24. Hagrid's Inspection.

"Hagrid's back," Harry told Kirk and McCoy as they trooped into breakfast.

Sure enough, Hagrid was seated at the staff table, his large presence as always distracting the attention of many first year students, who hadn't had much opportunity to be taught by him yet. But it wasn't only his height that caught their attention; Hagrid had livid bruises covering his face and forearms, from what they could see at this distance, and most likely more hidden out of sight. One eye was swollen mostly shut, and he appeared to be struggling to see out of it as he surveyed the room before him over a large plate of eggs. Several people were eyeing him with expressions alternately showing curiosity and concern.

"He looks...beaten up," McCoy concluded. "What was he doing, wrestling a troll?"

"Should we tell them?" Ron asked Hermione, who considered quietly for a moment.

"They're just as involved with You-Know-Who as we are," she said finally, "and they have a right to know. After all, the giants might come down here and try to use terror to get them back, since the Death Eaters need the three of them to bring You-Know-Who back."

"Can they do that?" McCoy asked.

"There are wards protecting the castle, but I don't know how long they'd last against a concentrated and desperate attack by Death Eaters and their followers."

"So," Kirk butted in, "where does Hagrid get involved in this?"

Hermione leaned forward, lowering her voice so they would not be overheard. "Hagrid was acting on secret instructions from Dumbledore to find some giants in the mountains."

"They were trying to get them on our side," Ron added.

"They?" Kirk repeated.

"Hagrid and Madame Maxim," Harry explained. "She's the headmistress of Beauxbatons School in France."

"Anyway," Hermione continued smoothly, "there weren't that many left because of a combination of fights amongst themselves and with wizards."

"They're still a very powerful lot though," Ron warned. "You don't want to mess with giants."

"We went to see him the night he got back," Hermione said. "It took several months – as you know – for them to travel there and back since they couldn't be followed. The Ministry is still very suspicious of people working for Dumbledore, and of course the Death Eaters are keeping a closer eye on us now than ever before. At first, everything went well. The Gurg – that's the leader of the group of giants – seemed to like them-"

"Probably because of all the gifts," Ron said with a small grin of amusement.

"Unfortunately," Hermione continued as though she had never been interrupted, "it all went wrong. A fight broke out among the giants-"

"It's what they do best," Ron interjected, earning himself a glare from Hermione. "Sorry..."

"-and the Gurg was killed and replaced by one who wasn't interested in what Hagrid and Madame Maxime had to say. From what Hagrid tells us, they barely managed to get away before they were attacked."

Kirk grimaced. "We know how they felt."

"So that's it?" McCoy asked. "They came back?"

"Dumbledore was relying on them," Harry said, "so no."

"But that's-"

"Mental, we know," Ron said in agreement with McCoy.

"They tried to persuade those who didn't support the new Gurg to come over to our side," Harry continued.

"That's great!"

"Don't lose your head, Bones," Kirk warned, his voice grim. "What do you mean, 'tried'?"

"The caves where the outcasts were hiding were raided by other giants. Those who survived wanted nothing to do with the battle against You-Know-Who."

"Great," McCoy complained darkly.

"He was going to tell us more," Harry said, "but Umbridge arrived."

"She's already looking down on Hagrid," Hermione said, angrily glaring at the pompous woman up on the platform. "And if he's not careful, she'll try to throw him out of the castle too, just like she did with Professor Trelawney."

McCoy winced in sympathy. That particular episode of the castle's history had not been forgotten in a hurry.

"Hagrid's lessons are a bit...unique," Harry explained finally.

"How unique?" McCoy asked warily.

"He once let Harry ride a Hippogriff, which was bloody brilliant," Ron answered, a grin on his face at the memory, "but Buckbeak – the Hippogriff – 'attacked' Malfoy." He paused to roll his eyes at the end of his explanation before taking a long swig of pumpkin juice. He emerged a second later. "She's probably heard about that by now."

"We've tried convincing him to keep the lessons simple, but he won't listen," Harry said.

"Then there's little we can do," Kirk replied in true regret, "besides trying to stay as safe as possible in his lessons so that Umbridge has no material to use against him."

"Which we should be getting to," Hermione reminded them, standing up and beckoning them to follow.

