Kind of a filler chapter, unfortunately, but it contains lots of important information about what will happen in the future.

Expect some very obscure foreshadowing in our main characters' verbal interactions as well as random cuteness from Theodore. (I've been watching too many clips of Agnes from Despicable Me lately, so forgive me...)

The next day brought Artemis' fears to fruition.

It was Care of Magical Creatures class. Artemis had had Ancient Runes with Draco first, which was reasonably enjoyable – to his delight, he had discovered that several Runes corresponded with Gnommish symbols (he still had no clue which came first because the history of each side was sketchy - though Artemis was leaning toward the People, as he was about 82% sure that the fairies existed long before the wizards, given their simple magical type). Being already fluent in Gnommish, it was only a matter of deciphering whatever else he saw by the textbook translations and then memorizing them.

They had met up with Blaise and Theodore outside. "How was Divination, guys?" Draco sneered.

Blaise rolled his eyes. "Laughable," he declared. "Trelawney's a complete joke. She actually predicted that Potter would die because he saw some shaggy, ugly black dog in a teacup. She was screaming and waving her arms around and everything like a pathetically horrible actor trying to look passionately good and ending up failing passionately well."

"She said it was a Grim, I think," Theodore said. "But it looked like a giraffe to me. I like giraffes. Giraffes are cute. Don't you like giraffes?"

Blaise ignored Theodore's statement about giraffes (which, Artemis had to admit, was pretty random) and began complaining about how terrible and boring the class was. "…and then just like Trelawney, Brown drops the cup and begins screaming like a dying cat, and predicts that Patil is going to die of heartbreak," Blaise snorted, completing his story from Divination class.

"...Giraffes have such long necks and long legs. You have to admit, it's pretty smart of them. Because they can eat the leaves that none of the other animals can. So when all the grass dies and all the other animals are going hungry, the giraffe is eating all of the good leaves at the top and going 'ha-ha, suckers!'" Theodore rambled.

"And of course Patil is looking at her, half-believing her like the superstitious fool she is, and half-embarrassed at her horrible dancing..."

"...spots are awesome. Like, Dalmatians have spots, and leopards have spots, and so do cheetahs and jaguars and cows, but I think giraffes have coolest spots ever. Because cow spots are big and fat like someone spilled ink on them, and then leopards and cheetahs and jaguars have weird looking spots like they have the chicken pox or rubella, and then Dalmatians have annoying tiny spots like they have giant pimples or something. But giraffe spots are just the right size and they have this cool interlocking mosaic pattern..."

"Honestly, Brown is such a drama queen. If I have to put up with her acting like that again tomorrow I'm not sure how I will survive..."

"And they have the coolest things on their heads, too. They're like, little tufts of fur. I mean, what are they? Are they like, tentacles, or antennae, or feelers, or what? Well, they're probably not those things because giraffes are mammals and mammals don't use those weird things...so it's more like they're just...there! For no reason! Except there has to be a reason, because there always is one. Maybe it's just to make them look cool. I mean, giraffes look...different without those fur tufts. Like there's something missing. It makes them less cute. Less...giraffe-y."

Blaise stuck his hands in his pockets and began kicking at the dust on the ground moodily. "Are you even listening to me, Theodore?"

"I feel bad for giraffes when they have to take a drink, though, because they have to bend their long necks all the way down. Normally that would kill them because the gravity makes all the blood rush to their heads, and that could literally make them keel over and faint. But they have these really strong neck muscles that help control that so it all works out. Giraffes are really smart."

"Theodore..."

"Anyway, giraffes are really kickass. I'm serious! Most of the predators in the region stay away from them because they're just so huge. The hyenas are actually scared of them because even though they don't have sharp teeth they have really strong legs, and lions leave them alone most of the time because they're like, 'Nah, takes too much work to bring down this thing and we can't eat it all anyway.' So giraffes are safe, while the zebras and wildebeests and stuff are getting eaten left and right."

"Theodore!"

"What?"

"Shut up about those damn giraffes!"

"But I like giraffes."

