elara set off to lessons, weighed down with books, parchment, and quills as usual, but also with the lurking worry of the upcoming second task. harry refused to try cedric's advice on account that it was too cryptic and too weird.

snow was still thick upon the grounds, and the greenhouse windows were covered in condensation so thick that they couldn't see out of them in herbology. nobody was looking forward to care of magical creatures much in this weather, though as ron said, the skrewts would probably warm them up nicely, either by chasing them, or blasting off so forcefully that hagrid's cabin would catch fire.

when they arrived at hagrid's cabin, however, they found an elderly witch with closely cropped gray hair and a very prominent chin standing before his front door.

"hurry up, now, the bell rang five minutes ago," she barked at them as they struggled toward her through the snow.

"who're you?" said ron, staring at her. "where's hagrid?"

"nice one, ron," elara muttered.

"my name is professor grubbly-plank," she said briskly. "i am your temporary care of magical creatures teacher."

"where's hagrid?" harry repeated loudly.

"he is indisposed," said professor grubbly-plank shortly.

soft and unpleasant laughter reached elara's ears. she turned; draco malfoy and the rest of the slytherins were joining the class. all of them looked gleeful, and none of them looked surprised to see professor grubbly-plank.

"this way, please," said professor grubbly-plank, and she strode off around the paddock where the beauxbatons horses were shivering. harry, ron, elara, and hermione followed her, looking back over their shoulders at hagrid's cabin. all the curtains were closed. was Hagrid in there, alone and ill?

"what's wrong with hagrid?" harry said, hurrying to catch up with professor grubbly-plank.

"never you mind," she said as though she thought he was being nosy.

"i do mind, though," said harry hotly. "what's up with him?"

professor grubbly-plank acted as though she couldn't hear him. she led them past the paddock where the huge beauxbatons horses were standing, huddled against the cold, and toward a tree on the edge of the forest, where a large and beautiful unicorn was tethered.

many of the girls "ooooohed!" at the sight of the unicorn, elara among them.

"oh it's so beautiful!" whispered lavender brown. "how did she get it? they're supposed to be really hard to catch!"

the unicorn was so brightly white it made the snow all around look gray. it was pawing the ground nervously with its golden hooves and throwing back its horned head.

"boys keep back!" barked professor grubbly-plank, throwing out an arm and catching harry hard in the chest. "they prefer the woman's touch, unicorns. girls to the front, and approach with care, come on, easy does it. . . ."

they inched forward carefully, and lavender was the first to put her arm out. the unicorn, however, started moving forward, and the crowd parted out of its way. the beautiful creature stopped in front of elara. much to her surprise, and to the surprise of everyone around her, the unicorn dipped its head down in a sort of bow.

entranced, elara reached out and began to stroke its head. everyone soon joined in. they were fawning over the beautiful creature as it relaxed under elara's touch. it was very peculiar, but elara didn't question it. she just wanted to enjoy the fact that she was petting a unicorn, and the unicorn seemed to like her most out of the bunch.

"that was a really good lesson," said hermione as she, harry, ron, and elara entered the great hall after the lesson. "i didn't know half the things professor grubbly-plank told us about uni —"

"look at this!" harry snarled, and he shoved a daily prophet article under hermione's and elara's noses.

their mouths fell open as she read.

"that cow!" elara exclaimed, flabbergasted.

"how did that horrible skeeter woman find out? you don't think hagrid told her?"

"no," said harry, leading the way over to the gryffindor table and throwing himself into a chair, furious. "he never even told us, did he? i reckon she was so mad he wouldn't give her loads of horrible stuff about me, she went ferreting around to get him back."

"maybe she heard him telling madame maxime at the ball," said hermione quietly.

"i'd have seen her in the garden!" said ron. "anyway, she's not supposed to come into school anymore, hagrid said dumbledore banned her. . . ."

"thank god, too. i hated her handbag," elara shuddered.

"maybe she's got an invisibility cloak," said harry, ladling chicken casserole onto his plate and splashing it everywhere in his anger. "sort of thing she'd do, isn't it, hide in bushes listening to people."

"like ron did, you mean," said elara.

"i wasn't trying to hear him!" said ron indignantly. "i didn't have any choice! the stupid prat, talking about his giantess mother where anyone could have heard him!"

"we've got to go and see him," said harry. "this evening, after divination. tell him we want him back . . . you do want him back?" he shot at hermione and elara.

"i just liked the unicorn," elara admitted, mouth full of dinner rolls.

"i — well, i'm not going to pretend it didn't make a nice change, having a proper care of magical creatures lesson for once — but i do want hagrid back, of course i do!" hermione added hastily, quailing under harry's furious stare.

so that evening after dinner, the four of them left the castle once more and went down through the frozen grounds to hagrid's cabin. they knocked, and fang's booming barks answered.

"hagrid, it's us!" harry shouted, pounding on the door. "open up!"

hagrid didn't answer. they could hear fang scratching at the door, whining, but it didn't open. they hammered on it for ten more minutes; ron even went and banged on one of the windows, but there was no response.

