Author's Note: Sorry that it has been a few weeks since I updated. Real life interfered, and I had a bit of writer's block.
The following day, the DA took it in shifts to visit Hagrid, despite the two feet of snow, though he only told the first group about his and Madam Maxime's trip as envoys to the giants, as the group then told the rest of the DA so he wouldn't have to retell the story several times. Naturally, the DA was upset to hear that the mission failed and the Death Eaters had taken over just when Hagrid and Madam Maxime were making some headway with the first Gurg, or chief. They were also quite shocked by Hagrid's appearance, as he clearly had suffered some serious injuries to his face, even though the later groups had been warned beforehand about it by the first group.
Professor Umbridge turned up in the middle of the third group's visit, which consisted of all the fourth-year Japanese students, Luna, Bianca, Colin, and Tobias. She blinked upon seeing them there and asked, "What are you all doing here?"
"We are visiting Professor Hagrid," replied Daisuke. "We saw that he had returned to Hogwarts and wanted to see him, as we are friends with him."
"I see," said Umbridge, looking as if she wanted to tell them off, but didn't have a valid reason to do so. After all, there was no school rule forbidding students from visiting Hagrid, at least during daylight hours, anyway. "I would like you all to step outside for a few minutes while I speak with him."
The ten students got up and left the cabin. When Umbridge left about fifteen minutes later, they went back inside, where Hagrid told them that she had asked about his leave of absence and informed him that he was going to be inspected. The second group had told him about Umbridge being High Inquisitor and inspecting classes, the fifth house, and everything else going on at Hogwarts (the first group had been too concerned over his injuries and finding out about the giants), so he wasn't surprised by this.
Luna had on her usual dreamy expression, but the others exchanged worried looks, since Umbridge already had a prejudice against Hagrid simply because he was half-giant and the kind of creatures that he normally favored wouldn't help matters. The class with the Nifflers had been fun, and he had done a good job continuing Professor Grubby-Plank's lessons on unicorns, and there had been the lesson on salamanders and the lesson the fifth-years had had on hippogriffs back in their third-year. However, the Blast-Ended Skwerts had been completely awful, though none of the DA would ever say it to his face, and all those lessons on Flobberworms had been extremely boring.
"Hagrid, what are you planning for your lessons Monday?" asked Tobias worriedly.
Hagrid blinked. "The one fer the fifth-years is goin' ter be a surprise. I've bin keepin' a couple o' creatures saved fer OWL year; they're somethin' really special, I 'spect the fifth-years in Unity will tell you."
"Special in what way, Hagrid?" demanded Bianca, looking alarmed.
"I'm not sayin'," said Hagrid happily. "I don't want ter spoil the surprise."
"Look, Professor Hagrid," said Hikari urgently, "Professor Umbridge will not be at all happy if you bring anything to class that is too dangerous."
"Dangerous?" said Hagrid, looking genially bemused. "Don't be silly, I wouldn't give yeh anythin' dangerous! I mean, all righ', they can look after themselves -"
"Professor Hagrid," interrupted Ken firmly, "you are a half-giant and there are not many creatures that you can not handle because of that. However, we are smaller and creatures that are not dangerous to you will be to us. You might want to keep that in mind when picking out creatures for your lessons."
"Oh," said Hagrid, blinking again as if this had never really occurred to him. "Well, what I'm bringin' ter the fifth-year class isn't goin' ter be nothin' they can't handle. They're a domestic herd an' pull the car-" He broke off and took a deep draught of his mug of tea to avoid accidentally revealing anything more, but what he had said was enough to tell them that it was probably thestrals. As thestrals were close to the same level as hippogriffs in terms of danger and the herd at Hogwarts had to be well domesticated if they were used to pull the school carriages, they should be a safe enough to show for the next class. However, there was still his other years to worry about.
"What about the fourth-year class?" asked Colin.
"Tha's goin' ter be a surprise too," answered Hagrid, but he assured them that it wasn't going to be anything they couldn't handle, either. He refused to say anything more on the subject, so the ten gave up and returned to the castle so the next group could visit Hagrid and the rest of the DA could be given a heads-up about Umbridge stopping by and that the next Care of Magical Creatures class for the fifth-years would most likely be on thestrals.
On Monday, there was a new Educational Decree posted on the notice boards, stating, "The High Inquisitor will henceforth have supreme authority over all punishments, sanctions and removal of privileges pertaining to the students of Hogwarts, except the exchange students, and the power to alter such punishments, sanctions and removals of privileges as may have been ordered by other staff members." At the bottom was Minister Fudge's signature and a short list of his titles and awards.
There were dark looks at this and Dennis worriedly asked Colin, "This is because of Professor Sinistra talking to Professor Dumbledore and then his asking Umbridge to leave Unity alone, isn't it?"
"I'm afraid so, Dennis," replied Colin. "Try to stay out of Umbridge's way, all right? I don't want her putting you in detention. And tell the rest of the Hogwarts Four to do the same."
