Tea leaves and a mortifying prediction
When Harry, Luna, Padma, and Lisa entered the Great Hall the next morning, they were greeted immediately by one of Harry’s roommates, Anthony, who gave them all separate papers.
"New third year timetables," he said, as they walked to the table. “Professor Flitwick asked me to give you guys yours. Haz, I thought yours is kind of messed up, but he said it was alright. Did you really sign up for everything?”
Harry shrugged. “Not Muggle studies. Why, is something the matter with my timetable?”
“Er,” Anthony was now looking very apprehensive. “Just check it.”
His subjects weren’t what he entirely expected. He’d had Divination, Arithmancy, and Transfiguration that morning, and after lunch, he had two classes at once. “Okay, maybe they are kinda messed up, but it’s not a problem.”
“Totally not a problem,” said Lisa, peering over Harry's shoulder. "Um, that’s, like, ten classes a day. That is crazy time, too-- you have two classes at once after lunch! That’s not- oh, er, it is!”
Anthony turned to her, “What do you mean, it is ? Two classes at once-- he’ll get detention!”
"What are you lot talking about?" asked Stephen, one of Anthony's friends, trying his best to get "who's getting detention?"
"Harry!" said Anthony. "He's got two classes at once after lunch!"
"Eurgh," Stephen groaned. "That happened to my mum when she was here. She took up too many classes and had to get her schedule fixed-- you might want to go up and get that worked out now-- before you get detention for missing a class."
"Oh, don't worry about it,” said Luna, and she reached across the table to pat Stephen's hand; she looked rather unsympathetic, and he seemed to catch onto this, retracting his hand and muttering something that sounded like, "LoonyLovegood."
Luna, if she heard, didn't seem to mind-- she continued speaking, still smiling, “It’s all worked out, so it’ll be alright.”
"But-- but-- look at this morning!" Anthony argued, "Nine o'clock, Divination, Ten-thirty, Arithmancy, twelve o’clock, Transfiguration! Harry ’ll be across the castle all morning! And- and this afternoon!"
Harry shrugged. “Yeah, I know, Anty-- pass the marmalade, Luna-- but, really, it is worked out. You don’t have to worry.”
“Er-- uh, right,” Anthony nodded unconvincingly. He and Stephen shared a look, and both grimaced momentarily. “Right. It’s figured out. Good luck in detention, mate.”
Hagrid entered the Great Hall. He was wearing his long moleskin overcoat and absentmindedly swinging a dead polecat in one hand.
"All righ'?" He asked eagerly, pausing on the way to the staff table. "Yeh ‘re in me firs' ever lesson! Righ' after lunch! Bin up since five, gettin' everythin' ready... hope it's okay... me bein' a teacher, hones'ly.."
He grinned at them broadly and walked up to the staff table, still swinging the polecat.
Anthony frowned. "Glad I don’t take Beasts class.”
“Care for Magical Creatures,” Padma corrected. “It’s not Beasts anymore, Anthony. They changed that, like, three decades ago, you idiot.”
"Well,” Lisa blurted. “We ought to get going. We’ve got to get to Divination-- I’m not entirely sure where the class is, but I know it’s super high up.”
"North Tower," said Luna, and Lisa groaned. “Yeah, we've got to go to the North Tower. So... fun. I love climbing twenty flights of stairs... for one class.”
They’d met Draco on the way up the Grand staircase-- unlike them, he seemed as though he really didn’t want to go to Divination.
“It’s hardly a real subject,” he said. “Mother told me her sister took it and it was almost part of why she went mental. The only reason I even considered it is--”
“Because you like feeling like you know better?” suggested Lisa, and Luna snorted, laughing. And she continued to laugh until they reached the landing of a seventh staircase, there was nothing but a painting of a large stretch of grass on the wall.
"Do we have to go to this class?" Draco whined, for about the fourth time.
"Considering we’ve already come up all these stairs... I'd think so." said Padma tiredly. "You're totally free to skip anyway. I'm sure you could just buy your way out of detention-- as long as it's not a teacher with any sense. Snape 'll let you off scot-free."
Draco rolled his eyes, scowling. Padma flashed her teeth at him, smiling.
"Is it down that way?" Lisa wondered, peering down a passage to the right. “I think I see more stairs.”
"Can't be," said Draco. "that's south."
“What? How can you tell?”
“You can see the black lake out there, nimwit-- and look at the--”
“Nevermind, nevermind! I get it, it’s not the right way! Sorry I asked, nerd. I don't need to know, like, the clouds are two degrees off the wrong angle or something.”
Luna snorted, patting Draco's shoulder as he turned pink and his ears fell lower.
Harry was watching the painting. A dapple-grey pony just ambled out into the field and was grazing nonchalantly. Harry was a bit more than used to seeing the portraits of Hogwarts moving around on their own and wandering, as if still perfectly alive, and he enjoyed watching them. It was really fascinating. A moment later, a squat knight in a suit of armour had clanked into the picture after his pony. By the look of the grass stains on his metal knees, he had fallen off the pony when out of frame.
"Aha!" He yelled upon seeing them. "What villains are these that trespass upon my private lands! Come to scorn at my fall, perchance? Draw, you knaves, you dogs!"
Harry heard Draco scoff from behind him as the little knight tugged his sword out of its scabbard and began brandishing it violently, hopping up and down in rage. But the sword was too large for him to hold; A particularly wild swing made him overbalance, and he landed face down in the grass.
"Are you alright?" asked Luna, moving closer to the picture.
"Back, you scurvy braggart! Retreat, you rogue!"
The knight seized his sword again and tried to use it to push himself back up, but the blade sank deeply into the grass and, though it seemed he pulled at it with all his might, he couldn't get it out again. Finally he flopped back down onto the grass and pushed up his visor to mop his sweating face.
"Say, Mr Knight," said Luna, looking like she’d gotten a brilliant idea, "you wouldn't happen to know the way to the North Tower, would you?"
"A quest!" The knight's exhaustion faded quickly. He hopped to his feet and shouted; "Come follow me, dear friends, and we shall find our goal, or else shall perish bravely in the charge!"
He gave one more tug at the sword, tried and failed to mount the pony, gave up, and cried, "On foot then, good sirs and gentle ladies! On! On!"
He ran, clanking loudly, to the left side of the frame and out of sight.
"Are we really doing this?" said Draco.
"What other option have we got?" Harry insisted, listening for the sound of the knight's armour.
They all rushed after the knight, following the loud clanking of his armour. Every now and then, they caught him running through a picture.
"Be stout of heart, the worst is yet to come!" yelled the knight from up ahead, and he suddenly reappeared before an alarmed group of women, whose picture hung on the wall of a narrow spiral staircase.
"More stairs! Ugh, more!" shouted Padma crisply. Her voice echoed in the stairwell.
When they finally got near the top, becoming dizzier and dizzier, they heard the murmur of voices above, and knew they had reached the classroom.
"Thank god," puffed Lisa, collapsing upon landing.
"Farewell!" chimed the knight from a painting nearby. "Farewell, my comrades in arms! If you ever have need of noble heart and steely sinew, call upon Sir Cadogan!"
"We'll call you," Luna nodded, and the knight disappeared.
"If we ever need someone completely out of their mind." Draco muttered while Harry and Padma pulled Lisa off the ground.
Most of the class had already been assembled, but there wasn't a door to the classroom. Ron and Hermione were included. There was a circular trapdoor with a brass plague on it, but nothing else. 'Sybill Trelawney, Divination Teacher', it read.
"How do we get up there?" said Ron. "A teacher can't give us detention if we can't get into the class, can they?"
As though teasing him, the trapdoor suddenly opened, and a silver ladder fell right before them. They had all gone silent.
When no one else stepped forward, Harry decided he ought to--
"I guess I'll go first..." he muttered, putting his foot on the bottom rung.
He emerged into the strangest-looking classroom he had ever seen. In fact, it didn't look like a classroom at all-- much more like a cross between someone's attic and an old-fashioned teashop. At least twenty small, circular tables were crammed inside it, all surrounded by chintz armchairs and stubby little pouffes. Everything was lit with a dim, crimson light; the curtains at the windows were all closed, and the many lamps were draped with dark red scarves. It was stiflingly warm, and the fire which was burning under the crowded mantelpiece was giving off a heavy, sickly sort of perfume as it heated a large, copper kettle. The shelves running around the circular walls were crammed with dusty-looking feathers, stubs of candles, many packs of tattered playing cards, countless silvery crystal balls and a huge array of teacups.
Draco appeared at Harry's side, followed by Luna, then Ron, Hermione, Padma, and Lisa, as the class swarmed around them, talking in hushed tones.
"You’re kidding,” whispered Draco. “She’s not even here. Ridiculous--”
A voice came out of the shadows, sounding incredibly soft and misty.
"Welcome," it said. "How nice to see you in the physical world at last."
Harry immediately thought of a large, glittering insect as Trelawney moved into view. She was very thin; Her large glasses magnified her eyes to several times their natural size, and she was draped in a gauzy spangled shawl. Innumerable chains and beads hung around her spindly neck, and her arms and hands bared bangles and rings.
"Sit, my children, sit," she insisted, and everyone climbed awkwardly into armchairs or sank into pouffes. Harry sat with Draco and Hermione at one of the small round tables, and while Ron, Luna, and Lisa found their own, Padma went to sit with Parvati and Lavender Brown.
"Welcome to Divination," said Trelawney, who had seated herself in a winged armchair infront of the fire. "My name is Professor Trelawney. You may not have seen me before. I find that descending too often into the hustle and bustle of the main school clouds my Inner Eye."
Nobody said anything to the peculiar saying. Trelawney delicately rearranged her shawl and continued, unaffected. "So you have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts... I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you... books can take you only so far in this field."
Hermione scoffed, which, oddly, put the growing pit in Harry's stomach to ease.
"Many witches and wizards, talented though they are in an area of loud bangs and smells and sudden disappearances, are yet unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of the future," Trelawney went on, her large eyes looking from face to face. "It is a Gift granted to few. You, boy--" she turned suddenly to Neville, who almost toppled over.
"Is your grandmother well?"
"I think so," said Neville tremulously.
"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you, dear. You--" Trelawney said, pointing at Amanda Snuffleft, a Ravenclaw girl. "You may want to go home this Christmas."
"What?" Amanda gasped, and she had begun snivelling worriedly. “Why? Is something going to happen? Something bad?”
Trelawney did not answer. Instead, she continued, "Now, we will be covering the basic methods of Divination this year. The first term will be devoted to reading the tea leaves. Next term we shall progress to palmistry. By the way, dear," she shot suddenly at Parvati. "beware a red-haired man."
Parvati and Padma turned to look eachother, and then at Ron. Either one moved their chair away as much as possible. Ron looked at Padma ridiculously, who sent back a stern look.
"In the second term," Trelawney went on, "we shall progress to the crystal ball-- if we have finished with fire omens, that is. Unfortunately, class will be disrupted in February by a nasty bout of flu. I myself will lose my voice. And around Easter, one- no, two-- of our number will leave us forever."
"I hope one of them is me," muttered Draco, and Harry snorted. "Shut it."
