When it came to Care of Magical Creatures as a subject, before 1927, it had never been particularly valued by wizards.
Simply learning about magical creatures offered little in the way of tangible growth in personal power. In a wizarding world that prized individual strength, ambitious wizards naturally had no reason to devote much energy to such a course.
Compared to that, focusing on spell research was clearly far more practical.
It wasn't until the sudden rise of the renowned magizoologist Newt Scamander that attitudes toward the subject were completely overturned.
And that shift, in no small part, was a result of Gellert Grindelwald's defeat at Newt Scamander's hands…
But setting that aside for now.
"Silvanus Kettleburn."
"Looks like he's come back to teach since Hagrid isn't around."
The Silvanus Kettleburn Draco mentioned was the Care of Magical Creatures professor who had taught before Hagrid. Back in their second year, it had still been Professor Kettleburn leading their lessons.
What no one expected was that, only two years later, this professor, now missing one arm and half a leg, would return to Hogwarts to teach once again.
While Kettleburn's passion for the subject and Dumbledore's enduring influence couldn't be ruled out, it also made one thing clear. Rubeus Hagrid truly had something more important to do, or perhaps an important task that couldn't be spoken of openly.
After all, Hagrid cherished his teaching post deeply, even if most wizards weren't exactly pleased with the content of his lessons…
In short.
Whether he'd been dismissed or not, when term began, Draco and the others hadn't seen Rubeus Hagrid anywhere.
Granted, Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts and slugs had given every student a thoroughly "memorable" experience. Even after graduation, they would probably remember him as their professor.
But being removed from his position just because of his lesson content still seemed a bit excessive.
As she watched the far more engaging lesson unfold, Hermione suddenly leaned closer and asked in a low voice,
"So?"
She looked completely indifferent as she spoke, yet the way her gaze kept drifting toward Draco gave her away. She clearly cared a great deal about what he was going to say next.
"So what?"
"The thing we were just talking about! Aren't you curious who those escaped prisoners are? And why the Ministry is acting so strangely?"
Seeing Draco's lazy, unconcerned expression, as if it had nothing to do with him, Hermione's brows shot up in irritation.
He was the one who claimed something was off, yet now he was acting like it didn't matter at all. With her curiosity fully stirred, how was she supposed to tolerate that?
Especially when she still hadn't forgiven this guy.
Noticing that Hermione looked ready to snap at any moment, Draco decided it was probably best not to push her any further. He spoke at last, slowly,
"Actually, isn't it already pretty obvious?"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you think the Ministry really wanted to do this? Or were they forced into it?"
"Forced… You mean by Dumbledore…?"
"That's not impossible, but things aren't as complicated as you're imagining."
Hermione's guess was a possibility, but it was clearly not what Draco thought.
Pansy, who had been quietly listening to the exchange, rolled her eyes in annoyance. If it were her, she would never put up with Draco's riddles the way Granger did.
If Pansy wanted answers, she'd get them through coaxing or charm, not patience…
...
Unlike Hagrid's teaching style, the experienced Professor Kettleburn knew exactly which magical creatures would capture young wizards' interest and curiosity. More importantly, he could clearly distinguish which creatures were truly dangerous and would never bring those right in front of students.
And of course, he wouldn't make them feed disgusting slugs… for an entire year.
Draco withdrew his attention from the lesson and turned to Hermione beside him.
"What if this was something the Ministry couldn't hide from everyone in the first place?"
"..."
"Think about it. If the Ministry was already certain those prisoners would cause serious trouble, and still chose to conceal everything under those circumstances, what do you think would happen in the end?"
"Probably… anger at the Ministry for withholding information and failing in their responsibility."
"Exactly. And that wouldn't even be the worst outcome."
"But… even so, the Ministry still hid the prisoners' identities and most of the details. Wouldn't the end result be about the same?"
"At the very least, it buys them room to maneuver and some time, doesn't it?"
"..."
All these schemes and calculations made Hermione rub at her temples in frustration.
She had only wanted to focus on learning magic properly. Why did she keep running into these inexplicable messes?
The power struggle between the Ministry and Dumbledore.
Voldemort's return, driven by revenge and chaos.
Thinking of it all, Hermione let out a heavy sigh and glanced at Draco, whose posture remained perfectly straight.
She couldn't help wondering.
If she had never met Draco, perhaps becoming a wizard wouldn't have been nearly as interesting as it first seemed.
...
While Hermione was troubled by the growing unrest in the wizarding world,
Draco's thoughts were elsewhere, on the identities of the prisoners who had escaped from Azkaban, and on why Snape had been summoned by the white wizard.
More importantly…
The Ministry's attitude toward the Dementors.
In the report about the prison break, there hadn't been a single mention of Dementors at all.
As the very beings responsible for guarding the prisoners, they should have been the ones least able to escape blame. Yet the article made no reference to them whatsoever.
Had it simply been overlooked?
Or had they lost control? Or worse, were the ones who allowed the prisoners to escape actually the Dementors themselves?
At that thought, Draco's gray eyes grew darker and more contemplative.
He was starting to understand why Professor McGonagall had acted so strangely earlier.
It seemed he would have to pay his godfather a visit himself. At the very least, he needed to get a clearer picture of what was really going on…