Felix cancelled the magic and the air shook again, and Harry felt the whole world become alive. Although it had been real earlier too, and he couldn't spot the 'Flaws' that Sirius had spoken about earlier, he could still feel the difference more tangibly.
The distant noises and howls of the unknown creatures, the whistling wind, the rustling of leaves, the faint sound of breath ...
'Not even close.' Felix thought silently. It is enough to deal with some magical creatures, but to fool a wizard, especially a keen one, it is nowhere near enough. But in any case, he had evolved the memory magic he had learned initially from Lady Rowena Ravenclaw and had finally stepped on the path that suited him best after a long process of evolution.
Hagrid approached Grawp, whose size paled in comparison to that of a real giant - still he stood about the same height as the sitting Grawp, who could only be considered a short man among giants, as a normal giant would measure between twenty and twenty-five feet tall.
"Little Grawp?" Hagrid called.
"Ha~gg~er!" Grawp looked at him with a considerably kinder look, at least he didn't come up swinging his fist.
"I thought he wanted to say the word 'hunger'." Ron said.
Sirius' hand rested on his shoulder as he shook it hard, "Don't be a buzzkill, look, quite a touching scene, isn't it?"
Grawp slowly reached out his big hand - a few onlookers sweated for Hagrid - but it stopped before it touched him, Grawp's hideous face harboured some sort of worry, what if he knocked the little shorty out of existence again?
Hagrid gleefully grabbed one of Grawp's fingers and said dotingly in the same tone he used with magical creatures, "It's all right, little Grawp, you just need some coaching, you don't even know how much strength you have yourself, do you?"
Harry suddenly remembered the Dursleys, is Grawp going to turn into a big Dudley later from all this doting? He shivered coldly at the thought of the giant freeing himself from the ropes and running through the Forbidden Forest on his big sled board-like feet, with Hagrid following in chase.
Grawp gave a low growl, then slurred, "Grawp! Haggar!".
Hagrid gushed with joy as he pulled Grawp's finger and looked back at the crowd, "Little Grawp, these are my friends. This is Harry, Ron, Hermione -" he stopped and looked at Hermione with an apologetic look, "Would you mind if he called you Hermy? It's too hard for him to remember your name."
"N-no, I w-won't mind it a bit." Hermione said snarkily.
Sirius snickered, earning a blank stare, but soon he wasn't able to laugh anymore.
"This is Sirius - oh, er, how about simplifying it to Ciri?" Hagrid said looking inquiringly at Sirius, who agreed with a grimace. So after a quick turnaround, everyone found themselves blessed with new names - except for Harry and Ron, whose names are inherently simple.
In Hagrid's mouth, Felix became Filli, Hermione became Hermy, and Sirius became Ciri.
"Hermy, do you hear me? Her-mee-" Hagrid said to Grawp, syllable by syllable, "And then, those two slightly larger ones are Filli and Ciri, you can tell the difference, can't you? "
The two referred to as Filli and Ciri shrugged their shoulders. Harry and Ron both looked like they wanted to laugh as they listened to Hagrid repeat the wrong pronunciation over and over again.
It seemed that he didn't need his help. Felix mentally thought that Dumbledore was too worried that Hagrid would be beaten to death by his cranky giant brother, but now at least there is a good start. After a long time, they headed back through the depths of the Forbidden Forest.
"I'm going to move nearby and stay with Grawp for a while, I need to find him food, and keep him company." Hagrid said. "If you guys are looking for me, you can just pass the message through the owls, don't come into the Forbidden Forest personally." He said to Harry, Ron and Hermione.
"Stop, Hagrid." Felix said, looking deeper into the Forbidden Forest.
Everyone stopped. With the help of the soft white light hanging overhead, they could see past the branches and bushes, and Sirius sniffled and cautioned, "Something's coming." Then they heard the sound of a branch snapping and strange footsteps.
A huge bowstring emerged from the green shadows and plucked away the leaves that blocked the way. "It's me, Hagrid." A topless male said, his human upper body connected with the horse's body from the waist up, and finally, Firenze's full-body stepped out of the shadows, his silver mane bathed in soft white light, and his hooves clattered.
