Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. All characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
A/N: Hope you enjoy!
Students were talking amongst themselves as they waited for their Potion's Professor to arrive for class. As usual, the Gryffindors were paired with the Slytherins.
"Your cat hissed at Scabbers in the common room!" Ron told Hermione in a tight voice.
"Oh my, a cat that hisses? I'll have to have Crookshanks checked out." Hermione rolled her eyes and went back to reading her potions textbook.
"Hermione!" Ron glared at her, angry that she wasn't taking the situation seriously. He turned his glare to his other friend when Harry began laughing.
"Sorry mate. Um, maybe you guys could have a schedule of when your familiar is allowed in the common room." Harry suggested as he tried to stop laughing.
Hermione looked thoughtful at that idea but was interrupted before she could say anything.
"Potter, please tell me you didn't actually faint on the train." Theo Nott said, standing next to the trio. He pretended to look concerned. "Did Daddy make sure you were okay?"
"Professor Snape must be so embarrassed that you are his son." Millicent Bludestrode said in disgust. "You are so weak."
"Oh, and tearing someone down makes you strong?" Hermione defended her friend.
"Don't worry about it Hermione. They don't bother me." Harry said dismissively, although he couldn't deny to himself that he did feel weak because of what happened on the train. "Just ignore them."
"Yeah, just ignore us mudblood." Theo smirked and turned to walk to his seat, ignoring Ron as the redhead had started to stand up, when he almost collided with Draco.
"Did you hit your head this morning?" Draco asked politely. Blaise and Pansy were watching with cool amusement in their eyes, standing behind the blond Slytherin.
"Huh?" Theo frowned in confusion.
"Did you somehow lose your memory or are you just simple-minded by nature?" Draco dropped the polite act and narrowed his eyes at his fellow Slytherin.
"What's your problem Malfoy?" Theo sneered.
"You heard Professor Snape's speech last night about how a true Slytherin is to conduct. And then you pick on our Head of House's son? You must have been dropped on your head as a baby." Draco rolled his eyes. "Believe me, I made that mistake last year and it didn't end well."
"Relax Draco, I won't get caught." Theo threw Harry a mean little look.
"We'll see." Draco smirked, his expression clearly showing that he didn't think much of Theo's cunning skills. His expression darkened. "If we lose points because of your stupidity…" He stared at Theo for a moment.
Theo looked uncertainly at Millicent and then back at Draco. "I won't so back off Malfoy."
Harry watched in shock as the Slytherins took their seats. The other students in the class who had been watching silently all had surprised looks on their faces.
"Did I really just see that or am I hallucinating?" Ron asked his friends seriously. "I mean, it almost appeared that Malfoy stuck up for us or something."
"That was really strange." Hermione said, her eyes wide. "I can't believe he didn't join Nott in his taunting."
"He acted strange in the bookstore this summer too. I mean, he was still rude but not as spiteful as he had been last year." Harry mused aloud. "What do you think he is up to?"
"Nothing good. He's a Slytherin after all." Ron scoffed. "Slytherins are never up to anything good." He added knowingly.
Harry glared at him and Hermione hit his arm with her book.
"Ow!" Ron whined.
"I really hate to interrupt but do you mind if I start class?"
Ron paled and turned around to see Professor Snape standing behind him. "Oh, um yes Professor. I mean, no Professor you can start."
"Thank you ever so much." Severus drawled, stalking up to the front of the classroom. He had heard some of the exchange and would deal with Theo later. He was also as surprised as his son at Draco's behavior. He frowned at his students. "I may have been a bit late but that does not mean you could not have begun reading your texts. Although, perhaps some of you were concerned that I was late because I was… up to something." He stared at Ron who blanched and quickly scrambled to get his books out.
Students immediately began getting their books and quills out as well, ready to take lecture notes. "Before we begin, hand in your summer homework on Shrinking Solutions." Snape ordered.
There was a rustling sound as the students hurried to take out there essays and pass them to the front of class. Severus read through some of the essays with a frown still on his face. "I can see many of you didn't bother to really read about Shrinking Solutions before writing your essays." He said darkly. "And some of you basically just copied directly from the book. And others of you wrote in such bad handwriting I will have to use a spell to decipher it." He looked at Neville with a slight scowl. He noticed Harry giving him a glare at that but ignored it for now. He had heard from Professor Sprout that Neville was gifted in Herbololgy so he knew the boy had potential and he wanted the child to start showing it. "Let's put your knowledge to the test shall we? Pair up and get your ingredients to make a Shrinking Solution."
