Chapter 74, everybody! Yay, Hagrid's back!
So in the book Umbridge visits Hagrid the night before but uhhh we'll say Snips has kept her too harried for that. Also Blaise is quoting Sid from Ice Age and...since Cedric didn't die Harry starts off class a little baffled. As for the Thestral page in the Monster Book of Monsters, that number is the first page that Thestrals are mentioned in book 5.
In other news...okay thinking on it and the Thestrals run into the same issue that the Acromantulas do in Hogwarts Legacy if they were introduced in the nineteen-somethings then they really shouldn't have been around Hogwarts during that time.
Gardengirl6, thanks for the reviews! I might have meant Burbage, I know I was misspelling Professor Grubbly-Plank's name for a while...ah thanks, but I can't take credit for that—"yarp" comes from the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series, definitely recommend it.
Slytherinsal, thanks for the review! Funny you mention bites to the posterior element considering what happens this chapter. XD
Missy96, thanks for the review! Thank you, glad you like it—and yes, Snips teaming up with the twins has been very interesting. :D
Juxshoa, thanks for the review! Oh most definitely...
Harry Potter © 1997 J.K. Rowling
Harry, Ron and Hermione immediately stormed down to Hagrid's hut upon registering that a light was on and smoke was coming out of the chimney.
"ORIGHT! Not even home fer five minutes—oi!" Hagrid exclaimed, beaming as he spotted them. "Wot are yeh lot doin' here, ain't even got tea on yet—get in, think we got time afore curfew—"
"So you look awful," Ron observed as they filed in, Harry and Hermione tackling Hagrid in a hug. Indeed, Hagrid looked like he had gone a few rounds with a troll and lost. "What happened?"
"Oh—er," Hagrid said, checking the windows to make sure they weren't being eavesdropped on. "You lot can't be tellin' anybody, o' course…Dumbledore asked me an' Madame Olympe, since I was out an' abroad already visiting Nora, you see…."
Which is when he filled them in on visiting giants, telling them how it all went as he made them tea. The answer, unfortunately, was not well.
"So…the dragons didn't elect you their leader?" Ron asked when he finished.
"Nah, yer brother Charlie's got that title," Hagrid said, waving him off.
"On the one hand, I'm out ten knuts," Ron said, digging in a pocket. "On the other…yeah that sounds like Charlie."
"Yeah…but you lot'd better get back up ta th' castle—want yeh nice and rested up fer me first class back!" Hagrid said, winking—or he would have, if his one eye hadn't been swelled shut.
This definitely felt like a good thing, though, even with Hagrid reporting the issues with the giants, and not even the persisting dream of the hall and the door could dampen Harry's mood that night.
Not everyone looked excited to see Hagrid back come next Care of Magical Creatures—Harry was sure some, like Lavender and Parvati, were missing the 'cuter' creatures that Professor Grubbly-Plank had shown them, and the rest were still remembering the Skrewts.
Hagrid's haggard and bruised appearance didn't help matters.
"Good grief what happened to him?" Seamus asked.
"If whatever we're studying this year did that to Hagrid, I'm done," Blaise said. "I'm done, I'm owling it all in, it was fun while it lasted but I choose life."
"C'mon then—t'day wot we're studying is in here, been savin' th' forest trips fer fifth year," Hagrid said, heaving up a side of something with ribs and a leg and heading into the forest. "Don't dawdle, can't guarantee what happens ta stragglers."
"Tell me how class went," Blaise decided, heading back for the castle.
Seamus hesitated, followed Blaise, a couple of other students joining them—the rest of them followed Hagrid into the woods and to a clearing. Not without a healthy dose of trepidation, one of the first things they were told was that the Forbidden Forest was called that for a reason, and Harry (and possibly Neville and Draco) were most definitely thinking about their experience in these woods first year.
"Now, ken anyone tell me what it is we're studying today?" Hagrid asked once the meat was on the ground and everyone was settled.
"Why, did you forget to bring them?" Draco asked, which got a small round of titters. Harry looked at the others, saw that one or two were looking at something, tried to figure out what it was they were seeing as Neville tentatively raised a hand.
"Oright Neville, don' get ta call on yeh often," Hagrid said encouragingly. "Tell us wot it is we're looking at."
"Thestrals," Neville said quietly. Cleared his throat and tried again. "Thestrals."
"Tha's right, very good Neville—five points, and I'll give yeh another five if yeh can tell us why the rest can't see 'em."
"B-because you can only see them if—if you've seen somebody die."
Dead silence, finally punctuated by a shriek—Harry looked to see that the haunch of meat Hagrid had thrown down looked like it was being eaten by thin air.
"That's right, nother five points fer Gryffindor—now I know this is a personal question, but 'ow many of you ken see them?" Hagrid asked, raising his own hand—very few students followed suit. "Can't say that's a bad thing—iffen yeh look at page 196 of yer Monster book yeh can see wot they look like—"
"Hem hem."
Hagrid—who had not yet had the displeasure of meeting Umbridge—looked at the lump of meat again, like he thought one of the Thestrals had come down with something. Harry, who had unfortunately had the displeasure, groaned deeply before turning to glower at Umbridge.
"Ten points from Gryffindor for that face, Mr. Potter," she tutted, tapping her quill against her clipboard as she marched up to Hagrid. "Er, Mister…Hagrid, correct?"
"Yes?" Hagrid noised, looking bemused at her appearance. "Ken I help you?"
