Spells and Visions; A Harry Potter story

Chapter 6: Dreams and Visions

Next day, Hermione told me the trio had gone last night to see Hagrid, who had finally returned. He would be giving Care for Magical Creatures again. She told me Hagrid had gone with Madam Maxime to find giants, and, on order of Dumbledore, to convince them to align with us, before the Death Eaters came to get them over to their side. It didn't go well, though, and Hagrid had been beaten up quite badly.

We were very happy, however, to see Hagrid again at breakfast, and followed him through the snow, for Care for Magical Creatures, to the edge of the Forest. He was carrying a dead cow. He called out for certain animals, and after a while, I could see them coming.
"Thestrals," I whispered.
"What is it?" Neville asked. "I don't see anything."
"What are we supposed to be seeing?" Malfoy asked.
Hagrid pointed at the carcass, of which parts were torn out of.
"Thestrals," he said.
"But they're really unlucky!" Parvati said. "They bring misfortune to anyone who sees them, Professor Trewlayney told us-"
"No, no," Hagrid chuckled. "They're not dangerous at all. Now, why can some of you see them, and some not?"
Hermione raised her hand.
"Because you can only see them if you have seen death."
"Exactly! Now-"

"Hem, hem."
I sighed. Mum again.
She talked to Hagrid as if he was foreign and didn't understand normal English. It made Hermione red with anger, and I pressed my lips together so I wouldn't say something offensive to my mother.
The Thestrals walked among us, and Harry and I were the only ones here that could see them. I stuck out my hand, and one of the horses put his head to it.
"You can see them, Jynx?" mum asked, a bit surprised.
"Yeah, I can," I said, my eyes not leaving the horse.
"Who did you see... die?" she asked with uncertainty.
"Cyril Oakley," I said with a clear voice.
"Oh, well-" She quickly changed her voice again. "What do you think of them?"
"They're very nice," I smiled, patting his head.

"That foul, evil, twisted-" Hermione raged after the lesson, but stopped suddenly.
"Sorry," she said, to me and Neville.
"That's okay," I said.
"We'd agree with you," Neville said.
"What is it that makes you hate your mother so much?" Ron asked. "You know, as a mother."
"Can't tell you here," I said, but I was quite ready to tell them.
In the Gryffindor room that afternoon, Ron asked again.

"Do you still not get it?" I said, slightly irritated. "She's our mother! She doesn't just let us do things and let us get away with them! She doesn't do normal- wait, what are punishments normal mothers give you?"
"I don't know," Ron said. "Like, no broom flying for a week, doing Fred and George's chores next to mine, why?"
"She gives us the same punishments as she gives here at school!" Neville called out.
Ron's eyes grew wide.
"You're joking," Hermione said.
"No," I laughed sourly. I pulled out my wand.

"One, two, three..."
Neville and I tapped our hand at the same time, and revealed our scars to the trio.
"No!" Hermione clapped her hand over her mouth. I chuckled wryly.
"Whose is worse now?"
"Think mine still is," Neville said.
"Mine has gotten worse, though."
"Have you had detention?" Ron asked, unbelievably.
"No, at home, I told her Voldemort was back, and she disagreed, and let me write again."
"That's terrible!" Hermione said.
"Yeah, well, it is what it is," Neville sighed, and let the scars disappear again.

~

The winter holidays were soon, and the DA meetings would have to stop, unfortunately. Neville had improved not only in disarming, but also in other spells. But we were not looking forward to the holidays. That meant more time with mum. To our relieve, Ron invited Harry, Neville and me over to the Burrow.

"Happy Christmas," I said to Cedric, after our last DA meeting.
"Have a good holiday," he smiled, and quickly gave me a kiss. "Does your mother know about us, actually?"
"No, don't think she'd be happy if she found out."
"That's probably true. Anyway, see you tomorrow, I'm going home, but I'll come say goodbye."
"Yeah," I said. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight."