Chapter 38 I don't own Harry Potter or Merlin. Bold is another language or mind speak.
"Ron, cheer up," said Hermione, pushing a dish of stew toward him. "You heard what Professor McGonagall said."
"What did Professor McGonagall say?" Merlin asked as they joined them from Charms and Ron spooned stew onto his plate and picked up his fork but didn't start.
"Just that Trelawney has predicted the 'death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them has died yet. Seeing death omens is her favorite way of greeting a new class.' Exactly what you said." Hermione answered calmly.
"Harry," Ron said, in a low, serious voice, "You haven't seen a great black dog anywhere, have you?"
"Yeah, I have," said Harry. "I saw one the night I left the Dursleys'."
"Do you know how many stray dogs there are? Plenty. You probably saw a Mastiff or a Doberman or something." Cassie told them placatingly.
"Cassie, if Harry's seen a Grim, that's - that's bad," Ron said, dropping his fork and looking at her as though she'd gone mad. "My - my uncle Bilius saw one and - and he died twenty-four hours later!"
"Coincidence," said Hermione airily, pouring herself some pumpkin juice.
"He was probably frightened to death, Ron. It's happened. Believe me." she said, muttering the last darkly.
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Ron told Hermione, starting to get angry. "Grims scare the living daylights out of most wizards!"
"There you are, then," said Hermione in a superior tone. "They see the Grim and die of fright. The Grim's not an omen, it's the cause of death! And Harry's still with us because he's not stupid enough to see one and think, right, well, I'd better kick the bucket then!"
"Well, then. Just ignore me. I'm nothing but a painting on the wall. Even though there's no wall anywhere near here. Actually, let's say I'm a painting on an easel, yes, that's much more accurate." Cassie said to herself as she ate her lunch next to Merlin.
Ron mouthed wordlessly at Hermione, who opened her bag, took out her new Arithmancy book, and propped it open against the juice jug while Merlin and Cassie exchanged amused glances with Harry.
"I think Divination seems very woolly," Hermione said, searching for her page. "A lot of guesswork, if you ask me."
"There was nothing woolly about the Grim in that cup!" said Ron hotly.
"You didn't seem quite so confident when you were telling Harry it was a sheep," said Hermione coolly.
"And I still saw a Great Dane, did you see those cute ears!"
"I had no clue you were a dog lover." Merlin told her conversationally.
"Hmm, I am. Just not those yappy dogs, like Chihuahuas and Pomeranians and Yorkies. They get on my nerves." she told him happily, chatting away while the others ignored the two of them.
"Professor Trelawney said you didn't have the right aura! You just don't like being bad at something for a change!" Ron said, touching a nerve. Hermione slammed her Arithmancy book down on the table so hard that bits of meat and carrot flew everywhere.
"If being good at Divination means I have to pretend to see death omens in a lump of tea leaves, I'm not sure I'll be studying it much longer! That lesson was absolute rubbish compared with my Arithmancy class!" She snatched up her bag and stalked away.
Ron frowned after her. "What's she talking about?" he said to Harry. "She hasn't been to an Arithmancy class yet."
"Yeah, we have. It was really interesting! I might actually drop Divination if it weren't for those stupid dreams." Cassie said when she and Merlin had paused their conversation to eat some of their food.
"Ready for Care of Magical Creatures?" Merlin asked after they all finished their food and went to leave.
"I just need to run down to my room and change my shoes. There is no way I'm trudging through damp grass in heels." Cassie said, handing Merlin her bag. "I'll meet you there!" Cassie told them.
"I'm not your servant! Take your own bag!" Merlin called after her, but she just turned around and shot him a smile, walking backwards through the Great Hall.
Ron and Hermione weren't speaking to each other. Harry and Merlin walked beside them in silence as they went down the sloping lawns to Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
"Wow, you're slow!" Cassie told them when she catched up. "I had time to change my shoes and retouch my lip gloss. What's with the-"
"Better not to ask." Merlin told her mentally, cutting her off.
"Oh. Right." she said softly. It was only when Harry spotted three only-too-familiar backs ahead of them that he realized they must be having these lessons with the Slytherins as well. Malfoy was talking animatedly to Crabbe and Goyle, who were chortling. Harry was quite sure he knew what they were talking about.
Hagrid was waiting for his class at the door of his hut. He stood in his moleskin overcoat, with Fang the boarhound at his heels, looking impatient to start.
"C'mon, now, get a move on!" he called as the class approached. "Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"
For one nasty moment, Harry thought that Hagrid was going to lead them into the forest; Harry had had enough unpleasant experiences in there to last him a lifetime. However, Hagrid strolled off around the edge of the trees, and five minutes later, they found themselves outside a kind of paddock. There was nothing in there.
