Amisty headed back up to the castle before lunch, joining the boys up in the common room moments before Hermione did. Thankfully, that kept them distracted from asking where she had been.
"So? Got all his lessons planned for him?" Ron asked as Hermione sunk into a chair and dried off her robes.
"Well, I tried," Hermione sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "He wasn't even there when I arrived, I was knocking for at least half an hour. And then he came stomping out of the forest -- "
Harry groaned, covering his face with his hands, "What's he keeping in there? Did he say?"
"No. He says he wants them to be a surprise," Hermione replied miserably. "I tried to explain about Umbridge, but he just doesn't get it. He kept saying nobody in their right mind would rather study knarls than chimaeras -- oh I don't think he's got a chimaera -- but that's not for lack of trying from what he said about how hard it is to get eggs... I don't know how many times I told him he'd be better off following Grubbly-Plank's plan, I honestly don't think he listened to half of what I said. He's in a bit of a funny mood, you know. He still won't say how he got all those injuries..."
»»————- ♡ ————-««
Amisty took a deep breath as they started down to Care of Magical Creatures, uncertain of what they were going to be facing. One being the actual lesson and the other being how the Slytherin's would act with Umbridge watching them.
It was not reassuring that his bruises had gotten even worse from the last time she saw him. The purple and blue bruises had now shifted to yellow and green, and his cuts had started to bleed. He also had a dead cow slung over his shoulder. But, the one good thing, Umbridge hadn't arrived.
"We're workin' in here today!" Hagrid beamed, jerking his head toward the forest. "Bit more sheltered! Anyway, they prefer the dark..."
"Oh dear Circe," Amisty whispered under her breath.
"What prefers the dark?" Draco hissed sharply. "What did he say prefers the dark -- did you hear?"
"Ready?" Hagrid grinned, either not realizing the horror settling throughout his entire class or ignoring it. "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?" Draco piped up, his voice louder now. "Only it wouldn't be the first time you'd brought wild stuff to class, would it?"
A murmur of agreement rustled through the Slytherins, and even a few Gryffindors were nodding.
"'Course they're trained," Hagrid scowled, looking faintly offended.
"So what happened to your face, then?" Draco asked.
"Mind yer own business!" Hagrid retorted, avoiding the question just as he had when Hermione asked. "Now if yeh've finished askin' stupid questions, follow me!"
Hagrid turned and headed into the forest without a moment's hesitation, hoisting the cow over his shoulder and not seeming to notice that no one was following after him right away. Amisty traded glances with Harry, closed her eyes for a moment, and set after him. It took ten minutes before Hagrid stopped. Amisty was a bit hesitant, simply because of how dark it was with her eyes' tendency to... well... glow in the dark. The trees were so close together and their boughs so heavy with leaves no snow touched the ground, shrouding the clearing in darkness in the process. Hagrid let the cow fall to the ground with a muffled thump, turning to face his class.
"Gather roun', gather roun'," Hagrid spread his hands. "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 shook out his head, shifting the hair out of his face, and gave a sharp, high-pitched shriek into the depths of the forest. It echoed in the darkness, foreboding and ominous. Amisty gave an involuntary shiver. Hagrid cried out again and Amisty shifted closer to Hermione. She looked over her shoulder, feeling as if the shadows were pressing in on them. Then, in the shade between two yew trees, a pair of shining white eyes glowed, growing larger as their owner stepped into the clearing. It was a massive, jet black horse with skeletal wings made of sinew and bone. The horse gazed around, leaning down and tearing off a piece of meat from the dead cow.
"Why doesn't Hagrid call again?" Ron whispered. Amisty looked up at him, bewildered, but he wasn't the only one. Almost everyone else in the class was still gazing around the clearing in abject fear, completely skipping past the horse standing right in front of them.
"Oh, an' here comes another one!" Hagrid sounded incredibly proud as a second horse trotted forward, folding its wings and joining the other to eat. "Now... put yer hands up, who can see 'em?"
Harry raised his hand up high. Amisty blinked, then raised her hand as well.
"Yeah... yeah, I knew you'd be able ter, Harry," Hagrid nodded, his expression forlorn. "An' you too, Neville, eh? An' -- "
"Excuse me, but what exactly are we supposed to be seeing?" Draco interrupted.
Hagrid simply pointed at the carcass. Amisty jumped as Parvati shrieked, wincing as she imagined the sight. Seeing strips of cow floating up into the air and then disappearing must've been very unsettling to see.
"What's doing it?" Parvati demanded, quivering as she stared in terror at the horses. "What's eating it?"
"Thestrals," Hagrid replied, looking very proud of himself. "Hogwarts has got a whole herd of 'em in there. Now, who knows -- ?"
"But they're really, really unlucky!" Parvati protested. "They're supposed to bring all sorts of horrible misfortune on people who see them. Professor Trelawney told me once -- "
Amisty almost rolled her eyes. Hermione did.
"No, no, no, 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 -- "
Amisty watched as two more horses walked into the clearing, one of them very close to Parvati, who whimpered.
"I think I felt something, I think it's near me!" She pressed herself against a tree.
"Don' worry, it won't hurt yeh," Hagrid reassured patiently. "Righ', now, who can tell me why some o' you can see them an' some can't?"
Hermione raised her hand predictably.
"Go on then," Hagrid grinned.
"The only people who can see thestrals," Hermione swallowed, her voice very quiet, "are people who have seen death."
Amisty froze, her breath catching in her throat. Hermione took her hand, squeezing. She steadied herself, lifting her chin stubbornly.
"Tha's exactly right, ten points ter Gryffindor," Hagrid nodded, his voice solemn. "Now, thestrals -- "
"Hem, hem."
Amisty closed her eyes, praying for patience. Umbridge had indeed arrived, though late. She was wearing her green outfit again, this time with her clipboard in hand. Hagrid, however, wasn't facing her. He seemed to have thought a thestral had made the insufferable coughing noise and not an actual human being. If Umbridge was worthy of being called one.
"Hem, hem."
"Oh, hello!" Hagrid smiled brightly.
"You received the note I sent to your cabin this morning?" Umbridge asked very slowly and very loudly. "Telling you that I would be inspecting your lesson?"
"Oh yeah. Glad yeh found the place all righ'!" Hagrid beamed. "Well, as you can see -- or, I dunno -- can you? We're doin' thestrals today -- "
"I'm sorry?" Umbridge cut him off, cupping a hand to her ear. "What did you say?"
"You could bloody well hear him," Amisty snarled under her breath.
Hagrid paused, looking confused, "Er -- thestrals! Big -- er -- winged horses, yeh know!"
He flapped his arms and Amisty flinched, looking away.
Umbridge didn't seem impressed, her eyebrows raised as she scribbled down on her clipboard, "'Has... to... resort... to... crude... sign... language...'"
"Well... anyway..." Hagrid frowned. "Erm... what was I sayin'?"
"'Appears... to... have... poor... short... term... memory...'" Umbridge muttered loudly. Hermione's grip on her hand tightened.
"Oh yeah," Hagrid spared a glance at the clipboard but continued. "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 name o' Tenebrus, he's my special favorite, firs' one born here in the forest -- "
"Are you aware that the Ministry of Magic has classified thestrals as 'dangerous'?" Umbridge interrupted. Again.
Hagrid chuckled, "Thestrals aren' dangerous! All righ', they might take a bite outta you in yeh really annoy them -- "
"'Shows... signs... of... pleasure... at... the... idea... of... violence...'," Umbridge scribbled on her stupid clipboard.
"No -- come on! I mean, a dog'll bite if yeh bait it, won' it -- " Hagrid protested.
Amisty shifted uncomfortably at the scrutinizing gaze Umbridge gave her at his comment.
"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?" He continued.
Umbridge didn't seem to care enough to answer, "Please continue teaching as usual. I am going to walk," She walked in place, "among the students," she pointed at the class, "and ask them questions," she pointed at her mouth. Pansy Parkinson was doubled over in a silent fit of laughter.
Hermione was shaking slightly, "You hag, you evil hag! I know what you're doing, you awful, twisted, vicious -- "
"Erm... anyway," Hagrid stammered, "so -- thestrals. Yeah. Well, there's loads o' good stuff abou' them..."
"Do you find that you are able to understand Professor Hagrid when he talks?" Umbridge asked, to Amisty's fury, Pansy.
Pansy was laughing too hard to answer properly, "No... because... well... it sounds... like grunting a lot of the time..."
Hagrid went pink. He cleared his throat, "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," Draco remarked dryly, setting Pansy off on another round of poorly concealed giggles.
Umbridge smiled, turning to Neville, "You can see the thestrals, Longbottom, can you?"
Neville nodded, his eyes stuck on the black horses.
"Whom did you see die?" She asked, completely unsympathetic. Amisty bristled.
"My... my grandad," Neville replied weakly.
"And what do you think of them?" She waved her hand at the horses.
"Erm. Well, they're... er... okay..." Neville tore his gaze away, focusing on the ground.
"'Students... are... too... intimidated... to... admit... they... are... frightened...'" She wrote.
"No, no, I'm not scared of them -- !" Neville protested, looking positively miserable.
"He's obviously not intimidated of Hagrid, you evil cockroach," Amisty hissed furiously, her vision tinted scarlet. "In case you hadn't realized, considering you seem to have the mental capacity of a peanut and a heart made of coal, he's being reminded that he saw someone he loved die. But I'm sure you've never had to experience that, considering you don't seem to be able to feel love."
"It's quite alright," Umbridge patted Neville's shoulder, looking back up at Hagrid. "Well, Hagrid, I think I've got enough to be getting along with... You will receive the results of your inspection in ten day's time."
And she walked away.
"That foul, lying, twisting old gargoyle!" Hermione fumed, storming through the snow back up to the castle. "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," Ron pointed out.
"Well, it's like Hagrid said, they can look after themselves," Hermione defended passionately, "and I suppose a teacher like Grubbly-Plank wouldn't usually show them to us before N.E.W.T. level, but, well, they are very interesting, aren't they? They way some people can see them and some can't! I wish I could."
Amisty stiffened.
"Do you?" Harry asked softly.
Hermione paled, "Oh Harry -- I'm sorry -- no, of course I don't -- that was a really stupid thing to say -- "
"It's okay, don't worry..." Harry replied quickly.
"I'm surprised so many people could see them. Four in a class -- " Ron began.
"Yeah, Weasley, we were just wondering," Draco drawled, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. "D'you reckon if you saw someone snuff it you'd be able to see the Quaffle better?"
The three of them pushed past up to the castle. Amisty clenched her fists, swallowing hard. Ron's ears flamed.
"Ignore them, just ignore them," Hermione reminded them sternly, pulling out her wand and melting up a better path. Amisty stepped forward to Harry's side and he smiled, rubbing her shoulder gently.
"You okay?" She whispered.
"I've been better," He admitted. "You?"
"Contemplating the most legal way to push someone down the stairs," She deadpanned.
He snorted, shoving her.
*raises pitchfork* Who's ready to go hunt down the ugliest gargoyle at Hogwarts? *lights torch* I know I am! *sharpens knives* I can't wait *laces up spiked boots* until she's *puts on dramatic cloak* trampled by centaurs! *psychotic laugh* Okay, anyway, thank you very much for reading, see you in the next chapter!