Author's note: Next chapter despite the fact that I still didn't have time to go on writing ^^' I just don't want to keep you waiting for too long.
Well...this chapter is...one thing I still laugh about as the idea was so strange in the beginning ^^' And it contains Hagrid...PLEASE! I can't write how he talks so it's just normal...imagine his way of speaking, okay? Thanks ^^''
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story. All characters and the world belong to J.K. Rowling
Chapter 3
-Forest gnomes-
"…Dom, you shouldn't care about what this stinking git says about and to you!" I insisted, monotone.
We had survived another day, so today was Tuesday. Afternoon, to be exact. We had finished our classes for today and had gone upstairs into Gryffindor Tower and even higher up into our dormitory. There Dominique had immediately broken into tears, telling me about how the first two days had been for her. I as her best friend had listened to her story – which by the way really was disgusting, but as she's likely to repeat it yet once more I won't tell you now – and had tried to comfort her as good as possible. The problem was: The person I had tried to comfort was my cousin Dominique. Do you get what I mean? Nothing bad about her but it's really a hard task to try to calm her down.
"I know, I know! But I'd love to see YOU try to ignore it when you're insulted the whole time even when you just want to help! And as I told you, that's not all! He spat on me when we left Herbology! He's always glaring at me as if I…don't know, as if I was the evil person in this pairing! You, you are lucky with Scorpius!"
Up to the moment she had said her final sentence, I had just stared out of the window; my head leaning on one hand. I had heard this story three times already so I had just refused to listen to it a fourth time. Don't get me wrong please, I love my cousin but sometimes you just HAVE TO ignore her when she's exaggerating again. And telling one and the same story more than twice counts to 'exaggerating' in my opinion.
But her statement that I was lucky to have Malfoy as my partner was way too much. I immediately snapped back into reality and glared at my cousin. "I'm WHAT?!" I barked loudly. I actually hadn't intended to ask this question so loud but I just couldn't hold back.
"You're lucky! Different to Nathan, Scorpius at least is open for negotiations and actually works WITH you. He even holds back with insults and annoying you!"
"No he does not! You should work with him for one lesson and you'd see that he's just as disgusting as Zabini is. He uses different means to attack but in the end we both have the same results, Dominique!"
"Nathan's aggressive, Scorpius is just ignorant! That's a great difference, Rose! I'd rather be ignored than spat at or something like that." Her voice contained a certain heat now which made me glare even more.
"Would you stop this? Malfoy's nothing to enjoy and especially nothing to DEFEND!" By now I stood, next to my bed, staring down at my blonde cousin.
"I don't defend him!" she said, looking at me in shock.
"Oh yes, you do! You tried to tell me that Malfoy's an angel in comparison to Zabini which is not true at all! Malfoy is an evil Ferret and has been ever since I first saw him. He insults us, you as well as me and sometimes even our family. The only one he spares is Al and this also only because he's in Slytherin. And believe me; if he didn't think his spit was too valuable for us, he would also spat. Probably even into our faces."
I breathed heavily when I had finished my little monologue. Uh, this stupid, blonde asshole always got me lose my temper in some way.
Dom didn't say anything for minutes. We just looked at each other and her expression softened, almost went sad, with every moment. Then, suddenly, she mumbled, "I'm sorry, Rosie. I didn't mean to defend him. It's just…I feel so worthless when Nathan is around."
"…This is only because you make yourself worthless by not doing anything about him. Even though you're partners now you can still tell teachers or something like that. Or you could defend yourself; your mouth is big enough to do so." I retorted, surprisingly much calmer than before."
"Yeah…I know. I'll try my best, okay? Can we be fine again?"
A small smile appeared on my lips. "Sure. But never ever call Malfoy or Zabini by their first names again and don't try to say nice things about people who have nothing nice in them."
"Deal." she simply said and patted the space next to her on the bed. "Shall we do our homework together?"
I took the pre-offered seat and nodded. "Yeah, sure. Which one first?"
"Uhm…I don't know…Charms?"
I laughed. "Since when do you do a homework which is not due until next Monday?"
"I don't want to do Herbology, that's why I want to do Charms now."
"Ah yes…I understand. But later on we'll also have to do Herbology, don't forget that!"
"Of course not."
The rest of our afternoon passed by quite quickly. It's useful to make a bit of fun while doing homework…as the time goes by faster and somehow – in our case – you also write much faster and better!