"Everyone gather 'round the fence here!" he called. "That's it - make sure yeh can see - now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books -"
"How?" said the cold, drawling voice of Draco Malfoy.
"Eh?" said Hagrid.
Stroke it." Cassie said quietly, though only Merlin heard her.
"How do we open our books?" Malfoy repeated. He took out his copy of The Monster Book of Monsters, which he had bound shut with a length of rope. Other people took theirs out too; some, like Harry, had belted their book shut; others had crammed them inside tight bags or clamped them together with binder clips.
"Hasn' - hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?" said Hagrid, looking crestfallen.
The class all shook their heads except for Cassie and Merlin, who had just been told how to by Cassie.
"Yeh've got ter stroke 'em," said Hagrid, as though this was the most obvious thing in the world. "Look -"
He took Hermione's copy and ripped off the Spellotape that bound it. The book tried to bite, but Hagrid ran a giant forefinger down its spine, and the book shivered, and then fell open and lay quiet in his hand.
"Oh, how silly we've all been!" Malfoy sneered. "We should have stroked them! Why didn't we guess!"
"I - I thought they were funny," Hagrid said uncertainly to Hermione.
"Oh, tremendously funny!" said Malfoy. "Really witty, giving us books that try and rip our hands off!"
"Shut up, Malfoy," said Harry quietly. Hagrid was looking downcast and Harry wanted Hagrid's first lesson to be a success.
"I personally found them genius!" Cassie piped up loudly. "Great reading material! I was entertained for the whole night!"
"Righ' then," said Hagrid, who seemed to have lost his thread, "so - so yeh've got yer books and'...an'...now yeh need the Magical Creatures. Yeah. So I'll go an' get 'em. Hang on..."
He strode away from them into the forest and out of sight.
"God, this place is going to the dogs," said Malfoy loudly. "That oaf teaching classes, my father'll have a fit when I tell him -"
"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry repeated.
"Careful, Potter, there's a Dementor behind you -"
"Oooooooh!" squealed Lavender Brown, pointing toward the opposite side of the paddock.
Trotting toward them were a dozen of the most bizarre creatures 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 cruel, steel-colored beaks and large, brilliantly, orange eyes. The talons on their front legs were half a foot long and deadly looking. Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck, which was attached to a long chain, and the ends of all of these were held in the vast hands of Hagrid, who came jogging into the paddock behind the creatures.
"Oh! Hippogriffs!" Cassie said wide eyed from next to Lavender.
"Gee up, there!" he roared, shaking the chains and urging the creatures toward the fence where the class stood. Everyone drew back slightly as Hagrid reached them and tethered the creatures to the fence, separating them slightly.
"Hippogriffs!" Hagrid roared happily, waving a hand at them. "Beau'iful, aren' they?"
Harry could sort of see what Hagrid meant. Once you got over the first shock of seeing something that was half horse, half bird, you started to appreciate the Hippogriffs' gleaming coats, changing smoothly from feather to hair, each of them a different color: stormy gray, bronze, pinkish roan, gleaming chestnut, and inky black.
"Very." Cassie said, opening up to the page in the book where Hipogriffs were covered.
"So," said Hagrid, rubbing his hands together and beaming around, "if yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer..."
Other than Cassie and Merlin, no one seemed to want to. Harry, Ron, and Hermione approached the fence cautiously so Hagrid wouldn't feel bad while Merlin and Cassie got closer and bowed, waiting for the reactions..
"Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' Hippogriffs is, they're proud," said Hagrid. "Easily offended, Hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do."
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle weren't listening; they were talking in an undertone and Harry had a nasty feeling they were plotting how best to disrupt the lesson.
"Yeh always wait fer the Hippogriff ter make the firs' move," Hagrid continued. "It's polite, see? Yeh walk toward him, and yeh bow, an' yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt. Merlin an' Cassie obvious'y knew how ter open the book. They didn' need ter be told. Ten points to Huffelpuff." Hagrid added, his proud smile hidden beneath his wild beard.
"Right - who wants ter go next?" he asked, keeping a close eye on the two Hufflepuffs who were slowly walking forward to pet two of the hippogriffs he'd already separated.
Most of the class backed farther away in answer. Even Harry, Ron, and Hermione had misgivings. The Hippogriffs were tossing their fierce heads and flexing their powerful wings; they didn't seem to like being tethered like this.
"No one?" said Hagrid, with a pleading look.
"I'll do it," said Harry.
There was an intake of breath from behind him, and both Lavender and Parvati whispered, "Oooh, no, Harry, remember your tea leaves!"
Harry ignored them. He climbed over the paddock fence.
"Good man, Harry!" roared Hagrid. "Right then - let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak."
He untied one of the chains, pulled the gray Hippogriff farther away from its fellows, and slipped off its leather collar. Cassie and Merlin had already managed to coax their hipogriffs slightly away from the others and were working on slipping off their collars. The class on the other side of the paddock seemed to be holding its breath. Malfoy's eyes were narrowed maliciously.
"Easy now, Harry," said Hagrid quietly. "Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink...Hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too much..."
Harry's eyes immediately began to water, but he didn't shut them. Buckbeak had turned his great, sharp head and was staring at Harry with one fierce orange eye. "Tha's it," said Hagrid. "Tha's it, Harry...now, bow."
Harry didn't feel much like exposing the back of his neck to Buckbeak, but he did as he was told. He gave a short bow and then looked up. The Hippogriff was still staring haughtily at him. It didn't move.
"Ah," said Hagrid, sounding worried. "Right - back away, now, Harry, easy does it -"
But then, to Harry's enormous surprise, the Hippogriff suddenly bent its scaly front knees and sank into what was an unmistakable bow.
"Well done, Harry!" said Hagrid, ecstatic. "Right - yeh can touch him! Pat his beak, go on!"
Feeling that a better reward would have been to back away, Harry moved slowly toward the Hippogriff and reached out toward it. He patted the beak several times and the Hippogriff closed its eyes lazily, as though enjoying it.
The class broke into applause, all except for Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were looking deeply disappointed.
"Righ' then," said Hagrid. "I reckon they migh' let yeh ride 'em!"
This was more than Harry had bargained for. He was used to a broomstick; but he wasn't sure a Hippogriff would be quite the same.
"Really?" Cassie asked excitedly, still petting the roan Hippogriff behind the ear.
"Yeh climb up there, jus' behind the wing joint," said Hagrid, "an' mind yeh don' pull any of his feathers out, he won' like that..."
Cassie put her foot on the top of Gracetail's wing and hoisted herself onto its back; Gracetail stood up. She wasn't sure where to hold on; everything in front of her was covered with feathers. Merlin and Harry did the same with their animals, although Merlin rode his as if it were second nature to him.
"Go on, then!" roared Hagrid, slapping Buckbeak's hindquarters. The other two took off after him.
Without warning, twelve-foot wings flapped open on either side of Cassie, she just had time to seize the Hippogriff around the neck before she was soaring upward. It was nothing like a broomstick; the Hippogriff's wings beat uncomfortably on either side of her, catching her under her legs and making her feel she was riding a bull; the glossy feathers slipped under her fingers and she didn't dare get a stronger grip with her hands, so she used her legs to try and keep steady; alas, she now felt herself rocking backward and forward as the hindquarters of the Hippogriff rose and fell with its wings.
The creatures flew them around once and then headed back to the ground; Cassie really hoped she wouldn't fall off ungracefully, the teasing probably wouldn't subside from any of classmates if she did. She leaned back as the smooth neck lowered, copying what Merlin and Harry were doing, and then felt a heavy thud as the four ill-assorted feet hit the ground hard.
"Good work, you three!" roared Hagrid as everyone except Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle cheered. "Okay, who else wants a go?"
Emboldened by their success, the rest of the class climbed cautiously into the paddock. Hagrid untied the rest of the Hippogriffs one by one, and soon people were bowing nervously, all over the paddock. Neville ran repeatedly backward from his, which didn't seem to want to bend its knees. Ron and Hermione practiced on the chestnut, while Harry watched.
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had taken over Buckbeak. He had bowed to Malfoy, who was now patting his beak, looking disdainful.
"This is very easy," Malfoy drawled, loud enough for Harry to hear him. "I knew it must have been, if Potter and Rhydderch could do it...I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" he said to the Hippogriff. "Are you, you great ugly brute?"
"The big idiot!" Cassie thought at Merlin, already expecting what would happen.
It happened in a flash of steely talons; Malfoy let out a high pitched scream and next moment, Hagrid was wrestling Buckbeak back into his collar as he strained to get at Malfoy, who lay curled in the grass, blood blossoming over his robes.
"I'm dying!" Malfoy yelled as the class panicked. "I'm dying, look at me! It's killed me!"
"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 Malfoy easily. As they passed, Harry saw that there was a long, deep gash on Malfoy's arm; blood splattered the grass and Hagrid ran with him, up the slope toward the castle.
Very shaken, the Care of Magical Creatures class followed at a walk. The Slytherins were all shouting about Hagrid.
"They should sack him straight away!" said Pansy Parkinson, who was in tears.
"It was Malfoy's fault!" snapped Dean Thomas. Crabbe and Goyle flexed their muscles threateningly.
"If he had paid attention at the beginning he'd have known that that would happen after insulting the hippogriff." Cassie told them logically.
