Chapter 11
Harry and Katie finally reached the Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Hagrid beamed broadly at his new students.
Katie, Zack, Freddy and Summer looked at Hagrid in awe. They were astonished to find that he was twice the size of a grown man, and probably three times the width.
"Whoa, look how big he is," Zack whispered to Katie, who she stood beside.
"Summer said something about him being a giant," Katie whispered back.
"Welcome teh Hogwarts," Hagrid began. "An' welcome back if yeh went home fer the holidays. Lemme introduce meself. I'm Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys, Groundskeeper and Care of Magical Creatures teacher o' Hogwarts. Now onto the lesson. I'll be righ' back."
Hagrid went into the forest. He came back dragging what seemed like an ape on a leash. The ape took a look at the students of the class. Then, he vanished. However, the leash seemed to stay the same. The shape of the ape's neck stayed on the collar of the leash. It was as if the ape had disappeared, but was still there.
"Does anyone know what animal this is?" Hagrid asked proudly. Hermione's and Summer's hands flew up. "I'll give it ter the new student. Yes, Ms... er-"
"Hathaway," Summer answered. "Summer Hathaway. The animal that you have presented to us was a Demiguise."
"Very good, Summer," Hagrid said. "What is so special about the Demiguise? Hermione?"
"The Demiguise becomes invisible when it feels threatened, or shy in this case," Hermione answered.
"Exactly, and also- yes Summer?"
"It is also a well known fact that the Demiguise's long, silvery fur can be spun into an Invisibility Cloak."
"What's an invisibility cloak?" Katie asked Seamus, who was on her other side.
"It's a cloak that makes you invisible when you wear it," Seamus explained. "But they're very rare."
"Cool. Do you know anyone that has one?" Katie asked.
"Actually, Harry has one," Seamus replied. "He uses it all the time."
"I'm not sure I want to know why he uses it," Katie said jokingly.
"If you think he uses his Invisibility Cloak to go into the girl's showers and change rooms, he doesn't use it that way," Seamus mentioned.
"You sure about that? That's what guys do, right?" Katie asked curiously. She loved learning about how a guy's mind works.
"Of course some guys do that. I won't deny it," Seamus said, chuckling. "It's just that... well Harry's a bit shy around girls."
"Aww... I wouldn't have guessed though. He doesn't seem shy around me," Katie mentioned, glancing sideways at Harry.
"Then again, you're different from other girls," Seamus said, smiling. His eyes were twinkling.
Katie beamed at Seamus. "You're so sweet!" She sideways hugged Seamus and giggled.
Freddy watched this from where he was standing. "Is Seamus flirting with Katie?" He thought anxiously. He turned to Zack, who had also been watching. Zack shrugged, feeling bad for Freddy. He didn't know what to say to his best friend.
"I'm going to ask her out tonight," Freddy determined at that moment.
"Why now? All of a sudden?" Zack asked surprised. "I mean, you've liked her every since you were like 10!"
"I don't want to lose her," Freddy said, still watching Katie. Zack was afraid of this decision. Katie was his very first best friend and still was. He knew Freddy would get probably dump her and move onto another girl. Zack didn't want Katie to get hurt. He loved Katie like his little sister.
"Are you sure about this, dude?" Zack finally managed. "You've kind of dumped A LOT of girls in the past."
"Katie's different," Freddy said, STILL looking at Katie. Zack still had to trust Freddy, because Freddy was his other best friend. Zack was stuck in the middle.
"Alrigh' now," Hagrid called. "I'd like yeh ter get into a group o' three ter sketch the Demiguise. Yeh'll be makin' a life size portrait. Yer group will work together ter draw it."
Lavender got into a group with Summer and Hermione. The two girls didn't want to be together, but Hagrid said that Professor McGonagall had told all the teachers which people from School of Rock were assigned to the Hogwarts students. So the "assigned people" had to go with their partners for the group and have one other person join them. Katie and Harry got into a group with Parvarti, Zack and Ron got into a group with Neville, and Freddy and Seamus got into a group with a Gryffindor 6th year boy named Dean Thomas. He shared the dormitory with the other boys. The groups began to work on their portraits.
"So, do any of you play instruments?" Katie asked, sketching the Demiguise's arm.
"No, I don't. I'm awful at music," Harry admitted. He made the Demiguise's leg.
"Same here," chuckled Parvarti. "I have no sense of rhythm whatsoever." She was drawing the Demiguise's face, as she was the most artisitic of the three.
"That's impossible!" Katie exclaimed. "Nobody's BAD at music!"
"Easy for you to say," Harry said. "You play the bass guitar."
"Not until Dewey taught me!" Katie replied.
"Is Dewey the funny guy that's older than all of you?" Parvarti asked.
"Yeah, that's him," Katie said proudly.
"He seems really fun to hang around," Harry said.
"I'll introduce you to him," Katie promised Parvarti, who hadn't gotten the opportunity to meet him. "And I guarantee that you'll like him!"
"Sounds cool," Parvarti said. The group worked hard to finish their Demiguise. They luckily finished drawing the ape-like Demiguise, so they wouldn't have to do it for homework.
"Alrigh' get ter yer next class," Hagrid said to his class. The students gathered their things and headed toward the castle.
"So what's our next class?" Zack asked.
"Transfiguration," Hermione and Summer answered. They were both annoyed with each other for always thinking alike.
"Cool. What do we do there?" Katie asked.
"Basically, we take things and we turn them into other things," Seamus answered.
"How?" Freddy asked interestedly.
"You say a spell, do a special wand movement if you have to, and it works," Harry answered.
"It's not as easy as it sounds though," Ron warned.
"It takes a lot of concentration!" Lavender mentioned.
"Wow, I'm pretty nervous about this class," Katie admitted.
"Don't worry," Harry assured. "You'll get the hang of it. Not right away, of course, but you'll eventually get it."
"Knowing Professor McGonagall, she'll take you four aside and teach you how to do the wand movements," Lavender thought.
"Yeah, and teach you the proper pronunciation and concentration," Parvarti added. "McGonagall will probably start with simple things, like turning a small animal into a wine glass or something."
Lavender and Parvarti's predictions were all correct. While Professor McGonagall had the class doing their own transfiguration, she took Katie, Zack, Freddy and Summer aside and taught them the proper pronunciation, wand movements and concentration. She had them transfiguring rats into wine glasses, just as Parvarti had told them.
"Fereverto," Katie said, being the first one to try the spell. Surprisingly, it turned into a perfect glass with a gold brim right at the first try. She looked at her wand in surprise, amazed she had the power to do transfiguration.
Professor McGonagall was definitely proud of Katie. "Well done, Ms. Miller! It usually takes a couple of weeks of practice for first years to get transfiguration, but you have it down pat! Five points to Gryffindor." Summer was the second one to transfigure, Zack was the third, and Freddy still hadn't got it. However, Summer and Zack's wine glass still looked a great deal like rats. The glasses still had the fur and Zack's still had a tail, while both glasses had paws as the base. The glasses scurried around the classroom.
The class came to an end. "For the new students joining us, you're homework is to accomplish transfiguring a rat into a wine glass. As for the rest of you, continue with reading Ch.5! Mr. Finnigan, Mr. Jones, will you two please stay behind?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"Sure," they replied unaware of what as going on.
"Come on, let's go," Lavender said. "We have lunch now. They'll meet us in the Great Hall."
"Maybe Dewey will be there," Parvarti hoped. "I really want to meet him!"
"Don't worry! I haven't forgotten my promise!" Katie assured.