If you saw a little rip // in our little silver lining
After dinner, Ron, Hermione, and Harry went up to the crowded common room to try and do the homework Professor McGonagall had given them on animagi. Harry was, unusually, very interested in the work. He was burning with questions about what McGonagall had talked about in class, about his mother and what classes she enjoyed, even about what form his possible animagus would take.
Harry was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn’t hear Ron calling his name until Hermione nudged him. He straightened, startled for a moment.
“There’s a light on in Hagrid’s window” Ron said, pointedly not commenting on Harry’s distracted state.
Harry looked at his watch, “If we hurried, we could go down and see him. It’s still quite early…”
“I don’t know,” Hermione said slowly, and Harry saw her glance at him.
“I’m allowed to walk across the grounds,” he said pointedly. “Sirius Black hasn’t got past the dementors here, has he?”
So they put their things away and headed out of the portrait hole, glad not to meet anybody on their way to the front door. As they walked down the sloping lawns towards Hagrid’s hut, they kept quiet, trudging through the wet grass. When they reached Hagrid’s, they knocked, and a voice boomed, “C’min”
Hagrid was sitting at his scrubbed wooden table; his boarhound, Fang, had his head in Hagrid’s lap. There was an enormous bucket of tea on the table next to what appeared to be lesson plans halfway finished.
“Alrigh’ you three!” Hagrid smiled at them as they moved to sit with him. He stood and started bustling around the tea kettle. “I don’ suppose ye’ve got room fer food this late?”
The three of them shook their heads, but gratefully accepted the steaming mugs of tea Hagrid passed around.
“Hagrid, that lesson was brilliant,” Ron said, “I’m really looking forward to the next one!”
Hagrid blushed crimson under his beard, “I wanted ter start the third years off wi’ somethin’ amazing.” He shuffled his papers nervously, “Yeh didn’ think it was borin’? Jus’ sketchin’ and observin’?”
“Not at all!” Harry cried, “And I heard Malfoy plotting to disrupt the lesson to try and get you fired so all worked out.”
“Nonsense!” Hagrid said firmly, “Malfoy knows I’m a professor now, an’ he’ll have ter show me respect. Now, tell me abou’ the rest of yer firs’ day back.”
Harry, Ron and Hermione traded glances, but knew there was little point in trying to convince Hagrid. Hermione began detailing their first two classes, including Professor Trelawney’s deadly prediction.
“Cadswallop.” Hagrid clapped his hand on Harry’s shoulder, who promptly choked on his tea. “She’s a dab hand at divination but is no seer. Ye’ve got nothin’ ter worry abou’-- “ Hagrid paused and seemed to come to a realization. “WHAT D’YEH THINK YOU’RE DOIN’, EH?” he roared, so suddenly that they jumped a foot in the air. “YEH’RE NOT TO GO WANDERIN’ AROUND AFTER DARK, HARRY! AN’ YOU TWO! LETTIN HIM!”
Hagrid strode over to Harry, grabbed his arm, and pulled him to the door.
“C’mon!” Hagrid said angrily, “I’m takin; yer all back up ter school, an’ don’ let me catch yeh walkin’ down ter see me after dark again. I’m not worth that!”
As he lay in his four poster that night, Harry realised he hadn’t had the chance to ask Hagrid what he knew about animagi, and whether or not his mother had been one.
Double potions was their first class on Thursday morning, and it promised to be an awful one. Snape had taken great pleasure in announcing Harry’s incident on the train to the class,
“Well, well, well, Mr. Potter.” He had drawled at the beginning of class, “It seems you may be in need of more direct supervision today, in case you have another little fainting spell.” Snapes glittering eyes had peered down at Harry over his hooked nose.
“Malfoy,” He had called, “help Mr. Potter complete his potion today, just in case.”
Now it was halfway through class, and they were making a new potion, Shrinking Solution. Malfoy set up his cauldron right next to Harry and Ron, so that they were preparing their ingredients at the same table.