~(°|°)~
It was early in the morning when I woke up. Still rather sleepy, I looked around me and saw that I was still on Dominique's bed. She was still fast asleep, rolled together like a cat. This made me smile as it reminded me of all the times we had more or less suddenly fallen asleep during work or a game we played. The latter had been the case yesterday night, after we had finished our essays.
However, my smile faded quite fast when I saw the mess we had done. My ink was spread all over the floor and it had, to make things even worse, already dried. Thus there was no use in trying to get it back into the pellet.
Sighing deeply and rolling my eyes, I grabbed my uniform (yesterday evening we had already been in our pyjamas) and sneaked out of the dormitory to get dressed.
~(°|°)~
An hour later I was down in the Great Hall, eating a toast as breakfast, waiting for the owls' arrival as I already had yesterday. Yes, I was impatiently waiting for my Dad's letter. Now that the only ink pellet I had taken with me was empty even more.
The Great Hall was almost empty today. Only a dozen students besides me were eating breakfast. The rest of them were either still sleeping or in the library, already in front of their classrooms or, as most of my classmates were, already in the Entrance Hall, waiting for our first two lessons of Care of Magical Creatures (the rest was waiting for Muggle Studies).
Only five minutes before I had intended to leave as well, about a hundred of owls flew in, searching for the addressees of their letters or even packages. And me, I was searching for Cadie.
The major part of the owls eventually flew back outside and to my greatest joy, Cadie landed next to me on the bench, hooting happily. She had a letter tied to her leg which I hastily unfastened and opened to read, simultaneously patting my owl's head.
Dear Rosie
First of all I want to say sorry that I couldn't come to see you off. I hope you're not too mad at me and that you enjoyed the trip as well as your first days back in Hogwarts. I just came back home in the middle of the night…without any success as you had probably already guessed. This Death Eater bastard keeps disappearing, it's unnerving. But enough of my work.
How is it at Hogwarts? How do you feel in your sixth year so far?
Please write back soon, your Mom and I are looking forward to your letter.
Lots of Love,
Dad
PS: Give Hugo a hug from me and a kiss from Mom
My smile must've been as wide as it hadn't been for days. I immediately took out a piece of parchment, willing to write my reply when I was suddenly and forcefully hit by reality: I still had no ink.
"Pfft…I'll come to you later, okay Cadie? Get some rest in the owlery." I said to her, stroking through her feathers for one last time. Then she flew away again and I decided to go into the Entrance Hall.
~(°|°)~
There Hagrid was already waiting for the two ones who were still not there, namely Albus and another girl from Slytherin…from who I knew that she had fancied my cousin for a long time already. I think my thoughts about why they were missing are clear. Without wanting it to, my face turned into a grimace.
"You should have something done against this, Weasley. You know, Healers can fix it quickly and without too much pain." I heard a sneering voice say next to me.
"Very funny, Zabini." I just hissed, narrowing my eyes.
"Mh…nope, I wouldn't say that Healers can help in that case. A gnome will always stay one, or am I mistaken, Weasley?" asked Malfoy who was standing yet next to Zabini.
"Good that you mention Gnomes, Malfoy…even though the topic's not nice at all." said the strong, loud voice of Hagrid.
My classmates broke into whispers, trying to find a possible answer why it was good that Malfoy had mentioned Gnomes. The easiest answer didn't come to their mind at all: We'd somehow talk about those little monsters…even though they don't seem interesting enough to be part of the 6th year in Hogwarts.
~(°|°)~
Ten more minutes passed before Albus and the girl turned up. I can tell you that Hagrid was already a bit annoyed but tried his best to stay completely calm.
"Now that we're complete, let's get out. Straight to my hut, please!"
We followed him down to his cabin. There we came to a halt and were waiting for what he would tell us about his plans for this year.
"This year's very special, very special I say. Why? Well, we were given a project to fulfil for Care of Magical Creatures." he said enthusiastically.
However, he jumped in surprise when everyone, including me, was groaning and grimacing.
"You're not too pleased about the projects, are you? Well, I can't change it, I was told to do this project with you. It's not as long as this partner-project you already have but only lasts until 1st December."
"And what does it have to do with Gnomes? If I understood you right, they must be part of something you want to tell us." asked Malfoy surprisingly…normal. Almost as if he liked Hagrid…as if he was a friend!
I didn't want to imagine the possibility that Malfoy really got along with Hagrid. I mean…I of course can't be sure as this was my very first lesson of Care of Magical Creatures together with any of the Slytherins but…no, this just didn't seem right at all! Especially not when I thought about the stories my Dad told me about Scorpius' father and how Mr Malfoy once had Hagrid almost fired because of a silly accident…which he even caused himself! And Scorpius was just like his father – at least as far as I could tell – and thus…it wasn't easy to imagine him on friendly terms with Hagrid at all.
"Yeah, well…ever heard of Forest Gnomes?" he saw our blank faces and continued with an amused smile, "Thought so. No problem, many people only know Garden Gnomes. Actually there's not a big difference between the two of them except for the place they live in."
"So they're brown, ugly and irritating?" asked Zabini smirking.
"You could say it like this if you want to." Hagrid retorted, "Anyway, to the project now. We have recently found quite a lot Forest Gnomes in the Forbidden Forest. A few days later, the project was given to us by the Ministry."
He paused, probably trying to increase our non-existent excitement.
"The ministry wants to try to socialize Gnomes so that they can live in better conditions. We're one of ten participants in this project."
Socialize Gnomes? Around me, everyone burst into laughter while I just furrowed. Socialize Gnomes…this sounded familiar to me. Very familiar…OH MY GOODNESS!
My mouth fell open. Mom! Mom had worked on the plans for this project together with some old, mental woman…how was she called…
"This project, however silly it sounds to you, took quite a long time to be planned. Mrs Goldberg has worked on it for more than four years. Yes, Albus?"
"Four years for a project which is predestined to fail? You can't socialize Gnomes. This is as if you want to make a Ghoul nanny for your children!" My cousin had a good point.
"Nevertheless we have to do it. Now, if you'd please stop laughing and discussing! I want to explain how it will work."
Slowly everyone fell silent. "Good. Now, as I've told you, we have many gnomes in our forest. And we also found some lost baby gnomes in there. The guidelines say that you, within your groups of two, will take care of one baby gnome until December. You'll feed it, bath it, play with it…raise it as if it was your proper child. On the 1st of December, you'll give them to Officials, who will then take care of them and see if their behaviour was and will stay influenced by how they were treated."
You could hear a couple of mouths drop to the ground. Some of us were gaping at Hagrid, mimicking a fish. I was also shocked, without a doubt I was. My mouth also stood open and I can't deny that I looked at Hagrid as if I feared for his sanity. However, there was also – believe it or not! – one person who looked as excited as a child a moment before Christmas.
Melinda Brown, a naïve girl with golden locks. She was in Hufflepuff, usually jumpy, always chatting with someone and not to forget: easy to convince of something, no matter how silly and stupid it was.
"Hagrid…for which grades is this project by the way?" I asked a few moments later.
"Only for the 6th, Rose. Ministry thinks you're old enough for this kind of responsibility." he answered.
"And why only us? Why not the 7th graders?" enquired the girl Albus had been away with.
"Cause they have to do other things for their NEWTs. Now, follow me please, we'll pick your gnomes up now."
"Into the forest?" she asked again.
I rolled my eyes about her shaking tone. It was not like we'd never been in there before.
"Sure. A Centaur is looking after them until we're there. Doesn't really like his job so we should hurry."
~(°|°)~
A quarter hour later, we arrived at a really dark place within the Forbidden Forest. It was quite cold here so that I as well as some other people around me closed their robes more tightly around them.
"Finally, Hagrid! Excuse me please, but I'll leave now." said the Centaur as soon as we approached, not saying anything else. He didn't even wait for a response.
"So, kids, down here they are." He gestured down to the roots of an old tree.
There were ten – or probably more, I couldn't really count in the darkness here – little, potato-faced, brown beings, covered by some leaves. Admittedly, they were a bit cuter than the…uhm…adults but not enough to make my heart melt like it obviously had for Melinda. She stood right next to me, sobbing and squeaking 'how cute, look at them!' Again I just had to roll my eyes and looking around me I saw that I was not the only one.
"Yeah…now, the pairs come together and I'll give you one of those gnomes."
Right after Hagrid had finished, Melinda pulled her partner – a confused looking Ravenclaw – to our teacher, grinning so widely I feared her mouth would never be able to close again.
"Very well, very well, Melinda. Here you go. It's a…a boy. Ah yeah, you shall give them a name, of course."
Gently he handed one of the gnomes to Melinda who immediately pressed the small being against herself, mumbling something like 'Dan'. Poor little thing and poor Ravenclaw boy.
