Chapter 5- Care of Magical Creatures

As Harry, Hermione, and Ron headed back to Gryffindor Tower Ron said, "I can't believe you Hermione, reminding her about the time right when she was in the middle of a great story!"

"She wasn't in the MIDDLE of the story Ron. She finished it. She was getting ready to start ANOTHER story, so I thought it was a good place to interrupt," said Hermione. "Besides, we have class tomorrow and we need to get our rest."

"Who CARES about classes? This is MUCH more important," said Ron.

"Oh, you WOULD say that, Ron! You-," Hermione began but Harry cut her off to say, "Snickelfritz," as loudly as he could. The portrait of the Fat Lady swung open to the sound of her yawns.

"Good night, Hermione. We'll see you in the morning," said Harry, dragging Ron up the stairs before he could continue to quarrel with her. He had gotten very good lately at preventing their constant arguments.

"What is it with her? Always having to follow the rules. Why can't she loosen up a bit?" Ron was saying as they put on their pajamas.

"Forget about it, Ron. The two of you are ALWAYS fighting. I'm sick of it," said Harry.

"We don't fight that much," said Ron. "Anyway, if we do it's HER fault."

"Good night Ron," said Harry tiredly. He had so much to think about and he didn't feel like listening to anymore of what Ron was saying.

"Good night Harry," said Ron.

*********************************************************************** Meanwhile. . .

Hermione went up the stairs to her room. Her four roommates were already asleep. She was tired and knew she needed to get some sleep for tomorrow, but she couldn't stop thinking about the quarrel she had had with Ron. It seemed to happen all the time lately. She didn't know what made her so angry. The arguments were usually about stupid things like Ron's messy eating habits or how much time she spent in the library. 'Oh well,' she thought. 'I'll just have to try harder to get along with him. I know Harry is sick of our fighting too. He is always jumping in the middle.' She drifted off to sleep thinking of ways to stop herself from getting so irrationally angry with Ron.

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Harry lay awake thinking about everything Tamryn had told them. 'I can't believe Sirius dated my Mum. I wonder why they broke up. And how did Lucius Malfoy got a turkey stuck on his head? I'd pay 20 galleons to have seen that,' he thought. He tried to sleep but could not stop thinking. Finally, he decided to send Sirius a letter. He pulled his invisibility cloak out of his trunk and snuck out of Gryffindor Tower. Once he made it safely to the owlery he took out a quill and parchment and wrote:

Dear Sirius,

I hope all is well with you. Everything is fine here. Tomorrow is the Halloween Feast. An old friend of the Marauders has come to sing at the Feast. Her name is Tamryn Fox. She asked Dumbledore to introduce us and after dinner she, Ron, Hermione, and I talked for hours. She told me you dated my Mum before Dad did. What happened? Did you still love her, even when she married my Dad? Tamryn says she never believed you betrayed my parents. She thought you killed Peter for revenge and didn't blame you. She also told me that Lucius Malfoy got a turkey stuck on his head.

Love Harry

He sent the letter with Hedwig and snuck back to Gryffindor Tower. He climbed back into his bed and fell asleep immediately.

*********************************************************************** October 31

The next morning Harry met Ron and Hermione for breakfast in the Great Hall. Tamryn Fox was sitting at the staff table again. She smiled at them and waved. Fred and George sat next to Harry and immediately began asking him questions about Tamryn. "Why did she ask to meet you? Did she know your parents? Did you get her autograph?" they said.

"Well," said Ron before Harry had the chance, "She wanted to meet Harry because she knew his parents. She asked to meet me because she just could not help herself. It was the Weasley charm."

"Really, she ASKED to meet you?" asked Fred and George.

"Oh come off it Ron," said Hermione, "She only wanted to meet you because you were friends with Harry."

Ron blushed bright red. "I suppose that's the only reason YOU talk to me, so you can spend time with your PRECIOUS Harry!" he said and stomped out of the hall. Fred and George laughed hilariously.

