Percy Jackson and the Department of Mysteries

105) More Giant Talk

"What d'you mean?" Ron said immediately.

"Well, like I say, they're not meant ter live together, giants," Hagrid looked down. "Not in big groups like that. They can' help themselves, they half kill each other every few weeks. The men fight each other an' the women fight each other, the remnants of the old tribes fight each other, an' that's even without squabbles over food an' the best fires an' sleepin' spots. Yeh'd think, seein' as how their whole race is abou' finished, they'd lay off each other, but..." He sighed. "That night a fight broke out, we saw it from the mouth of our cave, lookin' down on the valley. Went on fer hours, yeh wouldn' believe the noise. An' when the sun came up the snow was scarlet an' his head was lyin' at the bottom o' the lake."

"Whose head?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

"Karkus's," Hagrid frowned. "There was a new Gurg, Golgomath. Well, we hadn' bargained on a new Gurg two days after we'd made friendly contact with the firs' one, an' we had a funny feelin' Golgomath wouldn' be so keen ter listen to us, but we had ter try."

"You went to speak with him?" Ron gaped. "After you'd watched him rip off another giant's head?"

"'Course we did, we hadn' gone all that way ter give up after two days! We wen' down with the next present we'd meant ter give ter Karkus.

"I knew it was a no go before I'd opened me mouth. He was sitting there wearin' Karkus's helmet, leerin' at us as we got nearer. He's massive, one o' the biggest ones there. Black hair an' matchin' teeth an' a necklace o' bones. Human-lookin' bones, some of 'em. Well, I gave it a go — held out a great roll o' dragon skin — an' said 'A gift fer the Gurg of the giants —' Nex' thing I knew, I was hangin' upside down in the air by me feet, two of his mates had grabbed me."

Hermione clapped her hands over her mouth, and Harry spoke in worry, "How did you get out of that?"

"Wouldn'ta done if Olympe hadn' bin there," Hagrid beamed. "She pulled out her wand an' did some o' the fastes' spellwork I've ever seen. Ruddy marvelous. Hit the two holdin' me right in the eyes with Conjunctivitis Curses an' they dropped me straightaway — bu' we were in trouble then, 'cause we'd used magic against 'em, an' that's what giants hate abou' wizards. We had ter leg it an' we knew there was no way we was going ter be able ter march inter camp again."

"So how come it's taken you so long to get back if you were only there for a few days?" I asked.

"We didn' leave after three days!" Hagrid was outraged. "Dumbledore was relyin' on us!"

"But you just said there was no way you could go back!" Hermione said.

"Not by daylight, we couldn', no. We just had ter rethink a bit. Spent a couple o' days lyin' low up in the cave an' watchin'. An' wha' we saw wasn' good."

"Did he rip off more heads?" Ron asked squeamishly (but also looking strangely excited).

"No," Hagrid said. "I wish he had."

"What d'you mean?"

"I mean we soon found he didn' object ter all wizards — just us."

"Death Eaters?" Harry said lowly.

"Yep," Hagrid said, equally as low. "Couple of 'em were visitin' him ev'ry day, bringin' gifts ter the Gurg, an' he wasn' dangling them upside down."

"How d'you know they were Death Eaters?" Ron asked.

"Because I recognized one of 'em," Hagrid scowled. "Macnair, remember him? Bloke they sent ter kill Buckbeak? Maniac, he is. Likes killin' as much as Golgomath, no wonder they were gettin' on so well." 

"So Macnair's persuaded the giants to join You-Know-Who?" Hermione looked horrified.

"Hold yer hippogriffs, I haven' finished me story yet!" Hagrid said (hadn't he earlier not wanted to tell his tale? He seemed awfully invested now). "Me an' Olympe talked it over an' we agreed, jus' 'cause the Gurg looked like favorin' You-Know-Who didn' mean all of 'em would. We had ter try an' persuade some o' the others, the ones who hadn' wanted Golgomath as Gurg."

"How could you tell which ones they were?" I asked.

"Well, they were the ones bein' beatin' to a pulp, weren' they? The ones with any sense were keepin' outta Golgomath's way, hidin' out in caves roun' the gully jus' like we were. So we decided we'd go pokin' round the caves by night an' see if we couldn' persuade a few of them."

"You went poking around dark caves for giants?" Ron's respect for Hagrid had apparently increased tenfold.

"Well, it wasn' the giants who worried us most," Hagrid said. "We were more concerned abou' the Death Eaters. Dumbledore had told us before we wen' not ter tangle with 'em if we could avoid it, an' the trouble was they knew we was around — 'spect Golgomath told him abou' us. At night when the giants were sleepin' an' we wanted ter be creepin' inter the caves, Macnair an' the other one were sneakin' round the mountains lookin' fer us. I was hard put to stop Olympe jumping out at them." Hagrid's beard twitched as he smiled. "She was rarin' ter attack 'em.... She's somethin' when she's roused, Olympe.... Fiery, yeh know... 'spect it's the French in her..."

Hagrid stared into the fire, reminiscing.

"Ah, such sweet lovebirds," I wiped a fake tear at the corner of my eye. Harry elbowed me in the side, bringing an actual tear to my eye.

Sorry this chapter isn't particularly full of any actual substance. I'm not sure how much longer of Hagrid telling his story there is, but it's getting boring. Also, I have a headache, so I didn't really add anything new. Season three of Umbrella Academy is good. Loving the Klaus stuff. Not really liking Allison. We stan Stan. Uhhhh. Also watched that Leo Grande movie. It wasn't what I expected, but it wasn't bad. My step mom has Covid. I think she got it from my grandpa. It sucks. She's just been chilling. My dad stayed home from work today as well. I didn't understand why until I'd already written the previous sentence, I guess he's quarantining. Smart. I didn't think my family capable of it. Like, when we went to St Louis, and we went to the arch, they were all shocked we had to wear masks. I'm just reaching into my pocket for mine (I admittedly do not wear it often, as where I'm from, there's a total of two people who wear them. It's a small town, so the spread isn't bad. In fact, I hadn't heard about Covid in a long while. Whenever it was worse we did wear them), thinking Bruh guys it's a federal building in a big city. Kinda weird. Covid sucks though. I wish it didn't exist. Along with the other diseases and viruses and conditions and all that bad stuff. Sickness sucks.

Anyway, I hope you guys have had a Humorous Wednesday, and I'll see you on Friday CT. Love ya!