"Right- who wants ter go first?"
The students tried to avoid meeting his eyes.
Blaise cleared his throat "Um professor, I love all magical creatures, but I don't think I'm willing to die just to pat one."
If Hagrid didn't look disappointed before, he certainly did now, Arlene turned around and glared at Blaise, before turning around to volunteer, only Harry beat her to it.
"I'll do it," said Harry, stepping closer to the fence.
There was an intake of breath from behind them and Parvati whispered, "Oh no, Harry, remember your tea leaves!"
Harry ignored them and climbed over the paddock fence.
"Good man, Harry!" roared Hagrid "Right then- let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak."
He untied one of the chains, pulled the gray hippogriff away from its fellows, and slipped off its leather collar, the class on the other side of the paddock seemed to be holding its breath and Malfoy's eyes were narrowed maliciously, as if fantasizing about Harry being chopped up by 'Buckbeak'.
"Easy now, Harry," said Hagrid quietly "Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink... Hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too much..."
Arlene could clearly see that Harry was struggling to keep his eyes open, she wondered how many staring contests he's been in.
Alas, even though his eyes were starting to water, he didn't shut them, Buckbeak had turned his great, sharp head and was staring at Harry with one fierce orange eye.
"He's gonna squash that kid like a little bug." Theo, who had approached the fence at one point, sighed from behind her as Harry bowed to Buckbeak.
Arlene rolled her eyes "He's Harry freaking Potter, getting squashed by a Hippogriff is the equivalent of dying on the toilet."
Luckily, Theo wasn't a seer as once Harry lifted his head, the Hippogriff sank into its knees in an unmistakable bow.
"Righ' then, Harry," said Hagrid. "I reckon he might' let yeh ride him!"
Harry looked visibly surprised, it was obviously not what he was expecting when he volunteered.
Hagrid helped get up on its back, and without warning, twelve-foot wings flapped open on either side of the Hippogriff, and Harry shot into the air.
"He's dead." Blaise decided, looking up at the sky as Buckbeak kept flying higher until he was practically a dot.
"He's Harry Freaking Potter." Arlene repeated casually.
Blaise turned to her "Okay, now you're just 'Because I'm Batman'ing."
Arlene frowned "That's not a thing."
"It totally is."
"No it's not."
"Yes it is."
"No it's not"
"Yes it is."
"No it no-"
"Guys!" Theo interrupted, pointing at the sky where Buckbeak appeared once again, flying down to the paddock.
Blaise' jaw was wide open "How!?"
Arlene smirked "It's Harry Freaking Potter, the rules of Physics and Logic don't apply to him."
"Alright," Hagrid said once Harry was on solid ground "who wants a go?"
Impressed by Harry's success, the rest of the class all raised their arms.
In a matter of minutes, everybody was either bowing, trying hard not to blink, or like Neville, nervously patting a Hippogriff's beak.
"This is very easy, 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?"
And that was basically the worst thing he could have said, because just as the words left his mouth, there was a blur or talons, feathers, blood and a cry from Draco.
Hagrid struggled to hold it back as Draco laid on the glass, blood spilling into his robes at a disturbing rate.
Arlene never thought she'd ever feel sorry for Draco, but the horrified expression on his face as he stared at the blood was enough for her to make her way over to him, discarding her Slytherin robes to not stain them with blood.
"There goes my 'Malfoy is a cold hearted Alien parasite' theory." She muttered as she bent down.
"Someone help me- gotta get him outta here-" Hagrid, who had gone a very pale white, said, still trying to get the creature to calm down.
"On it!" Arlene called out, throwing Draco's uninjured arm over her shoulder and helped him stand up.
Draco looked too much in pain to complain, Hermione ran to open the gate, avoiding Arlene's eyes.
Thankfully, it was a short walk as the Hospital Wing was on the first floor.
Once the two Slytherins entered, Arlene dumped Draco on the nearest beds, her arm and shirt now covered in his blood which she was surprised wasn't black, there goes another theory.
"Oh dear! What happened?" Madame Pomfrey exclaimed once she saw them, she turned with an accusing look at Arlene "Ms Burke, did you hex him again?"
Arlene fake gasped and put her hand on her heart dramatically "I am offended, how can you make such an accusation!? I don't think my heart can ever recover from this-"
"Dying over here!" Draco said, gritting his teeth in pain.
"It was a Hippogriff." Arlene explained, picking up a tissue and wiping her arm.
Immediately, Madame Pomfrey opened the metallic cupboard next to the bed and got out a few potion vials and started to clean the wound.
"Is this gonna stay?" Arlene asked, pointing to her shirt.
Pomfrey looked up at what she was pointing at "No dear."
"Oh," Arlene sounded disappointed "can it?"
The woman shot her an irritated look "You can leave now dear, I'll take care of your friend."
Arlene wanted to say that Draco was not, in any way, her 'friend' but it felt too awkward to correct her, she just turned around and left.
Knowing that there was no way the class was going to go on after that incident, Arlene headed back to the dorms.
She took a shower and changed into a new shirt, put on another pair of black tights, tied another green tie and since her robes were probably still at the paddock, she just put on her Slytherin blazer.
Being tired from the Divination class then her spat with Hermione and cleaning all morning with Sage and now the hippogriff incident, she decided not to leave her bed until dinner.
Walking to the Great Hall, Arlene was surprised that she was still tired even though she slept through Transfiguration, Charms and Merlin knows what else.
"Arlene!" A voice the girl had heard way too many time not to be familiar with called out.
"Sage." Arlene replied.
"Are you okay? Is Draco okay? Oh god, I can't believe these words just came out of my mouth, what happened?"
Arlene sighed, the first day back was certainly eventful.
"Hagrid got Hippogriffs for the lesson, Draco insulted one so it attacked him and now he's in the hospital wing."
Sage's eyes widened "Is he okay?"
Arlene shrugged "I don't know, probably, there's healing charms."
"Yeah but magic always has an exception, like healing charms don't work on Werewolf and dark magic injuries, what if Hippogriffs are an exception too?"
Arlene bit her lip "Is don't know." She repeated, then suddenly an idea hit her.
Her eyes widened and turned to her badger friend "Sage! Oh Sage I have the perfect idea!"
Sage frowned "What?"
Arlene grinned "What if you report it on Hogwarts Weekly?"
Sage stared at her as though she had grown a second head.
"But we haven't got paper or ink and I don't know if the typewriters still work, not to mention the other articles I have to do and there's no time-"
"What are friends for?" Arlene interrupted "Plus, I reckon we can find the supplies if we look hard enough, and I'll stay up with you all night."
Her friend stared at her with amazement "Seriously?"
Arlene nodded "Seriously."
Just then, they arrived at their destination, the smell of food reaching them before they even enter the room.
Sage turned to her and gave her a hug "I'll see you later?"
Arlene grinned "You know it."
Hermione and her friends, Harry and Ron were the first to arrive at the Great Hall, having gone straight after classes to check on Hagrid, who was nowhere to be seen.
"They wouldn't fire him, would they?" Hermione asked nervously, not touching her pudding.
Ron, who wants eating either, shook his head "They better not."
The three of them turned to look at the door when they heard it open, thinking it was Hagrid, only to find Arlene with a Hufflepuff girl, who gave her a wave and went to her table.
"Sage Sparrow," Ron mumbled "She does Quidditch commentary with Lee."
Arlene made her way to her table, a tired expression on her face and Hermione briefly wondered if she okay.
"Look at them." Harry said bitterly, looking at the Slytherin in the table in front of them.
Crabe and Goyle looked huge compared to the other third years, she wondered what in the name of Merlin do they eat, next to them sate Pansy whose short hair was drawn behind her ears, revealing her pale face clear of freckles, filled with worry.
Next to her sate a boy, Theodore? His tie hung loosely around his neck, the first few buttons of his shirt was opened and an expression that said 'I am about to make a sarcastic comment' was plastered on his face, and finally Blaise, who was ignoring them all and reading a book.
"Probably making their own version of what happened." Ron said, equally bitter.
Hermione watched as Arlene sate between Theodore and Pansy, she looked down at her lap where a Slytherin robe was tied neatly and sighed.
■■■
So, I haven't stopped thinking about Civil War, more specifically how much it's like Batman VS Superman.
I mean, let's face it, a non-super villain blows up a government meeting to pit a symbol of America against a self-made billionaire hero, while using their moms to manipulate them, it's the same movie.
Anyways, thank you for reading :)