Chapter 98: O Ancient Runes, Heed My Call
"Miss Greengrass," said Professor Babbling. "If you wouldn't mind, could you demonstrate your runeless spellcasting?"
Daphne looked at her sister, who simply shrugged.
"Which rune would you like to see, Professor?" Daphne asked.
"Nothing dangerous," Professor Babbling said quickly, "but preferably something flashy, so that we can see the magic's mechanisms."
Daphne thought for a while. All of the flashier runes had dangerous effects, especially Hagal and Sowelo. The others had no noticeable special effects associated with them. In the end, she ended up selecting the trusty tree-growing spell.
"Fehu, Berkana," Daphne said, tossing an acorn on the ground. She didn't want to cause too much damage, so she only used hand signs instead of stances and omitted the rest of the incantation.
With a poof, a young oak tree took root in the stone floor and grew up to the ceiling.
"Fascinating," breathed Professor Babbling. "Simply incredible. Never would I have thought… And imitating the runes with your hands, such an imprecise way of shaping the magic, and yet, it still works…"
For the remainder of the class, Professor Babbling introduced the first few runes of the alphabet, each time insisting that one of Oleandra's gang demonstrate how they used it. By the end of the class, Slytherin had gained a whopping fifty points!
After class, Hermione walked up to Oleandra's group and confronted Draco.
"Those hand movements you do to use magic," Hermione said accusingly, "I've seen you do one right before Buckbeak attacked you. What exactly did you do, Malfoy?"
"Come on, Hermione," said Oleandra, "Do you really think Draco would do anything that would cause him harm on purpose, just to get back at Professor Hagrid?"
"Not on purpose," said Hermione, her eyes narrowing. "During class, I noticed that he wasn't as good as you three. If he did mess something up, then it's Malfoy's own fault he was attacked."
"What's it to you, Granger?" drawled Draco. "Worried about that big old lump?"
"You did something to Buckbeak," she insisted. "I'm sure of it."
"I was merely stretching my fingers at the time," sneered Draco. "Is that illegal?"
Hermione turned away in a huff; she didn't want to stay a moment longer in his company.
"But if I did do something," Draco called out, "then I suppose getting hurt was a small price to pay to get that great big fool sacked!"
He exploded in a fit of laughter.
"Oleandra, Daphne," Hermione pleaded with them. "Please, convince him not to press charges."
"Come on, Draco," sighed Oleandra. "You've had your fun. At worst, you'll have Hermione owing you a debt."
"Now that's an intriguing thought. But sorry, it's out of my hands," said Draco, who didn't sound sorry at all. "Father's on the board of school governors, and he really wasn't happy about how I nearly died. And as for that beast…"
"What about Buckbeak?" asked Hermione, her heart sinking.
"Well, you'll see," said Draco, grinning.
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Oleandra felt a little bad about ruining the two new teachers' first classes; after all, it was sort of her fault that Buckbeak the Hippogriff had attacked Draco, and the Boggart would never have transformed into a Lindwurm if the knowledge hadn't been in her head.
Nevertheless, she wasn't Draco's mother; she had no control over what he decided to do, and Professor Lupin should have studied up better on his students before allowing those who had faced the Basilisk anywhere near a Boggart. And thus, Oleandra patted herself on the shoulder, having absolved herself of any wrongdoing.
As weeks passed and the month of September ended, Oleandra couldn't help but feel pity for Professor Hagrid. It seemed like the first class of Care of Magical Creatures had drained the entire year's worth of excitement from the course, as the following classes were incredibly dull. Indeed, Professor Hagrid had selected the least dangerous magical beast for the students to take care of: the Flobberworm.
When Oleandra had first heard the suffix worm, her heart had leapt into her throat, having immediately thought of the Lindworm. Fortunately for the class, the Flobberworm turned out to be the regular kind of worm, and not the dragonkin kind of worm. As far as worms went, the Flobberworm was pretty much par for the course; toothless, vegetarian, slimy and… dreadfully boring.
As for Professor Lupin, he didn't need Oleandra's pity. It was as if the Boggart fiasco had never happened; undeterred, he continued introducing his students to low-level dark creatures. So far, Professor Lupin had covered Red Caps and Kappas, and how to repel them. The classes were interesting, even Draco had to begrudgingly admit it. As for Oleandra, she thought the creatures the teacher brought in paled in comparison to the threats she had had to face, but at least they weren't boring. Besides, it's not as if she was itching for a rematch with the Basilisk.
Even though Draco found Professor Lupin's lessons mildly entertaining, he didn't care much for the man who taught the class. Oleandra had a feeling Draco was simply mimicking his idol, Professor Snape, who positively abhorred Professor Lupin.
"Just look at those shabby robes," Draco would say just loud enough so that Professor Lupin could hear, but low enough that it still felt like a private conversation. "He looks just like our House-Elf."
Oleandra hadn't seen the Malfoy's House-Elf, but according to Daphne, it was beaten-down little thing dressed in a pillowcase, but its eyes shown unusually brightly for one of its kind. Daphne had also told her that Spoopey, the Greengrass family's House-Elf, despised it, for some reason.
When Oleandra had asked her why that was the case, Daphne simply shrugged. After all, it was a miracle in and of itself that Daphne had remembered such an unimportant tidbit about the help.
At the start of October, Oleandra finally received some good news from Madam Malkin; her Basilisk-skin robes would be done by the end of the month, coinciding with the first day the students would be allowed to leave the school for Hogsmeade: Halloween.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Azure_Abyss
Azure_Abyss For those worrying about there being too much lore, the introduction of the new classes is over, so it'll be adventure and action from here on out ;)
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