DISCLAIMER: As we all know, I do not own any of the characters, locations, etc. Only the plot is mine.
I am so thrilled by the response I have had to this story so far. I was super nervous about posting and had been very indecisive about posting it at all. But you gotta risk it to get the biscuit. I appreciate all the reviews that you have taken the time to write. I will be trying to post new chapters every 2-3 weeks; but please know the real world for me has been completely tipped on its ass and I am doing the best I can with the situation I am in.
MrsBlack.M
xx
Chapter Two.
September 2nd, 1993. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Making their way into the Great Hall early the next morning, the trio decided to sit with Fred and George to wait for their timetables. As they were waiting a loud echo of laughter came from the Slytherin table. When they looked over Draco Malfoy was doing a ridiculous impression of a swooning princess.
"Don't worry about the slimy git Harry" one of the twins began.
"We'll see who is laughing when Quidditch season starts" finished the other.
Just then Professor McGonagall came around with each of their timetables. Hermione was already scanning hers by the time the rest of the boys had even picked theirs up. "Ooh, yay, we are starting some of our new selective subjects today." Hermione had her timetable facing away from all the boys lest they question her about her packed course load. Just this morning alone she has three classes starting at 9:00. "Come on we should hurry up; we have Divination first and it is in the North Tower; it'll take us ten minutes to get there." As the trio left the hall sounds of some laughter followed them as Malfoy did yet another over-the-top swooning fit.
XxxX
The trio had just climbed another flight of stairs when they came face to face with a portrait of a knight who just got flung from his horse, landing face-first into the mud puddle below him. Unexpected laughter bubbled from Ron which caused the knight to jump up and draw his sword.
"You mock me, you scurvy brat? Draw your knave, you dog!" he yelled.
"Um, no?" Ron looked to Harry and Hermione, who both shook their heads and shrugged their shoulders. They all looked back to the knight who started shouting obscenities while swinging and thrusting his sword about until he got the blade stuck into the ground. He pulled with all his might, but he could not release the blade, so he dropped onto his rear and removed his visor. Hermione took his silence as an advantage "I beg your pardon, Sir. knight, we are looking for the North Tower, do you know where it is?"
"AHA!" All anger vanished from the knight's face "a quest! We walk this way" The knight proceeded to walk into the next painting going in the wrong direction.
"Sir Knight, you're going South not North" Hermione points out.
Turning abruptly to walk in the opposite direction "We walk this way" He said pointing his sword in the air.
After many, many different twists and turns and the strangest introduction ever, the trio of third-years finally reached their destination. They were at the top of the North Tower just below the trap door.
"Well good sirs and gentle lady, I must bid you farewell; call on me if you ever have a need." Sir Cadogan saluted and turn around and walked into the painting around the corner.
"What a bloody nutter."
"Ronald!" Hermione chastised.
"At least he got us to the right place," Harry shrugged. "Well, eventually."
The trio climbed the ladder to the trap door and into the misty haze that was the strangest-looking classroom they had ever been in. It looked like someone's overfilled attic crossed with an ancient teashop; too many tables had been crammed into the room with overstuffed cushions instead of chairs, and there were multi-coloured curtains all around the room that let in a very small amount of dim lighting from the windows. The misty haze was coming from the fireplace which seemed to be burning huge logs of herbal incense.
"Welcome," a husky voice came from the shadows in one of the corners "I am glad to see you all in the physical realm." The trio had joined the group of their classmates at the entrance to the room. It seemed no one wanted to move forward. The voice was accompanied by a woman who stepped out from next to the fireplace and looked like a giant sparkling bug. She was a very thin woman of average height; however, the first thing anyone noticed about her was her eyeballs which, due to the thickness of her glasses were magnified to the point of taking up half of her facial features which were dwarfed in comparison. She had on about five different shawls and a massive number of rings and beaded necklaces which seemed to weigh her down, so she was hunched over. She walked over to a large armchair in a corner of the room "sit, my children, sit." As the students awkwardly tried to find a seat walking all over the pillows on the floor she began speaking again. "Welcome to Divination, I am Professor Trelawney. You may not know me as I feel that leaving these rooms clouds my Inner Eye." No one had any idea what to make of this odd woman "Unfortunately not everyone has the Sight, those of you who do not possess this Gift and Gift it is, there is very little I can actually teach you; books will not help you in this class" at that proclamation both Harry and Ron grinned and looked to Hermione who looked devastated that someone could say that books can't help her. "You boy," she suddenly claimed pointing at Neville "is your grandmother well?"
