The Gamekeeper's Tale
Gwen and Cory were released from the hospital wing the next day, and things slowly started to resemble something closer to normal. Classes started again and Leah’s best friends seemed to have reached a kind of tentative truce over the night that they spent in hospital together, because their fighting, which had been ongoing for so long, had suddenly stopped. Leah could only hope that this lull lasted a little longer than the last.
Masen hadn’t spoken a word to them since before the holidays, especially not to confess that it had been he who’d saved Gwen and Cory’s lives from the dementor, and he seemed to prefer it that way. The three of them weren’t going to argue: no matter how grateful they were, he was still a terrifying man and they’d rather just stay clear of him.
McGonagall never brought up their conversation again either, and neither did Professor Thomas or Mr Weasley the few times that they saw Cory’s dad around the school. It was this sudden silence, more than anything, which convinced the three of them that it would have to be them to prove Masen’s crimes themselves.
So it was that they found themselves, two weekends after the dementor attack, trudging once more down to Hagrid’s hut for information. He had invited them to tea after hearing of what had happened, and they’d only too eagerly agreed to take him up on the offer.
“Do you really think you’ll be able to get any more out of him?” asked Cory as they walked. He looked resigned. Picking up a handful of white snow, he rolled it into a ball and lobbed it at a nearby tree, watching in satisfaction as it splattered against the bark. “Hagrid wouldn’t tell us anything.”
“I think that he just needs a push in the right direction,” Leah replied. She watched, amused, as Gwen produced an identical snowball to throw at Cory’s back.
“Yeah,” piped in Gwen sarcastically, “A push until he cracks.” Her snowball hit her target perfectly, and she ducked behind Leah as Cory spun around, already getting ready for a counterattack.
“Hey!” she cried. “Don’t get me involved in this!”
Cory and Gwen looked at each other, and then grinned, causing Leah to scowl. Maybe she did prefer them not speaking to each other; at least then she didn’t have to deal with the two of them ganging up on her. They were merciless when they were on the same team.
“Ah, come on, Leah ... what’s a little snow gonna hurt?” asked Cory sweetly. He held both hands concealed behind his back.
“Only you if you throw whatever that is you’re hiding at me, Cory Weasley.”
But Cory only smiled and shifted his eyes to a spot over her shoulder. Leah didn’t even have the chance to turn before a cold, icy mess was dribbling under her robes and down her neck. Gwen started laughing from behind her, her hands held up in a play of innocence, and then she darted away down the path to Hagrid’s hut, Cory close behind. And laughing as well, Leah bent down to collect her own handful of snow before running after them.
By the time they were knocking on the gamekeeper’s door, they were red and exhausted, and their clothes clung soaked against their skin. The half-giant took one look at them before pulling them inside and sitting them in front of a roaring fire as he set about preparing tea.
“Don’ think I want ter know what yeh three have been up ter,” Hagrid grumbled with a smile, fiddling with the kettle. “Up ter no good, I’m sure.”
“There’s a lot of snow outside,” was Leah’s response. Gwen giggled.
Hagrid let out a loud surprised laugh as he looked at them through small, beady black eyes. “Well, there’s never been anythin’ wrong with a good ol’ snowball fight, has there? I can’t tell yeh how happy it makes me ter see yeh bounce back so well after ... well, yeh know.” He nodded to Cory and Gwen.
“An’ yer not fightin’ no more,” he added approvingly. “Yeh should try an’ keep it tha’ way, eh?”
Their joyous mood evaporated with his words, but they nodded and agreed with him for his sake.
As he poured their tea he sniffled, as if trying to hold back tears; his eyes were suddenly very misty. “I still can’t believe it,” he exclaimed loudly, “a dementor, here, of all things! An’ under McGonagall’s watch!”
Nastily, Cory whispered, “Another gift of Masen’s, probably; I’d bet my broomstick on it.”
“I know yeh don’t like him, Cory “”
“Hagrid, he’s a Death Eater!” Cory yelled, pounding his fists on the wooden table as he stood. Not wanting her friend to run again, Leah opened her mouth to say something “ what, she had no clue “ but seeing the expression on Cory’s apoplectic face, she hurriedly closed it again.
“He’s a Death Eater! I know it! Why won’t anybody listen to me?” Cory raged. He launched into his suspicions once more, but Leah didn’t think that Hagrid was listening. Not until he got to the part about Masen’s eyes, anyways. When Cory mentioned his eyes, Hagrid nearly fell out of his chair.
“W-what “ I don’t ... no, it can’t be!” He assessed Cory for a long second and then he was sobbing, shedding enormous tears that dripped down his chin and splashed onto the floor. Fang whined and started to lick at the forming puddles. And the three of them watched on in horror as he fell apart right before their startled eyes.
