Amie and the Army (Harry Potter fan-fic) Book 5 COMPLETED

Sometimes it's better not to feel

The next day Hermione made her way back to Hagrid's cabin, just as she said, so she could try to convince him to make Ministry-approved lessons. Harry and Ron wanted to go as well, but they had too much homework. Amie sat with them for a bit, finishing up her own homework, before joining Fred, George and Lee out on the grounds, having a snowball fight. Eventually Fred and George started throwing snowballs up at the windows of Gryffindor tower instead of at each other, so the fight was over. Amie sat down against a wall and watched them amusedly. After a while, there came a shout.
"Oy! I am a Prefect and if one more snowball hits this window - OUCH!" it was Ron. And Fred had thrown a snowball directly at his face.
"Hey!" Amie said, trying not to smile as she stood up and walked over to the twins, and Lee who was laughing. "That wasn't nice,"
Fred and George only grinned smugly, as Lee kept laughing. Amie gave George a peck on the cheek.
"I think I'll head back to the common room and warm up,"
"Bye Ames," George smiled at her.

"How are you coming along, boys?" Amie asked as she joined Harry and Ron in front of the common room fire.
"Slowly," Ron answered grumpily. His hair was wet from the snow he'd been hit with. Amie fetched a book from her dormitory and read as the boys studied. Just before it was time for lunch, Hermione returned from Hagrid's.
"So?" Ron asked, looking up as she entered. "Got all his lessons planned for him?"
"Well, I tried," Hermione answered, sitting down on a chair next to Harry. She took out her wand, waved it around, and hot air streamed out from the tip, which she pointed at her robes, making them steam as they dried out. "He wasn't even there when I arrived, I was knocking for at least half an hour. And then he came stumping out of the forest -"
Harry groaned at that. Amie guessed that Harry was thinking about what horrible animals Hagrid could possibly be keeping in there, and she wondered if that was in fact what he'd been in there for.
"What's he keeping in there?" Harry asked. "Did he say?"
"No," said Hermione miserably. "He says he wants them to be a surprise." Amie groaned this time. "I tried to explain about Umbridge, but he just doesn't get it. He kept saying nobody in their right mind would rather study knarls than chimaeras - oh I don't think he's got a chimaera," she added at the appaled look on Amie, Harry and Ron's faces. "but that's not for lack of trying from what he said about how hard it is to get eggs... I don't know how many times I told him he'd be better off following Grubbly-Plank's plan, I honestly don't think he listened to half of what I said. He's in a bit of a funny mood, you know. He still won't say how he got all those injuries..."
Amie thought that all the evidence pointed at Hagrid being fired by Umbridge in due time.

The next day was the first day Hagrid sat at the teacher's table for breakfast since his return. Some students seemed less than pleased to see him, and then there were some, like Fred, George and Lee, who roared with delight and ran up the aisle between the tables to shake Hagrid's hand. Parvati and Lavender exchanged gloomy looks and shook their heads. Amie understood how they were feeling. Despite her friendship with Hagrid, Amie had to admit Grubbly-Plank's lessons were better. 
On Tuesday Amie and the others headed down to Hagrid's, feeling quite nervous about what the lesson would bring. What would Hagrid show them? Would Umbridge be there? How would the Slytherins behave if she was? Luckily Umbridge wasn't there when they arrived. Hagrid was waiting for them at the edge of the forest, his bruises now changed from purple to green and yellow, and some of his cuts still seemed to be bleeding. Amie was confused - how could he still be bleeding after such a long time? It didn't make sense. To make up the gruesome picture of a bloody Hagrid, he was also carrying what looked like half a dead cow over his shoulder. 
"We're workin' in here today!" Hagrid called to the approaching students, jerking his head towards the forest. "Bit more sheltered! Anyway, they prefer the dark..."
"What prefers the dark?" Amie heard Malfoy say in a panicked whisper behind her. "What did he say prefers the dark - did you hear?"
Amie didn't hear anyone reply to him, and guessed that Crabbe and Goyle probably had their stupid faces on.
"Ready?" asked Hagrid, looking happily around at the class. "Right, well, I've bin savin' a trip inter the forest fer yer fifth year. Thought we'd go an' see these creatures in their natural habitat. Now, what we're studyin' today is pretty rare, I reckon I'm probably the on'y person in Britain who's managed ter train 'em -"
"And you're sure they're trained, are you?" said Malfoy, sounding even more panicked now. "Only  it wouldn't be the first time you'd brought wild stuff to class, would it?"
The Slytherins murmured in agreement, and some Gryffindors looked as though they agreed as well.
"'Course they're trained," scowled Hagrid, hoisting the cow a little higher on his shoulder.
"So, what happened to your face, then?" demanded Malfoy.
"Mind yer own business!" Hagrid answered angrily. "Now if yeh've finished askin' stupid questions, follow me!"
Hagrid turned around and walked into the forest. The students seemed less than eager to follow. Harry shot Amie, Hermione and Ron a glance, and they sighed and nodded. The four of them led the rest of the class into the forest, after Hagrid. They walked for about ten minutes before reaching a place where the trees stood so closely together that it was dark as twilight, and there was no snow on the ground. Hagrid put down the dead cow on the ground, stepped back, and turned to face the class again. Most of the students were creeping towards him, looking around nervously, as if expecting to be attacked at any moment. 
"Gather roun', gather roun'," Hagrid encouraged. "Now, they'll be attracted to the smell o' the meat but I'm goin' ter give 'em a call anyway, 'cause they'll like ter know it's me..."
Hagrid turned around, shook his head to get the hair out of his face, and gave an odd, shrieking cry that echoed through the trees. Nobody laughed, most looked very scared. Hagrid made the cry again. Another minute passed, during which the class peered around, trying to spot whatever animal was coming. Hagrid shook his hair back a third time, expanding his chest. Amie noticed Harry pointing into the forest, so she looked where he was pointing. At first, Amie saw nothing. But then there was something - a shape, a shadow? Then she saw it more clearly, but it still seemed almost see-through. It had blank, white eyes, a dragonlike face and a skeletal body with wings. It was those dark winged horses Amie and Harry had seen dragging the carriages, Amie realized. The creature that had fully emerged from the dark forest now looked around at the class, and then bent down and began to tear flesh from the dead cow with its sharp fangs. Amie looked around at the class. Most looked confused.
"Why doesn't Hagrid call again?" Amie heard Ron asked. Amie frowned, then gaped. Not everyone could see them! She noticed a Slytherin watching the creature with distaste. And Neville also seemed to see it.
"Oh, an' here comes another one!" said Hagrid proudly, as a second horse appeared out of the trees, folding its leathery wings closer to its body as it too started to gorge on the meat. "Now... put yer hands up, who can see 'em?"
Amie, Harry, Neville and the Slytherin raised their hands. Hagrid nodded at Harry.
"Yeh... yeah, I knew you'd be able ter, Harry," he said seriously. "An' you too, Neville, Amie, eh? An' -"
"Excuse me," Malfoy sneered. "But what exactly are we supposed to be seeing?"
For answer, Hagrid pointed at the cow carcass on the ground. For a moment the class stared. Then several people gasped, and Parvati squealed. Amie understood that they could obviously see the flesh stripping away from the bones and vanishing into thin air.
"What's doing it?" Parvati demanded, terrified as she retreated behind the nearest tree. "What's eating it?"
"Thestrals," answered Hagrid proudly. Hermione gave a soft "oh!", having obviously read about them. "Hogwarts has got a whole herd of 'em in here. Now, who knows -"
"But they're really, really unlucky!" Parvati interrupted, alarmed. "They're supposed to bring all sorts of horrible misfortune on people who see them. Professor Trelawney told me once -"
"No, no, no," Hagrid chuckled. "tha's jus' superstition, that is, they aren' unlucky, they're dead clever an' useful! 'Course, this lot don' get a lot o' work, it's mainly jus' pullin' the school carriages unless Dumbledore's takin' a long journey an' don' want ter Apparate - an' here's another couple, look -"
Two more thestrals came out of the trees. One passed very close to Parvati, who shivered and pressed herself closer to the tree, saying, "I think I felt something, I think it's near me!"
