Disclaimer: As usual.
Summary: See previous chapters.
Chapter Five
The first morning into term, the Third Years discovered that there were far worse things to worry about than Dementors.
For one thing, the boys had decided to check on how the girls were faring after the Dementor scare, only to learn the hard way that there would be no more meeting in the Girl's Dormitory for private discussions. Two statues, of the Greek Goddesses Athena and Artemis, now guarded the corridor leading to their rooms, and attacked any boy over thirteen who came near them.
The attacks were not fatal, and started at deliberate misses as a warning, but since the weapons were of solid marble (even if they were blunted) there were definately some bruises, and the longer that the male intruders tried to persist, the more precise the two warrior goddesses became in their attacks.
The first time it happened, the screams had brought half the house running to see who was being murdered. Once Demetra and Tiberius had stopped laughing at the Third Year boys' affronted expressions and calmed down enough to speak normally, they explained what was going on.
Apparently, this was perfectly normal. It seemed that the Four Founders had decided to add some fail-safes to the Student Dormitories, and put up wards on every way to Third Year Dorms and up.
The nature of the wards varied from House to House, as well. Rumor had it that the staircase to the Gryffindor Girl's Dorms was charmed to turn into a slide whenever a boy tried to go up. Hufflepuff currently had the same charm on each Female Dorm, but changed it to something else every few years. No one was entirely sure about Ravenclaw, but hadn't really bothered to find out lately.
Slytherin, however, had been a bit more paranoid. The Gryffindor wards, for example, could probably be overcome by a simple levitation charm. Slytherin, on the other hand, had been sneakier, placing a different means of deterration on each year, with an extra charm to switch at random intervals, never longer than a few months. This meant that while Third Years currently had the two statues, they could easily change to one of the other four protections at any time. The extra charm had been put in place so that the male students couldn't plan a way around the protection and get good enough to actually succeed before the protection was switched.
At the moment, Fourth Years had it best. The charm on their door resulted in a series of hexes and curses, starting with something like a boils hex and steadily working up to things like human transfiguration. Luckily, the culprit usually got the picture before they got turned into a minnow or something equally embarrassing.
Seventh Years had a spell that turned any teenaged male neon-purple and started shrieking an alarm. The Sixth Years had something that covered intruders with a foul-smelling slime that didn't wash off until they were found and dealt with. The Fifth Years had a gargoyle that sang loudly enough that everyone in the Common Room and other Dorms would come running just to shut the bloody thing off. The song was changed every once in a while to the most annoying song the caster could think of. The most recent change (Roisin suspected a cruel and sadistic half-blood) was the theme-song from 'Barney: The purple dinosaur'.
Whatever the Cunning and Ambitious Founder's faults, you couldn't deny his viciously creative streak.
Luckily, the Founder's had a bit more faith in a girl's judgment and ability to defend her virtue than they did in a boy's ability to resist temptation, so meeting in the boy's dorms was still possible.
The Prefects had sent the boys down to wait in the Common Room, while the girls rushed through morning preparations, still attempting to stifle their giggling, and grabbed their bags before heading off to breakfast.
Draco's consistent taunting of Harry led to dramatic displays of pretending to faint at the breakfast table. Given their own less-than-pleasant experience with Dementors, this did not come off as amusing as Draco might have hoped. A few Slytherins laughed, probably trying to cover up their own reactions to the incident, but most simply glared at Draco for being immature. Roisin, visiting the Gryffindor Table to check on Seamus, regally ignored him and advised all three of her cousins (Mary was sitting with her brother) to do the same.
Returning to the Slytherin Table, Roisin sat down and helped herself to a toasted muffin, reaching for the mulberry jam just as schedules were being passed down the table. A quick glance showed that she had Arithmancy first, followed by Transfiguration, then lunch, and finally Care of Magical Creatures and a free period before dinner.
After a quick breakfast, Draco left for Politics; Pansy to Muggle Studies (Her family had investments in several large Muggle companies, even if they didn't admit it to the rest of the Higher Class Purebloods); Desdemona, Crabbe and Goyle started the long trek to the Divination Tower; and Blaise, Theo and Millicent joined Roisin in searching for the Arithmancy classroom.
Someone had a subtle sense of humor, as the Arithmancy classroom was located in the seventh room in the fourth corridor on the third floor.
