Chapter 7
Care of Magical Creatures
The Hospital Wing visit only took a few minutes. Madam Pomfrey gave Draco a once over and dismissed us. When we arrived back at the Slytherin common room, Draco was swarmed by concerned peers. I slid out of the way and let him enjoy the attention he was receiving. I spied Zabini sitting in a corner of the room and made my way to him.
"Potter," he greeted as I sat down next to him. "The match was quite amusing."
I let out a chuckle, "yeah, amusing is a good word for it. Too bad we didn't win, that would have been the cherry on top." Zabini nodded in agreement.
"I see Malfoy is enjoying himself," he added. He was staring over at where I had left Draco. A bunch of girls, including Pansy, were fawning over him. I rolled my eyes before turning away. "Not territorial?"
"Excuse me?" I asked, slightly taken aback. "Why would I be territorial?" Zabini eyed me carefully.
"So you haven't noticed?"
"Noticed what?"
"Oh, you know, the way Malfoy looks at you." I gave him a quizzical look. "Or the way you look at him."
"I don't look at him in any 'way'" I said with air quotes.
"Sure you don't," Zabini teased, his lips curling into a sly smile. "Just keep pretending like the two of you are just 'friends.'" It was his turn to use air quotes. I felt blood rush to my face as I stared at Zabini in disbelief.
"I haven't a clue as to what you are talking about." I said defensively. "Draco and I are just friends. Besides, I'm not ready to be more than friends with anyone at the moment."
"You can't still be hung up on Diggory, can you?" Zabini asked incredulously. I stood up, anger flooding my body, and slapped him across the face. Zabini let out a small cry of pain, rubbing his left cheek. A few Slytherins near us went silent, watching the scene unfold.
"Don't you dare," I hissed at Zabini. "Don't you dare say anything about Cedric again." And with that I stalked off towards my dormitory. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Draco watching me walk away.
The next day Zabini kept out of my way. In fact, he completely avoided me. I was totally okay with that, I wasn't exactly in the mood to talk or look at him. For a good portion of the day, I hung out in the common room working on some homework, and studying. A couple hours into doing my work I was joined by Draco.
He sat across from me, watching me scribble some notes down on a piece of parchment. After a couple of minutes of him just watching me, I looked up at him. "Can I help you?"
"I wanted to ask you something," he said slowly. "About yesterday," he added at the questioning look I gave him.
"What about yesterday?" I asked even though I had a good idea of what he wanted to know.
"I saw what happened with Zabini," he pressed, "but I didn't hear what you guys were talking about." I knew it.
I put aside the book I was studying and looked Draco up and down, trying to decide if I wanted to tell him what happened. How would he react if he knew what Zabini had said about us 'looking at each other'? He was obviously curious as to what happened, it's not like I go around slapping my friends very often.
"So?" He nudged again for an answer.
"Zabini seems to be under the impression that we look at each other in a certain way." I said slowly. Draco's eyes showed some peaked interest. "And when I denied it…" was that disappointment? "...he asked if I was still 'hung up' on Cedric." Anger, now I saw anger in his eyes.
"He said what?" Draco growled.
"I'd rather not repeat myself," I said sourly. "So I slapped him and told him to keep Cedric's name out of his mouth." Draco looked like he was ready to slap Zabini himself.
"I can't believe he'd say something so callous," he said.
"He isn't the only one who says callous things," I pointed out. Draco grimaced at my words. "It's done and over with. As long as I don't have to look at his face today, I'll be fine."
"Why were you two talking about how we look at each other?" Draco asked after a moment of silence. Why wasn't he letting this go?
"For some reason he seemed to think I should have felt 'territorial' over you." I shrugged. "Not sure why he's got that impression, it's not like we're dating."
"Right," Draco said, "we are just friends." There was something in the tone of his voice, but I wasn't sure what it was.
"Exactly my point." I grabbed my book again and opened it up. He stood up and left me to my studying.
The next day the school was surprised by Hagrids sudden return. That morning during breakfast a few students, Fred and George being among them, cheered and ran up to greet him. While, much to my delight, most students gave each other looks of disappointment. This would mean no more good Care of Magical Creature lessons, which really was a disappointment.
"Did you hear?" Pansy asked excitedly. Surely she wasn't talking about Hagrid.
"Hear what?" I asked before taking a bite of buttered toast.