"Well, you're not even paying attention!"

"Why should I? I was already there. I saw it too, remember?"

"But the point of me retelling the story is so I can emphasize to everyone how pathetic those stupid girls are," Blaise complained.

"Really? I thought it was pretty funny," Theodore said.

"Yeah, well, it gets annoying after the first time around."

"It's not as if it's ever going to be true, anyway…"

"Maybe I will switch over to Ancient Runes," Blaise mused. "Divination's just as fraudulent and worthless like Lockhart's class last year."

"Told you so," Draco crowed.

"Oh, shut up," Blaise retorted.

"Your eloquence exceeds me," the other responded sarcastically. Artemis rolled his eyes. Here we go AGAIN.

Before the bickering could progress, though, (Professor, now) Hagrid stepped out and led them into the Forbidden Forest. Artemis stared at his growling textbook, still tightly bound, with trepidation. He hadn't even bothered touching it, let alone trying to figure out how to calm it down.

As they passed Potter, Draco made a mock swoon, much to the other boy's chagrin. Artemis cocked an eyebrow at Draco's immaturity, but said nothing. If his friend was going to make a fool out of himself that way, then he probably wasn't going to listen to any good advice until he found out just how ridiculously he was acting the hard way.

Potter turned red and scowled, while his friends patted his shoulder and turned him away, telling him that it wasn't worth it.

Evidently, Artemis had sorely overestimated the maturity level and intelligence capabilities of his fellow year-mates, if something clearly that puerile was enough to get worked up about. He wouldn't be surprised if some sort of physical confrontation or duel broke out

"Now, open yer books –"

They stared at him blankly. "Um, excuse me? How are we supposed to do that?" Blaise snapped.

Hagrid stared at them, crestfallen. "Wha'? Hasn' – Hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?"

Artemis looked around him. Everyone else had their books bound with ropes and belts, crammed into tight bags, or clamped shut with large binder clips, too, so he didn't feel very bad about not bothering to figure his out. Satisfied, Artemis looked back down at his own book. He hadn't touched it since he had bought it at Flourish and Blotts' during the summer. There were more important things he had been focusing on. Also, because he didn't like Care of Magical Creatures, and while he liked books, he certainly did not like monsters or books that acted like one.

"Yeh stroke the spine, o' course," Hagrid said.

The students all did so, and the book let out a contented purr and relaxed. "Oh, so you stroke the spine," Draco muttered sarcastically. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"I thought they were pretty funny," Hagrid mumbled. Granger shrugged apologetically at him.

Finally, everyone managed to open their textbooks without trouble. "Righ', now follow me." He led them into a clearing where a number of large animals – crosses between a horse and an eagle – were tethered. "Hippogriffs!" Hagrid said proudly. "Aren' they beautiful?"

Sure, they were beautiful, but their claws also looked unusually sharp. Once again, Artemis had never been fond of Care of Magical Creatures even before this, and the reason why was quite obvious. "Come a bi' closer," he urged, but only three Gryffindors did so. Of course – Potter, Weasley, and Granger. Or rather, everyone else stepped backwards (Neville Longbottom actually ducked underneath a rock), while they were the only ones left standing in the front.

"Now, firs' things firs' – Hippogriffs are extremely proud creatures – don' ever insul' one because it may very well be the las' thing yeh do."

Artemis regarded the sharp beak and talons warily. What Hagrid had just said was definitely not out of the question.

"Yeh have ta' wait for the Hippogriff to make the firs' move," Hagrid continued. "Walk up, bow, and wai'. If he bows back, then tha' means he likes you enough and you can go up an' touch 'im. If not, then get outta there quick because those talons hurt. Righ', who wants a go? Harry, how about you?"

"Of course he'd pick Potter," Draco hissed.

Once again, Artemis raised an eyebrow at his friend, who had been acting unusually distant and spiteful since the train ride. Why would Draco seem so angry? Artemis, for one, wasn't at all jealous of Harry Potter. He had no intention of going near any of the Hippogriffs or their obviously extremely dangerous talons, and certainly had even less reason for being at the center of attention.

