Chapter 32
Talons and Boggarts
The next morning, the third years got their new schedules and Draco made a huge fuss. "First day and we have to suffer through that oaf's class!" he moaned.
"Relax, we also have Divination," Pansy said, sounding enthusiastic. "That at least should be good."
"But the oaf!"
"Draco, shut up," Harry sighed. "Look, we have the entire day with the Gryffindors. Why don't you focus on that?"
"Potter that makes my day worse!" Draco groaned.
"At least we have Divination first," Pansy added, "I can't wait to see what that's like."
"Isn't it all the way in the north tower?" Theo asked.
"It is," Blaise groaned.
Theo chuckled, "Have fun with that, it's going to take you guys ten minutes to get there at least. Daph and I are going to Ancient Runes." Blaise gave him a stink eye but Theo just chuckled some more.
When it was time to go, Harry led the way as the third years separated, Theo and Daphne leaving for Ancient Runes as Harry, Draco, Pansy, and Blaise went for Divination. Harry had his map out as he looked for the quickest way to the North Tower. Though he had a couple of months studying the map and two years' worth of living in Hogwarts, he did not have the entire castle memorized.
Following the corridors created by Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, the Slytherins climbed staircase after staircase, darting in and out of corridors, until they reached a small landing at the top of a spiraling staircase. The other third-years were already there, Weasley, Granger, and Longbottom looking especially winded as they glared at them. Harry looked up to see a circular trapdoor with a brass plaque on it.
"Sybill Trelawney, Divination teacher," Harry read. "How're we supposed to get up there?"
As though to answer his question, the trapdoor suddenly opened, and a silvery ladder descended right at Harry's feet. Harry glanced at it for a moment before he climbed, the others following.
He emerged into the strangest-looking classroom he had ever seen. It looked more like a cross between someone's attic and an old-fashioned tea shop. At least twenty small, circular tables were crammed inside it, all surrounded by chintz armchairs and fat little poufs. Everything was lit with a dim crimson light; the curtains at the windows were all closed, and the many lamps were draped with dark red scarves. It was stiflingly warm, and the fire that was burning under the crowded mantlepiece was giving off a heavy, sickly sort of perfume as it heated a large copper kettle.
A voice came suddenly out of nowhere, a soft, misty sort of voice. "Welcome. How nice to see you in the physical world at last."
Professor Trelawney moved into the firelight, and they saw that she was very thin; her large glasses magnified her eyes to several times their natural size, and she was draped in a gauzy spangled shawl. Innumerable chains and beads hung around her spindly neck, and her arms and hands were encrusted with bangles and rings.
"Sit my children, sit," she said, and they all climbed awkwardly into armchairs and sank onto poufs. Harry, Draco, Blaise, and Pansy squeezing themselves at one table. "Welcome to Divination," Professor Trelawney said as she seated herself in a winged armchair in front of them. "My name is Professor Trelawney. You may not have seen me before. I find that descending too often into the hustle and bustle of the main school clouds my Inner Eye. So you have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts. 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…"
"Finally, something that Granger will fail in," Draco whispered to Harry, who covered his mouth to stifle his giggle as the two glanced at Granger. Professor Trelawney went on for a little more before suddenly jumping to Neville Longbottom, asking if his grandmother was well before telling another Gryffindor whose name Harry didn't know to "beware the red-haired man."
They would start the semester, she informed them, with reading tea leaves as she held a large silver teapot. "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. Oh, and dear"—she caught Longbottom by the arm as he made to stand up— "after you've broken your first cup, would you be so kind to select one of the blue patterned ones? I'm rather attached to the pink."
"Blaise would you like—"
"Blaise, you're my partner," Pansy said quickly, interrupting Draco. The blond huffed and looked angry but before he could say anything, Harry smiled and nudged him gently.
"Come on partner, let's hope the tea at least is decent."
The two sat up and not a second later there was a tinkle of china breaking and the two looked to see Neville Longbottom looking flustered as he held a broken teacup handle. They chuckled to themselves as they got their own cups.
They drank their scalding tea quickly as soon as they sat back down. Swilled the dregs around as instructed and then drained the cups and swapped them over. "Alright, Potter let's see what's in your miserable life," Draco said, giving Harry a smile. It was interrupted, however, when Pansy gave a giggle at Blaise, "By the dark Blaise, when did you get so funny?" she smiled.
"It's a gift, like my natural charms," Blaise smiled.
Draco breathed and Harry looked at him strangely, "Are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah. Just read my stupid tea," Draco muttered.
Harry frowned but took Draco's cup and opened his book. "Okay," he said, looking in Draco's cup, "I see a cross, at least I think that's a cross, which means…" Harry looked at his copy of their textbook, "you'll have 'trials and suffering'—I'm sorry about that Draco— and there's this thing that might be the sun? Which means 'great happiness' so you'll go through trials and ultimately be happy about it?"
"I'm being tested already," Draco muttered bitterly under his breath. Harry pretended not to hear it as he just give Draco a soft smile. Draco scoffed and took Harry's cup, turning it around. "I see a falcon," he said. "Which means that you have a deadly enemy." He frowned and the two shared a look. "You don't think… him, do you?"
"He does hate Master," Harry whispered. "What else do you see?"
Draco frowned and looked at the cup, turning his head sideways. "This looks like a blob, maybe a hat?" he said uncertainly.
"Let me see the cup, quick," Professor Trelawney said. Draco gave her the cup and she looked at the cup for only a second before giving a scream. Everyone turned to her and Harry. "My dear boy… my poor dear boy," she said dramatically and sorrowfully. "You have… the Grim!"
"Excuse me?"
"The Grim, my dear, the Grim!" Professor Trelawney cried. "The giant, spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear boy, it is an omen—the worst omen—death!"
Pansy gasped next to them, covering her mouth as the class just stared. Harry hated the attention, he wanted to sink into the chair he was sitting in. She soon dismissed them and the four Slytherins gathered their bags and left silently for Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class.
"Harry?" Pansy said cautiously as they descended the stairs. "Are you okay?"
"Fine," Harry muttered. "Just looks like another year of people staring at me." He shouldered forward, keeping his head down as he walked, the others almost running to catch up.
Harry chose a seat right at the back of the room, feeling as though he were sitting in a very bright spotlight; the rest of the class kept shooting furtive glances at him, as though he were about to drop dead at any moment. He only barely been able to pay attention to what Professor McGonagall was telling them about Animagi, remembering when he was in first year and asked how to be one, and wasn't even watching when she transformed herself in front of their eyes into a tabby cat with spectacle markings around her eyes.
"Really, what has got into you all today?" Professor McGonagall said once she turned back. "Not that it matters, but that's the first time my transformation did not get applause from a class."
"Please, Professor," Granger said shockingly, "we've just had our first Divination class and we were reading tea leaves, and—"
"Say no more Ms. Granger," Professor McGonagall said, "So, which of you will be dying this year? Hmm?"
"Me," Harry said bitterly.
"Ah Mr. Potter, I see," Professor McGonagall said. "Then you should know, Potter, that Sybill Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year ever since she arrived at this school. None of them has died yet. Seeing death omens is her favorite way of greeting a new class." Professor McGonagall frowned, showing her extreme displeasure over the subject. "You look in fine health Mr. Potter, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in."
Granger laughed and Theo snickered before frowning immediately, glancing at Granger. Harry, however, felt relieved.
He and Draco told the story to Theo and Daphne over lunch. Daphne shook her head and said, "That course is all hogwash Harry, honestly. Divination? Telling the future? That's fairytales. My grandmother always told me prophecies are full of made-up words that only make men stupid. So don't believe them for a second, okay?"
"Yeah, thanks Daphne, I needed that," Harry smiled. Daphne smiled back and any residing fears or dread of the Grim vanished instantly.
After lunch, they had their first Care of Magical Creatures lesson that they all dreaded. Apparently, there was not even a real classroom. They were all expected to hike down towards Hagrid's hut near the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid was already waiting for them, but Harry paid the man no mind. The Gryffindors weren't here yet, so they had some free time.
"You can't be serious," Blaise was saying to Daphne and Theo. "Granger was in your class?"
"Yeah, and she was a total stuck up, I swear she memorized the entire book already," Daphne nodded.
"That's impossible Daphne! Granger was in our class," Pansy said. "She was sitting with Weasley and Longbottom!"
"We'll talk about this later," Harry said, "The Gryffindors are here." They did indeed just arrived. Hagrid seemed to perk up at the sight of them and stood tall with his dog at his heels.