"But I haven't..."

"Ron," Hermione said patiently, "is your breakfast more important, or Hagrid's job?"

"In an ideal world," Ron argued as he reluctantly stood up and followed them, "I'd have both."

The castle door opened to an eerily white world, spread like a carpet of springy cotton wool before them; it looked almost unreal, as though the scene was in miniature instead of real life. Trees patiently stood with a dusting of snow at their tops, their dead branches bald of the leaves which were customarily there in the summer. Birds looked almost confused as they failed to find their usual prey in the vast white expanses, forced to circle high above instead.

But the most shocking thing of all was the intense cold; a cold which seemed to wrap itself mercilessly around them and cling to their limbs for dear life, as though it was scared to ease its grip and allow the summer warmth to creep slowly back in.

Shivering, they drew their collars up around their necks and shoved their hands deep into the pockets of their robes, their breath creating plumes of mist before them. As they ploughed through the snow, McCoy turned a wary eye to Spock, who was baring the cold stoically, as though he routinely ventured outside in sub-zero temperatures.

"Don't you dare get frostbite," McCoy warned the Vulcan, his gruff voice hiding the concern he felt. "You'll never hear the end of it."

McCoy was slightly surprised to see an eyebrow rise. He had half expected it to be frozen in place, maybe with a few icicles added for good measure. "Of that I have no doubt, Leonard."

"And if you even contemplate getting pneumonia," McCoy continued, "I will personally drown you in hot chocolate and hot water bottles."

"That would not be a wise course of action."

"It'd warm you up," McCoy snapped.

"You would also succeed in intoxicating me."

McCoy felt his own cold forehead contort in confusion. "You get drunk on hot chocolate?"

"I thought that was just a rumour," Kirk butted in.

"It is fact."

"Have you ever tried it?" Kirk asked curiously.

"Negative."

"Not even once?" Kirk persisted mercilessly.

"It never occurred to me, Jim. I had learnt of its effects on Vulcan physiology when I had the misfortune to witness my father partake of large quantities."

"Sarek got drunk?" McCoy repeated incredulously.

"I assure you Leonard that it was unintentional. My mother was unaware of the rumour and neglected to inform my father of the contents of the beverage, which he took a liking to. Unfortunately, the effects were not immediately apparent until he reached the stage of severe intoxication."

Kirk grimaced. "I'm sure that wasn't fun to watch."

Spock nodded in agreement. "It was not. Fortunately, his subsequent actions were not of a violent nature and he caused little harm."

"What do you mean 'little harm'?" McCoy asked, eyes narrowing.

Spock's mouth twitched despite the topic they were discussing. "He would be less than pleased to learn that I have been discussing this."

"Just tell us," McCoy whined, well aware of how petulant he sounded but not really caring.

"My mother's ear drums were never quite the same," Spock said with a very straight face, ignoring everyone's incredulous expressions, "after my father embarked on a rather lengthy recitation of the song 'row row row your boat'."

Kirk blinked, and then promptly burst out laughing. "Like father like son," he finally gasped when he had enough breath to speak.

"I beg your pardon?"

"When I was in the mind meld with your older self," Kirk explained, "I saw a memory of us, around a campfire, singing that song." He grinned wickedly at Spock. "You have a lovely singing voice. Even better than Bones over there."

McCoy promptly threw a snowball at him and Spock looked speechless.

"Don't Vulcans usually sing?" Ron asked suddenly, reminding them that the other three had been listening.

"Never," Kirk said quickly. "Well..." he gave Spock a sly glance, "hardly ever."

Ron made a considering sound. "I must have been thinking of something else..."

"I am certain that you were," Spock said in weary resignation. "As I have stated on a considerable number of occasions, I am in no way related to any creatures of human folklore."

"Not even unicorns," McCoy muttered suddenly, thinking back to the dream he had had after their first day in that universe, where a unicorn had spoken with Spock's voice.

"Leonard?"

McCoy suddenly realised what he said and blushed brightly, all too aware of how silly he had sounded. "Never mind..."

"I do not comprehend how any of my physical features hold similarity to those of a unicorn. Furthermore, a unicorn-"

"I said never mind," McCoy said in a slightly louder voice, feeling slightly relieved when Hagrid's hut loomed into view.

