Chapter Seventeen: Detention!

"I guess we better get going Henry." I said later that night, wishing I was going anywhere but to detention with Snape. Somehow I didn't think this was going to be very much fun at all!

Henry made a huge effort of getting out of his chair.

Greg came over to us with a grin on his face. "Goodbye children. If you don't return I will be sure to spread stories of your bravery far and wide." He said dramatically.

"Idiot!" Francine said, shaking her head. "It's just detention. Not exactly pleasant, but not exactly dangerous!"

Martin gave me an apologetic smile. "Sorry Sam, if I hadn't played the trick in Snape's class you wouldn't be in detention." He said.

"That's alright. It was my idea for the dare!" I replied with a shrug. "See you all later."

We went out the hole in the wall, much to the disgust of the fat lady who was trying to sleep. "Wake me up all the time. Don't mind me!" She muttered, as she swung shut behind us. We didn't mind her.

"What do you think Snape will get us to do?" Henry asked as we made our way to Snape's office.

"I don't know." I admitted. But knowing Snape and his intense dislike for me, it would be something bad. As we were walking Nearly-headless Nick floated past in a rush, and he actually floated through Henry who shivered and stopped.

"Sorry boys, have to hurry. He's here. Merlin's here." He cried as he hurried off.

"Merlin?" Henry repeated, looking confused. "Isn't he the one you, Martin and Jenny are interested in?"

I went red. "We're not INTERESTED in him exactly." I lied, not wanting Henry to know anything about the ghost's council, and the trial.

"Right, whatever." Henry said, clearly not believing me. I smiled slightly to myself-maybe we had underestimated good old Henry? My smile disappeared soon though as we arrived at Snape's office. I knocked on the door and a moment Snape through it open.

"Ah Potter and Longbottom on time." Snape said nastily. "I've got an interesting treat for you two tonight."

I saw Henry swallow nervously, but I stood up straight and met Snape's cold look. I wasn't about to let him intimidate me. "Right, tell me boys do either of you know Herman, the groundskeeper?"

"Not exactly." I said. "Only by sight that is."

"Oh funny. I would have thought you'd be like your father, who loved the giant groundskeeper we had when he was here. A wizard being friends with a giant, who would ever have thought!" Snape said snorting.

I thought about the two photos on top of our mantelpiece at home. The first was from the day my parents graduated Hogwarts, and had my Dad, Aunt Hermoine and Uncle Ron, with a huge giant man, Hagrid, the old Hogwarts groundskeeper. The second was one Dad received with a Christmas card a few years back, and showed the same groundskeeper with an equally giant woman, and two boys who were already taller than I was, and were only four! Whenever any of my family spoke of Hagrid they spoke of him as if he were a friend and an equal. And I also remembered hearing my father and Uncle Ron speaking once, and they had been joking about how Hagrid had once turned Snape a bright purple color which hadn't left him for five days and I smiled to myself.

"Think detention is funny do we Potter?" Snape snapped.

"No Sir." I said deciding not to mention what had made me smile.

"Right, well you're going to be helping Herman tonight. I don't know whether you know much about the magical creatures we breed here, but it turns out that Herman wants a bit of help with them!" Snape grinned again, even more nasty than usual in my opinion. "Come."

We followed him out the front where Herman was waiting for us. "These the two then Professor?" He asked.

"They are." Snape replied. "And please remember Herman, they are on detention and it's not meant to be fun..."

Herman nodded, and Snape turned and walked off. I heard him muttering as he went "Bloody groundskeepers here. We always get the bloody worst!"

Herman glared after Snape. "Bloody git." He said, and then he turned back to us. "So what did you do kids? Look at Snape the wrong way?"

Henry told him what we did and Herman's mouth twitched. "Of course I can't condone this kind of behavior, but I would have loved to see the look on his ugly face!" He said, and he led us across the grass to an area fenced in by a large fence. I noticed signs on the fence telling us to keep away as it was electrified. I gulped. What kinds of creatures were kept in an enclosure like this? Herman took a large key from his pocket, and opened the gate, and we trooped in. He went to a box sitting near the gate, and from it he took out three enormous bags full of dried grass.

"We're going to feed the Triple-horned Terrios's." He explained to us. "Bit before we do I want to warn you, these animals can be very dangerous. They have three horns on their heads which are very sharp, and if they don't like you, they will stick you. So what we do is we will hold the bags out, about an arm's length in front of us, and we offer them to the Terrios. If the Terrios doesn't come to eat it then we back slowly away, and get out of the gate as soon as we can because it can mean trouble. However, if the Terrios does come and put their head in the bag, we pat them slowly, and gently on their head whilst they eat. When they are finished and they take their head out of the bag, again we back away slowly until we are about two feet away from the Terrios. We then nod at the Terrios, and it nods back. And then it will leave and it's over."

Henry and I exchanged nervous looks. He made it sound so simple. With a sigh I took the bag the groundskeeper offered me, and so did Henry. Then the groundskeeper made a loud noise, which sounded like some kind of out of tune bird call, and there was the sound of running. When I saw the Terrios's running towards us I relaxed a little. They were no bigger than a large dog-certainly not the huge, scary things I had been imagining! But they certainly were very strange looking things: They walked on four legs, and they had scaly faces with sharp eyes and a large mouth. Their three horns were fairly prominent on the top of their head. They seemed to have very small feathers making up their coat, and they also had a large tail, like a dog. As they neared us Herman held out his bag, and Henry and I followed suit. The first Terrios approached Herman with no hesitation-he clearly knew him, and like him. The other two, however, were not so sure.

