Whelp

'And yer a friend o' Harry's here?'

Draco nodded, and Harry saw him swallow hard, and he wondered if Draco was as scared of Hagrid as Harry was of Mr. Malfoy.

'Well, good 'nuff, then.' Hagrid laughed and clapped Draco on the shoulder, nearly sending him sprawling. 'Let's have a bit of tea, lads. I've baked a slew of ginger biscuits. Should still be warm. Nuthin' like it, ginger. Good for what ails ye.'

Harry grinned at him. 'Thanks, Hagrid! And can you tell us a story 'bout the forest?'

'The fores'? What you want to know 'bout tha' for? Nuthin' you need to worry 'bout in there.'

'It's forbidden,' Harry whispered to Draco as the three of them – including Nelli – followed Hagrid up the steps and into his home. 'That means we're not s'posed to go in there.'

'I know what forbidden means,' Draco hissed back. He gave Fang a wide berth on the stoop, and looked around the small cottage. Harry hoped, suddenly, that his friend wouldn't say anything mean about Hagrid's place. It was small, sure, and certainly not as tidy as Aunt Petunia would have wanted, but it was full of interesting things on the walls, and smelled really weird, too, and Harry liked it.

'Yeah, well, Hagrid's Keeper of Keys and Grounds and the gamekeeper, right, Hagrid? So he knows all the creatures there are, like Streelers and Centaurs and grindylows and crups and all that. My father said so.'

Draco rolled his eyes. 'There aren't grindylows in the forest. They live in the water.'

'Oh. Well, are there grindylows in the lake outside, sir?' Harry asked Hagrid, who was filling his enormous tea kettle.

'Some, yeah, there are some in there. Keep to 'emselves mostly, stay outta the way of them Merfolk. And the squid.' He nodded his chin at the table where a plate of star-shaped biscuits lay waiting. 'Help yerself. Still warm, like I said.'

'Thanks!' Harry took one and nibbled on the side, although as with the rock cakes, he decided he might want to wait till he had his tea, so he could dunk the biscuit in and let it soften before actually trying to chew it.

He and Draco and Nelli spent the next couple hours with Hagrid, who did tell them stories, about the forest's Centaurs to start with, and who made them gigantic mugs of tea and even convinced Nelli to have some, when she wanted to refuse on general principle. Draco had looked askance at the house-elf, when she first sat down next to Harry, but he seemed to forget about her after a few minutes of trying to eat Hagrid's biscuits without cracking his teeth, and listening to stories. At some point, Fang had decided Draco was drool-worthy, and put his large, soggy head in his lap, much to the other boy's displeasure.

Harry, though, had rarely had such a wonderful afternoon.

It would have been perfect, truly. After they left Hagrid's, the two boys went with Nelli to look at the lake and see if the squid was as playful as Hagrid said, so they could tickle its tentacles. But it wasn't out at all today, and the lake water looked rather cold and dark.

Yes, the afternoon would have been perfect, except that was when Draco suggested they should use their brooms to fly out over the lake, and take a closer look for the squid.

TBC . . .

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Next chapter: Trouble comes in twos (threes if you count a house elf . . .)

A/N: Thank you to everyone who's read and reviewed! If you have any questions, or comments or corrections, please let me know. Next chapter should be out Friday. Probably.

*Chapter 22*: Chapter 22

Whelp -- Chapter 21

By jharad17

Disclaimer: None of this is mine. Honest. She's rich, I'm not.

A/N at end.

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Yes, the afternoon would have been perfect, except that was when Draco suggested they should use their brooms to fly out over the lake, and take a closer look for the squid.

Even then, if Father had been in their quarters and been able to stop them from collecting their brooms, or if Nelli hadn't been convinced that, 'just because we can't go to the pitch, doesn't mean we can't fly,' it still might have turned out all right.

As it was, though, within half an hour, Harry and Draco were back at the edge of the lake, brooms in hand. Nelli was beside them, with her large head held in her hands. Soft sniffling sounds came from her, but she had already acknowledged that this wasn't expressly forbidden. Still, Harry felt bad for her, and hoped she wouldn't get into any trouble on their account.

'You're scared,' Draco said. He was already astride his broom, and waiting for Harry to do the same.

'Am not.' But Harry was, really. He didn't like the idea of going into that water if he fell off his broom. He didn't know how to swim, for one thing, and it was too much like . . . well, he didn't like it.

'Are, too.' Draco looked over the lake. 'Don't you want to see the squid?'

'Yeah,' Harry said. He'd never fallen off yet, so why should this be the first time? Taking a deep breath, he swung one leg over his broom. 'Up!' he called, and he was airborne, although only by about five feet. His broom wouldn't go any higher than that, till the child protection was taken off. And Father said he wouldn't do that for