Chapter Twenty Nine
The common room was still in party mode, although Harry had seen Severus heading towards the common room on his way out and told Draco, Daphne and Pansy it might be time to head to bed.
Harry pulled on his pyjamas and made sure the invisibility cloak was safely once more tucked at the bottom of his trunk.
Crabbe and Goyle were asleep and snoring loudly, Zabini was still down stairs at the party.
"Hagrid's back." Harry said quietly.
"Are you sure?" Draco asked, climbing into bed.
Harry nodded, "Yeah. That's why Hermione and Neville activated the bracelets."
"You went to see him?" Draco hissed, "Why didn't you take us?"
Harry shrugged, his being jealous of Draco and Daphne still being able to play Quidditch seemed like a pathetic reason to leave them out, "We wouldn't of all managed to fit under the cloak and I didn't know that Hagrid was back until I was at the Gryffindor common room. It was a good job that we didn't come back for you, Umbridge nearly caught us anyway."
"How? It's passed midnight already." Draco whispered, "Her room is in the middle of the castle, how did she know he was back?"
Harry shrugged, the thought had crossed his mind that it was strange Umbridge had been aware of Hagrid's return so soon, and so late at night.
"Fill us in in the morning." Draco smiled, he knew Harry wasn't in the best head space right now and didn't want to cause a fight.
The next morning he felt bad but wanted to avoid having to talk about it again. Draco was already up and dressed. Harry dressed quickly and smiled.
"Come on, let's go and get some breakfast. We can fill the girls in." Harry smiled.
It was fairly quiet in the Great Hall, most of the school choosing to have a lie in on a Sunday morning, especially after a Quidditch game. Harry, Draco, Daphne and Pansy were easily able to find seats away from everyone else.
"Hagrid's back." Daphne said cheerfully, spotting him at the teachers table.
Harry was relieved to see that Hagrid was there, even if his face was still black and blue with several, large cuts. Umbridge was also at the table, sending nasty looks towards Hagrid when she thought no one was looking.
"We know." Draco smirked, "Harry went down to see him last night."
Harry felt a guilty hot pit form in his stomach at the hurt looks from Daphne and Pansy. He quickly started to butter a piece of toast so he didn't have to look at them.
"Is this true?" Pansy asked.
Harry nodded, "Yeah. It wasn't on purpose."
"How could you of gone and seen Hagrid late at night by accident?" Daphne inquired.
Harry rolled his eyes, "Not like that. I felt the bracelet system activate and I guess you guys were all distracted with the party. I just went to find out if everything was OK, then they said Hagrid was back and, well it would of meant coming all the way back down to the Slytherin common room and trying to find you all. Besides, we wouldn't of all fitted under the invisibility cloak."
Pansy and Daphne accepted this explanation and nodded.
"So?" Pansy asked, "Why was he away?"
Harry looked around, he didn't feel comfortable telling them here, where people could be listening in.
"I'll tell you later." Harry sighed, making a pointed glance up to Umbridge.
"How did he get so beaten up?" Draco asked.
"Well that we don't know, so I can't even tell you later." Harry said, "He was very dodgy over the subject. He..." Harry looked around, there was no one even walking passed, "He did run into Death Eaters but I don't think they're the ones that attacked him."
"Umbridge is going to make his life hell, isn't she?" Daphne said.
Harry nodded, "I think so. She was in such a mood when she went down to Hagrid's last night." he whispered, "She even looked under his bed for… something."
"That's ever so slightly worrying." Pansy said.
"Why? Got something under your bed you want to hide?" Draco smirked.
Pansy glared at him and picked up a bit of toast to throw at him.
"Miss Parkinson." Professor Umbridge said, walking over surprisingly quickly, "Tut tut."
Pansy slowly lowered the toast, "Sorry Professor? Draco asked for some toast."
"Hem hem." Umbridge said, letting out a tinkly laugh, "Well, I think in future he can get his own toast. If I see you 'passing' food again, you will be seeing me for detention. Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal." Pansy said, with an overly forced smile.
"Mr Potter, you are good friends with Mr Hagrid are you not?" Umbridge asked.
Harry nodded, not wanting to say anything that she could twist.
"You first met him when you came to school?" Umbridge asked a little more forcefully.
Harry shook his head, "No, no; Mum knew him before I was born. I met him quite a few times over the years, we'd come for picnics and the like."
"Well I don't think that that is entirely appropriate but no matter." Umbridge said, waving her hand, "You know him well then?"
Harry nodded again, giving her a tight smile, painfully aware of where this was going.
"So you know why he's so very late back to his teaching post." Professor Umbridge beamed.
Harry shook his head, "No I'm afraid I don't."
"Does the south of France mean anything to you?" Umbridge pushed, "where Hagrid is concerned?"
"Afraid not." Harry said levelly.
"It does to me." Daphne said, sharing a sideways look with Pansy.
Harry felt his heart begin to race, what could they be getting at? Umbridge beamed and moved closer to her.
"Do tell my dear." Umbridge asked sweetly.
"Well it was clear he became very close with Madam Maxime and Beauxbatons is in France is it not?" Daphne smirked, "I think he was off visiting his lady love." she said, taking a sip of tea.
"For all this time?" Umbridge asked, her face falling.
"Well I imagine they often lost track of time." Pansy giggled into her napkin.
"That is enough of that talk!" Umbridge snapped, looking horrified.
She looked between the four of them and turned on her heel. They waited until Umbridge had left the hall, making sure she'd turned the corner before rolling their eyes.
"What on earth would she make me carve into my skin for throwing food?" Pansy snorted with disdain.
"Maybe she wouldn't, maybe she'd make you write 'pass' with the quotation marks." Daphne laughed.
"Quick thinking on the Hagrid front." Harry smiled, "I think with any luck you'll of thrown her off the scent for a while."
They spent the rest of the day in the library working with Neville and Hermione on their ever growing pile of homework. Hermione took an hour or two out to go and see Hagrid again, to try and make sure that he was going to follow a more 'ministry friendly' curriculum, at least until Umbridge had stopped sniffing around so much.
She hadn't had much luck and had said she didn't want to talk about it, burying herself behind a large Transfiguration book.
They had their first Care of Magical Creatures lesson with Hagrid on Tuesday and Harry felt a tightening knot in his stomach as he marched down with his friends to the edge of the forest.
Tracy was standing in the corner for the group, picking at her nails and complaining loudly about the mud, as the Lestrange twins weren't in the same lessons, Millicent was agreeing that no lesson should make them get dirt under their nails or force them to have their shoes cleaned.
Harry looked around, there was thankfully no sign of Umbridge, which was a relief. Hagrid stepped forward, some how he looked in a worse condition than he had before.
"Maybe whatever attacked him has some sort of venom? Means that it wont heal without help?" Hermione suggested.
Harry shrugged, he hoped that wasn't the case as it seemed unlikely Hagrid would go for help until he was at death's door.
"We're workin' in here today!" Hagrid said cheerfully, "Bit more sheltered! Anyway, they prefer the dark."
"What, exactly, prefers the dark?" Draco asked, trying to keep the panic out of his voice.
Hagrid merely smiled at them, wincing slightly and waved them to follow him into the tree line. Harry made his way with the rest of the class into the forest, watching his step over the broken branches.
"Ready?" Hagrid asked, looking around at the apprehensive faces looking up at him, "Right, well, I've bin savin' a trip inter the Forest fer yeh fifth year. Thought we'd go an' see these creatures in their natural habitat. Now, what we're studyin' today is pretty rare, I reckon I'm probably the on'y person in Britain who's managed ter train 'em."
"Define 'trained'." Tracy asked, her pale face showing she wasn't happy to be in the Forbidden Forest.
Hagrid ignored her, something Harry was grateful for. Umbridge would have a field day over Hagrid, a half giant, being rude to a good pure blooded student.
"What happened to your face?" Ron asked, "It wasn't what we're going to be seeing is it?"
"No, it ain't so mind yeh own business." Hagrid grunted.
Hagrid waved at them to follow him, deeper into the forest, where even less light managed to fight its way through the trees.
They had been walking deeper into the forest for about ten minutes before Hagrid finally stopped, giving them a chance to catch their breaths. Hagrid dumped a large, half cow on the ground and stepped back.
"Gather roun', gather roun'." Hagrid encouraged them.
Harry took a couple of tentative steps forward, looking around the murky forest, waiting for something to jump out at him.
"Now, they'll be attracted by the smell o' the meat but I'm goin' ter give 'em a call any way, 'cause they'll like ter know it's me."
Hagrid shook his shaggy head and let out a monstrous bird cry that cut through the trees. Harry, as well as several others, jumped in shock; covering their ears quickly.
The sound faded, once again leaving the forest eerily quiet. Harry looked around, trying to see what was coming to see them.
Hagrid let out another cry, once again the sound echoing through the air around them.
"Harry look." Draco said, pointing to where a patch of leaves were getting ruffled, "There is nothing there though…"
Harry shook his head, he could see a pair of blank, white eyes coming slowly towards them.
"It's a Thestral." Harry whispered.
He could now see the skeletal, dragon like face, looking almost nervously at the group of children.
"I can't see it." Draco whispered back, he rolled his eyes, realising what he'd said, "You know what I mean."
The Thestral moved forward and sniffed at the cow before ripping off a chunk a gobbling it down. Harry watched as a couple more moved forwards to eat. He looked round to see if there was any one else who could see them.
There was a nervous looking Gryffindor boy who was looking revolted by the sight before them.
"Oh, an' here comes another!" Hagrid beamed as the crowd of Thestrals grew, "Now… put up yeh 'and if you can see 'em."
Harry raised his hand, along with the Gryffindor boy.
Hagrid gave him a small, sad smile, "Yeah. I… I knew you would Harry."
"What exactly are we 'looking' at?" Tracy demanded.
Hagrid pointed to the cow carcass, where large chunks of flesh were being ripped off. Parvati let out a loud scream and took a step back. Harry understood why, it must have looked very strange, the lumps of flesh disappearing before their eyes.
"What's eating it?" demanded Ron, as bravely as he could.
"Wanna tell 'em Harry?" Hagrid asked.
"Thestrals, I believe." Harry said, he couldn't take his eyes of the creatures before him, "Danica's favourite, although she can't see them."
"That's righ'. Five points to Slytherin. Now 'Ogwarts has got a whole herd of 'em in here. Now, who knows..." Hagrid said.
Parvati cut across him, "Aren't they really unlucky?" she demanded, taking a shaky step back.
"No." Draco scoffed, "That's just a pathetic old superstition. I mean, you don't really believe that do you?"
Parvati glared at him and flicked her long, black plait over her shoulder.
"Malfoy is righ'. There's no bad luck with 'em. And they's really useful, dead clever. Course, this lot don' get a lot o' work, it's mainly jus' pullin' the school carriages. 'Less Dumbledore is taken a long trip and don' wanna apparate."
"I think I felt something near me." Ron said, in a high pitched voice, clutching his hands to his chest.
"No need ta worry. They won' 'urt you." Hagrid said, "Righ' who can tell me why some o' yeh can see 'em an' some can't?"
Draco raised his hand, "Only people who have seen death can see them."
"Tha's exactly right." Hagrid nodded, "It ain't any other way. 'Nother five points ter Slytherin. Now, Thestrals…"
Harry felt a shiver of dread run down his spine as he hurt Umbridge's annoying little cough cut through the air.
"Oh, 'ello." Hagrid said, smiling at Umbridge.
Umbridge looked around her, wrinkling her nose as though the dirtiness of the forest was a direct insult to her, "You received the note I sent to your cabin this morning?" she asked, in a loud, slow voice as though he would struggle to understand her.
"Oh, yeah." Hagrid nodded, "Glad yeh found the place all righ'. Well, as you can see… or, I dunno, can you? We're doin' Thestrals today."
"I'm sorry?" said Umbridge loudly, cupping her hand around her ear and frowning, "What did you say?"
"He said we're doing Thestrals." Draco said loudly back to her, "Are you feel all right Professor Umbridge? You seem to be struggling to hear, an ear infection maybe?"
Umbridge glared at Draco, "Thank you Mr Malfoy, I am quite well. The wind must have been blowing in my face."
There were several sniggers around the class at Umbridge lame excuse as the forest air around them was perfectly still.
"Well… anyway..." said Hagrid, a little flustered, "'erm… what was I sayin'?"
"Appears… to… have… poor… short… term… memory." muttered Umbridge, making a note on her clipboard.
Harry felt rage bubbling up inside him. Draco put a hand on his arm, shaking his head slightly. Harry tried to take deep breaths to calm down, he knew that it wouldn't help to snap at Umbridge and give her anything to use against Hagrid.
Harry focused on the lecture Hagrid was trying to give, blocking out the annoying comments from Umbridge, her twisting everything Hagrid was saying, while loudly muttering under her breath.
"Now this boy is my favourite, 'e's the firs' one born here in the Forest..." Hagrid was explaining, patting the Thestral next to him, it nussled up to his hand for a moment before going back to eating.
"Hem hem." Umbridge said, taking a small step forward so Harry was overwhelmed by the sickly sweet smell of her perfume, "Are you aware, that Thestrals are classified as 'Dangerous' by the Ministry of Magic?"
Hagrid shook his head, "Thestrals ain't dangerous. All righ' might take a nip at yeh if yeh really annoy 'em." he laughed awkwardly.
"Shows… signs… of… pleasure… at… the… idea… of… violence." Muttered Umbridge as she scribbled another note.
"Professor," Harry said through gritted teeth, "I think Professor Hagrid simply meant that they would defend themselves if provoked, like a dog would bite if you kept hitting it with a stick or something."
Umbridge ignored him, "Well just keep teaching as normal, I'm going to go around and ask some questions from the students."
