"Welcome, my children. In this room, you shall explore the noble art of Divination," Professor Trelawney's voice flittered dreamily. "In this room, you shall discover if you possess the Sight!" She said, standing up and nearly knocking the table in front of her over.
All the students were perched on cushions or poofs around low wooden tables with wispy tablecloths. Potter had been very awkward around me recently, which Hermione thought was just hilarious, but I hadn't seen her since lunch.
"I am Professor Trelawney. Together, we shall cast ourselves into the future!" She shook her hands in the air for emphasis.
"This term, we shall be focusing Tasseomancy, which is the art of reading tea leaves! So please, take the cup of the person sitting opposite you."
Potter and Weasley were laughing quietly with each other. I couldn't even scold them. This was ridiculous.
"What do you see?" She asked giddily. "The truth lies buried like a sentence deep within a book, waiting to be read." She stepped up to Finnigan and grabbed his head, shaking it. "But first, you must broaden your minds!" The three of us doubled over in silent laughter. "First, you must look... beyond!"
"What a load of rubbish," Hermione scoffed from next to me.
"When'd you get here?" Weasley asked, appalled.
"Me? I've been here this whole time."
"You, boy, is your grandmother quite well?" Trelawney asked Longbottom.
"I- I think so..." he said.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that," she replied. His face turned white.
"Give me his cup," she said frantically to the boy next to Longbottom. "Hmm," she hummed in disappointment. "Pity." Longbottom grabbed the cup and peered into it frantically.
Then she stopped in front of our table, looking straight at Weasley.
"Oh!" She exclaimed, causing Weasley to jump. "Your aura is pulsing, dear. Are you in the beyond? I think you are."
"Sure," Weasley nodded quickly.
"Look at the cup, tell me what you see!"
He peered inside, although I knew he hadn't the faintest idea what he was doing. "Yeah... er, well, Harry's got sort of a wonky cross," he said, flipping through the pages of his book. "That's... trials and suffering. And, uh, that there could be the sun, and that's happiness."
Professor Trelawney shook her hands so her many bracelets jangled, encouraging Weasley on.
"So, er... you're gonna suffer, but you're gonna be happy about it."
I snorted into the back of my hand.
"Give me the cup," she said sweetly to Weasley. But the second she touched it, she screamed and dropped it onto the floor, shattering it.
"Oh, my dear boy," she gasped. "My dear... you have the Grim."
Multiple students made sounds of horror. I racked my brains on what I knew of the creature. It wasn't anything good.
"Taking form of a spectral dog, it's among the darkest omens in our world. It's an omen... of death," someone read from their book.
"You don't think that Grim's got anything to do with Sirius Black, do you?" Weasley asked as we walked down to Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures.
"Oh, honestly, Ron," Hermione said, exasperated. "If you ask me, Divination's a very wooly discipline. Now, Ancient Ruins, that's a fascinating subject."
"Ancient Ruins?" I asked. "Exactly how many classes are you taking this term?"
"A fair few," Hermione replied airily.
"Hang on," Weasley said. "That's not possible. Ancient Ruins is at the same time as Divination. You have to be in two classes at once!"
"Don't be silly, Ronald," Hermione said. "How could anyone be in two classes at once?"
"Broaden your mind!" I said, mimicking Trelawney, and they laughed. "Use your inner eye, Weasley! Your aura is palpitating."
When we reached the crowd of students, Hagrid greeted us.
"Less talking, if you don't mind. I got a real treat for you today. A great lesson. So follow me." And to my surprise, he led us through the Forbidden Forest and into a sunny clearing. Even in daylight, the creaking trees creeped me out. I had no good memories from being lost in here.
"Right, you lot, form a group over there," Hagrid instructed. "And open your books to page 49."
"Exactly how do we do that?" Draco drawled from behind us.
"Well just stroke the spine, o' course," Hagrid said, like it was obvious.
"I think they're funny," Hermione said within earshot of Hagrid to make him feel better.
"Oh yeah, terribly funny. Really witty!"
We turned around to see Draco, standing with Pansy and Blaise in front of a monstrous tree. "God, this place has gone to the dogs," he continued. "Wait until my father hears that Dumbledore's got this oaf teaching classes."
"Potter," I muttered warningly under my breath, but he ignored me.
"Shut up, Malfoy," he said, walking up to him.
All the Slytherins whistled. Malfoy sauntered forward, and they sized each other up. Then, Draco's face twisted into horror.
"D- D- Dementor!" He said, pointing up to the sky. I whipped around with everyone else, but nothing was there.
Draco and his friends put up their hoods and waggled their fingers out, mimicking the creatures.
I went up and grabbed Potter's arms, turning him away.
"You need to learn how to shut your fat mouth," I said to Draco over my shoulder.
"Are you going to write to mummy?" He cooed. "Tell her Draco's been being a big old meanie?"
"I'll write to father and tell him to stop helping you slick your hair back every morning," I retorted. Some of the Gryffindors snickered.
"It's too bad Potter needs his little girlfriend to stand up for him," Draco smirked.
I really had no idea where that came from. I tried to take another step towards him, maybe to punch him in the stomach, but Hermione caught my arm.
Hagrid cleared his throat from behind us. "Da-da-da-da!"
There was a loud bleating, and then a huge animal came out from between the trees. At first it looked like a white horse, but then I realized that it had wings, feathers, and a long, sharp beak that I did not want to get anywhere near.
"Say hello to Buckbeak!" Hagrid said proudly.
"Hagrid... exactly what is that?" Weasley asked.
"That, Ron, is a hippogriff," he answered. "First thing you want to know about hippogriffs is that they're very proud creatures. Very easily offended. You do not want to insult a hippogriff. It may just be the last thing you ever do."
Then he clapped his hands together. "So, who's like to come say hello?"
I stood next to Potter, looking on disbelievingly. Who in their right mind-
"Harry and Alexandra? Well done, you two. Well done," Hagrid smiled.
I looked behind us. Everyone had taken a step back. It seemed I was the person in their right mind. Weasley gave me a sympathetic look, and then pushed Potter forward. I stumbled after him.
"You have to let him make the first move," Hagrid instructed. "It's only polite. So, you step up... give him a nice bow..."
"We're bowing?" I sighed.
"You're bowing," Hagrid confirmed. "Then you wait, and see if he bows back. If he does, you can go and touch him. If he doesn't... well, we'll get to that later."
I didn't love the idea of leaving the back of my neck open to Buckbeak, but I shared an apprehensive glance with Potter before bowing low.
I heard squawking and wings beating. I looked up. I wish I hadn't.
"Back off, you two. Back off!" Hagrid hissed.
We tripped backwards, and one of us stepped on a tree branch, the crack loud and echoing. I went very still, not even daring to breath. I could feel the tension of everyone holding their breaths.
The hippogriff cocked its great head to one side, and then slowly sunk into a strange bow. Hagrid laughed, and my body flooded with relief. Potter exhaled next to me.
"Well done, well done." Hagrid threw a piece of meat, and Buckbeak caught it. "Right. Now I think you can go and pat him."
My face dropped.
"Go on now. Don't be shy."
I timidly stepped up, hand outstretched. "Not so fast, Alexandra," Hagrid said quickly. Buckbeak snapped his beak, and I flinched away.
"That's it... nice and slow. Now let him come to you."
I didn't very much like this. But to my immense shock, Buckbeak nuzzled his head into my hand. Potter came up and patted him gingerly. Hagrid led a small round of applause for us. I was feeling pretty great until Hagrid said, "I think he may let you ride him now!"
"What?" Potter and I asked at the same time.
Hagrid picked the both of us up and plopped us on the hippogriff's back.
"Hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!" Potter protested.
"Hagrid..." I said, trying to twist out of his grip.
"Don't pull out any of his feathers, 'cause he won't thank you for that," Hagrid assured us. Then he slapped Buckbeak in the rump, sending him running. I screamed and grabbed around Potter's waist.
