Disclaimer: I do not own anything of this story. Harry Potter and all of the notable characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
Magnolia Crescent
Chapter Two
Creatures and Classes
"Wait, what did you just say?" Mr. Weasley asked, astounded. "I did just hear you correctly when you said that Black might have already had a chance?"
"Yeah, that's what I said," Harry nodded, wondering why Mr. Weasley suddenly looked so ferocious. "I'm pretty sure it was him. He called me 'Potter' and I never told him my name." Mr. Weasley began to pace immediately, all the while, mumbling to himself.
"I should tell Molly – no, then she'll worry needlessly. Need to alert – "
"Can I go now, Mr. Weasley?" Harry asked. Harry's words seemed jolt Mr. Weasley back to the present.
"You do realize the danger that Black poses, Harry?" Harry nodded and Mr. Weasley continued but his train of thought seemed to have gotten sidetracked. "If it was Black, why didn't he strike while he had a chance? Maybe that's not his target – but it has to be."
"Mr. Weasley?"
"Promise me that whatever happens, you won't go looking for Black," Mr. Weasley said suddenly.
"Mr. Weasley, why would I go looking for someone who wants to kill me?" Harry asked a bit perplexed.
"Well, you are known for getting in trouble," Mr. Weasley chuckled, clapping Harry on the back.
"Harry, be a dear and make sure all your things are packed," Mrs. Weasley said, coming back downstairs. As Harry headed upstairs, he thought he heard Mrs. Weasley begin to reprimand her husband.
Harry sat on his bed, thinking over the past few days. If his suspicions were correct, then the man who wanted to kill already had a chance. Why hadn't Black killed him? Why had he just walked away? Harry pushed it out of his mind; Ron and Hermione would be with him. Besides he knew better than to seek out a murderer.
The night passed in a blur of dreamless sleep. Harry wasn't sure if had slept at all. In the morning, Mrs. Weasley bustled them all off to King's Cross station. Platform nine and three quarters was packed full of students and their parents. Harry led Ron and Hermione down the train, searching for an empty compartment. Near the end, Hermione stopped them outside of compartment with only one man inside. He looked almost as bad as the man Harry had seen on Magnolia Crescent; his clothes were patched in multiple and he just shabby as a whole.
"Everywhere else is full," she sighed, opening the door and hauling her trunk inside. Harry and Ron followed suit. After stowing their luggage, they headed back outside to say goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. When the whistle blew, they had to hurry aboard before they were left behind.
"Who is this guy?" Ron asked when they arrived back at their compartment.
"Professor R. J. Lupin," Hermione stated.
"You know everything. How does she know everything?" Ron asked in astonishment.
"It's on his case, Ronald." Hermione pointed. "I wonder why he's taking the train. Teachers normally don't."
"Who knows," Harry said. "Do you reckon he's actually asleep?" When Ron and Hermione nodded, Harry slid the door closed and began to tell them what he hadn't been able to in the pub, what Mr. Weasley had told him and what had happened on Magnolia Crescent. By the time Harry finished, it was pouring outside and the lunch trolley had already come and went.
"Sirius Black escaped Azkaban, to come after you?" Ron asked, slightly scared.
"They will catch him, right?" Hermione voice quavered a bit.
"Of course, but no one's ever broke out of Azkaban before and he's a raving, murderous lunatic…." Ron trailed off.
"Thanks, Ron. Very helpful," Harry said sarcastically. Ron opened his mouth to speak but before he could say anything, the train lurched to a stop. The lanterns flickered as though caught in a wind and then went out.
"We can't be there yet," Hermione muttered as Harry opened the door and looked up and down the corridor as Ron peered out the window. Many other students were staring out of their compartments, wondering what was going on. The train rocked once more, throwing Harry back into his compartment as an icy chill spread over them.
"There's something moving out there," Ron announced as ice formed on the windows, making their breath visible. The train rocked again, startling Ron and throwing back against his seat.
"Bloody hell! What's happening?" Ron's voice was high-pitched from fear. And his fear was well placed for a black cloaked figure had suddenly appeared, wrenching open the door with a scaly and scabbed hand. As the creature took a rattling breath, it seemed as though they had plunged into an ice cold lake, as though every happy feeling had evaporated.
The creature took another rattling breath, turning more towards Harry. His ears filled with the sound of a woman screaming. Then, without warning, Harry fainted.
"Harry!" Harry opened his eyes to find faces swimming above him. After realizing that his glasses had been removed, he put them on and saw Hermione's worried face. With a jolt, Harry realized that he was lying on the ground and he climbed into the seat rather quickly.
"Here, eat this. It'll help," a hoarse voice said from near the window. Professor Lupin was handing a piece of chocolate to Harry. "If you'll excuse me, I need to have a little word with the driver." Before he left, he motioned for Harry to eat the chocolate.
