章節 374: And... He's Gone Again

"Blimey," Ron breathed softly. "I'd never have guessed— always thought he'd got in the way of bad Engorgement Charm as a kid…"

Harry blinked.

"What's so bad about being a Half-Giant?" he asked quite cluelessly.

Hagrid winced, holding his sides in pain as he bent down to retrieve the Dragon steak from his dog. Fang refused to let go, and soon they were locked in a tug-of-war for the rancid piece of meat.

"Leave the steak," Oleandra sighed. "Come here, I'll heal you."

"Healin' spells made fer regular people don't work too well on me," Hagrid mumbled. "Potions neither."

"It's best to leave Healing to the Healers," said Hermione in concern. "To become a Healer, you need to pass five N.E.W.T.s with an at least Exceeds Expectations grade in each: Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions and Transfiguration. We haven't even passed our O.W.L.s yet, so what makes you think—"

"I wouldn't offer my help if I wasn't confident in my skills," said Oleandra somewhat pridefully. "The faster Professor Hagrid gets better, the faster he can help Daphne and Ginny."

Viviane had learned her magic from the greatest Wizard of all time, Merlin. And Oleandra had learned many lost magics from Viviane, so her Healing spells were something quite special. What's more, her Mystic Eyes made it incredibly easy for her to pinpoint where the body had gone wrong, so she was even more precise than trained Healers.

"All righ', I trust yeh," said Hagrid, who finally let go of the Dragon steak.

Oleandra closed her eyes and focused her mind. She mentally rehearsed the long sentences in Primitive Welsh a few times, before finally opening her eyes and drawing her wand.

First, she moved her wand to Hagrid's bruised face and his black eye, her tongue moving non-stop as words slipped from her mouth like a torrent. The swelling on Hagrid's face slowly receded until his skin was left unblemished, so Oleandra moved on to his ribs, which immediately began repairing themselves, popping back into place one by one.

At some point during this arduous process, Hermione, who'd been giving Harry the rundown on Giants, completely forgot what she'd been doing. She started focusing on Oleandra, trying her utmost to memorize her incantations, but the words she was hearing sounded so foreign that she couldn't be sure if she had committed them to memory properly.

"I'm… all better?" said Professor Hagrid in stupefaction, as he patted himself down to check if all of his parts were indeed still there. "Even Madam Pomfrey couldn' have done a better job…"

Professor Hagrid immediately jumped to his feet and started packing some things from his wardrobe into a large dragonhide leather bag.

"Oleandra, I have a favour to ask o' yeh," he said as he worked. "Yeh can speak Giantish, yeah? If yeh've got the time, I'd like it if yeh could go inter the Forest every now an' then ter keep my little brother company." He then turned to the Gryffindor Trio, and added, "if yeh'd like, I'm sure Grawp would be pleased as punch if he got more friends ter talk ter."

"Yeah, sure, no problem," said Harry eagerly. "But Hagrid, you're already leaving? You just got back here, we wanted to hear what happened to you on your mission to the Giants…"

"I'll be back soon, I'm taking Sirius's motorbike," Hagrid assured him. "And I'm sure tha' Grawp will be happy ter answer all o' yer questions. Just make sure ter take Oleandra with yeh ter translate; I didn't manage ter teach 'im much English…"

Hagrid quickly finished stuffing his clothes and food (together) into his bag, which he heaved over his shoulder, making him look rather like Santa Claus.

"You're not going to ask us to follow the spiders, or anything like that, are you?" Ron suddenly blurted out. "Because we're never, ever, doing that again."

Oleandra had no idea what he was talking about.

"Just ask the Centaurs fer directions, they like Oleandra, so I'm sure they'll be happy ter help," said Hagrid gruffly. "…Probably. They don't really like Grawpy, though."

Oleandra kept forgetting about the Centaurs; they were still counting on her to take them to their promised land beyond the stars. She'd eventually get to it, though.

One day.

Hopefully before their goodwill and patience completely ran out.

Hagrid stomped out of his house with his bag on his back, and having nothing better to do, the teenagers followed him. He circled around to the pumpkin patch and stuck his hand inside a tall pile of hay, and rummaged around.

"Aha!" he grunted.

Hagrid pulled, and an enormous, gleaming motorbike, complete with sidecar, emerged from the haystack.

Much easier than finding a needle, to be sure.

"Well…" said Harry morosely. "Come back soon, Hagrid. We… we missed you."

"Care of Magical Creatures isn't the same without you," said Hermione gently.

"You can say that again," Ron grumbled, and Oleandra stifled a giggle; Ron was not a fan of the monsters that Professor Hagrid regularly showcased in his classes.

"Oh, c'mere, all o' yeh," cried Hagrid, breaking into tears, and he wrapped them all in a bear hug.

"Can't breathe!" Oleandra wheezed.

After what seemed like an eternity, Hagrid finally let go of them, before jumping onto his motorbike and loudly revving the engine. He nodded to them, and with an even louder and obnoxious engine roar, the motorbike started forward, spouting gouts of flame from the exhaust, until finally the infernal machine had taken to the skies, leaving only a wet trail of charred grass and melted snow behind it, on its improvised runway.

"Well, well, well," came an extremely familiar voice from behind them. "Who do we have here?"

"Oh, no!" Hermione squeaked.

"Oh, yes," Umbridge said sweetly. "Why don't you turn around, so that I may see your pretty mugs?"

Oleandra hesitated; she could allow herself to be seen to increase Umbridge's misunderstanding about her, but at the same time, she really didn't want a repeat of the torture from last time.

"Perthro," Oleandra whispered.

She lightly brushed her fingers against the reversed rune drawn on her cheek, and her facial features immediately started shifting, as an illusory Glamour changed her appearance to that of another.

She then turned around slowly, and so did the other three Gryffindors.

For the love of all that is good, please play along, you three!

And then Harry and Ron did a double-take upon seeing her wearing a different face; albeit one they found somewhat familiar…