Chapter 10
"Bloody hell." Abraxes gasped out loud. "Where the hell, and what he hell was that? And what just happened to McGonagall and Granger?"
Obviously, Abraxes and the others couldn't see the Thestral, judging by the way they were looking and going round in circles.
Tom, however, was just standing there. He wasn't one to be confused easily, he normally caught on to things fairly easily. Hermione Granger, was an enigma. One that was currently confusing him thoroughly. Adding to all the other mysteries surrounding her, now the girl could see Thestrals!
Well, when you think about it all; she showed up as a six year old kid at his orphanage, proved to be a sneaky, wee smart ass, and apparently, quite a good actress. Then, when he finally corners her, she turns out to be a witch, petrifies him, takes his book and when he goes to catch her again, she turns out to really be a sixteen year old witch! And a highly attractive one at that. Never leaving his mind, when he finally gets to the place he has always thought of as 'home', she's there! and sorted into Gryffindor! Then in class, he gets to see her intelligence first hand, then when he's in Care For Magical Creatures, he then realises she can actually see Thestrals!
Yes! Hermione Granger is most certainly an enigma. One he intends to solve one way or another.
"What happened over here!?"
Profesor Timmimgs and the rest of the class came in to the clearing, after obviously hearing the girls' screams. Profesor Timmings walked straight to the spot where McGonagall had been standing and picked up the shoe that must of fallen from her foot when Granger had came and grabbed her.
"W-...Where is Miss McGonagall and Miss Granger?" Timmings finally asked the Slytherins.
"I...I...don't...know...?" Abraxes said, furrowing his brows. The others didn't look any the wiser.
Timmimgs then turned to face Tom. "Tom?"
"I think the answer to that question, Profesor, lies over there." With that, Tom pointed his finger in the direction of the trees where there was a gap that allowed you a view of the lake.
Automatically, the entire class - bar Tom, who was already looking - turned to where he was pointing. The all stared open-mouthed as they saw two figures flying through the air.
Tom figured that they obviously couldn't see the creature they were flying on, unlike him, who was still partly shocked that someone like Hermione Granger could actually see one. He guessed she could see it anyway. No one after all could be that confident flying on it if they could not see it.
Another shout was heard.
"HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER PUT US DOWN THIS INSTANT!"
"Hold on Minnie!" Hermione ordered her friend as she got her settled behind herself on the Thestral.
The Thestral was heading in the direction of the lake. After Minnie had finally opened her eyes - but kept a tight grip on Hermione - and realised where they were heading, she screamed at Hermione to get them down. Hermione just laughed.
"It's alright, Minnie, it wont let us fall! I promise." She tried to reassure her.
Minnie didn't look convinced, but she was willing to put her trust in her new friend. Hermione smiled knowingly. "Well, for starters, you're hardly going to enjoy it if you keep such a bloody grip on me." Hermione stated.
Turning a bit red, Minnie allowed her grip to looses a bit, and sat herself up straighter. "H-Hermione?"
"Yes?"
"C-can we please just go back?" Minnie asked reluctantly. "I'm not afraid of heights or anything, its...it's just that I prefer to be able to actually see what I'm flying on."
Hermione sighed. It definitely was a different experience all together when you could actually see the things. "Okay, Minnie."
Hermione began to steer it back in the direction of the Forbidden Forest, whilst petting it's head.
Maybe flying isn't too bad after all. She concluded to herself.
The Thestral, suddenly, jerked it's head, its legs came in even closer to it's body, then it brought it's wings in. Worry must of shown on Hermione's face as Minnie gave her a slight shake and asked her what was wrong.
Her eyes widened as she noticed the direction the Thestral was now heading in. "Eh, Minnie? Er... I think now would be a good time to really hold on."
With that, Hermione wrapped her arms around the creature's neck and bowed her head with Minnie copying her movements.
"But, Hermione! It's gonna t-"
"I KNOW! just hold your breath!"
Tom watched in some amusement as the Thestral dived into the water, taking both Gryffindors with it. He was sure that it was just about to head back over here until it had a change of mind.
"Oh My! Everyone get to the lake!" Timmings ordered.
Everyone, all but ran to the lake.
Everyone stood at the edges of the lake. Timmings cast a quick spell that allowed you to see through the waters. "Start looking."