"Oh, of course, take his side, why don't you! Forget we're your friends too?" Pansy shot back at her angrily, speeding up and leaving the other students looking at her warily. "I'm going to see if he's okay!" she called over her shoulder to her fellow Slytherins, and they all watched her run up the marble staircase. The Slytherins, still muttering about Hagrid, headed away in the direction of their dungeon common room; Merlin, Cassie, Harry, Ron, and Hermione proceeded upstairs to Gryffindor Tower while the other Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws went to theirs.
"You think he'll be all right?" said Hermione nervously.
"Yeah, Madam Pomfrey can mend him in a heartbeat. Trust me, I know." Cassie told her.
"That was a really bad thing to happen in Hagrid's first class, though, wasn't it?" said Ron, looking worried. "Trust Malfoy to mess things up for him… Was it true what she said?" he asked contemptuously, looking at Cassie.
"Yeah, we're friends. The girls and I only gossip and talk fashion though." Cassie answered, already preparing to defend herself.
"With Slytherins?!" he and Harry asked, disgusted.
"Ron, they're not that bad once you get past the blood purity thing. And with me, they even mention it, and I just leave quickly. Besides, Draco's actually pretty good at Transfigurations and Charms. It's a purely academic friendship that we have. Don't judge, okay."
"Is that why you were so against him being the Heir last year?"
"No! We weren't even friends until February, okay? Can we change the subject now, please?"
"Do you think Trelawny knows you're a Seer as well?" Hermione asked her, looking at Ron who seemed like he was going to keep asking questions.
"Doubt it. So far as I can tell, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout are the only ones. Oh and Madame Pomfrey. And maybe Snape, but I don't think he ever came across me when I was sleepwalking last year. Although, he is a Head of House so they probably told him so he'd be aware." Cassie said, taking out the Muggle Studies book and going off with Hermione to study some.
"Did you know she was friends with him?" Ron accused Merlin after they'd left.
"No. I didn't. Doesn't surprise me though, they've always been civil to one another." Merlin said, shrugging and taking out a pack of Exploding Snap. "Wanna play?"
They were among the first to reach the Great Hall at dinnertime, hoping to see Hagrid, but he wasn't there.
"They wouldn't fire him, would they?" said Hermione anxiously, not touching her steak-and-kidney pudding.
"They'd better not," said Ron, who wasn't eating either.
Harry was watching the Slytherin table. A large group including Crabbe and Goyle was huddled together, deep in conversation. Harry was sure they were cooking up their own version of how Malfoy had been injured.
"Well, you can't say it wasn't an interesting first day back," said Ron gloomily.
They went up to the crowded Gryffindor common room after dinner and tried to do the homework Professor McGonagall had given them, but all five of them kept breaking off and glancing out of the tower window.
"There's a light on in Hagrid's window," Harry said suddenly. Ron looked at his watch.
"If we hurried, we could go down and see him. It's still quite early..."
"I don't know," Hermione said slowly, and Harry saw her glance at him.
"I'm allowed to walk across the grounds," he said pointedly. "Sirius Black hasn't got past the Dementors yet, has he?"
"Well, you could argue that he has at some point gotten past the Dementors-" Cassie started to say logically, but was cut off by Harry's glare.
So they put their things away and headed out of the portrait hole, glad to meet nobody on their way to the front doors, as they weren't entirely sure they were supposed to be out.
The grass was still wet and looked almost black in the twilight. When they reached Hagrid's hut, they knocked, and a voice growled, "C'mon."
Hagrid was sitting in his shirtsleeves at his scrubbed wooden table; his boarhound, Fang, had his head in Hagrid's lap. One look told them that Hagrid had been drinking a lot; there was a pewter tankard almost as big as a bucket in front of him, and he seemed to be having difficulty getting them into focus.
"'Spect it's a record," he said thickly, when he recognized them. "Don' reckon they've ever had a teacher who lasted on'y a day before."
"You haven't been fired, Hagrid!" gasped Hermione and Cassie at the same time.
"Not yet," said Hagrid miserably, taking a huge gulp of whatever was in the tankard. "But's only a matter o' time, I'n't, after Malfoy..."
"We'll talk to him, surely he'll stop if we ask him to?" Cassie told them heatedly.
"Maybe if you ask him to. But he's hated us since the first day, and I doubt he's ever liked Hagrid." Harry pointed out.
"How is he?" said Ron as they all sat down. "It wasn't serious, was it?"
"Madam Pomfrey fixed him best she could," said Hagrid dully, "but he's sayin' it's still agony...covered in bandages...moanin'..."
"He's faking it," said Harry at once. "Madam Pomfrey can mend anything. She regrew half my bones last year. Trust Malfoy to milk it for all it's worth."
"Not to mention all the broken bones she mended for me, although, healing them hurt much more than actually breaking them." Cassie added thoughtfully.
