No Mouth But Some Serpent's

Chapter 4 - Snape-Baiting

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I love this chapter. It's ugly, but it's true.

Chapter Four: Snape-Baiting

Sirius brought the bike lower as they came in towards Hogwarts, much to Harry's relief. They could see the castle glittering across the lake now, and the towers reflected in the water. Harry shielded his eyes with one hand, until he grew used to the dazzle of spells and wards. He had not realized until that moment what the purpose of some exercises Snape had given him was. They had strengthened his ability to see magic. He could make out lines of blue and green and gold that he knew hadn't been there last year.

"There's Hagrid!" exclaimed Connor suddenly, and leaned off the bike at a crazy angle to wave. "Hagrid! Hagrid, up here!"

Harry looked down, even as he pulled his brother back to a firmer seat on the bike, and saw the half-giant leading a creature out of the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid looked up and waved, calling back to Connor, but it was the creature next to him that caught Harry's attention. It appeared to be a black horse, but bat-like wings spread from its shoulders, and when it slewed its head around and looked up at them, Harry caught a glimpse of glowing white eyes.

"What is that?" he managed to say, strangled. If Hagrid brought such creatures out to play when Connor was with him, Harry had never heard of it, and he would certainly have to reevaluate how dangerous it was for his brother to visit the gamekeeper. Perhaps he could arrange to go on most of the visits from now on. That would serve his own goal of getting to know Hagrid, too.

"What is what?" Connor asked, this time leaning off the left side of the bike and looking at the ground.

"That thing next to Hagrid-" Harry started, and then looked up and caught Sirius's eyes. His godfather shook his head, face gone dark and sad again. Harry blinked, then laughed. The laugh sounded forced and shaky to his ears, but Connor turned around and looked at him expectantly, so he said, "Oh, it's just a tree. I thought it was something dangerous."

"Hagrid's pets aren't all that dangerous, really," said Connor, and waved a final time to the half-giant as Sirius turned the bike to land in Hogwarts's courtyard. "Everyone thinks they are, but they're more misunderstood."
Harry kept his opinion of that to himself, and sighed in relief as the bike touched down.

Sylarana writhed on his shoulder, and then said, I did not know that you could see thestrals.

Harry was sure she could see the blank incomprehension in his mind, because she once again adopted the bored, lecturing tone. A thestral is a creature of death and bad luck, originally. They live in the Forbidden Forest. No one can see them who has not first seen death. She sounded as if she were quoting a book in that last sentence, though Harry was not sure if snakes read books.

I didn't-he started, and then remembered that he had seen Quirrell die. He shuddered. That had been a bad death, a frequent feature of his nightmares, when he wasn't dreaming about the two dark figures or Tom Riddle trying to cajole the answers to silly questions out of him. He was glad that he had prevented Connor from seeing it.

So Connor could see the thestrals if I hadn't prevented him from watching Quirrell's death? he asked.

Yes, Sylarana confirmed. Of course, he would not know what they were, and would shriek. He is a great lump of a boy, really.

Harry said nothing to that. They were always going to disagree about his brother. He climbed off the bike as Connor did so. Connor promptly began chattering about the flight to Sirius. Harry looked around. They seemed to have arrived before the majority of the students, as he couldn't see any of the carriages pulling up yet.
In fact, that was probably where Hagrid was taking the thestrals, he realized abruptly. They probably pull the carriages that the older students take.