"Not yet," Hermione says to Ron and Harry as they start to pull off the cloak, "She might not be gone yet." Hagrid thinking the same thing peers slightly through the curtains.

"She's goin' back ter the castle," Hagrid says, "Blimey... inspectin' people, is she?"

"Yeah," Harry says pulling the cloak off of us, "Trelawney's on probation already..."

"Um... what sort of thing are you planning to do with us in class, Hagrid?" asks Hermione.

"Oh, don' you worry abou' that, I've got a great load o' lessons planned," Hagrid says enthusiastically, scooping up his dragon steak from the table and slapping it over his eye again. "I've bin keepin' a couple o' creatures saved fer yer O.W.L. year, you wait, they're somethin' really special."

"Erm... special in what way?"  Hermione asks tentatively.

"I'm not sayin'," Hagrid says happily. "I don' want ter spoil the surprise."

"Hagrid as much as we love your class. You need to be careful," I tell him, "Umbrige is ruthless and if you bring something too dangerous-"

"Dangerous?" Hagrid says looking genially bemused. "Don' be silly, I wouldn' give yeh anythin' dangerous! I mean, all righ', they can look after themselves—"

"Hagrid, you've got to pass Umbridge's inspection, and to do that it would really be better if she saw you teaching us how to look after porlocks, how to tell the difference between knarls and hedgehogs, stuff like that!" Hermione says.

"But tha's not very interestin', Hermione," Hagrid says, "The stuff I've got's much more impressive, I've bin bringin' 'em on fer years, I reckon I've got the on'y domestic herd in Britain—"

"It doesn't need to be interesting okay," I say, "it needs to be simple an easy."

"Hagrid... please..." Hermione says sounding desperate, "Umbridge is looking for any excuse to get rid of teachers she thinks are too close to Dumbledore. Please, Hagrid, teach us something dull that's bound to come up in our O.W.L..." He yawns softly and I look to the others.

"Lis'en, it's bin a long day an' it's late," he says, patting Hermione gently on the shoulder, so that her knees gave way and hit the floor with a thud. "Oh—sorry—" He pulls her back up by the neck of her robes. "Look, don' you go worryin' abou' me, I promise yeh I've got really good stuff planned fer yer lessons now I'm back... Now you lot had better get back up to the castle, an' don' forget ter wipe yer footprints out behind yeh!" We pull the cloak around us and walk up towards the castle.

"I dunno if you got through to him," Ron says checking if the coast was clear as I use the obliteration charm with Hermione as we walk.

"Then I'll go back again tomorrow," Hermione says sounding determined, "I'll plan his lessons for him if I have to. I don't care if she throws out Trelawney but she's not taking Hagrid!"

"I know he doesn't see things as dangerous but with people trying to actively get him removed from his position," I say to them, "he needs to be absolutely careful."

"I know," Harry says, "but how can we make him."

"Hermione," I say looking at her, "think you can handle it?"

*****

  The next day Hagrid resumed his classes. As I walk towards the class by myself I could catch Draco out of the side of my eye attempting to talk to me. But with every once of my energy I try to ignore him. 

"We're workin' in here today!" Hagrid calls happily to the approaching students, pointing to the forest, "Bit more sheltered! Anyway, they prefer the dark..."

"What prefers the dark?" Draco says sharply to Crabbe and Goyle, a trace of panic in his voice. "What did he say prefers the dark—did you hear?" I speed up my pace to join Harry, Hermione, and Ron as we walk into the forest. 

"Ready?" Hagrid says 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?" Draco says 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?"

"'Course they're trained," Hagrid says scowling and hoisting the dead cow a little higher on his shoulder.

"So what happened to your face, then?" Draco demands.

"Mind yer own business!" Hagrid says, angrily.

"Malfoy can't mind his own business due to save his life," I sneer. Hagrid looks over to me with an eyebrow raised as if to signal to ask me later about the use of Draco's surname.

 "Now if yeh've finished askin' stupid questions, follow me!" Hagrid says. He leads us into the forest. Most of the class extremely displeased to be going inside the forest. After a long walk we finally reach a dark thick forest place. Hagrid turns to face us. "Gather roun', gather roun',"  Hagrid says 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 calls the creatures with a loud shrieking cry. Not a stir. He does it again and after a  minute we could see a large creature stir around between the trees. A skeletal body of a large theastral slowly appears. 

"Why doesn't Hagrid call again?" Someone asks. Most of the class were highly confused as the few who could see it look at the creatures in a mixture of awe and horror.

"Oh, an' here comes another one!" Hagrid says  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?" I raise my hand to see them and Draco looks at me in confusion.

"Yeah... yeah, I knew you'd be able ter, Harry, " he says seriously. "An' you too, Neville and Y/n eh? An'—"

"Excuse me," Draco says in a sneering voice, "but what exactly are we supposed to be seeing?" People gasps as the Thestrals eat at the cow. Them only seeing the chucks of meat leaving the cow.

"What's doing it?" Parvati demands in a terrified voice, retreating behind the nearest tree. "What's eating it?"

"Thestrals," Hagrid says  proudly and Hermione gave a soft "oh!" of comprehension at Harry's shoulder. "Hogwarts has got a whole herd of 'em in here. Now, who knows—?"

"But they're really, really unlucky!" interrupts 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," Hagrid says, 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—"

"I think I felt something, I think it's near me!" Someone says my focus on the creatures before me.

"Don' worry, it won' hurt yeh," Hagrid says patiently. "Righ', now, who can tell me why some o' you can see them an' some can't?" Hermione as usual raises her hand. But I go along and raise mine. Much to the shock of my classmates.

"Yes Y/n, go on then," Hagrid says as Hermione looks to me in shock.

"To be able to see Thestrals you must have witnessed death," I explain, "thats the only time you can see them."

"Tha's exactly right," Hagrid says solemnly, "ten points ter slytherin. Now, thestrals—"

"Hem, hem." We all hear. Turning back to see her a few feet away from Harry and I.  "Hem, hem."

"Oh hello!" Hagrid says, smiling, having located the source of the noise.

"You received the note I sent to your cabin this morning?" Umbridge says, 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," Hagrid says 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?" Umbridge says loudly, cupping her hand around her ear and frowning. "What did you say?"

"Er—thestrals!" he says loudly. "Big—er—winged horses, yeh know!"

 "'has... to... resort... to... crude... sign... language...'" She says as she writes down on her clip board. I roll my eyes looking back to Hagrid.

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

"'Appears... to... have... poor... short... term... memory...'" mutters Umbridge, loudly enough for everyone to hear her. 

"Stupid hag," I hiss under my  breath causing Harry to laugh.

"She is," He chuckles. 

"Oh yeah," Hagrid says, "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 pats the horses head, "name o' Tenebrus, he's my special favorite, firs' one born here in the forest—"

"Are you aware," Umbridge says loudly, interrupting him, "that the Ministry of Magic has classified thestrals as 'dangerous'?" My heart sinks at the words.

"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...'" mutters Umbridge, scribbling on her clipboard again. My hands form fists as I dig my nails into my palm. Holding back every thought of cursing Umbridge.

"No—come on!" Hagrid says 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?"

"Please continue teaching as usual. I am going to walk"—she mimes walking "among the students"—she points around at individual members of the class—"and ask them questions." She points at her mouth to indicate talking. Hagrid looks lost. Obviously confused about why the hag was acting as if didn't know English.

"You hag, you evil hag!" Hermione whispers, as Umbridge walks toward Pansy Parkinson. "I know what you're doing, you awful, twisted, vicious—"

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

"Do you find," Professor Umbridge asks Pansy Parkinson, "that you are able to understand Professor Hagrid when he talks?" I turn to see Pansy fully ready to knock her to the ground again but Harry seizes my arm to refrain me from moving.  

"Breath," He says, "she'll use everything against you." 

"No... because... well... it sounds... like grunting a lot of the time..." I hear Pansy say. I give her a threatening look before Harry leads Hermione, Ron, and I closer to Hagrid to avoid farther conflict.

"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—"

"Assuming they can understand you, of course," Draco says loudly, and Pansy snorts.

