Bickerings & Biting Books
AFTER COMING BACK TO HOGWARTS with the warnings of Sirius Black from his Professor’s and Headmasters along with the joyous news of Hagrid becoming the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher, it seemed as though a thousand new changes were already happening for their third year. A difference that really did catch him off guard for their third year, however, was that when Harry woke in the morning after their arrival, there was no Freya knocking on their doors and waking them up with a gleeful grin.
“Hey, what gives?” Dean complained as he put on his robes, “I was looking forward to the usual, ‘get up you lazy, lot’ and the annoying pull of the curtains to let the sun in."
“Yeah," Seamus agreed, looking put out. "I've been working on my aim so I could really hit'er with my pillow this time."
"Maybe she's sleeping in," Harry suggested, smiling a bit as they all began getting ready. "It'll be fun to tease her if she is, speaking she's always getting on our case."
"Well, I for one appreciate the fact if she is," Will noted as he yawned, fixing his bed hair slightly as he caught sight of it in a passing mirror. "It does give a more peaceful feeling to waking up, does it not? But, regardless, we should hurry and wake her up if she really is still asleep - if she misses breakfast, she'll be a pain till lunch."
And all the others, who have known her on those types of days, all winced in agreement.
After, Harry headed down first (for Will somehow had more textbooks to pack) and raised his brows as he saw Freya was waiting for them at the bottom steps, her arms crossed impatiently.
“About time!” she huffed as he jumped the last step to reach her.
“Hey, you were the one who was late, aren’t you always there to wake us up in the morning?” replied Harry as he leaned against the stair railing next to her. "What's the deal, did you forget the way over summer break?"
"Uh..." Freya blinked in surprise before blushing faintly, “About that, I don't think I can do that anymore. You know, the whole barging into your guy’s room in the morning thing.”
"Huh?" Harry furrowed his brows, frowning. “Why not?”
Freya regarded Harry for a moment, seeming to search for something in his expression before sighing, looking a bit irritated as though she didn't find what she wanted found. “Merlin's pant's I don’t know, Harry. I wonder why?”
He opened his mouth to say that’s what he was asking and she didn't need to sound so sarcastic but was interrupted when Will came down saying they’d best get going as he was starving.
As Harry had thought before, as he side-eyed Freya who still seemed thoroughly annoyed by something, there were many changed happening about during this new school year. However, there was one thing that stayed irritatingly consistent as they entered the dining hall, and he caught sight of Draco Malfoy doing his best to ridicule Harry as he seems to be doing a swooning act at the table for a gaggle of laughing Slytherins.
“Ignore him,” said Will as Harry clenched his fist. “He’s not worth it.”
“Hey, Potter!” shrieked Pansy Parkinson from the table, “Potter, the dementors are coming! WOOoooOO~”
Freya rolled her eyes as they dropped into seats next to the Weasley Twins. “She’s too stupid to even waste a response on, the stupid pug-faced snake.”
Harry laughed as George began passing papers to them, “New third year, schedules. What’s up with you, Harry?”
“Malfoy,” spat Harry angrily as he heard the Slytherins roar with laughter, no doubt once again laughing at Harry’s expense.
George looked over to see Malfoy’s antics, raising a brow,
“That little git,” he said calmly. “He wasn’t too cocky last night. I remember because he was walking when he stopped in front of our compartment. As the dementor passed he was absolutely frozen. When I glanced out, it looked like he’d never move again.”
“Though, I admit, we weren’t rolling on the ground laughing when the Dementors came either,” Fred said with a shake of his head. “They chill your bones, those things do.”
“Anyway, we’ll see how happy Malfoy is in our first Quidditch match. Wipe the smirk off his face, you will Harry,” said George confidently.
The only time Harry and Malfoy had faced each other in a match, Malfoy had definitely come off worse. Feeling more cheerful, Harry helped himself to some bacon.
Will was examining his new schedule.
“New lessons today,” he said happily, looking over his schedule as though it were a delightful read. “Can’t wait.”
“Well, I think you're going to have to wait, William speaking you've got to get that schedule fixed," Freya said, looking over Will’s shoulder, “Look-” she reached over his shoulder to point at something, “They’ve got you down for ten subjects a day. You don’t have the time.”
“I’ll manage,” Will said, grabbing Freya’s arm and moving it away hastily. “I’ve fixed it all with Professor McGonagall.”
