[Prof. Umbridge] Chapter 50

"Are they planning to clear out the entire forest?" Snape inquired, gazing into the distance.

"They promised to only burn the spider's lair," Marina Nikolaevna replied. "Though judging by their enthusiasm, they'll likely catch some live specimens too."

"Yes, but those trees are falling. Acromantulas couldn't possibly manage that..."

"Indeed..." She squinted. "And spiders don’t scream like that."

"They don’t scream at all; they have no means to," Snape enlightened her. "Although, I recall Hagrid insisting his old friend could even speak. Then again, considering Hagrid’s herbal collections from the Forbidden Forest, it’s a wonder the thestrals haven’t started talking to him!"

"At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised by anything. But we should probably head down there and see what’s going on," Marina Nikolaevna said seriously, "before they actually destroy the entire forest. On the other hand... maybe it's for the best?"

"I won't mourn that nest of vipers," Snape responded in kind. "Though it's a pity for the creatures. They have nowhere else to go. Hippogriffs and thestrals might manage in the mountains, but unicorns—unlikely. So hopefully, it won't come to such barbarity."

"And what about the rare plants? The fungi?" she couldn’t resist asking.

"Dolores, do I look like some mad herbalist who spends the entire summer crawling through bushes searching for a blade of grass that must be picked under a waxing moon during its flowering period and only with the first morning dew?" Snape retorted with a question of his own. "Besides, I have no idea what kind of rain has fallen on that grass, what corpse it grows from, what bird—or not a bird—has relieved itself on it. I’m not going to waste my time gathering and preparing it, let alone worrying about potential consequences. Of course, if there's no other choice, I’ll recall the basics and head into the woods with a basket. But as long as ingredients can be purchased from professionals, I won't bother with amateurism."

"Sometimes you seem monstrously practical," Marina Nikolaevna remarked, recalling old Meg. She had allegedly spent days, even weeks, in the forest, presumably searching for the right herbs and roots.

"Seem?" Snape didn’t understand. But he received no answer, as they had already exited the castle.

The courtyard and surrounding area were bustling with teachers and students who had somehow slipped past the barriers.

"All right, children, march back to the castle," Marina Nikolaevna commanded, catching a pair of third-years. "Move it! Heads of Houses, why aren’t you watching your charges? Please gather your students, count them, and send them into the castle immediately. I’m sure the forest can manage without your participation!"

"It's dreadfully cold, after all," sighed Flitwick, beginning to round up his students. "Come on now, quickly, let’s go, let’s go..."

The Hufflepuffs obediently flocked to Sprout at her first call, like chicks under a wing. Meanwhile, McGonagall had to count her students three times, and each time came up with a different number.

"No Slytherins here; I don’t need to bother," Snape said curtly after a glance around. Then, looking up, he added, "They’ve occupied the best vantage point, the scoundrels. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re selling spots to students from other houses..."

"That’s not prohibited," Marina Nikolaevna sighed.

"Don’t worry, madam," said O’Leary, appearing from the darkness, "students couldn’t stray far from the castle. We’ve set up barriers—solid ones! Otherwise, a startled hippogriff might fly into the crowd, and that wouldn’t end well!"

"And the underground passages?" Snape asked.

"Sealed and locked tight, professor," the Auror grinned. "We’re keeping a close watch on them, just in case. Some of your students, I’ve noticed, are little devils. Give them a finger, and they’ll hack through any alarm system... By the way, I’ll personally write a recommendation to our office for your resident twins."

"Are you referring to the Weasleys?" Marina Nikolaevna asked, surprised. "I thought they were planning to go into business..."

"One doesn’t exclude the other. Some of their inventions have already been sold to the Ministry at a decent price. If they keep it up with proper funding..." O’Leary paused meaningfully. "Well, they’ll help us improve our equipment. And who knows, maybe even attract foreign investors. No need to explain to you, I’m sure!"

"Indeed... Mr. O’Leary, what’s that terrible noise in the forest?" she returned to the original topic.

"They reported traces of a giant," he said, suddenly serious. "And now they’ve found it. It’s not very large, fortunately, but it’s aggressive. Interestingly, it clearly didn’t come to this forest of its own will. It was tied to the trees—probably to keep it from wandering off. Imagine if it had strolled up to the school in the morning!"

"I hope..." she began, but her words were cut short as the nearest trees at the edge of the Forbidden Forest snapped like matchsticks. A giant emerged into the clearing.

It wasn’t as large as described in reference books, standing only about sixteen feet tall. Still, it looked thoroughly enraged. Tiny humans around it had managed to attach something like a magical collar to its neck and were now leading it on restraints as one would handle a dangerous predator, prodding it whenever it resisted.

"Good thing they got it while it was asleep," said the head of the liquidation team, who appeared nearby. His clothes were torn, his face smudged with soot, but his eyes burned with enthusiasm. In profile, he resembled a predatory bird. "Imagine, such a specimen so close to the school! What if it had wandered to the lake for a stroll?"

"The giant squid would have been unpleasantly surprised," Snape remarked. "Not to mention the merpeople."

"Is this place some kind of rare species reserve?" the liquidator asked, baffled. "No wonder my cousin flat-out refused to send his son to Hogwarts! He went into debt but scraped enough together for Ilvermorny..."

"What do you plan to do with it?" Marina Nikolaevna interrupted, nodding toward the roaring giant. It seemed to be trying to form a word, but so incoherently that it was impossible to make out.

"We’ll calm it down and transport it somewhere secure," the liquidator replied. "It’s a pity Hrafn couldn’t help. He said frost giants are much smarter, but this one isn’t much brighter than the log it’s made from—or so I gathered from his words..."

"Dvegar are poetic in their own way," said Ingebjorg, materializing from the darkness like a ghost. "But Mr. Connor understood Hrafn almost correctly: this poor wild child knows nothing and is very frightened, which makes it dangerous."

"A child?" Snape clarified.

"Yes... or at least, it has the mind of an underdeveloped five-year-old," Ingebjørg replied. "And also—"

"What are you doing?! What are you doing?!" a shout broke the night. Hagrid came barreling toward the liquidators, torch in hand. His dog barked at his heels. "Leave him alone! Leave him be! Don’t worry, I’ll handle it! I’ll..."

He collided full-force with an invisible shield, which rebounded and sent him flying several feet back. The nearest liquidator cursed vividly, likely having taken some of the blowback.

"Madam Headmistress, could you kindly rein in your groundskeeper?" Connor asked politely.

"I'm afraid I cannot. Mr. O'Leary, would you assist? Bear in mind, Hagrid is half-giant, so... oh no!" Marina Nikolaevna clasped her head in dismay.

"What's the matter, madam?" O'Leary inquired sympathetically.

"It seems this... hmm... youngster is some sort of relative of Hagrid's," she managed to say. 

"Just what we needed!"

"And why is that a problem?" Connor asked, puzzled. "This works to our advantage… What's the baby wailing about? H-Hag… sounds like it’s calling your Hagrid?"

"Seems so," Ingebjorg nodded after listening closely.

"Then let him calm this relative of his. Afterward, we’ll take both of them and figure out where this miracle came from and how it managed to reach us unnoticed," Connor nodded. "Might even clarify where the giants are hiding these days—can’t say the last group was... uh... chatty. Hard to talk when they’re trying to stomp or eat you!"

"If you intend to question Hagrid, you'll need his written consent, approved by me," Marina Nikolaevna said grimly, watching as the groundskeeper ran circles around the bawling giant, occasionally crashing into shields or the exterminators themselves. "After all, he is an employee of Hogwarts."

"Of course, madam," Connor nodded. "O'Leary, think your team can help? Dragging two of them might be tricky."

"No problem," the Auror replied. "But first, we need to settle Hagrid down—he’s only riling the giant up more. Let’s go handle it…"

"Why bother? He's already running this way," Connor replied dryly.

Indeed, Hagrid, having given up trying to reach the giant (who had clearly tired of resisting, sat down, buried its nose in its knees, and started rocking back and forth while wailing loudly), was now rushing toward the school.

"Madam! Madam Umbridge!" he hollered as he spotted her above the heads of the crowd. The Aurors were tall, but the groundskeeper still towered over them. "Tell them not to hurt Grawp! Tell them… don’t hurt him…"

"No one will harm him, Mr. Hagrid," she said, involuntarily stepping back as he pushed his way through the onlookers. To meet his gaze, she had to crane her neck. "Can you calm this... Grawp?"

"Of course, I can… only if you promise not to hurt him. He gets real worked up if he’s scared! And in the dark, he doesn’t recognize me, poor thing…"

"Light up the area," Connor commanded, and one of his subordinates complied. "Not so bright—you’ll scare him more! That’s better… Mr. Hagrid, do you know this giant?"

"Aye," he muttered, staring at the ground.

"And do you know how he ended up in the Forbidden Forest?"

"Aye…"

"Did Dumbledore order you to bring him here?" O'Leary asked.

"Eh? No, no!" Hagrid waved his enormous hands. "I mean, yes… He sent me and Madame Maxime to the giants for help against you-know-who, but it didn’t work out—they got there first!"

"Now that’s interesting," the Auror said, alert. "Connor, seems like those two giant groups—"

"I get it," Connor replied, scribbling in a notepad, occasionally pausing to read, as though receiving responses.

"And Madame Maxime agreed to this venture?" Snape asked in a tone dripping with incredulity.

"She… well, she understood it was important to me," Hagrid admitted, wringing his hands. 

"But… she grew a bit tired of him, I must admit… So we parted ways on the journey back. She did promise not to tell anyone, though…"

"How on earth did you bring him here?"

"Well… we traveled only at night, through wild terrain, stuff like that. That’s why I was so delayed last year… When he wants to move, you’ve got to keep up, but he’d often try to turn back!"

"So, a wild giant lived in the Forbidden Forest for nearly a year?" Marina Nikolaevna said quietly. "And Dumbledore knew about this?"

"No, no!" Hagrid shook his shaggy head. "I mean… he might’ve guessed… but I didn’t tell him! He had enough on his plate, and I… Lying’s bad, I know, but I couldn’t just leave my brother!"

"Brother? Are you sure?" Connor asked, scrutinizing him.

"Yeah, we’re half-brothers," Hagrid clarified, sniffing. "Turns out my mum took up with another giant after she left my dad, and Grawp was born. She didn’t love him much more than me, though. Giantesses only care if their babies are big and strong, and he was always a bit small for their liking. They bullied him… I just couldn’t leave him!"

Marina Nikolaevna glanced at Ingebjorg, who was thoroughly enjoying this giant-themed soap opera.

"And he didn’t want to come here," Hagrid continued, his voice full of despair. "But I had to bring him—I had to! I knew if I could just keep him here for a bit and teach him how to behave, I could prove he’s completely harmless!"

"A noble goal," Connor admitted. "But dangerous. Especially near a school."

"But… he really is harmless; he just doesn’t understand his own strength," Hagrid sobbed. "And he’s not wild anymore—I’m teaching him to talk, and the kids promised to help…"

"What kids?" Marina Nikolaevna asked sharply. "Mr. Hagrid, who did you involve in this dangerous scheme? It’s bad enough for you, a grown man—though I recall you walking around with horrible bruises for months! Was that Grawp’s… erm… familial affection?"

"Yeah… he doesn’t know his strength, like I said!"

"And it didn’t occur to you that he might step on a student and not even notice? Or that a slap, which gave you a black eye, could decapitate a child?!" Marina Nikolaevna realized she was growing angry. "I’m asking, who did you introduce to this… baby?"

"Well… uh…" Hagrid shrank. "Harry and Hermione… They promised to help if anything happened to me, not to leave him, teach him things…"

"In his first year, Hagrid kept a dragon as a pet," Snape said with relish. "In his second, we had a basilisk—thank goodness no one tried to tame it. In his third and fourth years… let’s not even count the hippogriff and Blast-Ended Skrewts. And now, a giant. A clear pattern emerges!"

"Wait, you know about the dragon, professor?" Hagrid asked nervously.

"Of course I do!" Snape replied. "Malfoy saw it with his own eyes, and I tend to trust my students—and verify."

"Fascinating revelations," Ingebjorg remarked with interest. "But we can discuss this later. For now, I suggest we remove this child. The whole castle’s awake, and soon Hogsmeade will be, too."

"They won’t hear, ma’am," Connor replied. "We’ve muffled the sound, and there’s no fire to alert anyone."

"Hagrid, stop crying," Marina Nikolaevna said. "Really, now? Nothing’s happened to your brother! But you must understand, he cannot stay near the school—it’s too dangerous."

"I’m not crying about him anymore," the groundskeeper sniffled. "I’m crying about my friend…"

"What, another endangered species representative?" O'Leary quipped.

"Ah," Hagrid didn't catch the sarcasm. "Aragog, he was an Acromantula... I raised him, he was this tiny, fit right in the palm of my hand..."

The gamekeeper showed his hand, which was about the size of a shovel.

"Got so old in the end, said he was ready to go... And his kids turned strange, wouldn't even let me near 'em, though they knew me all their lives... Maybe it's for the best," Hagrid unexpectedly concluded, wiping his tears with his sleeve. "While Aragog was alive, they wouldn't touch me or the students, but now—see, can't even get close!"

"Well, your friend received an honorable send-off," Ingebjorg said solemnly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "He left with fire and smoke, soaring beyond the clouds. Someday, he'll return to the earth with the rain... I'm sure he would have been happy."

"Yeah, ma'am... Happy, sure..."

"Hagrid," Marina Nikolaevna tried to speak as gently as possible. "It seems Grawp has calmed down a bit. Go to him; the Aurors will let you through, won't they, Mr. Conner? Try to explain to him that no one will hurt him, that he'll just be taken to a safe place, and..."

"He won't understand, ma'am," Hagrid said sadly. "Think I wouldn't have explained if he could? He's like a wee child—learned a few words, but that's it. Never really had the time to teach him proper."

"Then there's only one solution—we'll have to sedate him," Conner said. "Group Apparition with a resisting giant? That's a risk too far. I'm not risking lives; there are too few as it is... Professor? Do you have something to knock this baby out? It would save us the trip back to the Ministry for supplies..."

"Of course, I do," Snape replied thoughtfully, stroking his chin—a habit in moments of contemplation. "It will take me a little time."

"Go ahead, Professor," the Auror nodded, watching him leave. "We'll wait..."

"They really won't hurt him, will they?" Hagrid asked plaintively, looking from Marina Nikolaevna to Conner, then to Ingebjorg, and finally glancing at Grohh. "If Grawp did anything wrong, it was out of ignorance! But he learns fast, truly, once he calms down—I'll show you..."

"You'll definitely get to show us," Conner assured him. "Just not near the school. We've got a secure facility; that's where we'll set Grawp up. He'll be safe there, and you can help him settle in, alright?"

"Sure, I'll help, no question..." Hagrid glanced at Marina Nikolaevna and deflated. "But I can't leave my post..."

"I'll grant you temporary leave," she sighed. "Florence can keep an eye on your house and your dog, I presume? Good, that's settled."

It took quite some time for Snape to return. Meanwhile, Grawp had calmed down and began demanding "food." Marina Nikolaevna wasn't sure whether feeding the giant before giving him a potion was wise, so she sent Letty to consult Snape. The answer came back: let the "baby" have a snack, but something salty. Grawp devoured smoked herring in an instant and was now crunching ham hocks, bones and all.

"After a breakfast like that, he'll soon want a drink," Conner observed, watching the giant eat with interest. "That's the perfect time to give him the potion. Right, Professor?"

"Do you have eyes in the back of your head?" Snape inquired politely.

"Not quite, but I could smell your lab fumes from ten feet away," Conner replied. "I caught your scent before you even entered the castle, wind's blowing our way."

"Not a werewolf, by any chance?" Snape asked, even more politely.

"Not me, but my father was," Conner said curtly. "Was. Until someone put a silver bullet in him."

"My condolences," Snape said after a pause.

"None needed. My biological father, as Muggles put it, was a piece of trash," the Auror replied evenly. "Not on Greyback's scale, of course, but I'm glad someone... cleaned him up."

