Raised By Wolfstar: Slytherin Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix

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Chapter Twenty-Two: The Eye of the Snake

Theodore and Canini plowed their way back to Hagrid’s cabin through two feet of snow on Sunday morning. Harry, Tracey, and Terence wanted to go with them, but their mountain of homework had reached an alarming height again, so they grudgingly remained in the common room, trying to ignore the thought of their fellow students enjoying themselves skating on the frozen lake, tobogganing, and bewitching snowballs to zoom around.

‘What I wouldn’t give to be outside having some fun right now,’ said Allison in a huff.

Theodore returned from Hagrid’s just before lunch, shivering slightly, his robes damp to the knees.

‘Well?’ asked Harry, looking up when he entered. ‘Did you make some lesson plans with him?’

‘No, and he’s making it hard to want to help him,’ he said dully, sinking into a chair beside Harry. He pulled out his wand and gave it a complicated little wave so that hot air streamed out of the tip; he then pointed this at his robes, which began to steam as they dried out. ‘When we arrived he wasn’t even at his hut, Cani and I waited for over half an hour. Then he just hobbled out of the Forbidden Forest—‘

Harry groaned. The Forbidden Forest was teeming with the kind of creatures most likely to get Hagrid the sack.

‘What’s he keeping in there? Did he say?’ asked Harry.

‘Nope,’ said Theodore miserably. ‘He insisted that they be a surprise. We tried re-explaining how Umbridge just wants him gone, but he wouldn’t listen. He kept insisting that nobody in their right mind would rather study Murtlaps than chimaeras—don’t worry, I get the impression his secret animal isn’t a chimaera,’ he added at the appalled look on Harry, Tracey, Allison, and Terence’s faces, ‘though I think he would if he could, he mentioned how hard it is to procure their eggs...Canini and I practically begged him to just continue Grubbly-Plank’s lesson plan, but in the end I’d be surprised if combined we managed to get ten percent of what we said through his stubborn head. He just seemed a little off, and he continued to refuse divulging what gave him his injuries...’

Hagrid’s reappearance at the staff table at breakfast next day was not greeted by enthusiasm from all students. Some, like Fred, George, and Ron, roared with delight and sprinted up to wring Hagrid’s enormous hand; others, like Millicent and Daphne, exchanged gloomy looks and shook their heads. Harry knew that many of them preferred Professor Grubbly-Plank’s lessons, and the worst of it was that a very small, unbiased part of him knew that they had good reason: Grubbly-Plank’s idea of an interesting class was not one where there was a risk that somebody might have their head ripped off.

It was with a certain amount of apprehension that Harry, Tracey, Allison, and Theodore headed down to Hagrid’s on Tuesday, heavily muffled against the cold. Harry was worried, not only about what Hagrid might have decided to teach them, but also about how the rest of the class, particularly Pansy and her cronies, would behave if Umbridge was watching them.

However, the High Inquisitor was nowhere to be seen as they struggled through the snow toward Hagrid, who stood waiting for them on the edge of the forest. He did not present a reassuring sight; the bruises that had been purple on Saturday night were now tinged with green and yellow and some of his cuts still seemed to be bleeding. Harry could not understand this: Had Hagrid perhaps been attacked by some creature whose venom prevented the wounds it inflicted from healing? As though to complete the ominous picture, Hagrid was carrying what looked like half a dead cow over his shoulder.

‘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?’ Harry heard Malfoy say sharply to Daphne, a trace of panic in his voice. ‘What did he say prefers the dark—did you hear?’

Harry remembered the only occasion on which Malfoy had entered the forest before now; he had not been very brave then either. He smiled to himself; he needed some amusement after the week he had had.

‘Ready?’ said Hagrid happily, 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 on’y person in Britain who’s managed ter train ’em—‘

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

Malfoy’s murmured in agreement and a few Gryffindors looked as though they thought Malfoy had a fair point too.

‘ ’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.

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

He turned and strode straight into the forest. Nobody seemed much disposed to follow. Harry glanced at Tracey, Allison, and Theodore, who sighed but nodded, and the four of them set off after Hagrid, leading the rest of the class.

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 on the ground at all. Hagrid deposited his half a cow with a grunt on the ground, stepped back, and turned to face his class again, most of whom were creeping toward him from tree to tree, peering around nervously as though expecting to be set upon at any moment.

‘Gather roun’, gather roun’,’ said Hagrid encouragingly. ‘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 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. 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, Harry nudged Allison 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 looked around at 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.