"Do we back away yet?" Henry hissed to Herman.

"Not yet. Wait a minute." Herman whispered back.

One of the Terrios's took a hesitant step forward, and then came over to me and then stuck its head into the bag. Relieved I began to pat it gently. It's head felt oily, but not entirely unpleasant.

Henry, however, was still standing still, and the third Terrios was eyeing him thoughtfully. His tail began to swish, and Herman looked up sharply.

"Alright Henry, back away slowly, and then get the hell out of here." He said calmly.

Henry made a strange noise and began to back away, but he was going too fast. "Slower!" Herman hissed, but it was too late. The Terrios had made a loud noise, sort of like the noise a falcon makes when it spots it's prey and goes after it. And then it charged towards Henry, who screamed, and turned around to race for the gate. He wasn't fast enough, and a moment later there was a loud cry of pain, as the Terrios's horns sunk into Henry's backside, ripping his pants. Henry fell over and the Terrios jumped on top of him, his tail swishing. Henry lay there in shock, his mouth agape. Herman had reached into his pocket and he pulled out an apple.

"OI!" He yelled, holding the apple out temptingly. "Terrance!"

The Terrios on top of Henry looked at the apple and then back at Henry. It leant down, and stuck its horns into Henry's chest, and then raced for the apple. When it was contently eating Herman said to me "Move over here, not too fast mind you, bring the bag and the Terrios with you."

I did as he said, even though I wanted to get to Henry instead.

"Right let me get hold of the bag, and then you get Henry out of here. He'll need to go and see the nurse to get those cuts fixed up. Make sure you tell her a Terrios got him! She'll know the potion to use to stop the poison from getting too far along." Herman told me, and he reached and took the bag from me. My Terrios continued to eat happily. I walked slowly to Henry, who was still on the ground, blood over his front.

"Sam." He whispered, holding out a hand.

"Are you alright mate?" I asked, helping him up.

His face was pale, and he was shaking, but he nodded bravely. "I don't think animals like me much." He said, with a weak smile. "Dad's toad ran away the day I was born, and we've never been able to keep an animal since. They take one look at me and leave for good."

He was leaning against me heavily, and I realised he was in quite a lot of pain. So we went up towards the castle as fast as we could. We hurried into the hospital wing, with Henry whimpering in pain. A small witch hurried out, hearing us.

"What happened?" She demanded.

"A Terrios stabbed him." I said. "We were on detention and-"

"Never mind." She snapped at me.

She led Henry to a bed. "I'm Madame Pomfrey." She told him, and she reached up onto a shelf and took down a small container of green liquid. "Drink this all in one gulp."

Henry did as she said, and a moment later he was fast asleep on the bed. She turned to me. "Stabbed by a Terrios you say?" She asked.

I nodded, and told her about how it was a detention punishment by Snape, and she frowned. "I never liked the idea of dangerous creatures being here, but they're for the senior students who are studying advanced magical creatures. But as for Professor Snape doing this-it's unacceptable. What's your name son?"

"Samuel Potter." I replied.

A strange look flitted into her eyes. "Potter? Of course-your Harry's son! A nice kid young Harry-I was here when he was! I knew you were going to be here this year, but I forgot about it. I'm going to have a strong word to the headmistress about the danger Professor Snape put you two young boys in!" She shook her head in disgust.

The idea of the headmistress getting stuck into Snape for this didn't actually appeal to me. As much as I would have loved to see him in trouble, I knew he'd take this out on us in class.

"Please Madame Pomfrey, don't tell." I said. "It was Henry's own fault. He backed away too fast and the Terrios got mad!"

"Nonetheless only the senior students should deal with a creature like a Terrios!" Madame Pomfrey insisted.

"Please." I said, and then in desperation I added, "Professor Snape doesn't like me. He didn't like my father, and he already hates me. He will make classes awful for myself, and the rest of the Gryffindoors if he gets into trouble!"

Madame Pomfrey sighed. "Very well. We'll pretend it was a mistake of the boys this time." She agreed.

"Thank you." I said.

"Now I think you better get to bed!" She said, and she turned back to her patient, effectively dismissing me.

I hurried back up to the common room, waking the annoyed Fat Lady again, and woke up Martin. I told him all about the incident with the Terrios and how Henry was spending at least the night in the hospital wing.

"Isn't Snape horrid?" Martin said, his eyes blazing.

"Horrid." I agreed. "I got the impression that Herman wasn't his biggest fan either?"

"Well do you blame him?" Martin asked yawning. "Hmmm. I want to get back to sleep Sam-I'm tired. Greg and I were sitting up playing Wizard Chess long after everyone went to bed."

I crawled into my own bed. "Okay, night." I said.

"Night." Martin replied, and a moment later his breathing told me he was asleep. I realised that I hadn't mentioned the thing about Merlin to him, but I wasn't about to wake him again. I could tell him and Jenny in the morning!