After breakfast, the fifth-year Unity students gathered their school things and headed for Care of Magical Creatures. They were all rather apprehensive as to how the class would turn out if Umbridge was watching them. However, the High Inquisitor was nowhere to be seen as they struggled through the snow towards Hagrid, who stood waiting for them on the edge of the Forest. He did not present a reassuring sight; the bruises that had been purple on Sunday morning were now tinged with green and yellow and some of his cuts still seemed to be bleeding.
James could not understand this: had Hagrid perhaps been attacked by some creature whose venom prevented the wounds it inflicted from healing? As though to complete the ominous picture, Hagrid was carrying what looked like half a dead cow over his shoulder.
"We're workin' in here today!" Hagrid called happily to the approaching students, jerking his head back at the dark trees behind him. "Bit more sheltered! Anyway, they prefer the dark."
"It's definitely thestrals then," Mandy whispered to Theo. "I read up on them and the book said they do prefer the dark."
"Ready?" said Hagrid cheerfully, looking around at the class. "Right, well, I've bin savin' a trip inter the Forest fer yer fifth year. Thought we'd go an' see these creatures in their natural habitat. Now, what we're studyin' today is pretty rare, I reckon I'm probably the on'y person in Britain who's managed ter train 'em."
"Excuse me, Professor Hagrid!" The class turned and saw Deputy Headmaster Hida walking towards them. "Would you have any objection to my looking in on your class? My presence may keep certain people in check."
Hagrid blinked in surprise, but said, "No, Headmaster Hida. Yeh're welcome to be part o' the class. Follow me, everyone!"
They walked for about ten minutes until they reached a place where the trees stood so closely together that it was as dark as twilight and there was no snow at all on the ground. With a grunt, Hagrid deposited his half a cow on the ground, stepped back and turned to face his class, most of whom were looking around a bit nervously.
"Gather roun', gather roun'," Hagrid encouraged. "Now, they'll be attracted by the smell o' the meat but I'm goin' ter give 'em a call anyway, 'cause they'll like ter know it's me."
He turned, shook his shaggy head to get the hair out of his face and gave an odd, shrieking cry that echoed through the dark trees like the call of some monstrous bird. There was silence from the class. Hagrid gave the shrieking cry again. A minute passed in which the class continued to peer nervously over their shoulders and around trees for a first glimpse of whatever it was that was coming, even though they know logically that only those who had seen and understood death could see thestrals. And then, as Hagrid shook his hair back for a third time and expanded his enormous chest, James and the five others that could see thestrals gasped and pointed into the black space between two gnarled yew trees.
A pair of blank, white, shining eyes were growing larger through the gloom and a moment later the dragonish face, neck and then skeletal body of a great, black, winged horse emerged from the darkness. It surveyed the class for a few seconds, swishing its long black tail, then bowed its head and began to tear flesh from the dead cow with its pointed fangs. There were gasps from various students as they heard the sound of flesh tearing and saw flesh stripping themselves away from the bones and vanishing into thin air. It had to look very odd to them.
"Oh, an' here comes another one!" said Hagrid proudly, as a second black horse appeared out of the dark trees, folded its leathery wings closer to its body and dipped its head to gorge on the meat. "Now… put yer hands up, who can see 'em?"
James, Mari, Kyle, Theo, Neville, and Keiko raised their hands. Hagrid looked solemn as he nodded at them. "They're thestrals, right Hagrid?" asked Tracey.
"Right, they're thestrals," said Hagrid proudly. "Hogwarts has got a whole herd of 'em in here. Now, who knows -?"
"But I heard that they're really, really unlucky!" interrupted Parvati. "They're supposed to bring all sorts of horrible misfortune on people who see them. Professor Trelawney told me once -"
"No, no, no," said Hagrid, chuckling, "tha's jus' superstition, that is, they aren' unlucky, they're dead clever an' useful! Course, this lot don' get a lot o' work, it's mainly jus' pullin' the school carriages unless Dumbledore's takin' a long journey an' don' want ter Apparate - an' here's another couple, look -"
Two more horses came quietly out of the trees, one of them passing very close to Parvati, who shivered and pressed herself closer to the tree, saying, "I think I felt something, I think it's near me!"
"Don' worry, it won' hurt yeh," said Hagrid patiently. "Righ', now, who can tell me why some o' yeh can see 'em an' some can't?"
Everyone raised their hand and after a moment of consideration, he called on Anthony.
"Go on then, Anthony," said Hagrid, beaming at him.
"The only people who can see Thestrals," he said, "are people who have seen and understood death."
"Tha's exactly right," said Hagrid solemnly, "ten points ter Rav- I mean Unity. Now, thestrals -"
"Hem, hem." Professor Umbridge had arrived. She was standing a few feet away from James, wearing her green hat and cloak again, her clipboard at the ready. Hagrid, who had never heard Umbridge's fake cough before, was gazing in some concern at the closest thestral, evidently under the impression that it had made the sound.
"Hem, hem."
"Oh, hello!" Hagrid said, smiling, having located the source of the noise.
