The first thing I noticed when I walked down the Slytherin table in the Great Hall the next day was Draco Malfoy telling one of his supposedly clever and hilarious stories to the other Slytherins. He made a ridiculous impression of a swooning fit when Potter entered the Great Hall, and this was followed by a roar of laughter from the Slytherins around him.
"Hey, Potter!" Pansy Parkinson shrieked next to me. I cringed at how loud her voice was, especially since I wasn't fully awake at this point in time. "Potter! The dementors are coming, Potter! Woooooooo!"
Harry Potter ignored her and sat down at the Gryffindor table with his two friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger.
Malfoy was still pretending to faint with terror, but I paid no mind to it this time. I was too busy looking over my new schedule, which Snape had just given me. I started with one of the new classes I had picked last year, which was Arithmancy. Malfoy and I had chosen the same courses. So, unfortunately, I would have to endure his fake swooning until it got old, which was apparently never with that boy.
Unreluctantly, I hoisted my bag over my shoulder and worked my way out of the Great Hall. Malfoy caught my eye but didn't comment about me leaving early without everyone else (Slytherins usually departed all together as a group). I wasn't the type to arrive early for classes, but today was an exception due to my irritation regarding the unfunny and repetitive jokes at the Slytherin table.
Upon my arrival on the seventh floor where the Arithmancy classroom supposedly was, I noticed a bushy-haired girl waiting in front of the Arithmancy classroom alone. When I made my way over to her, I recognized this girl to be Hermione Granger, and it seemed that we were taking the same class. She politely smiled at me, but we both remained silent, waiting patiently for Professor Septima Vector.
"Weren't you in the Great Hall just now?" I found myself asking her suddenly. She shrugged.
"I must've left right after you did... and I came from that side," she added, pointing towards the other end of the corridor.
"Oh, I didn't know this shortcut," I said, nodding.
"Why are you here so early?" This time, it was her turn to ask me a question.
"I just felt like I should make sure I arrive on time for my first new class," I lied. I couldn't admit that I left because my friends were particularly irksome, this morning.
"Me too!" she nearly enthused. "I wonder what we'll learn. I read the textbook ahead of time, but I know the teacher will give precise information regarding what exactly it is that we're studying."
"All I know is that it has to do with numbers," I shrugged. She nodded and smiled. We then resumed to awkwardly stare at our feet and occasionally glance at each other or the ends of the corridor.
After that dreadfully slow moment of silence, someone's footsteps could be heard from one end of the hallway. Both Hermione and I spun our heads around to see who was coming.
"Good morning, girls," said the woman. She wore a tall pointy hat on her dark brown hair and golden-brown robes over her frail and pale body. With the wave of her wand, the door to the classroom unlocked, and she let us enter. So, I supposed that was Professor Vector.
The Arithmancy classroom was quite large and only semi-bright. Tall and dark wooden bookshelves were placed on either sides of the chamber, and there were desks of two that were placed in two columns.
Hermione sat at the very front of the class. After a few seconds of contemplation, I placed my bag on the chair next to hers and sat down. She kindly smiled at me.
A few voices could be heard right down the corridor, and I knew them all too well. Instinctively, I bent down, my hands nearly touching the ground, in an attempt to hide my face from them.
"Maeve!" Tracey Davis yelled as she entered the classroom. I could hear the other Slytherin students traipsing in as well.
"Maeve? Where?" I heard Daphne say.
"There! It looks like she's hiding or something," Tracey responded. I heard people's footsteps approaching. I kept my head low, knowing I'd have to come up with an excuse. Quickly, and hopefully sneakily, I slipped one of my earrings out of my earlobes and pretended to have picked it up from the ground.
"I wasn't hiding," I said immediately, waving my earring at them before slipping it back in my earlobe. "I was just looking for this!"
"Alright, then, why in the Hells did you leave without us?" Daphne asked, crossing her arms at me.
"Hey, cut her some slack, her grandparents died this summer," Tracey hushed her loud friend.
"Actually, that was just my grandfather," I corrected. But none of them appeared to have listened as they noticed Hermione Granger sat awkwardly next to me.
"What in the Hells are you looking at, Granger?" Blaise Zabini said rudely, and I tried not to look at Hermione.
"I wasn't looking at anything."
"Oh, piss off, mudblood," Malfoy said, claiming his way in front of the Slytherins.
I couldn't see Hermione's facial expression, but I could just sense anger radiating from her. But before she or I could respond, Professor Vector cleared her throat as she loomed behind them all.
