Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 479 June Arrives
“Well…you know…Dumbledore was kicked out…” After calming Gropp down, Hagrid said, clasping his hands together, “I could be fired at any time…to ensure someone can take care of him while I’m gone…”

"Him?" Ron looked up. "Does he need care?"

“Oh, no, no, no… I mean…” Hagrid said awkwardly, “What he needs is companionship… He’ll find his own food…”

“What I mean is… well…” Hagrid said awkwardly, “In case I get fired… I’ll need someone to play with Grop or continue teaching him manners.”

"Teach him manners?" Hermione asked, puzzled, then looked at the somewhat dazed Gropp. "Why teach him manners?"

“I mean… I mean… he brought him back…” Hagrid said, sounding like he was about to cry, “and—and taught him some manners—and I could bring him out so everyone could see he’s harmless!”

“Harmless!” Hermione screamed.

“Dumbledore and Tyrell both agreed to this plan!” Hagrid hurriedly defended himself. “They bullied him in the giants’ tribe because he was too short… and he was only eight years old.”

"Short?" Hermione looked up at Gropp, then said incredulously, "He's short? He's eight years old?"

Although Hermione couldn't see where Groop's head was, she was pretty sure that Groop was at least fifteen meters tall.

Hermione remembered reading in the book "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" that giants usually reach adulthood around the age of thirty, and adult giants are generally between twelve and fourteen meters tall. However, this eight-year-old giant cub was already fifteen meters tall, making it hard to believe that Groop was only eight years old.

“Uh… he was indeed very short before… less than eight meters tall…” Hagrid said, “but later Professor Dumbledore said that this might be because Gropp was malnourished as a child, so not long after I brought Gropp here, Professor Dumbledore regularly had Fawkes send over a bottle of tonic.”

“He grew this tall after drinking it for about a month,” Hagrid said.

“Now that he’s grown taller, shouldn’t we put him back?” Hermione asked.

“No, Hermione, no! I can’t leave him.” Hagrid said, tears streaming down his bruised face and onto his beard. “You know—he, he’s my brother!”

Hermione stared at him, mouth agape.

“Wait, Hagrid, when you said ‘brother,’” Harry said slowly, “you mean—”

“Oh—my half-brother,” Hagrid corrected, “my mother left my father after giving birth to me, and went to find another giant, where she gave birth to Grop—”

“Glopp?” Harry said.

“Yes… well, that’s how it sounds when he says his name,” Hagrid said uneasily. “He doesn’t speak much English, but I’m trying to teach him, and Dumbledore agrees. Anyway, my mother doesn’t like him as much as she doesn’t like me. Because the Giantess thinks it’s good to give birth to a healthy, tall child, and he’s always been short among the giants—he was only eight meters tall originally—”

“Now that he’s grown taller, can we send him back?” Ron interjected.

“No! No way!” Hagrid shouted immediately. “You don’t understand the Giant Tribe. The tallest person in the tribe is usually the chief. Grop is already taller than the current chief. If Grop goes back, the chief will definitely challenge him. Such challenges usually end in the death of one side.”

A deafening crash came from above them, startling Ron so much he nearly fell to the ground. Harry, Hermione, and Hagrid quickly looked up as well.

It turned out that Gropp was bored because no one was paying attention to him, so he started clapping.

His head was almost a sphere, covered with thick, curly, grass-colored hair. On top of his head, the edge of a large, fleshy ear could be seen, and his head grew directly onto his shoulders, with almost no neck in between.

Seeing everyone staring at him, Grop roared with joy and laughed a few times. The sound echoed throughout the silent Forbidden Forest, and the birds in the treetops chirped and flew away from their roosts and disappeared.

It was only then that Harry noticed that several thick ropes were tied around Grop's waist and around his two muscular ankles.

“Look, little Gloucester,” Hagrid said gently and loudly, looking up. “Look, I’ve brought you a new friend.”

Harry, Ron, and Hermione showed expressions of fear, unease, and a desire to immediately sever ties with Hagrid.

Fortunately, Hagrid's worst fears did not come true, and he was still in school by June.

To be precise, Umbridge does not seem to be planning to expel or dismiss any student or teacher.

Including the Weasley twins who have been causing trouble for her and Filch.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and the rest of Dumbledore's Army were all greatly surprised by Umbridge's patience in keeping his promise.

They thought that Umbridge would be unable to resist firing people within half a month at most.

George Weasley and Fred Weasley even started a betting pool on how long it would take Umbridge to expel its first student.

George Weasley and Fred Weasley bet ten Galleons that Umbridge would expel two students in the first two weeks.

Of course, all ten Galleons they spent ended up going down the drain.

Because Umbridge did not fire them.

After June, the teachers stopped assigning them homework.

Aside from Defense Against the Dark Arts class, all class time was used to review the questions the teachers thought were most likely to appear on the exam.

This focused, anxious atmosphere almost banished everything from Harry's mind except for the OWLs exam.

Hermione has been completely absorbed these days, often muttering to herself, and she stopped doing Tyrell's Muggle math back in mid-May.

There has been no word from Tyrell or Dumbledore for almost two months.

At first, Harry's heart was filled with worry, fear, and terror. He was afraid that something had happened to Tyella, that Tyella would never come back, and that he would never see Tyella again.

But as the OWLs exams approached, these thoughts were gradually pushed to the sidelines. Now, Harry's mind was solely focused on the OWLs, and even those strange dreams from Voldemort's perspective became much less frequent.

Even Umbridge stopped tormenting her classmates and hardly ever stayed at Hogwarts anymore, instead frequently visiting the Ministry of Magic, seemingly busy with something else.

(End of this chapter)