We soared up into the air, over the trees. I felt like I was slipping off, and I pulled myself closer to Potter's body, the side of my head against his back. We flew around the many towers of Hogwarts, and then we were carried down to the huge lake surrounding the castle.
Buckbeak's feet skimmed the water, sending a spray onto my legs. I allowed myself to crack my eyes open just the tinniest bit, and I was met with Potter's ecstatic expression. My stomach did a summersault.
We circled back to the forest, and Hagrid whistled. Buckbeak landed the opposite of smoothly, and I nearly was thrown off. All the students began to clap again, and I hastily removed my hands from their original placement. That was a position I didn't want Draco to see either of us in.
Hagrid picked us up again and placed us on the ground. "How am I doin' on me first day?" He whispered.
"Brilliant," Potter answered.
"Brilliant professor," I corrected.
Hagrid beamed.
Suddenly, Draco was pushing through the crowd, walking up forcefully to Buckbeak.
"Yeah... you're not dangerous at all, are you? You great ugly brute," he said harshly.
"Draco!" I yelled.
The students screamed as Buckbeak lifted up his two front legs and slashed his talons. Draco hit the ground hard.
"Buckbeak!" Hagrid yelled, standing in front of him and my brother. He threw another piece of meat, and the hippogriff chased after it.
"Oh, it's killed me!" Draco whimpered. "It's killed me!"
"Calm down," Hagrid said frantically. "It's just a scratch!"
"Hagrid!" Hermione said loudly, walking up to us. "He has to be taken to the hospital."
"I'll do it, I'm the teacher," he complied gruffly, picking up Draco's unnecessarily limp body. His head lolled dramatically in Hagrid's arms.
"Oh!" He whined. "Oh, you're gonna regret this! You and your bloody chicken!"
I stood next to Potter, astounded, watching Draco be carried away. I started when I felt something against my cheek, but it was only Buckbeak nuzzling me. I looked in astonishment to Potter, which he returned with a grimace.
"Does it hurt terribly, Draco?" Parkinson asked.
Most of the students were sitting around the Great Hall working. Potter, Weasley, and I were all struggling on our star charts for Divination. Hermione had already finished hers, and was currently being begged for help.
"It comes and goes," Draco sighed. "Still, I consider myself lucky. According to Madame Pomfrey, another minute or two and I could have lost my arm. I couldn't possibly do any homework for weeks."
He was such a child. Lost his arm? What utter rubbish. I decided I didn't like Parkinson as much anymore.
"Listen to the idiot," I scoffed.
"He's really laying it on thick, isn't he?" Weasley asked.
"Please! Don't touch it!" Draco's voice came again.
"Yeah, but at least Hagrid didn't get fired," Potter said. He was looking especially infuriatingly good today, wearing only his plain white dress shirt and Gryffindor tie.
"I heard their father's furious," Hermione added, nodding to me.
"Oh, he is," I assured. "Mother wrote to me yesterday and said that he's trying to get a new teacher in for the class. But ever since he threatened a bunch of people's families to get Dumbledore out of office last year, he's not very popular with the school board."
"We haven't heard the end of this," Hermione soughed.
"He's been sighted!" Someone yelled from a little ways down the table. Finnigan.
"He's been sighted?" Hermione asked. "Who?"
We all slid over to see the newspaper that Finnigan had thrown. Potter put his hand down on the surface next to me and leaned over. My heart skipped a beat, and I noted vaguely that he like smelled like broom polish and something sweet.
"Dufftown?" Weasley asked, incredulous. "That's not too far from here."
"Y- you don't think he'd come to Hogwarts, do you?" Longbottom asked nervously.
"With Dementors at every entrance?" Hermione said skeptically, pulling the newspaper towards her.
"Dementors?" Finnigan asked. "He's already slipped past them once, hasn't he? Who's to say he won't do it again?"
"That's right," another boy said. "Black could be anywhere."
"It's like trying to catch smoke," I said quietly. "Like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands."