Author's Note – Ok, so I lied. No schools yet but I found I had more to say in this chapter than I thought I did. But plenty of Draco for those of you who like him. As always, thank you for the reviews and feel free to comment and critic.
Chapter Eight
War and Peace
The following morning when Alaw and Hermione came down to breakfast they discovered that the trip to Dufftown had indeed been cancelled. Ron and Neville hadn't bothered to come down with them as they were still probably hiding from Alaw's wroth. Alaw was too busy feeling sorry for herself to care where they were but made a mental note to herself to go and apologise for shouting at them as some point.
"Look on the bright side," said Hermione encouragingly as she ladled porridge into a bowl for her friend. "Now we have plenty of time to learn those runes."
Alaw scowled down at her porridge and pushed it around the bowl with her spoon. Her grouchiness had less to do with the fact that they weren't going to Dufftown, and more to do with Sirius Black himself. Her fear, which had taken a backseat during the first week of term, had now returned with a vengeance and was manifesting itself as irritability. Hermione knew this already and was careful not to set Alaw off for the rest of the meal. Alaw didn't want to snap at her friends but it was incredibly difficult when she was so nervous and jumpy. As they left the hall they came across Theodore and Crabbe at the foot of the marble staircase. Upon seeing them the two smirked.
"Staying here mudbloods?" Crabbe shouted after them as they climbed the stairs. "Scared Sirius Black might get you if you go outside the castle?"
"Yes, I've heard he did some terrible things to your sort during the war, I'll tell you about it sometime!" Theodore crowed.
Alaw gripped the banister a little harder than was necessary as she climbed at double pace and they soon left the Slytherins behind them. She didn't really feel like going to the library on a Saturday morning but Hermione dragged her there, saying it was better to do something productive than spend all day moping. Predictably it was fairly quiet in the library when they arrived as most sane people were either in bed or still at breakfast. There was a group of fourth year Hufflepuffs at one of the big tables near the front of the room, and Blaise Zabini was reading in an armchair with his head resting in one hand.
"Right," Hermione whispered, running her eye down the reading list Professor Babbling had given them. "The books we want are just down here."
They moved off down the shelves and Hermione found the book on Futhark quite quickly. She went away to find them a table whilst Alaw continued to search, somewhat half-heartedly, for the Ogham dictionary. When she reached the end of the shelves she walked into someone as they came around the corner.
"Watch where you're going!" Draco hissed at her, bending to pick up the books which had fallen out of his arms when they collided.
"Sorry, I was miles away," said Alaw. Then the title of one of the books made her swoop down and grab it before Draco could lay his hands on it. War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy.
"Why on earth are you reading this?" she asked in great surprise. Draco snatched the book away from her with an alarmed expression.
"Don't touch that!" he snarled. "You'll get your slime all over it!"
He then stuffed the book out of sight behind all the others as if it was something indecent and scuttled off, scowling. Quite bemused, Alaw continued in her search for the The Secret Languages of Ireland by R. A. Macalister. Once she had located it she then had to track Hermione down and found her in their usual corner by the window where sunlight was streaming in. Draco had vanished and the moment Alaw sat down, she told Hermione everything.
oOoOo
Though Alaw shared almost every lesson she had with Draco, she didn't get a chance to talk to him for several days. She knew he wouldn't appreciate her coming up to him whilst he was surrounded by his Pureblood friends and Alaw had a policy of avoiding them wherever she could anyway. She had plenty to keep her occupied whilst she waited for an opportunity however. Their second Care of Magical Creatures lesson wasn't nearly as exciting as the first, but it was still interesting in its own way. When Alaw, Hermione, Neville and Ron had visited him on Sunday afternoon Hagrid had been threatening to show them nothing but Flobberworms for the rest of the term. Thankfully, Neville had nipped that snoozefest in the bud by heavily hinting that he would love to learn about creatures that might help him in Herbology or Potions.
