Infinity Times Infinity

The next morning timetables were distributed. You weren’t really surprised by your schedule. You hoped that once you passed all of your O.W.L.s, you’d be able to drop History of Magic and Astronomy. No offense to the professors and their respective subjects, but you were hoping to take Alchemy next year. Merlin knew how much time you’d have to dedicate to that study. 

Solaris groaned as she slouched onto the table. “History of Magic first thing in the morning? Arithmancy too? I’m not going to pass my classes this year.”

Adrian snorted at her dramatics as he poured her a glass of orange juice then poured one for you too. “Sucks to be you, Sol.”

“Oh, shut up. You have these classes with me too.”

Adrian shrugged, clearly not as bothered as Solaris was. He was one of the few students who rarely complained about classes and workloads. In all honesty, he kept the two of you in check with your assignments by making sure that Solaris studied. You, on the other hand, he had to make sure you didn’t overwork yourself to death. While the two bickered, you continued looking through your schedule. 

“Huh, Charms with Ravenclaw. That should be interesting,” you said as you prodded a sausage link onto your plate. 

“What?” Solaris looked at your schedule then back at hers. “We should have it with the Gryffindors, how is that possible?”

“It might be because of class sizing issues,” Adrian said as he looked at his. “Slytherin and Gryffindor are on the bigger side, they probably placed Y/N with Ravenclaws because she’d blend right in.”

You smacked him with a spare scroll you had beside you, causing him to laugh. “Hardy har har,” you said with droll. 

“At least we have the rest of our classes together. Ooh look, we have  Double Defense Against the Dark Arts this afternoon,” said Adrian as he continued to look through his own timetable. 

“Right! Your dad’s teaching that subject!” She wasn’t typically this excited about DA teachers, not after the track record Hogwarts’ had the last two years. “I hope he won’t turn out to be some maniac like the other two — he won’t… will he, Lupin?”

You nearly spat your orange juice. If by not being a maniac meant being a wolf once a month then yeah, he wasn’t a maniac, but they didn’t need to know that. “No, he’s not a maniac. He’s very sweet and well versed with the Dark Arts and how to defend yourself from it, you don’t have to worry.”

The two of them sighed in relief and continued to ask you questions about your dad. Simple things like his Hogwarts house, what he did before becoming a professor, his studies in the Dark Arts, and whatnot. You twisted a few things when it came close to explaining why or how your dad knew so much about defending one’s self against the Dark Arts. You couldn’t outright tell them that it was because he was a werewolf and he had to learn how to keep you safe. You did, however, tell them that he was at the top of his year in the subject because truthfully… he was. 

Explaining why he would get sick often came down to the idea that he was struck with a curse in his earlier Auror days that ended with him having to leave the Ministry. The curse would flare up every so often that it left him incapable to continue his career, and with that new information, the two decided that they shouldn’t bother with any other questions. 

A soft huff came from below you. Ahira had poked her head out of the bottom of your sweater and stared at you menacingly. Excited from seeing your timetable, you had forgotten to give her some of the food offered during breakfast. 

“I thought I fed you enough last night at the feast?” 

“Clearly not enough,” she huffed dramatically. You rolled your eyes and began to spoon some eggs onto your plate for her. 

“So… you found out you’re a parselmouth and you got yourself a snake?” Adrian asked. You glanced up from your lap to watch both of your friends carefully. You didn’t know they had been watching the entire exchange. You looked at Ahira sheepishly.

“I found her injured near my home,” you explained, grabbing a piece of toast for yourself. “Got attacked by a gang of birds, but I managed to heal most of her injuries. She got pretty attached to me as you can see.” 

Ahira glared at you but continued to eat. 

Unease melted away as Solaris’ expression became enthusiastic; she cooed at the dark scaled snake. “I didn’t know you could have something else besides a cat, toad, or an owl.”

“You can’t unless you ask your head of house for permission. I asked Professor Snape just before term began.”

She grabbed Adrian’s arm and shook it. “Maybe we should ask him — what kind of companion would you get if Professor Snape let us?” But before Adrian could answer the bell rung, its sound echoing across the hall. 

Classes were starting already. 

You scarfed down your last piece of toast while Adrian and Solaris got up from the table. Charms with the Ravenclaws was going to be interesting, to say the least. The three of you walked down towards the main entrance, continuing your chat about unusual pets. Adrian explained how he’d enjoy having a dog as his pet, something like a golden retriever. Solaris thought it was a wasted opportunity to have something so normal. When asked what she’d have, she confidently announced that she would get a tiger… or a firedrake. 

You shared an uncertain glance at Adrian before falling into a fit of giggles. Solaris almost immediately retorted why hers was a much better animal to ask permission for. 

“Ah, our favorite slithery friend.” A voice said from beside you. 

The familiar red hair of the Weasley twins caught your attention and you laughed at Fred’s odd nickname for you. He walked over from the Gryffindor table, George following right beside him. He hadn’t failed to notice your two friends as he smirked. 

“And our other slithery friends. How are you this fine morning?” 

Solaris scoffed, throwing her hair over her shoulder. “Friends? That’s a first.”

Adrian chuckled as he shook his head, also not used to the title. 

“Thought we might as well start getting on friendlier terms. Since we do share a common factor.” Fred winked. 

“I don’t know who told you that Slytherins like to share…” Solaris quipped, hugging your arm closer to her. “… because they don’t.” 

The four of them continued to banter as you made your way out of the Great Hall. Professor Binns’ class resided on the first floor so you would have to walk them to their class before going up to third floor. It didn’t take long to get there. You stopped at the entrance of Binns’ class, waving Adrian and Solaris goodbye as they walked inside, then waved at the twins. 

“Hey,” Fred said, looping his arm around yours to stop you from leaving. “Where do you think you’re going?”

George mimicked him on the other side. “Yeah, we’ve got History not Charms. That’s tomorrow.” 

“Not according to my schedule.” You faked grievance, waving the piece of paper in front of them. 

Fred snatched it and read through the timetable. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. We don’t have you in any of our classes until Friday!” 

“What a load of bullocks,” George agreed, reading your schedule from over Fred’s shoulder. 

You rolled your eyes, then took the slip of paper away from them. “Today’s Thursday — you’ll live.” 

“Heard that, George? She said ‘we’ll live’,” teased Fred. 

“Oh, woe is me.” 

You laughed then waved them goodbye before walking away, you didn’t want to be tardy on your first day. But something stopped you again, and it wasn’t the boys this time. A thought came to mind just before you were too far away. You drew your wand out discretely, pointing it at the boys’ robes, and cast an incantation of sorts beneath your breath. They didn’t notice the winding lengths of fabric their robes were growing to be as they continued to walk, leaving trails of black robe to carpet the Hogwarts floors and classroom. 

You leaned into the classroom’s door frame, watching their oblivious selves, then shouted. 

“You boys should consider going to a tailor’s shop.” They both gave each other skeptical looks, but you kept a straight face as you stayed put. “It looks like you’ve grown tails, the pair of you.” 

You winked at them before disappearing from the door. Only when they walked over to an empty desk, did they realize what you had done but it was too late when some random student stepped on their robes causing them to trip. A near evil cackle slipped past your lips as you continued to walk away, the fading laughter trailing behind you. 

It didn’t take you long to get to third floor, greeting Professor Flitwick on your way in. He smiled delightedly as you entered, then pointed you to a random table. You took a seat near the front of the class, seeing as most of the ones in the back were taken already. It didn’t really matter where you sat as long as you could get a pretty okay partner. The seat beside you remained empty for the next few minutes. 

Charms in the morning… that didn’t seem so bad, you thought to yourself. 

The second bell rang and next thing you knew, the class full of bustling students began to simmer down. Your seat remained empty. Perhaps you wouldn’t have anyone sit beside you. You had to practically tear your eyes away from the vacant chair to look up at Flitwick. The blackboard at the front of the class was clean of all marks until he flicked his hand, charming a piece of chalk to write: Charms at the Ordinary Wizarding Level. 

Groans echoed from all around you and you couldn’t help but join the class. You could already feel the forming headache at the mass amount of homework being assigned. You opened up your book and flipped to the page Flitwick just assigned. As you read through the first paragraph about the Disillusionment charm and its properties, you let your mind wonder what fifth year would bring. 

– – – – – 

You couldn’t believe your luck. 

First day back and Draco had already gone and caused a scene. Everyone knew about it, at least all of Slytherin did seeing as Pansy kept weeping about it in the common room. 

It was Sunday evening the next time you saw Malfoy. He walked into the Slytherin common room with his arm covered in bandages and in a sling. It was odd seeing a student be in one seeing as Pomfrey could mend most (if not all) injuries in a jiffy. It wasn’t until you saw Pansy at his side, fawning over him. 

Yup, there was his excuse. 

Pansy left after a few minutes, saying something about going to collect the homework he’s missed so far. The room turned silent from the lack of students there. His eyes landed on yours once he was alone. He stood idly by the entrance, unsure of what to do now. 

You turned to look back at the rolling fire in the hearth. “Heard what happened in Care for Magical Creatures on Thursday — well, the whole school practically has. Glad to see you’re back.” 

You weren’t really, but relief eased you seeing as he wasn’t dead. 

“Ah, well Madam Pomfrey was rather insistent I stayed for a few days —”

“We both know your arm is fine, Draco.”

He sat down at the loveseat adjacent to the couch, slouching ever so slightly to lean on his knees. From body language alone you could tell he wanted to say something, but kept shut. So you engaged him. 

“You do know you were supposed to bow before approaching Buckbeak, right?”

Draco stayed silent. 

“Right?” You dragged a hand down your face and glanced down at the bandaged arm. “Fucking hell.” 

“I did know! I’m not an idiot… I bowed and it bowed back. I just didn’t think it would get offended so easily.”

You scoffed. “Everyone knows how proud Hippogriffs are. Why would you go and call it an ugly brute?”

“I —” he seemed to want to say something but through logic out the window. “It’s because of Potter! He thinks he’s so high and mighty by befriending the hippogriff on his first try. And he — the way he flew over school grounds on Buckbeak’s back looked like fun, I wanted to try that… look at where that took me. And now I won’t ever know because I — nevermind.” He closed his mouth and tentatively ran a finger down his healing arm. 

You blinked. 

Well, that was… something. 

“Forget what I said, I’m going to my dorm.”

“Draco.” You had no time to unpack his little jealousy spiel. “What did you do?” 

He stopped himself halfway through getting up, debating if he should stay or go. 

He sat back down. 

“I got carried away. I was so angry about that ruddy chicken ripping my arm to shreds that I may have… told my father about it. I didn’t think he was going to get so mad, but —” His eyes were shaking a bit as he remembered what had happened days before. “You should’ve seen the howler he sent me. He’s gone and complained to the school board and to the Ministry.” 

The little breath you had was sucked out of you. “Fuck.”

He watched you intently. “I messed up didn’t I?”

You didn’t say anything yet, still unsure of what to say. His grey eyes flickered to the floor at your lack of a response. 

“I did,” he affirmed. 

“Yes. Yes, you did.” His eyes shot up to meet yours. “Without a doubt, but you need to take responsibility for your actions. You knew that insulting a hippogriff would offend them, yet you disregarded that.” 

“I — But that oaf of a professor —”

You shook your head. “That professor gave clear instructions. Did any other students insult their hippogriffs? Did they get attacked?” 

Resentment pulled taught at his eyebrows, but they eased once he managed to think for several seconds what he had done. Realization dawned in his eyes. 

“Draco, you need to write to your parents and explain what you did. How it wasn’t Hagrid’s fault nor Buckbeak’s. This could get Hagrid into trouble and it won’t be fair because it wasn’t his fault.”

He scratched the back of his neck, unable to meet your eyes. “It’s too late for that.” 

Your heart pounds terrifyingly as you watch him. The two of you knew what was going to happen if his father’s adverse reaction had anything to do with it. 

“I think… I think I’ll go write that letter now.” He walked back to his dorm, disappearing a few seconds later as he turned the corner. You watched the empty space where he had sat just moments ago. 

Draco hadn’t died, nor had he been seriously mauled by Buckbeak, but what if he had been?

This is how scared wizards were known to be. Hate anything they didn’t know, and kill it if it were possible. Buckbeak was classified as a category three creature, if Draco’s father had his way with it, it wouldn’t take long for him to appear with an executioner from the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. 

The scar beneath your eye buzzed with magic just like the night you had gotten it. And whether you had done so consciously or not, you brought a hand to trace a finger over it, attempting to calm it with every stroke. 

If you had attacked a student… 

You shook your head to clear your thoughts. It happened at times when you read news of any bestial execution on the paper; you couldn’t help the thoughts from forming in your head. The fear that gripped you with such a tight hold had grown to become a part of you. 

It wasn’t irrational either. You and your father were considered category five creatures in your bestial forms, the highest-ranking in the system. The thoughts stayed in the back of your mind. What if you were wrong? What if during one of your transformations your mind turned rabid? What if you really were dangerous and always had been?

Your fingers ran through your hair as you combed them through nervously. The thought never disappeared from mind: 

If you, in your werewolf form, had attacked a student… 

You’d be dead right where you stood.