"Potter and the Weasley twins got banned for life from playing quidditch!" She laughed with glee. I choked on my bread.
"They what?"
"It was Professor Umbridge. She banned them for life." Pansy said, her eyes twinkling. "McGonagall was going to let them off with a slap on the wrist, but Umbridge set things right."
"I suppose this'll make winning the cup that much easier to win this year." I said with a smile. I knew that Harry was upset, quidditch was one of his favorite things about school, but with him and the Weasley twins out of the way we had a good chance at winning the cup this year.
The next day was our first lesson with Hagrid. We trudged through the snow down to his cabin, clutching our robes to keep warm. This was the first time I had seen Hagrid up close since he got back. He looked horrendous. Green and yellow bruises covered his face, as well as cuts that were bleeding. To top it off he was carrying what looked like half of a dead cow on his shoulder.
"We're workin' in 'ere today!" Hagrid said cheerily to us as we approached him. He jerked his head back towards the Forbidden Forest. "Bit more sheltered! Anyway they prefer the dark…"
"What prefers the dark?" Draco asked, a hint of panic in his voice. The last time Draco was in the forest was during our first year, and that hadn't gone well. "What did he say that prefers the dark - Did you hear?" He turned to me.
"He didn't say," I answered. "I'm sure we'll be fine." I added, trying to console him.
"Ready?" said Hagrid happily, looking around at the class. "Right, well, I've bin savin' a trip inter the forest fer yer 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 —"
"And you're sure they're trained, are you?" said Draco, the panic in his voice even more pronounced now. "Only it wouldn't be the first time you'd brought wild stuff to class, would it?"
Our fellow Slytherins, and even a few Gryffindors, murmured in agreement.
"'Course they're trained," said Hagrid, scowling and hoisting the dead cow a little higher on his shoulder.
"So what happened to your face, then?" demanded Draco.
"Mind yer own business!" said Hagrid, angrily. "Now if yeh've finished askin' stupid questions, follow me!"
Hagrid turned and began walking into the forest. No one followed for a moment until Harry, Ron, and Hermione set off behind him. The rest of the class followed reluctantly.
We walked for about ten minutes until we reached a place where the trees stood so closely together that it was as dark as twilight and there was no snow on the ground at all. Hagrid deposited his half a cow with a grunt on the ground, stepped back, and turned to face the class again, most of us were creeping toward him from tree to tree, peering around nervously as though expecting to be set upon at any moment.
"Gather roun', gather roun'," said Hagrid encouragingly. "Now, they'll be attracted by the smell o' the meat but I'm goin' ter give 'em a call anyway, 'cause they'll like ter know it's me…"
He turned, shook his shaggy head to get the hair out of his face, and gave an odd, shrieking cry that echoed through the dark trees like the call of some monstrous bird. Nobody laughed; most of us looked too scared to make a sound.
Hagrid gave the shrieking cry again. A minute passed in which we continued to peer nervously over our shoulders and around trees for a first glimpse of whatever it was that was coming. And then,as Hagrid shook his hair back for a third time and expanded his enormous chest, I noticed Harry nudged Ron and pointed into the black space between two gnarled yew trees. I looked over to where he was pointing but didn't see anything.
"Oh, 'an here comes another one!" Hagrid said proudly. "Now, put yer hands up, who can see 'em?"
The class looked around at each other, confusion on most of our faces. Harry and Neville both put up their hands, as well as a Slytherin boy I didn't know. Hagrid nodded at Harry, saying he figured he would be able to see them.
"Excuse me," said Draco, sneering, "but what exactly are we supposed to be seeing?"
For an answer, Hagrid pointed at the cow carcass on the ground. I turned and looked at the carcass and gasped along with several other people, and Parvati squealed. Bits of meat were being stripped off the carcass and disappearing into what appeared to be nothing.
"What's doing it?" Patil asked, a twinge of fear in her voice.
"Thestrals," said Hagrid proudly. "Hogwarts has got a whole herd of 'em here-"
"But they're really, really unlucky," Patil interrupted, a look of alarm on her face. "They're supposed to bring all sorts of horrible misfortune. Professor Trewlaney told me once-"
"No, no, no," Hagrid said, chuckling, "ha's jus' superstition, that is, they aren' unlucky, they're dead clever an' useful! 'Course, this lot don' get a lot o' work, it's mainly jus' pullin' the school carriages unless Dumbledore's takin' a long journey an' don' want ter Apparate - an' here's another couple, look -"
"I think I felt something pass by me," Patil said with a shiver. I looked around but still couldn't see anything.
""Don' worry, it won' hurt yeh," said Hagrid patiently. "Righ', now, who can tell me why some o' you can see them an' some can't?"
Hermione raised her hand.
"Go on then," said Hagrid, beaming at her.
"The only people who can see thestrals," she said, "are people who have seen death."
"Tha's exactly right," said Hagrid solemnly, "ten points ter Gryffindor. Now, thestrals -"
"Hem, hem."
I looked behind me and saw Professor Umbridge walking towards us. She was wearing a green hat and cloak, and had her clipboard ready. Hagrid was giving a strange look towards what I assumed was a thestral. Apparently he thought Umbridge's fake cough came from one of the creatures.
"Hem, hem."
"Oh, hello!" Hagrid said, smiling at Professor Umbridge.
"You received the note I sent to your cabin this morning?" Umbridge said in a slow, loud voice. "Telling you I would be inspecting your lesson?"
Oh yeah," said Hagrid brightly. "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?"
Hagrid looked a little confused. "Er - thestrals!" he said loudly. "Big - er - winged horses, yeh know!" He flapped his gigantic arms hopefully.
Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows at him and muttered as she made a note on her clipboard, " 'has… to… resort… to… crude… sign… language…' "
"Well… anyway…" said Hagrid, turning back to the class and looking slightly flustered. "Erm… what was I sayin'?"
" 'Appears… to… have… poor… short… term… memory…' " muttered Umbridge, loudly enough for everyone to hear her. I turned towards Draco, a smirk on my face. He was grinning ear to ear, clearly enjoying the interaction between Umbridge and Hagrid. Glance towards my brother and my friends revealed Hermione's rage filled face. Harry and Ron also looked upset.
"Oh yeah," said Hagrid, throwing an uneasy glance at Umbridge's clipboard, but plowing on valiantly. "Yeah, I was gonna tell yeh how come we got a herd. Yeah, so, we started off with a male an' five females. This one," he patted the air, "name o' Tenebrus, he's my special favorite, firs' one born here in the forest -"
"Are you aware," Umbridge said loudly, interrupting him, "that the Ministry of Magic has classified thestrals as 'dangerous'?"
"Of course they are," I muttered to Draco. "Hagrid doesn't know how to not show us something dangerous."
"Thestrals aren' dangerous!" Hagrid said with a light chuckle. "All righ, they might take a bite outta you if yeh really annoy them -"
" 'Shows… signs… of… pleasure… at… idea… of… violence… ' " muttered Umbridge, scribbling on her clipboard again.
Hagrid was trying to save face by explaining a dog would bite if baited, and essentially thestrals were the same way. Umbridge ignored him and continued writing on her clipboard. When she finished she told Hagrid to continue the lesson and she would be walking around the class asking questions. She said all that while miming everything and speaking in a slow loud voice again. Draco, Pansy, and I were giggling silently the whole time.
"Do you find," said Professor Umbridge in a ringing voice, "that you are able to understand what Professor Hagrid is saying?" She asked Pansy. Pansy was taking in short breaths while trying to stop laughing.
"No… well… because… a lot of the time… it sounds like grunting."
"Er . . . yeah . . . good stuff abou' thestrals. Well, once they're tamed, like this lot, yeh'll never be lost again. 'Mazin' senses o' direction, jus' tell 'em where yeh want ter go -"
"Assuming they can understand you, of course," said Draco loudly, and Pansy and I collapsed in a fit of renewed giggles. Professor Umbridge smiled indulgently at us and then turned to Neville.
"You can see the thestrals, Longbottom, can you?" she said.
Neville nodded.
"Whom did you see die?" she asked, her tone indifferent.
"My… my grandad," said Neville.
"And what do you think of them?" she said, waving her stubby hand at what I assumed were the horses, who by now had stripped a great deal of the carcass down to bone.
"Erm," said Neville nervously, with a glance at Hagrid. "Well, they're… er… okay…"
" 'Students… are… too… intimidated… to… admit… they… are… frightened…' " muttered Umbridge, making another note on her clipboard.
