Harry Potter and the Year he Broke Free

Chapter Thirty-Two: Thestrals

Ugh, his hand hurt so much. Harry's wrist was aching from the sheer amount he had had to write, and when he closed his eyes he could still see rows upon rows of 'I must learn to control my temper' in black ink. Damn McGonagall.

But at least he hadn't had to do it with Umbridge. Who knows what other ways she might have tried to torture him? Harry was sort of glad of whatever sixth-sense he had with that quill, otherwise he didn't know what would have happened.

But what scared him was how close Pomfrey got to his secrets. Were they secrets? Well, Harry supposed so since he hadn't told anyone. And that wasn't about to change. But Pomfrey would tell Dumbledore and McGonagall and Sirius about him wearing a glamour, and then they would want to know why... and Harry had to remind himself how to breathe again as he felt his throat tighten.

Oh well, he would deal with that later. For now, he had to get back to the dorm because it was almost curfew. He quickened his pace - after all, he didn't want to get caught by some prefect and have even more points taken away from him. Getting banned from the quidditch team was more than enough punishment for him, especially since the rest of Gryffindor was bound to react badly. His only valuable attribute to them was that he was a damn good seeker. It just hurt that yet again Umbridge had taken something away from him that he loved. Maybe he could still ask to join training? No, that would be too embarrassing, and having to fly around with whoever replaced him was just going to rub salt in the wound.

One thing he was very curious about was where the hell Umbridge had gotten a blood quill. They weren't easy to come by; maybe in Knockturn Alley, but Harry couldn't imagine her there. An image floated into his head of a toad-like Umbridge tottering down the grubby street, bejewelled pudgy fingers clapsing a shockingly stomach-turning pink handbag close to her, trying to avoid the dodgy crowd that frequented that place. And Harry would know: he had made a few trips down there for rare potion ingredients or books on more exotic magic.

Harry would have to find out how on earth a blood quill got into Hogwarts. Perhaps he could register a complaint about this, and it could go somewhere considering all the power he held on the Wizengamot. But who would take a fifteen-year-old seriously? Certainly not Dumbledore. Harry sometimes wondered what he ever did to be treated like an immature idiot. He would have to ask him sometime.

However, considering how furious the headmaster looked at Umbridge in the hospital wing, maybe Harry wouldn't have to bother. Hell, he would be satisfied if the bitch was fired from Hogwarts, and torturing students was a valid claim to have someone kicked out of the school. But the Ministry was full of slippery bastards who would find some way to keep their eyes and ears at the school.

According to the papers, they all reckoned that Dumbledore was some senile old fool, and had even stripped him of some of his fancy titles. All of which Harry agreed with... for the most part. Whilst his name still carried a lot of weight, it was in the best interests of the Order to have him in the best position possible, so Dumbledore being Supreme Mugwump still would be an immense help. Still, it was good to see Dumbledore finally getting his comeuppance.

Harry groaned as he saw the upcoming portrait of the Fat Lady. She raised her eyebrows before grimacing. "Nice to see you, too," she remarked snidely.


"So, is it true? Did you really get banned from the team?" said Angelina crisply.

Harry finished the last drops of his tea, draining it all in one mouthful. "Yes." He placed his teacup back on the table, and went back to his book which was sitting open on his lap. Despite having answered her, he could still feel her eyes on him. "What? I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do about it. Umbridge banned me. I already asked McGonagall, but she said no." he said, eyes not moving from the page in front of him.

Angelina huffed, then went to go and sit back with her friends. Harry watched her retreating figure morosely, wondering what she would do now. Ginny would have to take his old place again... and Harry would have to watch her zooming around on her broom chasing the golden snitch at matches. He didn't know if he could bring himself to go and sit in the stands with the very people that surely hated him, seeing someone else doing what he loved.