Marina Nikolaevna recalled that werewolves rarely had children, and when they did, the offspring didn't inherit the curse.

"All I got from him was an exceptional sense of smell," Conner added, as if reading her thoughts.

"Not a bad inheritance," Snape remarked.

"Indeed. I can smell those creatures a mile away," the Auror grinned, baring his large white teeth. "And not just them... Anyway, enough chatting! Looks like our 'baby' is ready for a drink. Look at him..."

Grawp, having finished the last ham hock, was indeed looking around for something. Spotting a nearby lake, he made an attempt to move toward it, but the Aurors were prepared. Though Grawp tried repeatedly to stand and reach the water, they kept him restrained with sturdy spellwoven nets, far more secure than his temporary "collar."

"Hagrid, there was a big barrel of rainwater behind your hut, wasn't there?" Snape asked. "Bring it."

"With the water still in it?" Hagrid clarified.

"Of course. Can you manage?"

"Sure, why wouldn't I..." Hagrid left, and Snape uncorked a large flask.

Conner sniffed the air but didn't step closer. "You carry enough of that stuff around to knock out a giant?" he asked, intrigued.

"Enough to knock out the entire castle," Snape corrected without a hint of a smile. "You never know what situations might arise..."

"Surely, you weren't planning to dose everyone?" Marina Nikolaevna said, surprised.

"Of course not. It can be dispersed in the air, but that's no use for our little one here," he pointed at the whining and fidgeting Grawp. "He's outdoors, not in a sealed room, so he'd just take a single yawn and no more. He'll have to drink it."

"Ah! Here's the barrel!"

Hagrid came back, panting, and plunked the barrel down with a bit of splashing.

"Perfect," Snape said, pouring his potion into the barrel. "Now, we can serve our patient. Hagrid, take it to him. Mr. Conner, I suggest you assist—if Hagrid trips and spills the water..."

"Don't tell me you don’t have a backup," Conner said.

"Sadly, no. I wasn’t planning to sedate two castles at once," Snape replied.

"Fair enough," Conner chuckled. "Alright, Hagrid, ready? Let’s go!"

Marina Nikolaevna anxiously watched as Hagrid, red-faced and straining, carefully carried the barrel toward Grawp. The Aurors seemed to have lowered some of their shields because the giant was able to reach out and take the barrel without issue. Grawp guzzled it down like a seasoned drinker with a mug of ale.

Apparently unsatisfied, he turned the barrel over, shook it, and peered inside with one eye. Then, just as he seemed ready to cry, he yawned. Once, twice... and soon collapsed onto the grass, smacking his massive lips and twitching his enormous feet.

"Not bad, Professor," Conner remarked, returning to the group. "Now we can transport him without a fuss. Hagrid, do you need to grab anything before we go?"

"Huh? Nah, nothing to take," Hagrid waved a hand. "My dog won’t go hungry, will you, Fang? And the rest... Madam Umbridge was right; Florence will take care of it. We're sort of friends, him and me."

“In that case, go to Grawp. We'll send you off right now.”

Hagrid nodded several times, then tilted his head back, clearly searching for familiar faces on the towers, the galleries, and in the open windows—despite the nighttime chill. The windowsills were crowded with students of all ages. Unable to spot his friends, he waved his massive hand at everyone collectively, turned, and headed toward Grawp.

The dog let out a pitiful whine and tried to follow its master, but one of the Aurors managed to grab its collar just in time.

A few more minutes passed—then a flash... And the only traces left to indicate the giant had been there were broken trees, trampled earth, and a crushed barrel—Grawp had clutched it in his sleep, squeezing it until the metal hoops gave way.

"Hopefully, there won’t be any more surprises?" muttered Marina Nikolaevna.

"Doubtful," replied Ingebjorg seriously, her gaze fixed on the Forbidden Forest.

Down the wide path of destruction Grawp had left in his resistance, a procession of riders with torches in hand appeared to be approaching. At least, that’s how it seemed from afar. But as they drew closer, it became clear—these were not riders.

They were centaurs.

And they were very, very angry.