The windows slammed shut in Professor Lupin's classroom as Professor Snape walked forward.
What's Snape doing here?
"Turn to page 394," Snape instructed us and I immediately paged through my Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook.
Harry spoke up, "Excuse me sir, Where's Professor Lupin?"
"That's not really your concern, is it, Potter?" Snape answered coldly. "Your Professor finds himself incapable of teaching at present time. Turn to page 394."
"Werewolves?" Hermione asked. I hadn't even seen her come into the lesson. "But sir, we've just begun learning about redcaps and hinkypunks. We're not meant to start nocturnal beasts for weeks."
"Quiet," Snape demanded. "Now which one of you can tell me the difference between an Animagus and a werewolf?"
Hermione raised her hand but Snape ignored her.
"Please sir," She begged. "An Animagus is a wizard who elects to turn into an animal. A werewolf has no choice. With each full moon where he transforms, he know longer remembers who he is. He'd kill his best friend if he crossed his path... Furthermore the werewolf only responds to the call of its own kind."
On cue, Malfoy in the desk beside me howls. Snape rested his hands together, "Thank you, Mr Malfoy. That's the second time you have spoken out of turn Ms Granger. Are you incapable of restraining yourself or do you take pride in being an insufferable know-it-all?"
There was an immediate uproar with the class. Everyone, even the Slytherins were shouting at Professor Snape for insulting Hermione like that. Hermione's eyes were watering and Snape ignored all of us, "As an antidote to your ignorance, and on my desk, by Monday morning, two rolls of parchment on the werewolf, with particular emphasis on recognizing it."
I groaned loudly. Snape quickly turned to me, "Is there a problem Ms Weasley?"
I opened my mouth, "As a matter of fact—"
Gia kicked me under the table, "—No, sir, there isn't."
Snape continued to teach the lesson and I almost fell asleep. It was so odd to be learning about something that we wouldn't reach in our syllabus yet. Bloody, Snape.
~~~
Today Gryffindor was playing a match against Hufflepuff. The team was meant to play Slytherin but because Malfoy is injured, they're playing Hufflepuff instead.
It was a rather gloomy day and rain was pouring down. Nonetheless, everyone took their seats in the stand and watched the game begin.
Gia had brought an umbrella so the three of us were huddled underneath it, cheering Harry on. Lightening struck a player and she started tumbling towards the ground.
I kept my eye on the chasers and admired their teamwork. They were scoring a couple points for Gryffindor.
Harry and the Hufflepuff seeker ascended into the sky and I couldn't see them anymore because of the clouds.
I looked up to see the Hufflepuff seeker fell straight down and nearly fell off his broom when he managed to get control of his broom.
"Where's Harry?" I asked frantically.
I couldn't see where Harry was at all. Suddenly, we saw a body falling fast down. Everyone around us gasped. I saw Dumbledore stand up and Harry was lowered to the ground lightly.
We all ran down to find that Harry was passed out. Fred and George rushed him to the Hospital Wing and we all sat around his bed waiting for Harry to wake up.
After a while, Ron spoke up, "He looks a bit peaky, doesn't he?"
"Peaky?" Fred laughed. "What do you expect? He fell over 100 feet."
"Yeah!" George agreed. "Come on, Ron. Let's walk you off the Astronomy Tower and see what you look like."
I giggled and Ron glared at us. I jumped when I heard Harry groan, "Probably a tight sight better than he normally does."
Harry sat up in his bed. Hermione asked, "How are you feeling?"
"Oh, brilliant," Harry answered.
"You gave us a right good scare, mate," George got closer to Harry.
"What happened?" Harry looked up at us.
Ron cleared his throat, "Well, you fell off your broom."
"I meant the match, who won?" Harry rolled his eyes.
Hermione awkwardly said, "Um... no one blames you, Harry. The dementors aren't supposed to come inside the grounds. Dumbledore's furious. After he saved you, he sent them away."
"There's something else you should know too," I started. I was holding Harry's broken broom in my hands. Ron and I ran to retrieve it after we watched it collide with the Whomping Willow.