“But you’ve got three classes at nine o'clock!”
“Then I’ll be at those classes at nine o'clock.”
“But-”
“Pass the marmalade, please.”
Freya closed her eyes as if to remain calm. “Harry, please pass the bloody madman the marmalade.”
Harry gave a huff of laughter, doing as each of them asked as just then Hagrid came in, swinging a dead polecat from one enormous hand.
Freya frowned at him after he had passed, reminding them they had his class right after lunch. “I’m rather excited for Care of Magical Creatures but I’m sort of...worried.”
Will and Harry nodded in agreement, but there was no time to let the anxiety take them over. They had Divination and checking the location they knew it would take at least ten minutes to get to the North Tower.
Saying a quick goodbye to Fred and George, they walked back through the hall. As they passed the Slytherin table, Malfoy did yet another impression of a fainting fit and the shouts of laughter followed Harry into the hall as Freya scowled, “Merlins Cursed Spells, I can’t believe we have Care of Magical Creatures and Potions with them.”
“Don't forget Defense Against the Dark Arts,” noted Will tiredly.
“What?” Harry and Freya asked aghast.
“Did neither of you bother looking over the schedule thoroughly?”
“Of course not!” exclaimed Freya wildly as she reached in her robe pocket to find her schedule as they walked, “That's what we have you for!”
After a quick check, Harry and Freya realized with horror that it was true and Harry groaned, “Why? Just why?”
“Well, rumor has it that they wanted us to share a bit more classes with one another. So Slytherin and Gryffindor could get along better. Same goes with the Hufflepuff's and Ravenclaw's,” said Will as they walked up a staircase. “Closer proximity means we can bond.”
“The only way I’ll ever bond with a bloody Slytherin is if you’ve spelled me,” Freya stated passionately, before letting out a sigh. “But, then again, with this new rule I’d say that Dumbledore has just cursed us all.”
***
By the time lunch came, Harry found himself feeling considerably less mournful about the death sentence that Professor Trelawney had given him with the aroma of food hitting him, but Freya was still fidgeting with the end of her ponytail as they sat down.
“Freya, cheer up,” said Will, pushing a dish of stew towards her. “You heard what Professor McGonagall said.”
Freya glanced at him before letting go of her hair and spooning some stew on her plate, still frowning. It showed just how concerned about the Grim situation she really was when she finished getting her serving but didn’t begin to eat.
“Harry,” she said, in a low, serious voice, “you haven’t seen a great black dog anywhere, have you?”
“Uh, I have actually.” said Harry, the memory suddenly coming back to him once she'd asked. “I saw one the night I left the Dursleys.”
Freya let the utensil she was holding fall with a clatter. She was so wide-eyed that Harry decided not to tease her about the fact she was about to eat her stew with a fork.
“Probably a stray,” said Will calmly, picking up Freya’s fork and replacing it with a spoon as he and Harry shared a slight grin.
Freya didn’t even call them out for making fun of her as she whirled on Will, her brows raised.
“Will, if Harry’s seen the grim, that’s-that’s awful!” she insisted. “My uncle Billius saw one and he died twenty-four hours later!”
“Errl Freya, as the one who may or may not have seen the Grim, you’re not exactly helping my nerves,” Harry joked.
“And besides, though I’m sorry about your uncle, what happened to him was a coincidence,” added Will.
“Neither of you know what you’re talking about!” Freya said indignantly, “The Grim scares the living daylights out of most wizards!”
“Well, that’s what happens, isn’t it? They scare themselves to death. Luckily, Harry’s not stupid enough to see a black dog and think he’ll kick the bucket,” argued WIll in a superior tone. “Besides, we got this ‘omen’ from divination and it seems a bunch of wooly and guesswork to me.”
” There’s nothing wooly about seeing the grim in the cup, especially not when it’s one of your best friends' cups,” said Freya hotly.
“Goodness Freya, if it were a fact that Harry was going to die in the next twenty-four hours then I’d be worried. But even Professor McGonagall said that it was rubbish, didn’t she? At least she implied.” Will shook his head, moving his empty dish away.
"Uh, guys?" Harry interrupted, terribly confused on how things had escalated so quickly. "I think, regardless of anything, that I'll be just fine and-"
“Well, I think that you’re just saying it’s nonsense because Trewanley said you didn’t have the right aura,” Freya stated, neither she nor Will seeming to have heard his attempt at peace. She paused for a moment, considering things before charging ahead as she snapped, “You just don’t like being bad at something for a change!”