Despite the fact that they had only found this out by asking directions from an amused Grey Lady, who had laughed and said that they should search their Arithmancy texts, then spent ten minutes figuring out what she meant, then doing the necessary calculations, they were still among the first to arrive.
Being an elective, the Arithmancy class was composed of students from all four houses. There was Hermione Granger and Dean Thomas from Gryffindor, Ernie Macmillan and Susan Bones from Hufflepuff and Terry Boot, Padma Patil and two others Roisin didn't know from Ravenclaw. Ironically enough, given their reputation as the 'brains' of Hogwarts, the Ravenclaws were the last to arrive.
The class began with a brief explanation of what Arithmancy was and the various things that could be accomplished by it, followed by a mathematical quiz to see what level the students were at, which no-one had been expecting.
Roisin had never been a genius with algebra and area calculations, but she was very good at the more common elements of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. With Beginner's Arithmancy mostly based on these elements, Roisin looked to be off to a good start. It would have been even easier if they didn't have to show workings, but there you were. Question 1. (24 x 7) + (12 x 13).
7 x 4 = 28, 7 x 20 = 140. 28 + 140 = 168.
12 x 10 = 120, 12 x 3 = 36. 120 + 36 = 156.
168 + 156 = 224.
Question 1. Answer: 224
Question 2. Shorthand for a x a x a
Question 2. Answer: a (cubed) …
After an hour of increasingly complex equations, the ten students stumbled out of the classroom, House Rivalry forgotten in the face of overwhelming headaches.
Roisin, Dean and Hermione, all having attended a Muggle School System that placed Maths as a core subject, had not found it too hard, but decided to take the diplomatic approach and let the purebloods have their fun complaining.
Resorting to the 'smile and nod' response as Theo started on an even more detailed complaint, Roisin contented herself with inward laughter as she led the way to Transfiguration.
Transfiguration started with a lecture on Animagi, but Roisin noticed that several of the students were paying more attention to Harry, mostly giving him sympathetic looks, than they were to Professor McGonagall.
Roisin wasn't the only one to have noticed, as the Professor turned herself into a Tabby cat and frowned as she resumed her normal form with a faint 'pop', looking around at the class. "Really, what has gotten into all of you today? Not that it matters, but that's the first time my transformation hasn't received applause from a class."
The distracted students looked at each other, before Hermione raised her hand. "Please, Professor, we've just had our first Divination class, and we were reading tea leaves, and…"
Roisin frowned, exchanging a confused glance with Blaise. Hermione had been in Arithmancy with them just before Transfiguration, how could she have had been in Divination? Professor McGonagall also frowned, but in disapproval. "Ah, of course. No need to say any more, Miss Granger. Tell me, which one of you will be dying this year?"
What? The class as a whole stared at her before Harry finally raised a hand. Professor McGonagall fixed him with a look. "I see. You should know, Potter, that Sybil Trelawney has predicted the death of one student per year since she arrived at this school. None of them have died yet. Seeing death omens is her favorite way of greeting a new class. True seers are very rare, and you look in excellent health to me, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in."
This prompted a round of laughter, even from Harry, although a few of the Divination students still looked a bit wary, and class resumed as normal.
After Transfiguration, the Slytherins headed down to lunch, the normal 'first-day-back' chatter punctuated by telling Desdemona to shut up about Death Omens, especially as Harry had so far managed to get himself into, and somehow survive, life-threatening situations at least once a year, and the whole castle knew it.
Taking a steaming mini-Shepard's pie from a platter and blowing on a steaming fork-full, Roisin mentioned something that had been bothering her. "Hermione said that they had just come from Divination, but she was in Arithmancy with us for the first period. How does that work?"
Having switched Goyle's steak-and-kidney pie with a nearby Seventh-Year's steak-and-guinness pie, Desdemona eagerly watched the large boy's face, waiting as she absently offered a suggestion. "Time-turner, maybe? Only thing I can think of that would let you be in two places at once."
Biting back a giggle as Goyle pulled a spectacular face at the changed taste and spat the mouthful of pie into a napkin, Pansy shot down the suggestion. "Those things are Ministry-Restricted. There is no way a thirteen-year-old with no connections is going to get her hands on a time-turner, especially for something as simple as taking an extra class!"