“Hey, Harry,” said Seamus Finnigan, leaning over to borrow Harry’s brass scales, “have you heard? Daily Prophet this morning – they reckon Sirius Black’s been sighted.”
“Where?” sid Harry and Ron quickly. On the other side of the table, Malfoy looked up, listening closely.
“Not too far from here,” said Seamus, who looked excited. “It was a muggle who saw him. ‘Course she didn’t really understand. The muggles think he’s just an ordinary criminal, don’t they? So she phoned the telephone hot line. By the time the Ministry of Magic got there, he was gone.”
“Not too far from here …,” Ron repeated, looking significantly at Harry. He turned around and saw Malfoy watching closely. “What, Malfoy?”
But Malfoy’s eyes were shining malevolently, and they were fixed on Harry. He leaned across the table.
“Thinking of trying to catch Black single-handed Potter?”
“Yeah, that’s right,” said Harry off-handedly.
Malfoy’s thin mouth was curving into a mean smile.
“Of course, if it was me,” he said quietly, “I’d have done something before now, not stayed in school like a good boy. I’d be looking for my pound of flesh.”
“What are you talking about Malfoy?” said Ron roughly.
“Don’t you know, Potter?” breathed Malfoy, his pale eyes narrowed. “Maybe you’d rather not risk your neck, want to leave it to the dementors. But if it was me, I’d want revenge. I’d hunt him down myself.”
At that moment Snape called out to the class to begin clearing away their supplies to let their potions stew. Harry stewed on Malfoy’s comments as he, Ron and Hermione exited the dungeons.
“Wonder what he was on about,” Ron puzzled, “Sirius Black hasn’t done anything to you, has he?”
Harry just shrugged, too many other things on his mind to put much stock into Malfoy’s inane taunting.
“Hermione, what do you- Hey!” exclaimed Ron, “Where’d she go?”
Ron and Harry looked around, they were at the top of the steps now and the rest of their class swirled around them towards the Great Hall and lunch.
“She was right behind us,” said Ron, frowning.
“There she is”, said Harry as Hermione appeared, panting slightly. She was clutching her bag, and one hand seemed to be tucking something into the front of her robes.
“How did you do that?” said Ron.
“What?” said Hermioine, joining them,
“One minute you were right behind us, the next you were back at the bottom of the stairs again.”
“What?” Hermione looked confused. “Oh- I had to go back for something. Oh no–”
A seam had split on Hermione’s bag. Harry wasn’t surprised; he could see that it was crammed with at least a dozen large and heavy books.
“I can fix that for you” Harry offered as he knelt to help her pick everything up. “After Defense tonight.”
Hermione looked grateful and nodded her thanks.
“Hold on a moment!” Ron blustered, “What are you carrying all those books for?”
“I hope there’s something good for lunch, I’m starving,” Hermione said, ignoring Ron and marching off toward the Great Hall.
“D’you get the feeling she’s hiding something?” Harry shrugged in response.
Harry frowned as his housemates swirled out of the classroom, all clamouring excitedly about what an amazing class Professor Lupin had led. He was lost in thought for two reasons, the first was frustration that Lupin had stopped him from facing the boggart.
Did Professor Lupin think he was weak after the incident on the train? Nevermind that Harry hadn’t felt ready for the dementor/boggart, he wanted the chance to prove himself to his new teacher.
He was also confused by how Lupin smelled. He smelled like cigarettes, old books, and something familiar. When they had first understood about Harry’s unusual senses, Hermione had gone on a tangent about how closely memory was related to scent. What puzzled Harry was that he knew he had never met the man before. He could remember several magical folk coming up to him before his Hogwarts letters arrived, but not Professor Lupin.
“Alright there Harry?”
Harry turned to see Lupin trailing behind the class, evidently heading down to the Great Hall himself.
“Fine, sir.” Harry said. “Just lost in thought.”
“A fine place to get lost from time to time.” Professor Lupin said mysteriously, winking at Harry as he moved past him.