Chapter 2:
Normal Pov
A lantern came swinging towards Harry and by its light he saw the tall figure of Ginger. As they got closer, he saw two other shadows near her, which he recognized as Bella and Taylor. They were dancing obnoxiously and yelling towards the sky. "Oh whap ooh!" Bella shouted, slamming her hand to her chest. Her voice was deep, and Harry thought she was trying to make fun of an Indian Chief.
"Oopa doopa doo." Taylor yelled back. He laughed.
"First years!" Ginger yelled over her friends, bringing her hands together with a loud clap. The sound boomed over the whole station. The first years walked closer to them, shivering slightly in the cold.
"Where's Hagrid?" He said out loud, watching Bella jump on Ginger's back and start howling like a wolf.
"I don't know," Said Ginny, "But we'd better get out of the way, we're blocking the door." She said with a smile.
"Oh, yeah . . ."
Harry and Ginny became separated as they moved off along the platform and out through the station. There was a loud groan of pain from Bella as Ginger grabbed her and slammed her onto the floor, and Harry winced. But in the next second, she jumped up with a laugh, and started to jump on Taylor. Jostled by the crowd, Harry squinted through the darkness for a glimpse of Hagrid; he had to be here, Harry had been relying on it, seeing Hagrid again was one of the things he'd been looking forward to most. But there was no sign of him.
…
The Entrance Hall was ablaze with torches and echoing with footsteps as the students crossed the flagged stone floor for the double doors to the right, leading to the Great Hall and the start-of-term feast.
The four long house tables in the Great Hall were filling up under the starless black ceiling, which was just like the sky they could glimpse through the high windows. Candles floated in midair all along the tables, illuminating the silvery ghosts who were dotted about the Hall and the faces of the students talking eagerly, exchanging summer news, shouting greetings at friends from other houses, eyeing one another's new haircuts and robes. Again, Harry noticed people putting their heads together to whisper as he passed; he gritted his teeth and tried to act as though he neither noticed nor cared.
Luna drifted away from them at the Ravenclaw table. The moment they reached Gryffindor's, Ginny was hailed by some fellow fourth-years and left to sit with them; Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville found seats together about halfway down the table between Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor house ghost, and Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, the last two of whom gave Harry airy, overly-friendly greetings that made him quite sure they had stopped talking about him a split second before. Scowling, he turned away from them. Hermione tapped on Harry's shoulder with a mischevious smile.
"Hey, its Malfoy's sister." She said, looking at the staff table. Harry looked up. Juliunna Malfoy was indeed sitting there, right next to Professor Snape. They were talking animatedly, Juliunna running a hand through her hair as she gave a giggly blush at whatever Professor Snape was telling her. Harry frowned, but turned to look at the other teachers.
"Look's like she's got herself a teaching job." Hermione said with a smile.
"… Is it just me, or does Juliunna have a crush on Professor Snape?" Ron asked, watching Juliunna twirl a lock of hair with her finger, tilting her head to the side. Harry ignored Ron momentarily.
He had more important things to worry about, however: He was looking over the students' heads to the staff table that ran along the top wall of the Hall.
"He's not there."
Ron and Hermione scanned the staff table too, though there was no real need; Hagrid's size made him instantly obvious in any lineup.
"He can't have left," said Ron, sounding slightly anxious.
"Of course he hasn't," Said Harry firmly.
"You don't think he's . . . hurt, or anything, do you?" said Hermione uneasily.
"No," said Harry at once.
"But where is he, then?"
There was a pause, then Harry said very quietly, so that Neville, Parvati and Lavender could not hear, "Maybe he's not back yet. You know - from his mission - the thing he was doing over the summer for Dumbledore."
"Yeah . . . yeah, that'll be it," said Ron, sounding reassured, but Hermione bit her lip, looking up and down the staff table as though hoping for some conclusive explanation of Hagrid's absence.
"Who's that?" She said sharply, pointing towards the middle of the staff table.
Harry's eyes followed hers. They lit first upon Professor Dumbledore, sitting in his high-backed golden chair at the centre of the long staff table, wearing deep-purple robes scattered with silvery stars and a matching hat. She turned her face slightly to take a sip from her goblet and he saw, with a shock of recognition, a pallid, toad like face and a pair of prominent, pouchy eyes.
"It's that Umbridge woman!"
"Who?' said Hermione.
"She was at my hearing, she works for Fudge!"
"Nice cardigan," said Ron, smirking.
"She works for Fudge!" Hermione repeated, frowning. "What on earth's she doing here, then?"
"Dunno . . ."
Hermione scanned the staff table, her eyes narrowed.
"No," she muttered, "No, surely not . . ."
Harry did not understand what she was talking about but did not ask; his attention had been caught by Bella, who had just appeared behind the staff table; she worked her way along to the very end and took the seat that ought to have been Hagrid's. That meant the first-years must have crossed the lake and reached the castle, and sure enough, a few seconds later, the doors from the Entrance Hall opened. A long line of scared-looking first-years entered, led by Professor McGonagall, Ginger, and Taylor. Professor McGonagall were carrying a stool on which sat an ancient wizards hat, heavily patched and darned with a wide rip near the frayed brim.
The buzz of talk in the Great Hall faded away. The first-years lined up in front of the staff table facing the rest of the students, and Professor McGonagall placed the stool carefully in front of them, then stood back. Hagrid's seat was very large, about a couple of feet wide. He watched Ginger and Taylor squeeze into the chair with Bella, all three of them smirking and waving at Juliunna, who only had eyes for Professor Snape.
The first-years' faces glowed palely in the candlelight.
Five minutes Later
The great old school Hat became motionless once more; applause broke out, though it was punctured, for the first time in Harry's memory, with muttering and whispers. All across the Great Hall students were exchanging remarks with their neighbors, and Harry, clapping along with everyone else, knew exactly what they were talking about.
"Branched out a bit this year, hasn't it?" said Ron, his eyebrows raised.
"Too right it has," said Harry.
The Sorting Hat usually confined itself to describing the different qualities looked for by each of the four Hogwarts houses and its own role in Sorting them. Harry could not remember it ever trying to give the school advice before.
"I wonder if it's ever given warnings before?" said Hermione, sounding slightly anxious. Nearly Headless Nick told her yes.
Slowly, the long line of first-years thinned. In the pauses between the names and the Sorting Hat's decisions, Harry could hear Ron's stomach rumbling loudly. Finally, 'Zeller, Rose' was Sorted into Hufflepuff, and Professor McGonagall picked up the Hat and stool and marched them away as Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet.
Whatever his recent bitter feelings had been towards his Headmaster, Harry was somehow soothed to see Dumbledore standing before them all. Between the absence of Hagrid and the presence of those dragonish horses, he had felt that his return to Hogwarts, so long anticipated, was full of unexpected surprises, like jarring notes in a familiar song. But this, at least, was how it was supposed to be: their Headmaster rising to greet them all before the start-of-term feast.
"To our newcomers," said Dumbledore in a ringing voice, his arms stretched wide and a beaming smile on his lips, "Welcome! To our old hands - welcome back! There is a time for speech-making, but this is not it. Tuck in!"
There was an appreciative laugh and an outbreak of applause as Dumbledore sat down neatly and threw his long beard over his shoulder so as to keep it out of the way of his plate - for food had appeared out of nowhere, so that the five long tables were groaning under joints and pies and dishes of vegetables, bread and sauces and flagons of pumpkin juice.
…
When all the students had finished eating and the noise level in the Hall was starting to creep upwards again, Dumbledore got to his feet once more. Talking ceased immediately as all turned to face the Headmaster. Harry was feeling pleasantly drowsy now. His four-poster bed was waiting somewhere above, wonderfully warm and soft . . .
"Well, now that we are all digesting another magnificent feast, I beg a few moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term notices," said Dumbledore. "First-years ought to know that the Forest in the grounds is out-of-bounds to students - and a few of our older students ought to know by now, too." (Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged smirks.)
"Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me, for what he tells me is the four-hundred-and-sixty-second time, to remind you all that magic is not permitted in corridors between classes, nor are a number of other things, all of which can be checked on the extensive list now fastened to Mr. Filch's office door.
