Lydia's Story

Gathering up her supplies, Lydia hurried out of her Charms class, eager to get to Care of Magical Creatures. Most of the class had already left, though Lydia was too distracted by her own thoughts to notice. Stepping into the corridor, she almost ran into Draco, flanked as usual by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Watch your step," he said with a smile, his silvery eyes sparkling, "I wouldn't want you to get hurt!"

Lydia felt the colour rise in her face as she looked up at him. "Draco! What are you doing here?"

"Getting you, of course!" he said with a laugh. "I thought I would walk you to class. Why? Aren't you happy to see me?"

"Of course I am!" Lydia exclaimed, her face glowing. "I just didn't expect to see you, that's all. How did you know where I was?"

"Well, you showed me your timetable yesterday," Draco said with a shrug. "So I, well, memorized it."

Lydia stared at him for a moment, not sure what to say. She had never had friends who cared enough to learn her schedule. In fact, she didn't even know her own schedule yet.

How can someone this sweet ever be a Death Eater? she thought to herself, the colour in her cheeks deepening.

She was pulled out of her stupor as Draco spoke again. "We should get going. Care of Magical Creatures is outside, we still have a bit of a walk."

Nodding, Lydia followed him through the corridors and out into the grounds. She could see a group of students gathering around a cabin in the distance. As she approached, she could make out a few familiar faces in the crowd. Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood talking with Hagrid, while Pansy stood with a group of Slytherin girls. As Lydia and Draco came closer, Lydia saw Pansy look up at her with a sickened expression. Hagrid, however, gave Lydia a warm smile, which seemed to dissolve like Harry's at the sight of Draco.

Why do they all do that? she thought with exasperation, glancing at Draco out of the corner of her eye. He doesn't seem like a Death Eater, even if his father is. Is Hogwarts always this prejudiced about a person's family? Her mind flashed back to the image of the school staring at her as she sat to get sorted, and she had a grim feeling that she was right.

"Alrigh', is everyone 'ere?" Hagrid called out, looking at the scattered crowd around him. "We'll be workin' at the lake today. Off yeh go!" He shooed them away with his enormous hands before bending down to pick up a gigantic bag at his feet.

"Wonder what he's got this time?" Lydia heard one of Pansy's friends mutter darkly as they began to walk towards the lake.

"Well it can't be anything good, can it?" Pansy replied. "I don't know why I even bothered taking his class this year!" Even as she said this, Lydia saw her shoot a longing look at Draco, and was quite sure she knew why she was there.

As they made their way towards the lake, Lydia noticed that Draco seemed to be getting more and more nervous. She saw him glance back to where Hagrid walked, carrying the mysterious bag.

"Are you okay?" Lydia asked quietly, so that only Draco would hear her.

"Uh...yeah, fine," Draco said, trying to force his face into a normal smile. "I just...don't like this class very much." Lydia noticed that his face looked very pale.

"Why not?" Lydia asked, starting to get a bit nervous herself.

"Well, his animals are always kind of...dangerous," he said, his face paling even more.

Lydia had no time to ask anything else, as they had just reached the lake's sandy shore. Hagrid stepped forward and put the bag down carefully. He looked around at the crowd of nervous students, his face in a wide smile.

"Yeh'll like these fer sure," he said happily. Lydia felt a shudder run through the crowd: apparently, this was a bad sign. "What I've got 'ere is some food ter lure 'em over. Everyone grab a handful, an' spread out along the lake!"

After a brief hesitation, the students went one by one to the massive bag and pulled out a handful of the mysterious seeds. Lydia went to a space along the edge of the shore, making sure to leave room for Draco. Sure enough, he made his way towards her a moment later, closely examining the seeds in his hand.

"Well, at least they don't eat meat!" he said at last, a relieved expression spreading across his face.

"Righ' then," Hagrid called, his voice booming from his post next to the feed sac, "throw yer seeds in ter the water. Yeh may have ter wait a bit before they come."

Lydia sprinkled the small round seeds into the water, watching them closely. As the seeds hit the water, they began to swell to the size of pumpkin seeds. They floated on the surface for a moment. Then, squirting out a strange red liquid, they deflated back to their original apple seed size and sunk down to the sandy bottom.

"Weird," Lydia muttered to herself, still watching the seeds. Her thoughts were interrupted as Draco suddenly tugged on her sleeve.

"Look!" he hissed quietly, pointing out towards the lake. Squinting, Lydia could make out a few dark shapes moving through the water. They were swimming towards them, and as they got closer Lydia could see that they were only about the size of cats. In fact...

"What the - " Lydia heard Harry exclaim from his post near Hagrid.

As the creatures came into the shallows, Lydia saw that they looked remarkably like cats. They had sleek, silvery fur covering their body. A long, fish-like tail propelled them through the water, also covered in fur. Their feet were webbed, and definitely larger than normal cat feet. Their faces were shaped just like a cat's, except that two small, vertical slits served as a nose.

Lydia, who was watching the strange creatures prowl through the shallows, was surprised to see them step out of the water in their quest for food.

"As yeh can see," Hagrid explained loudly, as several students stepped back, "catfish are amphibious. These ones 'ere 'ave jus' matured. When they're born, they jus' look like fish with whiskers. Their gills closed jus' yesterday." Hagrid sounded like a proud father announcing his son's graduation.

"Er - aren't they supposed to eat the seeds?" Harry asked as the creatures prowled around restlessly.

"Nah, they weren't real seeds, jus' a little something to lure 'em over," Hagrid explained.

"What exactly?" Harry asked, his eyes locked on the creatures.

"Fish-blood pellets," Hagrid said calmly. "Grown catfish usually eat smaller fish."

The class was a double period, and Lydia found herself enjoying her time very much. The catfish were very tame, and seemed to enjoy watching the students as they took the notes and sketches they needed. Even Draco seemed happy after he found out that the catfish didn't eat anything larger than themselves. He sat next to Lydia on the grass by the lake, sharing his treats from that morning and comparing notes. Crabbe and Goyle stood nearby, looking lost and abandoned.

Too soon for Lydia's liking, the bell sounded from the school for the end of class.

"That's all fer today!" Hagrid boomed, hoisting his bag onto his shoulder. He made his way back to his cabin, Harry, Ron, and Hermione following along.

Sighing, Lydia looked up at the sunny sky. There wasn't a single cloud above them, and the breeze off the lake made it a perfect temperature. "It's too nice to go back in!" she said wistfully.

"Well, we don't need to," Draco said with a smile, lying on the ground with his Chocolate Frog. "We can just have lunch out here, if you like." He gestured to the bag of treats lying beside him, raising an eyebrow hopefully at Lydia.

Leaning back in the grass, Lydia could hear a lone bird singing sweetly from the trees of the Forest. With another wistful sigh she looked back at Draco, his white-blond hair gleaming in the summer sun.

"Pass me a cauldron cake, then."

*~*~*~*~*

Over at Hagrid's cabin, Harry and the others were sitting down for a cup of tea, hoping to catch up on recent news.

"You're looking a lot...better, Hagrid," Hermione said, voicing what had been on each of their minds. "How have things been going with Grawp?"

Hagrid heaved a sigh as he passed her a steaming cup. "Well, things 'ave been going better than I could've hoped, I guess," he passed out the last few cups and gave a small smile. "Dumbledore saw Grawp in the Forest when he went fer that Umbridge hag, an' we had a long talk over the summer about what ter do with him. Dumbledore said that it was too dangerous ter keep Grawp in the Forest."

"I could have told you that much," Harry heard Ron mutter under his breath.

Hagrid continued without noticing. "He thought it would be better ter keep Grawp further outta reach. If You-Know-Who found out that there was another giant around...well...we didn' want that ter happen. So he arranged it with the Minister ter get Grawp moved someplace safer." He paused to take a drink from his bucket-like mug.

"So where is he now?" Hermione asked, her voice slightly nervous.

"The Ministry built a place fer him, a kinda indoor park. They thought it would be good ter 'ave a giant on their side. It's underground, and protected by loads 'o enchantments. I can still go ter visit him, and he's a lot happier than he was in the Forest, seein' as he's not tied up anymore."

"That's great, Hagrid!" Hermione exclaimed, her face reflecting the same relief that Ron and Harry felt. None of them were eager to help Hagrid's half-brother further his education.

"Yeah," Hagrid sighed, giving another small smile. "I jus' sorta miss the little guy sometimes."

Harry and Ron exchanged glances, both of them keeping their mouths shut. They had trouble associating Grawp with the word "little". Hermione patted Hagrid's arm gently, but apparently had nothing to say either.

"Well, that's enough about me. What's bin happening ter all 'o yeh?" Hagrid said at last, blinking away large tears that had threatened to rise.

