Something Was Wrong with Hagrid
"Ugh. Classes came back way too fast. I still had so many things planned. Ice skating, resting… resting… well, I didn't really have that many plans," Daphne said as the group, now carrying their backpacks full of books and school supplies, walked through the castle corridors on their way to class.
It was true that the break had felt ridiculously short. Maybe because, in the end, they had spent the entire holiday stuck inside the castle with all the other students. And they really couldn't make that much… noise, you could say, since all the usual Hogwarts rules were still very much in place. Curfews and everything else. The only real difference was that they didn't have to study. And the professors were always keeping an eye on everyone to make sure they didn't go too far, or they'd end up punished, like the Weasley twins, who had ultimately spent the entire holiday cleaning the castle trophies thanks to a rather vindictive prank on Filch.
Which, honestly, a lot of people thought they had earned, since he seemed to genuinely enjoy trying to ruin everyone's vacation and fun, to the point that it had practically become his hobby. Though after that, he did seem to calm down a little… or at least he had been far too busy watching the twins every second to make sure they actually finished the work.
Of course, no one would say that the twins' pockets had apparently ended up a little heavier with shiny Galleons or anything like that. Even if pretty much everyone had made a small donation to them for keeping Filch too occupied to bother the rest. So maybe those two had officially started working as mercenaries.
But that would be a story for another time.
"At least we've got calm classes today. History with Professor Binns and Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid," Hermione said, who, as usual, seemed to be the only one not sharing everyone else's joy over not having classes.
"Speaking of that, Aunt Narcissa is still busy. It looks like Professor Binns is the only one who's actually been teaching lately," she added, glancing at Draco for a moment.
"Mm. Yeah. She's… been acting a little strange since the death of… my aunt," Draco said, even though he really didn't like calling one of the Dark Lord's most loyal psychopaths his aunt. But for the sake of his mother, who seemed genuinely affected, he would have to tolerate it.
"Now that you mention it, my father also seems way too busy lately. I barely see him hovering around my mother like he usually does," Daphne added.
"Uncle Edward's going to be offended if he hears you say that," Harry said lightly.
"What? It's true. My mother going more than a day without his company is already unusual," Daphne replied.
"Now that I think about it, Lupin also seems much busier than usual. Even though he normally does all of Sirius's work, he should still be here doing the same. But Sirius has been surprisingly… cooperative as Headmaster and actually doing the job. And the last thing I heard from Tonks is that they seem to be looking for something, but they couldn't tell us what," Harry added with a thoughtful expression.
"As always, adults keeping things from us," Daphne said with a sarcastic tone. "And Kreacher still hasn't woken up even with Aunt Wanda's magic," she added, a faint annoyance slipping into her voice.
"I think it's more that it probably doesn't have much to do with us. We already get into enough trouble with our own things, so knowing more probably wouldn't help us," Hermione said.
"I suppose you're right. Sometimes it's better to let the adults handle things and stop sticking our noses everywhere. After all, we're still busy enough with the tournament and all of that," Draco added quietly. Even though he was worried about his mother, Hermione did have a point.
And sometimes they really did get carried away, only to end up in danger. And now that this seemed like something unrelated to them, maybe they could just focus on the one problem right in front of them, which was classes and the tournament.
"Those words only make me feel like this is going to come back and bite us in the arse," Harry said gloomily, sounding almost prophetic.
The group kept walking, chatting quietly as they made their way outside the castle, more specifically toward Hagrid's hut, where he was supposed to be teaching Care of Magical Creatures.
But when they got close to the door, they saw an elderly woman with very short gray hair and a rather prominent chin.
"Hurry along now. The bell rang five minutes ago already," she said when she saw them approaching.
Everyone frowned slightly at the sight of her, not recognizing her at all.
"Who are you?" Daphne asked. "Where is Hagr… Professor Hagrid?" she added.
"I am Professor Grubbly-Plank. I will be filling in for Professor Hagrid in Care of Magical Creatures," the woman said, with a slight spark of enthusiasm in her voice and a soft smile.
"Excuse me, where is Professor Hagrid?" Harry asked again, this time more politely.
"He's indisposed," she replied, ending her answer there with a calm look, without adding anything else.
Just making the three of them look at her for a moment with slight frowns.
But of course, not everything about this day seemed to be going wonderfully, especially when they heard the mocking laughter coming from behind them, which made the four of them, almost at the same time, as if they had practiced it, roll their eyes before turning around and seeing Carrow and the rest of the Slytherin students who still followed him approaching.
The other Slytherins were simply walking behind them, but more because they were heading in the same direction. Since for quite some time now, there seemed to be a rather intense divide inside the house of serpents. There were those who had started making friends with the other houses eagerly and with genuine interest, and those who still believed they were the noblest house in the castle, one the other houses did not deserve to befriend.
But to be honest, that latter group seemed to be losing by far.
Though that still did not stop them from being annoying simply by existing.
Carrow and the others only paused long enough to give them mocking smiles as they passed, heading straight toward Professor Grubbly-Plank, as if they were not surprised to see her there.
And even genuinely pleased.
At that, it felt like the group had missed something.
And it had to do with Hagrid.
Maybe having too much fun during the holidays had made them stop paying attention to what was happening around them.
So even as they followed the professor, who was leading them toward the paddocks where Beauxbatons' winged horses were being kept, the four of them could not help glancing toward Hagrid's hut, which looked completely shut up, even the curtains drawn.
Meanwhile, Professor Grubbly-Plank led them toward the paddock, or rather a little beyond it, where tied to one of the trees stood a majestic unicorn that seemed to be waiting there.
At the sight of the unicorn, many of the girls sighed dreamily, but very quickly, everyone seemed to go pale as they remembered the first task of the tournament.
And none of them wanted to take another step forward.
Only the professor kept walking.
To the point that, by the time she noticed, every student had stayed several metres away, all of them wearing cautious expressions as they stared at the unicorn.
"Come along, now. Get closer. Unicorns aren't nearly that dangerous. Though it is better if the girls approach it directly rather than the boys," the professor said in a rather loud, dry tone.
But those words only made the girls shake their heads instantly.
Approach a unicorn?
Was she insane?
And on top of that, the girls?
Who exactly had said unicorns were only friendly to women?
Had no one learned anything from Fleur Delacour?
The professor looked at them for a moment, frowning, clearly sensing that the students were not exactly listening to her.
Seeing that, she had no choice but to start taking the girls one by one and trying to bring them closer to the unicorn.
And the first student to be forcibly grabbed by the hand was Lavender Brown from Gryffindor, who ended up being dragged forward while pleading for mercy.
And the moment she was left standing in front of the unicorn, she burst into tears and ran for her life, leaving both the professor and, likewise, the unicorn with thoroughly confused expressions.
So the professor had to go after the student herself, leaving everyone else there waiting.
Meanwhile, the rest of the students only stared at the unicorn from a distance, with no desire whatsoever to get any closer, simply staying where they were and talking among themselves while waiting for the professor to come back.
Harry, Draco, Hermione, and Daphne knew perfectly well where that fear came from.
And it was all the fault of one of Red's squad members, Destroyer.
That alone made it slightly amusing to them, thinking about the possible fear of unicorns it had caused, knowing full well that it had been a very special case.
"Hey… did you lot know about Hagrid?" Neville said as he walked over to them, lowering his voice into a murmur.
Though it seemed that this had caught the attention of several people nearby.
Especially Carrow and his followers.
"Know what?" Harry asked lightly.
"Oh, you don't know… Potter?" Carrow said, cutting in with an irritatingly arrogant smile, while at the same time slipping a hand into his robes and pulling out what looked like a page from the newspaper.
Even though Harry normally hated touching anything that had passed through Carrow's hands, this time, the moment he saw the bold, eye-catching headline next to a picture of Hagrid that looked as though it had been ripped straight out of some childish monster story, he could not help snatching the page from his hands and reading it carefully.
His frown deepened with every second.
And for an instant, his eyes even flashed red with a coldness that made several of the people around him stop smiling.