The Forgotten Olympian |BOOK 1| PJO X HP | Alexandra Marine

Chapter 152 - Percy - We Threaten a Giant

Just as the sixteen year old terrors called 'Slytherins' left, Alex turned to the half-giant, scanning him up and down. 

"Well," Hagrid said, slightly unnerved, "think yeh should get goin'."

"We will," Alex said, "once we know you."

Hermione, Harry and Ron were miles away from us, ploughing their way through the snow. 

Our talk was now way more serious than just thestrals and inspections. Jason pulled out his coin, ready to flip it at any moment, and Riptide was ready in palm.

Hagrid shuddered slightly, which was incredible considering his size. "I don' know wha' you mean," he said. "Now go on. Back to yer lessons."

"I think you know very well what we mean, Hagrid," Jason said, gripping the coin even harder. 

"Either you help us understand, or we will understand it by force," I added, nodding.

Hagrid, even beneath his dark beard was now turning red. His dark, beetle like eyes were glistening. "What do you wanna know?"

 "Who are you?" Alex asked. 

"And more importantly, who sent you?" Jason asked. "Tartarus?"

"Blimey!" Hagrid bellowed. "You can' go about sayin' things like tha!"

"Oh, yeah?" Alex said, smirking. "Try me. Who sent you, Hagrid?"

"Nobody!" Hagrid exclaimed. "Nobody sent me! I've been here for years!"

"I'd like to know why, exactly," I said. 

"Hogwarts is my home!"

"How do you know Tartarus?" Jason asked.

Hagrid shuddered once more. "I don't."

"Then how do you know his name?" Alex asked, clenching her teeth, her eyes filled with rage. The thestrals responded to her anger, forming a close circle around the giant.

"Because-" Hagrid said, eyeing the thestrals with suspicion, "because-"

"Because?!"

"Because me mother did!" he replied, panting. "Okay? Me mother knows!"

"And who's your mother?!" I yelled as the thestrals pushed in further.

 "FRIDWULFA!" Hagrid bellowed right back at me, taking a step back from the thestrals.

"Hmm," Alex mused. "Fridwulfa? That's familiar."

The thestrals backed away moment later. Hagrid frowned. 

"Fridwulfa.. Fridwulfa..." Alex muttered, walking here and there around the patch of ground that was not covered in snow. She pressed her fingers to her temples, concentrating hard. 

"That's a Norse name," I realized.

"There we go!" Alex exclaimed. "You're amazing! Which makes no sense.. because Fridwulfa was a daughter of Loki. Which means, your mom was lying."

"You mean, her name is not her name?" Jason scratched his head.

"Yes!" Alex said, smiling. "Which means, I've found the missing giantess, the daughter of Alcyoneus."

"Wha?" asked Hagrid, now frowning even more.

"I beat you to that, Apollo!" Alex pointed to the sky, laughing. 

"Dude," I said, my eyebrows raised, "what do you mean by all this?"

"Okay, let me explain," Alex said, calming down, still smiling wide, "we always kept a track on giants down at Tartarus, right?"

"Right," Jason nodded, confused. "I didn't know that, but now I do."

"Well, we realized that one of them was missing," Alex continued, "and it happened to be Alcyoneus. You know Hazel's story. Well, the good thing here is he only had one child in the process, which is also sad, because there are a hundred harmless giants out there, Norse and all that, and we didn't know which one was Alcyoneus' kid."

"Wait," I said, "so you're telling me that the immortal, most powerful giant-" I pointed to Hagrid, "made this?!"

Alex shrugged. "Yeah. No Norse giant would know about Tartarus, for the sake of the gods. Clearly, Alcyoneus made a good plan, but it was a total fail. Nothing can hide for too long from this goddess."

"It's unbelievable," I whispered under my breath. "He's nothing like him."

"I know, right?" Alex exclaimed. "Say, what happened to you mother, Hagrid?"

"Wha?" Hagrid asked, still utterly confused.

"I asked, what happened to your mum," Alex repeated.

"She's dead," Hagrid answered, frowning. "My dad was broken-hearted when she wen'. Tiny little bloke, my dad was. I was only three."

"Whoa, okay," Jason whistled. "Bad childhood. Been there."

"I guess we were too harsh on him," Alex whispered. "He seems harmless."

"Does he?" I asked, frowning. "He looks dangerous enough to me."

"Won't argue on that," Jason agreed. 

"Hagrid," I asked, "what do you know of Tartarus?"

Hagrid shook his head, indicating he was too scared to talk. 

"Oh, it's okay, Hagrid," Jason said, "he won't attack you, of all people. I will personally guarantee you that."

"How d'you know?" Hagrid asked, his eyes spilling tears out now. 

"Because he wouldn't dare attack a giant under the protection of two children of the sea god and the son of Zeus," I said. "Especially when one of the children of the sea god happens to be a goddess."

"And we won't give you your protection unless you speak," Alex said, nodding. 

"Come on, Hagrid," Jason said soothingly. "We won't hurt you."

Hagrid sniffed one more time, taking out a large polka dotted hanky and blowing his nose so loudly that some of the thestrals flapped their wings in disgust/fright.

"Well," Hagrid sniffed again, "me mum never said me much about it, bu' I know that the you-know-what is dangerous."

"And?" Alex said expectantly, smiling. 

"An' that one day, he'll come to end us all," Hagrid said. He broke into tears. I took a step back, because his tears may very well have been heavy coins made out of silver. Hagrid sniffed again. "She told- she told-"

"She told," Jason supplied, "that-"

"Tha' all 'our kind' will be safe, 'cause we're his children," Hagrid said. "But I didn't want anyone else to die either."

"So... you did something," I said, eyeing the giant.

Hagrid shook his head, "I didn't."

"Then?"

"Don't hide the truth, Hagrid," Alex said soothingly. "It's good to get it out sometimes, you know?"

Hagrid sniffed again. "I told me dad 'bout it. She an' he got into a fight."

"And she left," Jason deduced. 

Hagrid broke down once more, his face buried in the polka dot kerchief. "Tiny lil' bloke he was, me dad," he repeated. "By the time I was six I could lift him up an' put him on top o' the dresser if he annoyed me. Used ter make him laugh."

Alex smiled a little. "See, not bad, is he?"

"He's not bad," I agreed, looking at the giant in a sort of amused pity, if I say so myself. "I kind of like him too."

'Of course!' a thestral said. 'Haggy is good.'

"You've got to be kidding me," Alex muttered, smirking. "Haggy?"

She and I looked at each other for a minute, grinning at each other. And we broke into fits of laughter as Hagrid and Jason stared at us with confusion. 

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