"Watch your language, Mr..." Professor Vector raised an eyebrow all whilst giving Malfoy a stern look.
"Malfoy, Professor." To no one's surprise, Malfoy suddenly cowered now that he was confronted by a teacher.
"Mr. Malfoy, I will not tolerate any crude language in and out of this classroom. This is your last warning," she said, her dark eyes scrutinizing him. I glanced tentatively at Hermione, who seemed quite gratified with Professor Vector for scolding Malfoy.
"C'mon, Maeve, don't sit next to her," Pansy Parkinson said, urging me to follow the rest of the Slytherins who, as they often did, were about to sit at the back of the class.
"No, I want to sit up front this year," I said confidently. Pansy gave me a why-and-what-in-the-hells look, before shrugging. Her eyebrows furrowed in utter disgust and perplexion as she headed back with the other Slytherins.
"I'm really sorry about them," I quickly apologized to Hermione. She reluctantly looked at me.
"If you are, why didn't you say anything earlier?" she inquired. As steady as it was, I could still hear the hurt in her voice. My face contorted in regret, and I hesitated.
"I guess," I began, trying to find the right words. " I guess, I don't know how."
She huffed in disbelief, nearly rolling her eyes at me.
"But, listen," I continued before she could retort. "Yesterday, I did tell... I told Malfoy I didn't want to be friends with him anymore."
Her mouth opened slightly, but no words came out at first.
"Maeve," she commenced calmly, but I couldn't hear the rest. Professor Vector had started the class.
Arithmancy turned out to be quite interesting. We studied basic numerology as an introduction to the class course, which was great. But we had a ton of homework, which wasn't so great.
I didn't have much time to talk to Hermione after class before she mutely and hurriedly sped off to attend her next lesson. My next class was Charms, which went by pretty smoothly. Although, some students that had a Divination class this morning were all paranoid about some Grim. Apparently, none other than Harry Potter had gotten a terribly bad omen from his tea leaves: The Grim. Probably a load of rubbish. I was glad I didn't take that class.
I was really pleased to get out of the castle after lunch. Yesterday's rain had cleared; the sky was clear, pale and gray, and the grass springy and damp underfoot as we set off for our first ever Care of Magical Creatures class. Much to Draco Malfoy's displeasure, Rubeus Hagrid was the new teacher this year.
Professor Hagrid was waiting for his students at the door of his wooden hut. He stood wearing a moleskin overcoat, having a black boarhound at his heels and looking impatient to start.
"C'mon, now, get a move on!" he called as the class approached. "Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"
For one nasty moment, I thought Hagrid was going to lead us in the forbidden forest. However, he strolled off around the edge of the trees, and five minutes later, we found ourselves outside a kind of paddock. There was nothing in there.
"Everyone gather 'round the fence here!" he called. "That's it — make sure yeh can see — now, firs' thing ye'll want ter do is open yer books—"
"How?" said the cold, drawling voice of Draco Malfoy. I nearly snorted. The Monster Book of Monsters was literally a monster book. It was rather tough to seal shut, I couldn't imagine how we would open it. I mean, the book quite literally tried to eat your face.
"Eh?" said Hagrid.
"How do we open our books?" Malfoy repeated. He took out his copy of The Monster Book of Monsters, which he had bound shut with a length of rope. Other people took theirs out too; some, like me, had belted their book shut; others had crammed them inside tight bags or clamped them together with large clips.
"Hasn' — hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?" said Hagrid, looking crestfallen.
We all shook our heads.
"Yeh've got er stroke 'em," said Hagrid, as though this was the most obvious thing in the world. "Look —"
He took Hermione's copy and ripped off the sticky and flat string that bound it. The book tried to bite, but Hagrid ran a giant forefinger down its spine, and the book shivered, and quietly fell open in his hand.
"Oh, how silly we've all been!" Malfoy sneered. "We should have stroked them! Why didn't we guess!"
"I — I thought they were funny," Hagrid said uncertainly to Hermione.
"Oh, tremendously funny!" said Malfoy. "Really witty, giving us books that try and rip our hands off!"
"Shut up, Malfoy," said Potter quietly. But not quietly enough as I could hear him. Malfoy was close by me and easily could've heard, but he was too busy fuming to notice.
"Righ' then," said Hagrid, who seemed to have lost his thread, "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 from us into the forest and out of sight.