"School gov'nors have bin told, o' course," said Hagrid miserably. "They reckon I started too big. Shoulda left Hippogriffs fer later...done flobberworms or summat...Jus' thought it'd make a good firs' lesson's all my fault..."
"It's all Malfoy's fault, Hagrid!" said Hermione earnestly.
"She's right, he wasn't paying attention, and the lesson was amazing, Hagrid." Merlin told him, taking one of the two tankards and putting it in the sink.
"We're witnesses," said Harry. "You said Hippogriffs attack if you insult them. It's Malfoy's problem that he wasn't listening. We'll tell Dumbledore what really happened."
"Yeah, don't worry, Hagrid, we'll back you up," said Ron.
Tears leaked out of the crinkled corners of Hagrid's beetle-black eyes. He grabbed both Harry and Ron and pulled them into a bone-breaking hug.
"Glad I'm not being hugged right now, my ribs would all be crushed." Cassie whispered to Merlin quietly, getting a small snortle from him.
"I think you've had enough to drink, Hagrid," said Hermione firmly.
"Ah, maybe she's right," said Hagrid, letting go of Harry and Ron, who both staggered away, rubbing their ribs. Hagrid heaved himself out of his chair and followed Hermione unsteadily outside. They heard a loud splash.
"What's he done?" said Harry nervously as Hermione came back in with the other empty tankard.
"Stuck his head in the water barrel," said Hermione.
"Oh, that really doesn't work that well. One of the older guys from home was a certifiable drunkard, spent every waking moment either at the tavern or training, and the times we tried that to wake him up…"
"What's his name?" Cassie amusedly asked, she loved the stories he told about his friends; it seemed like she knew them all.
"Gwaine. Funny man, that Gwaine." Merlin said with gleaming eyes. "There's actually this one time he jumped off the second floor onto a pile of hay because he'd started a fight in the tavern. Well, it's a rather complicated story with me involved, but anyways. It was rather fun now that I think about it, but at the time, felt like we wouldn'-"
"That's better," he said as he came back inside, shaking his long hair and beard like a dog and drenching them all. "Listen, it was good of yeh ter come an' see me, I really -" Hagrid stopped dead, staring at Harry as though he'd only just realized he was there.
"WHAT D'YEH THINK YOU'RE DOIN', EH?" he roared, so suddenly that they jumped a foot in the air. "YEH'RE NOT TO GO WANDERIN' AROUND AFTER DARK, HARRY! AN, YOU FOUR! LETTIN' HIM!"
Hagrid strode over to Harry, grabbed his arm, and pulled him to the door.
"C'mon!" Hagrid said angrily. "I'm takin' yer all back up ter school an' don' let me catch yeh walkin' down ter see me after dark again. I'm not worth that!"
"Guess it worked for Hagrid." Cassie said softly to Merlin, getting another short laugh from him.
The next day at lunch, Harry and Ron told them what occurred during their double Potions lesson with the Slytherin's.
"Malfoy told us, he said if it was him, he'd be out there getting his revenge on Black." Harry told them after telling Merlin and Cassie about how Black had been spotted.
"Honestly, Harry! He's just trying to get a rise out of you." Hermione said from beside Cassie. She'd already told Cassie and Merlin at Ancient Runes what she'd heard so it was nothing new, but they couldn't know that.
"She's right, you know. Don't pay attention to what he says, I'll try talking to him about Hagrid, but I won't be able to stop him from taunting you. I've been trying for as long as I've been friends with him." Cassie told them as she took a bite of her Irish Stew.
"Walking with them or us after?" Cassie asked Hermione vaguely when they finished their lunch and stood up to leave.
"It's a time-turner, right?" Merlin asked once they were on their way to their next class.
"Can't say." Cassie said slyly, nodding at him.
"You're going to burn out, you know. It's too many classes at once."
"Eh, I can make up half the stuff in Divination. And Ancient Runes isn't as hard as I thought it would be. I'm genuinely surprised at how easy I find it." Cassie said conversationally as they continued.
"Okay, but don't come crying to me when you finally burn out." Merlin told her.
"Trust me, Merlin. I won't be crying. I'll yell at you, hit you, hex you. But I won't cry to you." Cassie said jokingly.
"I'll be right here. You're own personal punching bag." Merlin told her, sitting down and opening his notes, smirking as she rolled her eyes and did the same.
"I might even transport you back to Wales. If I can figure it out on time."
"Not with all these extra classes you won't." Merlin said absently, quickly adding before Cassie could open her mouth, "And before you say, it's not a challenge."
"Shh. Class is starting! Rosso!" Cassie whispered, adding the last teasingly.
"I miss the 'shut ups' so much." Merlin breathed out
"You should have seen how we faced the boggarts! Seamus' banshee and Neville's Snape! Snape's was the funniest boggart!" Ron said animatedly when they met up for dinner after their afternoon classes.
