Chapter Seven: Detention
(This chapter is from the point of view of Harry Potter)
I hadn't even had a potions class yet, and I already hated the dungeons. I didn't like being underground at all, and I wasn't particularly fond of the dark or cold either. Despite the pleasant day up above, the black stone walls radiated cold. I already sort of knew where the potions classroom was, and the teachers' offices were generally accessible through their room, so I was going with that.
The door of the potions classroom was propped open, making it a little easier to locate. I was already twenty minutes late for my detention when I slumped down into the chair sitting across from the desk behind which Severus was sitting.
"Harry, why do you find it necessary to cause your mother so much grief? What exactly are you trying to prove with the Malfoy boy?" he asked, leaning back in his chair from the book he had propped open on his desk. His gaze was cool and direct.
I glowered back at him. "I don't do anything on her account. We were just having fun. And you can mind your own bloody business about Draco," I replied coldly, and Severus rolled his eyes at me.
"She will forbid it when she sees you in person again, Harry. You know the only reason she hasn't yet is because she never does anything important over letters," he said severely, and now I rolled my eyes at him.
"Let her forbid away. If she wants to keep me away from Draco, she can go ahead and try," I said resolutely.
"You get your stubbornness from her. Don't forget that," he warned.
"And I must get my taste in company from my father, since hers is obviously flawed," I replied with a tight smile and he flushed. It may have been a surprise to anyone else, including Dumbledore and Voldemort, but I was plenty aware of my mother's thing with the oily potions master. Personally, I'd never cared much for him. "So if you're done lecturing me, can I leave?" I asked, my voice laced with boredom. And when I got up to leave, he didn't bother to try to stop me.
I stopped at the door and looked back over my shoulder. "If you're going to assign me any more detentions, you better leave me to Filch before one of your lovely snakes reports to Voldemort that you've been alone with me and I'm still breathing," I said with a grim smile before I slipped into the corridor and was gone.
"He's really not bad, Draco. A little scary to look at, but completely harmless," I assured Draco as we walked across the grounds toward Hagrid's hut. Double Potions with the Slytherins had been enraging, with Severus constantly stinging at me with snide comments. I wished I could hex the slimy git, but instead I dragged Draco out of the transfiguration text book he was trying to read and marched him across the grounds towards a ragged little hut flanked by a currently bare pumpkin patch.
"His dog is just the same," I added as we reached the door.
"He has a dog?" Draco demanded in a shrill voice. But I'd already knocked on the door, and then we heard a resounding WOOF from within, and any trace of color left Draco's face, which was pale to begin with.
And then the door was flung open and the looming figure of Hagrid appeared in the doorway, shoving Fang back and telling him to shut up. "Hey there boys, c'mon in. I got ye some tea made, an' some fudge," he told us, grinning behind his beard as he stepped out of our way. Fang was excited, barking and bouncing around behind his master as we stepped into the hut.
"Hey Hagrid. Hey there, Fang," I called, ruffling the dog's big ears in both my hands. "Merlin, Hagrid, what do you feed him? Dogs aren't meant to be this big," I asked jovially as I allowed Fang to slobber all over my hands, which quickly became all over my forearms.
"Oh, he ain't any bigger. Come on, sit down, I've got the tea ready. Who's yer friend here, Harry?" Hagrid asked as we took our seats at the table. I wiped my arms on my robes and accepted a cup of tea that was more appropriately proportional to Hagrid than it was to me or Draco.
"This is Draco Malfoy. He's in Gryffindor with me," I introduced him casually. Hagrid's eyebrow rose and he studied Draco for a moment. But then he did exactly what I'd hoped he would; he shrugged and poured a cup of tea for Draco.
"So how've yer classes been? Not gettin' yerselves inta trouble yet, are ye?" Hagrid asked us, placing a plate of fudge on the table. I knew better, but Draco didn't. I watched him from the corner of my eyes, and he tried his best to chew and swallow politely, but the laborious look on his face was unmistakable.
"Oh, no. Well, I did get detention. But it was just Snape being…well, himself. We went flying on some school brooms, and he decided it was against the rules, the greasy git. But McGonagall said we should come try out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and that's tomorrow," I told him happily.
"And we got sent to Dumbledore's office," Draco reminded me quietly, smiling wryly.
"Oh yeah. We were lost, and tried to get into a locked door that ended up actually leading to the forbidden bit of the castle, or else die a painful death and all that. And Filch found us, and being the evil old codger that he is, he took us to the headmaster's office. After we told him what happened, of course he let us go," I explained quickly.
"Ye say ye' ain't been inta no trouble, and then go on an' tell me 'bout all the trouble ye've got yerselves inta," Hagrid laughed, shaking his head and eating a piece of the fudge as easily if it were edible to any regular human.
"Oh, and we've got our own dorm—just the two of us. No more than five to a dorm, you know, and there are six Gryffindors this year, so we got to split it up any way we wanted. So the other boys took one dormitory, and Draco and I have our own," I explained happily.
"That'll oughta ye outa some trouble with yer classmates," Hagrid laughed. "Ye never did take a likin' to nobody verra' easy." He glanced at Draco, who blushed and hid a smile. We spent the rest of the afternoon talking about our classes, until it started to get dark and we headed back up to the school.
"That wasn't so bad," Draco admitted on the walk back.
"I knew Hagrid would like you. Hagrid likes everyone," I said, grinning. "And his fudge is even edible if you heat it up." Draco laughed. I decided that it was my favorite sound in the world.
(AN: okay, I'm officially blocked. I have no idea how to transition between their first year and their forth. This chapter was actually excruciating to write because I got bored halfway through the visit with Hagrid and couldn't think of things for them to say. The only thing I liked about this chapter is revealing the Lily/Snape that's off in the background of the plot. I don't think it will be very important, at least not yet. But until I can get my story a few years into the future, I'm not going to worry much about them. So help me. Please review. I love this story and I don't want to give up on it.)
