HP: The Duelist of Hogwarts - 432

Chapter 432: Giants

Sean had wanted to visit the giants for a long time.

He just had not expected his first real visit to start like this.

He moved through the mountain forest. All he had to do was keep going forward, and he would reach the giants’ settlement in Britain. To Muggles, this range was an undeveloped, dangerous wilderness. The Ministry of Magic had sealed it off and wrapped it in wards, so ordinary people would never think to enter. As long as the giants stayed within the boundary, they would not be discovered.

In recent years, though, the giants had grown increasingly unhappy about being penned in. They wanted more land, more food, and even promises that they would be allowed to prey on humans.

In Sean’s view, the giants were never going to be true allies of the Order of the Phoenix. Their demands lined up naturally with Voldemort’s. Rather than talking to such a brutal, violent race about “the future” and “peace,” it would be far better to crush them and force them to submit. That was, in his mind, the most sensible way to handle giants.

With his wand held loosely in one hand, Sean walked on. Trees, undergrowth, and all manner of plants bent away from his path, parting to form a clear trail. Ever since his Thorn Curse had reached LV5, his control over plant life had grown remarkably, and it had given him a new understanding of magic’s essence.

The end of magic might well be the mastery of authority.

Halfway along, he noticed a snake coiled on a tree ahead. His brow lifted slightly. He hissed a string of Parseltongue, drawing the snake’s attention at once. As he went on hissing, the snake slid down the trunk, flicked its tongue at him, then turned and began to glide away to the southwest.

Sean followed without hesitation.

The moment he had seen it, he had commanded the snake in Parseltongue to lead him to the nearest giant. His hunch had been correct. The snake clearly knew where one was.

After about half an hour, they reached a narrow valley. As soon as he stepped into it, Sean heard a great, rasping breath. He hissed once more to send the snake on its way, then slipped towards the sound. Before long, he saw a giant snoring away, sprawled across several fallen trees.

By eye, this one was just over six metres tall, about middle-sized for a giant. Hagrid’s brother, if Sean remembered correctly, was about five metres, considered a runt among his own kind, and often bullied. The sleeping giant in front of him was ordinary, neither unusually big nor small.

Sean padded silently up beside the giant and raised his wand.

“Legilimency.”

Giants had extremely high magic resistance, second only to dragons. But LV5 Legilimency was still potent enough to bite deep.

He turned his wand hand slowly, skimming past the chaotic, useless fragments. He latched onto the memories he wanted: this giant had once seen two Death Eaters visiting the giants’ chieftain. From their builds and their family features, Sean recognised them at once as Goyle’s and Crabbe’s fathers.

The giant also remembered Hagrid and Maxime. In those scenes, Hagrid and Maxime were locked up in a cell-like place, wands taken from them, left with nothing but their bodies. Impressive as those bodies were among wizards, they meant little among giants.

So the giants had already tilted toward Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Capturing Hagrid and Maxime had only been a matter of needing an excuse. Hagrid’s brother had provided it.

Troublesome.

Sean broke the Legilimency link, but did not lower his wand. Instead, he cast another spell.

“Imperio.”

The curse, more invasive than Legilimency, slammed into the giant. Its body shuddered violently. It jerked awake, and for a split second its own will tried to break free. It drew breath to roar, muscles bunching to struggle, but its eyes went glassy before it could move. The tension slid from its limbs. Calmly, dully, it stood and looked down at Sean.

Lowering his wand, Sean finally understood why wizards did not typically use the Imperius Curse or similar spells to control giants and make them serve. They drove them out instead.

Even at LV4, the Imperius Curse only just managed to hold a simple-minded, ordinary giant. Their magical resistance was simply beyond what most witches and wizards could handle.

With that in mind, Sean gave his first command.

The giant immediately scooped him up in a massive hand and set him on its shoulder. Then it turned and clambered up the nearby cliff face as easily as a man might climb a low wall, and began trudging toward the giants’ settlement.

As they drew closer, Sean’s Wolf’s Keenness warned him of another giant nearby. He cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself at once.

Soon, he saw the second giant ahead, carrying a dead bear in one hand. The newcomer glowered at the one under Sean’s control and rumbled something in the giant tongue. “Lazy oaf. Off skiving again, were you?”

“Down by the cliff. Cool there…” the controlled giant replied.

“If you keep this up, I’ll tell the chief and he’ll make you a slave like Grawp!”

“Yeah, yeah…”

The giant Sean was riding was normally this slothful, so the other saw nothing odd and turned away with a snort.

Grawp.

Hagrid’s brother.

Sean recalled that Hagrid’s mother had abandoned him for being too small, only to have a “pure-blood” giant child with another mate who was still the shortest of the lot.

As they went deeper, Sean saw more and more giants. He had his puppet stop at the edge of the settlement and dismounted, moving forward alone under the Disillusionment Charm.

The giants’ camp was pitched before a colossal cleft in the mountains. The fissure itself was part of their territory. Sean slipped past their notice and vanished into the crack, making his way towards its deepest point. From within, he could hear familiar booming shouts.

He followed the sound and found Hagrid and Maxime.

They were imprisoned in a cage fashioned from the bones of some great magical beast, much like a dragon’s skeleton. Maxime sat inside, resting, while Hagrid roared and hammered both fists against the barred door.