“Hagrid ...!” Gwen gasped. “What is it? What’s wrong?” She stared hopelessly at Leah, scared like Leah had never seen her before. “Hagrid, I don’t understand.”
His whole body stiffened under her gentle touch, an immense feat considering his size; his trembling was like a mini earthquake. “I told yeh two b-before “ if yeh can’t leave well enough alone, then get out! What g-good does it do ter talk ‘bout it? It’s in the past; it doesn’t concern yeh.”
“It does so concern us,” said Cory more gently. “It concerns us when Nagini is killed at our school; when it’s our lives that are at stake! Everything hasn’t been left in the past like you’d like to think, not when it’s still happening in the present.”
Hagrid looked up, shocked. “How do yeh three know ‘bout Nagini?”
“It wasn’t that hard to figure out. The teachers around here really aren’t as sneaky they’d believe. Did you really think nobody would put the clues together about just who that snake belonged to?”
Hagrid moaned and hid his huge, shaggy face behind his hands, mumbling incoherently.
“You know something, don’t you, Hagrid?” observed Leah, watching him closely. “You know something about the war that you’ve been hiding all this time. I’m right, aren’t I?” She knew this with a conviction that took her breath away. She had suspected before ... but now there was no doubt in her mind that it was the truth.
Silently, Leah’s hand joined Gwen’s on the half-giant’s shoulder. “Why did you never tell anybody?” she soothed. “If it’s important ... then maybe somebody could’ve helped.”
“Yeh don’t understand!” he cried as the tears coursed down and through his scraggly grey beard. “N’body would’ve! It’s why I never told n’body what I saw that day!”
“What did you see, Hagrid?” said Cory, reclaiming his seat. “What day?”
“I had to protect ‘im!” he howled miserably. “They would never’ve understood! I never understood but I had ter “ I promised meself I would protect ‘im!”
“What did you see?” asked Leah. “It’s all right, you can tell us.”
“No,” he whimpered mournfully. “I don’t “”
“Hagrid “”
“It was always ter protect him,” he pleaded, relenting. Despite his protests, he seemed to want to tell them what he knew.
“One year ter the day after the first battle o’ Hogwarts,” he whispered, “we were there again “ but it was different this time ... harder. H-Harry was gone ... dis’ppeared, and then lovely G-Ginny, jus’ six months later. A lot o’ people died before, but it was nothin’, nothin’ compared ter this. Was slaughter, that’s what it was, jus’ useless slaughter. An’ there were b-bodies everywhere “ an’ b-blood. An’ “ an’...
The sun hid that day. It hid from the approaching rain, and it hid from the war. It ducked behind the storm clouds that shifted through the grey sky, skipping between them as it saw fit “ ashamed maybe, of what it was witnessing.
Hagrid could see fire in the near distance. It’s the Quidditch pitch, he thought in the next moment; the Quidditch pitch burning.
Harry would’ve hated that.
He shook his head angrily. This was no time to get lost in Harry, like he always did. This was war. And he had to fight. That was all he could allow himself to think about: to fight.
Steeling himself, he gripped the handle of his pink umbrella tightly in his hand until he heard the tender wood creaking beneath his fingers. He needed a shot, just one perfect shot at one of these monsters, and then he could move on to the next, take them down one after another. From his cover under the trees of the forest, he looked left to right, scanning for somewhere that he could help.
And he found it: over by the Whomping Willow where a tall, cloaked figure was leaning over a smaller blonde girl. The girl was sprawled on the ground, her leg bent in a funny way, and her eyes were closed peacefully as if in acceptance of her fate. The Death Eater had his wand pointed to her heart and was jeering at her. Hagrid felt his blood boil beneath his skin just watching it.
Before he could think his actions through, he charged towards them, bashing into the Death Eater and taking him to the ground. In his fury, he forgot about magic, forgot about everything else, and focused solely on inflicting as much hurt as he possibly could with his bare fists. He had recognized the girl “ recognized kind Luna Lovegood “ and he couldn’t allow it. He couldn’t.
The Death Eater’s face was a bloody mess beneath him, and he just kept pounding the murderer harder and harder, even after he finally felt the man’s jaw shatter and his nose crunch. He had stopped squirming long ago, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
“Hagrid,” a weak voice called; he barely heard it over the pounding in his own ears. “Hagrid, stop.”
Luna’s voice was a balm. When Hagrid raised his head, she was trying to prop herself up using both of her arms for support; he left the man and rushed to her side.
“I think he’s dead,” she said calmly. She looked down at her broken leg. “But I don’t think I can fight anymore, Hagrid.”
“It’s all right, Luna, we’ll get yeh ter the hospital wing. Yeh’ll be fine. Madam Pomfrey’ll fix yeh right up.”