"Draco maybe if your brain functioned half as well as your dick you'd be able to understand," I sneer. Draco looks pleadingly at me to stop talking. To leave it alone. "Well actually your brain is about the size of your dick." I hold my fingers closely together mocking him slightly referring to size. It was a lie. But it was enough to embarrass him. Harry snorts at the comment while Ron looses it.

"Young Lady," Umbridge snaps.

"Sorry Professor," I say, "I shall bite my tongue." She turns from me to Neville.

"You can see the thestrals, Longbottom, can you?" she asks. "Whom did you see die?"

"My... my grandad," Neville says.

"And what do you think of them?" She asks him. I turn to one of the Thestral that had approached me. Placing my hand on its head as Hagrid looks at me proudly.

"Erm," Neville says nervously, "Well, they're... er... okay..."

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

"No!" Neville says looking upset, "no, I'm not scared of them—!"

"It's quite all right," Umbridge says patting Neville on the shoulder, "Well, Hagrid," she turna=s 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 mimes taking something from the air in front of her—"the results of your inspection"—she points at the clipboard—"in ten days' time." She holds up ten stubby little fingers, then, her smile wider and more toadlike than ever before beneath her green hat, she bustled from their midst. I pat the head of the Thestral before me, knowing it had gotten comfortable with me. As Hagrid continues his lesson the class returns to listening. But the walk back I could tell Draco was fuming from my joke. Especially since the other slytherins weren't letting it go.

"That bit about Malfoy," Harry starts, "that- you wouldn't... you guys haven't?"

"It was a joke," I say to Harry, "besides we have bigger issues to worry about."

"That foul, lying, twisting old gargoyle!" Hermione says, "You see what she's up to? It's her thing about half-breeds all over again—she's trying to make out Hagrid's some kind of dim-witted 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, all right, 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," Ron says.

"She doesn't know anything," I hiss.

"Well, it's like Hagrid said, they can look after themselves," Hermione says 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." I freeze at her statement.

"Do you?" Harry asks her quietly.

"Oh Harry—I'm sorry—no, of course I don't—that was a really stupid thing to say—"

"Yeah it is," I say, "I got my ability to see them after watching my father die, then my brother."

"Y/n-" Hermione starts. Harry wraps and arm around me in a comforting way. Showing his mutual understanding of the orphan life.

"It's okay," Harry say rubbing his palm across my back, "right."

"Yeah," I say.

"I'm surprised so many people could see them," Ron says, "four in a class—"

"Yeah, Weasley, we were just wondering," Draco's voice says. Freezing as he see's Harry's arm around me. He starts to say something but just scoffs and marches off with his friends.

"What just happened?" Ron asks. I start to bust out laughing as I watch the blond and his groupies walk away.

"He's jealous of Harry and Y/n," Hermione says with an eye roll, "he's a possession to her."

"I'm not his possession. He's just protective," I say, "and easily jealous. He did the same with Fred at the ball last year." Harry chuckles lightly as we walk into the school. 

Winter was now in full swing. Snow as fair as the eye could see and decorations plastered around the school (which the prefects had to supervise). And Draco and I were still on rocky waters. We weren't broken up, but we weren't exactly together. Kinda avoiding each other. And I hated it. But I couldn't stand back and let him treat everyone I cared about like shit. 

As I walk into the last DA meeting before break with Harry to see Christmas decorations with Harry's face on them. 

"Lovely," I mock.

"Sod off," Harry says with an eye roll, "help me take these down."

"I think they will boast the mood," I say to him, "don't you think?"

"Please?" He asks. I nod as we walk over ripping down the decorations left and right. "So how are you and Draco?"

"Still nothing," I sigh, "I think I might just break up with him before we leave for Christmas."

"Why?" Harry asks.

"Well as much as I love Draco. I can't stand to see him act like that. Deep down I know he's a sweet guy. I mean hell. He's done so much to prove he is a great guy. But I don't want to encourage his bullying," I admit.

"If you love him," Harry says, "you should talk to him. Tell him that if he doesn't start acting right. You two are done."

"Hello," We hear. We look to the door to see Luna Lovegood looking around at the last of the decoration. "These are nice, did you put them up?"

"No," Harry says, "it was Dobby the house-elf."

"Mistletoe," Luna says dreamily pointing above Harry and I. 

"Oh um we can just-" He starts. I place a quick peck on his cheek before stepping out from underneath it. Then using my wand to pull it down.

 "Good thinking," Luna says very seriously. "It's often infested with nargles."

"Well,"  Angelina says dully, pulling off her cloak and throwing it into a corner, "we've replaced you."

"Replaced me?" Harry asks.

"You and Fred and George," she says impatiently. "We've got another Seeker!"

"Who?" Harry says quickly.

"Ginny Weasley," Katie says.

"Really?" I ask in shock.

"Yeah, I know," Angelina says, "But she's pretty good, actually. Nothing on you, of course, but as we can't have you..."

"And what about the Beaters?" he asks, trying to keep his voice even.

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

"Don't you just wish I was a Gryffindor so I could play for you?" I ask sarcastically.

"Everyday," She chuckles. Soon everyone was there, even my slytherins. Who, much to Harry and Hermione's surprises, were more than eager to help. All knowing the risk, but knowing the fact that they needed to step up and fight back. 

"Okay," Harry says, 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?" Zacharias Smith says, "If I'd known that, I wouldn't have come..."

"We're all really sorry Harry didn't tell you, then," Fred says loudly. People snicker around the room.

"We can practice in pairs," I say for Harry, "Start with the Impediment Jinx, just for ten minutes, then we can get out the cushions and try Stunning again." Everyone partners up, leaving Harry with Neville as I walk around the room.  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. 

"Great form but I would work on gripping your want more firmly," I say to Ron as I forcibly tighten his hand around his wand. Everyone in the group had improved greatly. But the most improvement of them all had to be Neville. Who had went from the worst to one of the best. Working harder than anyone else. I catch Harry partner Neville up with Ron and Hermione. Then walks past Cho three times before walking over to me. "God Potter you're so in love with her."

"Shut it," He says, "she's just nice thats all."

"Nice and really hot," I say giggling at him.

"Help me get the cushions," He says. I pull them out and toss them out. As we spilt the group in half to work on it due to space Harry and I watch critiquing them to understand what we still needed to work on. "Have you ever produced a patronus?"

"Yeah," I tell him, "its a pieballd stallion."

"Nice," He says, "you okay to teach it?"

"Of course," I say, "all right thats enough." Everyone stops and Harry begins to speak again.

"You're getting really good," he says to them, "When we get back from the holidays we can start doing some of the big stuff—maybe even Patronuses." There was a murmur of excitement. Before the room began to clear. As I start pushing back cushions and such. I watch as Harry looks over to Cho while attempting to look busy.

"No, you go on," She says. I look to Harry and smirk walking towards him.

"I'm going my dorm room. Good luck Romeo," I say.

"Night," He says before I walk off waving to Cho as I leave. I get to the Common room and see Draco sitting on the couch.

"Waiting for me?" I ask him. He nods.

"I have a Christmas present for you," He admits as he stands up holding a present. "I got it ready for you over the summer. I thought it would be nice."

"Oh thanks," I say to him as I take the present. 

"Open it," He says. I tear open the wrapping paper to get to a photo album. "I know you hate the presents that don't mean anything and are just money. So when Colin showed me some of the pictures he's took of you and I asked for them. Some of you with Potter and the others. Some with you and I. There is one I love of us dancing at the ball." As I flip through the pictures I look up to him with a huge smile. 

"Awe Draco this is so sweet," I say I pull him into a hug ending it with a kiss on his cheek. As we pull apart I reach into my bag pulling out a wrapped gift and hand it to him. "Great minds think alike."

"Great minds," He says opening the present to see the book. Pictures covering the pages like his. Most of mine being him and I. Some from Collin some from other kids around school who I had take pictures of the quidditch matches for us. "You're amazing." He wraps his arms around me and I smile. "So can we talk about us?"

"Yes," I say as I take his hand leading him to the couch with me. "Listen Draco I love you but I can't keep having the same fight with you. Okay? Its either you accept that these people are my family and drop the bullying or you and I are done. No more back and forth. Okay."

"I'm done," He says, "I'm done messing with them. I love you too much to lose you." 

"Good," I tell him, "then we're good.... For now. But you have to strikes. One more and you're out."