Another Prisoner, Another Professor

If there was anyone who could have used a full Patronus, however, it was Hagrid. Harry went to visit him the next day along with Ron and Hermione, who had decided not to go to Hogsmeade with the rest of their year. Buckbeak was standing in the melting snow outside Hagrid's hut, one leg chained to an iron spike in the ground; Harry bowed to him, but Buckbeak didn't seem to notice. He was too busy using his beak to gently nudge Hagrid, who was sitting on the snow beside him sobbing loudly.

"Hagrid, it's all right!" Hermione said, rushing over to him. "Professor Black and Brutus Swift are going to get Buckbeak acquitted - "

"Can' ask them ter do that," Hagrid said, his voice unsteady. Enormous tears were running down his face and falling into his beard. "Not wi' everything tha's happenin' with Sirius and the Malfoys - "

"You don't have to ask them," Harry said, "they're going to do it - they'd much rather have it out with the Malfoys than let Buckbeak be executed. Hagrid, guess what? I'm going to go live with Sirius this summer."

Hagrid's sobbing stopped abruptly. "Yer goin' teh - "

"Live with Sirius, yeah," Harry said, grinning. "My godfather."

"How'd yeh find out he was yer -" Hagrid stopped and shook his head. "No, no, don't tell me. Yeh were sneakin' around and gettin' into things yeh were s'pposed to stay out of, if I know yeh."

"Yeah, pretty much," Harry said. "Come on, let's go inside."

"Yeh'll like livin' with Sirius," Hagrid said to Harry once they were inside the hut. He was standing with his back to the fireplace, trying to dry where the snow had got his trousers wet. "Knows everythin' there is teh know 'bout yer parents - met yer dad on their first day o' Hogwarts an' was best man when yer parents got married. Used ter look after yeh a fair bit when yeh were a baby, too - well, looked after yeh an' Neville Longbottom - "

"What?" Harry said. "He - I knew Neville when I was a baby?"

"Oh, yeah," Hagrid replied, turning to one side to dry more of his trousers. "Yer parents would take the two o' yeh teh strategy meetings - for the war, yeh know - an' yeh'd crawl around on yer blankets on the floor wi' all yer little toy animals. He was born just before yeh - we were all bettin' on whether yer mums were havin' girls or boys, I lost ten Galleons bettin' yeh would both be girls - "

When they took him to the big house and he lay on his blanket with his animals and with the other boy and his animals, the round boy - suddenly, another part of Harry's dream in the hospital wing made sense. "What did Neville's - " he started to ask, but Hagrid cut him off.

"At least Buckbeak's in good spirits," he said, pulling out a chair from the table and sitting down. "Poor beast don't know what they said about 'im. Gotta try an' enjoy it while it lasts - I'm not s'pposed to let 'im off that chain out there, and who knows what he'll be like after months o' not flyin'."

"You're not supposed to let him off the chain at all?" Ron asked. "Blimey - when's the appeal, anyway?"

"Not scheduled yet." There was a plate of cake in the middle of the table; Hagrid took the knife next to it and began to hack a piece loose. "Prob'ly June at the earliest. Can't imagine it'll be later than next October - "

"Next October? Next October we'll be fourth-years - they'll probably catch Lupin before Buckbeak gets back in court!"

"Yeah, well, that's the Ministry," said Hagrid. "Lots o' convictions, not much chance o' gettin' off."

Harry certainly hoped that was true when it came to the Malfoys. As Valentine's Day came around, they were still banished from their manor - a situation that delighted Ron, seeing as Harry was going to move into a manor himself in another few months.

Even before Ginny Weasley had sent a dwarf to sing a love poem at him, Harry had never liked Valentine's Day. Back on Privet Drive, Valentine's Day was the day that Uncle Vernon wore his red tie to work, while Aunt Petunia spent hours watching soppy films and Dudley ate his way through the enormous heart-shaped box of chocolate she gave him every year. There was one silver lining, though: if Dudley actually bothered to look at the back of the box and didn't just stuff all the chocolates in his mouth, he would leave the coconut ones for Harry. Dudley loved doughnuts and ice cream and anything fried, but he'd never developed a taste for coconut.

This Valentine's Day, however, was the strangest one he could remember. Brutus Swift was trying to determine his possible witnesses and had sent word through Black that he wanted to know as soon as possible whether there was any point in considering Pansy Parkinson. "By the end of the day, we've got to figure out whether Malfoy and Pansy are getting along," Hermione informed Harry and Ron at breakfast. "So keep an eye on them."

Harry glanced over at the Slytherin table. Malfoy was saying something to Crabbe, while Pansy, several seats away, was looking over Daphne Greengrass's shoulder to read a lacy pink card.

"How are we supposed to know what that means?" demanded Ron, who was looking in the same direction Harry was. "So they're not sitting near each other. Does that mean she hates his guts, or does that mean one of them got to breakfast late?"

