Disclaimer: See first chapter.
Author's Note: Ok sorry this took me awhile to get up but I'm in another state and on vacation and I had to put the file on different computers to get it to work. I'm on vacation for the next month so during that time I may only get one or two chapters up. In July though they're will be a lot more. Thank you and please review, it may make me put more up quicker.
Chapter Eight: The New Potions Master
Harry's emotions had been flipping to such extremes lately that when he awoke he felt much better than he had the previous night. He had noticed his constantly changing emotions and even felt a little guilty that at one moment he would be full of anger and the next minute wish he was so small no one could see him. He rationalized this however by telling himself he was burdened with more than anyone else at the school. When doing that failed to calm him though he blamed it on the only next logical thing; hormones.
Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan were busy daring Ron as to how many hotcakes he could eat when Harry and Hermione joined them at breakfast. Most of the students were half sleeping with their heads upon the table from a late first night.
"I wonder what Hagrid has got lined up for us today," said Harry. Everyone around the table exchanged looks of angst. No one volunteered to say anything as to what they believed Hagrid might have in store for them. The queer silence continued on until the bell gave them an excuse to leave the table.
The sun was surprisingly bright and warm for a September day so the students opted to scrap their scarves and un-tuck their shirts. Hagrid stood slightly outside his hut, peering up the sloping lawn and waving at the students as they came bustling toward him. Hermione was the first to reach Hagrid, and greeted him with a very large hug.
"How ya doin' there kiddo?" said Hagrid sizing the three of them up.
"Wonderful," answered Hermione cheerfully. "What's on the menu today Hagrid?"
"Nothin' to excitin' I'm afraid. Just some Streelers I managed to dig up from an ol' friend down in Africa." Hagrid looked displeased, as though he wished he could have found something, anything better. He turned his shoulder toward the rest of the class who wasn't paying any attention anyway, to face the three of them without anyone else seeing. "Would you three mind stayin' after class today?"
"Why? What's up Hagrid?" Harry asked. Hagrid looked around and hushed his voice.
"Well I wanted to take ya to see Grawp is all. He took quite a nasty beatin' from those centaurs but he's still hangin' in there. He's been real upset that you haven't been round to see him Hermione."
Hermione blushed so hard her face was crimson. Ron nudged her mouthing "Hermy," and she responded with a short jab of her elbow to his mid-side. She had never before in all her life felt such disgust and pity for a creature as Hagrid's brother Grawp. She gave a small shudder as she pictured the giant that she new must only be a few hundred yards away in the forest.
"Today we're gonna be learnin' about the Streeler," Hagrid moved to a large cage he had hidden behind a table. He set the cage out in front of the table and nearly every girl present gave a small shriek or a look of disgust. A dull green snail, almost two feet high was pressed up against the bars of the cage.
"It's a slug!" Parvati rasped.
"That's a snail you twit," said Malfoy pushing to the front of the class. Pansy Parkinson followed close behind him trying to hide the look of disgust on her face at the appearance of the Streeler. Parvati pushed to the back of the crowd.
"Right!" As much as he hated it, Hagrid had to agree that Malfoy was right. Ron sneered at Malfoy who was facing the other way.
"I wonder what he's up too?" whispered Ron.
"We should keep an eye on him." Harry whispered back, not drawing his eyes from the Streeler. Hermione nodded in agreement and they each moved over a bit to keep a better eye on Malfoy.
The Streeler gave a shrill twittering noise and started to bulge. The girls, including Pansy, and most of the boys took a step back not sure what to make of the now shrieking Snail. The creature gave one final bulge, popped, and in a bit of falling sparkles changed to a brilliant blue.
Hagrid opened the cage and the Streeler very slowly began to slide out. "It does that every hour or so. It changes colors, shell en' everythin'. No one knows why they do it, but it's probably to scare away would be predators." The grass in which the Streeler passed over turned from a brilliant green, to a dead brown.
"I see it kills the grass," noted Hermione.
"Pretty much anythin' it goes over," Hagrid pointed out now trying to urge the Streeler back into the cage.
"Maybe we should set it on the Mudbloods then," said Malfoy. A great majority of the Slytherins had a hearty chuckle at this. Even Crabbe and Goyle appeared to have got Malfoy's slur as they were giving off a dull "huh-huh" behind him. "Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll run over Granger first." Pansy nearly doubled over in laughter. Hagrid was too busy tricking the stubborn snail back into its cage to notice the commotion that was being stirred up.
