3rd Person's POV

Hagrid's reappearance at the staff table at breakfast the next day was not greeted by enthusiasm from all students. Some, like Fred, George, and Lee, roared with delight and sprinted up the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables to wring Hagrid's enormous hand.

Meanwhile others, like Parvati and Lavender, exchanged gloomy looks and shook their heads. Many of them preferred Professor Grubbly-Plank's lessons.

Grubbly-Plank's idea of an interesting class was not one where there was a risk that somebody might have their head ripped off.

"Oh great..." Karina murmurs as she lays her chin on her hand pouting.

Layla frowns looking at her in confusion, "What's wrong Karina?"

"He's back."

"Who's back?"

Pansy snaps her head over to the staff table and groans, "No! Ugh I was doing so well in class."

Blaise raises an eyebrow, "You were ?"

Pansy slaps his arm making him chuckle, "Oh shut it you."

Daphne throws a baby carrot into her mouth and starts to chomp on it while looking at the table sadly, "Here comes the scares..."

"And the injuries..." Karina mutters glancing at Draco who had been glaring at his plate.

"Maybe it'll be fine. Maybe we won't be put in grave danger this time..."

Everyone looks at Theodore as if he was stupid making him scoff, "Tough crowd."

It was with a certain amount of apprehension that everyone headed down to Hagrid's on Tuesday, heavily muffled against the cold. They all 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.

"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..."

"Now he's really trying to kill us." Karina pouts as she walks ahead of the Slytherin boys with Pansy, Daphne, and Layla. 

"What prefers the dark?" Draco asks sharply to Blaise, Theo, Crabbe and Goyle, a trace of panic in his voice. "What did he say prefers the dark — did you hear?"

"Ready?" said Hagrid happily, looking around at the class.

"No." Everyone mutters.

"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 per- son in Britain who's managed ter train 'em —"

"And you're sure they're trained, are you?" said Draco, 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 murmured 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.

Pansy groans, "You said that last time!"

"So what happened to your face, then?" Blaise frowns.

"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.

Blaise shrugs, "That wasn't a stupid question... was it?"

Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione, who sighed but nodded, and the three of them set off after Hagrid, leading the rest of the class. Karina rolls her eyes at the golden trio. She turns to her friends and smiles reassuringly before following along.

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 making Karina flinch.

"This can't be good."

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 Ron 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.

A great wave of relief broke over Harry. Here at last was proof that he had not imagined these creatures, that they were real: Hagrid knew about them too. He looked eagerly at Ron, but Ron was still staring around into the trees and after a few seconds he whispered, "Why doesn't Hagrid call again?"

Most of the rest of the class were wearing expressions as confused and nervously expectant as Ron's and were still gazing everywhere but at the horse standing feet from them. There were only three other people who seemed to be able to see them: a stringy Slytherin boy standing just behind Goyle was watching the horse eating with an expression of great distaste on his face, Neville, whose eyes were following the swishing progress of the long black tail.

And Karina Grey.

Standing frozen and confused, Karina stares at the horse that looked like death... maybe that was the reason she could see them and her friends couldn't.

She peeks over at Draco who was looking around in confusion.

"You can't see it, can you?" She whispers to him.

Draco looks at her furrowing his eyebrows, "See what? What do you see Karina?"

"Death." She whispers inaudibly.

"Oh, an' here comes another one!" Hagrid yells 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. An' you too, Neville, eh? An'..."

It seemed as if he was waiting for Karina to give some kind of sign that she could see them too. But the Slytherin girl was too shocked and too in her head to even react.

"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. 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 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!" 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..."

Karina scoffs gaining the attention of the class, "I don't know about that... I've been through plenty of misfortune and I definitely see them."

Everyone snaps their head back to Hagrid who looked at the horses nervously then grins reassuringly, "I promise ya 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 un- less 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 Lavender, 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 raised her hand.

"Go on then," said Hagrid, beaming at her.

"The only people who can see thestrals are-"

"People who have seen death." Karina interrupts her staring at her blankly.

"Tha's exactly right," said Hagrid solemnly, "Five points ter Gryffindor. And um well ya five to Slytherin as well Now, thestrals —"

"Hem, hem."

Professor Umbridge had finally 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?" Umbridge asks 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 . . .' "

Karina huffs rolling her eyes.

"Well... anyway..." Hagrid turns 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.

Draco looked as though Christmas had come a month early; Hermione, 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 fe- males. This one," he patted the first horse to have appeared, "names o' Tenebrus, he's my special favorite, firs' one born here in the forest —"

"Are you aware," Umbridge said loudly, interrupting him.

"Oh here we go."

"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.

Karina raises an eyebrow looking at the clipboard that now had a full page written, "Oof..."

"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, "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.

Karina's mouth drops then she glares at the pink sweater wearing troll as she gets closer, "You do know he's not slow. He can understand you."

Umbridge takes her pen and lightly but annoyingly taps Karina's forehead, "Just being sure Miss Grey."

Hermione had tears of fury in her eyes now, "You hag, you evil hag!" she whispered, as Umbridge then walked toward Pansy Parkinson. "I know what you're doing, you awful, twisted, vicious —"

"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 Astoria Greengrass, "that you are able to understand Professor Hagrid when he talks?"

Just like Hermione, Astoria 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."

Pansy snorts at Astoria's statement as Karina slaps her arm harshly, making the girl stop her giggling. Pansy looks at Karina in confusion. Never had she cared about them messing with Hagrid.

