Chapter 8 First lessons
When Alexandra entered the Great Hall for breakfast the next day, surrounded by her new inner circle, the first thing she saw was a small war between the Gryffindor and Slytherin table with Malfoy and his sycophants at the center.
"Hey, Weasley!" shrieked Pansy towards the Gryffindors. "Weasley! The Dementors are coming, Weasley! Woooooooooo!"
The Slytherins laughed but Weasley wasn't paying attention. Displeased by the lack of response, Malfoy quickly threw an apple at his back, causing him to turn around.
"Shove off Malfoy. You weren't any better, I heard you nearly pissed yourself."
It was that moment Alexandra chose to sit down.
"We'll see how you look after our first quidditch match. First game of the season, wouldn't want you fainting, now would we?" Malfoy drawled.
Alexandra chose to help herself to some eggs and bacon, ignoring the usual bittering between the two. She cared little for Quidditch.
Snape appeared a few moments later, somewhat in a slightly better mood than last night. He quickly handed out their course schedules, shooting Alexandra one of his trademark sneers before strolling out the hall.
All without uttering a single word.
She made a small glance at her timetable. Arithmancy at 9:00. What a great way to start the year.
Both Tracey and Theo had chosen Divination, while Blaise and Daphne chose Arithmancy. Fortunately, all four of them chose Care for Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes.
"Ugh, it's no fair we have divination so early in the morning! It's at the top of the bloody north tower!" Tracey groaned in annoyance.
"You wanted to take that stupid thing Trace, calling it an easy OWL."
She lowered her head on the table, giving Daphne the middle finger in response.
"Pretty much everyone takes it for that reason." Theo added. "It wouldn't be so bad if we had a good teacher. I find it an interesting subject, there's a lot more to it than foretelling someone's death."
Alexandra frowned. What did Dumbledore ask again last night? If she had believed in Prophecies? What was he smoking?
"Either of you believe in prophecies?" Alexandra asked his friends, curious on their opinion.
They all shook their heads except Tracey who seemed to have fallen asleep on the table.
"Why do you ask?" Theo frowned.
"It's just something Dumbledore asked me last night. I told him that people who believe in them are fools and he had this odd expression."
"Hmmm, should I ask Trelawney about them? She might know why Dumbledore would be interested."
"Worth a try." Alexandra noted, taking a sip from her pumpkin juice. They continued their breakfast in silence. Alexandra's eyes darted over to the very end of the Slytherin table towards the entrance. The half-blood girl from last night sat on her own, picking at her food with her head down. Everyone was ignoring her, trying to sit as far away from her as possible, avoiding her like she was contagious.
"Come on Tracey, we better go. It's a long way to the North Tower." Theo carefully wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood up to leave. Tracey remained unresponsive.
"Tracey come on!" he shouted, attracting the attention of other students around the table. A slight blush crept on his cheeks, and he moved to shake the girl awake.
"Wait." Daphne whispered.
Alexandra watched her friend curiously as she crept up behind the sleeping Tracey. Once in position she lifted her bag and-
BAM
With all her might, Daphne slammed her school bag on the poor girl's head so hard that it sent a shockwave across the table. Students nearby jumped in shock and a few nearby goblets went flying, spilling their contents everywhere. Half the great hall went silent and turned towards the sudden commotion, intently watching as to what the slimy Slytherins were up to now.
Tracey jolted up as if hit electricity, immediately reaching for Daphne with seeker like reflexes. Fortunately, Daphne was just a tad bit quicker and jumped back just in time. Realizing the gravity of the situation, she made a quick run for the exit.
"I'll see you guys in class!" she shouted and disappeared behind the oak doors. Tracey looked livid, shooting glares left and right at anyone who dared look at her.
Ignoring the throbbing pain in the back of her head, she stood up and grabbed the nearest person by the rim of their robe, who happened to be Theo.
"Let's go." A very angry Tracey said with such icy venom in her voice that it would put Daphne to shame, causing several people nearby to cringe. She all but dragged the struggling Theo out the doors by his robes.
Blaise let out a soft chuckle and returned to his breakfast. No doubt this would be the talk of the day later.
Alexandra and Blaise stayed to finish the remainder of their breakfast before climbing their way up to the seventh floor to class.
Daphne was already outside the classroom, having a heated argument with Granger.
