A Taste of Magic

Chapter 56: 56th Course - Busy Beginning

"What is that?" Seamus gasped.

"What, do I have something on me?" Harry asked, looking down at himself and turning in place.

"He means your knife," Lavender giggled.

"That's not a knife," Dean said, eyes round. "That's a bloody sword!"

"Technically it's a knife," Harry said, patting the handle and bolster lovingly. "Just a bigger one. It was scaled up some but I think it's great."

"Where did you get that?" Seamus asked.

"It was a gift for my birthday," Harry said proudly. "Specifically for field-craft and wilderness things."

"That's right," Hagrid said, walking up to his Care of Magical Creatures class with his customary good-natured smile that grew when he saw Harry wearing the knife. "Modeled after a puukko knife, a general-purpose knife from Finland." He rubbed his neck sheepishly when he looked at it on Harry's waist. "It is a bit big. I could get it sized down some."

"I'll grow into it," Harry said.

"Yeah you will," Hagrid said proudly. "Right! We're havin' a special group lesson today that's goin' to be a lot of fun. Here we are." He waved when Remus approached with his class of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Padma and Sue and Susan waved merrily and joined their friends. "Follow me!"

The students followed Hagrid to a rough stone structure of sorts, right behind his hut and within sight of the Forbidden Forest. It looked almost like a mountain had grown there where there was not one previously, and a large door was in the front. Hagrid ushered them into it and the immediate area around the entrance was lit by lanterns but the rest of the cavern was shrouded in shadow.

"Where did this come from?" Hermione asked.

"I set up the foundation and Professor Lupin and Professor McGonagall helped with the rest," Hagrid said. "Otherwise we'd have to hike a while into the forest to get to the mountains or use a Portkey and we decided this would be fine for a week or so for lessons."

"What was that?" Pansy asked when she heard a skittering noise. She drew closer to Harry, looking up at the dark roof with trepidation.

"Our lesson!" Hagrid smiled. "I got inspired by Harry and Professor Lupin here and we thought a joint class would be a lot of fun."

Harry looked at Hagrid with mild confusion for a moment before more skittering and scuttering could be heard and he brightened. "Oh! I know what it is!"

"Let's see if the others can figure it out," Remus smiled. "So, I will give a few hints. It was mentioned briefly last year. It can climb the walls. And it uses darkness to aid its natural camouflaging abilities."

Lavender turned and shrieked loudly, jumping back and into Harry. This made the others turn and yelps and shouts were heard too when they saw an armored, multi-legged form climbing the rough rock wall, back into the shadows. "What was that?!" she yelled, clutching Harry's back, hiding behind him.

"Oh crakes!" Padma said.

"Indeed! A point to Ravenclaw and a point to Gryffindor because Harry knew too," Remus smiled. "Yes, Professor Hagrid saw some crakes in the mountains around the school and we designed this temporary habitat for you to observe them and learn from them." He did a complicated wand movement and the light that came from the tip was cold and clear. He swept it around slowly and the majority of the students blanched and made noises when the light revealed crakes on the ceilings and in the nooks and crannies. Ron edged away from them all and stood firmly in a pool of bright light from one of the lanterns, and he was not the only one.