"Makes me dread Monday." Merlin muttered.
"Why?" Hermione asked him, "His class was very informative, he's honestly the best Defense professor we've had."
"To be honest we had Lockhart last year and you had Voldemort the year before." Cassie pointed out.
"Will you stop saying his name!" Ron hissed at her.
"It's only a name, Ron." Cassie muttered, rolling her eyes.
"So are you going to try out for Quidditch this year? Trials are next weekend." Merlin asked her, purposely ignoring Hermione's question.
"Definitely. And I'll be able to whip Harry's arse when we play Gryffindorks, too." Cassie said.
"You're going for Seeker?" Harry asked.
"No. Chaser. Ced's seeker, though I probably would be better than him, I'm smaller and lighter." Cassie answered.
"And what makes you think you'd beat us?" Ron demanded.
"Well, we are smarter than you. You've got these three dunderheads playing." Cassie said playfully, motioning between Fred and George and Harry.
"Oi! We resent that!" the twins said at the same time, throwing some grapes at her.
"When are your tryouts?" Cassie asked Harry.
"Wood hasn't said, though I think he's going to keep the team as it was last year, no one graduated." Harry told her.
"Excellent!" Cassie said with a wide smile.
"She's spying!" Ron said incredulously.
"Am too! Took you long enough to figure it out!" Cassie said playfully. "Besides, why mess with a good thing, right?"
"That's true." Ron said after opening his mouth and deciding against it, all of them moving onto another topic of conversation for the rest of the night.
"Well, good luck on your trials!" Hermione told her after dinner when they each went to their respective common rooms to retire.
"Thanks 'Mione!" Cassie called up the stairs as she walked down to the basement with Merlin.
Come Monday morning, Cassie was a ball of nerves. She'd read everything she could find on Boggarts, but nothing she saw could assuage her fears.
"Good afternoon. I see word's already gotten around." Professor Lupin greeted the eager children with an amused smile. "Today's lesson will be practical, and you will need only your wands. Right then, if you'd follow me." he said, taking them to an empty classroom where a boggart had taken residence inside the desk drawers.
"Now then, I'm sure you're all aware that there's a Boggart in there. Can anyone tell me what a Boggart is?" he asked the class.
Cassie raised her hand, waiting to be called on.
"Yes, Cassie?"
"A boggart is a non-being who takes on the form of it's observer's worst fears."
"That's correct! So the Boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. 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?"
Again Cassie raised her hand, but Professor Lupin called on Wayne.
"There's too many of us, it'll be confused." he said
"Correct again. It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a Boggart. He becomes confused. Which should he become, a headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a Boggart make that very mistake - tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into half a slug. Not remotely frightening. 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." he said calmly, looking at them all. "We will practice the charm without wands first. After me, please...riddikulus!"
"Riddikulus!" said the class together.
"Good," said Professor Lupin. "Very good. But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. And this is where you come in, Merlin."
"Right, Merlin," said Professor Lupin when he stepped forward. "First things first: what would you say is the thing that frightens you most in the world?"
"Uther."
"Right, I'm assuming that's someone you know?" Professor Lupin said cheerfully.
"Knew." Merlin corrected.
"And can you think of a way to make him amusing?" he prompted.
"Certainly, Professor." he said with an mischievous glint in his eyes
"Very well, when the Boggart bursts out of this desk, Merlin, and sees you, it will assume the form of Uther," said Lupin. "And you will raise your wand - thus - and cry 'Riddikulus' - and concentrate hard on how you'll make him amusing. If all goes well, Boggart Uther will be forced into that."
"If Merlin is successful, the Boggart is likely to shift his attention to each of us in turn," said Professor Lupin. "I would like all of you to take a moment now to think of the thing that scares you most, and imagine how you might force it to look comical..."
The room went quiet while everyone was imagining how to make it amusing. Cassie, however, was trying hard to think of something else to try and trick the boggart. She refused to let everyone see what her biggest fear truly was. She was picturing an acromantula and already knew what Ron had done.
"Everyone ready?" said Professor Lupin.
Cassie's stomach plummeted and her concentration faltered. She was beginning to feel the panic sinking in and could barely keep her heart in check.
"Merlin, we're going to back away," said Professor Lupin. "Let you have a clear field, all right? I'll call the next person forward...Everyone back, now, so Merlin can get a clear shot -"
They all retreated, backed against the walls, leaving Merlin alone beside the wardrobe. He looked pale and frightened, but he had pushed up the sleeves of his robes and was holding his wand ready.
"On the count of three, Merlin," said Professor Lupin, who was pointing his own wand at the handle of the wardrobe. "One - two - three - now!"