"That means something's not right between them, Ron," said Hermione, as though this were all very obvious. "The one who got their first didn't save a seat for the other, and she hasn't got any card of her own to look at."

Harry and Ron exchanged dubious glances. "Hermione," Harry said, "can you really imagine Malfoy having anything to do with pink lace?"

"Exactly," said Ron. "Besides, what's-her-name aside, how do we know Slytherins even go in for all that stuff? They probably give each other dead snakes tied in love knots or something."

"Well, she should at least be sitting with him," Hermione said. "I can't imagine that she'd just ignore him on Valentine's Day if they were getting along."

"That who would ignore who?" asked Ginny, overhearing them from across the table. "Are you talking about Percy and Penelope?"

"No," said Ron, at the same time Hermione said, "No, what about them?"

"I think they've broken up," Ginny replied. "I was walking just behind him on my way in here, and the two of them walked right past each other and didn't say anything."

Harry's eyes searched up and down the table for Percy, but he couldn't see him anywhere. Suddenly, he wondered if Cho Chang had got a Valentine's card from Cedric Diggory.

In Potions class they were chopping kneazle livers for Cough-Suppressant Solutions, the first medicinal potion Snape had ever assigned them. "How's the hippogriff, Potter?" Malfoy drawled. "Keeping his feathers clean? Father's planning to have his head mounted and put on the wall after the execution."

"Your father's planning to have his own head mounted and put on a wall?" Harry asked. "Are they going to leave his eyes or put in glass ones?"

"The hippogriff's head, Potter," Malfoy snapped. "That idiot Hagrid isn't thinking his bird's actually going to get off, is he? As if the Ministry would ever believe a criminal oaf like him over - "

"Over who, the criminal oafs in your family? They let Hagrid out of Azkaban, the Ministry realized he didn't do anything. When is your aunt Bellatrix getting out?"

"Shut up about my aunt, Potter," Malfoy hissed.

"Where's your father planning to put Buckbeak's head, your parlor? Oh, I forgot - he can't put it anywhere in your house, your family got booted out by the Aurors. Where are your parents living now, their lawyer's cellar?"

"Where do you live when you go back to those Muggles every summer? Isn't it a cupboard under the stairs?"

"Not for the last few years," Harry replied. "Want to know where I'm living this summer, Malfoy? Your mum's family's ancestral home."

Malfoy's jaw dropped for a split second before he recovered. "You're lying," he said, taking another liver. "As if I'm stupid enough to believe that."

"Believe what you want," Harry said. "Oh, by the way - next time you talk to your parents, tell them Kreacher won't be coming to visit anymore. Sirius found out."

This time when Malfoy's jaw dropped, he didn't shut his mouth."He's my godfather," Harry said. "Didn't your mum ever tell you that?"

Malfoy didn't answer; instead, he reached for his dandelion roots and started to shred them. "You're going to be living with Black?" he asked after a few seconds had passed. There was an unmistakable smirk on his face.

"Yeah," Harry replied. "D'you need me to write it down for you?"

"Just the two of you? All alone in that house?"

Harry couldn't see what Malfoy was trying to get at. "And Kreacher. Does that make sense, Malfoy? Do you want me to repeat it again?"

"I hope you're not expecting to get a godmother someday," Malfoy drawled. "Because I really doubt you will."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Harry said, reaching for his own dandelion roots. "You know how much I care about what you think."

Hermione was exasperated when she found out that Harry hadn't managed to find anything out about Malfoy and Pansy. "You sat next to him for a whole class and you didn't even try?"

"How was I supposed to try?" Harry retorted. "It's not like Malfoy's going to start pouring his heart out to me about his undying love for Pansy Parkinson."

"Yeah," said Ron. "You try it, Hermione, you're the one who knows about this stuff."

"Fine," Hermione replied crisply. "I will."

"Harry! Harry!"

Harry turned around; Colin Creevey was standing behind him in the corridor, looking uncharacteristically nervous. "Harry, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure," Harry said. Ron glanced at him, shrugged, and kept walking with Hermione. "What is it?"

Colin took a deep breath and pressed his lips together. "You know all the Weasleys, don't you? Because Ron's your friend?"

"Well, yeah," Harry said. "Except his two eldest brothers, I haven't met them yet - " Colin's eyes darted back and forth, as though he was trying to see who might be watching them. "Why?"

"Do you - " Colin stopped for a second and took another breath. "Do you think that if I gave Ginny a Valentine's card she'd like it?"

Harry blinked. "You mean, like - because you want her to be your girlfriend?"

"No," Colin said miserably. "My dad says I can't have a girlfriend until I'm a third-year. Just - so she knows I like her. You don't think she'd laugh, do you? Even if she doesn't like me that way?"

"Well - I don't think so," Harry said. "But, look, Colin, just so you know, she really fancied me a lot last year - I don't fancy her, but - "

"I know," Colin said. He poked at a spot on the floor with the toe of his shoe. "But you don't think she'd laugh, right? Or say something mean about me?"

