Rosabella Black |Daughter Of Sirius Black| (Book 5)

The Eye Of The Snake

Rosabella's Point of View:

Hermione and I plowed our way back to Hagrid’s cabin through two feet of snow on Sunday morning. Harry and Ron wanted to come with us, but their mountain of homework had reached an alarming height again, so they grudgingly remained in the common room.

Hermione and I returned from Hagrid’s just before lunch, shivering slightly.

     “So? Got all his lessons planned for him?” Ron said, looking up when she entered.

    “Well, we tried.” Hermione said dully, as I sank into a chair beside Harry.

    “He wasn’t even there when we arrived, we were knocking for at least half an hour. And then he came stumping out of the forest —” I said, laying my head on Harry's shoulder.
Harry groaned.

The Forbidden Forest was teeming with the kind of creatures most likely to get Hagrid the sack.

    “What’s he keeping in there? Did he say?” Harry asked.

     “No. He says he wants them to be a surprise. I tried to explain about Umbridge, but he just doesn’t get it." Hermione said miserably.

    "He kept saying nobody in their right mind would rather study knarls than chimaeras — oh I don’t think he’s got a chimaera.” I added at the appalled look 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." Hermione said.

     "I don’t know how many times Hermione and I told him he’d be better off following Grubbly-Plank’s plan, I honestly don’t think he listened to half of what we said. He’s in a bit of a funny mood, you know. He still won’t say how he got all those injuries.” I said.

Hagrid’s reappearance at the staff table at breakfast next day was not greeted by enthusiasm from all students. Some, like Fred, George, Jay, Jake, Lee, Michael and all his friends roared with delight and sprinted up the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables to wring Hagrid’s enormous hand. Others, like Parvati and Lavender, exchanged gloomy looks and shook their heads. Most people preferred Professor Grubbly - Plank and I could see where they were coming from and I hated that the unbiased part of me agreed. Professor Grubbly-Plank version of an interesting lesson did not involve the risk of someone getting attacked.

It was with a certain amount of apprehension that Harry, Ron, Hermione and I headed down to Hagrid’s on Tuesday, heavily muffled against the cold. Harry had his arm around my shoulder as we walked.

Harry and I were worried, not only about what Hagrid might have decided to teach us but also about how the rest of the class, particularly Malfoy and his cronies, would behave if Umbridge was watching us.

However, the High Inquisitor was nowhere to be seen as we struggled through the snow toward Hagrid, who stood waiting for us 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. This confused me. Had Hagrid perhaps been attacked by some creature whose venom prevented the wounds it inflicted from healing?

Hagrid was carrying what looked like half a dead cow over his shoulder.

   “We’re workin’ in here today!” Hagrid called happily to us as we approached, jerking his head back at the dark trees behind him.

    “Bit more sheltered! Anyway, they prefer the dark.” Hagrid finished.

    “What prefers the dark? What did he say prefers the dark — did you hear?” I heard Malfoy say sharply to Crabbe and Goyle, a trace of panic in his voice.