Hagrid had taken heart at their interest and had presented a Dugbog to them the very next day.
"It's hideous," Pansy Parkinson said, wrinkling her nose as she and the rest of the class peered down into the box of moss and slimy mud. At first Alaw couldn't even see the Dugbog, but then one of the pieces of wood moved and she realised that it had stubby little legs and rows of razor sharp teeth.
"Not the prettiest animals, no," Hagrid agreed. "But it's important ter know about 'em. They can give a nasty bite to anyone walking through swamps without proper gear."
"Why would anyone want to walk through a swamp?" asked Draco, voicing Alaw's internal question.
"Ter look for potion ingredients in the main. And these little blighters can play merry hell with Mandrakes. They chew 'em up underground so ye don't know they're ruined 'til ye pull 'em up."
They were also studying creatures in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Well, perhaps creatures was a misleading term, as Professor Lupin explained.
"You are all aware that there are three classifications of magical creatures which the Ministry employs. Beasts, Beings and Spirits. However, there is a fourth class which you need to be aware of, Non-Beings. These are somewhat like spirits but have never truly been alive. They are created and sustained by human emotion. Can anyone give me an example?"
Hermione of course was the first to raise her hand and Lupin nodded to her.
"Dementors sir," she said and a few people looked around at her or each other. They were of course all remembering the hullabaloo last year with the rogue Dementor.
"Well done, five points to Gryffindor," said Lupin approvingly. "Yes, Dementors are an extreme example of what happens when human emotion manifests itself in the worst way possible. However, there are other much less dangerous non-beings such as Boggarts, Ghouls and Poltergeists."
Alaw wasn't the only one to snort at this. Anyone who had met Peeves could tell you he was far from harmless. In their first lesson Lupin had outlined their schedule for the rest of the term which would be devoted to the study of Non-Beings. During their second, he had brought in a live ghoul and had them all take turns forcing it back into the clock it lived in. Alaw had had plenty of practice doing this last year when she had been taught how to produce a Patronus. She had a lot of fun demonstrating this whilst the others used sparks and jinxes to drive back the ghoul. Theodore Nott's eyes had nearly popped out of his head when a silvery dragon burst out of the end of Alaw's wand and flew towards the ghoul. Even the majority of the Slytherins joined in the applause afterwards. Alaw had done her best not to look too pleased with herself.
At long last Friday rolled around again and with it, Potions. This would be Alaw's chance to talk to Draco. For reasons best known to himself, Snape had forced the two of them to sit next to each other since the beginning of last year. He had made some adjustments to the seating arrangements this term, they no longer sat with Theodore and Pansy for a start. Perhaps Snape had been tired of the constant explosions and arguments. Now Alaw sat across the table from Blaise and Daphne, neither of whom seemed likely to pay much attention to anything she said to Draco as they worked.
"Settle down," Snape drawled as he swept into the dungeon. The Gryffindor boys who had been talking loudly sat down at once and fell silent. All faces turned to the front of the class as Snape flicked his wand and instructions appeared on the blackboard.
"Today you will be brewing a fairly straightforward pain-reliever, but before you all start making a mess of that I have to tell you about your O.W.L coursework."
Beside Alaw, Draco sat up a little straighter and poised his quill to take notes. She knew how seriously he took his Potions work. Snape did not look at all pleased as he began to explain.
"For reasons I cannot fathom, the Ministry wishes all O.W.L students to gain some experience of team-work."
He pronounced this last word with a contemptuous sneer.
"As I am a slave to the system, I can do little to change this. You will therefore be working with a partner on your coursework. There are a number of potions to be chosen at this stage of your studies and I will assign each pair a concoction which will need to be completed by Christmas. You will work on these potions in your own time, gather the ingredients yourselves and discover the method without my help."
