𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 | 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿

A Father Aware & Enemies of the Heir

CHAPTER FOUR:

Third Person P.O.V.:

Hermione furiously knocked on Hagrid's front door as Harry and Charlie helped keep Ron standing.

"Ron," Charlie addressed the boy before Hagrid opened the door, "You're my mate and all, but if you throw up a slug while I'm holding you up, I may be forced to drop your thick head on the ground."

Harry laughed slightly as Hagrid appeared, "Bin wonderin' when yeh lot was goin' ter come and see meh. How can I 'elp yeh?"

As soon as the half-giant caught a glimpse of Ron's ill state, he ushered the four of them in the house quickly. Hagrid didn't seem perturbed by Ron's slug problem, which Harry hastily explained as he lowered Ron into a chair.

"Better out than in," the half giant said cheerfully, plunking a large copper basin in front of him. "Get 'em all up, Ron."

"I don't think there's anything to do except wait for it to stop," said Hermione anxiously, watching Ron bend over the basin. "That's a difficult curse to work at the best of times, but with a broken wand—"

"So tell me," Hagrid began, jerking his head at Ron.
"Who was he tryin' ter curse?"

"Malfoy. He called Hermione something — it must've been really bad, because everyone went wild, especially Charlie." Harry explained quietly.

That was when Hagrid caught sight of Charlie's bruised up fists, "O' boy, what did yeh do?!"

The half-giant was quick to retreat to his fridge and pull out a bag of peas so that the brown eyed boy could put his hand on some ice.

"Nothing that didn't deserve to happen," Charlie said angrily, taking the bag and putting it on his knuckles, "Malfoy called her a 'Mudblood,' Hagrid —"

Ron dived out of sight again as a fresh wave of slugs made their appearance. Hagrid looked outraged.

"He didn'!" he growled at Hermione.

"He did," The bushy haired girl said quietly. She was clearly upset and trying her hardest to fight back tears.

"Can someone help me out here?" Harry asked, slightly confused, "I don't know what that means. I could tell it was really rude, of course —"

"It's about the most insulting thing he could think of," gasped Ron, coming back up from the basin.

"Mudblood's a really foul name for someone who is Muggle-born, you know, non magic parents.
There are some wizards — like Malfoy's family and my father — who think they're better than everyone else because they're what people call pure blood." Charlie explained, still completely outraged by the whole situation.

Ron interrupted as he gave a small burp, and a single slug fell into his outstretched hand.

He threw it into the basin as Charlie continued,
"I mean, there are a lot of us who know it doesn't make any difference at all. Look at Neville Longbottom — he's pureblood and he can hardly stand a cauldron up the right way."

"It's codswallop! A load o' rubbish! What type of wizard yeh 're don' mean nothin'! Don't yeh listen to that Slytherin, Hermione! They haven't invented a spell yeh can' do," said Hagrid proudly, making Hermione go a brilliant shade of magenta.

"It's still a disgusting thing to call someone,"
said Charlie, as he watched Hermione intently, "Dirty blood, see. Common blood. It's ridiculous. Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway. If we hadn't married Muggles we'd've died out."

"Well, I don' blame yeh fer tryin' ter hurt him, Char," said Hagrid loudly over the thuds of more slugs hitting the basin. "Bu' maybe it would've been more 'ffective if yeh let an adult handle the situation. 'Spect Lucius Malfoy is gonna come marchin' up ter school 'cause yeh gave his son a broken nose. Yeh 're bound ter be in loads of trouble."