"I-I t-thi-think so" he stuttered.
"Don't be so sure boy" she turned to the rest of the class continuing as though she just hadn't terrified the pants off of Neville "We will be covering the Basic Methods this year such as tea leaves, palmistry, and crystal balls. Unfortunately, after Christmas one of our number will leave us forever." Everyone in the room looked at the strange woman as though she had flipped onto her hands and had started walking on them. "Now, children go pick a teacup off the shelf and come line up and I will fill your cup with tea." She continued not even registering the expressions on the student's faces. "Once I have filled your cup, go sit back at your table and drink your tea until only the dregs remain. Swirl them around the cup three times with your left hand then turn the cup upside down on the saucer; wait for the last of the tea to drain then give your cup to your partner to read. Use pages five and six of Unfogging the Future, you dear boy" she said pointing at Neville again "after you have broken the first cup please choose one from the bottom shelf."
Sure enough, just as she finished her sentence Neville dropped his teacup. He went a deep shade of red and turn back to the shelf to grab his next cup, from the bottom shelf of course.
"Alright, what do you see in her cup?" Ron asked after finishing his tea and giving his cup to Hermione.
"A bunch of brown slop" Harry shrugged feeling really stupid. Ron just snickered.
"This is all a load of bloody rubbish" Hermione sat down next to them while looking at the cup in her hands; she looked up "what?" the boys were staring at her.
"You said bloody" Ron stated the obvious.
"Am I not allowed to say bloody?"
"Well, you always yell at me if I say it."
"Yes, well I changed my mind for certain circumstances" Hermione put her nose in the air and the conversation was over. Harry and Ron looked at each other eyes wide in confusion, they shrugged their shoulders and rolled their eyes both thinking girls. They turned back to their cups. The three of them looked back down at the exchanged cups and started trying to figure the meanings out.
"What'd you see?" Ron asked Hermione after he was done telling Harry that it looked like a Pigmy Puff on the inside of his cup.
"Crap." Ron snorted at her response "It looks like a bunch of soggy tea leaves. Which is exactly what it is." Hermione rolled her eyes and put down Ron's teacup. "It is not possible to see the future in a stupid cup!"
"Broaden your minds children. Use your inner eye" Trelawney appeared next to Hermione almost as if out of nowhere. Hermione ignored the crazy woman and picked up her textbook pretending to look up the meanings of the leaves. The professor then grabbed the cup from Ron's hand and looked down. Her eyes widened dramatically as she dropped the cup, grabbed her chest, and gasped loudly. "Oh no my boy, you have The Grim" She backed away from their table looking at Harry.
"What's the Grim?" someone shouted.
"It takes the form of a giant black dog. It is an omen of death" another replied.
"I think that is enough for today." Professor Trelawney dismissed the class who looked over at her in disbelief as the class had only started twenty-five minutes prior. As the students picked up their belongings and walked to the door Harry looked at Hermione and Ron "Well," he started with a sigh "death threat number one on day one of classes; I think that's a new record. How many more do you think I'll get this year?" he smirked, "Wanna make a bet about it?"
"You are being ridiculous. You can't trust anything that fraud has said." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Mione you might want to do a bit more research on the history of Seers and Divination. It is real magic" Ron said tactlessly. Hermione sent a withering glare at him and walked off. "What?" Ron seemed confused.
"Mate, I think you really need to work on the way you say things to her. Girls get emotional about things" Harry paused to look at him.
"What do you know about girls?" Ron snickered.
"Clearly more than you do." Harry walked off to catch up with Hermione. Ron narrowed his eyes at Harry and Hermione's backs and began to walk to his next class alone.
XxxX
Harry had chosen a table at the back of McGonagall's Transfiguration classroom. With Hermione next to him and Ron at the table in front next to Neville, they each tried to ignore the glances that were coming their way.
They were halfway through their lesson when McGonagall had finally had enough of telling people off for not paying attention and whispering to one another "Miss Granger" she started "what class did you all have before this one?"
