FicWad

Before Fred could read the chapter title however, Hagrid entered, his black eyes beaming at all those gathered (Ministry officials and Umbridge excluded of course). Clearing his throat dramatically, Fred readjusted the book before reading.

Chapter Four: The Keeper of the Keys

BOOM. They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake.
"Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly.

“Is he really that dumb to be dreaming about a canon?” Ron asked.

“Do I need to bring up the tap dancing spiders Ron?” Harry snickered at his best friend’s mock glare.

There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands -- now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them.

“What!” Hermione exclaimed. “He bought a rifle? He could have seriously hurt you!”

"Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you -- I'm armed!"

George blinked. “Isn’t everyone?”

Hermione sighed. “He meant – oh never mind.”

There was a pause. Then --
SMASH!

“Ow! Fred!” George complained as he rubbed his ears.

The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor.
A giant of a man was standing in the doorway.

“Hagrid!” Both Fred and George exclaimed, looking up at the man, who was grinning proudly.

His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.
The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.
"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey..."

Ron shook his head. “Typical Hagrid.”

He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.
"Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger.

“Brilliant Hagrid!” Fred broke in.

Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.
"An' here's Harry!" said the giant.
Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.
"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yet dad, but yeh've got yet mom's eyes."

“First time I ever heard that,” Harry mumbled. “Certainly not the last.”

“If it makes you feel any better Harry, you don’t look exactly like James, there is quite a bit of your mother there as well,” Remus said gently, trying to cheer the boy up.

Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise.
“I demand that you leave at once, sit!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"
"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune,"

Again Fred stopped reading as both he and George gave Hagrid a standing ovation. Umbridge merely scowled at the two boys, wondering how anyone could be applauding a half breed.

said the giant; he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.
Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.
"Anyway -- Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here -- I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."
From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written on it in green icing.

“My first birthday cake,” Harry said with a smile, reminiscing.

Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you?"

“Manners Harry!” Hermione scolded. Harry grinned sheepishly.

The giant chuckled.
"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."
He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm. "What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."

“You’d better not have,” McGonagall said sternly, her eyes fixed on Hagrid who shifted under her gaze.

His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shriveled chip bags in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath.
The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from

“Hagrid!” McGonagall said exasperatedly.

At the same time, Ginny asked curiously, “How many pockets do you have Hagrid?”

“Fair few.” Hagrid answered.

before starting to make tea. Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."
The giant chuckled darkly.
"Yet great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry."

There was another round of clapping, and this time Harry and Ron joined in.

He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted
anything so wonderful, but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."

Hermione sighed. “At least you apologized.”

The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts -- yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course.”
"Er -- no," said Harry.

“Wrong thing to say,” Neville said, shaking his head.

Hagrid looked shocked.
"Sorry," Harry said quickly.
"Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It' s them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yet parents learned it all?"
"All what?" asked Harry.

“Harry, Harry,” Luna sighed.

"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!" He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.
"Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy -- this boy! -- knows nothin' abou' -- about ANYTHING?"
Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, afterall, and his marks weren't bad.
"I know some things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff."
*]
[*But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents' world."

“That wasn’t really helpful or clarified you know Hagrid,” Hermione pointed out.

“I was too much in shock, see,” Hagrid said.

"What world?"
Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.
"DURSLEY!" he boomed.
Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble."

“Was that supposed to be a spell?” Ginny wondered.

Hagrid stared wildly at Harry.
"But yeh must know about yet mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."
"What? My -- my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?"

“You know, most people would ask about their fame first,” Neville pointed out.

“But since when has Harry been most people?” Ron countered.

"Yeh don' know... yeh don' know..." Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare.
"Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he said finally.
Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.
"Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sit! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"

George snorted. “Like that’ll work.”

A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.
"You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?"
"Kept what from me?" said Harry eagerly.
"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.
Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.
"Ah, go boil yet heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry -- yet a wizard."

“Well said Hagrid,” McGonagall sighed with a sarcastic edge.

There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.
"I’m a what?" gasped Harry.

“Not quite the reaction I was expecting,” Hermione mused.

“Well how did you react?” Harry shot back, grinning triumphantly when Hermione didn’t answer.

"A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."
Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. He pulled out the letter and read:


HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme
Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all
necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31. Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress

“Does the letter ever change?” Remus asked curiously.

Dumbledore shook his head. “Only the headmaster part, or deputy part, and the name.”

Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"

“Of all the questions,” Ron said shaking his head.

“Hey, everything else made sense; that was the one thing that didn’t!” Harry said, trying to defend his past self.

"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl -- a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl

Hermione, Ginny, and Luna all looked shocked and disgusted.

-- a long quill, and a roll of parchment. With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could read upside down:
*]
[*
Dear Professor Dumbledore,
Given Harry his letter.
Taking him to buy his things tomorrow.
Weather's horrible. Hope you're Well.
Hagrid
Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone.

“Which it is,” George pointed out.

Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly.
"Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.
"He's not going," he said.
Hagrid grunted.
"I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said.
"A what?" said Harry, interested.
"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like thern. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."
"We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!"

“That’s it!” Remus exclaimed. “He is not going back to that house, ever!” Remus growled, resembling a wolf more than a man as he stared at Dumbledore. “I don’t care about the blood protections! Evidently they didn’t do him much good!”

Dumbledore looked quite surprised to see Remus upset, as did many of the teachers. Professor McGonagall however, was nodding in agreement with her former student.

“Err…Professor?” Harry asked, “Is there a minimum amount of time that I have to spend with the Dursleys?”

“A week,” the Headmaster said, nodding as he obviously followed Harry’s train of thought.