A jet of sparks shot from the end of Professor Lupin's wand and hit the desk. The drawer burst open. Out came a steely-eyed, gray haired man with a scar on his temple and a look of cold fury on his face. He sneered menacingly at Merlin, throwing his red cloak off and stepping forward. Merlin raised his wand and with shaking hands said, "Riddikulus!" There was a noise like a whip crack and at once, the man went bald and wore clothes that were three sizes too small, and developed a vacant expression, scratching his head.
There was a roar of laughter; the Boggart paused, confused, and Professor Lupin shouted, "Susan! Forward!"
Susan walked forward, her face set. The boggart rounded on her. There was another crack, and where he had stood was a pale faced man with slits for eyes, a snakelike nose and long, thin fingers; the face sneering evilly at Susan. Several people screamed. Boggart Voldemort walked forward, raising his wand when Susan cried "Riddikulus!" The boggart turned into a baby sucking on a dummy and laying on the floor.
"Megan!" roared Professor Lupin, who darted past Susan and in front of the baby Voldemort.
Crack! Where the baby lay, a new figure formed, cloaked in shadows, when it walked forward, there were hundreds of eyes on its face, each boring into her. "Riddikulus!" she cried, turning the dark, hundred-eyed creature into a mess of eyes batting their lashes, making all the girls giggle a bit.
"Leanne!" she ran past Megan and a woman formed, with floor length black hair and a skeletal, green-tinged face - a banshee. She opened her mouth wide and an unearthly sound filled the room, a long, wailing shriek that made the hair on Cassie's head stand on end - "Riddikulus!" shouted Megan.
The banshee made a rasping noise and clutched her throat; her voice was gone.
Crack! The banshee turned into a rat, which chased its tail in a circle, then - crack!- became a rattlesnake, which slithered and writhed before - crack! - becoming a single, bloody eyeball.
"It's confused!" shouted Lupin. "We're getting there! Ernie!"
Ernie hurried forward. Crack! The eyeball became Lord Voldemort once more, which turned into the baby once again and began to wail when the dummy fell out of its mouth after Ernie cried "Riddikulus!"
"Excellent! Hannah, you next!"
Hannah leapt forward. Crack! The boggart reverted to adult Voldemort, and again back to baby Voldemort after she yelled, "Riddikulus!"
"Cassie!" Professor Lupin yelled when it was her turn.
She tentatively stepped forward, her wand raised and her hand shaking when the baby Voldemort boggart turned on the spot and became a young Aribert in surgical gloves and mask.
"This won't hurt one bit." he said in german, taking a scalpel and cutting open someone's abdomen. The screams that emanated were the horrible, pain-filled, screams of someone who had lost all hope. Next came the kidney being dissected inside the body, and the evil smile coming from the man was enough to make everyone in the room tremble in fear, staring at her disbelievingly.
"R-ridiculous!" Cassie said through the tears and with a heavy accent.
"Say it clearly, Cassie." Lupin told her calmly.
"Riddikulus!" she shouted, but instead of something amusing, the Boggart just morphed into another memory.
"All Jews have to die, because they bear the guilt of all evil in the world and especially of the war." he said condescendingly, looking down at a boy and taking out a long needle and syringe, and filling it up with gasoline before injecting it straight into the scared boy's heart.
"I-I can't do this!" Cassie cried, dropping her wand and running out of the room in tears.
"Merlin." Professor Lupin told the boy who had made to leave, shaking his head. "Finish it off."
Cassie ran out the big doors in the entrance hall and didn't stop running until she felt twigs scratch at her face. She hadn't seen where she was going, the tears blurring her vision just enough, but when she realized where she was she fell to her knees and broke down crying in the middle of the clearing.
She cried for hours, not moving from the middle of the small circle of trees she'd found herself in. When she felt her knees start to hurt painfully, she sat back awkwardly against one of the trees, the tears still falling down her face continuously, her stomach turning, threatening to empty its contents. She didn't register the rustling in the bushes or the dog that whimpered slightly when he saw her, approaching slowly with its tail between his legs and the ears flat against its head.
Cassie just knew that she hated what had happened, and she hated that everyone saw what her grandfather really was. When she shifted into a less awkward position, she felt the outlines of the small compact mirror she had gotten from her sister over summer. In a moment of pure desperation, she took it out of her pocket and wrapped it with her robes, pushing down hard enough to hear the crunch of the glass with her foot as her vision swam with tears and dark spots. She took the outline of one of the shards and held it tentatively over her wrist with shaking hands. Angry tears pricked at the back of her eyes, her nose burning with the threat of oncoming tears. She tightened her grip on the glass with trembling hands and winced as it cut into the skin of her palm. She dropped it to the floor in terror, hating herself for even considering what she was about to do and holding her hand gingerly against her chest, moving off to the side to be sick. She shook off the rest of her robes and yelled in agony and despair as loud as she could; confident no one would hear her since she was so far into the forest.