Conceding the point, Desdemona went back to looking amused at Goyle, stopped when she noticed the glare he gave her, and struck up a conversation on what they thought Care of Magical Creatures, a class that everyone except Millicent and Blaise were taking, would be like.
Given that Hagrid was known for befriending Acromantulas and three-headed dogs, there was a lot to speculate about.
Previous Care of Magical Creatures classes had supposedly taken place in the fields on the other side of the school from the Greenhouses. This year's Care of Magical Creatures classes were apparently going to be taken down near Professor Hagrid's hut, near the Forbidden Forest. Roisin had never been to the Forbidden Forest, but if Desdemona and Draco's terrified stories were to be believed, she probably wanted to keep it that way.
Worse still, Roisin easily spotted a certain Gryffindor Trio ahead of them, which promised trouble in an already potentially-chaotic class.
Hagrid was waiting for them outside his cabin, and while Roisin didn't mind the giant man, and valued his loyalty toward Harry, she didn't quite trust Hagrid's definition of what was safe and appropriate for a first lesson. Biting back her apprehension, Roisin quickened her pace as Hagrid called for the class to get a move on. "Got a real treat for you today. Great lesson coming up. Everyone here? Right, follow me!"
Perhaps it was just Roisin, but she really preferred when Professors spoke in complete and comprehensible sentences. Trying not to sigh, she exchanged looks with Desdemona as they followed Hagrid around to the paddock behind the hut. Unless they were studying something that could be invisible, like demiguises or thestrals, the paddock was empty.
Roisin exchanged another look, this time with Pansy, as Hagrid called for the class to come closer. "Everyone gather 'round the fence here. That's it, make sure yeh can see. Now, the first thing you'll want to do is open your books –"
The last time Roisin had tried to open the Monster Book of Monsters she had nearly lost her hand when the vicious book tried to bite it off! Her book was currently trussed up tighter than a fly in a spider-web, and if the other students' expressions were anything to go by, she hadn't been the only one to have had trouble. Draco, however, was the one who actually voiced the question. "How?"
This stopped Hagrid short, obviously not expecting that any of them would have had trouble. "Eh?"
Draco took out his own Monster Book of Monsters, which had been bound shut with a length of rope. Looking around the class, Roisin could see every other book in a similar condition; clamped closed with belts, rope, bull clips, or crammed into a tight bag. Draco repeated the question, "How do we open our books?"
Hagrid looked crestfallen. "Hasn' – hasn' anyone been able ter open their books?"
Everyone shook their heads, and Hagrid sighed, as though the solution was the most obvious thing in the world. "Yeh've got to stroke them. Look –"
Hagrid grabbed Hermione's book (Roisin was a few seconds slow in offering her own), ripped off the spellotape that held it closed, and ran a huge finger down the spine. To Roisin's surprise and slight annoyance, the book shivered, then fell open and lay quietly in his hand. Draco was equally annoyed, if his tone was any indication. "Oh, how silly we've all been! We should have stroked them! Why didn't we guess?"
Hagrid was looking rather uncertain as Draco continued to express his annoyance until Harry told him to shut up. Hagrid seemed to have lost his thread now, but pulled himself together. "Right then. So…yeh've got yer books… now yeh'll be needing the Magical Creatures. Yeah. I'll just be getting them then…"
Hagrid disappeared into the forest, and Roisin tried to decide if she should be relieved or disappointed. She had been looking forward to this class, and as much as she respected Hagrid, he didn't seem to have the makings of a teacher. Not for the first time, she decided that Draco needed to learn tact, and that disapproval of certain things did not need to be discussed at the top of One's voice. "God, this place is going to the dogs. That oaf teaching classes? My father will have a fit when I tell him…"
Sadly, Roisin was forced to admit that Mr. Malfoy wouldn't be the only one likely to be upset. Both Roisin's grandmother and her 'Aunt' Nessa had also attended Hogwarts, and was unlikely to take this news well. There had been enough complaining when the Monster Book of Monsters had tried to take a bite out of Erin over the holidays. Even if Roisin held off writing to her family, it was a sure bet that either Mary or Seamus had already sent off a letter to tell them of the new Professors. When the twins found out the finer details from Common Room Gossip thanks to the older years...
Meanwhile, yet another confrontation was brewing between Draco and Harry, who had taken offense on Hagrid's behalf. "Shut up, Malfoy!"
