When Harrison woke up to the sound of water lapping across the Dungeon's walls and windows, and the faint light of the sun seeping through the water and into his room, he felt normal. But when he recalled everything before this morning, every event that got him in his dorm room, he felt his stomach twist.
Everyone else was still asleep so he must've woken up early.
Harrison decided to use the shower since he was up first and wouldn't have to fight about which two of them got to use the bathrooms first.
He took his sweet time and in the shower, he examined the cuts in his legs and arms. They weren't bad, they were nothing that would scar him long either. But the scar on his forehead, it was the one he hated the most. He had believed he scraped it when he fell after his father had punched him. He actually appreciated his overgrown hair for the first time in months.
Once he got done with his shower, he saw that Draco and Blaise were just waking up and were quietly arguing about the showers.
"Finally," Blaise exclaimed, sounding very exhausted. "I'm not waiting for this greasehead to get out of the shower this year," he jabbed his thumb towards Draco, who was glaring at him through his bangs that were a result from his bed head.
"I haven't slicked my hair back in awhile, just so you know," Draco told Blaide matter-of-factly.
"I bet you spent more Galleons on hair grease than you did for any of your brooms."
Draco rolled his eyes, storming into the bathroom. Blaise laughed all the way to the other one, shutting the door lightly behind him.
It didn't take long for Blaise and Draco to get out of the shower, and by the time they did, it was time for breakfast.
They went to the common room and Harrison was getting all sorts of weird looks and points. He could hear the whispers about Death Eaters and kidnapping from his peers, and he did his best to drown it out with Blaise's and Draco's conversation.
Harrison spotted Delphi standing near the entrance with Pansy and Daphne who were glancing around impatiently, as if they were waiting for someone.
As the three boys approached, the girls spotted them as well, and Daphne was the first who ran over, wrapping Harrison in a hug that sent him stumbling a few feet backwards.
"You're actually here!" Daphne cried into Harrison's shoulder. "Oh, I thought you had died, Harrison! I'm so glad you're safe!"
"I'm sorry I never wrote to you-"
"Forget about that!" Daphne interrupted, releasing Harrison from her hug. She smoothed out her robes and skirt, fixing the strand of hair that she had misplaced as she ran over to Harrison. "I'm just glad you're alright," she whimpered, as she wiped the tears from her eyes away.
"Harrison," Pansy called, walking over to him and Daphne. "Did you father actually torture you? With the Cruciatus Curse and everything?" she asked, lowering her voice.
"Y-yeah," Harrison answered, feeling uncomfortable with the memory being brought up.
"Are you two done fangirling?" Delphi asked tiredly, sending Pansy and Daphne an unamused look. "We're going to miss breakfast, and we all know that if we don't get there soon enough, Longbottom is gonna eat all of the food."
They all laughed, and Delphi smirked smugly at her own joke.
"I heard he fainted on the train yesterday," Draco told them as left the common room.
"Oh yeah — Astoria told us at the feast!" Pansy added on.
"Did she tell you what happened?" Harrison asked, intrigued on hearing why Longbottom fainted. His guess was he got scared of his own shadow.
"Her and Ginny were sitting together when the train broke down and they decided to go to Weasel's compartment. He was sitting with Granger and Longbottom, of course, and the Dementor stopped by their compartment and Longbottom just fainted right there in his seat."
"The money I would've paid to see that," Delphi sighed, clearly imagining the scene.
Harrison would've mentioned how he fainted from the Dementor attacking him and Luna, but he knew Delphi would yell at him about sitting with Luna Lovegood of all people. So he kept quiet and listened to his friend's conversation instead.
Once they made it to the Great Hall, Delphi decided to stop by the Gryffindor table before they went to their own. They stopped by a certain three Gryffindors.
"Longbottom," she called, earning the attention of the fat boy. "Is it true that you actually fainted on the train yesterday?"
Neville turned red, he lowered his head with shame.
The Slytherins laughed in sync.
"Ignore her, Neville," Hermione told him, turning her friend away from Delphi. "I don't believe she reacted well to those Dementors either."
"At least I didn't faint like a wuss," Delphi snapped defensively.
"How pathetic did Longbottom look when he fainted, Granger?" Draco asked.
Weasley stood from the table, grabbing Draco by the collar of his robes. He bumped into Harrison, who went stumbling back slightly.
Harrison reached for his wand, but the hand that grabbed his wrist made him wince. He recognized it at Severus', and all of the nearby Gryffindors groaned, knowing they were going to get points taken away.