She made a beeline for Tracy and Millicent, who were standing, clearly unimpressed at the back of the class.
"Do you enjoy the lessons?" she asked, in a loud ringing voice, making it impossible for anyone to pay attention to what Hagrid was saying.
"Do I look like I'm enjoying them?" Tracy spat, "They're always all over the place. Heavens forbid we stay in a clean, safe classroom."
Umbridge smiled and made a note, "And do you share her assessment of the situation?"
Millicent nodded, hurrying to agree with both Tracy and Umbridge.
"And can you understand what he's saying?" Umbridge asked in a concerned voice, "I noticed he talks with a bit of a speech impediment."
Tracy nodded, "It is very difficult to understand what he's saying." she looked, evilly at Ron, "And that sometimes leads to accidents."
Umbridge smiled at this news and nodded, "Thank you for your help dear."
Umbridge walked over to Ron, who was trying to ignore her, "From what I've heard you had an accident in a class before? There were a few details I didn't manage to get many details last time we talked."
Ron raked his hand though his hair and nodded, "Umm yeah about that..."
"What happened exactly?" Umbridge cut across, "The short version? Were you attacked by one of these… Thestrals?"
"We were working with Hippogriffs when one… sort of… attacked me." Ron said.
"That is awful." Umbridge said, shaking her head, "Were you badly injured?"
"It wasn't great." Ron said, embarrassment flushing his cheeks, "It caught me along here, I had it bandaged for a while. But it was because I did it wrong." he said quickly.
"You didn't understand the instructions?" Umbridge said, with clearly fake sympathy.
"No." Ron said, "I mean, I did understand."
Umbridge looked at him crossly, "So you went against the instructions on purpose?"
"No!" Ron said, "I… I just made a mistake."
"Because you were improperly instructed." Umbridge said, scribbling once more on her clipboard.
"I-" Ron started but Umbridge cut across him, patting his hand gently.
"Thank you, you've been very helpful Mr Weasley." Umbridge said.
She wondered over to the other only student who could see the Thestrals and pulled him slightly away from the crowd, still pretending she wasn't interrupting the lesson.
"I believe you can see the… beasts." Umbridge asked, "Who did you see die?"
The boy nodded, "Yeah, my Great Grandmother. She was pretty old and wanted us all there when she died."
"How difficult for you." Umbridge said, "I mean, this must bring all of that back to you?"
The boy shrugged, "Yeah I guess."
"Enjoys… emotionally… hurting… students." Umbridge muttered.
The boy looked uncomfortable at this but said nothing.
"I think they're kinda cool though." The boy said, "Like bat-dragons."
Harry smirked, he thought bat-dragons was a pretty good description, it certainly explained why Danica liked them so much.
Umbridge looked at him and gave him a tight smile, she made another scribble on her clipboard and turned back to Hagrid.
"Well Hagrid," Umbridge said, turning to face him again, "You will receive your evaluation results in ten days' time." she held up her ten stubby little fingers before turning to leave.
Harry watched her go, shaking with anger, "Lying little toad." he spat.
Draco nodded, "Yep. Thestrals seem kinda cool as well. Gods, can you imagine if it had been something like Blast ended-skrewts again? But no, these are good for us to learn."
"Why did you have to bring up Buckbeak?!" Harry yelled at Ron.
He jumped and glared back at Harry, "She asked! It's not like I was boasting about it!"
"You should of told her it was your fault! That you were showing off and you caused Buckbeak to leave!" Harry was still yelling, he didn't know why he was yelling at Ron, the anger wouldn't stop boiling inside him. Most of the class was looking worriedly at him.
"Fuck you!" Ron yelled back, "I didn't hear you trying to correct me either! That's twice she's questioned me! Don't you think she's pushing the point a little?"
"Hey!" Hagrid cut across them, "That's enough! Now focus on yeh lesson, five poin's from each of yeh, yeh know betta than tha ac' like tha'!"
Harry turned away from Ron and focused on trying to read the chapter on Thestrals in his text book. He knew he shouldn't of yelled at Ron, especially in front of the class, Tracy and Millicent sniggering in the corner. The news would almost certainly make its way back to Umbridge, and Hagrid having no control over his class would be yet another thing for Umbridge to use against him.
"I don't know what came over me." Harry said, as he copied out the list of things Thestrals liked to eat, "I just got so mad."
Draco nodded, "I know. That's been happening a lot lately, try taking deep breaths." he said, worriedly.
Harry rolled his eyes, deep breaths seemed to be like trying to put out a forest fire with a glass of water.
"Look, I think you should talk to Professor Snape." Draco said quietly, "He might have a potion or something that could help."
Harry nodded, but he knew he wasn't going to talk to his father about it, Severus had enough to worry about.