Wish Upon A Star

Hagrid

On boxing day, Hermione and Ron had come to an unspoken agreement. They spoke with each other, but in a formal way. Harry suddenly seemed to realize that the second task was awfully close, and he still hadn't figured it out. Ashlyn didn't want to think about anything, so she buried herself in books and sweets.

Harry filled them in on what he and Ron had heard about Hagrid the other day.

"Well, I thought he must be," Hermione said, shrugging. "I knew he couldn't be pure giant because they're about twenty feet tall. But honestly, all this hysteria about giants. They can't all be horrible. . . . It's the same sort of prejudice that people have toward werewolves. . . . It's just bigotry, isn't it?"

Ron looked like he wanted to reply scathingly, but contented himself with shaking his head disbelievingly when Hermione wasn't looking.

"Harry, how are you coming along with that egg?" Ashlyn asked looking up from her book.

"I'm doing fine. Great," Harry said, looking away.

"So, almost figured it out, have you?" Ashlyn said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Harry said, but at her piercing gaze, he looked away guiltily.

"Give the man a break, Ashlyn. He's just finished the first task," Ron defended. Hermione tutted.

"Alright. If you need any help, just ask," Ashlyn said, and then melted away into her book.

The snow was still thick upon the grounds, and the greenhouse windows were covered in condensation so thick that they couldn't see out of them in Herbology. Nobody was looking forward to Care of Magical Creatures much in this weather, though as Ron said, the skrewts would probably warm them up nicely, either by chasing them, or blasting off so forcefully that Hagrid's cabin would catch fire.

When they arrived at Hagrid's cabin, however, they found an elderly witch with closely cropped grey hair and a very prominent chin standing before his front door.

Ashlyn sighed, as she looked miserably towards Hagrid's hut.

"Hurry up, now, the bell rang five minutes ago," the lady barked at them as they struggled toward her through the snow.

"Who're you?" said Ron, staring at her. "Where's Hagrid?"

"My name is Professor Grubbly-Plank," she said briskly. "I am your temporary Care of Magical Creatures teacher."

"Where's Hagrid?" Harry repeated loudly.

"He is indisposed," said Professor Grubbly-Plank shortly.

Soft and unpleasant laughter reached their ears. Ashlyn turned; Draco Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins were joining the class. All of them looked gleeful, and none of them looked surprised to see Professor Grubbly-Plank.

She sighed. What had she expected? She always knew this was coming. Yet, she couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. Why did she even have a soft spot for this piece of shit? All the shit he did for the first five years...How could she forget it just because he was suffering in his sixth year? 
Ashlyn sighed again. She was too soft-hearted for her own good.

'And stupid,' a voice in her head added. She agreed with it completely.

"This way, please," said Professor Grubbly-Plank, and she strode off around the paddock where the Beauxbatons horses were shivering. 

"What's wrong with Hagrid?" Harry said, hurrying to catch up with Professor Grubbly-Plank.

"Never you mind," she said as though she thought he was being nosy.