Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter etc.
Sorry that it has taken a while to update, I've had a lot of work to do. I will try to update more often.
Chapter 2:
Having learned that Hagrid was the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Alison decided to wake up early and go and visit him before Divination. Hagrid was just leaving his hut as she arrived. She called out to him and waved.
"Hello there, Alison, I haven't seen you for a while!" he said, patting her on the shoulder causing her to stumble a bit.
"I know, sorry about that. I thought I'd come down and congratulate you on your new teaching position!"
"Aw well thank you," replied Hagrid with a smile, "I'm just off into the Forest to feed the host of today's lesson. You're welcome to tag along."
Alison grinned and nodded, following Hagrid to the Forest. She remembered being there in her first year with Harry and Malfoy and getting chased away by a creature that turned out to be Lord Voldemort/Professor Quirrell. Hopefully the Forest wasn't as creepy during the day. They stopped at a small clearing. Alison spotted something tied to a tree with its head resting beneath its wing. She smiled as she realised what it was.
"That's a hippogriff right?" she asked, receiving a nod from Hagrid, "I saw one in the Monster Book of Monsters! They're amazing!"
"I'm glad to hear that you've done some preparation for the class. His name is Buckbeak, would you like to feed him?"
"I can do that?" asked Alison in shock.
Hagrid nodded and explained the routine for greeting a hippogriff, though Alison already knew it. She bowed to Buckbeak who cocked his head to the side and then bowed back. Alison slowly made her way towards the magnificent beast. She had to contain her excitement as she touched the fluffy feathers of Buckbeak's head. Hagrid handed her what appeared to be a dead ferret. Alison took it and Buckbeak slowly began to eat it out of her hand.
"Wow," muttered Alison, "this is so cool!"
"Well, you can come to visit him whenever you like!" said Hagrid, "Oh, you better get a move on if you don't want to be late for your first lesson!"
Alison nodded, thanked Hagrid and hurried off towards the castle in search of the Divination classroom. When she finally arrived, everyone was already in their seats, though the professor wasn't there yet. She waved at Harry and Ron who were sitting at a small table near the front of the class.
"Ali!" shouted Blaise Zabini from across the room.
He pointed to the seat next to him. He was at the table by Malfoy and Pansy who were deep in conversation. Both were smiling and laughing a lot. As Alison sat down beside Blaise, Malfoy looked over and gave her a small, half-hidden smile. Alison smiled slightly then turned away. Blaise handed her a cup of tea; looking around, Alison noticed that everyone had tea and most people had finished theirs. She gulped down the cup, which was only slightly warm and then turned to the front of the class as the professor entered the room. She didn't seem to be walking – it was more like gliding. Her hair was frizzy and uncombed and her glasses made her eyes seem larger than they were.
The class went quiet as she began to speak.
"Welcome, my children," she said in a voice that could even send Hermione to sleep.
It was then that Alison realised that Hermione was nowhere to be seen. She looked around for a few seconds then turned back to the teacher as giggles erupted from the class.
"I am Professor Trelawney. Together we shall cast ourselves into the future!" she declared with dramatic hand movements, "This term, we shall be focusing on Tasseomancy, which is the art of reading tea leaves so please, take the cup of the person sitting opposite you."
Alison smiled at Blaise and took his cup as he took hers. The tea leaves at the bottom were supposed to make some sort of shape which would determine an aspect of their future. Professor Trelawney continued to speak as Alison examined the cup. Another voice brought Alison out of concentration as it appeared that Hermione was sitting between Ron and Harry. She looked over at Alison and waved. Alison just pointed at her in response, clearly confused at her sudden appearance.
The professor approached Harry, Ron and Hermione and addressed Ron.
"Your aura is pulsing dear, are you in the beyond? I think you are!" she said excitedly.
Ron looked slightly afraid and nodded.
"Look at the cup, tell me what you see!"
Ron fumbled through the pages of his book and examined the cup hurriedly and began his explanation.
"Well, Harry's got, sort of, a wonky cross: that's trials and suffereing. And that, there could be the sun and that's happiness. So you're going to suffer but you're going to happy about it," he concluded.
"That's crazy!" whispered Blaise.
Alison chuckled, "That's optimism."
They laughed a little but were interrupted by Trelawney's outburst.
"You have the Grim!" she said to Harry, dramatically.
A Gryffindor boy explained the meaning of the Grim – an omen of death. The class was quiet for a few minutes before getting back to trying to translate the symbols they found in the tea leaves. Alison looked back at Blaise's cup.
"So, what's mine?" he asked after a while.
"It just looks like a lump of mush to me," Alison replied, slightly disappointed, "how about mine?"
"Well, it kind of looks like a bell, which means you're going to receive some unexpected news," he said, reading from the book.
"That's a bit generic, I might as well read a muggle horoscope!" sighed Alison, placing Blaise's cup back on the table.
Blaise began to examine his own cup whilst Alison sat back and glanced around the room.
"No it's not! You're just making that up!"
Alison looked beside her at Malfoy and Pansy who were arguing. Malfoy was accusing Pansy of making up what she could see in the cup.
"But that's what it looks like, Draco!" she said in a whiny voice.
Malfoy snatched the cup from her and looked at the tea leaves himself.