"-your pathetic friends!"
"At least I have real friends unlike you! They only keep you around because you help them with their homework. I mean who would really want to be friends with you anyway?"
"That's not true!"
"Oh yeah? Weasley and the rest is as dumb as they come, but their homework is always flawless."
Hermione turned red and she struggled to come up with a response.
"Well, well, I should have known you'd be here." Alexandra said approaching her from behind.
"Wait a minute, I swear we just saw you on the second floor." Blaise commented with a frown. Alexandra too raised an eyebrow. He was right, they had just seen her going a completely different direction. How the hell did she get there before them?
"You are right Blaise. What are you playing at, mudblood?" Alexandra sneered at her. Hermione paled but quickly regained her senses. Something wasn't right.
"I'm not- I'm not playing at anything. Can't you just be civil for once?"
It was then that the other students began to arrive; mostly Ravenclaws whom Alexandra didn't know well. The only ones she did recognize were Susan from Hufflepuff and Millicent from Slytherin. The two seemed to be getting along pretty well, though Alexandra had never seen them talk and only seen Susan with Hannah before. The two were almost inseparable.
I wonder where Hannah is?
Daphne shot Hermione a threatening look and went over to Millicent.
"Hi Millie. Hi Susan. I didn't know you two were friends. Where is Hannah?" Alexandra heard Daphne ask.
"Hi Daphne. Ah, H-Hannah yeah um, she didn't- I mean she said-"Susan whispered something into Daphne's ear that Alexandra couldn't hear.
Daphne frowned, then smiled, then the two girls broke into giggles.
"Pft, girls." Blaise waved. "Am I the only bloke here? Even the teacher is a woman."
There were indeed more girls standing around than guys.
"Hmm maybe- oh no wait. Terry Boot is here too." Alexandra noted, giving Blaise a slap on the wrist.
"Ah what a joy."
"Just wait until a certain time of the month." Alexandra winked at the now horrified looking Blaise who now wanted to be anywhere but here.
"Maybe I should have listened to Theo and taken Divination."
Professor Vector turned up a few moments later, and ushered them into the classroom.
Alexandra's first Arithmancy lesson was not exactly what she envisioned. Just like Divination, it too evolved around trying to foretell the future, but with numbers and complicated equitation's.
A more logical approach than tea leaves for sure. It also helped that the teacher was sober.
Fortunately, Alexandra had always been good at maths, and her muggle school background came in handy as the others except for Granger and Daphne seemed to struggle. Indeed, the two had started competing for points immediately.
She also took a liking to Professor Vector who while strict, took her subject extremely seriously and had low tolerance for bullshit, and, unlike Snape, she was actually a good teacher.
Unfortunately, she was heavy handed on the home work and they found themselves rather overwhelmed after the very first lesson.
"So, what did Susan say earlier?" Alexandra asked Daphne once the lesson ended. The two plus Blaise were now on their way to charms.
"Hm? Oh, right. Apparently, the reason why Hannah didn't take Arithmancy is because Professor Vector has a reputation for being too strict."
"I think that's a good thing. We finally have a teacher who knows their stuff and can actually teach." Blaise added.
Alexandra wondered what their new DADA teacher would be like. He couldn't be as bad as Lockhart last year, or possessed like Quirrell could he? His tattered appearance didn't instill any hope in her mind however.
For some reason Daphne was looking more and more anxious with each step and kept making nervous glances around the hallways, carefully staying behind Blaise and Alexandra, as if hiding. Her ice mask was on the verge of crumbling and she had her wand out.
"What's wrong with you?" Blaise asked after Daphne quite literally hugged Blaise from behind, using him as shield.
"She isn't here." Alexandra said.
"Who?" Blaise raised an eyebrow.
"Who do you think?!" Daphne snapped at his friend.
It took a few seconds for Blaise to understand what his friend was talking about.
"Come on Daph, what happened to the ice queen we all love?"
At the mention of her nickname, she perked up and looked around in embarrassment.
"Right. I-"
"OOooooeeee. What do we have here?"
Peeves came slowly floating in view before them, his hands strangely behind his back. Alexandra had a bad feeling about this. She slowly took a few steps to the side to avoid whatever the poltergeist was up to. He paid her no mind, his gaze lingering on Daphne instead.
"Icy princy princess was naughty."