Slowly but surely everyone came closer to Hagrid, taking one of those creatures in their arms. They, of course, were not as pleased with their situation as Melinda was. Not at all.
In the end, only Zabini and Dominique, Albus and Roma as well as Malfoy and I were left. We all hesitated to get closer to Hagrid.
"Oh come on, it's not that bad, really!" he tried to encourage us.
"Phew…come on, Zabini, I don't want to waste all the time in this forest!" growled Dom some moments later, grabbed his tie and pulled him forward to the half-giant. They got a female gnome which would probably stay nameless until the end of classes.
Then Malfoy clicked his tongue, crossed his arms behind his head and stepped to Hagrid, completely ignoring me who still stood at the same spot as I had for the last few minutes.
We were to take care of a male gnome (as were Albus and Roma, by the way) which also didn't immediately get a name.
When everyone had their project, we marched out of the forest again. Guess who had to carry the small being in Malfoy's and my case. Right, me. Of course. While he walked a few feet in front of me with Zabini. I stayed behind with Dominique and Melinda. Hurray. It got even better when suddenly my cousin screamed, "OH MY MERLIN! It peed on me! Hagrid!"
I really wanted this day to end.
~(°|°)~
"Now, one last thing before you may already leave." said Hagrid as soon as we had reached his hut again. We turned towards him. More than half of the class besides of me was already quite done with today. "As you're in different Houses now, you should try to make a plan. You're something like their parents now so they should get used to both of you. What I try to say is…Dan, for example, shouldn't only stay with Melinda. Not only during the day but also at night. Try to make a plan on when the babies sleep at one partner and when at the other one."
"They'll grow up in gay conditions in some groups." laughed one of Albus' stupid fellow Slytherins and he pointed to Lysander who – if I may remind you – was paired up with Daniel.
"Don't make me deduct points for comments like that, Tilmitt." said Hagrid.
"Professor…I have a question." said Lorcan a moment later.
"Yeah?"
"Some of our partners – as mine for example – didn't take Care of Magical Creatures…are they nevertheless involved in this project?"
"Mh…let me put it like this: They may if they want to, you'll have to ask. If they don't want to…well, then you'll have to take care of your baby on your own."
"Okay. Thanks."
Somehow this situation got more and more realistic. We had 'real families' with a – I don't believe that I say this – Mommy and a Daddy who actually get along (Albus and Roma) and who are only arguing (like me and Malfoy), but also single parent families like probably Lorcan would be and also one gay and one lesbian family.
"What about Prefect Duties?" I heard Malfoy ask suddenly, "I mean…we can't possibly take them with us."
"Well, you'll have to. I'm sure there are ways to do it."
I turned around to my…uargh…partner. He grimaced and shot me a short, disgusted look. Whether this look was for me or for the baby gnome in my arm…I couldn't tell.
"Okay, any more questions?"
We shook our heads.
"Good, then have a nice day. Off you go!"
"It looks a bit like Zabini, don't you think so?" asked Dominique on our way back up to the castle. She had cleaned her clothes via magic by now by the way.
"I can't tell, I just think that we'll fatally fail this project." I mumbled, looking down at the small thing in my arms. It was asleep. It had been for a few minutes and I hoped it also would stay asleep at least until our next lesson was over. But I shouldn't be so lucky…
"Weasley! This thing will stay with you, understood?" shouted my dear partner and the moment he did, our…baby woke up and let out a terrible, ears killing scream.
I narrowed my eyes. "No, Ferret, it won't!" I yelled back and simultaneously stamped towards him.
"Here, you'll take care of it now, I WON'T do everything alone. And by the way, do me a favour and give it a name WHICH HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MY FAMILY!" I screamed and pushed the admittedly poor baby into his arms, immediately afterwards backing up a bit so he couldn't return it. And yes, the end had been necessary because if I hadn't added this, the gnome would've probably been called 'Ron', 'George', 'Hugo II' or something like that.
"Are you insane?! Look what it had done!" he growled suddenly. Well…he had every right to do so as our little 'no-name' had…well…shown perfectly well how my opinion was about his 'daddy'. There was a big heap on Malfoy's shoes and a part of it even slid down his trousers.
"Not insane, Ferret, this was just close to professional Divination. I'll take care of him after classes again. Make sure it has a name until then…and…you should probably clean your clothes before your next lesson."
With that, I went on, right into the castle and straight towards the classroom.