"C'mon now, get a move on!" he called as the class approached. "Got a real treat for you today! Great lesson coming up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"
"He's leading us to get slaughtered," Draco muttered and for one moment Harry thought that Hagrid was going to lead them into the forest. 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 around the fence here!" Hagrid called. "That's it—make sure you can see—now, first thing you'll want to do is open your books—"
"How?" Draco said in a cold, drawling voice.
"Eh?" Hagrid said.
"How do we open our books?" Draco repeated. He took out his copy of their textbook, The Monster Book of Monsters, which he had bound shut with a length of rope. Other people took theirs out too; some, like Harry, had belted their book shut; others had crammed them inside tight bags or clamped them together with binder clips.
"Hasn't—hasn't anyone been able to open their books?" Hagrid asked, looking crestfallen.
The class all shook their heads.
"You've got to stroke them," Hagrid said, as though this was the most obvious thing in the world. "Look—"
He took Granger'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.
"Oh, how silly we've all been!" Draco sneered. "We should have stroked them! Why didn't we guess!"
"I—I thought they were funny," Hagrid said uncertainly to Granger.
"Hilarious, giving us a book that can rip our fingers off by just trying to read it, a real winner that is," Harry commented.
"Shut up Potter," Weasley said quietly. Hagrid was looking downcast.
Harry just shrugged.
"Right then," Hagrid said as he seemed to lose his thread, "so—so you've got your books and—and—now you need the magical Creatures. Yeah. So I'll go and get them. Hang on …"
"I know something else I would rather be stroking right now," Blaise muttered as he opened his book. Pansy giggled while Daphne and Theo's faces turned red. Harry just looked at him confused and was about to ask when Draco complained.
"God this place is going to the dogs! That oaf teaching classes, my father will have a fit when I tell him—"
"Shut up Malfoy," Longbottom said.
"Think you're brave, Longbottom? Funny, I heard a completely different story about what happened last year," Draco sneered.
"Don't," Harry warned, grabbing Draco's arm. "Just leave it."
"Oooooooh!" Lavender Brown squealed, pointing toward the opposite side of the paddock. Trotting toward them were a dozen of the most bizarre creatures Harry 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 crude, steel-colored beaks and large, brilliantly orange eyes. Their 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.
"Hippogriffs!" Hagrid roared happily. "Beautiful, aren't they? Now the first thing you need to know about hippogriffs is that they're proud. Easily offended, they are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing you do."
Draco scoffed next to Harry. "They look like overgrown chickens," he muttered.
"Shut up, I can't hear," Harry whispered back.
"You actually care about this class, Harry? About that oaf?"
"No, I would rather Kettleburn, but we're stuck with the oaf, for now, so shut up," Harry whispered. Hagrid kept on talking, telling the class how to approach a hippogriff. First, you have to bow to the creature. If it bows back, only then are you allowed to approach them. All of the Slytherins and most of the Gryffindors took a step back when Hagrid asked for a volunteer. Surprisingly, Neville Longbottom offered and approached a hippogriff named Buckbeak.
"Watch that thing will probably slash Longbottom up instantly," Draco chuckled. But it didn't. Instead, when Neville bowed, Buckbeak bowed back and the Gryffindors applauded loudly. Longbottom patted its beak, smiling brightly as he looked around and even gotten to ride the creature!
When he returned, with the Gryffindors cheering for him, Hagrid clapped loudly, "Well done Neville, well done! Okay, who else wants to go?"
The class, emboldened by Neville Longbottom's success, climbed cautiously into the paddock. Harry, Draco, and Blaise got the hippogriff that Longbottom ride. It bowed immediately to the three of them, and Harry was petting its beak and head.
"I guess they are pretty looking," Harry muttered as he looked at Draco, who stared at Buckbeak disdainfully.
"This is very easy," Draco drawled loudly. "I knew it must have been if Longbottom could do it. I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you? You great ugly brute."
It happened in a flash of steely talons; Draco and Harry let out a high-pitched scream as Draco was pushed roughly out of the way and the next moment, Hagrid was wrestling Buckbeak back into his collar as he strained to get at Harry and Draco, blood blossoming over Harry's robes.
"He's dying!" Draco yelled as the class panicked. "He's dying! Look at him! It's killed Harry!"
"He's not dying!" Hagrid said, who had gone very white. "Someone help me—gotta get him out here—"
Granger ran to hold open the gate as Hagrid lifted Harry easily. His body screaming in pain, Harry finally had the mind to look down at his arm where there was a long, deep gash. Blood splattered the grass and Hagrid ran with him, up the slope toward the castle.
Harry started moaning in pain, his eyes watering. "Stupid damn bastard," Harry groaned. "Stupid idiot."
"You'll live—no need to call me that!" Hagrid said, still looking extremely pale.
"Not you—Draco," Harry groaned. "Just run faster."
Hagrid brought him to the hospital wing, and after telling Madam Pomfrey what happened, Harry's arm was cleaned with a thick salve that smelled like rotten fruit and bandaged, the wounds too deep for a simple healing spell to fix. Harry couldn't move his arm at all, but he would rather have it bandaged. "Now Mr. Potter, you're not going anywhere for a while, so I suggest you sit tight," Madam Pomfrey said when Hagrid left. "I want to watch this heal for a while, make sure no funniness is going on."
"How long do I have to stay here?" Harry asked.
"Overnight at least," Madam Pomfrey said. "Don't worry about your arm, it'll be right as rain in the morning. Yours is not the worst cuts I've seen, Mr. Potter. You should see the unlucky students who Splinch themselves! Now get comfortable and I'll have you back in class before you even miss them."
An hour later, Harry's friends visited him in the hospital wing. Draco was seething. He looked at Harry, laying down and all bandaged up, and sneered, "I swear I'll get that stupid fat oaf off of these grounds, just you wait Harry. Father will hear of this, and he'll have that deranged beast killed!"
"Draco," Harry groaned, "Can you just shut up?"
Draco gasped but stayed silent, staring at Harry's bandaged arm as the boy sat up and talked with the others, smiling at Crabbe and Goyle as they caught up. They stayed until they were kicked out by Madam Pomfrey, promising them that Harry would be released tomorrow. She helped Harry change into pajamas to sleep in and as soon as he was settled again, dinner appeared on a tray for him to eat. He was only happy that the hippogriff got his left arm, but still, it was awkward for the boy to eat.
Harry wasn't released until late morning the next day As Madam Pomfrey said, his arm was completely healed with only a long white faint scar to show that he was even injured at all. He had Potions and walked into the class when it was already halfway done. "Harry! Are you alright? Does it hurt?" Pansy asked immediately.
"Yeah, it does, but the salve helps," Harry said, his arm feeling particularly numb. Madam Pomfrey told him that his feeling should return properly by lunchtime. Still, he can use it, and that was good enough for him.
"Settle down, settle down," Snape said idly. "Mr. Potter, we are working on the Shrinking Solution. I trust that you are smart enough to read the instructions on the board, or did that rampaging beast harmed your eyesight as well?" Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw the Golden Trio scowl at Snape.
"I can still read, sir," Harry said.
"Then get to work."
Harry set up his cauldron next to Draco. "Harry, I'm—"
"Still angry at you Draco, try again at lunch," Harry whispered. "Maybe this will teach you to watch your mouth, hmm?"
"I'm sorry," Draco muttered, and Harry sighed, knowing full well that the blond would be entirely forgiven by the time Potions was done. But until then, he let Draco stew in the silence as he focused on his task ahead of him. He started a little later than the others, but he was able to still do his best, reading the instructions clearly and working on the potion on his own. By the end of the period, Harry's potion was completed and earned Slytherin two points, and he and Draco were laughing over Longbottom's failed potion.
"I'm thinking I'll write to my mentor after this," Harry said as the Slytherins made their way to Defense Against the Dark Arts after lunch. "Two days and I already have a new scar."
"I said I'm sorry!" Draco groaned.
"I know, but still he would want to know," Harry nodded. "I'll just need to be careful about how I phrase it."
"Why? What would he do if you… don't?" Daphne asked, sounding a little scared.
"Hurt Mr. Malfoy, or worse he'll appear here himself and take out that poor hippogriff that Draco insulted," Harry said, having a little fun as Draco groaned worryingly.
Daphne and Pansy gasped while the boys just grimaced. "He won't… would he?" Draco asked, swallowing.
"You don't have to worry, Draco," Harry said, turning to him. "I'll take care of him. But if this teaches you to watch your mouth, then it's a good lesson to learn."
