Malfoy Neighbors

Thesterals-Year 5 Chapter 12

A few days later, you found yourself in Care of Magical Creatures. You had marched through the snow to find that Hagrid was finally back, but look like he had recently been in a fight. He was covered in bruises and cuts. He was holding a half dead cow over his shoulder.

"We're workin' in here today! Bit more sheltered! Anyways, they prefer the dark..." Hagrid said as the class arrived. He was standing by the dark forbidden forest.

"What prefers the dark?" You heard Draco ask, his voice sounding nervous. "What did he say prefers that dark? Did you hear?" Draco asked Crabbe and Goyle. You made your way over to them.

"You've been in there before, right?" You asked Draco. "Back in our first year." Draco nodded.

"There are a lot of dangerous creatures in there." Draco said, sounding terrified.

"Ready?" Hagrid called over the noisy class. "Right, well, I've bin savin' a trip inter the forest for your fifth year. Thought we'd go an' see these creatures in their natural habitat. Now, what we're studying today is pretty rare, I reckon I'm probably the on'y person in Britain who's managed to train 'em."

"And you're sure their trained, are you?" Draco said in the same scard voice. "Only it wouldn't be the first time you'd brought wild stuff to class, would it?" He had a point. Hagrid was well known for dangerous creatures, like the Hippogriff and the Blast Eneded Skirts. You didn't seem to have the much of a problem with them, but the rest of the class did.

"Course their trained." Hagrid said, defensively.

"So what happened to your face, then?" Draco demanded.

"Mind your own business! Now if you've finished askin' stupid questions, follow me!" Hagrid said annoyed. You took Draco's hand.

"I have to agree with you." You said and fallowed Hagrid into the woods. The class walked together in silence for around ten minutes before you came upon a cluster of trees. They were so close together that it appeared to be night time, and there was no snow in sight. Hagrid threw the half cow on the ground.

"Gather roun', gather roun'." The students circled. "Now, they'll be attracted by the smell o' the meat, but I'm goin' ter give 'em a call anyway, 'cause they'll like ter know it's me..." You looked at Draco, who was squeezing your had a little.

"Draco," you whispered, as Hagrid called out in what sounded like a strange scream. He looked at you. "You want to not squeeze my hand?"

"Oh, sorry." Draco loosened his tight grip. You smiled and the the two of you joined the rest of the class, looking for what was comming. After about a minute, you spotted it.

"Are those the same creatures...?" You whispered to yourself, as winged, skeleton like, black horses stepped into view. You had seen these creatures before. They pulled the carriages that took you from the train to the school. Not everyone could see them though. Potter, Longbottom, and another Slytherin boy seem to see them. Hagrid was saying something but you weren't paying attention to him until he said,

"Now...put yer hands up, who can see 'em?" You raised your hand.

"Excuse me," Draco said in his normal rude tone. "but what exactly are we supposed to be seeing?" Hagrid pointed at the cow, the creature was now eating.

"What's doing it?" Asked Parvati, a Gryffindor girl, as she hid behind a tree. "What's eating it?" You looked at the cow and imagined what she was probably seeing. She couldn't see the horse like creature. So, like most of the class, she was seeing the meat being pulled off the bone and vanish in thin air. Draco looked at the cow like it was being devoured by an invisible demon.

"Thestrals, Hogwarts has got a whole herd of 'em in here. Now, who knows...?" Hagrid started but was interrupted.

"But they're really, really unlucky!" Said Parvati from behind her tree. She went on telling everyone how Professor Trelawney told her how unlucky they were. Hagrid cleared things up saying that Thestrals were smart and useful.

"Don' worry, it won' hurt yeh." Hagrid said when Parvati said she felt one near her. "Right, now, who can me why some o' can see them an' some can't?" Granger's hand shot up like it always did. Hagrid told her to answer and she did.

"The only people who can see threstals are people who have seen death." She said in a know it all voice. You started seeing them at the beginning of last year, when you got onto the carriage to the school. You didn't think anything about it back them. You thought the school was using now using these creatures to pull the carriages.

"That makes sense." You said to Draco. "I've been able see them sence Kathy's death. I mean, I did watch her die." Draco looked at you, his eyes wide.

"I can't see them, I was there too." Draco said in a puzzling voice.

"You were there, but you were stopping the attack, not watching as your cusion died." You said, realizing why he couldn't see what you could. "Just like I couldn't see them before. I was there when my brother died, but I was pulled away, so I didn't see him die." Just as you said that you heard a high picked throat clearing. You truned to see Umbridge.

"What is she doing here?" You whispered. Umbridge and Hagrid spoke. You could tell Hagrid was nervous as she treated him like he was stupid by the long pause between each word she spoke. Hagrid started telling the class about the thesterals when Umbridge interrupted him again.

"Are you aware that the Ministry of Magic has classified thesterals as 'dangerous'?" She asked him in her overly sweet voice.

"Thestrals aren' dangerous! All righ', they might take a bite outta you if yeh really annoy them..." Hagrid defended them.

"Shows...sighns... of...pleasure...at...idea...of...violence..." Umbridge mutterd as she wrote on her clipboard. Draco smiled.

"It's not funny, Draco." You said coldly.

"Sure it is..." he said before looking at you. You were giving him a scowling look. "Well, he does seem to like to put us in danger." You pulled your hand from him and stormed off. You couldn't help but think about him and Buckbeak. Draco had not listened to Hagrid, back in your third year, and ended up getting hurt. Besides, Hagrid was right. If you annoy any creature enough, they will attack, humans. You walked up to one of the thestrals. It wasn't dangerous. You petted the creature. It's skin was like soft leather. It wasn't long before you heard Draco laughing along with Perkinson and a few other Slytherins.

Later that day, after dinner, you sat in the star room. You were so mad at Draco. What he did in class was uncalled for. It wasn't funny. Draco walked in and found you sitting on the couch staring into a flameless fire.

"Incendio." Draco said, pointing his wand at the fireplace.

"You wanted me to get angry with you." You told Draco coldly. You spoke in a quiet voice. Draco truned to face you, but said nothing.

"Your father wants us to brake up anyways." You continued as Draco sat next to you. You moved to the chair.

"You're mad." Draco said in a obvious tone.

"You think?" You looked at him. "We have one month before Christmas break. I have to go to the Malfoy manner, and I don't really want to." You said coldly.

"You don't want to spend Christmas with me?" Draco asked sounding disappointed.

"You only think of yourself! You find things funny that are NOT funny! You're a jerk, a bully!" You yelled, standing. You plopped back down in the chair. "Your dad wants us to not be together anymore. Maybe we should just break up."

"I don't want that." Draco said.

"You wanted me to get angry with you. Well, this is me getting angry with you." You stood and headed to the door.

"We have to break up, Draco." You spoke softly, and truned back to Draco. "I don't want to either, but if we don't split up, we will be in trouble." You had been thinking about the letters from the Malfoy house. Lucius Malfoy had sent letters telling you and Draco to go your separate ways because the Dark Lord wanted them to. "I love you so much, Draco, and this hurts me. What you did today is my excuse. You can't be my boyfriend anymore." You felt a tear find it's way down your cheek, as you walked out of the room.