Dethol rather enjoyed being coddled and cosseted by Padma Patil during his stay in the infirmary. She was a kindly woman and he managed to forget that whenever she came to see him she was always carrying another vile potion. Honestly, potions to heal appeared to be vile as a rule. It was as if all the potion brewers believed wholeheartedly in the phrase 'no pain no gain' except that they had taken it to a level where it became 'no nausea and extreme discomfort no healing'.
"Alright, you're free to go." She told him one morning.
He nearly leapt out of the accursed bed and all the vile potion-filled memories of his stay in the miserably monotone room. The least they could do was paint the walls or put up pretty tapestries of outside so that the patients did not have to be constantly reminded of the reason they were there. Luckily, he had spent the majority of his time in the infirmary in a drug-induced sleep to help heal.
"Stay inside the grounds, Dethol!" She called after him, like a mother to an errant child, "I won't heal you if you run off into the forest and get a limb ripped off."
He chuckled and waved without looking back. Bill had told him to go up to the Headmaster's office as soon as he was allowed to leave the infirmary. Thus, he was heading for the guardian gargoyle. "Weasley Wizard Wheezes." He muttered and it hopped aside.
He went up the spinning staircase, humming a tune to himself. He found it easier to forget what had happened a month prior. When he reached the griffon knocker at the top, he wondered if he would be allowed to take a stroll across the grounds later to enjoy the late May air. The students would be studying, obviously, as they were still expected to pass their exams – which had been significantly lowered in difficulty – and the professors would be teaching. Another professor, by the name of Barbara Barbukle, had replaced him in his teaching duties. He was not to stress himself, Padma had told him sternly.
He knocked on the door and Bill's voice called him in. He entered and the eldest Weasley son suddenly pulled him into a – manly – hug, one hand thumping his back, before they sprang apart. Dethol stared at Bill, who was smiling at him. He saw a bit of worry and, perhaps, a tinge of fear in his eyes as well, which disconcerted him.
"Good to see you back on your feet, Dethol." Bill told him jovially.
Dethol looked evenly at him, "I suppose Charlie told you the events that transpired when he found me." He said.
Bill nodded, though it was not a question, "Yes, and he said that it was highly possible that one of the other Death Eaters had killed Zabini." He said bravely. "I'm afraid we'll never know."
"We do know, though." Dethol muttered.
"And we will not speak a word of that. Self-defence, Dethol, self-defence." His friend murmured.
Dethol sighed in aggravation. He was a killer and all his life he had been taught that killers never changed, so they had to be locked up. He had killed a killer; did that make him any better? He had killed innocents as well, those many years ago during the final battle. Narcissa Malfoy and Blaise Zabini had been on the right side of the battle and he had killed them as well.
A nagging voice at the back of his mind insisted that he had done so out of self-defence as well, as they had approached him with their wands up and ready to stun him. But that had been no reason to kill them. What bothered him the most was the fact that he could use the killing curse at all. Only seriously evil wizards could use it, he had heard. So was he evil?
Bill was looking out the window at the grounds which were full of happy students. Dethol had a strange feeling that he knew what the Headmaster was thinking. Could he be trusted around the students? Could he be trusted around anyone? Should he be turned in to the Ministry? The amount of times he would be able to cover for Dethol were diminishing, Dethol knew.
"Oh, and no, Dethol, I won't accept your resignation." Bill broke the silence casually.
Dethol rolled his eyes, "I gathered as much." He muttered.
"Now, go out there and get some sunlight so you stop looking like a ghost." The Headmaster ordered.
Dethol smirked and snapped to attention, saluted and walked out of the office.
Nearing the middle of June, the tension amongst the students had grown to a level so high that Dethol believed he could cut it with one of the blunt plastic butter knives that muggles made. He had grown irritated with Madam Patil's insisting that he should not stress himself. The truth was that he was spending the majority of his time stressing over what Professor Barbukle could be stuffing into their minds.