"Hands off of Malfoy, Weasely," Snape said before he let go of Harrison's wrist. He gilded over to Draco and Ron, separating them.
"Ten points from Gryffindor for attacking a student, Weasley," Snape said. He glanced over at the hourglasses of points and Gryffindor had been taken into the negatives by ten points, and that just secured Gryffindor in fourth place.
Harrison looked to the staff table and saw McGonagall glowering at the Hourglasses.
"It's been less than a day since Hogwarts started and you're already causing trouble. Do you aspire to have Gryffindor lose the House Cup every single year?"
"Your saying as if it is a bad thing, Professor," Draco interjected.
"It is not that I don't mind, of course."
"Malfoy and Lestrange came over here to start problems first!" Weasley argued.
"And they've been doing it for the past two years, Weasley," Snape drawled and rolled his eyes. "It's embarrassing that you allow yourself to get provoked by these two everytime, or is it just that you are incapable of handling a few insults?"
Weasley flustered, turning red in the ears.
"Go sit down for breakfast, all of you." Snape sent a stern glare to every single one of them.
"And Riddle," Snape called and a quiet gasp went through the nearby students as they searched for Harrison in the group of Slytherins.
"The Headmaster would like you to speak with you after dinner… another meeting."
Harrison was unresponsive for a few seconds as he remembered the argument the two had the night before. "A-alright," was all he managed to say.
Harrison walked to the Slytherin table and sat down in between Delphi and Daphne.
The looks and glances didn't stop coming, and they were coming from just about everyone — even the teachers at the staff table tried to get a good look at Harrison. He kept his head low and kept his eyes on his plate.
"We have Care of Magical Creatures with Gryffindor," Blaise grumbled, as he examined his time table. He, like the rest of his friends, didn't seem to notice the stares. "Great way to start off the year," he exclaimed bleakly.
"We don't have Ancient Runes today," Delphi murmured to Harrison, pointing at his timetable. Her finger went down the list of classes for their class today, they had Transfiguration for their first class today.
"Divination after Transfiguration then its Care of Magical Creatures for you. I took Arithmancy instead," Daphne added on, also peering down at Harrison's schedule.
"Ugh, if Care of Magical Creatures is boring, I'm quitting. I'll just be taking Divination and Ancient Runes then," Delphi grumbled, stabbing her pancakes as she glanced over at the staff table, most likely looking for the Care of Magical Creature's Professor.
After breakfast, they went to Transfiguration and McGonagall went by with her class normally, but she kept on sending Harrison looks that he identified as glares.
He hadn't done anything though, but he assumed she didn't believe his story the same way Dumbledore didn't.
After Transfiguration, they went to Divination with help of Emery who came by just to show them the way to their next class.
They had to climb up a ladder to get inside the classroom, and not even a minute standing in the classroom, Harrison started to sweat. It was blazing hot and he began to fan himself, as he looked around the unfamiliar classroom.
It was a circular classroom that was rather small with twenty small circular tables that were somehow able to fit in the classroom.
"Now I wish I wore a skirt today," Delphi sighed, and just like everyone else, she was sweating heavily.
"You own skirts?" Blaise asked. For that remark, he earned a jab in the side from Delphi.
"Welcome," a soft, misty voice greeted from the shadows.
All the Slytherins directed their eyes towards the source of the noise, but as far as their eyes could see, the shadows were talking to them.
"How nice to see you in the physical world at last."
A figure stepped out from the shadows and Harrison recoiled, taken aback from how odd the lady looked. Frizzy, graying hair and large glasses that made her eyes look insect-like. By the growing sneers on most of his friend's faces, they were displeased with their Professor's appearance too.
"Sit, my children, sit."
Draco, Harrison, Blaise and Delphi went to go sit at the same table, they realized there were only three seats. Draco sat down, Pansy quickly skipped over to sink into the seat right next to him. Harrison decided to take the last open seat. Blaise and Delphi were left standing so they sat at the table right across from them, where Daphne already took a seat at.
"Welcome to Divination," said the odd Professor. "My name is Professor Trelawney. You may have not seen me before. I find that descending too often into the hustle and bustle of the main school clouds my Inner Eye."
Harrison rolled up the sleeves of his robes slightly so they weren't covering his forearm anymore. It barely helped because he was still hot.
"So you have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts-"
Professor Trelawney was cut off by the snorts from Delphi and Blaise, who were obviously struggling to hold in their giggles about something.