"I wonder dear," said Trelawney unknowingly, turning to Lavender Brown, who was nearby and sank in her chair, as if prepared to hear the worst of news. "if you could pass me the largest silver teapot?"
Lavender, incredibly relieved, stood up and took an enormous tea pot from the shelf, and put it down on the table infront of Trelawney.
"Thank you, my dear. Incidentally, that you are dreading-- it was happen on Friday, the sixteenth of October."
Lavender’s smile fell at once and she trembled in her spot.
"'Now, I want you all to divide into groups. Collect a teacup from the shelf, come to me and I will fill it. Then sit down and drink; drink until only the dregs remain. Swill these around the cup three times with the left hand, then turn the cup upside-down on its saucer; wait for the last of the tea to drain away, then give your cup to your partner to read. You will interpret the patterns using pages five and six of Unfogging the Future. I shall move among you, helping and instructing. Oh, and dear--" she caught Neville by the arm as he went to stand up. "After you've broken your first cup, would you be so kind as to select one of the blue patterned ones? I'm rather attached to the pink."
Sure enough, as soon as Neville reached the shelf of teacups, there was the loud sound of broken china. Trelawney swept over, holding a dustpan and brush, saying, "The blue, dear, the blue, if you wouldn't mind... thank you..."
When Harry, Hermione, and Draco had gotten their own teacups filled, they had gone back to the table and started up a short conversation instead of drinking the tea hot. When the tea had been fully drunken, they swilled the kegs around as Trelawney instructed, then drained the cups and swapped.
Draco flipped his book to pages five and six. "Can you see anything?" He asked, squinting into the cup in his own hand.
"Nothing that actually looks like anything..." Harry said, taking off his glasses to rub his eyes. The perfumed smoke was making him feel drowsy and things made much less sense than they should've, and his headache was getting worse. He could’ve sworn he was hearing things, but it was too hard to focus and remember if he really had been.
"Broaden your minds, my sears, and allow your minds to see past the mundane!" Trelawney cried through the confused gloom.
“Broaden your minds,” Hermione mimicked under her breath. She’d turned around the cup in her hands about seven times. “As - if! ”
Harry pulled himself together and brushed away the smoke near him. Things bad begun to look a bit more clear, but his headache was steadily getting worse.
"I think that’s... a skull..." He looked at Unfogging the Future uncertainly. The page was blurry, but if he squinted... "So there's danger in your path, Mione... but this is Hogwarts... and then there's, er, what looks like a sun... that means- er- great happiness... so you're going to be in danger, but you'll be... happy about it? There’s an apple, maybe, so, good knowledge... maybe?"
"I think you need a new Inner Eye," Draco joked, and they had to stifle their laughs as Trelawney gazed their way.
“Right, er, Draco,” said Hermione, turning the cup three times more. “Club... that’s an attack, but seriously, that’s nothing surprising. Uh, what’s that, an... oh, nevermind, it’s not even in the book... what’s that there, a, er,” she was nearly going to snap her neck with how much she had tilted her head. “Is that a sun? Oh, I can’t... a..? Some kind of animal, but it’s not a falcon... I don’t think...”
“Brilliant Divination skills, Mione,” Harry whispered, and she scoffed. “This class is a joke. Half the shapes I saw weren’t even in the book. Divination itself is finicky, at best, and it’s in the worst way-- you’ve got to be delusional to trust anything about it, really.”
"Finicky’s a stretch," Draco said, peering into Harry's teacup. "Haven’t got very high hopes for yours, Floppy... that's not even a shape, I don't think..." He spun the teacup another direction, and looked at his copy of Unfogging the Future out the corner of his eye. "Think that's an acorn.... A windfall, unexpected gold... that's nice and all... and that's a cross," he spun the cup again. "That looks like... a fox? Now that just doesn't look like anything. That’s a falcon, probably, but we already know about that..."
Trelawney whirled around as Hermione tried to peek into the teacup. “That’s not a fox, I don’t think.”
"If you'd let me see that, dear," said Trelawney, sweeping over and taking the cup from Draco's hands before he could answer. Everyone had been staring, having gone silent to watch.
Trelawney was staring deeply into the cup, rotating it multiple times.
"Yes... the falcon... you have a deadly enemy, my dear.."
"Well, like I said, we already know that," muttered Draco. Trelawney turned to stare at him. "What, did I not say it loud enough for the whole class to hear the first time?"
"He's right, you know," said Hermione suddenly. "Everyone knows all about Harry and You-Know-Who, you don't need a bunch of tea leaves to tell you that much."
Harry noticed Ron at first, looking at her with a shocked expression. Reasonably, of course; she had never spoken to a teacher so harshly before. Trelawney chose not to respond, looking back into Harry's teacup.
"The club... an attack... oh my, this is not a happy cup..."
"Anyone could've told you that it wasn't going to be anything good," said Padma loudly, and Lisa snorted. Parvati elbowed her sister's side staring at Trelawney with a transfixed look.
"The skull... danger in your path..." continued Trelawney, ignoring them.
Everyone else had been staring too, just as transfixed as Parvati, at Trelawney, who turned the cup once more, then gasped with a following scream.
There was the sound of another broken china; Samantha Puckle- a friend of Hermione’s- had broken her cup this time. Trelawney sunk into a vacant armchair, her hand over her heart and her eyes shut tightly.
"My dear boy... my poor, dear boy.. No, it is kinder not to say... no, don't ask me..."
"Professor, what is it?" asked Michael- one of Harry’s dormmates- at once. Everyone had been on their feet, and crowded around Harry, Hermione, and Draco's table, pressing close to Trelawney's chair to get a good look at Harry's teacup.
