FLIPPED - harry potter

༺ 32 - rita's scoop.

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| RITA'S SCOOP |

"It's been a little over a year since we
had the Butterbeer competition, perhaps we
should bring it back."

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EVERYONE WOKE UP LATE ON BOXING DAY, which wasn't an issue for Alora, as she had planned to do that anyways. Cho spent some time in the dorm, but then headed back to Ravenclaw with Padma. The Gryffindor common room felt much quieter than usual, everyone seemed to be engaging in lazy conversation.

Hermione's hair was back to its usual bushy self again, she had admitted to Harry that she had used liberal amounts of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion on it for the ball, "But, it's way too much bother to do everyday," she said matter-of-factly, scratching a purring Crookshanks.

Ron and Hermione had also seemed to come to an unspoken agreement to not discuss the argument, and they were ironically being quite friendly to each other, though oddly formal. Harry and Ron wasted no time in telling Alora and Hermione what they found out last night, which was that Hagrid is a half-giant.

"Well, I thought he must be," Hermione said, shrugging. "I knew he couldn't be pure giant, because they're about twenty feet tall. But honestly, all this hysteria about giants. They can't all be horrible...it's the same sort of prejudice people have towards werewolves...it's all just bigotry, isn't it?"

Ron looked as though he was about to say something scathingly, perhaps he didn't want another row, because he contented himself with shaking disbelief while Hermione wasn't looking.

Alora was already on her way to falling asleep again, even after the long lie in, she sat and scratched Nala, who was licking her paws, eyeing Crookshanks mischievously.

Everyone was starting to feel a little flat, now that Christmas was over, and also a little bit nervous. February the twenty-fourth seemed to be drawing closer than they wanted it to, and, Harry, still hadn't found out what was inside the egg. He had tried many things to find something more than continuous wailing, he'd shaken it vigorously, and even thrown it across the room -- though he hadn't really expected that to help.

"Maybe try Cedric's advice, Harry." Alora said to him, he'd been thinking about it, but still wasn't sure if he could be truthful, they were opponents after all. Alora wouldn't lie to him, but in his mind, in order for Cedric to have her, he would.

Snow was still thick around the school grounds when term started, and the greenhouses were covered in condensation so thick that they couldn't see out of them in Herbology, personally, Alora wished for the greenhouses to be iced off and unable to get into, so that she wouldn't have to do Herbology in the first place.

Nobody was looking forward to taking Magical Creatures in this weather, Alora felt like she might catch frostbite and would soon be hoping for the Skrewts to chase her so forcefully that she would set on fire.

When they arrived at Hagrid's cabin, however, they weren't met with the same cheery half-giant, but instead by an elderly witch with short cropped grey hair and a very prominent chin, standing at the front door. Alora didn't want someone who would give her a hard time in this weather, and she looked like she would.

"Hurry up, now, the bell rang five minutes ago," she barked at them, as they all struggled their way through the snow.

"Who are you?" Ron said, staring. "Where's Hagrid?"

"My name's Professor Grubbly-Plank," she said briskly, "I am your temporary Care of Magical Creatures teacher."

"Where's Hagrid?" Harry repeated loudly.