The Calm before the Storm

Okay I have another two chapters after this all written up but I just want to go over them again. So there will be an update really soon

“Talking”

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Chapter 14- Hippogriffs, Wyverns and Potions

Harry stood alone, ten feet in font of the rest of the class. Ron had pushed him forward when Remus had suggested that someone come and stroke the Wyvern that Hagrid was currently holding the leash of.
A serious case of déjà vu plagued him.

“As you can plainly see, this Wyvern is white, not like the green ones that attacked the quidditch game,” Remus said, “Can anyone tell me why this is?”

Harry looked behind him and saw that only two people had their hands raised. One, of course, was Hermione while the other was, surprisingly, Draco.

“Alright. Draco why don’t you tell us,” Remus said.
“The reason why the Wyvern you have is white is because it has been tamed. When a Wyvern is taken out of the wild it slowly turns from green to white,” Draco answered.
“Very good Draco,” Remus said as Hagrid lowered the Wyvern’s head using the leash, “And how do you differentiate the males from the females?”
“The males have a spearhead shaped tail where the females don’t,” Draco replied.

Remus motioned for Harry to move forward. Harry stepped forward hesitantly until he was standing in front of the creatures lowered head.

“Just hold out your hand Harry,” Remus said, “He won’t hurt you.”

Harry raised his arm and held his hand out.
When the Wyvern leant forward and nuzzled his hand Harry jumped. He’d suspected the skin to have a slightly rough texture like dragon hide but the Wyvern’s skin was smooth and cold almost like a snake’s skin.
Harry smiled, rubbing the smooth skin and laughed when the Wyvern nudged him, almost knocking him over.

“Brilliant Harry,” Remus said grinning.
“Professor Lupin, Wyvern’ spit acid don’t they? Is it really safe to be so close?” Lavender Brown asked.
“You’re right Wyvern’s do spit acid but when Wyvern’s are taken from the wild the sacks that hold the acid are removed,” Remus said, “Would anyone else like to stroke it?”

Harry heard the crunch of footsteps behind him before two more hands joined his to stroke the creature.
Harry couldn’t help but grin. If the creature had been a cat he could guarantee it would be purring.
After most had come up and were stroking the Wyvern, Hagrid spoke up.

“‘right you lot, got to get ‘im back to ‘is owner.”

Everyone stepped away from the Wyvern and just as Hagrid started to lead it away a very familiar Hippogriff trotted its way into the clearing where the class was being taught.

Buckbeak immediately came to a stop, staring at the Wyvern, before lowering his head and stamping his foot as if to fight.
The Wyvern started to move and thrash about.

“Buckbeak no,” Harry yelled running and stepping in between the two animals, “You stop that right now.”

He and Buckbeak had bonded over the holidays since Buckbeak’s home was now the gardens of Grimmauld Place.

Harry’s heart leapt into his throat when Buckbeak cantered towards him. Somehow he really didn’t think this was going to end well.

Instead of bowling him over and attacking the Wyvern, Buckbeak slid to a halt in front of him and bowed low. Harry blinked twice before bowing back. With this Buckbeak walked forward and butted his head against Harry’s chest

“What are you doing here Buckbeak,” Harry whispered hastily as he patted the Hippogriff.

Harry turned to Remus with a sheepish smile.
Remus looked around to see that Hagrid had tears in his eyes at seeing the Hippogriff alive. Most looked shocked. Draco looked at the creature and his eyes narrowed.

“So that’s what happened to that stupid…,” Draco growled but was interrupted by Harry.
“Didn’t you learn from the last time and he’s not stupid for your information. He’s really smart and brave, he saved not only my life but someone else’s as well,” Harry yelled advancing on the blonde.
“Alright Potter, calm down,” Draco said holding up his hands in surrender.

Harry glared at the blonde before turning back to Buckbeak and patting his neck.

“Alright class back to the classroom,” Remus said, “I’ll be there in a moment have your books open to page 52.”

Everyone left and headed back to the classroom glancing at Harry as they left.

“Harry?” Remus questioned.
“I’m sorry Remus I don’t know how he got out,” Harry said looking at Remus guiltily.
“It’s alright Harry,” Remus soothed, “But it’s not what I meant. You practically jumped down Draco’s throat.”
“I know, it’s just Buckbeak helped save Sirius from going back to Azkaban in third year and…,” Harry said before trailing off.
“It’s still a little sensitive,” Remus finished.

Harry nodded looking at his feet. Buckbeak nudged him in the chest trying to comfort him.

“Why don’t you take Buckbeak to Hagrid’s and leave him there until we can get someone to take him back home. I’m sure Hagrid would like to spend some time with him. Then get back to classes okay,” Remus said ruffling Harry’s hair.
“Okay,” Harry said smiling sadly at Remus.

Remus started walking away when he heard Harry mutter something under his breath.

“What was that Harry?” Remus asked.
“I said I’m sorry for taking him from you,” Harry said softly the tears evident in his voice.
“Oh Harry,” Remus said with concern, “It wasn’t your fault.”

Harry looked away.

“We’ll talk about this later then,” Remus said tenderly before turning and walking back up to the school.

Harry walked towards Hagrid’s hut calling for Buckbeak every time the Hippogriff got distracted.
Hagrid was just waving the Wyvern and its owner farewell when Harry reached him.

“Hello Hagrid can I ask a big favour?” Harry asked.
“Sure ‘arry,” Hagrid said turning to face him.
“Could you look after Buckbeak until someone can take him back?” Harry asked.
“It’d be me pleasure ‘arry,” Hagrid said grinning widely.
Harry grinned back and said, “Thanks Hagrid. Well I have to get back to classes.”
“Don’ worry ‘arry Buckbeak’s in good ‘ands,” Hagrid said patting Buckbeak‘s neck.
“I know he is,” Harry replied before turning and heading back up to the school.

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Harry sat at the back of his joint Potions class with the Slytherins. Hermione was on one side of him and Ron was on the other.
Severus stood at the front of the room and was assigning pairs for the potion that they were to do in class.

“… Parkinson and Brown, Nott and Zabini, Granger and Longbottom, Weasley and Goyle, Crabbe and Patil, Finnigan and Thomas and finally Potter and Malfoy,” Severus said.

Harry immediately got up and walked over to sit by Malfoy. Draco continued to sit back in his chair, stiffly staring straight ahead with his arms crossed across his chest.
Harry went and got the ingredients and cauldron, setting them down on the desk before sitting down again. He stared at the ingredients for a minute before sighing.

“Malfoy I’m sorry for snapping at you earlier,” Harry said looking sideways at the blonde.
Draco’s body relaxed and the blonde let out a sigh, “Don’t worry about it Potter lets just get this Potion done.”
“Right,” Harry said grinning and standing up before biting his lip, “Ahh, Malfoy? What are we making again?”

Draco groaned and looked at Harry who smiled back sheepishly.

“You’re hopeless Potter you know that don’t you,” Draco said shaking his head and lighting the fire under the cauldron, “Look start cutting the Firebush leaves into long strips and be careful, don’t let any water touch it.”
“Okay. You know I should really get a tutor or something. I‘m not as good as I wish I could be,” Harry said reaching around the back of Draco to grab the Firebush leaves.
“I could tutor you Potter, but it will cost you,” Draco stated as he skinned some purple seeds the size of marbles.
“You would actually tutor me?” Harry asked sceptically looking at the blonde in shock.
“For a price,” Draco replied not even looking up from where he was now crushing the seeds.
“What exactly do you want?” Harry asked cautiously as he got back to cutting the leaves.
“Tell me what my father really did at the Ministry of Magic,” Draco replied as he stirred the cauldron the specified amount of times.
“Haven’t you already heard?” Harry asked unsurely.
“Well the way it was told to me was rather unbelievable and probably had some details exaggerated by mother and Aunt Bellatrix,” Draco said.
“I really don’t want to go in depth into everything that happened but I can tell you what basically happened,” Harry said as he put the scalpel down finished with cutting the leaves.
“Sounds fair,” Draco said taking the leaf strips and adding them to the cauldron keeping well back so, when the leaves touched the liquid in the cauldron and burst into flames, he didn‘t get burnt, “This potion has to sit for a few minutes. Here cut these while you tell me. One inch wide.”

Draco pushed some cylindrical roots towards him.

“Where to begin,” Harry mused as he picked up a clean scalpel, “Well, I’ll start from where your father made his sneaky entrance.”
“You’re making it sound like a fictitious story,” Draco said watching Harry intently.
“Trust me its not,” Harry growled as he started hacking away at the roots.
“Calm down and stop hacking at them. Here let me show you,” Draco said moving to stand behind Harry.

Draco reached around and grabbed Harry’s hands, guiding them so they cut the root in perfect one inch pieces.
Harry gulped; Draco was so close he could feel the blonde’s body heat and what if someone saw them like this.
Harry discretely looked to each side and saw that everyone had their own problems to deal with and weren’t paying any attention to anyone else.

“So what happened when father found you,” Draco said in Harry’s ear.

Harry shivered but said, “Well he was with your Aunt and a few others and they were trying to get this prophecy that I held in my hands. You’ve heard about the prophecy haven’t you?”
“The one about you and the Dark Lord? Every Slytherin knows there was a prophecy about you two,” Draco replied continuing to guide Harry‘s hands.

Harry gulped was it just him or was Draco cutting slower.

“Yeah well your father kept asking for it but when I wouldn’t give it over, your Aunt tried to stun me but your father intervened stopping the curse and yelled at your Aunt. That’s how I found out they needed the prophecy. Well, we then chatted a little and when the time was right my friends and I threw spells at the shelves and used the chaos it caused to run,” Harry told the blonde, “All that really happened after that was they chased after us and attacked us, we ran or attacked back, it was all rather chaotic. I didn’t see your father again until just before the adults on my side came and when they did everyone kept fighting. I was too busy dodging hexes and protecting the prophecy that your father got one up on me and grabbed me from behind and tried to get the prophecy but I threw it at Neville and pointed my wand backward and hit him with Impedimenta. He was thrown back into a dais, he went to throw a spell at me but Remus, I mean Professor Lupin, jumped in and blocked the way. That was the last I saw of your father. My attention was drawn elsewhere. That‘s basically what happened.”
“Thanks for telling me the truth Potter,” Draco said as he squeezed Harry’s hands, before letting them go and moving back in front of the cauldron.
“It’s fine, I mean you do have a right to know what your father did,” Harry said cutting the last root and surprising himself by cutting it better than his first attempt.

Harry finished cutting the root and Draco added all the root pieces to the cauldron before adding a pinch of ground obsidian and two drops of fire whiskey before stirring it anticlockwise four times.

“So what is this supposed to be anyway?” Harry asked leaning over the cauldron and watching as the liquid changed from a deep blood red to a soft brown.
“It’s a potion you take for burns,” Draco replied.
“Okay,” Harry said as Draco put some of the potion into six of the vials.
“Would you clean up while I take these up?” Draco asked.
“Sure,” Harry said and started to clean and put things away.

Draco came back with a huge smirk on his face.

“Professor Snape says he will be pairing us up from now on,” Draco said.
“Why?” Harry asked confused.
“Because I told him I’ll be tutoring you,” Draco replied as he sat down and pulled out a leather bound book.
“Oh, okay then,” Harry said putting the cauldron back before sitting beside Draco.

The two sat in silence till the end of class.

“I want eighteen inches on Veritaserum. We’ll be making it next lesson. I suggest you get to know this potion inside and out,” Severus said, “Class dismissed.”
“Meet me in the library after classes,” Draco said, “We’ll start your tutoring then.”
“Okay,” Harry said smiling at Draco before walking out of the classroom and over to Hermione and Ron.

“I’m glad it’s lunch I’m starving,” Ron said as the three headed for the Great Hall.

They walked while Ron complained about how stupid Goyle was. Hermione was unusually silent.
When they reached the Great Hall, Ron sat opposite him and Hermione sat beside him.
While Ron was busy filling his plate Hermione leaned sideways and whispered in Harry’s ear.

“You seemed comfortable with Malfoy draped around you.”
Harry stiffened, “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Harry, Malfoy was literally glued to your back there for a while and not once did I hear raised voices from your direction,” Hermione whispered amusingly, “And don’t go brushing me off. I know you have a huge crush on Malfoy. So tell me what was going on.”
“He was showing me how to cut the ingredients properly that‘s all. He’s promised to tutor me in Potions,” Harry explained quickly, “There was nothing going on.”

Suddenly a head appeared between the two making them lean away from each other with a surprised yelp.

“Can I join in this secretive little chit chat or is it just a two person thing,” Tempest said a huge grin on her face.

Harry looked at Hermione and watched as an evil grin spread across her face making Harry groan.

“No you can join in. We were just discussing why Malfoy was draped around him during Potions,” Hermione said to Tempest excitedly.
“Oh really,” Tempest said fascinated, before sitting down on the other side of Harry, “Tell me Harry why was Draco draped around you?”
“He was standing behind me and all he was doing, as I’ve already told Hermione, was showing me how to cut the ingredients properly by guiding my hands,” Harry said softly to Tempest.

Tempest looked at Harry for a couple of minutes studying her godbrother. Harry stared back but couldn’t help the blush that spread across his cheeks. Both Hermione and Tempest spotted it and laughed.

“You’re both evil,” Harry grumbled.
“Hey what’s so funny?” Ron asked looking up from the large mountain of food on his plate.
“Nothing Ron,” Hermione said in a motherly tone, “You just continue eating.”
“Okay,” Ron said before starting to shovel food in his mouth.
“By the way Harry. Your parcels arrived this morning, their in my rooms if you want to grab them later,” Tempest said.
“I’ll collect them later tonight,” Harry said grabbing some food and putting it on his plate, “Thank-you for paying for all of it. You could have taken it out of my inheritance.”
“Harry that money is going to be staying in your old vault and will not be touched until you become of age and I don’t want to hear another word about it. You’re family, even if we aren’t blood related,” Tempest replied sternly, “So have you all figured out what you’ll be doing for the Christmas holidays?”
“We’re going to see Charlie in Romania,” Ron said happily.
“Well my parents want me home for the holidays,” Hermione said as she took a bite of a sandwich.

Harry watched as Tempest surveyed the choice of food on the table before scrunching up her nose.
Suddenly a bowl of fruit appeared in front of her. Harry followed her gaze as she looked up at the head table where Dumbledore was smiling.
Tempest waved at Dumbledore who nodded and started to talk to Professor McGonagall.

“You know I’ve never seen you eat anything but fruit and vegetables,” Hermione said looking at Tempest.
“That’s cause I’m a vegetarian,” Tempest said as she bit in to an apple.
“But you’re a werewolf,” Ron exclaimed loudly causing everyone to look in their direction.
“Actually I’m only half a werewolf and a bred one at that,” Tempest replied.
“A bred one?” Harry asked.
“Yeah. Papa was bitten and turned by another, where I was born from him, in other words, a bred werewolf,” Tempest explained simply.
“Does it make a difference?” Ron asked.
“It makes one hell of a difference,” Tempest said, “You’ve seen what papa looks like when he changes?”

When the three nodded she continued.

“Well when I turn I look more dog like, more like father’s animagus form,” Tempest said, “Well that’s how it’s been described to me. Plus there are some other differences but since lunch is over and we have to be somewhere it’ll have to wait till another time.”

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There we go another chapter done. YAY. I’ll update real soon. Promise.