Meanwhile, Hermione was looking at Remus anxiously since he was still growling under his breath, and she reached out to try and get him to sit down. When her hand grabbed his sleeve, he turned and both her and Harry were surprised to see bright amber eyes starring back at them. Slowly thought, the gold faded and returned to their normal blue and Remus sat down with a sigh.

"You knew?" said Harry. "You knew I'm a -- a wizard?"
"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that-that school-and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was -- a freak! But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"
She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years.

“Probably had,” both Snape and Remus muttered then looked at each other in surprise.

"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as -- as -- abnormal -- and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"

Remus growled again at the way Petunia was talking about his best friends. From where he was sitting, Harry heard a few phrases of what seemed to be a muted tirade from Remus including: “Next full moon…stupid Muggles…show them a werewolf…”

Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown
up? You told me they died in a car crash!"
*]
[*"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!"

“And adult as well,” Luna drifted in.

"But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently.
The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious.
"I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh -- but someone’s gotta -- yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'."

“It wouldn’t have really mattered,” Harry said shrugging. “Anyone would have been able to tell me.”

He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys.
"Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh -- mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it...."
He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with -- with a person called -- but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows --"
"Who? "

“Well that’s part of it Harry,” George said as though talking to a young child.

"Well -- I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."
"Why not?"
"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went... bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was..."
Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.

“Good luck trying to get him to say it Harry, we tried for nearly seven years.” Remus said.

"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.
"Nah -can't spell it. All right -- Voldemort. "

“He said it.” Remus said in surprise, and then turned to Hagrid. “What about all the times we tried to get you to say his name?” Hagrid merely shrugged.

Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this -- this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too -- some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches... terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him -- an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway.
"Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day!

Remus quietly chuckled at that statement. The irony of that year when the past two James had teased him on being a Prefect, only to be chosen has Head Boy had been priceless.

Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before... probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side.
"Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em... maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' -- an' --"

Everyone had a grave look on their face and in some cases, such as Snape and Remus, looked rather ill.

Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn.
"Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad -- knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find -- anyway..."
"You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then -- an' this is the real myst'ry ofthe thing -- he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then.

But I’m sure you know why, Harry thought with a glance at Dumbledore.

But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a Powerful, evil curse touches yeh -- took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even -- but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age -- the McKinnons, the Bones,

Amelia Bones winced at the mention of her family members who had died at Voldemort’s hand.

the Prewetts

Now it was the Weasley’s turn to wince as they thought about their uncles, especially the older ones who actually remembered their mother’s brothers.

-- an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."
Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before -- and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh.

“You shouldn’t have to remember even that,” McGonagall said with a sigh.

Hagrid was watching him sadly.
"Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot..."
"Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there.

“So had I,” George admitted and Neville and Ginny nodded.

Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.
"Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured -- and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion -- asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types -- just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end --"

Once more, Harry heard a low growl and some mutterings about telling Sirius and visiting a certain family on Privet Drive.

But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley -I'm warning you -- one more word... "
In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.
"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor.
Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them.
"But what happened to Vol--, sorry -- I mean, You-Know-Who?"
"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see... he was gettin' more an' more powerful -- why'd he go?
"Some say he died.

“Which he did!” Umbridge exclaimed, speaking aloud for the first time since they started the books. She ignored the glares being shot her way.

Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die.

Dumbledore looked thoughtful at that statement, but since everyone was paying attention to the book, no one caught the look.

Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don’t reckon they could've done if he was comin' back.
"Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers.

“Impossible,” Umbridge scoffed.

Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on -- I dunno what it was, no one does -- but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."
Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake. A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football?

“It doesn’t work that way Harry,” Hermione said sadly.

“I know that now,” Harry said.

"Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard."
To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled.
"Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?"
Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it... every odd thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry... chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach... dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back... and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him?

“Brilliant that was,” Fred said, looking over at Harry with a smirk, which Harry returned.

Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively
beaming at him.
"See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard -- you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."

“Boy was he right,” Harry said with a slightly miserable tone.

Snape leaned forward slightly in his chair. What, Potter didn’t like his fame? No, he had to have been putting on an act. Considering his home life, he should have enjoyed all the attention he got at school.

But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.
"Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish -- spell books and wands and --"
"If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter' s son goin' ter Hogwarts!

“It does sound impossible,” Ron admitted.

Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had Albus Dumbled--"
"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.

“Oooh, now he’s done it!” The twins chorused and Fred eagerly picked up reading.

But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER," he thundered, "- INSULT- ALBUS- DUMBLEDORE-IN-FRONT- OF- ME!"
He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley -- there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.

There was a moment’s silence as everyone processed this new development, then laughter erupted in the room. Even Percy was struggling to keep a straight face.

Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.
Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.
"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."

The laughter started again, and it took a full five minutes before Fred was composed enough to continue reading.

He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows.
"Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm -- er -- not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff -- one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job-”
"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry.
"Oh, well -- I was at Hogwarts meself but I -- er -- got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."
*]
[*"Why were you expelled?"

“He wont tell you Harry, we’ve tried asking him that before,” George said.

“Wanna bet we find out?” Ron asked him with a smirk.

“Your on, one Galleon.” The two shook hands and Ron and Harry grinned at each other.

"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."
He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.
"You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets."

“Eww…” Ginny said in revoltion. “Hagrid you really need to clean out your pockets!”

“Anyway, that’s the end of the chapter. Who wants to go next?” Fred asked. Before anyone could speak up, the book floated out of Fred’s hands and into Luna’s. She gave everyone a dreamy smile before opening the book.