Care for Magical Hagrid

On their next day, their very first lesson was Magical Creatures, and Olivia was non-verbally praying that Hagrid wouldn’t ruin his Care for Magical Creatures career. What made things worse was that Draco and his gorilla henchmen were there, and any chance of making Hagrid fail would come from them. Hagrid was waiting for them just in front of the trees of the Forbidden Forest, and the dragon skin seemed to have done the trick. Some green ooze was trailing silently down his brown waistcoat. His eyes weren't bruised as much, but there were several dark yellow and red markings surrounding the eye. The blood on his beard was washed, as well as his bloodied hands. Hagrid clapped his giant hands together, a smile on his bright face. Umbridge, expectedly, was there, holding her usual pink clipboard and quill.

Hagrid had only just realised that she was there, for his face changed from cheerful to nervous and agitated. He grunted and started to speak in his hoarse voice. 

‘Yer Care for Magical Creatures teacher is back,’ he said, looking at his students.  

Nobody paid the slightest attention to his sentence, except for the trio and Albert, as well as Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. 

‘I liked the other teacher more,’ a Gryffindor girl chirped. ‘At least we learnt about actual creatures, not monsters!’

There were several murmurs of agreement from all the houses, especially Slytherin. Umbridge happily wrote down a note with her peacock quill. She was wearing her original outfit, with the same black bow slightly tilted on her curled hair. Draco, Amelia noticed, was smirking at Hagrid as though he knew what Umbridge was going to do.

‘So, today we are-’ Hagrid began.

‘Hem hem…’

Hagrid turned to Umbridge, his eyes wide. 

‘Er… What's the problem?’ Hagrid said. 

‘Did… you… get… my… let..ter… saying… I… will… be… inspecting… your… lesson… today…?’ Umbridge said slowly, as though Hagrid didn’t understand what she was saying. She also mimed each of the words’ meanings.

Hagrid nodded. Umbridge furiously wrote something with her quill.

‘So, as I was saying-’

‘Sorry for interrupting your lesson again, Hagrid, but might I ask why you aren’t holding a wand, like all teachers of Hogwarts?’

Hagrid looked at the trio and Albert, who glanced back worriedly. 

‘Erm… well, I got expelled in me third year, yeh see. I was framed of openin’ the Chamber of S-’

Hagrid had said too much, yet Umbridge seemed amused. 

‘Go on,’ she said sweetly. ‘And louder, I can barely hear your harsh voice from here.’

Hagrid sighed deeply. 

Why don’t you just come closer to him, Amelia thought, looking at Umbridge with eyes narrowed to slits. 

‘I was framed for openin’ the Chamber of Secrets. ‘Cause I kept Aragog under me bed and everyone thought he was the Slytherin’s monster-’

Umbridge quickly copied down what he said, her thin eyebrows arched in cheerfulness. 

‘And… what… was… your… pet’s… name..?’ Umbridge asked. 

‘Erm… I don’t see how this relates to me lesson o’er here…’ Hagrid said uncomfortably, and also surprised by how Umbridge was pausing at the end of each word and miming. 

Umbridge scribbled on her note and placed a dot dramatically in the end. 

Hagrid was carrying what looked like half a dead cow over his shoulder. The trio and Albert eyed the meat. 

'We're workin' in here today!' Hagrid called happily to the approaching students, jerking his head back at the dark trees behind him. 'Bit more sheltered. Anyway, they prefer the dark.'

'What prefers the dark?’ the trio heard Draco say sharply to Crabbe and Goyle, a trace of panic in his voice. 'What did he say prefers the dark- did you hear?'

'Ready?' said Hagrid cheerfully, looking around at the class. '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 only person in Britain who's managed ter train 'em.'

Several students looked at Hagrid with a terrified expression on their pale faces

‘What if werewolves eat me?’ a Hufflepuff girl shrieked.

‘There’s no werewolves in there, especially in… erm… daytime.’

Umbridge looked at Hagrid’s features, as though doubting whether or not he would be useful for protecting students. Hagrid looked desperately in Olivia, Amelia and Isabell’s direction. 

‘Professor Umbridge?’ Olivia said, her hand raised.

‘Yes, Ms. Dragonheart?’

‘Hagrid’s lessons are extremely great, with many advantages over other lessons.’

Umbridge wrote something on her clipboard as Hagrid beamed at Olivia.

‘And you're sure they're trained, are you?' said Draco, the panic in his voice even more pronounced. 'Only it wouldn't be the first time you'd brought wild stuff to class, would it?'

The Slytherins murmured agreement and a few Gryffindors and Ravenclaws looked as though they thought Draco had a fair point, too.

‘O’course they're trained,' said Hagrid, scowling and hoisting the dead cow a little higher on his shoulder.

'So what happened to your face, then?’ demanded Malfoy coolly. 

'Mind yer own business!’ said Hagrid, angrily. 'Now, if yeh've finished askin' stupid questions, follow me!'

Umbridge raised her eyebrows as she wrote something on her clipboard then followed them.

He turned and strode straight into the Forest. Nobody seemed much disposed to follow. They walked for about ten minutes until they reached a place where the trees stood so closely together that it was as dark as twilight and there was no snow at all on the ground. With a grunt, Hagrid deposited his half a cow on the ground, stepped back and turned to face his class, most of whom were creeping from tree to tree towards him, peering around nervously as though expecting to be set upon at any moment.

'Gather roun', gather roun',' Hagrid encouraged. 'Now, they'll be attracted by the smell 'o the meat but I'm going ter give em a call anyway, 'cause they'll like ter know it's me.'

He turned, shook his shaggy head to get the hair out of his face and gave an odd, shrieking cry that echoed through the dark trees like the call of some monstrous bird.

Nobody laughed: most of them looked too scared to make a sound. Hagrid gave the shrieking cry again. Isabell seemed to understand what Hagrid was doing. A minute passed in which the class continued to peer nervously over their shoulders and around trees for a first glimpse of whatever it was that was coming. And then, as Hagrid shook his hair back for a third time and expanded his enormous chest, Amelia nudged Isabell, Olivia and Albert and pointed into the black space between two gnarled yew trees.

 A pair of blank, white, shining eyes were growing larger through the gloom and a moment later the dragonish face, neck and then skeletal body of a great, black, winged horse emerged from the darkness.

It surveyed the class for a few seconds, swishing its long black tail, then bowed its head and began to tear flesh from the dead cow with its pointed fangs.

‘We're doin' Thestrals today-’ Hagrid began

'I'm sorry?' said Professor Umbridge loudly, cupping her hand around her ear and frowning. 'What did you say?' 

Hagrid looked a little confused. 

'Er- Thestrals!' he said loudly. 'Big- uhm- winged horses, yeh know!' He flapped his gigantic arms hopefully. 

Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows at him and muttered as she made a note on her clipboard: 'Has... to... resort... to... crude... sign... language.' 

'Well... anyway...'  said Hagrid, turning back to the class and looking slightly flustered, 'Erm... what was I sayin’?' 

'Appear... to... have... poor... short... term... memory,' muttered Umbridge, loudly enough for everyone to hear her. 

Draco Malfoy looked as though Christmas had come a month early. The trio, on the other hand, had turned scarlet with suppressed rage. 

'Oh, yeah,' said Hagrid, throwing an uneasy glance at Umbridge's pink clipboard, but ploughing on valiantly. '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,' he patted the first horse to have appeared, 'Name o' Tenebrus, he's my special favourite, firs' one born here in the Forest-’

'Are you aware,' Umbridge said loudly, interrupting him. ‘That the Ministry of Magic has classified Thestrals as "dangerous"?' 

Hagrid merely chuckled at Umbridge’s statement. 

'Thestrals aren' dangerous! Alrigh', they might take a bite outta yeh if yeh really annoy them-' 

'Shows... signs... of... pleasure... at... idea... of... violence,' muttered Umbridge, scribbling furiously on her clipboard again. 

'No- come on!’ said Hagrid, looking a little anxious now. 'I mean, a dog'll bite if yeh bait it, won' it, 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?' 

Umbridge did not answer; she finished writing her last note, then looked up at Hagrid and said, again very loudly and slowly, 'Please continue teaching as usual. I am going to walk (she mimed walking and Hagrid arched his brows.) among the students (she pointed around at individual members of the class.) and ask them questions…' 

She pointed at her mouth to indicate talking. Hagrid stared at her, clearly at a complete loss to understand why she was acting as though he did not understand normal English. 

Most of the rest of the class were wearing expressions as confused and nervously expectant and were still gazing everywhere but at the horse standing feet from them. 

There were only a couple of people who could see the Thestrals, Amelia, Neville, Harry and… Albert.

'Oh, an' here comes another one!’ said Hagrid proudly, as a second black horse appeared out of the dark trees, folded its leathery-wings closer to its body and dipped its head to gorge on the meat.

'Now ... put yer hands up, who can see 'em?'

Albert and Amelia raised their hands.

Hagrid nodded at them.

‘I knew you would be able ter see them, Amelia,' he said seriously. 'An' you too, Albert, Neville, eh? An' Harry an’-'

‘Excuse me,' said Draco in a sneering voice. 'But what exactly are we supposed to be seeing?'

For an answer, Hagrid pointed at the cow carcass on the ground.

The whole class stared at it for a few seconds, then several people gasped.

Amelia and Albert understood why: bits of flesh stripping themselves away from the bones and vanishing into thin air had to look very odd indeed.

Umbridge wrote something on her clipboard and walked towards Pansy Parkinson.

‘Do you understand Hagrid’s voice?’ she asked her loudly.

‘Uh, no. It just sounds like grunting all of the time.’

The trio and Albert glared at her. Hagrid shuffled his feet and looked worried. The trio gave him a thumbs-up and he nodded at them in thanks.

'These are Thestrals, as I said before. Hogwarts has got a whole herd of 'em in here. Now, who knows—?'

'But they're really, really unlucky!’ interrupted a Gryffindor girl, looking alarmed. 'They're supposed to bring all sorts of horrible misfortune on people who see them. Professor Trelawney told me once-' The girl looked concernedly at Amelia and Albert, seeing them as cursed children. 

'No, no, no,' said Hagrid, chuckling, 'That’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-'

Two more Thestrals came quietly out of the trees, one of them passing very close to the same Gryffindor girl , who shivered and shrank herself herself closer to the tree, saying, 'I think I felt something, I think it's near me! Help!'

'Don' worry, it won' hurt yeh,' said Hagrid patiently. 'Righ', now, who can tell me why some o' yeh can see 'em an' some can't?'

Olivia raised her hand.

'Go on then,' said Hagrid, beaming at her.

'The only people who can see Thestrals,' she explained, while Draco muttered something (‘The smart Dragon shows-off as usual…’ he said to Crabbe and Goyle, who merely grunted). 'Are people who have seen death.'

'That's exactly right,' said Hagrid solemnly. ‘Ten points ter Ravenclaw. Now, Thestrals are-'

'Hem, hem.' 

Hagrid turned his beady black eyes uncomfortably at Umbridge, who smiled sweetly and wrote something on her board. 

‘Has… the… ability… to… hear… but… not… well… enough…’ she muttered to herself.

'Erm ... anyway,' said Hagrid, clearly struggling to regain the flow of his “enjoyable” lesson. 'So, Thestrals. Yeah. Well, there's loads o' good stuff abou' them...'

Hagrid paused and looked at Umbridge, who was scanning the students. 

'Er... yeah... good stuff abou' Thestrals. Well, once they're tamed, like this lot, yeh'll never be lost again. Mazin' sense o' direction, jus' tell 'em where yeh want ter go-'

'Assuming they can understand you, of course,' said Malfoy loudly, and Pansy Parkinson collapsed in a fit of renewed and frenzied  giggles.

Professor Umbridge smiled indulgently at them and then turned to Albert.

'You can see the Thestrals, Foxglove, can you?' she said.

Albert nodded.

'Who did you see die?' she asked, her tone indifferent.

'My... my dad,' said Albert in a hushed voice and gazed at his shoes.

'And what do you think of them?’ Umbridge said, waving her stubby hand at the Thestrals, who by now had stripped a great deal of the carcass down to bone.

'Erm,' said Albert Albert, with a helpless glance at Hagrid. 'Well, they're... er… strange but nice creatures...'

'Students... are... too... intimidated... to... admit... they... are... frightened,' muttered Umbridge, making another note on her pink clipboard.

'No!’ said Albert, looking angry and ashamed. 'No, I'm not scared of them! You don’t know-'

'It's quite alright,' said Umbridge, patting Albert on the shoulder with what she evidently intended to be an understanding smile, though it looked more like a leer to him.

‘Well, Hagrid,' she turned to look up at him again, speaking once more in that loud, slow voice. 'I think I've got enough to be getting along with.

You will receive (she mimed taking something from the air in front of her) the results of your inspection (she pointed at the clipboard) in ten days' time (she stretched out all her fingers to resemble the number ten).’ 

She smiled wider and more toadlike than ever before beneath her green hat, she bustled from their midst, leaving Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson in fits of laughter.

That foul, lying, twisting old gargoyle!’ stormed Olivia half an hour later, as they made their way back up to the castle. 'You see what she's up to? She's trying to make out Hagrid's some kind of dimwitted 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, alright, 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,' said Albert.

'Well, it's like Hagrid said, they can look after themselves,' said Olivia impatiently. ‘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? The way some people can see them and some can't! I wish I could.'

'Do you?’ Amelia asked her quietly. ‘You wish someone dies so you can see… them…?’

‘Amelia, that wasn’t what I meant-’

‘I-it’s fine,’ Amelia said bitterly.