Honestly, the two of them needed to work on thinking up original insults and banter. "Careful, Potter, there's a Dementor behind you…"
The class looked to be bad enough on its own, Roisin didn't need infantile bickering on top of it. "Both of you be quiet! We're going to have enough problems with Hagrid's idea of a 'treat'; we don't need you two throwing petty insults on top of it!"
Both Harry and Draco had seen and experienced what Roisin could come up with when annoyed, and fell silent just as Hagrid returned, leading a herd (flock?) of bizarre-looking creatures that had the back half of a horse and the front half of an eagle. They had cruel, steel-colored beaks, brilliant orange eyes and six-inch-long talons. Everyone drew back slightly as Hagrid brought them closer and tied them to the fence.
"Hippogryffs!" Hagrid announced happily, waving a hand at the creatures. "Beautiful, aren't they?"
Once you managed to look past the lethal appearance, Roisin had to agree with the last point. The gleaming coats changed almost seamlessly from feather to hair, in shades ranging from stormy-grey, to bronze, to inky black, and everything in between. It was like the cliffs of Moher; potentially deadly, but still utterly breathtaking.
Roisin snapped out of her daze and went very pale at Hagrid's next words. "So, if yeh all want to come a bit nearer…"
For some reason, no one did. Eventually, the Gryffindor Trio approached, but it was obvious that their actions were more out of loyalty to Hagrid than any particular desire to get close to the Hippogryffs.
Undeterred, Hagrid began the lecture. "Now, the first thing yeh need to know about Hippogryffs is that they're proud. Easily offended, they are. Don't never insult one, because it might be the last thing yeh ever do.
This was not reassuring, but Hagrid continued, seemingly oblivious to his students' dismay. "Yeh always wait for the Hippogryff to make the first move. It's polite, see? Yeh walk toward them, and yeh bow, and yeh wait. If he bows back, then yeh're allowed ta touch him. If he doesn't bow, then back away sharpish, because those talons hurt. Right, who wants to go first?"
Unsurprisingly, most of the class retreated even further, and even Harry, Ron and Hermione looked reluctant. The Hippogryffs were tossing their fierce heads and flexing their wings, and did not look at all happy about being tethered up. Hagrid didn't look much happier, giving them all a pleading look, "No one?"
Harry suddenly stepped forward. "I'll do it."
Some day soon, Roisin was going to sit Harry down and give him a Serious Talk about the difference between extreme bravery and sheer foolishness. Either indifferent to or blithely unaware of Roisin's dismayed expression and everyone else's warnings, Harry climbed over the fence as Hagrid un-collared the grey Hippogryff.
Hagrid's voice was soft as Harry approached. "Easy now, Harry. Yeh've got eye contact, now try not to blink… Hippogryffs don't trust yeh if yeh blink too much…"
Roisin whimpered softly, mentally drafting a letter to inform her family that Harry had been mauled. Telling someone not to blink was practically a guarantee that they would blink. Harry bowed and Roisin saw Desdemona shield her eyes as the Hippogryff only stared at her cousin. Hagrid's tone turned worried and started urging Harry to back away.
Roisin tried not to look, but eventually glanced up as she heard several sighs of relief. The Hippogryff had bent its scaly front legs into an unmistakable bow. Hagrid now sounded completely ecstatic. "Well done, Harry. Right, yeh can touch him now. Pat his beak, go on."
Anyone with even the faintest skill at reading faces could tell that Harry would have much preferred to back away, but slowly approached the Hippogryff and patted its beak as the rest of the class burst into applause. Harry looked as relieved as the rest of them, but quickly changed to something very akin to panic as Hagrid announced that Buckbeak (the Hippogryff) would probably let Harry ride him now, and promptly hoisted the unfortunate Gryffindor onto the Hippogryff's back.
Hagrid slapped Buckbeak on the rump and the creature instantly launched itself into the air, Harry holding on tight. Deciding that trying to watch was only going to give her a panic attack, Roisin sank onto a nearby rock, opened the Monster Book of Monsters, and started to read up on Hippogryffs.
