The Past Meets the Future at Hogwarts: Part 3

Chapter 25: Percy

To say the news shocked me would be an understatement. It was bad enough to come back from Hogsmeade to find Victoria staring blankly off at something. No, the worst was when she started sobbing and telling me that Buckbeak was going to die.

Hagrid had lost his case for Buckbeak. Apparently there was still an Appeal, but Victoria seemed to have lost hope. "It's pointless," She said one afternoon as we headed to the library. She had tears in her eyes and was walking like a drunk person. "Malfoy will just convince the crowd again. No amount of facts will save him."

"But we can always try. You never know, if we get the right information," Annabeth said, trying to cheer her up.

"KNOWLEDGE DOESN'T BEAT WEALTH, POWER, AND FEAR! PEOPLE FEAR HIS STRENGTH! THEY WON'T LISTEN TO REASON!" Victoria yelled causing a few people to send us weird looks.

"Look, if anything, we're doing this for Hagrid. He needs reassurance right now," I said, trying a different tactic.

She seemed to be okay with that as we continued to the library.

Other than trying to do research, we didn't get to see all that much of Hagrid. What with the new security measures and all, we couldn't get out to see him at nights. Not that I was complaining. I think those parenting instincts had kicked into overdrive this year, and I was perfectly okay with keeping Victoria indoors.

Our one chance to talk to Hagrid was during Care of the Magical Creatures class. Hagrid's reaction was to be expected. He was numb for most of the class giving us half hearted instructions before sauntering off to sit on a pumpkin. When class was over, we joined Harry, Ron, and Hermione over by Hagrid.

"S'all my fault. Got all tongue-tied. They was all sittin' there in black robes an' I kep' droppin' me notes and forgettin' all them dates yeh looked up fer me, Hermione. An' then Lucius Malfoy stood up an' said his bit, and the Committee jus' did exac'ly what he told 'em...."

"There's still the appeal!" Ron said. "Don't give up yet, we're working on it!"

We were now making our way up to the castle behind the rest of the class. I nodded in agreement with what Ron had said. We still had a little hope, and that was better than nothing.

"S'no good, Ron," Hagrid said as we reached the steps into the castle. "That Committee's in Lucius Malfoy's pocket. I'm jus' gonna make sure the rest o' Beaky's time is the happiest he's ever had. I owe him that...."

Hagrid made his way back to his cabin sniffling. "Look at him blubber!" I turned and spotted Malfoy laughing with his usual entourage. "Have you ever seen anything quite as pathetic?" He said. "And he's supposed to be our teacher!"

Harry and Ron both started forward, but Hermione was the first one to him. She smacked Malfoy causing him to stumble back a bit. As if that wasn't enough, I felt water behind me and just had time to yell, "Hold your breath!" before a wave of water crashed down on us.

"H-h-how?" Draco stuttered as he ran away from us.

Everyone slowly turned to face the only one of us with a wand out. "Victoria?" I asked, wondering what she had just done.

Before any of us could ask what had happened, Professor McGonagall came sprinting out. "What just happened?" She cried.

"Sorry Professor. I lost control and shot the entire lake at Malfoy," Victoria confessed. Professor McGonagall dismissed the rest of us, and we quickly headed inside. The Gryffindors all left for Charms which left me to wonder when Victoria would be back. I hoped she wouldn't be in to much trouble. I also hoped that she hadn't just given away our quest. After all, I didn't know if there was a spell to control water, but no third year was probably powerful enough to lift the lake.