"My dear," Trelawney said, turning to Harry dramatically.
"You have... the Grim."
"What?" asked Harry unbelievingly. “Grim?”
Nearly everyone clasped their hands over their mouths in horror. Samantha had started sobbing loudly.
"The Grim! Oh my dear, the Grim!" cried Trelawney, "The giant spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear boy, it is an omen-- the very worst omen-- the omen of death!"
Hermione stood up suddenly and walked around to the back of Trelawney's chair.
"That doesn't look like a Grim!" she said sharply. “It’s a general dog- and there’s so many symbols not in that book that I’m surprised you can read those leaves properly at all!”
Trelawney stared at Hermione with a mounting dislike.
"You'll forgive me for saying so, my dear, but I perceive very little aura around you. Very little receptivity to the resonances of the future."
Michael was tilting his head from side to side over her shoulder as she spoke.
"It looks like a Grim if you do this..." he said, his eyes squinted so tightly they nearly looked closed. "But it looks much more like an odd donkey from here.." he said, leaning the opposite direction.
"If you're all done deciding whether I'm as good as dead or not!" Harry shouted, yet nobody seemed to want to look at him.
Hermione sighed, breaking the silence. "Come on, Harry, we're leaving," she said, grabbing her bag and walking back to the trapdoor. Harry got his things together quickly and followed.
Once he joined her at the bottom of the ladder, she dragged him down the winding stairs, and into the nearest empty corridor.
"What class have you got next?” she asked. “I’ve got Arithmancy." She paused, and she hesitated before asking, "Also, is Quinn-- er, the one that got sorted, into Slytherin- is he-?”
Harry nodded. “He’s our brother. And, er- I think I’ve got Arithmancy too. I think if we run, we might get there early."
"Right,” Hermione nodded. “We’ll talk about it later, won’t we?”
“Yeah, we will, but do you know where we’re going?”
"Er... maybe."
Arithmancy class, taught by Professor Vector, was much like the version of maths he had seen the older kids in Muggle primary school complaining about having to learn. Arithmancy, although probably different from algebra, made more sense than they made it seem. Although, if he was being very honest, Hermione understood it much better than he did. If only Padma had the same period for Arithmancy as them...
Then next class period was Transfiguration. Admittedly, Harry wasn’t very excited. In Arithmancy, there was hardly anyone who’d signed up for Divination, and not a single person Harry recognised from that morning’s class, anyway. But today, he would be sharing Transfiguration with the Gryffindors.
They were reasonably early, and both took seats at the back of the classroom. When the rest of the class had arrived, the two were met with a bit of a surprise.
"Harry, Hermione! God, I thought you two had really disappeared," Lisa said tiredly, dropping into the seat infront of them. Ron sat in the spot beside her, while Padma and Luna took the table beside Harry and Hermione's. Apparently, whatever luck Harry had for Arithmancy, he’d already lost-- nearly everyone in this class had been in Divination.
And he noticed at once-- it didn't pass Harry's notice that the rest of the class was looking at him worriedly, as if he'd drop dead at any moment. When Professor McGonagall had begun to teach, she told them about Animagi- wizards and witches who could transform into an animal at will- and Harry caught Lisa's eye. He assumed Padma was looking at them too. Suddenly, Professor McGonagall transformed herself into a tabby cat with spectacle markings around her eyes.
Lisa gasped excitedly, and only the three of them- and Luna, Ron, and Hermione- had clapped at the presentation, but they soon went silent when nobody else did so either.
"Really, what has gotten into you all today?" said Professor McGonagall, turning back into herself very simply, and looking around the whole class. "Not that it matters, but that's the first time my transformation's not gotten a full applause from a class."
Everyone turned to look at Harry once again, but nobody said a word. Hermione rolled her eyes, and raised her hand.
"We've had our first Divination class, ma'am, we were reading tea leaves, and--"
"Ah, of course," said Professor McGonagall, suddenly frowning. "There is no need to say anymore. Tell me which of you will be dying this year?"
Everyone in the room stared at her.
Seriously? Harry thought, looking around at the silent class. "Me.”
"That is undeniably unshocking," said Professor McGonagall, looking at him. "you should know, Potter, that Sybill Trelawney has "predicted" the death of one student a year since she arrived at the school. Not a single one of them have died yet. Seeing death omens is her favourite way of greeting a new class, I'd assume. Ah- of course, not that I'd ever speak ill of my colleagues..."
She broke off, and they all saw that her nostrils had gone white. She went on, sounding much calmer. "Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. I shall not conceal from you that I have very little patience with it. True seers are very rare, and Professor Trelawney..."
She stopped again, and when she next spoke, she said so in a very matter-of-factly tone, "You look in perfectly excellent health to me, Potter, so you will forgive me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not worry about handing it in."
Harry couldn't help the laugh that escaped him, and it seems Hermione couldn't either. It was much easier to think when there wasn't the dim light and dizzying fumes of the Divination classroom making his never-ending headache worse. Yet, not many others in the class were convinced.
Lisa and Padma weren't included in the many, but Ron was looking incredibly nervous, and Luna didn’t seem to be paying very much attention, looking up as if something were flying around.
When the class had finished, they had to fight through the crowd of students going the opposite way. Harry, Hermione, and -fortunately- Draco, had been rushing up the stairs; The Ancient Runes class had been on the sixth floor, and they'd be lucky to make it in time.
They were barely late, but luckily enough, they weren't the only ones who had been slightly confused for their first day, so they hadn't suffered any repercussions. The class was incredibly interesting as a whole; Professor Babbling spent the entire class period teaching them about the different types of number runes and what they meant before dismissing them in a rather cheerful manner.
