Chapter Four

Forgetting

Harry and Hermione came up on the heavy front doors. Harry stepped forward and pushed one door open, gesturing for Hermione to pass through. She smiled at him and nodded. "Thanks, Harry."

As Harry was about to step out himself, Draco Malfoy stormed out the door after Hermione. "Yes, thanks a bunch, Wonder Boy."

Harry growled and stepped out the door. "You bloody git…"

Draco glanced down at himself appraisingly. "Nope," he said, looking back up. "Not bloody. But you could be if you keep up this 'holier-than-thou' thing." He glanced over Harry's shoulder at Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, who were just coming out of the castle. "I definitely could arrange things for you, if you'd like."

Harry and Hermione glared at Draco. "Sod off, Malfoy," sneered Hermione.

"Or what, Mudblood?" asked Draco scathingly. Suddenly, Draco felt a tap on his shoulder. Raising an eyebrow, he turned to face his assailant.

Ron's fist connected solidly with the blonde Slytherin's stomach. As Draco doubled over in pain, Ron smirked down at him. "Or that, Malfoy," stated Ron. With a chuckle, he, Hermione, and Harry walked off toward Hagrid's hut.

Draco flipped his head back, and the hairs loosened by the sudden doubling-over were thrown out of his face. His gray eyes flashed dangerously. Vinny and Greg made to go after the Gryffindor Trio, but Draco held out an arm to stop them. "Don't. Not just now." He straightened slowly, grimacing from the pain of the blow. He squared his shoulders proudly. "We'll get them later. Come on."

The three Slytherins made their way down to the gamekeeper's house, the trademark Malfoy sneer set into the pale leader's features.

~ " * " ~

Out on the Hogwarts grounds, the sixth-year Slytherins and Gryffindors were congregated in front of Hagrid's hut, looking around for their newest feature creature. Hagrid emerged a minute later, Fang close at his heels. "Afternoon, all!" he called. He waved them over. "C'mon. Got 'em in a pen just over there." Hagrid pointed at the edge of the forest, almost out of sight. There was indeed a four-foot tall fence creating a large pen, a square of about ten feet on each side. The pen was just visible from Hagrid's hut. Hagrid's students all gathered their things and followed him to the pen.

Once they got there, a few brave students, all Gryffindors, peered over the fence. There was a gathering of fifteen fuzzy multi-colored creatures. They looked like Old English Sheepdog puppies, their dazzling fur hanging in their eyes. The furry things had pointier noses than a sheepdog, and their legs were much shorter than the average puppy's. It looked as though the things had rolled around in some sort of paint, but each a different color. All in all, they were rather cute, as was professed by several of the girls.

"Wittulsnees!" cried Hagrid cheerily. "Got one fer each of yeh. Go on, then. Pick yerselves out one!" The students all gazed up at their teacher warily. They had learned to be on guard at all times in Hagrid's class.

Hagrid was known for his love of dangerous animals. He would often pick out interesting creatures for them to study… But they were almost never completely safe.

All fourteen sixth-years stared back and forth between Hagrid and their would-be charges. Hagrid picked one of the fuzz balls up and smiled down at the Gryffindors and Slytherins. "See? Real friendly-like, these ones are."

As they watched, the wittulsnee Hagrid had picked turned from the sickly olive green it had been to a bright sunny yellow. The little ball of fluff had an extremely long blue tongue lolling merrily out of its mouth. The wittulsnee looked down from its perch on Hagrid's shoulder and surveyed the teens staring up at it. The yellow ball of fuzz then turned to Hagrid, sniffed him once and then licked the teacher on the cheek. The girls all giggled and everyone glanced into the pen still holding the other fourteen wittulsnees.

Hagrid grinned as the Gryffindors started carefully grabbing out wittulsnees. He started listing off their traits as the Slytherins all grimaced but picked out a fuzz ball. Hagrid told the class that the wittulsnees changed their color according to whoever's arms it was in at the time. The color the wittulsnee was at birth is actually retained in the animal's tongue, but they usually never revert back to that color, favoring their wizard master's ideal color instead. The species was capable of sensing a witch or wizard's favorite color and turning its fur to that color. This was done as a sort of habitat-maintenance thing because the happier their masters were with them, the longer they were allowed to remain with the families. Wittulsnees, according to Hagrid, were once very common household pets, since they never shed much and they needed very little looking-after.

Hagrid also told the class that wittulsnees had very potent nasal mucus that was used as one of the ingredients to most sleeping potions.

Harry was currently holding a brilliant scarlet wittulsnee whose fur would occasionally have a ripple of gold go through it. Hermione's wittulsnee was deep purple and nuzzling under the crook of her arm, starting to snore quietly. Ron's wittulsnee, a very hyperactive orange one, was the exact color that his favorite Quidditch team, the Chudley Cannons, wore for every game.

Harry watched as his classmates played happily with their new fluffy friends. Some of the wittulsnees, like Ron's, were very hyperactive and seemed to have very short attention spans. They frequently decided they needed a change of scenery, or at least a change of fur. In any case, several of the wittulsnees would, at random intervals, crawl away from their current handlers in favor of someone new.

Hermione's wittulsnee woke up again and nudged at her hand with its furry nose. She giggled and glanced up at Hagrid. "Hagrid? How come no one keeps a wittulsnee as a pet anymore? They're just lovely!" The wittulsnee now started sniffing at her neck, where a golden pendent bearing her name hung. She giggled and pushed away its nose carefully, quietly saying, "Stop, that tickles!"

Hagrid looked up from the lemon-colored wittulsnee he was holding. "Oh. Din't I tell yeh? Wittulsnees're allergic to lots o' things that wizards keep 'round the house. And yeh've got ter remember ter stay away from 'em when they're about ter sneeze. If yer hit full on with their snot, yer could be knocked out fer a while."

Neville's wittulsnee decided to take that particular moment to demonstrate. Neville was holding the pale blue-haired wittulsnee up so that they were nose to nose when the creature sneezed heavily. Neville, who had not been paying attention to Hagrid, smiled amusedly. "Bless y-" In mid-sentence, Neville keeled over on the spot, out cold. The wittulsnee wriggled out of Neville's limp fingers and scuttled over to Hermione, curling up next to the deep purple wittulsnee already in the girl's lap. Neville's wittulsnee slowly turned the same color as its compatriot.

Poor Neville's wittulsnee had apparently caused a chain reaction, because several more of the fur balls started to sneeze. Many of the students managed to get out of the line of fire, but three Slytherins were sprayed lightly by the allergic animals' sneezes. They and their house mates scooted away from the pandemonium while the Gryffindors, save the unconscious Neville, helped round up the sneezing balls of fluff. Hagrid managed to scoop up half the wittulsnees in one grab, and the Gryffindors caught the rest.

A minute later, Lavender Brown and Dean Thomas were putting the last two wittulsnees into the pen. Their hands were almost all the way out without either of them getting caught by a sneeze when the green one Dean had just released jumped up to say goodbye to the pair. Lavender could not help herself and she reached into the pen to pet the wittulsnee one last time. Dean made to grab her hand out when the wittulsnee sneezed again. Both of them caught a bit.

"You just had to say goodbye, didn't you?" grumbled Dean. They yawned at each other.

None of the other Gryffindors had gotten caught by a wittulsnee sneeze. But Vinny, Greg, and Millicent Bulstrode of Slytherin had all gotten hit, along with Dean, Lavender, and the still-out-cold Neville. Hagrid even managed to get hit.

Hagrid yawned widely before he leaned down to hoist Neville into his arms. He yawned again and started toward the Hospital Wing. "All of yeh what got sprayed, follow me ter see Madam Pomfrey." He yawned again. "The rest o' yeh stay put. I'll send someone out ter collect yeh." He turned and trudged off in the direction of the castle, the affected students following and yawning.

~ " * " ~

Up in the deserted Gryffindor Tower, a small fire burned away. The flames crackled merrily, devouring a small branch of Lethe's Bramble. The fire seemed to have a life of its own, dancing for no one but itself. Not wanting to be extinguished, the flames looked around at their immediate surroundings.

There, just within reach, a larger pile of the same delicious wood and flowers was laying unattended. A tiny spark made the jump, landing in the middle of the branches. Happily, the spark grew, turning the small pile of branches into charred remains of what was once Ron's extra bunches of Lethe's Bramble.

~ " * " ~

Draco Malfoy watched the lumbering oaf that was his teacher disappear around the corner of the Forbidden Forest, his classmates straggling along behind. He smirked evilly and turned back to face his foes. "What a blundering idiot," the blonde sneered.

Black hair wiped around, turning green eyes to face the speaker. "Don't you dare start in on Hagrid again, Malfoy," said Harry quietly.

"What's wrong, Potty? Don't like having your giant laughed at?" asked Draco, a would-be innocent smile set uncomfortably on his lips.

Harry advanced on the Slytherin, growling. "Stuff it, Malfunction. Otherwise, you're sure to be very sorry."

Draco advanced as well. "And why would I be sorry, Scar-Face? Because I wouldn't get to kick your ass as long as I really wanted to?"

Harry smiled deviously as he came within inches of his rival. "No, my dear Draco," he said in an almost-whisper. "Because of this." A fist connected solidly with the blonde's toned stomach.

Draco's gray eyes flashed dangerously. After a moment of recovery from the sudden blow, Draco roared and swept one leg out and behind Harry's knees, bringing the raven-haired teen to the ground. Draco pounced on Harry and they began to wrestle. They tumbled around in the grass, each boy landing punch after punch.

After a few rolls in the dirt, Draco managed to pin Harry on his back. He glowered down at Harry. "Give up, Potter?"

Harry's green eyes narrowed to thin slits. "Never." He sent another fist flying toward Draco's cheek.

~ " * " ~

Meanwhile, Blaise and Pansy were joking about Hagrid's blunder during class. "Can you believe it?" sniggered Blaise. "That dunderhead has managed to screw up yet another lesson."

"Yeah," giggled Pansy, leaning on the boy's shoulder. "How he's survived as a teacher here after so many disasters is beyond me. Just look at all the Slytherins that have gotten hurt during one of his classes!" She ended her statement with a dramatic sigh, the back of her hand brought to her forehead in a look of distress.

"You shut up about Hagrid," cried Hermione, her wand drawn.

Blaise laughed and looked down his nose at her in disgust. "What's it to you, Mudblood?" he sneered.

Ron pushed Hermione out of the way and into Seamus Finnigan's arms. "Don't call her that," he growled. He pointed his wand at the dark-haired Slytherin.

"Why not, Weasel?" asked Blaise mockingly. "What are you and your rinky-dink, second-hand wand going to do about it?"

Ron sent a curse at Blaise, but the Slytherin anticipated it and shoved Pansy into the redhead. Pansy jostled Ron's wand as she toppled into him and the sparks of the hex were sent sailing over Blaise's head and into the forest. Ron would have been happy to know there was a giant spider wobbling around the Forbidden Forest, all eight legs shaking madly under its huge hairy body. The poor unsuspecting spider had been hit by Ron's extremely powerful and well-refined Jelly-Legs curse. Well, Ron would have been proud of himself for incapacitating the giant spider if there had not been an blonde Slytherin girl lying on top of him.

As soon as Parvati saw Blaise knock Ron over with Pansy, she shrieked in anger and pounced on the dark-haired boy's back. She slapped and punched at him, shrieking in his ear. Every couple seconds she would throw in a kick or two.

"Draco, help me get this bloody banshee off!" cried Blaise, turning his bright blue eyes to his best friend. Draco and Harry were still beating each other senseless.

"Be right there," called Draco. The angry blonde boy was on top of a glaring Harry once again. "Just have to take care of you," he said to the Gryffindor.

"You wish, Malfoy," said Harry. He sent another punch Draco's way, but Draco dodged it easily and sent his fist straight into Harry's nose.

Harry grimaced and made to stare up at Draco in hatred, but a sudden wave of sleepiness came over him. His last conscious thought before the blackness enveloped him was, Maybe one of the wittulsnees did get me…

Draco stared down at the shuttered green eyes with contempt and pride. "Hey Blaise, I think I finally knocked him out!" Draco turned to look for his roommate. "Wait, Blaise? What did you say?" Draco's gray eyes searched the air above him, but there was no one standing around. Draco looked down at the unconscious Gryffindor. I got him this- Draco never got to finish his thought, however, as a shroud of black wrapped around his mind as well. He fell to the side, his leg and arm flopped across Harry's body, blonde hair hitting Harry's shoulder softly.

~ " * " ~

Three Slytherins and five Gryffindors lay unconscious in the grass just out of view of the looming spires of Hogwarts Castle. In the pocket of the redheaded Gryffindor, a once clear crystal had turned obsidian, as dark as a star-less sky.

And all was forgotten.

~*~TBC~*~