Supported & Torn (HP) {Book 3 of the Wild & Free Series}

7. The Argument

Harry and I did not want to tell the others that we and Luna were having the same hallucination, if that was what it was, so we said nothing about the horses as we sat down inside the carriage and slammed the door behind us. Nevertheless, I could not help watching the silhouettes of the horses moving beyond the window.

"Did everyone see that Grubbly-Plank woman?" asked Ginny. "What's she doing back here? Hagrid can't have left, can he?"

"I'll be quite glad if he has," said Luna. "He isn't a very good teacher, is he?"

"Yes, he is!" said Harry, Ron, Ginny and I angrily.

Harry glared at Hermione and Lucy; they cleared their throats and Hermione quickly said, "Erm... yes... he's very good." Lucy nodded quickly.

"Well, we think he's a bit of a joke in Ravenclaw," said Luna, unfazed.

"You do?" I said, one eyebrow raised. I turned my head to Lucy, who was avoiding my eyes, looking rather guiltily.

"You've got a rubbish sense of humour then," Ron snapped, as the wheels below us creaked into motion.

Luna did not seem perturbed by Ron's rudeness; on the contrary, she simply watched him for a while as though he were a mildly interesting television program.

The carriages jingled to a halt near the stone steps leading up to the oak front doors of the castle and Harry and I got out of the carriage first. We turned to look for lit windows down by the forest, but there was definitely no sign of life within Hagrid's cabin. Unwillingly, because I had half hoped they would have vanished, I turned my eyes instead upon the strange, skeletal creatures standing quietly in the chill night air, their blank white eyes gleaming.

Harry and I had once before had the experience of seeing something that Ron could not, but that had been a reflection in a mirror, something much more insubstantial than a hundred very solid-looking beasts strong enough to pull a fleet of carriages. If Luna was to be believed, the beasts had always been there but invisible; why, then, could Harry and I suddenly see them, and why could Ron and Rowan not?

"Are you coming or what?" said Rowan beside us. He was looking very excited; it was going to be his first year at Hogwarts, since he had moved from the Netherlands to England this summer. We had met him at the Quidditch World Cup and we had seen him again when Beauxbatons, his school, visited Hogwarts last year for the Triwizard Tournament.

"Oh... yeah," said Harry quickly, and we joined the crowd hurrying up the stone steps into the castle.

We ran into Professor McGonagall on our way to the Great Hall.

"Oh, hello, Potters, Headley, Weasley, Granger," she said. "Are you Mr. Van Beek?" she added, turning to Rowan. Rowan nodded slowly.

"Follow me," Professor McGonagall said and Rowan swallowed nervously, following the professor away from us. He cast one last look around his shoulder and Lucy and I nodded at him encouragingly.

The entrance hall was ablaze with torches and echoing with footsteps as the students crossed the flagged stone floor for the double doors to the right, leading to the Great Hall and the start-of-term feast.

The four long House tables in the Great Hall were filling up under the starless black ceiling, which was just like the sky they could glimpse through the high windows. Candles floated in midair all along the tables, illuminating the silvery ghosts who were dotted about the Hall and the faces of the students talking eagerly to one another, exchanging summer news, shouting greetings at friends from other Houses, eyeing one another's new haircuts and robes. Again I noticed people putting their heads together to whisper as Harry and I passed; I gritted my teeth and tried to act as though I neither noticed nor cared.