"God, this place is going to the dogs," said Malfoy loudly. "That oaf teaching classes, my father'll have a fit when I tell him —"
"Shut up, Malfoy," Potter repeated, and this time, Malfoy heard it, loud and clear.
"Careful, Potter, there's a dementor behind you —"
"Oooooooh!" squealed some Gryffindor girl, pointing toward the opposite side of the paddock.
Trotting toward us was a dozen of the most bizarre creatures I had ever seen. 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, brilliantly orange eyes. The talons on their front legs were half a foot long and deadly looking. Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck, which was attached to a long chain, the ends of which were held in the large hands of Hagrid, who came jogging into the paddock behind the creatures.
"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 roared happily, waving a hand at them. "Beau'iful, aren' they?"
I could sort of see what Hagrid meant. Once you got over the first shock of seeing something that was half horse, half-bird, you started to appreciate the hippogriff's gleaning coats, changing smoothly from feather to hair, each of them a different colour: stormy gray, bronze, pinkish roan, gleaming chestnut, and inky black.
"So," said Hagrid, running his hands together and beaming around, "if yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer —"
No one seemed to want to. The golden trio, unsurprisingly, approached the fence cautiously.
"Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' hippogriffs is, they're proud," said Hagrid.
"I swear, it's always these three," Malfoy scoffed in an undertone to the other Slytherins, but mostly to Crabbe and Goyle. The two goons nodded in agreement, but I merely looked at Malfoy indifferently. "Those bloody Gryffindors, always ready to show off their reckless bravery."
Hagrid was saying something, but I didn't grasp what it was as Malfoy was talking too theatrically next to me. Hopefully, it wasn't anything significant.
"Yeh always wait fer the hippogriff ter make the firs' move," Hagrid continued. "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' bow, then get away from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt.
"Right — who wants ter go first?"
Most of the class backed farther away in answer. Even Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger had misgivings. The hippogriffs were tissing their fierce heads and flexing their powerful wings; they didn't seem to like being tethered like this.
"No one?" said Hagrid, with a pleading look. And of course —
"I'll do it," said Harry Potter. Malfoy sneered beside me.
There was an intake of breath from behind him. Two Gryffindor girls, whom I noticed squealed a lot, whispered something to Potter, but I didn't quite hear it. Whatever it was, he ignored them and climbed 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, pulled the gray hippogriff away from its fellows, and slipped off its leather collar. We all seemed to be holding our breaths. Malfoy's eyes narrowed maliciously.
"Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink... Hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too much..."
Buckbeak had turned his great, sharp head and was staring at Potter with one fierce orange eye.
"Tha's it," said Hagrid. "Tha's it, Harry ... now, bow..."
Potter gave a short bow and then looked up. The hippogriff was still staring haughtily at him. It didn't move.
"Ah," said Hagrid, sounding worried. "Right — back away, now, Harry, easy does it —"
But then, to my enormous surprise, the hippogriff suddenly bent its scaly front knees and sank into what was an unmistakable bow.
"Well done, Harry!" said Hagrid, ecstatic. "Right — yeh can touch him! Pat his beak, go on!"
Potter moved slowly toward the hippogriff and reached out toward it. He patted the peak several times, and the hippogriff closed its eyes lazily, as though enjoying it. The class broke in applause, all except for Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, who were looking deeply disappointed.
"Righ' then, Harry," said Hagrid. "I reckon he might' let yeh ride him!"
Malfoy's face appeared to light up with hope. Probably hoping a terrible accident would happen.
"Yeh climb up there, jus' behind the wing joint," instructed Hagrid, "an' mind yeh don' pull any of its feathers out, he won' like that..."
Potter hoisted himself onto Buckbeak's back. The hippogriff stood up.
"Go on, then!" roared Hagrid, slapping the hippogriff's hindquarters.
Twelve-foot wings flapped open on either side of Potter, and he was soaring upwards. Buckbeak flew him once around the paddock and then headed back to the ground.
"Good work, Harry!" said the roaring voice of Hagrid as everyone except Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle (to no one's surprise) cheered. I didn't cheer as loudly as everyone else (I merely clapped my hands), but that still seemed to aggravate Malfoy even further as he eyed me with annoyance. I simply shrugged at him. "Okay, who else wants a go?"
Apparently emboldened by Potter's success, we all climbed cautiously into the paddock. Hagrid untied the hippogriffs one by one, and soon, people were bowing nervously all over the paddock. Neville Longbottom repeatedly ran backward from his, which didn't seem to want to bend its knees.
