Chapter 10- First Day of Term
"Well this is a perfect way to start the year," Ron said sarcastically during breakfast. "Have you seen our schedule? We've got double Potions with the Slytherins first, then History of Magic. Then, in the afternoon we've got double Divination and then Care of Magical Creatures, with the Slytherins again. Oh joy..."
"Well...at least there's Hagrid's class to look forward to..." Harry said hopefully.
"Sorry Cassie," Ron said, "You're in for a long day."
"This year," Snape said sternly, walking up and down the dungeons, "your classes will be entirely devoted to preparing for your N.E.W.Ts next year. We will be working constantly to make sure that your minds are stable enough to handle the test. Now, I shall be putting you into groups of three," he said as he pulled out a roll of parchment from his desk. "Now while you're in my class, you will constantly be working with your groups. You shall do your labs together, your homework together, and your reports together. There will not be any changes in the groups. Is that understood?"
There was a murmur from the class.
"The groups will be as follows," Snape began, reading off the list.
"Wonder who we're gonna get stuck with," Harry muttered, slightly ignoring Snape.
"Well he's not gonna put any of us together," Hermione sighed. By 'us' she meant Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"But we still have a shot at being with Cassie," Ron said turning to her. "He doesn't know if we're friends or not."
Cassie giggled. "Is he really so evil he pair you with your worst enemies?"
"Yeah," they all said exasperatedly.
"If you don't mind me," Snape spat, "I believe I just read off your group Mr. Weasley."
Ron spun around and saw Snape towering over him. "You're over there with Ms. Brown and Mr. Goyle."
Ron gathered up his things and moved to another corner of the dungeon, leaving Harry, Hermione and Cassie at the table. Harry looked around the room and noticed almost half the class was already paired up. There could be a slight chance that at least two of the three would be together, as there were more Gryffindors than Slytherins in the class.
"...Granger, Crabbe, and Parkinson," Snape read off. Hermione scowled and gathered her things to meet with her group.
"Well, we still have a chance," Harry sighed.
"Yeah I guess, but what are the chances?" Cassie said, doodling on her parchment, "If Snape is as strict as you say he is, we'll be lucky to be in a group together."
"...and finally Potter, Malfoy, and DeCartalano."
Harry couldn't believe it. He was lucky enough to be paired with Cassie, but now he had Malfoy to put up with. 'Fantastic,' he said sarcastically in his head as they gathered their things and moved to Malfoy's table.
"Now please take notes on the Polyjuice Potion," Snape said, turning his back to them to write on the board. Harry noticed Ron glancing at him and Hermione. They had made this potion back in their second year.
Harry, Cassie, and Malfoy lazily took down the notes Snape was writing on the board.
"This is boring," Cassie sighed.
"You said it," Malfoy replied.
"Yup," said Harry, surprised he agreed with Malfoy on something. "Me, Ron and Hermione made this potion years ago. What about you?" He asked, turning to Cassie.
"We studied it in Durmstrang," she said, a tone of boredom in her voice as she doodled more stars onto her parchment.
"You went to Durmstrang?" Malfoy asked, slightly impressed. Harry couldn't believe it either. He had always pictured Durmstrang as a school for dark wizards, people like Malfoy.
"I made it once with my father," Draco muttered.
'Probably trying to disguise himself so he could sneak into the Ministry,' Harry thought.
They worked in silence until it came for the time when they had to start making the potion.
"Potter, if part of my grade depends on you then you're gonna have to do things right," Malfoy snapped. Harry was cutting up pieces of Mandrake root; apparently his cutting skills weren't up to Malfoy's standards. His pieces were slightly uneven but Harry thought they were good enough.
"I suppose you think you can do better," Harry grumbled.
"Yeah, I do Potter. But I'm busy. Cassie, can you do it?" Malfoy retorted, continuing to mash their eye of newt.
"And here I was thinking I could just sit here and watch you two argue the whole time," she sighed, as she started cutting new roots. Harry watched her attentively. She did cut hers a lot more equal than he did. He was still angry though. How could she just sit there and let Malfoy talk to him like that, then obey his orders?
'It's going to be like this all year,' he told himself.
"I sense a new presence," Professor Trelawney said mystically, her hands in the air. "There is a new student among us. I can feel it."
"You can also see it on the attendance list," Cassie said darkly. The whole class stifled their laughter except for Lavender and Parvati, who worshipped Professor Trelawney and glared at Cassie. Professor Trelawney pretended not to notice as she walked over to the table Harry, Ron and Cassie were seated.
"Divination is your expertise is it not?" She asked Cassie looking her in the eye now.
"I guess you could say that," Cassie replied, staring back, not even daring to blink.
"I understand you are gifted when it comes to the mind. Mind reading, telepathy, teleporting. But how are you at other matters? Crystal gazing, astronomy, palmistry. All are aspects of the class that need to be honed as well."
"It's not as fun, but it's all good."
"Your name, Cassandra, the name of my grandmother, the famous Seer. It means, the prophet, am I correct?"
"Yes."
"Can you willingly see into the future? For example, if I asked you to tell me if my sister will send me a letter tomorrow morning, would you be able to tell me?"
"I can't see into the future at will, but I have a feeling she won't because she has the flu and needs bed rest."
There was excited chatter erupting from the class. The situation was tense. There was a slight glow in Cassie's eyes.
"How do you know that?" Professor Trelawney asked suspiciously.
"Helps to be a mind reader," Cassie smirked. Her eyes returned to normal.
Professor Trelawney marched away, and began lecturing the class.
