Hermione led them all the way back to the grounds to Hagrid's cabin and pounded hard on the door with her fist.

"Hagrid!" she called. "Open up! We know you're there! None of us care if your mother was a giantess! Come on, Hagrid, this has gone on for too long already!"

Just then, the door opened, but it was not Hagrid who opened.

"Professor Dumbledore...!" Megan said.

"Good afternoon." He said pleasantly.

"We... wanted to see Hagrid..." Hermione said, flushing with embarrassment.

"Yes, I had surmised that much," he smiled. "Come in."

They stepped inside. Fang and Mira came jostling over, demanding attention. Hagrid was sitting at the table, on which Megan saw two steaming mugs of tea.

"Hi, Hagrid..." Megan said.

He looked a real mess. His hair was even more tangled up than usual, and his face was red, his eyes swollen. He glanced up when she spoke.

"Hullo..." he muttered hoarsely.

"More beverage, I believe," Dumbledore said, and in a wave of his wand, a platter of cakes and hot chocolate appeared and landed neatly on the table. They all sat down, an uneasy silence hanging about them.

"Did you hear Miss Granger, by any chance, Hagrid?" Dumbledore asked.

Hermione flushed slightly.

"She, Megan, Harry and Ron all clearly still want to know you," he said, "judging by their attempts at breaking your door down." He added with a smile.

"Of course we do, Hagrid!" Megan said. "And Cedric wasn't with us, but he probably knows what happened, and he would say the same thing, I'm positive. You can't let that Skeeter hag... sorry professor..."

"I have gone temporarily deaf, and I haven't heard a word, Megan." He said, smiling.

"Er... okay..." Megan said sheepishly. "I mean, Hagrid, how could you even think we'd pay any attention to what that ... she wrote?"

Hagrid glanced up at them, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Living and further proof of what I've been telling you, Hagrid." Dumbledore said. "I have shown you the missives of the countless parents who have all told me in plain letters that if I sacked you they would be most displeased."

"Not all of 'em..." Hagrid said miserably.

"Really, Hagrid, if you're hoping for universal popularity, you're not going to get far," Megan said.

"Indeed, not." Dumbledore said more firmly. "In all my time here, not a week has passed without a letter or two complaining about my way of running Hogwarts. Should I just lock myself in my study and do nothing?"

"But yeh're not half giant..." Hagrid moaned.

Megan, who had never been one to mope, got fed up. Every time something unpleasant happened to Hagrid he shut down. She had had plenty of dirt in her eye, but never had she felt she should just give up!

"Hagrid, look at me!" she said angrily. "I've got the Dursleys as relatives, for God's sake! How's that for embarrassing? And I'm a living oddity! People looking at me behind my back because I'm famous for my parents dying and because they think I cheated to enter the Triwizard Tournament!"

"Exactly." Dumbledore said.

"Come back and teach, Hagrid..." Hermione said. "We miss you... Professor Grubbly-Plank's nice enough, but she'll never be like you..."

Hagrid looked up miserably. Dumbledore got to his feet.

"I refuse your resignation, Hagrid, and expect you at breakfast in the Great Hall, Monday morning, ready to work. No excuses. Good afternoon to you all."

And he marched out. Hagrid sniffled a little, then wiped his nose loudly in his handkerchief.

"Ah, he's righ'... yeh all are..." he sighed. "I was bein' stupid... me ol' dad woulda bin ashamed... never showed yeh my dad, did I?"

They shook their heads. He got up and pulled a framed picture from the shelf.

"Tha' was jus' after I got inter Hogwarts," he said. "Me dad was so proud... I was never great shakes at magic... but at leas' he never saw me expelled... died in me second year..."

Megan would have given all she had to get her parents back, but she didn't really remember them much. Hagrid had known his father, so it had to have been far worse...

"Dumbledore stuck up for me after me dad died. Got me me job... tha's why he's so different from other Heads, see. Gives people a chance, even if they didn't look deservin'..."

That was Dumbledore, Megan thought. He had hired Lupin, who though the best teacher she had had, had been controversial from the start in Snape's book, and even in his own. And the moment his being a werewolf had been revealed, Lupin had left to spare Dumbledore the struggle of containing the angry parents, or else facing the removal of a great amount of students from the school. Megan would have been okay with it if Malfoy had been one of the removed... That would have made a nice and welcome change.

"But some don' understand tha'... Hagrid went on. "They'll always have summat 'gainst yeh. Some prefer lyin' to just standin' up and being 'emselves... Me dad always told me t'never be ashamed... Big bones... well I ain't botherin' with 'er any more..."

They exchanged nervous glances, preferring to keep to themselves that they knew he was referring to Madame Maxime.

"Yeh know, Megan?" Hagrid said finally. "When I firs' met yeh, it reminded me of me a bit. Yeh remember how yeh didn' know if yeh'd be up to it? Fit in? Well, look at yeh now! School champion and with the most popular boy in school!"

"I'm not... with Cedric..." Megan objected uncomfortably.

"Yeh know what I'd love?" Hagrid went on, ignoring her comment. "I'd love yeh ter win, Megan. That'd show 'em all... yeh don't have to be pure blood to do it... Dumbledore's got it righ', lettin' anyone in s'long as they've got magic... How you doin' with that egg?"

"Great," Megan said.

She knew she was lying but couldn't stand to upset Hagrid. And she wasn't that far off... she'd been researching for ages, she was bound to find something...

"Tha's my girl... yeh show 'em."

As they headed back to the castle in silence, Megan came to an unpleasant but necessary decision. There was only about a month left. She would have to try Cedric's hint.