Harry looked to Theodore who had an expression of great distaste as he watched the creature eat, but at least this confirmed he had told Harry the truth that he could indeed see the creatures. It was once again made clear that they were the only two in their friend group who could see them, as Harry heard Tracey and Allison whispering to each other.

‘Maybe they’re to scared of people to come?’ whispered Tracey.

‘Maybe,’ Allison whispered back, ‘or maybe they were farther away than Hagrid thought, this place is like a maze.’

Most of the rest of the class were wearing expressions as confused and nervously expectant as Tracey and Allison’s and were still gazing everywhere but at the horse standing feet from them. Besides Theodore, there was one other person who could clearly see the creatures. Neville’s eyes were unmistakably following the swishing progress of the long black tail.

‘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?’

Immensely pleased to feel that he was at last going to understand the mystery of these horses, Harry raised his hand. Hagrid nodded at him.

‘Yeah...yeah, I knew you’d be able ter, Harry,’ he said seriously. ‘Ah, Theo, you too, ya look like you got some questions, they’ll be answered soon. An’ you too, Neville, eh?—‘

‘Excuse me,’ said Malfoy in a sneering voice, ‘but what exactly are we supposed to be seeing?’

For answer, Hagrid pointed at the cow carcass on the ground. The whole class stared at it for a few seconds, then several people gasped and Parvati squealed. Harry understood why: Bits of flesh stripping themselves away from the bones and vanishing into thin air had to look very odd indeed.

‘What’s doing it?’ Parvati demanded in a terrified voice, retreating behind the nearest tree. ‘What’s eating it?’

‘Thestrals,’ said Hagrid proudly. ‘Hogwarts has got a whole herd of ’em in here. Now, who knows—?’

‘But they’re really, really unlucky!’ interrupted Parvati, looking alarmed. ‘They’re supposed to bring all sorts of horrible misfortune on people who see them. Professor Trelawney told me once—‘

‘No, no, no,’ said Hagrid, chuckling, ‘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—‘

Two more horses came quietly out of the trees, one of them passing very close to Parvati, who shivered and pressed herself closer to the tree, saying, ‘I think I felt something, I think it’s near me!’

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

Hermione Granger raised her hand.

‘Go on then,’ said Hagrid, beaming at her.

‘The only people who can see thestrals,’ she said, ‘are people who have seen death.’

‘Tha’s exactly right,’ said Hagrid solemnly, ‘ten points ter Gryffindor. Now, thestrals—‘

‘Hem, hem.’

Professor Umbridge had arrived. She was standing a few feet away from Harry, wearing her green hat and cloak again, her clipboard at the ready. Hagrid, who had never heard Umbridge’s fake cough before, was gazing in some concern at the closest thestral, evidently under the impression that it had made the sound.

‘Hem, hem.’

‘Oh hello!’ Hagrid said, smiling, having located the source of the noise.

‘You received the note I sent to your cabin this morning?’ said Umbridge, in the same loud, slow voice she had used with him earlier, as though she was addressing somebody both foreign and very slow. ‘Telling you that I would be inspecting your lesson?’

‘Oh yeah,’ said Hagrid brightly. ‘Glad yeh found the place all righ’! Well, as you can see—or, I dunno—can you? We’re doin’ thestrals today—‘

‘I’m sorry?’ said 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—er—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’?’

‘ “Appears...to...have...poor...short...term...memory...” ‘ muttered Umbridge, loudly enough for everyone to hear her. Pansy Parkinson looked as though Christmas had come a month early; Tracey, on the other hand, had turned scarlet with suppressed rage.

'Oh yeah,' said Hagrid, throwing an uneasy glance at Umbridge’s clipboard, but plowing 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 favorite, 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"?'

Harry’s heart sank like a stone, but Hagrid merely chuckled.

'Thestrals aren’ dangerous! All righ, they might take a bite outta you if yeh really annoy them—'

' "Shows...signs...of...pleasure...at...idea...of...violence..." ' muttered Umbridge, scribbling 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—Blaise and Pansy Parkinson were having silent fits of laughter—'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. Tracey had tears of fury in her eyes now.

'You evil witch!' she whispered, as Umbridge walked toward Pansy Parkinson. 'He was giving a great lesson and you are tripping him up on purpose.'

'Erm...anyway,' said Hagrid, clearly struggling to regain the flow of his lesson, 'so—thestrals. Yeah. Well, there’s loads o’ good stuff abou’ them...'

'Do you find,' said Professor Umbridge in a ringing voice to Pansy Parkinson, 'that you are able to understand Professor Hagrid when he talks?'

Just like Tracey, Pansy had tears in her eyes, but these were tears of laughter; indeed, her answer was almost incoherent because she was trying to suppress her giggles. 'No...because...well...it sounds...like grunting a lot of the time...'

Umbridge scribbled on her clipboard. The few unbruised bits of Hagrid’s face flushed, but he tried to act as though he had not heard Pansy’s answer.

'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—'

'If they can comprehend what your saying,' said Blaise loudly, and Pansy Parkinson collapsed in a fit of renewed giggles. Professor Umbridge smiled indulgently at them and then turned to Neville.

'You can see the thestrals, Longbottom, can you?' she said.

Neville nodded.

'Whom did you see die?' she asked, her tone indifferent. Harry found this very insensitive, Hagrid hadn't asked Theodore, Neville or himself who they had seen die.

'My...my grandad,' said Neville.

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

'Erm,' said Neville nervously, with a glance at Hagrid. 'Well, they’re...er...okay...'

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

'No!' said Neville, looking upset but trying to be assertive, 'no, I’m not scared of them—!'

'It’s quite all right,' said Umbridge, patting Neville on the shoulder with what she evidently intended to be an understanding smile, though it looked more like a leer to Harry. '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 held up ten stubby little fingers, then, her smile wider and more toadlike than ever before beneath her green hat, she bustled from their midst, leaving Pansy and Blaise in fits of laughter, Tracey actually shaking with fury, and Neville looking confused and upset.

‘That rotten, manipulative, scheming, troll!’ stormed Tracey half an hour later, as they made their way back up to the castle through the channels they had made earlier in the snow. ‘You know what she’s doing? Theodore is right, it’s because he’s a half-breed, she ignores Canini because she’s a werewolf and now she treats Hagrid like he doesn’t understand English just because he’s half-giant—it’s a well known fact that half-breeds normally only usually inherit their non-human parents physical traits, just like anyone else their intelligence isn’t determined by their parents capabilities—what’s almost worse is Hagrid was doing a good job before she showed up, and thestrals aren’t the worst—things could have gone a lot worse if he had bread more Blast-Ended Skrewts, compared to them thestrals are practically unicorns—so yeah, she actually is making our education worse with her rude interruptions!’

‘Umbridge mentioned that they’re dangerous,’ said Allison.

‘Think about what Hagrid said,’ replied Theodore. ‘Even an untrained dog can be dangerous if you annoy it to much, and they really have been pulling the carriages for years and yet no one’s ever been hurt.’

‘Yes, and they’re probably one of the most interesting creatures I’ve never seen,’ said Tracey. ‘It would be fascinating to be able to see them.’

‘No it isn’t, not with its price,’ said Harry quietly. Tracey looked horrorstruck.

‘Harry, Theo—I wasn’t thinking it through, I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine what went through your minds when you learned why you were able to see them.’

‘It’s okay,’ he said quickly, ‘don’t worry about it.’

‘Yes Tracey,’ said Theodore, ‘we knew you meant nothing by it.’

Allison then spoke up, ‘Its quite sad actually, that so many people were able to see them.’

‘Yeah, and two of them live together,’ said a malicious voice nearby. Unheard by any of them in the muffling snow, Pansy, Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle were walking along right behind them. ‘Is it a right of passage in your house that your werewolf parent forces you to watch him kill someone or something, or does misery just love company?’

‘Yeah, isn’t Longbottom and old friend of yours, Potter?’ inquired Blaise. ‘Seems like a mighty coincidence all three of you are so close. Maybe we should call you the thestral three.’

He, Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle roared with laughter as they pushed past on their way to the castle. Theodore looked uncharacteristiclly mad.

‘Pay them no mind, Theo,’ encouraged Allison.

But Theodore needed to let off some steam, so that’s what he did he pulled out his wand and performing the charm to produce hot air again, so that he could melt them an easier path through the untouched snow between them and the castle.

December arrived, bringing with it more snow and a positive avalanche of homework for the fifth years. Something Harry found a little annoying was Theodore often finished all his work early which often meant he spent his afternoons with his boyfriend Colin or just having fun in general while Harry had work homework like his History of Magic essay.

With the seasons changing something Harry did not want to think about Christmas. While on occasion a wanted to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas, this year he very much wanted to spend the holidays away from Hogwarts. Between his Quidditch ban and worry about whether or not Hagrid was going to be put on probation, he felt highly resentful toward the place at the moment. The only thing he really looked forward to were the D.A. meetings, and they would have to stop over the holidays, as nearly everybody in the D.A. would be spending the time with their families. Allison had to return home to tend to her mother, while Terence’s family had invited Tracey to spend the holiday with them, something that greatly amused Allison who teased her about finally going to meet her boyfriend’s parents, Tracey whispered something back which seemed to both annoy and embarrass Allison but Harry didn’t hear what was said. Harry wished he could go to his home at Mould-on-the-Wold Cottage for the holidays, but Theodore had informed him that if he didn’t decide to stay that they would have to return to Grimmauld Place with Sirius and Remus.

