AUTHORS NOTE!

Here's the next chapter! Hope its good!

Enjoy!

-Rach ;)

Max's POV

When the six of us had finished eating our dinner, Harry looked at his watch. "It's not that late yet. Maybe we could go down to Hagrid?" We all nodded, except for Hermione. "I don't think we should be walking around the grounds at night," she said, her eyes flickering to Harry. "Sirius Black is not going to jump out from behind a rose bush and kill him!" Iggy said, already getting his bag from under the table. "Yeah, Black wouldn't of been able to get past the Dememtors this fast," Fang said, standing up.

"Oh, alright. I'm sorry for worrying about my friend," Hermione said, standing next to Fang. "Let's go to the common room first," I suggested, wanting to leave my heavy bag in my dorm. We climbed to the seventh floor, gave the Fat Lady the password and went through. It was packed in the common room, as it always does this time at night and no one bothered us as we walked through to leave our bags down.

I saw Nudge sitting in one of the armchairs near the fire, with three girls and two boys. I walked over to them, and said, "Hey, Nudge. How was your first day?" Nudge turned around and squealed and hugged me. "Oh, Max! This place is amazing! I love all the classes, and I've made a lot of new friends, and I think Charms and Transfiguration are brilliant. Professor Snape is such an awful person, he hates Gryffindors! Oh, in Charms, I made my feather fly up on my first go! I was so proud! Let me introduce you to my friends," she said, and pointed at one of the girls who had short dark hair. "That's Emily," she said, and I smiled at her.

She pointed at the second girl, and said, "That's Eliza," she pointed at the third and last girl, "And that's Meghan." I smiled at them all, and said, "What about you?" I gestured to the two boys. "I'm Evan," said the blonde boy. "I'm Ryan," said the other. "Great to meet you all. Glad you like it here," I added to Nudge. "If you ever need me for anything, just find me. No matter what I'm doing, your more important." She was about to say something else, when Ron shouted, "Max! Come on!" Nudge hugged me again, I waved at her friends, and went over to the others who were standing by the portrait hole.

"Look! There's still a light on in Hagrids!" Ron said, looking out the window as we passed in the corridor. All six of us walked through the castle and out the front doors through the grounds.

When we reached Hagrid's hut, Fang reached out and knocked on the door. From inside, we heard a growl, "C'min." Harry pushed the door open, and closed it after we all stepped into the small house. Hagrid was sitting at the table, a large tankard in front of him. He had clearly been drinking a lot, and he looked at us for a while before his expression cleared at he recognized us.

"Record, I 'spect," he said in a thick voice. "Doubt they 'ad a teacher that only lasted one day before." We all shared a look, and Hermione said in a shaky voice, "They haven't fired you, have they, Hagrid?" I bit my lip, not liking this conversation. "Not, yet. Matter o' time, though. After Malfoy..." He put his head down, and tears started filling in his eyes.

"He's okay, though, Hagrid? It's not serious or anything?" I asked. "Madam Pomfrey did what she could," he said gruffly. "But he's covered in bandages...moaning...says he in agony..." Harry's eyes narrowed, and he said, "He's faking it. It's obvious. Last year, she regrew all the bones in my arm, remember? And she fixed Max's ankle. Just leave it to Malfoy to make everything worse then it is."

"O' course, the gov'nors been told," Hagrid said as if Harry hadn't spoken. "Reckon I started too big. Should of started wit' Flobberworms or summat. Just wanted an interesting first lesson." He sounded miserable. "Were witnesses, Hagrid," I said. "We were there. You told everyone not to insult a Hippogriff. It's Malfoy's fault he wasn't listening and got himself hurt."

"Yeah, we'll tell Dumbledore, and the governors, what really happened. We'll back you up," Iggy said. Hagrid had tears falling onto his beard, and he was smiling gratefully at us. "I've think you've had enough to drink, Hagrid," Hermione said, strolling over to the table and she went to pick up the tankard, but it was too big and heavy. Fang went over to help her, and together they brought it outside and emptied it. "She's right..." Hagrid said, and followed them out of the hut.

After a few seconds of silence, we heard a loud splash from outside as Hermione and Fang came back inside. "What's Hagrid done?" Ron asked. "He dunked his head into a barrel of water," Fang said, as if was something that happened every day. Hagrid came back in, his hair and beard soaking wet, and water dripping onto his clothes.

"That feels better," he said, shaking his head and spraying water everywhere. "Thanks fer comin' ter see me, but-" He stopped, and stared at Harry as if he's never seen him before.

"WHAT D'YOU THING YER DOING 'ERE!" he roared and I felt Hermione jump beside me. "YEH'RE NOT MEANT TO BE WANDERIN' AROUND AT NIGHT HARRY! AN' YOU FIVE, LETTING 'IM!" Hagrid advanced over to Harry, grabbed his arm and led him out to the door. "C'mon!" Hagrid yelled. "I'm takin' ye back ter the castle! An' don't come ter visit me again after dark! I'm not worth it!"

