Care of Magical Creatures
Hermione was in the forest again. She saw Harry�s parents. They disappeared and You-Know-Who replaced them. Harry was standing next to Hermione. Why didn�t he run? Didn�t he see You-Know-Who?
Hermione woke up. Why did she keep having the dream. What had woken her up?
Then she heard it. Someone was crying. Hermione got out of bed and followed the sound. It was coming from the boys� dormitory. Hermione hesitated. Girls weren�t allowed in the boy�s dormitories.
�Mom!� someone shouted from inside the room.
Hermione took a deep breath and opened the door. All of the boys seemed to be asleep except for Harry, who was sitting up and had his face in his hands.
�Harry,� Hermione whispered, �are you okay?�
Harry lifted his head. His eyes were closed.
He�s asleep, Hermione thought. She started to walk away.
�Mom, where are you?� Harry said.
Hermione stopped. She couldn�t leave him like this. He might wake one of the other boys.
Hermione walked over to Harry. She whispered, �Harry, it�s okay. You can go back to sleep.�
Harry laid down. Hermione tiptoed to the door. As she walked back to the girls� dormitories, Hermione couldn�t help wondering if Harry had the same dream as her.
-------------------------------------------------------
Harry woke up the next morning and tried to remember his dream. He remembered a voice. It had sounded familiar, but he couldn�t place it.
�Harry get up,� Ron yelled. �We have to get down to breakfast. We have Care of Magical Creatures this morning.�
Harry groaned. Care of Magical Creatures had gotten boring. All they did was read and take notes.
�Come on,� Ron said impatiently. �Felina will take points from Gryffindor if we don�t hurry.�
�Okay,� Harry said, getting up. He walked down the stairs to the common rooms. To his surprise, Hermione was walking down the stairs from the girls' dormitories. She had dark circles under her eyes and was yawning.
That�s strange, Harry thought. Hermione�s never late getting up.
�Hey Hermione,� Ron said.
�Huh,� Hermione said. �Oh, hi Ron. I have to go. I have class.�
�Yeah,� Ron said, �you have Care of Magical Creatures with us. Why don�t you walk with us?�
�Okay, I guess,� Hermione said nervously, glancing at Harry.
Ron Walked between Harry and Hermione. Harry and Hermione talked to him but tried to avoid looking at each other.
�Hermione,� Ron said, �why have you been avoiding us?�
�Huh,� Hermione said, �oh, I�m not. I just haven�t seen you anywhere.�
�But you did see us,� Ron said, �the time you passed us in the hallway.�
�I was in a hurry,� Hermione said.
When they got to class, they were surprised to see Professor Felina standing next to several large crates. They obviously contained creatures. There was a muffled growl from one box.
�Okay,� Professor Felina said. �You all passed your test, so today I have a special treat. You will not be taking notes today. You will each learn how to train a Crup today. Now I must ask those who are Muggle-born to be very careful. Crups are not fond of Muggles and I don�t know how they�ll react.�
There was a loud growl from inside one box. Neville looked like he was going to faint.
�Okay,� Professor Felina said. �Chapter eight in your books should tell you all you need to know. If you need help, just call me over. Everyone pick out a crate and we�ll get started.�
Everyone ran forward and tried to get a crate that seemed smaller or wasn�t growling.
�Does everyone have a crate?� Professor Felina asked. �Okay, open it and we�ll get started.�
When they opened the crates, many students started to laugh. The Crups looked like puppies with out tails.
�Yes,� Professor Felina said, �they�re still very young. Older Crups are too loyal to their masters to be trained by us. You should count yourselves lucky. If you�d gotten them a couple weeks ago, they'd still have their tails. Half of you would have been sent to the hospital wing. Now what are you standing around for? Get to work!�
Training Crups was a lot harder than the students thought it�d be. They seemed to have unlimited energy and wouldn�t stand still for two seconds.
�Hey Potter,� Malfoy yelled, �aren�t you going to save your Mudblood girlfriend? Her puppy will rip her to shreds. Too bad they don�t have tails. My father has five Crups. They come in handy when Mudbloods get too close to our house.�
�Is everything okay over here?� Professor Felina said, looking at Malfoy.
�Just fine,� Malfoy said.
�Good,� Felina said. �Keep it that way.�
�Poor Hermione,� Ron said after Malfoy walked away. �That puppy keeps growling at her.�
Hermione wasn�t listening to Ron. He looked over at Hermione. Then he realized. The voice from his dream....
�It was her,� Harry whispered.
�What�d you say?� Ron asked.
�Nothing,� Harry said. He picked up his Crup, which had been chewing on his foot.
____________________________________________________________
previous next
home