After lunch, the Slytherins and Gryffindors made their way down to Hagrid's hut for their first Care of Magical Creatures class with their monster books growling in their hands. The rain from the day before had made the ground damp and squishy. Jade tried to contain her excitement because she knew it annoyed Draco when she went on about it. She didn't understand how her friends weren't more excited like she was.

"Would you calm down?" Draco chuckled as Jade craned her neck the closer they got to Hagrid's to try and see if she spotted any creatures.

"Your energy is stressing me out." Pansy told her, "You're practically buzzing."

"What are you talking about?" Jade asked her and then they came to a halt and the Slytherins all grouped together.

"I'm trying to get in touch with my spiritual side," Pansy explained.

"Don't tell me it's because of Divination." Draco rolled his eyes but Pansy glared at him.

"Yes, how was that?" Blaise asked.

"It was okay." Jade summarized and Pansy nodded in agreement while Draco gave Blaise a look that contradicted what she said.

"We read each other's tea leaves," Draco told Blaise.

"Interesting." Hagrid and Fang came around Hagrid's home and stood in the doorway of his house, waiting for students to get closer.

"C'mon now! Get a move on!" He roared to the few stragglers they were waiting on. "Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here?" He asked as he looked around the group and Jade smiled at him. Hagrid looked so excited, finally, someone to match her energy, it made Jade happy to see Hagrid so eager to share his love and knowledge of creatures with his students. "Right, follow me!" He called and then he led them all down close to the edge line of the forest before bringing them to an empty paddock. "Everyone gather 'round the fence here!" He gestured in front of him and the students slowly filled in the area, "That's it, make sure yeh can see. Now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books-"
"How?" Draco called out and Hagrid found him in the group.

"Eh?" Hagrid seemed confused by Draco's question.

"How do we open our books?" Draco asked, irritated that he had to repeat himself. He then held up his copy of The Monster Book of Monsters that he had bound shut with some rope. Jade looked over her own that had a chain looped around it.

"Hasn' anyone been able to open their books?" Hagrid asked, a little disappointed. The class all shook their heads. "Yeh've got ter stroke 'em." He said as if that was obvious. "Look." He took Hermione's book and rid it of the Spellotape that kept it shut. The book snapped at him and made angry noises but as Hagrid ran his finger down the spine of the book, it fell quiet and flopped open.

"Oh, how silly we've all been!" Draco sneered and everyone turned to look at him. "We should have stroked them! Why didn't we guess?"

"I thought they were funny," Hagrid said uncertainly to Hermione.

"Oh, tremendously funny!" Draco went on and Jade shushed him when she saw that Hagrid was starting to lose confidence in his choices.

"It's fascinating," Jade reassured Hagrid. Honestly, it was, who would've thought to pet their book to get it to cooperate? The book itself was a magical creature that Jade would be excited to learn about.

"Yeah, shut up, Malfoy," Harry said quietly but Draco heard him since the rest of the class was silent and just watching Draco and Hagrid go back and forth.

"Right, then," Hagrid seemed to have lost his train of thought, "So, yeh've got yer books an'... an'... now yeh need the magical creatures. Yeah, so, I'll go an' get 'em. Hang on." Hagrid walked through the paddock and then into the forest.

"God, this place is going to the dogs." Draco complained, "That oaf teaching classes, my father'll have a fit when I tell him-" Before Jade could say anything Harry spoke up,

"Shut up, Malfoy." He repeated, much louder this time but Draco just smiled at him,

"Careful, Potter, there's a dementor behind you." He joked and Jade slapped him on the arm. Lavender Brown squealed and everyone turned to look at her, she was pointing towards the other end of the paddock where a dozen or so creatures came trotting towards them. Jade gasped and pulled Blaise to the edge of the paddock so she could see better. The creatures had the body of a horse, along with its back legs and tail but its front legs, wings, and head seemed to belong to a giant eagle. Their beaks were dark and looked dangerously sharp, their large eyes a pretty amber color. Each creature had a large leather collar around its neck and Hagrid held on to long chains that acted as a leash. He gently pulled the chains to urge the creatures closer to the fence where the students were. As they got closer the students backed up but against Blaise's tugging on her sleeve, Jade stayed put at the fence.