There were a few muted groans among the students. Partner work could be a real pain in the backside if one was stuck with someone incompetent. Alaw had a feeling Snape would assign her with someone foul simply for the sheer pleasure of it. Maybe she'd end up with Pansy, or Goyle, or, worst of all, Theodore. Alaw could see him scratching out names on a piece of paper at his desk as they started work, using his wand to rearrange the pairings. As fires ignited beneath each potion and people began to jostle around the supply cupboard, Alaw opened her potions kit and positioned her scales. Draco was already adding scoops of dried peppermint leaves to his scales as he waited for the water in his cauldron to start boiling. Alaw attended to her own leaves and waited for the dungeon to fill with vapour before initiating conversation.
"I've been meaning to talk to you for ages," she said in an undertone whilst crushing up for myrtle leaves into a gooey paste with a pestle. Draco frowned slightly, keeping his eyes on his cauldron.
"What did I do to you this time?" he asked irritably.
"Nothing, it's about that book you had in the library the other day."
Draco stiffened and turned his head to glare at her, then seemed to think better of it and smoothed his features into sneering indifference.
"What about it?" he asked coolly.
Alaw didn't answer immediately, her water was boiling out of control and she had to quickly prod the flames with her wand and reduce them. Then she turned her attention back to Draco.
"War and Peace is a muggle novel, where did you get it? I thought you'd burst into a flames if you ever touch something muggle."
"Nonsense Jones, I wasn't reading anything of the sort. That was a wizarding book. Now kindly leave me alone so I can get on with my work."
"Draco, I saw the author's name, that book is famous so don't treat me like an idiot." Draco chose to ignore this so Alaw raised her eyebrows. "Of course, I could always speak a little louder and let the whole class know you were reading a muggle book. I'm sure your friends would be fascinated to hear about it."
Across the table, Daphne smiled down at the Flobberworm she was mincing. Draco gave an irritated growl and gave in.
"Merlin's beard Jones, I don't think I've ever met anyone quite so irritating in my entire life! Fine, I was reading a bloody muggle book. Happy?"
"Quite content, yes," said Alaw, grinning. "So where did you get it?"
"Flourish and Blotts, they've got a section of muggle 'classics', though I don't see what makes it such a classic. It's so boring!"
"Yes I've heard it can be heavy going. You didn't chose a very good starter book I must say. But why buy it in the first place? You hate everything to do with muggles!"
Draco shrugged his shoulders uncomfortably.
"I – well I was just curious. I've always been told that muggles can barely read and write, so I thought I'd have a good laugh!"
"Bear in mind that book has been translated into English from Russian," Alaw warned. "And like I said a lot of people think it's too long. What kind of books do you normally read? Maybe I could recommend something you'd –"
"Fascinating though this literary discussion is Miss Jones," said Snape, right behind the pair of them. "It hardly has anything to do with Potions, does it?"
Draco and Alaw jumped out of their skins and whipped guiltily around. Snape must have been standing behind them for some time, unnoticed by either of them. Had they been Gryffindors, they would have been docked a good ten house points each, but they were Slytherins, and Snape had to be more creative in punishing his own. The potions master's lip curled as he looked between the two students.
"As you two seem to work so well together, I believe you'll make an excellent partnership on your coursework project."
Around them a few of their fellow students sniggered, Theodore loudest of all.
"Bad luck Draco," he snorted sympathetically.
Draco turned furiously back to his potion and refused to look at Alaw for the rest of the lesson. Alaw rather sheepishly concentrated on her own work and by the time the bell had rung, she had produced a serviceable pain-reliever.
OoOoO
Nobody was keen to start work on their potions projects and people dragged their feet for the next couple of weeks. As the evenings grew darker and the weather developed a bite in early October Alaw and her friends preferred to laze around in her room than work. They'd been given horribly tricky potions to create and only Hermione had started reading up. She and Neville would be making Polyjuice Potion and Alaw had secretly been relieved when she heard the pairings. If Ron and Hermione had tried to work together it would have turned into a term-long argument. As it was, Ron was too busy training for the Quidditch Cup to care about his own project and his nonchalance had already started to irritate Hermione.
