Harry Potter 05 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

probation already …’
    ‘Um … what sort of thing are you planning to do with us in class, Hagrid?’ asked Hermione.
    ‘Oh, don’ you worry abou’ that, I’ve got a great load o’ lessons planned,’ said Hagrid enthusiastically, scooping up his dragon steak from the table and slapping it over his eye again. ‘I’ve bin keepin’ a couple o’ creatures saved fer yer O.W.L. year; you wait, they’re somethin’ really special.’
    ‘Erm … special in what way?’ asked Hermione tentatively.
    ‘I’m not sayin’,’ said Hagrid happily. ‘I don’ want ter spoil the surprise.’
    ‘Look, Hagrid,’ said Hermione urgently, dropping all pretence, ‘Professor Umbridge won’t be at all happy if you bring anything to class that’s too dangerous.’
    ‘Dangerous?’ said Hagrid, looking genially bemused. ‘Don’ be silly, I wouldn’ give yeh anythin’ dangerous! I mean, all righ’, they can look after themselves –’
    ‘Hagrid, you’ve got to pass Umbridge’s inspection, and to do that it would really be better if she saw you teaching us how to look after Porlocks, how to tell the difference between Knarls and hedgehogs, stuff like that!’ said Hermione earnestly.
    ‘But tha’s not very interestin’, Hermione,’ said Hagrid. ‘The stuff I’ve got’s much more impressive. I’ve bin bringin’ ’em on fer years, I reckon I’ve got the on’y domestic herd in Britain.’
    ‘Hagrid … please …’ said Hermione, a note of real desperation in her voice. ‘Umbridge is looking for any excuse to get rid of teachers she thinks are too close to Dumbledore. Please, Hagrid, teach us something dull that’s bound to come up in our O.W.L.’
    But Hagrid merely yawned widely and cast a one-eyed look of longing towards the vast bed in the corner.
    ‘Lis’en, it’s bin a long day an’ it’s late,’ he said, patting Hermione gently on the shoulder, so that her knees gave way and hit the floor with a thud. ‘Oh – sorry –’ He pulled her back up by the neck of her robes. ‘Look, don’ you go worryin’ abou’ me, I promise yeh I’ve got really good stuff planned fer yer lessons now I’m back … now you lot had better get back up to the castle, an’ don’ forget ter wipe yer footprints out behind yeh!’
    ‘I dunno if you got through to him,’ said Ron a short while later when, having checked that the coast was clear, they walked back up to the castle through the thickening snow, leaving no trace behind them due to the Obliteration Charm Hermione was performing as they went.
    ‘Then I’ll go back again tomorrow,’ said Hermione determinedly. ‘I’ll plan his lessons for him if I have to. I don’t care if she throws out Trelawney but she’s not getting rid of Hagrid!’

 
     
— CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE —
     
The Eye of the Snake
    Hermione ploughed her way back to Hagrid’s cabin through two feet of snow on Sunday morning. Harry and Ron wanted to go with her, but their mountain of homework had reached an alarming height again, so they remained grudgingly in the common room, trying to ignore the gleeful shouts drifting up from the grounds outside, where students were enjoying themselves skating on the frozen lake, tobogganing and, worst of all, bewitching snowballs to zoom up to Gryffindor Tower and rap hard on the windows.
    ‘Oi!’ bellowed Ron, finally losing patience and sticking his head out of the window, ‘I am a prefect and if one more snowball hits this window – OUCH!’
    He withdrew his head sharply, his face covered in snow.
    ‘It’s Fred and George,’ he said bitterly, slamming the window behind him. ‘Gits …’
    Hermione returned from Hagrid’s just before lunch, shivering slightly, her robes damp to the knees.
    ‘So?’ said Ron, looking up when she entered. ‘Got all his lessons planned for him?’
    ‘Well, I tried,’ she said dully, sinking into a chair beside Harry. She pulled out her wand and gave it a complicated little wave so that hot air streamed out of the tip; she then pointed this at her robes, which began to steam as they dried out. ‘He wasn’t even there when I arrived, I was knocking for at least half an hour. And then he came stumping out of the Forest –’
    Harry groaned. The Forbidden Forest was teeming with the kind of creatures most likely to get Hagrid the sack. ‘What’s he keeping in there? Did he say?’ he asked.
    ‘No,’ said Hermione miserably. ‘He says he wants them to be a surprise. I tried to explain