"what's he avoiding us for?" hermione said when they had finally given up and were walking back to the school. "he surely doesn't think we'd care about him being half-giant?"

"i mean," began elara, eyes downcast. "i get quite insecure about who my parents are. he's worried we'll hate him for who his mum is, and sometimes i feel that way too."

"i didn't think about it like that," said hermione. "but we could never hate you, you know."

elara hummed in response, refusing to look up from the ground. it seemed that hagrid did, in fact, care. they didn't see a sign of him all week. he didn't appear at the staff table at mealtimes, they didn't see him going about his gamekeeper duties on the grounds, and professor grubbly-plank continued to take the care of magical creatures classes. draco was gloating at every possible opportunity.

"missing your half-breed pal?" he kept whispering to harry whenever there was a teacher around, so that he was safe from retaliation. "missing the elephant-man?"

"want me to send a letter to corrine? i'd be happy to, you little ferret," hissed elara before dragging harry away.

there was a hogsmeade visit halfway through january. hermione was very surprised that harry was going to go.

"i just thought you'd want to take advantage of the common room being quiet," she said. "really get to work on that egg."

"oh i — i reckon i've got a pretty good idea what it's about now," harry said.

"have you really?" said hermione, looking impressed. "well done!"

elara cast a look at harry. he was no closer to solving the riddle that was the egg than he was when he first received it.

harry, ron, elara, and hermione left the castle together on saturday and set off through the cold, wet grounds toward the gates. as they passed the durmstrang ship moored in the lake, they saw viktor krum emerge onto the deck, dressed in nothing but swimming trunks. he was very skinny indeed, but apparently a lot tougher than he looked, because he climbed up onto the side of the ship, stretched out his arms, and dived, right into the lake.

"he's mad!" said harry, staring at krum's dark head as it bobbed out into the middle of the lake. "it must be freezing, it's january!"

"it's a lot colder where he comes from," said hermione. "i suppose it feels quite warm to him."

"yeah, but there's still the giant squid," said ron. he didn't sound anxious — if anything, he sounded hopeful. hermione noticed his tone of voice and frowned.

"he's really nice, you know," she said. "he's not at all like you'd think, coming from durmstrang. he likes it much better here, he told me."

ron said nothing. he hadn't mentioned viktor krum since the ball, but harry told elara he had found a miniature arm under his bed on boxing day, which had looked very much as though it had been snapped off a small model figure wearing bulgarian quidditch robes.

"green's not a good look for ron," whispered elara to harry, who cracked a smile.

elara kept her eyes skinned for a sign of hagrid all the way down the slushy high street, and suggested a visit to the three broomsticks once they had ascertained that hagrid was not in any of the shops.

the pub was as crowded as ever, but one quick look around at all the tables told elara that hagrid wasn't there. the four went up to the bar, ordered four butterbeers from madam rosmerta, and waited for them as they scanned the pub again.

"doesn't he ever go into the office?" hermione whispered suddenly. "look!"

she pointed into the mirror behind the bar, and elara saw ludo bagman reflected there, sitting in a shadowy corner with a bunch of goblins. bagman was talking very fast in a low voice to the goblins, all of whom had their arms crossed and were looking rather menacing.

it was indeed odd, elara thought, that bagman was here at the three broomsticks on a weekend when there was no triwizard event, and therefore no judging to be done. she watched bagman in the mirror. he was looking strained again, quite as strained as he had that night in the forest before the dark mark had appeared. but just then bagman glanced over at the bar, saw harry, and stood up.

"in a moment, in a moment!" elara heard him say brusquely to the goblins, and bagman hurried through the pub toward harry, his boyish grin back in place.

"harry!" he said. "how are you? been hoping to run into you! everything going all right?"

"fine, thanks," said harry.

"wonder if i could have a quick, private word, harry?" said bagman eagerly. "you couldn't give us a moment, you three, could you?"

"er — okay," said ron, and he, elara, and hermione went off to find a table.

they weaved in and out of groups before they were finally able to settle at a nearly-clean table. ron and elara were busy badmouthing rita skeeter, and hermione, surprisingly, didn't care, as she too was affronted. however, she didn't approve of the colorful language that had begun to fly out of their mouths. so whenever ron or elara wanted to cuss, they'd just lowered their voices a tad.

eventually, hermione gave up, so ron and elara decided to play 'who can get the other to spit out water by making them laugh'.

harry slid in the empty chair next to elara, and unfortunately got his glasses sprayed on by the water coming out of ron's mouth after she did an impression of snape.

"thanks, ron," groaned harry as he took off his glasses to wipe them on his shirt.

"oh, you had to hear it, mate," ron wiped a tear from under his eye.

"what did he want?" hermione said, after harry had finished cleaning his glasses.

"he offered to help me with the golden egg," said harry.

"ooh, he shouldn't've done that," said elara. "he's a judge."