"Wha-"
Alexandra saw the danger before her friends and quickly took cover behind the nearest suit of armor. Blaise and Daphne were not so lucky. Peeves suddenly began bombarding them and the whole corridor with water balloons with lightning reflexes and extreme accuracy. Daphne shrieked and grabbed a hold of Blaise, trying to bury herself in him. Blaise fumbled for his wand but Daphne pushed him down to the ground and his wand went flying down the corridor. Peeves just kept cackling and throwing more balloons, now targeting other nearby students who happened to pass by. Where the hell did, he get so many?
Even Alexandra didn't feel so safe anymore behind the suit of armor. She took out her wand and aimed at the poltergeist. It was time to put what she had learned over the summer to the test.
"Depulso!" she cried out, waving his wand exactly as the book had described and as she practiced.
White light shot out from her wand, hitting Peeves dead in the chest. He was momentarily stunned, and several of his bombs fell from his hand, violently exploding on several first years. He gave Alexandra a loud cackle and disappeared through the ceiling.
She stared at where the ghost was with widened eyes. It worked! The banishing charm worked, and on her first try too!
Her hands were now shaking in excitement, she really did not expect it to work so well on the first try.
With a wide grin, she quickly ran up to her friends. Blaise was already up and searching for his wand, but Daphne remained motionless, lying on her stomach in a large puddle of water.
"Daph?" Alexandra whispered.
"Kill me." Daphne groaned. Her clothes were soaked beyond recognition, and her hair had turned into a messy mop.
"Come on, it's not that bad… I'm sure Flitwick can fix you up."
She quickly helped her friend up from the cold floor.
"Ugh. I swear I'm going to-"
"I think you shouldn't." Alexandra interrupted, looking firmly in the eyes. "Now she is even."
"Maybe you're right. I suppose I deserved that." Daphne sighed, wiping water off her clothes. "Let's get to class before he comes back."
"Where did you learn that spell anyway? We don't learn it until next year" Blaise frowned as the three continued to Charms.
"I studied ahead." Alexandra shrugged.
"I thought you couldn't cast spells around your muggle relatives?" Daphne questioned.
"I'm not. This was the first time. I just read the theory and practiced the wand movements over the summer."
Blaise whistled to himself and even Daphne was impressed. Not many 13-year olds could cast that spell by learning it on their own. She had to admit, Alexandra was growing to be a rather powerful witch.
"Got any other spells we haven't learned yet up your sleeve?"
"Maybe… You'll just have to wait and see."
When they got to the charm's classroom, Tracey and Theo were already there. The two were eyeing them up and down. Tracey was smirking, but otherwise she remained expressionless.
"How was your shower? You seemed to have forgotten to dry yourself. Or did you forgot to take off your clothes?" Tracey teased, her eyes shining with mischief.
"Shut up. Consider us even." Daphne mumbled.
"How was Divination?" Alexandra asked.
"Honestly? It was mad. She had us read tea leaves and we had to make up a bunch of nonsense, all while predicting our deaths."
"She creeps me out. She stank of alcohol and the way she looks at you…" Tracey shuddered.
"Did you ask her about prophecies?"
"Oh yeah, though I wish I hadn't. She started ranting about them for like ten minutes. Then Granger started arguing with her and challenging everything she was saying and the two argued for the rest of the class. It was crazy."
"Wait, Granger? Hermione Granger?" Daphne raised an eyebrow.
"Do you know any other Granger?" Theo spat on the floor as if the word "Granger" was insulting to him.
"That can't be. She was with us in Arithmancy for the whole lesson. The bitch had even managed to get more points than me."
"What do you mean? She was in Divination." Tracey said.
"Something's not right about her." Alexandra added. "First we saw her on the 2nd floor going a completely different way but somehow she beat us to Arithmancy. Now you are saying she was in Divination?"
"What are you saying?" Blaise stepped in, looking around to see if anyone was listening.
"Someone must be using Polyjuice to disguise themselves as her." Alexandra whispered.
A slight murmur ran through their little group. Her friends clearly disagreed.
"Are you sure? We didn't see her drink anything, and who would want to turn into her anyway?" Daphne wasn't having any of it.
"Besides, she seemed to behave exactly as you'd expect in Divination. Daphne had also said she beat her in points. No one in our year can do that." Tracey agreed with her friend.
"Maybe an older student then?"
"Could be, but I highly doubt it. We need to keep a close eye on her." Blaise said.
"Mmhm, I want to see her finally expelled, wand snapped and memories wiped." Daphne nodded.
Alexandra smiled at the thought of catching the know it all in whatever illegal act she was doing.
Whatever the know-it-all Granger was up to however, took on a temporarily hiatus as Alexandra and her friends were pleased to get out of the castle after lunch. Yesterday's rain had cleared; the sky was a clear, pale gray, and the grass was springy and damp underfoot as they set off for their first ever Care of Magical Creatures class.
Theo, Blaise and Tracey were engulfed in some Quidditch argument regarding the Chuddley Cannons and the Holyhead Harpies. Alexandra and Daphne walked beside them, neither particularly caring about Quidditch much. Daphne was outright frightened by flying, while Alexandra had better things to focus on. They went down the sloping lawns to Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It was only when they spotted the only-too-familiar red hair of Weasley and the bushy hair of Granger ahead of them that they realized they must be having these lessons with the Gryffindors. The two were arguing over something, which wasn't too surprising since they argued all the time. Their pals, Dean Thomas and Seamus stood by the side. Neville was there too, but more to the sidelines as if scared to get caught up in their argument.
Malfoy was also nearby, talking animatedly to Crabbe and Goyle, who were chortling and eyeing the Gryffindors. Alexandra was quite sure he knew what they were talking about.
Hagrid was waiting for his class at the door of his hut. He stood in his moleskin overcoat, with Fang the boarhound at his heels, looking impatient to start.
"C'mon, now, get a move on!" he called as the class approached.
"Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"
For one nasty moment, Alexandra thought that Hagrid was going to lead them into the forest; she had had enough unpleasant experiences in there to last her a lifetime. However, Hagrid strolled off around the edge of the trees, and five minutes later, they found themselves outside a kind of paddock. There was nothing in there.
"Everyone gather 'round the fence here!" he called. "That's it — make sure yeh can see — now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books —"
"How?" said the cold, drawling voice of Malfoy.
"Eh?" said Hagrid.
"How do we open our books?" Malfoy repeated. He took out his copy of The Monster Book of Monsters, which he had bound shut with a length of rope. Other people took theirs out too; some, had belted their book shut; others had crammed them inside tight bags or clamped them together with binder clips. Daphne's, one looked particularly in a bad shape with most of it's pages torn apart and missing.
"Hasn' — hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?" said Hagrid, looking crestfallen.
The class all shook their heads.
"Yeh've got ter stroke 'em," said Hagrid, as though this was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Look —"
He took Hermione's copy and ripped off the Spellotape that bound it. The book tried to bite, but Hagrid ran a giant forefinger down its spine, and the book shivered, and then fell open and lay quiet in his hand.
Okay what the hell? Was this some cruel joke? Daphne's eyes were twitching from disbelief and anger.
"Oh, how silly we've all been!" Malfoy sneered. "We should have stroked them! Why didn't we guess!"
"I — I thought they were funny," Hagrid said uncertainly to Hermione.
"Oh, tremendously funny!" said Malfoy. "Really witty, giving us books that try and rip our hands off!"
Alexandra snorted. Hagrid was looking downcast.
"Remind me why I chose this class again?" Daphne whispered to Alexandra.
"Because you didn't know Hagrid would be teaching?"
"Righ' then," said Hagrid, who seemed to have lost his thread, "so — so yeh've got yer books an'… an'… now yeh need the Magical Creatures. Yeah. So, I'll go an' get 'em. Hang on…"
He strode away from them into the forest and out of sight.
"God, this place is going to the dogs," said Malfoy loudly. "That oaf teaching classes, my father'll have a fit when I tell him —"
"Shut up, Malfoy," Weasley stepped out of the crowd towards the Slytherins, flanked by Seamus and Dean.
"Careful, Weasley, there's a Dementor behind you —"
"Oooooooh!" squealed Lavender Brown, pointing toward the opposite side of the paddock. Trotting toward them were a dozen of the most bizarre creatures Alexandra had ever seen. They had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings, and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with cruel, steel-colored beaks and large, brilliantly, orange eyes. The talons on their front legs were half a foot long and deadly looking. Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck, which was attached to a long chain, and the ends of all of these were held in the vast hands of Hagrid, who came jogging into the paddock behind the creatures.
