LI. DILLEMA
19:09 ─❁────────── 19:79
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❝I've never felt this way before
Up & Down, that's how we go❞
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VISITING HAGRID TAUGHT THEM MANY things that were happening outside of Hogwarts, and especially the revelation that Hagrid's absence was due to him being tasked with Madame Maxime, the Beauxbatons headmistress, to go on a mission to seek out the Giant race, which didn't end as smoothly as they'd first predicted.
But after Hagrid's return, there was a shift in Harry's mood — though it wasn't much, it was still enough for everyone to avoid his wrath. However, as days and weeks past since then, Lucia thought there was something strange about him, but she just couldn't point out what just yet.
Lucia didn't think it was anything important, so she just left it be and continued with her day. The same thing couldn't be said with Harry unfortunately. As he and Ron were locked up in the confinement of Gryffindor Tower due to the mountains of homework they had previously procrastinated to finish and neither Hermione went off to see Hagrid, Harry could merely look out of the window and down the grounds where many of the students were at, playing around with their white surroundings in their free day.
"Must be nice..." Ron muttered bitterly, resenting the people that were down on the grounds having fun whilst they had to finish up work. Albeit it was their fault for procrastinating...
"Look at them," he scoffed, "Ice skating. I reckon I would've done them on the floor if it weren't for bloody Snape and that toadface!"
Harry merely grunted, causing Ron to turn back to his best friend with a deadpanning look. But even then, he didn't look as if he noticed it, which made Ron ever-so curious to find out why. Following his gaze, Ron's searching eyes finally stopped on a particular girl; Lucia, who was skipping down with his little sister and as well as a brunette girl whom Ron was not acquainted with.
He furrowed his eyes and darted back at Harry. "Looks like Lucia's down there too," he said carefully slow.
"Yeah, she is," Harry stated blankly.
"You know, I notice something about this year,"
"And what's that?"
"The fact that people are finally seeing Lucia as who she really is," said Ron, studying his best friend's reaction. "Dean told me yesterday that he heard from Neville, who heard from Ernie, who heard from Hannah, who was told by Susan that Smith fancies Lucia,"
"Uh-huh,"
Ron cocked a brow and smacked Harry at the back of his head.
"OUCH — !"
"You did hear me, right?"
"No, but I doubt it's anything important," Harry glared at him, rubbing achiness away.
"I reckon it is important, mate. It has something to do with Lucia," Ron said, shrugging.
This seems to caught Harry's attention entirely. "What? Lucia? What happened to her?" He sat on the edge of his seat, words spitting out of his mouth with swift. "Did something happen?"
"Smith fancies Lucia. There, do you hear me now?"
"Smith fancies... Lucia?" Harry's mind went blank at this; he was taken aback. "Are you talking about our Lucia?"
"Who else?" Ron deadpanned.
"Wait — SMITH?!"
Ron winced at the sudden change of volume. "Yes —" He then began to scribble on his parchment, "She doesn't know though, and I don't reckon she would ever fancy someone like Smith."
"How on earth did Smith came to fancy Lucia, anyway?" Harry asked darkly, leaning back against the chair.
"Dean made this joke about how it's because he has a thing for 'dominant' women, so perhaps when she stood up against him for you was when he caught feelings...?" Ron himself looked confuse as he explained the situation to Harry himself. "Frankly, I can see Smith becoming a submissive type..."
"Yeah, submissive for someone else," retorted Harry, scribbling X marks over a doodle of Zacharias Smith he had done while Ron was telling him the rumour. "Lucia would never go for someone like Smith... right?" he added uncertainly.
Ron shrugged. "Dunno. She's unpredictable,"
And Harry couldn't help but agree, Lucia was an unpredictable person after all, they had no idea what her moves would be. If she were to get together with Smith, would they agree? Would he agree?
As he looked out back at the ground; his heartstrings began to tug at the sight of the bright smile that had engraved his life as the owner twirled around in the middle of the white surface. Thinking about the possibilities of her and Smith out of people getting together, or perhaps her with anyone else in general made him... iffy.
No one deserves her, not even him.
She was like the heavens, and they were the earth; knowing that fact made the painful clench of his heart so prominent that that he couldn't possibly avoid it.
Though the chilly weather made her frozen still, Lucia still couldn't find it in her heart to decline Ginny and Astoria's invitation to down for a skate on the Black Lake.
With the O.W.L.s examination approaching and her unspoken acceptance into the unexpected friend group that consisted of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, she rarely got to hang out with Astoria and Ginny, both of whom she had became great friends with since last year, and this was the perfect time for the three of them to spend some time together.