Even Potter himself did not look very happy to be up there. Despite the reputation of the boy's House, he did not look very confident; in fact, he seemed like he was about to be ill. But he went up anyway, so Artemis supposed that it was the conquering of the fear that counted.

Artemis was sure that Draco, being an intelligent individual, thought the same way. Being spiteful for something as little as that - it didn't seem like his style. That would be completely illogical and a waste of time and energy, neither of which suited the ambitious yet efficient mindset of the Slytherins well.

Maybe Draco was simply in a bad mood (for a few days now) and was taking out his stress in easily ignorable ways. That had to be it. School couldn't be a problem because the mood had begun before they even got off the train, and besides, third year had barely started. Draco wasn't so stupid that he could already be struggling with homework. Artemis supposed that spending an entire summer back at home with a borderline-reactionary conservative extremist father like Lucius Malfoy and an overprotective mother like Narcissa Malfoy would put anyone in a bad mood. Artemis decided to let it go for now, and wait for his friend to simmer down and figure things out for himself. Intervening right now would only be considered an intrusion of privacy and make things worse. Artemis estimated that his friend would be back to normal in a few weeks or so.

"Righ', now bow to 'im. Go on, 'arry, don' be afraid."

Potter did as he was told.

"Try not to blink – they don' 'preciate tha' much; it looks suspicious if yeh blink too much."

Finally, the Hippogriff bowed in response. Most of the crowd let out a relieved sigh, though some of the Slytherins looked rather disappointed, having expected a more exciting spectacle.

"Well done, Harry, well done! Go on – pet his beak now." Harry cautiously extended a hand and patted the Hippogriff's beak. Some of the Gryffindors were cheering.

"Yeh know, I think he might let you ride 'im now!" Hagrid exclaimed happily.

Potter froze. "Wait, what? I don't – nonononono - !"

But Hagrid did not hear his protests, and the massive man had already picked him up as easily as if he was a carrying a sack of potatoes. He deposited Harry on the Hippogriff's back, just behind the wing joint, and slapped the creature's rump. It took off as gracefully as a real eagle, and soared around the paddock, before landing back at the clearing.

"Righ', who else wants a go?"

Many of the Gryffindors, as well as Theodore, hurried up and divided into lines around the other Hippogriffs that had been tethered to the trees. Artemis, on the other hand, kept his feet planted firmly on the ground.

The fun ended, though, when the perpetually nervous Neville Longbottom had been pushed forward by his friends to try. He was shaking too much, and obviously, the Hippogriff he had approached did not appreciate it. The clumsy boy had failed to get out of the way quickly enough when it had lashed out in annoyance, and fell back, his arm bleeding. He was desperately trying to hold in tears, and failing, as some obvious glittering trails ran down his cheek.

"Righ' now, up you get –" Hagrid said, quite flustered.

They watched as Neville was ushed up to the hospital wing. "Reminds you of our first flying lesson, doesn't it?"

"It's always him getting hurt," Granger said. "I feel so bad for him. He's always trying so hard to please his grandma, but keeps messing up because of his bad case of nerves."

"Maybe if he actually mans up for once," Draco said, "he could be an actual Gryffindork."

"Neville's twice the person you are, Malfoy," Weasley retorted.

"Yeah, whatever. Honestly, I don't know what that oaf was thinking," Draco muttered. "That thing has four X's in the Ministry classification. With Longbottom, you have to multiply that by five – he can't even handle flobberworms in Potions correctly."

On the bright side, Potions, as usual, was quite amusing, with Professor Snape intimidating Neville Longbottom and taking points off the Gryffindors, much to their chagrin and the Slytherin's poorly masked glee. This time, it had been from Granger for trying to help Longbottom with his Shrinking Potion.

"Orange," Snape sneered at him. "Didn't I tell you it was supposed to turn green? Does anything penetrate that thick skull of yours?" Longbottom cowered, clutching his bandaged hand.

Draco sniggered cruelly. Artemis shot him a cold look. What was up with him? Immature behavior Artemis could handle, but Draco was gradually pushing the limit.

Hermione raised her hand. "Please, sir, I can help –"

"I didn't remember asking you to show off, Ms. Granger," Snape interrupted. "Longbottom, at the end of class we will feed your potion to that toad that you can never seem to keep track of. Perhaps that will encourage you to do it properly." The poor boy looked like he was about to burst into tears.

For the rst of class, Hermione kept whispering instructions to him out of the corner of her mouth.

As promised, at the end of class, Professor Snape had everyone gather around and watch as he fed the potion to the toad. To general disappointment of the Slytherins, the Shrinking Potion worked as it was supposed to. Professor Snape seemed rather angry that the toad had not been poisoned.

"Five points from Gryffindor, Ms. Granger. I told you not to help him."

Artemis couldn't help but feel bad for Neville. Despite the respect he had for Professor Snape, the man still had a nasty habit of bullying students that did not live up to his standards. With more bullying, came poorer self-esteem, which led to worse performance, the source of more bullying. It was a vicious cycle that didn't seem as if it would be broken anytime soon.

As they walked away from the dungeons, Draco overexaggeratedly pretended to faint in front of Potter. Potter and Weasley glared at him again, and Artemis was certain this time that a fight would have broken out had Hermione not stepped in front of the two boys and pushed them away. Artemis waited until they had gone.

"Can you be any more childish?" A bit of humor was fine, but in all seriousness, it was getting old.

"Hey – I don't particularly like Potter, even if we've had a bunch of lovely adventures together," Draco snarked. "Deal with it."

"Now that we've figured out our schedules, when do you think we can start up our club?" Theodore asked, trying to change the subject.

"It depends on how much homework we get on average," Blaise said. "We've already got five worksheets from Arithmancy and it's barely been the first day!" Artemis decided not to mention that he had already finished them in class. They had been quite exhausted at the end of the day, heaped with homework (except for Artemis, of course).

To make matters worse, they also had Astronomy that night. Most of them would be napping.

Lunch that day was quite eventful – it was full of talk and gossip.

"I could totally get Hagrid dismissed for that last stunt. Bringing Hippogriffs into the class – injuring a student –" Draco said maliciously.

Artemis raised an eyebrow. All right, so Draco had not been the most sociable person lately. He was willing to operate on fair grounds and give Draco the benefit of the doubt - that family problems and such were giving him a hard time. A standoffish attitude was acceptable, given that it only took place temporarily and the time period was short enough so that it didn't get annoying. Even immaturity, Artemis could deal with by ignoring. But this? This was a completely different subject altogether. Rudeness was one thing (Artemis could understand that, as he, too, had been prone to rudeness to those around him when something didn't work out as it should have), but deliberately causing problems for other people out of prejudice and spite? It wasn't as if doing that would help them at all. Well, maybe a little - they wouldn't have to deal with whatever Hagrid was going to come up with next - but that wasn't the point. "Why do you hate him so much?"

"I can hate whoever I want, Fowl, so back off!"

Artemis felt his temper growing thin. Maybe waiting had not been the best idea, if Draco was just going to turn on him next. It seemed a direct confrontation was necessary. "What is wrong with you? Did your father pass on his bad mood to you over the summer or what?" he snapped, offended.

All right, so maybe that had not been the best way to go about it. Judging from Draco's expression, it seemed the other wasn't too happy - in fact, he seemed even less happy than before. However, Artemis felt it was justified, because Draco's bad attitude was contagious - already, he could see that it was rubbing off on Blaise and Theodore, too (though the latter was too polite to make a big fuss about it despite his hurt feelings). He readied himself for a nasty response.

Before Draco could reply, however, another exciting piece of gossip was thrown out.

"Black's been sighted!"

"What? How?"

One of the older girls tossed a copy of the Daily Prophet at them. "Some Muggle saw him and phoned the telephone hot-line. They've posted notices on him out in the Muggle world too because he murdered twelve of them. By the time the Ministry got there, though, he was gone."

"How far is 'not far from here'?" Artemis asked, peering at the paper over Draco's shoulder.

