A/N: Essentially, what you recognize belongs to the goddess that is J.K. Rowling, and what you don't belongs to lil' ol' me.
•~0~•
Harry collapsed into the seat beside George at the table. Genevieve, on the other side of that seat, jumped slightly.
"A little warning next time, please?" She asked, unable to keep a smile off her face.
"Sorry," he muttered.
George gave Harry a stack of paper. "New third-year course schedules. What's up with you, Harry?"
"Malfoy," spat Ron in disgust. Malfoy was reenacting Harry's collapse on the train, something Hermione had told Genevieve about. She shook her head in anger as George abused Malfoy.
"That little git. He wasn't so cocky last night when the dementors were down at our end of the train. Came running into our compartment, didn't he, Fred?"
"Nearly wet himself," Fred agreed. Genevieve smiled, remembering it.
"I wasn't too happy myself," George continued. "They're horrible things, those dementors . . ."
The three continued in this vein, trying to cheer up the third year, while Hermione tried to convince Ron that her schedule was fine. Genevieve was also confused, unable to see how Hermione was going to be able to attend and succeed in all her classes, as she knew firsthand how taking more than two electives tended to stretch one out, time wise.
Just then, Hagrid walked up, addressing Genevieve first. "Genevieve! Any chance yeh've got a free period jus' after lunch?" he asked, hopeful.
She glanced at her schedule. "Surprisingly, yes."
He leaned forward a bit. "Could yeh come down an' help me? It's my firs' class an' . . ." His voice dropped to a whisper. "I'm coverin' hippogriffs. Yeh've got a natural talent wi' Beaky, an' I think it'll be fun!"
"You're doing hippogriffs in your first lesson? With third years?" She asked incredulously.
He nodded excitedly. Genevieve decided she'd better be there, in the event anything went wrong.
"All right. Meet you there," she promised.
"Great!" The half-giant turned to chat with Hermione, Harry, and Ron for a bit before exiting with glee.
•~0~•
Once again, Genevieve found that she was far ahead in her classes, having read the assigned material beforehand. When it came time to head down to Hagrid's, she hurried, not wanting to miss anything.
"C'mon, now, get a move on!" Hagrid beckoned. "Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"
Hagrid told them to get out their books, which, obviously, no one had been able to open.
"Hasn' - hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?" The excitement was quickly draining from his face.
Even Genevieve shook her head, somewhat ashamed. It was the only book she hadn't been able to read before the start of term.
"Yeh've got ter stroke 'em," Hagrid said knowledgeably. "Look - "
He took Hermione's book, tore off the Spellotape, and ran a finger down its spine. The book fell open.
"Oh, how silly we've all been!" Malfoy mocked. "We should have stroked them! Why didn't we guess!"
Hagrid seemed to have lost some of his nerve. "Righ' then. So - so yeh've got yer books an' - an' now yeh need the Magical Creatures. Yeah. So I'll go an' get 'em. Hang on . . ."
He disappeared, and Malfoy continued to complain, Harry and Genevieve coming to his defense.
Hagrid reappeared, hippogriffs trailing behind them.
"Buckbeak!" Genevieve crooned, bowing slowly and receiving one in return before petting its head. It'd been a while since she'd gotten to visit the hippogriff, with all the craziness of the past year.
When no one else came forward, Harry volunteered to demonstrate for Hagrid, and, to Genevieve's pleasant surprise, the class was actually going much more smoothly than she'd imagined.
Of course it didn't last. Malfoy insulted Buckbeak, and the hippogriff, quite a prideful creature attacked him, leaving him bleeding fairly seriously.
"I'm dying!" Malfoy cried, greatly exaggerating the situation. "I'm dying, look at me! It's killed me!"
"If you're dying," said Genevieve, struggling to get the boy to remain still, "then I'm Minister of Magic. Now hold on and let me check out this wound!"
Hagrid took Malfoy to the hospital, and the class was left in shambles, Slytherins complaining and Gryffindors coming to Hagrid's aid. But if one this was clear, this wasn't going to end well.