Lionheart ~ Harry Potter (Under Heavy Editing)

Chapter Seven | Buckbeak

After the class was over, they made their way to their Care of Magical Creatures class, taught by their new Professor Hagrid. The four Gryffindors were walking down towards Hagrid's hut, the sun shining in the blue sky as they did.

"Death omens," Hermione scoffed. "Honestly. If you ask me, Divination's a very woolly discipline. Now Ancient Runes. That's a fascinating subject."

"Ancient Runes? I suppose it's not bad... though I can name at least six classes that are much better than it," Ariana countered, her hair bouncing as she walked down the grassy hill towards Hagrid's hut.

"Ancient Runes? Six classes? Exactly how many classes are you two taking this term?" Ron questioned suspiciously, his freckled nose crinkling

"A fair few," Hermione replied cryptically.

"Not enough," Ariana answered.

"Hang on. Ancient Runes is the same time as Divination. You'd have to be in two classes at once," Ron stated, frowning with confusion.

"Don't be silly. How could anyone be in two classes at once?" Hermione asked, then mimicked Trelawney, "'Broaden your minds...'"

Ariana chuckled. "I agree with you there. Divination is ridiculous."

"I'd rather sit in Potions with Snape," Harry laughed.

"Potions is a fantastic class. Snape isn't bad either," Ariana retorted.

"You only think that because you're great at making potions and you aren't scared of him for some reason," Ron added, raising his eyebrows.

Ariana scoffed at the comment. "I don't know why others aren't. Anyway, which animal are we studying today?" She questioned, changing the subject.

"I'm not entirely sure," Hermione responded.

"I suppose we're about to find out," said Harry, nodding towards Hagrid, who was towering over his students.

The group arrived by their fellow students, ready for their upcoming lesson. Draco and his cronies Crabbe and Goyle were by his side, all of them standing with their fellow Slytherins. The obnoxious blonde-haired boy faked another faint as he saw Harry and Ariana, but they just dismissed him completely. The witch held her head high; she had no reason to be ashamed, and she flat out refused to be intimidated by a spoiled, obnoxious boy like Malfoy.

"C'mon now, get a move on! Got a real treat for yeh. Great lesson comin' up. Follow me," Hagrid announced, taking off in the direction of the Forbidden Forest that lay in the school grounds. He stopped just inside the treeline, standing in front of the third year class.

Ariana eyed a string of dead ferrets hanging around Hagrid's neck, listening to the flies as they buzzed around the dead animals. It made her wonder what exactly Hagrid was planning on showing them

"Gather 'round. Find yerself a spot. That's it. Now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books -" the Professor began, but was cut off by the cold, crawling voice of Malfoy.

"And exactly how do we do that?"

"Stroke the spine, of course," Hagrid replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Ariana took out her growling 'Monster Book of Monsters' book. It head beady eyes on the front cover, was covered in course brown fur and had a vicious mouth that threatened to bite anything that came near it. When she first purchased it, the book had tried to chase Nova down... she didn't speak to Ariana for two hours after that happened. The witch ran her fingers down its spine and it began to purr like a content cat. Once the growling had ceased, she gently opened the book up to reveal pages that gave in-depth descriptions of magical creatures.