We skipped down happily to our first ever Care of Magical Creatures class.

"Seriously, you'd think she should be worried about Harry's 'grim' thing!" Ron was whining. It was probably because I was singing a random song and making up lyrics.

"Harry! Oh! Harry! You are a boy who's all magical! You like to be a boy! You like to drink soy! And you always blow your nose!"

"What is wrong with you?" Harry said in exasperation.

"Too many things" I said happily before bursting into song. "Ronald oh Ronald! Your name rhymes with Donald! And you are a Weasley! And probably easy!" Ron whacked me across the back of the head. "Hermione! Hermione! You are never whiney! Unless you are doing what's best for all of us! You are really gifted and incredibly thrifted. I don't even think that's a word!"

"You're an-"Hermione started

"Use a word that you have never used before!" I exclaimed.

"You're an ultra-mega-disistablimentary-weird person." She said instantly.

"And you my friend are really awesome." I said proud of my corruption of weirdness on Hermione.

It was only when Harry pointed out three only-too-familiar backs ahead of us that we realized we must be having these lessons with the Slytherins. Malfoy was talking animatedly to Crabbe and Goyle, who were chortling.

Freaking douches.

"GRONK!" I shouted.

"What the-"Malfoy said turning around to see the amazing person that was me. He was cut off when I tackled him to the ground. "You crazy bitch!" he yelped as I punched him. I giggled manically and said: "YOU FORGOT BIPOLAR! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?" and hopped off to go poke Goyle in the arm. "Sexy." I hissed in his ear. He turned tomato red and I skipped back over to my friends and fell over laughing.

"She's got problems." I heard Pavarti say as she looked at me oddly.

"I do." I agreed.

Hagrid was waiting for us at the door of his hut. He stood in his moleskin overcoat, with Fang the boarhound at his heels, looking impatient to start.

"C'mon, now, get a move on!" he called as we approached. "Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"

For one nasty moment, I thought that Hagrid was going to lead us into the forest; I've had enough unpleasant experiences in there to last me a lifetime. However, Hagrid strolled off around the edge of the trees, and five minutes later, we found ourselves outside a kind of paddock. An empty paddock.

"Everyone gather 'round the fence here!" he called. "That's it -- make sure yeh can see -- now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books --"

"How?" drawled Malfoy.

"Eh?" said Hagrid.

"How do we open our books?" Malfoy repeated. He took out his copy of The Monster Book of Monsters, which he had bound shut with a length of rope. Other people took theirs out too; some had belted their book shut; others had crammed them inside tight bags or clamped them together with binder clips.

"Hasn' -- hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?" said Hagrid, looking crestfallen.

"I COULD!" I shouted gleefully as everyone shook their heads.

Hagrid beamed at me.

"Go on, tell 'em." Hagrid told me.

"You have to stroke them along the spine!" I said dramatically. "God, it's pretty obvious!"

I took Hermione's copy and ripped off the Spellotape that bound it. The book tried to bite, but I my finger down its spine, and the book shivered, and then fell open and lay quiet in my hand.

"Oh, yeah. Suck shit." I said starting up a dance.

"Oh, how silly we've all been!" Malfoy sneered. "We should have stroked them! Why didn't we guess!"

"I -- I thought they were funny," Hagrid said uncertainly to us.

"Oh, tremendously funny!" said Malfoy. "Really witty, giving us books that try and rip our hands off!"

"Shut up, Malfoy," said Harry quietly.

"I worked it out, and I'm mentally unstable, what's the rest of your excuses ay?" I said cheerfully.

Note to self: You are a complete weirdo... oh wait, I knew that already.

"Righ' then," said Hagrid, who seemed to have lost his thread, "so -- so yeh've got yer books an'...an'...now yeh need the Magical Creatures. Yeah. So I'll go an' get 'em. Hang on..."

He strode away from us into the forest and out of sight.

"God, this place is going to the dogs," said Malfoy loudly. "That oaf teaching classes, my father'll have a fit when I tell him --"

"Your father is pathetic." I said simply.

"Excuse me?" Malfoy said looking at me with the same hateful look that Lucius Malfoy wore when he looked at me.

Something snapped in me then. Something made me feel like killing him with my bare hands. He wasn't my brother anymore. He was an evil clone of Lucius Malfoy. EVIL!

"I said that your dad is pathetic, and hopeless, and preys on anyone who is more awesome than he is...so that is like...everyone."

"Just because you weren't good enough for him -"Malfoy started.

"Ouch Malfoy. That hurt." I said sarcastically.

"I should never have helped you, you little mutant bitch." He snapped. "I should have let you die that night. Shame on me." Now that hurt. I rolled my eyes at him, even though I felt like crying and running away. I was built tougher than that.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry sat through gritted teeth.

"Careful, Potter, there's a Dementor behind you --"

"Oooooooh!" squealed Lavender Brown, pointing toward the opposite side of the paddock. Trotting toward us were a dozen of the most beautiful creatures I had ever seen. They had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings, and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with cruel, steel-coloured beaks and large, brilliantly, orange eyes. The talons on their front legs were half a foot long and deadly looking. Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck, which was attached to a long chain, and the ends of all of these were held in the vast hands of Hagrid, who came jogging into the paddock behind the creatures.

This was a massive mood changer, not that I need anything to make me bipolar.

"Hagrid! They're amazing!" I squealed.

"Gee up, there!" he roared, shaking the chains and urging the creatures toward the fence where we stood. Everyone drew back slightly, except me cause I'm awesome...and modest, as Hagrid reached them and tethered the creatures to the fence.

"Hippogriffs!" Hagrid roared happily, waving a hand at them. "Beau'iful, aren' they?"

The Hippogriffs' gleaming coats, changing smoothly from feather to hair, each of them a different color: stormy gray, bronze, pinkish roan, gleaming chestnut, and inky black.

"Wait, hippogriffs?...reminds me of hippobirds..." Hermione was mumbling.

"So," said Hagrid, rubbing his hands together and beaming around, "if yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer..."

No one seemed to want to. Harry, Ron, Hermione and I approached the fence cautiously.

"Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' Hippogriffs is, they're proud," said Hagrid. "Easily offended, Hippogriffs are. Don't ever insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do."

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle weren't listening; they were talking in an undertone and I had a nasty feeling they were plotting how best to disrupt the lesson.

"Yeh always wait fer the Hippogriff ter make the firs' move," Hagrid continued. "It's polite, see? Yeh walk toward him, and yeh bow, an' yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt." Hagrid said. "Right -- who wants ter go first?"

Most of the class backed farther away in answer. The Hippogriffs were tossing their fierce heads and flexing their powerful wings; they didn't seem to like being tethered like this.

"No one?" said Hagrid, with a pleading look.

"I'll do it," said Harry and I said in unison. We looked at each other, and smiled, then looked at Hagrid.

"Yeh can 'av one each." Hagrid said shrugging.

Harry and I climbed over the paddock fence.

"Right then -- let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak." Hagrid said.

Harry looked at me pointedly as a grey hippogriff was pulled away from its fellows. "Ladies first."

"Coward." I said to him as I stepped forward.

"Easy now, Willow," said Hagrid quietly. "Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink...Hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too much..."

Feeling dramatically like breaking the rules, I looked Buckbeak directly in the eye. Buckbeak had turned his great, sharp head and was staring at me with one fierce orange eye.

"Tha's it," said Hagrid. "Tha's it, Willow...now, bow."

I gave a deep bow to the gorgeous creature and I noticed that the whole class was holding their breath.

As I looked up, I saw the Hippogriff was still staring haughtily at me. It didn't move.

"Ah," said Hagrid, sounding worried. "Right -- back away, now, easy does it --"

"Come on gorgeous," I said to the creature. "Gimme a break."

And then, as though it understood English, the Hippogriff suddenly bent its scaly front knees and sank into what was an unmistakable bow.

"Well done!" said Hagrid, ecstatic. "Right -- yeh can touch him! Pat his beak, go on!"

I moved slowly over to the Hippogriff and reached out toward it. I patted the beak several times and the Hippogriff closed its eyes lazily, as though enjoying it.

My class broke into applause, all except for Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were looking deeply disappointed.

"Righ' then, Willow," said Hagrid. "I reckon he migh' let yeh ride him!"

"Yes!" I said softly.

"Yeh climb up there, jus' behind the wing joint," said Hagrid, "an' mind yeh don' pull any of his feathers out, he won' like that..."

