Hybrid Destiny

Chapter 22

The Care of Magical Creatures class didn’t seem to be as large this year. Apparently quite a few of the students decided to drop the class once the O.W.L. results had been sent out. Harry, personally, liked the class even if the creatures Hagrid taught about were not exactly safe. Harry and Blaise stood together a little away from the rest of the class. Ron, unfortunately, had opted to remain in the class as well.

\"Gather ‘round. We’ll be studyin’ gryffins today. Don’ worry. They wouldn’ ‘urt a fly,\" said Hagrid leading them to a paddock.

The gryffins were actually rather beautiful. They had the upper body of an eagle and the lower body of a lion. They reminded Harry of BuckBeak. Most of the class shied away from the paddock, but Harry was curious and crept closer to the amazing creatures.

\"Careful ‘Arry. They don’ take kindly to strangers,\" said Hagrid petting a black and silver gryffin. \"This is Cirrus. Walk in the paddock slowly and see if he’ll let you ride em.\"

Harry walked into the paddock cautiously until he reached Hagrid’s side. Hagrid took his hand and placed it on the gryffins head. A blue light immediately engulfed Harry’s hand and the gryffin’s body causing the gryffin to nuzzle into his hand playfully. Hagrid laughed in delight because he had never seen a fierce gryffin take to a human that way.

\"You wanna try an ride em, ‘Arry. He really seems ta like ya,\" said Hagrid.

\"No thanks, Hagrid. I’d really rather just pet him,\" said Harry still contentedly petting Cirrus.

The rest of the class gathered closer to try their luck with the gryffins. Ron decided he wanted to pet Cirrus since he looked the tamest and pushed Harry out of the way. Cirrus didn’t like that at all. He slashed a talon across Ron’s chest and would have caused serious damage if Harry hadn’t pulled him back right at that moment. Instead, a rip appeared on the chest of the robes he was wearing. Ron paled and stumbled backwards trying to get away from the beast.

\"Sshh, its all right Cirrus,\" said Harry soothingly. He sent a calming wave of magic across all of the gryffins to calm them all down. He turned to Ron, grabbed his arm, and dragged him out of the paddock. \"What the hell was that Ron? Did you just lose all sense this summer? Why in the world would you push me when I was petting a gryffin? They do have talons and claws, you know? Do you just have a death wish? I get that you don’t like me anymore and while it hurts, I can deal with it, but you put more than just you and me in danger. If the gryffins had been angered too badly, they could have hurt the entire class. You need to grow up and deal with this problem you seem to be having.\"

Harry didn’t even wait for a response. He stormed up the path back to the school leaving his books behind. He just wanted to go to his room and fume alone. ‘Ron is just being totally irrational. He’s going to get someone killed at the rate he’s going. I just don’t know what his problem is anymore. He’s like a totally different person,’ thought Harry as he stalked to his room. ‘Forget History of Magic, today. I just can’t deal with that prat anymore. Hopefully either Hermione or Draco will give me their notes.’

Ten minutes later, Harry heard a knock at the door. Hermione was in class and Draco knew the password. He didn’t know anyone else who even knew he had his own room. “Who is it?” he called cautiously.

“It’s Blaise. You left your books outside so I brought them to you,” he called through the door.
Harry immediately opened the door and gestured for Blaise to enter the room. “How did you find my room?” he asked, sitting in one of the armchairs.

“I followed you, of course,” said Blaise calmly.

Draco came storming into the room before Harry could respond in any way. He immediately relaxed when he saw Harry sitting in the armchair. He gave a curious look before sitting down in the unoccupied chair.

“What brings you here, Blaise?” he asked.

“I brought the books Harry left in class to him,” said Blaise once again.

“Why did you leave your books in class? And why did you not show up for History of Magic? Professor Binns is upset because I walked out after the first ten minutes,” said Draco, glaring at his little elf.

“Ron tried to kill him,” said Blaise helpfully.

“What?! I’m gonna rip that weasel apart with my bare hands,” said Draco angrily, starting towards the door.

Harry glared at Blaise before rushing after Draco. He managed to catch him before he got out the door and pulled him back to the common room. “Sit down,” he ordered. When Draco started to stand up again, he barked, “Now!”

Draco dropped back down into the chair, and Blaise looked at Harry with a new respect. “You are going to do no such thing, Draco Malfoy. I have already talked to him and I can take care of myself. Ron is my problem and I will deal with it. I will ask if I want help. Otherwise, stay out of it,” said Harry furiously.

“Harry, I am not going to stand by and let him hurt you,” said Draco. “You can forget that line of thinking right now.”

“This is a moot point anyway because Ron did not try to kill me. It’s more like he tried to kill himself. If I hadn’t pulled him back when I did, he would have a long, lovely gash across his chest. As it is, he is fine and so is the rest of the class,” said Harry, sitting down into Draco’s lap.
“I have a question. How did you calm the gryffins?” asked Blaise, startling Harry and Draco. They had forgotten he was even there.