"It doesn't say. Just outside of Hogsmeade, really, but that could be anywhere," Theodore said, skimming the article. "Still, that's pretty scary – he's practically in our backyard!"

"There's Dementors all around the walls, though. He can't get in, can he?" Blaise asked.

"That is why I am worried," Artemis said. "Dementors are staged around the school, but what about under it? Hogwarts is a medieval castle, built during the times of feudal warfare. Witches and wizards would have probably made secret passages in and out in case the main entrance was blocked under siege. Black went to school here – he probably would have found out about at least one during his stay. It's probably why he's in Hogsmeade – I assume most of the secret passages lead there."

"How is he going to get in without being noticed, though? Even if he sneaks in at night when everyone's asleep, there would be a few paintings still awake and a bunch of ghosts wandering around," Blaise pointed out.

"He escaped from Azkaban, past all of those Dementor guards, didn't he? Black's probably used to crawling about unnoticed," Theodore mused.

Blaise gave Theodore a look. "Dementors are blind, though. As we've said before."

Theodore shrugged. "They probably sensed him, and mistook him for someone else."

Artemis tapped his chin. "Now how would that be possible?"

"He...disguised himself?" Theodore said. "I don't mean like Polyjuice potion or whatever; I know that won't fool a blind Dementor. But maybe he learned to mask his presence and snuck past the Dementors around here the same way he snuck past them when he escaped from Azkaban. And besides, since he's already been in prison for so long, the Dementors' effects won't be as strong against him because he's already used to it. In fact, he's probably figured a way around it. Which was how he managed to escape in the first place."

Artemis pondered Theodore's theory. When one thought about it, it made sense. It could very well be that Black managed to discover a new way to avoid and trick Dementors, one that no one had thought of yet. They had to keep an open mind - after all, nothing was impossible, not even escape from Azkaban, as Black had proven. New things were coming into being every day.

Theodore was an extremely intelligent and thoughtful strategist despite his airheaded nature. That would have answered everyone's question since first year - how did a kid like him get into the dark and gloomy Slytherin House, of all places.

"If that's the case..." Artemis said, "then we have to make sure to be on our guards. Even more so this year. If Black has avoided the Dementors using the unknown method proposed by Theodore twice already, then there's nothing stopping him from doing it again and again. And as he has gone to Hogwarts, he probably already has ideas of how to sneak in, from memories of his school days."

There was an uncomfortable silence.

Lunch ended on a gloomy note.

...As predicted, the Astronomy Tower was littered with dozing students and incorrectly calibrated telescopes.

"Look, Draco, it's you," Theodore said.

"Wha'?" the other murmured sleepily.

"See – Draco," Theodore said, pointing to the constellation map, giggling madly.

"Shut it," Draco said, rolling over and closing his eyes.

Their argument from lunch had not been forgotten, but Artemis decided to let it go for now. Draco was probably too exhausted by now to argue, anyway. In fact, he seemed more like his normal self right now, which only confused Artemis further. It was as if he was expending energy and effort to acting like a spoiled, childish brat on purpose.

The night was cold – but not because of the season. In the distance, they could see the shadows of the Dementors floating around the castle. They left a foggy frost in their tracks.

"Gee, they're pretty serious about the entire Black issue, huh?" Blaise murmured.

"Well, it would makes sense. A crazy lunatic on the run from the government, trying to kill Potter – of course they'd be worried."

"Even worse, though, is the fact that Potter doesn't know the full story yet," Artemis responded.

"Should we tell him?"

"No, he'd probably get mad and run after him trying to get revenge or something."

"Sounds like something he'd do."

"He's bound to find out eventually," Theodore pointed out. "With everyone talking and gossiping, anyway."

"But when it happens, what will be our involvement in the matter?"

No one answered him.

A/N: The timeline is slightly different from the one in the actual book because it's easier for me to write the Defense class in its own chapter since it's actually quite significant. Don't worry – the boys will have fun with Lupin tomorrow. (Well, next time I update, but tomorrow in the story.)