Chapter three
Unpleasantries
His drawling voice was the first thing that alerted her to his slimy presence, but then she could smell his cologne. (It actually didn't smell too bad, kind of like a fresh breezy smell, but that wasn't the point.)
"Well, Mudblood, I can see that you already feel the need to, er, spread yourself around, for want of a better word. Nice and pathetic-like, already got yourself settled down all over my couch with a book, with even more books already clogging up the area. Your doing, I assume. Shame I don't take notice of people below my blood status, otherwise I'd be rolling around on the floor laughing at you and your precious books…and the fact that Dumbledore pitied you so much that he actually gave you the position of Head Girl…You do know that that is the only reason you even achieved—no—got the badge, because you really didn't earn—AARG!!" Hermione had been going redder and redder during his little speech, and she finally blew, throwing the book at him, and then, after clambering over the back of the couch and jumping in front of him, holding his robes at the collar and shoving him back into the stairs, his blonde head cracking on the stone stairs. "Malfoy—if you ever, ever say anything like that to me again, you'll be the next Peter Pettigrew and the most your mom will ever get of you is a finger…but I'll make sure it's real and you will be dead. Do you understand?!" Her voice had been getting softer and softer until Malfoy could barely understand her, but at the last sentence she had shrieked it out and he jumped, his head hitting the stone again. He whimpered from the pain and fear—no, not fear; he would never be afraid of a mudblood—and struggled to get up. She got off of him, glared at him once more, then picked her book off the floor and walked back to the couch, sat down and resumed reading. Malfoy got up also, muttered "Lose some pounds, Granger," and felt the back of his head, wincing as he touched the big bruise that was developing. Hermione pretended not to hear him, and soon he went up the stairs that leave the common room.
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"And then, he said, 'lose some pounds, Granger'! Can you believe that? I mean, I know we're talking about Malfoy, but it's as if he knew just how to hurt me! Like he prepared it, or something! Ooh, he makes me so mad!" It was the following day at breakfast, and Hermione was relating what had happened the night before. After each sentence Harry's and Ron's scowls grew deeper and deeper, until their eyebrows had met and their eyes were nothing but slits. "That bugger! That little ferret-face! What a nasty little rude…rude…" Ron seemed at a loss of words to describe what Malfoy was, and Harry just looked ready to kill. Hermione, cheered by the fact that they were taking it so personally and that Professor McGonagall had just handed out the new class schedules, smiled happily and went back to eating her poached eggs. "Oh, and the password to the statue is 'jumping merfish', if you need help with your homework." Just then Ginny came over and sat by them, and she began to retell her story to her.
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"Defense Against the Dark Arts…check. Muggle studies…check. Ancient Runes… check. Okay, I think I've got everything…What about you guys?" Hermione had just been going over her schedule while walking with Harry and Ron to Hagrid's class, Care of Magical Creatures. None of them liked it, but they liked Hagrid, and so they pretended to. On the way down to Hagrid's hut, they were joined by a swarm of Slytherins and more Gryffindors. Hostility was so heavy in the air that you could see it; indeed, Slytherins were trying to jinx and hex Gryffindors, and vice versa. They managed to get down to Hagrid's garden with only some blood and two robes set on fire, and Hagrid was there to greet them, his warm black eyes glittering in the sunlight as he smiled at them, ushering them into a paddock that they had used before with the haughty and rather malicious hippogriffs. Malfoy had been injured after insulting the handsome beasts, and the three friends were happy to see that he looked slightly apprehensive as he walked through the gate.
"Ah righ', then! Get in, get in, lots ter see and only forty-five minutes ter see it! Lavender, shut that there gate behind yeh…Thanks…
"Now, wait for it…step back, give um' some space…Clear out there, Neville…Ah righ'. What you're gonna see here today is some Fluxalinders. Nasty sharp teeth they got, but if you stay on there good side, you won't get hurt, most likely." Mutterings broke out at the 'most likely' part, but he seemed not to notice, and started ushering them all to the left side of the paddock, closest to the house. He pulled out a little whistle and blew on it. A hard, sharp blast erupted from it, and the ground started to shake. Several girls shrieked, and what looked like dark green groundhogs popped out of the ground in the middle of the paddock. Hermione gasped, and turned around. "Hagrid! Are we on their good side? Is it safe to turn around?"
Hagrid beamed. "'Course it is! Take a good look, notice the teeth? That's how they move in the ground! Eat the earth all up! It's nice, because they don't drink or eat anything else besides dirt and rocks!
"But, this is only one side of 'em! See how they're all turned so we only see the left side? Tha's because the other side is a hideous mass of boils and rashes! And those teeth'll puncture the eyes of anyone who sees that side. Now, like Hermione just demonstrated, it's best to turn around or shut your eyes when calling a Fluxalinder, because you never know what way they'll be when they pop out of the ground. Now, I've got them pretty well trained to feel the weight on the earth and to come out with the good side facing that weight, but you never know. For the rest of the time, draw a picture of the teeth an' mouth, label the muscles and bones, and then turn it in. Begin…now!" He roved through the students, helping and pointing out mistakes. As he moved to where Ron, Hermione and Harry were stationed, he said "Ron, the teeth are longer than that. An' Hermione! Good job with getting the Head Girl position. Knew you were gonna achieve it. Good work on the tongue, Harry." And clapping them on the back he moved off to see the other student's papers. Just then the timer on Hagrid's watch rang, and he said "Put the papers on the stump on your way out! See you next Monday!"