Draco, Crabbe and Goyle had taken over Buckbeak whilst I joined Daphne and Tracey with a darker-coloured hippogriff. This one was a bit tricky, at first, but Tracey managed to win it over just fine, and she happily pet the hippogriff. Daphne and I stood back, slightly uncertain.
I glanced at the other side of the paddock and noticed that Buckbeak had bowed to Malfoy, who was now patting his beak, looking disdainful.
"This is very easy," he drawled loudly enough for most people to hear. "It must have been if Potter could do it... I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" he said to the hippogriff. "Are you, you great ugly brute?"
It happened in a flash of steely talons; Malfoy let out a high-pitched scream and next moment, Hagrid wrestling Buckbeak back into his collar as he strained to get at Malfoy, who lay curled in the grass, blood blossoming over his robes. I quickly ran over toward him and bend down on my knees to examine his wound.
"Oh, shit," I mumbled under my breath. There was a large tear on Malfoy's sleeve, accompanied by a large deep gash on his arm. Blood absolutely everywhere. Obviously worse than my silly nosebleed on the Hogwarts Express.
"I'm dying!" he yelled as the class panicked. "I'm dying, look at me! It's killed me!"
"It's fine, you're gonna be fine," I assured him, uncertainty tainting my voice.
"Yer not dyin'!" said Hagrid, who had gone very white. "Someone help me — gotta get him outta here —"
Hermione ran to hold open the gate as Hagrid lifted Malfoy up with ease. As they passed, blood splattered the grass, and Hagrid ran up the slope toward the castle, Malfoy weeping in his arms.
Very shaken, the Care of Magical Creatures class followed at a walk. I, however, was jogging next to Hagrid.
"I think I'm going to faint," Malfoy said faintly, as we hurried up the stone staircases towards the hospital wing.
"We're almost there," I reassured him, but he still moaned in pain.
Upon our arrival, Madam Pomfrey gasped. She guided Hagrid to the nearest bed, and he placed Malfoy onto it.
"What happened?" she inquired as she cast a spell on Malfoy's bleeding arm.
"That oaf's bloody chicken attacked me!" Malfoy wailed. The gash seemed to be too deep to close itself with a simple spell, so Madam Pomfrey grabbed some sort of potion on her desk closeby. "My father will hear about this! He'll get you sacked!" he said to Hagrid. I felt a little sympathy for Hagrid, whose face was becoming even paler by the second.
"Mr. Malfoy, I urge you to stop moving," the matron advised as she poured some of the potion on a cloth. "This will hurt." Just as she pressed the cloth on Malfoy's bloody arm, his eyes widened, and he wept in pain.
At that moment, Pansy Parkinson entered the premises. She glowered at Hagrid, who was standing uncomfortably next to us.
Pansy pushed me aside and sat on the chair on the side of the bed, where Malfoy's uninjured arm lay perfectly fine.
"Tergeo," Madam Pomfrey cast a spell that cleared the blood from Malfoy's injured arm. His arm was now bandaged and blood-free.
"Oh, Draco, are you alright?" Pansy grabbed his other arm and looked at him tearfully.
"No, it hurts so bad," he moaned in agony. I thought I saw some tears in his eyes, but that must've been my imagination. Draco Malfoy never cried.
"Now, now, Mr. Malfoy, it's just a gash, you'll be fine. It's nothing I can't fix," Pomfrey insisted as she patted his wounds with the wet cloth. Despite her reassurance, he still moaned in pain, and Pansy clung to his woundless arm desperately.
"Ms. Blackwood, could you please get me a Blood-Replenishing potion from the cupboards whilst I clean this up?" she requested as she handed me a key and then grabbed some bloodied rags and cloths for her to clean. I nodded and walked behind her desk, where the potion cupboard stood.
I was absolutely amazed by the number of potions inside her cupboard. I always knew she had some, but I also always assumed Snape was the biggest potion hoarder (I had sneaked into his potion cupboard before). There were all sorts of healing potions in there; Skele-Gro, Essence of Dittany, Cure for Boils, Pepperup potion, Wiggenweld potion, and of course, Blood-Replenishing potion.
I grabbed the Blood-Replenishing potion, locked the cupboard and walked back towards Malfoy's bed, where Madam Pomfrey was waiting for me.
"Thank you, dear," she said, and she filled a glass with the potion. It was red in colour but apparently scentless. She handed over the glass to Malfoy, and he drank from it, weakly. "This will recover all the blood you lost from your injury."
Malfoy smacked his lips uncomfortably, frowning as he placed the glass on the bedside table.