Luckily for all concerned, Harry came back to solid ground in one piece, to loud and relieved cheering. On the downside, now that Harry had proved that it could be done, the rest of the class had no choice but to follow his example and try to approach the Hippogryffs. Roisin was just patting the bronze Hippogryff, Swiftwing, accompanied by a very reluctant Pansy, when a commotion sprung up on the opposite side of the paddock.
The first Hippogryff, Buckbeak, had let out a screech of fury and moved in a flash of steely talons. Seconds later, he was matched by a high-pitched scream from Draco, who was suddenly lying curled on the grass, blood all over his robes. "I'm dying! I'm dying, look at me! It's killed me!"
The class panicked, with the Slytherins rushing over to their injured year mate, Pansy almost as hysterical as Draco. Hagrid had gone very white as he also rushed over, having wrestled Buckbeak back into his collar. "Yer not dying. Someone help me – gotta get him out of here –"
Roisin just beat Hermione in a rush to open the gate as Hagrid sprinted up to the castle, carrying Draco, who everyone could now see had a huge, deep gash on his arm. The rest of the class followed at a walk, with Roisin and Desdemona trying to calm Pansy as the rest of the class started arguing about whether Hagrid or Draco was to blame. Roisin wished they would stop arguing about the blame long enough to think about the potential consequences of the fiasco.
And there would be consequences.
It didn't take long for the shaken class to reach the Castle, where Madam Pomfrey kicked the Slytherins out of the Hospital Wing, sending them back to their Common Room. Grumbling darkly, they went down and joined Blaise, and Millicent, who had only chosen two electives and were waiting for the others to finish Care of Magical Creatures.
Quickly explaining the disaster in Care of Magical Creatures, the Third Years gathered their books and homework assignments and quickly headed back up and across the castle to the Hospital Wing, where they lurked outside until Madam Pomfrey let them back in
Draco was sitting on a bed, his arm heavily bandaged and looking extremely sulky. The other Third Years had barely sat down before Draco launched into a rant about the nurse refusing to let him out until Thursday. Three days to be spent in the bland Hospital Wing! Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle listened with rapt attention, while the others sat back and waited for him to finish.
Used to the Malfoy Heir's rants, and of the quiet opinion that in this case he deserved both the injury and the Hospital stay, Roisin opened her Transfiguration book and started her Animagi essay. "It's strange; becoming an Animagus looks complex and difficult, but could be done with enough time and effort. Why would there only be seven Animagi in a century?"
Blaise threw back his head and laughed outright. "There have been seven registered animagi this century, Rose. The ministry is mad if they think more than one wizard in ten actually registers their form. That's why there's such a heavy fine for being caught if you don't register."
Crabbe backed this up. "He's right. I can name at least five people off the top of my head that are animagi, and not one of them is registered."
Desdemona lit up like a luminous charm and gave Roisin an excited glance. "So, who wants to make that our goal before finishing school?"
For once, she wasn't hit with a quelling glare or a request to shut up, as so many of her ideas were. Quite the opposite, as the rest of the Third Years grinned. Grinning, Draco used his good arm to reach for a fresh sheet of parchment, "I know we have some animagus texts in the library at home. I'll ask Mother to owl me some copies."
Roisin copied Draco's example, as did most of the others. "I found a reference to animagi when I was doing my extra-credit essay for McGonagall over the summer. I'll ask Nana if she knows any books I could use."
hp
hp
hp
hp
A/N: I know the Animagus plot-point has been done to death, but think about it. There are seven registered Animagi in the 1900's, but we have Moony, Padfoot and Prongs becoming Animagi in their fifth year, not to mention Rita Skeeter. That's at least four unregistered Animagi, and if a group of students can do it before they even reach their OWLs, then I refuse to believe that no-one else has tried it. James and Sirius were described as 'exceptionally bright', but they can't be the only clever ones in all of Hogwarts.
A/N: One of my few pet peeves is net-speak, and I honestly prefer no reviews to something like 'I luv the wA u write. update l8r', which tells me all of nothing about the actual story, and becomes annoying after the first few repitions. Also, if you have a question for me to answer or want a reply, give me some way of contacting you, be it e-mail or logged in for a review reply or PM. I'll happily answer questions, but I need some way to actually tell you the answer.
Anyway, despite the long Author's Note, this chapter is finally up and I'll try not to take so long with the next one. If anyone has extra ideas for Slytherin Boggarts, let me know!
Thanks,
Nat