Even so, just the thought of having all five of them together for Christmas made Harry’s spirits soar. Since Pansy had interrupted their floo call with Sirius and Remus there was hardly a moment Harry had alone where he was able to use his Two-Way Mirror to talk to his adoptive parents. While he knew they had each other, Harry worried about their mental state after being trapped in that place for nearly half a year with little contact with the outside world. Harry especially worried for Sirius, as he did not think it was healthy for him to be stuck in his mother’s old house, where both his mother’s portrait and Kreacher were spouting hateful bigotry all day long.

Harry arrived early in the Room of Requirement for the last D.A. meeting before the holidays and was very glad he had, because when the lamps burst into light he saw that Dobby had taken it upon himself to decorate the place for Christmas. He could tell the elf had done it, because nobody else would have strung a hundred golden baubles from the ceiling, each showing a picture of Harry’s face and bearing the legend HAVE A VERY HARRY CHRISTMAS!

Harry had only just managed to get the last of them down before the door creaked open and Luna Lovegood entered, looking dreamy as always.

‘Hello,’ she said vaguely, looking around at what remained of the decorations. ‘These are nice, did you put them up?’

‘No,’ said Harry, ‘it was Dobby the house-elf.’

‘Mistletoe,’ said Luna dreamily, pointing at a large clump of white berries placed almost over Harry’s head. He jumped out from under it.

‘Good thinking,’ said Luna very seriously. ‘It’s often infested with nargles.’

Harry was saved the necessity of asking what nargles were by the arrival of Angelina, Katie, and Alicia. All three of them were breathless and looked very cold.

‘Well,’ said Angelina dully, pulling off her cloak and throwing it into a corner, ‘we managed to find replacements for the twins.’

‘Who are your new Beaters?’ Harry asked.

‘Andrew Kirke,’ said Alicia without enthusiasm, ‘and Jack Sloper. Neither of them are brilliant, but compared with the rest of the idiots who turned up...’

The arrival of Theodore, Colin, Tracey, Terence, Canini, Allison, and Neville brought this depressing discussion to an end. While the others helped set up, Canini came over to her brother looking slightly nervous.

‘Hey Harry, do you have a moment?’ She asked, while fidgeting with her hands.

‘Maybe just a minute, what’s up?’

‘Well, if it’s only a minute I won’t ask it now, but later can I ask you for some advice.’

‘Of course,’ he said truthfully. ‘I don’t know if I’ll have time today, but you can ask me tomorrow for sure.’

Some of her nerves seemed to disappear and she smiled.

‘Thanks bro.’

After that quick conversation it was only minutes before the room was full enough to get started.

‘Okay,’ he said, calling them all to order. ‘I thought this evening we should just go over the things we’ve done so far, because it’s the last meeting before the holidays and there’s no point starting anything new right before a three-week break—‘

‘We’re not doing anything new?’ said Zacharias Smith, in a disgruntled whisper loud enough to carry through the room. ‘If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have come...’

‘We’re all really sorry Harry didn’t tell you, then,’ said Fred loudly. Several people sniggered. Harry saw Cho laughing and felt the familiar swooping sensation in his stomach, as though he had missed a step going downstairs.

‘We can practice in pairs,’ said Harry. ‘We’ll start with the Impediment Jinx, just for ten minutes, then we can get out the cushions and try Stunning again.’

They all divided up obediently; Harry partnered Neville as usual. The room was soon full of intermittent cries of ‘Impedimenta!’ People froze for a minute or so, during which their partners would stare aimlessly around the room watching other pairs at work, then would unfreeze and take their turn at the jinx.

Neville had improved beyond all recognition. After a while, when Harry had unfrozen three times in a row, he had Neville join Allison and Tracey so that he could walk around the room and watch the others. When he passed Cho she beamed at him; he resisted the temptation to walk past her several more times. Harry noticed Terence had partnered with Adrian Pucey, and in between jinxes they seemed to be discussing something that made Adrian smile.

After ten minutes on the Impediment Jinx, they laid out cushions all over the floor in preparation to start practicing Stunning again. Before the spells could start flying, Harry managed to catch out of the corner of his eye that Theodore and Colin had caught a quick kiss under the mistletoe which left them a bit giddy, and despite being a little annoyed at Theodore earlier, he could help but crack a smile at seeing them so happy.