Chaos666: Thanks for the review. I appreciate it very much. I'm hoping to get to the good part soon. I had a lot of great ideas for the beginning and end, but not on how I got the characters there. This is going to be the longest Friday in print. I think that this is more filler, but I'm really trying to get to the good stuff. Sorry it's taking so long.
Tiyuri: Okay, I understand about the chapter now. Thanks for clearing it up. Yes there are a lot of mistakes, and I'm in a hurry. I'm running out of time, and I have to write a lot of filler for a back story. I had a beta reader for chapter one through seven, a really good one, but she had to bail out. Those chapters are really good. I've requested a new one, but it takes time for some one to accept, and I have to keep posting even before I get one. But when I finally do it will look better.
Okay… well… uh, I have this thing that Hermione is going to get very jealous of Luna, and she blurts out stuff she doesn't mean. I guess that sometimes people say that when they are mad. Cho is feeling nervous about what she feels obliged to do for Luna, and the divide between Ron and Hermione continues to grow. But really this is just all filler. So… not a great chapter. Sorry! I'm going to really start crunching down after this one, I promise.
One last thing. There seems to be a fewmuslim groups in the UK these days saying that the English Flag should not be flown because it carries the cross of st. George on it, that was used in the crusades. Whatever the flag ment in the far distant past, it means something totally diffrent today, and has had a long and honorable history. It was one of the flags that was with Nelson at his victory at Trafalger, and Wellington at Waterloo, and it has represented the spirit of the English while fighting aginst tyrants around the world and throughout history. For battiling aginst Hitler in the 1930's to fighting the war on terriorism today. As an Athiest I could care less about the origional meaning of the flag many thousands of years ago. As an American it represents to me and many others in this nation the courage of a great and diverse people. A people not devided by ethinicity, or religion, or color, but drawn togather by nationhood. To me the English flag represents everyone in the comonwealth. I put the importants ofpatriotism in Dumbledors speach, because I believe that nationhood unites people. And I believe that the United Kingdom shines as a nation of great freedom in modern history, rich in diversity, and yet strong in unity. Well... I just wanted to say that, and explaine why I put national pride in Dumbledors speach. I probably wont post socialcommentaries like this again, and I'm sorry if it seems a bit cheeze. Oh! Also I know that most Muslims don't have a problem with it, and the vast majority of Muslims in the UK are loyal citizens. Err... enjoy the chapter...
Chapter 22: Care of Magical Creatures.
"Your attention please!" said Dumbledore. The great hall grew quite, and every head turned to the Head Master of Hogwarts. Dumbledore looked over all the students for a moment, and then spoke.
"Thank you. Today I would like to talk about pride. Now it has come to my attention that some hateful literature has been passed out in the great hall yester day in the form of pamphlets that promoted the idea, of pureblood superiority, and promoting discrimination of non pureblood students. Now as we have not had any written material like this passed out any time since I have been head Master at this school, we really didn't have any rule against it as of yesterday. Therefore, no student that was passing out such written material will face disciplinary action. However last night the rest of the masters, and I drafted a new official rule that states that any material handed out from now on must be approved by the staff before hand. Now I know that many students were raised to be proud of their magical heritage, and there is nothing wrong with that. Students should be proud of that, just as students that are half-blood and muggle-borne should be proud of their heritage. The reason for this is because were we come from is a part of who we are. We are proud to be citizens of the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, proud to be from our respective commonwealths on this great island, and proud of our family history. We are also very fortunate nations to have such a diverse group of people, whose heritage comes from all over the globe. That is reflected in the students of this school. Where we come from is some thing that we should all be proud of.
But there is something else that we should all be proud of as well. No matter were our ancestors come from, and no mater what our magical heritage is, we must remember two things. The first thing is that we are all magic users, and because of this everyone of you here in both this school, and in the wizarding world in general have a right to be here. It doesn't matter weather if your parents were magic users or if only one of your parents were magic users, or none of them are magic users. By your very ability to use magic, you have every right to be here, and no one should tell you any different.
