Title: Venom, Tears and Potions

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.

Summary: Events during Second Year have far reaching consequences that no one could have foreseen.

Harry and Hermione were walking towards the Great Hall when Harry crinkled his nose like he smelt something awful.

"Do you smell that?" Harry asked.

"I smell a lot of things. Grease, dirt, sex, food, sweat." Hermione replied. "Anything in particular?"

"Something that just smells wrong." Harry replied, before hocking and spitting to try and clear the taste.

"The only thing wrong here is you two." Malfoy said as he emerged from a cross corridor with Crab and Goyle. "I guess I can't even call you a Mudblood anymore, can I Granger, because you have to be Human to be a Mudblood."

"Is that supposed to be an insult?" Hermione asked.

"Why you…" Malfoy said, pulling out his wand.

Malfoy fired off a spell and Hermione simply turned her torso and leaned just enough for the spell to fly harmlessly by and Harry moved to the wall. Enraged, Malfoy fired off five more spells in succession, which Hermione dodged bending in ever more flexible and almost inhuman ways. A final spell from Malfoy was aimed at Hermione's middle and the feline hybrid was fed up, so she jumped over the spell and in an instant, she was behind Malfoy and he was lying on the floor with his right hand clutching his stomach, having dropped his wand to the floor, and his left hand clutching the four parallel scratches from Hermione's claws on his right arm. She had moved so fast that only Harry actually saw the actual attack. First, she clawed Malfoy's right arm to make him drop his wand and then delivered three swift knees to his gut before stepping behind the Slytherin.

"Granger, detention and fifty points off for attacking another student. Potter, same for not stopping Granger." Snape said, stepping out from a cross corridor. "Now explain this."

"That is something I would also like to know." Dumbledore said from behind Snape. "In particular, why you stood by and let Mister Malfoy not only attack Miss Granger, but also harm two first years and a Prefect without intervening, Severus."

Professors McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick, Lupin were with the Headmaster, as was Madam Pomfrey. As Dumbledore and McGonagall faced down Snape, Lupin and Pomfrey pushed past to take care of the injured students further down the corridor.

"A House Elf called Mindy informed us you were in trouble." Professor Sprout said to Harry and Hermione. "Luckily we were nearby and saw most of the incident. The Headmaster will overturn your supposed 'punishment'."

"I'm worried there will be repercussions though." Professor Flitwick added. "Some will claim that you both are not Human and will use that against you."

"Professor, Draco is a minor annoyance." Harry said. "He has been so since we first met, so we go easy on him. I pity anyone who seriously goes after us."

"The scratches are superficial, intentionally." Hermione explained. "Now we should really get to Ancient Runes."

Harry and Hermione walked down to their first Care of Magical Creatures class, which they were excited about as they were happy for Hagrid to get the Professor's position. Draco and his bookends were standing in a group away from the two hybrids.

"Follow me." Hagrid said, waving the class to follow.

The large Professor lead them into a clearing about a hundred meters into the Forbidden Forest.

"Da Da-da-da!" Hagrid said.

From behind him a creature with an eagle forward half and a horse rear half emerged from the trees cautiously, stretching its wings as it walked forward.

"This is Buckbeak." Hagrid announced. "Buckbeak is a Hippogriff."

Most of the students stepped back from the creature, but Harry took a step forward. Hermione relaxed and settled in to watch the show, not really paying attention to the fact that she was crouched on the vertical post of a small post and railing fence off to one side of the clearing, the post being just wide enough for the balls of her feet, with her tail floating behind her, twitching occasionally to help maintain her balance.

As Harry took another step forward, Buckbeak reared up and spread his wings, trying to show his dominance. In response, Harry spread his own wings, his charcoal grey hair fluttering in the wind. Buckbeak barked at Harry and Harry trilled back, and after a few moments of staring Buckbeak backed down and bowed to Harry which Harry returned, not bowing as deeply to show that he was Alpha. Harry turned to glance at Hermione.

"Go, have fun." Hermione said with a giggle.

Harry grinned at Hermione and then Hagrid before, with a powerful jump and a thrust of his wings, he took to the air. Buckbeak broke into a run and, flapping his wings, took to the air after Harry. The pair of them made their way along the Black Lake and then made a pass by Hogwarts, where Hedwig joined them, before heading back to the clearing. Buckbeak did a running landing, but Harry made a show of landing by flapping his wings hard enough to hover momentarily before settling into a seated position on the railing of the fence next to Hermione, with Hedwig settling on Hermione's shoulder.

A few of the other students, mostly Gryffindors at first, began to approach Buckbeak and, following Hagrid's instructions of showing respect by bowing to Buckbeak. Malfoy began to arrogantly started to approach Buckbeak, but Hermione reached out and tapped him on the shoulder.

"If you don't want to get sliced up again, I'd listen to Hagrid and be polite." She advised.

Draco shook her off and took another step, then glanced at Hermione. Seeing her easily crouched on a pole that was about the size of the palm of his hand, her vertically slitted eyes glowing slightly with reflected light and the sharp claws on the end of her fingers. Deciding that discretion was the better part of not getting flayed alive, Draco stepped back.

Overall, Hagrid's first class was a success, with most of the students successfully interacting with Buckbeak, while Draco and a few of the Slytherins stood back and did not approach the Hippogriff.

"How am I doen', my first day?" Hagrid asked quietly near the end of the lesson.

"Brilliant, Professor." Harry said with a smirk.

"We will be doing stuff like Unicorns and Demiguise too, right?" Hermione asked. "Not just Hippogriffs and Werewolves?"

"O'course." Hagrid replied. "I have got some Diricawls lined up in a few weeks."

"Sweet." Hermione said.

"I know ya spent the break here, but ya heard about Black, right?" Hagrid asked.

"Heard he escaped from Azkaban." Harry said with a shrug. "Overheard McGonagall talking about how the Minister wanted to post Dementors here until she pointed out that Black had slipped past them once and students having their souls sucked out will be bad for the Minister' reputation and chances of re-election."

"If you're worried about Harry going after Black, don't worry." Hermione added. "With Harry's luck, Black will come to us. And as we said to Professor Flitwick, we pity anyone who seriously comes after us. Most Wizards are to dependant on their wands."

"Just be careful." Hagrid advised. "Now, off to ya next class."

TBC…