She was just hoping that they both could get along as well.
Unexpectedly, they did.
"You have to let loose of yourself, Weasley!" Astoria said as she twirled effortlessly around the Gryffindor who struggle to keep up with her balance on the ice.
"I swear to Merlin, Greengrass! I'm going to throw you in the Black Lake!" hissed Ginny, before shrieking when she thought she was going to fall on the cold hard ice. "How do you bloody do this?!"
"You just" — Astoria made taunting circles around Ginny — "Glide,"
"I HATE YOU!"
"You're the one that p-proposed this, G-Ginny," Lucia said with chattering teeth as she skated to the pair of feuding girls.
"I proposed for us, not Greengrass and us!"
"But she was lonely, and it wasn't like you specified that you wanted it to be only us," Lucia said. "I asked you if I could bring someone, and you said yes..."
Astoria stuck her tongue out mockingly at Ginny from behind Lucia. "Suck it."
"You brat —" she pushed herself to catch Astoria, only to fail miserably, falling onto the stinging surface of the Black Lake.
While Astoria was giggling, Lucia rounded on the small girl and helped her up as Ginny held onto her as though she was holding onto dear life.
"Okay there?" said Lucia, smiling.
"I'm fine," she grumbled.
A series of laughter and chirpiness could be heard all around them. As December neared, the students of Hogwarts seem to be in a much brighter mood; Lucia reckoned that it had to do with escaping Umbridge finally, but even she had to admit that Umbridge was a tiny bit tolerable this time of the year. Keyword: Tiny.
Lucia felt her spirits lifted a bit, which was a bit rare for it to happen since her first detention with Umbridge. She picked the plaster around her finger aimlessly, watching as Fred and George, and Lee Jordan was throwing snowballs over at the window that leaded to Gryffindor Tower. Not far from them was Erin, Angelina, Alicia, and Katie, all of whom were skating around in circles.
"Looks like Johnson's looking a bit more relief these days," noted Astoria, catching Ginny for the tenth time today, "Did something happened?"
"I guess you could say that..." said Ginny, as she looked at the group of girls who were further away from them. "Oh, I wonder if they've made their decision already," Ginny played with the cuff of her robes gingerly.
Angelina, Alicia, and Katie were in deep conversation, looking the most serious they had ever been while Erin was carving something on the ice, overhearing them and making some input if needed.
"Probably," said Lucia, crouching down. "I mean — Angelina needs to pick someone before the next match..."
"Oh, then that means that they've done tryouts after the whole..."
"'Weasley Is Our King' thing? Yeah," replied Ginny. "It took a while for it to happen thanks to Umbridge,"
"Speaking of which, did you...?" Astoria tilted her head to the side, puzzled.
Lucia nodded nervously, "Angelina begged me to come and try out, but Ginny was no doubt the best out of everyone," she praised.
Ginny blushed.
Lucia, Ginny, and Astoria looked further off toward the four older girls until they were caught staring at them. The three of them blushed in embarrassment, however neither Erin, Angelina, Alicia, nor Katie was paying attention to that. Instead, they seemed as though they had important business for them.
Each step they took caused a friction of tension in their body; Lucia, Ginny, and Astoria glanced at one another nervously, finally realising that the sixth year and the three seventh year was heading toward their way.
"They're coming!" said Ginny quietly in panic.
"Yes, I think we all can see that, Weasley," Astoria retorted.
"Listen here -"
"Stop it, you both! Quick — act normal!"
And they did... well, they attempted to act as normal as they could, but this was Lucia, Ginny, and Astoria — while Astoria was able to mask herself quickly by skating around, neither Lucia nor Ginny could truly act normal in such situation if they were in each other's presence. Lucia stood frozen on the ice, the stinging cold wind blowing through her face pushing her slightly along. Ginny swirled around aimlessly, though falling on her bum in the end.
"Help me!"
"I am!" cried Lucia
"You two are disastrous!" said Astoria.
"Hurry!" said Ginny, struggling on ice.
"Shush —"
"Girls," the pair of three turned and was greeted by the three older Gryffindors and the sole Slytherin. Lucia and Astoria quickly helped Ginny up and gazed at them confoundedly.
"We need to talk," said Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell nodding. Erin smiled at them innocently.
Astoria took a step back; Lucia and Ginny stared at one another for a moment, sharing the same thought: Oh uh...
When Lucia returned to the common room that night alone, she was a bit shock to see that there was no one in it, as though everyone had decided to retire to their dormitories for the night. Well, not all thought of that: The moment she entered, she noticed that there was a familiar mopped of black hair in front of the fireplace.
She approached cautiously but a small smile graced upon her lips: Harry Potter sat in the loveseat with a book in hand, dozing off with his head lulling back. He looked so peaceful, and sadly to say, she thought that this was one of the most peaceful Harry had ever look when he was asleep. Most of the time she caught him sleeping in the common room, she could tell that he would have a nightmare or so, but this was different. He was truly in tranquility.
Lucia made no hesitance to sit herself beside him, taking the book from his hand and placing it neatly on the table. She couldn't fight the urge to sigh — but not out of frustration or annoyance like she would always do, but out of fond adoration.
She despised whom she had become. This was not how it was supposed to be this year; she wasn't supposed to be the one to succumb into the temptation of love, for she didn't even know what love was. All she was familiar when it comes to love is whenever her parents would get into the mix. The language of love was foreign to her and even now she wasn't excelling in the subject as she was learning, but the fact that she was learning all about it in the first place was all due to him.
Harry was the reason she was even putting any effort in learning it. He was the reason why she was being such a mess these days, and it was frustrating to know that she could never show how much she fancied — or worse, love him. He would never know because he fancied someone else.
She wondered was this how Hugo was when he told her about his unrequited love? Was this Leon felt when she told him that she didn't feel the same? Was this how Erin felt when she thought that Fred liked Angelina? Did her dad suffer the same exact way she did with her mum?
For once, she wanted to feel something for someone that wasn't just to nurture and care; Lucia wanted to be able to shower him with the love, wanting to spend her free time with him whenever she could. Just the thought of her running her fingers through his soothing black, untamed hair made her want to pamper him with soft kisses. She longed for happiness, and that happiness was with him.
But that said happiness was far from her reach.
He didn't love, nor does he like her as more than a friend. She would be a fool to think she had a chance, especially when the person in his eyes right now was Cho Chang, one of the most beautiful girls she had ever seen in school. And she'll respect his feelings.
She cared for him too much to know her limits. It hurts, but the pain won't last for all eternity. She just needed to wait for it to slowly die. Until then, she'll stay in the sidelines and watched as the scenes in his life unfold before her eyes. Like a film.
Lucia reached for the blanket on the couch opposite of them, tucking the warm scarlet blanket around the boy. She bit her lip sadly.
"I wish for many things, but never one of them had come true. I'm not going convince myself that it'll come true this time," said Lucia softly.
With that, she started toward the girls' staircase, but stopped in her motion when she heard the familiar grunts and sound of Harry waking. Lucia whirled around guiltily; she didn't mean to wake him up...
"L-Luce?" he yawned, groggy still.
"Harry — sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up!" said Lucia, flustered as she made her way back to him.
He subconsciously shook his head, rubbing his eyes before noticing that his glasses weren't on. No wonder everything was blurry, he thought. Lucia must've placed it somewhere... He then realised that she was finally back from Merlin knows where.
"Here," she handed him her glasses, and he gratefully put them on, finally being able to see her enchanting and utmost beauty facial exterior he had ever seen on a human being. Everyone has their own unique beauty, but goddamn she was the most beautiful of them all —
He had to stop himself, fearing where he was heading to when thinking about such things about his best friend...
Then he thought back of what he last heard her say, now puzzled by this: What did she meant by "I wish for many things, but never one of them had come true. I'm not going convince myself that it'll come true this time"?
It didn't add up at all.
"You're back," was all he could utter out without seeing as though he was desperate for her presence.
"Yeah, yeah I am — actually got back just a few minutes ago," she said naturally, as though she hadn't just professed her undying love for him whilst he was asleep. "What're you doing down here late, shouldn't you be sleeping upstairs?"
He reddened at this. "Well — yeah — I guess — but I was worried for you is all. You usually are never late, so —"
"Harry Potter," Harry looked up to her and saw the gasping look she had, but he had a slight feeling that she was about to playfully mock him. And he was right to think so.
Lucia, with a hand clamping over her mouth in shock, rounded to stand in front of Harry, a smile slowly forming on her lips. "You were waiting for me, weren't you?"
Harry blushed, "What — ?"
"You were waiting for me!" Lucia declared, though a bit too happily. "Oh, itty bitty Potter waited for me to come back — I don't know whether or not to be flattered and charmed, or to be offended that you didn't trust me to come back to my own House dormitory?" she teased.
"Well, I preferred the former than the latter —"
"Of course, you would," she grinned. "Your egotistical side is showing, " sang Lucia playfully.
He didn't know what it was, but he was sure something had possessed him to say the things he said next; it was a bit unlike him...
