Harry glanced at Hermione, whose expression had turned rather grim.
He had once heard Hermione say that a distant uncle of hers had died in a mountaineering accident. But for all sorts of messy official reasons, his body had never been recovered. Thinking about it now, he wondered whether the man had run into Giants.
Ron was not nearly so observant. He was already completely absorbed in the subject of Giants. "Hagrid, tell us, tell us about you and the Giants," he said eagerly. "Tell us about being attacked by Giants. Harry can tell you a bit about being attacked by Dark Wizards and Dementors, too."
"What?" Hagrid, who was bathing Fang, jumped in fright. He seemed to use a little too much force with his hands, making Fang squirm and splash water everywhere. Hagrid paid no attention to any of that-of course, he never did.
He spun around and looked at Harry. "Harry, are you all right? Attacked by Dementors? How did that happen?"
"You didn't know?" Qiu asked, a little surprised. "It happened months ago."
"Well, at the start of the summer holidays, Dumbledore sent me off to... er, take care of something. I haven't really known much about what happened after that." Hagrid shook his head repeatedly. "Used some special methods so I couldn't be tracked, but that meant owls and such couldn't find me either. Harry, were you really attacked by Dementors? Are you all right?"
"Of course I'm all right. Aren't I standing here in front of you, perfectly fine?" Harry said with a grin. "Come on, Hagrid. If a dragon or something attacked me, I might have a bit more trouble. They were only Dementors. You know how good I am at the Patronus Charm."
"Oh, right, you can cast a Corporeal Patronus." Hagrid