"Gee up, there!" he roared, shaking the chains and urging the creatures toward the fence where the class stood. Everyone drew back slightly as Hagrid reached them and tethered the creatures to the fence.
"Hippogriffs!" Hagrid roared happily, waving a hand at them. "Beau'iful, aren' they?"
Alexandra could sort of see what Hagrid meant. Once you got over the first shock of seeing something that was half horse, half bird, you started to appreciate the Hippogriffs' gleaming coats, changing smoothly from feather to hair, each of them a different color: stormy gray, bronze, pinkish roan, gleaming chestnut, and inky black.
"So," said Hagrid, rubbing his hands together and beaming around, "if yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer…"
No one seemed to want to. Weasley, Granger and Neville, however, approached the fence cautiously. Alexandra carefully peered over it from a distance with her hands crossed. Truth be told, they were rather cute but there is no way she trusted Hagrid after all the shit he put her trough before.
"Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' Hippogriffs is, they're proud," said Hagrid. "Easily offended, Hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do."
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle weren't listening; they were talking in an undertone and Alexandra had a feeling they were plotting how best to disrupt the lesson.
"Yeh always wait fer the Hippogriff ter make the firs' move," Hagrid continued. "It's polite, see? Yeh walk toward him, and yeh bow, an' yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt."
"Right — who wants ter go first?"
Most of the class backed farther away in answer. Even Weasley, Granger and Neville had misgivings. Gryffindor courage indeed.
The Hippogriffs were tossing their fierce heads and flexing their powerful wings; they didn't seem to like being tethered like this.
"No one?" said Hagrid, with a pleading look.
Alexandra looked around the class. Weasley seemed be torn and whispered something to Dean.
"I'll do it," came a feminine voice from someone Alexandra least expected. Tracey pushed past her and walked up to the fence.
There was an intake of breath from the crowd, and now the Gryffindors were all excitedly whispering back and forth between each other.
"What is she doing? Is she out of her mind?!" Daphne murmured.
Tracey ignored them. She climbed over the paddock fence.
"Good girl, uh-"
"Tracey. "she grinned to the crowd.
"She's having a field day." Blaise snickered.
"Right then, Tracey! Let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak." Hagrid roared.
He untied one of the chains, pulled the gray Hippogriff away from its fellows, and slipped off its leather collar. The class on the other side of the paddock seemed to be holding its breath. Even Malfoy was watching curiously.
"Easy now, Tracey," said Hagrid quietly. "Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink… Hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too much…"
Buckbeak had turned his great, sharp head and was staring at Tracey with one fierce orange eye. "Tha's it," said Hagrid. "Tha's it, Tracey… now, bow."
Tracey, feeling confident did as she was told. She gave a long bow like she was on a stage and then looked up.
The Hippogriff was still staring haughtily at her. It didn't move.
"Ah," said Hagrid, sounding worried. "Right — back away, now, Tracey, easy does it —"
But then, to Alexandra's enormous surprise, the Hippogriff suddenly bent its scaly front knees and sank into what was an unmistakable bow.
"I can't believe she's done it…" Daphne huffed.
"Well done, Tracey!" said Hagrid, ecstatic. "Right — yeh can touch him! Pat his beak, go on!"
Tracey moved confidently toward the Hippogriff and reached out toward it. She patted the beak several times and the Hippogriff closed its eyes lazily, as though enjoying it.
The Slytherins broke into applause, though most of the Gryffindors remained silent. Weasley and his goons were looking deeply disappointed while Hermione looked jealous.
"Righ' then, Tracey," said Hagrid. "I reckon he migh' let yeh ride him!"
"Really?" Tracey asked excitedly, her eyes gleaming with excitement.
"Yeh climb up there, jus' behind the wing joint," nodded Hagrid, "an' mind yeh don' pull any of his feathers out, he won' like that…"
Tracey put his foot on the top of Buckbeak's wing and hoisted herself onto its back. Buckbeak stood up. Tracey looked confused for a second, most likely unsure where to hold on; everything in front of her was covered with feathers.
"Go on, then!" roared Hagrid, slapping the Hippogriffs hindquarters.
Without warning, twelve-foot wings flapped open on either side of the small girl, she just had time to seize the Hippogriff around the neck before she was soaring upward.
The crowd gasped in surprise, even Malfoy and the Gryffindors looked shocked.
"Oh my god." Daphne shrieked.
"What the hell was Hagrid thinking?" Theo beamed.
"I think she is enjoying it, look!" Alexandra pointed to the flying Hippogriff. Indeed, Tracey seemed to be having the time of her life, as she soared and screamed in excitement overhead. A minute or so later, Hagrid stepped out from the crowd and started waving; the hippogriff came back around and landed with a soft thump on the ground.
"Good work, Tracey!" roared Hagrid as everyone except Weasley and Hermione cheered.
"That was amazing! I'm going to love this class!" Tracey grinned like a maniac at her friends.
"Okay, who else wants a go?"
Emboldened by Tracey's success, the rest of the class climbed cautiously into the paddock. Hagrid untied the Hippogriffs one by one, and soon people were bowing nervously, all over the paddock. Neville ran repeatedly backward from his, which didn't seem to want to bend its knees. Daphne looked reluctant and extremely out of place, constantly fidgeting with her clothes as if scared she'll get dirty.
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had taken over Buckbeak. He had bowed to Malfoy, who was now patting his beak, looking disdainful.
"This is very easy," Malfoy drawled, next to Alexandra. "I knew it must have been, if Davis could do it… I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" he said to the Hippogriff.
"What's the matter Malfoy, jealous that a girl could do it? Here watch this." Weasley interrupted, sneering at them. He quickly moved to the chestnut-colored hippogriff.
Alexandra watched the moron intently. This was going to be good.
He walked up to the hippogriff without even bothering to bow, and instead went straight to try and pat his head.
It happened in a flash of steely talons; Weasley let out a high-pitched scream and next moment, Hagrid was wrestling Buckbeak back into his collar as he strained to get at Weasley, who lay curled in the grass, blood blossoming over his robes.
Malfoy and his friends howled with laughter while the Gryffindors started to panic and scatter.
"Someone help me — gotta get him outta here —" !" yelled Hagrid, who had gone very white. Hermione ran to hold open the gate as Hagrid lifted Weasley easily who had passed out by then. As they ran past, Alexandra saw that there was a long, deep gash on Weasley's arm; blood splattered the grass and Hagrid ran with him, up the slope toward the castle. The rest of the class slowly followed suit.
"What a fool. Was he even listening to what was being said?" Tracey huffed angrily. "The likes of him make creatures like hippogriffs look bad."
The Gryffindors were all shouting about Hagrid.
"What was Hagrid doing? Why didn't he stop him?" said Hermione, who was in tears.
"What's the matter mudblood? Scared that your blood traitor boyfriend will die?" Malfoy sneered. Dean and Seamus stepped up, only to be met by the towering figures of Crabbe and Goyle. All four of them were flexing their muscles threateningly.
Alexandra walked past them and climbed the stone steps into the deserted entrance hall.
"I'm going to see if he's okay!" cried Hermione, and they all watched her run up the marble staircase. The Gryffindors, still muttering about Hagrid and evil Slytherins, headed away in the direction of the Gryffindor Tower.
"You think he'll be all right?" said Tracey nervously.
"Of course, he will be. Madam Pomfrey can mend cuts in about a second," said Alexandra, who had had far worse injuries mended magically by the nurse.
"Since when did you care about that idiot anyway?" Blaise asked.
"I don't give a damn about him but I don't want anything bad to happen to the hippogriffs or for Hagrid to get sacked."
"Really? You didn't seem to like Hagrid before."
"Well, that was before!" Tracey blushed.
"That was a really bad thing to happen in Hagrid's first class, though, wasn't it?" said Daphne "I thought it would be Malfoy to mess things up, not the Gryffs…"
When they reached the great hall at dinner time, Hagrid wasn't at the table.
"They wouldn't fire him, would they?" said Tracey anxiously.
"I didn't know you liked that oaf Davis." Malfoy looked smug.
"He's just misunderstood." she knocked her fists on the table.
Alexandra was watching the Gryffindor table. A large group including Hermione, Dean and Seamus Goyle was huddled together, deep in conversation. Alexandra was sure they were going to blame the Slytherins for what had happened… They wouldn't get Hagrid sacked though, would they? Gryffindors after all seemed to idolize the man.