When she felt something wet nuzzle her hand, she stopped yelling and gave a start, cutting her other hand on the discarded mirror shards.
"Ow." she said lamely, dropping her hands carefully onto her lap and sniffling. "You smell like wet dog." she told the dog who was standing still in front of her. He just looked at her with his tongue lolling out of his mouth and his head tilted to the side as if saying, 'Seriously?'.
"Don't look at me like that. I know I'm pathetic." she muttered darkly. "And mad, talking to a stray dog while hiding deep in the Forbidden Forest, especially with someone who's supposedly out to get my friend, Harry, on the loose. And I probably smell gross with being sick and all. And if you're this far into the forest, you're not even a stray, you're probably a feral dog." Cassie said, shrugging off her robe and tearing the hem to wrap her hand.
"Why did he have to do those stupid Boggarts for his lesson? I wish I had just skipped the class, pretended to be sick or whatever. Now the whole school knows just what type of family I come from. Mother's a Death Eater who preferred to be out torturing someone than be at her daughters' birthday. Father's a Death Eater who rapes and pillages. Grandfather hated muggles so much he went to work for the Nazis torturing and experimenting on their prisoners. My grandmother most likely knew exactly what he did when he went to work." she gave a short, derisive laugh. "And I doubt she ever gave a damn about it!
"They're monsters, and so am I, to most of them anyway. Macmillan hates my guts, the girls barely tolerate me. I really only get along with Merlin and the fifth year boys in Hufflepuff. And I'm pretty sure Harry and Ron don't want to know about me anymore, not since they found out I'm friends with a few Slytherins from our year. It's not like I even share their stupid blood prejudices. I grew up around those stupid thoughts, doesn't mean I share those thoughts. If anyone understands, it's probably the Blacks, well, Andromeda and Sirius Black." she amended darkly, knowing the rest of them were fanatics.
"Raised with blood purists and all, and they still rejected it! Doesn't matter to me who the family is, I don't care about that. And I seriously could care less about muggle-borns. One of my best friends here is muggle-born. And my best friend from all my life is a half-breed. Well, quarter-breed, but still. Blood purity is something I don't care about! And now, what will they think of me!" Cassie said, sobbing into her still bleeding hands, not caring that her face was smearing with blood.
"I don't even know why I'm still talking to you, you're a dog. Even if you were a magical dog, there's no way you can understand me. Guess that might be better, spill my secrets to a dog so no one will know about them. They should make dogs therapists, the muggles I mean, it's not like actual psychologists don't do the same. Have the people talk and not say a word, or if they do say a word, they'll just prompt them to keep going and doodle on their little notepads like they seem to do in the movies. Just like you do with those sniffles and whimpers. Ha!" she gave a short, mad laugh, startling the dog enough that he backed up quickly, "I think that's what I'll call you. Snuffles. Here, it's going to keep raining and those damn Dementors don't help at all. I hate them, and I kind of hope they never get Sirius Black." Cassie told the dog who perked up as she wrapped her robe around him. "Why? I don't think he did it. I know nothing of him, but I do know that he's Harry's godfather, he was the Potter's best friend and they took him in. I don't doubt he loved them like the family he should have had. I know the feeling, and I would do nothing to hurt them. My family, not the Potters, although I wouldn't do anything to hurt Harry either." Cassie said, wiping her hands and face on the torn up robes and sniffling.
"Thank you. For listening, Snuffles." Cassie said, running her hands through his shaggy mane and regretting it. "Ew, you need a bath, and food. You're all bones!" Cassie stood up and used her shoes to gather the shards in a pile and carefully gathering them in her hands, careful to avoid getting cut again.
It was pretty dark outside when she went back up to the castle and Cassie knew everyone was already having dinner in the Great Hall. She made her way to the nearest bathroom and washed her hands and face, noting the slight cuts on her face from the branches and the two big cuts on her palms.
"Madame Pomfrey?" Cassie called out when she got to the hospital wing.
"Yes?" the matron said from her office, stepping out.
"I, uh, I cut my hands on a broken mirror." she said sheepishly.
"And your face?"
"Ran out of Defense and into the edge of the forest, some branches caught my skin earlier." Cassie said truthfully.
"It's the Forbidden Forest." Madame Pomfrey said, shaking her head disapprovingly. "You shouldn't be going in there, especially with those Dementors out there."
"I know, I just needed to be alone, and it was the first place I thought of."
"Did you get cut anywhere else?" she asked, knowing that there would be no broken mirror in the forest but respecting her privacy. For now.
"No. No other cuts." Cassie answered, thanking the matron for her help and leaving the hospital wing as soon as she could.