"I-is something funny?"
"No Professor," Delphi told her, flashing Trelawney a fake smile. "Continue, please."
"As I was saying, Divination is the most difficult of magical arts, but I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you… Books can take you only so far in this field."
Harrison could now see why Delphi and Blaise were silently, hysterically laughing in their seats. Professor Trelawney was a joke.
A class without books? It was understandable for flying classes, but Divination? And it was just the fact she said it was the 'hardest branches of magic,' Harrison could think of much harder.
He glanced over at Draco and Pansy and they were not even paying attention to a thing Professor Trelawney said, they were engaged in their own quiet conversation.
"Many Witches and Wizards, talented though they are in the area of loud bangs and smells and sudden disappearings, are yet unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of the future," Professor Trelawney went on, her enormous, gleaming eyes moving from face to nervous face. "It is a gift granted to few. You, boy," she said suddenly to Theo, who was on his way to sleep.
He barely opened his eyes and stared up tiredly at the Professor — it was probably the heat and overwhelming smell of perfume getting to him.
"Yes?" he groaned.
"Your mother, is she well?"
"My mother is dead," Theo deadpanned, glaring up at Professor Trelawney.
"As I-I predicted!" Professor Trelawney exclaimed, sounding unsure of herself, as if she changed her answer last second.
"W-we will be covering the basic methods of Divination this year. The first term will be devoted to reading the tea leaves. Next term we shall progress to palmistry. By the way, my dear," she shot suddenly at Delphi, who had stopped giggling at once.
"You will suffer a great fright on Halloween night."
"Oh no, I was not expecting that," Delphi mumbled quietly, so only the people close could hear.
The two tables of friends laughed quietly, but it was ignored by their Professor.
"In the second term," Professor Trelawney went on, "we shall progress to the crystal ball — if we have finished with fire omens, that is. Unfortunately, classes will be disrupted in February by a nasty bout of flu. I myself will lose my voice. And around Easter, one of our number will leave us forever."
Harrison looked at his friends and they all had different expressions etched on their faces.
Daphne, who was sitting right beside him, had discreetly been covering her nose with one finger because of the overwhelming smell of perfume in the classroom.
Delphi had been smirking, probably plotting a way to embarrass Professor Trelawney like she had done to Professor Lockhart in his first class last year. Blaise was obviously talking under his hand to Delphi, who was laughing girlishly at whatever he was mumbling to her.
Draco seemed rather smug at the moment, maybe because he was talking to Pansy rather than paying attention.
"You dear," Professor Trelawney said to Daphne. "Please pass that teapot."
Daphne scoffed, she looked offended that she was asked to retrieve something for a teacher. She stood reluctantly, and passed the teapot to Professor Trelawney.
"Ah, a month from now I see you sadder than you ever were before."
"I won't hold my breath," Daphne sighed audibly for the whole class to hear.
"Now, I want you all to divide into pairs. Collect a teacup from the shelf, come to me, and I will fill it. Then sit down and drink, drink until only the dregs remain. Swill these around the cup three times with the left hand, then turn the cup upside down on its saucer, wait for the last of the tea to drain away, then give your cup to your partner to read. You will interpret the patterns using pages five and six of Unfogging the Future. I shall move among you, helping and instructing."
Professor Trelawney clapped her hands twice, signaling everyone to find their pairs.
Harrison turned to Draco, but he and Pansy were already up to get their cups of tea. He looked over to Delphi and Blaise, but they had gone to get their cups too.
Daphne was staring at him, a weak smile on her face.
"Want to work together?" he asked Daphne.
She agreed and they found a different table to sit at and drink their rather bitter tea. Once they were done, they pulled out their Unfogging the Future books and began to inspect the spots of brown mush at the bottom of each other's cups.
"Alright, you have this shape that looks like lips a bit… but this way," Harrison said as he turned his cup around so the handle was facing him. "It looks like a tree…"
Harrison consulted Unfogging the Future and examined the book to see what lips meant.
"There it is — if this is a pair of lips then you, Daphne, will be either very happy or very sad in the near future. And the tree," he flipped through the book, "it means relief of something — so you'll be very happy or sad, but relieved about it.
"Are you sure?" Daphne frowned, slightly getting out of her seat to peer down at Harrison's book.
"No… I don't think my Inner Eye is that good."
Daphne stifled her giggles and pretended to be working when Professor Trelawney swooped by their table as she adjusted her shawl, her eyes peered down into their cups with curiosity.