This time, they didn't have to push or shove anybody to get down the stairs, as mainly everyone has been trying to get down as quickly as they. When they’d gotten to the Great Hall, the others had grouped up at Ravenclaw table-- as nobody wanted to sit at Slytherin table, and Draco and Lisa refused to sit with the Gryffindor’s. Luna was missing, however-- Harry supposed she’d gone to sit with Ginny.
It was awkwardly silent when he and Hermione sat.
"Ron, cheer up," said Hermione over the table, when she noticed he looked the most tense of all. "Oh, don't tell me you're still hung up on Harry's tea leaves. You heard what Professor McGonagall said."
Ron got himself a bowl of stew and picked up his fork but didn't begin to eat.
"Harry," he said solemnly, "You haven't seen a great black dog anywhere, have you?"
"Ron!" Lisa said sharply.
"I have," said Harry casually, "It was probably a stray. Saw it about a month ago, when I left the Dursleys."
Ron's fork fell with a clatter.
Draco scoffed, and he poked Harry’s neck. "He's still here, you know. Incase you haven't noticed, he's not a ghost, Weasley,"
"Yes, see, there you are, perfectly alive," Hermione said, ruffling his hair.
"Get off!" He laughed, brushing her and Draco off.
"Anyhow," Hermione continued, "The Grim is not an omen, it's the cause of death, if anything. People see it and get so horrified that they die of fright. And Harry's still here because he's not stupid enough to see a large black dog, assume its a Grim, and think, ' right, well, I'd better kick the bucket then!' "
"I agree with her," said Padma. "I had a great-aunt that saw a Grim once, but she wasn't drop-dead horrified, and you know how long it was until she died? Seven - years."
"Divination's a real joke, if you ask me, and Trelawney's probably mental," Lisa agreed, "but I've only got one other elective class, and Mr Flitwick I've got no choice but to stay until I can switch out. It's so lame."
"Well, Hermione, Professor Trelawney said you didn't have the right aura! And Lisa, you were asleep for most of the class!" said Ron hotly. "You two just don't like not being good at something for once! Excuse me for being worried!"
He had said the wrong thing, for they both gasped, looking at him angrily-- Lisa slammed her hand so hard on the table that her plate flipped over, and Hermione's goblet went flying, spilling juice on the floor.
"If being good at Divination means I have to pretend to see death omens in a lump of soggy tea leaves then I'm not sure I'll be studying it much longer! That lesson alone is and always will be absolute rubbish compared to any other class I'll ever take!" Hermione said, before she snatched up her bag and stormed off.
"Divination is the least accurate form of magic to ever exist,” Draco pointed out. “if pointing out the most obvious things in the world makes us good at it, we may as well be taking the NEWTs."
Lisa scoffed, putting her plate back right. "First time I’ll ever agree with you, Draco! Now if you don't mind, I think we'd better get to Care for Magical Creatures, because it'll be a right shame if you were found late to one of the two elective classes you have!"
When they had left the castle after lunch, they found Hermione, looking much calmer. Her tone, however, easily suggested otherwise- “I’m not talking about Divination anymore,” she said simply. “It’s a ridiculous topic, and Harry’s perfectly alive infront of us. End - of - discussion.”
The momentary silence gave Harry a chance to breathe as they got a good view of outside; The rain from yesterday had cleared-- the sky was a pale grey and the ground was damp as they set off for their first Care for Magical Creatures class.
Hermione and Ron weren't speaking to eachother, and Lisa was feeling very temperamental, so Draco, Luna, Harry, and Padma kept to themselves with conversing as they walked down the lawn to Hagrid's hut.
Hagrid was waiting for the class at the door of his hut. He stood in the moleskin overcoat, Fang the boarhound at his heels, looking slightly impatient.
"C'mon, now, get a move on!" He called as they approached. "Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"
For a near moment, Harry thought Hagrid was taking them into the Forbidden Forest, and he wasn't the only one; Harry had enough unpleasant experiences in particular, but the Forbidden Forest wasn't ever near pleasant in general. However, Hagrid strolled off around the edge of the trees, and a couple minutes later, the class was outside something looking like a paddock.
"Everyone 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--"
"How?" asked Draco.
"Eh?"
"How do we open our books?" repeated Draco, taking out his copy of The Monster Book of Monsters; It had been bound shut with a rope. Other people took out theirs- some had theirs belted shut, others had squeezed them within tight bags or clamped them together with binder clips. Hermione's had been sellotaped shut. Harry hadn't held his book closed in any way-- he was a bit surprised nobody else knew, but then again, he found out on accident.
"Hasn'- hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?" Hagrid said, looking crestfallen.
"I have," said Harry, raising his hand.
"Perfec'! Mind showin' us, Harry?"
Harry picked up his book and nodded. The book tried to bite him, but when Harry slid his finger down its spine, it shivered and fell open to the first page.
Hagrid clapped happily; Many followed Harry's actions, and the books did the same, opening to the first page. A few had something negative to say about it, and they certainly weren't quiet about it. And Hagrid certainly heard.
"I-- I thought they were funny," he mumbled.
"They are, it's just a bit difficult to laugh when they're biting you," Harry swore, and Hagrid nodded sadly.
"Yeah, real funny, biting books that none of us know how to open..." grumbled Draco, ripping the rope off his copy. The book made a move to bite his hand, but he had been quicker.
"Come on, Snowflake, give Hagrid a break, it's his first class." Harry said quietly, nudging Draco's arm. He went very pink and very quiet.
Hagrid, meanwhile, had been looking slightly distraught.