"This year, we will be studying a slightly more advanced form of Divination. We will begin with smoke reading. You can light incense to tell paths of your winding futures. Please copy down the procedure that we will perform in a moment." With a wave of her hand, the chalkboard was filled with notes in a golden spirally handwriting, and the class began to take notes.
"So what do you think Hagrid's gonna have us wrestle with this year?" Ron asked as he, Harry, Hermione and Cassie walked down to Hagrid's hut.
"Knowing Hagrid," Harry started, "I'm not entirely sure. He doesn't exactly have a clean record, does he?"
"I wouldn't be surprised if it were dragons or something," Ron muttered.
Down at the hut, much of the class was already gathered. Hagrid was standing in front of the crowd, trying to do a quick head count. He saw Harry and beamed at him, waving him over.
"Hey there Harry, Ron, Hermione, and who's this?" He said, looking at Cassie.
"I'm...Cassie," she stuttered, a smile of amazement slowly spreading across her face. She had never seen anyone like Hagrid before. He was about eight feet tall and his face was covered with hair. Harry noticed that there were several burn marks on his hands.
"Well 'ello there. I'm Rubeus Hagrid," He replied, smiling back at her, "I got an interesting lesson planned for today so everybody please gather 'round," he called to the class. "Everybody stay together and follow me." Hagrid turned around and led them towards the lake. The water was lapping up against the shore. A gentle breeze was blowing, causing ripples in the lake.
"Today," Hagrid said, "We will be studying Ficklesaurs. Can anybody tell me about them?" Without a doubt, Hermione's hand shot into the air. "Yes Hermione."
"Ficklesaurs are usually found in dark, muddy waters. They are very sensitive and even the slightest touch causes it to giggle. Ficklesaurs are usually found near the eastern shores and the powder of their crushed horns is often used in Happiness potions," Hermione said as if she was reading it straight from a textbook.
"Very good Hermione, five points for Gryffindor! Now, I found this little fella a few days back. He's pretty tame and he's quite comfortable with people. Now, Ficklesaurs are very shy, so you don't wanna spook 'em. It could be dangerous." Hagrid turned their backs on them and whistled. The whole class waited in anticipation, wondering what was going to happen next. Then, Harry saw it.
Large purple eyes poked out of the water. It looked up and down the long line of students gathered around the edge of the lake. Hagrid reached out his hand towards the pair of eyes, waving his fingers, inviting the creature onto shore. The Ficklesaur started to emerge out of the water and into Hagrid's hands.
It was no bigger than a kitten, pinkish-red with purple spots down the back and up the short, spiked tail. On its snout was a small curved horn, a single tooth protruded out of its mouth. It had a crown of short spikes on its head. Harry thought it resembled a baby dinosaur.
"Everybody, this is Greg," Hagrid said, showing the class the nervous-looking Ficklesaur in his hands. "Ficklesaurs are closely related to dragons. They breathe fire and have the spiked tail as you can see. Ficklesaurs are excellent swimmers and when in captivity, they are used to dig beneath, the bottom of bodies of water, searching for gems that could be buried below."
The Ficklesaur was sitting quietly in Hagrid's hands, still looking at all the students around it. All the girls were cooing at it. Greg jumped out of Hagrid's hands and began weaving in and out of peoples legs. Some people gave excited yelps.
"Don't startle him now," Hagrid warned. "He's just looking for somebody he thinks he can trust. Don't panic if he starts to climb on ya."
"Don't be scared if a fire breathing dragon-like thing starts crawling up our legs?" Ron muttered to Harry as he watched it wind through the legs of several Slytherins. The Ficklesaur stopped at the feet of Malfoy and looked up into his grey eyes. Greg let out a small sound, almost smiling at him, then continued on. He worked his way to Cassie and sat down at her feet.
'This thing looks a little too harmless,' Harry thought as Greg rubbed his face in Cassie's robes. Cassie was smiling down at it, hypnotized by its cuteness like all the other girls in the class. Greg clung to her robes as he climbed up her and sat on her shoulder, rubbing her cheek and purring, making her giggle. Greg looked to his right and saw Ron staring at him. He drew in a big breath and blew out a small blaze of fire, slightly catching Ron's hair as he ducked out of the way. Several Slytherins were laughing at him.
"Careful, careful!" Hagrid called, running over to them. "You all righ' Ron?"
"Why did it do that?!" Ron exclaimed, patting the sparks on his head.
"Ficklesaurs are very protective of their loved ones," Hagrid explained. "He probably thought you would hurt her or summin'."
"Why would it think that?" Cassie asked curiously, helping Ron stand up again.
"Not sure," Hagrid shrugged. "Ficklesaurs are kinda like Hippogriffs. They don't trust everybody. Maybe you were blinking too much. They don't trust people who blink too much. I'm sorry Ron. But no harm done righ'?" Hagrid asked hopefully.
Ron was thinking things over, his eyes darting from Greg to Hagrid.
"Yeah fine," he grumbled, "As long as I don't get barbecued again."
"I can't believe how much homework we already have." Ron complained as he plopped into the couch in the Gryffindor Common Room. "We've got an essay for Snape, Binns, and Hagrid. And then we have to do that stupid smoke reading chart for Divination. I dunno what to start first," he said, rubbing his eyes.
"It's not that bad Ron," said Hermione disapprovingly.
"Easy for you to say. You didn't get any homework for Arithmancy. You've got it so easy."
"Oh big deal, so you have to look at smoke and I don't. You're just lazy."
"Lazy? You'd know how I feel if you could've toughed it out with Trelawney."
"You think I couldn't tough it out! The only reason I left is because that woman is insane."
"Do they always do this?" Cassie asked Harry as she started to work on her homework.
"It's a matter of life," Harry sighed.