That was how he found himself walking past the gamekeeper's hut to the Care of Magical Creatures paddock. He saw the swish of a horse's tail and smiled to himself. Barbukle, a small nervous witch of fifty-some years with fraying greyed blond hair, was trying to get the class of third-years to pay attention to her. Needless to say she was failing miserably as the Gryffindors and Slytherins were talking amongst themselves.
Dethol walked around to the back of the group without being seen. He bent close to the loudest of the groups, the center of which was Kai Malfoy, "I suggest you pay attention when your professor is trying to teach you, Mr. Malfoy, for she, unlike you, can dock house points for misbehaviour." He murmured.
Instant silence fell as the little witch trailed off. The class had begun less than five minutes prior to his arrival and it was obvious that the bumbling little witch had absolutely no idea how to keep Hogwarts students interested, especially during such an important lesson.
"May I?" He asked politely.
She nodded and moved back to join the students.
He stepped forward and climbed over the fence of the paddock where his herd of hippogriffs was watching. He gave them a low bow and they bowed eagerly back, running up to him and preening his hair with their sharp beaks. He patted them each with a small smile before turning to the class. The hippogriffs stepped carefully back except for the lead stallion, the largest of them, who followed him right up to the fence in a protective manner.
"This is Martuth." Dethol announced, motioning to the proud black guarding him, "He is the leader of the resident herd, the biggest and the proudest of them all.
"Now, there is one fundamental thing to remember when dealing with hippogriffs: they are proud creatures. One insult and their sharp beaks and claws – hold up your foot, please, Martuth," He paused and held up the black hippogriff's foot to display the sharp claws, "thank you – will be ripping you to shreds." He let go of the beast's foot and the proud creature placed it regally on the ground, "Some, of course, are more forgiving."
He paused and looked over the class, noticing that four students were not paying attention. "Please, raise your hand if you are paying attention," He continued in the same tone, noting that the four did not, "And step over to this side of the paddock." He motioned to his left.
They did as he bid and he could not help but smirk when the other four students tried to shuffle after them.
"Ah, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Pritchard," He said pleasantly, "Thank you for volunteering."
They stared at him, eyes wide. Malfoy even had the nerve to whisper in his companion's ear. Dethol's smirk grew into a sinister smile as he noticed this, hearing Pritchard's audible gulp. He gave a short whistle and the white-brown pinto female of the herd – or was the proper term a flock? – trotted up beside him.
"Mr. Malfoy, since you decide to ignore my advice once again, I shall take ten points from Slytherin. Oh, and you can go first." He turned and walked back to the rest of the herd, leaving him alone with the hippogriff female.
Larikoo was the most docile of the herd. She did not fight with the others but her quiet attitude had a motherly tinge to it. That was why the others did not bully her, as she was such a kind creature. Not to mention that Martuth would never have allowed that to happen to her, as he was extremely fond of her. She was his favourite female and they had one foal already in the year-long period they had been in the same herd.
Small pure white Mali was the youngest and feistiest male of the group. He was a skittish and rather eccentric pony-sized creature. A red roan female by the name of Tanya was now heavily pregnant with another of Martuth's foals. The only other male that Martuth allowed in his herd, other than his own son, was a chestnut ball of teeth and hooves named Tenron.
In total, the herd was some fifteen hippogriffs.
During his ponderings, which had probably spanned five minutes, Kai Malfoy had not moved. "I told you to come display what Professor Barbukle and I have been explaining, Mr. Malfoy." He said sharply.
The Slytherin prat climbed gingerly over the fence to stand in front of Larikoo. The pinto eyed him with a click of her beak. She obviously distrusted him, which was saying something as she trusted everyone, even Severus Snape when the rest of the herd would happily run him down and tear him to pieces. Tenron was pawing at the ground, ready to defend one of his herd-mates as soon as Martuth told him to.
"Look her in the eyes, Mr. Malfoy. Larikoo is the most docile of the herd, but she won't stand for disrespect." He commanded and the boy obeyed, "Now, bow."
The boy bowed courteously to the pinto, who sank down to her scaly knees in a bow before standing again. She approached and gave his ear a sharp nip.
"Ow!" The idiot cried, rubbing his ear which was no more hurt than if he had been pinched.
"That's to tell you to stop being an insufferable prat, Mr. Malfoy." Dethol told him bluntly, "And don't give me any hysterics like your father did when he encountered hippogriffs thirty-some years ago."
He looked as if he actually planned to do so, but Dethol's eyes narrowed and the boy gently stroked Larikoo's beak. She chirped slightly, then backed away.
"Alright, that's enough for today, Mr. Malfoy. Mr. Weasley – Felix, that is – your turn." Dethol commanded.
By the end of the class all twenty students had gotten acquainted with the tolerant mare. The most exciting part of the class was when Mali darted forward and stole Felix Weasley from his mother then proceeded to preen the boy's hair. Dethol felt rather satisfied that they had gotten the point, as hippogriffs were always in OWL exams.
He dismissed the class with a small smile, yet he called back the four troublemakers. "I hope that you four have learnt your lesson about paying attention. Next time, I won't be as kind as to instruct you on what to do. Even if we are dealing with Thestrals by then," He finished menacingly.
They hurried back to the castle with many nervous glances back to him.
Zoë danced a little jig on the front steps of the school, "No more exams!" She sang happily, dragging Dante into an attempt at a waltz.
Zephari was laughing at them, but that was cut off short; probably because Liam had grabbed her into a pathetic attempt at a tango. Annabelle and Natasha were laughing and ushering the two dancing pairs down the steps. Zoë released Dante to steal Zephari from Liam. Dante had been a reluctant and slightly clumsy partner, Zephari – now that she had given in – was quite a dancer.
They marched up and down the grounds, spinning and dipping each other alternatively as they horribly destroyed the elegant dance with their left feet. A few of the older students were staring and chuckling as they escaped onto the grounds to make the best of the end of exams. The Slytherin first-years, however, looked most annoyed with the Gryffindors.
Zoë and Zephari stopped and bowed to their fellows' exuberant clapping and cheering.
"So, Potter, you've finally decided to let your bad breeding show through." Veronica snapped.
Zephari's eyes flashed, "Shut up, Parkinson." She growled.
"Yeesh, put a leash on your dog." Veronica told Zoë, ignoring Zephari.
Zoë smirked, "Why would I want to do that, pug?" She asked jovially, patting the shorter girl on the head, "She's so good at making you look like a complete dolt."
Veronica whipped out her wand.
Zoë laughed at her, "What are you going to do, Parky? Hex me?" She asked scornfully.
The Slytherin fumed wordlessly at her and strode off. The Gryffindors smirked as the rest of her house followed.
"I get the feeling this summer won't be so bad after all." Zoë remarked lazily.
"Better have fun while we can. Next year, the Slytherins are going to get a leader." Zephari reminded her.
"Ugh, you just have to spoil my fun don't you?" Zoë whined, "C'mon, let's go tickle the giant squid."
Zephari watched the countryside streak by through the glass of the train's window with a small feeling of sadness in the pit of her stomach. She already missed Hogwarts, though she had missed so much of her first year. Zoë and Dante kept assuring her that she had not missed much, but she felt as if she had now that they were leaving. She had never thought she would like school as much as she did. It felt weird to be going home to the reserve after spending so much time in the castle.
Her Uncle Bill's end-of-school speech still echoed in her ears:
"Another year has passed in these grand halls of Hogwarts. We did not learn much about witchcraft and wizardry this year, except that a Dampening Draught is a difficult potion to create and an even harder one to keep in motion. I would like to thank Professor Dethol for personally saving the school this year at the near cost of his own life. I would also like to congratulate our graduating fellows and hope that they will go on to be great wizards and witches in the future. Now, eat and be merry then say your good-byes for tomorrow the school year is officially over and we must part ways until next year or, in some cases, until our paths meet again."
She smiled slightly at the memory of Dethol's face when he had been acknowledged. He had looked tense, though he obviously appreciated what Bill had said about him. She looked forward to seeing him often over the summer, as Aunt Tonks had written to tell them that she, Dante, Carly and Thomas would be spending the summer at The Burrow with their other cousins, the Malfoys, Dethol, Severus and the Woods.
Zephari privately could not wait for summer to be over and for school to begin anew, this time with Sirius at Hogwarts as well. But, until then, she could survive. Summer was not all that bad, after all.
The train-ride seemed to last an eternity to Zoë. She saw that Zephari was rather bored as well, her forehead plastered to the glass of the window as the ride went on and on. Dante was asleep, wrapped up in her cloak and with both her Harry and Dante's Ron in her lap. Natasha was holding her head cupped in her hands with her elbows resting on the table, staring glassy-eyed at the wall.
"This is boring." Zoë declared loudly, waking Dante with a snort. "I can't believe Chiharu said the train-ride was entertaining!"
"It's only entertaining on the way to school." Natasha grumbled, tossing a toy snitch in the air and catching it, "And even then it gets rather repetitive by the time the food trolley comes around."
"How much longer do we have to suffer?" Zoë asked, looking out at the window.
"Couple of hours, give or take a few." Zephari informed her, stretching and narrowly missing Zoë's nose. "The snack trolley comes about halfway through the ride,"
"Anything off the trolley, dears?" The trolley witch asked kindly at that exact moment.
Zoë grinned impishly, "Four cauldron cakes, please. My treat," She informed the others, quieting their few protests.
"Too bad Anna's meeting with her Charms club." Natasha observed.
"She'll be back before we reach- Hey Anna!" Zoë called as the blonde girl reappeared. "Make that five, please."
She handed out the cauldron cakes as the Gryffindor girls sat in the cluttered cabin. Zoë wondered why the little rooms were so small. It would be a lot more fun if they were bigger so that larger groups of friends did not have to crowd the corridor. Or perhaps they were small to keep fights from breaking out. That would explain the close quarters.
They chatted amiably as the day stretched on. Prefects went up and down the train, alerting students when they had five minutes to go. Regrettably, Zoë changed out of the school robes she had gotten so fond of into plain old muggle clothes. She saw that the others looked rather reluctant to be reaching King's Cross as well.
The train ground to a halt and Zoë caught Annabelle and Natasha in a hug. Dante followed suite in hugging them then, surprisingly, so did Zephari. The five of them then towed their trunks onto the platform. Zephari dashed back onto the train to get her owl. Zoë and Dante had their sleeping cats lying in a basket attached to their trunks.
The five boys climbed off the train and joined the girls. Liam wrung his hands nervously and Xander looked rather miserable. Abe held out a hand for Zephari to shake, which she did, then nodded pleasantly at the others. Zoë realized that he still probably thought they were going to beat him to a smouldering pulp. Nathaniel stood beside his twin with a regretful smile and James was staring at the platform exit in the dazed look he had worn back when Zoë first met him.
"Well, see you all next year." Zoë said brightly, dragging Zephari off through the archway with Dante on her cousin's other side.
Zoë beamed when she saw Molly and Arthur as well as Harry and Albus waiting for the Weasley children. Zephari ran ahead and hugged her two uncles, Zoë watching somewhat enviously. Dante followed and hugged her grandparents. Nathaniel and Natasha had appeared behind her and she moved out of the way.
"Don't worry; they're here for you too." Nathaniel told her with a small smile.
"How do you know?" Zoë asked in a whisper.
The boy twin grinned at her, "Because they're staring at you and waiting for you to join them." He told her.
Zoë smiled and gave him a small hug. "See you in September." She told him with a bright smile before running off to join her family.
The End
A/N: Hope you like this first 'book' of my little series. I'll start working on the other 'books' and prequels as soon as I relocate my muse. Please Read and Review, as always.