Care of Magical Creatures Substitute
Alright, this is my first fanfic, so please go easy on me. :$
Copyright: I do not claim to own the Harry Potter series, or any of it's characters, that right belongs to J.K. Rowling.
P.S. Please review and give any advice you can, it is very much appreciated.
Also, do not even bother to give a hate comment if it isn't spelt correctly.
Otherwise I won't take it seriously.
Harry James Potter sat down at the breakfast table in the Great Hall, beside his two best friends Hermione Jean Granger, and Ronald Bilius Weasley. He had expected today to be just like any other. He knew which classes he had, and what times he would have double sessions with the other houses. He also knew that since it was Monday, it was going to be a decent day apart from Divination, which he had after COMC (Care of Magical Creatures). It seemed to be just an ordinary day. Boy, was he in for a surprise.
Harry finished his strawberries and waffles, scooping up the last bit of fruit from his plate, when the owls arrived. He watched as they swarmed into the room from the ceiling, floating down to their companions. He kept a sharp eye out for the blur of white that would be Hedwig, but he never saw it. To be honest he hadn't really expected to see her, nobody apart from Sirius sent him mail, and he hadn't received any from his Godfather as of late. In fact, he was beginning to worry if Sirius had been caught, however Hermione continued to assure him that they would have heard news already if he had been arrested, or worse... killed. He must have had a worried expression on because he soon caught Herminonelooking at him with, sad, sympathy filled eyes. He suspected that she must have been bothered by the lack of letters as well, although she would never let on. Ron of course, didn't notice the shared look between him and Hermione, he was far too busy shoving bacon and eggs into his mouth. Hermione glanced at Ron and rolled her eyes, "Honestly! Haven't you eaten enough for one day?" She asked, exasperated. "What? I'm a growing boy, leave me alone," He managed to mumble out through his mouth-full of eggs. Harry just laughed as Hermione and Ron got into one of their daily debates. It always made him smile having a bit of normality in his crazy upside-down life. Its not like he went looking for trouble, trouble always seemed to find him.
The mail took only a few more minutes before the bell rang for Breakfast to end. However, before they could all leave and begin the classes that lay ahead of them, Professor Dumbledore stood up at staff's bench, and walked up to the podium. "Before we all run and try to escape the torturous classes that await us, I have an announcement. Professor Hagrid is unable to attend to his teaching duties today, and so I have called upon an ex-student to teach Care of Magical Creatures in his stead," Oh God no. God no. Why was Hagrid unable to teach? Was he sick? Now that Harry came to think of it, he couldn't see Hagrid along the Staff table. What was wrong with Hagrid? The trio looked at each other with anxious eyes. Dumbledore gestured behind him at a women Harry didn't recognize. She wore a traditional black robe, that cut down the middle, so you could see what she wore underneath; which was nothing more than a white blouse and a pair of old-looking, ripped jeans. She was at an average height, with golden brown hair, that hung in ringlets down her chest. She looked to be in her twenties, which was rather young to be teaching, or at least it was in Harry's opinion. She gave a curt nod toward the students, and out of the corner of his eye he saw the twins swoon. Hermione seemed to have noticed this as well and she tsk'd while scoffing at their reaction. They responded by pretending to blow kisses at the woman. Harry noticed that some of the other students had similar expressions and reactions. He himself couldn't deny that she was pretty, but she appeared to him to be rather... snape-like. Not in her physical imagegege, but the way she looked at some of the Slytherins was just like how Snape looked at the Gryfindor students. She obviously had not been Slytherin when she had gone to Hogwarts.
The students filed out of the Great Hall and into the corridor, on their way to their classes, many of them furiously discussing the substitute teacher. "Well what do you think of that?" Ron asked with curiosity. "That new teacher was pretty.. uhm.. well, pretty." He snickered out. Hermione however, had a different opinion on Dumbledore's announcement. "Is that really all you can remember from that speech? What has happened to Hagrid? Did he say anything to either of you two?" She asked as she pushed her way past two giggling Slytherin girls. "Not to either of us," Ron replied after giving Harry a questioning glance and getting an answer right away from the look on his face. Hermione had to nearly push a couple tiny Hufflepuff first years to the ground to make it back up to Ron and himself. "I wonder... Perhaps Professor Dumbledore has sent him to do business... Maybe Hogwarts business. I mean, the Headmaster does trust him quite a lot, not that he'd have a reason not to..." Her expression fixed into a crinkle as she thought aloud. "Yeah,maybe thats it.." Harry muttered darkly, deeply conversed in confusion. Harry was very worried about Hagrid's absent presence, but he supposed there was no reason to worry. Hermione was most probably right, and Hagrid was just off fetching something for Dumbledore. 'Hagrid isn't stupid,' Harry reminded himself as the three of them moved through the sardine-packed hallway. 'He knows how to look after himself,' Harry scolded himself and pushed his doubts to the back of his mind.