Chapter 45 - Hippogriff — Words Unspoken

Nobody was paying attention to the delicious stew. Everyone was busy with Hogwarts' favorite pastime: watching the Potter spectacle.

"Is this a Slytherin tradition?" Praeris couldn't help saying. "Potter news as a condiment? Makes the food go down better?"

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Potter ought to thank us for making him so famous. You can't imagine how disappointed I was when I learned he was prophesied to die, what would we talk about at mealtimes?"

"Well, you can stop being disappointed," Marcus said. "Trelawney predicts death omens for a few students every year. Not a single one has died yet."

Draco snorted. "Then I'm even more disappointed."

Praeris pulled her class schedule from her satchel. "Sounds like you've got something even more disappointing coming. You signed up for Care of Magical Creatures, didn't you?"

"Don't bring that up while I'm eating!" Draco said irritably. "That book bites like a rabid dog, who on earth makes that a textbook? Just like when he kept dangerous animals at the school, he won't be satisfied until someone actually gets killed!"

In the afternoon, the rain that had been drizzling since yesterday finally stopped. The sky stayed gray. Walking across the grass slope felt sticky and muddy underfoot.

It was muggy out. Praeris pulled off her robes and stuffed them into her satchel.

Millicent Bulstrode and Daphne Greengrass took theirs off too, then stuffed them into Praeris's bag.

Pansy looked at the three of them with open disdain. "I won't. Who knows what that half-giant has planned, what if he ruins my blouse?"

They assembled in front of Hagrid's hut, but Hagrid clearly had no intention of holding class there. He told the students to follow him.

"Today I'm going to share something wonderful with you, I'm sure you'll all love it!" Hagrid said, doing his best impression of a man with a secret.

Draco turned toward Praeris. "Want to bet? It's definitely nothing wonderful."

Praeris glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "What kind of obvious, stupid thing to say."

"Before that, you'll need to open your books first —" Hagrid called out.

Draco lifted his chin and drawled, "And how exactly do we open them?"

Hagrid made a puzzled sound, as if he hadn't quite followed.

Draco, surprisingly, didn't lose patience. He repeated the question.

When Hagrid finally understood, his face filled with disbelief, as if they were supposed to have known all along.

He used Hermione Granger's book as a demonstration. Just stroke the spine, he told them, and it would open safely.

Draco nudged Praeris with his elbow, voice dripping with theatrical concern. "Look at you, Praeris. You were supposed to stroke it! How could you not know how to open this book? You've read most of the library, and you didn't know this? I'm devastated for you."

Praeris didn't bother looking up. She stroked the spine of her textbook and said nothing. The whole performance was transparent, he was pointing at the mulberry tree to curse the locust. On the surface, Praeris was the incompetent one. In practice, he was talking about Hagrid.

"I... I thought the book was rather fun," Hagrid said, his face full of anxious hope.

Draco went full throttle. "Oh, absolutely. Great fun. They'd be even more fun if they weren't trying to use our hands as afternoon tea."

Harry Potter had had enough. He stepped forward. "Shut your mouth!"

He'd always been close to Hagrid. First year, he'd even helped the man send off a dragon.

The interruption seemed to knock Hagrid off track. He stood there for a moment, slightly dazed, before remembering he was supposed to go fetch the creatures.

"He's just leaving?" Pansy said, incredulous. "Leaving students in the paddock by the Forbidden Forest?"

"I'd rather he left and never came back," Draco said loudly. "Then we could get a teacher with a brain. Hogwarts is going to ruin, now just anyone can take students. I thought this was a school, not some random shelter for strays!"

"Shut your filthy mouth!" Harry Potter stepped forward a second time.

Draco, not backing down an inch, said with mock concern, "Watch your back, Potter. The Dementors are watching you."

The words had barely left his mouth when a blonde Gryffindor girl screamed and pointed toward the Forbidden Forest. Everyone looked.

A herd of a dozen enormous creatures came running toward them. Eagle bodies on top, horse bodies below, massive wings folded at their sides, Hippogriffs, straight out of the Ministry's registry.

