𝗟𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗡 𝗕𝗢𝗬

ACT ONE, CHAPTER FOURTEEN
the thestrals.

THAT SUNDAY MORNING, Hermione had dragged both Venus and Charlotte (who was very excited to see Hagrid was back) to Hagrid's cabin. Venus could tell that Hermione was not happy with the way the visit went — her and Charlotte, however, were just along for the ride.

At about lunch time, they decided to head back to the castle. Charlotte had gone back to the Slytherin common room with a promise of seeing Venus later. Meanwhile, Venus and Hermione appeared back in the Gryffindor common room to see Harry and Ron still doing homework. Venus shivered from the way her robes were wet from trudging through two feet of snow.

"So?" Ron urged once they appeared. "Got all his lessons planned for him?"

Venus placed herself down in the chair beside Harry. "Unfortunately not." She pulled out her wand and waved it so that hot air steamed out of the tip, and she pointed it at her robes, which also steamed as they started to dry. "Charlie was happy to see him, though."

Hermione also sat down in the chair beside Ron. "Well, I tried." She did the same spell as Venus so her robes could dry out as well. "He wasn't even there when we arrived, I was knocking for at least half an hour. And then he came stumping out of the forest—"

Harry groaned, clearly not liking that revelation. "What's he keeping in there? Did he say?"

"No. He says he wants them to be a surprise. I tried to explain about Umbridge, but he just doesn't get it. He kept saying nobody in their right mind would rather study Knarls than Chimaeras — oh I don't think he's got a chimaera—" Hermione added at the appalled looks on Harry and Ron's faces "—but that's not for lack of trying from what he said about how hard it is to get eggs . . . I don't know how many times I told him he'd be better off following Grubbly-Plank's plan, I honestly don't think he listened to half of what I said. He's in a bit of a funny mood, you know. He still won't say how he got all those injuries . . ."

The reappearance of Hagrid at the staff table at breakfast the next day was not greeted with enthusiasm from all the students. Some, like the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan, roared with delight and rushed up the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables to shake Hagrid's enormous hand. Others, like Venus' roommates Parvati and Lavender, exchanged gloomy looks and shook their heads. It seemed that many of them preferred the lessons by Professor Grubbly-Plank, but Venus couldn't really have an opinion like that because she hadn't experienced any of Hagrid's lessons.

That Tuesday, Venus, Charlotte, Harry, Ron, and Hermione headed down to Hagrid's for Care of Magical Creatures. It seemed that the last four were sort of apprehensive, despite Charlotte's excitement. Harry had even admitted that he was worried about both what Hagrid was about to teach them and what Malfoy and his little posse plus the rest of the class would act like if Umbridge was there to inspect Hagrid. Charlotte told him not to worry about Malfoy — for Penelope Lestrange would smack him over the head if need be.

However, Umbridge was nowhere to be seen as they trudged through the snow towards Hagrid, who was waiting for them at the edge of the forest. His bruises that were purple the other night were now tinged with green and yellow and some of the cuts still seemed to be bleeding. Venus didn't really get it, he had to have been attacked by something . . . and just to complete the very ominous picture, Hagrid was carrying what seemed to be half of a dead cow over his shoulder.

Charlotte blinked. "I'm going vegetarian."

Venus looked over at her. "Chicken nuggets."

"Yeah, never mind."

"We're workin' in here today!" Hagrid announced happily to the approaching students, nodding his head towards the dark trees behind him. "Bit more sheltered! Anyway, they prefer the dark . . ."

"What prefers the dark?" Venus overheard Malfoy say sharply to Crabbe and Goyle, his voice obviously panicked. "What did he say prefers the dark — did you hear?"

Venus looked over at Harry. There was a small smile on his face, clearly loving Malfoy's discomfort. Venus nudged his side with her elbow, and he looked down at her, the two of them falling into a quiet fit of laughter.

Hagrid looked around at the class. "Ready? 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?" Malfoy asked, 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?"

The Slytherins — minus Charlotte and Penelope — murmured in agreement. Even some of the Gryffindors looked like they thought Malfoy had a fair point too.

"'Course they're trained," Hagrid replied, scowling as he hoisted the dead cow a little bit higher on his shoulder.

"So what happened to your face, then?" Malfoy demanded.

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

He turned and walked right into the forest. Nobody seemed eager to follow, but Venus shared a glance with Charlotte, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Charlotte shrugged while Ron and Hermione sighed and nodded. The group of five set off after Hagrid, leading the rest of the class.

They walked for maybe ten minutes until they reached a place where the trees stood so closely together that it looked like night time and there was no snow on the ground at all. Hagrid placed his half of a cow on the ground with a grunt and stepped back. He turned to face his class again, most of whom were creeping towards him from tree to tree, peering around nervously like they were going to be attacked any moment. Venus felt somebody grab onto her elbow, and she turned to vaguely see it was Charlotte, whose eyes were a little panicked.

"Gather roun', gather roun'," Hagrid voiced encouragingly. "Now, they'll be attracted by the smell o' the meat but I'm goin' ter give 'ema call anyway, 'cause they'll like ter know it's me . . ."

He turned, shook his head to get his shaggy hair out of face, and gave a sort of odd shrieking cry that echoed through the dark trees. Nobody dared to laugh — in fact, most of them looked to scared to make any sort of sound. Hagrid then gave the shrieking cry again. Another minute passed in which the class continued to peer around nervously to try and see whatever was coming.

Harry suddenly nudged Venus' side. She jumped slightly and looked up at him curiously. He was staring out into the darkness, but nothing was there.

"Why doesn't Hagrid call again?" Ron whispered.

The rest of the class — including Venus — was still as confused and nervously expectant. Venus looked around. The only ones who seemed transfixed on something in the darkness was Harry, Penelope, a stringy Slytherin boy standing next to Penelope that Charlotte whispered was Thedore Nott, and Neville.

"Oh, an' here comes another one!" Hagrid voiced proudly. "Now . . . put yer hands up, who can see 'em?"

Harry was the first one to raise his hand. Penelope, Nott, and Neville followed in his wake. Ron's eyes suddenly got wide as he turned towards the Slytherin girl.

Hagrid nodded. "Yeah . . . yeah, I knew you'd be able ter, Harry. An' you too, Neville, eh? An'—"

"Excuse me, but what exactly are we supposed to be seeing?" Malfoy interrupted in a sneering voice.

"You don't see them?" Penelope questioned timidly. "They've been pulling the carriages ever since we got to school."

Malfoy looked at her in concern. "Pen, there's nothing there. And the carriages move by themselves . . ."

Hagrid then pointed to the cow carcass on the ground. Venus' eyes instantly widened while some of the class gasped and Parvati squealed. Sure enough, something was there — bits of flesh were stripping away from the bones and were suddenly vanishing into thin air. Charlotte's grip on Venus' elbow tightened, and Venus moved a little closer to her.

"What's doing it?" Parvati questioned in a terrified voice as she retreated behind the nearest tree. "What's eating it?"

"Thestrals," Hagrid answered, and Hermione let out a soft oh! nearby. "Hogwarts has got a whole herd of 'em in here. Now, who knows—?"

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

Hagrid chuckled. "No, no, no, 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—"

Parvati then shivered and pressed herself closer to the tree. "I think I felt something, I think it's near me!"

"Don' worry, it won' hurt yeh," Hagrid reassured her. "Righ', now,who can tell me why some o' you can see them an' some can't?" Hermione raised her hand, and Hagrid beamed at her. "Go on then."

"The only people who can see Thestrals are people who have seen death," Hermione explained.

Seen death . . . so all those people who raised their hands . . . it was obvious about Harry, but Penelope, and Nott, and Neville . . . they had all seen death, too? Venus looked up at Harry. His face felt a sort of relief, although it was still a little pale.

"Tha's exactly right, ten points ter Gryffindor," Hagrid responded solemnly. "Now, Thestrals—"

"Hem, hem."

Venus resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Umbridge had arrived, standing a few feet from Harry in her green hat and cloak with her clipboard at the ready. Hagrid had never heard Umbridge's fake cough before, so he was gazing into thin air at what Venus assumed was the closest Thestral like it was the source of the noise.

"Hem, hem."

"Oh hello!" Hagrid exclaimed with a smile, now having located where the noise was coming from.

"You received the note I sent to your cabin this morning?" Umbridge inquired, using the same loud and slow voice that she had used with him earlier like he was some kind of foreigner. "Telling you that I would be inspecting your lesson?"

"Oh yeah. 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 said loudly, cupping her hand around her ear with a frown. "What did you say?"

Hagrid looked slightly confused and raised his voice. "Er — Thestrals! Big — er — winged horses, yeh know!" He flapped his gigantic arms hopefully.

Umbridge raised her eyebrows and began to mutter as she made a note on her clipboard. "Has . . . to . . . resort . . . to . . . crude . . . sign . . . language . . ."

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

"Appears . . . to . . . have . . . poor . . . short . . . term . . . memory . . ."

Umbridge had muttered that part loud enough for everyone to hear. Malfoy looked incredibly delighted at it. Penelope didn't even tell him to stop — instead, she kept her gaze on whatever a Thestral looked like, her two friends Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass speaking to her in hushed whispers. Meanwhile, Hermione had turned scarlet with suppressed rage. Charlotte looked like she was about to completely punch Umbridge, and Venus gritted her teeth.

"Oh yeah," Hagrid continued, glancing uneasily at Umbridge's clipboard for a moment. "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 air, but it stopped on something solid "—name o' Tenebrus, he's my special favorite, firs' one born here in the forest—"

"Are you aware that the Ministry of Magic has classified Thestrals as dangerous?" Umbridge asked loudly, interrupting him completely.

Hagrid merely chuckled again. "Thestrals aren' dangerous! All righ, they might take a bite outta you if yeh really annoy them—"

Umbridge began to scribble on her clipboard again. "Shows . . . signs . . . of . . . pleasure . . . at . . . idea . . . of . . . violence . . ."

"Sometimes murder is acceptable," Charlotte whispered.

Venus raised an eyebrow. "I really don't want you going to Azkaban, Charlie."

"No — come on!" Hagrid protested, looking 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 didn't answer, but after finishing writing her last note, she looked up at Hagrid and began to speak in that same loud and slow tone. "Please continue teaching as usual. I am going to walk—" she mimed walking, and Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson fell into a silent fit of laughter "—among the students—" she pointed to the individual members of the class "—and ask them questions." She then pointed to her mouth to indicate talking.

Hagrid stared at her, quite not understanding why Umbridge was acting like he did not understand normal English. Venus watched as Umbridge walked towards Parkinson — well, that wasn't good.

Hermione had tears of fury shining in her eyes now as she began to whisper. "You hag, you evil hag! I know what you're doing, you awful, twisted, vicious—"

"Erm . . . anyway, so — Thestrals," Hagrid stated, clearly struggling to restart the lesson. "Yeah. Well, there's loads o' good stuff abou' them . . ."

"Do you find that you are able to understand Professor Hagrid when he talks?" Umbridge questioned in a ringing voice to Parkinson.

Parkinson had tears in her eyes like Hermione, but they were tears of laughter, and 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 . . ."

Venus sent Parkinson a disgusted look. Umbridge scribbled on her clipboard, and the few unbruised places of Hagrid's face flushed.

"Er . . . yeah . . . good stuff abou' Thestrals," Hagrid revealed. "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," Malfoy said loudly, and Parkinson collapsed into a fit of renewed giggles.

Umbridge smiled at them before turning to Penelope, whose face was still white. "And Lestrange, you can see them?"

The girl still seemed out of it, and Venus could see that Ron was visibly worried for her. "Y-Yeah, my mother must've killed in front of me when I was young, and it must've registered in my brain . . . I — I'm sorry, I need a minute."

Penelope looked like she was about to be sick. She had always kept her composure, but now, who could blame her for not keeping her cool? Venus couldn't even imagine how it would to feel to suddenly realize that your parent would willingly kill somebody number one, at all, and two, in front of a toddler.

"Daphne and I can take her to the hospital wing, Professor," Tracey Davis offered, Daphne Greengrass nodding in agreement.

Umbridge pursed her lips. "Very well." Davis and Greengrass put their arms around Penelope and gently began to lead her out of the forest — Ron staring after them longingly — but then Umbridge looked to Neville. "You can see the thestrals, Longbottom, can you?" Neville nodded. "Whom did you see die?"

What a very insensitive question, Venus thought to herself.

"My . . . my grandad," Neville stammered.

Umbridge waved her stubby hand to the carcass, which was mostly stripped down now. "And what do you think of them?"

"Erm," Neville began nervously, glancing at Hagrid. "Well, they're . . . er . . . okay . . ."

Umbridge scribbled on her clipboard again. "Students . . . are . . . too . . . intimidated . . . to . . . admit . . . they. . . are . . . frightened . . ."

"No!" Neville insisted, looking very upset. "No, I'm not scared of them—!"

"It's quite all right," Umbridge replied, patting on the shoulder with what she tried to make an understanding smile, although it looked more like a leer. "Well, Hagrid—" she turned to look up at him again, speaking in that loud and slow voice "—I think I've got enough to be getting along with . . . you will receive—" she mimed taking from the air in front of her "—the results of your inspection—" she pointed to her clipboard "—in ten day's time."

And after holding up ten stubby little fingers, she sent him a wide smile that made her look more toadlike than ever before from beneath her green hat. She then left, leaving Malfoy and Parkinson in fits of laughter, Hermione trembling with fury, Charlotte clenching her fists, and Neville looking positively confused and upset.

"That foul, lying, twisting old Gargoyle!" Hermione shouted about half an hour later as they made their way back up to the castle through the paths they had made earlier in the snow. "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 reminded her.

Charlotte scoffed. "Who cares what she thinks? She's quite literally the last person we should be listening to."

"Well, it's like Hagrid said, they can look after themselves," Hermione said 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?" Harry inquired to her quietly.

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

"It's okay, don't worry. . . ."

"I'm surprised so many people could see them," Ron admitted. "Three in a class, and Penelope—"

"Yeah, Weasley, we were just wondering," Malfoy's voice stated, and the four of them turned to see him with Crabbe and Goyle. "D'you reckon if you saw someone snuff it you'd be able to see the Quaffle better?"

Charlotte tilted her head at him. "You know, Malfoy, you're talking real loud for somebody who hasn't caught the Snitch once this year. And how many games have you played? What, three?" Malfoy's face turned scarlet, and she smirked. "Thought so. Run along, Malfoy."

He glared at her before heading towards the castle with Crabbe and Goyle. Charlotte sighed and shook her head before bidding the others goodbye, for she had to go back inside as well for her next class. Hermione then pulled out her wand and performed the charm to produce hot air so that she could melt them an easier path through the untouched snow between them and the greenhouses.

Venus nudged Harry as they headed towards Herbology.. "You sure you're okay?"

He smiled down at her. "Yeah, I'm good. Just a little . . . unsettled, I guess."

"If you ever need to talk—"

"I'll come straight to you, Star."

They kept their gazes on each other for a pretty long time before Ron encouraged them to hurry up, and they looked away, their hearts racing and their faces burning.

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I think if I was at hogwarts at the time of umbridge I would've done a little zip zap zop and she would've ended up at the bottom of the black lake like ron and hermione during the triwizard tournament

also harry & venus' song is 100% I think he knows by taylor swift sorry I don't make the rules