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chapter nine | prison break
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The second semester at Hogwarts was in full swing as students piled into the doors of the school. It was now time for Stella Mason to buckle down and get ready for her exams that took place at the end of the term. She started studying for Herbology the earliest, seeing as she, to put it quite plainly, sucked at it. The rest of her classes didn't come too difficult for her and was confident she would achieve passing grades, even with everything going on.
She was currently walking through the courtyard among other students when she heard her name being called, she turned to see her three friends coming towards her.
"What's going on," she asked curiously, looking at their excited faces.
"Hagrid's back," Hermione exclaimed, "would you like to come?"
She paused, surprised, but quickly recovered, "yeah, sure, let's go!"
The four friends ran down the hill towards Hagrid's Hut only to come to a sudden stop when they heard the sickly sweet voice of Dolores Umbridge.
"I will say this once more. I'm ordering you to tell me where you've been."
"I've told ye," Hagrid sounded from inside the hut, "I've been away for me health."
"Your health?"
"Yeah. Bit o' fresh air, ye know?"
"Oh, yes. As gatekeeper, fresh air must be difficult to come by," Umbridge said with an underlying wit of sarcasm, "if I were you, I shouldn't get too used to being back. In fact, I mightn't bother unpacking at all."
The four friends moved away from the door and got out of Umbridge's view as she exited the hut. After a greeting, and a confused but happy greeting towards Stella from Hagrid, the five sat around with tea to discuss his whereabouts.
"This is top-secret, right? Dumbledore sent me to parley with the giants," Hagrid informed them, his tone quiet.
"Giants," Hermione gasped, but lowered her voice when Hagrid shushed her, "you found them?"
"Well, they're not that hard to find, to be perfectly honest. They're so big, see," Hagrid spoke, trying to ignore his begging dog, "I tried to convince them to join the cause. But I wasn't the only one that was trying to win them over."
"Death Eaters?"
Hagrid gave Ron a nod, "yes. Trying to persuade them to join You-Know-Who."
"Did they," asked Harry.
"I gave them Dumbledore's message. Suppose some of them remember he was friendly to them, I suppose."