Now there is another thing that we should be proud of. The Muggle world, and the Wizarding world are two very different places… culturally speaking. And culture is another thing that people can be proud of. We purebloods, and muggle-borne's come from two different worlds, but at the end of the day we must remember that we are citizens of the greatest nation in the world, the United Kingdom. Our citizenry of this isle is what unites us all together in a common cause, of being freedom loving people. Look around you to your fellow students right now. Everyone here is a national of these islands. Maybe we were not all born here, but every one of us shares the brotherhood of being a citizen of the British Isles. That is something to be proud of." Dumbledore grew quite for a minute, and when he next spoke his voice seemed sterner.
"But there are some beliefs that we should not hold." He said, and held up one of the pink flyers that Marietta and her friends had passed out the day before. "And one of these beliefs is the belief that we, any of us are better than anyone else for our magical lineage. No one here is better than anyone else because their parents were both from a magical family that could be traced back for a long way. Being from such a family doesn't make any student better than a half-borne student, or a muggle-bone student. In fact no student's heritage makes them better than anyone else. For although wear we come from, and were we are, are important factors to who we are, the most important thing is what we do with ourselves. By that I mean what our intentions are. We all need to seek to make this world, a better place, and prejudice is not a way to make the world better, only worse. Hate is a hurtful thing and I do not tolerate my students being hurt, so I have one important thing to tell all of you. Racist material will not be allowed to be distributed at Hogwarts. The grace period of the handing out of such filthy literature is over as of now, and any student caught handing it out from now on will be suspended for two weeks. Any further attempts to hand out such hate filled material upon the students return will be cause for expulsion. I hope that that is clear. I will not tolerate such filth at my school.
Now there is one more issue for the day. It has come to my attention that a seminar is to take place at Hogsmead during the first weekend trip. This seminar is based on the belief that Purebloods are better than Muggle borne, and half bloods. It is by a group that I have had unfriendly dealings with in the past. Now I cannot tell any of you where you can go, and what you can do once you get into Hogsmead, but I urge all of you not to attend this seminar. These people are nothing but trouble, and you don't need to be associating with them. I know you will all do the right thing and stay away from this abomination." Dumbledore's voice now grew kinder.
"Well, I'm sorry to sound so grim, but I just had to get this out. I hope all of you will reflect on it today. I want all of you to know that I'm proud of all of you equally for the hard work that you do, and so are the other teachers in this school." Dumbledore looked at his pocket watch.
"I guess I had better let you go to class now. I didn't mean to be so long winded. Have a truly great day." He finished to a thunderous applause that had students like Harry and Cho clapping, and students like Marietta, and Oliver Skint scowling.
Back at the Ravenclaw table Luna and Cho were getting up to go to care of Magical Creatures class, when Beverly and Nancy asked to speak to Cho in private. Cho told Luna that she would catch up with her at the front door. She looked at Beverly and Nancy as Luna headed off ahead of her.
"What's up guys?" Cho asked. Beverly and Nancy gave each other worried looks.
"Well Cho… You have Care of Magical Creatures Class next right?" Beverly asked nervously. Cho nodded her head.
"Err… well your not really going through with this are you?" Nancy asked equally worried. Cho gave a determined look and spoke in her heavy Scottish accent.
"Look guys, how do ya know that there isn't a Crumple Horned Snorack? I mean just because no one has ever seen one before doesn't mean that they don't exist. I mean look at the Muggle world. They don't believe in dragons or wizards, or magic, and it's real. Beverly slapped her forehead in capitulation, and Nancy put her head down and shook it.
"Cho, we told you that we cannot back you up on this one. If you tell everyone you see the Snorack you'll be the only one saying it besides Luna. People will think that you've gone mental like her. Don't you care about what people will think about you?" Beverly asked. Cho gave Beverly an angry look.
"Beverly, since when has that ever been important to me? I've never tried to be popular, I…" Cho was interrupted.
"But you are popular Cho! You are. And you're not going to continue to be if you keep supporting people when they are unpopular. I mean why you don't just tell Luna the truth. She comes up with some more weird stuff every year. You should try and distance yourself from her for a while, until she gives up on this." Nancy intoned. Cho looked at Beverly.
"And tell me Beverly, is that what I should have done when you came to me with your concern? Distance myself from you because what you are isn't that popular? Because some people were teasing you about it. Because people looked at you different? If I had not stood up for you, maybe you wouldn't have had any friends today." Cho said a little upset. Beverly lowered her head.
"I… I'm very grateful that you stood up for me and even got into trouble for me, and I owe you a lot…" Beverly said shakily. Cho put a hand on Beverly's shoulder.
"No Beverly, ya don't owe me. That's not how I want my friendships to be, I'm not keeping score. I just want you two to understand that I need to support Luna, and I want you to respect that. Look I… I guess it's wrong of me to expect you two to go along with Luna on this, but… just don't make fun of her, and maybe stick up for her if other people do when I'm not around, okay?" Cho pleaded. Nancy and Beverly reluctantly nodded their heads.
"You know that were not going to make fun of her Cho. Look I, we, hope it goes well for you two today. Really." Beverly said. Cho nodded her head again. Thanks you two, I hoe so too. Well goodbye." Cho finished, as she walked out of the great hall to meet Luna.
Cho took slow steps toward the hut that the half-giant of Hogwarts, Professor Hagrid had his class in front of. When Luna and her were with in a few meters Cho noticed that the ground was frozen, and patches, of Ice, were in several places. Normally this would not be odd, but the weather was unusually warm for this time of year, and there was no frozen ground anywhere else. Cho and Luna were the first students there despite Cho's keeping a slow pace. The massive Professor Hagrid was, standing in front of the fence where the extra large pumpkins used for the Halloween feast were grown. His hands were bandaged. Cho had always felt a little bit afraid of the oversized professor, but she never really knew why. Hagrid smiled at the two of them with a big toothy grin.
"Good evening you two. First one's here. Real eager to learn about giants I hope. Very friendly creatures with the right training. Real misunderstood creatures." Hagrid said. Cho and Luna were soon joined by the rest of the class, and Ron Weasley came over and sat by Cho and Luna. Predominantly the class was made up of people in Luna's year, but as so few people in the six and seventh years had decided to take Care of Magical Creatures as an elective, Cho and Ron were scheduled to attend with the fifth years. Ron smiled at Luna.
"Hello Luna, um how have you been?" He asked trying to sound casual. Luna gave him a big hug, and kissed him on the cheek.
"Ron! I missed you. I'm so glad that you decided to come see the Snorack with me. Ron smiled. No problem. My Harry and Hermi… er…Harry will be coming as well. We're both friends of Hagrid, since our first year." He said. Cho's head shot up, and she turned to Ron.
"You mean…Harry Potter is taking this class… this period?" Cho asked excitedly. Ron gave a nod.
"Yea, well it wasn't on our schedule, but we couldn't miss a class by Hagrid, so we took it as an elective. He finished.
"Oh Ron, this is my good friend Cho Chang. Cho this is Ron Weasley, he's a friend of Harry's." Luna said in a cheery voice. The two smiled and shook hands.
"Yea I know Cho, you lost the Quidditch game to us last year, and your friend betrayed the DA, and almost got everyone suspended." Ron said with not a hint of resentment. Cho's insides churned, and she was deeply hurt. How mean that he should bring up such bad memories. Cho didn't even do anything to him. She was being nice. Cho fought hard to fight back tears. She bit her lip, and remained clear eyed, but unable to speak. Why did he have to hurt her without provocation? Luna's mouth dropped open.
"Uh! Ron. That was rude! Why did you have to say that to her. Apologize now!" Luna demanded. Ron had a confused look on his face.
"What? What did I say? I was just making conversation. I wasn't trying to say anything rude." He said genuinely confused. Luna gave him an angry look.
"Well you did say something rude. Do you think that that's anyway to greet anyone, reminding them of a lost game, and accusing them of being responsible for the DA getting busted up." She finished. Ron looked shocked.
"No Luna… I didn't mean that. I don't blame her, I blame Marietta Edgencombe. She was the one who went to Umbridge, not Cho. That's why it was Marietta who had the jinx on her face, and not Cho. I guess I just wasn't thinking about what I was saying. Sorry Cho, I didn't mean anything by it." he finished sincerely. Cho nodded her acceptance of the apology, but was still hurt. She remained quite, and sat down on the cold ground with the rest of the students. Some were still arriving, and Cho looked back towards the castle, and saw Harry and his girlfriend, Hermione Granger heading toward the class. Cho quickly turned away, and focused her attention on Professor Hagrid, as she opened her book to the first chapter. She was really hurt, and wondered if Harry and his girlfriend had gotten back together, or even if they had separated in the first place. She yawned and rubbed her bloodshot eyes.