"What happened?" Harry asked, taking a small bite.
"Well, we thought you were having a fit," Ron said quietly.
"What was that thing?"
"A dementor," Hermione told him. "Professor Lupin said that they guard Azkaban. They were searching the train for Sirius Black."
"Yeah, because we're really going to smuggle him into Hogwarts," Ron laughed, feebly attempting to put some humor into the situation. Realizing that he had failed, he simply shrugged. "Lupin told it that we weren't hiding Black and some kind of light came out of his wand. The dementor just kind of left after that."
"Did either of you pass out?" Harry asked sheepishly. Both of them shook their heads.
"But I heard someone screaming," Harry protested.
"No one was screaming, Harry," Hermione said, looking at Harry with concern.
"No, I felt weird though. Like I'd never be cheerful again." Ron shivered. Harry was sure he had heard someone screaming, a woman, and she sounded to be in trouble. Professor Lupin came back and told them that they would be arriving shortly. Sure enough, within ten minutes, Harry could see the lights of Hogsmeade train station. They clambered out among the masses, heading for the carriages that would take them up to Hogwarts. Striding down the path, hollering for the first years, Hagrid could be seen towering high over everybody.
Harry, Ron and Hermione waved hello before continuing on their way. As they passed through the gate, Harry saw with horror that there were more dementors on either side of them. When they finally made it to the stone steps, Harry realized just how hungry he was. The chocolate hadn't helped much in that department and all he had for lunch were some Cauldron Cakes. They were almost to the Great Hall when Malfoy called after them.
"Potter! Did I hear everyone correctly," Malfoy sneered, "when they said that you fainted on the train? I mean, you actually fainted?"
"Shove off, Malfoy," Ron said, grabbing ahold of Harry's sleeve and tugging him forward. They had just entered the Great Hall when McGonagall came striding towards them from the teacher's table.
"Miss Granger, might I have a word with you?" she asked. Hermione followed McGonagall out of the Great Hall, leaving Ron and Harry wondering what that was about. Shrugging, they found their way to Gryffindor table, ready to eat.
"Welcome! Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say, and as one of them is serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before we become befuddled by our excellent feast. As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban, who are on Ministry of Magic business. They are stationed at every entrance to the ground. While they are here, I must make it clear that dementors are not to be fooled by tricks and disguises, not even Invisibility Cloaks. A word of caution: it is not in the nature of dementor to be forgiving." Dumbledore paused to look around the school. At this point, Hermione came rushing in through the doors, eager to join the feast.
"Now on to a happier subject; I would like to introduce two new teachers this year. Please welcome your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Lupin!" The Hall burst into applause, albeit it was a scattered slightly unenthusiastic applause.
"Of course, that's how he knew to give you the chocolate, Harry!" Hermione hissed.
"Professor Kettleburn retired at the end of last term in order to spend more time with his remaining limbs. Care of Magical Creatures will now be taught by none other than our own Rubeus Hagrid." It took a second for this piece of information to register with the school. When it did, the resulting applause created an uproarious din that couldn't be heard above. The Gryffindors clapped the loudest, making up for the fact that the Slytherins hadn't joined in at all.
"We should've known!" Ron roared over the noise. "Who else would have assigned us a biting book?" When silence finally fell over the Hall, Dumbledore clapped his hands together once and the golden dishes and goblets were instantly laden with food and drink. Conversation immediately rose up among the tables. Finally, when Harry could eat no more, the dishes cleared away and Dumbledore bid them all a good night and sent them off to bed. Harry, Ron and Hermione detoured to the staff table before finding their way upstairs.
"Congratulations, Hagrid!" Hermione cried, trying her best to give him a hug.
"Ah, thank you. It's what I always wanted…." Before he could continue, Hagrid burst into tears, where he promptly buried his face in his napkin. Giving him a pat on the back, they made their out of the Hall and up the winding staircases till they arrived at the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, a portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Password?" she asked, smoothing out her pink dress.
"Fortuna Major," Percy said from somewhere in the crowd. The portrait swung open and everyone clambered through where they went straight to bed.
The next morning at breakfast, their schedules were handed out. Over at the Slytherin table, Malfoy was making fun of Harry and teasing about his fainting spell on the train.
"Ignore him," Hermione scowled, forcibly turning Harry around. He had barely turned around, however, when George Weasley caught sight of him.
"What's the matter, Harry?"
"Malfoy," Ron answered for him. George looked up at Malfoy, who was now concluding his pretend faint.
"Quite the cocky little thing, isn't he?" George smiled. "Wasn't so much last night when the dementors arrived."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.
"He came running into our compartment," Fred answered. "Nearly wet himself, I think." The five of them laughed at this. In an effort to cheer Harry up, Fred added, "Don't worry about it Harry. Besides, first Quidditch match of the season is Gryffindor versus Slytherin."