At least not many people were talking about him today - no, the attention was on the Ball in the evening. Dates and dancing were what consumed almost every conversation he overheard that was going on around him, and he was glad he wasn't included. Although he hated dances with a passion, (not to mention he was banned) Harry was certainly not going to miss out on this one. Magic was very handy sometimes.

The plan was to transfigure himself into some random student, and then sneak into the Ball. Hopefully security wasn't too tight, but if he got into a spot of bother he could always use his dad's old cloak or a disillusionment charm. Sometimes Harry wondered what his parents would say about all of this, but it was no use dwelling on the impossible.

First he had to get through lessons, which weren't too bad today. History of Magic first, then Charms, Herbology and double Care of Magical Creatures. Harry hadn't actually been to a Care of Magical Creatures lesson so far, since he'd skipped the last few, because he was doing his own thing or sleeping. Once he had napped through an entire Thursday, completely uprooting his sleep schedule. Not that there was much of a schedule - Harry mostly slept throughout the day and night in short bursts during free periods and the like.

Accustomed to getting some extra sleep during the day, going back into a full-time schedule from eight to three was tough, and now he would be busy with detention and secret defence groups from six till nine-ish. If he was tired now it would only get worse. Maybe he should try coffee... could it measure up to pepper-up? Harry was getting too used to the potions, and he knew all about the dangers of being addicted to pepper-up, if he wasn't already. After all, he had to have it every day now just to function. If he didn't, he was an exhausted mess.


Finally, it was Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid did a visible double-take when he saw Harry approaching, and clumped over to him almost as soon as he reached his hut.

"Harry!" he yelled, sweeping him into a tight hug. Harry was completely frozen in his overbearing grasp, and fought the urge to fight to run. When they pulled apart, Hagrid fixed him with a confused gaze and said, "What happened to yer?"

Harry stepped back, smiling slightly and looking back into those familar eyes that glinted like black beetles. "Sorry I missed the last few lessons. Where were you at the start of term?"

Of course he had heard about Hagrid's disappearance. Well, he had known since yesterday, when he overheard Ron and Hermione talking about it in the corridor after Charms. Harry would've just gone straight to see him, but figured he may as well wait until Care of Magical Creatures the next day. God knows there wasn't much to do in that lesson anyway.

"It's al'right. Where've you been since August?" Hagrid replied.

"Doesn't matter."

Hagrid chuckled, then sighed. "McGonagall told me you'd been difficult lately. I shoulda known I wouldn't be able to get a straight answer outta yer."

"Nobody else has had much luck either," Harry said. Behind him, he could hear a rowdy group beginning to cat-call and whistle.

Harry turned around to find Nott, Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini and Malfoy walking towards him, that idiotic blonde prat swaggering ahead of everyone else.

"Happy to be reunited with your one true love, Potter?" drawled Malfoy, the rest sniggering loudly.

Harry rolled his eyes. "That the best you can do?"

Malfoy quirked a slender eyebrow, glancing at a rather furious looking professor behind him. "C'mon boys, let's go elsewhere. We don't want to interrupt, do we?" Nott (who had recently been returned to human form after spending a week as a fairy) guffawed loudly, and then the Slytherins continued on, past Harry.

"Don' listen to those idiots, Harry," Hagrid muttered under his breath. Harry was about to nod when he saw another figure tottering down the grounds, clad in pink.

"What is she doing here?" Harry said as the squat form of Dolores Umbridge drew nearer. She leered at him and smiled widely.

"Good afternoon, Mr Potter. I am here to review Professor Hagrid's lessons after he struggled to keep up with the new Ministry teaching guidelines." she said, smiling widely at Harry and Hagrid.

He frowned at her. "No, why are you still here? I would've thought you'd been fired."

She gave a tinkling laugh. "Professor Dumbledore and I worked out that particular issue. The Minister himself made sure to clear up any confusion on what I can and cannot do as High Inquisitor of Hogwarts."

