The Boy Who Lived

Without warning, Buckbeak flashed forward and slashed at Draco with its talons, who visibly hadn't been expecting this turn of events. He limply fell over holding his throat, gurgling as blood filled his windpipe. Visibly, Buckbeak wasn't done with him, as it reared up to strike again.

"Thursaz!" yelled Oleandra.

The Hippogriff was knocked off its two hind legs as if it had been struck by a giant's fist, and it rolled two or three times before getting back on its hooves. As it stared her down, a shiver ran down Oleandra's spine. This thing had just tried to kill Draco!

Suddenly, there was an explosion of flames between her and the Hippogriff. Professor Dumbledore appeared out of nowhere with his phoenix, and before she knew it, all of the rampaging beasts had gone to sleep. 

"Professor Dumbledore!" Hagrid came running. "I'm sorry, I—"

The headmaster scooped up Draco in his arms, and in another flash of fire, they were gone just as fast as they had appeared.

Professor Hagrid just stood there dumbly, his face whitening as the horror of the situation dawned on him. The Slytherins were clamouring angrily at his side, while students of the other Houses loudly discussed what had just happened. Nobody especially liked him, but he certainly hadn't deserved almost being killed.

"Malfoy didn't even do anything, it just lunged at him," exclaimed a Gryffindor boy that Oleandra didn't know by name.

"He must have done something, Dean," Harry weakly argued. "Hagrid said they don't like being insulted."

"Poor Malfoy," cried Pansy, tears streaming down her face. "I'll see that thing exterminated; I swear it!"

"D'you think he'll be all right?" said Granger nervously.

Even Harry, who had ridden Buckbeak, had trouble defending its actions. Harry knew very well what sort of creatures Hagrid kept. Last year, he and Ron had almost been eaten alive by an entire tribe of gigantic spiders. Besides, like Dean Thomas had said, Malfoy hadn't even had the chance to approach it before it attacked.

Oleandra, meanwhile, was keeping quiet. She had witnessed Draco using Ehwo, the rune of partnership and trust. It was nothing like the Imperius Curse, as Draco had seemed to think. When used alone, it simply eased relationships by sharing emotions. However, this had backfired on Draco, who had targeted the Hippogriff with feelings of derision and malice, as well as thoughts of domination. Obviously, Buckbeak had felt threatened, and dealt with him preemptively.

And that is how Oleandra's first class of Care of Magical Creatures went. Pretty disastrously, as far as first classes went. She wouldn't be surprised if Professor Hagrid were fired. If it hadn't been for Professor Dumbledore's timely intervention, Draco would have certainly succumbed from his injuries.

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The next day, the second of September, was a Thursday. Oleandra didn't have any new classes on this day, but she was sort of looking forward to Defense Against the Dark Arts with the new teacher. Professor Quirrell hadn't taught first years anything interesting except the Knockback Jinx, and Professor Lockhart (may he rest in peace) hadn't been a very good teacher.

Worryingly, Draco hadn't shown himself in the common room the previous night nor the following morning, but he ended up showing up for his favourite class, double Potions with the Gryffindors. This didn't surprise Oleandra at all; he wouldn't miss a chance to torment Harry for anything in the world. Besides, Madam Pomfrey was an extremely competent healer; there was no reason for mundane injuries to keep him down overlong.

Nevertheless, he appeared in class heavily bandaged, especially in his throat area. Goyle immediately rose from his seat to give his boss a hand.

"No need, Goyle," said Draco in a gravelly tone that did not befit him. "I can make it to my seat by myself."

Oleandra nearly rolled her eyes at this performance. Whom was he trying to fool with the tough guy trying to hide his vulnerability act? The man had obviously made a full recovery.

"How is it, Draco?" squealed Pansy. "It doesn't hurt too badly?"

"Glad to count you amongst the living," said Oleandra, scowling at Pansy, who stuck out her tongue at her while Draco wasn't looking.

"Settle down, settle down," said Professor Snape.

Today, they would be making a Shrinking Solution. Contrary to what the name suggested, it wasn't the Swelling Solution's reverse equivalent. The Swelling Solution made things grow, but the Shrinking Solution made things regress to a previous state.

In any case, this potion wasn't challenging to either of the Greengrass twins. Daphne had memorized an entire volume on advanced potioneering, and with the help of Kenaz, she could even start deducing new recipes and extrapolate on hidden principles. As for Oleandra, she tried not to resort to Kenaz to find ideas unless she absolutely had to. If one spent too much time in a state of perpetual enlightenment, then one's mind would feel like it would be stuck in molasses whenever the rune wasn't in effect.

As Oleandra absent-mindedly followed the uncomplicated potion steps, she watched as Draco bullied Ron into cutting up his daisy roots, under the pretext that his injuries prevented him from doing so himself. Oleandra soon lost interest in this and finished her potion. Having finished in advance, she was starting to get a little bored.

"Hey, Siiiis," Oleandra drawled.

"What is it?" asked Daphne, raising an eyebrow.

"Did you drink some of the Shrinking Solution?" Oleandra said, trying to keep herself from smiling. "You're looking a little short, there."

Oleandra waved her hand above their heads a few times for emphasis.

Since Daphne aged thirty times slower as a regular human, she hadn't experienced the same growth spurt as Oleandra had during the summer, which meant she was a few inches shorter than her twin.

"I'm looking forward to seeing you old and grey in a hundred years," Daphne sneered.

"Hahaha — OW!"

Daphne had manipulated her vine-like prehensile hair to pull her sister's cheeks, only stopping when Professor Snape threatened the two with detention.