"Righ' then," He said, seeming to have lost his prior excitement, "so-- so yeh've got yer books an'- an'- now yeh need the Magical Creatures. Yeah-- so I'll go an' get 'em. Hang on..."
He strode away, and eventually, out of sight.
"I hope Hagrid atleast has an idea of what he's doing," said Hermione hopefully, balling up the tape she had ripped off her book. "It won't look good for him if his very first lesson ends horribly."
"Hermione, it's Hagrid we're talking about.” said Lisa. “We'll be lucky if he doesn't pull a dragon out those woods."
Suddenly, Padma shushed them. "Do you hear that?" She asked, just as Lavender Brown squealed nearby.
Trotting into the paddock were a dozen of incredibly bizarre creatures. They had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings, and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with cruel steel-coloured beaks and large orange eyes. The talons on their front legs were looking to be growing long and deadly looking. Each of the creatures had a thick leather collar around it's neck attached to a long chain; All of their ends were in the hands of Hagrid, who came into the paddock behind them.
"Gee up, there!" He roared, shaking the chains and urging the creatures toward the fence where the class stood. Everyone drew back slightly as Hagrid reached them and tethered the creatures to the fence.
"Hippogriffs!" Hagrid said happily, waving a hand at them. "Beau'iful, aren' they?"
Harry could sort of see what he meant. When you got over the shock of seeing one at first, you'd appreciate how groomed the hippogriffs looked, all their coats different colours. They ranged greatly, from stormy gray, to bronze, to a pinkish roan, to gleaming chestnut, and an inky black.
"So," said Hagrid, rubbing his hands together and beaming, "if yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer--"
Nobody wanted to; Infact, many moved further back. Hagrid had yet to notice.
"Now the firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' hippogriffs is, they're proud," said Hagrid, "Easily offended, hippogriffs are. Don't ever insult one, 'cause it may be the las' thing yeh do.
"Yeh always wait for the hippogriff to make the first move," He continued, still unaware of the class moving further back. "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't bow, then get away from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt.
"Righ'-- who wants ter go first?"
Most of the class had backed so far away that they probably hadn't even heard all of what he'd said. Harry, who hadn't been paying very much attention, would've still been leaning on the fence if Draco hadn't pulled him back at the last second. The hippogriffs were tossing their heads and flexing their wings; It didn't seem they liked being tethered up.
"No one?" said Hagrid with a pleading look.
"I'll do it," Harry said, raising his hand, and he found the urge to sigh. He probably would've been the one to do it first anyhow. Hermione sent him a look. He shrugged in response, climbing over the paddock fence.
"Good man, Harry!" roared Hagrid. "Right then-- let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak."
He untied one of the chains and pulled a grey hippogriff away from the bunch, slipping off the leather collar. The class on the other side of the paddock had been incredibly quiet.
"Easy now, Harry," said Hagrid quietly. "Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink... Hippogriffs don't trust yeh if yeh blink too much..."
Harry blinked just before Buckbeak turned his sharp head to stare, and Harry held his breath. "Tha's it," said Hagrid. "Tha's it, Harry... now, go on an' bow..."
Harry bowed down, giving him the chance to breathe for a moment, and looked up after a couple of seconds.
Buckbeak was still staring at him. He didn't move, nor did Harry.
"Ah," said Hagrid worriedly, "Righ'-- back away, now, Harry, easy does it--"
But suddenly, Buckbeak bent his scaly front knees and sank into what was unmistakably a bow.
"Well done, Harry!" Said Hagrid, ecstatic. "Righ'-- yeh can touch him! Pat his beak, go on!"
Harry moved slowly towards Buckbeak, his hand extended. He patted the beak several times and Buckbeak closed its eyes lazily, as though enjoying it.
The class broke into applause before Hagrid spoke again.
"Righ' then, Harry," he said, walking closer. "I think he migh' let yeh ride him now."
"Wait, what?"
Before he knew it, Hagrid had picked him up like a child and went to place him on Buckbeak's back.
"Hey, h-- Hagrid-- Hagrid, wait, I- w- no- no- no--"
Buckbeak stood up suddenly as Harry was dropped down.
"Just make sure yeh don' pull out any of his feathers, he won' like that," Hagrid said, and Harry didn't know what to do. He couldn't see anything but Buckbeak's feathers.
"Go on then," Hagrid said, slapping Buckbeak's hindquarters.
"Wait, wait?!"
Without warning, Buckbeak took a running start, and Harry barely had time to wrap his arms around Buckbeak's neck. Twelve-foot wings flapped open on either side of him before he was soaring upwards. Harry's eyes had been shut tight and his head held down to keep his glasses from flying off his face. It was only now that Harry realised; Buckbeak was no longer tethered to the paddock, if the gasps and noises growing further and further away were anything to go by.
When he was certain that it wouldn't end horribly, he opened his eyes and held his glasses against his face. To his amazement, it was a beautifully magnificent view-- Buckbeak had flown far way from the forest, and was currently above Hogwarts, the windows and classes going by in a flash, and the sky, though still grey, only added to it, for the sun was finally peering out the clouds.
The wind hitting his face was sharp, but oddly enough, in a calming way. Not much unlike when he flew on a broomstick, and that was one of the things he was best at. He could hear the rustle of leaves from the Whomping Willow, and the birds soaring even higher above. He could've sworn he'd heard a particularly loud class from the castle. Suddenly, they were soaring down-- towards the lake. As Buckbeak had gone past the boathouse, the Sun finally broke through the clouds, making the sky much brighter, and Buckbeak steadied out as they glided across the lake. Harry looked down into the water, but quickly withdrew just as he caught his reflection upon hearing a sharp whistle, and Buckbeak made way back for the paddock.
The landing was much more dreadful than Harry would've thought, leaning back so that he wouldn't flip over Buckbeak's head, but holding on so he wouldn't go sliding off the back, then the heavy thud as four ill-assorted feet hit the ground.
"Good work, Harry!" roared Hagrid, as Harry looked around. The other hippogriffs had already been untied, and all over the paddock, people were bowing nervously. Neville had been paired with Amanda and Samantha, both of whom jumped whenever he came running back, for their hippogriff refused to bend its knees. Ron and Padma had been begrudgingly working together on a chestnut hippogriff with Ismelda Senox, while Lisa, Luna, and Hermione practiced on one that was an inky black. Draco had been standing off to the side, seemingly not having a hippogriff to work on.
"We went ahead an' got started practicin' while yeh were havin' yer fun flyin' 'round with Buckbeak... knew 'e wouldn't hurt'cha. Malfoy! Yeh've got a hippogriff!" Hagrid said, calling Draco over as Harry got off Buckbeak.
"I have to use Buckbeak?" Draco asked, looking like he'd be much more pleased studying from his book.
"Well, Harry'll be helpin' yeh, so yeh've got nothin' to worry 'bout."
Fortunately, Buckbeak had bowed to Draco first try.
"This is easier than I thought it'd be.” he said, patting the beak, and Harry couldn't help but stare. He was rather good-looking, actually, when he was at ease. “You're not dangerous at all, are you?"
"Not in the slightest," Harry said, and Draco chuckled. "You're really not, you great brute--"
It had all happened in a flash; Buckbeak had been enraged at the comment, and Harry understood what Hagrid meant when he said hippogriffs were easily offended-- in moment's time, Hagrid had rushed over, wrestling Buckbeak back into his collar and Harry had been standing over Draco, whose skin was somehow paler than normal; He had blood all down the front of his robes. He didn’t look nearly as good now-- he looked seconds from full-on crying, which was a very new look for him.
"Dray-- Dray, stop moving, you'll be fine, come on," Harry said, trying to get Draco to his feet. There was a deep gash on Draco's arm, and blood had been splattered on the ground, but it would be over quicker if he wasn't being so difficult.
"Floppy, just leave me here-- I'm done for," he said, turning away- as if Harry hadn’t already seen his eyes getting more and more watery. "I- I want you to know--"
"Snowflake, you're not dying." Harry denied quickly, as he finally heaved him up off the ground. "If you'd just let me take you to Madam Pomfrey, she'll have you fixed up in the minute! I swear to you, it won't be that bad!"
"Hagrid-- help Harry get Malfoy to the Hospital wing!" Hermione instructed, going to hold the paddock gate open. Luna had taken to trying and calming down Buckbeak, but he seemed very intent on getting to Draco. Only when he was out of sight, covered by Hagrid's large body, was Buckbeak much less violent.
The rest of the class followed at a walk as Hagrid carried Draco, who had been crying and muttering to Harry about how it was the end for him before he started to speak in very messy, very slurred French, up the slope to the castle. Every Slytherin had been screaming and shouting about Hagrid.
"They should fire him straight away!" shrieked Parkinson.
"Didn't he provoke the hippogriff, though?" said Samantha quietly, but she had suddenly been hanging off Hermione's arm when Crabbe and Goyle sent her a pair of nasty looks.
"He did," said Luna loudly, and she didn't falter when Crabbe and Goyle looked her way. She looked at them scornfully as she spoke, "What? It's true-- he might not have meant to, but--"
"Oh, what would you know, stupid, Loony, Lovegood," said Parkinson, and Luna seemed to mind now, as she frowned. "What's next for you, remedial common sense? Draco didn't--"
"Shut it, Parkinson!" Padma shouted. "You're the stupid one if you really think--"
"You shut your mouth, you blood-traitor--"
When they climbed the steps to the empty entrance hall, Draco had stopped his crying- so that less people would see him crying, if Harry had to guess, as Hagrid took him to the Hospital wing- and the Slytherins had gone for the dungeons. The students from other houses went for their dorms too.
"You think he'll be alright?" wondered Lisa.
"He'll be just fine. Madam Pomfrey can mend cuts without any problem," said Harry, who has had much worse injuries mended back into perfect condition. Yet, though he said it, there was a growing pit in his chest of worry. He may have been saying the words more to calm himself than he was to assure anyone; he was more worried that even he could believe. He knew Draco would be alright, but he still felt so...
"That was one of the worst things that could've happened, though, wasn't it?" said Ron. "Malfoy's dramatic enough as is, but his father's probably going to throw a hissy fit the moment he hears about it."
"I think I... have studying to do," said Luna quietly, and she disappeared around the corner before any of them could object.
"Poor Luna," Padma frowned. "She's brilliant. I don't get why people call her loony. So, sometimes, smart people are crazy. And as if Parkinson can speak-- she's still in remedials, too, the brat."
Before dinnertime rolled around, they visited Draco in the hospital wing. His arm had been in a sling, and instead of sitting in one of the beds, it seemed he was getting ready to leave.
"Draco! How are you doing?" Harry asked at once.
"Just fine, really. Madam Pomfrey said I'd have to wear the sling for a while, and the cut 'll scar, but nothing else wrong," Draco answered. "She said if I had been any more unfortunate, my arm would've been broken and internally scarred. She had to kick Lyra out who knows how many times."
"Wasn't that in your tea leaves?" said Ron. "You would be in danger- and Mione, you said you saw a sun, right? So you'd be happy about it."
