Adventures at Hogwarts

Chapter 10: Hagrid's News

After the eventful weekend trip to Hogsmeade, things at Hogwarts slowly started to get back to normal. Harry was still focused on waiting to kill Sirius Black, Ron was still fussing at Hermione's cat for "attacking" his rat constantly, and Meg's friendship with Draco was beginning to bloom. Then next day marked classes again. The four friends weren't too happy about this. They'd hoped Professor Lupin would be more consistent with his attendance to class. Sadly, the majority of the time, that wasn't the case. The night after Professor Snape substituted for Lupin, Meg and Hermione were suspicious about the disappearance of their professor. Every time he returned from being absent the previous day, he would be scarred across his face. However, Meg and Hermione didn't have time to worry about their professor. They had to worry about the classes they were taking at the moment. 

Their first class of the day was Divination. The four friends didn't particularly care for the class, but in order to graduate, they were required to take at least 2 years of it. That particular class was interesting because they were studying how to read crystal balls. While Professor Trelawney was going on about going into the beyond, Ron had fallen asleep. Harry stared off into space, and Meg sat in thought. Eventually, Trelawney made her way to their table. Harry shook Ron to wake him up, and Hermione asked Trelawney to attempt to read the crystal ball. Hermione looked in the crystal ball. She saw nothing of course but said to Trelawney, "The Grimm. I presume." Trelawney didn't like her answer much and said to Hermione, "My dear, ever since you came into this classroom I knew you did not posses the magical art that is Divination." She took Hermione's hand and continued, "There you see. Your soul is dry as the pages of the books that you so desperately cleave." Hermione was offended. Without another word, she got up, knocked the crystal ball over onto the floor, and stormed out of the classroom. Harry, Ron, and Meg looked at each other. They knew why Hermione left. Trelawney looked at the remaining trio and asked, "Have I said something?" The trio didn't want to answer her. Once class ended and everyone began to head to their second period, Harry, Ron and Meg began to discuss what happened with Hermione. Ron made the observation, "She's gone mental. I mean, she's always been mental, but now it's in front where everyone can see it." Meg retaliated, "Honestly, Ron. You can't blame her. After all, Divination is a woolly subject that requires spontaneous acts. The least we could do is cut her and her realistic mind a little slack." Harry agreed with Meg, but Ron was reticent. The trio headed towards Potions and along the way, Harry stumbled over something. It was the crystal ball Hermione knocked off the table in Divination. Harry picked it up and said to his two friends, "Better take this back." Ron immediately retaliated to Harry's idea. "I'm not going back." Harry looked at Meg. She was with Ron. Harry took notice of this and said, "Fine. I'll see you two later." He headed back to Trelawney's classroom while Meg and Ron headed to Potions. They knew Snape was going to ridicule them anyway, but the pair also knew he wouldn't be as bad if they were on time. 

Once classes ended, the four friends headed to see Hagrid. He had finally returned fro his hearing at The Ministry of Magic. When the four friends found him, he was at the Black Lake throwing pebbles into the water. Hermione started the conversation. "How was the hearing, Hagrid?" Hagrid answered her, "Well, first off the committee members took a minute to talk about why we were there. Then I got up, did my piece on how Buckbeak was a good Hippogriff. Always cleaned his feathers. Then, Lucius Malfoy got up and said that Buckbeak was a deadly, dangerous creature that would kill ya as soon as he saw ya. Of course he asked for the worst, ol' Lucius." Ron asked, "They're not sacking you are they?" Hagrid answered him, "No. I'm not sacked." Hagrid paused. The four friends could tell that he was getting emotional. Hagrid continued, "Buckbeak's been sentenced to death!" The four friends were shocked to hear this news. Meg especially. They knew Lucius Malfoy was cruel but not this cruel. Meg knew how to handle this. Then next day marked the day Draco would start his protocol to get back in Quidditch. She would interrogate him about the whole thing then.

That next day in the Great Hall, as Meg headed to the Gryffindor table for breakfast, she passed by Draco and handed him a note that said, "After classes, meet me at the weight room for protocol. -Meg" . As soon as Draco saw the note, he looked at Meg and smirked. However, once he read it, he figured out what was going on. 

Once classes had ended, Draco headed to the weight room to start his athletic protocol. When he entered the pitch, he saw Meg on the side lines holding a clipboard. Once she saw Draco, she ordered him to change into his athletic clothes. Draco did as he was told. A few minutes later, Draco came out in black athletic shorts that were about an inch above his knee with a grey t-shirt on and white running shoes. Meg was impressed, but she didn't have time to admire her admirer. She needed to get down to business. She looked at Draco and said, "Now, what I'm going to have you do is some simple exercises to warm up your arms. So, let's start out with some push-ups." Draco did as he was told. Once he got to about 20 push-ups, he began to slow down tremendously. Meg took notice of this and wrote down what she observed. She told him to stop and they continued. "Now, let's go to to some bench pressing." The two of them headed to one of the barbells. Meg set up a barbell with ten pounds on either side of the bar. Draco sat on the bench and took the barbell. Meg noticed he was a little nervous about bench pressing, but she knew he could do it. Draco laid back on the bench, took the barbell and started doing lifts. Meg had him do three sets of ten. She wanted him to start out easy just to make sure he did rupture his arm again. Once Draco was finished with the three sets, he sat up and asked Meg, "Is it normal for my biceps to be sore?" Meg answered him, "Yes, because you haven't worked your right arm this hard in about a month. It'll be fine. Trust me." Draco took her words for truth. He trusted Meg with his life. After the bench pressing, Meg had Draco do some curls. She grabbed a twenty-five pound dumbbell and had him do curls with both of his arms. He started with his right. after about fifteen, his right tricep began to hurt. Meg had hoped to have him do three sets of twenty, but she made him stop so he wouldn't rupture his arm again. After Draco finished the three sets of twenty with his left arm, Meg let him get a drink and rest his arm. She began to document Draco's progress. Draco got up the courage and asked Meg, "What's this really about, Meg?" Meg looked at him shocked. He was on to her. She answered him, "You want to be back in Quidditch right? Well, this is the only way you're going to be successful on getting to play again." Draco knew that part was true, but that wasn't what he was talking about. He explained to her, "That's not what I meant. I know you know about the hearing with Hagrid and the Hippogriff. And I just want to say, I didn't ask my father to give the worst request ever." Meg paused. She didn't expect this from Draco. She figured he had begged his father for either Hagrid's sacking or Buckbeak's execution. Meg stood in silence for a few seconds. She didn't know how to process this news. She turned back at Draco and said, "I believe you." Draco was shocked. Meg continued, "I believe that you didn't want your father to hurt Buckbeak or Hagrid. But i must say that, explaining this to Harry, Ron, and Hermione won't be easy." Draco nodded. He knew she was right. Meg walked over and sat next to Draco. She explained to him, "I've noticed something about you in the past few months we've been friends." Draco inquired, "What's that?" Meg laughed and continued, "You're a lot sweeter than I thought you were in the past. I mean, you are an ass at times, but when it's just you alone, you're a lot sweeter." Draco smiled at her. He wanted to confess his love for her, but he knew this wasn't the right time. So, he hugged her instead. Meg released him to go shower. They would continue protocol tomorrow afternoon. 

A few minutes later, Draco came out of the bathroom wearing casual clothes. He looked at her and said, "The execution happens in a couple of hours, do you want me to go with you to Hagrid's?" Meg looked at him and said, "Yes." The two of them left the weight room and headed to Hagrid's hut. Once they got about half-way, Crabbe and Goyle came running up to the two love birds. Draco took notice of this and asked the two boys what they were doing there. Crabbe was the first to answer, "We heard that the Hippogriff was going to be executed in a couple of hours. So, we came to see if you were down here. And clearly, you're not alone." Crabbe was gesturing towards Meg. Meg glared at the two boys. She knew it was only a matter of time when Harry, Ron, and Hermione were going to be coming to watch.