jharad17 - Whelp

"I will. Thank you, Father." He bit his lip again, and Father gently tugged it out from between his teeth with the tips of his fingers, making Harry flush with embarrassment. "Can you take us to Hagrid's?"

"Alas, I am busy this afternoon. But you may enquire as to whether Nelli is available." He looked like he wanted to say something else, but instead he patted Harry on the shoulder and steered him toward the door. "Let's go out and say good bye to Mr. Malfoy now, like good hosts."

"Y-y-yes, F-father."

"Straighten up, Harry," Father said, and there was a warning in his eyes. "Don't let him see you afraid. Be brave."

Harry swallowed and nodded, straightened his shoulders and brought his chin up like Draco did. He was still afraid, but his father was with him, now, and Father would keep him safe. He'd promised.

"Good boy. Come on, then."

Despite his attempt to be brave, his steps slowed as they neared the sitting room, where Draco was standing next to the chair Mr. Malfoy was in, but Father's hand was on his shoulder again. Mr. Malfoy rose as they came in, and Harry held his gaze, though he really, really didn't want to. They moved further into the room. "Thank you for bringing Draco, sir," he said, and his voice only wavered a little. "It w-was nice to see you again."

Harry's father squeezed his shoulder, even as Mr. Malfoy smiled tightly. "Likewise. Severus." He nodded to Father, then shot Draco a hard look. "Do let me know if you have any trouble."

"Of course." Father nodded, too, and in the next minute, Mr. Malfoy was gone, and the air suddenly seemed lighter, making it easier to breathe.

As Father moved past them toward his study, Harry turned to Draco. "We have to ask Nelli if she'll take us." Draco gave him a blank look, so he reminded his friend, "To Hagrid's. You know, the giant ."

"Oh. Who's Nelli?"

"Our House Elf!"

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Though mindful of his father's instructions, Harry had to run down the hill towards Hagrid's hut, so he could keep up with Draco. His friend's legs were longer and he seemed keen on showing how fast he could run without falling.

Nelli trotted alongside Harry, half covering her face with her hands and moaning, "Youse going to be in trouble, Master Harry. Youse better not hurt your hand again!"

"I won't," he tried telling her, but she didn't really listen, and then they came over the last rise, and a barking dark blur ran at them like a stirred up nest of fur and gangly limbs and drool. "Fang!" Harry cried happily, and held out his arms. Fang diverted from careening into Draco – barely – and hurtled the last few feet to Harry, bowling him over once again.

Fang snuffled his face and drooled on his head and lapped at his cheeks and ears until Harry was giggling madly and trying to shove the dog away. And then Hagrid was there, shouting a command, and Fang loped away, though he trailed drool after him in a line that stretched from Harry's shirt to his jaws.

"Good ter see ye, Harry!"

Wrinkling his nose as he wiped his face, Harry said, "Hello, Hagrid, sir. This is Draco. He's my friend." He gestured to Draco, who was staring, with wide eyes, at Fang, and then at Hagrid, and back to Fang, seeming to not know which was the bigger threat. "S'okay, Draco," Harry assured him. "Father says Hagrid's genie-all. Means he's kind."

"Nice ter meet ye, Draco . . . you wouldn't be Draco Malfoy , now, would ye?" Hagrid loomed over the boys and though he was smiling, his eyes went a bit narrow.

"Y-yes, sir?"

"And yer a friend o' Harry's here?"

Draco nodded, and Harry saw him swallow hard, and he wondered if Draco was as scared of Hagrid as Harry was of Mr. Malfoy.

"Well, good 'nuff, then." Hagrid laughed and clapped Draco on the shoulder, nearly sending him sprawling. "Let's have a bit of tea, lads. I've baked a slew of ginger biscuits. Should still be warm. Nuthin' like it, ginger. Good for what ails ye."

Harry grinned at him. "Thanks, Hagrid! And can you tell us a story 'bout the forest?"

"The fores'? What you want to know 'bout tha' for? Nuthin' you need to worry 'bout in there."

"It's forbidden ," Harry whispered to Draco as the three of them – including Nelli – followed Hagrid up the steps and into his home. "That means we're not s'posed to go in there."

"I know what forbidden means," Draco hissed back. He gave Fang a wide berth on the stoop, and looked around the small cottage. Harry hoped, suddenly, that his friend wouldn't say anything mean about Hagrid's place. It was small, sure, and certainly not as tidy as Aunt Petunia would have wanted, but it was full of interesting things on the walls, and smelled really weird, too, and Harry liked it.

"Yeah, well, Hagrid's Keeper of Keys and Grounds and the gamekeeper, right, Hagrid? So he knows all the creatures there are, like Streelers and Centaurs and grindylows and crups and all that. My father said so."

Draco rolled his eyes. "There aren't grindylows in the forest. They live in the water."

"Oh. Well, are there grindylows in the lake outside, sir?" Harry asked Hagrid, who was filling his enormous tea kettle.

"Some, yeah, there are some in there. Keep to 'emselves mostly, stay outta the way of them Merfolk. And the squid." He nodded his chin at the table where a plate of star-shaped biscuits lay waiting. "Help yerself. Still warm, like I said."

"Thanks!" Harry took one and nibbled on the side, although as with the rock cakes, he decided he might want to wait till he had his tea, so he could dunk the biscuit in and let it soften before actually trying to chew it.

He and Draco and Nelli spent the next couple hours with Hagrid, who did tell them stories, about the forest's Centaurs to start with, and who made them gigantic mugs of tea and even convinced Nelli to have some, when she wanted to refuse on general principle. Draco had looked askance at the house-elf, when she first sat down next to Harry, but he seemed to forget about her after a few minutes of trying to eat Hagrid's biscuits without cracking his teeth, and listening to stories. At some point, Fang had decided Draco was drool-worthy, and put his large, soggy head in his lap, much to the other boy's displeasure.

Harry, though, had rarely had such a wonderful afternoon.

It would have been perfect, truly. After they left Hagrid's, the two boys went with Nelli to look at the lake and see if the squid was as playful as Hagrid said, so they could tickle its tentacles. But it wasn't out at all today, and the lake water looked rather cold and dark.

Yes, the afternoon would have been perfect, except that was when Draco suggested they should use their brooms to fly out over the lake, and take a closer look for the squid.

TBC . . .

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Next chapter:Trouble comes in twos (threes if you count a house elf . . .)

A/N: Thank you to everyone who's read and reviewed! If you have any questions, or comments or corrections, please let me know. Next chapter should be out Friday. Probably.

*Chapter 22*: Chapter 22

Whelp -- Chapter 21

By jharad17

Disclaimer:None of this is mine. Honest. She's rich, I'm not.

A/Nat end.

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Yes, the afternoon would have been perfect, except that was when Draco suggested they should use their brooms to fly out over the lake, and take a closer look for the squid.

Even then, if Father had been in their quarters and been able to stop them from collecting their brooms, or if Nelli hadn't been convinced that, "just because we can't go to the pitch, doesn't mean we can't fly," it still might have turned out all right.

As it was, though, within half an hour, Harry and Draco were back at the edge of the lake, brooms in hand. Nelli was beside them, with her large head held in her hands. Soft sniffling sounds came from her, but she had already acknowledged that this wasn't expressly forbidden. Still, Harry felt bad for her, and hoped she wouldn't get into any trouble on their account.