"Take that back Malfoy!" seethed Ron through clenched teeth. He stepped forward as Malfoy turned, leaving less than a foot between them. Harry muttered "Ron don't," and made a failed attempt to stop his friend. The two boys glared at one another and all eyes were upon them.
"Going to make me eat slugs again Weasley?"
"Make you do a lot more than that if you don't take back what you said." Ron's fists were clenched in rage.
"Ron it's ok," said Hermione from behind him. Ron didn't back up though and he and Malfoy continued to stare one another down.
"Girlfriend says to back down Weasley,"
"At least my father isn't a criminal!"
"You!" Malfoy dove his hand deep in his pocket and pulled his wand. Half the class reached for their own wands, but only Ron, Harry, and Hermione had theirs out when Malfoy did.
As Ron and Malfoy pointed their wands at one another, their arms were gripped and lifted high into the air. They looked up at a disgruntled Hagrid, who promptly picked one of them up in each arm.
"PUT ME DOWN!" shouted Malfoy as he kicked to break out of Hagrid's grasp.
"They'll be no fightin' in my class. We're gonna go have a talk with yer heads of houses," said Hagrid sternly. He gave a small cough and pulled Ron up closer whispering, "Don't you worry too much Ron."
The students watched in awe as Hagrid carried the boys, Malfoy kicking and howling, up towards the castle. Crabbe and Goyle loyally bumbled up after them with their heads hung low. Harry turned to Hermione, "Score one for Gryffindor."
"Just the look on Pansy's face was almost worth seeing Ron get in trouble. I hope he's ok though, he really didn't have to do that. I can stand up for myself."
"I know."
Neville pushed through a few giggling Gryffindor girls to join them at the edge of the crowd. "Hey don't worry you guys, I saw Hagrid whisper something to Ron as he was carrying him off. I don't think he'll be in any trouble. What a show huh?"
"Yeah definitely," said Harry. The excitement by this time had died down enough that people were getting bored. No one was paying much attention to the now caged Streeler, and the barking from Fang inside Hagrid's hut wasn't pleasing very many people. Most of the Slytherins and even a few Gryffindors wandered off or left, much to the dismay of Hermione who was insisting that everyone stay until the end of class anyway.
An hour had passed and the few remaining students were either lying in the grass or propped up against the side of the hut. The lunch bell soon gave those that had had enough willpower to stay a reason to leave, which they promptly set about to do. Neville claimed to have an essay to attend to, leaving Harry and Hermione waiting alone outside of the hut.
"What do you suppose is taking them so long?" asked Harry.
"Hopefully Professor Snape will give Malfoy what he has coming, but I doubt it. They're probably still ironing things out." Hermione answered. She shifted herself on the grass to let the blood return to the leg she had been lying on.
"Can't get comfortable?"
"We've been here nearly two hours I could be using this time to do extra studying."
"Why don't you then?" asked Harry.
"I left my books in my dorm. I didn't expect that I'd be waiting outside all day. Hey do you think I'd have enough time to run grab them real quick?"
"Sure. If they come back I'll tell them to wait on you," said Harry, plucking a piece of grass from the lawn.
Hermione pushed herself up and brushed her robes off. "Thanks Harry. I won't be five minutes, promise." She smiled and briskly strode off towards the castle. Harry watched her for a ways, before plucking another piece of grass. He put the grass to his lips and blew.
No sound came from the piece of grass. "I never was very good at that," he said as he dropped the grass and watched it flutter to the ground. No sooner had the grass hit the ground than Hagrid's figure came marching back towards the hut. His figure was huge; silhouetted against the sun.
"Sorry bout that, had to track down Snape and McGonagall. Snape didn' seem to like the idea of punishing his trophy boy but I think he'll give a bit. Where did everyone go?" said Hagrid as he approached the side of the hut. Harry stood to greet him.
"Class has been over for quite awhile Hagrid."
"Oh geez, didn' realize how long I'd been gone. Oh well I didn' have anythin' interestin' anyways. Next time though." Hagrid scratched his beard and stretched. Harry put his hand over his eyes as Hagrid stepped out of line with the bright sun.
"So uh," said Harry, still shielding his eyes, "Where's Ron?"
"I think McGonagall gave him a fake detention, just fer show ya know. I explained 'bout Malfoy. Looks like it'll just be us then."