"I already learned it! Please don't tell him that it's my fault, please Harry!" Draco begged. Harry just smiled and wrapped his arm around Draco.
"I won't let anything bad happen to you guys, you know that," he smiled. "He's going to huff, obviously, but I can convince him not to do anything stupid. Watch, this year will be the year he finally kisses me, just you wait." Draco relaxed slightly and the two walked into class together.
Professor Lupin was waiting for them next to an old black wardrobe. "Sit down everyone and take out your wands. Today's lesson will be a practical one," he called out as everyone came in. The wardrobe shook and Professor Lupin said, "Nothing to worry about, there's just a boggart in here."
Most people seemed to feel that this was something to worry about. Longbottom gave Professor Lupin a look of pure terror, and even Blaise seemed to eye the door handle apprehensively.
"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," Lupin said. "Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, cupboards under sinks—I've even met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. This one moved in yesterday afternoon, and I asked the headmaster if the staff could leave it to give my third years some practice. Now, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a boggart?"
Theo raised his hand, but Granger's hand was faster. "It's a shape-shifter," she said before Professor Lupin could pick. "It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most."
"Couldn't have put it better myself," Professor Lupin said, and Granger glowed, "however maybe next time, Ms. Granger, we wait a little before answering. We don't to devoid our fellow students the opportunities of answering. Now, the boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person most. Nobody knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears.
"This means, that we have a huge advantage over the boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"
Granger's hand was in the air. "Is it because there's so many of us it won't know what shape it'll take?" he guessed.
"Precisely!" Professor Lupin said, and Granger put her hand down looking a little disappointed. "It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a boggart. He becomes confused. Now the charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing. We will practice the charm without wands first. After me please … riddikulus!"
"Riddikulus!" the class said together.
"Good," Professor Lupin said. "Very good. But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. And this is where I will need a volunteer. Let's see," he looked around the room and smiled, "Ah! Mr. Malfoy, if you would?"
Draco looked surprised but stood up. He walked up towards Professor Lupin and the wardrobe as it shook again. "Now, Mr. Malfoy, would you mind if I call you Draco?"
"No."
"Okay Draco, what do you fear the most?" Professor Lupin asked.
Draco glanced at the wardrobe and muttered softly, "My father's disappointment."
"Yes, yes, Lucius Malfoy can be a frightening thing indeed," Professor Lupin nodded. "Now Draco, we need to think about how we can make your father less intimidating and more hilarious. What is it about your father that's frightful of you?"
"He expects a lot," Draco muttered, "and when he's angry at me, he yells loudly."
"He has a nice deep voice then?" Professor Lupin asked, Draco nodded. "Good, well how about we give him something higher pitched—like a house-elf? Think you can do that?"
Draco nodded. "Excellent!" Professor Lupin said and turned to the class. "When the boggart bursts out of the wardrobe, Draco, and sees you it will assume the form of one Lucius Malfoy. And you will raise your wand, say 'Riddikulus,' and concentrate hard on a house-elf's voice. If all goes well, Mr. Boggart Malfoy will have a high squeaky voice that not even a grandmother can take seriously."
There was a great shout of laughter. The wardrobe wobbled more violently.
"When Draco is successful, the boggart is likely to shift his attention to each of us in turn. I would like all of you to take a moment to think of the thing that scares you most, and imagine how you might force it to look comical."
The room went quiet. Harry thought… what scared him most I the world? His first thought was Dumbledore, but he wasn't scared of him. Was he? No. he was cautious, non-trusting, but not fearful. Then another image came to mind. A rotting, glistening hand, slithering back beneath a black cloak… a long rattling breath from tan unseen mouth… then a cold so penetrating it felt like drowning.
Harry shivered, then looked around. "If we all have our images, let's all line up, there we go, there we go, give Draco his space!" Professor Lupin called out as everyone lined up. Some Gryffindors pushed to the front, puffing out their chests. Professor Lupin nodded and turned to Draco.
"Are you ready?" he asked Draco, who nodded. "Then on the count of three. One, two… three…" he waved his wand and the wardrobe unlocked.
The door slid open and standing impossibly tall with long platinum blond hair, Mr. Malfoy stepped out, looking down at Draco. Draco aimed his wand as Mr. Malfoy took a step towards him. "Riddikulus!" There was a noise like a whip crack. Mr. Malfoy stumbled and looked heatedly at Draco.