Karina just shakes her head and then turns to glare once more at Umbridge. She may have not liked Hagrid and how he treated Slytherins but she hated Umbridge.

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 Astoria'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' direc- tion, jus' tell 'em where yeh want ter go-"

"Assuming they can understand you, of course," said Malfoy loudly, and half the Slytherins 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. "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, "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 Karina.

"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.

"That old git..."

...

December arrived, bringing with it more snow and a positive avalanche of homework for the fifth years. Not only that but it brought on more nights of restlessness for Karina Grey and Draco Malfoy.

"Ah!!!!"

Draco already being beside Karina, pulls her into a tight hug and waits for her to breathe normally.

"He can't... I can't do that... I don't want to..." Karina mutters with her eyes squeezed shut.

Draco doesn't speak but continues to rub her bare arms.

Karina sniffles once more before falling back asleep. Draco smiles sadly staring at her tired face as she lets out little mewling sounds. Unconsciously she snuggles into his chest, making him frown.

"What's happening to you?"

...

"Karina!"

Karina's legs push forward faster as she quickly turns a corner.

"Karina wait..."

A hand reaches out and grabs her arm making her stop and yank her arm back.

"What?"

Fred frowns, "Look I know you're still mad about the fight-"

"I don't care anymore."

"Well what about DA?"

Scoffing Karina seethes with fury, "I'm not mad... I'm livid. I'm pissed."

Fred frowns pleading, "It wasn't our decision... A couple of the guys came in and started talking about how they didn't trust you and would leave the group. I think Harry and Hermione just got scared that they wouldn't have anyone left for DA... We had absolutely no say. In fact Luna, Cho, George and I were the only ones who didn't want to do it. But we were outvoted."

Karina rolls her eyes before looking out a window nearby, "I'm not upset I was kicked out. I'm upset that everyone continues to think I'm such a bad person."

Fred sees her eyes tear up and reaches out to her but she pushes his hand away and takes a step back, staring at him angrily.

"I haven't done anything yet. I haven't done anything at all! I'm mad that I help time after time... again and again, but the only thing that it does is hurt me. And push me away from everyone." Karina's voice cracks slightly as she glares past Fred's heartbroken gaze, "From my house... my friends... my bo-whatever he is. I'm mad that I chose to do a good thing and that decision was taken from me... it's not fair. I don't want to be like my parents. But it's like everything and everyone keep pushing me and pushing me to the brink of insanity. I can't do this anymore. I can't do the back and forth." Karina wipes a fallen tear from her cheek and whispers, "I can't..."

As she turns around she freezes seeing George a few feet away. She hadn't talked to anyone in two days but she had definitely tried to stay away from the twins... specifically George.

"Karina..."

Karina clenches her fist while gnawing on the inside of her cheek, "Weasley..."

George chuckles painfully shaking his head, "So you're using my last name now?"

Shrugging nonchalantly Karina stares at him with blank eyes, "You hurt my elbow."

George stares at the bandage on her right elbow and sighs, "Right again, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to push you. I just blacked out. All I saw was red."

"Okay."

George starts to feel frustrated as he stares at Karina in awe, "How are you so upset at me? Y-you pointed your wand at me... you... m-my friend! That hurt... out of everything that you've done, I never thought you would do that."

Karina purses her lips and sniffles, "I can't take it back. So what do you want me to do?"

"Apologize, say you'll never do it again, be my friend. I'm sorry Karina I really am. I don't want you to be in the middle, but it's inevitable."

Karina shakes her head as she pulls her books closer to her chest. She scoffs quietly and then walks around George.

"Ari..."

Freezing in her spot, Karina looks down at the ground then turns back to Fred and George with red tear rimmed eyes.

"Twinsies ...I love you both. I really do... but I love Draco more. I will always love him more. And if you can't accept that... then I don't think we can be friends..."

Turning her back on the two hurt twin brothers Karina whispers once more, "I'm sorry" before leaving them alone standing in the hall, wondering why everything was going wrong.

...

Draco holds Karina as she cries into his chest. He rocks them back and forth as they sit in her empty tub. Lightly rubbing her back through her sweater, Draco then leans down and kisses her head of hair.

"It's going to be okay... I promise..."

But all she could think about was the nightmare that played over and over in her head.

The pain she felt.

The betrayal she saw.

But of course she would forget all about this tomorrow... she always did.

...

Karina eats a bowl of cereal trying to not make eye contact with the silver haired boy beside her. After another minute of his staring, Karina groans and glances over at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes?"

Draco frowns grabbing her free hand, "Karina love... you're getting worse."

"How so?"

"You stopped remembering your visions. You've had four visions during the past three days and you can't even tell me a small piece of what happened."

Karina frowns snapping her head over to Draco, "Four? I thought that last night was the only one I've had since last week?"

Draco shakes his head biting the inside of his cheek, "You start to tell me what happened, what you saw... but then it's like you've completely pushed it out of your brain, and you can't remember."

Karina was inflicting memory loss upon herself. Her body was in fight or flight mode... and every-time she had a painful vision her mind would shut down and her brain would push the memory away.

If she was scared before... now she was terrified.

And she didn't know what to do and how to fix anything.

Not a super super long chapter... but long enough!!!

What did y'all think?

George and Fred? 🥺

Umbitch 😒

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