"No," Neville said quickly, "no, I'm not scared of them-"
"It's quite all right," said Umbridge, patting Neville on the shoulder with what she evidently intended to be an understanding smile, though it looked more like a leer to me. "Well, Hagrid," she turned to look up at him again, speaking once more in that loud, slow voice, "I think I've got enough to be getting along with… You will receive" - she mimed taking something from the air in front of her - "the results of your inspection" - she pointed at the clipboard - "in ten days' time." She held up ten stubby little fingers, then, her smile wider and more toadlike than ever before beneath her green hat, she bustled from their midst.
Hagrid attempted to continue his lesson, but it was clear he was shaken from the inspection. Most of the Slytherins weren't even paying attention to him anymore. We were talking in hushed tones about how long we thought Hagrid was going to be allowed to teach. Thirty minutes later we were trudging back up to the castle.
We were walking just behind Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who were talking about how thestrals were actually pretty good considering the other creatures Hagrid tried to teach us about. Then their conversation turned into about being able to see them and Draco got a look of mischief on his face.
"I'm surprised so many people could see them," said Ron. "Three in a class -"
"Yeah, Weasley, we were just wondering," Draco said loudly so the three of them turned to face us. "D'you reckon if you saw someone snuff it you'd be able to see the Quaffle better?" Ron's face turned a deep scarlet and we passed the three of them, laughing at his reaction.
December arrived, bringing with it snow and mountains of homework for us. On top of that Pansy and Draco had more Prefect duties to attend to. Things like supervising the decorating of the castle, watching first and second years during their breaks, and taking turns patrolling the castle with Mr. Filch. I spent all my free time doing my homework and studying with Zabini, who was very careful to not mention Cedric again.
At some point, while the whole group was together, Draco looked up from his Transfiguration text as though he just remembered something. "Chloe," he said, getting my attention.
"Yeah?" I asked, giving him a glance. Pansy also looked up from her work to listen in.
"I almost forgot to ask," he said, "my mom wrote saying you would be welcome at Malfoy Manor for the holiday break. If you'd like to come." He gave me a hopeful smile.
"Oh," I said softly. I had been expecting to spend my holiday here at the castle. "Yeah, that would be great." A warm feeling filled my chest, I had something to look forward to now. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Pansy looking between the two of us.
"Is there a problem?" I asked her, feeling slightly annoyed.
"You two have been spending an awful lot of time together," she said slowly.
"What are you talking about?" I asked, surprised. "You and Draco spend more time together than with any of us." I gestured towards Zabini, Crabbe, and Goyle. "What with your Prefect duties and what not."
"I mean outside of school," she corrected herself.
"It's not like I have anywhere else to go," I shrugged. "I never plan on going back to my aunt and uncle's place. I'd hate spending more time at the Weasley's home, so that's out of the question. And it's not like you've invited me to spend time at your house. I would have been content to spend my holiday here, but if I don't have to I won't." She didn't seem satisfied with my answer, but dropped the subject anyway.
It wasn't until the 18th that Draco and I were able to spend time together, just the two of us. It felt as though it had been forever since we were without Pansy, Zabini, Crabbe, and Goyle. We had told the group we were going to the library to study, needing a change of scenery, and no one felt like joining us.
The library was not crowded, thankfully. We found ourselves a table near the back and settled down for more studying. We worked in silence that was punctured occasionally by questions for each other. We were two days away from winter break and I was feeling excited at the prospect of spending the holidays with Draco and his family. I thoroughly enjoyed my summer with them.
"So," I said in a whisper, "how does your family celebrate the holiday?" I asked Draco.
Draco looked up at me. "There will be a party on Christmas Eve, formal wear, filled with important people from the Ministry." He answered. "We do a tree and presents too, just not nearly as… colorful as it is here. Mom and Father prefer to decorate with silver and green."
"Sounds better than what the Dursely's did." I said with a small grimace. Draco gave me a quizzical look and I carried on. "Harry and I never really got presents. Unless you call hand-me-downs presents. Dudley got anything and everything he wanted. Video games, candies, bikes, so on and so forth. So a formal party filled with important people sounds considerably better." I gave him a warm smile, then a small frown as I remembered I didn't have a nice formal dress to wear, unless you counted the dress I wore last year during the Yule Ball.