Alaw knew she couldn't leave it forever so one stormy evening she made her way to the library, text book under arm, to hunt down her reluctant partner. He wasn't sitting with the Slytherins in their usual corner and for a while Alaw was worried he wasn't in the library at all. But she eventually came across him tucked away among the Arithmancy books, a seldom traversed section that was perfect for quiet work. His blonde head was bent over a piece of parchment and his quill was poised musingly over it. As Alaw stepped quietly over to him, she saw that it was covered in equations and scribbled out notes. Draco was so absorbed that he didn't look up until Alaw dropped into the seat opposite him and put her books on the table.
"Oh, it's you," he sneered. "What do you want?"
"I thought we could start on that Potions project," Alaw said, taking out all her writing equipment to show she was there to stay. Draco gave her a sour look and tapped the tip of his quill on the table irritably.
"I am perfectly capable of doing the project on my own. You'll only get in my way," he told her snootily.
"We're supposed to do the project together," Alaw insisted. "I won't get in your way, I want to do well too."
"I have a system!" Draco snapped. "I don't need some mudblood messing things up in my O.W.L year."
They glared at each other. Alaw had told herself before she sat down that she would not do two things; leave, or lose her temper. She was dangerously close to failing on the second already.
"Snape is going to know if I don't help," she said with forced calm. "Do you want to give him an excuse to fail us both?"
Draco ran a hand through his sleek hair and growled in the back of his throat.
"I can't believe this," he snarled. "It's such a waste of time! Fine, if you must stay, stay. But don't you dare mess this up Jones. And don't touch my things!"
And so they began work. It was a slow, painful process. All Alaw wanted to do that evening was decide on a schedule for the rest of the term and draw up an ingredient list, but they simply couldn't agree on anything. They would be brewing Veritaserumand Alaw had found a very good book published only the previous year that had a newer, easier method than the ancient text Draco had. But Draco refused to use the newer book because it had been written by a muggle-born who couldn't possibly know what he was talking about.
"Why do you have it in your head that all muggle-borns are idiots?" Alaw snapped. "You have met Hermione right?"
Draoc did what he always did when he had no answer, he ignored her. Being ignored was, if possible, more annoying than being insulted and Alaw was sorely tempted to hit Draco over the head with her book to make him pay attention to her. To took her hands off the table to avoid giving in to this tempting idea.
"You haven't even read the book, so how do you know it's rubbish?" she persisted, determined that he would give her a satisfactory answer.
"This is the recommended text, this is what I've always used, this is what we'll be using. If you don't like it Jones, fuck off!" Draco hissed.
"Stop using my surname," Alaw retorted. "It's creepy, we're the same age for Christ's sake."
"Would you rather I call you mudblood?"
"I'd rather you call me Alaw. That's my name, after all."
She expected him to scowl but instead he raised an amused eyebrow. Alaw wasn't stupid, she knew this ridiculous fight was just meant to annoy her so he could have a good laugh and she took a breath to calm herself down. It's a sort of battle, she told herself, don't let him play with you.
"Fine, we will leave the new book for now but I swear to god if you don't at least look at it at some point, I will be forced to beat you to death with it," Alaw gritted out. Draco snorted and Alaw couldn't help but smile in spite of herself.
They sniped back and forth at each other for a good half an hour before Draco finally snapped.
"Look," he growled, putting his hands together over his face and closing his eyes as though praying for patience. "I am losing the will to live here. Can we please just get on with our work?! Stop messing around!"
"You stop messing around!" Alaw retorted. "See this?" she pointed to a few tallies on the corner of her paper. "That's how many times you've called me 'mudblood' since I've sat down. Couldn't you just give it a rest?"
Draco looked at the tallies for a moment then sighed.
