It was a gruelling process, and he was almost getting impatient with the whole process, but his struggles were finally coming to an end. The full moon cycle was over, meaning it was time to take out the Mandrake leaf in his mouth. Kreacher was waiting by his side with a phial of dew from a place untouched by human feet or sunlight. Taking out the Mandrake leaf from his mouth, Harry placed it inside the crystal phial along with a single strand of his hair saturated by the captured pure light of the full moon.
Harry corked the crystal phial and let out a relieved sigh. Nearly half the struggle to become an animagus was now over. The next part was keeping the phial in a quiet dark place, untouched and unseen until the arrival of the next lightning storm. He supposed there was no better place than the Chamber of Secrets. He stored the crystal phial safely in Slytherin's secret library.
"How did it go?" Sirius asked once Kreacher returned to Grimmauld Place.
"Everything went smoothly." Harry said happily, looking into the two-way mirror. "I've stored the phial in a safe, dark place."
"Good. Make sure the phial is left undisturbed. Also, don't forget to use the incantation every sunrise and sunset until you see the lightning storm. You know the incantation, right?"
"I know. Amato Animo Animato Animagus." said Harry.
"Don't forget to keep your wand's tip against your heart while chanting the incantation. It's important that you repeat the procedure without fail. You'll start to hear a second heartbeat if you're consistent. If you don't hear a second heartbeat within two or three weeks, you'd have to redo everything from the start."
"I know, Sirius. I'll make sure to follow your instructions to the letter." said Harry.
After wrapping things up in the Chamber, Harry made his exit from the secret chamber with a sense of accomplishing something monumental. He was not anywhere near becoming an animagus, but he was on the right track. Half the battle to become an animagus would be over in just one more month. He spent half an hour more in the Chamber reading up some books, and then he was off to patrol duty. When he was done with the patrol, he went straight for Gryffindor Tower, crossing paths with Hermione along the way.
"I was thinking Harry. We should create a medium for discreetly communicating with each other in the Knights." said Hermione.
"Like the Dark Mark of Voldemort's death eaters?" Harry asked with a raised brow as they turned a corner.
"Yes." Hermione chirped.
"Are you trying to turn me into Dark Lord 2.0?" Harry asked, his shoulders shaking with laughter.
"Of course not. We don't have to brand the members of the Knights. Instead, we could use an object of some sort that won't look suspicious. Perhaps a watch or a locket."
"And how exactly would we send messages through these watches and lockets?" Harry asked.
"I've been researching since you told me about how Voldemort used the Dark Mark to summon his followers. I think I found a spell that Voldemort has used on his Dark Mark. It's called the Protean charm."
"And you think you can produce a similar effect and use the charm to connect with multiple objects to pass messages?" Harry asked.
"Very short messages." Hermione added.
"Hmm. We'll have to talk with Fred and George before we put the idea before the senate for approval." said Harry, after thinking it over in his mind. "I need a second opinion for possible security measures in case of theft of the charmed object or even betrayal."
"I meant to ask this sooner, Harry. Are you sure you want a senate to function in the Knights?" Hermione suddenly asked.
"Why not? Representatives from each year would ensure the opinions of our members are heard and involved in the decision-making process of the Knights." said Harry, shrugging his shoulders. "If I don't involve everyone in the running of Knights and allow dissenting opinions to be heard, then there'll be hardly any difference between Voldemort and me."
"Pftt." Hermione snorted. "You can't be similar to Voldemort by any stretch of the margin Harry."
"Power corrupts, and absolute power will always corrupt. No one should have tyrannical power, even if it's for the right reasons. If history has shown us anything, we humans tend to do crazy things when we are left unchecked." said Harry, as he had given it much thought on the issue. "Just look at Voldemort and Dumbledore. Voldemort has become deranged enough to believe his rule will change the wizarding world for the better, while Dumbledore has made a career out of doing nothing despite seeing the magnitude of the disaster his inaction has already wrought."
"All right. You convinced me. Let's ask the Weasley twins for their expert opinion." Hermione said rather angrily before sprinting off, leaving Harry to stare confusedly at Hermione in the corridor.