"There's no way that this looks like a love-heart!" he snapped. He turned to Alison and forced the cup in her direction, "Could you look at it? I can't trust her!"
Alison was taken aback by the fact that Malfoy felt that he could trust her. She stared at him for a couple of seconds in shock but then forced herself to focus and took the cup from him. She tilted her head, deep in thought. She could sense Malfoy watching her and she had to admit that it was slightly distracting.
"Er, it's a house, I think. That means change, apparently," she said, handing him the cup back.
"What kind of change?" he asked, looking at the cup.
Alison shrugged and began to turn away when Malfoy touched her arm.
"Thank you," he said with a smile, "now I know who to partner with next time!"
Alison smiled a little then turned back to Blaise who was smirking at her.
"What?" she asked, blushing slightly.
Blaise shook his head and looked back at his cup.
Alison and Blaise headed outside toward the Care of Magical Creatures class. Alison was practically skipping, excited to see Buckbeak again. She hadn't told Blaise or anyone else what was in store for their first lesson. As they arrived, Hagrid called her over.
"How would you like to help out a bit during the lesson?" he asked her quietly.
"Really?" asked Alison excitedly.
Hagrid grinned and nodded, "I need you to keep Beaky calm – he's not used to crowds, you see. Could you go back to the clearing now and just stay with him?"
Alison nodded wildly and rushed off into the Forest to find Buckbeak. Beaky was sitting down when she found him. She bowed at him and after receiving a bow in return she sat next to him and began to stroke his soft feathers.
Alison could hear the voices of her classmates growing louder, so she stood up and encouraged Buckbeak to do the same. He seemed slightly agitated as the voices got even louder. Hagrid called for Alison to bring him in front of the group and then handed her a ferret. She held onto the rope that made a lead for him and pulled him softly towards the crowd. He began to shuffle on the spot so Alison stroked him again calming him down.
Everyone was staring at Buckbeak, obviously scared.
"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid said to the class, "Say hello to Buckbeak!"
Beaky stood still, staring at them all. Alison decided to throw the ferret up. Buckbeak immediately lost his shyness and leapt up to get the ferret, making the class gasp in amazement.
"What is that?" asked Ron in shock.
"He is a hippogriff!" said Alison, emphasising the fact that Beaky was a he and not an it.
"That's right," said Hagrid, "first thing you want to know about hippogriffs is that they're very proud creatures – very easily offended. You do not want to insult a hippogriff. It may just be the last thing you ever do!"
Hagrid turned to smile at Alison and Buckbeak before saying, "Now, who would like to say hello?"
Alison frowned slightly as the whole class shuffled backwards apart from Harry who was completely oblivious to what was going on. Hagrid turned back around and thanked Harry for volunteering. Alison brought Buckbeak forward slightly as Harry began to step forward. Hagrid gave him step-by-step instructions.
Harry bowed, just like Alison had done. At first, Beaky became agitated again. Hagrid told Harry to step back, but he stepped on a twig, causing Buckbeak to glare at him. Harry kept still whilst the hippogriff made up his mind. Alison stroked Beaky, hoping that it would help. It did, as he bowed back to Harry. The rest of the class applauded whilst Alison gave Harry a thumbs-up.
"You can go and pat him now!" said Hagrid to a very frightened Harry.
Harry edged forward slowly. Alison allowed Buckbeak to approach Harry but she kept hold of the rope just in case. Eventually, Harry stroked Buckbeak earning another round of applause from the class.
"He's amazing isn't he?" Alison whispered to Harry who nodded in response.
"I think he'll let you ride him now!" said Hagrid, "Both of you!"
Harry immediately started to panic, whereas Alison jumped up and down excitedly. Harry was lifted up onto Buckbeak first. Alison was able to climb up herself due to a sudden burst of adrenaline. She held onto Harry who was holding onto Beaky's neck, worried he was going to fall. Buckbeak began to charge across the clearing and took off. They began to fly around the school. Alison cheered, raising her arms as if she were on a rollercoaster. Soon after, as they were flying over the lake, Harry did the same and they were both cheering and laughing.
"This is so much better than flying on a broom, hey Harry?" shouted Alison over the rush of the wind.
"Definitely! This is amazing!" replied Harry.
They finally landed in the clearing again. Hagrid helped Alison off first, who thanked him and then began to stroke Buckbeak again in the same way that she would stroke her cat, Bugs. Harry was speaking to Hagrid whilst she played with Buckbeak. However, she spun around at the sound of someone approaching. She stepped aside as Malfoy strutted towards them.
"You're not dangerous at all are you?" he said, stopping in front of Buckbeak, "You great ugly brute!"
Buckbeak immediately reacted, squawking angrily. The class screamed as he stood on his hind legs, lashing out with his talons. Alison tried to push Malfoy out of the way but not quick enough. They were both thrown backwards onto the rough ground. Blood appeared on Alison's right arm. Malfoy cried in pain as his own wound was exposed.
"It's killed me!" he said in a pathetic voice.
Alison stood up frowning and examined her injury. It was only a scratch and she was sure that Malfoy's was the same. Hagrid picked Malfoy up and began to carry him towards the hospital wing. Alison stopped to stroke Beaky who nudged her arm apologetically. She smiled and hurried off after Hagrid and Malfoy.
Thanks for reading and please review.