Fred's attempt to cheer Harry had worked. The last time Harry had face Malfoy on the Quidditch pitch, Malfoy had come out worse for wear. As Harry and Ron loaded their plates, Hermione looked over her schedule.
"Oh, we're starting some of our new subjects today," she smiled. Ron, who had to figure out exactly what Hermione was taking, looked at her schedule as well.
"There's got to be some mistake," he said in astonishment. "They've got you down for three subjects all at nine o'clock! How are you going to manage that?"
"I've arranged it all with Professor McGonagall," she said with a tone that ended the conversation.
"Divination's first on our list, we better get going because it's at the top of the North Tower," Ron groaned. Somehow, they managed to find their way to North Tower, and just in the nick of time too.
The Divination classroom was very dark and smelled heavily of perfume. All of the lamps had been covered in shawls, and the fire had been lit, making it stifling warm inside her classroom.
"Welcome, my children. In this room, you shall explore the mysterious art of Divination. In this room, you shall discover if you possess the Sight." The speaker appeared from the shadows, draped in shawls and beads. "Hello. I am Professor Trelawney. Together, we shall cast ourselves into the future. But know this, one either has the Gift or not. It cannot be divined from the pages of a book as they will only cloud one's Inner Eye."
Hermione's face said that she clearly did not like this class already.
"The first term will be devoted to the reading of tea leaves. Later in the year, we shall progress to palmistry, fire omens and finally, the crystal ball. Classes will be disrupted in February as I will have come down with a nasty bout of flu in which I will lose my voice. Around the end of spring, one of our number will leave us forever." The class shifted nervously at this, wondering who would leave.
"Now, what I want you to do is grab a teacup from the shelf and bring it to me, I will fill it for you. After you have drunken the tea, swirl the dregs around three times and turn the cup upside down. After the last of the tea has drained, switch cups with your partner and practice reading the tea leaves."
Harry and Ron did as she instructed but it was hard to drink scalding tea very quickly.
"Right, so what do you see?" Ron asked skeptical.
"A load of soggy brown stuff," Harry answered. He was feeling sleepy; the perfumed air was making it difficult for him to concentrate. Professor Trelawney was circling the tables so Harry made an effort to try. "There's crooked cross – trials and suffering. But on a happier note, this could be sun. All in all, you're going to suffer but you're going to be happy about it?" Ron and Harry both started laughing, which caused Professor Trelawney to swoop down upon them.
"Tell me, my dear, what is it that you see?" she asked Ron.
"Well, this could be an acorn – 'windfall, unexpected gold'. Sweet, you can lend me some! Then there's some kind of animal…."
"Let me see that, dear." Professor Trelawney snatched the cup from Ron and began turning it around. "There's the falcon…you have a deadly enemy."
"Everyone already knows that," Hermione said loudly. Professor Trelawney just stared at her. "Well, he does. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has always been after Harry." Professor Trelawney ignored this, instead turning back to the cup.
"You do not have a happy cup," she tisked. "The club, meaning an attack, and the skull, danger in your path –" She gasped suddenly, dropping the cup, which landed unharmed on the table. Everyone was curious as to what she had seen.
"Professor, what did you see?" Parvati asked.
"My dear…you have the Grim."
"I have a what?" Harry asked, perplexed. Professor Trelawney looked about to faint because they hadn't understood what the Grim was.
"Taking the form of a giant spectral dog," one of the Gryffindors read, "it is among the darkest omens in our world. It is an omen…of death." There was a collective gasp from the students; they had begun crowding around Harry, wanting to look at the Grim. Murmurs broke out about what they thought it looked like.
"When you've all finished deciding whether I'm going to die or not!" Harry snapped. Everyone stepped away, avoiding his eyes.
"I think that will conclude our lesson for today," Professor Trelawney was saying. "Kindly pack your things and head to your next class." Harry picked up the cup, seeing for the first time, a dog within the tea leaves. Harry joined the crush of students heading down into the main part of the castle and caught up with Ron and Hermione. The hurriedly made their way to Transfiguration where they could see a gray tabby cat sitting on Professor McGonagall's desk. She transformed back into herself for a stony silence from the class.
"What's the matter with you today? That's the first time I've transformed and not had a reaction, not that it matters," Professor McGonagall said.
"Please, Professor. We've just had our first Divination lesson and – " Hermione started.
"Say no more. Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?" Harry reluctantly raised his hand. "Ah, predicting the death of a student is Professor Trelawney's favorite way of greeting a new class. You look in excellent health to me, Potter. So, you will understand if I don't excuse from homework today. I daresay that if you die, you need not hand it in." Professor McGonagall smiled, striding back to the front of the class, where she began instructing them on what an Animagus was. After Transfiguration, they ate a hurried lunch before they headed down to Hagrid's hut for their first Care of Magical Creatures class.
