Harry Potter 06 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Voldemort doesn’t need someone at Hogwarts? It wouldn’t be the first –’
    ‘I wish yeh’d stop sayin’ tha’ name, Harry,’ said a reproachful voice behind them. Harry looked over his shoulder to see Hagrid shaking his head.
    ‘Dumbledore uses that name,’ said Harry stubbornly.
    ‘Yeah, well, tha’s Dumbledore, innit?’ said Hagrid mysteriously. ‘So how come yeh were late, Harry? I was worried.’
    ‘Got held up on the train,’ said Harry. ‘Why were you late?’
    ‘I was with Grawp,’ said Hagrid happily. ‘Los’ track o’ the time. He’s got a new home up in the mountains now, Dumbledore fixed it – nice big cave. He’s much happier than he was in the Forest. We were havin’ a good chat.’
    ‘Really?’ said Harry, taking care not to catch Ron’s eye; the last time he had met Hagrid’s half-brother, a vicious giant with a talent for ripping up trees by the roots, his vocabulary had comprised five words, two of which he was unable to pronounce properly.
    ‘Oh yeah, he’s really come on,’ said Hagrid proudly. ‘Yeh’ll be amazed. I’m thinkin’ o’ trainin’ him up as me assistant.’
    Ron snorted loudly, but managed to pass it off as a violent sneeze. They were now standing beside the oak front doors.
    ‘Anyway, I’ll see yeh tomorrow, firs’ lesson’s straight after lunch. Come early an’ yeh can say hello ter Buck— I mean, Witherwings!’
    Raising an arm in cheery farewell, he headed out of the front doors into the darkness.
    Harry and Ron looked at each other. Harry could tell that Ron was experiencing the same sinking feeling as himself.
    ‘You’re not taking Care of Magical Creatures, are you?’
    Ron shook his head.
    ‘And you’re not either, are you?’
    Harry shook his head, too.
    ‘And Hermione,’ said Ron, ‘she’s not, is she?’
    Harry shook his head again. Exactly what Hagrid would say when he realised his three favourite students had given up his subject, he did not like to think.

 
     
— CHAPTER NINE —
     
The Half-Blood Prince
    Harry and Ron met Hermione in the common room before breakfast next morning. Hoping for some support for his theory, Harry lost no time in telling Hermione what he had overheard Malfoy saying on the Hogwarts Express.
    ‘But he was obviously showing off for Parkinson, wasn’t he?’ interjected Ron quickly, before Hermione could say anything.
    ‘Well,’ she said uncertainly, ‘I don’t know … it would be like Malfoy to make himself seem more important than he is … but that’s a big lie to tell …’
    ‘Exactly,’ said Harry, but he could not press the point, because so many people were trying to listen in to his conversation, not to mention staring at him and whispering behind their hands.
    ‘It’s rude to point,’ Ron snapped at a particularly minuscule first-year as they joined the queue to climb out of the portrait hole. The boy, who had been muttering something about Harry behind his hand to his friend, promptly turned scarlet and toppled out of the hole in alarm. Ron sniggered.
    ‘I love being a sixth-year. And we’re going to be getting free time this year. Whole periods when we can just sit up here and relax.’
    ‘We’re going to need that time for studying, Ron!’ said Hermione, as they set off down the corridor.
    ‘Yeah, but not today,’ said Ron, ‘today’s going to be a real doss, I reckon.’
    ‘Hold it!’ said Hermione, throwing out an arm and halting a passing fourth-year, who was attempting to push past her with a lime-green disc clutched tightly in his hand. ‘Fanged Frisbees are banned, hand it over,’ she told him sternly. The scowling boy handed over the snarling Frisbee, ducked under Hermione’s arm and took off after his friends. Ron waited for him to vanish, then tugged the Frisbee from Hermione’s grip.
    ‘Excellent, I’ve always wanted one of these.’
    Hermione’s remonstration was drowned by a loud giggle; Lavender Brown had apparently found Ron’s remark highly amusing. She continued to laugh as she passed them, glancing back at Ron over her shoulder. Ron looked rather pleased with himself.
    The ceiling of the Great Hall was serenely blue and streaked with frail, wispy clouds, just like the squares of sky visible through the high mullioned windows. While they tucked into porridge and eggs and bacon, Harry and Ron told Hermione about their embarrassing conversation with Hagrid the previous evening.
    ‘But he can’t really think we’d continue Care