Harry bit his lip. If Dumbledore couldn't even stand up to her, what good was he? He wanted to tell her exactly where she could stick her stupid rules and regulations, but that would get him nowhere. All it would result in was more detentions, and he would rather not have any more seeing as he was fully-booked for the next three months.

Something else had struck him as odd, too. "Hagrid, why is she seeing over your lessons? Has she done that to every teacher?"

"Yeah. Had you not 'eard? I s'pose because it's nearly the end of term she's finished with everyone else." he grunted. "But she found my teachin' unsatisfactory, so decided to stick around. She's allowed to do tha' as High Inquisitor, yer'see."

Umbridge had left shortly after she finished her piece, and was talking to the Slytherins with a small smug smile. She laughed loudly, gazing at what could be called fondly at Draco Malfoy, who Harry noticed looked a little revolted. That sour expression quickly disappeared, though, to be replaced with his customary smirk.

"Has anyone else had their lessons monitored?" said Harry.

Hagrid was also watching the Slytherins consorting with the hag. "Erm... le' me see... Trelawney, Binns," he said, counting them off on large fingers. "She even threatened Professor Burbage for a while, but more about the subject material on Muggle Studies. Tha' was ridiculous - Charity's a brilliant teacher, same with McGonagall."

"She tried to fire Professor McGonagall?" said Harry in surprise.

Hagrid laughed. "Yeah, bu' the board was 'aving none of that. I reckon she's the best bleedin' Transifguration Professor we've ever 'ad."

Harry nodded. Had she really tried to boot McGonagall? The idea of her being fired was laughable. Binns and Trelawney, however, he could definitely see being replaced, and Hagrid... he wasn't the best teacher at times. Following the curriculum wasn't exactly the approach he took, more finding the most interesting creatures he could and showing them to the class, regardless of danger. For instance the hippogriffs in third year - extremely tempermental creatures, but once you had befriended them much less hostile, friendly even. Showing them to a class with idiots like Crabbe and Goyle could only go so well, and honestly it was no wonder Malfoy managed to get on the wrong side of Buckbeak with his arrogant disposition.

"Alrigh' class!" bellowed Hagrid, silencing the chattering students that had trickled down the grounds and all stood around Hagrid's hut. "Today we'll be going a little deeper into the forest, so keep close and follow me! Perfectly safe, o' course," he added nervously, seeing Umbridge's sceptical glance.

Harry followed Hagrid deeper into the forest, patches of daylight becoming few and far between as the overhanging branches of towering trees closed them off to the outiside world. It was quite an ethereal effect, really. They arrived at a large paddock that stretched out of view, the corners disappearing into the shadows of the surrounding shrubbery. Harry could hear Umbridge sniffing behind him and complaining about her heels sinking into the mud.

He had sunk into the background, hovering at the edge of the group behind Parvati Patil Lavendar Brown. Those two would never notice he was there bceause clearly whatever they were gossiping about was far more interesting. His hand lay loosely on a fencepost of the paddock encircling that are of the forest; he was in a pretty good position to see whatever creature they were studying today.

Hagrid turned round to face the rest of the group. "Now, can anyone tell me what they know about thestrals?"

To absolutely nobody's surprise, Hermione's hand shot up at once. "Thestrals are skeletal, winged creatures that one can only see when they have known death."

Hagrid beamed at her. "Correct. 10 points to Gryffindor. Hogwarts 'as it's own herd of thestrals that live here, and pull the carriages that take you lot up to school at the beginning of term." He rested his own large hand on the gate. "Most folk don' like thestrals 'cos they reckon they're a symbol of death, but that's a load of codswallop in my opinion. Not a hostile bone in their bodies, thestrals. Completely 'armless."

So, thestrals lived in that paddock? Harry had heard of them, seen illustrations in books and descriptions. Many wizards found them eerie, too quiet, too strange, their appearances spurning the rumours they were sent from the Reaper himself. They were certainly intruiging creatures, and Harry couldn't wait to see one with his own eyes.