"Don' worry, it won' hurt yeh," said Hagrid patiently. "Righ', now, who can tell me why some o' you can see them an' some can't?"
Hermione, unsurprisingly, raised her hand.
"Go on then," Hagrid beamed.
"The only people who can see thestrals are people who have seen death." answered Hermione. Amie's eyes grew large. So that's why they weren't clear to her! She had never actually seen a person die - she'd had a vision of Cedric dying, and she'd seen Death, but that's not the same as actually seeing someone die.
"Tha' exactly right," said Hagrid solemnly. "ten points ter Gryffindor. Now, thestrals -"
"Hem, hem."
Umbridge had arrived. She was standing a few feet away, wearing her green hat and cloak, her clipboard at the ready. Hagrid, who had never before heard Umbridge's fake cough, was gazing in concern at the closest thestral, believing that it had made the sound.
"Hem, hem."
"Oh, hello!" Hagrid smiled as he saw here.
"You received the note I sent to your cabin this morning?" said Umbridge, using the same loud, slow voice she had used in his cabin, as if she was speaking to someone foreign and stupid. "Telling you that I would be inspecting your lesson?"
"Oh, yeah," said Hagrid. "Glad yeh found the place all righ'!" Well, as you can see - or, I dunno - can you? We're doing thestrals today -"
"I'm sorry?" Umbridge said loudly, cupping her hand around her ear and frowning. "What did you say?"
Hagrid looked confused.
"Er - thestrals!" he said loudly. "Big - er - winged horses, yeh know!"
He flapped his arms hopefully. Umbridge raised her eyebrows and muttered as she made a note on her clipboard, "has... to... resort... to ... crude... sign... language..."
"Well... anyway..." said Hagrid, turning back to the class and looking flustered. "Erm... what was I sayin'?"
"Appears... to... have... poor... short... term... memory..."
Umbridge spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. Malfoy and the Slytherin found great joy in her words. Meanwhile Hermione's face was scarlet with rage, and the tips of Amie's hair had likewise turned red. Amie felt as if her blood was boiling. How dare she! If she didn't already hate Umbridge, this would've been the tipping point. 
"Oh, yeah," said Hagrid, throwing a glance at Umbridge's clipboard. "Yeah, I was gonna tell yeh how come we got a herd. Yeh, so, we started off with a male an' five females. This one," he patted the first thestral that had arrived. "name o' Tenebrus, he's my special favorite, firs' one born here in the forest -"
"Are you aware," interrupted Umbridge. "that the Ministry of Magic has classified thestrals as 'dangerous'?"
Hagrid simply chuckled. Amie was amazed at how he was handling himself under the circumstances.
"Thestrals aren' dangerous! All righ, they might take a bite outta you if yeh really annoy them -"
"Shows... signs... of... pleasure... at... idea... of... violence..." Umbridge scribbled again.
"No - come on!" said Hagrid, looking anxious now. "I mean, a dog'll bite if yeh bait it, won' it - but thestrals have jus' got a bad reputation because o' the death thing - people used ter think they were bad omens, didn' they? Jus' didn' understand, did they?"
Umbridge gave no answer. She finished writing the last note, then looked up at Hagrid and said, loudly and slowly, "Please continue teaching as usual. I am going to walk" - she mimed walking - "among the students" - she pointed out some of the students - "and ask them questions." she pointed at her mouth to indicate talking. Amie shook with rage. Hagrid stared at her, clearly not understanding why she was acting as she was.
"You hag, you evil hag!" Hermione whispered as Umbridge walked towards Pansy Parkinson. Hermione had tears of fury in her eyes. "I know what you're doing, you awful, twisted, vicious -"
"Erm... anyway," said Hagrid, trying to regain his composure. "so - thestrals. Yeah. Well, there's loads o' good stuff abou' them..."
"Do you find," said Umbridge to Parkinson. "that you are able to understand Professor Hagrid when he talks?"