"Divination, Professor." She replied shaking her head and rolling her eyes.
McGonagall sighed understanding what was going on "ok, which one of you is going to die this year?" the students all looked at her in surprise. After a minute's silence, Harry raised his hand and said, "me Professor."
"Of course, it was you Potter" she fixed her eyes on him. "Well, you should know, that Sybill Trelawney has had this prediction every year since she started teaching at this institution and gives it to one unlucky student at the start of each new year. I'll have you know that not one of them has died." She stopped to debate if she should continue, she shrugged one shoulder elegantly "Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. True Seers are exceedingly rare and generally disappear not long after they are found out which is why almost none of them come out to the public. But, at the moment you look in excellent health Potter, but if you do die, please note that you do not need to hand in the assigned homework." At that, the class laughed and most of the students relaxed. The stern professor walked back to the front of the classroom to continue the lesson.
Lunch that day was full of curious stares and whispers in Harry's direction which he was ignoring just as much as he was ignoring the continued swooning Malfoy was doing. Hermione noticed Harry's head was down and he was starting to get uncomfortable with the way Ron was looking at him in silence.
"Ron just let it go" Hermione snapped at him, still sore from the way he spoke with her earlier that morning. "You heard what Professor McGonagall said."
Ron was putting his second helping onto his plate. "Harry," he started "you haven't seen a big black dog have you?"
Harry had been thinking about the dog he saw when he left his aunt and uncle's house over the summer. "Yeah, I saw one the night I left the Dursleys." Ron dropped his fork and it splattered food up his shirt, not that he even noticed as he was too busy staring at Harry in shock.
"It was probably someone's pet that got out of their yard or even a stray" Hermione stated. "There are strays all over the country." Before Harry could respond to her Ron cut him off "You don't know what you're talking about Hermione. Grims scare the pants off of most wizards. My uncle saw one and he died twenty-four hours later."
"Well, there you go; he died of fright. That happens more often than you think" she said in a superior tone. "Besides Harry is still with us. He didn't see the dog and think well I'm going to go kick the bloody bucket." She dug into her bag and pulled out her Arithmancy textbook and began reading in an attempt to ignore Ron as he glared at her and muttered under his breath "Trelawney said you didn't have the Sight, so you don't even know what you're talking about."
"Yes," she said without even looking up "and you do because you were so sure that it was a pigmy puff in Harry's cup during the lesson."
"Don't be such a know-it-all Hermione, it's not attractive." He sneered back at her. At that, she gave up trying to read her textbook and put it back in her bag. She got up and glared at Ron with enough force to curdle milk then walked away not letting him see the tears in her eyes.
XxxX
Remus Lupin was walking past what he thought to be an empty passageway when he heard sniffling. He stopped and turned to see if the crying student was alright. Just as he crouched down the student looked up, "Oh, I'm sorry, I'll just- "
Remus held up his hand to stop her. "You're apologising for crying?" he couldn't help the small smile that came across his face.
"Well, no, I mean, I, yes?" she ended her stuttering with a question as if she weren't sure of her own answer. "Miss Granger, you have no reason to apologise." Remus pulled a clean folded hanky from his pocket and gave it to her. "Now wipe your eyes and tell me what caused all these tears on the first day of classes." Remus sat down on the floor across from her.
"Ronald Weasley is an arse!" She widened her eyes at her unexpected language and Remus barked out a laugh. He put his hand over his mouth "I'm sorry, please go on."
"It's ok Professor, I really don't know where that came from." She smiled a little and then frowned as she thought about the mornings events again. "We had Divination with Professor Trelawney who made a 'prediction'" she used quotation marks with her fingers at the word "that Harry was going to die. We were looking at tea leaves and she looked in Harry's cup and saw a Grim." Remus was a little surprised at where the conversation had gone and figured that she would get back to the youngest Weasley son. "We then went to Transfiguration and Professor McGonagall told us Professor Trelawney predicts a student's death every year and not to worry about it." Remus frowned and was starting to question why Dumbledore would hire a woman who year after year would terrify students with this prediction. "So, everyone seemed to calm down after that but at lunch Ronald was staring at Harry and it was making him uncomfortable, I could tell, so I told Ron to just drop it and he just asked Harry if he had seen a big black dog and Harry said yes he had over the summer the night he ran away from his Aunt and Uncles house." That more than anything got Remus' attention. There was only one big black dog that would be anywhere near Harry; but why didn't Sirius attack him? If it were Sirius, the night Harry ran away would have been dark and there would have been no witnesses, and why the hell did Harry run away from the Dursleys? Remus was distracted with his thoughts he only tuned back into the end of Hermione's next sentence.
