Hermione in a hushed voice. "Well, they're not that difficult ter find, ter be honest," said Hagrid. "Pretty big, see."

"I get it" I beamed, "Where are they?" said Ron. "Mountains," said Hagrid unhelpfully. "Come on, Hagrid, tell us about being attacked by the giants and Harry can tell you about being attacked by the dementors —" Hagrid choked in his mug and a large quantity of spit, tea, was sprayed over the table as Hagrid coughed and spluttered.

"Whadda yeh mean, attacked by dementors?" growled Hagrid. "Didn't you know?" Hermione asked him, wide-eyed. After he asked him for details, Harry smirked "Tell us about your summer and I'll tell you about mine." Hagrid sighed heavily and started.

"Well, we set off righ' after term ended —" "Madame Maxime went with you, then?" Hermione interjected. "Yeah, tha's right," said Hagrid, and a softened expression appeared on the few inches of face that were not obscured by beard or green steak.

"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 was goin' I wondered 'ow she'd feel abou' clamberin' over boulders an' sleepin' in caves an' tha', bu' she never complained once."

"She's a keeper Hagrid, now on to the important stuff" I bounced impatiently. He began to tell a very detailed story about his journey into France with Madam Maxime, and once he got to the giants, Ron interrupted.

"How big are they?" he asked in a hushed voice. " 'Bout twenty feet," said Hagrid casually. "Some o' the bigger ones mighta bin twenty-five." "And how many were there?" asked Harry. "I reckon abou' seventy or eighty," said Hagrid.

"So," said Harry, "you saw them and then what?" "Well, we waited till morning, didn' want ter go sneakin' up on 'em in the dark, fer our own safety," said Hagrid. " 'Bout three in the mornin' they fell asleep jus' where they was sittin'. We didn' dare sleep."

"Fer one thing, we wanted ter make sure none of 'em woke up an' came up where we were, an' fer another, the snorin' was unbelievable. Caused an avalanche near mornin'." I chuckled at the thought, "Sound like my mum."

He explained in more detail how they found a giant colony and presented them gifts to butter them up, all of this was done under Dumbledore's instruction, thanks to a giant named Karkus, who was their leader, or as they said 'Gurg', and was oddly accepting of Hagrid. Everything was going well once they had delivered their second gift, until a plot twist came that I wasn't prepared for.

"-Promised ter come back next day with another present. "But that night it all wen' wrong." "What d'you mean?" said Ron quickly. "They're not meant ter live together, giants," said Hagrid sadly.

"Not in big groups like that. They can' help themselves, they half kill each other every few weeks. The men fight each other an' the women fight each other, the remnants of the old tribes fight each other, an' that's even without squabbles over food an' the best fires an' sleepin' spots. Yeh'd think, seein' as how their whole race is abou' finished, they'd lay off each other, but . . ." Hagrid sighed deeply.

"That night a fight broke out, we saw it from the mouth of our cave, lookin' down on the valley. Went on fer hours, yeh wouldn' believe the noise. An' when the sun came up the snow was scarlet an' his head was lyin' at the bottom o' the lake."

"Whose head?" gasped Hermione. "Karkus's," said Hagrid heavily. "There was a new Gurg, Golgomath." He sighed deeply. "Well, we hadn' bargained on a new Gurg two days after we'd made friendly contact with the firs' one, an' we had a funny feelin' Golgomath wouldn' be so keen ter listen to us, but we had ter try."

"You went to speak to him?" asked Ron incredulously. "After you'd watched him rip off another giant's head?" " 'Course we did," said Hagrid, "Hagrid, you're such a badass" I smiled, he cleared his throat, "we hadn' gone all that way ter give up after two days! We wen' down with the next present we'd meant ter give ter Karkus."

"I knew it was no go before I'd opened me mouth. He was sitting there wearin' Karkus's helmet, leerin' at us as we got nearer. He's massive, one o' the biggest ones there. Black hair an' matchin' teeth an' a necklace o' bones. Human-lookin' bones, some of 'em."

"Well, I gave it a go — held out a great roll o' dragon skin — an' said A gift fer the Gurg of the giants —' Nex' thing I knew, I was hangin' upside down in the air by me feet, two of his mates had grabbed me." Hermione clapped her hands to her mouth.

"How did you get out of that?" asked Harry. "Wouldn'ta done if Olympe hadn' bin there," said Hagrid. "She pulled out her wand an' did some o' the fastes' spellwork I've ever seen. Ruddy marvelous. Hit the two holdin' me right in the eyes with Conjunctivitus Curses an' they dropped me straightaway."

