Chapitre 373: Professor Hagrid's True Nature
"What in the bloody hell are you doing here?" Ron blurted out, before turning to Hagrid. "And what the bloody hell happened to you?"
He gaped at Oleandra, who was sitting at Hagrid's dinner table, carefreely blowing on her piping hot cup of tea to cool it down. Then, he turned to stare at Professor Hagrid, who was grimacing while applying a greenish steak oozing with purplish blood to his bruised face.
"What does it look like to you?" Oleandra retorted. "I'm having some tea to warm up a little. The weather's getting downright chilly, isn't it?"
After Gryffindor's Quidditch victory, the usual suspects had noticed a light flickering in Hagrid's cabin all the way from the top of Gryffindor Tower. They had deduced that Hagrid had returned, and so, they had come to pay him a visit.
"I think what Ron meant is," Hermione said patiently, "how did you know that Hagrid would be back?"
Hagrid's hut couldn't be seen from the Slytherin common room, seeing as how the Slytherins lived a good thirty feet under the earth; as opposed to Gryffindor Tower, which offered a spectacular view of the Scottish countryside.
Oleandra shrugged; she had just done as the letter had asked. On Friday, the previous day, she had received two letters: the first had been from her French allies, and the second had been from Daphne. At first glance, or rather, at first touch, the second letter might have seemed like a prank, since it had been slathered with a poisonous substance that had caused an allergic reaction in her fingers.
Daphne knew students' letters were being intercepted by the Ministry, so she had applied some of her own naturally produced toxins on the letter she wrote to her twin sister. By making it look like someone was playing a practical joke on Oleandra, Daphne had hoped that her message wouldn't be taken seriously by the authorities. And at the same time, Daphne's toxins were unique to her, and since Oleandra knew about her sister's abilities, she'd immediately known that the letter's anonymous sender was her sister!
The Gryffindor Trio settled themselves into some chairs around the table, and Professor Hagrid served them each a cup of tea.
"Sir, you were telling me that you had run into my sister?" Oleandra prompted Professor Hagrid, who'd been in the middle of telling his tale when the Gryffindor Trio had come knocking on his doorstep.
"Was my sister with her?" Ron asked urgently. "Hagrid, did you see Ginny?"
Every day, Ron would get flooded with letters from his parents asking for news about his missing sister, who was also under suspicion of being a juvenile Dark Witch, due to her puzzling actions.
"Yeah, as a matter o' fact, I did," said Professor Hagrid gruffly. "She wasn't there at firs', but after waitin' fer a while, she turned up no worse fer wear."
"Then, if you're here, does that mean they're hiding nearby?" Ron asked, as he blew a sigh of relief. And then, since the massive bruise on Hagrid's face was staring him right in the face, even from under the dragon steak, he added worriedly, "You didn't run into any danger on the way back, did you?"
Hagrid shook his head, sending flecks of meat flying every which way. Fang, Hagrid's big yet regular-sized cowardly dog, eagerly climbed into Ron's lap and licked up the delicious food scraps.
"Down, boy!" Hagrid barked sharply, before answering Ron's query. "Nah, they're sitting tight in the Dales righ' 'bout now. They're waiting fer me ter come back, so I won' be stayin' long."
"Hagrid, did the Giants give you that bruise?" Hermione suddenly asked.
"How'd yeh know 'bout the Giants?" Hagrid gaped.
Hagrid was built like a veritable tank; the only thing that could possibly threaten him in a physical confrontation was either an actual Giant or a bull elephant.
"Professor Dumbledore told Fudge to send envoys to the Giants last year," Harry reminded him.
Hagrid froze; the hand holding the dragon steak to his face began trembling uncontrollably.
"You'd bes' be goin' now," he said in a hollow voice. "It's past your curfew, an' I need ter get me things ready fer the trip ter London with yer sisters."
"Hagrid," said Hermione, choosing her words very carefully, "is there something you might want to tell us? You do know that we'd never judge you any differently, no matter what, right?"
They didn't know Professor Hagrid's a Half-Giant, Oleandra realized. He never told them!
Well, he'd never told her either, the only reason knew that Hagrid was a Half-Giant was because Viviane had gleefully pointed it out for her last year… when she'd shared her best tips for taking down Giants and Half-Giants. She hoped she'd never get to use them.
"I'll tell them if you won't, Sir," said Oleandra very seriously, rolling her eyes; the pointless drama was just wasting her valuable time.
"Don't yeh dare, Greengrass!" Hagrid roared.
"Oleandra!" said Hermione reproachfully. "You shouldn't push Hagrid if he isn't ready to share!"
The dragon steak slipped from Hagrid's fingers and fell to the floor, and Fang immediately began gnawing on it with great enthusiasm.
"Oh, what's the use," Hagrid groaned, burying his face into his enormous hands. "I shoulda known better 'n ter think I could keep it a secret forever…"
Hagrid hadn't minded Daphne knowing his secret, since she was also physically different, but Oleandra, Harry, Ron and Hermione were all ordinary humans, as far as he knew. But now, it appeared to him as though the two girls had guessed his true nature, so it wouldn't be too long until the two others puzzled it out…
"Ha-have yeh ever told anyone?" Hagrid ventured, peeking out from between his sausage-like fingers. "How long have yeh known? …And how d'yeh guess?"
Oleandra and Hermione shook their heads; they hadn't told anyone.
"Since last year," Oleandra answered. "My, ah… teacher— she told me."
"A few weeks after we first met," Hermione admitted. "It's fairly obvious, wouldn't you think?"
It wasn't that obvious, seeing as nobody had guessed it in over fifty years. Harry and Ron seemed to have absolutely no idea as to what they were talking about, even with all the clues.
"I'm…" said Hagrid dramatically. "A Half-Giant."
Harry and Ron: !!!
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
Azure_Abyss
Azure_Abyss Creation is hard, cheer me up!
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone