The Love Of A Good Wizard

Care of Magical Creatures

Harry was grateful that his first day started nice and easy, with Care of Magical Creatures. Their teacher was Professor Pennycook - a short, jolly Scottish witch who reminded him more of Madame Sprout than Hagrid, and he hoped that her comparative size would mean she'd not have them dealing with the terrors Hagrid was inclined to favour; he wondered when he'd be running into the half-giant. It took some getting used to these familiar, and yet entirely new, faces. Looking at Tom, who had not left his side all morning, he found himself surprised that he took comfort in his constant presence, then promptly chastised himself for thinking that way.

"Are you all right, Harry?" Tom asked when he noticed Harry's scowl. "I'm not crazy about this class myself. It's not exactly challenging or dignified, playing with flobberworms and bowing to great four-legged things."

Harry's scowl dissolved into a smile despite himself. "Can't be so bad. Don't you like animals?"

Tom tilted his head at him. "Not the ones that seem to do nothing but eat, sleep and then die. I don't like useless, predictable things." He assessed Harry carefully, as if weighing up how his next words would affect him. "But I'm very fond of snakes."

"Oh, me too!" Harry exclaimed before he could rein in his enthusiasm. When Tom's face lit up at that admission, Harry averted his eyes uncomfortably. He was finding it very hard to get used to the other boy showing normal emotional reactions like being surprised, or pleased, or protective. He'd spent years telling himself that Riddle and Voldemort were one and the same - and they were, of course - but had never given any thought to a gradual progression from one to the other. It was so much more disconcerting to deal with 'Tom' - a boy who not only appeared not to hate him, but who even seemed fond of him. It was ludicrous and frightening, and he was entirely unprepared to deal with it. He resolved to talk to Pansy at the earliest opportunity; never mind that she'd delight in mocking him. He knew well enough that she had a lot more common sense than he did.

"Harry," Tom was calling out to him. "Are you coming?"

"What? Where?" Harry was surprised to see the class walking towards the Forbidden Forest, with only Tom lagging behind, waiting for him to catch up. He shook himself out of his thoughts and hurried after him. "What's going on?"

"You're rather distracted, aren't you?" Tom observed. "Apparently, we're going to see unicorns, though why, I can't imagine." He sighed. "We did this in first year."

Harry tried not to smile at Tom's tone. "What's wrong with unicorns?"

Tom shrugged. "Nothing as such. But they're quite independent creatures and too shy to really go near. I imagine we'll be expected to stare at them and gasp in awe and look like happy little children."

"You're awfully cynical, aren't you?"

Tom was about to reply when one of their female classmates exclaimed up ahead, "Oh! There, look. Aren't they adorable?" Tom rolled his eyes, which had Harry chuckling.

"Come on, don't be such a thunder cloud," Harry said, pulling Tom along by his sleeve. He felt resistance and wondered whether he'd gone too far, but Tom followed him after all. As soon as they were in sight of the small group of unicorns gathered on the edge of the forest, their presence so close to safety no doubt pre-arranged by their professor, he set down his book bag and watched them.

Tom walked up next to him. "We'll get nowhere near them. What's the point?"

Harry moved forward a few steps, and one of the animals looked back at him. While their professor was telling them all about unicorns - throwing in a few facts that had been left out in first year, and for good reason - Harry reached out a hand, and one of them walked up close to him, nudging his fingertips lightly. He murmured a few soothing words to it, surprised when it suddenly grew nervous and began to fidget. Looking back over his shoulder, he saw Tom standing behind him with a surprised expression on his face.