"Bu' we were in trouble then, 'cause we'd used magic against 'em, an' that's what giants hate abou' wizards. We had ter leg it an' we knew there was no way we was going ter be able ter march inter camp again."

Unfortunately, this new leader was much more violent then the other, that meant his new guest, Macnair, a Death Eater, was able to make a deal with the entire clan to side with Voldemort rather than Dumbledore. Ron seemed very disappointed at the news, like his favourite new toy had been taken from him.

"So . . . so there aren't any giants coming?" said Ron, looking disappointed. "Nope," said Hagrid, heaving a deep sigh "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, them that don' want ter stay around Golgomath'll move outta the mountains, an' there's gotta be a chance they'll remember Dumbledore's friendly to 'em. . . . Could be they'll come . . ."

Snow was filling up the window now. Fang was drooling with his head in Harry's lap. "Hagrid?" said Hermione quietly after a while. "Mmm?" "Did you . . . was there any sign of . . . did you hear anything about your . . . your . . . mother while you were there?"

I glanced back at her, she can be oddly insensitive at times like this, Hagrid's unobscured eye rested upon her, and Hermione looked rather scared. "I'm sorry . . . I . . . forget it —" "Dead," Hagrid grunted. "Died years ago. They told me." "Oh . . . I'm . . . I'm really sorry," said Hermione in a very small voice.

Hagrid shrugged his massive shoulders. "No need," he said shortly. "Can' remember her much. Wasn' a great mother." They were silent again. I rested a hand of Hagrids shoulder, he smiled at me.

"But you still haven't explained how you got in this state, Hagrid," Ron said, gesturing toward Hagrid's bloodstained face. "Or why you're back so late," said Harry. "Sirius says Madame Maxime got back ages ago —" "Who attacked you?" said Ron.

"I haven' bin attacked!" said Hagrid emphatically. "I —" But the rest of his words were drowned in a sudden outbreak of rapping on the door. Hermione gasped; we rushed to the window, "It's her!" Ron whispered. "Get under here!" Harry said quickly; seizing the Invisibility Cloak. Huddled together they backed away into a corner.

Fang was barking madly at the door. Hagrid looked thoroughly confused. "Hagrid, hide our mugs!" Hagrid seized Harry's and Ron's mugs and shoved them under the cushion in Fang's basket.

Fang was now leaping up at the door; Hagrid pushed him out of the way with his foot and pulled it open. Professor Umbridge was standing in the doorway wearing her green tweed cloak and a matching hat with earflaps.

"So," she said slowly and loudly, as though speaking to somebody deaf. "You're Hagrid, are you?" Without waiting for an answer she strolled into the room, her bulging eyes rolling in every direction. "Get away," she snapped, waving her handbag at Fang, who had bounded up to her and was attempting to lick her face.

"Er — I don' want ter be rude," said Hagrid, staring at her, "but who the ruddy hell are you?" "My name is Dolores Umbridge." Her eyes were sweeping the cabin. "Dolores Umbridge?" Hagrid said, sounding thoroughly confused.

"I am now the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher —" "Tha's brave of yeh," said Hagrid, "there's not many'd take tha' job anymore —" "— and Hogwarts High Inquisitor," said Umbridge, giving no sign that she had heard him.

She spent the next five minutes interrogating him, trying to trip him up with loaded questions and veiled threats, but to his credit, he gave her nothing and she left looking very unsatisfied and extremely vindictive. After we came out of hiding and begged him to change his lessons to reflect her demands he basically kicked us out, just politely.

"Lis'en, it's bin a long day an' it's late," he said, patting Hermione gently on the shoulder, so that her knees gave way and hit the floor with a thud. "Oh — sorry —" He pulled her back up by the neck of her robes.

"Look, don' you go worryin' abou' me, I promise yeh I've got really good stuff planned fer yer lessons now I'm back. . . . Now you lot had better get back up to the castle, an' don' forget ter wipe yer footprints out behind yeh!"

"I dunno if you got through to him," said Ron a short while later when, having checked that the coast was clear, we walked back up to the castle through the thickening snow, leaving no trace behind them due to the Obliteration Charm Hermione was performing as we went.

"Then I'll go back again tomorrow," said Hermione determinedly. "I'll plan his lessons for him if I have to. I don't care if she throws out Trelawney but she's not taking Hagrid!" "Charming" I muttered, "Good to know you're at least loyal to some degree."