"Aye, he had Care of Magical Creatures with me yesterday morning. Didn't listen and approached Buckbeak without bowing first. Got himself scratched up a bit. Nuthin' serious, but with the way he yelled about getting his father on it, I worry something is gonna happen to Buckbeak here. Malfoy's father has some high up connections, if he got Buckbeak pinned as some kind of dangerous creature, he could be put down." Hagrid said sadly.
"Oh! That's no good at all! Surely there's something that could be done if that were to happen?" Hermione asked, coming over to stand with Harry and Hagrid.
"I'm not sure really. Ministry's always been a bit against magical creatures, regardless of how smart they are. They usually push for killing something rather than removing whatever the problem is. Had an issue a while back with some Esquilax. They were encroaching on some of the pixie homes, so I asked for some help in relocating them. Ministry decided it was easier to just kill 'em all. Poor fellers didn't stand a chance." Hagrid said.
"Well, surely there's some precedent against it? Maybe we just need to find it." Hermione said.
"Parvati would be the one you'd want to talk to about it. She's got more knowledge about law and history than anyone I know. If she doesn't know it, she knows how to find it out." Padma said, adding in.
"That's settled then. If Malfoy starts to press charges, you let us know and we'll research if there is any way to save him." Hermione said, pounding her fist into her hand.
"Well, I sure thank ya fer doin' that. Ol' Buckbeak here don't deserve to die because of some minor misunderstanding. Hopefully it won' have to come to tha' but ye never know with that lot." Hagrid said, beaming a wide smile toward Hermione.
Luna and Padma were simply petting Buckbeak and saying how pretty he was, and Harry had to smile. If it made them this happy, he was more than happy to do what he could to keep it safe.
October brought with it the true chills of autumn, which Harry definitely noticed as he practiced on the Quidditch Pitch. With Harry's increasing skill, wider arenas were needed to safely practice in, and Professor Flitwick had managed to procure some time on the Quidditch pitch for Harry to practice his spellwork.
"Concentrate Mr. Potter! If you're going to be banishing your opponent, you have to learn not to overdo it! Tearing off limbs is a disqualification!" Flitwick said, as he maneuvered the training dummies around his apprentice.
Harry had really found where he excelled in dueling, which was with spells that simply moved and positioned his opponents. The summoning, banishing, and disarming charms were spells he could cast so instinctively he sometimes was capable of doing it without the incantation, which was something Flitwick was very pleased about. While those three skills were not an adequate arsenal for competitive dueling, developing a style around them was a good base to work from, and as such Harry was practicing his ability to control the opponent through positioning.
All around Harry were practice dummies of varying sizes, all being remotely controlled by Flitwick using some highly complicated charms that Harry didn't really have a grasp on yet. He, Padma, and Hermione had been very interested in learning them, but Flitwick mentioned that even Masters had difficulties deciphering how exactly they worked, and that really only the wizard who constructed them would know the exact details. Harry was working on his control to spin them in varying amounts, both clockwise and counterclockwise.
"This one, on your left, clockwise two hours." Flitwick said moving the dummy into position. Harry made a quick turn to his left, pointed his wand at the dummies right arm and said "Depulso!" turning the dummy clockwise, but a little more than intended.
"A bit much on the power. Still in its socket, but you turned him too much." Flitwick said, "We'll need to do some more control exercises… We'll call that for today."
"Sorry Professor, I'll do better next time." Harry said, slumping down a bit. This control issue had been a problem for a while. Harry was simply pouring too much magic into his spells, and it was occasionally causing issues.
"As far as problems go Mr. Potter, this is a good one to have. A person with powerful magic can learn to control their output, but a person with weak magic can't output anymore. You're quite the anomaly in just how much you can put out. Even my more talented students in the past would be rather magically exhausted after the amount of magic you've been putting out, while you're still fresh." Flitwick said, gesturing to Harry.
Harry did notice that he wasn't tired mentally, as intense magic was known to make people feel, and while his muscles burned a bit, that was from the laps and strength training he had been doing earlier. "I see. Thank you for the compliment, Professor."
"Don't let his head get too big Professor Flitwick! He won't fit in Ravenclaw tower!" Daphne said, from her place in the stands. The Sphinx club had bundled up and come outside in the chilly October weather to support Harry in his training, being around to act as training partners or moral support as the need arose. They had been sat doing some homework, but by the looks of the put away books, they had finished it some time ago.
"I'll endeavor not to Ms. Greengrass. Come along now everyone, we should get back inside before it gets any colder, I'm afraid I can't feel the tip of my nose!" Flitwick said with a hearty laugh.
Harry laughed as well, although he suddenly felt the outside get quite a bit colder, which was strange, as he was still wearing his warming scarf Flitwick had gotten for him in his first year. Moving his hand to it, he could feel it was still putting out quite a bit of warmth, but his core still felt so cold. Gasping in realization, Harry looked up and saw it. The black tattered cloak coming toward him.
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T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
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If you guys wanna check it out.