Chapter 136: Taking Good Care of Your Pets
As Oleandra, Daphne and Ron climbed down the hill back to the village, a thought suddenly occurred.
"Oh, right," said Oleandra, snapping her fingers. "I should have given him a lift back to the village via the Tree-Portation spell."
"It's too late now," said Ron miserably. "We don't know where Harry or Malfoy are right now."
They walked some more in silence.
"I know!" he said suddenly. "Snape trusts you, yeah? You could help convince him that Malfoy saw things, right?"
"We definitely saw things," said Daphne. "That's precisely the problem. Harry's not supposed to be in Hogsmeade; be it his head, or any other part of his body that's attached to it."
"We could say it was a Boggart," Oleandra suggested. "Maybe Ron's graduated from his fear of spiders; maybe now he's scared of his friends being decapitated?"
"That's brilliant!" Ron exclaimed. "Why didn't I think of that?"
"Indeed, why didn't you? It ought to have been right up your alley," Daphne drawled. "It's a stupid idea, after all. Why would a Boggart be throwing mud around? It doesn't make any sense."
"Oh yeah, I s'pose that's true," he said. Ron was too preoccupied to notice that Daphne had just insulted his intelligence.
"We can just say it was a Boggart AND the place is haunted," Oleandra grumbled.
"Right," said Ron brightening up. "Thanks for the idea, I'll head on back to the Castle. And you don't need to come with me to Snape, after all. If he ends up hating you because of us, you'll be having a worse time of it than us, since he's the Head of your House. Thanks for everything, girls."
And with that, Ron took off at a run, his mud-filled shoes making squeaking and popping noises as he went.
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"If you don't have anything nice to say, then at least make sure nobody can hear you when you say those things," Oleandra warned Draco. "I've made a deal with Professor Hagrid to have him feed a magical beast of mine, so try not to make him feel any worse than he already is, okay?"
"Okay, okay!" Draco said defensively. "Who do you take me for? I wouldn't kick somebody while they're down like that!"
"That's exactly what you would do," snorted Oleandra. "Just keep it discreet, okay?"
"You Greengrasses, always trying to make friends with everyone. I guess that's how you do your business," sighed Draco. "But that blubbering nitwit isn't worth your time. Nobody cares about that great big idiot and his dumb beast."
Oleandra was currently attending her Care of Magical Creatures class along with Daphne, Tracey and Draco. As per her deal with Professor Hagrid, she was allowed to have her Lethifold feed after class. And luckily for Oleandra, despite Cloak loving to eat raw meat, it was also a very clean creature, which meant she didn't have to walk around reeking of rotten flesh, which was simply a social faux pas.
As for why Draco would have wanted to kick Hagrid while he was down, well… Hagrid had lost his appeal with the Committee to reverse the decision to execute Buckbeak the Hippogriff, which had profoundly saddened him. Lucius Malfoy didn't even have to threaten the members of the Committee; Draco had come rather close to breathing his last, and besides, half of the Committee was already in his pocket.
After the class, Oleandra stayed behind to check on Professor Hagrid and to obtain her promised Lethifold feed. Cloak lifted itself from her shoulders and glided over to the feed basket, causing the Hippogriffs who were eating from it to wisely elect to back away to a safe distance.
"I heard about the verdict," said Oleandra softly. "But it's okay, Buckbeak will be happy in his new home."
"Bu' he won'!" bawled Professor Hagrid. "What's he gonna do withou' his mum?"
"Err…" said Oleandra, unsure of how to respond. "Then, what if I hid him closer?"
"Whaddya mean," sniffed Professor Hagrid.
"I suppose I could whip up a Shrinking Solution," Oleandra said. "You could keep Buckbeak in your pocket, and have him hunt down pigeons."
"It wouldn' be the same," sighed Professor Hagrid.
"In that case, there's this, er, portal," Oleandra said, trying to think of a way to say her piece without betraying any of her secrets. "In the castle. It leads to a beautiful place; prairies as far as the eye can see, plenty of giant sheep to hunt. You'll be able to visit whenever you want."
"Sounds nice," said Professor Hagrid, blowing his nose loudly. "I think Buckbeak'd like tha'."
"We'll talk about this later," said Oleandra. "I'm going to be late for Charms. Cloak, suit up!"
Oleandra started to run up the hill back to the castle, while the Lethifold whooshed back over to her and returned to its disguised form. It was no good; she'd be late even if she ran. But what if… she flew back? Nobody would see her at this time, right?
With a single leap, she flew up a dozen feet into the air, then continued moving upwards until she had soared over the castle. There was the Astronomy Tower, which held the Charms classroom; Oleandra dropped directly into the courtyard, then rushed indoors and up the stairs.
"You're late, Miss Greengrass!" said Professor Flitwick. "Wands out, everyone— We'll be experimenting with Cheering Charms, today. It seems we're still missing Miss Granger, so you'll be practising with me."
Huh? Hermione was skipping class? What was going on? Was the world ending, or something? Oleandra looked at her sister for some clue as to why, as they recently had begun hanging out together. But to her surprise, Daphne had a dark look on her face. She was mad about something, to be sure.
"Pay attention, Miss Greengrass," said Professor Flitwick disapprovingly. "I'll be casting the Charm on you first to let you get a feel for it, and then you'll use it on me. Ready? One—Two— Exhilaro!"
"…"
The teacher and student pair looked at each other awkwardly.
"…"
"I don't feel any different?" said Oleandra.
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