"It doesn't look like Umbridge is here," Hermione said in relief.

"No, but Hagrid's carrying a half dead cow..." Ron muttered. "That can't be a good sign, can it? What if Umbridge hears about it?"

"We'll just have to hope she doesn't," Hermione said as they trundled to a halt before the half-giant, who was standing at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

"We're workin' in here today! Bit more sheltered! Anyway, they prefer the dark."

"I'm beginning to understand why it's forbidden," McCoy muttered. "He's probably taking us to see vampires."

"Don't be ridiculous," Hermione snorted. "I told you that vampires live nowhere near here."

"Right," McCoy said vaguely, but did not look convinced.

"What prefers the dark?" Malfoy asked in panic. "What did he say prefers the dark – did you hear?"

"He has not yet revealed what he intends to show us," Spock said calmly. "However, I am certain that Professor Hagrid is perfectly capable of preventing any serious injury, should the creatures prove to be overly dangerous."

Malfoy snorted, but was mercifully stopped from saying more when Hagrid began talking again.

"Ready?" Hagrid's voice was cheerful as he beamed around at the class. "Right, well, I've bin savin' a trip inter the Forest fer yer fifth year. Thought we'd go an' see these creatures in their natural habitat. Now, what we're studyin' today is pretty rare, I reckon I'm probably the on'y person in Britain who's managed ter train 'em."

"Reassuring," McCoy muttered cynically, though without any sting to the word.

"And you're sure they're trained, are you?" Malfoy asked in panic. "Only it wouldn't be the first time you'd brought wild stuff to class, would it?"

"'Course they're trained."

"So what happened to your face then?"

"Mind yer own business!" Hagrid said in an uncharacteristically sharp voice. "Now, if yeh've finished asking stupid questions, follow me!"

McCoy groaned as the group of students began to move warily forwards. "Not again..."

"Cheer up, Bones," Kirk said brightly. "At least we're not being chased by a giant spider."

"Didn't you say that last time we went in here?"

Kirk shrugged. "Probably. You can't expect me to remember everything I've said."

"You've been in here before?" Harry asked.

"We arrived here," Spock said.

"And Hagrid let us ride the Thestrals," Kirk added.

"Thestrals?" Harry repeated, looking curious even as Hermione's eyes widened.

"They're difficult to describe," McCoy hedged, not really wanting to remember the episode where Kirk had nearly fallen to his death.

"Do you think Hagrid's showing them to us today?" Ron asked.

"It is possible," Spock agreed.

Several minutes later they reached a tightly packed area of trees where the light was almost vacant from the woods. When Hagrid dropped his cow on the ground and turned to face the students, he met a sea of wary and frightened faces staring back at him, with the sole exceptions of Kirk and Spock.

"Gather roun', gather roun'. Now," he said as they all crept closer to him, "they'll be attracted by the smell o' the meat, but I'm goin' ter give 'em a call anyway, 'cause they'll like ter know it's me."

He immediately turned around and uttered an unearthly shriek which would have, under very different circumstances, have caused many of the students present to break into laughter. Yet no one moved, and no one uttered a sound, some looking too frightened to even breathe. When the Thestrals entered the clearing, McCoy stepped back several paces and swore under his breath.

"Why doesn't Hagrid call again?" Ron asked, eyes still searching the clearing.

"The Thestrals have arrived," Spock stated, nodding his head in the direction that they had come from.

"They're Thestrals?" Harry asked.

"Affirmative."

"They pulled the school carriages!" Harry said in barely restrained excitement. "No one else could see them, and I thought that I was imagining it."

McCoy shook his head. "They're real as can be," he muttered in a type of voice that suggested he wished they weren't.

"Oh, an' here comes another one!" Hagrid called joyously. "Now...put yer hands up, who can see 'em?"

Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Neville and Harry raised their hands, and Hagrid nodded at them. "Yeah...I knew yeh might be able ter see 'em," he commented. "An' you too, Neville, eh? An'-"

"Excuse me," Malfoy interrupted rudely, "but what are we supposed to be seeing?"

Hagrid pointed at the cow carcass on the ground, where the Thestrals were attacking the meat hungrily.

Kirk nudged McCoy in the ribs. "You're lucky you can't see meat disappearing into thin air, Bones."

McCoy scowled at him. "I feel eternally blessed."

"What's doing it?" Someone demanded. "What's eating it?"

"Thestrals. Hogwarts has got a whole herd of 'em in here. Now, who knows-"

"But they're really, really unlucky! They're supposed to bring all sorts of horrible misfortune on people who see them. Professor Trelawney told me once-"

Hagrid chuckled. "No,no,no. Tha's jus' superstition, that is, they aren' unlucky, they're dead clever an' useful! Course, this lot don' get a lot o' work, it's mainly jus' pullin' the school carriages unless Dumbledore's takin' a long journey an' don' want ter Apparate – an' here's another couple, look-"

"Apparate?" McCoy asked blankly.

"A magical form of transport, Leonard," Spock murmured quietly. "It gives the appearance of a wizard or witch vanishing."

McCoy blinked. "You really are a walking dictionary."

"I do endeavour to be useful," Spock quipped back, and McCoy stared at him in surprise, still not quite over the fact that he knew a joking Vulcan.

"Don' worry, it won' hurt yeh," Hagrid was saying. "Righ' now, who can tell me why some o' yeh can see 'em an' some can't?" At Hermione's raised hand, he beamed. "Go on then."

"The only people who can see Thestrals are people who have seen death."

"Tha's exactly right," Hagrid replied as a solemn mood settled over the group. "Ten points ter Gryffindor. Now, Thestrals-"

"Hem, hem."

McCoy cast his eyes heavenward. "Fate hates us," he complained.

Slowly, the group turned around to see that Professor Umbridge was standing a few feet away from them, immaculate as ever, and almost blending into the background in an extremely hideously shaded and tailored green suit. Hagrid, however, was clearly confused as to where the voice was coming from, which caused Malfoy to snicker loudly.

"Hem, hem," Umbridge repeated impatiently.

Hagrid found her. "Oh, hello!"

Umbridge proceeded to address Hagrid as though he was both deaf and incredibly slow. "You received the note I sent to your cabin this morning? Telling you that I would be inspecting your lesson?"

"Oh, yeah. Glad yeh found the place all righ'! Well, as you can see – or, I dunno – can you? We're doin' Thestrals today-"

Umbridge frowned and pointedly cupped a hand to her ear. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

McCoy almost growled. "I see what she's doing..."

Kirk placed a warning hand on his forearm. "Leave it be for the moment, Bones. We can't get involved unless necessary."

Hagrid looked genuinely confused, and replied in the same loud voice, flapping his arms in an attempt to get her to understand. "Er – Thestrals! Big – er – winged horses, yeh know!"

Umbridge gave a brief sound of surprise and lowered her clipboard so that she could write on it. "Has...to...resort...to...crude...sign...language."

Spock opened his mouth, but a warning shake of the head from Kirk stopped him.

"Well...anyway...erm...what was I sayin'?"

"Appears...to...have...poor...short...term...memory." Malfoy snorted at this even as nearly everyone else quivered with rage.

"Oh yeah. Yeah, I was gonna tell yeh how come we got a herd. Yeah, so, we started off with a male an' five females. This one," he patted one, "name o' Tenebrus, he's my special favourite, firs' one born here in the Forest-"

Umbridge loudly interrupted him. "Are you aware that the Ministry of Magic has classified Thestrals as 'dangerous'?"

"Are you aware," Spock repeated, causing Kirk to glare warningly at him, "that it is impossible to inspect a class if you insist upon interrupting it?"

Umbridge turned to him coolly and, if she had been the right height, would surely have looked down her nose at him. "I hardly expect you to understand intelligent and logical methods," she said scathingly, not noticing Kirk's expression turn to one of rage. She turned back to Hagrid and raised her eyebrows expectantly.

"Thestrals aren' dangerous! All righ' they might take a bite outta yeh if yeh really annoy them-"

"Shows...signs...of...pleasure...at...idea...of...violence."

"I'll show you pleasure at the idea of violence," McCoy all but growled under his breath.

"That is incorrect," Spock said, ignoring a second warning glance from Kirk. "He merely stated the understandable survival instinct to attack if provoked – something that you have no doubt experienced in abundance."

