The Malfoys and Me

22. Care of Magical Creatures

**A/N**
Back to normal text now lolll

"Alright, you lot," Says Hagrid, the extremely tall, stout wizard running the class. You jump a little, but can't help but wiggle in anticipation. You look over and see that Scorpius does not seem to share your sentiments. "This is my twenty-seventh year teaching this class, so I can tell you a thing or two about magical creatures." his eyes sweep the class, looking at your bouncing enthusiasm with a bit of a smile. When his eyes get to Scorpius however, the smile turns sour.

"Oi," he says suddenly, "you wouldn't happen to be a Malfoy, would ye boy?" His manner speaks of suspicion.

"Yes sir," Scorpius says, quietly but firmly, which seems to take Hagrid off-guard. "Scorpius Malfoy, the son of Draco and Astoria Malfoy."

"Aye," says Hagrid, his brow furrowing again. "I had yer father in the first class I ever taught, nearly got me fired."

"Yes sir," Scorpius says again, almost apologetically, "he told me how bad he feels about that now. In fact," he continues, growing ever so slightly in confidence, "my father told me that he was a little twit in your class, and he wants to apologise." Hagrid looks nearly baffled, but Scorpius isn't done. "He also told me never, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES to insult a hippogriff."

Hagrid stands there for a second, as if dumbfounded. And then he bursts out laughing. It's a good, hearty laugh that diffuses the tension, and you can feel the corners of your mouth rising automatically. This guy would be a lot of fun to hang out with, you realise, and wonder why you'd never visited his hut before.

"Now that," he says, after he's finally able to stop laughing, "is about the best thing I've heard all year. You write to yer father, Malfoy, and tell 'im all is forgiven." Scorpius cracks a shy grin, and Hagrid straightens up. "Alright," he says, "now that that's sorted, let's get onto the first creature, shall we?"

~-----------------------------------~

"Phew!" you say, dropping into an armchair in the Slytherin Common room after a long day of classes.

"You can sure say that again," Scorpius sighs, as he drops dramatically onto a couch by the fire. "Today was... something."

"Something good, though," you say, nestling down a bit. "You really seemed to be a hit with that bowtruckle in Prof. Hagrid's class. In fact," you laugh, "you seemed to be a hit with Prof. Hagrid, as well!" Scorpius gives an embarrassed chuckle.

"Well," he says, "I didn't want to give him as much trouble as my father did."

"What did he do?" you ask before you can stop yourself.

"He taunted a hippogriff, got slightly injured, and almost ended his whole career. Oh, and he also got said hippogriff sentenced to death."

"Wow," you say with a snort. "It would be pretty hard to beat that."

"Yeah," Scorpius laughs, "I guess so! I'm still quite glad I made a good first impression."

"Yeah," you say, your mouth forming a gentle smile as you look at him, unaware that you're staring. "So am I."

**A/N**
Scorpius is actually a big hit with magical creatures in general.