Raised By Wolfstar: Slytherin Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Eye of the Snake

Theodore and Canini plowed their way back to Hagrid's cabin through two feet of snow on Sunday morning. Harry, Tracey, and Terence wanted to go with them, but their mountain of homework had reached an alarming height again, so they grudgingly remained in the common room, trying to ignore the thought of their fellow students enjoying themselves skating on the frozen lake, tobogganing, and bewitching snowballs to zoom around.

'What I wouldn't give to be outside having some fun right now,' said Allison in a huff.

Theodore returned from Hagrid's just before lunch, shivering slightly, his robes damp to the knees.

'Well?' asked Harry, looking up when he entered. 'Did you make some lesson plans with him?'

'No, and he's making it hard to want to help him,' he said dully, sinking into a chair beside Harry. He pulled out his wand and gave it a complicated little wave so that hot air streamed out of the tip; he then pointed this at his robes, which began to steam as they dried out. 'When we arrived he wasn't even at his hut, Cani and I waited for over half an hour. Then he just hobbled out of the Forbidden Forest—'

Harry groaned. The Forbidden Forest was teeming with the kind of creatures most likely to get Hagrid the sack.

'What's he keeping in there? Did he say?' asked Harry.

'Nope,' said Theodore miserably. 'He insisted that they be a surprise. We tried re-explaining how Umbridge just wants him gone, but he wouldn't listen. He kept insisting that nobody in their right mind would rather study Murtlaps than chimaeras—don't worry, I get the impression his secret animal isn't a chimaera,' he added at the appalled look on Harry, Tracey, Allison, and Terence's faces, 'though I think he would if he could, he mentioned how hard it is to procure their eggs...Canini and I practically begged him to just continue Grubbly-Plank's lesson plan, but in the end I'd be surprised if combined we managed to get ten percent of what we said through his stubborn head. He just seemed a little off, and he continued to refuse divulging what gave him his injuries...'

Hagrid's reappearance at the staff table at breakfast next day was not greeted by enthusiasm from all students. Some, like Fred, George, and Ron, roared with delight and sprinted up to wring Hagrid's enormous hand; others, like Millicent and Daphne, exchanged gloomy looks and shook their heads. Harry knew that many of them preferred Professor Grubbly-Plank's lessons, and the worst of it was that a very small, unbiased part of him knew that they had good reason: Grubbly-Plank's idea of an interesting class was not one where there was a risk that somebody might have their head ripped off.

It was with a certain amount of apprehension that Harry, Tracey, Allison, and Theodore headed down to Hagrid's on Tuesday, heavily muffled against the cold. Harry was worried, not only about what Hagrid might have decided to teach them, but also about how the rest of the class, particularly Pansy and her cronies, would behave if Umbridge was watching them.

However, the High Inquisitor was nowhere to be seen as they struggled through the snow toward Hagrid, who stood waiting for them on the edge of the forest. He did not present a reassuring sight; the bruises that had been purple on Saturday night were now tinged with green and yellow and some of his cuts still seemed to be bleeding. Harry could not understand this: Had Hagrid perhaps been attacked by some creature whose venom prevented the wounds it inflicted from healing? As though to complete the ominous picture, Hagrid was carrying what looked like half a dead cow over his shoulder.

'We're workin' in here today!' Hagrid called happily to the approaching students, jerking his head back at the dark trees behind him. 'Bit more sheltered! Anyway, they prefer the dark...'

'What prefers the dark?' Harry heard Malfoy say sharply to Daphne, a trace of panic in his voice. 'What did he say prefers the dark—did you hear?'

Harry remembered the only occasion on which Malfoy had entered the forest before now; he had not been very brave then either. He smiled to himself; he needed some amusement after the week he had had.