"Harry saw Ron sitting next to Luna Lovegood, and Cho Chang. And headed toward them, but Hermione pulled on his arm.
"Where are you going Harry?" Hermione asked. Harry pointed to Ron.
"Well Ron, Luna, and Cho Chang are sitting over there, let's sit next to them." Harry said. Hermione gave him an angry look.
"Harry! You know I don't want to sit next to them. Look you sat next to Ron at Breakfast. Why don't you sat next to me for this class." She said.
"But I needed to talk to Luna today about Sirius, and I wanted to talk to Cho Chang about something as well." Harry Protested. Hermione pulled him further to the opposite end of assembled students.
"You can talk to them later; it's my turn for you to sit with me. You can't be with Ron and I at the same time. You'll have to make time for both of us." Hermione said. Harry saw Ron and Luna motioning him to sit next to them. Cho also glanced at him, and had a hurt look on her face. Harry gave an apologetic shrug to Ron and Luna, as Hermione and himself sat at the other end of the class.
Cho gave a deep sad sigh, and lowered her head. She didn't know what Harry was doing with his girlfriend here. She thought that he still had feelings for her, but clearly he was still with Miss Granger on some level. Cho focused her concentration on Professor Hagrid, as he began to speak about the History of Giants, and reiterating his earlier point of how they were misunderstood creatures. The lecture was informative, and Cho remembered that last year the paper had said that Professor Hagrid was a half giant, which would explain his massive size. The paper had also said that he was a danger to his students, as well, but Cho didn't like to believe the papers, although she remembered that the professor had had several dangerous creatures in class before, and she was glad that there were no giants lurking around the school. After the class was almost over, the Professor opened the class to questions. He would explain that with the proper training any giant could become a contributing member of society, and that although "Walking With Giants" was a good reference book, it had a lot of factual errors in it that he would try and clear up. After a few more questions on the subject, one of the Hufflepuff fifth years asked if they would be learning about any other magical creatures in this year. Professor Hagrid gave a bright smile.
"Coarse we will. There will be, Bugbears, Nifflers, Murtlaps, ya know lots of creatures. Luna raised her hand, but asked her question before Professor Hagrid called on her.
"Oh! Professor, what about Crumple Horned Snoracks?" Luna asked. Cho lowered her head, as some of the students laughed. She couldn't go through with this she thought.
"Ha ha ha, the silly Lunatic girls having hallucinations about her adventures with her father. Thinks she's going to see it presented here according to that stupid article in the Quibbler. Looks like she needs to go to Saint Mungoes for a brain transplant!" Oliver laughed. Cho was furious, and through her anger she was able to come up with new courage to stand up for her friend. She walked quickly over to where Oliver was sitting, and pointed an accusing finger at him.
"Shut up Skint! How so you know that there is no Snorack? Have you ever seen one? Muggles don't see a lot of things in the magic world, like dragons, and Magic Schools, but we all know that their real. And the Crumple Horned Snorack could be real too." Cho shouted. Oliver was aghast, as he was caught off guard, by Cho's attack.
"Look Chang, you can't tell me that you really believe that stupid girls story do you? I mean you would have to be off your chum to think that there's a Crumple Horned Snorack here. Why haven't any of us seen it then?" Skint shot back recovering himself. Cho gave him a menacing look.
"If you had read the article a little closer you would have realized that it's invisible. So you can't see it. But the paper said that Luna and her father caught one, and that's what they did. And Luna's not stupid. And if you say that about her again I'm going to kick your arse Skint." Cho said in a hostile tone. A fifth year Hufflepuff girl started giggling.
"The paper? The paper? Oh come on Miss Chang… the Daily Prophet is the paper! It's something that everyone counts on to give accurate facts.The Quibbler is just a bit of sensational journalism. Anyone who takes it seriously is a loony." The fifth year said. Cho turned to her now.
"The Daily Profit is hardly ever right about anything. I have never trusted that waste of timber, and I would put the Quibbler's repetition against it any day of the week." Cho lied, realizing that she was going over the top with this. Ron stood up and joined in.
