Pansy regretted choosing Care of Magical Creatures as her final elective.
"Why did we think this was a good idea? I didn't have to choose this, I had Divination and Arithmancy. A third class isn't required, so why am I doing this to myself? And you aren't taking bloody Arithmancy. No one is taking bloody Arithmancy, why is it even a class if no one's taking it?" Pansy moaned, putting her head in her hands.
"Theo's taking Arithmancy." Cordelia responded.
"Yeah, you would know that. And you know I mean someone I can tolerate. Tell me Cory, if I am taking Arithmancy, and Nott is taking Arithmancy, WHY WOULDN'T YOU TAKE BLOODY ARITHMANCY!"
"I'm already taking Ancient Runes, and Divination, and Care of Magical Creatures, that's one more than is required. I'm not even sure you're allowed to take a fourth class, but even if you are, I'd never be able to fit it into my schedule."
"C'mon, now, get a move on!" Hagrid called as the class approached. "Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"
They followed him as he led them all to the side of a small field.
Everyone gather 'round the fence here!" he called. "That's it- make sure yeh can see-now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books-"
"How?" Draco asked, clearly not too interested in the subject.
"Eh?" said Hagrid.
"How do we open our books?" He repeated, frustrated. He pulled out his copy of it.
"Hasn'-hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?" said Hagrid.
Cordelia sighed. This was the one class she hadn't been able to study for at all. Clearly that wasn't a problem though, as everyone shook their heads to his question.
"Yeh've got ter stroke 'em," said Hagrid. "Look-" He snatched Hermione Granger's copy from her hand and pulled off the Spellotape holding it shut.. The book tried to bite him, but Hagrid ran his finger down its spine, and it fell open.
"Oh, how silly we've all been!" Draco sneered. "We should have stroked them! Why didn't we guess!"
Cordelia managed to hold in a laugh.
"I-I thought they were funny," Hagrid said to Granger.
"Oh, tremendously funny! Really witty, giving us books that try and rip our hands off!"
Cordelia did laugh this time, along with a few others.
"Shut up, Malfoy," Potter said quietly.
"Righ' then, 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 walked into the forest, out of view.
"God, this place is going to the dogs," Draco announced. "That oaf teaching classes, my father'll have a fit when I tell him-"
"Shut up, Malfoy," Potter repeated.
"Careful, Potter, there's a dementor behind you-"
Lavender Brown suddenly squealed, pointing to the other side of the field.
Cordelia watched in wonder as Hagrid brought a few medium-ugly feathered creatures near them.
"Gee up, there!" He yelled. She had no idea what that meant, but when everyone moved back she did too.
"Hippogriffs!" Hagrid yelled, waving a hand at them. "Beau'iful, aren' they?"
No, she immediately wanted to disagree. They were not beautiful. They weren't meant to be beautiful.
"So," said Hagrid, "if yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer-"
The only people who did, of course, was Hogwarts esteemed Gryffindor trio.
"Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' hippogriffs is, they're proud," said Hagrid. "Easily offended, hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do."
Of course, Draco and his idiotic friends were not paying attention, she wouldn't be surprised if they did some stupid thing to try to get the giant fired.
"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?"
No one stepped forward.
"No one?" Hagrid asked.
"I'll do it," Potter said hesitantly. He climbed over the fence.
"Good man, Harry!" Hagrid yelled. "Right then-let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak."
He untied one of the chains, pulling a gray hippogriff away from the others and taking off its collar.
Hagrid said a few other things to him quieter, but she couldn't hear any of it.
Potter and the hippogriff-Buckbeak-made weird eye contact for a few minutes before Potter bowed to him. There was another silence before the hippogriff bowed back to him. After some urging from Hagrid, Potter petted it a few times.
The class started clapping-for what, she didn't know. When were people not clapping for him?
Potter eventually started riding the bloody hippogriff.
"Good work, Harry!" Hagrid yelled as everyone cheered when Potter landed. "Okay, who else wants a go?"
After Potter successfully avoided being maimed, it gave everyone the confidence to climb over the ledge.
"Salazar, these creatures are ugly." Pansy said when they got close.
"Honestly, how could anyone find these pretty?"
As if on cue, Daphne Greengrass decided to squeal "Oh my, these are beautiful!"
Her and Pansy shared a look.
"This is very easy," Draco said loudly. She looked over to him and saw him standing in front of Buckbeak. "I knew 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?"
The next second, the hippogriff attacked him, scratching his arm with its sharp talons. Draco let out a loud screech. Hagrid was immediately there, pulling the hippogriff away from him by the neck.
"I'm dying!" Draco yelled. "I'm dying, look at me! It's killed me!"
"Oh, God," Cordelia whispered, horrified. "Oh, God."
"Yer not dyin'!" said Hagrid, though he had gone pale. "Someone help me - gotta get him outta here -"
"Oh my god," Cordelia whispered as Granger opened the gate for Hagrid as he carried Draco inside. There was a deep cut in his arm and the deep red blood was spilling out of the wound.
The whole class followed him inside, though at a slower pace.
"They should fire him straight away!" Pansy said, her eyes watering.
"It was Malfoy's fault!" Dean Thomas snapped, like an idiot. What qualified professor would expose them to wild animals on their first day with little to no instruction on how to behave around it? Sure, he shouldn't have insulted it, but how could anyone know that the creature could understand them? Either he didn't tell them that, or she wasn't paying attention. Honestly, it could've been either though.
"We're going to see if he's okay!" Pansy announced, grabbing her hand as they left the rest of the class to watch them leave.
Draco wasn't healed enough to go to classes again until Thursday in a double Potions period with Gryffindor. He walked into class with his whole arm covered in bandages.
"He's faking it at this point, I swear." Theodore whispered to Blaise while Pansy asked Draco if his arm hurt.
"Yeah," Draco grimaced, though she noticed him wink at the morons when Pansy turned away. Theodore was right, apparently.
"Settle down, settle down," Professor Snape said.
He told them that they were making a Shrinking Solution today, and Cordelia watched curiously as Draco set up his cauldron at the same table as Potter. He was obviously trying to start some drama to entertain himself. Sure enough, he eventually told Professor Snape that he wouldn't be able to cut the daisy roots himself, Professor Snape responded by telling Weasley to do it for him. When he did, Snape made Draco and Weasley switch because he 'mutilated the roots'. At that point, Potter and Weasley had to take turns in making Draco's potion.
The next drama of the day was Snape targeting Longbottom for no reason. ("Orange, Longbottom. Orange. Tell me, boy, does anything penetrate that thick skull of yours? Didn't you hear me say, quite clearly, that only one rat spleen was needed? Didn't I state plainly that a dash of leech juice would suffice? What do I have to do to make you understand, Longbottom?")
After that, Tracey whispered something about a Gorman Ransey to Millicent, who laughed. Why that was funny, she didn't know.
When Longbottom came to near tears, Granger started trying to defend him. In response, Snape threatened to poison Longbottom's toad by feeding him a few drops of the potion at the end of class.
While Longbottom begged Granger to help him, Seamus Finnigan leaned in to talk to Potter. He nearly yelled to him that Sirius Black had been spotted somewhere. Most of the people in the vicinity looked over to Cordelia, naturally, including Draco, though he quickly looked away to pay more attention to what was being said at the table.
"Where?" Potter and Weasley asked at the same time.
"Not too far from here," said Finnigan, looking excited for some reason. Of course her pain would be a random Gryffindor's pleasure. "It was a Muggle who saw him. 'Course, she didn't really understand. The Muggles think he's just an ordinary criminal, don't they? So she phoned the telephone hotline. By the time the Ministry of Magic got there, he was gone."
"Not too far from here...," Weasley repeated, looking at Potter, then Cordelia, then Draco. "What, Malfoy? Need something else skinned?"
Draco looked back at Cordelia before leaning in slightly and whispering so she couldn't hear properly. Potter responded in normal volume saying "Yeah, that's right," He looked straight at her while saying it. Draco said something else, and then Weasley got angry. "What are you talking about, Malfoy?" He asked.
Draco said another thing, which Potter answered by saying "Know what?"
He let out a loud laugh, the only thing she had heard Draco say during this conversation. The table they were at was close but not close enough to hear the whispering. The next thing she heard was Potter yelling "What are you talking about?" But it was left unanswered as Snape called out to let them know that they should have finished, and that they were going to test Longbottom's soon.
Crabbe and Goyle laughed while Cordelia shook her head in disappointment, why did Snape have to resort to animal abuse? The constant verbal kind was enough. While on her way to wash her hands, Cordelia passed Granger whispering instructions to Longbottom.
"Stir it three times counter-clockwise instead." Cordelia said to the latter as she passed them. Granger looked at her curiously before turning back to whisper more instructions to Longbottom.
At the end of the period, Snape went over to Longbottom's cauldron.
"Everyone gather 'round," he said, his eyes shining in amusement, "and watch what happens to Longbottom's toad. If he has managed to produce a Shrinking Solution, it will shrink to a tadpole. If, as I don't doubt, he has done it wrong, his toad is likely to be poisoned."
"God forbid," Cordelia whispered as Snape picked up the toad and put the spoon he had dipped in the potion into its mouth. There was silence for a few seconds before the toad turned into a tadpole. Cordelia let out a sigh of relief as the Gryffindor broke into applause.
Snape almost looked disappointed as he took a bottle from his robe and poured a few drops on the tadpole, turning it back into a toad.
"Five points from Gryffindor," said Snape, which made Cordelia frown in confusion. If the potion worked, why would he take points away from the house? "I told you not to help him, Miss Granger. Class dismissed."