The class gaped and McCoy resisted the urge to clap. Umbridge had turned red with fury, and was on the verge of snapping her quill, but her voice was still silky smooth and sickeningly sweet.

"One more word out of you, Mister Spock, and you will be punished." She turned back to Hagrid. "Please continue as usual. I am going to walk," she began walking on the spot, "among the students," she jabbed a finger at the circle, "and ask them questions." She actually pointed at her mouth and then proceeded to mime a conversation with thin air.

Malfoy and several other Slytherins were in stitches, but her treatment of Hagrid was causing anger to surface noticeably on many faces.

"He understands what you are saying," Spock said sharply, eyes turning to razor sharp steel. "Simply because you have distracted him from his lesson does not mean that he is incapable of normal speech." The implicit insult to Umbridge was clear as Spock considered her with a raised eyebrow.

Umbridge simmered like a green, frilly saucepan and actually began to shake with rage. "How dare you?"

"It is of little consequence or effort on my part," Spock said calmly.

"That," Umbridge snapped, "was a rhetorical question," she said loudly, looking as though she was going to stamp her foot.

Malfoy was standing behind her, nodding at Spock in encouragement even as the other two Enterprise officers tugged desperately on his cloak in an inconspicuous attempt to get him to shut up.

"I deemed an answer to be necessary. Furthermore, you did not specify its rhetorical nature, but instead allowed your voice to increase in pitch and hysterical nature, thereby showing that your lack of comprehension was of some distress. I sought to rectify the situation."

"Good God," McCoy muttered. "Now I know that he never really argued with me...it's blindingly obvious he was just teasing me now that I can see what he really argues like..."

"Told you," Kirk whispered back.

Umbridge began to gently bob up and down but appeared to have no comment worthy of repeating aloud while still maintaining some semblance of control over the situation. As she stalked sharply past Spock, they saw Malfoy give a brief victorious and amused grin in Spock's direction before he smothered it with his customarily haughty expression.

Kirk sighed and pulled Spock away from the group slightly. "Your defence of Hagrid is inspiring," he said quietly, "but you promised not to get into trouble."

"I surmised that she would be unable to reply."

"I'm not happy with you taking that chance, Spock," Kirk said seriously. "I don't want to see your hand cut open again by that quill, and I don't want us to be removed from the castle."

Spock cocked his head to the side and examined Kirk curiously for a moment or two, as though he was trying to process the fact that someone could care so much for him that they couldn't bear to even see a small wound on the back of his hand. Kirk seemed to sense his thoughts and kept eye contact, allowing the Vulcan to see the truth of the concern lurking deep within the dark orbs.

"I see," Spock finally said. "However, it is unacceptable for her treatment of Professor Hagrid to continue."

"I understand that," Kirk said. "I just ask you to be careful."

"I shall endeavour to do so at the best of my ability, given the circumstances," Spock promised.

"Good," Kirk said, shuffling them both back to the group.

"Er...yeah...good stuff abou' Thestrals," Hagrid was saying desperately. "Well, once they're tamed, like this lot, yeh'll never be lost again. 'Mazin' sense o' direction, jus' tell 'em where yeh want ter go-"

"Assuming they can understand you, of course," Malfoy said maliciously, causing several people to go into more fits of hysterical glee.

"You can see the Thestrals, Longbottom, can you?" Umbridge asked.

Neville nodded, and a tension began to coalesce around the pair.

"Who did you see die?"

"Now wait just a damn minute..." McCoy sputtered, but was beaten to the punch by Spock, who had moved over to the pair and was offering Neville support by his close presence.

"That is hardly an appropriate query for a classroom," he said very, very quietly, posture stiff.

Umbridge's eyes had immediately alighted with curiosity.

"No..." Kirk said in sudden understanding, bracing himself to come to Spock's defence at any moment.

"Who, may I ask," Umbridge said imperiously, "did you see die, Mister Spock?"

The three officers became so still that they could have been statues.

"That is hardly any of your concern."

"You can obviously see them," she continued relentlessly. "Obviously something interesting happened to someone you – dare I say it," she said in disgust, "loved."

At the brief look of hurt in Spock's eyes at the insult, Kirk snapped, swooping in on Umbridge like a bird of prey. "Leave him alone," he said simply, standing very close to the Vulcan.

"Well, this is touching," Umbridge simpered. "A full blood defending a half breed. I would have assumed from your lack of defence of Professor Hagrid that you were of a similar political stance to me."

Kirk allowed disgust to touch his features. "It's my job to punish people like you, who think they can use their power to bully others."

"I am hardly bullying, Kirk. I am conducting a Ministerial investigation."

"In a very petty and immature way," Kirk said angrily. "How do you expect to gain an idea of what he's like as a teacher if you insist upon letting your prejudices get into the way? Any competent person would lay aside their beliefs and be impartial in their judgement."

"One more word out of you two, and I'll have all three of you thrown out of the castle," she said in an unbelievably huge amount of triumph. They had no choice but to be quiet.

"Now," she said, sounding slightly flustered as she turned back to Neville, "what do you think of them?"

Neville had begun to look very nervous once more. "Erm...Well, they're...er...OK..."

"Students...are...too...intimidated...to...admit...they...are...frightened."

Kirk, Spock and McCoy looked like they wanted to argue, but were forced to stay quiet and watch how things panned out.

"No! No, I'm not scared of them!"

Umbridge patted Neville on the shoulder and leered freakishly at him. "It's alright," she said as though comforting a baby who had woken up crying in the night. "Well, Hagrid," she had resumed talking in the loud, slow voice. "I think I've got enough to be getting along with. You will receive," again another ridiculous mime, "the results of your inspection," she pointed at her notes, "in ten days' time." She then proceeded to slowly count for him on her stubby fingers. Bustling in a waddling and self satisfied fashion, she left the Forbidden Forest.

For the rest of the lesson, Hagrid attempted to keep his lesson going as smoothly as possible, though his efforts were undermined by the continuous snickering coming from the end of the Slytherins, despite Spock's silent warning looks. Nearly everyone else looked thoroughly upset and angry, and so it was impossible for them to concentrate on anything that Hagrid was saying at all.

Half an hour later, they were making their way back up to the castle, foul tempers evident everywhere. Hermione's was by far the worst, as she proceeded to give them a rant that made McCoy's look like a walk in the park.

"That foul, lying, twisted old gargoyle!" She screeched. "You see what she's up to? It's her thing about half-breeds all over again – she's trying to make out Hagrid's some kind of dim-witted troll, just because he had a giantess for a mother – and oh, it's not fair, that really wasn't a bad lesson at all – I mean, all right, if it had been Blast-Ended Skrewts again, by Thestrals are fine – in fact, for Hagrid, they're really good!"

"Umbridge said they're dangerous," Ron pointed out.

"Well, it's like Hagrid said, they can look after themselves and I suppose a teacher like Grubbly-Plank wouldn't usually show them to us before NEWT level, but, well, they are very interesting, aren't they? The way some people can see them and some can't! I wish I could."

Spock instantly became quiet, and Harry's voice became solemn as he said, "Do you?"

Hermione looked aghast between all of them. "Oh – I'm sorry – no, of course I don't – that was a really stupid thing to say."

"It is, nevertheless, understandable," Spock said.

"I'm surprised so many people could see them," Ron said.

"It comes with the job," Kirk replied grimly. "When you're exploring new worlds, things do tend to go wrong..."

Meanwhile, Malfoy had caught up with them, followed closely by his friends. "Weasley, we were just wondering. D'you reckon if you saw someone snuff it you'd be able to see the Quaffle better?"

Spock stared at him, and they were glad to see Malfoy's eyes widen as he realised what he had just said in front of his fellow Slytherin. He opened his mouth to apologise but Spock gave a brief shake of the head. The three Gryffindor students had missed this entire exchange, and were glaring at Malfoy with pure hatred, but both Kirk and McCoy looked on in interest, not really believing their eyes as they realised that perhaps Malfoy wasn't horrible to everyone.

It was a thought that they never thought they would consider so soon, neither of them having to spend as much time with him as Spock had, but it did help to explain the protectiveness which Spock showed to all the students, even the Slytherins. Obviously, they observed as they saw the Slytherin group move away, talking easily with one another, they were a close knit group; something that only came to pass when they had the whole school to fight against.