"Come on Harry, it's almost time for Care of Magical Creatures," said Hermione.

By the time they reached Hagrid's cabin Ron was already there. They heard a large amount of barking coming from somewhere. Harry and Hermione looked at each other with dread. What could Hagrid possibly have in store for them now? They walked over to Ron and Hagrid. "Hello Hagrid," said Hermione. "Ron-," she began but was cut off by his "Bloody Hell."

"What's the matter M-Granger, had a lover's quarrel?" sneered Draco Malfoy while casting an anxious look at Hagrid. He didn't dare call Hermione a Mudblood in front of him.

"AAAARRGGGGHHH." Suddenly Ron leaped on Malfoy, knocking him down and began punching him in the face. There was a "craaaackkkk" noise followed by Hagrid suddenly jerking Ron into the air by the back of his robes. "Get ahold of yerself there Ron," he said.

"He's broken my wand!" whined Malfoy picking up two pieces of wood and holding them up for Hagrid to see.

"A'right everyone. It's time fer class to start," Hagrid said loudly. "Today I have a special treat fer ya. My dog, Fluffy, had puppies last night and now yer going to learn how ta feed 'em and. . ." he trailed off as Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil began squealing loudly and saying, "PUPPIES."

Everyone hurried in the direction of the barking, which had risen in volume at the sound of the girls' squeals. Harry and Hermione looked at each other and said, "Fluffy. . . puppies?" Fluffy was Hagrid's giant three-headed dog, which they hadn't seen since their first year. They followed the others around Hagrid's cabin and saw three two-headed puppies, five three- headed puppies, and two four-headed puppies. Lavender and Parvati were standing ten feet from the puppies, looking torn. Even Harry wasn't too sure about these dogs. Sure, they LOOKED like puppies, but they had extra heads and their mother had almost eaten Harry, Hermione, and Ron when they had been trying to stop Voldemort from getting the Sorcerer's Stone.

"It's alright," said Hagrid. "They're babies. They won't hurt ya."

Tentatively the girls walked over to one of the two-headed puppies. They bent down to pet it and it began licking Lavender and Parvati with both tongues. "Awwwww," they said in unison. This got the attention of the other dogs and suddenly all the puppies ran to the girls and began fighting to be petted. Slowly, the other students began moving toward the puppies. Harry and Hermione befriended a white one with black paws and ears and three heads. "Since there are ten puppies I thought ya could pair off and each pair take a puppy," said Hagrid.

"Hagrid, why don't the puppies all have three heads?" asked Hermione.

"Well, their father was a Muggle dog. A Ber- Ber-. Oh, I don't remember," said Hagrid.

"A St. Bernard?" asked Hermione with wide eyes. "Yeh, tha's it, a St. Bernard. Least tha's what the fellow who owned 'im told me. It happened while we was travelin'. Fluffy got away from me and when I finally found her she was all curled up with this St. Bernard. Well, luckily there weren't too many Muggles around to see her or I mighta got in trouble with the Ministry." Hermione's face had a horrified look on it as she thought about huge, three-headed Fluffy and a St. Bernard. Harry was afraid her head was about to explode.

At the sound of screaming Harry turned around and saw Ron squeezing one of the two-headed puppies in his arms. After a moment he realized that Ron wasn't actually squeezing the puppy, he was becoming the puppy. He looked like one of Neville's attempts in Transfiguration class. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were rolling on the ground laughing. "Hey!" shouted Dean Thomas, "That's my wand." In Malfoy's grip was an unbroken wand. He had stolen it from Dean while he was distracted with the puppies and used it to perform a Cross-Species Switching spell on Ron and the puppy. Unfortunately it had gone a bit wrong. There was now a puppies' head growing from Ron's hip, one of his hands had turned into a brown paw, and his ears had become very floppy.

"Harry, Hermione, get Ron to Madame Pomfrey while I take Malfoy and his friends to Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid.