Marine and Malfoy trudged off towards Hagrid's hut.
"Did Binns see me sleeping?" Marine asked nervously.
"You've slept through History of Magic a couple of times and you've never gotten into trouble," said Malfoy, putting an arm around Marine's shoulder. "And besides, you're a Riddle."
"I don't intend to use Dark Magic."
"Oh, it's fun."
"Why? Have you tried it before?"
"No, but I know someone who does."
"Who?"
They had arrived at Hagrid's hut before Malfoy could answer. Luckily, they were not late; Hagrid was still introducing himself to the class. Malfoy remained at the back with Crabbe and Goyle, while Marine moved up front.
"Any questions?" asked Hagrid. The crowd was dead silent.
"Alrigh' then, if there are no questions, let's get a move on."
The group of Gryffindors and Slytherins followed Hagrid to a paddock around the edge of the trees.
"Everyone gather 'round!" he called. "That's it— make sure yeh can see—now, firs' thing yeh'll want to do is open yer books—"
"How?" said Marine and Malfoy together.
"Eh?" said Hagrid.
"How do we open our books?" Malfoy repeated, taking out his copy of The Monster Book of Monsters, which he had bound shut with a length of rope. Others took theirs out; some had belted their books shut; others had crammed them inside tight bags or clamped them together with binder clips. Only Marine's was quite unusual; she had driven a stake through her book.
"Hasn'— hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?" said Hagrid, looking crestfallen.
The class all shook their heads.
"Yeh've got ter stroke 'em" said Hagrid, as though this was the most obvious thing in the world. "Look—"
He took Hermione's copy and ripped off the Spellotape that bound it. The booked tried to bite, but Hagrid ran a giant forefinger down its spine, and the book shivered, and then fell open and lay quiet in his hand.
"Duh! Why didn't we think of that?" said Marine, slapping a hand on her forehead. "We should have stroked them! Wow, it was so obvious! Why didn't we guess?"
"I—I thought they were funny," Hagrid said uncertainly to Hermione.
"Oh, what fun," said Marine. "watching mutated books rip our hands off!"
Marine and the other Slytherins laughed while Hagrid stuttered off in the background.
"God, this place is going to the dogs," said Malfoy loudly. "That oaf teaching classes, my father'll have a fit when I tell him—"
"Shut up, Malfoy," growled Harry.
"Careful, Potter, there's a dementor behind you—"
"Whoa!" yelled Marine, pointing toward the opposite side of the paddock.
Trotting toward them was a hippogriff.
"Where'd he get those?" asked Malfoy.
"I dunno," replied Marine. "Somewhere in the forest, perhaps?"
"It's ugly."
"No, it's not! It's beautiful. It might have rabies, though."
"Rabies?"
"You know, the disease spread by infected animal saliva?"
"Oh, you mean cre—"
Marine and Malfoy's discussion was disrupted by the struggle between Harry and Hagrid's hands.
"Harry, stay still," he boomed.
"Amateur," muttered Marine. She bravely stepped up and said, "I'd like to ride, too!" She bowed and the hippogriff bowed back.
"Alrigh' li'l missy, let's get yeh on Buckbeak," smiled Hagrid readying himself to lift Marine.
"The name's Riddle," she growled, side-stepping away from Hagrid's hands. "And unlike some, I can get on a horse myself." She smirked, much like Draco's, and effortlessly jumped on Buckbeak. Draco and the other Slytherin third-years cheered. Marine leaned forward and whispered to Harry, "I think it's better if I sit in front." With that, she somersaulted to Buckbeak's neck.
"Alrigh'," continued Hagrid. "When I say 'go', yeh—"
But Marine didn't wait for Hagrid's signal. She muttered something in elfish to Buckbeak, who spread its wings and took off.
"Woohoo!" yelled Marine. "Yeah!"
She looked down. They were so high up in the sky that everything looked as small as ants.
"M-marine," stuttered Harry, who was trembling with fear. "Aren't we a bit too far up?"
Marine put Harry's arms around her waist.
"Hold on!" she yelled. Again, she muttered something in elfish. Buckbeak stopped in midair, three thousand feet above sea level.
"Hyah!"
Buckbeak dove down with sheer speed.
"YEEHAW!"
SPLASH!
Marine, Harry and Buckbeak plunged into the lake surrounding Hogwarts. Marine could feel Harry's grip on her waist tightening. She kicked Buckbeak's hide and the hippogriff shot upwards.
"That was fun!" Marine squealed in delight. She shook her pony-tailed hair dry.
"You certainly know how to ride these things," said Harry, still shivering from the freezing water.
"I own a Pegasus, Harry."
Then, without thinking, she leaned back onto Harry. He squirmed and she sat bolt upright.
"W-what happened?" she said, as if though she had just gotten out of a trance.
But Harry didn't answer, so she just remained silent the whole ride back to paddock.
"Good work, Harry!" roared Hagrid, as everyone, except Marine, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle cheered.
"Aherm," growled Marine.
"An', er, Riddle."
Harry jumped off the Buckbeak, followed by a disgruntled Marine ("The hippogriff would've shook him off its back if I wasn't there!"). She elbowed Harry and hissed, "You owe me one, Scarhead."
Malfoy, who had grown jealous of Harry's little 'achievement', marched towards Buckbeak.
"Yeh've got to bow first!" warned Hagrid, but it was too late.
It happened in a flash of steely talons; Malfoy let out a high-pitched scream and next moment, Hagrid was wrestling Buckbeak back into his collar as he strained to get on Malfoy, who lay curled in the grass, blood blossoming over his robes.
"Oh my God!" shrieked Marine, who ran to Malfoy's aid.
"I'm dying!" yelled Malfoy as the class panicked. "I'm dying, look at me! It's killed me!"
"Yer not dyin'!" said Hagrid, who had gone very white. "Someone help me—gotta get him outta here—"
"Don't you dare touch him!" growled Marine, swatting Hagrid's hand away. Her eyes turned red with anger and a wall of fire rose behind her and Malfoy.
"You do not hurt my friends, Rubeus Hagrid," she bellowed. "You do not!"
The ground began to rumble and the earth split between her and the terrified Care for Magical Creatures professor and his students.
"ESPECIALLY DRACO!"
The ground stopped rumbling, the wall of fire disappeared and Marine's eyes changed back to their normal color.
"Can you walk?" Marine asked Malfoy in a much more gentler tone. He whimpered a reply. Marine proceeded to casting his bleeding arm with vines issuing from her hands. Then, she wrapped his arm on her shoulder and walked him to the Hospital Wing.
"Are you alright?" asked Marine, leaning over Malfoy's bed in the Hospital Wing. An hour ago, dozens of Slytherins were in the room, checking to see if Malfoy was alright. The two of them are all alone now.
"Madam Pomfrey can mend cuts in a snap," she continued. "My arm was sliced open last year and she was able to heal it."
"But it still hurts!" whined Malfoy.
"You're obviously faking it," snapped Marine. Malfoy frowned.
"So what if I am?" he sneered, sitting up on his bed.
"I don't know," replied Marine. "I don't mind it at all. It's Harry and his friends I'm worried about. If they find out—"
"You've worried enough already," smiled Malfoy. He lifted his free arm and touched Marine's cheek. "Oh, er, thank you."
Marine headed for the dungeon common room. As she descended down the steps leading to the dungeons, who better she run into than Pansy Parkinson.
"Hi, Pansy!" she greeted, extending her arms to hug Pansy, but she simply backed away.
"Don't you know that I'm mad at you?" she growled.
"Why?" asked Marine, the smile fading from her face. "What did I do to you?"
"Nothing."
"Then, why are you upset?"
"You wouldn't understand—"
"TELL ME!"
Marine's eyes once again glowed red, and because of this, Pansy's tone of voice changed from angry to scared.
"I—I don't want to talk about it.
"I'm your friend, Pansy!"
"Well, I—"
"Don't you trust me anymore?"
"I'm afraid that if you—"
"Then, why didn't you just shut up about it and just walk right past me?"
"Er, Marine I—"
"It's because you're an arrogant snob, that's why!"
This time, Marine's voice boomed all over the dungeon. A group of first-years scurried past in fright.
"It's because of Draco, okay!" cried Pansy, tears streaming down her eyes. Marine looked down on her, giving her the look of loathing similar to Professor Snape's.
"Not so arrogant now, are you?" she smirked, storming out of the dungeon.