But would Harry be able to see a thestral? It wasn't necessarily having witnessed death, otherwise Harry would have seen them pulling the carriages in his earlier years. Being able to see a thestral meant that you had seen a life end, and been changed by it.

Harry's own parents had been killed in front of him, but since he was barely a toddler he wouldn't have had the emotional intelligence to make sense of what was going on, presumably. But... he had certainly felt Cedric's death. He still did, the weight of having survived where he didn't still heavy on his shoulders. Cedric was the smarter one, the older one, the better-looking one, the one with a family, and he was still taken like it was nothing.

A wave of a wand had extinguished the Hufflepuff's life faster than lightning. It still surprised Harry how... easy it was. How quickly he had just gone, like that. And nothing had been the same since he left.

Suddenly, Harry felt the back of his neck getting very, very wet. He twisted round to find an ebony-black muzzle with pupil-less milky white eyes staring at him absently. It had been licking him, apparently, or pressing its nose up to his neck. It snuffled, tossing its sleek head to the side, and Harry's eyes moved further down its body. The thestral had no flesh, black coat clinging to every heavily-outlined bone, like a skeleton horse.

Diagrams did it no justice. Harry was blown away by this amazing creature - this thestral - standing feet away from him. It moved its head over the fence, and nudged his side with something like impatience. He lifted up an arm and brushed it across its forehead slowly, and the thestral exhaled in a quick snort. He couldn't help but give a short, surprised laugh.

"Harry? You all right there?" said Hagrid almost bemusedly. He clomped over and began to stroke the thestral too, Harry moving his hand out of the way to let Hagrid take over. The thestral snorted again, and for a second Harry believed it was because the thestral was sad he left.

"Now, if anyone can't see, this is a thestral. Who can see it?" said Hagrid. Although a few hands went up, a large portion of the class still couldn't see anything. Harry saw Ron nudge Hermione and discreetly ask what they looked like, and then Umbridge furiously scribbling down notes not-so-discreetly. Malfoy looked white as a sheet and was staring directly at the thestral, hands twitching at his sides restlessly.

Neville also had his hand in the air, as well as a few other Slytherins and Gryffindors. But there were still about only six people who could see it out of the entire class.

Hagrid beamed at them all cheerfully. "Now, does anyone want to come and give Richard here a nice stroke?"

Harry spluttered. "Richard?"

Hagrid looked hurt. "Nice name, that."

Blaise Zabini scoffed. "Is there even anything there? What's the point of learning about them if we can't see the bloody things?"

"A very good point, Theodore," said Umbridge serenely. "Unfortunately, Professor Hagrid, unless you can prove that there is anything there-"

"Oh, it's there all right," said Malfoy, taking everyone by surprise. His voice was barely higher than a whisper, and he still looked completely petrified. For once he didn't drawl, and his usual smirk had vanished, leaving a ghost of a frown. His sharp grey eyes were transfixed on the thestral, until they flickered to meet Harry's at the other end of the paddock.

Their gaze could not be considered casual. At least not to Harry - those steely irises locked him in until he felt like he couldn't move, couldn't breathe. Finally, the eye contact broke, and Harry was left with his heart beating out of his chest and feeling extremely confused.

Hagrid looked at Malfoy uncertainly. "Well, if- if you'd like, you can come and stroke him. He won't bite, I promise." He chuckled warmly, but Harry could still tell he was quite nervous. The last time this happened, the creature had almost been executed. Well, technically he was, but... time travel's confusing.

Ron chortled. "No way a spineless bastard like him's doing that."

Harry saw the way Draco's eyes flickered between the redhead and his laughing friends, a crease appearing in his forehead before his head snapped up again.

"Fine," said Draco, and he strode over to where Harry and Hagrid were gathered around the thestral. Almost everyone else had edged away in caution.

A strand of his hair had escaped from the gel, and was hanging idly in front of his eyes, the wind blowing it every other direction. Draco stopped about a few feet away from the thestral, and nodded at Harry.

"You sure it's safe?"

"Course it is. Just- I don't know, stroke him between the ears." Malfoy nodded again, and stretched out a pale hand, fingers grazing its black muzzle. Harry didn't miss the jubilation that leapt across his face for a fraction of a second before being smothered again by contempt.

"There," he said, letting his hand drop. It faltered over Richard's nose, but eventually drifted to his side again. He cast another oddly furtive glance at Harry before going over to join the other Slytherins and beginning a stern discussion with them. Harry could hear "What the hell were you thinking, Draco? You fucking animal-obssessed weirdo," from Nott. But the rest of them seemed to be gazing at him in adoration, Pansy Parkinson lacing a hand in his and resting her head on his shoulder.

He tried to ignore the twinge of annoyance that shot through him when he saw their palms pressed together.

The rest of the afternoon passed in a haze, the double-lesson spent sketching the thestrals, feeding them, having everyone give Richard and his friends a pat, talking about the creatures. Harry was surprised to see how reluctant everyone seemed, despite having been reassured they were harmless. According to Hagrid most people were just put-off by them.

"Gives some a bad feelin', I think. Thestrals are a damn good judge of character, though. Only take a liking to certain people." he said, looking curiously over at Draco, who was bragging to his friends about some new possession of his.

And the thestrals rather liked Harry, always nudging him and wanting a fuss. He happily obliged; after all, there wasn't much else to do. Everyone else had separated off into little groups of friends, and since Harry had none he was rather stuck.

Did he mind having no friends? Harry would be lying if he said no. But after spending six months with no-one but the unsuspecting regulars of Hogsmeade he was used to being alone. Still, it was more than a little jarring walking to each lesson alone, eating meals alone, doing homework by himself. He sometimes missed the joking around with Ron and Hermione's sharp warnings, but they had all made it clear they wanted nothing to do with him, and Harry wasn't about to go and swallow his pride and talk to them when they had left him alone all summer.

They wouldn't want to be friends with him anyway - he wasn't the same Harry that he was last year. He was no fun anymore. And that suited him fine. He and Richard were perfectly content as they were.

"That's right," Harry murmured softly. "Just you and me."

Richard had taken quite a liking to him, and butted his other family members away when they tried to go over to Harry, who felt odd about something being so fiercely protective over him. He stroked his muzzle in the right spot, and Richard's leathery wings fluttered. Harry sighed. "Still a bit of stupid name for a thestral," he said quietly.

"Talking to thestrals, now are we Potter?" came a familiar scathing tone. Harry turned round to find Draco Malfoy of all people standing behind him with an amused expression on his face. "Maybe you are crazy."

"Go away, Malfoy," he snapped.

Draco frowned at him, then shrugged. "Didn't mean anything by it. Just wanted to sat hello again."

Harry was confused for a second, then realised he must be talking about Richard. "Well, go ahead then." he said stiffly.

Malfoy stepped forward and rubbed the thestral's forehead once before stepping back again. Harry smirked.

"What do the other snakes think about your new friend?" he said.

Draco sniffed. "I would never be friends with a thestral." It seemed like Richard heard what he said, because he tossed his head and walked off, away from them.

Harry inwardly groaned. "Thanks a lot."

"Oh, I'm so sorry to take away your only friend." Draco replied coldly. Behind him another thestral came up close, almost at the edge of the fence. Harry was surprised that Draco couldn't feel its breath on his back.

Harry pulled a frightened face. "M-Malfoy, there's something... something behind you."

Draco laughed. "Oh ha, ha, what is it? A butterfly-" his sentence was cut off by a high-pitched shriek as Malfoy turned around to find himself face to face with a thestral. Harry laughed as Malfoy jumped about a foot in the air and crashed into him, their bodies pressed tight for a moment before they sprang apart.