"Fine, we're never going to make it through if we carry on like this. How about, whilst we're working on this project, we call a truce? I promise I won't even say the word mudblood if you stop being such a massive pain in my arse!"
Alaw considered this and squinted suspiciously at Draco.
"No mention of my family at all," she said after a pause. "Or my friends – or – or anything that isn't too do with the project, deal?"
"Deal, and the same applies to you. No family, no friends, just potions."
They got on a little better after that. The conversation was at least devoid of racial slurs. Once they had agreed to meet twice a week, once in the library and once in the dungeons, they started on the ingredients list. They spoke in low voices, drawing ideas from various text books to make the most complete list. Snape had told them they had to source the ingredients themselves, preferably picking and collecting themselves, however they had been given a small amount of gold to purchase those ingredients that were impossible to find at Hogwarts. After some discussion Draco and Alaw agreed to go into Hogsmead at some point to make those purchases.
It was just as they were talking about finishing for the evening that Alaw broached the subject of literature again.
"How are you finding War and Peace?" she asked and Draco raised an eyebrow at her.
"That's not do with work," he said coldly.
"No, but I think we can bring books under the protection of the truce, don't you?"
Draco shrugged and tugged the volume in question out of his bag.
"I just can't get into it," he said, with a touch of frustration in his voice. "I normally devour books but this is just so dull! I don't care about any of the characters. I knew muggles couldn't write."
"Don't judge all muggle literature on that," Alaw warned. "It's all about genre. What do you normally read? You didn't get a chance to tell me the other day before Snape stuck his nose in."
"Oh, well," Draco suddenly looked a little uncomfortable. "I – well there are the wizarding classics like Amelia Abbot of course, everyone reads them, but I never liked them much. I always preferred adventure novels, epic quests, monsters, that sort of thing. Childish, I know."
"Not childish," said Alaw whose mind was racing. "Very interesting actually. I've never read any wizarding classics, oh wait, I skimmed through Beedle the Bard once."
"That's not a classic," Draco scoffed. "That's a children's book! I mean the real classics, Grange House, The Oak and the Holly, those classics! God woman you need to educate yourself."
But Alaw merely smiled musingly at Draco and collected up her things.
"See you in class," she said once she had swung her bag over her shoulder. "Careful, I'm about to step out of the truce zone."
"See you, mudblood," said Draco snidely.
oOoOo
Later that evening Draco was sitting with Blaise and Theodore by the fire the Slytherin common room when Pansy amused everyone by biting into a custard cream and bursting into vivid yellow feathers. Whilst the whole common room shrieked and hooted with laughter, and Pansy screamed that whoever had jinxed the food was a dead man, Draco heard a thump close by. He looked around, confused, and saw a book had just appeared on the end table next to him. It was a shabby, paperback thing with a picture of a mountain on the front. The title, the Lord of the Rings, was almost obscured by a pink note.
Put War and Peace away, it'll bore you to tears. This is the grandfather of muggle fantasy.
Draco looked up surreptitiously and smiled to himself as he saw the common room wall slide quietly shut.
OoOoO
As October wore on, the students noticed that the castle was undergoing a transformation. Everything, from the highest ceiling to the tiniest keyhole was being fanatically cleaned. A couple of Ravenclaws had nearly broken their necks tripping over Filch who had been scrubbing the steps up to their tower room. It was common knowledge that a suite of rooms up on the fourth floor which had fantastic views of the lake and the mountains were being refurbished and it became a sort of daily routine for the students to walk past the end of the corridor hoping to catch a glimpse of the preparations. There was a tense, excited atmosphere in the castle as everyone began to gear up for the arrival of the foreign teams.
Hermione had of course read up on the Platonic League and enjoyed rattling off trivia at meal times for the benefit of her fellow Gryffindors. Alaw was treated to an in-depth biography of the headmaster of Ilvermorny, who was apparently related in some way to an American hero. The teachers were becoming visibly nervous at the impending infestation and were particularly sharp with any students they deemed 'too silly'. Fred and George Weasley had been hauled into Professor McGonagall's office for forty minutes one Friday evening after they hurled a Fanged Frisbee down the marble staircase, a rather innocent prank by their standards. Ron told the girls that his brothers were on very thin ice and that McGonagall had threatened them with expulsion if they embarrassed Hogwarts on Halloween night.
With things so hectic in the castle of late, both Alaw and Draco found their hours in the library to be surprisingly relaxing. With their truce in place they managed to get through their work fairly quickly and Draco even grudgingly admitted that the newer textbook Alaw had suggested had some merits.
"I suppose the man can't help that he's a mongrel," Draco had commented, coming dangerously close to breaking the pact. That happened quite a lot. Sometimes Alaw couldn't help herself from making some sarcastic comment about Purebloods and Draco would often let a 'mudblood' slip. In hindsight, it wasn't that relaxing after all.
He had at least returned the Lord of the Rings to Alaw having thoroughly enjoyed it.
"Complete nonsense of course, but the story was compelling," he had said, pushing it back across the table at her. "But he got elves completely wrong."
"It gets better," said Alaw, not entirely sure what it was about elves that Tolkein had got wrong. She pulled another book out her bag. "The Lord of the Rings was really the first fantasy novel of its kind, but it would never get published today. Tolkein was big on unnecessary filler shall we say. Now this is a modern one, one of my favourites when I was a kid."
Draco took the book from her somewhat dubiously and flipped it over to look at the blurb.
"Northern Lights," he muttered. "Well if you're sure. I have something for you too, if you ever hope to become a proper witch you need to know about our culture too."
He took a handsome leather bound book out of his bag and gave it to Alaw. The title, Grange House, was embossed on the cover.
"I thought you said you didn't like this," said Alaw and Draco rolled his eyes.
"I can't stand it, it's such a girl's book. But it's a classic and all good wizarding boys and girls should read it. Amelia Abbot was a titan of wizarding literature in her day."
And so once they had finished their potions work, the two found themselves spending longer and longer in the library discussing their favourite books. Each meeting the two exchanged another volume and Alaw found herself becoming quite knowledgeable about wizarding literature. It was telling how the same stories kept popping up over and over again, whether they were muggle or magical. The witty heroin was forced to marry the crusty old lord to save her family's manor, until the dashing young lord from the next valley over turned up to sweep her off her feet. The daring explorer discovering a new island infested with dangerous creatures, poisonous plants and mysterious ruins. The gallant knight had to slay a dragon to save a struggling village from total destruction.
When Alaw mentioned this similarity between muggles and wizards, Draco had scoffed and protested. She tried to convince him that they really weren't that different but he was having none of it.
"But you've never even been in the muggle world!" Alaw said in frustration. "How can you say we're savages when you've never been away from wizards?!"
"Well how can you say all Purebloods are evil when you've only been in the wizarding world for a year?" Draco countered. Alaw sighed and ran her hands through her hair.
"Do you notice," she began, "That when one of us doesn't have a proper answer for the other's question, we just ask another one in turn?"
Draco couldn't help but laugh.
But they could not truly be friends, despite their mutual interests. It baffled Hermione how Alaw could quite happily work with a person who said some vicious things to her whenever they weren't in the library, and hung out with the biggest bunch of bigots this side of Azkaban.
"He's vile!" Hermione said during a Care of Magical Creatures class at the end of October. "He's truly a despicable human being, I don't know how you can stand him!"
Alaw looked musingly over at Draco who was sitting with his friends on the fence a few feet away. They were doing their best to wind up Ron, Dean and Seamus and it seemed to be working.
"So what was it you're riding again Weasley? A Cleansweep? Well I suppose I'll at least make some gold this year, I'll just place a massive bet on whoever Hogwarts is playing first."
"He really needs to come up with some new material," Hermione snorted and flipped through her textbook irritably. Alaw smiled slyly.
"I'll tell him you think so tonight, we're going to work in the potions lab."
Alaw knew she would never change Draco's attitude towards Ron, they had been enemies since they were children after all, but she still had hope for salvaging his decency where muggle-borns were concerned. He still called her all sorts of things outside the library and in view of his friends, but it had become a sort of running joke, a game really, to see who could insult the other the best.
"If he wasn't as much of a nerd as I was, I don't think we could work together," Alaw conceded after a moment's thought. "But it's hard to argue with someone who loves Tolkein, their hearts must be pure!"
Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head to show that she was not amused. The argument between the Slytherin and Gryffindor boys was becoming quite heated so it was lucky that Hagrid appeared around the edge of his hut at that moment. He looked oddly lumpy but then Alaw saw that he had a number of small, monkey-like creatures perched on his shoulders and hanging off his mole-skin overcoat.
"Gather round now," he said and the class edged forward cautiously. "Today we're looking at Clabberts."
The animals, which were no larger than kittens, looked like frogs with elongated arms and legs, and a long green tail. They had wide grinning mouths and a red pustule in the middle of their forehead. Some of the pustules were glowing. When Alaw was close enough one of the Clabberts leapt gracefully from Hagrid's shoulder to land on hers where it clung, peering interestedly up at her.
"Don't worry, they're quite gentle really, but watch out for their teeth now. Nasty bite they can give ye. They came firstly from the states, Texas, Arizona, that neck o' the woods. But now there are troops all over the world."
Hagrid's lessons weren't perhaps as polished as other teachers but he was well liked by most of his class and even some of the Slytherins had been forced to admit he knew a thing or two about magical creatures. Alaw suspected this was the sort of class people would do badly in an exam for, despite having learnt a lot of useful information.
An hour or so later they heard the bell ring distantly across the grounds and Hagrid gathered all the Clabberts up once again. They really were quite cute once one got over their odd appearance. As they gathered up their things Draco walked past Alaw and deliberately clipped her with his shoulder.
"Careful where you're going mudblood," he sneered and Alaw scowled at him. Damn, she'd wanted to knock into him! Rubbing her shoulder she replied with her now customary answer.
"I'm always careful, inbred."
They shared a smirk and then Draco went off with his friends towards the castle. Ron nudged Alaw.
"Shall I curse him Al? I can still get him from here."
He raised his wand and aimed it carefully at Draco's retreating back. Alaw grabbed his arm and lowered it.
"Forget it Ron, he was only joking, I told you it's a game we play. He's really not that bad when we're working together. Whatever he was like when you were kids, I think he's starting to grow out of it."
Ron and Neville gave identical disbelieving snorts whilst Hermione gave a squeal and pointed at something on Ron's back.
"Ron! Look!" she gasped. Ron spun around and they saw, clinging to his bag with a bewildered expression, a tiny, baby Clabbert. Chuckling, Alaw plucked the frightened creature off the bag-strap.
"I've got Quidditch now," Ron said worriedly. "I'm going to be late!"
"You lot go on, I'll take her back," said Alaw and she turned back towards Hagrid's cabin. Hagrid was nowhere to be seen so she rapped smartly on the front door whilst keeping a careful hold on the Clabbert with her other hand. She heart a lot of banging pots inside the cabin and after a pause, the door was eased open and she saw a sliver of Hagrid's face.
"Oh, it's you Al," he said, opening the door a mite wider. Alaw held up the Clabbert with a grin.
"Look who tried to hitch a lift."
Chuckling, Hagrid took the baby off her and retreated into the cabin. Alaw pushed the door open a little wider so she could follow him in and was greeted with a wall of heat.
"Bloody hell, it's like a furnace in here!" she gasped, fanning herself and looking towards the roaring fire. Then she gasped even louder. "Hagrid! Where did you get that?!"
