Harry loaded his shotgun. He and some friends were venturing into the Forbidden Forest to hunt the wild Thestral. Only a real hunter hunted Thestrals. Only a real hunter could even see the Thestrals. They were magical creatures who were visible only to witches and wizards who had witnessed or participated in a killing. As such, there was a good chunk of the student body at Hogwarts who couldn't see the Thestrals, and what's more did not believe there was any such animal. However, to those that could see them, it was abundantly clear that this was not a rare species. Once you saw them, you saw them everywhere, breeding freely like rabbits and going where they pleased. (In fact there are those who have Thestral infestations in their own homes but are totally unaware of the fact. You could be one of them.)
And so, as Thestrals were far from endangered (in fact they might be the true dominant species on this planet), Harry and company saw no harm in marching down to the woods every Sunday and firing off a couple rounds at the damn things. The reason they did this in the woods, and not anywhere else that Thestrals lived in great abundance (which is everywhere), was mostly for sentimental reasons. They all strongly associated the sport of hunting with the forest, and felt that hunting ought not to be done anywhere else. All of Harry's friends held very romantic notions of what it was to hunt. They were idealists, and that is a rare thing in this world. Unlike Thestrals.
There were seven in total that day in their hunting party. Usually it was Harry, the Weasleys, and a girl named Luna Lovegood. It was Luna who had introduced Harry, Ron, and Reggie to Thestral hunting, and who had taught Harry how to screw. Joining those four today were Hermione Granger, a bookish girl who'd fallen for Ron but had contented herself with Reggie upon learning Ron didn't like girls (which she was surprisingly slow to pick up on given how regularly he bragged about all the exotic ethnicities of boy he'd had); Colin Creevey, a first-year and photographer for the school paper who had ingratiated himself into the Weasleys' inner circle; and Severus Snape, who Ron had invited along.
Severus, as he always did, wore a yellow windbreaker. Harry wore a hunting jacket and riding breeches, with a deerstalker atop his head. Ron wore a black three-piece suit with a green tie. Reg wore a grey two-piece suit with a red tie. Luna was decked out in camouflage fatigues, a busby emblazoned with a picture of a peyote button, and a pair of violet tea shades. Hermione wore an oversized white sweater and jeans, and Colin wore an Acapulco shirt and khaki short-shorts.
Luna led the party to the clearing where they did their shooting, clutching her APS underwater rifle. Harry carried a VSS Vintorez under his arm. Severus had a 44 Magnum tucked uncomfortably into his waistband and winced slightly as he walked. Ron aimed his Savage Model 99 into the trees above even as they strolled along the path. Hermione did a John Cleese type goose-step as she shouldered her Daisy Air Rifle. Colin brandished his Luger about in wild and spasmodic motions. Reg laughed all of this off as he lit a fag and loaded his Remington Model 700.
They reached the clearing and got into position. Luna, leader of the party, pointed her APS in the direction of a large male Thestral and shot it. A spray of needles (which anyone will tell you is what the APS stores rather than bullets) flew into the great beast, causing it to collapse to the forest floor. The rest of the Thestrals scattered in fear, tramping and flying away. Only a few of these got away as the Weasley twins emptied round after round into the animals. A few rushed at the party, which Harry and Severus quickly dispatched. Thestral chicklets plummeted from the sky as Hermione picked them off one-by-one with her Daisy. There were Thestral bodies in all directions, piling up as the animals fell before the maelstrom of lead showered upon them by the young magicians.
The dust settled and soon it was time to see who had hit what, which could be easily identified given the disparate ammos used by each of the children. They went forth and started inspecting the bodies.
"Aw, Reggie, you ass! You've shot a doe!" Luna cried in mock-pity for one of the noxious animals. Reggie guffawed.
Harry had managed to down seventeen of the beasts overall. He noticed Colin sat on his own by a rock. Sensing something was amiss, he walked over and checked in to see what was wrong.
"All right, Colin?" He asked.
"All right, Harry," Colin returned, "I just couldn't see what I was doing. No sense in me checking along with the rest of you. I probably didn't hit any."
He hadn't, but Harry didn't mention this.
Suddenly, throughout the forest, there came the sounds of drums and the blaring of tubas and trombones and bagpipes. Harry wondered to himself. Was it that time of year already?
Indeed it was. Summer had come in, and the end-of-term procession was making its way through the forest in its full pagan regalia.
The students of Gryffindor in the parade wore terribly realistic lion masks over their school robes, which covered their faces, and made them look almost as if they indeed were possessed of lion's heads. So too were the students of Slytherin house decked out in large snake's heads, the Ravenclaws in feathered raven masks, and the Hufflepuffs in the noble visage of the mighty badger.
"What's this?" asked Colin.
"Oh yeah, you're a first year, aren't you?" Harry said, "I forgot. They do this every year, you see. Always have."
"Yeah, but what is it?"
Harry pointed toward the large masked throngs. "Why don't you ask them?"
Colin ran over to the procession and walked along as he tried to talk to the masked students.
"Excuse me? I'm new. A first year, that is. What is all this?" he said.
A boy in a lion mask turned to face Colin, his face hidden behind furs. "You could say it's the annual farewell party to the year's Defense professor. It's only a one-year position."
"And who but a fool," joined in a girl from Ravenclaw, "Would be professor for a year?"
A deep-voiced Badger boy began to laugh. "He has come of his own accord. Now it is time to keep his appointment with the Hogwarts Farewell Committee."
It was only then that Colin noticed just how many of these students seemed to be carrying ropes and torches. Truly Hogwarts was a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.