Chapter 233: Hagrids Secret (2/2)

”Yeah,” said Hagrid heavily. ”Well, angry doesn' cover it. Ruddy livid. If I hadn' stepped in, I reckon they'd've kicked Firenze ter death —”

”They attacked him?” said Hermione, sounding shocked.

”Yep,” said Hagrid gruffly, forcing his way through several low-hanging branches. ”He had half the herd onto him —”

”And you stopped it?” said Colin, amazed and impressed. ”By yourself?”

”'Course I did, couldn't stand by an' watch 'em kill him, could I?” said Hagrid. ”Lucky I was passin', really . . . an' I'd've thought Firenze mighta remembered tha' before he started sendin' me stupid warnin's!” he added hotly and unexpectedly.

”He did,” said Chris. ”That's why he didn't tell me what the warning is about.”

”He said enough ter get yeh here, didn't he?” Hagrid scowled.

All of them fell silent.

”Anyway,” Hagrid said, breathing a little more heavily than usual, ”since then the other centaurs've bin livid with me an' the trouble is, they've got a lot of influence in the forest. . . . Cleverest creatures in here . . .”

No one said anything, they just silently followed Hagrid a long time. The path was becoming increasingly overgrown and the trees grew so closely together as they walked farther and farther into the forest that it was as dark as dusk, but Chris was sure the sun was up by now. It was a great struggle to keep up with Hagrid, what with branches and thickets of thorn through which Hagrid marched as easily as though they were cobwebs, but which snagged others' robes frequently entangling them so severely that they had to stop for minutes at a time to free themselves. Chris never went this far in the forest. Her arms and legs were soon covered in small cuts and scratches. They were so deep in the forest now that sometimes all Chris could see of Hagrid in the gloom was a massive dark shape ahead of him. Any sound seemed threatening in the muffled silence. The breaking of a twig echoed loudly and the tiniest rustle of movement made them jump. It occurred to her that he had never managed to get this far into the forest without meeting some kind of creature — their absence struck him as rather ominous.

”Hagrid, would it be all right if we lit our wands?” said Hermione quietly.

”Er . . . all righ',” Hagrid whispered back. ”In fact . . .”

He stopped suddenly and turned around; Chris walked right into him and was knocked over backwards. Harry caught her just before she hit the forest floor.

”Thanks,” Chris muttered as Harry set her back on her feet.

”Maybe we bes' jus' stop fer a momen', so I can . . . fill yeh in,” said Hagrid. ”Before we ge' there, like.”

They all lit their wands and Hagrid's face swam through the gloom by the light of the six wavering beams and Chris saw that he looked nervous and sad again.

”Righ',” said Hagrid. ”Well . . . see . . . the thing is . . .”

He took a great breath.

”Hagrid, it's not a Dragon, is it?” said Ron suddenly.

”What? No,” Hagrid coughed.

”Alright then, go on,” said Ron.

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Hagrid glared at him.

”It's about something meself. . .” Hagrid's face softens and he hesitated then finally sighed. ”Well . . . c'mon . . . jus' a little bit further through here . . . Watch yerselves, now, there's nettles . . .”

They walked on in silence for another fifteen minutes. Colin had opened his mouth to ask how much farther they had to go when Hagrid threw out his right arm to signal that they should stop.

”Really easy,” he said softly. ”Very quiet, now . . .”

And Chris got a huge shock.

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To be continued. . .