"If you ask me, Divination sounds like a very wooly subject," Hermione said nonchalantly. Ron and Hermione bickered the entire way across the grounds and it wasn't until Hagrid called them all closer that they stopped.
"I got a real treat for yeh today," Hagrid said proudly. "Follow me, and yeh'll also want to open yer books."
"And exactly how are we supposed to do that?" a cold voice sneered from behind Harry.
"Eh?"
"How are we supposed to open them?" Malfoy repeated.
"No one's been able ter open yer books?" Hagrid's face fell as he seen that every book had been belted or tied shut. "Yeh've got to stroke 'em." Hagrid demonstrated by taking Harry's book, fearlessly removing the belt and stroking the spine. It fell open in his hand with a contended growl. Hagrid turned uncertainly towards the paddock he had led them to.
"God, this place is going to the dogs. Wait until my father hears Dumbledore's got this oaf teaching classes," Malfoy scoffed.
"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry said.
"Dementor! Dementor!" Malfoy cried, his face contorted in terror. Harry wheeled around but there was nothing there. The Slytherins burst into laughter at this. Before Harry could do anything, Hagrid had come back leading a very strange looking creature. The front looked like an eagle but the back end was that of a horse, all in a silvery gray color. His beak was a very cruel steel color, offsetting his brilliant orange eyes. On his front feet were half a foot long talons; just by looking at them, Harry could tell that they were deadly.
"Say hello to Buckbeak!" Hagrid beamed. "Firs' thing yeh'll want to know abou' hippogriffs are that they are very proud creatures. Don't never insult one of 'em 'cause it just might be the last thing yeh do. Yeh always wait fer the hippogriff ter make the firs' move. It's polite, see? Yeh walk toward him, and yeh bow, an' yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him quick like, 'cause those talons hurt.
"So, who wants ter come an' say hello?" Everyone in the class stepped backwards right when Harry took a step forward.
"I'll do it," he said. Harry climbed into the paddock to stand beside Hagrid. He bowed low to the hippogriff, maintaining eye contact. Buckbeak eyed him warily; Hagrid started to motion Harry back when Buckbeak bent down onto one of his scaly knees.
"Alrigh' Harry!" Hagrid applauded. The rest of the class did as well. Tentatively, Harry stepped forward and placed his hand gently on his beak. Harry was thinking that hippogriffs were alright creatures when Hagrid suggested going for a ride. That stopped Harry dead in his tracks. Before Harry could move, Hagrid had grabbed him and placed upon Buckbeak's back, right behind his wings.
"Just don't pull out any of his feathers, he won't thank yeh for that!" Hagrid said, slapping Buckbeak on the rump. Buckbeak took off high above the trees, rising and falling with the beat of his wings. Harry didn't much care for flying astride a hippogriff and was glad when he faintly heard Hagrid whistle, causing Buckbeak to turn towards the paddock once more. The landing was rough and Harry just barely managed to hold on. As Hagrid helped him down, he asked how he was doing.
"Brilliant," Harry said. Then adding quickly, "Professor." Hagrid beamed down at Harry. While Hagrid's back was turned, Malfoy vaulted over the fence, heading straight towards Buckbeak.
"You're not dangerous at all, are you, you great ugly brute?" Malfoy said. Buckbeak reared suddenly, bringing down his steely talons on Malfoy's arm, as he tried to protect himself. "Ah, I'm dying! It's killed me!" Blood had blossomed on his arm, outlining a very deep gash.
"Hagrid!" Hermione hollered. "He needs to be taking to the hospital wing!"
"I'll do it, I'm the teacher!" Hagrid bent down and easily scooped Malfoy into his arms, and began striding towards the castle. "Class dismissed," he called over his shoulder.
"I'll get you for this," Malfoy moaned. "You and your bloody chicken." The class followed after Hagrid towards the castle. Harry stayed back a few moments to take everything in. Buckbeak nudged his arm, startling him, and Harry patted his beak. Harry was just going to pick up his schoolbag when he heard a bark coming from the far side of the paddock. He turned to see a shaggy black dog and his heart skipped a beat. The Grim couldn't possibly be following him around.
Then before he could say a word, the dog changed. Sitting on the ground, exactly as a dog would sit, was not the dog but a man. Sirius Black to be exact. Harry's voice seemed to have left him.
"Harry, please do not be alarmed. I swear on the graves of your mother and father that I won't hurt you. However, there is someone in the castle that I do want."
Again, please R&R. Like, I said. Things are going to change, just wait for more chapters to come up.
BTW: Check out my fiance's account at u/1440338/starwarsdude8221991. He's got a lot of different stories up there, and he's a really good author!