Harry looked at Draco in question. He didn’t know Blaise at all, and he wasn’t going to tell him anything if he wasn’t trustworthy. Draco, in turn, looked at Blaise speculatively. Blaise had always been rather quiet for a Slytherin and never joined in the Gryffindor taunting that was so prevalent amongst their members.

“Blaise, we can tell you if you swear not tell anyone. I mean anyone. Only one other student knows about this,” said Draco seriously.

Another knock on the door interrupted them. Harry slid off Draco’s lap and started towards the door. “I bet it’s Hermione. She’s probably worried sick since I didn’t show up at all and you left class right as it started,” said Harry. “Who is it?”

“Hermione,” she said.

Harry let her in, went back to the common room, and sat back in Draco’s lap. Smiled at Harry and asked, “Why weren’t you in class?”

“Ron tried to kill him,” said Blaise once again. He just loved the normally calm Draco and Hermione get indignant on Harry’s behalf. It was just funny to him.

“What?! I’ll kill him. I can’t believe he would do that to you,” she said, starting towards the door.

“Why do you all think I can’t handle my own problems? Blaise, if you are just going to rile them up, you can leave. I do not feel like chasing irate protectors down to prevent them from murdering Ron. That is especially true when he didn’t even try to kill me,” said Harry, getting off Draco’s lap and storming to his room.

Hermione had a sheepish look on her face. She knew Harry was right, but he was her friend and she couldn’t help but want to protect him. She walked back to the common room and sat back down in the armchair.

“Are you going to tell me about Harry now?” asked Blaise.

“Are you going to swear not to tell anyone else? You have yet to do that,” countered Draco.

“Do you really trust him with this secret? Harry will be extremely upset if he tells everyone,” said Hermione.

“I swear on my honour as a Slytherin that I will not tell a single soul anything that I hear in this room,” said Blaise solemnly.

“That is a wise decision because if you do, you will get to see Bella Lestrange’s remains in hell,” said Harry from the doorway of his room.

“Her remains?” asked Blaise.

“I don’t imagine the demon that grabbed her left much,” he explained.

“What are you talking about? What demon?” asked Blaise in confusion.

“Bella attacked us when we were at Diagon Alley. Harry opened a portal to hell, and a demon grabbed her and pulled her in,” said Draco calmly.

“How did he open a portal to hell?” he asked.

“Harry, take off the glamour,” said Draco. Harry took off the glamour, ignoring Blaise’s gasp of shock, and let Draco continue. “Harry is an elf/fae hybrid. He can open portals to other dimensions as well as anywhere in this dimension. The owl stunt at lunch was engineered by Harry because he can also control predatory beasts.”

“Wow. I can see why you want to keep this so hush hush. If the Dark Lord got wind of this, he would attack with everything in his arsenal,” said Blaise, staring at Harry in awe.

“I’m glad you agree. Just remember what will happen if I find out you broke your oath,” said Harry seriously.

“I’ll remember. It’s dinnertime now. Are you all going to the Great Hall to eat?” he asked, standing up to leave.

“I don’t feel like going. I’ll get Dobby to bring me something to eat. You all go ahead,” said Harry yawning.

“I’m staying with Harry. We’ll see you in the morning,” said Draco, standing to usher them out the door.

“Good night Harry, Draco,” said Hermione.

“Good night Hermione,” they chorused. Blaise just waved at them and walked out the door. Shutting the door behind Hermione, Draco turned to his mate.

“Now tell me what really happened with Ron today,” he said.

“Hagrid showed us gryffins. They’re absolutely beautiful, by the way. I was petting Cirrus when Ron shoved me out of the way. Cirrus didn’t like it and attacked him. I pulled him back just in time, otherwise, he would have had a long gash across his chest. The other gryffins were beginning to get upset so I calmed them down. I pulled Ron out of the paddock, yelled at him for a few minutes, and came storming up here. That is all that happened,” said Harry, trying to placate his irate mate.

“The Weasel is going to get himself killed if he keeps up this attitude,” said Draco. “Oh well, saves me the trouble.”

“That almost happened today, so I’ll have to agree with you. Do you actually feel like eating or are you going with me to bed. I’m really tired for some reason. Must be from controlling the owls and then turning around and calming the gryffins,” said Harry, yawning once again.

“You look exhausted, so I opt for bed,” said Draco, picking up his mate and carrying him to bed.

“My hero,” said Harry teasingly, laughing softly at Draco’s antics.

Draco set him down beside the bed, quickly stripped him of his clothes, and pushed him into bed. Stripping his own clothes hurriedly, Draco climbed in the bed after him. Harry sleepily cuddled against and, within minutes, was fast asleep with Draco following shortly behind.