"Mhm," she squeaked, swooping over to Draco's and Pansy's table. She started to scold them because they had barely begun to drink their tea because they were talking too much.
"What do you see for mines?" asked Harrison.
Daphne sat back down in her seat, and tilted her head all types of way as she looked down into the teacup. Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to identify what she was looking at.
"Um, something like the number seven," Daphne said. She kept rotating the cup as she tilted her head back and forth. She finally stopped and brought the cup up to her face to examine the smudge closer. "Then this way it looks like a wand…"
Daphne set her cup aside and looked into her own book of Unfogging the Future.
"Right, so you're going to be lucky and very skilled with your wand."
"Doesn't sound too far from the truth," said Harrison as Professor Trelawney cleared her throat loudly.
"You see here dear, you have a star. A two point star," Professor Trelawney said, pointing out something in Delphi's cup.
"So you have a very very dark path ahead of you, but that is where you will succeed the most. Yes, this star only shines in the dark."
"So I'll be a Dark Witch?" asked Delphi. She sounded just a bit too happy about her question.
"Something like that-"
Professor Trelawney began turning Delphi's cup in her hand, pausing every couple of turns to give a new prediction. "You, my dear, have a very dark and dangerous path ahead of you for the next year… do beware of the man of the snakes."
Delphi nodded her head, as if she was intrigued in what the Professor had been saying — her glowering eyes said otherwise.
"What about me, Professor?" Harrison interjected, holding his cup up for the Professor.
Professor Trelawney set Delphi's cup aside and took Harrison's. She began turning, not once tilting her head to the side like everyone else had.
"Oh no… not good, not good at all," Professor Trelawney murmured as she stared down into his cup fearfully.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Delphi and Blaise making dramatic, scared faces, probably to poke fun at him.
Harrison rolled his eyes and turned to Professor Trelawney. "What is it Professor?" he asked.
After one last final turn of his cup, Professor Trelawney shrieked, shielding her eyes from the cup.
Theo almost fell out of his seat and looked around the room wildly, frightened out of his mind by Professor Trelawney's scream. The Slytherins all laughed at him.
"The Grim!" she weeped.
Harrison's smile faded and he had just hoped the Grim meant something different in Divination.
"What does that mean, Professor?"
"You, my dear, have the worst omen of all — the omen of the Grim — it is the omen of death!" Professor Trelawney cried dramatically and Delphi was no longer able to hold in her laughter.
She buckled over in her seat, Blaise following after with his own laughter.
"S-sorry Professor," Delphi wheezed as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
"But I do have a question," Delphi added once she was able to push down the laughter in her chest. Blaise however was still sniggering beside her, and she must have mumbled some joke to him before they both erupted into laughter — Harrison had never seen Blaise laugh so hard.
"Y-yes?" Professor Trelawney asked. She looked a bit taken aback.
"Is it really good for you, Professor, to be predicting student's deaths outloud?" Delphi put on her best innocent face, the same one she put on when she asked Lockhart a similar embarrassing question last year.
"What do you ever mean?"
"Since you're a Seer, as you put it, your prediction is most likely going to be correct so you might as well be waving Harrison's corpse around for the whole class to examine."
"B-but it is a prediction, deary-"
"But you're a Seer," Delphi deadpanned. She seemed to be holding the urge to roll her eyes. "You can see into the future, and you see Harrison dying, don't you?"
"W-well-"
"I don't think Professor Dumbledore will take it lightly if he hears his Professor is announcing a student's certain death."
Professor Trelawney started to stutter, clearly unsure of what to say. Delphi had done it again, and she looked very proud in herself.
Eventually the Professor managed to get the class working again, and she seemed to be deep in thought as she stared at Delphi, a lot.
After class, the Slytherins were indifferent about Divination. Some of them believed what Professor Trelawney had said, and some believed she was just as crazy as she seemed.
"Harrison, mate, we might as well start planning your funeral," Blaise sighed, gripping Harrison on the shoulder.
"Shut it, Blaise," Harrison snapped, throwing his friend's hand off of his shoulder. "I don't believe a word Professor Trelawney said. I mean, look at her. I can't take someone who looks like that seriously."
"I don't know," Draco groaned, "you saw the Grim before and Professor Trelawney is a Seer-"
"As she claims," Delphi chimed in.
"Whatever. If she sees you dying then Blaise is right."
"What type of wood do you want for your coffin?" Blaise asked as he rubbed his chin, as if he was actually thinking hard. "Same wood as your wand or birch? I think birch would match your dead complexion."
"Thanks for assuring my worries," Harrison growled, not at all amused by Blaise's jokes.
They went to lunch and Harrison didn't eat that much. He talked with his friends instead and steered away from the Prophet.
As Harrison was talking with Delphi about Quidditch matches, he felt something hit the back of his head. In response, he looked around wildly then saw a crumpled ball of paper on the floor.
He reached down to pick it up, Delphi watched him curiously.
He opened up the crumpled note and saw very messy handwriting.
"Did you actually get kidnapped… Weasley."
"Why does he want to know?" Delphi snapped. She snatched the note, almost tearing it in half.
"Give it back!"
"You're not making friends with Weasley, are you?"
"What do you take me for? A Blood Traitor? Now give it back."
"What's that?" Draco asked and he grabbed the note from Delphi and read it over himself. "Why does Weasley want to know?" he asked.
"Want to know what?" Blaise asked, joining in in examining the note. "Why does he want to know?" Blaise repeated, looking up at Harrison.
Harrison reached over, and snatched the note back. "Oh I don't know, maybe it's because I saved his damn sister from the Chamber of Secrets last year. Who knows," Harrison said in mock puzzlement.
He reached into his bag and pulled out a quill, and began to write back on the note. He only said: yes, and crumpled it back up before he threw it at the Gryffindor table, hitting Weasley on the head.
He looked around wildly just like Harrison had done. He eventually found the note on the floor and read it over. He whispered something to Longbottom and Granger before writing a response on the note. He glanced around before throwing the note back to the Slytherin table, Harrison caught it because he was paying attention this time.
"Did you get kidnapped by You-Know-Who?" Harrison read outloud to his friends who were all trying to get a look at the note.
"If I were you, I'd tell Weasel to mind his business," Blaise told him.
"I know you would," Harrison sighed.
He wrote: yes, once again and threw the note back at Weasley. He had caught and read it with Granger and Longbottom over his shoulders. They started to exchange uncomfortable looks and started to glance back at the Slytherin table.
"You would've thought those three would've been overjoyed to hear what happened to you. They're acting as if we haven't hated each other for the past three years," Delphi complained, sending a glower at the Gryffindor table.
"Those three arent heartless like you, Delphi," Draco said bleakly.
"Whatever."
After lunch, Harrison was glad he was outside, but he had started to become tired. He wondered if he asked to go to the common room, he would be allowed — but from what he heard the Care of Magical Creatures teacher was harsh.
The Slytherin four trotted down the hill to make their way to the edge of the Forbidden Forest for their last class of the day. Theo and their goons had joined them on their walk. Theo took it as the chance to ask Harrison the same question he had been asked all day. He didn't mind answering it because Theo was one of his best friends, but he swore he would make Professor Trelawney's prediction come true himself if someone mentioned it again.
The Slytherins were the first to arrive — as always — since the Gryffindors were too carefree and improper to bother and show up on time.
"The teacher and the Gryffindors are late," Draco scowled. "I bet whatever Professor we have was a Gryffindor too."
Pansy laughed obnoxiously at his joke and earned an eyeroll from Delphi.
"Did you hear how Longbottom fainted on the train?" Delphi asked Theo quietly, but Harrison had overheard.
"He did? The amount of money I would've paid to see that."
"I said the same thing! It was so funny seeing his fat face turn red when I mentioned it this morning."
Delphi and Theo snickered with each other, and began to laugh a bit louder when the Gryffindors came into sight on the top of the hill. The further they walked down, the closer they seemed and Harrison could make out the Gryffindor Trio in the crowd.
The door to Hagrid's hut swung open and the giant man stomped out. Harrison had noticed dead rodents tied to his chest.
"Sorry class," Hagrid huffed out, he sounded out of breath almost. "Fang was causing me some trouble."
"He's teaching us?" Pansy asked in disbelief.
"It looks like Draco has opened his Inner Eye," Blaise announced and his joke earned a laugh from all of them.
"I got a treat fer all of yeh. Great lesson commin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"
Hagrid hadn't led the class past the trees of the Forbidden Forest, and by the look on Weasley's face, he wasn't anticipating passing into those trees either. Instead, they wandered on the outside of the trees for a couple of minutes, after they came across an area with a fence. There was nothing inside the fence.
"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?" Draco drawled, interrupting the giant.
"Eh?"