It was during Double Potions on Thursday that Draco Malfoy decided to come back to class. He strutted into the dungeons like he owned the place, and Snape barely raised his greasy head. If that had been any Gryffindor, they would have detention for a month.

"Does it hurt terribly, Draco?" Pansy asked, battering her eyelashes. "Yes," Malfoy grimaced, trying to look like some super-duper hero that just saved the world. When Pansy turned back to her potion, I caught Malfoy winking at Crabbe and Goyle.

Malfoy set up his cauldron right next to me, Harry and Fang. The other three were in front of us, and Hermione looked over her shoulder and raised her eyebrows. I shrugged, and gave Malfoy the dirtiest look I could muster. "Sir," Malfoy called. "I need help with my roots. Because of my arm," he said. "Martinez, cut up Malfoy's roots," Snape ordered, not looking up.

Fang clenched his jaw, and he hissed at Malfoy, "Your arm is fine." Malfoy just smirked, and said, "You heard, Snape, Martinez, cut up my roots."

Fang growled, and grabbed Malfoy's roots, and his knife,and started hacking the roots. Malfoy grinned a grin of pure evil, and he called, "Sir, Martinez is mutilating my roots." I glared at him, and hissed, "Shut up Malfoy before I give you a real injury." Unfortunately, Snape heard me, and he said, "Miss Ride, I would appreciate it if you didn't threaten students in my class. Ten points from Gryffidnor and detention for the weekend."

"But sir-" I started, but he cut me off. "Unless you want detention for a month, I suggest you keep that sarcastic mouth of your shut, Ride. And Martinez, swap roots with Malfoy." He walked away, and both me and Fang were shaking with rage. Fang had spent so long cutting his roots to perfection, and he gave Malfoy a death glare as he swapped the roots.

"Sir, I'll need someone to skin my shrivelfig," Malfoy said five minutes later. "Miss Ride, skin Malfoy's shrivelfing," Snape said. I put down my knife, and looked at Snape. "No," I said.

The whole class seemed to freeze. Snape looked at me with such hatred on his face that I was surprised he wasn't yelling. "No?" he said in a calm voice. "Yup, that's what I said. I'm not skinning his shrivelfing. He can do it himself," I said, not breaking eye contact. "Miss Ride, are you so dimwitted that you can't notice that Mr Malfoy has a sever injury?" he asked, the corners of his lips twitching.

"Are you so dimwitted that you can't notice that he's faking the whole damn thing!" I yelled. It seemed like no one in the class was breathing. Iggy looked over his shoulder to look at me, and he was laughing. "How dare you speak to me like that!" Snape shouted. I didn't say anything, just stared at him.

"You have just earned yourself a week's worth of detentions, Ride. Also, you are banned from the first Hogsmeade trip," Snape said. I opened my mouth to shout at him, but Harry elbowed my in the ribs. "What?" I hissed. "Shut it," he said, "Don't get into anymore trouble." That was a hard thing to do, as during the whole class, Malfoy stood there, taunting us by saying how Hagrid wouldn't be a teacher anymore.

Near the end of the class, Seamus leaned over to our table, and whispered, "Have you heard? In the Daily Prophet this morning! They think Sirius Black has been sighted!"

"Where?" Harry asked. Now, Iggy, Ron and Hermione were looking back, listening to what was being said. "Not too far from Hogwarts," Seamus said, "It was a Muggle that saw him. She phoned the special number the Ministry set up, but by the time they got there, he was gone." Ron, frowning, said, "Not too far from here..." He looked at us, and then saw Malfoy watching all of us closely. "Something you want, Malfoy?" he asked in a harsh tone.

He ignored Ron, and leaned closer to Harry. "Thinking on catching him single-handed, Potter?" he drawled. "Course I am. I'm gonna find him, and kill him myself," Harry deadpanned. "If it was me, I would of done something by now," Malfoy said. "What are you talking about, Malfoy? We really don't want to have to listen to you," I said.

"Don't you know, Potter?" Malfoy said, his eyes lighting up.

"Know what?"

Malfoy gave a short, cold, laugh, and said, "Maybe you don't want to get hurt. If it was me, I'd do something myself. I'd want revenge. I'd hunt him down myself." I frowned, wondering what he was talking about. (Emmy, I got your review, and the idea was really good, and I would of used it, but the only people that know who Max actually is are Snape and Lupin. No one else knows, so sorry I can't use it, but it was a great idea)

"What are you talking about?" Harry said, angrily, but at that moment Snape shouted, "Class is over!"

Everyone gathered they're bags and left the dungeon. Malfoy grinned at us, and walked out with Crabbe and Goyle.