They didn't much of a chance to start looking however, when said students shot back up through the waters. Everyone was hit by the water that spilled out. Only Tom and Profesor Timmings were fast enough to put up a quick shield and kept themselves dry.
Tom turned and saw them strutting back over to the class. Granger was laughing herself silly, while McGonagall was just sitting there on its back slightly perplexed looking. The Thestral stopped a few yards away from the class, who were all mostly staring at them with confusion. Bending down low, it allowed Granger and McGonagall to climb off its back. Granger gave it a quick pet on the head before it turned around and flew back into the forest. She was still smiling.
"Miss McGonagall! Miss Granger!" Timmings called to them, gesturing with his hand for them to come forwards. He then turned to the class, "Alright, class is finished for today!"
People started heading back up to the castle, all talking about what had just occurred in their class that day.
Tom, Abraxes and Maximus were walking together when Tom decided he would spend his free period going to the library. Telling this to his companions caused them to groan immediately. Tom began to walk away from them, after he got a good few yards away, he turned round and noticed that Granger and McGonagall were walking back up now. What he also noticed was that Abraxes and Maximus had taken up spying on the girls, via a bush.
The fact they were hiding behind a bush made Tom roll eyes. What a typical place to hide. He'd give the girls two minutes to notice, five tops.
"Great!" Hermione shouted, throwing her hands up in the air. "The last thing I need is pitying glances from the professors every time they see me!"
"Calm down, Hermione." Minnie said, backing away from the frustrated teen next to her.
They had explained the whole situation to Timmings and had managed to squeeze their way out of a detention. Except, now the professor felt sorry for Hermione and was looking at her with sad eyes throughout the entire time he knew Hermione could actually see Thestrals, meaning she'd seen death.
"Just breath, Hermione. Okay? besides, it couldn't be all that bad, could it?"
Hermione let out a soft groan. "I guess not, Minnie, but it just really annoy-" Hermione paused for about a fracture of a second when she started to get a tingling feeling on her neck. The sense that someone was following them. "-ing."
She could tell that no one had noticed her slight pause cause the feeling was still there. Consentrating hard, Hermione was able to pick up on the direction of where it was coming from. A little trick Remus had taught her.
Smirking, she continued, "but you know what really annoys me?" She winked at Minnie. "What really annoys me is when I'm trying to have a private conversation, and people take it as an advantage to-"
She quickly turned round and pointed her wand in the general direction of a large berried bush. Rolling her eyes at the more than obvious hiding place. "Follow you." she ended.
With a flick of her wand, two boys came tumbling out from behind the bush.
Hermione and Minnie smiled wickedly at each other before turning back towards the boys.
Tom hadn't even sat down for ten minutes when both Abraxes and Maximus entered the room, red in the face and holding their crotches.
Oh for the love of god, NOT again! this really is getting old. Tom thought annoyed.
Coming over to his part of the library, they sat down opposite him from the table. Tom, knowing what was to come, placed a nice 'silencio' on the general area. As soon as he did, both Abraxes and Maximus let out painful groans, causing Tom to roll his eyes.
"Tom..." Abraxes began to plead.
Tom held up his hand to quickly silence him. "No. I refuse to cast another numbing spell on that dick of yours just because you can't keep your nose out of other girl's faces, especially when they're Gryffindors. If its that bad then go see Madame Lara. I'm sure she'd be delighted to have you with her...again!"
Tom turned to Maximus, apon noticing the smug look he was sending Abraxes, he quickly added, "The same goes for you too, Maximus." Maximus' face dropped instantly.
"Please, Tom!" Abraxes tried again, "Its different this time, and much more painful."
Tom raised his eye brows questioningly.
"My balls hurt this time!"
That's just pathetic. How did I come to have such... such... there's not even a word to describe this pair.
"AND" Abraxes continued. "The didn't even use a stinging hex! Hell! I've never even heard the bloody spell before!"
"That part is actually true." Maximus added.
Okay, the whole 'hexing the crotch area' thing was really beginning to annoy him now. He wasn't even the one being hexed! However, it was turning out to give him one hell of a head ache.
As if on que, the library doors swung open and in walked Minerva McGonagall.
"Stay here." He told the two.
"But, Tom it still hu-"
"I don't care, go see Lara about it." He whispered through gritted teeth.
He removed the silencing charm and began walking over to the table where Minerva now sat at.
R&R