Harry's senses were bombarded with peppermint for all of a few seconds, and their hands met purely by accident, just brushing the skin. He snatched his hand back and saw Draco doing the same, touching the enflamed skin that was tingling from the contact. Malfoy's hair was rather tousled, and a light pink flush dusted his cheeks.

"That was the most hilarious thing I've ever seen," said Harry, beginning to laugh when he remembered Draco's expression. The Draco standing in front of him looked mightily unimpressed, and shook his head.

"Sod off, Potter," he said heatedly, but Harry could make out a ghost of a grin playing at his lips as Malfoy walked away.


Harry smoothed down his robes, turning this way and that in the mirror. His dress robes were just plain black, very similar to the ones he wore last year. But he had grown out of them, and the hem was too high so it stopped halfway up his calf. Sirius had sent these ones along when he hard there was going to be a Christmas Ball.

Yes, he may have been banned, and he could be doing plenty of better things with this spare, detention-free evening but... he may as well go. Plus it would be fun to stick it in Umbridge's face that he had managed to make it in there despite her best efforts to keep him out.

The other boys in the dorm had left half an hour ago, and Harry had jumped up and gotten changed immediately. If this all went well, nobody would ever know that he went to the dance, unless they asked of course... Harry wasn't against throwing out a few hints. But first he had to successfully get in there.

He ran a hand through his hair absent-mindedly, then cursed and tried to flatten it back down again. His bloody air stuck in every other direction as it was. He plucked his invisibility cloak off the bed and draped it over him, rendering him invisible too. Then, he imagined the entrance hall, where students were queueing up to get into the Great Hall. Harry wondered what theme they would go for this year, as last year the hall had been transformed into something out of an ice palace.

He stepped forward and vanished, a loud crack reverbarating through the air.

When Harry opened his eyes again, he found himself standing in the middle of the candle-lit hall, fellow students in dresses and dress robes clustered around him and chattering loudly. Harry's eyes landed on Roger Davies snogging Cho Chang heavily in the corner, and he felt his heart plummet a little into his stomach. He quickly brushed that aside trying not to notice how easily he was able to let go of it and searched for the doors.

Filch stood at the door in his usual filthy get-up, looking as he did every other day except for the small raggedy bow-tie at his neck. He scowled at all the happy students surrounding him, reaching down to stroke Mrs Norris.

It looked like they hadn't even opened the doors yet, which would give Harry a good opportunity to craft a disguise. Going around underneath the invisibilty cloak all evening was not advisable; what if he tripped and fell, revealing himself? Or someone brushed past him? It was much better to make himself seen, act like every other student at the dance.

He ducked into some nearby empty toilets and spelled the door shut, triple-checking each incantation. He had to be careful.

Harry turned to the mirrors and ignored his pallor complexion and eyes encompassed in dark shadows and pulled out his wand, imagining exactly what he wanted to look like. Very soon the doppelganger in the mirror shifted and changed to display a young-looking student with a crop of curly bronze hair and deep-bluish eyes. He even added a heavy dusting of freckles over his nose, making them trail onto his cheeks.

Well, now he looked very... normal. But the glasses - Harry waved his wand over them until they were almost square, flicking up at the top a little. There. Now you couldn't distinguish who he really was.

If anyone asked, he was Tony Evergreen, the Minister's home-schooled nephew that was kept out of the public eye for most of his life. But tonight, he wanted to go out and have some fun. But hopefully no-one would ask and he could go the rest of the night pretending to be somebody else.

Harry grinned at himself, and in the mirror Tony smiled back at him. He unlocked the door, and left for the dance.


*I don't own anything, it all belongs to J.K. Rowling. Okay, I know the timeline for the thestral lesson might be a little off, but it doesn't matter too much. Hope you all enjoyed! Thanks, Tea33. Oh, and thank you all so much for the favourites, follows and reviews! Stay safe people :)