"Hagrid?" Chris said very slowly. "Please tell it's not what I think."
"Who is he?" whispered Hermione.
They were facing a large, smooth mound of earth nearly as tall as Hagrid. Trees had been ripped up at the roots all around the mound so that it stood on a bare patch of ground surrounded by heaps of trunks and boughs that ford a kind of fence or barricade, behind which Chris, Ginny, Colin, Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Hagrid now stood.
Harry and Colin were looking at Chris, Hermione and Hagrid's faces, completely clueless. Ron and Ginny were staring at the mound with their mouth open, utterly terrified.
"Hagrid, you told us," said Hermione, her wand now shaking in her hand, "you told us none of them wanted to co!"
"Well — no — he didn' want ter co," said Hagrid, sounding desperate. "But I had ter bring him, Hermione, I had ter!"
Chris stepped forward and watched the great mound of earth was moving slowly up and down in ti with the deep, grunting breathing. It was not a mound at all. It was the curved back of what was clearly . . .
"I knew if I jus' got him back," said Hagrid, sounding close to tears again, "an'— an' taught him a few manners — I'd be able ter take him outside an' show ev'ryone he's harmless!"
"Harmless?" Ron made a noise like he hadn't heard sothing this ridiculous.
"He's been hurting you all this ti, hasn't he? That's why you've had all these injuries!" said Ginny.
"So this is why it took you two months to get ho!" said Hermione distractedly. "Oh Hagrid, why did you bring him back if he didn't want to co, wouldn't he have been happier with his own people?"
"They were all bullyin' him, Hermione, 'cause he's so small!" said Hagrid.
"Small? Hell! Hagrid you are out of your mind," Ron snorted.
"I couldn' leave him," said Hagrid, tears now trickling down his bruised face into his beard. "See — he's my brother!"
"Hagrid, when you say 'brother,'" said Harry slowly, "do you an — ?"
"Well — half-brother," anded Hagrid. "Turns out mother took up with another giant when she left dad, an' she went an' had Grawp here —"
"Grawp?" said Colin.
"Yeah . . . well, tha's what it sounds like when he says his na," said Hagrid anxiously. "He don' speak a lot of English. . . . I've bin tryin' ter teach him. . . . Anyway, she don' seem ter have liked him much more'n she liked . . . . See, with giantesses, what counts is producin' good big kids, and he's always been a bit on the runty side fer a giant — on'y sixteen foot —"
"Oh yes, tiny!" said Ginny, with a kind of hysterical sarcasm. "Absolutely minuscule!"
Grawp had his back to them. Unlike Hagrid, who simply looked like a very oversize human, Grawp looked strangely misshapen. Grawp's head was much larger in proportion to the body than a human head, almost perfectly round and covered with tightly curling, close-growing hair the colour of bracken. The rim of a single large, fleshy ear was visible on top of the head, which seed to sit, the shoulders with little or no neck in between. The back, under what looked like a dirty brownish smock comprised of animal skins sewn roughly together, was very broad, and as Grawp slept, it seed to strain a little at the rough seams of the skins. The legs were curled up under the body; Chris could see the soles of enormous, filthy, bare feet, large as sledges, resting one on top of the other on the earthy forest floor.
"He was bein' kicked around by all o' them — I jus' couldn' leave him —" said Hagrid.
"Chris!" Ginny gasped.
Unconsciously Chris had walked a lot closer.
"Maybe he is nice," Chris suggested grinning.
Except for Hagrid, everyone stared at her.
"Chris, absolutely no," Ginny said glaring. "You are not going anywhere near him."
"How on earth did you get him back without anyone noticing?" said Ron turning to Hagrid.
"Well, tha's why it took so long, see," said Hagrid. "Could on'y travel by nigh' an' through wild country an' stuff. 'Course, he covers the ground pretty well when he wants ter, but he kep' wantin' ter go back . . ."
"Well, tha's why it took so long, see," said Hagrid. "Could on'y travel by nigh' an' through wild country an' stuff. 'Course, he covers the ground pretty well when he wants ter, but he kep' wantin' ter go back . . ."
"Oh Hagrid, why on earth didn't you let him!" said Hermione, flopping down onto a ripped-up tree and burying her face in her hands. "What do you think you're going to do with a violent giant who doesn't even want to be here!"
"Hey! Don't judge him yet," Chris said. "Maybe he isn't violent and it's kind of harsh thing to say, Hermione."
This earned Chris another set of glares and Hagrid'snervous but grateful smile.
"Yes, I'll admit he mighta taken a couple o' swings at when he's bin in a bad mood, but he's gettin' better, loads better, settlin' down well . . ." said Hagrid, still twisting his hands agitatedly.
"What are those ropes for, then?" Colin asked.
"You have to keep him tied up?" said Harry looking hysterical as well.
"Well . . . yeah . . ." said Hagrid, looking anxious. "See — it's like I say — he doesn' really know his strength —"
"Yeah, I'm sure that's it," said Ginny sarcastically. "He might kill people without realizing it."
"Kill?" Hagrid looked horror-struck. "'course no' he will never —"
"I take that back," Ron muttered. "A Dragon would have been a lot better than this."
"If yeh don't believe then wait, I'll wake him up, then — introduce you —"
"Wha — no!" said Hermione, jumping up.
"Yeah, maybe we can," said Chris but Hermione and Ginny's murdering expression changed her words quickly. "No, thanks Hagrid. I think we'll get going."
But Hagrid had already stepped over the great trunk in front of them and was proceeding toward Grawp. When he was around ten feet away, he lifted a long, broken bough from the ground, smiled reassuringly over his shoulder, and then poked Grawp hard in the middle of the back with the end of the bough.
The giant gave a roar that echoed around the silent forest. Birds in the treetops overhead rose twittering from their perches and soared away. In front of Chris, anwhile, the gigantic Grawp was rising from the ground, which shuddered as he placed an enormous hand upon it to push himself onto his knees and turned his head to see who and what had disturbed him.
"All righ', Grawpy?" said Hagrid in a would-be cheery voice, backing away with the long bough raised, ready to poke Grawp again. "Had a nice sleep, eh?"
Chris watched Hagrid and Grawp amazed while Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Colin retreated as far as they could while still keeping the giant within their sights.
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To be continued. . .
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