"-said that I didn't know what I was talking about and that I should stop being such a know-it-all because it's not attractive." Her lower lip trembled, and a fresh wave of tears spilled down her cheeks. Hermione was slightly mortified at all the information she gave him, but there was something extremely familiar about this man and she felt she could tell him anything. Remus thought about what Sirius would have done had he heard that some boy said his daughter was not attractive and gave an evil little smirk.
"Well, young Mr. Weasley has no idea to what he is referring. A lot of boys think intelligence is attractive." She gave a snort. "Plus, he sounds like the sort of boy that you shouldn't want being attracted to you anyway." While Remus was verbally comforting Hermione he was thinking of all the ways he could prank the little shit who would dare to hurt his niece. It was when he was debating on whether to convince the house elves in the kitchen to put hair colour-changing potion in his pumpkin juice or to ask them to put itching powder in his underwear that Hermione spoke again, "thank you, Professor I really appreciate this. I'm sorry I was such a mess, and I'm sorry I made you uncomfortable and that you are sitting on the floor too" well fuck, I need to remember that, he thought, I'm a bloody professor. Well, it looks like that kind of revenge is off the table. Maybe I can give him detention. No that won't work, then I need to put up with the turd. Oh yes, he grinned detention with Snape will be good.
"It is no trouble at all Hermione. Anytime you need to talk, my door is always open. Do you have a class to attend now?" Remus said gently.
"Yes, I do. Which I am about to be late for, I do hope Hagrid doesn't mind." She gathered her bag and walked towards the end of the passageway, she turned back "thank you again Professor and I'll return your handkerchief in our first lesson."
"Of course. I have many of them so no rush to return it." Remus waved to his student "Good day Hermione, enjoy your lessons." Hermione waved goodbye and walked away to Care of Magical Creatures.
XxxX
Hermione was breathing heavily when she finally reached her next class. "I'm sorry I am late, Professor," she grinned at the half-giant "I got caught up speaking with Professor Lupin."
"No worries at all 'mione" Hagrid replied.
Hermione moved to stand next to Harry completely ignoring Ron who narrowed his eyes.
"Alrigh' now that we're all 'ere, follow me." Hagrid started to walk away towards the Forest but as they rounded a bend there was a large, fenced paddock just next to the edge of the trees. Inside the fenced-off area stood half a dozen of the most unique creatures. Standing roughly two meters tall they had back legs and a tail that resembled a horse and in what seemed like a seamless transition from fur to feathers along the body, the front half of the beast looked almost like an eagle with giant wings and beak included. "Aren' they beau'iful?" Hagrid was grinning with his arms outstretched. "Come and gather 'round, make sure e'ry one can see." The students all moved around so they could look at the strange creatures.
"What are they?" someone asked to Hermione's right.
"They are Hippogriff's." Hagrid pulled six ferrets from one of the many pockets on his jacket and threw one to each of the creatures, who each, in turn, caught them out of the air. "Now the firs' thing ya need ta know about 'em is they are very proud. Do not insult them. Ever." Malfoy rolled his eyes at Hagrid's warning. "Now, who wants ta come and say 'ello?" The class backed away looking concerned. "Really? No one?" Harry saw Hagrid was getting a bit nervous now and stepped forward. "I'll do it Hagri—ah I mean professor." He stuttered. He really wanted his friends first lesson to be great.
"Very good Harry" Hagrid beamed. "Now, come into the enclosure and just stand over here. I'll move the others out the way." Harry did as he was told and stood where Hagrid was pointing ignoring Lavender and Parvati's whispers about his tea leaves and that he shouldn't do it. Hagrid left the grey-coloured one behind as he herded the other five to the other side of the paddock. "This is Buckbeak. Step up a bit Harry but not too quick, make sure you keep eye contact with 'im too. Let 'im make the firs' move." The hippogriff took a couple of small steps forward towards Harry "Excellent, you got 'im curious. Now ya need ta bow; make sure you keep eye contact with 'im." Harry bowed low at the waist; his eyes were starting to water from not blinking so he could keep eye contact with the beast. "Jus' wait ta see if he bows back. If he does you can go and pat 'im, if no', well move back very slowly and out of reach of his talons, they are sharp and hurt if you get caugh' by 'em." Harry wanted to look at Hagrid in disbelief but did not dare move his eyes away from Buckbeak who looked to be staring right into Harry's soul with his bright orange eyes.
After what felt like forever Buckbeak lowered the front half of his body in what was unmistakably a bow. Hagrid started clapping and the rest of the class soon followed. "Well done Harry! Well done. Slowly walk up an' give 'im a pat" Harry swallowed nervously and moved forward to pet Buckbeak. Buckbeak moved his head in what seemed to be a little snuggle into Harry's touch, Harry almost sagged in relief when Buckbeak allowed his attention. Hagrid clapped again. "Great job 'arry, he may let ya ride 'im now."
"Wait, what?" Harry looked at Hagrid as if he were insane. Hagrid was beaming and Harry couldn't refuse him. "What do I do?" He said resigned, knowing riding the creature would not be anything like riding a broom.
"Climb up there just behind his wing joint, jus' don' pull out any of 'is feathers, he won' like tha'." Hagrid moved next to Buckbeak waiting for Harry to sit astride him. Harry was not sure where to hold as there were feathers everywhere in front of him. "Get on now!" Hagrid roared and smacked Buckbeak on his rear.
Harry's eyes widened and he had just enough time to lean forward and wrap his arms around Buckbeak's thick neck as he took off at a run then opened his gigantic wings and launched them into the sky. Definitely not like a broom was Harry's thought as Buckbeak straightened them out and flew them around the paddock. Instead of landing after going around the paddock a couple of times, Buckbeak changed course, which caused Harry to shout in shock, heading towards the Black Lake. Harry finally got used to the odd movements of going up and down in time with the beating of Buckbeak's wings. Surprisingly, Harry actually started to enjoy himself. He always felt the freest when he was flying. I guess it doesn't really matter what I'm flying Harry thought as he laughed to himself. He let go of Buckbeak's neck and spread out his arms and just enjoyed the ride. He felt most of his worries about Sirius Black melt away. They flew over the class as Harry screamed "WOO HOO!" They did one more lap of the paddock and then came to land in front of the class. Harry slid himself off Buckbeak with a massive smile on his face; he chuckled lightly as Buckbeak rubbed his face into Harry's chest almost knocking him over. Everyone except Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle burst into applause.
"Well done Harry! Ten points to Gryffindor" Hagrid beamed. "How was it?" Hagrid couldn't help but ask his friend.
"Bloody amazing." Harry, who still had not stopped grinning looked up at the man. Hagrid moved towards the other Hippogriffs and spread them throughout the paddock so there was plenty of space between them. He then split the class into groups, so each student was able to have a go at petting the Hippogriffs. Harry had moved to the edge of the paddock to watch his classmate's attempts; he could not help but laugh at Neville who was repeatedly bowing and then running away from the dark brown Hippogriff because the creature did not immediately bow back. The poor creature had its head slightly tilted to the side in what seemed pure confusion at Neville's antics. After just watching the other Hippogriffs for some time Harry turned back to look at Buckbeak who had miraculously allowed Draco Malfoy to pet him. Harry watched as Malfoy spoke loud enough for Harry to hear "This is terribly easy. Must be if Potter could do it. I bet you're not dangerous at all are you, you great ugly thing" he said the last of his sentence directly at Buckbeak who then, clearly offended by the blonde idiot's words, reared up on his back legs with a cry and using his impressive talons clawed at Malfoy who dropped with a high-pitched girlish scream. "It's killed me!" He started to cry, and the class started panicking "I'm dying! Merlin help me, I'm dying!" There was a pool of blood starting to form around his arm where there was a deep gash.
Hagrid ran over and picked Malfoy up to take him to the hospital wing "class dismissed!" he called over his shoulder on his way out of the paddock. As the class made their way back to the castle the Slytherins were all shouting about Hagrid.