"What do you think you are doing, Draco?" Mr. Malfoy asked in a high-pitched voice that sounded like he inhaled an entire helium balloon. Draco sputtered and laughed as well as the rest of the class and the boggart paused, confused.
"Excellent, excellent! Parvati! Forward!"
Mr. Malfoy changed into a blood-stained mummy whose wrappings became undone by Parvati's spell. Then, Seamus Finnigan stepped up and the wrappings became a banshee whose wailing made Harry's skin crawl until she started coughing, her voice gone! Blaise stepped up and the banshee turned into a vampire who hissed and stalked towards Blaise. "Riddikulus!" The vampire transformed into a colorful bird. Next was Daphne, whose boggart turned into herself, and she cried out the spell before Harry could see what exactly was different. The boggart turned into a clown. From the clown, Theo's boggart turned into a large spider that flailed about as its legs turn into giant banana peels.
On it went before it was Harry's turn. Harry raised his wand, ready, but—
"Here!" Professor Lupin shouted suddenly, hurrying forward. Crack!
A silvery-white orb hung in the air in front of Lupin, who said, "Riddikulus!" The orb turned into an untied balloon that blew and sputtered back into the air and exploded into a thousand tiny wisps of smoke and was gone.
"Excellent," Professor Lupin said. "Yes, well done, everyone. Let me see… five points for every person to tackle the boggart and five points each to Harry and Hermione for answering my questions correctly at the start of class. Homework, kindly read the chapter on boggarts and summarize it for me… to be handed in on Monday. That will be all."
Harry walked out disappointed as his friends talked about the boggart excitedly. Still, he did not let his mood ruin theirs, smiling along with them as Theo talked rather proudly about his, a rare sight for the usually quiet boy. He and Daphne kept holding hands the entire time.
After dinner, Harry sat down and finally wrote to Tom.
Tom,
It's been only two days, but a lot has happened. First, my Divination teacher predicted that I'm going to die after Draco saw great danger in my tea leaves. Apparently, I have the Grim, those haunted dogs that hang around graveyards. After that, I had the first Care of Magical Creatures class, and you will never believe who is teaching it. Hagrid, the groundskeeper. Apparently, Dumbledore believes that he is a good choice to be our teacher. Some choice that is, the first class he brought Hippogriffs. They were interesting enough, but an incident happened. Draco, Blaise, and I were assigned to this one hippogriff and Draco was being a Malfoy. He insulted the thing and I had just enough time to push Draco out of the way before it sliced my arm. I AM FINE! I am okay, my arm is healed. All I have is a faint scar that you can barely see. Just be smart about how you respond, okay? You're in your last year and I want you to finish without incident. Don't think about vengeance or how you'll get even with the damn animal or the Malfoys—I've made Draco regret it enough and I'm planning on holding it over his head for the next two weeks. My arm healed overnight and today I had our first Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher with Professor Lupin. I rather like him enough; he looks like he knows his stuff. Today we learned about boggarts, but when it was my turn he jumped ahead of me for some reason. I was thinking about dementors.
That reminds me, there are dementors at Hogwarts this year, another reason for you to stay in Durmstrang. They're looking for Black. I don't know how this will affect Samhain; I hope they're nowhere near the celebration grounds. But don't worry, I'll be safe. But other than that I already miss you a lot, Tom. You have to tell me what you're planning on doing so we can see each other whenever we want. Especially with next year, you'll be fully graduated, and I will be at Hogwarts. I don't think I can live seeing you only two months out of the year.
I miss you; I love you, and I want to hug and kiss you. I'm only happy that we'll see each other during Yule, but that seems so far away now. I'm counting down the days until I'm back in your arms. Until then, I expect lots of letters even if they have nothing in them.
Love,
Harry
A/N: The year barely started and Harry has a cool new scar! Woo hoo! AND We finally have a competent teacher! Will Harry remember that he's his godparent? We'll see.
Ceilknight: You're right, I won't reveal it specifically however I can tease that by the end of the year, the Invisibility Cloak will be under Harry's ownership.
Jjloves PJO: THANKS! Side note: I'm going to guess that PJO is Percy Jackson related? I'm asking because I am a staunch supporter of Percy/Nico lol
Louise Spinster Black: Pansy is obsessed with fashion. However, with her and Daphne... something is happening a bit more serious.