Hogwarts: Homecoming

Chapter 10: The Past

Thanks to the miraculous Invisibility Cloak Harry's father had left him, Hermione's escape from the castle was completely unimpeded.

As they passed the Great Hall, however, Hermione glanced towards the staff table at the front. She saw Madam Pomfrey engaged in a lively chat with the Hogwarts librarian, Madam Pince, and whispered urgently, "Faster, Harry, Ron! Madam Pomfrey will be back in the hospital wing before ten o'clock, and I'd rather she didn't find out I wasn't resting quietly in my bed!"

"You really didn't have to come all this way yourself, Hermione," Ron said, quickening his pace. He stared at the empty air in front of him, trying to look casual. Harry nodded in agreement.

"Don't be silly, you two." The moment they stepped through the main doors of the castle, the sudden bright light and the fresh breeze on her face lifted Hermione's spirits considerably. Her orange-yellow cat eyes glinted with excitement. "I was worried you'd have forgotten everything Hagrid said by the time we even left his hut!"

It had been some time since Halloween. With the large pumpkin patch behind his hut cleared away and the ground covered in a thick blanket of snow, Hagrid's small wooden cabin looked much neater than usual. When Harry and the others arrived, Hagrid was busy chopping up the Christmas trees that had been used to decorate the Great Hall for firewood.

For anyone else, this would be strenuous physical labor. But for Hagrid, who stood at least ten feet tall with a waist five times that of a normal man, it was the simplest of tasks. He only needed to lift his axe and bring it down gently, and the trunk of a Christmas tree as thick as a dinner plate would split into several pieces.

A black boarhound, frolicking in the snow, was the first to spot them. It stood on a snowy slope and barked joyfully at them.

"Quiet, Fang! You just ate a whole chicken," Hagrid bellowed. When he looked in the direction Fang was barking, a broad smile broke out on the face that was mostly hidden by a bushy beard. "Well, look at that! Harry! Ron!"

Hagrid waved his arm cheerfully, greeting Harry, who was struggling through two feet of snow. "This ain't right, Harry! You usually like to come visit me in the middle of the night under that cloak of yours!"

"That's because I have classes during the day, Hagrid!" Harry shouted back.

Oof!

Harry, who was helping the invisible Hermione along, misstepped and pitched forward onto the ground. Caught in the tumble, Hermione let out a yelp as they rolled into a heap together. "Don't just stand there gawking, Hagrid! Come and help us!"

"Blimey!" The sudden appearance of Hermione beside Harry and Ron made Hagrid freeze mid-stride. After a moment, a cry of delighted surprise erupted from him. "You've brought me a cat-person?!"

Hagrid's room was as cluttered as ever. In the small wooden cabin, hams and pheasants hung from the ceiling, and a copper kettle boiled over the fire. The large bed in the corner was covered with a patchwork quilt that was unchanged, save for being a few shades darker.

"Please, Hagrid, don't ask me how I ended up looking like this," Hermione said irritably, sitting down on the edge of the bed. She had immediately noticed the burning curiosity in Hagrid's eyes. "It was a nightmare, and I'd rather not talk about it!"

Ron laughed without a care in the world, and even the worried Harry couldn't help but crack a smile.

"All right, all right," Hagrid said with a disappointed shrug. "I was just wonderin' if it might be possible ter breed a species of 'cat-people' through experiments. Since you're not willin' to share... Oh, stop growlin', Fang, you daft dog! That's Hermione, not a cat. You oughta be able to smell her."

He got out a few mugs, tossed some dark, flaky tea leaves into them, and prepared to make the trio a cup of hot tea. The water on the stove needed a little longer to boil, and while they waited, Hagrid kindly offered them some of his homemade snacks. "You don't look too happy, Harry. Fancy a bit of toffee?"

"Thanks, Hagrid, but I don't have much of an appetite." Harry, who had experienced the full force of Hagrid's cooking on multiple occasions, politely declined. He exchanged a silent look with Ron and Hermione, then spoke up. "Actually, Hagrid, we came here today to ask you about someone. We think you might have heard of him."

Hagrid, who was poking the coals with his finger, let out a chuckle. He looked at Harry through the handle of the copper kettle, his tone teasing. "Who're the three of you after now, Harry? I'll remind yeh, there's no Philosopher's Stone hidden in the castle this year!"

No, there's no Philosopher's Stone, Harry thought to himself, but there is a Chamber of Secrets! Hagrid's joke did little to improve his mood.

"Amos Blaine, Hagrid. Have you heard of him?" With Hermione's limited time, Harry got straight to the point.

"Amos Blaine?" Hagrid blinked, his expression surprised. "Why are you askin' about him?"

"So you do know him?" Hermione pressed immediately. "Tell us about him, Hagrid. What do you know?"

Hagrid didn't answer right away. Instead, he looked quizzically at Ron. "You don't have any memory of him either, Ron?"

"I'm sure I've heard the name somewhere, but I don't think it was from Dad," Ron said, furrowing his brow in a desperate attempt to remember. "Hagrid, why would you think I'd know him?"

"You must have heard of him, Ron," Hagrid chuckled. He lifted the boiling kettle from the fire and poured each of them a cup of tea. "He was in Slytherin. Same year as your brother Bill. Graduated about three years ago now, I reckon. Haven't heard much about him these last few years, but that's not surprisin'. He was always a quiet one in school, didn't like to be the center of attention."

"So, maybe Bill mentioned him to me once?" Ron still couldn't grasp the lost memory.

"Quiet?" Hermione's voice was also filled with confusion. She tried to recall every detail of their brief meeting the night before. If she had to describe him, Mr. Blaine had been almost overly friendly, not at all like someone from Slytherin. But quiet? She certainly hadn't gotten that impression.

"Well, maybe not quiet," Hagrid amended, standing as there was no room for him to sit with three extra people in the hut. "Aloof, more like. Didn't like to mix with people much. At least, that's how he was back then. I barely had any dealin's with him myself. What I know is just hearsay."

"They say Amos Blaine was an orphan, spent his childhood in an orphanage. And you know, in Slytherin, a kid with that background... well, he wasn't likely to be popular. He took a lot of grief his first few years at Hogwarts. If it hadn't been for Professor Snape lookin' out for him, his situation might've been even tougher."

Hagrid's memories of Amos Blaine were clearly limited, so he spoke slowly. But no one in the room hurried him. Even Ron had given up trying to remember, his attention fixed on Hagrid.

"I heard the professors say he was a very studious lad, always polite when askin' questions. His grades, well, they were excellent... though not quite up to your standards, of course," Hagrid said, looking at Hermione. "But you just couldn't get close to him. It was like he was deliberately keepin' everyone at a distance. But considerin' he was a Muggle-born orphan, the professors understood why he was so... withdrawn."

"He sounds... pretty ordinary?" Ron frowned. "And he was in Slytherin. So why would I have heard his name from Bill, or maybe Charlie?"

"That would have to be because of the fight he caused in the Forbidden Forest in his fifth year!" Hagrid drained his basin-sized mug of tea in one gulp, a look of shock flashing in his beetle-black eyes. "Even though that duel was years ago, I still can't quite believe it when I think back on it now!"