"What's the matter?" Draco asked, concern filling his voice.
"It's just that I don't have a dress to wear, just the one from last year's Yule Ball." I confessed.
Draco looked thoughtful before responding, "you looked amazing in that dress."
I let out a chuckle before answering, "right, well I'm not wearing that dress again. It'll remind me of Cedric." I added that last thought at his look of confusion. He nodded, understanding my point.
"We'll have some time before Christmas to stop by Diagon Alley to get you something suitable." He reassured me. I let out a small sigh of relief.
"What kind of important guest will be there?" I asked curiously.
"I'm sure Father has already secured the Minister's evening," Draco said thoughtfully. "As well as other important Ministry officials. And of course family friends will be invited. Actually, Pansy and her family will more than likely be there."
"Oh, that'll be fun then!" I said excitedly.
"And Zabini," Draco added while stroking his chin.
"I'm glad I have something to look forward to," I sighed contentedly. Draco gave me a warm smile before we returned to studying.
The next morning during breakfast there were rumors flying around the Hall. According to some younger Gryffindors, Harry and all the Weasley's left the school last night due to an emergency. Everyone was speculating on what kind of emergency it could have been. Some thought they had been kicked out of school by Umbridge; while others said someone had died. Hermione was still around, however, so I wasn't sure which of the rumors could have been true. Surely she would have gone with them if someone had died, and there was no way she would have been kicked out of school. Hermione was much too smart for that to happen.
"Any ideas where they went?" Pansy asked me during our Charms lesson. Our Charms lesson was just a review lesson, so Professor Flitwick let us split into groups to review whatever we wanted to.
"Not a clue," I shrugged. "It's not like we are talking to each other."
"Fair enough," said Pansy with an air of disappointment.
"Draco told me you and Zabini would be at his family's holiday party." I said, changing the subject.
"Yeah, we go every year." Pansy said with a smile. "I'm looking forward to seeing you there." She was smiling at me but something in the tone of her voice told me she was upset.
"Is everything ok?" I asked. "You don't sound like you're looking forward to me being there." I noticed Draco turn his head towards us, but he didn't look up from the teacup he was casting legs on.
"I… I just feel a little bummed that you get to spend so much private time with Draco and I'm left out of it." I began to feel a little guilty, but at the same time the two of them had known each other since they were kids. They had plenty of time to just themselves compared to the few years I was friends with them.
"I'm sorry for making you feel left out." I said, trying to empathize with her. "Draco invited me because I had nowhere else to go. Both for this last summer and this winter break."
"I know, I know." She said somewhat dismissively. "I get jealous and territorial over him." It took all my strength to not roll my eyes at her.
"Why are you so concerned about me spending time at his home?" I wanted to get to the bottom of this because I was tired of having this conversation with her. It seemed like any time I spent with Draco without her was a problem.
"I'm not concerned about it, I just wish I was there too." She said defensively. "I guess I'm also worried that the two of you are going to…" she lowered her voice so Draco couldn't hear, "... start dating."
"Why," I also lowered my voice, "does everyone think we are going to date?"
"Well, it's kind of obvious that you two like each other." Pansy answered, rolling her eyes at me. "But that doesn't mean I want you guys to date."
"What do you mean it's obvious we like each other?" I asked, genuinely confused. "And even if we did, why wouldn't you want us to date?"
"Draco literally only has eyes for you," Pansy sniffed. "I've been trying to get him to date me since last school year and he won't pay me the slightest attention. As for why I don't want you guys to date, I don't think you realize the expectations that his family has for him. He has to marry someone of pureblood, and you, unfortunately, aren't pureblood."
"That doesn't seem to matter to The Dark Lord," I muttered so quietly she couldn't hear me.
"What was that?"
"Nothing," I said a bit louder. "I'm not interested in dating right now. It would feel like I'm betraying Cedric's memory." Pansy's eyes softened at my words.
"Don't you think Diggory would want you to move on and be happy?" She reached out and put her arm around my shoulder.
"I'm sure that he would," I gave her a small smile. "I'm just not ready yet." Was it just me or did Draco's shoulders slump a little? He couldn't honestly think I was ready to move on yet, could he? It hasn't even been a year, and while the pain of Cedric not being there was slowly ebbing away, it just didn't feel like enough time had passed yet.
AN: Thanks for reading my story!
