Meeting Hagrid
"Fred? George?" Harry tapped their shoulders.
Classes had finished and Harry had immediately gone searching for the twins. He needed to say something to them, it had been on his mind since his talk with Sirius.
He found the twins eating dinner in the great hall. They were uncharacteristically quiet as Harry approach them. They both looked to be lost in thought and didn't seem to be eating much.
The twins turned around and smiled when they saw it was Harry.
"Hi, Harry," said Fred.
"You okay, Harry?" asked George.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Listen, about earlier, I need to tell you something."
The twins shifted and shared a look. "Yes?"
"Let's just forget about it."
The twins' jaws dropped. "What?" they asked together.
"Yeah," Harry smiled. "I know you didn't mean to hurt me and I don't want to lose our friendship over this," which is what my parents would have done to Sirius. "So, I forgive you. Are we still friends?"
"Of course!" they said together. They're faces lit up and they looked much more like themselves, to Harry's relief.
"Good," said Harry with a grin. "By the way, that gryffindor boy over there, the one sitting with Colin, do you know who he is? Because no one else I've asked knows him."
Neither of the turned to see who he was talking about.
"That's Ron-" began George.
"-Our brother," finished Fred.
It was Harry's turn to be shocked. "Your brother?!" They smirked and nodded. "Wow...is he-"
"Always like that?" they asked together. Harry nodded.
"Not really. I think he's just trying to impress the Plotters," said Fred.
Harry couldn't help his laugh. "So he's okay at home?"
"Yeah. A little annoying, but okay," answered George.
"Right," said Harry.
Before he could continue he felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Come on Harry! The others are waiting for us!" said Pansy.
Blaise had suggested in their last class that they skip dinner and explore the grounds. Pansy had volunteered to get some food so they wouldn't complain about hunger.
"Okay!" Harry grinned at her before turning to the twins. "We'll talk soon, okay?"
"Okay!" said Fred.
"See you soon Harry!" called George.
Harry followed Pansy out of the hall to where the others were waiting outside.
Munching on sandwiches and slices of pie as they travelled down the grounds.
They ended up sitting on a hill staring at the forbidden forest while they ate.
"Why do you think we're not allowed in there?" asked Blaise pointing at the forest.
"Maybe it's because they don't want us getting lost?" suggested Harry.
"Nah, I heard from our prefect that there are werewolves in there," said Draco as he chewed on his sandwich. "So it must be for our safety or something."
"A forest full of creatures, an out of bounds corridor and a tree that wants to kill us..." Theo remarked. "All in a school..."
"A tree that wants to what?" asked Harry incredulously.
"Don't ask, just deal with it," said Pansy, it sounded muffled as she had her face in her hands. She gave a long sigh before looking up, rolling her eyes.
"Really Dray? Werewolves?" asked Blaise in disbelief.
"And centaurs," added Harry. "I heard that from one of the older students."
"Seriously? No way," said Blaise shaking his head with a grin.
"Go in there then if you're so brave!" Theo joked.
Blaise smirked and stood up. "Fine."
"No way," Harry whisper-laughed.
But Blaise was serious. He walked towards the forest without any sign of fear or turning back.
"Come on, Blaise," called Draco as he stood up. "Don't."
But Blaise didn't even turn to look at him as he approach the forest. But just as he was about to go in-
"Oi!" roared a man's voice.
All five of them jumped and turned to see the huge man who had taken them to the castle when they first arrived at Hogwarts, Hagrid, fiercely charging towards them.
Blaise was so shocked he backed up quickly and tripped over, landing awkwardly on his ankle, causing him to yelp and grab his ankle.
The other four ran over to him.
"Are you okay, Blaise?" they all chorused as they crowded around him.
"Let me through," Hagrid said as he towered over them.
Draco and Theo moved out of the way and let Hagrid kneel down next to Blaise to see if he was alright. Harry thought he could hear the man mumble something about the Weasley twins.
"Don' think it's broken. Take him to the hospital wing," he told them.
Draco and Pansy grabbed one of his arms each and pulled him up. Blaise hissed as he tried to put some weight on it.
"Don' go in there in there...it's dangerous," said Hagrid as he turned to walk away.
Theo and Harry shared a look.
"Are you okay to-" Harry began after a moment, but Draco interrupted.
"Yeah, we'll take him there. You go talk to him," said Draco, as if he'd read Harry's mind. "Meet you back in the common room."
"Thanks," said Harry. "Come on, Theo."
The two boys raced to catch up with Hagrid, but he was walking very quickly. They made it to a hut which they saw Hagrid enter as they ran after him.
Theo knocked as they both panted, out of breath.
From inside the hut the pair could hear a dog barking from inside and then Hagrid's voice. "Back, Fang! Back."
Hagrid opened the door slightly and looked down at them both. "Oh, it's you two."
Harry spoke up. "Yes, um, we're sorry about-"
"Don' worry about it. Come in," he opened the door further to show he was holding an enormous black boarhound by the collar. Theo and Harry went inside.
"Make yerself at home," he told them, letting of an excited Fang.
They sat at a table trying to think of something to say.
"You gave Blaise a fright," Theo grinned.
"He sort of deserved it," Harry smiled. "He doesn't think the forest is dangerous."
"Idiot," Hagrid grinned at them. "Cup o' tea?" he offered.
"Yes please," answered Harry.
"You're Harry Potter," he remarked as he put a copper kettle on an open fire. "Read that article 'bout you. You okay?"
Harry smiled "Yeah, I'm fine. This is Theo by the way."
Theo began to talk about their classes, which Hagrid seemed interested in. When Harry mentioned how Snape didn't seem to like James Potter, Hagrid said that Snape didn't really like anyone. But he didn't meet Harry's eyes.
"So what's your job, Hagrid?" asked Theo.
"Keeper of keys and grounds," he answered, placing two cups of tea on the table. "An' some errands."
"Like?" asked Harry curiously as he sipped his tea.
Hagrid shrugged. "I git things from Diagon Alley, or Hogsmeade. Like in July when Dumbledore sent me to pick up a little package from vault 713 at Gringotts-" Hagrid stopped himself. "I shouldn't have said that."
"713? Isn't that the vault that got broken into?" asked Theo. Harry turned to look at him, very curious.
Hagrid placed some rock cakes on the table. "Forget it," he said again.
When it was time for them to leave, Hagrid told them they were welcome to visit whenever they liked as he gave them more of his rock cakes to take back to the castle.
"He seems alright," said Theo as they walked back. "And that dog is adorable," Harry gave him a look. "What?"
"Never mind," said Harry grinning. "By the way, what was that about a break-in at Gringotts?"
"It was in the paper. Someone broke into vault 713 on the 31st July. But the goblins say nothing was taken because the vault had been emptied."
"And Hagrid did that."
"What? Rob the place?"
Harry turned to look at him incredulously, but Theo's smirk told him he was joking.
"So it was just a small package? Why would someone want that?"
Theo shrugged, looking very curious as well.
When they returned to the their common room, they found Draco, Pansy, and Blaise sat in front of the fire. They told Harry and Theo that Madam Pomfrey had fixed Blaise's ankle in a minute and asked about the visit.
Harry told them about what Hagrid had let slip about Gringotts and the little package.
But none of them could agree on anything it could be.
Pansy had suggested diamonds, but Draco pointed out that many vaults contains jewels and money. So why target vault 713?
By the time they went to bed, they still hadn't agreed on anything.