"Well, it's a healing potion, not pumpkin juice," the matron responded to the disgusted look on his face. Despite his apparent distaste for the potion, he still drank all of it but requested a glass of water to rid his mouth from the taste.
Pansy seemed very eager to help out Malfoy, so she hastily grabbed the empty glass but then clumsily dropped it to the ground. The glass shattered everywhere, and she squealed.
"Now, really?" Madam Pomfrey said, a bite of annoyance in her voice. "Just get out of here." Parkinson opened her mouth to protest, but Madam Pomfrey insisted. "Out!"
After giving a deadly glare to the matron, Pansy Parkinson stomped out of the hospital wing, fuming. Since I had nothing better to do and my legs were aching due to standing up for so long, I walked around the bed and sat on the chair Parkinson was previously occupying.
"I'll come back later for your next dose of the potion, Mr. Malfoy," informed Madam Pomfrey. She waved her wand, and the shattered glass all came back together, intact. She then made her way over to her desk and rummaged over the papers scattered all over it. Hagrid seemed to have taken this as a reasonable time to leave since he marched unceremoniously out of the hospital wing and past Parkinson, who spewed some nasty insults at him as he went by.
"Water," Malfoy muttered weakly, drawing my attention back at him. "I need water..."
I nearly rolled my eyes at how dramatic he was being. But nonetheless, I waved my wand and conjured some water inside the glass that Madam Pomfrey had just repaired. Malfoy desperately grabbed the glass of water and drank all of its content. When he was done, he let out a loud sigh and resumed moaning in anguish.
"Does it hurt that bad?" I questioned, my eyebrow perking up skeptically. As a response, he let out a cry of misery. "I think I might have something for the pain..." I said, browsing through the pockets of my robes. "It's a prototype, of course... But I think this is a great opportunity to test it... ah, here it is..." I grabbed the small vial. It contained a pastel pink watery liquid, and when I removed its cork, minuscule bubbles simmered out of the bottle. "I call it... Happy Potion! No... Perfectly Pleasing Potion... yeah, Perfectly Pleasing Potion. Essentially, it makes you happy. I'm guessing it'll make you forget about all of the pain."
"I don't want to drink that! I don't even know what's in there!" he objected, sitting up straight on his bed so that I didn't force-feed him (that happened before).
"Well, I made it with some finely chopped Alihotsy leaves, powdered moonstone, powdered unicorn horn... Oh! And pomegranate juice for taste," I said, pondering over the steps I took.
"Well, I am not drinking this..." he said, grimacing at the phial.
"Well, you don't seem to be in pain, anyway," I reasoned, placing the cork back in the bottle to then pocket it.
"Why should you care, anyway?" he said, suddenly a little hostile. "I thought you refused to be friends with me anymore."
I had completely forgotten about that. I was so busy worrying about this prick's injured arm to remember that I was not friends with him anymore... At least, that I said I didn't want to be.
"Well, I would care, regardless," I said, quickly fumbling for excuses. "We're still classmates, and housemates... and it's only natural that I want our seeker to be fine as well — I mean, you know that I love quidditch and I want more than anything for us to win the quidditch house cup, and without you as seeker—"
"So, now you think we can't win a quidditch game without me, huh?" he said smugly with a laugh. I instinctively hit his arm, forgetting that it was injured. He groaned in distress, and I covered my mouth, astounded by my lack of situational awareness.
"Draco!" Pansy Parkinson emerged into the hospital wing again, despite getting kicked out a couple of minutes ago. "I'm here!" she promptly arrived and held Malfoy's hand.
Madam Pomfrey looked up from her desk, and her eyes narrowed, but she didn't say anything. Shortly afterwards, Crabbe and Goyle entered the premises as well. Followed by Blaise and Daphne... Then Milicent, Tracey and Theodore Nott.
"No, this won't do!" said Madam Pomfrey as all the Slytherins paraded inside. "I only allow a maximum of six visitors!"
"Oh, whatever, I don't really care anyway. I just wanted to see if Malfoy bled more than Maeve did on the train. Guess it's too late to see now..." shrugged Milicent. At that, she traipsed out.
"Right, well, I have to go too," I declared as I stood up. "I have... er... homework."
"Yeah, I only came because she made me," Tracey admitted, pointing at Daphne, who shrugged indifferently.
Tracey and I trekked out of the hospital and ran to catch up with Milicent down the corridor, leaving the others inside to give Draco Malfoy all the attention he craved.