"When you fell, your broom sort of blew into the Whomping Willow," Ron continued. "and... well..."
Ron unwrapped the blanket in my arms and held up the end of Harry's broom. Harry's face dropped.
Madam Pomfrey made us all leave the Hospital Wing but not before I overheard her telling Harry that he had to remain there for the weekend.
Lupin was back teaching his class now and I was relieved to hear we didn't have to write the assignment Snape gave us, I hadn't even started.
~~~
It was snowing today at Hogwarts and it was a Hogsmead day. Mum knitted us some mittens and a beanie which I wore with my initial jersey.
It was bloody freezing. We made our way into the village. Scarlett, Gia and I immediately went into Zonko's joke shop and I admired all the joke products.
When we exited the shop to see Malfoy and his goons running past us. What happened to them?
It was so crazy to me that it was Christmas at Hogwarts already, time had gone by so quickly.
I didn't buy anything from Hogsmead and headed back to the castle to sit in front of the fire place in the common room.
On Christmas morning, I sat with everyone and opened our presents. This was the first year that Scarlett and Gia stayed at Hogwarts and it felt like we'd were getting even closer.
I received some really nice presents from my family and friends but I think the best present to come out of the holiday was a Firebolt addressed to Harry.
Hermione immediately demanded that Harry should hand in the broom because there was no note attached saying who it was from.
Harry and Ron got really fed up with her and even more so when Harry's broom got confiscated by Professor McGonagall. They both had stopped speaking to Hermione and it looked like she started hibernating in the library.
We always tried to include her with whatever we were doing but she never seemed interested.
This morning, I was met with Ron's yelling. Never a good sign.
"What is it now?" I rolled my eyes.
"I can't find Scabbers," He glared at me. "Her cat ate him!"
He pointed at Hermione and she replied, "Rubbish!"
So now Scabbers was missing and I promised Ron I would look for the rat with him.
I searched with Ron for a while but there was no sign of Scabbers anywhere.
~~~
"What's wrong, Neville?" I walked up to him. He was standing outside of the portrait of what used to be the Fat Lady. "Why aren't you going inside?"
"I-I had a list of all the passwords but then I lost it," Neville admitted sheepishly.
"That's awful," I frowned. "Let me get you inside."
I turned to the portrait where I saw a knight, "Fortuna Major!"
The knight opened up the portrait at once and I walked with Neville inside. He smiled, "Thanks, Abby, I really appreciate it."
"Of course, Neville!" I walked up to my dorm. Just as I opened the door to the dorm, I heard Ron yelling again that Scabbers was gone.
A few hours later, I was wandering around the castle when I bumped into a
bloody Malfoy. Literally a bloody Malfoy. There was blood dripping down his face from his nose.
I laughed, "What happened to you?"
He held his hand on his nose, "That mudblood Granger."
"Well I was going to help you but since you insulted my friend, I won't now," I glared at Malfoy and started to walk away.
I felt his hand grab my arm and I immediately got goosebumps from his touch. I turned to look at him. He stared into my eyes, "Please. Stay."
My eyes softened and I said, "Okay, I can try. We haven't learned this spell yet. I only know it because Mum used to cast it whenever I broke something. Stay still. Episkey!"
Malfoy's nose clicked into place and he groaned, "Thank you."
"What did you do to irritate Hermione?"
"I did no such thing," I gave him an unconvinced look. "Fine. She might've been upset because that bloody chicken is being sentenced to death."
"What?" I gasped. "They're killing Buckbeak?"
He rolled his eyes, "He did try to kill me."
"Don't be so dramatic Malfoy," I glared at him. "I can't believe this. Hagrid must be heartbroken."
Malfoy ignored my words, not seeming to care at all. I frowned, "When are they going to kill him?"
"On the last day of our exams," Malfoy answered. "Thank you again for helping me."
He left again and I was actually was grateful for the reminder for our exams. I made my way to the library and opened a book on Herbology.