"But you love me for that, don't you?" said Harry with the utmost confidence.
He rose from where he sat, confidence radiating from him almost intimidatingly that made Lucia squeaked. She knew she shouldn't, but she felt a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach, almost eager for Harry's next action; he swiftly backed her against the wall. Her heartbeat began to accelerate as every step they took was as though they were falling from the sky when finally, she felt her back against the wall.
"You know this is very unlike you," said Lucia huskily, her hand over her chest, unsure of what to do.
"I would say otherwise, but I'm kind of tired to arguing," said Harry, shrugging.
"Is it normal for you to be this confident after you just woke up, or is this a one-time thing?"
"It depends really," he shrugged, eyes boring into her shimmering night eyes that were seemingly reflecting the shining moonlight, making her more ethereal than before. "Usually this happens whenever I don't get enough sleep."
"You're saying that if you don't get enough sleep, you'll get... more energetic?"
"I'm a tiresome person, give me a break,"
With the close proximity they were in, it was impossible for Lucia to hide her blush away. To think that after making him all flustered, he was now repaying the favour, and she honestly felt embarrassed by this. As they deepened their gaze with one another, the tugging feeling of their heart reanimated and before they knew it, they leaned in, feeling their hot breath as their lips brushed —
"Harry!" Ron Weasley came down the stairs obliviously, stepping foot into the common room.
Lucia was pink allover, while Harry immediately jumped away from her, his face was as red as his best friend's hair.
"W-What, Ron?" he asked, stammering.
Ron looked as white as a sheet of paper, terrified. "I think there's a spider on the wood," he said shakily. "I tried to wake Neville, Dean, and even Seamus, but they were dead asleep!"
"— and so you came down to find me because you knew that I wasn't going to be asleep?"
Ron nodded.
Harry glanced around at Lucia, then at Ron, and then back at Lucia. Perhaps it was for the better that Ron
"Fine. Let's go," he said.
Perhaps it was for the better that Ron had intervened, because he was sure that if he hadn't, something would have happened. And that something could have affected them either better or utterly despairing, and that was a risk he wasn't willing to take. Not just yet anyway.
Harry stared at Lucia for a moment before smiling fondly at her. "'Night,"
Before she could reciprocate, the two were already gone, their figures disappearing the more steps they took up to the landing, leaving Lucia on her own in the still and cozy scarlet common room. She processed the moments prior, stomach fluttering with butterflies. Her cheeks reddened immensely; her heart was beating faster than it had ever been.
She slid down the wall, stunned, fingers brushing her lips. "Oh my god..."
By the next morning, Lucia found herself still in the state she was last night — daze. It was hard to even comprehend the moment; Harry had never been so bold, and she didn't know what that even meant.
The images of last night still haunted her mind; the outline of his prominent eyes that seemingly entranced her in such a deep enchantment - envisioning merely makes her swoon more that she finds very unhealthy by now. She was only setting herself for a major heartbreak.
She did not go down for breakfast together with Harry, Ron, and Hermione unlike usual as she had mistakenly disregarded the whole school day until Parvati reminded her. She only was able to see them the moment she walked into the Great Hall alone. Her eyes wandered around the hall when she stopped at the great figure that was Hagrid.
It felt refreshing to see him sitting at the staff table once more. However, she noticed that he was not greeted by enthusiasm from all students. Some, like Fred, George, and Lee, roared with delight and sprinted up the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables to wring Hagrid's enormous hand; others, like Parvati and Lavender, exchanged gloomy looks and shook their heads.
It wasn't a kept secret that they preferred Professor Grubbly-Plank's lessons than Hagrid's. In Lucia's opinion, both professors gave off interesting lessons, but Professor Grubbly-Plank's idea of an interesting class was not one where there was a risk that somebody might have their head ripped off, so it was surprising that many had preferred the woman than the Gamekeeper.
"Bet the Ravenclaws and Slytherins aren't so keen that Hagrid's back," said Lucia behind Ron and Hermione. The pair jumped at her voice.
"Bloody hell, you scared us!" Ron yelped.
"Been there, done that," Lucia retorted half-heartedly, waving her hand when she saw Astoria Greengrass who eagerly waved back, ignoring the weird looks she was receiving.
"Do you know her?" asked Hermione peculiarly when she saw her friend waving over at the Slytherin table. It came to her as quite a shock that it even happened in the first place.
Before Lucia could speak, Harry quickly interjected, noticing the offended look she had, assuming that Hermione was judging her for having a Slytherin friend. "That's Astoria Greengrass, and she's a really nice girl."
He locked eyes with Lucia, only causing heat rising to her cheeks.
"You know her too?" Ron said, baffled.
"She's not bad," said Lucia, taking offence, crossing her arms together. "She's quite a chirpy girl, and she's nothing like her sister in contrary. She doesn't believe in the whole pureblood mania or supremacy like the others."
"Her sister is Daphne Greengrass I presume?" said Hermione.
Both Lucia and Harry nodded.
Hermione sighed. "Look, I'm not judging you," she admitted. "I'm just a bit surprised that you would associate yourself with a Slytherin, since you were bullied by the majority of them."
"Keyword: majority. I learnt last year that not all of them share the same views, which was quite shallow of me to even admit I thought of that in the first place." Lucia sat beside Ron, scooping a ladle of porridge into her bowl. "Astoria is a nice girl, and don't you guys remember Erin?"
"What year is Greengrass in?" Hermione asked.
"She's a year below."
The whole Monday consisted of a slightly awkward exchanges between Harry and Lucia, and Ron and Hermione were quick to catch up that something might've happened between them.
"Why aren't either of you two looking at each other?" Ron finally broke the ice the moment the four of them sat together in front of the fireplace in the common room, tactlessly. Hermione glanced up from her book, interested.
"What ever do you mean, Ron?" said Lucia vaguely, petting Crookshanks as the cat purred on her lap.
"You know what I mean!"
"I don't think we do," said Harry airily, peering over his Advance Defence Against the Dark Arts by Galatea Merrythought.
"Come of it," said Ron irritably. "You two aren't even looking at each other with those disgusting fond eyes you always do since the start of the year!"
Hermione snorted, and Harry and Lucia's face went crimson red at this. They never did notice that —
"You are being particularly nosy tonight," said Lucia, not backing down.
Harry glanced at Lucia briefly before returning to Ron. "Yeah, mate. You really are being nosy today, nothing happened at all."
"He didn't ask whether or not anything happened," Hermione chimed in.
"Yes, but he was implying that something did happened," defended Lucia, as Harry nodded vigorously.
Ron had grown redder out of irritation. "You — I — I bloody swear that I'll get to the bottom of this!" he said a little too passionately, marching off toward the boys' staircase.
"Huh," began Hermione. "I've never seen him so passionate about something other than eating and Quidditch. Interesting."
She then turned to Harry and Lucia, noticing that they were looking at each other — only it was whenever the other wasn't looking. She now understood why Ron was so irritated. "He's right you know?" she added, before setting off toward the girls' staircase, leaving them both alone.
Silence fell upon the room, tension rising little-by-little as the two sat in utter silence, alone the common room just like before...
"Harry —"
"Lucie —"
"Y-You go first," said Lucia nervously.
"Right... right... okay. Erm... I'm sorry for last night —"
Her eyes widened. "No, no! I didn't mind it at all!"
"You didn't?" said Harry, voice filled with uncertainty.
"I — I didn't mean it like that, but —"
"So, you did mind it?"
"No! not what I meant! I mean that" — she inhaled deeply, composing herself — "I meant that there's nothing to be sorry about, Harry. Nothing happened."
Harry's heart sunk. "Right. Nothing did happen."
"Yeah," Lucia said meekly. Somehow, she regretted saying that nothing happened when something did happen. If she did, then maybe it would have rewritten their future...
"Nothing happened."
By the morning of Tuesday, everything went back to normal between the pair — although Lucia did wish something different had happened between them, alas that could not be arrange for them. Ron and Hermione found this quite annoying; it was now clear to them what was going on in their bestfriends' life, and that was the unbeknownst blooming of new love that they were both pushing away. Yet from the looks of it, it wasn't working as they only grew closer than ever.
Ron and Hermione could only exchange eye rolls with one another. They need to sort out their priorities.
It was with a certain amount of apprehension that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Lucia headed down to Hagrid's, 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 Malfoy and his 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: 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.
"W-Well that's a nice sight to behold," snorted Lucia, shivering.
"It's not even that cold today..." Ron mumbled.
"Shut it, Ginger ale,"
"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..."
Lucia cocked a brow. There were many creatures that preferred the dark, but the corpse over his shoulders told her that her theory as to what this creature was may be right. That, and the fact that the wand in the pocket of her robes was seemingly buzzing for some odd reason.
"What prefers the dark?" Malfoy say sharply to Crabbe and Goyle, a trace of panic in his voice. "What did he say prefers the dark — did you hear?"
She glanced at those around her and caught Harry's devilish smile.
"You're enjoying this aren't you?" she whispered to him.
Harry smiled mischievously. "I don't know what you're talking about,"
Lucia giggled, shaking her head with a beaming smile.
"Ready?" said Hagrid happily, looking around at the class. "Right, well, I've bin savin' a trip inter the forest fer yer fifth year. Thought we'd go an' see these creatures in their natural habitat. Now, what we're studyin' today is pretty rare, I reckon I'm probably the on'y person in Britain who's managed ter train 'em —"
"And you're sure they're trained, are you?" said Malfoy, the panic in his voice even more pronounced now. "Only it wouldn't be the first time you'd brought wild stuff to class, would it?"
The Slytherins murmured agreement and a few Gryffindors looked as though they thought Malfoy had a fair point too.
"'Course they're trained," said Hagrid, scowling and hoisting the dead cow a little higher on his shoulder.
"So, what happened to your face, then?" demanded Malfoy.
"Mind yer own business!" said Hagrid, angrily. "Now if yeh've finished askin' stupid questions, follow me!"
He turned and strode straight into the forest. Nobody seemed much disposed to follow. Harry glanced at Ron, and Hermione, who sighed but nodded. Lucia followed beamingly after Hagrid, and the three others set off after them, leading the rest of the class.
They walked for about ten minutes until they reached a place where the trees stood so closely together that it was as dark as twilight and there was no snow on the ground at all. Hagrid deposited his half a cow with a grunt on the ground, stepped back, and turned to face his class again, most of whom were creeping toward him from tree to tree, peering around nervously as though expecting to be set upon at any moment.
"Gather roun', gather roun'," said Hagrid encouragingly. "Now, they'll be attracted by the smell o' the meat but I'm goin' ter give 'em a call anyway, 'cause they'll like ter know it's me..."
He turned, shook his shaggy head to get the hair out of his face, and gave an odd, shrieking cry that echoed through the dark trees like the call of some monstrous bird. Nobody laughed; most of them looked too scared to make a sound.
Hagrid gave the shrieking cry again. A minute passed in which the class continued to peer nervously over their shoulders and around trees for a first glimpse of whatever it was that was coming. And then, as Hagrid shook his hair back for a third time and expanded his enormous chest.
In the black space between two gnarled yew trees, a pair of blank, white, shining eyes were growing larger through the gloom and a moment later the dragonish face, neck, and then skeletal body of a great, black, winged horse emerged from the darkness. It looked around at the class for a few seconds, swishing its long black tail, then bowed its head and began to tear flesh from the dead cow with its pointed fangs.
Peculiarly to Harry, he saw Lucia smiling at this, which reminded him that she, too, saw these creatures.
Majority of the class were wearing expressions as confused and nervously expectant as they were still gazing everywhere but at the horse standing feet from them. There were only two other people who seemed to be able to see them: a stringy Slytherin boy named Theodore Nott, standing just behind Goyle was watching the horse eating with an expression of great distaste on his face, and Neville, whose eyes were following the swishing progress of the long black tail.
"Oh, an' here comes another one!" said Hagrid proudly, as a second black horse appeared out of the dark trees, folded its leathery wings closer to its body, and dipped its head to gorge on the meat. "Now... put yer hands up, who can see 'em?"
Lucia, without hesitance, raised her hand up in the air; Harry following suit and so did the two other boys (Nott was a bit reluctant).
"Yeah... yeah, I knew you'd be able ter, Harry," he said seriously. "An' you too, Neville, eh? An' -"
"Excuse me," said Malfoy in a sneering voice, "but what exactly are we supposed to be seeing?"
For answer, Hagrid pointed at the cow carcass on the ground. The whole class stared at it for a few seconds, then several people gasped, and Parvati squealed. Bits of flesh stripping themselves away from the bones and vanishing into thin air had to look very odd indeed.
"What's doing it?" Parvati demanded in a terrified voice, retreating behind the nearest tree. "What's eating it?"
"Thestrals," said Hagrid proudly and Hermione gave a soft "oh!" of comprehension. "Hogwarts has got a whole herd of 'em in here. Now, who knows — ?"
"But they're really, really unlucky!" interrupted Parvati, looking alarmed. "They're supposed to bring all sorts of horrible misfortune on people who see them. Professor Trelawney told me once —"
"No, no, no," said Hagrid, chuckling, "tha's jus' superstition, that is, they aren' unlucky, they're dead clever an' useful! 'Course, this lot don' get a lot o' work, it's mainly jus' pullin' the school carriages unless Dumbledore's takin' a long journey an' don' want ter Apparate - an' here's another couple, look -"
Two more horses came quietly out of the trees, one of them passing very close to Parvati, who shivered and pressed herself closer to the tree, saying, "I think I felt something, I think it's near me!"
Lucia beamed. "Oh, it's right beside you," she said, causing Parvati to shriek. She was enjoying taking the mickey out of people right now, nonetheless, she approached carefully to the creature that was beside Parvati and guided it away from the students.
"It won' hurt yeh, see," said Hagrid patiently, gesturing over to Lucia.
Harry watched her every movement, entranced by how enchanting she looked, almost resembling of an otherworldly princess that was simply not from this planet; her fingers dragged softly on the thestrals' boney facial structure as though she had done this a million times already.
He had never seen someone so poise with dealing a creature before.
"Righ', now, who can tell me why some o' you can see them an' some can't?"
Hermione raised her hand.
"Go on then," said Hagrid, beaming at her.
"The only people who can see thestrals," she said, "are people who have seen death."
"Tha's exactly right," said Hagrid solemnly, "ten points ter Gryffindor. Now, thestrals —"
"Hem, hem."
Lucia tensed at once at the sound and automatically took a step back, returning to Harry's side, frowning; Professor Umbridge had arrived. She was standing a few feet away from them, wearing her green hat and cloak again, her clipboard at the ready. Hagrid, who had never heard Umbridge's fake cough before, was gazing in some concern at the closest thestral, evidently under the impression that it had made the sound.
"Hem, hem."
"Oh hello!" Hagrid said, smiling, having located the source of the noise.
"You received the note I sent to your cabin this morning?" said Umbridge, in the same loud, slow voice she had used with him earlier, as though she was addressing somebody both foreign and very slow. "Telling you that I would be inspecting your lesson?"
"Oh yeah," said Hagrid brightly. "Glad yeh found the place all righ'! Well, as you can see — or I dunno — can you? We're doin' thestrals today —"
"I'm sorry?" said Umbridge loudly, cupping her hand around her ear and frowning. "What did you say?"
Hagrid looked a little confused.
"Er — thestrals!" he said loudly. "Big — er — winged horses, yeh know!"
He flapped his gigantic arms hopefully. Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows at him and muttered as she made a note on her clipboard, "'has... to... resort... to... crude... sign... language...'"
"Well... anyway..." said Hagrid, turning back to the class and looking slightly flustered. "Erm... what was I sayin'?"
"'Appears... to... have... poor... short... term... memory...'" muttered Umbridge, loudly enough for everyone to hear her. Draco Malfoy looked as though Christmas had come a month early; Hermione, on the other hand, had turned scarlet with suppressed rage.
"Oh yeah," said Hagrid, throwing an uneasy glance at Umbridge's clipboard, but plowing on valiantly. "Yeah, I was gonna tell yeh how come we got a herd. Yeah, so, we started off with a male an' five females. This one," he patted the first horse to have appeared, "name o' Tenebrus, he's my special favorite, firs' one born here in the forest -"
"Are you aware," Umbridge said loudly, interrupting him, "that the Ministry of Magic has classified thestrals as 'dangerous'?"
Hagrid merely chuckled.
"Thestrals aren' dangerous! All righ', they might take a bite outta you if yeh really annoy them -"
"'Shows... signs... of... pleasure... at... idea... of...violence...'" muttered Umbridge, scribbling on her clipboard again.
"No — come on!" said Hagrid, looking a little anxious now. "I mean, a dog'll bite if yeh bait it, won' it — but thestrals have jus' got a bad reputation because o' the death thing — people used ter think they were bad omens, didn' they? Jus' didn' understand, did they?"
Umbridge did not answer; she finished writing her last note, then looked up at Hagrid and said, again very loudly and slowly, "Please continue teaching as usual. I am going to walk" — she mimed walking — Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson were having silent fits of laughter — "among the students" — she pointed around at individual members of the class — "and ask them questions." She pointed at her mouth to indicate talking.
Hagrid stared at her, clearly at a complete loss to understand why she was acting as though he did not understand normal English. Hermione had tears of fury in her eyes now.
Lucia glowered. This inspection wasn't going good for Hagrid, and the hope she had for Hagrid to stay a professor was slowly diminishing. She rubbed Hermione's back, attempting to calm the girl.
"You hag, you evil hag!" she whispered, as Umbridge walked toward Pansy Parkinson. "I know what you're doing, you awful, twisted, vicious —"
"Erm...anyway," said Hagrid, clearly struggling to regain the flow of his lesson, "so - thestrals. Yeah. Well, there's loads o' good stuff abou' them..."
"Do you find," said Professor Umbridge in a ringing voice to Pansy Parkinson, "that you are able to understand Professor Hagrid when he talks?"