The students began lighting their cauldrons and cutting up their ingredients and Severus began walking the room. He was relieved to see that Miss. Granger had partnered up with Longbottom as the Shrinking Solution could be poisonous if brewed incorrectly. Despite most of his students thinking otherwise, he did not want anyone to get hurt. "The color when you are done should be a bright green." He continued. "Hmm, perhaps we will test it when you all are finished." He smirked at the panicked looks and returned to his desk to begin marking the essays while still keeping an eye on his students' potions.
Harry had gone to the cupboard to get the leech juice he had forgotten and when walking back to his desk, a leg shot out and Harry stumbled. He only just managed not to drop his ingredient. He glared at Theo. "Think you're clever do you?"
Theo gave him an innocent look. "It was an accident Snape."
"Sure it was." Harry muttered as he returned to his desk.
"Tell your Dad." Ron hissed.
Harry glanced over and saw that his Dad had begun walking around the room to check on the potions. He was on the other side of the room and hadn't seen Theo's little stunt. "No, I don't want to be a tattle tale." Harry told Ron quietly. "I can handle Nott."
Ron sighed as he added the leech juice to their potion. Suddenly something splashed into their cauldron and caused it to start bubbling over.
"Step away!" Severus hurried over and quickly vanished the potion. "Did any of it get on you?" He asked urgently as he looked over both boys.
"No, we're okay." Harry replied with a glance to Ron. He looked around in confusion. "What happened? Something fell in our potion."
"No, it did not fall in." Severus whirled around and stalked towards Theo. "Are you an imbecile Mr. Nott? Do you think I do not have eyes?" His voice was like ice.
"N-No Sir." Theo's eyes grew wide. "I didn't do anything!"
"I saw you!" Severus snapped at him.
"It was an accident!" Theo lied.
Severus narrowed his eyes. "First you say you didn't do anything and now you say it was an accident?" He bent down with a terrible scowl on his face. "They could have been seriously hurt or worse! I expect my Slytherins to not only take this subject seriously but to use their brain!" He straightened back up. "Detention with Mr. Filch for a month and twenty-five points from Slytherin." He turned away from the little brat and looked over to his son. "Mr. Snape and Mr. Weasley, go ahead and start a new potion. You have enough time." He said in a more gentle voice.
Harry and Ron smirked in Theo's direction. The Slytherin looked pale and was receiving dark looks from his fellow housemates. "I guess even his friends aren't too happy with him." Ron said gleefully. "And Professor Snape took points from Slytherin!"
Harry nodded as they set up to make the potion again. He knew his Dad did not like to take points from his own House and not just because it was his own House but because he knew that Slytherin tended to lose points unfairly because of the prejudice against Slytherins. That would probably be why his Dad still looked furious. Well, he was more than likely furious because two of his students could have been hurt over a stupid stunt, never mind one of them being his son. He offered his Dad a small smile and was happy when his Dad's face relaxed a bit.
After class was over Harry waited until the other students had handed in their potions before going up and handing in his and Ron's. "Dad? Are you mad?"
"Yes. Mr. Nott is going to be in for a very unpleasant year if he keeps this attitude up." Severus sighed and looked at Harry. "I'm just happy that none of the Shrinking Solution got on you." He shook his head. Here he had been worrying about Sirius Black being after his son and right in his own class a student could have caused Harry to be severely injured! He not for the first time wished Dumbledore would not pair up Slytherin and Gryffindor together in classes, especially this one.
Harry shrugged. "I'm fine." He assured his Dad with a smile. "I'll see ya later!" He gave a wave and left with Ron and Hermione who were waiting for him at the door.
Severus watched him go and reminded himself to make extra Calming Draught. He was sure he was going to need it to get through the year.
HPHPHPHP
Hagrid led his third year class of Gryffindors and Slytherins towards the Forbidden Forest. "We aren't going in there are we?" Lavender Brown asked nervously.
Hagrid gave a laugh. "Of course not! But I do have something amazing to show all of yer!"
"I can't believe this moron gets to be a Professor." Theo muttered. "Dumbledore must be senile."
"Shut up Nott!" Harry glared at Theo. He was a little wary of Hagrid's class but he didn't want anyone to say anything to hurt Hagrid's feelings.
"What are you going to do about it Snape?" Theo taunted as he took a step towards Harry.
Before Harry could respond, Draco pushed Theo back. "Knock it off Nott! You've already lost us points because of your stupidity!" He hissed.
"Yeah and if you lose us anymore today, Professor Snape will have your head." Blaise stood next to Draco as they stared Theo down.
Harry exchanged a surprised look with Ron and Hermione. "What's he playing at?" Ron whispered to Harry, nodding towards Draco. "This is getting weird."
Harry shrugged. "No clue mate. It's probably a prank or something. You know, make us think he's a good guy now." It was the only thing he could think of.
"Like we would fall for it." Ron grumbled with a suspicious look in Draco's direction.
Hermione suddenly gasped. "Oh, look!"
Emerging from the forest was a creature had the head, front legs, and wings of a giant eagle and its hind legs and tail looked like that of a horse. The creature's bright orange eyes stared at them curiously.
"This is Buckbeak!" Hagrid announced. "Can anyone guess what kind of creature he is?"
"An odd looking one." Theo snickered.
Hagrid frowned a little but brightened back up when Hermione raised her hand. "Care to take a guess Hermione?"
"A Hippogriff?"
Hagrid beamed. "Five point to Gryffindor! All right, firs' thing to know abou' hippogriffs is that they are very proud creatures. They are easily offended so you never want to insult one 'cause it may be the last thing yeh do. Yer gotta show proper respect by bowing and if he bows back then yeh're allowed to touch him. Of course, if he don't bow back, then yeh best get away 'cause those talons are sharp."
"I was hoping we would get to see unicorns." Lavender whispered to Parvati Patil.
Hagrid didn't appear to have heard Lavender. He looked at his students with a bright smile. "So, who would like to approach Buckbeak firs'?" No one responded and several students actually took a few steps back. Hagrid's face fell.
Harry took a deep breath and stepped forward. "I will."
Hagrid grinned. "That a boy 'Arry! Remember, approach slowly and let him make the firs' move."
Harry looked at Buckbeak who was staring at him. Harry took a few steps towards him and then stopped and while still maintaining eye contact, bowed. Buckbeak gazed at him for a moment and then gracefully bowed back.
Harry relaxed and carefully walked closer. He tentatively reached out and pet Buckbeak on the head. Buckbeak flapped his wings and nuzzled his head more into Harry's hand.
"He likes yeh!" Hagrid beamed. "I think he wants yer to ride him!"
Harry looked over his shoulder at Hagrid. "What?" Before he could say anything else Hagrid lifted him up and put him on Buckbeak's back. Before Harry could even process anything, he was soaring into the sky. He quickly grabbed onto Buckbeak's feathers, afraid for a second that he would fall. He relaxed his grip after a minute when he realized that Buckbeak was a graceful flyer. He felt the familiar excitement he got when he flew on his broom. He loved being in the air! Very slowly, he stretched his arms out wide open and laughed out loud at the freedom he felt. He gave a loud whoop as Buckbeak swooped down over the lake. Buckbeak lifted up just as Harry noticed a figure standing near the castle and he only had a second's glance at his Dad's shocked face before Buckbeak soared him away and back to Hagrid.
"That was brilliant!" Harry exclaimed when he slid off of Buckbeak. He hoped his Dad didn't come over and make a big deal about him flying Buckbeak. How embarrassing would that be?
"Good boy Buckbeak! I'm going to go grab him a treat." Hagrid said as he began ruffling through a bag.
"That was nothing." Theo scoffed. "Anyone could fly him like that. He's just some overgrown bird." He began walking up to Buckbeak, whose orange eyes narrowed.
"Nott, you can't just approach him like that." Harry warned but it was too late.
Theo grabbed Buckbeak roughly which caused Buckbeak to rear up on his hind legs and come down hard, a talon slicing Theo's arm.
"Ow!" Theo fell to the ground, clutching his arm. "He's trying to kill me! Help!"
"Buckbeak, get back!" Hagrid quickly calmed the angry hippogriff and threw a dead ferret for him.
"Hagrid, I think he needs to be taken to the infirmary." Hermione said seriously as Theo continued to groan in pain.
"Right. Uh, class is finished for today." Hagrid lifted Theo up and began carrying him down the walkway.
"You stupid oaf! My Dad will hear about this!" Theo could be heard shrieking. "He'll have your job for sure!"
Millicent looked close to tears. "How could Hagrid have that horrible creature here? It's dangerous!"
"Buckbeak isn't dangerous if treated right. We all heard Hagrid's instructions." Hermione defended Hagrid.
Harry glanced to where Buckbeak was happily gnawing on his ferret. It wasn't Buckbeak's fault. He hoped Hagrid and the hippogriff didn't get blamed for Nott's stupidity. After all, there were enough witnesses to attest to Nott being mean to Buckbeak. But still, Harry had a bad feeling.
As Harry turned to follow his friends back to the castle he caught sight of a pair of dark eyes staring at him from the Forbidden Forest. Harry squinted his eyes. Fang? No, it was too small to be Fang. It looked like a regular dog. A stray maybe? Harry wanted to step closer but when he looked again, the dog was gone.
TBC: