At last, Harry and Ron reached the Hospital Wing. They nearly lost their breaths, because they were running as fast as they could. They entered, and saw Madam Pomfrey mending a student's broken jaw, probably a second or first year. Anyway, they asked permission to take Hermione, and Madam Pomfrey agreed. When Harry and Ron stepped towards Hermione's bed, they were whispering her name to wake her up, but nothing happened. They tried that for several times, but still, nothing. Then, Harry was patting her on her shoulder. Immeadietly, she opened her mouth to yawn.
"Had a nice sleep?" asked Harry.
"Oh yes, very pleasant," answered Hermione, getting off the bed.
"Come on, we have Care of Magical Creatures in five minutes," said Ron.
"Really?" said Hermione, looking stunned. "Why haven't you woken me up earlier?"
"Madam Pomfrey told us that you need rest after Human Transfiguration," replied Harry quickly.
"Well allright, but next time if I fall asleep, and we have a lesson, wake me up straight away," said Hermione in a low voice.
"Ok, sorry," declared Harry and Ron.
After that, the three marched off to Care of Magical Creatures. They were now on the Hogwarts grounds, nearly reaching Hagrid's hut.
"Hullo you three," grunted Hagrid.
"Hi Hagrid," said the three. Ron looked very disappointed.
"What is it?" asked Harry, mystified by Ron's face expression.
"Every year, it never changes, we're still with the Slytherins," he said sharply.
"Don' ya worry Ron, if they cross red lines again I'll make sure they don' do it again. This year, I'll take off points as I never did before," said Hagrid, smiling.
Now, students were appearing. They came closer to Hagrid's hut, and stood there waiting for the lesson to begin.
"Good mornin' everyone, welcome back, so nice to see ya," said Hagrid, beaming. "Today, we will be learning about Fixards." Everyone, as usual, gave Hagrid a what-are-you-talking-about look.
"Anyone knows about these beauties?" asked Hagrid. Hermione raised her hand.
"They are creatures that have a front body of a fox, and the hind legs and back of a lizard. They are very fast in crawling, and can jump ten feet. They're bite is very poisonous and deadly. They are eyeless; they rely on their huge ears to see their way," explained Hermione.
"Excellent Hermione, twenty points to Gryffindor," said Hagrid.
"Now, class, you wait here, while I get the Fixards," and immeadietly, Hagrid ran behind his hut to get the new creatures.
"The half-breed- monstrous creatures- lover," spoke the cold voice of Draco Malfoy," can never teach us about normal creatures that we can properly handle. Always obsessed with those monsters. I wonder what they'll be doing to us this lesson. I bet you anything someone will get bitten." Harry heard him. He knew how much he had the power to take of points from Slytherin, he was a teacher. However, there was a deep desire in him to go and kick Malfoy as hard as he can. He had already moved towards the gang of Slytherins, but Hermione held his hand.
"Ignore him---just ignore him Harry, we don't want anymore trouble," she said fervently.
"I swear that if he doesn't behave----"started Harry.
"I know Harry, we all feel the same. But, it's pointless to go pick a row with him. Really, everybody knows he hates half-breeds. We got used to it. Honestly Harry, you shouldn't fight please,"
"Didn't you hear him offending Hagrid? What should I do? Stand here and smile at him like a clown?" said Harry angrily.
"Trust me Harry, I know how you feel," said Hermione. "It's really pointless----" but they were interrupted by Ron.
"Hey guys, check out the Fixards," he said, a wide smile on his face.
Hagrid was carrying three of those creatures. They were the size of six year old, about 1 meter long each. Their hind legs were green, just like a lizard. The front of them was really hairy, and orange. Indeed, they had no eyes, but rather huge ears that were the size of two hands put together.
"Beautiful, aren' they?" asked Hagrid.
"What exactly are we going to do with them?" asked Malfoy.
"Well, you see, today, I'll demonstrate how to attract the attention of these little animals," answered Hagrid. "They completely ignore you if you don't do this." At once, he took out a dead mouse, and threw it quickly at the floor. The Fixard's ear moved towards the bottom.
"See everyone?" asked Hagrid. "They use their ears to sense movements around them. Don't you try to fool them, they're dead clever."
The Fixard now was approaching the dead mouse. It opened its mouth, and out came a very long curly tongue. In seconds, the tongue caught the mouse, and went back inside.
"Wow," came the voices of many students around Hagrid's hut.
"This is another way of attracting their attention," said Hagrid, placing the second Fixard on the floor. He raised his hands high, and clapped them together. The second Fixard turned to Hagrid's direction, and made a sound, a combination of a snake's hissing and a dog's barking, which was really weird. The Fixard was now crawling very fast, nearing Hagrid. He jumped up 10 feet, just as Hermione had explained earlier. Before the Fixard landed on Hagrid's head, Hagrid grabbed the Fixard from its neck, and his other hand was holding both hind legs.
"You see? Fixards will attack ya if you make loud noises, they don' like loud sounds, they damage their ears. Like I did, whenever a Fixard is attacking ya, ya hold it from the neck and hind legs, ok? These points of the Fixard's body are the points where it mostly relies on to move. But you don' wanna injure them. As soon as they are still again, not movin', you let'em go. Get it?"
"Now, I want you all to pair up, and practice attracting their attention," said Hagrid.
"Their attention? What, there are only three of them," said Malfoy. Harry's face was reddening. However, Hermione stopped him.
"Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me Malfoy. I'll go get the rest of 'em from me pumpkin patch," said Hagrid. When he returned, there were about thirty Fixards behind him, crawling so fast to get to the class.
"Easy now, each two of ya grab a Fixard, and start practicing. I've got about a hundred dead mice over here (he pointed to a dark brow wooden box beside the hut's door), to feed the Fixards of course,"
Harry was partnered with Hermione. Ron went with Neville. Harry has taken a Fixard, and grabbed a bunch of dead mice.
"One more thing kids, before ya start, you might wanna were your gloves for extra protection. I told ya, their bites really hurt," said Hagrid. Harry and Hermione took out their gloves from their bags, wore them straight away. Their Fixard was lying on the ground, still, not doing anything, and he didn't seem to care about them.
"Ok, let's get going," said Harry. Immeadietly, he grabbed a mouse and threw it quickly to the floor. The Fixard's ear moved down, he got up and crawled to get to the dead mouse. Harry and Hermione were waiting to see if the Fixard will eat his meal. They were absolutely correct. The Fixard opened its mouth, and its curly tongue came out. His tongue was squeezing the mouse, more than just holding him. Then it went in again. Harry and Hermione clearly saw the Fixard chewing the dead mouse.
"Wow," said Hermione, looking satisfied.
"Shall you do it the second way now?" asked Harry.
"Ok," replied Hermione.
"Be careful though, Hermione. If the sound is loud enough, it'll attack your head. Probably bite it off. And you don't want to be hurt by the Fixard, do you?" asked Harry.
"Of course not,"
She now raised both of her hands, and clapped them strongly, producing a loud noise. Immeadietly, the Fixard turned towards her, lowering its head. It crawled quickly, and then it jumped about ten feet. It was descending now, coming even closer to Hermione's head, with its mouth opened, its fangs were really sharp. Quickly, Hermione stretched both her hands, and grabbed the Fixard's neck and hind legs. She was sort of knocked down to the floor, but she got up seconds later, waited till the Fixard was still. Then, she let go of it. It was heading to Hagrid's pumpkin patch.
"Nice work Hermione," complimented Harry.
"Thanks, see I told you it was easy," she replied.
"I know, but it could've gotten your head anytime Hermione. Its fangs were really scary,"
The two were now walking to Hagrid, he was watching the Slytherins. They were doing quite a good job though. Until...
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! It got my head, someone, get it off now!" screamed Malfoy, spinning around, his hands on the Fixard's back, trying to get it off. Hagrid came running to him, grabbed the Fixard from its neck and hind legs. Then, he came closer to Malfoy to check the damages.
"Just a scratch Malfoy, not by its fangs of course, or you would've been poisoned. Naah, it was from its front paw," he said.
"Ms Parkinson, would you kindly take Mr. Malfoy to the hospital wing? Tell Madam Pomfrey he needs some cleaning to the wound on his face," said Hagrid. Pansy Parkinson didn't even answer him, she headed straight to Malfoy, and took him to the castle to go to the hospital wing. Ron was giggling.
"What are you laughing at?" asked Harry.
"Did you see his face when that Fixard got him?"
"Yeah, but it must've been a really sharp hit by the paw. Its claws are like a knife," said Harry. "But that ought to teach him a lesson, huh?"
"That made him pay back for offending Hagrid when he was away," said Ron happily, taking off his gloves.
"Remember in third year, when Buckbeak bit him?" said Hermione. "He was running across the grounds, thinking that he was being killed?"
"That lousy git," said Ron and Harry together. Harry was tying his shoe laces. Minutes later, Pansy returned with Draco. He wasn't over the shock yet, but at least he could talk.
"I should have never taken this subject, the worst between all," spoke Draco coolly.
"Right then now, today you've seen how to attract them Fixards, next lesson, I'll show ya their great strength," spoke Hagrid, carrying five Fixards and putting them away in his pumpkin patch.
"Haven't we seen enough?" shrieked Parvati Patil. "Was that just a start with those Dixfads?"
"Fixards," corrected her Seamus.
"Whatever," she said, exasperated.
The bell rang at last, and its sound echoed all over the walls of the castle.
"See ya next time folks," grunted Hagrid.
Students now were putting their gloves back in their bags, and moving away from Hagrid's hut. It was time for lunch in the Great Hall, everyone was starving.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron went inside and sat at the Gryffindor table. It was like they've never seen food before. Truly, they were extremely hungry. Ron was chewing on a turkey. Harry was taking the first bite of a steak. Hermione was licking a chicken leg, enjoying the taste. Half an hour passed until the Great Hall was starting to get empty of students. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were full. They hardly moved. However, they had a break of fifteen minutes till the next lesson began.
"Oh, great, I have the second year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs now," spoke Harry, getting out of his seat.
"Don't worry Harry, you'll be fine," said Hermione. She too was getting out of her seat. Ron was relaxing his head on his hands. He was beginning to feel a bit drowsy.
"Ron, this is the wrong time to get sleepy," said Hermione, waking him up.
"What? Yeah----right," he yawned.
After that, Ron said goodbye and marched off to Divination, Hermione went to her Arithmancy class. Harry was left alone. He had ten more minutes till his lesson began. But, he couldn't wait any longer. He got out of his seat, grabbed his bag, and walked to the Defence Against the Dark Arts Room.