I put my foot on the top of Buckbeak's wing and tried to hoist myself onto its back. Laughing slightly at how hopeless I was, I eventually got up there. Buckbeak stood up. I wasn't sure where to hold on; everything in front of me was covered with feathers.

"Go on, then!" roared Hagrid, slapping the Hippogriffs hindquarters.

Without warning, twelve-foot wings flapped open on either side of me. I just had time to seize the Hippogriff around the neck before he was soaring upward.

It was epic. The Hippogriff's wings beat on either side of me, catching under my legs and making me feel I was about to be thrown off. ADRELINE JUNKIE!

The glossy feathers slipped under my fingers and I didn't dare get a stronger grip. I felt myself rocking backward and forward as the hindquarters of the Hippogriff rose and fell with its wings.

Buckbeak flew me once around the paddock and then headed back to the ground. Feeling really awesome, I let go and threw my hands up in the air. We landed smoothly and I happened to stay on Buckbeaks back.

"You're gorgeous." I told him.

"Good work, Willow!" roared Hagrid as everyone except Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle cheered. "Okay, Move off, Harry should be landin'"

I hopped off Buckbeak's back and joined my friends.

"I throw my hands up in the air sometimes-"Ron sang

"Saying ayyhoo! My name is Draco!" I yelled in Malfoys ear.

If looks could kill, I'd be dead!

Ha! Just kidding, I'm immortal...

If I was, that would explain a lot.

When I shook myself from my thoughts, Harry was jumping over the fence to me, and Hagrid yelled: "Who else wants a go?"

The rest of the class climbed cautiously into the paddock. Hagrid untied the Hippogriffs one by one, and soon people were bowing nervously, all over the paddock. Neville ran repeatedly backward from his, which didn't seem to want to bend its knees. Ron and Hermione practiced on the chestnut, while Harry and I watched.

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had taken over Buckbeak. He had bowed to Malfoy, who was now patting his beak, looking disdainful.

"This is very easy," Malfoy drawled, loud enough for me to, hear him. "I knew it must have been, if Potter could do it...I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" he said to the Hippogriff. "Are you, you great ugly brute?"

"NO!" I shouted.

It happened in a flash of steely talons; Malfoy let out a high pitched scream and next moment, Hagrid was wrestling Buckbeak back into his collar as he strained to get at Malfoy, who lay curled in the grass, blood blossoming over his robes.

"I'm dying!" Malfoy yelled as the class panicked. "I'm dying, look at me! It's killed me!"

"Yer not dyin'!" said Hagrid, who had gone very white. "Someone help me -- gotta get him outta here --"

Hermione ran to hold open the gate as Hagrid lifted Malfoy easily. As they passed, I saw that there was a long, deep gash on Malfoy's arm; blood splattered the grass and Hagrid ran with him, up the slope toward the castle.

Very shaken, my class followed at a walk. The Slytherins were all shouting about Hagrid.

"They should sack him straight away!" said Pansy Parkinson, who was in tears.

"It was Malfoy's fault!" snapped Dean Thomas. Crabbe and Goyle flexed their muscles threateningly.

"He could have died!" Screamed some ugly man-woman from Slytherin.

"I WISH!" I shouted back, although it wasn't true.

We all climbed the stone steps into the deserted entrance hall.

"I'm going to see if he's okay!" said Pansy, and we all watched her run up the marble staircase. The Slytherins, still muttering about Hagrid, headed away in the direction of their dungeon common room as the Gryffindors proceeded upstairs to Gryffindor Tower.

"You think he'll be all right?" said Hermione nervously.

"Course he will. Madam Pomfrey can mend cuts in about a second," said Harry.

"Yeah..." I said half-heartedly.

"That was a really bad thing to happen in Hagrid's first class, though, wasn't it?" said Ron, looking worried. "Trust Malfoy to mess things up for him..."

We were among the first to reach the Great Hall at dinnertime, hoping to see Hagrid, but he wasn't there.

"They wouldn't fire him, would they?" said Hermione anxiously, not touching her steak-and-kidney pudding.

"They'd better not," said Ron, who wasn't eating either.

"I could kill Malfoy." I said darkly. For once in my life I wasn't eating.

I was watching the Slytherin table. A large group including Crabbe and Goyle was huddled together, deep in conversation.

"What's the bet that they're cooking up their own story about Malfoy?" I said in a evil and creepy tone.

"Well, you can't say it wasn't an interesting first day back," said Ron gloomily.

We went up to the crowded Gryffindor common room after dinner and tried to do the homework Professor McGonagall had given us, but all of us kept breaking off and glancing out of the tower window.

I had just finished the homework when Harry said: "There's a light on in Hagrid's window,"

Ron looked at his watch.

"If we hurried, we could go down and see him. It's still quite early..."

"I don't know," Hermione said slowly glancing worriedly at Harry.

"I'm allowed to walk across the grounds," he said pointedly. "Sirius Black hasn't got past the Dementors yet, has he?"

So we put their things away and headed out of the portrait hole, glad to meet nobody on their way to the front doors, as they weren't entirely sure they were supposed to be out.

The grass was still wet and looked almost black in the twilight. When we reached Hagrid's hut, we knocked, and a voice growled, "C'min."

"hehe, cumming..." I mumbled. Someone whacked me across the head. One of my friends, but I was too lazy to figure out which.

Hagrid was sitting in his shirtsleeves at his scrubbed wooden table; Fang had his head in Hagrid's lap. One look told me that Hagrid had been drinking a lot; there was a pewter tankard almost as big as a bucket in front of him, and he seemed to be having difficulty getting us into focus.

"'Spect it's a record," he said thickly, when he recognized us. "Don' reckon they've ever had a teacher who lasted on'y a day before."

"You haven't been fired, Hagrid!" gasped Hermione.

"Not yet," said Hagrid miserably, taking a huge gulp of whatever was in the tankard. "But's only a matter o' time, I'n't, after Malfoy..."

"How is he?" said Ron as they all sat down. "It wasn't serious, was it?"

"Madam Pomfrey fixed him best she could," said Hagrid dully, "but he's sayin' it's still agony...covered in bandages...moanin'..."

"He's faking it," said Harry at once. "Madam Pomfrey can mend anything. She regrew half my bones last year. Trust Malfoy to milk it for all it's worth."

"I'm ashamed to be related to that." I piped in.

"School gov'nors have bin told, o' course," said Hagrid miserably. "They reckon I started too big. Shoulda left Hippogriffs fer later...one flobberworms or summat...Jus' thought it'd make a good firs' lesson's all my fault..."

"It's all Malfoy's fault, Hagrid!" said Hermione earnestly.

"We're witnesses," said Harry. "You said Hippogriffs attack if you insult them. It's Malfoy's problem that he wasn't listening. We'll tell Dumbledore what really happened."

"Yeah!" I said.

"Yeah, don't worry, Hagrid, we'll back you up," said Ron.

Tears leaked out of the crinkled corners of Hagrid's beetle-black eyes. He grabbed both Harry and Ron and pulled them into a bone-breaking hug.

"I think you've had enough to drink, Hagrid," said Hermione firmly. She took the tankard from the table and went outside to empty it.

I sat there awkwardly.

"Ah, maybe she's right," said Hagrid, letting go of Harry and Ron, who both staggered away, rubbing their ribs. Hagrid heaved himself out of his chair and followed Hermione unsteadily outside. They heard a loud splash.

"What's he done?" said Harry nervously as Hermione came back in with the empty tankard.

"Stuck his head in the water barrel," said Hermione, putting the tankard away.

"YAY!" I said happily

Hagrid came back, his long hair and beard sopping wet, wiping the water out of his eyes.

"That's better," he said, shaking his head like a dog and drenching us all. "Listen, it was good of yeh ter come an' see me, I really --"

Hagrid stopped dead, staring at Harry as though he'd only just realized he was there.

"Uh oh" I said guessing what was about to happen.

"WHAT D'YEH THINK YOU'RE DOIN', EH?" he roared, so suddenly that they jumped a foot in the air. "YEH'RE NOT TO GO WANDERIN' AROUND AFTER DARK, HARRY! AN, YOU THREE! LETTIN' HIM!"

Hagrid strode over to Harry, grabbed his arm, and pulled him to the door.

"C'mon!" Hagrid said angrily. "I'm takin' yer all back up ter school an' don' let me catch yeh walkin' down ter see me after dark again. I'm not worth that!"

"YOU ARE TO ME!" I said loudly

"Shut up Tree." Hermione said snappily.