"Harry's been made Quidditch Captain!" Ron said at once, beaming at his friend. "Of course, we all knew it was going to happen, him starting as the youngest player in a century and all."

Harry felt the colour rise in his face as Hagrid bellowed his congratulations. He had been overjoyed to get the letter that summer, and his excitement still hadn't completely worn off. They sat talking about some of his plans for the team, Hermione gazing idly around the room. She didn't speak until the others had paused to take a drink.

"Hagrid, what do you think of Lydia?"

Harry froze momentarily with his mug at his lips, his eyes on Hagrid. He heard Ron choke on his tea next to him.

"She seems nice," Hagrid said simply, his voice very calm. "I don't see why so many people don't like her."

"But...she's a Meliflua," Ron said, having recovered from his coughing fit. "Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"Sure it does! I know jus' as much as anyone else. All I'm saying is yeh can't decide if you like her or not by her family. Look at Sirius' family, look at my mother! People don't always follow their families. Dumbledore trusts her, an' that's good enough fer me."

Neither Ron nor Hermione had anything to say to this. Harry felt his spirits lift, realizing that Hagrid agreed with him. He had felt like the only one who believed in Lydia.

You're forgetting Malfoy, his mind sneered. Malfoy seems to believe in her, too!

Harry took a long drink from his enormous mug, trying to block out this very discomforting thought.

*~*~*~*~*

Down at the water's edge, Lydia and Draco had exhausted their supply of junk food. A last box of Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans lay between them, surrounded by a wide assortment of empty wrappers. Both Lydia and Draco lay on the grass, their stomachs feeling very full. Lydia was watching the clouds overhead, trying to pick out shapes among the fluffy formations.

"That one kinda looks like a rabbit," she said, pointing to one directly overhead. "Don't you think?"

"A bit, I guess," Draco said, tilting his head this way and that to see it from all angles. "I see a rat, myself."

"What about that one?" Lydia pointed a cloud to the right. "Doesn't it look like a phoenix?"

"Hmm...Dragon, I'd say. And that one over there looks like a Dementor," he added, pointing to the far left.

Lydia looked at him, her expression confused. "Don't you see anything happy?"

Draco gave a small shrug, still scanning the skies with his eyes. "I don't know. That one looks like a snake, does that count?"

"Who thinks a snake is happy?" Lydia exclaimed, sitting up. Her eyes were still locked on Draco, who turned his eyes to her.

"Hey! I'm a Slytherin, remember?" he said, a shadow of a smirk playing at his features. "Anyway, it's no big deal, right? They're just clouds."

Lydia didn't know what to say. Her mind went back to Harry's warning, which had been following her all day. Was Harry right, or was he just spiteful and paranoid?

Lydia, distracted by her thoughts, jumped as a candy bounced off the side of her head.

"Hey!" she said, looking at Draco. He was sitting up, the box of Every-Flavour Beans in his hand. "What was that for?"

He smiled at her mischievously, his silver eyes shining. "You were thinking about something else. I wanted your attention back on me!"

Smiling in spite of herself, Lydia moved next to him, sitting on his left. Draco reached into the box again, pulling out a patchy, multicoloured bean.

"Here, try this," he said, holding out the bean. Lydia took the candy cautiously, her eyes watching Draco's expression. "Go ahead, eat it. Or are you too scared?" he added, raising an eyebrow at her.

Without thinking, Lydia threw the candy into her mouth. The moment she bit into it, she wished she hadn't.

"Blech!" she exclaimed, trying to spit the taste out of her mouth. "What was that?"

Draco was laughing too hard to answer. When at last the laughing slowed, he managed to speak. "Paint," he said, still gasping for breath. "Sorry, but your face was priceless. Anyway, you deserved it after bugging me about the clouds!"

Lydia scowled at him, the horrible taste still in her mouth. "That wasn't funny!" she said, slapping him across the arm.

She had slapped lightly, so she was surprised when Draco cried out in pain. He jolted away from her, his hand clasped over his forearm.

"Oh, Draco! Are you okay?" Lydia gasped, her angry pretence gone. "I'm so sorry! Here, let me look at it!"

"NO!" Draco barked, pulling his arm out of her reach. He was breathing very fast, his face tense. Closing his eyes, he took a few deep breaths. When he spoke again, his voice was much more composed. "Sorry about that. I hurt my arm the other night, it's still sensitive."

"Did you go to the Hospital Wing?" Lydia asked, her face shining with concern.

"No it's...it's nothing serious.

Lydia watched him uncertainly, but said nothing.