"How do we open our books?" Draco repeated. He took out his book of the Monster Book of Monster, which he had kept shut with a rope. The others took out their own, Harrison following along. Some had used belts to keep it shut, others with binder clips or just keeping them inside a very tight bag.
"Hasn' — hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?" asked Hagrid, gulping nervously.
Everyone shook their heads simultaneously.
"Yeh've got ter stroke 'em," explained Hagrid, as if he was talking to a bunch of idiots.
He seized Granger's copy and took his long finger and stroked her book's spine. It wiggled before falling open in his huge hand.
"Oh, how silly we've all been!" Draco sneered. "We should have stoked them! Why didn't we guess that, Delphi?" Draco asked the closest person next to him which was his cousin.
"Maybe because it's the dumbest thing I've been told to do to a book," Delphi answered bleakly, rolling her eyes at the Giant.
"I — I thought they were funny," Hagrid said uncertainly to Granger.
"Oh, tremendously funny!" Draco exclaimed sarcastically. "Really witty, giving us books that try and rip our hands off!"
A little to the side of him, Harrison could've sworn he heard Neville mumbled something whilst keeping his glare up at Draco who was not paying any attention to him.
"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."
Hagrid strode off from the class, disappearing into the thick forest.
"God, this place is going to the dogs," Draco complained loudly to no one in particular. "Can't wait until my father hears that Dumbledore has that oaf teaching classes."
Harrison snorted loudly, but not loud enough for anyone else to hear except his friends.
"Shut up, Malfoy," Neville said. Harrison figured that is what he mumbled the first time.
Delphi's uninterested demeanor faded in an instant, and she leered down at Longbottom, who hadn't in the slightest gotten taller than her over the summer. Harrison had only realized then he was just barely an inch taller than Delphi — it was something he was doubting to see ever in his life.
"How cute," she sighed. "Baby Longbottom is showing his Gryffindor bravery! But I must warn you, I've mastered the Reductor spell and you won't be carried away from this class so easily this time, Longbottom. They'll have to pick you up, peice by peice."
Harrison wished Delphi was making an empty threat.
There was an uproar of ooo's and snickering. The Gryffindors looked to see the commotion.
Lognbottom switched his glare to Delphi for just a while until he saw Draco raised a hand to silence everyone and they all quieted down reluctantly.
He swaggered forward so he stopped right in front of Longbottom who hadn't been trembling in fear yet. To Harrison, he seemed to get braver and braver by the year.
It was just an intense glare duel at first before Draco began to slowly back up and whimper. He looked up at the sky dramatically, pointing up at the imaginary thing behind the Gryffindors.
"D-dementor, Dementor!" he cried out.
The Gryffindors whipped around, all of them looking around wildly for the Dementor.
The Slytherins had laughed at Gryffindors as they looked around fearfully. Draco pulled up his hood, everyone else following his lead. Harrison had stayed in his position against the tree, smirking to himself as he watched Gryffindors make a fool of themselves.
"Oooo," Delphi whispered, as if she was a scary Dementor with a hood on its head. She wiggled her fingers at the Gryffindors along with everyone else.
"Very funny," Hermione snapped. She marched forward to grab Longbottom and dragged him away from the Slytherins.
"Don't faint again, Longbottom!" Theo called after him.
"Good one, Draco," Blaise said.
Draco nodded, but he glanced back at Harrison, silently searching for his reaction to his bullying. Harrison nodded to him, quickly and quietly telling him it was funny.
Draco looked satisfied for the briefest of seconds before he returned to talking about how stupid the Gryffindors looked.
"What in the world are those?" Blaise asked. He gazed upwards, his expression a mix between fear and awe.
Harrison looked up at the sky and wasn't sure if he was supposed to run or accept whatever the flying beast had in store for the class. From far away Harrison wasn't able to grasp what the creatures were, but once they all landed and Hagrid settled them down, he identified them as Hippogriffs.
"Hippogriffs!" Hagrid roared happily, waving a hand at them. "Beau'iful, aren' they?"
"Depends on what his definition of beautiful is. If anything, those beasts are as handsome as he is," Delphi quipped, a low snicker travelled through the Slytherins.
"So," said Hagrid, rubbing his hands together and beaming around, "if yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer…"
No one seemed to want to. Harrison was drowsing off on his spot against the tree, but through his almost closed eyes, he saw the Gyrffindor Trio edge forward, Longbottom surprisingly leaning the closest to the fence.
"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."
Harrison was glad he heard that warning, but it seemed Draco didn't because he was whispering with Blaise and Theo about something.