"We have had five changes in staffing this year. We are very pleased to welcome, Professor Black and Professor Lupin, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons." He started, and a handsome amount of clapping emitted as Bella stood up and roared. Ginger waved lazily and smiled grimly.
"Yes, yes, and may we also invite Professor Malfoy, who will be taking up a new post of Creative Magic. Professor Malfoy has invented many spells and potion remedies, which she will pass her own knowledge to you. Older students will learn how to make their own spells-!"
Ron bit back his laugh at the look on Hermione's face. It was filled with awe as she and the students clapped heavily.
"Oh I bet this class is going to be exciting!" She squealed. Dumbledore raised his hand again, and the talking ceased into a low murmur.
"And may we say we are excited to announce the arrive of Professor Pettigrew, who is Professor Malfoy's assistant." Dumbledore said, and Taylor laughed. Judging by the look on Taylor's face, to her, she had the best job in the world. There were heavy applause as Taylor waved and smiled.
"I bet she likes it because she doesn't have to do anything." Harry whispered to Hermione, who chuckled heartily.
"We are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
There was a round of polite but fairly unenthusiastic applause, during which Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged slightly panicked looks; Dumbledore had not said for how long Bella would be teaching.
Dumbledore continued, "Tryouts for the house Quidditch teams will take place on the-!"
He broke off, looking enquiringly at Professor Umbridge. As she was not much taller standing than sitting, there was a moment when nobody understood why Dumbledore had stopped talking, but then Professor Umbridge cleared her throat, "Hem, hem," And it became clear that she had got to her feet and was intending to make a speech.
Dumbledore only looked taken aback for a moment, then he sat down smartly and looked alertly at Professor Umbridge as though he desired nothing better than to listen to her talk. Other members of staff were not as adept at hiding their surprise. Professor Sprout's eyebrows had disappeared into her flyaway hair and Professor McGonagall's mouth was as thin as Harry had ever seen it. No new teacher had ever interrupted Dumbledore before. Many of the students were smirking; this woman obviously did not know how things were done at Hogwarts.
"Thank you, Headmaster," Professor Umbridge simpered, "For those kind words of welcome."
Her voice was high-pitched, breathy and little-girlish and, again, Harry felt a powerful rush of dislike that he could not explain to himself; all he knew was that he loathed everything about her, from her stupid voice to her fluffy pink cardigan. She gave another little throat-clearing cough ('hem, hem') and continued.
"Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say!" She smiled, revealing very pointed teeth. "And to see such happy little faces looking up at me!"
Her voice was high-pitched, breathy and little-girlish and, again, Harry felt a powerful rush of dislike that he could not explain to himself; all he knew was that he loathed everything about her, from her stupid voice to her fluffy pink cardigan. She gave another little throat-clearing cough ('hem, hem') and continued.
Harry glanced around. None of the faces he could see looked happy. On the contrary, they all looked rather taken-aback at being addressed as though they were five years old.
'I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all and I'm sure we'll be very good friends!'
Students exchanged looks at this; some of them were barely concealing grins.
'I'll be her friend as long as I don't have to borrow that cardigan,' Parvati whispered to Lavender, and both of them lapsed into silent giggles. Up at the table, though it was impossible to hear them from their seat, he thought that Professor Snape and Juliunna laughed inaudibly.
Professor Umbridge cleared her throat again ('hem, hem'), but when she continued, some of the breathiness had vanished from her voice. She sounded much more businesslike and now her words had a dull learned-by-heart sound to them.
(Five minutes Later)
She sat down. Dumbledore clapped. The staff followed his lead, though Harry noticed that several of them brought their hands together only once or twice before stopping. A few students joined in, but most had been taken unawares by the end of the speech, not having listened to more than a few words of it, and before they could start applauding properly, Dumbledore had stood up again.
"Thank you very much, Professor Umbridge, that was most illuminating," he said, bowing to her. "Now, as I was saying, Quidditch tryouts will be held . . ."