"What brings you here?" Hagrid asked warily.
"I heard disturbances." Firenze asked in a low voice, "What's going on, Hagrid?"
"Nothing to do with you, this isn't centaur's territory." Hagrid replied stiffly.
"But I live in the Forbidden Forest." Firenze said, and the next second he turned abruptly, the bow in his hand pointed into the deep darkness, "Who's there?" His hooves dug into the ground.
The branches swayed and a horse with a shivered dragon-like face peeked out from the other side, its white glowing eyes timidly looking at them as if wondering why everyone had gathered so late. It stood at the edge where black shadow and white light intersected, and its leather-like black wings, obscured by the shrubs, could be faintly seen.
"So it's Thestral." Hagrid said with a sigh of relief.
"Aw, how could I forget you guys." Felix said softly, gazing at the magical creature.
Hermione looked at him suspiciously.
"Fascinating creature, isn't it? Some people can't see it, others can ... you can see it?" Felix suddenly stared at her.
"Um, yes." Hermione whispered anxiously, "In fact - the three of us -" she didn't continue, but the meaning of the words was clear enough. Harry and Ron both watched the Thestral with ogling eyes.
Sirius glared, "Harry, you didn't mention this."
"It's only been two days since school started, and I didn't get a chance to spend time alone with you." Harry muttered in a small voice.
"I couldn't see it before either, I mean the day school started," Ron said, "but I figured something out in the last two days ... it just dawned on me." Harry and Hermione looked at each other behind him as they too remembered the scene that had happened in the carriage at the start of the school year -
The carriage creaked and rattled down the road on September 1.
"You both can see it?" Inside the carriage, Ron nearly choked on his saliva as he stared blankly at Harry and Hermione, "You're not teaming up to trick me, right?"
"The reason you can't see it can only mean one thing, your barren brain hasn't worked in the slightest throughout the summer." Hermione said pointedly at Ron.
"Any word on that?" Harry asked. He knew about Thestral, but only a little.
"Seeing death, accepting it, and possibly some insight ... it's hard to explain." Hermione said distractedly.
"What do you think about the death of Crouch Jr?" Harry understood Hermione somewhat. So he turned to Ron and asked him.
"What else can you think, he deserved it," Ron said, his eyebrows furrowed, "You guys aren't feeling sorry for him are you?"
"Of course not," Harry instantly said, "So do you ever worry about the future? Ever thought ... your family or yourself might die in the war?" His voice became softer as he spoke, it is something he had been thinking about recently, why did his parents instead of fleeing abroad had stayed behind to fight the Death Eaters?
Ron looked uneasily to his left at Harry and to his right at Hermione.
"Isn't Dumbledore, and Professor Hap around, they'll sort it all out ..."
Hermione gave Harry a meaningful look, and Harry knew its implication, "See. He hasn't thought about it at all."
...
Sirius patted Harry and Ron on the shoulder and muttered something under his breath that no one could hear.
On the other side, Hagrid lowered his guard as he walked up to stroke Thestral's thin, bony body and gave it a few quick pats on the head at the end, "Come on, there's nothing to see. No food either, that's my nosebleed."
Firenze the centaur also backed away and disappeared, warning Hagrid before he left, "The elders of the tribe are very upset, and if you continue to bring those dangerous creatures from all over the world-"
After this interlude, Felix, Sirius, Harry, Ron, and Hermione parted from Hagrid in front of his hut and returned to the castle. The golden trio sat in the corner of the common room and were dazed for a good part of the night before they could barely digest the fact that Hagrid had hidden a giant in the Forbidden Forest.
"Hagrid won't be able to hide it for long, the centaur has a strong sense of territory, and they will think that Grawp is infringing their territory." Hermione said worriedly.
Harry didn't say anything. Isn't that kind of obvious? He could only pray that all would go well regarding Hagrid's educational plans, or that Grawp's mind isn't as retarded as he appears to be.
Meanwhile.
Felix returned to the ancient rune office and looked out across the bay window in the direction of the Forbidden Forest, "Death." The sound of his voice was faintly audible, and he wondered what the world looked like through Thestral's eyes.
If he is fortunate enough, he will soon find out.
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