Praeris felt it before she saw it: as Hagrid tried to urge them all closer, her three girls grabbed at her and crowded behind her back.

She couldn't help the thought that crossed her mind. I'm a mother hen shielding her chicks.

"These are XXX-class magical creatures," Praeris said, keeping her voice even. "The Ministry defines them as creatures only a capable witch or wizard can handle, not entirely harmless, but not the worst either. XXXX-class is where truly dangerous starts. I believe there are even wizards who breed Hippogriffs professionally."

While Praeris was briefing the three girls, Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle had their heads together in a huddle.

"Draco." Praeris watched him with narrowed eyes. "What are you planning?"

A skilled Magizoologist could read a magical creature's intentions from the twitch of its tail.

Right now, Praeris could read Draco's.

"If you want to do something stupid, pick a better time. Hippogriffs are not something to mess around with," she said, frowning.

"Hey, Prince," Zabini said suddenly, "do you fancy Draco? Wouldn't have guessed, you're pretty concerned about him."

Praeris turned and pointed at herself, caught between disbelief and laughter. "Me? Fancy him? You've got a real talent for making people sick. Is randomly shooting Cupid's arrows your hobby? If it weren't for the trouble you'd cause Professor Snape, I wouldn't care if the whole lot of you dropped dead!"

She gave a disdainful laugh and turned back to her friends.

Draco's finger trembled as he pointed at her retreating back. "She, what did she just say!"

Crabbe and Goyle grabbed his arms.

"Let it go."

"That's just how her mouth works."

Nott, delighted to fan the flames, grinned and said, "She said being lumped together with you disgusts her. She also said, she wouldn't care if you died."

Harry Potter came flying back, and a good portion of the class cheered. Only Draco's trio and Praeris wore expressions like they'd bitten something sour.

Draco's mood wasn't just about Potter stealing the spotlight. Praeris's words were still sitting in him. As for Praeris, she was purely annoyed, she hated having people speculate about her feelings, regardless of whether those feelings existed.

Hagrid let all the Hippogriffs loose and chuckled. "Anyone else want to try? It's not hard, Harry managed it!"

Millicent Bulstrode gathered her courage and picked out a smaller Hippogriff, waving the girls over.

"Pra, you've got to keep watch, if it tries anything, you have to save me."

Millicent still had the voice of a girl. Her build was another matter entirely, trending firmly in Marcus Flint's direction. When she hid behind Praeris, it was genuinely hard to say who was protecting whom.

Praeris nodded and laid her hand on the wand at her hip.

"Ah! Pra!"

Pansy, who had glanced over to check on Draco out of sheer habit, suddenly screamed.

Praeris spun around. The Hippogriff that Harry Potter had ridden was stretching its neck toward Draco, who was on the ground.

She raised her wand and hit it.

Magical creatures are far more resilient than wizards. A spell that would have sent a person flying only made it step back once.

Hagrid saw it and lunged forward, pulling out a neck collar and cinching it tight.

Whatever anyone might say about him, Hagrid had just saved the creature. If he hadn't gotten it under control in time, the next spell Praeris reached for would have been something considerably darker.

Draco lay curled on the grass, rolling in pain, shouting.

Praeris ran over in a panic. She was already digging through her bag with shaking hands before she reached him. She got out a bottle of Dittany and poured it on without measuring, some landed on Draco, some splashed onto the grass because her hands wouldn't hold still.

It was brewed from Dittany that Professor Sprout had given her. At the end of first year, Professor Snape had let her complete the brew under his supervision.

"What are you standing there for!" Praeris shouted. "Millie, Hagrid, anyone, carry him to the Hospital Wing! Are you expecting him to walk there himself!"

Hagrid's stalled brain came back online. He scooped Draco up in 2 strides and took off toward the castle at a run.

Pansy, who had been frozen solid, finally unfroze. She threw herself at Praeris and held on, choking out, "Pra! Are you hurt? He'll be all right, won't he? That damned half-breed giant, why hasn't Hogwarts expelled him!"

A Gryffindor shot back, "Isn't this Draco's own fault?"

"Are you saying," Pansy said, and she had clearly memorized everything Praeris just explained, "that it is acceptable to put first-time elective students in front of XXX-class creatures, knowing exactly what those creatures are? Even your Professor McGonagall wouldn't have students test Transfiguration spells on themselves in the first lesson, would she!"

Crabbe and Goyle squared up on either side of the Gryffindor, shoulders back, muscles displayed.

The Gryffindor's eyes slid away and he shut his mouth.

Praeris hadn't seen what Draco actually did to set the Hippogriff off. She could guess well enough, nothing more than that insufferable, born-and-bred arrogance of his. But what Pansy said wasn't wrong.

Draco had done something he shouldn't have. Same as Longbottom and his exploding cauldron in first year. Same as Harry and company blowing up that Slytherin cauldron in second year.

But students whose judgment was still developing and who had no means of protecting themselves were one thing. Hagrid, as the teacher, bore the greater share of the blame.

He hadn't assessed what creatures beginners should be handling. He'd made no preparation for emergencies. Unlike Professor Snape, who could produce quantities of Deflating Draught on the spot the moment a student's potion went wrong, Hagrid had nothing.

Praeris patted Pansy's hand. "Don't worry. He'll be fine. He did cost me two-thirds of a bottle of Dittany."

"I hate you, still counting your potion — come with me to see Draco..."

When they reached the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomfrey's expression said everything.

The first aid had been done well. With that much Dittany applied, the bleeding would have stopped even if his stomach had been torn open. But the boy was still wailing as if he'd been left for dead.

In all her years, she had never seen a boy so afraid of pain.

When Praeris walked in, Madam Pomfrey didn't need to ask where all that Dittany had come from.

"Madam Pomfrey," Pansy said, still sniffling, "is Draco going to be all right?"

Madam Pomfrey kept her face neutral. "I've done what I can. He still feels a great deal of pain."

"Oh! Draco!"

Pansy fretted back and forth in circles. Praeris leaned against the wall, arms crossed, watching Draco lie in the bed with an entirely flat expression.

Madam Pomfrey gave Praeris a long-suffering look. Praeris nodded back.

The moment Madam Pomfrey left, Draco's wailing stopped.

Pansy startled. "Draco — doesn't it hurt anymore?"

"Try getting clawed yourself!" Draco immediately resumed his oh-ow-ouch routine. "Of course it hurts! And you — " he pointed, " — is that any way to look at a patient?"

Praeris strolled over to his bedside, unhurried, and bent down to look at him. "Who exactly is 'you'? I don't follow. But since you asked, no, it isn't. However, rest assured: if that thing gets another bite in, I promise I'll cry the loudest at your funeral. You'll have plenty of face."

"I'd be dead! What do I care how loud you cry!" Draco shouted.

Praeris nodded, completely sincere, looking down at him from above. "Exactly. And look, you're alive, voice fully intact, all arms and legs accounted for, neck unbroken. So there's nothing to worry about at all."

Pansy looked back and forth between them and finally appealed to Praeris. "He's a patient. Just let him have this one."

Praeris shrugged. "Fine."

She didn't stay long. This class was a lost cause, but the next one was still waiting.

2 consecutive periods of Potions that afternoon, then Astronomy after dinner. Before Potions, she sat down and knocked out the Transfiguration essay Professor McGonagall had assigned, then headed for the dungeons.

As everyone knew, Gryffindor and Slytherin shared Potions. Today the two sides looked ready to come to blows at any moment. If Professor Snape hadn't been standing at the front of the room, nothing would have held them back.

Praeris wasn't particularly concerned. This wasn't her mess to wade into. She had done right by her classmate Draco, and she hadn't piled on Hagrid while he was down. That was charitable enough, wasn't it?

Hermione Granger, apparently, did not see it that way. She sent Praeris a letter asking after Draco's injuries, and between every polite line, she was fishing for one thing: what Draco intended to do about Buckbeak, the Hippogriff.

Praeris was halfway through her Arithmancy homework when she received it. She almost laughed out loud.

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