"You received a letter today informing you of your inspection, correct?"
"I got a letter, been a mite too busy ta read it just yet—teachin' class right now, yeh see—"
"As the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, it is my job to inspect your class," Umbridge said, tone pitched like she was talking to a small, mostly-deaf child and peeved that she had to do so. "The letter would have told you this, had you bothered to read it, or if you had bothered to be here at the start of term instead of absent for several weeks."
"High wot?" Hagrid asked, baffled. "Good grief—ma'am, I really do got ta focus on class here—"
"And what is it you're teaching them about?"
"Thestrals—oh wait yeh might not be able ta see them. Anyone got their books open ta the Thestral page? Thanks, Ron—see? Illustration really don't do them justice, pity 'bout the death thing—"
"Are you aware," Umbridge said, still sounding like she was talking to someone slow and hard of hearing. "That the Ministry has classified Thestrals as highly dangerous?"
"Only if yeh fall off 'em while flyin' on one, and since yeh gotta see 'em first that's a low chance," Hagrid said, handing Ron's book back. "Now—this herd here is probably the only trained herd in Britain, trained 'em meself—"
"Are they safe?" Parvati asked, looking like one had possibly brushed up against her.
"'Course they are—matter 'o fact yeh encounter 'em on the regular, this herd here pulls the carriages fer the school. Dumbledore even flies 'em sometimes when 'e don't feel like Apparatin'—ah wait a 'mo, I got summat. Remember that revelio spell you lot learned last year?"
They did, and after the first cast Harry decided that he preferred his Thestrals invisible—they were leathery lizard-like horses with bat wings that looked horribly underfed and bony.
"How's that working? It do it fer yeh? Parvati yeh ken look, y'know," Hagrid said, looking at her.
"No," Parvati said, eyes firmly covered. "We learned in Divination that they're bad luck—if you see them—"
"That's really jus' the death thing," Hagrid assured her. "These blokes get a lot of superstition attached to them—"
"Do you consider the creatures Professor Hagrid shows you to be dangerous?" Umbridge asked some of the Slytherins.
"Yes," Pansy said.
"Absolutely," Draco said. "Because anything is dangerous if you aggravate it long enough. Me included."
Umbridge narrowed her eyes at him, like she wasn't sure if he was coming down on her side or not—Hagrid looked concerned and a bit bothered.
"Ma'am," Hagrid said. "Ken yeh give me a few minutes? I'm trying ta teach the students and kind of need them focused up here afore the revelio fades. Now this fella is our oldest one, easily me favorite—Tenebrus, first male we got, those five over there real quick, those were the females we started with—they eat meat and are attracted ta blood, also like eatin' birds but we've trained them not to go after owls—"
"Would you consider Professor Hagrid to be a good teacher?" Umbridge asked Neville.
"Uh?" Neville noised, startled. "Uh—yes?"
"Students…are…too…intimidated…to…say…anything," Umbridge muttered as she wrote on her clipboard.
"No it's not that—"
"Oi," Hagrid noised, now firmly irritated. "Miss—who are you again?"
"Professor Dolores Umbridge, senior undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and High Inquisitor of Hogwarts," Umbridge snapped at him.
"Oright. I'm willin' ta sit with yeh over tea after class and discuss things, but unless yeh stand back and simmer down, yer actually disturbin' th' class. Yeh don't want to be agitatin' an animal with yer attitude, that way leads yeh ta gettin' hurt."
"Are you threatening me?" Umbridge demanded.
"I'm tellin' yeh. If we were coverin' Hippogriffs right now I'd be havin' ta cut the class short to take yeh ta the Hospital Wing!"
"Well I never—"
What she never did was lost on everyone—Harry had noted Snips flying over to one of the Thestrals as they faded, chattering something in its ear before clinging to its opposite side. If Harry had to guess, he had asked it to bite Umbridge on the posterior and it had been more than happy to oblige.
"No—bad Tenebrus. See?" Hagrid asked. "Yeh took a perfectly well-trained Thestral and drove him ta nippin'. Are yeh okay?"
Umbridge narrowed her eyes at him. "You can expect my report on your teaching ability very soon."
And with that, she huffed her way back up to the castle.
"Well that don't sound good," Hagrid decided.
It was not.
"Probation?" Harry demanded over tea at Hagrid's the next day. "What does that even mean?"
"Means she'll be monitorin' every single one of me classes," Hagrid sighed. "Gonna have ta change me curriculum, was gonna show you lot some good ones this year—"
"Can't you contest it?" Hermione asked.
"Brought it up ta Dumbledore, explained th' situation…blinkin' toad's got his hands tied, though. Dunno wot she got going on in that head o' hers."
"She's foul," Hermione said vehemently. "She isn't teaching us any magic, and then she pulls stunts like what she did to you on the other teachers!"
"To be fair, her trying it with McGonagall is going to be my Patronus memory," Ron said, reminiscing. "That was glorious."
"Ron."
"She's already done it to Trelawney," Harry said. "Got her wound up so bad she's started wandering the halls."
"She's at every class too," Ron said. "Umbridge, I mean, Trelawny's got to be there since it's her class—been bugging her at every turn, asking her this and that and the other and getting her so turned around she can't teach."
"I'm sure it won't be nearly that bad," Hermione assured a concerned-looking Hagrid.
Hermione, unfortunately, was wrong.