"Yes, it certainly was illuminating," said Hermione in a low voice.
"You're not telling me you enjoyed it?" Ron said quietly, turning a glazed face towards Hermione. "That was about the dullest speech I've ever heard, and I grew up with Percy."
"I said illuminating, not enjoyable," said Hermione. "It explained a lot."
"Did it?" said Harry in surprise. "Sounded like a load of waffle to me."
There was some important stuff hidden in the waffle,' said Hermione grimly.
"Was there?" said Ron blankly.
"How about: "progress for progress's sake must be discouraged"? How about: "pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited?"
"Well, what does that mean?" said Ron impatiently.
"I'll tell you what it means," said Hermione through gritted teeth. "It means the Ministry's interfering at Hogwarts."
…
They followed the Ravenclaws into the Great Hall the next morning for breakfast, all looking instinctively at the staff table as they entered. Bella Black was chatting to Professor Sinistra, the Astronomy teacher, and Hagrid was once again conspicuous only by his absence. Ginger, Taylor, and Juliunna were huddled together on Bella's other side, whispering about something. The enchanted ceiling above them echoed Harry's mood; it was a miserable rain-cloud grey.
"Dumbledore didn't even mention how long Bella and Ginger were staying," he said, as they made their way across to the Gryffindor table.
"Maybe . . .'" Said Hermione thoughtfully.
"What?" said both Harry and Ron together.
"Well . . . maybe he didn't want to draw attention to Hagrid not being here."
"What d'you mean, draw attention to it?" said Ron, half-laughing. "How could we not notice?"
Before Hermione could answer, a tall black girl with long braided hair had marched up to Harry.
"Hi, Angelina."
"Hi," She said briskly, "Good summer?" And without waiting for an answer, "Listen, I've been made Gryffindor Quidditch Captain."
"Nice one," said Harry, grinning at her; he suspected Angelina's pep talks might not be as long-winded as Oliver Wood's had been, which could only be an improvement.
"Yeah, well, we need a new Keeper now Oliver's left. Tryouts are on Friday at five o'clock and I want the whole team there, all right? Then we can see how the new person'll fit in."
"OK," said Harry.
Angelina smiled at him and departed.
"I'd forgotten Wood had left," said Hermione vaguely as she sat down beside Ron and pulled a plate of toast towards her. "I suppose that will make quite a difference to the team?"
"I s'pose," said Harry, taking the bench opposite. "He was a good Keeper . . ."
"Still, it won't hurt to have some new blood, will it?" said Ron.
With a whoosh and a clatter, hundreds of owls came soaring in through the upper windows. They descended all over the Hall, bringing letters and packages to their owners and showering the breakfasters with droplets of water; it was clearly raining hard outside. Hedwig was nowhere to be seen, but Harry was hardly surprised; his only correspondent was Sirius, and he doubted Sirius would have anything new to tell him after only twenty-four hours apart. Hermione, however, had to move her orange juice aside quickly to make way for a large damp barn owl bearing a sodden Daily Prophet in its beak.
"What are you still getting that for?" Said Harry irritably, thinking of Seamus as Hermione placed a Knut in the leather pouch on the owl's leg and it took off again. He and Harry had had a row the previous night about him telling the truth about Voldemort. "I'm not bothering . . . load of rubbish."
"It's best to know what the enemy is saying," said Hermione darkly, and she unfurled the newspaper and disappeared behind it, not emerging until Harry and Ron had finished eating.
"Nothing," she said simply, rolling up the newspaper and laying it down by her plate. "Nothing about you or Dumbledore or anything."
Professor McGonagall was now moving along the table handing out timetables.
"Look at today!" groaned Ron. "History of Magic, double Potions, Divination and double Defense Against the Dark Arts . . . Binns, Snape, Trelawney and that Umbridge woman all in one day! I wish Fred and George's hurry up and get those Skiving Snack boxes sorted . . ."
Harry decided it was time to steer the conversation out of these dangerous waters. He was after all, the ones who had given Fred and George the money to make those things. To his horror, Ron started to mention that he was curious where they got the money to buy him his new dress robes. Thankfully, his distraction arrived in the form of Bella, who nodded to them in greeting as she passed. "Bella." He said quickly. "How long-!"