"I don't think so," Harry said. "I guess you won't know until you try, though..."

"Thanks," said Colin, and dashed off down the corridor. Harry watched him as he ran, trying to take in the concept of tiny little Colin Creevey wanting a girlfriend.

At lunch there were heart-shaped pink cakes for dessert. "Pansy's still not sitting with Malfoy," Hermione said. "I think it's off for good with them. I don't think she'll agree to testify, though - look at all those girls around her." Pansy was surrounded by her usual gang. "They're not going to like her testifying against someone from their house and she's not going to want to be left with no friends."

In Defense Against the Dark Arts they were studying how to identify magical poisons. "I'm going to give each one of you a clear glass bottle," Black said, handing one to Dean. "Do not open them under any circumstances. Five of you are getting bottles with poison and three of you are getting bottles with harmless liquids. By the end of class I want everyone to have looked at everyone else's bottle and written down which bottles they think have poison in them."

Harry's bottle was half full with a brown liquid that moved slowly when he tilted the bottle. "Yours has got to be syrup," Ron said, looking at it. "So that's one of the non-poison ones - "

"Ron, it could be augurey blood mixed with ground mandrake leaves!" Hermione exclaimed. "Look, it says right here, 'when combined, the two usually benign substances undergo a chemical reaction that results in a dark poisonous liquid - '"

"Here, let me see yours," Lavender said, reaching for Hermione's bottle. The substance inside was transparent and light orange. "I think this one is viscesia powder in water - oh, I've been meaning to ask you, have you still got that letter from Astrophil?"

Hermione regarded her warily. "Why?"

"Parvati and I want to see if we can figure out who wrote it," Lavender replied. In honor of Valentine's Day, she had braided red ribbons in her hair. "How did your cat get it, anyway?"

"I don't know," Hermione said, "he just had it all of a sudden after we got off the train at the start of the year."

"Well, can we see it?"

Hermione didn't reply. "Okay," she said after a few seconds. "But it's not mine and I don't want everyone saying it is, all right?"

"Fine with me," said Lavender. "Harry, can I smell your bottle?" Harry handed it to her. "Maple syrup - definitely maple syrup."

Lavender was right; Harry, Parvati and Seamus were the three members of the class who had normal liquids, while everyone else had poison. "We think Pansy and Malfoy broke up," Harry said quietly to Black as the class was leaving. "But Hermione doesn't think she'll testify."

"All right," Black replied. "I'll pass it on. I was thinking, do you have a good shirt for Easter?"

"I'm not sure," Harry said. "What counts as a good shirt?"

"Something with a collar and buttons," Ron said. "He hasn't got one."

"We'll figure that out later," Black said. "See you at dinner, all right?"

"Not for long," Harry said. "Wood's making us do extra Quidditch practice."

Wood had managed to make himself unpopular with his teammates before, but Harry thought he might have really done it for good this time. They had only been allowed ten minutes to eat dinner before going out to the Quidditch pitch; the snow might have been melting, but the wind was still cold, and Alicia Spinnet was complaining because Wood had shouted for her to hurry up and get to practice just as Kenneth Towler was trying to tell her something.

Fred and Angelina weren't speaking to each other, for some reason, and that meant that George wasn't speaking to Angelina, either. Katie wanted to be excused from practice because her nose kept dripping. "No one is excused from practice!" Wood yelled over the sound of the wind. There was a manic gleam in his eye. "We've got no idea what the weather is going to be like when we play Slytherin! Here, Katie, stuff this up your nose and breathe through your mouth."

"What would you do if her arm froze off?" George asked. "Stick a bandage by her shoulder and make her get back on her broom?"

Wood ignored him. "Reflex drills! Fred and George, I want you to hit bludgers at all of us. Don't go in any kind of order, we shouldn't be expecting them. Everyone else, dodge the bludgers!"

"Is it just me," George said to Harry as he started to free the bludgers from their box, "or does he seem happier than usual?"

It was an hour before Wood declared they were allowed to go inside; no one had got hit by a bludger, but Angelina was claiming that Fred had hit them more towards her than towards anyone else. To Harry's surprise, Ron and Hermione were waiting for him right inside the castle door. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Well, first," Ron began, "Colin Creevey is holding hands with my sister. Second - "

"Second," Hermione interjected, "I think we're going to be able to get Pansy Parkinson to testify. All the Slytherin girls got Valentine cards from Malfoy, and when they opened them up the cards said how ugly they were - Millicent Bulstrode threw a sweet at his head, so he tried to hex her and then Daphne Greengrass hit him in the nose - "

Harry stared. "What? Wait a minute - why would Malfoy want to - " Hermione was carefully avoiding his eyes. "Hermione! What did you do?"

"It's in Buckbeak's best interests," Hermione said at once. "The Malfoys are willing to lie and cheat to win this and we've got to beat them at their own game."