Will blinked and then glared at Freya who glared back before he shook his head, getting up as he grabbed his bag.
“If being good at that class means seeing bad omens everywhere, then I’m not sure I’ll study it for much longer! The lesson was pure rubbish compared to my Arithmancy class. Compared to anyclass, really. But maybe that’s why you like it so much, Freya? Because you can speak the usual rubbish you do and get praised for it, right?”
Freya obviously hit a nerve by what she said just as it was obvious that Will struck a nerve by what he had just said as Freya’s face flushed and Will winced, as though momentarily regretful, before turning around and striding off quickly and angrily.
“The nerve of him, saying I’m speaking rubbish!” Freya hissed to Harry as she stabbed her spoon into a baked potato. “When the fool hasn’t even had Arithmancy yet!”
For the rest of their lunch, they strayed off the topic of Will and the grim, talking instead about Quidditch before it was time to head to Hagrid’s class. Thankfully, Freya seemed to be in a better mood as they both went out, Harry was glad to be able to walk outside the castle for yesterday's rain had cleared and the grass was springy and damp underfoot.
Will met up with them, walking himself halfway, and Freya’s jaw seemed to clench and her ears reddened as she made a point not to speak to Will as he cautiously conversed with Harry, avoiding her eyes, looking slightly irritated as well.
Harry ended up being in a similar mood himself as they got to where Hagrid was waiting for them in front of his hut and he saw all the Slytherins, Malfoy in the lead, were there too.
“Okay, everyone! Glad to see ya! Gather around the fence here, that’s it!” Hagrid said happily as the class gathered, “Make sure you can see...Now! The first thing you'll want to do is open your books-”
“How?” Draco Malfoy’s cold drawling voice carried as Hagrid stopped.
“Eh?” said Hagrid.
“How do we open our books?” Malfoy repeated, making his words slow as though talking to a child. He took out his copy of The Monster Book of Monsters which he had bound with a length of rope. Everyone else took their copies out too, all of them bound in some way.
“Hasan’-Has' anyone been able to open their books?” said Hagrid, looking crestfallen.
There was a moment of awkward silence and Hagrid’s face seem to sadden even more when-
“I have!”
Freya raised her hand hastily, wincing as everyone directed their gaze to her.
“Really?” Malfoy stared at her disbelievingly, “Then what’s with your book?”
Everyone’s gaze fell upon Freya’s copy that was tied with many different colored rags-Harry was guessing they didn’t have a rope to spare.
"It’s...a...design, obviously,” Freya said slowly, nodding her head. “It’s just such a great book that I thought I’d... decorate it. Because I love it so much.”
“Really!?” Hagrid asked, sounding close to tears.
“Really?” Malfoy questioned, his tone scoffing.
“Really,” Freya stated, confident.
“Then how,” Malfoy said, “Do you open it?”
Silence as Malfoy and Freya stared at one another, seeming at a standstill as Freya's grin didn't leave her face but knowing her as Harry knew her, he saw in her eyes that her mind was racing.
“I could tell you,” Freya finally replied calmly, “But I’m going to let our brilliant teacher tell you instead. Take it away, Professor Hagrid!”
Harry was very glad to have Freya as a best friend then as Hagrid straightened up, standing tall and joyful as he excalaimed, “Well, you stroke them!”
Freya closed her eyes at the same time Malfoy’s own widened.
“We STROKE the man-eatingbooks!” Malfoy cried out to his Slytherins who snickered. “Why didn’t we guess such an intellectual solution?"
“Because you’re fools, obviously!” Freya responded as she grabbed her book hastily and began tearing away the rags that tied it, stroking the book. “We Gryffindors knew it all along!”
“Yes, you stroke it!”
“It was clear as day!”
“Yeah, you stupid Slytherins!”
Their classmates began chorusing their support as each to their own hastily began unlocking cages, spelling off difficult to untie knots, and ripping off spell-o-tape. Malfoy watched them all with a condescending gaze but it didn’t matter because Hagrid was tearing up happily, nodding his head. “Yes, I knew yeh would get it! They’re funny n’ all!”
“Yes, a book that tried to rip my hand off is something tremendously funny.” Malfoy sneered.
“I certainly think so,” said Harry with a raise of a brow as Freya and Will laughed, before glancing at one another uneasily at the shared sound.
"Then why don't you stick your hand in its toothful pages, Potter?" mused Malfoy who could ignore the awkwardness between Will and Freya as he had no clue they were arguing in the first place, his gaze too focused on Harry to have noticed. "Come on, maybe then I'll find it funny too and you can go around bragging about how we can finally say we saw something eye to eye."
"In no universe do I ever want to be grouped together with you in a 'we' situation," Harry snapped, disgusted.
Malfoy raised a brow, "And yet here we are - agreeing on that."
Harry felt his face warm at knowing this battle was one he lost as he could only clench his jaw as they instantly had to begin following Hagrid (as Harry didn't want to be a bad student for Hagrid) and they all followed Hagrid into the forest, Freya and Will reashurring Harry that Malfoy always looked that smug and it wasn't the consequence from their conversation just then, as Hagrid led them to a fence that held the strangest creatures Harry had ever laid eyes on.
“Yep, these are beauts, they are!” Hagrid said happily as he gestured towards the winged creatures. “Hippogriffs! Never insult one of you who knows what’s good for you, proud creatures they are! Ye can walk towards them but don’t get close, you have to bow first! If they bow back that means you can pet them, if they don't well-back away! Their talons and beaks are sharp!”
Hagrid smiled excitedly.
“Now, who wants to bow first!?”
Most of the class backed away further in answer. Harry, Freya, and Will stayed put but they had obvious misgivings as they looked at the huge and fierce creatures.
“N-no one?” Hagrid asked, his smile turning into a sad frown.
“I’ll do it,” said Harry, before his giant friend's expression could downturn completely.
“N-No!” he blinked and turned to Freya who was moving forward already hastily, “I-I’ll do it!”
There were titters as Harry frowned, “But Freya-”
“My Uncle Bilius, Harry!” Freya said wildly in reply, waving him backward.
“Oh.” Her response got a lot of confused murmurings and laughter from their class behind them, but Will and Harry understood as Will face-palmed himself. “She thinks there’s a chance you could die in twenty-four hours, of course.”
“Ah, you’re going to let your girlfriend go up for you, Potter?” asked Malfoy behind them, his tone sneering. “Have to protect the ugly face you’ve got from getting uglier?”
“Shut it, Malfoy.” all three of them hissed.
Harry shook his head, looking at Freya. “I can do it, Frey-”
“La la la, can’t hear you.” Freya said stubbornly as she looked to Hagrid, “Are you gonna get one for me, Professor?”
Harry, despite feeling very much annoyed by the fact that Freya was going up there instead of him, as though he needed protecting, couldn’t help but feel touched too. Freya really believed in the Grim and the fact that she volunteered meant she believed that she might be saving Harry’s life.
“She’s so annoying,” Will muttered beside him, looking at Freya as she began to bow to the gray hippogriff worriedly. “So so annoying.”
They watched, apprehensive, as Freya bowed, looking up with watering and unblinking eyes. They watched in horror as the Hippogriff stared back hauntingly, unmoving.
“Ah-okay, Freya!” said Hagrid sounding worried, “Just back away slowly, now-”
But then to Harry’s relief and to what looked like Freya’s enormous surprise, the hippogriff sank into what was unmistakably a bow.
Freya smiled, looking happy. “Hey, he bowed, Hagrid! I did good, right?”
“Great!” Hagrid nodded, “Now you can go pet him.”
Looking a bit excited she strode forward with sudden confidence, though a wary sort, and went to pat the creature's beak.
“Ooo, now I think he’ll even let ya ride him!’ Hagrid exlaimed, gleeful.
With her back turned to Hagrid, Hagrid didn’t see the suddenly panicked expression that crossed Freya’s face. “Oh, Hagrid, I couldn’t, I...I might ruffle his beautiful feathers and-”
Freya made the mistake of meeting Hagrid’s gaze. She saw his expression and sighed, forcing on a smile.
“So, uh...how do I get on?”
Later on, when they looked back on it, Freya insisted that the screaming they heard as she soured upwards on the back of the beast were screams of pure joy, not terror.
***
Malfoy had found it quite nice to be able to laugh and joke about Freya’s girlish scream as she flew up when she came back down after being so strangely terrified beforehand at the fact she was even near the creature. He had tried to egg stupid Potter on into being the one to bow to the Hippogriff, feeling surprisingly angry and disgusted when he didn’t.
But everything had ended up being okay.
As okay as it could be after being clawed by a beast, of course.
He lay in the infirmary right now with the pain of the Hippogriffs talon attack gone, feeling slightly amused by the whole thing now that he knew he wasn’t dying. The thing was, calling the Hippogriff an ugly brute wasn’t meant to have been insulting, it was just how he treated everything. He’d called his old House-Elf, Dobby, a thousand insulting names but they were never meant out of malice. The one good thing he remembered about being attacked by the Hippogriff was that when he had fallen, he could have sworn he heard Weasley’s voice shout above others his name-his last name at least-in panic.
Like it somewhat mattered if he got hurt.
But then again, it was probably due to the fact he got hurt in her oaf friend's class.
At the thought, Malfoy checked the time to see if classes had ended. He decided he might as well go back to his common room now that he was fully healed, though he knew he’d have to deal with Parkinson’s wailings even though he was perfectly fine.
With a sigh, he moved to get out of bed just as an owl flew through the infirmary. It was his mother's owl, Lightwings.
“Get back safe,” he said to the bird after he had untied the letter, and she hooted softly before exiting out the window again. Opening it up, he raised his brows.
Dear Draco,
I just got a letter from Pansy Parkinson describing the incident today and know this will NOT stand. I’ve discussed it with your father, and we will soon see that the oaf that is teaching you is sacked, so don’t you worry about a thing. Help as much as you can to show that that teacher is not fit to be teaching, I know that the headmaster of yours is soft on such idiotic people.
I’m so very glad you’re alright. Write back as soon as possible.
Love,
Mother.
Draco frowned, folding the letter. Really, he knew that there was no need in doing this because he was at least mostly unscathed...but he knew what his mother wanted now. And he knew what his father would want him to do too.
So when Madame Pomfrey came back, he ignored her surprised look as he hissed in pain, grabbing his arm as he looked at her, wincing.
“It’s my arm, Madame Pomfrey. It’s badly injured and hurts bad...”
***
Will, Freya, and Harry sat in the common room by the fire that night after a still grumbling Hagrid had dropped them off, though he had offered his thanks too before he left.
“Frey, by the way, you know I’m not dying today, right?” Harry asked suddenly, looking up from his textbook. “Or any time soon, so you don’t have to jump in front of me-so to speak-anymore.”
“Survive until morning and I’ll believe you,” Freya said, though she smiled a bit looking more relaxed than she had all day since their Divination lesson. “Believe me, next time we’re in a Hippogriff situation I will gladly back away first.”
They all gave huffs of laughter at that as they continued with their work. It was later on when Harry went off to bed first, saying he needed to get his stuff prepared for Quidditch tomorrow quickly, that Freya stopped Will before he could follow Harry up soon after he left.
"William?”
“Yes?” he looked at her as he had just stood up to leave, “Homework problem?”
She shook her head before coughing awkwardly. “Uh...sorry for saying you were only unbelieving because you were bad at Divination. I guess you were, uh, right. Like always, I guess. Or- something.”
Will paused, caught off guard, then he shrugged, relaxing.
“I don’t know, maybe Harry could have died today, he just had a rather brave friend who stopped him from getting into harm's way so thankfully we'll never know.” Freya gave a sheepish smile as he returned it, scratching the back of his neck. “And, uh, you don’t always speak rubbish. You barely speak rubbish, actually. You proved that a lot today-the whole sticking up for Hagrid thing with the book.”
“Oh, yeah, the book…”
They fell into companionable silence before he nodded, “Well, yeah, uh...Night, Freya.”
She smiled, all the discomfort from their morning argument gone from her eyes as they were lit with the light he hated seeing leave them when they fought. “See you both in the morning, William.”
He walked upstairs to his dormitory to see Harry had a quidditch book opened and Will’s cat in his lap as Crookshanks looked up, purring.
Will raised a brow, “Thought you had to pack and sleep early?”
“Oh, I do, but I also wanted to stay awake and ask-you and Frey made up, yeah?”
“Well, yeah...”
Will shook his head, a smile tugging at his lips as he grabbed his cat and went to his own side of the bed.
“Don’t we always?”