But she continued on in a hurry, a quick run as Ginger chased after her. Harry then noticed that Bella was holding a necklace in her fist as she ran, which must have been Gingers.
Harry and Ron laughed to each other.
The following day dawned just as leaden and rainy as the previous one. Hagrid was still absent from the staff table at breakfast.
"But on the plus side, no Snape today," said Ron bracingly.
Hermione yawned widely and poured herself some coffee. She looked mildly pleased about something, and when Ron asked her what she had to be so happy about, she simply said, "The hats have gone. Seems the house-elves do want freedom after all." She said excitedly. The previous night she had made hats for the elves, and they disappeared in the morning.
"I wouldn't bet on it," Ron told her cuttingly. "They might not count as clothes. They didn't look anything like hats to me, more like woolly bladders."
Hermione did not speak to him all morning.
Double Charms was succeeded by double Transfiguration. Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall both spent the first fifteen minutes of their lessons lecturing the class on the importance of OWLs.
"What you must remember," said little Professor Flitwick squeakily, perched as ever on a pile of books so that he could see over the top of his desk, "Is that these examinations may influence your futures for many years to come! If you have not already given serious thought to your careers, now is the time to do so. And in the meantime, I'm afraid, we shall be working harder than ever to ensure that you all do yourselves justice!"
They then spent over an hour revising Summoning Charms, which according to Professor Flitwick were bound to come up in their OWL, and he rounded off the lesson by setting them their largest ever amount of Charms homework.
It was the same, if not worse, in Transfiguration.
"You cannot pass an OWL," said Professor McGonagall grimly, "Without serious application, practice and study. I see no reason why everybody in this class should not achieve an OWL in Transfiguration as long as they put in the work." Neville made a sad little disbelieving noise. "Yes, you too, Longbottom," said Professor McGonagall. "There's nothing wrong with your work except lack of confidence. So . . . today we are starting Vanishing Spells. These are easier than Conjuring Spells, which you would not usually attempt until NEWT level, but they are still among the most difficult magic you will be tested on in your OWL."
She was quite right; Harry found the Vanishing Spells horribly difficult. By the end of a double period, neither he nor Ron had managed to vanish the snails on which they were practicing, though Ron said hopefully he thought his looked a bit paler. Hermione, on the other hand, successfully vanished her snail on the third attempt, earning her a ten-point bonus for Gryffindor from Professor McGonagall. She was the only person not given homework; everybody else was told to practice the spell overnight, ready for a fresh attempt on their snails the following afternoon.
The next class, Double Creative Magic with Professor Malfoy, was a relief. She did not lecture them on owls, but helped them with their spell work. She helped Harry with the correct way to hold his wand during a Vanishing Spell, and to his surprise, it came out perfectly. But his favorite part of the lessen was when Draco tried to get out of his homework on blossoming spells with a compliment, and she told him off. And then when he got fresh with her, she sent him out of the class to Detention. But his happiness was starting to run out when he left.
Now panicking slightly about the amount of homework they had to do, Harry and Ron spent their lunch hour in the library looking up the uses of moonstones in potion-making. Still angry about Ron's slur last night about the woolly hats she had made for the elves, Hermione did not join them. By the time they reached Care of Magical Creatures in the afternoon, Harry's head was aching again.
The day had become cool and breezy, and as they walked down the sloping lawn towards Hagrid's cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, they felt the occasional drop of rain on their faces. All four girls, even Professor Malfoy, stood waiting for the class some ten yards from Hagrid's front door, a long trestle table in front of her laden with twigs. As Harry and Ron reached them, a loud shout of laughter sounded behind them; turning, they saw Draco Malfoy striding towards them, surrounded by his usual gang of Slytherin cronies. He had clearly just said something highly amusing, because Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy Parkinson and the rest continued to snigger heartily as they gathered around the trestle table and, judging by the way they all kept looking over at Harry, he was able to guess the subject of the joke without too much difficulty.
"Everyone here?" Bella barked, once all the Slytherins and Gryffindors had arrived. "Let's crack on then. Who can tell me what these things are called?"
She indicated the heap of twigs in front of her. Hermione's hand shot into the air. Behind her back, Malfoy did a buck-toothed imitation of her jumping up and down in eagerness to answer a question. Pansy Parkinson gave a shriek of laughter that turned almost at once into a scream, as the twigs on the table leapt into the air and revealed themselves to be what looked like tiny pixie-ish creatures made of wood, each with knobby brown arms and legs, two twig like fingers at the end of each hand and a funny flat, bark like face in which a pair of beetle-brown eyes glittered.
"Oooooooooh!" said Parvati and Lavender, thoroughly irritating Harry. Anyone would have thought Hagrid had never shown them impressive creatures; admittedly, the Flobberworms had been a bit dull, but the Salamanders and Hippogriffs had been interesting enough, and the Blast-Ended Skrewts perhaps too much so.
"Kindly keep your voices down, girls!" said Professor Malfoy said sharply, scattering a handful of what looked like brown rice among the stick-creatures, who immediately fell upon the food. Bella peered around her. "So - anyone know the names of these creatures? Hermione?" Bella shrugged, but Juliunna hit her on the shoulder. "What?! Oh, I mean Miss Granger." Bella drawled out sarcastically.
"Bowtruckles," said Hermione. "They're tree-guardians, they usually live in wand-trees."
"Five hundred points for Gryffindor," Bella said excitedly. The Slytherins gasped, and the Gryffindors whooped.
"Bella-!" Ginger started, but Juliunna was already digging her hand into Bella's arm.
"Oh alright. Five points." Bella said, rolling her eyes. Ron barked with laughter.
"Yes, these are Bowtruckles, and as Miss Granger rightly says, they generally live in trees whose wood is of wand quality. Anybody know what they eat?" Bella said. She looked around, ignoring Hermione's hand.
"No one? Okay, well let's see, their made out of wood…. They eat dust! Or any bugs they find on the tree-!" Bella said, and Harry noted she was winging it.
Juliunna coughed and straightened up.
"Woodlice," Juliunna said quickly. "Woodlice kids." Juliunna repeated, and the class chuckled. Woodlice, which explained why what Harry had taken to be grains of brown rice were moving. Hermione nodded and jumped up excitedly. "But fairy eggs if they can get them."
"Good girl, take another five points. So, whenever you need leaves or wood from a tree in which a Bowtruckle lodges, it is wise to have a gift of woodlice ready to distract or placate it. They may not look dangerous, but if angered they will try to gouge at human eyes with their fingers, which, as you can see, are very sharp and not at all desirable near the eyeballs. So if you'd like to gather closer, take a few woodlice and a Bowtruckle – we have enough here for one between three - you can study them more closely. I want a sketch from each of you with all body-parts labeled by the end of the lesson." Juliunna said quickly. Bella stuck her tongue out at her back.
The class surged forwards around the trestle table. Harry deliberately circled around the back so that he ended up right next to Bella.
"Where's Hagrid?" he asked her, while everyone else was choosing Bowtruckles. Ginger turned to stare at him, but Bella turned to him with a smirk.
"Never you mind," She said with a wink. Smirking all over his pointed face, Draco Malfoy leaned across Harry and seized the largest Bowtruckle.
"Maybe," said Malfoy in an undertone, so that only Harry could hear him, "The stupid great oaf's got himself badly injured."
"Maybe you will if you don't shut up," said Harry out of the side of his mouth.
"Maybe he's been messing with stuff that's too big for him, if you get my drift."
Bella and Ginger turned to look at Draco. Their eyes mirrored disgust. "I suggest you go back to your friends." Ginger said slowly, her voice low. Draco narrowed his eyes at her and muttered something Harry couldn't hear well. But he got the gist. "Half breed… Thinks that she can tell me what to do-!"
Ginger's arm twitched, and she leaned down till they were face to face. "You should really rethink the way you think of people. It's pretty bold of you to say that to my face, especially when we both know what I am." She said with a smirk. She lifted a hand and mockingly adjusted his collar robes, her long fingers brushing towards his skin. He paled.