"Uh… I for one read the Quibbler, and I think that the Snorack is… err… I think…" Ron was having trouble finishing up. He looked at Luna. Ron didn't believe in the Snorack anymore than Cho did, but he wanted to impress Luna, and decided to cast his lot with her. He pushed himself to finish. "I think it's real…" He said rather unsure of himself.
"Don't be silly Ron! You know full well that that the Snorack is a lie." Hermione said in a very jealous and uncharacteristic tone. She pointed to Luna with an accusing tone in her voice. "That stupid girl is just trying to get attention." Hermione finished. A hurt look came over Luna's face. She thought that Hermione was her friend. Why was she acting like this? Luna really liked Hermione, and she had never known her to behave this way. Cho walked up to Hermione and got in her face, with a look of sever anger.
"Don't… ever call my friend a liar Granger… try that one more time and…" Cho said through gritted teeth. Hermione gulped, but stood her ground.
"Look I was only pointing out that, well there is no Snorack weather she believes in it or not. It's just a mythological creature. I was just trying to point out that she sees things that aren't there." Hermione said.
"Well you called her a liar, and she's not. Now apologize to her now." Cho said ready for a fight. This was ridicules Hermione thought to herself. She just wanted to make Luna look bad so that Ron wouldn't like her. She didn't mean to call her a liar, or to have Cho get in her face. She didn't even know that Cho and Luna were friends. She didn't know that Luna had any friends besides her and the other Gryffindors. Hermione hesitated as Cho stared her down with fist clenched. She realized that her own hands were also in fist. She opened them.
"Okay. I'll apologize. I didn't mean to say that to her." Hermione said, and she carefully moved past Cho, to apologize to Luna.
"You're too late. She's run off back to the castle in tears, said Harry. Hermione… I, I'm ashamed of you for the first time in my life. You hurt me. How could you do that to someone? Harry said, shaking his head in disbelief. Hermione instantly was hit by a wave of sincere guilt. She hadn't meant to hurt Luna, she just lost it when she saw Ron being her champion. She had been overcome with a sense of jealousy since she found out that Luna had been writing Ron over the summer. This isn't what she wanted to be like. As Hermione looked around she saw that Ron was missing too. Hermione glanced back at Harry.
"Harry, where is Ron?" she asked. Harry crossed his arms and gave her a disappointed look.
"He left right behind Luna, to go and console her." Harry said. Hermione's legs became jello, and she had to sit down. Cho, who was about to head off to comfort Luna, turned to Hermione.
"Look Miss Granger, when I get her calmed down I expect a full…"
"Alright shut up the lot of you! Pay attention!" came the loud voice of Hagrid. He looked very hot at the class, and everyone's heads snapped towards him. Hagrid calmed down and lowered his voice, when he saw that he had everyone's attention. "Now look… in this class were going to deal with a variety of magical creatures. Now well get to as many as we can, but each year I like to have one main one that we focus on. This year it's giants. But we will get to others as well. Crumple Horned Snoracks will be among the ones that we study." Hagrid said in an even gentler tone. Oliver Skint raised his hand high, and shook it. "Err… yes Mr. Skint?"
"Professor Hagrid… you mean that well study the Snorack as it relates to mythology, right?" Skint asked, as the warning bell was heard emanating from the castle. The students started to pack up there stuff and leave, Cho was at the head, of them and moving the fastest.
"Miss Chang, Mr. Skint, Hermione, and Harry please stick around." Hagrid called out to the respective students. They stopped and walked back to where Hagrid stood. He gave a happy smile. "I want the four of you to stay around for a while longer. I have something to show you." Hagrid said. Harry looked at his watch.
"But Hagrid, I'll be late for Transfiguration." Harry said.
"And I'll be late for Defense Against Dark Arts." Skint protested.
"We'll all be late for our classes." Hermione put in.
"I… have to go find Luna, and make sure she's okay." Cho said worried. Hagrid put up his bandaged hands to calm everyone's concerns.
"Now relax everyone. I'll write each of you a note to your respective classes. I have something I want you all to see, and I think that it's going to be worth the wait. And Miss Chang, I think that Ron will be able to help Miss Lovegood on his own. Hagrid finishes, as Hermione gave a hurt look. Now If you will all follow me around to the other side of me house please…"