Delphi was paying attention to both Hagrid and Draco. Harrison could tell by her smirk growing in her face, regardless of her staring at Hagrid.
"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."
Hagrid looked around to scan the faces of his class. "Right — who wants ter go first?" he asked.
Longbottom almost leaped away from the fence when Hagrid had asked. The rest of the class only shifted backwards.
"No one?" Hagrid asked with a pleading look.
"I'll…" Longbottom whimpered, glancing around at everyone. He looked to Weasley who inclined his head, then back at Delphi and Draco who were watching him with confused faces.
"I-I'll d-do it, Hagrid." he said.
"Don't get mauled Longbottom! I bet to the Hippogriffs you're just a fat sack on tempting meat!" Delphi shouted after him.
Longbottom ignored her, and made a horrible attempt to climb over the fence. He hadn't made it over the top which should have been easy to climb over, but Longbottom wasn't skilled in anything except being a wimp. The class laughed as he eventually used the gate, red in the face as he walked over to Hagrid and the Hippogriff.
"Good man, Neville!" roared Hagrid, clapping Longbottom on the back. He smiled weakly. "Right then — let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak."
He untied one of the chains, pulled the gray Hippogriff away from its fellows, and slipped off its leather collar. Everyone watched, Delphi and Draco stared with intense glares that had disgust traced all along them.
Hagrid began to whisper things to Neville, maybe to not upset the Hippogriff, Buckbeak, who was standing near them.
Neville approached the Hippogriff as slow as humanly possibly, trembling each step. He seemed to be regretting volunteering.
Hagrid whispered something and Longbottom looked at him wildly before he bowed, exposing his neck to Buckbeak. Harrison wouldn't do that with ease. He might as well given Buckbeak an axe to chop off his head with if it's beak didn't do the job.
Buckbeak just stared down haughtily at the trembling boy, and that made Hagrid panic a bit. He tried to move the boy away, but he stopped himself when Buckbeak lowered his head, bowing back.
"Well done, Neville!" said Hagrid, ecstatic. "Right — yeh can touch him! Pat his beak, go on!"
Longbottom looked relieved and the rest of the class clapped in applause. Delphi scoffed and slowly joined in on the clap, looking rather annoyed as she did it.
"Righ' then, Neville," said Hagrid. "I reckon he migh' let yeh ride him!"
Longbottom turned pale as a cold corpse, and shook his head frantically, beginning to back away from Hagrid, but it was too late because Hagrid had grabbed him by the collar and placed him effortlessly on Buckbeak.
"Don' pluck out any feathers! He won' like that." Hagrid added which seemed to make Longbottom panic more as he searched for somewhere to hold onto Buckbeak.
Eventually he wrapped his arms around Buckbeak's neck, whimpering as he muttered many things under his breath. Delphi had joked that he was praying not to fall off — she might've been right.
"Go on, then!" roared Hagrid, slapping the Hippogriff's behind.
Buckbeak flapped his wing and launched into the air, Longbottom let out a scream so there was a mix of gasps and laughter from class as they all watched him disappear into the sky.
"You know —" Delphi drawled, butting in on Draco's quiet conversation with Blaise and Theo. Harrison had been correct to her listening in on the conversation.
"If you get mauled by that creature, that man will be fired. He already has a bad track record with students, and with uncle Lucius a part of the board he might even get fired as Gamekeeper!"
"I'm not getting purposely mauled by that beast!"
"Fine," Delphi sighed, which was unlike her. She was plotting something, and Harrison was just hoping he wasn't going to be on the end of her plotting.
Draco seemed to notice too because he was starting to look a bit anxious and gave Delphi a glance every few seconds.
Buckbeak came back down with Longbottom still in one whole piece. But as soon as Buckbeak's feet landed on the ground and he had stopped moving, Longbottom leaned to the side and fell off the bird.
He scrambled onto his feet, but he wasn't in fear. He looked slightly green, but he was smiling.
Everyone cheered, clapping for Longbottom's lucky success. Harrison had thought of it as a rare sight for Longbottom because he was always ridiculed in almost every class and hadn't performed well in anything except Herbology.
"Good job, Neville! Really good job!" Hagrid cheered, clapping Neville on the back, sending him stumbling a few feet.
"Thanks Hagrid."
Longbottom walked proudly back to the fence, somehow successfully hopping over it that time.
Before he went to Weasley, he stopped in front of Delphi and Draco and just smirked smugly at them. Even though he hadn't muttered a word, Harrison knew Neville was saying he had out done them.
"You're still ugly and fat," Delphi snapped at him.
But Longbottom's smile did not fade the slightest, he walked over to Weasley and Granger and almost immediately began to speak animatedly with them.
"Good one, Delphi," Blaise whispered to her, obviously being sarcastic.
"Shut up-"
"Okay, who else wants a go?" Hagrid asked loudly and people seemed more excited to step to the fence now.
Emboldened by Neville'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.
Harrison, Blaise, Draco and Delphi were assigned to Buckbeak.
Blaise had gone first, and earned respect from the beast with ease.
Harrison was after and copied Hagrid's instructions as carefully as possibly. He was finding it hard not to blink though because of how heavy his eyelids were, but luckily for him, Buckbeak didn't mind and let Harrison pet his beak.
Delphi was next and Buckbeak bowed for her the quickest. She didn't even have to bow fully for him to allow her to pet his beak.
"Show Longbottom how easy it is, Draco." she whispered to her cousin as he passed to reach Buckbeak.
Draco took the longest out of all of them, and almost started to run because Buckbeak hadn't bowed for a while. Eventually the bird did and Draco smirked harder than ever before.
"This is very easy," Draco drawled, loud enough for Longbottom to hear him. "I knew it must have been, if Longbottom could do it… I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" he said to the Hippogriff. "Are you, you great ugly brute?"
"Draco, no!" Harrison blurted, trying to reach out for him, but Buckbeak was fast.
Draco screamed as Buckbeak's silver talon's attacked him, knocking him to the ground. Hagrid had to wrestle Buckbeak away, and the class fell silent as they listened to Draco scream, in fear. Harrison watched, starting to feel sick once he saw the crimson red liquid spill from Draco's robes.
"I'm dying! I'm dying, look at me! It's killed me!" Draco cried out.
"Yer not dyin'!" said Hagrid, who had gone very white. "Someone help me — gotta get him outta here —"
Hermione ran to hold open the gate as Hagrid lifted Draco easily. As they passed, Harrison saw that there was a long, deep gash on Draco 's arm.
The whole class was a bit shaken up by the event, Pansy had started to cry as if Draco had been mauled to death by Buckbeak.
"They should sack him straight away!" said Pansy, who was in tears.
"It was Malfoy's fault!" snapped Dean Thomas. Crabbe and Goyle, who had been walking at the sides of Theo and Pansy, flexed their muscles threateningly.
They all climbed the stone steps into the deserted entrance hall.
"I'm going to see if he's okay!" said Pansy, and they all watched her run up the marble staircase, still sobbing.
"You did it on purpose, didn't you?" Blaise asked Delphi, who weirdly had nothing to say about the event.
"Draco is the one who insulted the chicken. I only encouraged him to pet it," Delphi said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"You wanted him to get attacked by that Hippogriff!"
"So we had a chance of getting that oaf fired. I don't want to be taught by him the rest of the year!"
"Well bloody hell Delphi, couldn't you think of any other way to do it that didn't involve Draco getting mauled."
"Let me think about it- no."
Blaiee refused to talk to Delphi for the rest of the day and she seemed just as fine with only speaking to Harison, and Blaise seemed just as fine speaking only to Harrison too.
After dinner, Harrison had wanted to talk about the Dementors on the train with his friends and everything else, but Draco was gone, and he wouldn't get very far with Delphi and Blaise ignoring each other's presence.
"Where are you going, Riddle?" Snape's voice asked from across the deserted Dungeons corridor. Harrison couldn't see him because of the poor lighting and the man's likeness to hide in the shadows.
"Professor?" asked Harrison.
Snape didn't respond for a couple of seconds, which left the three Slytherins confused. Then, he just appeared out of nowhere from the dark, scaring them all.
"Have you already forgotten about your meeting with Dumbledore?" he asked.
"I was trying to. It was working too."
"Yes, I see you haven't lost your hilarious charm," Snape sighed sarcastically. "You'll be late if you don't get there in the next," Snape checked his watch, "five minutes."
"See you tomorrow," he said to his friends, waving them goodbye. And after taking his first step, he paused and turned around. "And don't kill him, Delphi."
Instead of going back to the common room, like everyone else, Harrison went to the Headmaster's office where the Ministry officials and Dumbledore were waiting for him.
"Great, you're here Harrison," Dumbledore said, looking rather upset to see Harrison here, regardless of his cheerful tone.
"Nice to see you again, Mr. Riddle."