"Ah! Misplaced anger." Harry shot a knowing look as Hermione ran away from him. "You should've been nicer to our year mates if you wanted to get elected."
Harry smothered a chuckle that threatened to escape his mouth and chased after Hermione.
The next day, Harry was having a deep discussion with Angelina, Alicia and Katie about their next strategy regarding the Quidditch team when he was interrupted by Hermione, who looked like she was excited about something.
"Harry, the most amazing thing just happened. Come with me." Hermione dragged him away from the twins.
"Just think about what I said, and let's have this talk later." Harry shouted at the three senior players as Hermione dragged him out of the common room.
"Okay. Where are you taking me?" Harry asked, struggling to keep up with Hermione.
"Hagrid has returned Harry. I saw lights in his hut." Hermione said excitedly.
That made Harry keep up with Hermione as he also wanted to see Hagrid, who had disappeared off for the entire term. When they finally managed to reach Hagrid's hut, the light of the fireplace being lit could be seen from the window.
"Hagrid." Hermione called while knocking on the door of his hut. "There is no point in hiding. We know you're there. We saw the light. Let us in, or we'll break the door."
There was some smuggling inside the but and the door swung open with the large form of Hagrid presenting himself on the doorway.
"Should've known ye two would be the first ter come. Come in now befer' someone sees yer two." said Hagrid, inviting them into his home.
Harry and Hermione, we're immediately accosted by a happy Fang who was quite enthusiastic to see familiar faces. Harry reached out and hugged the trusted companion of Hagrid, who was wagging his tail in happiness.
"Oh, Fang. I'm happy to see you as well." Harry rubbed the dog's neck before he sat on one of the stools Hagrid offered.
"Hagrid! What happened to your face?" Hermione gasped.
Then, Harry noticed all the bloody wounds on Hagrid's face. The skin under all that hair looked purple and black, bruising. There were many cars on his face, which were freshly bleeding. A thick black travelling cloak covered the rest of his body, but Harry could see dried blood on the cloak. Hagrid was also favouring his right leg more than usual, which meant the friendly half-giant had an injured left leg or a few broken ribs going by the cautious movements.
"Hagrid. Did you get into a fight?" Harry asked.
"Me? Fightin'? Pfttt!" Hagrid waved his hand but flinched in pain because of the movement.
Hagrid limped over to the fireplace where a copper kettle was getting heated up with hot water inside.
"So, you were fighting someone. Was it the Giants?" Harry asked, moving closer to Hagrid, and helping the guy with the tea kettle.
"How'd you…?" Hagrid trailed off, looking at Harry in shock.
"Let me guess. You were off to appeal to the Giants on behalf of Dumbledore, asking them to stay out of the war."
Hagrid just gaped at him for a long while until the kettle whistled.
"Yer too smart fer yer own good, Harry. Yer two are too nosy. That's why trouble follows yer everywhere." Hagrid grumbled.
"That's the story of my life. You just sit back and let me handle the tea." Harry said, taking charge of the kettle to make tea from Hagrid.
Hagrid slinked back to a corner and noisily sat down, letting out groans of pain along the way.
"You should go to the hospital wing and get these wounds healed Hagrid." said Hermione anxiously. "Some of those cuts look really nasty, especially your eye."
Harry meanwhile found the tea leaves Hagrid had lying around and prepared the tea. He poured the hot liquid into Hagrid's giant cup and put two cubes of sugar just as Hagrid had always done. After some stirring, the tea was ready, and he handed over the cup to Hagrid, who took a greedy gulp.
"Ah! Good ol' tea. I can already feel mi' pain goin away." Hagrid sighed happily.
"So, did you convince the Giants to back off?" Hermione asked eagerly.
"Shhh! That's supposed ter be secret stuff. It's fer Dumbledore's ear only." said Hagrid.
"So, you met them then. How're they doing?" Harry asked, earning strange looks from both Hagrid and Hermione.
"What? We don't see Giants anywhere near wizarding settlements. I'm just curious how they've been holding up." Harry defended himself, but he had an ulterior motive in asking for the wellbeing of the Giants.
The ancient scrolls and books he found in Slytherin's Chamber spoke of the Giants and Cyclopes a lot. According to some of the scrolls, these great creatures reshaped the world somehow, and they were intrinsically tied to magic in ways that went beyond the understanding of ordinary wizards. There were also many mentions of the mysterious Elysium and the role of the Giants in guarding and oftentimes hiding away some of the old pathways to this mysterious realm. So far, the only remotely mysterious thing he found in the old scrolls and books that'd interest his grandmother was this Elysium. Nothing else he found in the scrolls was remotely connected to the Deathly Hallows.
This Elysium was supposedly important for magical creatures, and the Hallows were made to be keys for opening up a path to this mysterious realm. Or at least, that was what he discerned from hours upon hours of reading. He still had no idea exactly what Elysium was supposed to be or why Perenelle was interested in the place but he knew it was somehow tied to some of the elder magical races.
"I suppose they're getting by somehow." Hagrid said, suddenly misty eyed. "There was loads of 'em once. Musta' been hundreds of tribes from all over the world. Bu' they've been slowly dyin' out fer ages. Some died in the war with wizards, of course. We chased them away fer some reason. Dumbledore say it's our fault. They're supposed to guard the forests and all, but we chased 'em away."
"How did they take your visit? Did they welcome you peacefully?" Harry knew it was a stupid question to ask considering the state Hagrid was in but he wanted to keep Hagrid talking.
"Well, I had to sneak upon 'ere home. Fell creatures guarded their camp. So, I waited till mornin ter talk to the Gurb just as Dumbledore wanted."
"What's a Gurg?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Oh, the Gurg- it means the chief."
"So, there is a leader to the Giants." Harry noted with interest. "So, what did the ummm…Gurg say when he met you?"
"Not 'appy. Not 'appy at all. I gave 'im a branch of the Gubrathian fire as gift. Dumbledore had charmed it to burn evermore, which no wizard can do. I went on ma' knees 'an gave 'im the gift. Said it was from Albus Dumbledore." Hagrid paused, taking large gulps of the tea from his cup and pouring some more from the kettle once it ran out.
"What happened next?" Hermione asked eagerly, her eyes alight with wonder.
"Nothin' much. That big lazy fat Karkus just grunted and said nothin' much. But he liked the present. So, I bowed and told 'im I'd return with another gift the next day ter pass on a message from Albus Dumbledore. Fat load of good that did." Hagrid said, shaking his head disappointedly.
"Why? What happened?" Hermione asked in worry.
"They fought durin the night. The sounds kept 'mi awake the 'hole night. It even caused an avalanche in the mountains." Hagrid said. "The next mornin I saw Karkus' head down the valley."
"But…but why? Why did they fight?" Hermione asked, perplexed.
"I told yer the Giants were chased away. They're not supposed ter live together like that in groups. They kill each other when they move around in groups. They like ter keep things simple. Too many Giants keeps in one place causes squabbles between 'em. They fight over trees, mountains, food, and sleeping places, things like that." Hagrid shrugged helplessly.
"So, with their chief dead, they selected a new chief." Harry said more as a question, as it was fascinating to get an insight into the inner workings of the Giants.
"Uh…yeah. Twas more like they fought over each other for the whole night, and the meanest of the lot became the new Gurg." Hagrid explained rather awkwardly, looking down in shame.
"I take it the new Gurg didn't like you hanging around their home." Harry muttered, looking thoughtful for a moment about the possibility of taking control of the Giants through a show of strength.
"Yer right, Harry. Golgomath became the new Gurg, and he didn't like me one bit. Didn't care much for Dumbledore's message either. Besides, the place was 'floddin with those Death eaters. They had nasty ideas 'abou what the Giants should do, and Golgomath was interested in their mad ideas. I knew I was not welcome there anymore. So, I escaped from there somehow." said Hagrid, guiltily looking in the direction of the Forbidden Forest.
Harry could see Hermione had hundreds of questions to air, but the light was dimming outside and the more time they stayed over, the chance of getting caught only increased, even if they were prefects.
"Hagrid, we'd love to talk more, but it's getting late. A word of warning, though. A horrible DADA professor goes by the name of Delores Umbridge is teaching in Hogwarts. She's looking to oust anyone close to Dumbledore from Hogwarts, and she's a blood purist. Don't say anything remotely related to Dumbledore in front of her. We'll talk more tomorrow, yeah." said Harry.
Harry and Hermione ran from the hut to the castle.
"Did you hear what Hagrid said about the Giants?" Hermione whispered worriedly on the way.
"Yeah. Voldemort is recruiting an army of dangerous magical creatures. He is preparing for war while our side is twiddling their thumbs doing nothing." Harry snorted derisively.
"I'm sure Dumbledore is doing something. After all, he sent Hagrid to the Giants." Hermione said rather half-heartedly.
Harry just shook his head. Clearly, Dumbledore was out of his depth. But that didn't demoralise him one bit. He was not going to wait around for Dumbledore to grow a pair of brain cells. He knew what he had to do to deny Voldemort an army of Giants.
'I suppose I know what I must do during the Christmas holidays.' Harry thought grimly.
XXXXXXXX
Dolores Umbridge walked with long purposeful strides as she was rather upset over the recent action of Minerva McGonagall in capacity as the head of her House. She had thought she had made it clear that Gryffindor House was now banned from forming their Quidditch team. She knew she made up some excuses to enforce the ban, but that was for Potter's benefit. The brat needed to know not to challenge his betters. She had rightly punished the Creevey brat for spreading lies and believing the pack of lies Dumbledore was peddling.
The Potter brat had no right to put his nose where it did not belong. His stunt with taking his complaint to the Board of Governors lost her a lot of goodwill in the Ministry. It was Minister Fudge's patronage that kept her out of the claws of the vultures. There were a lot of vultures circling around, waiting to sink their claws into her. She was aware of those enemies like Bones and Scrimgeour. She could not afford to let anyone in Hogwarts place a toe out of line. That was why she took away the Quidditch privileges of the Gryffindor team as a whole. She wanted to send Potter a message that his actions would affect him and his friends. It seems the message had yet to sink in properly.
But first, she had to take care of the rogue Hogwarts staff that were making her job difficult. How was she going to discipline the children and save them from Dumbledore's lies if the rest of the staff were working against the greater interests of the Ministry?
Dolores didn't bother to knock and just pushed open the office doors of the Deputy Headmistress.
"I'm told the Gryffindor Quidditch team is practising on the pitch." Dolores said with a smile, but her eyes held only contempt for the older witch.
"I see. I'm afraid you're mistaken, Dolores." said McGonagall, looking at her imperturbably.
"Are you saying you're not the one who granted Gryffindor students to have the pitch for Quidditch training?" Dolores asked with gritted teeth.
"I said you're merely mistaken. You've ordered the disbandment of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and therefore no such team exists. This means no Gryffindor Quidditch team is occupying the Quidditch grounds at this moment." McGonagall said nonchalantly, leaning back in her seat.
"Let me rephrase my question then, Professor McGonagall."
"Please do." McGonagall said dispassionately.
Dolores nearly screamed at the older witch in frustration but kept that inside her mind.
"Did you or did you not allow the former members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team permission to play Quidditch on the Quidditch grounds?" Dolores asked, her lips set a firm line.
"Yes, this is true," McGonagall admitted. "So what?"
"Really, professor? Have you not read the circular banning…"
"Banning the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Yes, I did." McGonagall nodded. "You'll be happy to note that I followed your circular to the letter. I've dispatched the letter detailing the disbanding of the team to the former Gryffindor team captain Angelina Johnson."
"But.." Dolores made to intervene, but she was ignored and talked over by McGonagall.
"But, that circular does not imply that I can't give permission to a group of students to hold Quidditch matches outside of regular practice sessions or matches in Hogwarts. Miss Johnson approached me, along with a number of students requesting permission to hold a mock game with a bunch of friends. I gave them permission. You'll see I acted within the confines of the law, Dolores." McGonagall said coldly. "Now, if you'd be kind, please leave. I've got some essays to grade and a lesson plan to prepare."
Dolores felt like her head was about to explode, but she turned on her heels and marched out of McGonagall's office with a thunderous expression. She was going to issue a complete ban on the Gryffindor House from playing Quidditch in Hogwarts.
'Let's see what'll you do when I force your students out of the pitch by their ears, Minerva.' Umbridge thought vindictively.