"Again with the tea leaves," Hermione scoffed. "I think I'll just drop the class altogether if it means I get to lessen the time I have to listen to you talk and talk and talk about Divination! Look-- I don't think that's a happy face, Ron!" She said, pointing at Draco.
"That's just how his face looks." Harry said, as they made way for the Great Hall for dinner. His own words had distracted him-- he couldn’t get it off his mind-- Draco, looking very at peace, before he'd gotten himself attacked. It was surprising-- Harry had never seen him looking much else but very tense. The more he thought about it, the more his face burned-- he didn’t think it was possible, but he really, really did look-- good. He felt remarkably weird, so much so that he almost couldn’t even feel his headache.
"Hagrid's not at the head table," Hermione said as they made a beeline for the Ravenclaw table. "You don't think they sacked him, do you?"
"I'd hope not." Lisa said, taking her normal seat. "He may not be the best teacher, but he's not a bad one. Now Lockhart, he was a bad teacher."
"Lisa, if you don't shut up about Lockhart," Padma whispered sharply, and Lisa shrugged. "Not my fault he sucked. And it's not my fault you had a crush on him."
"Hagrid's a questionable choice, alright," Draco shrugged, as the two started arguing. He was looking back at the Slytherin table. There had been a large group huddled together, most likely cooking up their own story of how he had gotten injured. "I'll talk to them later." He said-- it seemed he hadn't spotted Lyra at the center of the crowd.
"Well, it certainly wasn't a boring first day back, atleast," said Ron gloomily.
They had broken off into their groups to head for their dorms and try to do the homework they had gotten, but they all kept ending up glancing out a window whenever they passed one while walking up the stairs.
"There's a light on in the window," said Padma. Ron looked at his watch. "If we hurried, we could go see him.. It is still early..."
"I don't know if that's a good idea..." Hermione said, looking at Harry.
"We'll be going to Hagrid's, it's not like he's that far away from the castle," he said, "I doubt Sirius has gotten past the dementors already."
Hermione caught his eye again.
"Er- Black, I mean."
"Good thing Draco's already gone to his dorm! He'd shut us down before we could even think of it!" said Lisa cheerfully, already prancing back down the stairs. Fortunately, they hadn't met anyone on their way to the front doors; Everyone had already been in their dorms.
The grass was still damp and looked much darker at night than in the daytime, even with the moon shining brightly. When knocked on the door of Hagrid's hut, a voice growled, "C'min."
Hagrid had been sitting in his shirt-sleeves at his scrubbed wooden table. Fang the boarhound had his head in Hagrid's lap. A single look around the room told them all that Hagrid had been drinking-- there was a pewter tankard nearly the size of a bucket before him, and it seemed he couldn't bring them into focus.
"'Spect it's a record," he said when he seemed to have recognised them. "Don' reckon they've ever had a teacher who lasted on'y a day before."
"What?" Lisa almost shouted. "You haven't been fired, have you? I mean, they can't fire you!"
"Not yet," said Hagrid miserably, taking a large sip of whatever was in the tankard. "But 'sonly a matter o' time 'till Malfoy's father gets down 'ere."
"Well, it wasn't anything serious, Malfoy's all fixed up now." said Ron as they all took seats.
"Madam Pomfrey said she did the best she could, and it was real good," said Hagrid dully, "but ih'll scar. 'is da's gonna have me out the second 'e can."
"Hagrid, Draco's father isn't anything to worry about." Harry said, "He's not on the board of directors anymore, and if I know anything about Draco's family, I know that Lucius Malfoy is trying to lay as low as possible because of what happened last school year, especially because I know what he did."
"Yeah, bu'... school gov'nors have bin told," said Hagrid, "They reckon I started too big. Shoulda done flobberworms or summat.... Even heard one o' em speakin' bout contactin' Malfoy's parents..."
"Oh, it’s just procedure," said Padma. "They have to. But Mr and Mrs Malfoy can't get you fired-- it wasn't your fault. If a kid gets injured like he did, like, scarring, they’ve got to inform parents-- it’s nothing you did. And-- and- you said yourself that hippogriffs only attack if you insult them, and that they're easily insulted. We know Draco wasn't trying to insult Buckbeak. We can tell Dumbledore it was all an accident."
"Yeah, don't worry Hagrid, we'll back you up. I bet Malfoy's going to do the same," agreed Ron.
Tears leaked out Hagrid's eyes, and he pulled almost all of them into a bone-breaking hug.
"Ow-- how sweet of you, Hagrid! But I think you've had enough to drink," Hermione wheezed out, forcing herself out his grip. She took the tankard off the table and went outside to empty it.
"Maybe she's right," Hagrid said, finally letting go of the others. He heaved himself out his chair and followed Hermione unsteadily outside. Suddenly, there was a loud splash.
"What did he do?" Lisa asked, as Hermione came back with the empty tankard.
"Dunked his head in the water barrel." She answered, putting the tankard away.
Hagrid came back, his hair and beard dripping, wiping the water of his eyes.
"That's better," he said, shaking his head like a dog and drenching them all. "Listen, it was good o' yeh ter come an' see me, I really--"
He stopped mid-sentence, staring at Harry as though he'd only just noticed he was there.
"WHAT D'YEH THINK YOU'RE DOIN' EH?" He roared, making them all jump in their spots. "YEH'RE NOT TER GO WANDERIN' 'ROUND AFTER DARK, HARRY! AN' YOU FOUR! LETTIN' HIM!"
Hagrid strode over to Harry, grabbed his arm, and pulled him to the door.
"C'mon!" He said angrily. "I'm takin' yer all back up ter the school, an' don' let me catch yeh walkin' down ter see me after dark again! I'm not worth that!"
Their argument that he was went unheard as they neared the castle.