Disclaimer 1: This is fanfic. That means I do not own any of it. I just borrow it to play with for a little while and let people see the pathetic results if they really want to.
Disclaimer 2: I'm not making any money from it. It's just for fun.
Disclaimer 3: What isn't borrowed is all made up. None of this is real or most likely at all realistic. Please don't trust any of the information in here. Most likely you know more about whatever I'm writing about than I do.
Disclaimer 4: Attitudes, views and opinions expressed by the characters or in the story are not necessarily those of the author. Even when writing Science Fiction or Fantasy I do not tend to attempt to create perfect/better worlds in which everybody gets a happy end ... or whatever is best for them. Please accept that some characters will have a bad ending or be unhappy.
Disclaimer 5: I intend no insult to anyone. If I offend anyone I'm very sorry. Please understand that it was an accident as I tend to be very clumsy in these things.
Notes: Are house-elves humans? Best ask Professor Umbridge. She'll explain.
Chapter 21: The Eye of the Snake
Professor Hagrid had returned and Care for Magical Creatures promptly became more scary again. The Professor took them into the Forbidden Forest and showed them some very demonic looking carnivorous horses ... Well, he showed Harry and Neville the horses in any case. They were invisible to everybody else. Apparently only people who had seen a human being die could see them. This confused everybody. Harry had had a dream of You-Know-Who killing an old man once, yes, but did that really qualify as seeing him die? And as for Neville, he swore that he had never seen anything of the kind.
"It was You-Know-Who's attack on the nursery institute, actually," Professor Umbridge who had appeared unexpectedly to inspect Professor Hagrid declared. "He murdered one of the nurses when she stepped between him and her charges. Two babies had to witness that crime. I do not remember their names of course, but it will have been these two."
"Oh, but Professor Umbridge!" Hermione squealed in a rather unnaturally fawning tone that made Harry and Ron wince. "Aren't the nurses house-elves?"
"Why yes, of course they are," the Professor replied.
"But we just learned that you have to have seen a human being die in order to be able to see Thestrals," Hermione reminded them all. "Do house-elves count as humans then? Are they to be treated like adult wizards?"
"Oh well, they ... They are classified as beings, Hermione," Professor Umbridge lectured. "That does not exactly give them the same rights that wizards have, but they are above creatures like the Thestrals. If you are concerned that you might get into legal trouble it is certainly safer not to do anything to a house-elf that isn't your own property that would be illegal to do to a wizard, but they are certainly beneath you and you should not tolerate any insolence from them."
After that rather unclear explanation Professor Umbridge returned to making fun of Professor Hagrid. Harry might have enjoyed that show if Professor Umbridge hadn't confiscated his broom. He could not forgive her for that and his anger about it made everything she did seem a lot less funny.
Besides Professor Hagrid looked like he'd been beaten up. Most likely it had just been one of the wild creatures in the forest that hadn't realised that he was helping it out of some trap or treating some injury, but it made him look more pitiful than ridiculous.
As Christmas approached the Gryffindor Quidditch team finally rallied from the loss of three long-standing members and held try-outs for replacements. The new beaters Andrew and John couldn't match Frederick and George for strength or coordination, but made up for that by still being young and looking forward to several more years on the team, while this would have been the twins' last anyway. They'd get stronger with age and improve their teamwork with practise. As far as Harry's replacement as seeker was concerned, though, he actually overheard some people comment that in their opinion Ginevra was even better than he had been and he caught himself actually regretting saving her from the basilisk back in his second year.
Of course he didn't seriously mean that! It was after all in no way little Ginevra's fault that Harry was forbidden to play and Gryffindor was lucky to have such a good replacement seeker. It just hurt to watch other people fly when he couldn’t.
Just a few nights before Christmas Harry once again found himself in the hall with the fountain. He crawled across it to the elevator as he always did, routine having long since taken the edge of nervousness off that part of the journey.
The elevator was as always empty when it arrived and Harry curled up to make sure his tail wasn't caught in the door as it closed and pushed the lowest button with his nose. There was a slight jerk as it started moving again and then the vibrations of it gliding downwards and soon Harry poured out of it again and stretched along the familiar dark corridor. The stone floor felt cold against his belly and Harry thought longingly of taking a sun-bath to replenish his energy. But of course it was night and there wasn't anyone here to cast a warming spell on him either.
Or was there? Harry thought he tasted the smell of a man nearby. He flicked out his tongue and indeed there he was! But he was not supposed to be here and he was not Harry's friend.
Harry raised his head high off the floor and hissed threateningly at the red-haired wizard with his ridiculous little wand. He dodged a spell easily and then he struck sinking his fangs deep into the soft, hot body.