AN I am so sorry for not updating in over a month. First there were finals at my university and then I was in Greece for a little over a week... Anyways, I'm back and motivated to write as much as I possibly can during the summer holidays.

English is not my mother tongue and I do not own Harry Potter.

Read, enjoy and review :)

ooOOoo

The next day was quite uneventful. Until they had Care of Magical Creatures, that was. Draco grimly thought about the events of his first lesson with Hagrid the first time around. One thing Draco was sure of: he would not end up in the hospital wing this time.

The more he thought about it, the happier he got. He would be able to show off and get tons of house points. The era of Hermione Granger, the insufferable know it all, was over. He knew he was being petty, but who cared?

On the way to Hagrid's hut, Draco dully noted that Weasley and Granger were not talking to each other.

"Trouble in paradise?" he laughed. He couldn't help himself. Crabbe and Goyle could be heard snickering behind him.

"Shut it, Malfoy," growled Weasley. Granger and Potter just looked gloomy.

Hagrid was already waiting for his students at the door of his hut with Fang sitting next to him. The half giant was giddy to begin his first lesson.

They all followed Hagrid to a kind of paddock.

"Everyone gather 'round the fence here!" he called. "That's it – make sure yeh can see – now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books."

The students all looked at each other.

"How?" Granger asked carefully.

"Eh?" said Hagrid.

"How do we open the books?" Pansy asked, holding up a book which was tied with a belt.

Draco had to grin, Slytherins and Gryffindors might not like each other but they were united in their inability to open their textbooks.

Everyone went really quiet. Draco saw the crestfallen look on Hagrid's face and decided to help him out. And show off a bit. He got out his copy of The Monster Book of Monsters, stroked the book's spine and opened it.

"Wow Draco, how did you do that?" That was Crabbe.

"It's not that hard," Draco said and took Hermione's book. "You just have to pet them."

With that he ran his fingers down the spine of Hermione's book, opened it and handed it back to her with a smug grin on his face. "See? Easy."

It felt good, knowing something that know-it-all Granger didn't know. Granger, for her part, looked quite sullen.

His classmates, however, looked quite impressed.

"5 points ter Slytherin," Hagrid mumbled, partly grateful, partly physically pained that he had to give points to Slytherin. What a tragedy.

The lesson went on the way Draco remembered it. When Hagrid introduced the Hippogriffs, Draco recited a few basic facts about them, earning Slytherin another 3 points.

"Wow, how do you know so much about them," Pansy asked.

"Read about them," Draco shrugged. "Was bored during the summer holidays," he added as an afterthought. He had to be careful if he wanted to stay under the radar. He couldn't suddenly excel at everything. Defending Potter the other day had already been too risky.

So when Hagrid asked "Who wants ter go first?" Draco pinched Neville in the side. This made the boy squeak and jump which Hagrid obviously interpreted as him volunteering. Perfect.

Neville, looking very unhappy, followed the instructions to a T, flying over his cheering classmates' heads.

"Good work, Neville!" roared Hagrid as everyone cheered when he had landed again. "Okay, who else wants a go?"

Emboldened by Neville's success, the rest of the class cautiously climbed into the paddock. Hagrid untied the hippogriffs and soon people were standing around bowing nervously.

Crabbe and Goyle threw their books aside and approached Buckbeak whereas Draco had decided to try his luck with another hippogriff. Just to be on the safe side.

He didn't show it, but he was nervous.

"Hello there," he greeted the creature in front of him. "I am not here to hurt you so it would be nice if you returned the favour."

He glanced over to Crabbe and Goyle. Buckbeak had bowed to Crabbe who was now patting his beak, looking rather disdainful.

Draco was just about to bow down when he heard him say, "This is very easy." The words made Draco freeze in place. "Knew it was if an idiot like Longbottom could do it... " At that Draco jumped into action, or rather, fell into action. Turning around mid-bow had not been a good idea.

Draco toppled over and landed at the feet of his hippogriff, which startled the animal. Draco could just roll away in time before its talons hit him. But he had rolled straight into the abandoned books.

"Bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" he heard Crabbe drawl.

One of the books bit into Draco's left leg and would not let go. "Darn," muttered Draco, suppressing the urge to scream in pain. He hopped over to Crabbe.

"Aren't you, you ug-"

"Crabbe!" Draco yelled.

Crabbe stopped mid-sentence and turned towards Draco.

Draco was momentarily at a loss for words. "Uhm... your stupid book attacked me! Get it off me," he muttered.

Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other, then at his leg and then they started laughing. Soon the other Slytherins standing around them started laughing too. Meanwhile, the book was still gnawing at his leg.

Eventually, Pansy patted the book and saved Draco.

Although tears were streaming down her cheeks because she had laughed so hard, she succeeded in asking him whether his leg was alright.

"It's alright," Draco muttered, glaring at everyone. It hurt like hell but he wasn't going to admit that.

Overall and even though he would be the laughing stock of Hogwarts for the next few days, Draco was still quite happy with how the class went. No innocent Hippogriff had to die. Neville, who was looking his way when they made their way back to the castle, was celebrated by his classmates. And most importantly, he had not ended up in the hospital wing. He counted that as a complete success.

TBC

Let me know what you think guys. Every kind of feedback is welcome (and might make me write and update faster, too ;) ).