"The giant oaf should be fired!"
"That bird needs to be executed so it doesn't do it again."
"It was Malfoy's own bloody fault!" Seamus yelled at them, his Irish accent becoming thicker than it already was. "If he actually listened to Hagrid's warning or even took it seriously then it wouldn't have happened at all" The rest of the Gryffindors nodded in agreement. The Slytherins all glared and walked away without another word. Making their way up to Gryffindor Tower the students were chatting away about the class.
"I hope Malfoy is alright" Hermione was frowning.
"The ponce will be fine 'Mione. Madame Pomfrey can mend anything really." Harry said thinking about the countless times she had healed him, some issues much worse than a gash from a hippogriff.
"Who cares" Ron snarled "He is a Slytherin."
"I care Ronald!" Hermione snapped back. "It doesn't matter if he is in Slytherin or bloody Hufflepuff, if his arm is not ok then Hagrid can get in so much trouble!"
"Trust Malfoy to ruin Hagrid's first ever class." Harry jumped in before a yelling match could start between his two friends. Hermione, knowing Harry was just trying to stop the fight that was brewing didn't respond and walked into the Tower.
XxxX
Dinner was a quiet affair. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were there early to see if Hagrid was ok, but he never turned up. Harry was watching the group of third-year Slytherins who were huddled together and seemed to be telling their own ridiculous version of what had happened during the Care of Magical Creatures class. "Well," Harry started, "I think we can agree that today hasn't exactly been boring." A grimace settled on his face.
After dinner, the trio started walking back to the Tower when Hermione looked out of one of the windows and saw a light on in Hagrid's hut. "Look!" she pointed "Hagrid is home. Let's go down and see if everything is ok." They raced off down toward their friend's house which looked like a silhouette in the light of the setting sun. When they got there, they knocked on the door until they heard a grunt of admittance. When they opened the door and stepped in they almost didn't recognise Hagrid. He was sitting at his dining table with what looked to be a small wooden barrel-sized pewter tankard; from the look of him, they could tell he had been drinking heavily.
"Hagrid? Are you alright?" Hermione asked quietly.
"Go'a be a record," he said, voice thick when he realised who was calling on him. "Don' reckon they've 'ad a teacher who only lasted one day."
Hermione gasped as Harry said, "They sacked you?" completely outraged.
"Nah I 'aven't been sacked bu' the board of gov'ners has been notified." Hagrid hung his head.
"How is Malfoy?" Hermione asked.
"Madame Pomfrey patched 'im up good. Bu' he still says he's in pain… moaning and whimpering."
"He's faking it!" Ron yelled.
"The gov'ners reckon I started too big. I jus' wanted it ta be an excitin' class fer everyone." Hagrid put his face in his hands and started to let out big heaving sobs. "'s all ma fault. Ma fault"
"It was Malfoy's own fault for being a bloody idiot and disregarding what you said" Hermione snapped in reply. "We will be your witnesses! Everyone saw what really happened."
"Yeah" chorused Harry and Ron.
"I 'ppreciate that you lot." Hagrid sniffled and got up to go outside. Hermione followed him to the doorway. There was a big splashing noise and what sounded like someone blowing bubbles underwater.
"He shoved his head in the water trough," Hermione said responding to Harry and Ron's questioning looks. She moved out of the way when Hagrid made his way back into his hut drying his face and hair with a towel.
"Feeling better?" Harry asked.
"Yeah thanks, needed tha'-" Hagrid looked up at them in surprise then zeroed in on Harry. "WHA' YOU THINK YA DOIN' HERE? ESPECIALLY YOU 'ARRY" He roared at them. "YER NOT SUPPOS' TA BE WANDERIN' AFTER DARK. AN' YOU TWO LETTIN' 'IM!" Hagrid stomped up and grabbed the three of them and pulled them to the door. "C'mon, I'm takin' ya back ta the castle. Don' let me see yas wanderin' around again. I'm no' worth it."
The trio did not say anything until they got back to the Tower about the complete one-eighty Hagrid did. "What in the bloody shit was that about?" Harry sat in front of the fireplace. The other two had no idea what to say in return.