"Actually Hermione is coming too, she just ran to get some books. Looks like she won't have any extra time to study though now that you came back.
"Yeah sorry 'bout that again," said Hagrid as he entered his hut.
"It's alright Hagrid. Hey here she comes." Harry pointed up the hill at Hermione who was half jogging back towards the hut, text-books clutched tightly to her chest. Hagrid stepped back out of the cabin with his crossbow in tow and Fang hopping excitedly at his heels.
"I see Hagrid is back," said Hermione a little saddened she wouldn't get the extra study time.
"Don' be too excited there Hermione," replied Hagrid, laying his crossbow on his shoulder.
"Oh sorry, you know what I meant Hagrid. I was hoping to get some extra studying done."
Hagrid led the way into the Forbidden Forest, with Harry and Hermione close behind. Very little sunlight streamed through the dense treetops making it incredibly hard to see where they were going.
"Harry I was thinking about the DA," said Hermione, placing one hand on a tree and moving the other about in front of her to find a safe place to step.
"Yeah," Harry had to grab a branch hard to keep himself from falling face first into her when he tripped on a thick weed.
"Well since you have Quidditch tryouts next week, I think we should try to have it sometime the week after, Monday perhaps?"
"Sounds good to me. But are we really going to need the DA since Umbridge is gone? We have Snape now."
"Sorry to but in," said Hagrid with a little laugh, "But doesn' that mean you'll probly need it more?" They all laughed before quickly agreeing. "It ain' much further, I know you need to get back for yer classes."
"It's Potions. I can't imagine having a Potions class that I enjoyed. But I thought Mrs. Figg was a Squib? Doesn't that mean she can't use magic?" asked Harry.
"I'm not sure," replied Hermione. "Maybe there's more than meets the eye there."
"An there he is!" exclaimed Hagrid, pointing at what appeared to be a giant rock in the middle of the clearing. The object gave a growl at Hagrid's voice, and very slowly sat up. Grawp sat staring down at them, his upper chest, and legs covered in bandages.
"The centaurs gave him a good goin' over there, but I got 'im all patched up," said Hagrid, stepping up to Grawp and waiving. Grawp stared down at him, and then glanced over at Harry and Hermione where his gaze lingered for a moment before he grunted, "Looks like he's happy to see you."
Grawp made a sudden lunge forward with his gigantic arm. His large fingers knocked Harry to the ground, as they quickly clamped shut around Hermione. She screamed and kicked but couldn't escape as he lifted her up off the ground and slowly brought her to his face. "Hermy!" came the low bellow, as he looked at her affectionately.
Harry jumped to his feet and ran to Hagrid's side. "What's he doing?!" Hermione continued to kick and scream as Grawp petted her with another giant finger.
"I think he's takin' a likin' to Hermione there. Don' worry he won' do nuthin to her."
"PUT ME DOWN! HELP ME!" Hermione looked like a rag doll in Grawp's powerful grip.
"HERMY!"
"I think we'd better get her down Hagrid," Harry commented seeing her start to turn red.
"Righ'. Bad Grawp!" Hagrid walked up and smacked the side of Grawp's leg. Grawp looked down at Hagrid, but continued to keep a firm hold on Hermione. "Let 'er down right now Grawp!"
Grawp looked sadly at the ground and slowly sat Hermione back down on her feet. She was too stunned to move from the spot, and only continued to stare forward where he had sat her.
Harry rushed over while Hagrid took a look at Grawp's bandages. "Are you ok?"
"That was horrible! It likes me!"
"So house elves are ok but giants aren't?"
"Oh…well…House elves haven't attacked me, and giants aren't slaves against their own will," said Hermione. Harry thought it better not to say that Grawp didn't so much attack her, as hug her. Once he'd helped her brush off her robes, and Hagrid was done they set back towards the castle.
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When they had reached the castle, class was almost ready to begin. Harry dug his heels in hard as he sprinted down towards the new potions classroom. Everyone was already seated and talking excitedly about not having Snape, when he and Hermione burst in through the door, gasping for air.
Ron was already seated and had saved a seat on either side of him. "What took you guys so long?" he asked as they slid down beside him.
"Hermione got tied up," Harry smirked as he took out a few potion ingredients from his bag. "How was your detention?"
"Horrible," Ron rolled his eyes as he spoke,"McGonagall made me eat four biscuits and a lemon tart for putting Malfoy in his place. It was excruciating."
"Sounds like it." Harry finished putting his things about.
The classroom door opened and Mrs. Figg slowly walked in, her slippers flip-flopping against the marble floor. She sat her stringed purse down on the desk and turned to the class. A large witch's hat adorned her head, giving her an almost McGonagall like appearance.
"Excellent everyone is here," she said looking the class over. "Tell me why do half of you look so discontent?" The Slytherins in the class moaned, and a few made snide remarks under their breaths.
"Ah yes, I'm sure most of you are quite upset at losing your beloved potions master, only to be replaced by a squib," said Mrs. Figg. Ron and Harry both chuckled. "Many of you may wonder if a squib can teach magic, and also be worried since it's so close to your N.E.W.T.s if it won't be much harder for you. Well let me tell you. I did not come to be under Dumbledore's personal assistance for nothing. I am a master, if I do say so myself, at mixing the unmixable, and brewing the perfect potions. For instance, how many of you knew that a simple cabbage can be quite the potion ingredient?"
"That would explain the smell," Harry whispered under his breath, remembering the strong smell he had encountered when he had been placed in her care when he was younger.
"I will have you well prepared for your N.E.W.T.s and I do believe we'll have fun doing it." What Mrs. Figg said was half true. The Gryffindors had never before had such a fun and eventful potions class. Neville managed to mess his potion up three times and still wasn't reprimanded for it. The Slytherins were giving the Gryffindors scathing looks from across the room at not being favored anymore. Malfoy kept quiet in the corner with Crabbe and Goyle, where Ron could overhear them making comments about Mrs. Figg that would have made Hermione jump.
"So did you go to see Grawp?" asked Ron as he added a bit of cabbage to his potion.
"Yeah, he's the same as usual. Took quite a fancy to Hermione though," said Harry. Ron froze for a second, before realizing that they were talking about a giant. There was a sort of gurgle from Hermione as she added a few dried nettles to her potions to complete it.
"There that was easy," she said looking at her purple, bubbling potion. "And we didn't get yelled at once."
"I WILL NOT," came a loud shrill voice from across the room. The three of them turned to see Mrs. Figg standing over Malfoy and his cronies. "ACCEPT THAT KIND OF LANGUAGE!" she straightened up a bit, "Five points from Slytherin and detentions for the three of you!"
Ron turned back to his potion, "It just keeps getting better."
Everyone was talking about potions in the common room later that night. "It was brilliant!" cried Neville. "I might actually learn something in potions this year," he was so happy he could barely contain it. Hermione smiled at him as he was practically spinning in circles in excitement.
Harry leaned back on the sofa and sighed. "What's wrong?" asked Hermione sliding back on the sofa next to him.
"I hope Snape isn't going to turn Defense Against the Dark Arts into an even worse class than Potions. Plus I'm worried about Quidditch tryouts. This could be Gryffindor's worst year."
Hermione smiled and leaned on his arm. "You're always so down lately. Look at the bright side of things. It'll all be fine, don't worry about it."
"Yeah thanks Hermione. I'll be fine," he wrapped his arm around her and gave a quick hug, then sat up. "Why is it you always know how to cheer me up?"
She smiled and shrugged, then pulled out a piece of parchment and some ink from her bag. Ron came over from the other side of the room smiling proudly. "I'm still the best chess player here."
"Up for another game?" asked Harry.
"Sure." As Ron set the board up Ginny, Lavender, and Parvati came over to watch.
"There's nothing better to do," Ginny admitted.
"Wow thanks," answered Ron, not taking his eyes from the board. When he had made his move he looked over at Hermione, who was scribbling away furiously at the piece of parchment. "What are you working on? We haven't gotten any essays yet."
"I'm writing to Viktor," she answered earnestly, slowing her writing down a bit.
"Krum?" asked Lavender, nudging Parvati in the side. "Let me see." She tried to pick the parchment up but Hermione yanked it back hard.
"No you can't see it thank you very much," she said rolling the parchment back up.
"Just forget about it," Ginny said to Lavender and Parvati.
"Yeah it's none of our business, right Ron?" said Harry as he moved his pawn.
"Right," answered Ron, taking Harry's pawn with a knight. Harry didn't say anything, but he could tell that Ginny was tearing herself apart inside holding something in. It was the look in her eye, and the pursed lips that gave it away. There was no denying it Harry thought, Ginny knew something no one else was supposed to know.