He picked her up in his arms, careful not to jostle her too much. But one look in the direction of the castle and he knew he could never get her there without the both of them being killed. The closest shelter was the greenhouses, and so he carried her over to them when he was sure the coast was clear.
“Hagrid?” a deeper, male voice yelled behind him. Charlie Weasley was running towards them at top speed, his long hair held back in a ponytail that was streaming behind him. “Is that old Xeno’s girl? Is she hurt?”
“Jus’ a broken leg. She’ll be okay.”
He nodded. “I can take her with me if you want? I’ve already got Katie Bell and one of the Patil girls, and we’re going to Pomfrey together; she has a tent set up by Hogsmeade for the wounded.”
“That’d be great, Charlie,” said Hagrid, and he transferred Luna into the younger man’s muscular arms. “How’re things lookin’ over there?”
He shook his head grimly. “Not good. They’re too strong, not listening to reason. It’s ten times worse than last time; we won’t hold them back for long.”
“They have been listening to the Fwoopers’ song,” sang Luna dreamily.
Charlie blinked at her in confusion for a minute. “Huh?” He shook his head. “Never mind. Anyways ... I should probably get going then. Stay out of trouble, okay Hagrid?”
“Yeh too, Charlie. Take care o’ her, an’ the others, o’ course.”
“You know I will,” he said. He glanced quickly to each side and then ran towards the path leading to Hogsmeade. Hagrid watched as they disappeared, Luna’s golden hair flowing like a waterfall over the thick arms supporting her, until they were nothing more than a black speck far away and Hagrid was alone.
“You bastard! What have you done with him?”
Hagrid looked up. Several feet away he saw two people facing another hooded Death Eater. Even from this distance, Hagrid could see the bright red hair of the male and the bushy brown hair of the female standing together. Ron. And Hermione.
No.
He couldn’t lose them, too.
The cloaked figure flicked his wand and suddenly, Ron was writhing on the ground, biting his lip so hard he was drawing blood. Hermione was screaming. The Death Eater lifted the curse after only a second, but Ron just lay on the ground for a long moment, trembling.
He stood up slowly. Now the Death Eater was talking ... just talking. His wand was still pointed at Ron and Hermione, but it seemed more for show than anything else. Hagrid stood rooted to the ground, unable to do anything in the numb haze of horror that was surrounding him.
He could only hear snippets of their confrontation now. All was cold and numb and the world was tilting, spinning round and round in front of him. He couldn’t focus, couldn’t understand what they were saying. He couldn’t help at all.
“I see you understand ... brightest witch of your age.” Cold, it was so cold. He could feel nothing else.
“What are you ... what does it mean?”
““ assuming he’s still alive.”
“And now, Harry ... protected me all year. This whole thing couldn’t have been more perfect if I’d planned it myself.”
“HARRY!”
“Harry? Harry, if you can hear me “ we are so sorry.”
What? Harry? But they were talking about him as if he were still alive; like he was standing right next to them! No, that was impossible. Harry had been dead for a year! Hagrid had hardly gotten used to the idea. But then, who was the Death Eater? Did he know where Harry was “ if he was still alive? Had he taken him?
Hagrid moved a bit closer until he could just make out the face on the Death Eater. He had taken off his hood “ and it couldn’t be! It just couldn’t! The young man “ still a boy, really “ beneath it had round wire-trimmed spectacles on his face; his head was covered in long, uncontrollably shaggy black hair; and on his forehead, was an old, unmistakeable lightning-bolt scar.
Hagrid gripped the side of the greenhouse, sure that he would collapse to the ground if he didn’t. He knew that what he had seen would haunt him until his dying day. And then, before Hagrid could even draw breath enough to shout Harry’s name, there were two identical flashes of green light and Ron and Hermione lay dead at their best friend’s feet.
“Nex’ thing I remembered was wakin’ up in St. Mungo’s,” Hagrid finished hollowly. “I was hit by no less than a dozen stunners at once. They all said I should’ve been dead too, but yeh see, it was me giant’s blood that saved me. I have tougher skin, and everythin’ else, than a normal person. Any human would’ve been killed on the spot. But not me … I’ve ‘ad ter watch that day again in me head every night since.”
“So you’re … you’re saying, that Harry Potter is alive?” breathed Cory. They were all in a state of shock after hearing Hagrid’s story.
“Not jus’.” His tears had finally stopped, but a haunted look had replaced them. “I dunno how he’s doin’ it, but somehow, You-Know-Who’s been controllin’ him … turned him in ter somethin’ bad like him. Because the Harry I knew would’ve never done that stuff if he ‘ad any choice. An’ now, teh only thing left ter do is protect his secret till he figures a way out o’ it.”
“What if he can’t, Hagrid?” said Leah. “What if somebody else has to find a way?”
He shook his head sadly. “Yeh still don’ get it. Some would try ter help, I’m sure o’ that, but others would only see him as a threat “ the next Dark Lord, You-Know-Who’s successor. They would want ter only destroy him,” he said, “an’ I won’ allow that.”
“Oh, Hagrid,” Leah whispered.
Now he leaned towards the three of them, and never had he looked so serious to them, or quite so deadly. “Yeh won’ tell anybody, will yeh? Yeh won’ say anythin’? Yeh can’!”
“No,” Gwen said. “We won’t tell anybody.”
We have to tell somebody!” exclaimed Gwen later as they were running back up to the castle after saying goodbye to Hagrid.
“But Gwen, you just said “”
“I know what I said, Genius,” she snapped, glaring at Cory. “But I only said it to cheer him up. Of course we’re going to tell them!”
“Who though?” asked Leah.
“Well, Professor McGonagall for one. I think she should to know.”
“Can we at least wait until tomorrow?” said Cory anxiously. “It’s getting kind of late ... supper will be starting.”
“Cory, I think that this is a tad more important than food!”
“And what, dare I ask, would that be, Ms Seward?”
Gwen, Leah and Cory stopped in their tracks. Professor Masen had just stepped out of the Great Hall, a smirk gracing his thin lips as he stared down at them. He waited patiently for their answer.
“N-n-nothing, Sir.”
“Very well then.” His eyes flitted to Cory before they drifted over to Leah and rested there. “Andrews, I would like to speak to you in my office before you leave. It is a matter of great importance.”
She could feel Gwen and Cory drawing closer to her on each side. Somebody’s fingers made a fist around a bunch of her robes at her back. “What about, Sir?”
“My office ... now,” replied Masen shortly. Any faint hints of former pleasantness were gone. “I’m sure your friends wouldn’t mind saving you a seat at dinner.” Without another word he turned on his heel, not even glancing back to see if Leah was following.
“Don’t go,” Gwen whispered. It was her hand holding Leah. “Come on. Let’s get McGonagall, tell her what Hagrid told us. She’ll know what to do.”
“I hate agreeing with Gwen,” said Cory, “But this time she’s right. Leah, you don’t have to go with him.”
Taking a deep breath, she murmured, “Just wait in the Great Hall. If dinner is over before I’m back, wait for me in the common room. If I’m still gone another ten minutes after that then go to McGonagall. I’m going to see what he wants; it could be nothing.” And she hurried away before they could stop her.
Professor Masen was waiting for her when she arrived. He stepped towards her, pinning her against the wall as soon as she stepped through the door. His voice was low and cautious as he spoke. “What do you know?”
“What?” said Leah, surprised. She hoped he didn’t mean what she thought he did.
“I know you’ve been speaking with him about me,” Masen hissed. “I don’t know what that bumbling half-breed knows, but I know that he knows something. And he told you and your little friends what it was just now, didn’t he?”
Leah wished she had listened to Gwen and Cory when they’d begged her not to go, that she’d never dared to come here alone. She had thought stupidly that Masen wouldn’t harm her as long as there was a chance he’d get caught. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she rasped. “Hagrid didn’t tell us anything; we just had tea!”
“An awfully long tea, wasn’t it? No, he told you something. I know it. So tell me what it was right now!”
“Nothing!” cried Leah. “Nothing, he said nothing! Please, Professor Masen, you’re choking me!”
He let go, seeming to want nothing more than to tear her limb from limb, and started to pace across the length of the office floor. His black hair stuck up in every direction and his face had a crazy, deranged look to it.
“You will tell me what I want to know, girl. You will tell me what he knows about me!” When she still resisted, he snarled, “Fine. It’s nothing a little memory charm won’t fix anyways.”
He grabbed at her again and started to drag her away from the door, which she had slowly started to inch towards. Desperately, Leah tried to remember the little self-defence her dad had insisted she learn when she was younger. But it was unnecessary, because suddenly Masen groaned, let go of her and hit at his forehead with both hands. He stumbled backwards, still hitting his forehead, screaming at the top of his lungs.
“NO!” he shrieked. “NOT YET! GET BACK IN THERE, YOU ARROGANT FOOL!”
“P-professor Masen “?”
“YOU STUPID CHILD, YOU WILL OBEY YOUR MASTER IF YOU KNOW WHAT’S GOOD FOR “!”
His screams stopped just as abruptly as they had begun. He fell to his knees, still groaning, both hands clutching at either side of his head.
After a long moment of silence where neither of them moved, Leah tentatively took one step forward. When he still hadn’t moved, she took another. She was about to take a third step when, slowly, Masen raised his head and stood up. He opened his eyes and looked straight at her.
Cory had been right. His eyes were green.