"Hippogriffs!" Hagrid roared happily as he tethered them to the fence. "Beautiful, aren' they?" Jade nodded, at first it was a bit of a shock to see how the eagle and horse mixed but once you got used to looking at them, you could begin to see the beauty. Jade looked closely where the feathers turned to hair almost flawlessly, each hippogriff was a different color. Black, gray, brown, bronze, each of their coats gleamed in the sunlight. "So, if yeh want ter come a bit nearer…" Hagrid told the rest of the class before giving Jade an encouraging smile. No one moved at first, but then Harry, Ron, and Hermione slowly came up to where Jade was watching. "Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' Hippogriffs is, they're proud. Easily offended. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do." Hagrid paused for dramatic effect before clapping his hands together, "Yeh always wait for the Hippogriff ter make the firs' move. It's polite, see? Yeh walk toward him, yeh bow, an' yeh wait." Hagrid demonstrated with the gray Hippogriff closest to him, "If he bows back," On cue, the Hippogriff dropped its head low. "Yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him sharply, 'cause those talons hurt. Right, who wants to go first?" The gray Hippogriff then flapped its large wings, sending a powerful gust of wind towards them and Jade stepped back to regain her balance. "No one?" Hagrid asked, he looked so upset that no one would want to get closer to these magnificent creatures, Jade was going to raise her hand but Harry beat her to it,

"I'll do it."

"Oh, no, Harry." Lavender Brown gasped behind him, "Remember your tea leaves!" Jade shot her a glare and Lavender shrank back into the group. There was no need to bring that up right now. Harry didn't seem to care though, he climbed over the paddock fence and made his way over to Hagrid carefully.

"Good man, Harry!" Hagrid roared again. "Right then, let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak." He untied one of the chains from the fence and Jade saw that the gray one with who Hagrid had been demonstrating was referred to as Buckbeak. Jade took a few steps back to rejoin the group, Draco glaring at Harry at her side. "Easy now, Harry. Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink, Hippogriffs don't trust yeh if yeh blink too much. Buckbeak sharply turned his head so he could keep his eye on Harry. "Tha's it, Harry… now bow." Harry gave a short bow and then looked up. The Hippogriff stood still, it didn't bow back and it didn't lunge towards him. "Right, back away now, Harry, easy does it." As Harry took a step back he paused, Buckbeak bent its front knees and sank into an unmistakable bow. Jade smiled at the large creature as it stood again, "Well done, Harry! Yeh can touch him!" Hagrid went on excitedly, "Pat his beak, go on!" Harry approached cautiously and brought his hand up to gently stroke the Hippogriffs beak. Buckbeak's eyes closed a little, as if he were enjoying the contact. The rest of the students broke into applause, all except Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle. "I reckon he might let yeh ride him!" Hagrid smiled and the victorious grin on Harry's face quickly disappeared.

"What?" He asked. Jade was quite jealous, she should've volunteered quicker.

"Yeah, climb up there, jus' behind the wing joint. "An' mind yeh don' pull any of his feathers out, he won' like that…" Harry put his foot on the top of Buckbeak's wing and pulled himself onto his back. Buckbeak waited patiently as Harry struggled to find something he could hold on to. "Go on, then!" Hagrid slapped the back of the Hippogriff and Buckbeak flapped open his huge wings and soared up off the ground. Buckbeak flew him once around the paddock and then headed back to the ground, a small ride but Jade could bet it was a thrilling one. "Good work, Harry!" Hagrid and the class cheered and Draco rolled his eyes. "Okay, who else wants a go?" Jade didn't hesitate this time and her hand shot up in the air, but since Harry had done well with Buckbeak, now everyone else wanted to try. Hagrid untied the Hippogriffs one by one while everyone climbed into the paddock and soon people were bowing in front of the large creatures. Jade led her friends towards the sleek black one but Draco had gone off with Crabbe and Goyle towards Buckbeak. Jade was the first to bow and she waited there for what seemed like a long time before the Hippogriff bowed and met her eye level. Jade smiled as she slowly straightened and then approached the creature. She stroked its beak like Harry had and this Hippogriff had the same reaction as Buckbeak.