"You received the note I sent to your cabin this morning?" said Umbridge, in the same loud, slow voice she had used with him yesterday, as though she were addressing somebody both foreign and very slow. "Telling you that I would be inspecting your lesson?"
"Oh, yeah," said Hagrid brightly. "Glad yeh found the place all righ'! Well, as you can see - or, I dunno - can you? We're doin' thestrals today -"
"I'm sorry?" said Professor Umbridge loudly, cupping her hand around her ear and frowning. "What did you say?"
Headmaster Hida, looking annoyed, said sharply, "You heard him perfectly well, Professor Umbridge. Or did you suddenly become deaf this morning? Perhaps you should have your hearing checked."
Several people stifled snickers at this, while Umbridge started in surprise and then flushed pink. "What are you doing here, Deputy Headmaster Hida?"
"I wanted to see what Professor Hagrid's classes were like," he responded mildly. "It was going quite well until you showed up and acted as if you could not hear him. Professor Hagrid, please forgive the interruption. Continue with the thestrals, please."
"Well… anyway…" said Hagrid, turning back to the class and looking slightly flustered, "erm… what was I sayin'?"
"Appears… to… have… poor… short… term… memory," muttered Umbridge, loudly enough for everyone to hear her. Everyone shot her looks of deep loathing and Arata looked as if he was having difficultly restraining himself from shouting at her.
"Oh, yeah," said Hagrid, throwing an uneasy glance at Umbridge's clipboard, but ploughing on valiantly. "Yeah, I was gonna tell yeh how come we got a herd. Yeah, so, we started off with a male an' five females. This one," he patted the first horse to have appeared, "name o' Tenebrus, he's my special favorite, firs' one born here in the Forest -"
"Are you aware," Umbridge said loudly, interrupting him, "that the Ministry of Magic has classified Thestrals as 'dangerous'?"
Hagrid merely chuckled. "Thestrals aren' dangerous! All righ', they might take a bite outta yeh if yeh really annoy them -"
"Shows… signs… of… pleasure… at… idea… of… violence," muttered Umbridge, scribbling on her clipboard again.
"No - come on!" said Hagrid, looking a little anxious now. "I mean, a dog'll bite if yeh bait it, won' it - but Thestrals have jus' got a bad reputation because o' the death thing - people used ter think they were bad omens, didn' they? Jus' didn' understand, did they?"
Umbridge did not answer; she finished writing her last note, then looked up at Hagrid and said, again very loudly and slowly, "Please continue teaching as usual. I am going to walk," she mimed walking, "among the students" (she pointed around at individual members of the class) "and ask them questions." She pointed at her mouth to indicate talking.
Hagrid stared at her, clearly at a complete loss to understand why she was acting as though he did not understand normal English. Chikako made her way over to Umbridge and angrily hissed, "You foul, evil, twisted hag! Just because Professor Hagrid is half-giant does not mean you can treat him as if he is stupid! Nobody in Japan would ever be so prejudiced towards part-humans. You-"
"Shintaro Chikako!" interrupted Headmaster Hida. He continued in Japanese, then said, "You will have detention tonight for being so rude. Professor Umbridge, if you would please refrain from being prejudiced against Professor Hagrid, so that students do not have a reason to, what is the term, ah yes, 'tell you off'. He is quite capable of understanding you without you having to resort to crude sign language. If you feel that your prejudice against part-humans will keep you from inspecting him impartially, then I suggest you find a third party that can do so. I have heard from Minister Kishi that Madam Amelia Bones in the British Ministry of Magic is a fair and impartial person, so might I suggest her?"
Umbridge pasted a fake smile on her face. "Thank you for the suggestion, Headmaster Hida, but I am capable of conducting the inspection impartially. It is not necessary to have the Japanese school interfering in Hogwarts matters."
"Yet it was necessary to have the British Ministry of Magic interfere," he said acidly. "Well, what do I know? I am just a deputy headmaster, not someone high up in the Japanese Ministry. I beg your pardon if I was rude, Professor Umbridge."
She nodded curtly, looked around the class, and said, "I think that will be all. Well, Hagrid," she turned to look up at him again, speaking once more in that loud, slow voice, "I think I've got enough to be getting along with. You will receive" (she mimed taking something from the air in front of her) "the results of your inspection" (she pointed at the clipboard) "in ten days' time." She held up ten stubby little fingers, then, her smile wider and more toadlike than ever before beneath her green hat, she bustled from their midst.
"Did you not hear me tell you that Professor Hagrid was capable of understanding you without any sort of sign language?" snapped Headmaster Hida, following after her. "If this is how teachers appointed by the British Ministry act like, then I-" At that point, he was too far away, so the class couldn't clearly hear the rest of what he was saying, nor Umbridge's reply.
After half an hour, class ended and everyone headed for the castle, thoroughly disgusted by Umbridge's behavior, though they were pleased that Headmaster Hida had done his best to curb her. Several also congratulated Chika for telling her off. They went to Transfiguration, and then at lunch, told the fourth-years about the Care of Magical Creatures lesson.