"anyway, you've already worked it out — haven't you?" said hermione.

"er . . . nearly," said harry.

"well, i don't think dumbledore would like it if he knew bagman was trying to persuade you to cheat!" said hermione, still looking deeply disapproving. "i hope he's trying to help cedric as much!"

"he's not, i asked," said harry.

"who cares if diggory's getting help?" said ron.

"oh, come on, cedric's nice," said elara, rolling her eyes.

"those goblins didn't look very friendly," said hermione, sipping her butterbeer. "what were they doing here?"

"looking for crouch, according to bagman," said harry. "he's still ill. hasn't been into work."

"maybe percy's poisoning him," said ron. "probably thinks if crouch snuffs it he'll be made head of the department of international magical cooperation.

elara snorted.

hermione gave ron a don't-joke-about-things-like-that look, and said, "funny, goblins looking for mr. crouch. . . . they'd normally deal with the department for the regulation and control of magical creatures."

"crouch can speak loads of different languages, though," said harry. "maybe they need an interpreter."

"worrying about poor 'ickle goblins, now, are you?" ron asked hermione. "thinking of starting up s.p.u.g. or something? society for the protection of ugly goblins?"

"ha, ha, ha," said hermione sarcastically. "goblins don't need protection. haven't you been listening to what professor binns has been telling us about goblin rebellions?"

"no," said harry, ron, and elara together.

"well, they're quite capable of dealing with wizards," said hermione, taking another sip of butterbeer. "they're very clever. they're not like house-elves, who never stick up for themselves."

"uh-oh," said ron, staring at the door.

"oh merlin, kill me," groaned elara as she noticed rita skeeter entering.

she was wearing banana-yellow robes today; her long nails were painted shocking pink, and she was accompanied by her paunchy photographer. she bought drinks, and she and the photographer made their way through the crowds to a table nearby, harry, ron, elara, and hermione glaring at her as she approached. she was talking fast and looking very satisfied about something.

". . . didn't seem very keen to talk to us, did he, bozo? now, why would that be, do you think? and what's he doing with a pack of goblins in tow anyway? showing them the sights . . . what nonsense . . . he was always a bad liar. reckon something's up? think we should do a bit of digging? 'disgraced ex-head of magical games and sports, ludo bagman . . .' snappy start to a sentence, bozo — we just need to find a story to fit it —"

"trying to ruin someone else's life?" said harry loudly.

a few people looked around. rita skeeter's eyes widened behind her jeweled spectacles as she saw who had spoken.

"harry!" she said, beaming. "how lovely! why don't you come and join — ?"

"i wouldn't come near you with a ten-foot broomstick," said harry furiously. "what did you do that to hagrid for, eh?"

rita skeeter raised her heavily penciled eyebrows.

"our readers have a right to the truth, harry. i am merely doing my —"

"who cares if he's half-giant?" harry shouted. "there's nothing wrong with him!"

the whole pub had gone very quiet. madam rosmerta was staring over from behind the bar, apparently oblivious to the fact that the flagon she was filling with mead was overflowing.

rita skeeter's smile flickered very slightly, but she hitched it back almost at once; she snapped open her crocodile-skin handbag, pulled out her quick-quotes quill, and said, "how about giving me an interview about the hagrid you know, harry? the man behind the muscles? your unlikely friendship and the reasons behind it. would you call him a father substitute?"

elara had had enough. she stood up very abruptly, her butterbeer clutched in her hand as though it were a grenade.

"you horrendous cow," said elara through gritted teeth, very much aware of the fact that her hair had begun to had a red twinge to it. "you know you don't care. you'll do anything for a story, even if you're only grasping at straws. you've been trashing -- "

"sit down, you silly little girl, and don't talk about things you don't understand," said rita skeeter coldly, her eyes hardening as they fell on hermione. "i know things about ludo bagman that would make your hair curl . . . not that it needs it —" she added, eyeing elara's wild hair.

"i don't care," snarled elara. she began digging around in her coat pocket. "you've been writing absolute bullshit -- " many in the bar gasped " -- about me for years. but, since i'm supposedly working with sirius black, i'll just tell him your name and number."

elara slammed down two galleons at the table rita was standing near. "and for you, rita. you could do with a new mirror. i'm a great philanthropist, you see. my troubled heart aches for those less fortunate than i. we're leaving," elara announced to harry, ron, and hermione, who were all staring at elara, openmouthed.

they left; many people were staring at them as they went. elara refused to glance back as she marched out the door, but perhaps very stupidly, she threw an incredibly rude gesture back to the foul woman behind her.

"she'll be after you next, lara," said ron in a low and worried voice as they walked quickly back up the street.

"oh, let her," said elara grimly. "give her something true to write about, for once. besides, she can't say anything when her eyebrows look like someone's lined up some cocaine on her face and painted it brown."

"you don't want to go upsetting rita skeeter," said ron nervously. "i'm serious, lara, she'll dig up something on you —"