Kasenhis crouched on the second floor, eyes glued to Draco and the hippogriff below — or "Buckbeak," as Hagrid had fondly introduced it.
He knew exactly what kind of person Draco was. Sure, he had become much more decent than before, and sure, it might sound unfair to judge a third-year that way, but the hard truth was... Draco was a little brat who loved to ask for it.
Kasenhis had zero doubt that Draco might try to pull some outrageous stunt just to stand out — like, say, randomly trying to mount Buckbeak without warning and yelling "kneel before me!" just to show off.
Not that such behavior was entirely impossible — but at Draco's current skill level...
Thankfully, what unfolded next made Kasenhis' heart drop back down from his throat into his chest. After a long and intense inner struggle, Draco finally chose to chicken out a little and followed protocol — he gave Buckbeak a small, respectful bow.
"Eyes, Mr. Malfoy, mind your eyes! You have to maintain eye contact with Buckbeak!" Hagrid called out just in time.
Draco raised his head. At that moment, his posture looked as stiff and unnatural as a man being held at wandpoint by a Whomping Willow.
Unfortunately, Buckbeak didn't seem all that impressed.
The creature dipped its head, tugged a blade of grass from the ground, chewed it thoughtfully, and then — without warning — spat it straight at Draco.
"..."
Kasenhis wanted to cry. He almost felt like he should hit Hagrid with a Wither Skull.
He had accounted for everything… except this.
To be fair, Draco had matured a bit since his first year. All that alchemy training had beaten some sense into him — Kasenhis' own grinding routines, other professors' lessons, and of course, Neville's signature "accidental" spells that had a tendency to go flying at the worst possible moment.
But this Buckbeak was just… abstract.
Kasenhis could understand if Buckbeak simply didn't like Draco — there wasn't a law saying magical creatures had to be fond of the Malfoy family, after all.
But spitting something at the poor kid?
That was a little too much.
And Kasenhis couldn't even tell if it had been a zero-frame action or one of those ridiculously long wind-up attacks.
If it was a long wind-up, then the fact that it spat suddenly didn't make any sense.
But if it was a zero-frame action, then… well, Hagrid had just said Buckbeak was a carnivore, and yet it randomly bent down to nibble on some grass — wasn't that a hint of something brewing?
Frankly, at this point, it would've been better if Buckbeak had just scratched Draco with a claw.
At least then, the protective spell Kasenhis had cast would've absorbed the hit. A claw swipe? No problem at all.
But magical protection might defend against attacks — it definitely didn't guard against humiliation.
Case in point: sitting on top of Draco's head was a greenish, bird-dropping-like lump of something vile.
Draco slowly pulled a quill out of his pocket and gently scraped it across the top of his head. He took a look at what came off the tip...
"...My.. My Father will—"
"Hear about this!!!" Someone shouted from the Gryffindor side.
And then..
The whole lawn — every Gryffindor and even a few Slytherins — burst into laughter. Even Hagrid, despite being a professor, couldn't help the corners of his mouth twitching.
Finally, class ended.
Hagrid, grinning from ear to ear, happily headed back to his hut with the four little Gryffindors. They stayed downstairs munching on those infamous… rock-hard biscuits, while Hagrid excitedly dragged the scowling Kasenhis down from the 1st floor.
"Professor Kasenhis?"
"You were watching us from upstairs the whole time?"
Sitting on the couch, Kasenhis sighed and nodded, "Yeah. Harry, you really gave me quite the surprise."
Harry, absolutely incapable of picking up on sarcasm — okay, completely oblivious — grinned goofily. "Ah, thank you, Professor!"
Kasenhis couldn't help but clarify, "What I meant, Harry, is that I understand you wanted to spice up Hagrid's first lesson, but some flavors really don't need to be that… intense. Hagrid's original lesson was perfectly fine — introducing you all to a majestic magical creature."
"But now? You've gone and taken off into the sky. Gryffindor goes up, so of course Hagrid can't play favorites. That means Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw — everyone — has to go up. And now every little witch and wizard needs to take a flight just to prove Hagrid's being fair. Because if students think their professor plays favorites, they'll never respect him."
"Well, Slytherin could've gone up too, if only Malfoy hadn't blown it," Ron chimed in, dunking one of those infamous rock-hard biscuits into milk until it was soggy enough to crush between his fingers.
He then popped the milk-soaked mush into his mouth, cheeks puffed out like a hamster as he spoke.
"Er… I guess that counts as the only good news from today's lesson…" Kasenhis muttered, glancing at the four troublemakers, who all nodded in agreement.
He quickly added, a bit more seriously, "It's lucky it was him. No one dares to laugh too hard at Malfoy. But if it had happened to a less popular or less assertive student — being spit on like that by Buckbeak — that kid might've had a rough time for the rest of the term. At the very least, they'd get slapped with a nasty nickname and become everyone's gossip target."
"That probably wouldn't be that serious, right?" Hagrid scratched his head.
"Did you ever get called any nasty nicknames back when you were at school?"
"Some folks called me Big Guy, or The Giant, and the meaner ones went with Big Oaf. I remember one particularly tasteless fellow called me a 'mongrel.' Said my dad was a 'down bad warrior'... I didn't even get what he meant at the time. It wasn't until much later that I realized it." Hagrid suddenly caught on and nodded vigorously, offering his own tragic school memories as proof.
"Oh, well that guy was a real piece of work. You remember his name? Next time we see him, let's throw a sack over his head together." Kasenhis nodded solemnly.
"Long forgot it. Just remember his last name was Silverhand. Heard after graduation he traveled all over the world hunting down powerful magical creatures... I honestly thought we'd get along, since we both love magical beasts..." Hagrid sighed deeply.
"Well, guess the sack plan's a bust… Oh, right, I almost forgot. We've got another piece of good news!" Kasenhis waved his hand, and the crystal recording orb that Hagrid had set up in a nice open view — but had accidentally hidden too well — flew into his palm.
"This was your first class. It's just as worth remembering as your Sorting Day." Kasenhis said warmly.
"Oh, thank you." Hagrid quickly took the crystal orb and carefully placed it somewhere safe.
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