"Hello, beautiful." The Hippogriff made a low clicking sound in the back of its throat.

"She likes that." Hagrid came around to Jade's side. "Don' yeh, Ophelia?" He asked the Hippogriff.

"A pretty name for a pretty girl." Jade cooed as she moved under the beak to itch her chin, she knew that Ezekiel liked that.

"Right, let others 'ave a try." Hagrid chuckled to Jade and she reluctantly stepped away from Ophelia to let Theo approach her. Jade thought she and Ophelia had a nice connection but as soon as Theo bowed, Ophelia followed and Jade felt a little jealous as Theo smirked towards them before going to pet in between her eyes. Jade joined Draco by Buckbeak, he had bowed to Draco and Draco was grinning towards Crabbe and Goyle as he pat his beak.

"Good job, Draco!" Jade smiled,

"This is very easy," Draco sneered towards her, "I knew it must have been, if Potter could do it… I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" he turned to Buckbeak. "Are you, you great ugly brute?" Draco had been trying Buckbeak's nerves because Buckbeak quickly reared back and slashed his large talons at Draco. Draco yelped as he hit the ground and Hagrid hurried to yank Buckbeak back before he went at Draco again.

"Draco?" Jade fell to her knees at his side, his eyes were squeezed shut as he clutched his arm. Blood was quickly spreading over his robes. "Draco?" Jade called to him again, afraid to touch him. It was a scary scene, she'd never been near this much blood and it was continuing to cover the grass beneath them.

"I'm dying!" Malfoy yelled as the class around them panicked. "I'm dying, look at me! It's killed me!"

"You're not dead." Jade snapped at him, "Quit being dramatic. Look." She told him and his eyes slowly opened before fixing on her. "Hi." She said awkwardly. She meant for him to look at his arm, see that it was still there and that he was still in fact alive.

"Yer not dyin'!" Hagrid came towards them and was standing over Draco, who had gone very white. "Gotta get him outta here," Hagrid said as he bent down and carefully picked up Draco who groaned at the sudden pressure on his arm. Jade could see it now through the shredded robes, there was a large bloody gash on his forearm. Hermione acted before anyone else and ran to hold open the door of the paddock for Hagrid to go through,

"Can I come with you?" Jade asked as she followed Hagrid through the field,

"No, no, I'm the teacher, I'll do it." He said quietly and Jade stopped and watched as Hagrid carried Draco off towards the castle. Everything had happened so quickly, Jade now stood with the rest of her class, they were all very shaken and didn't know what to do so they started off towards the castle.

"They should sack him straight away!" Pansy cried, tears were falling from her face, she was visibly shaking and Jade came around to her and put an arm around her.

"It wasn't Hagrid's fault," Jade told her gently.

"It was Malfoy's fault!" snapped Dean Thomas and Jade shot him a look.

"I don't think anyone asked you your opinion." Jade shot back and Dean rolled his eyes before turning back and saying something to Seamus Finnigan. "Let's go check on him, yeah?" Jade asked Pansy and she nodded, "Are you guys coming?" She asked Blaise and Theo. Blaise nodded but Theo shook his head,

"I've got work to do."

"Seriously?" Jade asked and Theo shrugged. "That's not being a very good friend!" She called after him as he started walking away.

"Who said I'm his friend?" He called back. Jade didn't know how to respond to that. She didn't know why he spent all his time with them if he didn't like Draco, what if he didn't really like any of them? He just didn't want to be alone? She couldn't focus on him right now, she needed to know how Draco was doing. Crabbe and Goyle came up to Jade and she looked away from Theo and at them.

"Can we come with you?" Goyle asked. Draco spent a lot of his time with Jade and her friends but she realized that when Draco was with them, Crabbe and Goyle only had each other, they cared about Draco in their own way.

"Yeah, sure."