Just like Hermione, Pansy had tears in her eyes, but these were tears of laughter; indeed, her answer was almost incoherent because she was trying to suppress her giggles. "No... because... well... it sounds... like grunting a lot of the time..."
Umbridge scribbled on her clipboard. The few unbruised bits of Hagrid's face flushed, but he tried to act as though he had not heard Pansy's answer.
Harry was angry. if it weren't for the sure consequences, he would have already thrown a rock if he could've at Pancy and Malfoy just because. But the feeling quickly retreated when he saw the fairly blanch knuckles of Lucia. She was fuming with rage, and no doubt that at any moment she could blow.
Harry slipped his hand around hers, giving her a comforting squeeze. Her shoulders slumped.
"I want to punch Pug-face," said Lucia quietly.
"Don't we all?" Harry said, drawing circles around the back of her hand.
She let out a laugh under her breath.
"Er... yeah... good stuff abou' thestrals. Well, once they're tamed, like this lot, yeh'll never be lost again. 'Mazin' senses o' direction, jus' tell 'em where yeh want ter go —"
"Assuming they can understand you, of course," said Malfoy loudly, and Pansy Parkinson collapsed in a fit of renewed giggles. Professor Umbridge smiled indulgently at them and then turned to Neville.
"You can see the thestrals, Longbottom, can you?" she said.
Neville nodded.
"Whom did you see die?" she asked, her tone indifferent.
"My... my grandad," said Neville.
"And what do you think of them?" she said, waving her stubby hand at the horses, who by now had stripped a great deal of the carcass down to bone.
"Erm," said Neville nervously, with a glance at Hagrid. "Well, they're... er... okay..."
"'Students... are... too... intimidated... to... admit... they... are... frightened...'" muttered Umbridge, making another note on her clipboard.
"No!" said Neville, looking upset, "no, I'm not scared of them — !"
"It's quite all right," said Umbridge, patting Neville on the shoulder with what she evidently intended to be an understanding smile, though it looked more like a leer. "Well, Hagrid," she turned to look up at him again, speaking once more in that loud, slow voice, "I think I've got enough to be getting along with... You will receive" — she mimed taking something from the air in front of her — "the results of your inspection" — she pointed at the clipboard — "in ten days' time." She held up ten stubby little fingers, then, her smile wider and more toadlike than ever before beneath her green hat, she bustled from their midst, leaving Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson in fits of laughter, Hermione actually shaking with fury, and Neville looking confused and upset.
"That foul, lying, twisting old gargoyle!" stormed Hermione half an hour later, as they made their way back up to the castle through the channels they had made earlier in the snow. "You see what she's up to? It's her thing about half-breeds all over again — she's trying to make out Hagrid's some kind of dim-witted troll, just because he had a giantess for a mother — and oh, it's not fair, that really wasn't a bad lesson at all — I mean, all right, if it had been Blast-Ended Skrewts again, but thestrals are fine - in fact, for Hagrid, they're really good!"
"Umbridge said they're dangerous," said Ron.
"But they aren't!" said Lucia indignantly. "Thestrals are wonderful and kind and misunderstood. Hagrid himself said that they can look after themselves, and I bet that the Ministry affiliated them as 'dangerous' creatures all because they bothered them! Sometimes creatures are 'dangerous' because humans are too nosy,"
"And I suppose a teacher like Grubbly-Plank wouldn't usually show them to us before N.E.W.T. level," added Hermione impatiently, "but, well, they are very interesting, aren't they? The way some people can see them, and some can't! I wish I could."
"Do you?" Harry asked her quietly.
She looked horrorstruck.
"Oh Harry — I'm sorry — no, of course I don't — that was a really stupid thing to say —"
"It's okay," he said quickly, "don't worry..."
"Who did you see die?" Ron asked Lucia abruptly.
Harry and Hermione casted Ron a glare for his tactlessness, but neither Ron nor Lucia minded it.
"It's not my dad, so that's for sure," said Lucia indifferently, shrugging. She twirled strands of her hair around her fingers, "And it wasn't my mum either but —" Lucia paused, the familiar green flashes residing her mind. She then shook her head furiously, trying to get the thought out of her. "My grandmother... my ah-ma... she died; in a grandmotherly way I guess..."
"What does that mean?" Ron asked peculiarly. Harry closed his eyes, having the urge to smack his best friend; Hermione was rubbing her face in distress at Ron's lack of tact of a personality.
Her face was with unreadable emotion as Lucia uttered vaguely, "She died protecting her only grandchild,"