The Green Girl

Fourth Year Part 3

Draco stalked outside, having abandoned Pansy with Millie. He'd managed to imply he and Theo were going to go get high, which had impressed the stupid chit enough to not object to being left alone. The two of them wandered through the magically heated, ridiculously unseasonable, rose garden without speaking until they heard Professor Snape say, "I don't understand your concern, Igor."

"It's getting darker," the other man hissed.

Theo looked at Draco and casually brushed his fingers over his forearm, a question in his eyes, and Draco nodded. "Karkaroff too?" Theo mouthed and Draco shrugged.

"Severus, it's been getting clearer for months, you can't pretend it isn't happening. What are we going to do?"

"Flee, if you think you can," Snape suggested, his tone laced with contempt. "I will tender your regrets if you like."

The pair of adults rounded the corner and Snape snarled and pointed his wand at a bush. Two partially dressed students emerged from the shadows and fled across the garden. "Ten points from Ravenclaw," the man snapped as he identified the girl. "Ten points from Hufflepuff," he added with some disgust at the boy.

He spotted Draco and Theo and huffed out a breath of what sounded like utter exasperation. "I do hope that the two of you aren't out here removing the clothing of your unfortunate dates in rosebushes like your moronic classmates."

"No, sir," Theo said. "Daphne wanted to sit out a few numbers so she could chat with Hermione so Draco and I took a little walk."

"Well, walk back inside," Snape suggested as Karkaroff looked at them rather nervously.

"Yes, sir," Draco said.

. . . . . . . . . .

Hermione smirked as she read the article in the Daily Prophet.

"I see," she said to Vincent, "that you have recovered from the tragic bite you took from a flobberworm last year."

"I was afraid I'd lose the finger," he said, his totally serious tone only slightly marred when his voice cracked on 'finger'.

"You can be a prick," she said to Draco as he walked by, "but I have to admit this article is pretty brilliant. 'We're just too scared to say anything.' I could hug you. Was he really making you all take care of some awful hybrid he didn't know anything about?"

"He was," Greg said, flopping next to her on the couch. "The things were terrifying, gross monsters that caused burns and exploded and sucked blood. The unicorn the sub had today was much cooler, even if I didn't get to touch it."

"I did," Pansy said with a dreamy sigh. "It was... this was what I thought Care of Magical Creatures would be. Unicorns and fairies and... not... not monsters." She and Hermione had circled around one another after the ball and then decided to pretend the contretemps over Draco had never happened; after all, they were still both Slytherin and they still had to live and work together for years.

Hermione was still railing against Hagrid. "How does that man stay employed? It's not just monsters, it's a violation of the Ban on Experimental Breeding! It's so against the rules I don't even know where to begin," she demanded. "He's an unsafe menace."

"And a half-giant," Draco said.

"Oh, who cares about that?" Hermione said impatiently. "I wouldn't care he were a full giant if he weren't also incompetent and a danger who plays favorites. He needs to be fired!" She looked around at her friends who weren't meeting her eyes and then she sighed. "He's not going to be fired, is he?"

Theo slipped a book into her hands. She took a quick look at the title and then tucked it into her bag. "He probably won't even be charged for his breeding experiment, much less held accountable for putting students at risk," Theo said quietly. "He's one of Dumbledore's pets and that means he's untouchable."