The six of us walked up the steps to the Entrance Hall. "What do you think Malfoy was talking about, Hermione?" Ron asked, turning to look at Hermione, who was behind us. Ron gasped, and we all turned to see what what was wrong.

Hermione wasn't there.

But she had been. Just a few seconds ago. "Where did she go?" I asked. The boys just shrugged. "We'll find her in Defense Against the Dark Arts," Fang said.

We walked to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and when we got there, Hermione was already there. "Where did you go?" I asked. "What? Oh, I had to go back and get something. Sorry," she said, but she didn't look truthful. I just shrugged it off, and we all waited for Professor Lupin to arrive.

While we waited, everyone took out the books, parchment and quills. When Lupin did arrive, he looked around at everyone and smiled. "Hello. If you could, put everything back into your bags and take out your wands. This is going to be a practical lesson," he said, and an outbreak of whispering broke out through the class. We've never had a practical class before, unless you counted the time Lockhart brought in pixies to the class and set them loose.

"Right, please follow me," Lupin said, and he walked out of the class. Confused, we all got up and followed him. We walked down the corridor and around a corner and into the staffroom. It was a big room with a large wardrobe at one end, and a table in the middle. There was only one person there when we walked in, and it was Snape.

There was a nasty sneer on his face, and when Lupin went to close the door, he said, "Leave it open, Lupin. I notice that you have Neville Longbottom in your class and I'd rather not witness this. I would advise you not to give him anything too difficult, unless you have Hermione Granger whispering in his ear." He looked around the class and when he saw me, he said, "Oh, and you have Miss Maximum Ride here as well. Don't say anything to her, Lupin, unless you want a sarcastic, cheeky remark." I smiled sweetly at him as turned around, and when he had his back to us all, I gave him a rude gesture, one that Lupin saw.

I paled, waiting for him to give me more detention, or take away points, but surprisingly, he laughed.

"Actually Severus, I was hoping that Neville would help me with this class," Lupin said. "And I'm sure he will do it brilliantly." Snape gave Lupin a look of such hatred, it was similar to the one he gave me and Harry. Neville's face went red, and Snape left the room and slammed the door behind him.

"Now," Lupin said, beckoning the class to go to the other side of the room where the wardrobe was. As Lupin went closer to it, it gave a shake, banging against the wall. "Nothing to be afraid about," Lupin said calmly as a few people jumped in fright. "Nothing but a Boggart in there."

"Boggarts like dark, small spaces," Lupin explained. "I found this one yesterday afternoon, and the Headmaster kindly gave me permission to show it to my third-year class. Now, the first question we ask ourselves is: what is a Boggart?" To no ones surprise, Hermione's hand shot into the air. "Yes, Miss-?" Lupin said.

"Hermione Granger, sir," she said. "A Boggart is a shape-shifter. They change into the shape of whatever frightens the person closest to it most."

"Excellent!" Lupin said, beaming. Hermione blushed slightly and smiled. "So, the Boggart in here hasn't yet taken a form. Or, if it has, no one knows what it looks like. When I let it out, it will take the form of what we fear the most," Lupin said, and Neville whimpered. "Which means," Lupin went on, ignoring Neville, "We have an advantage! Harry, do you know what that is?" he asked.

Hermione put her hand into the air, but Harry said, "Because there are so many of us here, it won't know what shape to take." Lupin beamed and said, "Yes! Exactly! Well done Harry. The Boggart will become confused, and won't know what shape to take. That is important, and it will be an advantage!

"There is a spell that will repel a Boggart. It is easy, but will require strength of the mind. But, the real thing that will finish a Boggart is laughter. You have to changed it into something funny. We'll practice the incantation together. Without wands, first please. After me, riddikulus!"

"Riddikulus!" the class said.

"Good, good," Lupin said. "But thats the easy part, I'm afraid. The word alone is not enough, and this is where you come in, Neville." Neville gulped, and he looked terrified. "First thing, Neville. What would you say frightens you most of all?" Neville mumbled something no one could hear. Lupin smiled, and said, "I'm sorry, Neville. What was that?"

"Professor Snape," Neville whimpered. Everyone laughed,and even Neville smiled. Lupin laughed and he looked thoughtful. "Snape...hmm...And I believe you live with your grandmother?" he said, and Neville nodded.

"Could you tell us what your grandmother normally wears, Neville?" Lupin asked cheerfully. "Er...always the same hat. Tall, with a stuffed vulture on top of it, and a long green dress and sometimes she wears a fox-fur scarf," Neville said. "A handbag?" Lupin asked. "A big red one," Neville said.

"Right, brilliant. Now I want you to picture her clothes, only her clothes, clearly in you mind. Can you do that?" Neville nodded.

Here's the chapter! Hope it was goooood!

Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter! :)

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-Rach ;)