"Draco." Juliunna snapped at him. "Go over with your friends and work." She snapped. Ginger straightned up, nodded towards a laughing Harrry, and then walked back to a group of girls who seemed to have no idea what they were doing.
Malfoy blew Juliunna a sarcastic kiss, much bolder now that Ginger was far away, and walked back to his friends, smirking over his shoulder at Harry, who felt suddenly sick. Did Malfoy know something? His father was a Death Eater after all; what if he had information about Hagrid's fate that had not yet reached the ears of the Order? He hurried back around the table to Ron and Hermione who were squatting on the grass some distance away and attempting to persuade a Bowtruckle to remain still long enough for them to draw it. Harry pulled out parchment and quill, crouched down beside the others and related in a whisper what Malfoy had just said.
"Dumbledore would know if something had happened to Hagrid," said Hermione at once. "It's just playing into Malfoy's hands to look worried; it tells him we don't know exactly what's going on. We've got to ignore him, Harry. Here, hold the Bowtruckle for a moment, just so I can draw its face . . ."
"Yes," came Malfoy's clear drawl from the group nearest them, "Father was talking to the Minister just a couple of days ago, you know, and it sounds as though the Ministry's really determined to crack down on sub-standard teaching in this place. So even if that overgrown moron does show up again, he'll probably be sent packing straightaway."
"OUCH!"
Harry had gripped the Bowtruckle so hard that it had almost snapped, and it had just taken a great retaliatory swipe at his hand with its sharp fingers, leaving two long deep cuts there. Harry dropped it. Crabbe and Goyle, who had already been guffawing at the idea of Hagrid being sacked, laughed still harder as the Bowtruckle set off at full tilt towards the Forest, a little moving stick-man soon swallowed up among the tree roots. When the bell echoed distantly over the grounds, Harry rolled up his blood-stained Bowtruckle picture and marched off to Herbology with his hand wrapped in Hermione's handkerchief, and Malfoy's derisive laughter still ringing in his ears.
"If he calls Hagrid a moron one more time . . ." said Harry through gritted teeth.
"Harry, don't go picking a row with Malfoy, don't forget, he's a prefect now, he could make life difficult for you…" Hermione started, but Harry lurched to the side. Ginger had just ran pass through their group towards Malfoy. Without stopping, she pushed Malfoy hard, and he tripped and fell into a puddle hard. "Ha!" The class burst into laughter. The Slytherins helped him up, and he shouted "Hey!" at Gingers retreating back. "Oops." She called sarcastically.
After a lot of loud snickering, they traipsed across the vegetable patch. The sky still appeared unable to make up its mind whether it wanted to rain or not. "Bye Harry." Taylor said in a lifeless drone as she passed by. He felt Juliunna's soft fingers on the back of his neck as she passed by with a small goodbye. "Oops, almost forgot." She said, turning around and brandishing her wand. She pointed it at his hand, and the stinging in his cut hand went away.
"Thank you." He said with a thankful look, she nodded. "Your welcome. Taylor wait!" Juliunna called out, and ran ahead. Bella had obviously stayed back.
A minute or two later, their conversation was back on track.
"I just wish Hagrid would hurry up and get back, that's all," said Harry in a low voice, as they reached the greenhouses. "And don't say that Bella's a better teacher!" he added threateningly.
"I wasn't going to," said Hermione calmly.
"Because she'll never be as good as Hagrid," said Harry firmly, fully aware that he had just experienced an exemplary Care of Magical Creatures lesson and was thoroughly annoyed about it.
"I mean, of course Bella isn't a better teacher. But I do hope Professor Malfoy stays. We seem to actually be learning something in that area now-!"
She flinched with fright as Harry towered over her with a heated glare. "But Hagrid's the best. We did learn stuff. We-! We learned a lot-!" Hermione said quickly. Harry glared at her.
"Alright." He said, and then turned to look at the Green House. As they entered, Harry, though was angry at the obvious stab at Hagrid, was smiling at Malfoy, who was rubbing his shoulder painfully.